Story Title: Crest Armors
Chapter Title: Invasion
Author: Mathais
Rating: PG-PG-13
Category: Digimon Adventure 02
Archive: Fanfiction net
Warnings: Chosen Children/Digidestined Fighting, Lack of Digimon Partners, Use of Dub Names, Pending Shonen-ai
Pairings: TK/Kari, pending Davis/Yolei, pending Davis/Ken, pending Ken/Yolei, pending Tai/Sora, pending Matt/Tai, pending Izzy/Mimi
Summary: The Digidestined have been granted powers to help in the coming battles. Now that the digimon are out of commission for a while, they'll need those powers more than ever.
Disclaimer: I do not own digimon and the concept of Crest Armors in their current form are mine, though other variations of this idea are no doubt out there.
References: None.
Notes: I know that Joe has two brothers, but I don't feel comfortable using their original names, so I'm just giving him one brother, a blend of the two. And writing with the dub names is a bit uncomfortable, but I started with the dubs, so I'm going to finish it as dub.
"The sitch?" asked Tai as the Digidestined that could meet met that day. Joe, Mimi, Cody, and Yolei had not been able to come, due to reasons outside of their control, though they had their D-Terminals ready for updates.
TK sat forward, running a hand through his blonde spikes. His skin was still pale from the force of the dream and cold sweat still clung to his skin, despite being half an hour later. Tired blue eyes peered at the assembled, his right hand meeting Kari's left for reassurance that the Digidestined of Light readily gave. "I had a prophetic dream last night. Well, I'm not sure of the prophetic part, but..." He trailed off, eyes darkening. "Something's on the horizon."
"Not sure of the prophetic part?" repeated Sora questioningly. "How?"
"Well," TK went on, "I got a rhyme in English. I understood it though and it seemed to foretell things of the future."
"Can you tell me it?" asked Izzy, his fingers hovering over his laptop.
"Sure." Slowly, TK began to speak in English, repeating the words that had been imprinted in his mind. When he finished, he was forced to lean back, a fatigue setting in his body.
"Are you all right bro?" Matt asked with a concerned look in his icy blue eyes. The Digidestined of Hope smiled weakly, nodding unconvincingly.
"I guess. It's just that the Digital World's still really hurt and I'm just tired."
Kari suddenly let out a sigh, leaning back as well. "If you can admit, then I guess I can as well."
"You too?" Davis asked, surprised. When he received looks from the rest of the group, he rapidly shook his head. "No! Not me! Cody and Yolei complained of the same thing earlier."
"Hope and Light are more entwined with our Quadrant than any other Crest," stated Ken, drawing the attention of the assembled. His violet eyes were clouded, but his voice rang with truth and clarity. "TK and Kari hold those powers and thus would feel the impact of anything being done to this part of the Digital World. On the other hand, Cody and Yolei have the Crests of Mind and Spirit, respectively. A third of the Crest of Mind is Hope and a third of the Crest of Spirit is Light."
"That would mean that they would feel it as well, to a lesser extent," added Izzy, his tone thoughtful. His eyes never left the screen of his laptop though, not revealing the emotions that he carried.
"That means that they should stay out of any battles until they're feeling better," decided Sora softly, her tone one of caring. "It won't do to have them collapse."
Kari immediately protested. "We can-"
"You can't," broke in Davis suddenly, his tone harsher than normal. "I mean, you shouldn't. I..." His eyes shifted to the side, his voice losing a bit of its strength. "I don't want to see you guys get hurt."
"I agree with Davis and Sora." All eyes turned to Tai, their official leader. There was a hardened look in his eyes, but all of them knew that he was just masking the care for his sister and friends. "You'd be a liability in battle and I don't want you to get hurt."
"But-" It was TK this time to spoke up, but the look on Matt's face silenced him.
"I'm with Tai on this one." Matt shrugged his shoulders. "I can't stand to see you guys like this."
Izzy agreed readily, but his mind was more focused on the rhyme that was given to TK. Even so, there was concern on his face, though usually he kept his emotions to himself.
Ken also found himself agreeing.
TK put his hands up in defeat, sighing once. Admitting his weakness didn't seem so bad now. "Well, if you don't mind, I'm heading back to bed."
"Take mine," offered Tai. "I'm going to be out anyway."
