So, do guys mind my bi-monthly updates? Also I'm just going to apologize that I'm not good at fighting scenes. So I actually like this schedule idea because I had time to write quality chapters even though I have been busy with school work. Also my laptop is crapping out on me [it crashes at least twice a week at this point]. :'( But still, the story must go on! I hope everyone enjoys this chapter and even though I haven't said it in a while, questions are allowed. If something is unclear ask it and if it is something that isn't something I planned to be confusing for this moment [due to it being something that is explained later and it is a secret plot] I'll explain it.
Chapter Seventy-Seven: Bird Fight
[Nori's P.O.V]
The laughter had stopped but still there was no one. I tightened my fists. I was on edge. I didn't know what to expect at all. I didn't know who we were fighting. Who was our enemy? Was it one of the Demon Lords? If it as one of the Demon Lords then which one? Barbamon? Lilithmon? Leviamon? Daemon? Lucemon? Who out of them even had access to Shadow Cores?
"One of your worst nightmares." The voice sounded suddenly.
My eyes widened and I would've yelped out in pain if the air hadn't been knocked out of me. I flew through the air and hit the ground. My body screamed in pain as I wheezed, trying to get air back into my lungs.
"What the heck?" Zoe's voice was high pitched as she questioned it.
I looked to who had hit me so suddenly. I was surprised to find that it wasn't a Demon Lord. It wasn't anyone that I even knew about. That was scary. I had heard enough taunts from Daemon over the years that I thought that I knew all of the powerful 'people' the Demon Lords had working with them.
"I don't like you." The girl's words were cold, she glared at me as she started to walk towards me.
The girl didn't even look human completely. I wasn't sure if she was human. She wore a purple body suit that only had straps that went over feathery arms. Her feet were revealed as well but her feet weren't that of humans. Her feet were talons like birds had. Her arms were covered with golden yellow feathers while what I assumed were fingers were reddish orange feathers.
"You were supposed to go to sleep." She hissed the words and the reddish orange tail feathers she had seemed to straighten and fluff out, intimidatingly.
Her pale unearthly blue eyes had narrowed me at me. As I found the strength to start pushing myself up the hand that held the Shadow Core tightly was pinned to the ground by her foot. The claws of her talon cut into my hand as she kept my hand pinned.
"I'll just have to take you out the hard way." I think there was more but she shut up.
I had narrowed my eyes and sent fire rushing from my hand and onto her foot. She released my hand and jumped backwards, her arms spread out and seemed to allow her to glide backwards. She landed on her feet easily and she was now eying me wearily. I stood up but I glared at her now.
"Well, that was a bit unexpected." She laughed which unnerved me because it wasn't the reaction that most people would give.
Most of the time people were surprised seeing me wield fire. Daemon himself had been stunned when I used the fire on him the first time actually. He had been caught off guard enough that he had actually fled. He had fled not out of fear but because he didn't like being surprised and facing something that he didn't know. He had in truth probably figured out that Zhuqiaomon had done something to give me access to the fire.
"Now, I know why you didn't go to sleep." She smirked and her eyes seemed to dance.
I curled my hand into fists, there was no easy way out of this. I would have to use my fire from the beginning. There was no chance of getting her with my illusions. Even if there was I wasn't planning to take that risk to find out if they worked on her or if they didn't. We couldn't even try to escape, I didn't see any other doorways besides the one that we came through. There was no chance that the four of us could escape with Kari, Koji and Takuya while their unconscious and she gave chase. While I didn't know if she would give chase for certain I feel like it was a given almost I feel like.
"You have a Digi Core!" She sang the words out before starting to giggle.
I took a step back. Oh I was unnerved by this girl now. She really was starting to make me think there was something wrong with her mentally. She smirked when she noticed that I had taken a step backwards. Before I had even blink Zoe was pinned to the wall. Feathers pinned Zoe's shirt to the wall while a feather was stuck in the wall beside her head, some of her blonde hair had been taken off and a cut slowly started to appear on her cheek.
"No, you're not allowed to take them. They are needed lil' fairy girl." Zoe whimpered at the girl's voice and she shrunk slightly.
"You seven made the mistake and entered my nest," She turned towards me, "now all of you need to fall."
She was in my face within seconds but I brought my arms up, shielding my face while fire was quick to spread out centimeters from my arms. I knew this wouldn't hold her back. However she didn't continue her charge, she stopped herself and took to the sky. As she flapped her wings that took place of her arms feathers came flying at me. I barely thought about it when I summoned my own wings so I could also take to the sky – it was the easiest way to dodge the feathers.
She smiled, "You're a birdy."
My retort was cut off because while I didn't get hit I was pushed higher into the air by the shockwaves that came from the feathers that she had flung at me exploding. The force from those things! I might not have even been standing had I taken those head on! I looked at her wide eyed but she smiled at me and made a motion as if she was spreading a fan but instead of a fan she held more feathers in her hands.
"Let's see if I can still hit a moving target." She flung one of the feathers she was holding at me as she spoke.
I was quick to dodge it but I didn't dare stop moving. She continued to fling the feathers at me and I continued trying to dodge them and not get caught in the shockwave. I also had to be mindful not to potentially put the others into harm's way. My wings vanished and I dropped through the air, a feather whizzing over my head. This wasn't good at all.
She tilted her head, "Aw, what happen to your pretty wings?"
I landed on the ground safely, surprised that she decided to ask that instead of flinging another feather at me. Why hadn't she taken that prime opportunity to hit me? Was she toying with me? I could see her toying with me but at the time I couldn't. She seemed, too serious for that but at the same time she was overly playful. Something, wasn't right with her. It was as if there were different sides of her.
"Every bird has to land at some point." She frowned but nodded at my words.
She started to drift back to the ground, "True, no bird can fly forever."
"However it looks like I can fly longer that you can." She gave a slightly childish grin once she was back on the ground.
"Yes, looks like you can." I gave a sheepish smile.
I really didn't know what was up with her. From what I could tell I've seen two different sides of her. One was very serious and content on probably killing me while there was this side of her. This side of her seemed a bit childish and playful, not malevolent or directly intending to hurt me but still throwing things around that could seriously hurt me.
