Chapter Fifty Four: Parallels Meet
[Evan's P.O.V]
"So, unless you're a ghost I don't think you were with Kari." I gulped when the blonde haired boy spoke because I had a feeling that I knew what would come next.
His Digimon shifted and I knew he was about to attack me. I can't blame them really, I can't. If I was in their position I would probably react the same. Wait, if we would react the same what would convince me? What would convince me that they were the telling the truth if the situation was turned around? If I say something they'll just think that I found out from the Demon Lords or from spying so I had to show physical proof of knowing her. That was impossible because I had no pictures or anything.
"Argh come on!" I groaned and grabbed my head.
"It's not fair! What if I told you that Rin is probably being targeted by the Demon Lords for another attack? That I came here to try to help make sure she isn't attack." The blonde haired boy narrowed his eyes at me and the blonde haired girl was pretty much shoved back into the apartment and the red-haired boy now stood in front of her.
"How do know that she's a target?" So Rin is the blonde haired girl, interesting.
"We took a chance that presented itself and we took out their information gatherer but they will strike back more than likely, they'll attack the weakest link. At the moment it's Rin and me because we're separated from the rest." I could tell them so many things but would they take my information and actually believed that I learned it while I was with them or would they think that I learned from the Demon Lords?
"What you came all the way here for what? I don't see any Digimon with you so what can you even do?" I sighed and tightened my grip on my head, so many answers shot through my head and I wasn't sure what to tell him.
"Easiest way to put is it that I don't have a partner, I can fight without the need of a partner." I bit my lip though when I admitted that.
My mind flashed back to years ago when I still lived in my world with the others. I remembered how I had actually had a partner but he had sacrificed himself in the very first battle so we could get away. He never got the chance to reform before our world was destroyed. From the start Storm fought on her own strength unlike me who had been used to relaying on a partner. It hurt her back then because it put her on the outside but now it was probably a blessing in disguise because she was stronger with her limited power because she's used to them well more used to them than I am with my own.
"I would say prove it but every time I ask for that something bad have happened." The blonde hair boy cut the red-haired boy a look but I saw the furious look in the red-haired boy's eyes and something told me he didn't belong to this world.
"What are you talking about Izzy?" The look in his eyes told me that he knew far more than he was letting on.
"I'll explain that later Matt." Izzy didn't look from me and I narrowed my eyes slightly.
"Why not explain it now because you still said it." It confused them but I released my head before standing up.
I looked over my shoulder as it all came to focus. There was someone here that was heading towards us. They moved at an incredible speed and it wasn't something that I was looking forward to dealing with. I knew this was going to happen and something tells me I'm going to be glad that I arrived here when I did. It took until I saw the sliver of something that I realized that it was an attack. I raised my hand when I saw the crackling energy for a moment I thought about Storm but I knew that it wasn't Storm, it didn't feel like her.
I didn't like the idea but I focused and with a flicker of black flames a shield spread out in front of us and I got ready for it. It slammed into the shield and it sparked along my shield, I wasn't one for using a shield so I wasn't experienced with it. Storm was the one who used the barriers and provided defense when needed whereas I would rather dodge attacks than block. I glanced back at them to make sure that this wasn't somehow one of their friends and they were planning to attack me in my back, if they were I would just move and let them get hit.
They seemed just as surprised as I did at first, Izzy had pushed the girl farther back inside and Matt gripped what I could only assume was his Digivice and his partner looked ready to Digivolve, his partner was watching the attack and looking for the enemy. They were on my side well for now at least.
"Well, you weren't lying about being able to fight without a partner." I rolled my eyes and looked away from the slightly stunned Izzy.
"It also brings up a lot of questions though." I can only imagine the questions that they'll want me to answer after this.
"Yeah well, I'll answer next to anything after this." Once it weakened enough I let the shield go and I heard one of them let out a startled noise but I jumped dodging what was left of the weakened blast of lightning, it didn't even leave a mark on the ground.
