Disclaimer: I do not own any of the animé shows or other Japanese classics that will appear on this fanfic.
However, I do own the league of evil called the Blackhearted.
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UNITED WE STAND AS ONE
The One Who Inherits Fire
The Legendary Warrior of Fire, Agnimon, stood with his comrades – Wolfmon, Fairymon, Blitzmon, Chakmon, and Löwemon – as the six of them faced the double-sword-wielding half-man, half-horse-like Digimon Zanbamon.
"Go!" cheered Neemon in his nasal-congestion-like voice from the side.
"Don't even think that you can win," said Zanbamon through his humanoid head while horned horse head near his abdomen only neighed demonically.
"We'll see," said Agnimon. The Warrior of Fire smashed his fists together and created two swirling streams of flames around his arms. "BURNING SALAMANDER!" He drew his arms back and launched each Burning Salamander at Zanbamon one at a time.
"CROSS SLASH!" Zanbamon countered as he cut the attack apart with both of his swords.
"LICHT KUDGEL!" shouted Wolfmon. Taking aim with his arm-mounted laser, he fired a white ball of light at the Demon Man Digimon. The attack flew past the evil creature's defenses and smashed right into his chest.
"BREZZA PETALO!" shouted Fairymon. Creating a miniature tornado on the end of each finger, she flung all ten at Zanbamon.
"LIGHTNING BLITZ!" shouted Blitzmon. His horn sparked and he launched a powerful lightning bolt at the evil Digimon.
"SNOW BOMBER!" shouted Chakmon. Whipping out his snow cannon, he took aim and fired a barrage of snowballs.
"You think you can get me that easily?!" said Zanbamon. He quickly leapt out of the way of the first two attacks and deflected the third with his swords.
"ENDLICH METEOR!" shouted Löwemon. The lion head on his chest opened its mouth and he launched a powerful energy blast at Zanbamon, hitting him dead-on. Still, the evil Mega was not beaten.
"Not bad," said Zanbamon, "But you shall soon see that it was a mistake to even challenge me! PRISON GATE OF BEHEADING!" A light shone out from his horse head and he unleashed a powerful blast from both of his swords.
"Agnimon, all of you, quickly!" shouted Bokomon.
"Right!" said the Hybrids.
"Agnimon Slide Evolution! VRITRAMON!"
"Wolfmon Slide Evolution! GARMMON!"
"Fairymon Slide Evolution! SHUTUMON!"
"Blitzmon Slide Evolution! BOLGMON!"
"Chakmon Slide Evolution! BLIZZARMON!"
"Löwemon Slide Evolution! KAISERLEOMON!"
"So you're all Beast Hybrids now," Zanbamon scoffed, "I can still destroy you easily!"
"I don't think so," said Vritramon, "FLAME STORM!"
"SOLAR LASER!" shouted Garmmon.
"GILGAMESH SLICER!" shouted Shutumon.
"ULTIMATE THUNDER!" shouted Bolgmon.
"GLETSCHER TORPEDO!" shouted Blizzarmon.
"SCHWARZ DONNER!" shouted KaiserLeomon.
Together, all six attacks flew through the air straight at Zanbamon and crashed right into his chest, causing him to go dark and his Digicode to appear.
"Who's turn is it?" asked Bolgmon.
"I'll go," said Vritramon as he held out his D-Scan, "This Devil's spirit this Digivice will purify. DIGICODE SCAN!" Vritramon quickly scanned Zanbamon's Digicode and all the Hybrids devolved back into their human forms.
"They destroyed Zanbamon," said Dynasmon, who was standing next to RhodoKnightmon. The Royal Knights had been watching the battle from afar sizing up their opponents for the nth time.
"No matter what, we must still try," said RhodoKnightmon, "Lucemon must be revived."
The two Royal Knights quickly disappeared from sight, leaving the Chosen Children alone.
* * *
The six Chosen Children, along with Bokomon, Neemon, and Patamon, lazed around underneath the leaves of a few shady trees. Neemon was fast asleep, as was Patamon. Junpei was lying on the ground with his head against a tree root. Kouji sat underneath a tree staring out at the wide open field while his twin brother, Kouichi, was on the branch right above his head. Tomoki was sitting on another tree limb. Sitting on a lower branch on a different tree, Takuya and Izumi sat close to one another with their hats off, letting the cool breeze blow through their hair.
For quite a while now, Takuya had had his eye on Izumi and his feelings for her were deepening more and more. True she had slapped him silly a few times before, but Takuya was already beginning to be able to see the gentle soul that Izumi really was.