She spun on her feet suddenly, "I said no!"
Feathers were flung through the air. The feathers were aimed at the others. Zoe, J.P. and Tommy who had been attempting to flea with the unconscious Takuya, Koji, and Kari. The feathers heading straight for them.
"They'll either die peacefully in those dreams or they can blow up with you three!" She howled the words out as the feathers grew closer to them faster than they had been closing in on me.
Would I make it in time? My wings spread out once more and I pushed myself to go faster than I had ever attempted to go. I managed to pass the feathers and spin in the air to face them. I saw that the girl went from looking angry to looking surprised.
"Sonic Zephyr!" My wings flapped and they kicked up a strong gust.
The gust met the feathers head on and was going to send them back at her but they exploded however their shockwave was met by the delayed shockwave of the gust. I was knocked back by the combined force of the shockwaves but I caught myself with my wings before I crashed into them.
"Electro Squall!" Wizardmon's attack caught both her and me off guard, the cloud had formed and lightning struck her before she could move.
Gatomon jumped at her, "Lightning Paw!"
Gatomon got the attack in without the girl moving, in truth she was probably paralyzed from Wizardmon's attack. Gatomon didn't get to back away from her before she was able to move though. Gatomon was kicked rather harshly and was sent flying through the air, slammed into Wizardmon. There must've been some force behind that kick because Wizardmon was knocked off of his feet.
"That's it, you pissed me off now." She growled the words out.
As she stepped towards them there was suddenly six of her. Each of them summoned exploding feathers and my heart dropped. I knew even though they were clones of her they would also do damage. The black gems that were embedded into their backs that I could see from here told me so. She was the one who could use Shadow Cores. How had I never heard about her before?
"Kunai Wing!" Six voices said the words all at once, easily sixty feathers went for Wizardmon and Gatomon.
I hated this. There would be no painless save this time. Once more I shot through the air, cloaking myself in fire this time. While Gatomon and Wizardmon wouldn't die from the attack they would certainly be knocked out, sent to in-training if not back to an egg. What I had heard though, I wasn't willing to bet their lives on it though. Wizardmon was lucky to be physical once more. Gatomon only hatched hours ago and it was a miracle that she had reformed in truth.
I stretched my arm out but the fire cloak made it look like one huge fire talon, "Purgatory Claws!"
Over half of the feathers were destroyed, they vanished into data while I counted five that got through my fire cloak. I hissed as I felt the sharp as knives feathers cut into my skin. They exploded seconds later. My fire cloak vanished as did my wings. I crashed into the ground and withered in pain. I gasped for air, trying to get air into my burning lungs. It hurt, oh it hurt.
Nothing was registering to me besides the pain. I clawed at the ground and tried to ignore the red liquid that was starting to invade my field of vision. I heard shouts but nothing registered and suddenly Gatomon was in my field of vision. She looked horrified. I closed my eyes to stop myself from screaming. I managed to curl my hand into fist and found the ability to breathe. With air back I tried to focus on the core embedded into my back – feeling the spark I knew it would work.
"Core: Ash." I barely got the words out.
For a moment I saw everything that was happening in the room, no limited field of vision. The girl was ignoring Gatomon and me in favor of focusing on the others. Wizardmon was in a losing battle against her, trying to intercept her attacks. Zoe, J.P and Tommy finally joined the battle, Spirit Evolving and returning the favor of Wizardmon saving them by them saving him. Koji, Kari and Takuya had been moved to the inner part of the hallway but still close to the room. As everyone's attention turned to where my body was. Well at the moment my body wasn't present, it had just been ashes and now it was flames that were taking the form of my body. Everything went black.
I opened my eyes slowly and let out a shaky breath. I would and wouldn't regret using that later on. Thanks to the Digital Core having come from Zhuqiaomon who was a phoenix I was technically gifted with the ability of 'reviving' myself however it wasn't a good thing to do. I was human, every time I used it my natural life span was shortened and at some point in time within twenty-four hours I would feel the pain of being burned alive along with the pain from what killed me times ten. I would also forever bear scars of the death wounds as well. I wouldn't be able to use that ability for another ten years.
"What the hell?" The girl's voice echoed as she yelled it.
"You're human not Digimon, you're not supposed to be able to come back to life!" She yelled but it sounded more like she was a child throwing a tantrum.
"How am I supposed to kill you when you can come back to life?!" Well, she just told me what her true aim is.
"Bolo Cannon!"
"Plasma Paw!"
"Avalanche Axes!"
The three attacks were called out and performed before I was able to sit up and get my bearings back. My body was numb but I didn't know how long that would last. I didn't know when I would feel the crippling pain for using Core: Ash. I stared at where the dust had been kicked up, presumably where that girl was. However it took a couple of seconds for me to realize that Zoe and Tommy were missing. The dust was cleared forcefully and there was easily tornado strength wind for a second.
The girl stood in the middle of a crater. She looked nothing short of livid. Zoe was frozen in mid-air, something covering her hands and from the fact that the girl bore no damage it was safe to assume it was probably Zoe's attack. Tommy was frozen as well, his axes inches from the girl's outstretched hand. I noticed that her it wasn't feathered, it was actual human flesh hands. However I felt sick when I saw her palms. There, embedded into palms, was a Shadow Core. Each of her hands had a Shadow Core embedded into them, well to be more correct a fragment of a Shadow Core.
Did she have a fragmented core embedded into her body like I did?
The girl sighed, "Dark Beat."
Nothing happened at first but then there was blast of darkness that erupted from both of her palms. Zoe and Tommy were flung when they were hit. They seemed to have come from their frozen-in-time states because they both let out pained shrieks when they were hit. They were actually blasted into walls, the wall cracked and they left an indent.
"I'm tired of playing now." She turned from us, facing towards the hallway.
"Be good and wait your turns, I'll make it quick and painless if you do." I was confused by what she meant – that is until her hands went back to feathers and she held an explosive feather in her hand, making her way to my unconscious friends.
