Adam's body became stiff as the Red ShadoWira advanced one step towards him. Fires were ignited on the villainous DigiWira's palm, red and orange, swirling around his palm. Adam cast a pleading look on the ShadoWira's expressionless face, which was masked with an ivory mask crafted to resemble a skull, with the hollow eye regions glimmering with green hue. No voice could escape the White DigiSphere's holder's throat – no cry, no plea, nothing – all inhibited by the sheer amount of fear the boy was currently feeling. Beads of sweats began to form on his forehead, trickling down the sides of his face due to the heat escaping the Red ShadoWira's palm.
The Red ShadoWira snickered sinisterly. "Any last words before I incinerate you?" he growled. "I'll be sure to pass it to your two girl friends…if they survive Blue's water power, that is."
Adam's gray eyes shot up wide. His friends were in danger as well, but there was nothing he could do about it. Sagittarimon was injured, Youkomon was defeated and from the shrieks he was hearing behind him, Fairymon wasn't faring well against the dark warrior Reichmon. He could hear the roar let out by the fiery gryphon generated by Reichmon's spear, and a loud shriek from Fairymon followed by a flash of yellow-green light reflected by the stone seats of the Megalith Coliseum, and knew that Fairymon was beaten as well.
Could this day really be the end of the DigiWira? Not the way Adam had always pictured about the good guys.
"Please…whoever you are…" Adam managed to choke out. "Don't do this."
"Ok," the Red ShadoWira said. Adam let out a gasp in disbelief – could it really be this simple? He couldn't believe that the Red ShadoWira had agreed to his plea. He saw the Red ShadoWira lowering his palm slowly, and his rapidly beating heart began to slow down. Suddenly, the Red ShadoWira laughed loudly, which surprised and disturbed Adam so greatly that his body shook violently. "Now that you've said your last words, your time is up! Goodbye, White DigiWira!"
Executing rapid movements with his arm, the Red ShadoWira once again directed his fiery palm directly towards Adam's face. A stream of raging fire instantly was omitted from the palm, streaking towards Adam violently. In reflex, Adam could only raise his right arm to defend his face, and prayed desperately in his heart for a miracle to happen.
All of a sudden, Adam felt a change of his environment just as the aura of the Red ShadoWira's fire began to reach his arm. Brilliant orbs of bluish white light began to appear out of nowhere, enveloping him fully from head to toe. Adam felt his body grew lighter, as if he was losing a tremendous amount of weight for less than a second, and at the same time the burning aura of the fire he was feeling had dissipated. It all happened so swiftly that Adam didn't even have the time to register the strange occurrence when he felt his weight returning to him. The white orbs of light around him disappeared gradually and Adam blinked his eyes, realizing that he could see the environment around him once again. He was still somewhere at the coliseum's seating places, and was still in his defensive position, but the Red ShadoWira and his precarious fire had vanished.
The boy breathed a relieved sigh. "What happened to me just now?" he wondered. "How did I escape?"
With the vicious ShadoWira gone, Adam began to rise up to his feet slowly. However, a loud cry that abruptly echoed against the stony surroundings caused the boy to flinch. Recognizing the harsh voice of the Red ShadoWira instantly, the junior member of the DigiWira team immediately bent down against the railing reflexively. From the sounds of it, the Red ShadoWira was still somewhere in the vicinity, and Adam realized that he was still at the second level of the coliseum. He hadn't gone far, but thankfully was currently out of sight.
"BLAST IT! HOW DID HE DO THAT!"
I have no idea, Adam thought grimly and decided to remain out of the murderous Red ShadoWira's sight. Flashes of red and orange were seen coming from the direction of the Red ShadoWira's voice, followed by a faint smell of smoke. Adam now realized that he was only a few meters away from the Red ShadoWira, and the only reason the ShadoWira wasn't able to see Adam was attributed to the elliptical design of the coliseum. Where Adam and the Red ShadoWira were at previously, they were near the parallel region of the oval coliseum. Right now, Adam could hazard a guess that he was currently hidden at the semicircular end region of the coliseum.
"Of all the times for math," Adam whispered silently, and began backing away by crawling in reverse. "He didn't see me yet. I better find a way to escape."
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WIRA DIGITAL
Chapter 09 – Enter the ShadoWira, Part II
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"Youkomon!"
Liu Ying cried agitatedly when she saw her partner plummeting down from the stone bridge above towards the stone maze below. The DigiWira had been staying hidden behind one of the big stone formation underneath the bridge, where earlier Youkomon had instructed for her and Gayathri to remain at. All the while, the two girls remained within the shadows behind the stones quietly, knowing that they were in a very dangerous situation. Their newest enemies were undeniably much stronger than their previous opponents, and the ShadoWira seemed to be absolutely driven to get rid of the DigiWira once and for all.
Earlier while they were still above at the onyx stone bridge, Youkomon had devised a plan for them. The blue-furred kitsune explained that one of the DigiWira was to become bait for the ShadoWira to go after, while the other two would be taken to the safety of the underground labyrinth below the coliseum. Youkomon was convinced that there should be an escape hatch somewhere below the coliseum. Fairymon would take the DigiWira that would become bait towards the upper levels of the coliseum where he or she would be out of danger, while Youkomon would take the other two down for them to hide until the three Digimon managed to defeat Reichmon.