I quickly tried to find the person who attacked us. I didn't want to fight a Demon Lord because I knew there wasn't anything that we would be able to do against one. There was no way for Rin to fight and I doubt me and one Digimon could take on a Demon Lord by ourselves. It was a bit unbelievable that we're supposed to defeat them once and for all.
"Did you see anything?" Why can't I even sense someone?
Something wasn't right. Whoever just attacked us was originally from this world. That was the only way to explain why their presence didn't stand out to me. Not even the Demon Lords could hide their selves that well. They can make their selves blend in to a degree but not to the point that they seemed to be a part of the world. A Demon Lord didn't originate from this world either; their home worlds have either been destroyed or are hyper aware of the existences of other worlds. No original worlds of the Demon Lords were stupid enough not to know of the outside let alone everyone usually knew about the existence of the Digital World.
"I think I saw MegaKabuterimon but I must've been seeing things." I looked to the Digimon; Matt looked at his partner before looking to Izzy.
"Izzy, did Tentomon come through?" Izzy shifted slightly.
"Not to my knowing." Was that his partner then?
"W-what is that?!" Rin's yell made me whip around.
There was a huge red bug coming at us. Shit that wasn't good. I wasn't about to let some Digimon that isn't a Demon Lord do any real damage. I could handle the Digimon probably. I summoned my sword as I had jumped on the ledge and I was going to jump at it but I was yanked back by my long coat and I managed to fall flat on my butt. I was going to yell but the Digimon stopped and someone jumped from the Digimon's back and it DeDigivolved.
I blinked at the sight before me. Another Izzy stood there looking a bit disoriented and a bit unsteady. I glanced at the Izzy that stood in front of Rin and he had a 'oh shit' face. Well then. In all the worlds I've been to I've never seen two different people but technically the same ever come face to face. Not to mention that this meant that one of these two didn't belong in this world. Well unless their identical twins but I don't think that's the case considering Matt seemed kind of confused.
"Why are there two Izzys?" The red bug Digimon spoke it and that's what seemed to snap the other Izzy out of his stupor.
"Who are you!?" The Izzy that had just appeared pointed at the Izzy that had been here since I came.
"Um, well huh this interesting. I thought for sure you'd be stuck for a while longer." The Izzy that had been here scratched the back of his head as he shifted a bit nervously.
"Oh my, I don't even know which one I should trust." Matt muttered the words but it was true, they looked identical besides the clothes they wore.
"This one is the real Izzy!" The red bug Digimon pointed at the one he had come with.
"Obviously but that doesn't answer who you are." The recently arrived Izzy glared at the now nervous Izzy.
"Geez, this is why you're not supposed to use your identity to enter a group unless you know for certain the other isn't gonna show up." They all looked at me; the new Izzy seemed surprised to see me.
"You're the boy who died saving Kari!" He pointed at me and I blinked.
"You know that how?" Maybe he was the Runner Izzy?
"I back hacked the so-called government agency and got their whole database of Runners, you're the Runner known as Leo Gallant." He managed to back hack a place that had a database on Runners.
"Well then, whoever they are I can assure you aren't good guys. It's a unspoken rule and agreement between Rulers not to have such a database since the Demon Lords used it last time to hunt down anyone they saw as a threat." He blinked and then he pointed at who was probably his partner.
"I told you they were working with the Demon Lords Tentomon!" I guess that means they had more than just Lady Ophanimon gathering information for them.
"The things you learn by accident." I laughed as I spoke the words; I hadn't meant to learn that they had more information gathers.
"Well we're screwed if they are Izzy! They know everything that we know!" The newer Izzy looked at Matt.
"Oh yeah, shit! That dude knows everything that I had my laptop! They have access to all my research and everything." The Izzy who had arrived grabbed his head.
"Um, so yeah did you attack us?" Matt's partner asked Tentomon.
Why can't I seem to remember the name of Matt's partner? Thanks to so many fights and learning so many Digimon a few slip my mind, usually the Rookie Level and below since most of the time they don't pose much threat to me and Storm. It was starting to bother me now though.