"Don't you dare!" I screamed the words out and she spun on her feet.
Her eyes widened though as I drove her into a wall. Flames flickered off of my body while I held her pinned to the wall with a talon of flame, the flames coated my hand. She actually looked mildly terrified. I didn't even think of it when I punched her in her stomach with my free hand which was also coated in fire. Her head seemed to snap back unconsciously as the scream tore from her throat.
I was thrown through the air though because she dropped the explosive feather and it blew up. My body shook from the force of the shockwave that had hit me. My body wouldn't move like I wanted it to, it just twitched. I watched as the dust settled to reveal the girl on her knees. Her arms were wrapped around her stomach. She had lifted her head though and she stared at me with wide empty eyes that were devoid of light.
"Wrath looks so good on you." Her empty voice echoed.
"Now I know why Daemon asked for you alive." Her broken chuckle after her words made a chill shoot down my spine.
"Let me see that look of pure, unadulterated wrath again." She stood up, her arms falling to her sides.
Her body suit thing had been burned away by my flames. All that was revealed was more yellow feathers however the feathers on her stomach were softer in color though. They were also slightly singed. She took a shaky step forwards, her eyes focused dead on me as if she didn't register anything else.
"Plasma Paw!" Zoe actually hit the girl this time.
Zoe seemed to have 'surprised attack' her despite the fact that the girl should've seen it coming. Had she really only registered only me? The girl stood up as if the attack that had knocked her down was nothing.
"Try this, Bolo Thunder!" J.P.'s attack though, didn't meet its target.
The girl jumped up and spun in the air. Flipping for some reason before shooting right towards me. Her eyes weren't dead or empty anymore, they were crazed. She had an insane grin on her face. She spun and tried to kick me but I propelled myself backwards with my wings before going into the air, my wings spread out and grew in size.
I held my hand towards the girl, "Desolation Blast!"
Fireballs came from my wings and rained down upon her. She jumped around dodging them before taking to the air and ducking under one and then holding out her hands, her hands returned to flesh once more and the last fireball slammed into her hands however the fire turned black before collapsing in on itself.
"Dark Mirage." The Shadow Cores gleamed at her words and suddenly fireballs were coming straight at me but unlike my golden red ones they were pure black.
They were also faster than mine but they stopped, "Magical Game!"
While both the girl and I acknowledge our surprise of Wizardmon managing to stop her attack neither of us allowed it to stop us. She came me, feathers just appearing and coming at me. I knew I wouldn't be able to dodge them so I curled into a ball and covered myself with my wings and summoned up fire to surround me.
"Hurricane Gale!" Zoe called out the words as I felt minimal shockwaves from the feathers hitting my flames – this time they were stopped and slowed because they were hitting my wings, my wings came straight from the Digital Core so they were not easily dispelled or 'broken'.
"Frozen Arrowheads!" I uncurled from my ball as Tommy called out the words.
I was greeted by the sight of the girl being retrained. She was struggling against the bind that Tommy had created by use of the hair that his form had – it seemed to have extended. The metal arrowheads though hovered by her skin, had it been a Digimon the arrowheads probably would've cut into her. The fact that she had Shadow Cores told me that she was human, Digimon couldn't have Cores embedded into them.
"Now J.P!" Zoe called out and J.P. braced himself for some kind of attack.
"Let go of me now!" The girl yelled as she struggled more.
This was the perfect chance. We could defeat her here. J.P. was planning to attack and from his stance it was probably pretty strong. I raised both of my hands but my palms were facing one other. Within flames started to swirl and I felt the heat radiating from the small baby spark. Hopefully this battle can end here before anyone gets hurts or killed.
"Electron Cannon!" J.P released the attack and seconds before it hit the girl Tommy pulled back the hair.
The attack slammed into the girl and I moved my hands. My palms faced her and the spark grew bigger and burned hotter. The spark tore through the air and went straight for the girl. It grew larger as it sailed through the air and grew more chaotic in shape.
"Crimson Blaze." I whispered the words as I watched the girl that had just been released from J.P.'s attack only to get swallowed by my flames.
I lowered myself to the ground and let my wings disappear. There would be no way that she would recover from that. Crimson Blaze was an attack that burned as hot as a solar prominence. There would be no way that she would emerge from that ready to fight. Her Shadow Core would more than likely keep her alive, it was something that the Shadow Cores had that the other Elemental Cores didn't. They wouldn't allow their bearer to die from an attack like that. To kill someone with a Shadow Core it usually required taking their core out, physically and manually taking their life or removing the Shadow Core.
The fire burned out but I stared. The girl stood there with a wide grin. Her body seemed to be made of complete shadows. The only thing that wasn't flickering shadows were purple eyes that had dots of red that popped out besides the impossibly wide grin that seemed to span her whole shadowy face. There was no way. She couldn't be this broken!
"Your flames burn so weakly. If those flames burned at full power perhaps that would've done me in." The shadows left her but formed a disk below her feet.
She stood on the disk, right hand hung at her side while her left hand was placed on her hip. She wore a torn blue-grey shirt that revealed her belly-button along with torn blue jeans. Knee high brown combat boots covered her feet while she also wore two golden bands on her left wrist and two golden bands on her right arm by her shoulder. Those bands though despite being thin in appearance were the compact Holy Rings that packed quite a punch if used. Her black hair was long, messy, uneven and slightly spikey.
"Did you think that would be the end of this battle?" No one moved to strike her then again no one here was up to attacking a human I bet.
The shadow disk started to descend to the ground, "It was a great plan – I'll give you that. Had I been anyone else that probably would've ended the battle."
"Who are you?" I repeated my question from earlier.
She giggled, "Like I said, you're worst nightmare."
She was gone but I sensed it. The flare of a Digital Core. The one in my back pulsed painfully, the aura that the core was letting out was impure. I turned to where I sensed it, the girl was at the hallway. A sword of darkness had appeared in her hand and she had it pointed towards them.
"Kari!" Gatomon screamed and started to running.
"Koji!" Zoe dove through the air, pushing her speed limit to cross the rather large room.
"Takuya!" Tommy rushed as well.
