This may be a bit confusing, I'm sorry for that. I feel like it should be understandable but it might be one of those chapters that makes sense to me because I know things that I may have failed to properly portray to you guys yet I know what I was aiming for. Sorry that this chapter is a bit late [its still posted on Saturday but its nearly 11 PM my time and I usually try to have it up at about 4 PM my time].
Chapter Seventy-Eight: Kaoru
[Kari's P.O.V]
My heart was steadily dropping as I watched Tai. He was on his knees sobbing. He had wrapped his arms around himself, his whole body was shaking. I felt a flicker of warmth and suddenly I was able to move. I ran to Tai's side and when I was beside him he lifted his head. He stared at me and I reached towards him. When I did that I realized that I was a soft pink color.
"Tai." My voice was soft but seconds later I was pulled into a hug by Tai.
Tai started to hug me tighter, "I'm so sorry Kari."
"This is all my fault!" Tai's voice echoed in the void as he started to cry harder.
"It isn't your fault Tai." I hugged Tai back.
"If it's anyone's fault then it's mine. You told me to protect her and I failed." Matt's voice cut in.
"It wasn't your fault either!" I yelled the words, turning so I could look at Matt.
Matt seemed surprised at my outburst. My heart ached. This was my fault. I knew what this place was. This void of darkness, this was probably death. We were all dead. Knowing that I caused this I felt horrible. I was useless. I hadn't done anything but get them hurt. I was of no use in the battle.
"Matt you were almost choked to death! The only other outcome of that situation would've been that you died there! It wasn't your fault!" I stood up, staring Matt down.
"There was nothing that we could've done. Myotismon is at fault, he's the one that caused all of this to happen." I hated that they were blaming their selves.
"He planned for this to happen Kari so blaming him, doesn't count." I looked at Tai when he spoke, his head was hung.
"If that doesn't count then blame me." Tai's head snapped up.
"If it isn't our fault then it isn't your fault either." I shook my head and Tai narrowed his eyes.
I stared Tai directly in the eye, "I got sick and couldn't go to summer camp with you Tai. Had I gone to summer camp with you then I would've been right there with you guys. I would've gotten my Digivice along with my Crest long before Myotismon came to our world. The only thing that would've change the outcome of this battle would've been me going to summer camp but I stayed home so if it isn't Myotismon's fault then it is mine."
I curled my hands into fists and as I continued to stare Tai down something, flickered. As Tai hung his head something flashed in my head. This wasn't how it turned out. Something wasn't right. I looked to my hand when I felt someone grab my hand. I slowly looked from the hand to the person it belonged to. I stared at the person who was a dark grey light. The person stared back at me but she looked like my mirror image.
"Why are there two Karis?" T.K. asked the question but the other me just smiled at me.
"Did Kari have a twin?" Matt asked it but I couldn't find my voice to say 'no'.
"No, I only had one sister." Tai sounded stunned.
"Kari, you know the truth." Her voice was different than mine, it was a bit rougher.
She stepped closer to me, bringing our hands up so they were the only thing in between us, "You know who I am."
"We all know who you are, you are Kari but that doesn't make since." My mirror image laughed at Tai's words.
I was stunned because memories flickered. I remember who she was. She was someone I had only met in passing. She was someone who's been by my side for years. She was someone that no knew about though. She was my friend and my friend alone. She may look like me but her name wasn't Hikari or even nicknamed Kari.
"Kaoru." When I said the name she smiled widely.
"You remember my name. You haven't said it in so long and kept mistaking my voice for something else." Her eyes sparkled and was now grasping my hand with her other hand.
"How are you here?" She looked down at my question.
"I've always been dead Kari, I died years ago but after I died I came to you." I blinked, confused and caught off guard by her words.
"What do you mean, Kou?" She raised her head when I called her by her nickname.
"It's a story that we do not have time for me to tell." She grabbed my other hand and stepped back.
"You need to go back Kari, you're needed." I gripped her hands tighter.
"There is no going back, we're here because we're dead." Matt's voice was rough as he snapped at Kaoru.
I looked down, staring at the darkness that I was standing on despite there being no defined ground. There was no point in going back. Even if I went back there was no way I could do anything. I was too weak to do anything. There was no hope of defeating Myotismon.
Kaoru squeezed my hands, "He's not the enemy, you defeated him once already Kari."
"No I didn't." I released Kaoru's hands but I didn't get to withdraw my hands, she grabbed them again.
"Yes you did. You know you did." I looked at Kaoru, her tone had dropped and she was glaring at me.
"I don't know who you are but-"
"Shut up!" Kaoru shouted the words, her words echoed through the void.
Grey light began to shine from her, "You hindering pieces of imaginations need to disappear!"
The light was released in a wave. My heart dropped when I watched it wash over Tai, Matt and T.K. because they vanished. They disappeared as if they were nothing. I looked to Kaoru horrified. What had she just done to them?!
"How could you do that to them!?" I was going to tear my hands away but I couldn't get them out of her grip.
"Listen to me Kari." I froze the moment she growled the words out.
"Can you not hear her pleas?" I shook my head.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Kaoru huffed, her hair that hung in her face fluttered softly.
"Her pleas reach me but fall on deaf ears for you?" She sounded annoyed but tried as well.
Who was she talking about? Sora? Mimi? There were no other females present, well unless you count Biyomon and Palmon. Was she talking about them? I was needed to defeat Myotismon so it would make sense if she was talking about Sora or Mimi. Even so, there was nothing that I could do because Gatomon was deleted and I couldn't fight on my own.