"Thanks." The Child of Hope smiled.
"I'll be heading back too," commented Kari as the two entered the Kamiya children's joint room.
Matt turned to Tai, his voice serious. "Get Yolei and Cody here as fast as possible."
"I'll get Yolei."
Tai and Matt both turned to Ken, whose eyes were focused completely.
"Go," Matt said once.
The Child of Kindness nodded sharply, leaving.
"I'll get Cody." Sora stood, brushing off her skirt before exiting as well.
"Izzy?" asked Tai.
"I'll stay here and protect them, don't worry." Izzy turned, offering a small smile. With thanks on his lips, Tai left, Matt following behind.
Davis shook his head when Izzy turned to him. "You focus on the rhyme. I'll keep watch."
Izzy gave his thanks, keeping most of attention on his laptop as Davis sat back, expanding his magical senses.
They wouldn't be caught off-guard.
Several hours later, Davis was really really glad that he had decided to practice his magical senses at that time.
Earlier, he had felt something along them, something that he shouldn't have felt in the Human World.
It had been his only warning.
"The flames churning within the heart of the land, burn away the curtain which seeks to blind us!" Davis suddenly rose and raised his hand, startling Izzy, who had been diligently working on the rhyme. Flames surrounded the pair, images appearing in the orange heat.
"Those who use the shadows to hide, let them feel the frost of never-ending winters!" Following the statement, the Child of Body slashed his hands sideways, banishing the flames while knocking back two figures with a gale of icy wind. Davis's brown eyes immediately sought out the figures.
One, he recognized as Wizardmon, or a darker form of the magic-using digimon. This digimon had one a black cloak, though it was tattered like the Wizardmon's, and the staff he carried had a skull on it instead of a sun. Davis knew that this was the digimon that had cast the invisibility spell.
The other was large, powerfully built and not afraid to use that strength. For a lack of better descriptions, the digimon was a bipedal bull with a gun as a left hand. Any illusions of being able to handle it on his own disappeared when he looked at the strength of the creature.
"Get the magic user," spoke Izzy as he brought his hand to his chest, calling, "Crest Armor of Knowledge!"
"Shade, hide us from the eyes of the beasts!" Davis swung his arm out, a field of darkness appearing around the pair. As the digimon were confused, he called on his magic again.
"Subspace, expand!"
He knew it wouldn't do to have Yolei, Cody, TK, and Kari try and wake themselves from slumber just to help, so he moved them to an area to subspace to fight. It was a spell that Gennai had forced them to master early on in order to prevent collateral damage. After remembering the Highteon View Terrace digimon attack, Davis was glad for the spell.
As he felt the area shift, a purple light almost broke through his shield of darkness, emanating from Izzy, who shouted, "Chisiki no Yoroi!" Ignoring it, Davis focused more on the stream of fire from the magic using digimon that pierced his spell.
"Redirect!" The mage caught the stream of flame in his hands then let it harmlessly be absorbed into the darkness. He saw peripherally Knowledge leading the brute strength digimon away, leaving him with the magic user.
Now face to face in the field of darkness, Davis spoke while grinning ferally, "What's your name? I'm Davis, Digidestined of Body."
"I'm Necromancymon," answered the dark mage. His tone was one that sent an involuntary shiver up his spine, even with his courage. "You have some nice spell work, but I can tell you're a beginner. Watch!"
He lifted his skull staff, three rings of fire being released.
"Redirect! Reflect! Diffract!" Davis tried again, but these flames ignored his own spell, slamming into his chest. Fighting the pain, he dodged the next attack, thankful for his soccer lessons. With a hand on the ground, he savagely swiped his other one, three lances of ice flying through the air.
"Black Magic Game!" called Necromancymon, disappearing before the attack could hit. Before Davis realized it, the skull staff slammed into his back and he found out that Necromancymon didn't just have magic on his side. Grunting in pain, he funneled magic into his body and used it to dodge away at a speed most humans would not be able to achieve.
He made several quick motions before holding his hands forward. "Nova Blast!" called the boy, Greymon's signature attack flying out of him. Necromancymon dodged again, but Davis was ready, thrusting his hand forward with a cry, "Metal Claw!" From that hand, a claw of metal from Metal Greymon launched out, piercing the folds of the dark necromancer's cloak. The digimon hissed and drew back, his staff rising.
