So, let me explain real quick. I should have had a chapter up by now but there was a lot of things that happened. During December I had to move which meant packing, getting settled into the new place, and then dealing with companies to get internet and such. I worked pretty hard for you guys by the way. I am posting this chapter today and I have another chapter to post next week. I promised two chapters every month that I update so I'm making sure I keep that promise. So, here's a chapter and I hope you enjoy it.
Chapter Seventy-Nine: Pierce the Darkness
[Koji's P.O.V]
I opened my eyes slowly but I wasn't in my room. I was in a void of darkness. This was just a nightmare. A nightmare that was more welcomed than reality. I guess it wasn't really a nightmare then. This was a dream. Yes, it was only a dream.
"How long are you going to stay here?" I searched the void for him, I couldn't find him though.
"Lobomon?" My call only echoed, unanswered.
I shifted so I was sitting up or at least floating upright. I looked around but there was no sign of Lobomon. I wasn't even sure if I had heard his voice or if I had imagined it. I sighed and just let myself lay back. I stared upwards just trying to guess how far the light that I seemed to emit in this void actually traveled.
"Are you really so blinded that you cannot see me?" My eye twitched.
I sat up once more and looked in every direction. I saw no hint of Lobomon. I could hear him though. I could hear him taunting me.
"Warrior of Light," Lobomon chuckled, "If you can't even see through this darkness then I'm not sure you deserve such a title."
I stood and curled my hands into fists. I noticed that the light that emitted from me grew brighter and traveled farther. I saw a small hint of Lobomon's scarf but it fluttered as if he purposefully moved out of my sight. He was hiding in the darkness. He was purposefully hiding from my view. He insults me when he's purposefully hiding from me.
"Why not stop hiding then?" I hissed the words out.
Lobomon chuckled, "Hiding? I'm standing right in front of you."
I jumped back because suddenly he had appeared right in front of me. I was caught off guard when I took in his appearance though. He was faded and see through, as if he was a ghost. He wasn't solid at all like he had appeared the few times I had somewhat meditated and spoke to him. I opened my mouth to speak but he vanished. He vanished from right in front of my eyes. I was caught off guard by that.
"You're so blinded that you have no clue what's going on." I narrowed my eyes at where Lobomon had been.
"What are you talking about?" Why didn't he just say what he wanted to say?
"Are you truly that much a fool? Can you not see it?" He was pissing me off now.
I stopped what I was about to say. I felt woozy all of a sudden and as if I had just gone ten rounds with Cherubimon. My breathing shuttered and I sunk to my knees. The light that had expanded receded. The light that I had emitted barely stretched a foot away from me now which was less than it had stretched when I had opened my eyes. I looked at my hands and my gut twisted. My own body had faded a bit. I could actually see through my hands.
"W-what is this place?" This wasn't a dream or even a nightmare.
This place, it wasn't normal. I needed to get out of this place. I needed to escape before something bad happened. I needed to escape before this place consumed me. I had a feeling that was what was going on now. I was watching my hands slowly turn more and more transparent as the light that I emitted grew dimmer and dimmer.
"You finally noticed it?" I looked up slowly – I barely had any strength left.
I expected to see Lobomon standing in front of me. It sounded as if he had been standing in front of me. He wasn't there though. He wasn't standing in front of me. Perhaps he was and I couldn't see him. This place was making me blind to him. This place was trying to hide his existence from me. It was trying to isolate me. It was trying to keep me trapped here.
"Was, any of that real?" Was that whole vision, fake?
I couldn't recall any battle after the Belphemon battle. All I remembered after the battle with Belphemon was going with Kari to rescue her mother. Was everything I had just saw an illusion? Why would someone try to trap me in an illusion? No, it isn't why but who. The reason why was obvious, I was fighting against the Demon Lords and they wanted me dead.
"You already know the answer to that Koji." It was fake then.
No one had left. The battle wasn't over yet. The Demon Lords still needed to be taken care of. I still had a battle that I needed to be fighting. The Demon Lords were alive. I needed to get out of here somehow. How do I get out of here though? How do I escape from this void? I couldn't even find the strength to stand so how could I find the strength to break out of whatever this was?
"What's wrong?" Lobomon's words were taunting.
"I don't know what to do." I admitted it.
I admitted the thing that I hated admitting. I didn't have time to sit here and rack my brain more than likely. Something wasn't right considering the fact that I've been separated from Kari and the others. I was walking down a hallway with them and then suddenly I was in some twisted vision. There was an enemy behind it so who knows what was going on with the others. For all I know the Demon Lords could have captured us somehow and we could be seconds away from meeting the end of our lives.
"Did you just, admit that?" Lobomon was stunned.
"I don't know what to do. I don't know how much time I have to figure out what to do. I don't know what's going on." Times like these were when I secretly relied on Takuya's crazy banter to spark some kind of rationalized version of his crazy antics.
Takuya always had a plan for situations. They may be crazy and off the wall. Highly dangerous at times and not always completely sane but he always had plans. If I didn't know what to do I would analyze his plans and just rationalize them and make them safer and saner. Even if it was rare when I had no clue what to do or where to start it did happen. That was a perk of being in a team when it came to things. I would never admit any of that to Takuya's face though, no one would actually hear that.
"Koji." Lobomon's voice was soft and sounded a bit worried.
Lobomon sighed, "To get out of here you have to shake yourself out of the grip of a Shadow Core."
Shadow Core? What was that? How did it get a 'grip' of me? I closed my eyes and tried to think. If I set aside questions of what a Shadow Core was and focused on the Shadow part and combined that with my surroundings then it came down to one thing. I had to get rid of the shadows. I had to get rid of the darkness that had somehow consumed me. How would I get rid of the darkness though?
"If I can't see through this then I don't deserve to be the Warrior of Light." I opened my eyes as I spoke.