"I don't get what you're talking about. Even if I somehow revived there is nothing that I can do against Myotismon." She groaned and dropped my hands.
She grabbed my shoulders roughly, "Forget about Myotismon! You already defeated him, three times in fact so forget about him!"
She started to shake me but I hadn't even defeated him once let alone three times. I grabbed her shoulders, stopping her from shaking me. I opened my mouth to tell her that I had no clue but I stopped.
"You have to wake up because you're the best hope that we have!"
My eyes widened when the voice reached my ears. Who was that? That voice didn't sound familiar at all. My arms went slack and I released Kaoru's shoulder. She stared at me.
"You heard that?" She sounded giddy.
"Yeah." She smiled in relief.
She laughed softly, "I knew her voice would reach you eventually. I had hoped it would before it became too late."
She pulled me into a hug, "I feared that it would be too late since you fell for the nightmare hook line and sinker."
Kaoru pulled away and held me at arm's length. She was smiling and what she said started to make things click. Memories started to float up to the surface from wherever they had been hidden. My heart still ached though. Even if that had been a nightmare the battle with Myotismon could've potentially gone that way. Had that one thing that changed in the nightmare had actually happened in reality then it could've all changed. That nightmare could've happened. That was the scariest part.
"You need to go back now Kari, they need you." I shook my head quickly.
"What?" Kaoru sounded stunned.
"Even if I go back, what can I do?" The battle we were fighting was a losing one.
Our victory in the battle in the long run all depended upon our luck. Everything had to fall favorable for us to win. There was no way we would have that good of luck. I was caught off guard when the pink of my form began to dim.
"Kari, don't you dare give up!" Kaoru forced my head up, forced me to look at her.
"If you give up now then you will just vanish. This place, this is a part of your mind. You give up then your consciousness will disappear and your soul will technically die which means you will die." She hissed the words out.
"Do you wanna die?" I shook my head.
"That's what I thought." She released my chin.
"Your friends need you Kari. You have to go back." I curled my hands into fists.
"I'm tired of fighting a battle that I know we're going to lose in the end Kaoru." My voice was weak.
"How do you know that you're going to lose?" I stared at her.
"Our victory is up to chance, if we get the favorable places and conditions for the battle. In the end, we'll have to face Daemon. My group couldn't even harm Daemon not to mention there's Lucemon. Lucemon is stronger than Daemon so if we couldn't even scratch Daemon then we have no hope against Lucemon." She sighed at my words.
"You're right about there being no hope." My heart cracked hearing Kaoru say that, she's always been positive.
"There's no hope because Hope wasn't chosen to fight in this battle." Kaoru words were hard.
"Hope wasn't chosen to fight this battle because Hope would easily be crushed due to the overwhelming odds against us. The thing is though while there is no Hope there are two Lights." She stepped back and crossed her arms.
"The light has to defeat the darkness for there to be a place for hope to sprout. Light is what defeats the darkness, hope does not." I opened my mouth to retort but she shook her head.
"No, hear me out." I closed my mouth and she nodded.
"In this battle there is Loyalty, Order, Flame, Temperance, a nice mix of Courage and Friendship and then to round off those chosen you have Light, Darkness and another Light. There was no Hope from the beginning. Since the battle begun you have gathered Miracle and a very interesting DigiDestined to fight alongside of you." I raised my eyebrow.
"I won't speak her title because she doesn't want anyone to know what her title is but she, by far, is the most interesting ally you could have gotten." Who was she talking about?
"Please, let my voice reach you! I know you can break out of whatever she did to you Kari!"
Nori, that's who was calling out to me. Yet, she was also who Kaoru was talking about. I knew the titles of everyone besides Nori. Kaoru though somehow knew about Nori's title.
"How do you know what Nori is the DigiDestined of?" I questioned it.
Kaoru gave a soft smile, "That's a story for a different time Kari."
That's a lot like the answer she gave about how she died. Did she, know Nori personally? No, there was no way that she knew Nori. Nori was a prisoner of the Demon Lords since she was young and Kaoru has been around me probably before Nori was taken prisoner.
"You have to make a choice now. Will you go back and fight or will let yourself fade away?" I looked to the ground.
"Are you going to run away? Are you going to leave your friends to fight the battle alone?" I gulped but shook my head.
"No, I won't run away." I lifted my head and I was met by a smile from Kaoru.
"Alright then, we're going back to fighting then right?" I blinked.
"We? What do you mean by that?" She laughed at my question.
"Kari, did you not know?" I tilted my head.
"Harmony has no parallel versions of their self." I narrowed my eyes confused.
"Daisuke mentioned that he knew a Kari from his world." My eyes wide.
"I'm not the DigiDestined of Harmony am I?" That would be the worse.
We were embroiled in a battle where the only bit of hope we had to cling to was the horrid prophecy and how we all fit different parts and that I was the DigiDestined of Harmony. If I wasn't the DigiDestined of Harmony then this wasn't our fight. We were just dancing to the tune of being cast into roles that we didn't belong to.
Kaoru laughed, "You aren't the DigiDestined of Harmony Kari."
"Why are you laughing then?!" Kaoru gave a wide grin to me.
"We are the DigiDestined of Harmony. You and I together make up the DigiDestined of Harmony. The reason why I'm here with you after I died is because we're two halves of a whole Kari. You're the DigiDestined of Light and I'm the DigiDestined of Darkness." I blinked in confusion.
"Wait, what?" She laughed.