"Fallen Spirits!" shouted the digimon as purple specters flew out of his staff, seeking the Digidestined. Davis gritted his teeth, using his soccer reflexes to dodge the initial strike by a leap to the left.
It was a mistake.
Necromancymon's follow up took him by surprise. "Inferno Cloud!" The streams of flame, larger than any attack beforehand, managed to burn his side.
Unused to battle just yet, Davis's momentum caused him to land on his face. "If only I can get him to enter a spell battle I can actually hope to win," thought the mage.
"Ice, -900 degrees Celsius," he whispered, rolling away from Necromancymon's next Fallen Spirits attack, "come forth to strike. Freeze the flames from the enemy!"
As he said the last words of his spell, the necromancer digimon called, "Inferno Cloud!"
The attack failed spectacularly, exploding into shards of ice that pierced deep into the digimon's cloak. Davis folded his hands in the time that he was allotted, wishing that he had kept a piece of Digisapphire with him.
"Mega digimon of ice, the mechanical wolf that glides through the skies, heralding Friendship! It is you I call upon now to obliterate this enemy!" Davis realized that the digimon was recovering and, knowing that both of them were wide open, finished his spell. "Ice Wolf Bite!"
From his hands launched the largest blast of ice he had ever called upon, one that drained his energy reserves like mad. Unwilling to even think about what this was going to cost him and what it was going to do to Necromancymon, he just kept funneling more power so that it would actually reach the dark digimon. And reach him it did. It was strong enough that the digimon disappeared into data almost immediately upon contact.
The full import of his actions hit Davis then.
He had just killed a digimon.
Something that not even Veemon had done.
He collapsed to his knees, wishing even harder than before that Veemon was with him. Over the past week, they hadn't spoken about their incapacitated digimon at all and suddenly having to fight brought it home for him.
He missed his partner. A few tears found their way to his eyes, but he refused to let them fall.
Davis knew he would get over it eventually--the other Digidestined were proof of that.
He just didn't want to yet.
Standing, Davis snapped his fingers, saying, "The beasts are gone and the darkness is no longer needed, so let the night be dispelled of its own volition."
Only a gray light remained in the area and now Davis could see Knowledge heading back toward him, hovering slightly off the ground with what appeared to be a concealed rocket pack.
"The other digimon?" questioned the teen.
"Dead," stated Davis emotionlessly. Even so, the pain appeared in his eyes.
"First kill..." murmured Knowledge, trailing off. His eyes unfocused under his visor for a second before he snapped out of it. "It doesn't get easier, no matter how many times you do it."
"I know by just looking at your guys," weakly smiled Davis.
The Digidestined of Knowledge nodded, finally shedding his armor. Back to normal, Izzy gazed at the boy with unsearchable eyes, his voice light. "Mind bringing as back?"
"Subspace, revert," he whispered, his eyes briefly flaring to life with his power. From the grey plain, they reappeared in the Kamiya living room, undamaged save a few scorch marks.
Davis looked down at the carpet, sniffing slightly. "Do you think they'll notice?"
"Probably," replied Izzy somewhat dryly.
"I can fix that," spoke a voice from the Kamiya adults' bedroom. Yolei leaned against the door, polishing her glasses in her hands before replacing them. She lifted a hand, a pink glow surrounding the appendage. She then snapped her fingers and the burn marks disappeared, the carpet returning to normal. "So, we were attacked?"
"A Minotarumon," stared Izzy.
"And a Necromancymon," finished Davis.
"The subspace portal spell, right?"
"Yeah, but they were cloaked and I used a fire spell before I realized it," admitted Davis ruefully, scratching the back of his head.
"Wait, all our mages are here," Izzy interrupted, his eyes widening.
Davis ran over to the remote, turning the TV on.
Breaking News!
Monsters sighted in the skies and on the streets!
A reporter was quickly detailing the events that had happened and they recognized many of the descriptions.
"Shit," sighed Izzy weakly.
That pretty much summed it all up.
Courage touched down in an abandoned alley, shattering his armor once he was sure it was clear. Waving, he nodded as Friendship and Love did the same, reverting to Matt and Sora respectively.
