Ok so, it's been nearly a month since I posted the note so, about two months since I actually posted a chapter? Yes, this chapter is short and it's something that I understand that at least one or two people will be unhappy about since its been so long. This is short but not what I've spent so long working on. I was originally just going to post up what I had spent the time working on but then I decided to backtrack and write a short 'introduction' type of chapter. That's why this is short, I kept it short on purpose. I have more [three] chapters written and waiting but I will be staggering their release so I'm not going to post them all up today because I'm still working and I'm still dealing with things so I am taking a while to write but I'm managing to get sleep now so I am able to work more now.
I know that one or two people will want me to post everything I have instead of staggering the posts but I'm doing it so I can have time to write. I'm trying to work ahead instead of feeling horrible when I don't have something written and just post a mediocre or worse chapter. I hope you guys understand that point. A part of me wants to post everything I have but if I do I will then get that guilty feeling again for not having things to post and I will rush. I will tell you this, I actually have a very big number of chapters already planned out that I will be working on. I will also be starting college soon [the end of this month actually] so that will also take up time that I've used for writing so I want to have chapters written and able to be posted for when I'm too busy to write. I will hopefully be able to post chapters bi-weekly, I will try to stick with that this time but college may affect that. [I don't want to drop this story.]
I will be kind and include this though; the release dates for the chapters I have written:
Chapter 74: August 27th
Chapter 75: September 10th
Chapter 76: September 24th
Chapter Seventy-Three: Unseen
[Nori's P.O.V]
I fell behind the group, walking a couple paces behind everyone. I was bothered by the fact that Takuya and I had just pretty much teleported. That was three things now that were out of place within the Real World. Something was going on. That something though wasn't good and was dangerous. I knew that but I couldn't tell you how I knew besides 'gut feeling'. Wizardmon and Gatomon was leading the group since Gatomon had caught up to Wizardmon after he went ahead of the group. Koji and Kari walked shortly behind them while Takuya walked with J.P., Zoe and Tommy.
"We're up against Lucemon and his friends!?" J.P. stopped, his voice echoed in the empty hallway.
"They're called the Demon Lords but, yeah." Takuya attempted to sound encouraging but it didn't work.
"Is it too late for me to back out?" I groaned hearing J.P. say that.
"Sure, leave all the fighting to the group who nearly died once already fighting a Demon Lord." I muttered the words as I continued on pass them.
"Did she just say you guys nearly died?" I glanced at Zoe, surprised she had heard me.
"Nope, you're hearing things. I didn't say anything." I caught up to Gatomon and Wizardmon, they had stopped since the others had stopped.
Wizardmon was glaring at me. He didn't trust me. He knew what Crest I truly bore. I didn't like the fact that he knew that. I didn't like the fact that he wanted to tell everyone either. I threw that away. I threw that Crest away and never looked back. I would never go back to what I really was the DigiDestined of. I was the DigiDestined of Illusions and managed to 'create' said title.
"You said it, I know you did." I stopped a couple steps pass Gatomon and Wizardmon.
"So what if I did? Alright I said the truth. The Demon Lords aren't an easy group to take on when you only have, what ten people?" Bigger numbers wouldn't necessarily make it any easier either, what we needed was more power so we could level the playing field even just a little more.
"We fought Belphemon and defeated Belphemon. There are Seven Demon Lords. We defeated Belphemon and Beelzemon isn't evil but got reformatted you could say and is now on our side. We only have five more to fight." It seemed like no one liked how I said that.
"You act like those five are weak. We still have Daemon to fight, he defeated me and my friends. Both groups were wiped out as if we were nothing." Kari stared at me as she spoke, she looked afraid.
"Lucemon nearly defeated us as well and he wasn't even at his full strength. Lucemon is now at full strength." Koji put it bluntly, he didn't seem afraid but unsure for sure.
"Lilithmon, Barbamon and Leviamon are the ones that we'll focus on. Lilithmon is the weakest, she relies on tricking her opponents and playing with their minds. If you can beat her mind games there's a strong chance that even as we are now we'll defeat her yet she knows this weakness and that's why she always has underlings with her." Being trapped by Daemon for years lead to me learning things about the Demon Lords.
"Leviamon is slow in his Mega Form as well, he will usually try to fight in his Ultimate Form and only resort to his Mega Form as needed. If we can figure out to stop that we could potentially stop him and defeat him as well." Leviamon though takes this battle seriously so it would probably require getting the drop on him when he's in Ultimate Form and that would be a dangerous job.