As Fairymon was the one who would be with the bait, Gayathri said that she would be the bait as the sprite was her Digimon partner. Liu Ying argued with the other girl, offering herself to be the lure as she was the most senior member of the team. Adam then countered both girls, saying that as he was the only guy in the team, it was he should be the one to become bait. The girls were about to argue again but Adam was adamant of his decision, mentioning that aside from being the only male member of the trio he was also their leader, although at the same time he was a junior member of the team. He also persisted that a guy should put the priority on the girls' safeties first, which in Liu Ying's opinion, was a clumsy gallantry coming from the boy. However she had nothing to dispute of the boy's claims and Youkomon insisted that they had not much time. And so, they went with Adam being the bait and Youkomon then took them into the safety of the labyrinth.
Liu Ying was snapped out of her reverie when she saw Youkomon glimmered with faint yellow light before reverting back into a battered looking Labramon. The rookie's eyes were closed, and her body limped, as she continued to plummet into the labyrinth. Liu Ying realized that she had to save her partner – Labramon couldn't survive the fall in her current state, she'd crash her head due to impact with the ground.
"Gayathri, I'm going out," Liu Ying announced softly as she took a step out of her hiding. She received no reply, and amidst the darkness she began to search for her fellow DigiWira by flailing her hands about, but her hands didn't come into contact with anyone. "Where'd she go?" Liu Ying wondered, realizing that Gayathri was missing from their hiding spot. Then she averted her attention back to her fallen partner, who was approaching the ground. Immediately she jumped out from the shadows and positioned herself so that she could catch Labramon before the rookie crashed onto the ground. The shadow of the rookie Digimon began to loom on the female DigiWira and Liu Ying instinctively raised both arms up. Her palms came into contact with Labramon's fur-coated stomach, but the dog's weight had pushed the DigiWira down on her knee. Liu Ying lost grip of her partner and fell face-first onto the ground, with Labramon rolling down her back and onto the ground, where she sprawled helplessly and unmoving.
Liu Ying immediately got up; she could feel that her face had smudges of dirt on the cheeks, but she couldn't care less. "Labramon?"
"Liu…Ying," Labramon answered weakly. Her voice was hoarse and it sounded as if the rookie was making a big effort just to answer to her DigiWira partner. Her eyes fluttered open for a moment, followed by a weak grunt, and Labramon was forced to close her eyes once again.
"You're alright!" Liu Ying realized, relieved. Her partner was defeated and battered, but still alive. "Hang on; I'll take you to safety."
Labramon didn't reply as Liu Ying bent down to grab hold of her partner. However, a blast of cold water suddenly came from somewhere in front of her, knocking her away from Labramon. Liu Ying rolled on the ground due to the force of the water blast, which drenched her instantly from head to toe. Soot and grime were instantly plastered on her face, hair and uniform due to her sodden state. However, the DigiWira realized that otherwise the fact that she was filthy and soaking wet, she was unharmed. Liu Ying shivered slightly – the water blast had been very cold, and with the strong winds coming from the clouds, the environment made her feel as if she was trapped inside a refrigerator. Resisting the cold, she stood up and pushed her soaked jet black hair back, and from the corner of her eyes she saw a silhouette of a caped figure coming her way from the shadows.
"One of the ShadoWira," Liu Ying realized when she saw the blue accents on the newcomer's black uniform. "The one with the power of water…"
"Hello, Yellow DigiWira," the Blue ShadoWira greeted coldly. "Glad I've managed to catch you before you ran off."
He's got to be kidding! 'Yellow DigiWira'? And he's what…? 'Blue ShadoWira'? Liu Ying thought incredulously, but realized that this was not the time for her to be catty. The Blue ShadoWira stopped several meters away from where Labramon was sprawled, and Liu Ying couldn't help but shudder upon the eerie sight of the Blue ShadoWira. Amidst the shadowy environment, the Blue ShadoWira's most prominent feature was his glimmering green eyes, which light was reflected on the white skull-like mask he was wearing. And with the hooded cape the Blue ShadoWira was wearing Liu Ying felt as if she was face to face with a menacing specter that she had only seen in horror ghost stories.
Liu Ying gathered her remaining courage and stood up, wincing as her drenched hair caused her head to feel slightly heavier towards the back. She however ignored the sensation and straightened her head, and fixed a glare on her enemy.
The Blue ShadoWira let out a sarcastic chuckle. "Isn't it a bit cold for a shower?" he inquired.
Liu Ying didn't reply. Her mind, at the moment, was assessing the Blue ShadoWira and she couldn't help but to compare him to the Red ShadoWira. They were rather different in characteristics – the Red ShadoWira had come out as brash and ill-tempered, while the Blue ShadoWira seemed to be calmer, yet colder, of the duo. In fact, this was the first time Liu Ying had heard the Blue ShadoWira spoke; he was silent all the while when they first appeared, the Red ShadoWira was the only one who did all the talking. Yet, Liu Ying noticed that his quietness didn't seem to make the Blue ShadoWira any less dangerous.
"Not one to talk now, are you?" the Blue ShadoWira asked again, when Liu Ying remained silent. He averted his gaze from Liu Ying to the fallen Labramon, and then back to Liu Ying once again. He shrugged. "Oh well, guess I'll just make this quick for you and your partner. You first, then your dog."
The DigiWira with the Yellow DigiSphere let out a loud gasp when she saw the Blue ShadoWira began making circular movement with his right palm. Bubbles of water began to form on his palm, and the bubbles exploded to form swirls of water which spiraled around his palm. He made a rotating motion with his arm twice before pulling his palm back, as more water emerged seemingly from his palm. With a cry, the Blue ShadoWira thrust his arm forward and a powerful jet of pressurized water blast shot out from his palm, heading towards the defenseless DigiWira.