"The title of Harmony is too powerful for one person alone to bear so the soul of the DigiDestined of Harmony was split. The split was a light half and a dark half." She knew Daisuke then which would mean her knowing Nori was highly possible then.
"Besides it's not in human nature to be balanced, we balance out together though." Kaoru was what then, my sister?
"You're my, what sister?" She shrugged.
"Sure, let's go with that! It makes us sound like family and I like that." She smiled at me.
"So, you kept talking about going back, do you know how to do that?" She stared at me before shaking her head.
"Nope, not at all. We could try to work some Harmony Magic but I don't think we'll be able to do that without possibly hurting people around your body." My shoulders fell.
"I know that you could help in this battle! I know that you would be able to protect your friends!"
Nori's voice didn't sound like it echoed this time. I spun on my feet towards where I thought I heard it. I stared hoping to see something but there was nothing. She sounded so urgent though. We had to get back to them somehow. I looked at Kaoru when she grabbed my hand.
"Try to light your mind up, try to pull away the darkness that is fueling this nightmare." I looked back to the direction that Nori's voice had come from.
I stared as I tried to empty my mind from everything besides happy memories. I pushed away the memories of the recent battles and what's happened in the past. Memories of my friends and family lingered, the happy memories. I was a bit surprised when memories that weren't my own popped into my head. Memories that included a much younger Nori and Daisuke.
"Kaoru?" Were they her memories?
"Apparently we can share memories." She spoke the words softly with a smile on her face.
Her eyes widened and she pointed, "Look!"
I did look and I noticed that the darkness had lightened and there was a flicker of flames. The small flicker turned into a door of pure flames. I didn't even hesitate to start running towards it. Nori used flames and her voice reached me, the doorway led out and it was something that she was able to do with her Digital Core I bet. Kaoru was running along beside me. As we grew close the door began to open and light began to pour out of it and I noticed that I was aging from my nine year old self, Kaoru as well despite her being dead according to her.
"Kari!"
Nori's voice echoed in my head as I was greeted by nothing by darkness. My head pounded though. I opened my eyes slowly and the darkness was gone. I stared at the floor for a second before turning my eyes to look towards Nori. My eyes widened by what I saw.
Shield, cast a shield now Kari!
Kaoru's voice broke me out of the seconds long trance. My body reacted slower than I wanted it to but I had my hand held out and somehow the arm warmer that I wore when I released the Card had appeared. A shield appeared in between us and the feathers that were coming straight at us. The shield wasn't pure light though, there was shadows mixed in and I could almost see the outline of Kaoru having cast a shield as well.
"Kari." Nori breathed my name out as she dropped to the ground in front of me.
Nori looked over her shoulder, "You woke up."
Her voice shook and her eyes were colored by pain. I was surprised when tears started to roll down her face. She smiled at me and even if it looked pained it looked like a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. Slowly I pushed myself up from laying on the ground.
"How!" I looked to the person who howled the word out.
The human looking bird girl had howled it out. She glared and I watched as she came towards us. Something about her told me that she was far stronger than she looked. Something felt off about her actually.
She has Shadow Digital Cores embedded into her body. They are the strongest type of Digital Core, they are only rivaled in strength by Light Digital Cores.
I stood up when I heard Kaoru speak. She must've been watching the battle somehow. I had a lot of questions for her when we were done with this. I summoned my Card and I gripped it tightly. This time I was able to fight on my own. Unlike that nightmare where I was unable to fight on my own I could fight on my own now. I also still had Gatomon. I also could get Gatomon to Mega Level.
She's been trying to kill Nori along with you, Takuya and Koji.
I narrowed my eyes hearing that and I watched as more feathers were flung at us, she had stopped and jumped back because a small jet of flames had shot at her. The feathers were intercepted by Wizardmon and they exploded upon contact with Wizardmon's attack. That explains why those feathers weren't good to be hit with, I had at most expected them to be sharp as knives not explosive.
"Sorry Kari but you're kind on your own in this battle." I looked Nori when she said that, she had stood up but I noticed how she cradled her arm.
"I did what I could to keep everyone alive and now I can't muster much strength." Despite that Nori's hand that was holding her arm shot out, a very small ball of fire slammed into more feathers that had come at us but they exploded.
"What happened to your arm?" Nori gave a small laugh at my question.
"Broke it, she has some kicking strength in whatever that form is. It's akin to a Spirit Evolution from what I've seen." A part of me loved how she just, brushed off the fact that her arm was broken.
Classic Nori, as long as those she likes are fine she doesn't care what happened to her.
Well, Kaoru's words confirmed that she knows Nori. That explains how she knew what Nori was the DigiDestined of at least. I shook my head to clear my head, I needed to focus. I turned my eyes to the girl, she wasn't attacking and she was analyzing me now. I noticed that Tommy, Zoe and J.P. didn't bother to try and Spirit Evolve to attack her even though she was standing still.
They fought alongside of Nori and they've used up what strength they have. They're running on empty when it comes to fuel for Spirit Evolutions, they probably don't have another Evolution in them.
Kaoru knowing all of this was convenient for me because I didn't have to ask about what was going on or what happened. It was lucky so perhaps some luck was on my side.
"Also Nori, you're wrong about something. Kari isn't alone in this battle." Wizardmon declared the words and raised his staff, the girl's eyes snapped to him.
"Electro Squall!" The girl managed to dodge the lightning strike that came from the cloud that appeared above her.
"I already know this trick!" She turned to Gatomon ready to block Gatomon but I smirked.