This wasn't going to end well. I wanted to move but I couldn't. Why couldn't I move? I felt another pulse and my eyes dropped to the ground. A Shadow Core sat on the ground in front of me. A black circle that formed below my feet. Shackles of shadows were wrapped around my ankles, keeping me rooted to this spot.
You know how to break them.
The voice was small, it echoed in my mind.
All it would take would be to spread those pretty wings of yours and use the power of your Crest.
I looked to the girl, it was her voice. She was driving the sword straight at Kari. My fingers twitched. I wanted to save them but there was no way that I would give into that just to save them. It would be worse for me to awaken my crest and make it glow than this.
Abandoning your friends because of your fear?
I curled my hands into fists and when I thought about trying to lash out at her through whatever mental connection she had established she stopped. She stumbled away from Kari. The sword that had been about to kill Kari had explode. Thanks to the dim lighting of the hallway I saw the figure of white mist. The figure stood their protective in front of the others with eyes of glowing red. Something about that mist, seemed familiar.
"Defeat her! Her mission is to kill Kari, Koji, and Takuya! She's to capture Nori once again for the Demon Lords!" I was stunned, that Chrono's voice.
"You! How are you here?! You should be." The girl stopped because the white mist that was Chrono had sent out a light blast.
The girl was knocked out of the hallway but I watched as Chrono flickered. The mist grew fainter with that attack. She wasn't here physically and whatever that form was wouldn't hold for much longer. Why was she here though? Chrono was with Daisuke, Koichi and Storm. Did something happen to them? Daisuke. If I was to be captured again, were they planning to use me to control Daisuke once again? Have they captured him somehow and want to turn him into a puppet once more?
"Nori, use it wisely. It isn't unbreakable, especially in your hands." I was surprised because suddenly the Mist Chrono was in front of me and placing a small white gem in my hands that she had moved.
"How did you?" I couldn't find my words to finish when the gem glowed.
The Shadow Core at my feet shot away from me, repulsed by the pulse that the white gem let out. I looked to Mist Chrono, surprised by what I held in my hands. How in the world did she get one of these? The look in her eyes told me though. This wasn't a true Light Core. It was something she had created with her magic, she had seen a Light Core though since she was able to create this. She had touched and interacted with one before somewhere.
"Use that to use your full power instead of plunging down that road. Protect our friends, Nori." Mist Chrono vanished after those words and I closed my hands around the gem.
I moved and held my hands close to my chest and looked to the girl. She was currently running from Zoe who was chasing her, throwing blades of wind away. The girl was easily dodging the attack despite still being what I'm assuming is her human body. Taking a second to calm down told me that she probably had something similar to Spirit Evolution. It would explain the form that seems very much like a Digimon and how her human body was unharmed.
"Why don't you attack Fire Bird over there huh Wind Birdy!" The girl said that as she actually ran up a wall, gravity suddenly not applying to her.
"She could've acted and saved them but she wasn't gonna! She could end this battle in a split second if she wanted to!" The girl laughed as she dodged Zoe and used Zoe as a spring board, sailing through the air yet slowly falling to the ground since she wasn't in the bird like form.
"If she could do that then she would!" Gatomon spoke up in my defense surprising me.
"You guys are idiots!" The girl laughed, a shockwave of darkness caused Gatomon to slam into the ground instead of hitting her yet also propelling her higher in the sky, Tommy's 'Frozen Arrowheads' missing her.
"Fire Birdy has a Fire Digital Core that was given to her by Zhuqiaomon, the Digimon who if allowed to fight could've easily taken Lilithmon and Barbamon on if they weren't fighting together!" The girl looked at me, she was heading straight for me while everyone had turned to look.
"You, Fire Birdy, refuse to use your full power though! You refuse to claim that Digital Core he gave to use as your own and imprint upon them your strength!" She tried to punch me with a fist that was powered up by her Shadow Core but I caught it – red crystal bangles appeared as I fully energized my Digital Cores.
"There was a reason why you were captured by Daemon and kept under lock and key! You're only alive right now because they plan on making your snap! They allowed you to get rescued, if they didn't want you rescued Daemon would've went instead of Belphemon." She held her other hand in my face, palm inches from my face.
"Dark Beat!" I didn't have time to react thanks to her being so close – I was sent flying but my body was still relatively numb so very little pain registered to me.
"You cannot defeat me with that half-assed power!" She managed to hit me since I was disorientated.
Her focus was solely on me and if it meant getting beaten up I would allow it. I caught sight that the others were escaping. That was for the best. This chick, thanks to the Shadow Core, was stronger than she should be and had nothing against killing. She must be someone important with the Demon Lords. She had to be.
"I won't ever become that DigiDestined." My voice shook as I spoke, I had blocked her punch with fire and punched her.
"I refuse." She laughed as she picked herself up – her cheek where I had hit her went from shadows to flesh.
She shook her head laughing softly, "You'll never win then."
I gripped the pseudo-Light Core in my hand tighter. Chrono said I could use it to use my full power. I didn't want to use it to use my full power though. If I used it to go to full power to defeat her then I would only be playing into her game. I was strong enough as I was. All that I needed to do was actually fight but I was playing decoy and defender. Not only that but I was practically fighting alone.
"You don't know that." I hissed the words out but she grinned.
"I know because I'm either going to make you go full power via Crest or you're going to sit back and watch your friends die." She placed her hands together, palm to palm.
Seconds later there was a scream, no five screams. My blood ran cold because I didn't know what she had done. She had done something to the others. I watched as some kind of space warp appeared in the middle of the room. I watched as the others dropped from the space warp. Zoe, Tommy and J.P. had lost their Spirit Evolution while Wizardmon and Gatomon were badly hurt. Kari, Koji and Takuya were still unconscious but they had cuts now.
"Can you really win?" She asked the question as out of the warp behind them came a Digimon.
I knew that Digimon though. I knew by heart who that Digimon was. Gargoylemon. Was it the same one? If it was this wasn't how I expected to meet him again. The skinny body and limbs of Gargoylemon was white but the claws it had were as blue as the tail it had. The normally white wings that sprouted from its back wasn't white though, they were black. I didn't know why the wings had turned black.