Liu Ying saw that this water blast attack from the Blue ShadoWira was very dangerous; it was unlike the one which had drenched her earlier, which seemed to be done only to spite her instead of meaning actual harm. However, this water blast which was heading towards her was similar to the one the ShadoWira had unleashed much earlier when he attempted to counter Sagittarimon's Meteor Gallop attack when the attack had neutralized the Red ShadoWira's fire attack. While his attack had proven fruitless against the meteorites, there was no doubt that it would prove to be near fatal should it come into contact with any of the DigiWira.
And right now, she was about to be at the receiving end of the Blue ShadoWira's deadly water attack. Liu Ying realized that there was no escape from the attack; her uniform was too drenched and would render her movement sluggish. Without thinking, she raised her right arm forward, thrust fully forward as if she was attempting to counter the Blue ShadoWira's attack. She didn't know what she was doing, in all actuality, and she was rather fazed with the apparently doomed fate she was about to face.
Yet, her hand suddenly have a tingling feeling over the palm, and a faint chiming sound was heard as the water blast was about to collide with Liu Ying's outstretched palm. Liu Ying closed her eyes and began to expect herself being drowned by the water, but after a couple of seconds had passed she realized that the water blast still hadn't hit her. Cautiously she opened her eyes, and gaped in surprise when she saw what was happening.
The water blast was being deflected by her palm! Two streams of water went towards two opposite directions when the main water blast released from the Blue ShadoWira collided with an unseen force, seemingly an inch away from her outstretched palm. Only harmless water sprinkles came into contact with her face. Liu Ying's small eyes widened, and all the time she could hear faint chimes over and over again. What is going on here?
Apparently, she was not the only one surprised with the strange outcome of the attacks. The Blue ShadoWira too, seemed shocked of witnessing his attack being deflected by the girl.
"What's this?" he exclaimed, and immediately ceased attack. He lowered his arm down and pointed his index finger towards Liu Ying in an accusing way. "You have a special power too?"
I have a special power? What is he talking about? Liu Ying thought with incredulity, a reflexive silent retort from her sharp-witted mind. She lowered her arm, which felt a little bit strained over the elbow region due to prolonged overstretching. Then the DigiWira realized about the strange occurrence that she had just experienced. She was able to stop the water blast from hitting her, and thus, had saved her own life. Wait a minute…could it be?
"This isn't expected at all. Karatenmon has given us wrong information," Liu Ying could hear the Blue ShadoWira muttering. Then she saw the Blue ShadoWira fixing his gaze towards the unconscious Labramon, who was sprawled near him rather than Liu Ying. "Oh well, as unexpected this event turns out to be, I can still finish off your partner with one pressurized water blast! Without your partner, you too will perish in due time, Yellow DigiWira!" he said menacingly, and pointed his right palm towards the helpless rookie Digimon.
"No! Stop!" Liu Ying cried out, and flailed her right arm desperately. She heard the same chime sound again, only this time something unexpected happened.
In front of her own eyes, she saw the Blue ShadoWira being thrown away from her Digimon partner by an unseen force. The villain was flung backward and collided against one of the stones that were sticking out from the ground, and fell on the ground face-on. Shocked, Liu Ying looked at her right palm. Did I do that? she thought in astonishment. Looking up, she saw the Blue ShadoWira struggling to get back up on his feet, grunting in frustration. However, he seemed to be facing with great difficulty in doing so. It's impossible. I couldn't possibly do that to him. He's even bigger than me, size-wise. He's even stronger than me… this is just too weird! Her black eyes then fell upon her partner, immediately realizing that she had better used the opportunity to escape into the labyrinth with Labramon, and if possible, look for the coliseum's exit or search for the missing Gayathri.
Cautiously she approached Labramon, one step at a time with her palm raised up just in case the Blue ShadoWira attempted to attack her again. The Blue ShadoWira however seemed somewhat distracted; it seemed that whatever Liu Ying had done, she had unwittingly caused the Blue ShadoWira to be helpless for the time being. Quickly she grabbed hold on Labramon with both hands, pulled the dog into a tight embrace before making way into the dark labyrinth.
What is going on with me? How did I manage to do that to the Blue ShadoWira?
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Sagittarimon watched helplessly as in midair, Reichmon had struck Fairymon with the same attack he had used on Youkomon. The yellow-green fiery gryphon released from his spear was three times larger than the beautiful sprite of wind, and thus, it had enveloped her wholly. Unlike Youkomon, who possessed resistance to fire due to her possessing fire type attacks, Fairymon was a Digimon of the wind, air and nature. She couldn't resist fire attacks so easily. With a loud scream, Fairymon instantly devolved back into Floramon and crashed onto the stone bridge. Sagittarimon saw that the impact had knocked the plant type rookie Digimon unconscious.
He realized now that it was now a battle between him and Reichmon. The silent warrior of darkness had defeated his fellow comrades, and the only reason why Sagittarimon was still left standing was the fact that he had been injured much earlier by a thunderbolt released by Reichmon. When Reichmon had decided to combat Youkomon, Sagittarimon had quickly fired his arrow, drawing his attention when it seemed to him that Youkomon couldn't handle the enemy. In retaliation, Reichmon had launched his Blazing Spear attack against Sagittarimon, which instantly pulverized his crimson bow. Sagittarimon was caught with the attack as well, but being an Armored Champion, he was more resistant to the attack as his defense level was rather high. Still, Reichmon had deemed the centaur to be nearly out of commission, and had struck against the ones that weren't harmed by him first. Up till now, the pain was still rather unbearable, with clear liquid data began dripping from his grazed arm onto the stone bridge. Sagittarimon used his good hand to cover the wounded area.