"There's a new spin to it though! Gatomon Warp Digivolve!" When Gatomon called that out the girl dropped the block and took to the sky.
"Magnadramon!" The girl dodge Magnadramon's swipe but was forced to hit the ceiling thanks to the updraft that it had created and caught the girl's wings.
I raised my hand, holding card in front of me, "Release."
My card vanished and my outfit changed. I felt something different this time though. There was something different this time. Yet again something changed.
Don't worry about that, its battle time.
Kaoru's voice came seconds before Magnadramon was hit. It didn't seem like much damage was done but it forced her to back away from the girl. The girl had been coming towards me but she stopped herself when she saw me. I stepped forwards but suddenly I was in her face, loving the fact that I figured out the whole teleporting thing.
"Light Blast." Seconds later she was hit by a blast of light however I noticed that it hadn't actually hit her – a shield of darkness had appeared and taken the attack for her.
"You caught me off guard with that but that won't matter. Let me guess, you have a Light Digital Core. I wouldn't be surprised since you're Harmony – some ruler would've entrusted you with one." Her words only got a chuckle out of Kaoru.
With memories that drifted through my head from the time that I was unconscious I was angered. I saw what she had done to my friends. I saw how she had tried to kill us. Anger burned from how far she pushed Nori but the anger felt foreign. Something told me that it was Kaoru's anger in truth. I followed instincts that urged me to move. I flashed in front of the girl before she had a chance to charge me. My body just moved as if upon muscle memory.
I had flashed almost as if I was spinning and I managed to knee her in the face. I had a feeling that only because I had managed to teleport once again that she was caught off guard and hit by that attack. She didn't travel much at all. Getting hit the face had only made her growl in anger and swing at me. My body responded faster than I thought it would and I actually managed to catch her fist. My other hand was guided in between us with my palm facing her.
"Shadow Sew." Thin strings of shadows came from my hand and tore clean through her body.
This is for all the pain that she forced Nori to feel.
"That is for all of the pain you made Nori feel." I repeated the words that Kaoru had uttered in my head but they came out far angrier than I had imagined them to be.
I released the girl's hand but she hung there for a couple of seconds from the strings of shadows. She stared at me stunned as the shadows vanished and a pale grey light started to leak out of her wounds. Her eyes looked utterly lost and confused. I knew in that moment that she didn't know that I had a Card. It was for the best that she didn't know probably.
"I don't understand. You shouldn't be this strong even if you're the DigiDestined of Harmony." The girl burst apart, sparks of the grey light going everywhere.
I was caught off guard by that display but I watched as she was revealed to have a much more human form. She no longer looked like a bird but a girl that was either my age or at most three years older than myself. Her eyes were purple with hints of blue within yet there were flecks of red as well. She stood up slowly from being knelt – as she stood up she took a step back.
"You use both light and shadows. Light Cores don't have access to shadows and if you had a Shadow Core you would've been immune to my attack." Her words nearly went over my head.
My eyes settled on something that took my breath away. Attached to the belt that she wore was a device that stunned me. I looked from the pale blue device that had a cracked screen to her face. She had a Digivice. She was a DigiDestined. She was in control of herself if her actions were anything to tell by. If she was being controlled she wouldn't have talked like she had or showed surprise. She would be attacking me instead of questioning things.
"Why?" I breathed the word out because I couldn't get the questions out of my head and into words.
"Why do you look surprised?" She snapped at me and swung at me – black light pulsed around her hand.
I raised my arm so I would block it. The black light actually burned through the arm warmer that I wore but light coated my arm before it could burn my skin. There was actually a sudden shockwave that rushed out from the impact. She had incredible strength that I had to give. The fact that I still stood surprised me actually.
It's because we're working together. Our strength together is just as strong as her power in this state.
"How can you just stand there and take that attack like it was nothing!" She swung at me again but her fist didn't even reach me before it was stopped – a small orb of shadows had appeared and stopped it due to it taking the impact and just making the orb giggle like jelly.
"What the hell is your power!?" I flinched back when she brought up her leg to kick me but she was stopped by another jelly orb of shadows.
I didn't even know what was causing the jelly orbs. I was kind of caught off guard by them myself. I had never used them before. I never even knew that I had such a power in truth. It seemed a bit overpowered since it kept stopping her attacks.
I love watching her freak out.
I could hear the smirk in Kaoru's voice. Her words however told me that she was the cause of the jelly orbs. I felt like something wasn't right with the jelly orbs though. Something about them felt far darker and far more sinister than what I've sensed come out of this Card Release before. The feel of them made me question if they belonged to something that Kaoru was able to do outside of the Release in truth.
"These stupid things need to disappear!" My eyes widened as I was flung backwards.
A massive pulse of dark energy had come of the girl's body. The jelly orbs exploded and the bits that landed on the ground before disappearing actually ate through the ground like acid. The girl recoiled with some of the jelly got on her skin, it had burned her skin. I heard Kaoru howling with laughter. I was the slightest bit disturbed now because I had never heard Kaoru sound so, deranged.
"That's Kou's." I looked to Nori when she spoke the words stunned.
"How can you use that, Kari?" Nori looked at me with eyes that looked like, caged hope.
"Don't worry! She won't be using whatever the hell it is for long!" My eyes snapped back to the girl.
A blade of pure black was coming right at my head. She was aiming to decapitate me. I jumped up and the wings formed and flung me high into the sky. Her blade sliced through where I had been while she stumbled. She looked up at me and she stared.