"What are you looking at?" asked Izumi, who had just caught Takuya staring.
"Uh, nothing!" said Takuya as he quickly averted his eyes, slightly blushing, "Just thinking."
"About what?" asked Izumi.
Should I tell her how I feel? Takuya thought to himself, If I do, I might get slapped. If I don't, she'll slap me eventually. Might as well come clean.
"Izumi, you know that feeling when you've got feelings for someone but you don't have the courage to tell them even though they're only about a foot away from you?" Takuya asked.
"Yes," said Izumi.
"Well when I first met you, I thought of you as nothing more than a part of the team," said Takuya, "But as time went on, I saw you as more than just that. And now… well… it's hard to describe, but I think I've fallen in love with you."
"You think?" Izumi asked.
"No," said Takuya, correcting himself, "I know that I've fallen in love with you."
There was a brief pause while Takuya expected to be slapped across the face. But instead, he suddenly found himself wrapped in Izumi's arms.
"Takuya, I think I've fallen in love with you, too," said Izumi.
"Think?" asked Takuya, "Or know?"
"I know," said Izumi as she hugged Takuya tighter. Takuya returned a hug before the two of them switched positions on the branch so that Takuya had his back against the tree trunk and Izumi was leaning against his chest.
"Kouichi, what's going on up there?" Kouji asked, "I'm hearing something coming from Takuya and Izumi's tree."
"Not much. Just Takuya and Izumi switching positions so that Takuya's leaning against the trunk and Izumi's leaning against Takuya," replied Kouichi.
Takuya gently stroked Izumi's hair, enjoying every single moment of it.
"You know Takuya, I used to think that you were just a mindless brave idiot who would always leap before they looked," said Izumi.
"Thanks for the compliment," said Takuya, sarcastically.
"Now you've become the one person I really want to be with," said Izumi as she got off Takuya and changed her position so that she could see the boy face-to-face.
"Molto bueno," said Takuya. That certainly caught Izumi's ear quite easily. Apparently, Takuya had picked up some Italian from Izumi. The two of them stared into each other's eyes for a moment before they began to move closer to one another. Their lips almost touched when a suddenly explosion broke the peace, jolting both Chosen Children from their little dreamland.
"What's going on now?" asked Tomoki.
Takuya and Izumi both placed their headgear back on and climbed down the tree to join the others. Lightning flashed through the air as the sky began to darken. Powerful winds kicked up and thunder boomed throughout the area like explosives going off.
"This is some storm!" shouted Takuya as he pulled his goggles over his eyes.
"I don't think it's a storm!" replied Kouji, whose jacket and hair were now flapping wildly in the wind.
Powerful tornadoes swept up everything in their paths while blazing red cyclones of fire incinerated all that they touched. The ground was literally being torn up and torrential rains began to fall along with hail, some of which was accompanied by blazing fireballs.
"Great balls of fire!" exclaimed Takuya.
A massive black orb suddenly emerged from some sort of swirling black vortex and floated over to the Chosen Children.
Chosen Children, said a voice.
"Who said that?" asked Junpei.
"I heard it, but I didn't hear it," said Kouichi.
"I heard it in my head," said Tomoki.
"Me, too," said Izumi.
"So, that thing is telepathic?" Takuya wondered.
The orb slowly began to descend to the ground. As it did so, its shape began to shift. It suddenly began to grow limbs.
"This looks bad!" said Takuya, "Everyone, let's all be ready!"
"SPIRIT EVOLUTION!" shouted Izumi, Junpei, Tomoki, and Kouichi.
"SHUTUMON!"
"BOLGMON!"
"BLIZZARMON!"
"LÖWEMON!"
Now it was Takuya and Kouji's turn. "DOUBLE SPIRIT EVOLUTION!" shouted the two boys.
"ARDHAMON!"
"BEOWULFMON!"
The six Hybrids watched as the orb took on the shape of a giant black monster with large horns, sharp claws, and long unruly hair. The image of a black heart could just be seen on the creature's chest.
"Let's get him!" said Ardhamon, "BRAHMA SUTRA!"
"LICHT ANGRIFF!" shouted Beowulfmon.
"WIND OF PAIN!" shouted Shutumon.
"FIELD DESTROYER!" shouted Bolgmon.
"AVALANCHE STEP!" shouted Blizzarmon.
"ENDLICH METEOR!" shouted Löwemon.
Six attacks flew at the massive creature. Six attacks collided with its body. But not one scratch was found on its body.
"Nothing!" exclaimed Ardhamon.