"Have I been blinded so much that I cannot see you?" His words had been clues.
His taunts had been to provoke me. When he provoked me I had somehow brightened the light that I emitted. When I emitted more like that then the darkness would lighten. I had to find a way to release enough light to chase away the darkness. I felt drained from having done what I did though. Did I have enough strength to light this area? I didn't even know the size of this place.
"It's going to be a fight Koji." I looked at where I was certain Lobomon was.
"I'm the Warrior of Light. I should be used to fighting already Lobomon." I looked to my hands only to find that the light had become so pale that it offered little to no light at all.
"How does one recreate the light that they've lost?" His question, it was a clue.
"I take it that whatever this is won't allow you to give me a straight answer." Lobomon rarely beat around the bush – he was straight forward and blunt.
"Every answer given can be twisted so answers cannot be given. What is unclear cannot be made unclear but everything clear can and will be made unclear." I chuckled slightly.
Whatever this is would take any truth given by him and twist it. It would twist it so it would be in its favor. It would not however take questions and riddles and make them worse. As long as it was not bluntly against whatever power it was then it would not be twisted. Alright so I have to figure out the answer to his question and quickly.
"How does one recreate the light that they've lost?" I repeated the question as I tried to decode it.
The light that I lost, could he be talking about how my mind was twisted so I thought that I was abandoned by everyone? Making me think that I was isolated and abandoned by everyone made me revert to who I had been. It made me go back to being someone who was a loner and refused to allow people into my world. It made me numb to the world but so hurt and wounded that it was easier to numb it all than to face it.
I curled my hands into fists. No one was gone though. Everything that I had seen was a lie so my friends were still by my side. I could awaken from this and see them all. I would be able to see Koichi and Kari. Even if that is the truth how do I return the light that was 'lost'? I gulped when I realized it, the reason floated in the back of my head. Thanks to that vision in the back of my head was the dull fear that what I had seen would happen once the battle was done.
"How does one erase a fear that has grounds?" I knew that it could happen and it had every reason to happen but as long as I feared it then it would hold onto the light that the fear has trapped.
"Everyone has to deal with their fears on their own." I tilted my head hearing that.
That was a direct answer. That wasn't a riddle or question. That was something that could've been twisted. If that was twisted then I could assume the opposite of that. What he meant was that I didn't have to deal with it alone. I smiled softly when a memory played, it was that night when Kari and I had stayed up talking. The night that Kari received letters from her friends. Even though she was worlds away they had found a way to contact her. If they were truly my friends, they would always find a way to stay in contact with me.
"Even if we part ways, we can always stay in contact somehow." The fact that letters had reached her across worlds meant something since they weren't even digital.
"Just because we go different ways doesn't mean that it's goodbye. We'll have our memories this time around at the end of the battle so we'll stay in contact." I had to focus on that.
There was no way that we would part ways like we did in that vision. Even so I saw what pain could be caused if I reacted like I did in that vision. If anything I should take that as a lesson. When it comes to parting ways there is no reason to get angry at them because it is something that is bound to happen. Everyone is bound to go home at some point. In that vision Koichi and Takuya had left because they didn't want to say goodbye. We would just have to make sure that at the end it wasn't 'goodbye' but 'see you later'.
"Sometimes fear can be turned into strength." I nodded at Lobomon's words – the light that I emitted had grown stronger once more.
I curled my hands into fists. I could do this. I have to do this actually. I never backed down before so why start backing down? I fought against scarier things than this and won. I beat Cherubimon even though during that I had to fight my own brother. I fought against Lucemon twice in the past, even if he wasn't at full strength I fought him twice and both times I won. I have fought Belphemon and no matter how bleak that situation looked we won. We beat Belphemon.
I stood up slowly, "This darkness, it's nothing compared to what I've faced before."
"This place only has as much power over me as I allow it to have." The light I emitted grew brighter and suddenly I could see Lobomon.
Lobomon was clearly in focus this time. He stood right in front of me. He didn't look transparent this time either. This stupid place wasn't going to keep me trapped here forever. I wasn't going to let whatever this is keep me trapped. I had things that I needed to do. I had promises to keep.
Lobomon smirked, "Seems like you do deserve the title of Warrior of Light – you are able to chase away the darkness after all."
I laughed, "Something like this isn't going to be the end of me. I'm not going to sit here and cry myself to death. I'm not going to just fade away because I'm running away. I won't run away from things ever again."
I wouldn't give in. I won't run away from something. Running away from problems only made them worst and if that illusion was anything to go but it would only make me feel like crap. I ran away from problems in that illusion and I lost everyone.
"A true warrior has come." I stiffened hearing the unfamiliar voice.
My hand seared in pain, "It appears that a suitable inheritor has finally shown up."
I uncurled my left hand to try and figure out why it was searing in pain. The mark on my hand looked angry and irritated now. It looked aggravated and blood leaked from my palm around the edges of the mark. I gritted my teeth as I tried to bear the pain. What was going on? Why was there suddenly pain in my hand?
"W-who's there?" Who did that voice belonged to?
Lobomon stood in front of me still. He was just staring at me for some reason. He hadn't spoken at all so he hadn't been behind that mysterious voice.
A chuckle resounded from nowhere, "You have more to worry about than who I am boy."
I struggled slightly but I was about to force words out of my mouth when I stopped. The pain just vanished in that second. My stomach churned and my heart dropped after stopping. All that resounded in that space in that moment was a pained wail. I knew who that belonged to.
Kari.
This became personal the moment they attacked you. I had told that to Kari that night. The reason it became personal was because I loved her. I never wanted to see her in that much pain ever again. I never said it aloud but I swore that I would never see her get that hurt ever again.
"You know what to do." I looked to my left hand as it spoke.
The mark glowed and the light that poured out was brighter than any light I had ever seen before. The darkness that I had been in was chased away. I found myself floating within a room. The room seemed bare save for snapshots of memories that lined the walls and floated randomly throughout the space. As rings of data surrounded me I closed my eyes.