"Another birdy?" She tilted her head, sounding very childish suddenly.
"No, you aren't a bird." She shot through the air.
I didn't have time to dodge the sword this time and I created a shield of light to block it. The sword crashed into the shield and instead of dropping a thin disk of darkness appeared below her and allowed her to stay in the air. Her sword actually shattered the shield and when a jelly orb appeared the sword cut right through it. Her eyes looked crazed. I found myself suddenly flashed away from the girl. I hadn't flashed though.
Remember what powers you have available to you. Use them to end this battle already. She seems to be on her last legs. Nori did a good job of beating her back pretty well. With the strength that we have together we can defeat her.
"I figured it out." I turned so I faced her.
She stood on the disk and she had tilted her head back to stare at me. She stared at me with eyes that had specks of blue once more. She stared at with an insane grin. She giggled and she spun on her heel so she faced me.
"You have a Digital Card. With a Card and being Harmony puts you on a different level than just using this Shadow Core with nothing else." She let the sword vanished, however, a house like symbol glowed over her heart.
"A Crest?" I asked stunned.
She truly was a DigiDestined then. She wasn't some kind of highly humanoid Digimon. She wasn't some Digimon that had a partner that might have died. The Digivice on her belt belonged to her. Why was someone as strong as her fighting with the Demon Lords? Was she this strong because she sided with the Demon Lords perhaps?
"Yeah, got a problem with it?" She narrowed her eyes at me.
There was nothing going on and I didn't see any Digimon that might belong with her. The fact that nothing was happening but it was glowing bothered me. I didn't know what she was the DigiDestined of so I had no clue what to expect from her Crest.
"You're a DigiDestined. Why are you on the Demon Lords' side?" How could someone willingly choose to take their side?
The Demon Lords killed people and Digimon alike. The Demon Lords needed to be defeated. Why was she working with them when she was strong? She could easily be on our side and help us fight against them but instead she's fighting with them. Then again I wasn't even sure why anyone would work with the forces that seemed evil. Guess it probably did come back to how a person views a world or idea. What kind of twisted view could she have that would have her working with them?
"Why do you care? You're Harmony. You never faced half what I did. You are the true enemy, the true evil." I was taken about by her words.
Don't listen to her Kari.
The girl sneered at me, "You're the one who needs to be defeated. You think that you're doing the worlds a favor but the greatest favor you could do the worlds is die. Don't stand in the way of the 'Demon Lords'. The fact that you call them that is just cruel."
What was she talking about? The Demon Lords attack innocent Digimon and humans. They wipe out whole worlds. How could she call me evil? I was fighting against the Demon Lords because they hurt people and they need to be stopped.
"Not to mention you're only fighting because this battle threatens your friends and family. If they weren't in danger, would you even care about the other people that exist?" Her words struck me because sadly I didn't know the answer to that.
"Don't listen to her!" Nori yelled but Kaoru echoed the words as well.
"What do you mean by that I'm evil and the Demon Lords aren't?" I wanted to know now.
The girl laugh, "Sure I'll tell you. Why not? Maybe I'll make Harmony see the harm she's doing and maybe she'll just step aside."
Her words were between serious and joking. It bothered me in truth. I watched as Nori tried to attack but her fire didn't even reach the girl. Zoe, J.P., and Tommy had retreated back to Takuya and Koji. They stared uncertain about what was going on. Wizardmon and Magnadramon wasn't moving. Magnadramon actually didn't look like she as fully present, her eyes were dull and held a faraway look to them.
Why are you giving her time to just stand there and waste time?! Wasting time like this gives her time to recover and we don't know what her Crest does so for all we know she might buying time for a freaking Demon Lord to show up!
I gritted my teeth because Kaoru had a point. Even if I wanted to know her reasoning I didn't have time to stand here and listen to it. I wanted to know but did I have time to waste? What if she was summoning a Demon Lord? If a Demon Lord showed up now then it would be over. There was no way that we would defeat a Demon Lord in the condition we were in as of now. I looked over and I saw that her guard was down. Would I really attack her now when she seemed open to talking? I didn't want to hurt anyone more than I had to.
I closed my eyes and braced myself. I had to take this chance. I had to do this even if it went against what I believed. I had to defeat her so we could move on and rescue my mother. Defeating her would probably free Koji and Takuya as well. Whatever had happened to us was most likely due to her. I knew what had to be done.
"Once upon a time the Demon Lords weren't the Demon Lords but were known as Amity-" Her words barely registered because I had teleported myself.
Her eyes that were purple with flecks of blue widened. She tried to react but she proved to be too slow. I didn't funnel much strength into the hit because she was human. I didn't want to kill her. I didn't even really want to hurt her. I just wanted this battle to be done with already. I didn't want anyone else to get hurt. There was enough force to knock her off of the disk and my heart skipped a beat because we were a pretty good distance from the ground.
She fell through the air. I was actually about to teleport and stop her from falling but I stopped. I stopped because the soft grey light turned dark and swallowed her. The light turned from light and seemed to just be a ball of data. There was a shriek that echoed in the room and made my ears ring. The data ball was broken by black wings that looked razor sharp.
The thing that emerged from the data ball was in my face. Even if it had to be Raven given the fact that Raven was now missing it didn't look like Raven at all. While the body was mostly human the feet were still talon like. Baggy white pants were worn while dark purple armor wrapped around the ankle area. A grey skirt was went to her knees while a black belt separated it from the purple armor that covered the whole torso. Her arms looked like they were wrapped in red bindings but shifted into talons as well. A purple arm guard covered from shortly below her elbow to her wrist. There was a sword at each of her hips. Short black feathery hair hung to her shoulders while a dark purple mask covered her face. The eyes of the mask were a dark red that looked purely murderous.