"Gargoylemon, take care of them." When the girl said that I watched as Gargoylemon approached my downed friends.
I was going to move but the girl caught my arm and moved, my arms twisted behind my back thanks to her. I was going to summon my wing and force her to let me go but I felt the sting and burn of one her Shadow Cores in the center of my shoulders, where my Digital Core was.
"I never would've thought about your back was where your Core was." She whispered the words into my ear.
"Now watch them perish!" I struggled back when she stepped beside me and my arms were still pinned behind my back I knew she had done something funky with her Shadow Core.
"You would be surprised by what a fully claimed Core can do Fire Birdy. You're only getting out of that if you rival it with the same strength, then again a Core from Zhuqiaomon would probably be able to put more strength out especially with your Crest." She was laughing and it made my blood boil.
"Electro Squall!" Wizardmon's attack didn't even make Gargoylemon flinched.
"Please, just move out of the way! I don't wanna do this!" My eyes widen when I heard the words come from Gargoylemon.
"Shut up! I thought they made sure you had absolutely no control!" The girl yelled words out when he spoke but actually made himself hesitated in walking towards.
"There is no stealing my consciousness away! As long as he's alive I won't lose myself to their control!" Gargoylemon's yell told me exactly who he was, he was the one that I knew.
"Fine!" She raised her left hand.
"Dark Mind." Gargoylemon started to walk without hesitance after that and his blue eyes shifted to completely black and the black from his wings spread onto his body.
"What did you just do to him?!" I managed to take a step towards the girl, she looked to me surprised the moment I did.
She smirked, "I only boosted the darkness in his mind which was already high thanks to the Demon Lord planting a seed of control in him."
"Lightning Paw!" Gatomon tried to hit Gargoylemon but she was caught and was dangling in front of him.
He raised his claw to strike Gatomon but was hit by some attack from Wizardmon that didn't do much but get Gatomon thrown at him. Gatomon slammed into Wizardmon and once again he was knocked off of his feet.
"Zoe! J.P.! Tommy! Do something!" I yelled, they were right there but they were just sitting there staring at Gargoylemon as if hypnotized by him.
"Unlike you we did all we could and we don't have strength left after everything!" Zoe snapped at me but the girl started to laugh.
Gargoylemon lifted into the air and statues of white appeared. The statues were then were going straight for Gatomon and Wizardmon. My breathing sped up and I heard the voice of my crest, it was begging me to take it up and just fight. My Crest wanted to shine brightly and be used to just stop everything that was happening to my friends.
I refuse to use it though.
"I would really hate to be your friend, you just stood back and let that happen to them despite the fact you could've saved them." I closed my eyes at the girl's stinging words.
"Don't, count us out just yet." My eyes snapped open at Wizardmon's strained words.
He stood in front of Gatomon and I watched as a wall of mist slowly dissipated. What had he used that managed to actually block that attack? Wizardmon was stronger than I thought he was I think. Then again I think I knew that already, he was able to do something against Examon. Something was up though.
"Oh my, my, my how did you managed that? Gargoylemon is rather powerful and he can usually hold off a Mega for at least ten minutes so how did a champion like you block his attack?" I tried to push away the screaming in my head.
I wanted it to leave me alone. I wasn't that person any more. I refused to use my Crest. I wouldn't let my Crest regain its glow. I could never go back to who I once was. It was best that I stayed on this path of moving on. I cannot go back which is what I would be doing if 'reactivated' my Crest.
"Execute: Spirit Evolution!" My eyes went to Tommy, surprised.
I thought Zoe said that they didn't have any more strength? Was Zoe lying or saying she was speaking for all three of them but she wasn't?
"Kumamon!" Tommy emerged as a small snow bear.
The girl laughed, "What do you think you can do as that puny thing? Your Beast Spirit may be able to scratch Gargoylemon but not your Human Spirit."
How much did this girl know? No, it would make sense if she knew about the level of Spirit Evolution. They had been controlled by the Demon Lords until just recently. She had probably heard something about it before. It would have in truth been odder had she known nothing about the Spirits.
"Maybe nothing alone but together it could a lot. Guys, help me. I know you two can fight, stop playing into her hands and letting her do this! Even if you guys don't trust Nori or whatever, don't let this happen!" Kumamon was looking dead at Zoe and J.P.
"We're a team, we work together besides so what if Nori is hiding something! She's already saved us once! She's saved Wizardmon and Gatomon to! In my books, she's alright!" Tommy words hit a thorn in my heart and I gripped the pseudo-Core Chrono had given to me.
I had to fight. I'm not strong enough at this level right now. I can train and grow stronger after this. I can use this as a gate to fully energize my Digital Core without my Crest.
"If that's right why won't she fight at 'full strength'?! She left Wizardmon and Gatomon to die, had it not been for Wizardmon they would be dead!" Zoe yelled the words back while the girl whistled.
"Do they not realize they could be hit at any time?" The girl looked at me, her voice sweet and innocent and if I dare say a bit concerned.
"It really wouldn't be good if that white Digimon attacked them." I stared at her stunned, the red in her eyes had been replaced by blue.
"Who are you?" I asked the question softly.
"I'm Raven, how about you?" She gave me a childish smile.
"Nori." She grinned wider.
"It's nice to meet you Nori." Her words and attitude caught me off guard.
"Likewise, Raven." Something, was really wrong with this girl.
"Can you do me a favor Nori?" I was confused but nodded and I noticed that the bind from the Shadow Core had weakened considerably.
She opened her mouth but then closed her mouth. The blue faded from her purple eyes and the red was back. Raven narrowed her eyes at me and the bind was tighter than it had been before. She turned away from me and in that moment I questioned if she was being controlled. Either she was being controlled or she had a bad case of split personalities. One personality being very kind and the other being deadly mean.
"Gargoylemon!" Raven yelled, cutting Zoe and Tommy off.
"White Statue!" The same white statues went at Zoe, Tommy and J.P.