He was in no condition for a combat, but it looked like he had no choice as the looming shadow of Reichmon began to form above him.
Reichmon landed on the stone bridge with a loud crash ten meters away from Sagittarimon, who was attempting to retrieve his fallen friend. Apparently, the warrior had decided not to waste any more time on Sagittarimon as he aimed his shining black staff towards the draconic centaur. Crackles of thunderbolt began to spark out of the metallic tip of his staff as the thunder rumbled from the sky. Suddenly lightning streaked down from the darkened heavens and struck the staff. With a skillful maneuver Reichmon spun his staff, forming a large circular thunderbolt.
Sagittarimon didn't like the looks of it. It seemed that Reichmon wasn't going to hold back with this attack. With his bow pulverized and unusable, Sagittarimon had to rely on his secondary technique – the Meteor Gallop. A meter away from him sprawled the unconscious body of Floramon, with scorch marks evident on her scaly green body. The centaur decided that he would do whatever it took him to defend the plant reptile; after all, she had taken Adam to safety and Sagittarimon was very grateful for that.
But then, could he actually accomplish the feat, when his body was already taken abuse from Reichmon's earlier assaults?
Somebody stepped out from the shadows from one of the coliseum's arches. Nobody noticed the newcomer's presence.
He wouldn't be able to last long; Reichmon's too powerful for him. And where's Fairymon…? I don't see her.
The silent knight of darkness then waved his spear, releasing the spherical thunderbolt towards Sagittarimon. The thunder ball streaked with the remarkable speed of lightning, and although Sagittarimon had managed to retaliate with his meteorites attack, those meteors were destroyed by the lightning ball upon contact. All the remaining pieces of the meteorites broke into million bits of data particles and floated away before disappearing. The thunder ball however, blasted against Sagittarimon's armored torso, electrocuting him wholly. Sagittarimon screamed in pain as he began to lose his hold of his Digivolved form.
"Sagittarimon!" cried a familiar ringing voice, which caused Sagittarimon to start a little. He turned around as the electrical bolts began to dissipate, and to his utmost surprise he saw Gayathri, stepping out from one of the arched doorway. Apparently that was the doorway which led to the underground labyrinth below, but what had led her back up to the stone bridge when she and Liu Ying were safely hidden in the labyrinth below? Before he could figure out the answer, Sagittarimon's body jerked back and convulsed momentarily until he reverted to Patamon. The orange, pudgy guinea pig dropped on his feet weakly, feeling his body drained out of all the energy necessary to sustain his Champion-Armor form.
"Gayathri, get back, it's too dangerous," Patamon squeaked weakly.
"Patamon, where's Floramon?" Gayathri called out with a quivering voice. Her large eyes scanned the surrounding with worry. "I heard screaming…and saw flashes of yellow and green light…then I heard nothing from her anymore…I was so worried. Is she…?" Her face immediately reflected the dread she was feeling.
"She's knocked out, but otherwise, she's alive," Patamon said, trying to sound as assuring as possible. He didn't want to worry the DigiWira.
The DigiWira girl looked very relieved upon hearing the answer, and her eyes darted on the unmoving body of Floramon, whom she had just found after a gesture made by Patamon's bat ears. Her expressive dark brown eyes then lingered on Reichmon, who stood poised, ready to attack in a minute time. Shivering, Gayathri finally returned her gaze towards the partner of her fellow DigiWira as her eyes caught Reichmon beginning to spin his spear once again.
Patamon and Floramon can't survive another blast from Reichmon, the dark-skinned girl thought quickly. Patamon's injured and Floramon's unconscious. She had seen how fast Sagittarimon was beaten by Reichmon. She had heard the piercing, pained shriek of her own partner when she was attacked by Reichmon. Patamon and the unconscious Floramon couldn't even move away from the path of Reichmon's incoming attack. It dawned to her then of what she needed to do. It was dangerous, and she was absolutely terrified, but Gayathri didn't want to see Floramon or Patamon being deleted by the unmerciful dark knight.
I have to help them. They'd do the same thing if I'm in trouble…
"Are you ok, Patamon?" Gayathri asked worriedly. She approached the rookie Digimon cautiously, eyes still fixed upon Reichmon. The ultimate level black knight didn't seem to pay heed towards her presence at all, him being preoccupied with generating another thunderbolt. Within a few seconds she was already beside Patamon. "I saw the battle…you're injured."
"What are you doing? Get back in hiding, Gayathri! I'll be ok, but you need to go back down there," Patamon replied hurriedly. He cast a grim look upon Reichmon. "Hurry! He's about to attack!"
"No. You two are no longer in condition to fight Reichmon," Gayathri pointed out. Patamon tried to protest but Gayathri gestured with one finger towards his gashed tiny arm, which caused him to realize that the DigiWira was right. Seeing that Patamon had given her a silent agreement, Gayathri cradled Patamon with one arm, surprised at how light the rookie Digimon was compared to her own rookie partner. Amidst Patamon's protest for her to just leave him to fight Reichmon, the curly-haired DigiWira made her way towards the fallen Floramon. She grimaced slightly upon realizing that Floramon was about two times heavier than Adam's partner. She could carry her, but her movement would be compromised.
"HAH! There you are, Digi-brat!" another voice bellowed loudly from above, causing both Patamon and Gayathri to wince. They recognized the voice instantly.