"Barbamon is smart and he's not afraid of retreating. He's not like the others, he'll 'admit defeat for a day' and retreat to gather his strength so he can fight for another day." We would need to find a way to stop him from running away but by doing that we might possibly find out that he's not as weak as he seems and that wouldn't be good if we went into a battle against him uninformed only to sign our lives away because we misunderstood him.
"If you know this then pass generations of DigiDestineds that fought them had to have known this. Why haven't they been defeated before Nori?" I sighed and looked away from them – Koji wouldn't like the answer.
I stared down the hall. I could know all I want but it came down to the same thing that happened in the past. You can have all the information in the world but if you didn't have the strength to fight them then it didn't matter. The Demon Lords weren't afraid of knowledge getting out, they'd tell you themselves if you asked probably. They knew that their strength lied in their following and their own physical prowess. Plan all you want but if you don't have the strength to carry out the plan then it was useless. That's another reason why they can counter almost any plan thinkable, they probably have faced the plan before.
"Have all the information you want on them but if you don't have the strength to fight them then it doesn't matter. Knowledge never killed anyone." The fact that we defeated Belphemon was some sort of luck that I don't understand and I don't know if I ever will understand in truth since I know we didn't have the strength to defeat him.
"So, you act like this is all possible because you know this but you don't believe you guys will even win because you don't have the strength." I didn't like the tone of Zoe's voice.
"Forget it, I'm not wasting my breath to explain it to someone who doesn't understand just what this battle means to some of us. We have people to save so let's go." I started to walk again.
After a couple of seconds I heard their footsteps following after me. One set was moving faster than the others. I looked to who caught up to me, it was Kari. She didn't look at me but I knew there was something on her mind. There was something she wanted to ask me.
"Daemon and Lucemon, do you know anything about their weaknesses?" I sighed.
"Lucemon is strong, stronger than I think any Digimon is. Lucemon though takes pride in that. It's possible if we manage it we could goad him into making a mistake but doing that would require bait and any play that's been used to goad him in the past has always been suicide missions." She gulped and a tremor passed through her body.
"Daemon, guess we could try to goad him as well but again that could be a suicide mission. Daemon and Lucemon are strong and smart. They plan and they act accordingly." There may be a way to fight Daemon that wasn't used before but that was highly dangerous as well.
"Even if we have plans to fight them, do you really think that we don't have the strength to fight them?" I thought and shrugged after a couple of moments.
"I don't think we can defeat Lucemon and Daemon, as we are now at least. If this is some sick prophecy and we're truly 'destined' to defeat them than maybe, for once, destiny and fate will actually throw a curve ball and help the underdogs." It was a bleak future, one that I wasn't looking forward to in truth.
"Then you think we could defeat Lilithmon, Barbamon and Leviamon?" I shrugged.
"It all depends on how the cards fall. It depends if we get to have a favorable battleground, favorable timing, and favorable conditions and if we actually get to plan the attack or if we'll get stuck fighting on their terms like we did with Belphemon. Even with those it's still up in the air. There's a lot of factors that have to be accounted for, including the human aspect. Will we be able to give our bests or will there be something that unconsciously holds us back." This wasn't something that someone can just say 'yes' or know for certainty that something will happen the way they plan it to happen either.
"At least the hallways are getting shorter between rooms." Takuya spoke, breaking the tension that had consumed us.
I sighed and entered the room. I froze though because the moment I did it felt like something rushed through me. My head spun and my body wanted to drop but it was as if my body didn't know what way was up and what way was down. My stomach churned and my mind wouldn't focus. It was a giant mixing bowl of thoughts. My mind jumped from the years in the Dark Ocean, Daisuke, Daemon, my crest, the battle, and even the current situation. I tried to focus but I couldn't. When my ears started to ring I found myself with my mind just going blank.
"Takuya!"
"Koji!"
"Kari!"
Voices mixed together so I wasn't sure who called what name but I did register the voice at least. I found the strength to turn to look behind me. Gatomon and Wizardmon was at Kari's side. Zoe, J.P. and Tommy focused on Koji and Takuya though. I stumbled slightly but I approached them. What happened?
"What happened?" I stumbled over my words.