My head pounded as my heart sank but blood boiled, the voice that belonged to my Crest screaming my name. I felt a warmth grow and spread from my palm down my arm, the pseudo-core was trying to urge me to use it.
"Blizzard Blaster!" The snowballs that Kumamon shot hit the statues but didn't do anything.
I closed my eyes in concentration. I couldn't give into that. I couldn't let my Crest regain its glow. Everything in me wanted to give in and just go crazy. The part of me that had been assigned the Crest was screaming and wanted to just tear Raven and Gargoylemon apart. They were endangering my friends, trying to kill them.
"Hurricane Wave!" My eyes opened when I heard crashes, Zoe had managed to re-direct the statues so they weren't actually hit.
"Fine, I'll do it myself." I looked to Raven.
I watched as there was a soft grey mark, it kind of looked like a house, it had appeared on her chest where her heart was. She stood sideways so that's how I saw it, she had angled it so she could watch them and me at the same time. After a flash of grey light she was back to looking like that bird again, her hair was messy orange and didn't even reach her neck while her eyes were back to an unearthly blue.
She charged at them and her yellow feathers turned to a very dark yellow while orange turned to dark orange. The feathers of her hand had turned completely black actually. She was fueling that form with her Shadow Cores now.
"Dark Burning Spiral!" Black flames surrounded her as she spun in the air.
As she aimed her foot at Zoe, the flames were going to crash into the others as well but suddenly clones appeared, copying her movements and everyone was a target of a flaming foot.
"Desolation Blast!" The fireballs shot from my wings before they fully formed.
The fireballs slammed into the different copies of Raven, sending them all sky high. A crater formed where the real Raven had been even if she had also been knocked sky high. The others were knocked off of their feet from the shock wave that they had let off since they had exploded upon impact. While Raven was in the sky partially paralyzed I shot at Gargoylemon. He tried to dodge me but it was of no use. I crashed into him in a form of full fire. My heart ached hearing Gargoylemon let out a pained cry.
I pulled my fire back from burning him and placed a kiss on his snout, "Forgive me old friend, you must sleep now less I have to delete you."
The black faded from his eyes before they closed. I watched as Gargoylemon shrunk and there was a pop before he was nothing more than the small form of a scarred DemiVeemon. I looked from the scarred DemiVeemon to Raven. She was un-paralyzed and floating in the air, she was staring at me with wide eyes.
"You actually, released your full power." I pushed from the ground, a trail of fire left in my wake as I flew full speed at her.
"You'll regret pushing me to use this!" I screamed the words as I let talons of fire bear down upon her.
She blocked them with a pulsing shield of shadows, her palms glowing brightly with befouled light. I sunk my claws farther and farther into the shield and I watched as it started to give.
"Phoenix Fire!" Fire spewed from the cloak's mouth and crashed into the shield, going around the sides crashing into Raven.
Raven let out a pained shriek as the shield drop. She dropped through the air as she was furiously trying to put the flames out. I dove downwards, heading right for her. This battle had to end. I couldn't use strength for long because I could feel the pseudo-Light Core starting to crumble under the pressure of this. I had to end this now.
"Crimson Blaze!" Fire jetted off of me and went flying towards Raven.
Raven's eyes widened and she abandoned trying to put the little bit of flames left to try and dodge the attack.
"Hurricane Wave!" Zoe's attack stoked the flames of my attack only made it grow bigger.
"Crystal Freeze!" Raven's wings were frozen and took away her able to redirect her descent, locking her in the path of my flames.
"Thunder Fist!" As my flames crashed into Raven, lightning joined my flames.
Raven screamed and I felt bad using such a strong attack against her. However a part of me felt satisfied as well but that was the old me. The old me would be smirking in victory hearing that pained cried. The old me, who was so hateful and angry at everyone who dared touch anything or anyone I liked. I descended and landed on the ground. My flame cloak slowly vanished and all that was left was my wings. The wings though were no longer pure fire but wings of red that had fire running along the bottom of my wings.
"Did you really use your Crest?!" Wizardmon yelled the words and they looked at Wizardmon, I stared at him.
"It's a good thing she used it since she was able to do that!" Zoe yelled as she motioned to Raven, she was alive but laying still on the ground now.
"No, it is anything but good! You don't understand what her using her Crest truly means!" Wizardmon shouted at Zoe before turning to face me.
"You refused to use it, let Gatomon and I nearly die but you let her goad you into using it?!" Wizardmon stepped towards me, still yelling.
"You made this battle ten times harder now! This was why I said we shouldn't trust you!" I narrowed my eyes at Wizardmon slowly.
"You are no ally of ours if you would do that!" He was so angry.
"What's so wrong with her using her Crest Wizardmon?" Gatomon asked and Wizardmon glared at me, his shoulders shaking.
"Keep what you learned to yourself Wizardmon. I don't want anyone knowing what my Crest truly is." I didn't want people to know.
They would judge me if they knew. They would assume things. They would hurt me. I never wanted anyone to know. There was only one person who knew about my Crest that I had allowed to know. Daisuke, he was the only one that I allowed to know. Daisuke was the only one who I wanted to know. Wizardmon had found out somehow from that library while Raven probably learned it through the Demon Lords. The Demon Lords of course had to know what my Crest was, otherwise they probably would've killed me long ago and just played Daisuke into believe that I was still alive and locked away somewhere.
"Ashamed of what you just did?" Wizardmon hissed the words out but I raised my hand.
"I'm using this to allow me full access Wizardmon, Chrono gave it to me." As I spoke the pseudo-Core dimmed and my wings reverted back to full flames before vanishing completely.
"It's only a very good fake. I used up the only use I'm going to get out of it. It bridged the same gap my Crest would've but my Crest wouldn't have a time limit. I didn't use my Crest. I refuse to allow it to regain its glow. I refused to revive my Crest." I tucked the pseudo-Core into my pocket and looked away from Wizardmon.
I looked at Raven, she still wasn't moving. She had lost whatever form she was in. She had gone back to being human. She was still breathing so that meant she was alive. I turned my back on her and the stunned conscious people. I walked to where Kari, Koji and Takuya were. I knelt down and held my hands towards them. I had to be careful using this. I managed to force the Core to energize just a bit higher than usual and flames slowly spread from my hands.
