Author's Notes: Sorry once again for the slowdown as exams are coming closer. Plus I have a lot of stuff to do like projects and tests. But I'll do what I can so don't worry too much about it. Also, Ryo fans may not like what is coming up ahead. You have been warned.
Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon in any form whatsoever. Bandai, Toei and ABC own the rights and all that stuff.
Ascension – V 3.5
"Damn it!! I can't see anything in there!! Where did it come from?!?" As soon as the mysterious fog had erupted out of nowhere, Justimon and the Digidestined had been forced to stay back. Yolei adjusted her glasses slightly. "It almost looks like a digital field, like the ones that we encountered in the tamers' world. Just how did one get here?"
A small drop of sweat rolled down Cody's cheek. "More importantly, what type of purpose would it serve in the digital world. From what Henry explained to us, digital fields appear whenever Digimon transport to the real world. I wonder how that's changed since one appeared in our dimension." He stopped talking when he felt Upamon shaking in his arms. "There's something really weird going on in there!!"
Kari looked around and made an observation. "All the other Digimon are reacting to some sort of stimulus, probably brought on by the digital field. Are you feeling something, Ryo?" The legendary tamer just tried to interpret the sensations running through his body. "Yeah. But I can't make heads or tails out of it. If we're going to get some answers, then I've got to go in!!" Before anyone could argue, he ran inside.
Rika has had her share of confusing situations before but this one took the cake. "What's going on? Just who is she? And who are you for that matter?" Kuzuhamon faked a look of pain. "I'm hurt. You've already forgotten me, only a few minutes after our conversation including her royal highness over there. Let me give you a hint…I quest to become the best Digimon tamer on the face of the earth and use everything else as stepping stones. Who am I?" She could barely conceal her mocking tone.
Sakuyamon gave a frown. 'Jeez…she didn't have to be too sarcastic about it. But then again, that's just the way I created that persona. If the Digimon Queen is Kuzuhamon, then that means Princess Sakuya is the other Sakuyamon.' She had already gotten up after some effort. "What do you hope to accomplish? Why are you doing this?
Kuzuhamon snorted. "I'm doing this because this is a golden opportunity. I'm tired of watching you waste your life and letting windows of opportunity fly by. What made me more upset is that you didn't seem to really care about it. After all, you had your precious goggle head as well as Renamon and the others." She slowly started to charge her weapon.
"You just stopped caring about getting stronger and so you didn't even order Renamon to upload the data of any Digimon you had deleted in the past few months. But I'm sure you remember the fact that survival in a desolate environment depends on how strong you are. So I'm going to start doing what you should have kept doing since day one!! And I'll start by uploading the two of you!! Demon Helix!!" Both Sakuyamons leapt out of the way.
"The way I think about it, once I upload your data then everything is as it should be. We'll all be one person again and I'll be the one who will run the show. Dark Triad!!" Three black foxes flew out to attack Rika, who was partially paralyzed with fear. The priestess had started to wave her hands in an odd manner before using her own attack to deflect the attack. "Amethyst Wind!!!"
Normally, Rika would be enjoying the adrenaline rush that comes during battle. It was that enjoyment that got her through her previous fights. Although there was some fear, it had been easily quashed by her goals to become stronger. She had always counted on the Digimon Queen persona because it represented a source of strength. But without the persona to get her through this, she was experiencing a sense of terror she hadn't felt in a long time. The last time she felt like this was when Shadowgallantmon was about to kill her.
"Stop this at once!!" She recognized the voice. 'I never thought that I would be thankful for Ryo making an appearance.' They all looked to see Justimon run into the area. Inside his sphere, Ryo blinked in surprise. "Whoa!! Now there are three of you!! This is strange…" 'And I think I see what Terriermon meant by her being hot in that priestess outfit.' He quickly scanned all three Digimon before hearing someone shout "Demon Helix!!" The blue Digimon had fired an attack.
The Sakuya persona shouted a warning but before Rika could respond, the ground exploded underneath her feet and she was thrown back. Kuzuhamon twirled her staff before rushing in to make the kill. But her staff was blocked by Justimon, who had morphed his right arm into his Voltage Blade. "That's enough out of you. Are you okay?" The Digimon behind him was breathing quickly. "Y-you saved my l-life…" If Justimon had a mouth, he would have smirked. "Twice, I believe."