"Kind of, I was aiming for him." They looked at me when Tentomon pointed at me.
"Can I ask why?" Why was he aiming for me?
"You are aware that you give off a very dark energy right?" I looked at the Izzy that's been here since I arrived.
"You give off the feel of an evil Digimon." When he said that I curled my hands into fists, well that explains what he meant years ago.
"So you are an enemy?" It was more of a question and it wasn't accompanied by an attack and to make sure that there wouldn't be a sudden attack I let my sword disappear.
"No, it's just ah how do I explain this?" I crossed my arms as I sighed.
"While he's thinking I'll explain myself." I glanced at the Izzy that's been here since I came, they seemed on edge but they weren't doing anything then again it might be because Rin stood behind him.
"My name is Izzy Izumi, well Koushiro but still I go by Izzy but for all purposes just call me Koushiro for now." I already knew what happened and if I wanted to be mean I could report him to his Digital Ruler if I found out but I wouldn't because at times like these sometimes rules have to be broken.
"I had hoped to get to Tai before his vanished; I have information of what's going on. What he's hesitated to say is that he did die but someone, probably because a DigiDestined of Miracle made a miracle happen." They looked at me surprised but I nodded.
"I was with Kari when we were attacked; Koichi and Koji trusted me and my sister to get Kari to safety. She was going to get attacked so I protected her but it used an attack, I was half numb after blocking that attack. I should've died but my friend Chrono; she has magic because in her world there is magic. She healed me because I was at the brink of death when she somehow summoned me to her world and started to heal me." Everyone thought I was dead which included Storm; I had to tell her somehow.
"Everyone thinks he's dead because to everyone he is dead, he died that day protecting Kari. It's a mistake though, for the second time ever you can say that the Demon Lords have made a mistake." I nodded but then I realized what he said.
"Second time, they've never made a mistake before though." Koushiro gave a bitter laugh at my words.
"You just don't know, oh how they keep their first mistake covered over." What was their first mistake and how does he know?
"How do you know they made a mistake before this?" Even Matt didn't seem to believe it even though he probably knew a lot less than what I did.
"Their mistake was thinking nothing ever changed even though they don't hold their perfect win record, they've lost a fight before." I knew what he meant.
"Wait, Tai's missing!?" Izzy and Matt both latched onto that now and Koushiro sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.
"Yes, he vanished this morning through a portal. I have no clue where the portal went to though; there is no way to track him either." I bit my lip as I thought about that.
"Do you think they took him to try to use him again Kari? It wouldn't be the first time they've taken hostages." I know that years ago they took a hostage to use against someone, I have no clue who but they wanted someone to fight for them so they took a hostage.
"No, if the Demon Lords would've come here I would've known. My Digivice has a sensor built into it, the sensor would've picked them up not to mention their underlings would've been picked up too. Sadly they would've gone after Rin before Tai though." That's true; Rin would've been their primary target because they would've used her as an example.
"Does that mean your sensor picked him up?" Matt's partner pointed at me when he spoke and I sighed.
"No but I sensed him." They kind of all didn't seem to trust me.
"It's because he looks like Izzy that you trust him isn't it?" They trust him at the moment because he looks like someone who they know and trust.
"Oh don't get us wrong, we don't trust him it's just he's about the best resource we have at the moments besides you but you could be an enemy. Plus he's obviously been here for a while and he hasn't tried anything yet. He was even left alone with Rin." I sighed and hung my head.
"Four years ago my home was destroyed by the Demon Lords. I hate them and I want revenge, hatred and revenge are two powers that can taint people's powers. They like pride will make anything dealing with the Digital World foul. No matter what I try I have a spark of wrath inside of my heart, wrath has befouled my power." It was the easiest way to explain it.
"Destroyed?" I looked at Izzy at the questioning tone.
"That's right; you don't how half about how cruel they are." They have absolutely no clue about just what kind of Digimon we're against.
"What do you mean by that?" Izzy didn't look like he was happy with me saying he didn't know something.
