Ryu's POV:
I reappeared several feet in the air, snapped my wings open and landed neatly. "Great. Now where am I?"
"Welcome, Guardian." a deep voice rumbled.
Spinning around, I came face to face with….nothing. "Who said that?"
"I did. Don't bother looking, I'm not there with you. Now, before meeting with you, there is one last battle. Of course, I am not completely heartless. Go through the door on your right and you will find some food. Through the door in front of you, you will find your opponent."
Well, may as well get going. Stepping forward, I pushed the door open, and stepped into what appeared to be a large, circular arena.
"Are you ready? Be warned, this will be the hardest battle you've had so far."
"Yes."
"Very well then. Final round commence!"
A door on the other side of the arena swung open, and my opponent stepped out of the shadows and into the open.
I gasped. Standing across from me was an exact duplicate.
"You seem surprised. I am not a true copy of you. I am merely a collection of all the battle data that we have on you. I also have an observation program to record additional information from this match. Anything that you have done so far, I can replicate perfectly. I am also capable of using more attack features of the D-Dragon than you are currently aware of." The "D-Dragon" as he called it, rippled, and three prongs extended from the dragon's mouth. As bolts started to crackle around the prongs, he pointed it at me and fired.
I launched myself into the air, just as a blast blew a hole in the wall where I had been standing. I activated the gattling cannon in my "D-Dragon", and fired a long blast back at my duplicate, sending up a cloud of smoke around the area.
When the smoke cleared, he was still standing there, completely unharmed.
"It has a shield function as well." He said, holding up his right arm.
Running along the sides of his arm were dozens of small spikes, and surrounding the spikes was a reddish glow.
Great. Now what? Apparently, I can't blast him from here… With a silent grumble, I shot a quick glare at the gauntlet. "I don't suppose you've got a sword in there…?"
To my surprise, I was answered not only by blades growing out of the dragon's mouth, but also one extending from the back of my elbow, and almost reaching my shoulder. In addition, my body itself changed, the spikes on my back and tail vanished, the scales on my left arm became rock-hard, and a blade pushed its way out of my elbow.
Across from me, my opponent was going through the same changes.
Aidan's POV:"Oof.." I landed on all fours in the center of a large-ish room.
"Welcome."
"Who's there!?" I demanded.
"Don't worry. I'm no threat. If you must know, I'm the one behind the battles you've been fighting recently. I have one final challenge for you. It is waiting through the door in front of you. If you like, there is food to your right. Enter the next room when you're ready to begin."
"Nah. Don't need anything slowing me down." I stepped through the doorway, and was confronted by a copy of myself.
"Ready?"
"Yes."
"Very well. Final round begin!"
"Pyro Bomb!" We chorused.
The blasts streaked across the room, and detonated against each other.
Charging in, we began a close combat match. Strike, block, counterstrike…the pattern went on and on, until in one moment, I blocked a moment too late. The second punch caught me in the gut, and I doubled up, gasping for breath. "Pyro…BOMB!" The trio of blasts flew out of my jaws and caught him full on, sending him crashing against the far wall.
"Heh. Now that was unexpected." He said, climbing to his feet. "Well, what say we end the warm-up?"
"Fine by me."
Tharos' POF:"You, I give a choice. You can either fight or pass through unchallenged."
"No thanks. I want to see how much better that thing's gotten since my last visit." I responded with a grin.
"Suit yourself. I only ask that you refrain from using the wave cannon in your Cyberdramon form. I hate to say it, but the arenas can't take a hit like that without being damaged beyond my damage control system's ability to fix."
"Yeah, yeah. I know that already."
"Then tell me why I've had to fix blast craters in three different arenas!"
"Sorry. I just get a little carried away sometimes."
"No kidding?"
"ALRIGHT! I won't use it this time!"
"Good."
With a growl, I pushed the door open, and came face to face with my double.
"You ready?" I asked in a low growl.
"Of course."
"Good."
"Strike Claw!"
I rolled to the side to avoid his claw, and as I came out of the roll, sprayed the area with fire from my shock cannons, sending up a wall of smoke.
My copy burst through the top of the smoke cloud, and fired a pair of shooting stars.
Shifting my aim, I fired off another burst from the shock cannons, and took the two missiles down. However, the resulting blast threw up an even larger cloud of smoke, and I lost track of my copy. Heh I'm fighting blind, and it's almost up to my level. I may have to work for this victory… I leapt into the air as seven or eight swarm missiles detonated where I had been a moment before. Trace the trajectory…there! For an instant, I saw the gleam of metal through the smoke. Eight small ports opened up around my arm, and I fired off a round of swarm missiles.