The beck of the mask opened and a high pitched sound was emitted. It sounded like a caw but it was a bit twisted as well. She bolted at me at so fast I didn't even have a chance to react. She had drawn her swords at some point and they bore down on me. Raven was slapped away from me by Magnadramon. Raven caught herself with her wings but something didn't seem right. The whole aura around her seemed to have shifted. It was as if she wasn't human suddenly.
"Be careful! That's a Spirit Evolution! She's been taken over by whatever Spirit she has!" Tommy's words stunned me.
It was a Spirit Evolution? I thought that there were only ten Spirits? Koji had told me all about the Legendary Spirits and none of them fit this description. The only fitting idea would've been Wind but Zoe was the DigiDestined of Wind. She still had her Spirit so what Spirit was this one? Did the Demon Lords somehow create copies of the Legendary Spirts before altering them somehow?
"There's no way that can be a Spirit Evolution Tommy!" J.P. shouted out in denial but I saw Raven turn her head towards them.
"That is very close to a Spirit Evolution. How are you able to Spirit Evolve?" Zoe wasted her breath with the question because there was only a shriek in return.
My eyes widened because Raven shot towards them. They were defenseless if Nori was right. They had used too much strength and they weren't able to Spirit Evolve anymore. They wouldn't be able to defend themselves. Magnadramon gave chase and was able to grab Raven before she could get close to them. Magnadramon gave a cry of pain and reeled back as data exploded from her hand, releasing Raven. Raven's feathers were slowly flattening, both her wing's feathers and tail feathers seemed to have been blade like.
Raven bent forwards and seemed to flash from in front of Magnadramon to the back of Magnadramon. Suddenly a slash appeared and data rushed out. Magnadramon exploded into data and I feared the worst. Thankfully I caught sight of Nyaromon among the dispersing data.
"Nyaromon!" Wizardmon called out as a ball of electricity crashed into Raven only to be swatted away.
Raven was going straight for Nyaromon with her swords. I knew what she was going to do. I couldn't let that happen though. I flashed to in front of Nyaromon and for a split second all I saw was the angry red eyes. The eyes reminded me of Devidramon from the nightmare. I felt small and cornered. I felt helpless and useless suddenly.
"Kari?" Nyaromon's voice was weak.
No matter what, this power is to protect those who are unable to protect themselves.
"Guardians Light!" Light burst from the hands that I had thrown up.
The light burst out a shockwave and forced Raven backwards. The light though had lingered in the air and formed seven swords. The seven swords though were dyed different colors. The swords cut through the air and went flying at Raven. Raven shrieked as her wings were pinned to the wall, a sword through each of them. A sword had cut her pants to pin her legs to the wall, both of her legs were pinned. Two swords lingered in the air pointed at while the last had hit the mask and caused it to shatter. The sword though had dissolved after causing the mask to dissolve.
Raven was screaming in pain. Her scream still didn't sound human though. She struggled and tried to reach for the swords that were pinning her wings only to have the last two remaining swords impale her arms and pin them to the wall. I actually felt sick watching what had happened.
Where had that attack even come from? Something about it was different. Something about it had a very odd vibe to it. The swords, something about them seemed odd to me. The sword that had dissolved had been a pure red. One of the swords that had her wings pinned were orange and the other was indigo. While the ones in her arms were purple and green. The ones in her legs were blue and yellow.
Kari, did you here that voice just now?
Kaoru confused me but after a couple of seconds I realized that the voice I had heard wasn't her voice. There was someone else? Who was that woman? She had sounded so sorrowful yet strong. I shook my head to clear my head. I needed to focus. Raven was clearly not an opponent that we would defeat easily. We needed to end this before any of the Demon Lords showed up though. Yet, how do I end a fight against a human? When we were fighting Digimon we would fight until they turned into data knowing that they would probably return to a Digital Egg. A human would die though and I can't kill someone. I didn't even know what it would take to knock her out and I wasn't sure what I could do to a human with powers that I can't fully control yet.
"How dare you!" Raven screamed the words – completely sounding human once again.
The swords flickered before dissolving. I knew Raven hadn't done it though. I knew she hadn't done that because in that moment I suddenly felt drained. Whatever that attack had been drained me. My body felt as heavy as lead and just wanted to give into gravity.
Raven charged at me, "You're going to regret this!"
She only wielded one of her swords, the second one having dropped from her hand when she had been pinned to the wall. Data leaked from her body the whole time she came at me. I raised my hand hoping to create a shield but my body was so heavy that it was moving slowly. Just as Raven swung at me I dropped. I was falling through the air and when I caught sight of my arm I knew. Whatever that form was called had failed. I had used up too much energy I guess.
I watched as Raven twist in the air and she came diving at me. I was caught mid-air and was taken out of the path of Raven's quick descent. Raven was unable to stop herself so she did continue towards the ground but I was surprised. Zoe had caught me but she looked like a fairy. She landed on the ground but collapsed to her knees. The moment I was set down the armor vanished slowly and she was revealed. Zoe panted and was out of breath. She was pale and shaky.
Zoe laughed weakly, "Guess, I had one little burst left."