Kuzuhamon started to laugh as the other Sakuyamon joined Justimon and her counterpart. "I can't believe this…look at you!! You actually look grateful that he saved your life!! The problem is that you didn't depend on yourself to get out of this mess. If you were able to think quickly enough, then you would have been fine. Once I'm through with you and her, that won't be a problem."
Justimon changed his arm back to the way it was. "Alright…somebody start talking. What happened here? Why is Kuzuhamon trying to delete you? Maybe we can all work something out." The dark shaman Digimon started walking forward. "Get out of the way, Akiyama. I have a job to complete."
"What are you going to do? Kill me? Will you actually go that far to achieve your goal? I'm certain that you have a spark of humanity in there and that you can't kill a human or a tamed Digimon. Therefore, you can't get past me," stated Justimon. Kuzuhamon stopped. "It is tempting to delete you as well and upload your partner's data. But I have a better idea."
"Like what? What can you do to me?" He felt a chill go through his body when she smiled. "I was hoping you would say that." She dashed forward in a burst of speed. Then time seemed to slow down as Kuzuhamon brought her knee up to strike the area in between Justimon's legs. Both Sakuyamons cringed as they saw the moment of impact.
'She actually rammed her knee into…oh, man. Not even Ryo deserved that type of brutal punishment.' The android Digimon collapsed and rolled up into a ball before splitting up into tamer and Digimon. Both of them had curled up into a ball. Ryo and Monodramon were making tiny whispers and it mostly consisted of 'Damn, that hurts!!' and 'Ouch!!' Kuzuhamon gave a small smile. "Wow…that felt great!! Now for the two of you."
"He may have been an obnoxious person but I believe that-" Rika started to shout at the priestess. "No time!! Move!!" They started to leap further out of the fog with Kuzuhamon staying right behind. Ryo opened his eyes slightly before he saw a silhouette hover above him, as if it is checking to make sure that he is alright. Satisfied, the silhouette leapt out and followed the other three Digimon.
It was strange how the silhouette was shaped like Sakuyamon. Why was that? How did all these other Digimon appear at once? He had no more time to think about this as the Digidestined made their appearance. "Ryo!! Are you alright?" asked Davis. The only response he got from the legendary tamer was a loud groan. "That obviously answers your question. Where did Rika go?" asked TK.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Daemon quickly shifted to the right as Megidramon went by. Gallantmon used Grani's firepower to attack in hopes of catching Daemon off guard. "Yuggoth Blaster!!" The demonic Digimon did an aerial back flip, with the attack flying over his body. "Dragon Driver!!" After recovering from the flip, he struck the holy knight, making him fall off of the glider. Grani immediately flew down to catch Gallantmon.
"Obsidian Lance!!" "Invincible Sword!!" Daemon saw the two weapons aimed for his solar plexus and so he used both arms to deflect the attacks before flipping forward over the two stunned knights and landing on the ground. The invigoration given by the ring was just as good if not better than the invigorating power given by the Dark Spore. "Oh, come now. Surely you can do better than this!!"
The four Digimon quickly regrouped and landed on the ground. "We have to coordinate ourselves better if we're going to stand a chance against him!" exclaimed Gallantmon. Shadowgallantmon rolled his eyes. "No duh, Sherlock. We'll have to keep up a two-pronged attack. Strike at different areas and divide his attention. That's the way to victory and to our prize. Let's go!!"
Both he and Gallantmon charged forward and attacked directly with their lances. While Daemon grabbed them, GCM and Megidramon leapt up above to strike the demon. Daemon immediately let go of the two lances in order to dodge backwards but Shadowgallantmon and Gallantmon were waiting for him.
The holy knight combined Grani's Yuggoth Blaster and his Final Elysian while the dark knight focused a condensed Demon's Disaster on Daemon. GCM grinned underneath his helmet. "Excellent!! Everyone, prepare to strike while Daemon is disoriented!!" Their thoughts of victory dissipated when they heard a loud cough from the smoke. "Oh, bugger!!"
They all saw Daemon brushing the dust off of his red armour. "Bravo. You actually got in a hit and dirtied my armour." He continued to examine himself, ignoring his four opponents. Gallantmon narrowed his eyes. "If we're going to stand a chance of beating him, we've got to try and hit him with the Hazard Crush Blow. But it's not like he's going to stand there and take the attack head on."