I heard the howling that had taken over my mind the first time I had performed a Beast Spirit Evolution reverberate in my head. The howling was over whelming but it wasn't oppressive like it was that time. My eyes opened and everything was blurry. Everything was out of focus. I felt the cold ground on my cheek.
I was confused as to where I was. What was I doing here? The howling grew louder and my eyes focused on a figure that was on their knees in front of me. There back was to me but even so the sight sparked anger within me for some reason. The girl was on her knees, blood was pouring out of right shoulder. A flickering blade of black energy was stabbed into her shoulder.
A bird like human girl stood in front of the kneeling girl, howling in laughter. Her shoulders shook with the force of her laughter. The anger burned harsher seeing her laughing at the pain that she had caused. My left hand gave a dull throb of pain and a sensation overcame me as I moved. My body felt sluggish as I forced myself to my feet. As rings of light and data swirled around me I registered the laughing girl pause and look at me.
As I stepped forwards I felt my whole body shift – studier and stronger. My body moved on pure instinct, fueled by rage, to dart forwards. I moved fast enough that the world around me blurred. All that registered was the sudden terrified look that crossed the bird girl's face. Her eyes widened in fear and her face was as pale as a ghost. My hand was wrapped tightly around her throat and we only came to a stop when she was pinned to a wall.
The wall that she had slammed into cracked. She clawed at my armor covered hand, her claws barely scratching my armor. I reached behind my back and pulled out the beam sword that was there. I spun it in my hand and was going to return the favor of her stabbing the other girl by stabbing her with my sword. I was flung back though when a hand that had a black jewel was shoved into my face.
- What? -
I growled lowly as I remained suspended in the air just like the bird girl. Her wings kept her suspended even though she was coughing and trying to get air back into her body. Her hands on her throat yet her eyes were locked on me. She stared at me as if she was staring at a monster. A smirk twitched to life – a monster. A monster that can devour birds.
- This isn't me. -
She would regret what she did. I shot towards her and she raised the same hand she had shoved into my face. The black jewel pulsed but I barely thought about it as I switched which hand I held the beam sword in. I raised my left hand and the armor dissolved and her eyes widened. The jewel in her hand had lost its glow and I had her pinned to the wall one more, this time but her head.
- This is like the Beast Spirit all over again. –
I tightened my grip on her head. She squirmed and she looked so terrified. She was clawing at my hand once more.
- Stop. –
One of her clawed hands shot out to try and scratch my throat but I leaned back. Her arm was too short to reach my throat.
- Wake up! -
"Koji!" The scream reached my ears.
Slowly the world around me came into complete focus. I stared at the girl that I had pinned to the wall by her head. She stared at me terrified. She was the enemy. I knew she was because even if it was blurry I remembered what she had done. My mind stopped and even if it was a mistake I looked away from her. I looked away from her and looked at Kari.
Kari was on her knees right where she had been when I had woke up. She was sobbing in pain, blood covered most of her right side. She was staring at me though. The moment the sword vanished from her shoulder though she cried out in pain once more. Her hand flying to her shoulder as blood gushed out of the wound. I turned to look at the girl that I had pinned only to have her shoving the sword that was now more dagger like at my unarmored lower jaw.
I released her head and used the speed that the Shine form allowed me to propel myself backwards. Even if I was in my Spirit Evolution I was not going to find out what taking a dagger to the throat would do. The girl stared at me with eyes that were both soaked with fear but shook with insanity.
A laugh bubbled out of the girl, "That took me by surprise. You really are dangerous with that form. No wonder you beat that meat head, Belphemon."
"However I must say, I know the difference between you and the one that had me cornered." She pointed the dagger at me but it changed back to the sword.
"How you woke up, I don't know. You being awake will make it harder but just like everyone else I'll make sure you are brought to your knees." She smirked, tossing a gaze towards Kari.
"The last light was nothing." I narrowed my eyes and the anger that I had calmed from whatever had happened when I wasn't fully awake from that illusion came back.
I was still in control this time though. That anger was there. The howling was there as well but it was low and in the back of my head. No, it wasn't howling anymore but growling dangerously. I pulled out my other beam sword and I focused on her. I bent forwards and her eyes snapped back to me.
She smirked, "Good luck catching me a."
She stopped, well the air was knocked out of her. I delivered a harsh kick to her stomach which she failed to block or dodge because she had been too busy trying to be cocky to realize how fast I could truly move. I wasn't able to teleport like Kari was but I could move at the speed of light – some would argue that was teleporting though.
"Lobo Kendo." The attack was different despite having the same name.
It was basically the same however I wielded both of the beam swords that I had. My beam swords tore through the shadow shield that she had thrown up. The fact that they tore through her shield seemed to surprise her enough that she failed to even block the strike. The armor across her chest sparked and there was a groove that was left behind by my slash. The follow up attack that was aiming for the center of the cut was met by her parrying it.
The shadow sword she used rattled in her hands as she struggled to hold off the attack. I brought my other beam sword up to strike her but she narrowed her eyes in concentration. A condensed shield met my beam sword and that one managed to hold it off but the beam sword was slowly slicing through the shield. The sword she was using was starting to give but my beam sword was also cracking slightly surprisingly.
"Somethings, different about you." Her words were strained and she gripped her sword tightly after she slipped slightly and let my beam sword draw closer to her now flawed armor.
"You shouldn't have done what you did." She narrowed her eyes at my strained words.
"I did a lot of stuff, gotta be specific as to what I did to piss you off." She smirked as she tried to taunt me, trying to distract me.