"We'll try again," said Beowulfmon. He tightened his grip around his sword before he rushed forward at the dark monster. "ZWEIHÄNDER!" He leapt up and swung his arm, cutting through the dark flesh with his twin blades.
"BRAHMA SHIL!" shouted Ardhamon. He created a massive fireball in both of his hands and launched it at the gargantuan shadow.
"That should do it," said Ardhamon. To everyone's surprise and dismay, the shadow was still alive.
"Guess we don't have a choice anymore," said Ardhamon.
"We don't," said Beowulfmon.
All six Hybrids devolved and Takuya and Kouji both prepared to do what they had to do.
"If this doesn't work, nothing will," said Bokomon.
"Then we'll just have to make sure it works," said Kouichi as he nodded towards his brother.
"Wind into Fire!" shouted Izumi.
"Ice into Fire!" shouted Tomoki.
"Thunder into Light!" shouted Junpei.
"Darkness into Light!" shouted Kouichi.
Takuya and Kouji held out their D-Scans and shouted, "HYPER SPIRIT EVOLUTION!"
"KAISERGREYMON!"
"MAGNAGARURUMON!"
The two Z-Hybrids turned and faced the shadow, both with their weapons drawn and ready to attack.
"MACHINEGUN DESTROY!" shouted MagnaGarurumon. He took aim with the Sniper Phantom and fired a barrage of missiles.
"NINE-HEADED DRAGON RANKS!" shouted KaiserGreymon as he plunged the Dragon Soul Sword into the ground, summoning nine fiery dragon heads. The heads circled around him for a while before launching themselves at the shadow, exploding against its hide alongside MagnaGarurumon's Machinegun Destroy.
"If that doesn't send it into unconsciousness, nothing will," said Kouichi as the watched the flames erupted into a massive pillar of fire. To everyone's horror, the monster was still alive and well.
"Time to move onto Plan C," said Bokomon, "RUN AWAY!"
"Don't have to tell us twice!" said Tomoki as the Chosen Children began to run away from the beast. The deadly creature suddenly held out its hand and the two Z-Hybrids suddenly devolved.
"What just happened?" asked Takuya, completely confused.
"That thing just stopped our abilities to Spirit Evolve!" exclaimed Kouji, gritting his teeth.
As the kids and three Digimon ran away, the shadow began to chase after them, destroying everything in its path and taking the Digicodes.
"We have to stop that thing!" shouted Bokomon.
"But how?!" asked Junpei.
"Anything!!!" screamed the book-carrying Digimon.
Tomoki suddenly tripped on a rock and fell forward.
"Tomoki!" shouted Takuya. The goggle boy quickly turned around and went back for Tomoki.
"Takuya, come back!" shouted Kouji.
"I have to save Tomoki!" Takuya shouted back. He was running as hard as he could. The shadow was approaching Tomoki fast.
"HELP!" screamed the second grader.
"I'm coming, Tomoki!" shouted Takuya. He knew he could make it just by running. Thinking fast, Takuya pushed himself off the ground and slid over to Tomoki.
"Takuya-oniichan!" Tomoki said, slightly worried and slightly relieved.
"Are you okay?" asked Takuya.
"I'm fine," said Tomoki, "Ow!"
"Tomoki," Takuya said as he slowly got up. He then turned around and crouched down, holding his arms out behind him. "Get on." Tomoki took one look at the incoming shadow and climbed onto Takuya's back. The Chosen Child of fire quickly got up and ran back to the others, carrying Tomoki.
"Let's go!" said Junpei.
As the Chosen Children continued to run, two massive black tendrils suddenly burst out of the ground in front of them, blocking their path. Looking back, they could see the shadow with its hand in the ground.
"We're trapped!" said Izumi.
Give up, said a voice. The kids turned and looked around, but didn't see anybody. Their eyes finally fell on the shadow.
"Don't tell me this thing can talk, too," said Kouichi.
Resistance is futile, said the shadow as it contacted all six kids via telepathy. A black tendril suddenly burst out from the ground and grabbed Junpei.
"Junpei!" said Kouichi just as another tendril grabbed his leg.
"Kouichi!" exclaimed Kouji. He quickly ran over and tried to free his brother, but to no avail.
It's useless to fight! The shadow bellowed as it pulled its tendrils underground, taking Junpei and Kouichi down while dragging Kouji, who was still holding onto his brother.
"They're gone," said Tomoki.