GCM nodded. "True. We have to fire it when he least suspects it. I will try and distract him…perhaps some of my attacks can still have an effect on him. You three prepare yourselves and once he's off guard, I will join you and we will use the Hazard Crush Blow to finish him off!" Shadowgallantmon gave a small growl. "Some plan, Casanova. But considering that I can't think of anything at the moment, I'll go along. Now how do we convince dragon breath not to do anything rash?"
"I can try and take him along as well. He can also provide additional distraction. Megidramon, you're with me!" The dragon Digimon just ignored the crimson knight and charged Daemon again. GCM followed him and raised his weapon. "Prepare to be struck down by my sword of righteousness!! Final Justice!!" Daemon simply raised a left hand and caught the weapon. "You have no idea how much that holy defender of justice crap irritates me."
"Megido Flame!!" He tossed the crimson knight aside and blocked the flame attack. Megidramon then tried to tackle Daemon and use his superior strength but it was of little use as moments later, he landed right beside GCM. "Yuggoth Blaster!!" He had no time to dodge it as the attack paralyzed him. 'What is this?!?'
Gallantmon grinned underneath his helmet. "I think I was able to slow him down!! Everyone start focusing on creating the attack!!" GCM and Megidramon got up quickly and rejoined the dark knight as well as the holy knight. 'This attack is trying to eat away at my data. But it will find that is difficult to do, especially with my superior powers!!' Daemon started to concentrate to break himself free but he noticed that the four Digimon had assembled into a position in the air and that they were all glowing with a crimson red aura.
"HAZARD CRUSH BLOW!!!"
A thick beam of energy shaped like the Hazard symbol erupted from the four Digimon. Moments later, a gigantic red ball of energy was blinding them to seeing whether they had defeated Daemon or not. GCM was muttering to himself. "May we be forgiven for what had to be done." Shadowgallantmon gave him a strange look. "What's eating you, Casanova?"
"I fear that the damage done by our attack to the digital world may be permanent. When we fired, the beam was big enough to hit Daemon and a fair amount of land down below." When the crimson knight didn't hear the dark knight give one of his usual snappy replies, he noticed that his attention was focused on something else. GCM started to focus on what Shadowgallantmon was looking at. Then he gasped as he saw the gigantic ball shrink until it was nothing more than a small ball in Daemon's hands. He then blew on it, causing it to dissipate into several tiny particles. "I don't think you need to worry about that," murmured Gallantmon.
Daemon gave a chuckle. "That kind of tickled." Before GCM had further time to contemplate how to deal with Daemon, the demonic angel appeared right in his face and grabbed his throat. "Death Grasp!!" Soon all four Digimon were feeling the pain and screaming in agony. After Daemon had performed the attack, they had all fallen to the ground, unable to move as their bodies were in bad shape.
Even though Daemon was puzzled at the connection, he found that in this case, he benefited from it. 'Apparently, when one feels great pain, the others experience it as well. Interesting. I had better finish up this business before making other plans to conquer the digital world and the human world in all four realms.' He started gathering a huge amount of energy. "Prepare yourselves for oblivion!! Dark Banishing!!" He fired a big black ball of energy. The last thing he heard was Shadowgallantmon exclaiming "SSSSSSHHHHHHHHIIIIIII-" before the explosion.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Both Sakuyamons were bouncing off different edges of rocks in order to get to the top of the cliff. They hadn't had time to check how far behind Kuzuhamon was. However, they did not want to know. "You know…" She looked and gasped as she saw the dark shaman sticking to the side of the cliff with her boots. "…I'm quite vexed at the fact that you are running away from a battle. I'll fix that soon enough."
Somewhere inside of Rika, she snapped. The Digimon Queen persona may have been a source of strength but it was not the only one. She had stopped being that ruthless person a while ago. So during fights, she tried to develop new sources of courage and forced herself not to rely on the Digimon Queen persona so often but she had kept using it. Now that persona is endangering her life. Before she knew it, she had whipped out her staff. "If you're so eager for my data, come and get it!!"
Kuzuhamon gave a smile. "Thank you for extending that invitation. Demon Helix!!" "Dragon Helix!!" Both attacks collided with each other and caused an explosion. Kuzuhamon dashed forward with her staff poised to strike but Rika leapt up and gracefully landed on the ground on top of the cliff. She twirled her staff a few times before raising it to block the Digimon Queen's attack.