I noticed that her wings spread wider. The feathers of her wings puffed up and seemed to grow sharper in appearance. What was she planning? I didn't like the look that she was giving me or the fact that she had enough attention to split now from trying to block me. I considered fleeing backwards but I didn't get a chance to. I was flung backwards when she flapped her wings. Somehow it had caused a shockwave. I was flung back but black feathers had come free from her wings. The feathers scratched my armor and the thinner pieces were pieced.
"Feather Flare." She only spoke the words after everything was calmed down – that was what that shockwave like attack was called assumingly.
I took a deep breath and tried to calm down. While the anger did provide some extra strength it made me sloppy. I needed to be in complete control and I'm going to have to be very careful against her. She was long and short range which tells me she is using something else to supplement her. The black jewel I saw is probably what she's using and it's probably the thing that is allowing her the use of shadows. The shadows didn't seem to be very hard for me to counter but the combinations she could do could potentially be bad if I left too many open places for attacks.
She was watching me. She wasn't moving either. She was just analyzing me. She didn't make a plan up as she went along like Takuya. She made a plan then acted it like I like doing. This would be interesting because sometimes with opponents like these you have to fight without a plan so they don't have time to develop one either. That or you have to think faster or be able to plan many steps ahead while accounting for surprises.
She smirked and I narrowed my eyes. I gripped my beam swords tighter when she multiplied. Now instead of their only being one there was six now. What was she planning? Was she going to use the clones to strike at everyone at once? Zoe, Tommy, and J.P. were defenseless considering the fact that they hadn't tried to jump in and help me. Nori may or may not be out since she isn't fighting. Kari was most definitely out of commission. Gatomon and Wizardmon may be the only two other than me able to fight.
"I don't like opponents like you." She raised her hand following her words while the clones did as well.
"Kunai Feather!" I watched as hundreds of feathers came rocketing towards me.
I gripped my beam swords. Would the speed of the Shine Form allow me to block them?
"Dodge them! They explode upon impact!" Zoe barely managed to get the words out before the feather's reached me – I did dodge though.
The speed that was granted was enough to dodge a couple but I was caught off guard. The bird girl had somehow anticipated my movements. She had reached one of the places I was heading to before me. She took that second of surprise though and kicked me back into the mass of exploding feathers. The feather's explosion wasn't strong on its own but the shockwave it caused disorientated me which allowed for multiple other feathers to crash into me. More had to be created as well considering the sheer number of feathers that crashed into me and exploded.
The combinations of explosions and shockwaves managed to drive me into a wall. I fell to the ground, landing on my knees. I was disorientated. I was prepared for her to try and attack me. This would be the perfect moment for an attack. Usually a battle ending attack that usually misses because there is little chance that someone would dodge it in this state.
"I thought you learned your lesson about interfering already!" The girl's vicious yell made me seek her out with my eyes.
My eyes widened. She wasn't going for me. She wasn't aiming to attack me. She was going straight for Kari. Kari looked like a deer caught in headlights suddenly. Light had been tracing the ground around her but it was dissipating now. Kari had tried to do something that pissed the girl off. I struggled to get to my feet. Forcing them steady wasn't an easy feat either. One of the girl's clones appeared in front of me and just exploded – shadows burst out pinning me to the wall.
Even with my vision blurry thanks to slamming it on the wall I could make out that Nori was also trying to get to Kari – she got the same treatment as I did.
"Die!" The shadow sword was going straight for Kari's head.
The girl stopped. She stopped mid-lunge. She just hung there in the air. Wizardmon had just appeared in front of Kari. I didn't know everything he could do so I contributed it to that. Why did the girl just stop though? I was surprised when the shadows holding me vanished and I was dropped. I landed on my feet this time though.
"I won't let you harm Kari." Wizardmon didn't sound the least bit scared.
She changed her posture and landed but I saw the way she moved. I moved as fast as I could – pushing myself to move fast because I didn't like what I had seen. As if I had tunnel vision I only saw the movements she did. Her sword had vanished but thousands of shadow needles had appeared – the fact that she was doing all of this before I could reach her meant that this was faster than they could perceive. How I could see it happening – I was just going to contribute it to the fact that I was probably moving just as fast.
Once I was close enough I put every ounce of strength I could into a kick. The kick seemed to blindside her and managed to crash into her side. It knocked her off of her feet and sent her skidding across the ground. I looked to Kari, afraid of what I might see but she was fine. Wizardmon as well but they both stared at me with wide eyes. I noticed the light that had lingered in the air, it was around the places that the needles had been.
"How did you?" Kari was stunned.
"Your hand." Nori's words surprised me so I looked at my hand.
My left hand had partially reverted out of the Spirit Evolution. The mark was glowing and light leaked out of it, faintly surrounding my hand. What was going on now? Just what was this mark? I knew it was the Symbol of Light but what was it able to do? I shook my head and I looked from my hand. The girl was just lying on the ground, staring upwards. I watched surprised as grey light swallowed her before drifting away and disappearing. Left behind wasn't some kind of egg or anything but a human.
"Spirit Evolution?" I was stunned to learn that the bird girl was actually human.
This made it easier though. I began walking towards her. If she was human it would be easy enough to restrain her. If she Spirit Evolved then taking away her Digivice would solve that issue as well. Right now would be the best moment to do that since she seemed either unconscious or completely out of it.
"Don't approach her Koji!" I stopped and looked at Nori.
Nori stared at me, her eyes pleading to just stay away from the girl. Why shouldn't I approach her? Yes she was strong but because of that we should try and make it so that she couldn't fight.
"Can you handle a little more Falk?" I looked to the girl, confused.
She seemed to being staring off into space. There was no one around her. Who was she talking to? She raised her hand, as if she was reach to take someone's hand. She smiled and then in one smooth motion her hand shot down and she flipped herself to her feet. She grinned at me and the look in her eyes were unnerving. She looked so confident. She didn't seem to even doubt her chances at all.
"You're too close!" She shouted the words as she thrust her hand forwards.