Flames slowly washed over them but they weren't burned or harmed. I watched as the cuts they had were healed. I wasn't a good healer because it took too much concentration to do. I had to focus on nothing but healing because if I didn't then I could very easily burn the person or people that I was trying to heal.
"Why don't you want us to know what you're the DigiDestined of?" J.P. asked it, thankfully after I was done healing them.
I shifted so I was just sitting beside Kari since I had knelt beside her despite having healed all three of them. I wish I knew how to wake them up.
"I told you guys what I was the DigiDestined of. I'm the DigiDestined of Illusions, just take that and accept that." I looked at my hands and there was a small spark of flames.
In my hand was a faded orange Crest. The Crest was faded because it wasn't 'alive'. The symbol carved into the Crest was something that made me wonder at times. Why was I given this Crest? Why did I have to be this DigiDestined? Why couldn't I have been the DigiDestined of something that was useful?
"We won't accept that. Whatever title you carry clearly makes Wizardmon think you'll betray us. We can't continue to fight alongside of someone who is lying to us. For all we know, you really might betray us!" I glared at my Crest at Zoe's words.
"I think, we should leave it alone. I don't think Nori will betray us. She may not exactly be our friend but at least an ally, she hates the Demon Lords so we have a common enemy." I looked to Gatomon and was surprised to find that she stood between me and the others.
"Gatomon, you don't know who you're defending." Wizardmon approached and stood in front of Gatomon.
"Why are you so against her Wizardmon?" I looked from them because movement caught my eye.
"I know it will only be time before she betrays us or uses her Crest." My eyes widened and Wizardmon's words barely registered.
I stood up and even if I stumbled I ran. For a moment I had forgotten about my wings but I used them to propel myself. I slammed into Raven who had used the fact that we had all forgotten about her but she hadn't been going to attack them but she went to DemiVeemon with that shadow sword. My wings vanished because I didn't have the strength to hold them out at the moment, I was tired from having gone full force.
"Don't touch him!" I had knocked her down and I was on top of her but she narrowed her eyes at me.
She punched me and since she had used her Shadow Core to strength it I was knocked off of her. My jaw ached in pain but I barely thought about it. I pushed myself up and tried to punch her but she caught my weak punch. The shadow sword was descending upon the unconscious DemiVeemon.
"Knew he'd be the ticket to see that look of wrath." She was going to laugh but she didn't.
She stumbled back and stared at me stunned. I snatched DemiVeemon off of the ground and took shaky steps backwards, staring at her. The shadow sword had vanished and she looked from me to her arm.
"You bit me!" She looked at me once again, blood dripped from her arm.
"Don't touch him! He's all that Daisuke has left besides me!" I yelled the words, holding DemiVeemon closer to me.
"I won't let you kill him! I won't let you ever touch him again! I don't care what I have to do but you will not kill him and make Daisuke cry!" I shouted the words as I stared Raven down.
"Looks like I found the perfect way to make you revive your Crest then." She was going to come at me but she stopped.
She stopped because my wings spread out and there was a ring of fire around my feet, the ring was slowly spreading farther away from me. She stared at me and seconds later she entered into the bird like form once more.
"You crossed a line that you should not cross." A flawless and bowling ball sized Fire Core was floating in front of me.
Raven gave a nervous laugh, "You have an actual unbroken Core from Zhuqiaomon."
I growled and fire shot from the core and Raven dodged them, she didn't even attempt to block them. The difference was that this time the fire curved and chased her. I held DemiVeemon and the screaming in the back of my head grew louder. I wanted to destroy her. She wasn't going to stop until she was made. She was pushing me farther than one should. No one should make me angry enough that I cannot control it.
"You're actually a bit terrifying when you're angry!" Raven was coming straight at me, my flames still chasing her.
"Oh, you haven't seen me angry." Her eyes widened because out of a swirling fire ring came a hand.
The hand was bluish purple and had red claws. The hand grabbed her and started to squeeze her. Raven struggled, trying to get out of the hand but the hand only held her tighter.
"I will not stand back and let you cause any more harm." As I spoke another hand came out of the fire ring, this one was the same bluish purple color but also had maroon fur.
"Stop! This wasn't what was supposed to happen! They told me that if you awakened your Crest that all I had to worry about was your Digital Core! They didn't say anything about him listening to you!" Raven was screaming out in panic as the second hand generated a small ball of fire that it was going to shoot at her.
"Of course they didn't tell you! Of course they wouldn't want to acknowledge that unlike popular thought that there is a twin who is equally as strong!" I scream the words as I felt myself slipping into that dark part of me.
"You shouldn't have made me angry! You shouldn't have pushed me this far! I held a rather tight grip of my temper for easily ten years now! You got the unlucky fate of being the first to make me snap since the day I was kidnapped!" I breathed heavily from screaming the words, my throat was raw as well.
"Nori, stop. Don't, sink to that level. Not again, you've done so well." DemiVeemon's fragile voice broke through the screaming in my head.
"Please, Daisuke wouldn't want to lose you." DemiVeemon's fragile voice, it chased away the screaming and made it go quiet.
My shoulders fell and Raven was dropped. The two hands retreated through the ring of fire before it vanished. The ring of fire that had covered the ground vanished as well. The flawless Digital Core shrunk and a silver chain appeared. Slowly if floated to me and wrapped itself around my wrist. I looked to DemiVeemon and he stared at me with wide fearful eyes.
The fear vanished from his eyes when my eyes met mine, "Nori."
"Thank you." My voice was quiet and it shook.
"No problem." He smiled at me.
He saved me. He stopped me. He stopped me from plunging all the way into that place. I was careful as I summoned my Crest, holding it so no one would see it. It had halfway turned into a vivid orange color but it was slowly fading once more. It hadn't been fully revived and it was 'dying' once more. I closed it in my hand and it vanished once more. I lifted my head and looked at Raven, she sat on the ground staring at me.