The staffs kept giving off a clanging noise as they clashed together. 'She's getting wilder with each attack!! I have to back off a bit!!' Rika ducked another swing by her counterpart before performing several back flips to move away. However when she landed on the last one, her body started tingling. And it wasn't in a good way. Kuzuhamon felt it as well and dropped to her knees, watching in horror as her hand was fading in and out.
"What's happening?!?" The priestess Sakuyamon tried to focus on keeping together but it was most difficult. She didn't even notice a fourth Sakuyamon in red armour also fading in and out. The one in crimson armour looked up and noticed the priestess. 'I wonder what part of Rika she represents. I can guess later…right now, I've got to make sure that she doesn't get hurt!!'
* * * * * * * * * * * *
He woke up in a strange place. It appeared almost watery but not quite. To be more specific, it looked like those strange ambience images that played on a Media Player but he didn't know that nor did he care. But it was hard to see anything in this environment. 'Where am I? Where's Grani? What is this place? Where are the others?' Gallantmon shook the dizziness away and got up. 'That last attack on Daemon was a whopper!! How are we going to beat him? I better find the others and…'
He stopped thinking as he noticed a figure in a large black robe and hood walking towards him. He could see that perfectly fine, even with the confusing background images. 'What in the…?' He waited for some sort of confrontation but the figure just passed by without saying a single word. "Uh, excuse me? Do you know where we are?" The figure stopped walking when the holy knight asked his question. ARE YOU TALKING TO ME?
Gallantmon felt a chill go down his spine when he heard the other figure's voice. The best way to describe it was that it carried like a voice belonging in a dark cemetery at winter. "Er…yes. You seem to know this place well. Can you help explain a few things?" LIKE WHAT? CAN YOU BE ANY MORE SPECIFIC? OTHERWISE, I CAN'T HELP YOU.
Finally, curiosity got the better of the holy knight. "Um…just who are you and why do you have such a creepy voice?" He knew this was impolite but with Guilmon's childish instincts, he just fired away. AS THE GOD OF DEATH, I HAVE TO HAVE A CREEPY VOICE. IT'S IN THE JOB DESCRIPTION. MY NAME IS EMMA-O.
He felt himself go pale underneath his helmet. "The G-God of D-Death? Great…I'm dead now, right?" The figure shrugged. TYPICALLY WHEN SOMEONE SEES ME, THEN USUALLY THAT PERSON HAS DIED. SO IT'S SAFE TO ASSUME THAT YOU HAVE REACHED THE AFTERLIFE. The only noise that came out of the holy knight was 'eep'.
And another chapter is done. Wow…anyways. I included a special omake to try and appease the fan girls who have claimed Ryo as their bishounen.
OMAKE
"Would you please stop getting ice cream on my shirt?"
BlackTerriermon saw another drop fall on to his partner. "Momentai, DC!! It's just a small thing that you can deal with when you get home. Hey, who's that guy running?"
DC blinked as he saw a Chinese teenager run up to him. "Odd. What's freaking Epsilon out so badly?"
"RUN!! RUN!! RUN!!! And when you're finished…RUN SOME MORE!!!"
The rabbit Digimon frowned. "Momentai already!! What are you scared of?!?"
Epsilon had to take a few breaths before speaking. "Remember the segment in chapter 25 of Ascension with Ryo getting kicked in the family jewels? Now I have a whole bunch of pissed off fangirls who want my hide!! I'll catch you later!! Don't want to give them too much time to catch up!! Oh, take this!!" He quickly gave BlackTerriermon a small piece of paper.
As he ran off, BlackTerriermon could make out a huge mob consisting of girls who want to avenge their bishounen coming from another direction. "Where did he go?!?" DC awkwardly pointed a finger in another direction. "Thanks!! Wait a second…you're that Rukato author!!"
"So? What about it?" BlackTerriermon opened the paper and went pale. He then passed it on to DC who also went pale. It read:
WARNING: These Ryo otakus have recently taken a liking to Ryuki stories and have begun to hate Rukato authors with a passion. RUN NOW!!!!
"Epsilon, wait for us!!!!" And so the chase began.
END
I don't know why I did this but I had a dream about it a while ago and here it is. Anyways, see you on the other side.