The black jewel in her hand glowed. I noticed something in that split second. The jewel was in the shape of something. It was hard to tell but the jewel looked like it was in the shape of a tiny house. The image was gone nearly as fast as I had seen it. The light it had let off rushed out. A ring of shadows burst out, it slammed into me and forced me backwards. It hadn't hurt at all but it had some pushing power behind it.
"I won't allow you guys to stop what needs to happen. The Demon Lords will win." I narrowed my eyes but she was swallowed by grey light – two axis of shadows had appeared though.
"This isn't good." Nori sounded afraid and I haven't heard that from her before.
I was prepared for anything. I wouldn't dare charge the ball of light because I didn't know what she was turning into. Potentially I could've stopped it but she didn't raise any kind of Digivice to do that so I didn't know if it functioned the same as mine. I didn't want to assume wrong and find out that she's fully Spirit Evolved and the light just lingers longer for some reason. The two shadow axes didn't bode well with me either.
The light vanished and for a moment she just stood there. She wore full body armor this time. She had feathers coming from a section of purple armor on her legs while black armor adorned her chest. Two silver half mask like objects were on her shoulders and they both had eyes. Her arms were covered by purple armor which her wings grew off of this time. The wings were purple but they actually seemed to be glowing softly. The mask that covered most of her face was black and a black scarf was wrapped around her neck and hung always down to her feet.
"There is no defeating us. Falk and I have completely resonated now." She raised her arms and the wings began to enlarge.
"Crimson Formation." A blast of dark purple aura came from her arms yet it was edged with shadows.
I didn't dare move to dodge because if I did it would crash into Kari. I braced myself and crossed my beam swords in front of me and hoped I could block it. The aura crashed into me and I was actually being forced back. I grounded my feet into the ground to stop myself from being pushed back but the girl didn't stay in front of me. She darted around me, a trail of purple light being the only real thing seen in her wake.
"Don't worry, I know better than to leave you standing." My eyes widened and my defense faltered when I was sliced across the back.
The aura slammed full force into me and even if my armor didn't get damage I felt it. My body felt like it was on fire. Was that not a physical damaging attack but instead attacked nerves?
"Mourning Dance." She began a high paced 'dance' around me, cutting and slashing at me with her claws or feathers depending upon the distance.
I was trying to block as many attacks as I could but to do that successfully I would have needed at least four hands. She wasn't hesitating to use the claws on her feet which was problematic for me because she had six different attacks and I only had seconds to recognize which one she was using and then trying to counter that while trying to figure out her next attack as well. The girl stopped and she snarled. I knew why she was angry though. The ribbons of light that had wrapped around her limbs had stopped her. I knew who did that but I wish she wouldn't get any more attention brought to herself.
"Light's Judgement!" My beam sword went through her shoulder however shadows burst out.
"Shadow Gift." She uttered the words and I was thrown back.
The shadows that had burst out were like skinny lances. They had pieced through my armor surprisingly easy. The light ribbons disappeared, releasing her and she merely placed a hand on her shoulder. Shadows surrounded her hands and when she removed her hand the hole that I had caused had been healed. The shadows that had pieced me vanished as well.
She turned her head towards Kari, "Can't you be patient and wait your turn? I have to defeat your guardian here first because I don't want to face the monster that his unconscious anger causes."
"Sorry, we fight together." I shook my head at Kari's words.
Even hurt she still wanted to help? I took a chance and glanced at Kari. I was surprised though to notice that her shoulder wasn't bleeding anymore. Her shoulder looked perfectly find now as well. What happened? Yes, Kari has healed before but I hadn't seen her heal herself before.
"Oh, would you look at that. Let me fix that for you." The girl was in Kari's face, hand going towards Kari's shoulder.
I was going to move but I was surprised. Kari let the girl stab her through the shoulder but Kari seemed to explode into pure light. The girl gave a cry and stumbled backwards, blinded more than lightly. Even I saw dots thanks to how bright that light had been. Stumbling backwards had caused her to step into something. A circle glowed but half was white and half was black. In the center though, as if being held by the black and white was a red circle.
"Fire Dusk Trap." Nori and Kari had said it together – Kari actually appearing beside Nori as she spoke.
Fire erupted from the ground, swallowing the girl whole. The girl managed to break free of the fire, her feathers were slightly charred at the ends though. She dropped to her knees though, grabbed her stomach which suddenly had grey data leaking out of. I stared at her shadow though because I had seen it happen. Her shadow had melded with the shadows that the circle had consisted of while the light had pierce the stomach of the girl's shadow.
"I'm done!" The girl screamed it and the purple glow of her feathers turned completely black – purple feathers now had stripes of black and the glow was black.
"Mourning Shade Dance." She seemed to cut through the air, right to Nori and Kari.
She was going to attack them like she had attacked me. I couldn't let that happen. I shot through the air. If she attacked them then they would die – they were still in a human's body unlike me who had a Digital Body to take those attacks.
"Electro Squall!" Wizardmon's attack redirected the girl's anger.
She slammed into him rather than Kari and Nori, he was quickly torn to shreds though.
"Wizardmon!" Kari and Gatomon both yelled it at the same time.
He sunk to his knees, his cloak tattered and his hat fell off. Wizardmon was shaking and he wasn't moving. She raised her claw, going to probably finish him off but I couldn't let that happen. Kari told me about how guilty she felt after he died protect her and Gatomon years ago. This would only make her feel guiltier because he died just saving her this time – well Nori as well.
"Guardians Light!" The words that tumbled from Kari's mouth grabbed the girl's attention.
The girl shot into the sky, away from Wizardmon but the seven swords that had appeared chased her. Why did those swords seem to scare the girl? The swords disappeared though before they got close to her and Kari collapsed to her knees, light flickered around her shoulder and revealed that she was still wounded. She had covered it with some kind of illusion though.
"Lightning Thrust!" The girl was high enough that there was enough time to reach Kari.