"They just, dropped unconscious!" Gatomon was frantic but I was surprised.
They dropped unconscious? Why would they do that so suddenly? Did they overwork themselves maybe? No, if that was the truth then I wouldn't be standing either. Then again it was a miracle that I was still standing actually. My head started to ache, it felt like someone was taking a jack hammer to it and was trying to split it open.
"When did they drop unconscious?" It was taking a lot to focus.
"The moment they entered the room." Zoe snapped at me, glaring at me.
"You're doing this aren't you?" I didn't like that she accused me.
"No, even if I don't trust her I think she isn't behind this. Look at her, she's barely standing herself. Whoever is behind this tried to get her as well." I turned away from.
I had to figure out what was doing this quickly. I felt my back heat up but I was caught off guard. Everything that was effecting me was chased away besides that my head was slightly fuzzy. Why did the Digital Core embedded into my back activate by itself? The only reason that would happen would be if someone was using something of similar power against me.
"What's that?" Gatomon asked it and I looked at her before following her line of sight.
My eyes widened when my eyes caught sight of the black gem that sat on the floor not too far from us. I walked to it, still unsteady on my feet. I knelt down since I wasn't brave enough to bend down since I wasn't sure if my body would be able to keep me balanced. I reached out and picked up the gem. I stared at it unbelieving of what I was seeing.
"It's a Shadow Core." Why was one of these here?
"What's a Shadow Core?" I stared at it while Zoe's question barely registered.
"Something that is very dangerous. Whoever is behind them dropping unconscious is using this Shadow Core. They shouldn't be messed with thanks to how dangerous these things are." Shadow Cores, they were scary things.
"Shadow Cores are pretty much evil in physical form. They embody everything that is darkness. Considering how they're using them, I don't think it's the good kind of darkness either." Why couldn't whoever using this be on our side.
If whoever used this, with this skill as well was on our side then this would be highly interesting to use against the Demon Lords. I shook my head to stop myself from going down that road and even the thought of trying to back hack the Core in my hand and to try and take control of it and use it myself. If I switched from my usual Fire Core to a Shadow Core, I could quite possible harm everyone that's around me if not fatally harm them since these things came with a very thin line of using them and them using you.
"Shadow Core, is it like the 'Fire Core' you use?" I nodded and stood up slowly.
"Yes but it's a Core of Darkness. Mine is a Core of Fire. There is practically a type of Core for every element." Why was there someone else who could uses Cores?
Before this battle it was rare for a Digital Core to even be seen. The fact that this battle was bringing together so many 'rare' things was starting to unsettle me. Why were 'rare' things being brought together? At this point 'rare' things are becoming normal. Digital Cards were rare and there are four users fighting together. Digital Cores are rare and alongside of me there is also Storm who had a Lightning Core while whoever this was had a Shadow Core.
"They're skilled as well. They controlled who was affected, their skill is scary considering that as far as I know Shadow Cores are hailed as strongest at least if the one using them is in control. If the user isn't in control then they're not that strong but this one, this user is in control." I started to scan the room but I didn't see anyone or anywhere someone could hide.
There was a small sound and then it grew louder. Someone was laughing. The laughter sounded crazed and it echoed throughout the room. I stiffened hearing it while the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. I didn't see the owner of that voice. I didn't know who was here with us. I didn't like this situation at all.
"A-anyone else hear that?" Zoe sounded frightened.
"G-great I was hoping I was going crazy." J.P. sounded between relieved and frightened, how he did I didn't care to question.
"I wish it would stop, it's scaring me!" Tommy's words only made whoever it was laugh harder and louder.
"The fact we're not alone and we can't see them is bad." I curled my hands into fists as I looked, I even flicked my eyes over the ceiling because I would rather have the oddity of finding them on the ceiling than them truly being nowhere.
"Be ready for anything you guys. We might have to fight so be ready." I braced myself and took a deep breath.
"Who's there?!" I raised my voice and called out.
I was both anxious for the answer but afraid of the answer as well. I didn't know who to expect. If this turned out to be a Demon Lords then we might be done for here. This wasn't favorable at all and if they could use Shadow Cores then this battle was done since they were strong enough as there were. Not to mention the fact that if the Demon Lords were behind the Shadow Cores then I would really be worrying about Kari, Koji, and Takuya since they're unconscious thanks to whoever and whatever the user had done with the Shadow Core.