"You, you really need to die!" She screamed the word and came at me.
My eyes widened because she was faster than she had been earlier. I brought my arm up shielding DemiVeemon and summoned forth what flames I could. I could only hope it would be enough to defend us. The talon that was her foot crashed through my shield and slammed into my arm. The cuts that were caused was nothing compared to the pain of the bone snapping. The pain of the bone registered and if it was dulled I would hate to feel it un-dulled.
I stumbled backwards, whimpering in pain. Raven started to laugh when she heard me whimpering. My arm was broken. There was no doubt in that. I knew that for certain. Raven was attacked by Zoe, Tommy and J.P. but their attacks were dodged and she sent the exploding feathers at them – they were blown out of their Spirit Evolutions.
"Kunai Feather!" Raven sent the feathers at me and when I was going to move when I realized where I stood.
"Make a choice! Run and save yourself or stand there and take the attack for your unconscious friends!" I didn't know what to do.
There was nothing that I could do. Even trying to summon up my wings I couldn't. With what stunt I had almost pulled my Digital Core wasn't responding. They had shut down. I had been warned that they would if I ever reach that point where I would've killed someone without a second thought. I closed my eyes and braced myself, I couldn't let them be hurt.
"How!?" When Gatomon yelled that I opened my eyes.
I was surprised to see a familiar rift had opened in front of me. The feathers had gone right into the rift and left a rift that had opened in front of Raven. The feathers hit her but they didn't explode, they did cut her though. I turned to look at Kari because I knew what that was. Kari had done that to Belphemon during the fight. Kari was unconscious though. She wasn't awake.
"What did you do!?" Raven yelled the question but I stared at Kari.
Somehow she had done something. Was it a protective instinct? No, if it was then it should've activated earlier when Raven did whatever – wait. They appeared back in the room and I assumed that it was Raven's doing. Shadow Cores shouldn't have that kind of power. Gargoylemon didn't have that kind of ability either. Something triggered that to happen that pulled them out of the hallway and back here while something about that attack just now triggered it to happen again.
I had seen what Kari was capable of. If Kari could wake up then not only would she probably stand a chance again Raven because not only did she have a Card but because Gatomon could then Mega Digivolve. Kari would also be able to wake Koji and Takuya up. Kari was able to heal and even help Rin craft the Digivices that were broken. She should be able to wake Koji and Takuya up.
"Kari, please you have to wake up now." I pleaded as I dropped to my knees beside her.
There was no real use in trying to run. I had no strength left to fight. Kari had to wake up. If she woke up then Koji and Takuya would shortly follow her in waking up. Those three, they should be able to work together and defeat Raven. Kari and Koji were both Light Elementals and with them together they should be able to defeat Raven who is relying on the darkness to fuel her power.
"They're not going to wake up so don't waste your breath!" I looked to Raven, she was coming towards me – ignoring the others completely.
"You won't hurt her again!" I was surprised because DemiVeemon yelled the words as he got out of my arm and even used my head to propel himself at Raven.
He head-butted Raven but Raven grabbed him before he could fall. She held him upside down by his foot. I stood up, holding my broken arm to my body. It hurt to just move it. As I turned around to face her I begged the Core to answer my pleas. I had to be able to defend my friends. I really did have to be able to fight.
"Blaze." I whispered the words a small jet of fire shot at Raven.
She dropped DemiVeemon and dodged it. DemiVeemon managed to land on his feet while I tried to stoke the flames of my wings to get them to be stronger. The wings that had come forth barely passed my shoulders. They weren't as big as usual which meant that the strength that I had left was nowhere near what would be needed to protect my friends.
Raven laughed, "You're running on empty."
"Even so, I won't let you touch my friends." I declared the words and she smirked, flicking her hand towards Zoe and them – the explosive feathers going at them.
"I doubt you can save them with that measly power." Even if it hurt I rose my broken arm.
A small jet of flames left the small orb of fire that floated in front of my hand. The flames hit the feathers but before she could laugh the feathers exploded. I had changed the properties of those flames. Her feathers exploded when they hit something solid that wasn't herself so I made the flames solid.
She clicked her tongue, "Guess you figured out what makes them explode."
I nodded slowly. How do I get Kari to wake up? What could even wake up from what was probably slumber caused by Raven's Shadow Cores? I was protected from whatever Raven had done by the Core embedded into my back.
"Kari, please you have to wake up now!" I didn't look away from Raven as I spoke.
"You have to wake up because you're the best hope that we have!" I watched as Raven spread her arms out, she didn't make any move to shut me up though.
"Please, let my voice reach you! I know you can break out of whatever she did to you Kari!" My eyes widened as copies of Raven formed but that wasn't made me surprised, hundreds of explosive feathers formed.
"I know that you could help in this battle! I know that you would be able to protect your friends!" I cried the words out quickly as the feathers came at me.
"Electro Squall!" Wizardmon's attack intercepted a few.
"Lightning Paw!" Gatomon hit a few, something glowed around her hands though that seemed to stop the feathers from exploding.
I moved both of my arms to face in front of me, "Special Flare!"
The solidified flames came from a small orb of fire and went to intercept some of the feathers. I pushed every bit of strength that I could muster while trying to push away the pain from my arm. My breathing shuddered.
"Kari!" I cried at her name – she had a shield that could easy deflect the remaining feathers.
Yes, I acknowledge the fact that I made Raven a bit OP so I'll take a moment to explain it real quick. It should have been gathered that Digital Cores are really strong. While Nori also has one Raven states that Nori doesn't have full control/ownership of it - Nori doesn't have access to the full power so let's say she's kind of sitting in between a Rookie and Champion level at the moment whereas Raven has full power so she's at like Mega Level compared to Nori. Zoe, J.P. and Tommy are fatigued from doing a Fusion Evolution and from being controlled. [Which is also why didn't jump in right away, they were also trying to escape with Kari, Koji and Takuya if it wasn't gathered.] Not to mention the bird like form that Raven can take on is kinda like a Human Spirit Evolution so she has that strength plus her full powered Shadow Core.
Does that make sense why Raven seems so over powered?