Trying to block the dark purple aura strike was too much for my beam sword. My beam sword actually shattered. I never seen it shattered before. The attack though didn't reach Kari because the sword formation that the aura had created stopped before it exited my chest. I was unsurprised when my Spirit Evolution dropped or when I collapsed to my knees. Even if I was not physically injured my chest ached and it was hard to breath.
I stared at the girl, she didn't attack again. She stared at me rather and I glared at her. Something strange lingered in her eyes. She had some kind of haunted look in her eye actually. She closed her eyes but once more the sword formation formed. I had to do something.
"Please, help me just a little." Nori's words confused me.
The girl jumped seconds before a ring of fire appeared, a hand had shot out of the ring. Even if the girl evaded being grabbed grooves appeared on her arm's armor and some feathers were taken off. The girl glared towards Nori.
"I didn't expect that your voice would reach him without your crest activated." Was that her partner then?
"My voice always reaches him. Very rarely will he offer help though because he long gave up on fighting. My crest forces him to fight though, it's only one of the many reasons I refuse to bring my crest back to life." Nori's crest wasn't good.
"You guys just don't know when to give up do you? You won't be able to defeat me with that half assed power while the two lights aren't going to fight anymore. One's gonna bleed out soon enough while the other has a nice infection that'll suck him dry of his light." My blood ran cold – that might explain why I can't seem to call even a bit of data for a Spirit Evolution.
"Kari, you should have enough strength to get rid of that 'infection'." Nori stepped in front of us as she said that.
"I won't let her." The girl sent a blast of aura at Kari but flames just sparked in the air and stopped the aura.
Red light bled through the back of Nori's shirt – I could faintly make out the outline of a bird.
"We already did this birdy, you lost to me when I was only in my first stage. There is no chance of you beating me now that I'm in my highest form." The aura that had been blocked by the fire grew stronger at the girl's words but the fire began to burn brighter as well.
"Even so, I can buy enough time for Kari to remove the infection. Koji can defeat you judging from what I saw, Raven." That pissed the girl, Raven, off.
"Like hell you can!" Raven had lent forwards to come at Nori but Nori threw her left arm up.
"Kouen." Fire jetted from Nori's hand and Raven dodged it.
"I doubt I can buy much time." Nori took to the sky with wings of flames after the words.
"Since when could she do that?" Kari gave a slightly pained laugh at my question.
"Don't know, I was unconscious as well and barely saw the battle." I jumped when Kari placed her hand on my arm.
The warmth that spread from her hand surprised me. It wasn't like the other times she's placed her hand on my arm. I glanced at her and found that light came from her palm yet she looked pained as well. The wound on her shoulder was actually mostly healed it seemed like. It wasn't as bad as it had been. Someone or something healed her enough that she probably wouldn't bleed out. She might faint from blood loss at this rate though.
I looked back to Nori because even she was unconfident of how long it would be before Raven would attack us. Nori was actually holding up pretty well. She was nearly completely cloaked in flames. The flame cloak was acting as armor since she was able to block attacks without being harmed. That fact though seemed to annoy Raven greatly.
"I'm not playing with you! Crimson Formation!" The aura slammed into Nori while Raven turned towards Kari and me.
"Lightning Thrust!" She came rocketing towards us.
This was going to be where it ended. I still couldn't call out any data so I couldn't even buy any time with a basic Human Spirit Evolution. Kari probably didn't have enough strength to split her attention to create a shield to protect us. I shifted slightly but flames slammed to Raven and slowed her for a couple of seconds. Those couple seconds provided Nori time to appear in front of us and take the attack. I stared though because I didn't see the physical body of Nori though. Nori just looked as if she was complete flames.
"Get out of my way!" Raven yelled and the aura sword started to cut through Nori's flame cloak.
I could hear Nori whimpering as she guarded with her right arm but she didn't back down. Something was different. I could sense something different about the aura that Nori was letting off right this second. She was so protective and it surprised me. It was almost making it hard to think that she held any kind of connection to the enemy besides having been kidnapped in the past.
"I will stand in your way as long as it takes! I have played a waiting game my whole life! I won't back down until this is done!" Nori's fire flared out and burned brighter.
Six small red crystals began to form and circle Nori's neck along with another six forming and revolving around the fire tail feathers that Nori had. Raven was actually forced to flee backwards when Nori sent fire feathers at her. The feathers only drove Raven away and didn't give chance to strike in retaliation. Nori's arm dropped to her side while her other hand twitched and curled inwards so the claws were close to her palm.
"You may be smart and fast but you're inpatient Raven. You'll tire yourself out with this needless game of speed where as I'm doing the bare minimal so I can spread my limited energy over time." That strategy would only work for Nori because she wasn't aiming to win – she was just aiming to buy time.
"You." Raven was staring wide eyed for some reason – then again she did state that she beat Nori earlier so maybe she was surprised that Nori was managing to put up a good fight.
"You're stronger than you were earlier." Well that explained Raven's surprise.
"You're channeling that stupid fire birdy somehow. Tell me, how are you channeling Zhuqiaomon?" Who was Zhuqiaomon?
"I don't know what you're talking about. All I know is that I won't let you get past me." Nori's fire wings spread out wide.
"Desolation Blast!" Fire balls rocketed out of Nori's wings and forced Raven to retreat farther from us.
"How much longer? I don't think I can put up much more of a fight Kari." Nori's words were soft, probably to try and keep Raven from knowing.
"I can't, I don't have enough strength left Nori. I can sense it but I can't make it unravel." Kari sounded disappointed but I placed my hand on hers.
The words I was going to say died in my mouth. I stared at my hand that rested on hers. The light that Kari's palm emitted grew stronger and I felt a small flare of pain come from my hand. It was the same hand that had the symbol. It became far easier to breath and I felt a hum that I hadn't felt before. I watched as light raced down Kari's arm and across her shoulders. The wound on her shoulder glowed and it began to heal. It was actually healed within seconds.