Not quite, said the shadow. It waved its hand in the air and three black crosses emerged from the ground. Junpei, Kouji, and Kouichi were all bound to them by their arms. Takuya, Izumi, and Tomoki couldn't tell if they were unconscious or possibly dead. They prayed that the first choice was the case.
We have to do something, Takuya thought. Three of them were already down. He didn't want to lose anyone else.
"HELP!" came a scream. Takuya turned just in time to see Bokomon, Neemon, and Patamon get dragged down. The three of then were then dragged back out and bound to a dead tree.
"Takuya, we're losing fast!" said Tomoki.
"I know," said Takuya. Suddenly he heard a scream and turned just in time to see Izumi get grabbed by the shadow's hand and pulled away.
"Help!" screamed Tomoki as he was lifted off Takuya's back.
"IZUMI! TOMOKI!" shouted Takuya. He clenched his fist. He had just lost the two people he cared about the most.
"Save yourself!" called Izumi.
"I can't leave you!" cried Takuya.
"GO TAKUYA!" shouted Izumi, "If you're not around to save us, then there's no hope for any of us!"
Takuya knew that Izumi was right. Regretfully, he forced himself to turn around and run away. Tears streamed down his face as he ran, knowing he could have done something, but couldn't. After running quite a ways, he stopped to catch his breath. As he did so, he looked back only to see a giant explosion erupt from where the shadow had captured his friends.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" screamed Takuya.
The boy dropped to his hands and knees and started crying. He could have helped his friends. He could have saved them. But he didn't. And that was what really crushed Takuya – the fact that he could have done something but didn't. he started to mentally stab his chest for letting everything go wrong. As he continued to cry, one of his tears fell and landed on his D-Scan, which had somehow fallen out of his pocket, causing the Digivice to glow. Takuya looked up at it with tears still in his eyes.
"What's going on?" he said to himself. His D-Scan shot out a beam of light and the H and B Spirits of Fire appeared. The two spirits burned as a trail of flames from each slowly made its way towards Takuya. The flames met and began to take on a solid physical form. A short while later, a bright red crystal attached to a red lanyard appeared. Takuya dried his tears as he picked up the crystal and held it up for a closer look while holding his D-Scan in the other. Looking closer, Takuya could see the Chinese character for "fire" inside. He thought he also saw live flames burning inside the stone
"What is this?" he asked. Suddenly, the shadow appeared behind Takuya and the Chosen Child turned only to find him face-to-foot with the creature.
Only one more left to go, it said as it closed in.
Takuya braced himself for what was to come. Suddenly, there was a bright red glow of light followed by a loud scream. Then, everything went black.
* * *
Takuya awoke to find himself lying in what seemed to be a hospital bed. as his vision began to return, he could see that he was in a white room with fluorescent lights on the ceiling and sunlight streaming in from the windows. He could just make out other beds on either side of him. He soon realized that he was clad only in his cargo pants. Groaning, Takuya raised his arm to rub his head only to find that it had been bandaged. His arms, torso, and undoubtedly his legs had also been bandaged.
"You feeling any better?"
Upon hearing that voice, Takuya slowly sat up and looked around the room. His eyes soon fell onto a figure who was seated by the window, staring outside.
"Where am I?" asked Takuya.
"You're at the infirmary of ADI headquarters," said the person.
"ADI?" asked Takuya.
"Anime Defense Initiative," answered the figure. He got out from his seat and approached Takuya. The boy could see that the person was a boy around the age of fourteen with brown hair and sapphire-blue eyes. He was dressed in brown cargo pants and a red turtleneck sweater.
"Who are you?" asked Takuya.
"My name's Ryo Akiyama," said the boy.
"Takuya Kanbara," Takuya replied. He tried to raise his arm in order to shake hands, but it only caused jolts of pain to surge through his body.
"Try not to move your arm too much," said Ryo.
Takuya put his arm down and placed his head back down on the pillow.
"How did I get here?" asked the Chosen Child.
"It's a long story," said Ryo as he pulled up a chair and sat down.
Just then, there was a beep and the door leading to the hallway outside slid open. A blond boy with blue eyes wearing a red T-shirt, blue pants, two bracelets, and a white apron walked in. in his hands was a tray carrying a covered plate and a plastic spoon.
"Glad to see the patient's awake," he said as he walked over to the bed, "How are you feeling?"
"Don't ask," said Takuya.
"Are you hungry?" asked the blond boy. The sound of Takuya's stomach growling answered his question. Takuya slowly sat up as Ryo readjusted his pillow so that Takuya could lean against it. The boy brought the tray over to a wheeled hospital table and placed it on before wheeling it over to Takuya.