"The ShadoWira!" Patamon gasped, his blue eyes looking up at the second level of the Megalith Coliseum. Behind the railing, there stood the menacing Red ShadoWira.
"Hmm…you're not the White DigiWira, but no matter…" the Red ShadoWira said. He raised his palm high, and fires were ignited instantly. "REICHMON! Finish them off, now!"
Simultaneously, Reichmon waived his spear and launched another thunderbolt towards Gayathri, Patamon and Floramon, and just about the same time, the Red ShadoWira launched his own attack towards the trio. Seeing the impending danger, Gayathri immediately picked up Floramon, bending over towards the right due to the rookie's weight, and set her eyes towards the coliseum's entrance which they had taken. Gayathri knew that she wouldn't be able to make it in time, as she wasn't even a track athlete, but even the fastest runner in the world would barely escape the two-way assaults coming towards them.
I can just stay here and get ourselves burned, or electrocuted…or I could try to make a run for it and be burned or electrocuted anyway…but at least that way I could say that I've tried…that is if I survive these double assaults and live to tell the story. There's no other way to go anyway, so I better make a run for it, NOW!
Gayathri began taking a few sprints, with Patamon and Floramon in tow, just as Reichmon's thunderbolt was about to reach her. All of a sudden, she felt her body being pushed from the back by the currents of the wind. The wind seemed to be encouraging her, urging her to go faster, and somehow Gayathri felt as if the wind was actually fueling her body with energy. Everything around her suddenly became blurry, with the only clear spot being the hallway leading to the coliseum's exit. If she could just make it outside, she would have saved not only her own life, but Patamon's and Floramon's as well. Just about a second after she had thought of that, the hallway suddenly seemed to be already right in front of her!
Huh? So quick!
Then, just about a couple of seconds after she had moved from the stone bridge, she could hear an explosion due to the collision between Reichmon's thunderbolt and the Red ShadoWira's fire assault – the impact from the explosion further shoved Gayathri, Patamon and Floramon directly into the entrance hallway. Still running, Gayathri somehow managed to maintain her balance with the help of the wind currents, and successfully made it out of the coliseum, all within just less than ten seconds!
"Gayathri…what just happened?" Patamon asked bewilderedly as he breathed a sigh of relief.
"I don't know…but I'm glad it happened when it did," Gayathri replied distractedly. What just happened to me? I've never run that fast before. And I'm not even panting at all right now…I don't even feel tired. This is just too weird…
"You were running with such incredible speed!" Patamon commented in awe, unaware of Gayathri's silent thoughts as he recalled back their escape from the villains. "In my life I've only seen few Digimon whose swiftness could be compared to you. You can easily keep up with Youkomon and me, when I'm Sagittarimon, or with the Raidramon we used to return to Forest Sanctum from the East Lake City, with your speed. You're amazing. But…" The rookie's eyes drooped a little when he realized that something was off with Gayathri. "I've never thought you could do it, actually, nor have I ever seen you ran with such speed before. But I'm glad that you're able to do so. You've saved our lives today."
Gayathri smiled faintly and looked down her curvy body slightly. One of her two best friends, Belinda Foo, was the school's track athlete and she had the body of one. Gayathri however, didn't like sports that much, with the exception of rollerblading, and she had the body of one that didn't indulge in sport as well. She wasn't fat, but she was not thin either.
"We're still not out of danger yet," she finally said, pushing her recent thoughts to the back of her mind. "We better find a place to hide before Reichmon and the ShadoWira decide to come out to look for us. And Adam, Liu Ying and Labramon…they're still inside."
"No, look," Patamon said, and gestured towards the corner of the coliseum.
Gayathri followed the rookie's gesture and saw, to her utmost delight, Liu Ying emerging from one of the ground level's archway. She was carrying an unconscious Labramon with both arms, and Gayathri had never seen the willowy girl, who was always so poised and elegant, so filthy and unkempt that day.
"Liu Ying!" she called out, immediately attracting the attention of the other girl.
"Gayathri! Thank goodness I've found you," Liu Ying replied, immediately heading towards where Gayathri was standing. She sounded slightly agitated, as if something was bothering her. "Where did you go? I was so worried!"
"I'm sorry, but I was so worried about Fairymon, so I've left you to get a better look of her battle with Reichmon," Gayathri explained, simply relieved and happy to see her fellow DigiWira and friend alive, albeit covered with soot and mud. Her nose wrinkled slightly – her friend didn't smell too good as well, but she wasn't about to tell Liu Ying that. "What happened to you?"
"I've encountered the Blue ShadoWira," Liu Ying answered with disgust, completely aware of what Gayathri was thinking just by seeing the other girl's facial reaction. She lowered the unconscious Labramon on the ground. "Then something weird happened to me. I don't know how to explain it…anyway, I've managed to escape from the Blue ShadoWira and I've decided to look for you or for the exit. The next thing I know, I ended up here." The girl looked at Gayathri, then shifted her attention towards the unconscious Floramon before her black eyes settled to the injured Patamon, and realized that somebody was missing.
"Gayathri…where's Adam?"
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"Wow! She's got a special power too," Adam whispered, as he witnessed how Gayathri escaped Reichmon and the Red ShadoWira. With one blink of the eye, Gayathri had managed to reach the hallway from the stone bridge, and with another blink of the eye she was already gone, with Patamon and Floramon in tow. "I'm glad that Patamon's already safe. Now if I can just find a way out of here without being detected."