"Do you think the rest are all right?" asked Sora hesitantly.
"I'm sure they are." There was no doubt in Tai's voice--it was his faith in his teammates. "Ken should have warned Joe and Mimi."
"And TK, Kari, Yolei, and Cody are protected by Davis and Izzy," added Matt. "They should be fine."
"Yeah. Still..." Sora trailed off while toeing the ground, her gaze looking down. "We handled Black War Greymon, yes. What good are we against an army? We fought three Ultimates today. We can handle a swarm of Vilemon, but that was easy. What happens if we have to fight a swarm of Ultimates?"
"We just have to trust in our power," answered Matt, though doubt was beginning to creep into his voice. "That's all we can do."
"What I want to know," Tai interrupted, "is who sent them in the first place."
"Probably the ones that Arukenimon and Mummymon were working for," reasoned Matt.
Sora sighed, her eyes further lowering. "Knowledge and Reliability already deleted them."
"Maybe too hastily," admitted Tai, his eyes turning to the sky, "but it's done."
"Let's head back."
"Yeah."
The three teenagers turned, flowing easily into the crowd.
They didn't notice the man watching them, his voice speaking into a cell phone.
"We lost Necromancymon, Minotarumon, Black Rapidmon, Big Mamemon, Phantomon, Skull Meramon, Mega Dramon, and Cherrymon." He listened for a few minutes before speaking again. "Yes, I realize that it was seven Ultimates and a highly versatile Champion, but we have more. We have the recon we need. There was an unexpected development with the new child. He had magic. Hope, Light, and the two other new children are out of commission though and are being guarded." There was a pause as he listened again. "Yes, I'm aware of that. We can start the new invasion. I will start Dark Spore Operation in the meanwhile. Good."
The man looked toward the sky, his face twisting into a dark smile. "It's almost Christmas. Just watch, Digidestined, as the 'joyous' season burns."
He vanished, though the echoes of his laughter remained.
Tai called another meeting the next day to discuss the events. All Digidestined attended, no matter the previous events. Even TK and Kari were awoken for the meeting and filled in, despite the fact that they were extremely tired.
It wasn't long into the gathering before the two broke into loud shouts.
"We were attacked?" shrieked Kari, her voice several octaves higher.
"And we weren't awoken till now?" yelled TK, his voice ringing his shock.
"You obviously still need the sleep," cut in Matt.
Both kids merely quieted, unable to refute the statement.
"We go nowhere without a mage," stated Tai firmly. "School is the only factor, but if this gets bad enough, we'll be pulled out of it anyway."
"We'll split into three groups, each for a mage," added Izzy. "It'd be best if we didn't go with the mage that our crests are a part of. So Mimi, TK, and I will go with Davis."
"Kari and I automatically go with Cody then," commented Sora, her mind already racing ahead. "We'll take," her eyes flicked around before finally settling on someone, "Matt."
"I'm in agreement," shrugged the teen in question.
"Then Joe, Ken, and I will be with Yolei," confirmed Tai. "We go nowhere without a mage to use subspace, understand?"
"Yes!" came the chorus.
It was too bad that the action couldn't have been implemented.
Cody suddenly raised a hand, cards flying to hang in midair. Briefly, kanji appeared on them, but they faded, though the cards remained. A blast of lightning shot through the area and collided with the cards, a brief wall of light appearing between them. Cody replied again with more cards, which burst into streaks of light and hit a figure outside, uncloaking them.
What the twelve Digidestined saw frightened them.
"Necromancymon and Wizardmon, counting over a hundred," spoke Izzy in awe.
As they readied themselves for battle, the twelve Digidestined wondered if they were going to be all right.
"Crest Armor of Courage!"
"Crest Armor of Friendship!"
"Crest Armor of Love!"
"Crest Armor of Sincerity!"
"Crest Armor of Knowledge!"
"Crest Armor of Reliability!"
"Crest Armor of Hope!"
"Crest Armor of Light!"
"Crest Armor of Kindness!"
"Subspace, expand!"
Really really really sorry for the state of this. I rushed through it and lost track of the flow of the story enough times that this came out really bad since I was trying to meet the anniversary deadline. Well, happy third anniversary to me! Please, don't comment on the obvious crappiness of this chapter if your review.