The missiles streaked down, detonating harmlessly. However, the shockwave from the blasts managed to blow some of the smoke aside for a moment, revealing the copy.
The moment my feet were back on the ground, I fired off another sustained burst from my shock cannons, but by the time the rounds got there, he had moved back into the smoke.
This is getting interesting. Spinning around, I caught the copy's claw an instant before it struck me. "You're a lot better than the last time." I launched a kick into his midsection, sending it back into the air.
"But you can't beat me. The original is always superior to a copy."
"That's what you think."
"Of course. While I am continually developing new techniques, your programming only allows you to take my battle data. In other words, you are how I was almost a year ago. Your data is obsolete."
"Prove it."
"Oh, I intend to." Most of the smoke had been filtered out by the air-processing systems, meaning that there was very little cover in the arena now.
With a roar, I charged in and lashed out with my right claw.
Ryu's POVI caught his sword on my left arm, then rushed forward, aiming to land a blow with my right elbow-blade.
He leapt back, just outside of my attack range. "Come now, surely you can do better than that."
"Damn right I can." I shifted the D-Dragon back to its gattling mode and fired a long stream of energy at him.
"Won't work." He said as the rounds splattered harmlessly against his shield.
I shifted it back to sword mode, and charged in.
Either by choice or lack of time, he kept the D-Dragon in its shield configuration, and deflected my strike. I spun around to strike with my left elbow-blade, but that was likewise stopped. I kept spinning, lashing out with all three blades and my tail, but he seemed to know where each strike was going to be, and blocked each one.
Until, that is, I reversed direction, and suddenly came at him from the right. The sudden reversal caught him slightly by surprise, and in that instant, I configured my D-Dragon to the beam cannon that I had seen him use earlier.
The blast ripped a sizzling hole through his torso, burning through armor and flesh like they were nothing.
However, as I watched, thin wires began to bridge the damaged area, and within a minute, the wound was gone, except for a shining metal patch to mark where the hole had been.
"I concede the match. Had I been anything else, that shot would have destroyed me. Well then, follow me." His weapons deactivated, and he turned and walked through the door he came in from.
I powered down the cannon and followed him through. Much to my surprise, I found a table that was piled high with food.
"Wait here. Your companions will be along shortly."
"Sure. Thanks. Umm…I can eat this, right?" I asked, pointing at the food.
"That's what it's there for."
"Nice. Thanks!"
Aidan's POV:"Nova Barrage!"
As the blasts streaked toward me, I summoned up my flames. "Blaze Wall!" My shield took a pounding, but it was enough to negate his attack. I leapt out from the flame, in the momentary pause between his attacks, kneed him in the gut.
As he staggered back, I summoned up more fire and fired off a Nova Barrage at point-blank range.
The resulting blast ripped off my double's left arm, and peeled away parts of its face.
I gasped. Staring at me from the ruined face was a robotic eye and the glint of a metallic skin. As I watched, a new arm grew from the stump of its arm.
"Very well. I concede. Damage received exceeds tolerance levels. The match is over." It "devolved", and walked through a door. "Devolve and follow me."
"Right…" After devolving, I followed it through.
"Hey Aidan. Looks like we all ended up in the same place."
"Ryu?"
"Yep." He jerked a finger toward the pair of robots. "They said Tharos was still fighting. Speaking of which…" He turned toward the robots. "Could you two leave us alone for a while?"
"When Tharos is done with his match, we will have to return."
"Fine." Ryu said.
The pair walked out, and Ryu turned back to me. "So, Aidan…"
Here we go…I thought glumly. "Yes?"
"Why didn't you tell me you had a name name?"
"It's…a long story."
"I doubt that. That particular clich's been used so much it's all but meaningless."
"Alright…I'll give you the short version."
"Fine with me."
"Well, first off, Tharos is the only one who's called me that for the last few years. About five years ago, I spent a lot of time traveling with a couple older warriors. Raven, the older one, was an Alphamon, and a Mega, which means that he was about as strong as they come. Raxis was younger, but in his own way, just as powerful. As a team, the two were almost unbeatable. Raven excelled in close range combat, whereas Raxis, being a Raidenmon, excelled at long range combat. I'm sure you can see the advantages."
"Of course. One softens the target up, then the other finishes it off."