"They destroy worlds because they get bored. I have nowhere to go because they destroyed my friends and killed my friends in front of my eyes because they got bored." His eyes widened hearing that.
"My sister and I only lived because we were protected; one of our friends protected her using every last drop of strength he had, he used his crest to the fullest that in the history of everything he has drawn out more power than anyone else in that one moment." I still remembered how Kain had protected her, the Crest of Faith cracked that day due to how much he drew out of it.
"I survived being my best friend decided to follow our other friend's lead, she used her Crest and while she drew out less than he did she still drew out enough to save me." I looked at the stars that were my arm warmers now.
Kain saved her and Free saved me. I was surprised that Free had managed to do that because she wasn't one to fight and she was believed to be the weakest. Then again perhaps Kain's strength had flowed out wide enough that it had protect me as well. I wasn't sure what happened but I knew that Free had tried her best in those last moments. I remember still that smile she gave me before everything went black.
"They are cruel and I can promise you, unless we kill the Demon Lords then they will kill us." They knew about the prophecy, I knew they knew it and since they knew they wouldn't let us roam free forever and this battle is going to start seriously soon.
"It's a fight to the death." I looked to Rin, she looked afraid but I gave her a small smile.
"If you trust me I'll do my best to make sure you survive." She seemed surprised at my words.
I didn't want anyone to die. I would only fight alongside of someone though if they would trust me. I won't risk my life to fight with someone who doesn't trust me. I don't want to be in the middle of the fight only to get stabbed in the back because someone doesn't trust me. Besides looking at her, she was dragged into this somehow and she probably was going to be one of the weaker members since she's managed to stay so unknown this whole time.
"Aw that's so sweet." I narrowed my eyes slightly and looked towards the end of the hallway.
I watched the women because something about her wasn't right. She had nearly black hair and her eyes were an unsettling light blue. When I saw the device on her arm I knew who she was. I step forwards and stood in between her and them. I might not know them but I knew why she was here. I had met her a year ago on a mission, I had been after a Digimon that was causing havoc but she reached him before I did. She vanished with the Digimon before my eyes, I knew from that day that she was one of those criminals that have been helping taking out those could oppose the Demon Lords; she wore a bracelet that bore the symbol of the Demon Lords that was green.
"It was a matter of time before the counter measure was taken." Out of all the opponents that I could've had I was grateful that it was a human who relied on a partner to fight.
"Leo Gallant? Shouldn't you be dead? I thought for sure that Barbamon made sure that you would die there in the Dark Area." I couldn't let it get out yet that I was still alive.
"Amaya, the Demon Lord's Runner who can close gates." I was surprised when Koushiro spoke the words but it made sense; when I figured it out I was unable to chase after her and I was trapped in that world for nearly four days, Gallantmon had to force open a gate for me and since that day that world has been closed off from the outside.
"Guess Hiro wasn't lying about her being the enemy." I saw her narrow her eyes hearing the name Hiro.
"Hiro knew huh? Then again I did kind of nearly kill him, I had a feeling he unlike the others didn't buy it that it was an 'accident'." This would be interesting because back then her partner was already a Digimon who warranted the need to air on the side of caution but it's been a year so her partner is probably stronger now.
"I wonder how they'll reward me if I kill both you and Rin. I'll be taking out two instead of one; ah they always said good things come to those who wait." I glared at her and with a tap to the device on her arm it glowed and data rushed out.
The data rushed towards me before it had fully came together. From the beginning this wasn't going to be an easily battle. Then again I'm not alone and hopefully their Digimon aren't weak and can actually help in this battle. She wouldn't leave until she got what she wanted, that much I knew from what I had seen the last time I met her. She had played dirty and had it not been for a native Digimon of that world I probably would've died since she had nearly knocked into what they called the 'fire pit', it was the entrance to their Digital World's core; the fire pit was a firewall that was deadly.
So I managed to update on time[ish]. I'm pretty sure it'll be every other Saturday that I'll update. Also, if I miss an update this time it might be because I'm in the process of moving. [Seriously, is anyone interested in this story still?]