Still at the second level of the coliseum, Adam had relied on the bigger stone seats to remain hidden from the Red ShadoWira's sight. The DigiWira knew that his adversary would be even more furious now than ever, with two DigiWira escaping his clutch. He could hear the villainous DigiWira shouting in anger, and flashes of red and orange were seen. Adam assumed that the Red ShadoWira was venting his anger by releasing blasts of fire upon the stone seats, and was glad that he was already quite far from the ShadoWira. He shivered upon hearing the Red ShadoWira's outburst – he didn't think that he had ever heard anyone to be that angry.
"Gayathri must already be outside by now," Adam said to himself, keeping his voice low although he knew that the Red ShadoWira wouldn't be able to hear him. Adam was nervous, and he felt that talking to himself would help him quench his nervousness a little as well as making his mind clearer. "Ok, all I need to do now is to get to the ground level. So far, the ShadoWira with the fire power is the only one here on this level, and I haven't seen the other one anywhere. He could be pursuing Liu Ying right now…"
Adam was now too preoccupied with his trails of thought that he didn't notice a shadow loomed just a few meters away from his back. His main concern was the Red ShadoWira, and he could still hear him berating Reichmon for letting Gayathri escape with Patamon and Floramon. At the moment, he was bending his body in a ninety-degree posture as he walked behind a row of stone seats, somewhere in the middle between the railings and the window arches. The seats' sizes were big enough to hide him from view; Adam could move within the audience area undetected.
Or so he thought.
"Fancy seeing you here, White DigiWira," a voice suddenly called out. It made Adam flinch as he slowly turned his head, and found himself crouching just a few meters away from the tall figure of the Blue ShadoWira, who was standing on top of one of the lower stone benches. The DigiWira frowned – something was rather familiar about the Blue ShadoWira's voice. He thought that he had heard it somewhere before. However he immediately pushed the thought back; Adam had never met anyone who wanted to harm him before, so it was impossible for him to have encountered the voice before. The ShadoWira that had called out for him seemed to have every intention to do Adam harm.
Granted however, the Blue ShadoWira did look like he had seen better days. His posture was slightly odd, with him bending forward slightly and had one arm on his back. His voice was cold, and somewhat angry, despite the greeting he had given.
Adam immediately got up to his feat, eyes widened in fear once again. He had escaped the Red ShadoWira, but could he escape the Blue ShadoWira now? He saw the Blue ShadoWira raising his palm up, in a manner similar to his companion, but Adam saw that his hand was trembling. Low grunts were heard, and the Blue ShadoWira was forced to lower his hand. The villain lowered his head, as if trying to stifle the grunts escaping his mouth. He seems to be injured, but who could've done that to him? Adam wondered. Did Liu Ying or Gayathri cause this ShadoWira's injury?
The Blue ShadoWira then raised his head up and gazed upon Adam with his shining green eyes. Despite being apparently injured, the Blue ShadoWira still projected an image fearsome enough for Adam to slightly cower involuntarily. The ShadoWira subsequently raised his hand up once again, struggling in doing so. Nevertheless it seemed that whenever he raised his arm, the Blue ShadoWira would experience something painful enough to cause him to lower his arm back. Adam relaxed a little.
"You're injured," the wielder of the White DigiSphere blurted out without thinking.
The Blue ShadoWira grunted. "What do you care? It's that Yellow DigiWira…she and that power of hers who'd done this to me. And since she's nowhere around, you'll be paying the price for her doing!"
Liu Ying did this to him, Adam realized. This ShadoWira is injured. I don't know how Liu Ying managed to do that…must be that special power he's been talking about. I wonder what kind of special power she has… Upon seeing the condition the Blue ShadoWira was in, Adam ceased to panic. He knew now that the Blue ShadoWira couldn't harm him – he couldn't even lift up his arms. Adam slowly backed away from the ShadoWira, heading towards the window arches.
"Don't move, or I…AAAAH!" The Blue ShadoWira had attempted to stop Adam from moving, and had reflexively raised his hand – only to feel the pain on his back once again.
"What's going on over there?" bellowed another voice, which echoed all over the second level of the coliseum. This time, it was the voice Adam had been dreading to hear. It was the voice of his pursuer, strong and harsh.
Rapid footsteps were heard approaching them. Adam knew that unlike the Blue ShadoWira, the incoming person was not injured at all. Adam had escaped this particular person once; there was no telling whether he could do so one more time. Thus, reacting solely on impulse, Adam made his way towards one of the window arches, ignoring the warning from the Blue ShadoWira. He looked out the window arc, and saw the environment outside the coliseum. Then without thinking, he looked down and saw that it was going to be a long fall. Gulping, Adam took a step back – he couldn't possibly jump down without hurting himself. From where he was, Adam looked over the grass-less land in front of the Megalith Coliseum, and saw several recognizable figures.
They've made it, Adam realized, gulping once again. All of them are outside there, except for me…and it seems that they haven't realized that I'm up here. Adam really wanted to cry out for his fellow DigiWira to help him, but nothing came out from his throat. He was, once again, scared stiff.
"So, the little white mouse is still around, looking for a way to escape," the Red ShadoWira sneered as he came into view. He glanced at his fellow ShadoWira, and paused; seemingly surprised to see the condition the Blue ShadoWira was in. "Don't tell me this boy here did this to you?"
"It was the Yellow DigiWira," the Blue ShadoWira grunted. "Her special power is remarkably strong."