"Right. Well, at one point, they served as the guards for something or other-they never told me, despite my asking them many times-but it seems that something happened, and they failed. As a result, they spent most of their time out in the wilds, which is where I ran into them. They took me in, and of course, I was glad for some friendship. Well, up until then, I was actually going by Strikemon-not all digimon decide to take other names. Well, they decided to give me a different name, and after a week, they decided to call me Aidan."
"That explains the name." He said. "But not why you stopped using it."
"I'm getting to it." I grumbled. "Stop interrupting."
"Sorry."
"Well, one night, we were attacked. I still don't know who, or what attacked us. They told me to escape while they fended it off, so of course, I took off. I mean, they were both megas, and I was only a rookie. If they told me to go, I went. Well, when I went back the next morning, the entire area was blasted clear open. Dozens of craters from Raxis' guns, huge gashes in the ground from Raven's swords…but no sign of either them or the thing that came after them. At least, that's what I thought. After about an hour of circling the area, I made my way into the center of the destruction. I found…debris. Raven's broken swords, and…pieces of Raxis. It…wasn't pleasant. That was where Tharos found me, a couple days later. Shortly after that, I stopped using 'Aidan' as my name. I figured if I couldn't help them when they needed it the most, I had no right to the name."
"Idiot."
"What?"
"Think about it. It's good to know that you respected them that much, but like you said, they were megas. What could you have done? Besides, how do you think they'd react if they knew that you'd given up that name so easily?"
Tharos' POV:"Desolation Claw!" The robot dodged the blast, and fire a short burst from its beam cannon.
Great. It's modifying itself during the match. I've got to end this now! I dodged the burst, and fired one of my own. "You're in luck. You'll be the first to fall victim to my new move."
"Bing it on." It replied, firing off a volley of missiles.
"I fully intend to." Rushing forward, I passed the missiles before they could acquire a lock, and slammed my shoulder into its chest.
Planting both claws in the ground, I launched a kick into its lower jaw, sending it a foot or so into the air. I pushed off with my claws, and delivered a second kick, than knocked it much higher.
The instant my feet touched the ground, I was up again, this time aiming to go straight through it. My claws pierced its back, and whipped them downward, flinging it straight into the ground. I then fired my right claw into its stomach section, hitting it just as it hit the floor.
As I began to fall, I angled myself toward my fallen opponent, pulled my claw back, and began to charge a wave cannon shot. Just before my landing, I fired a half-power shot, ripping the robot in two. "Meteor Rendan!"
"There. I win again." I said, as I pushed the pieces into a pile in the center of the arena. "And as usual, you need some serious repairs."
"You weren't supposed to use the cannon."
"I fired it at half power. He has no reason to complain." I devolved before continuing. "However, your modifications made this an almost decent match. I think I'll go talk to the old man about letting you work out some tricks of your own."
I made my way to the exit and walked through.
"Think about it. It's good to know that you respected them that much, but like you said, they were megas. What could you have done? Besides, how do you think they'd react if they knew that you'd given up that name so easily?
I grinned. "They'd be pissed."
"What!?" Two heads whipped around to stare at me.
"What?" I said lightly. "They would be. By the way, where're the other two 'bots?"
"Right here." The fourth door opened, and they walked out.
"It needs repairs again. The pieces are where they always are."
"Can't you restrain yourself?" Aidan's copy asked.
"Nope." I said with a grin. "Besides, it's not my fault you're built flimsy."
Ryu's clone sighed. "We'll repair it, as usual."
"So where's the old guy?"
"Would it kill you to show a little respect?" Another voice grumbled.
"It probably would." I said with a grin.
A massive blue dragon stepped through the door. "Ah, so you two finally got here. And Tharos, thanks for keeping an eye on them."
"No problem, old man."
"By the way," he said lightly. "I thought you WEREN'T going to use the cannon?"
"It was at half power! What do you have to complain about?"
"You're not the one who has to repair it."
"Bad construction, hm? Prometheus could have shrugged it off."
"This isn't Prometheus. I don't have that level of technology."
Drake: There, this chapter's all done.
Ryu: Took you long enough.
Drake: Is that a kuwagamon I see?
Ryu: Alright, alright. I'll stop. Just call off the bugs!
Drake: Good.
Well, here's another chapter for you. Hope you like it. Now
REVIEW!! Come on, can I at least get more than two? (Hey, that
rhymed….;)
Bonus points to whoever figures out where I got the idea for Tharos' last attack!