"You brat!" Raven yelled it.
"How do you have one?!" Raven's scream didn't really pull my attention because I too stunned.
"Show me your hand Koji." Nori's voice was hard but I could hear a hint of surprise.
"Why?" There were so many things that I want to know why now.
Why did Nori want to see my hand? Why did Kari's shoulder just magically heal? Why was I able to cause such a reaction just by touching Kari's hand? Why was this oddity happening now? Why was it happening now for the first time? If it would've activated in a grave situation why hadn't it activated during the battle with Belphemon? Why was this time special?
"Mourning Shade Dance!" Raven moved faster than the eye could track.
I saw a flash of dark purple from the side of my eye. The strike was counted by flames though. Nori's wings had grown in size and she managed to use it to shield me from the attack that Raven had probably been aiming at my head. The flames of Nori's wing was forcefully dispelled and the flames that brushed against me didn't burn at all. No attack came though and when I looked behind me I found that Raven was frozen.
Well, not frozen but she couldn't move. Red markings covered her body, Digital Writing. One of the red crystals was lazily revolving around her, the light that it gave off made the red Digital Writing glow. What in the world was Nori doing? If she had this kind of power then she should've showed this off during the fight with Belphemon. This would've been nice against Belphemon.
"Where in hell is this power coming from?!" Raven yelled, glaring fiercely at Nori.
"Like I said, I don't know. All I know is that you're not going to kill any of my friends." I looked at Kari when she moved my hand, flipping it over so my palm was up.
She stared at the mark but I was surprised as well. The mark wasn't just a plain mark anymore. It reflected the light, gleaming slightly in the light. The mark wasn't tattoo like but now as if it was some kind of crystal. What is going on?
"Why must someone with a Light Core appear now?!" Raven's yell barely had time to process since a dome of light appeared around us.
Whatever attack Raven had tried to hit us with hit the dome that Kari had thrown up. Kari seemed surprised yet I noticed that the mark was glowing softly. The light was in sync with the light that flickered off of Kari.
"Why didn't this stupid shield shatter like it did before?!" A wave of darkness washed over the dome quickly but it didn't even crack.
Nori chuckled slightly, "Well, that's interesting. I've never heard of someone having a core embedded into them and someone else being able to draw power from it before."
Kari and I stood up, I pulled my hand away from her because I was going to Spirit Evolve. I was nearly knocked off of my feet when the light dome shattered. The force it let off surprised me since it hadn't shattered from one of Raven's attacks. The shards of the shield didn't disappear but instead rocketed towards Raven. Raven raised one of het wings to block the shards but their embedded themselves into her arm – going through her armor as if it was nothing.
Raven's Spirit Evolution started to glitch suddenly. She left the form and dropped to the ground as a human. Yet that was only for a second because she flickered back to her Spirit Evolution. The flickering between forms didn't stop either. I held my D Tector in my right hand but I was just standing, watching what was going on stunned.
"What is this!?" Raven's voice flickered between her normal tone and the tone she held in her Spirit Evolution as she yelled.
Was the battle done here? She couldn't even hold her Spirit Evolution anymore it looked like. The shards that were in her arm began to crack, veins of shadows crept over them. I gripped my D Tector and prepared myself. It would've been too easy if we could stop this fight without defeating that form.
"Spirit Evolution: Execute!" As I scanned the fractal code I noticed it.
The fractal code flickered and there was something written upon the fractal code in white – Digital Writing. I was barely able to even notice it before it was gone.
"Shine Lobomon." I emerged from the light that had engulfed me just as the shards shattered and Raven struck out with the purple energy blade, shadows flickered from it this time though.
I counted her blade with my beam sword. She bore down on me and I heard something hit the ground. I allowed my attention to split for a second since I knew she could create clones. I wasn't sure if that was exclusive to the other form or not. Nori had collapsed, she was unconscious but there was no sign of her being attacked. She had probably just pushed herself too much and passed out. Even when I faltered slightly Raven didn't get to hit me because she was forced to retreat.
"I really would love a manual." Kari's words were accompanied by shards of light rushing past me.
The shards were like the ones that had caused Raven to lose hold of her Spirit Evolution a bit. Raven didn't even try to block the attack this time, which was probably wise. Even if the shards didn't curve to chase after Raven that was fine because they were now an attack that she would be forced to dodge instead of block.
I flashed across the room, "Lobo Kendo!"
My beam swords made contact and I caused dents and groves to start appearing on her armor. A couple of feathers being deleted as well. Raven hadn't been able to block any of the strikes so she got the full brunt of the six hit combo. However she took advantage of the second long shift that I had to do to get out of position for Lobo Kendo.
"Crimson Formation!" The shockwave forced me backwards.
Why was she so tough? Why were we struggling against her? We managed to defeat Belphemon somehow. Belphemon was a Demon Lord. Raven is just a human who has a Spirit Evolution like I do. Why was she so hard to defeat? There had to be something that we were missing. From what I gathered this battle has been going on since before I woke up. Why was this battle going on for so long? If we can run out of strength then she should be able to as well. How did she have unlimited strength? Keeping a Spirit Evolution took a lot out of someone, especially for this long of a time. Something wasn't right.
"You guys are a pain." Raven landed as she spoke but I noticed the flicker of armor – she was wearing down actually and her hold on that Spirit Evolution was slipping ever so slightly.
"Why can't you guys just go down already?" Just as I was going to charge her my body locked up.
I tried to move but my body wouldn't respond. Why can't I move? I looked at my body the best I could since I couldn't move my head. I did see that a black circle had appeared below me. Tendrils had come out of the circle and wrapped around my legs, presumably around my whole body. This was kind of like the trap that Kari and Nori had managed to create but it was different. She was able to constrict our movements.