The Red ShadoWira snorted haughtily. "You've been beaten by a girl? Oh well, we'll tend to her later. Right now, step aside, and let me incinerate this little White DigiWira for making a fool out of me earlier!"
Adam stepped back, and inhaled his breath sharply upon noticing that he was already at the end of the line. He was under the window arch right now, and one more step taken would cause him to fall. Once again, he had no means of escaping the Red ShadoWira. Remain standing, and his life would be ended instantly with the Red ShadoWira's fire. Jump down the window, and there was no guarantee that he could survive the fall. At this dire moment, he could only hope for another miracle.
"ADAM!"
"LOOK OUT!"
Shouts were heard coming from below, on the safety of the ground. Liu Ying and Gayathri had seen him, Adam thought.
"I believe your last words right now should be…'goodbye, cruel world,'" the Red ShadoWira said contemptuously. His palm raised and ignited with fire, the Red ShadoWira then thrust his hand forward. A raging stream of fire exploded from his palm and like a burning dragon, the stream of fire made its way towards its helpless target, with every intention to devour the target wholly until nothing remained.
Without thinking, Adam took a step backward and slipped from the window, falling down just as the fire stream raged in a straight, forward direction. Adam shouted hollowly, but then his hands managed to grab hold on the arched window's sill. The DigiWira immediately griped his fingers tightly around the uneven edges of the stones that constituted the windowsill as his body thumped against the wall. It was painful, but Adam ignored the pain as his whole life was currently at stake. His legs had nowhere to step onto, and thus wiggled as he struggled to find an even footing.
The Red ShadoWira, groaning loudly for having missed his target once more, stepped up at the edge of the arched window. His expressionless masked face looked down upon Adam's pleading face. "And once again, you managed to escape me," the ShadoWira said disdainfully. Then, he raised his right leg, attempting to stomp on Adam's hands which were grasping the windowsill. "But not for long…" he continued, with an eerie tone laced in his voice. His eyes flashed with a brighter green light as he was about to step on Adam's hand with force. However, before his foot could come into contact with the DigiWira's hand, Adam's right hand slipped down from the windowsill involuntarily, leaving only his left hand grabbing the windowsill. The full weight of Adam's body was now supported by only one hand, and Adam's body was flailing about against the walls of the coliseum. It was only a matter of time before he would lose grip on his other hand.
"This should be interesting," the Red ShadoWira remarked with a deep chortle. He stepped aside and leaned against the wall, looking down with his glowing eyes. "Let's see how long you could hold on with only one hand."
With only one hand grabbing the windowsill, Adam couldn't hold on much longer. His left hand slipped from the windowsill and Adam plummeted towards the ground. Yet, at the nick of time suddenly brilliant white orbs of light with tints of aquamarine appeared from all around his body, enveloping him wholly. The orbs then vanished in a flash of light, taking Adam with them. Then, no more than a couple of seconds later, closer to the ground and near the other two DigiWira, the orbs rematerialized and within them, Adam appeared, still in mid-fall position. However he was only a few inches from the ground now and thus landed on his face harmlessly.
"Ughh…" Adam grunted as he struggled to rise up. Once again, those light thingies have saved me from the ShadoWira…, he thought with deep appreciation. I guess this is my special power. He then felt two pairs of hands tugging his uniform from the back, and pulled him back up to his feet.
"Adam, you're alright!" Gayathri squealed in delight. When Adam managed to look at her, he saw that the girl was about to cry, judging from the waters at the rims of her eyes. He shifted his gaze towards a very unruly-looking Liu Ying, who was looking at him with pure concern etched on her dirty face.
"You scared us for a moment," she said breathlessly. "We thought you're almost gone…until your special power showed up."
Adam, still overwhelmed with the feeling of having nearly facing death twice in a day, could only nod weakly upon the reactions of his fellow DigiWira teammates. Yet the other two DigiWira didn't mind his lack of response; they were just glad to see him successfully escaping the wrath of the Red ShadoWira. Together the two girls helped Adam to stand back on his feet, with Gayathri starting to fuss over his face of being covered with soot and dirt.
"Adam, you're ok! Thank goodness, I was so worried!" Patamon jumped into his DigiWira partner's arms, and settled there.
"Patamon…you're injured," Adam realized, seeing a deep cut on the rookie's frontal right leg. He was reminded of the thunderbolt grazing Sagittarimon's arm earlier, and the battle between Sagittarimon and Reichmon.
"Don't worry about me, Adam, I'll heal," Patamon assured his partner. "I'm just so glad that you're alright. We were all so worried about you when you were the only one who didn't show up out here."
The Red ShadoWira however, was far from delighted. He was infuriated for Adam had escaped him for the second time in a row. Angered, he thrust his right arm forward and released another powerful stream of fire, now targeted towards the three DigiWira and their partners.
"Look out!" Gayathri screamed fearfully.
"Not if I can help it!" Liu Ying snapped irritably, and stepped forward. "I've had enough of this." Before Gayathri and Adam could protest, the tallest of the three DigiWira made a forceful waving gesture with her right arm, as if slapping somebody unseen by their eyes. To their amazement, the fire stream was suddenly diverted towards the nearest tree, which instantly set it on fire. Adam and Gayathri instantly jumped away from the tree, dragging the three rookie Digimon with them to avoid the burning tree. Liu Ying however ignored the tree and fixed a hateful gaze upon the Red ShadoWira. Gritting her teeth and with a loud grunt, she made another slapping gesture with her right arm. This time around, Adam and Gayathri saw in amazement as the Red ShadoWira was thrown backward, as if pushed back from the windows by an unseen entity.