I looked to Raven and found that she was pulling her sword out of the ground. A small crater having been created from the force somehow. She looked towards Zoe and me. She was pissed. She reached her free hand up and I watched as the mask formed once more. The mask though was now worn as if it was a hat. The red eyes of the mask was drowned in pain. I swear I actually saw tears rolling down the mask from the eyes.
"How dare you cause so much pain to him?" Raven hissed the words out as her wings spread.
"Who are you talking about?" She narrowed her eyes at me.
"Like you even care! You're just trying to make me lower my defenses again!" She shot through the air, coming right at Zoe and me.
Zoe gripped her D Tector while I tried to get the card to let me access the form again. I needed to create a shield for Zoe and me. I had to defend us. I had to protect us. I didn't know what Raven would do. She was seriously angry.
"Crystal Freeze!" Raven actually stopped when Tommy's attack caused her wings to ice over.
"Thunder Fist!" J.P. hit Raven but she barely even flinched.
She spun around and her sword cut right across the armor chest of J.P.'s Spirit Evolution. The armor wasn't just scratched but a deep cut was left. Data rushed out and J.P. was actually knocked off of his feet and crashed to the ground. It was as if he had exploded out of his Spirit Evolution somehow. What confused me though was that some kind of totem was floating where J.P. had been standing.
"Oh, so that's what one those Spirits look like eh?" Raven reached towards the totem.
"Don't touch that!" Tommy jumped at Raven.
Raven reacted in a split second though. She slammed her fist straight into the face of the ice bear that was Tommy. Tommy hit the ground and he lost his Spirit Evolution. A totem floated over him as well. Those were the physical forms of the Legendary Spirits if what she said was right. I hadn't really seen them before even if I had been working with Koji, Koichi and Takuya for a while now.
Raven smirked, "I'll take yours to so don't worry."
I released the card when I felt pain consume my hand. I looked away from Raven and to the card. My card was now smeared with my blood – my hand cut from the top of my wrist in a diagonal to just below my pointer finger. The card was consumed by a ball of shadows. I watched as the shadows took a human shape. The card was hidden within of the body of shadows and the shadow person shot towards Raven.
"I'll never forget that smirk!" The voice that echoed out of shadows stunned me.
Kaoru. That was Kaoru's voice. The fact that others reacted to her voice meant that for once I wasn't the only one that heard her voice. I watched as the shadows gained colors and all I saw was a spitting image of me. The only difference was that her hair was messy and a bit spiky even though it reached her waist.
"Kaoru!" Nori yelled but I couldn't tear my eyes off of Kaoru.
Kaoru hand's hand been engulfed by black flames somehow. The flames though, they didn't look right. They looked more like shadows that were crafted to look like flames. Raven cut Kaoru's left arm off but all that happened was that shadows spread out but then started to reform. Kaoru's right arm connected to Raven's cheek. Raven stumbled back and Kaoru swiped her left hand through the air, black orbs appeared.
"Dark Bomb." The orbs slammed into Raven and exploded upon impact.
Kaoru was dead. I knew she was dead because she had told me. If she was dead how was she standing there. How was Kaoru able to be standing there and fighting? Was this some kind of power of the card? No, that didn't make sense because Storm said that I was the only one who could use the card. Though Kaoru did say that we were two halves of a whole so did that mean that Kaoru could use it as well? If she could why didn't she do this before?
The dark mist that hung around Raven was cleared by black wings flapping, "I remember you."
Raven was standing yet I noticed that the jewel that was inside of her torso armor was glowing. I had barely noticed the fading grey light that had traced around her feet. Had she created some kind of shield that blocked Kaoru's attack somehow? Raven cocked her head to the side and pointed her sword at Kaoru.
"How are you standing there? I know that had you not shown your face or tried to defend your stupid friend that day you would be alive. I know you died though, I watched Daemon kill you. I watched you bleed out." My heart dropped hearing that.
"You were laughing the whole time. You said that I was foolish, that Harmony was foolish for having really thought that Daemon would accept my life in return for my friend's life. I'll never forget that smirk, you had the same smirk that day when you told me that all I had done was end my life and made my friend's life harder." Kaoru's shoulders shook as her voice was thick with anger.
"You made her watch Daemon kill me. You scared my best friend for life and I won't allow you hurt anyone ever again." Kaoru declared the words but Raven only giggled.
"What do you think that you can do? You're only here because you're using a Digital Card to fuel that form. Once that card is drained of power not only will you vanish but it'll shatter." My eyes widened.
Raven spun her sword in her hand, "It was quite foolish to do that actually. You're going to leave your poor twin defenseless without it."
"I'm not foolish!" Kaoru yelled the words and was going to move but she froze.
Raven had lunged forwards. Kaoru was impaled through the chest not by Raven's sword but Raven's arm. Kaoru had blocked Raven's sword but turning her arm into shadows, hardened shadows seeing as the sword hadn't cut through. Raven's hand though had impaled her and she now held the card in her hand that had turned back into a human's hand. A black glow coming from her hand.
"Did you forget that I have a Shadow Core? This pitiful bit of control you managed to have because you're the DigiDestined of Darkness is nothing compared to mine." Kaoru's appearance faded to a simple shadow body once more before the shadows dispersed.
Raven looked at me, raising her hand that held the card, "I'll hold onto this so you won't cause any more trouble."
"How do you have this power?" Zoe asked it stunned.
"My partner, he took refuge inside of me when he died. With the power of my crest and Digivice I can still fight alongside of him. This form allows me to use his power to fight. His spirit grants me a Spirit Evolution you could say." Raven shot a smirk at Zoe.