"I think you'll like it," said Ryo, "Albert is the best chef this place has."
"Here it is," said Albert as he took the cover off the plate, "One plate of fried rice."
"Smells good," said Takuya. He picked up the spoon and took a bit of the rice, which he placed into his mouth. He chewed for a bit and swallowed before his eyes suddenly lit up.
"Well?" Albert asked.
"This tastes great!" said Takuya as he took another spoonful into his mouth.
"I'm glad you like it," said Albert.
"You must be really hungry," said Ryo, "Can't blame you, though. You've been asleep for four days now."
At the sound of Ryo's words, Takuya nearly choked on his rice, but Albert was able to get him a glass of water to drink.
"F-f-f-four days?" Takuya stammered after he wiped the water away from his mouth.
"Four days," Ryo repeated.
"W-w-what happened?" asked Takuya, "The last thing I remember was a giant shadow looming over me and a strange red light."
"It was weird, but not surprising," answered Ryo as he began to explain.
***FLASHBACK***
The shadow appeared behind Takuya and the Chosen Child turned only to find him face-to-foot with the creature.
Only one more left to go, it said as it closed in.
Takuya braced himself for what was to come. Suddenly, there was a bright red glow of light followed by a loud scream.
What is this?!?! cried the shadow as it backed away.
The stone that the unconscious Takuya held in his hand was glowing bright red. Right at that moment some sort of interdimensional wormhole appeared and out came a Digimon clad in a white and bluish-purple suit, a red scarf, and armor with a metallic right arm.
"I am Justimon!" said the Digimon, "By the order of the ADI, I cannot allow you to take this boy's life!"
And who will stop me? asked the shadow.
Justimon suddenly switched to a much larger arm and held the hand above his head.
"ACCEL. ARM!" he shouted. He slammed his palm against the ground and sent a wave of energy right at the shadow, hitting it.
Curses! said the shadow. It returned fire and managed to score a hit on Justimon. But just before the massive black monster could continue, the crystal Takuya held flashed a bright red light and a massive fiery phoenix emerged and screeched. The phoenix flew high into the air and circled around for a bit before coming down, flying straight at the shadow. The fiery bird collided with the dark monster and completely obliterated it.
"So this is the power of the stones," said Justimon as he watched.
***END FLASHBACK***
"So that's what happened," said Takuya between mouthfuls of fried rice.
"The Blackhearted will stop at nothing to achieve their goal," said Ryo.
"The Blackhearted?" Takuya asked curiously.
"The Blackhearted are a band of evil beings that infiltrate various universes and try to either take them over of destroy them," said a new voice. Takuya turned towards the door to see a boy with blue triangles on his face wearing a white scarf around his neck.
"Any news about the other stone holders, Kai?" Ryo asked.
"Other than this kid, only two more have just arrived," answered Kai as he tossed his Beyblade up and down in his hand.
"Others?" Takuya asked.
"You'll meet them later," said Ryo, "In the meantime, you better rest."
Takuya finished off his rice and Albert took the tray and the empty plate away. As the goggle boy settled back down, his eyes fell onto the red crystal, which he had received.
"Hey Ryo," he said.
"Yeah?" answered Ryo.
"What this?" asked Takuya as he took the crystal into his hand and held it up for Ryo to see.
"That's your elemental power," Ryo replied.
"Elemental power?" wondered Takuya.
"You possess the Pyro Stone," said Ryo, "It's magic grants you the power of fire."
"Fire," Takuya said softly to himself. His mind began to go back to the day he first entered the Digital World and came to possess the Legendary Spirit of Fire. Setting the Pyro Stone back onto the table, Takuya laid back down in bed and closed his eyes. He tried to sleep, but several thoughts kept plaguing his mind.
Why? he thought to himself, All of them, gone. Bokomon. Neemon. Patamon. Kouichi. Kouji. Junpei. Tomoki. Izumi. A tear rolled down Takuya's cheek as Izumi came to his mind.
"Sleep well, Takuya," said Ryo as he began to leave with Kai, "You'll need it." He stopped at the door for a moment and switched off the lights before exiting the room and letting the door slide closed, leaving Takuya alone in the room.
Izumi. Tomoki. All you guys. I promise I'll find and save you all, thought Takuya as he began to drift off into sleep.
TO BE CONTINUED…
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NEXT TIME:
Takuya finally meets the other stone holders and together, they finally come face-to-face with the leader of the ADI. But who are the Blackhearted? And what do they want? All the answers in the next chapter of United We Stand, Divided We Fall.
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Read and review, folks!