"Every time I think someone will just sit still and be out of power something happens and you suddenly have strength to fight again." Raven dropped the Spirit Evolution.
The circle didn't disappear even though she dropped the Spirit Evolution. She was able to do something outside of that Spirit Evolution. That wasn't going to be good. Attacking a human in this form could easily kill them. Even if this was a war I didn't want to kill anyone. Digimon would always reform, they would be purified and then allowed to reform.
"I'm so sick of this stupid 'friendship' power and shit that people keep pulling. I'm tired of everyone always just saying that they're good and because they're good that they'll win." She walked towards me but as she did so she raised her hand.
"You're the first that I'll kill. You and your Light Core will be the most annoying. After you I'll get rid of Harmony then the still unconscious Flame. If I was allowed to I'd kill Nori to but they want her alive." She was consumed by darkness that rushed from the jewel she had embedded in her hand.
The shadows that restricted my movement was suddenly squeezing me. It was putting pressure and it hurt badly. I heard Kari cry out in pain and that pissed me off. Kari wasn't in a Digital Form like I was. She could be killed easily. She was subject to this as well which explained why she wasn't doing anything.
"This battle needs to come to an end now. I'm tired and I want a nap." The darkness rushed out, washing over the ground as Raven's voice cut through it.
I was stunned by the form that Raven took now. It was like the Spirit Evolution she had dropped but the wings were made out of shadows. Everything that had been purple was black now actually. Most of her armor was dyed a dark grey now.
"I never desired to taint this form with the power of ruin. I have to though if I want to end this battle before you figure out how to use that cursed core." So that would defeat her?
The core. What core was she talking about? No, Nori made a comment about the thing on my hand being a 'Light Core'. The appearance became that after whatever the voice did in that dream. It did say I was a 'true warrior' and 'suitable inheritor'. If I combined it with the element and the way that Lobomon was surprised then I could only assume that it had something to do with the Spirit of Light. Something that would potentially boost my strength.
"Funny thing is, I didn't even know what it was." Raven jumped back when I managed to force the words out – the circle below me was dispelled.
I chased after her but she wasn't trying to attack, she was just staying out of reach. She was weary of anything I tried to do with my left hand as well. Was she afraid of the 'Light Core'?
"Shit!" Raven was jerked to a stop, Kari having managed to trap her with light ribbons once again.
As I drove a beam sword towards her it glowed brightly. Something felt, different about this. The beam sword changed so the handle was gold.
"Shine Charge." Even if I said the words it was an unfamiliar attack.
"Ruin Aura." The light ribbons turned grey and started to be eaten away.
Kari released the ribbons since the grey was heading towards her. I was seconds from striking Raven. It was question of speed now. Was she fast enough to dodge my attack? She nearly got out of the way but my attack clipped her wing. The black color started to lighten and I saw a patch of purple. The beam sword didn't pierce the wing but chased away whatever 'tainted' the Spirit Evolution, if you went by what she said.
"Ruin Dance!" Raven stopped her retreating and turned around in a split second.
The attack was the same as her Mourning Dance however it was faster. It was stronger as well. I managed to still block a couple of attacks but she was managing to deal more hits than she had last time. I was getting annoyed though. Raven stopped and choked. I had been aiming for the scarf that flapped in the wind but I managed to move fast enough to grab her by her throat with my right hand.
"Purifying Light!" There was a blast of light from the mounted laser on my left arm.
The light slammed into her stomach. Her armor cracked and veins of light raced across her body. The light began to chase away the darkness that covered her wings and colored her armor a dark grey. She scratched my face and managed to get away from me and send me backwards. She had let out a small burst of the Crimson Formation attack. It didn't pack as much of a punch but it knocked me back and disorientated me slightly.
"Who do you care for more!? Make your choice and live with it!" Raven screamed the words as four black feathers fell from her wings.
All of the 'purification' I had done had been undone rather quickly. She looked angry, an anger that promised destruction. The feathers drew my attention when they shifted to form four other copies of her. Three of them were using a tainted version of Lightning Thrust and the last had turned into an arrow of pure black, an attack that she hadn't named to my knowing. The one that was the arrow was heading for Zoe, Tommy and J.P. Nori, Kari and Takuya each had their own Lightning Thrust copy going for them.
"You better choose quickly or well they'll all die!" How was I supposed to make a choice as to who to save?
Even with that question in my head I was already moving. I was going straight for Kari. My body was moving on instinct.
"You don't get to make him make this choice!" Kari's words surprised me – her voice surprised me more because it wasn't Kari's voice.
I stopped because I was blinded. Light had exploded from Kari. When I could see once again I was surprised. Kari was on the ground on her knees, light and shadows tracing the ground around her. A yin-yang had appeared below her though. She didn't seem to be focused at all. All of the copies that Raven had sent out were stopped though. Frozen in mid-air. The copy that was going to strike Takuya had spears of light through its limbs and was slowly fading away. The one who had gone to strike Nori had thousands of shadow threads looping in and out of its body while keeping it pinned to the ground as well. The one that had gone after Zoe and them was pinned to the ground by a red sword through its back.
"Making someone choose between their friends is unforgivable. The ones who make others choose are those that are truly evil. I do not care what reason you may have but it is unforgivable." I was stunned when a flickering spirit seemed to step out of Kari.
The spirit had long orange hair that floated upwards. She wore a dress made of light but ribbons of shadows wrapped around her body. Was this the Spirit of Harmony or was this a past DigiDestined of Harmony? Wings of light and shadows spread from the woman's back while a symbol traced around her eye and traveled down her torso, it was red though and it reminded me of the symbol that Lucemon had.
"You are lucky that I cannot act or offer the full power of Harmony to this child yet. If I could give it all to her this battle would be done here and now." The spirit vanished while the three present copies of Raven vanished – the fourth must've been eradicated by the light since the one missing was the one who had gone after Kari.