I was stunned though because it clicked then. The way she said it. The way she worded it. I was stunned that someone like her was on the Demon Lord's side. Why was a DigiDestined such as herself on the side of the Demon Lords? Why would someone who lost their partner fight on the side of the very people who probably claimed her partner's life?
"Took refuge?" J.P. repeated the words confused – I noticed that his and Tommy's Spirits had vanished.
"What, are you a parrot?" Raven snapped at J.P. and he scrambled away from her.
"Refuge, you're the DigiDestined of Refuge aren't you Raven?" I couldn't really explain how I had really figured it out.
It was a feeling that I had in my gut. Not many people use the word 'refuge' either. Not to mention the way that she said that he took refuge inside of her. It made it sound like she was a safe place, a refuge to her partner's spirit.
"So what if I am?" Her words were frosty.
I shivered despite the overwhelming heat that over took the room. I felt a highly deadly aura swallow the room. Raven froze but she didn't get to turn around before hands wrapped around her throat. Claws of flames had wrapped around her throat.
"You and Daemon will both die." Nori's voice was dead.
Nori's appearance surprised me actually. Her eyes were empty and devoid of light while flames traced around her whole body. The wings that had formed were actual feathered wings but flames formed the part that arced from her back along with the very tips of the feathers.
"You are the ones who murdered Kaoru that day." My heart stopped – Nori was the friend that Kaoru had just referenced then.
Nori was blasted backwards by a shockwave that Raven had generated by flapping her black wings. Raven rubbed her neck but something told me that the flames were burning rather hotly. Nori tried to slash Raven but Raven blocked her flame talons with her sword. Nori flew away but she landed. There was a spark of orange. Some kind of orange crest started to appear over Nori's heart. The moment that it did though all flames vanished.
Nori stared at the ground and gripped her chest. The orange symbol faded before it fully formed. What was going on? Raven started to laugh seeing Nori's action for some reason. What was funny? Did Raven know something that I didn't know? Then again if Raven had been present back when Kaoru died then she was bound to know more about Nori than I did at this point. Nori and Daisuke hadn't shared much about themselves so they were sort of mysteries.
"You really are fighting it." Nori gave a weak glare to Raven at Raven's taunting words.
"Why don't you just give into it already? You were so much stronger when you actually wielded your Crest's power." What did Raven mean by that?
I looked to Zoe when she shifted. She had stood up while she gripped her D Tector tightly in her shaking hand. Was Zoe going to try and fight in the condition that she was in? She couldn't even hold her Spirit Evolution. Tommy and J.P. were also seemingly down for the count but they also didn't look ready to give in. They were definitely Takuya's friends.
"I promised never to be that person. I'll never be that person ever again. You'll kill me before that crest regains it glow." Raven clicked her tongue at Nori's words.
"Guess I'll just take you out of the picture then." Raven went right for Nori, sword poised to cut Nori down.
"Spirit Evolution: Execute!" The three voices rung out in unison.
"Kazemon!"
"Kumamon!"
"Beetlemon!"
They still had strength to Spirit Evolve? How long would they be able to hold their Spirit Evolution? I looked behind me when I my shoulder was grabbed. Wizardmon stood there looking worried. He held an unconscious Nyaromon in his arms. He cared so much for Gatomon.
"We should go Kari. We should take this chance and try to flee." I was surprised by what he was saying.
"She's too strong for us. She's on a different level than us. She even stole your card so you can't fight." I hated what he said but sadly he was right.
"Electric Frost Wave!" I glanced back to the fight at the three-way call.
Kazemon, Beetlemon and Kumamon had combined their attacks. Their attacks proved to have just enough behind it. The attack cut Raven off but she pulled higher into the air before turning and diving. She was heading straight for Nori. Kazemon flew fast enough to throw herself in the way – planning to take the hit because she would survive the hit and at most lost her ability to Spirit Evolve for now. Beetlemon and Kumamon looked like they were going to release another attack but their Spirit Evolutions failed them.
Raven started to cackle, "Idiots!"
Raven turned and she was no long headed for Kazemon and Nori. I followed her path and I found her target. No, her targets. My heart dropped because as she had turned herself Zoe's Spirit Evolution dropped. Raven was heading straight for Koji and Takuya. They were unconscious so they weren't able to defend themselves. We had left them unguarded. She was right, we were idiots.
I stood even though there was nothing that I could do.
Raven's sword was swallowed by dark energy, "Say goodbye to the Warriors of Flame and Light!"
I took step towards Takuya and Koji. I was disorientated though. I was left blinded thanks to a sudden burst of light. As my sight started to come back I found that I was now staring at Raven. She was baring down upon me and she just smirked. Her blade was covered in whatever energy that her Shadow Core allowed her probably. That had to be what her extra power came from.
"Kari!" Wizardmon and Nori had both screamed my name.
I barely thought about it but I felt the card appear in my hand before vanishing. My outfit once more changed. Light hummed and formed a thin film over my skin and there was a pulse of light. A dome formed around myself along with Koji and Takuya. Everything had seemed to happen in slow motion. It had to have been moving in slow motion for me or someone could manipulate time. The moment the dome had been created Raven seemed to have covered feet in mere seconds. Her sword hit my dome and I focused as much as I could.
I tried to funnel energy to the shield so that it would hold but a crack appeared. The small crack started to spread along the dome of light. The dome shattered but Raven didn't stop.
"You shouldn't have gotten in the way!" Raven's words came second before pain consumed my mind entirely.