"Woah…" Gayathri said, awed. "Liu Ying, that was…"
"Truly awesome!" Adam finished quickly.
Liu Ying merely shook her head, unable to stifle a smile that was forming on her thin-lipped mouth. I could get used to this special power stuff, she thought inwardly. "Let's get out of here before the ShadoWira decide to chase us."
xxx
xxx
"BLAST THOSE DIGIWIRA!"
The Red ShadoWira swept up on his feet once again after being thrown by what seemed to be the Yellow DigiWira's special power. He had felt as if an invisible force – something which felt like pure energy – slammed against his body and threw him off his feet. He saw what the girl did to stop his attack; his fire stream had been diverted towards a tree instead of the DigiWira. Before he could register his shock – Karatenmon had told them that the DigiWira possessed no special powers at all – he too became the receiving end of the girl's power.
"I've told you; the Yellow DigiWira's power is strong," the Blue ShadoWira remarked tiredly. He was sitting on one of the stone seats, leaning his back slowly. "And you told me that I was defeated by a girl…" He let out a sigh, which sounded somewhat mockingly.
"Shut up," the Red ShadoWira muttered. He eyed the Blue ShadoWira and saw that despite the sarcastic remark given by the water-powered ShadoWira, he was hurt. "Hey, you ok?" the fire-powered ShadoWira inquired.
"Nothing I can't handle," the Blue ShadoWira said confidently. "I was just caught off guard, that's all. That Sorcerymon can heal me, I'm sure."
The Red ShadoWira nodded, and sidestepped the stone seats as he made way towards the arched window. Looking out, he noticed instantly that the DigiWira had left the Megalith Coliseum's compound. However, he could still see them about a few meters away from the compound. The DigiWira were all walking at brisk pace, carrying their defeated partners in their arms. He suddenly noticed three quadrupled Digimon in black armor, and one bipedal blue-scaled dragon Digimon flying above them, approaching the DigiWira. At first, he assumed that the DigiWira had met with trouble once again, and his interest rose immediately. However, his hope was dampened when he saw that after a brief conversation, the bipedal dragon took the DigiWira's three partners in his large palm and took off towards the horizon with incredible speed. The DigiWira then mounted the armored canine Digimon, and followed the flying dragon.
"Damn it," he cursed angrily. "There's no way we could give chase to the DigiWira now."
"Let them go, for now," the Blue ShadoWira said. "I'm in no condition to fight them, and you can't beat them alone."
"Says who?" the Red ShadoWira barked. He twisted his palm upward and generated a ball of flame. "I can take the three of them down anytime!"
"Perhaps," the Blue ShadoWira replied placidly. "But it'd do us good if we know more about their powers first. If not, we'd be back at square one."
The Red ShadoWira wanted to retort to his companion's statement, but realized that he had a valid point. "Maybe you're right," he admitted grudgingly, extinguishing the fireball he had generated by forming a fist. "But next time, the DigiWira won't be able to escape us! I'll finish them off one by one…starting with Yellow, followed by White…"
"And I'll get Pink," the Blue ShadoWira said humorlessly. "Whatever makes you happy. But now, we better return back to the Cave of Solitude. Karatenmon won't be psyched when he knows about this. And chances are, he already knows about this. Go get Reichmon; I'll summon the portal which will take us back to the cave."
xxx
xxx
"What was that all about, TobuCatmon?"
"We have superpowers? I never thought that we're gonna have superpowers?"
"Who are those ShadoWira?"
"And where did they come from?"
"They have superpowers too…"
"Reichmon's so powerful, our Digimon were all beaten so easily."
"We've barely made our way out from the Megalith Coliseum…"
"How come there are bad DigiWira? I thought DigiWira are supposed to protect the Digital World from evil bad guys, not be the bad guys?"
"How did Exveemon and the Raidramon know that we're going to need help getting back to the Forest Sanctum?"
TobuCatmon blinked rapidly as he was bombarded with questions, one after another almost simultaneously from the three DigiWira as soon as they stepped back in the Forest Sanctum. The three humans were speaking and inquiring so quickly that their mentor had barely enough time to register an answer for one question before he was blasted with another. Their Digimon partners however remained quiet in the background, with both Floramon and Labramon unconscious and Patamon looking out for them. TobuCatmon was almost beginning to feel thankful for that; he didn't think that he could handle six people bombarding him with questions that demanded to be answered. Three was more than a handful.
"Calm down, DigiWira!" finally the champion-level Digimon said firmly, with a clear voice. The DigiWira instantly became silent, and TobuCatmon was at the receiving ends of three pairs of eyes colored black, gray and brown. "I shall explain all, if you'd let me. Please, settle down and let me take a look at the three of you first, to make sure that you have no injuries at all."
"We're not injured, TobuCatmon," Adam said immediately. "A little bruised and scratched, and I think Liu Ying seriously needs a bath…" Liu Ying scowled upon hearing that, but Adam continued, oblivious to the girl. "…but otherwise, we're all ok. Our Digimon aren't in their best of shapes however, so you can tend to them first."
"And can you give us some answers while you're mending our partners?" Gayathri asked, but the way she asked didn't make the inquiry sounded like an inquiry at all. It sounded more like a very politely-made demand, judging from the tone of her voice and the way she was standing with her hands on her hips.
TobuCatmon nodded as he approached Patamon and examined his injured stubby foot. "What do you want to know first?" he asked, as he approached a parlor where several jars stood in one straight line. He picked one jar and flew down towards the rookie Digimon. He opened the lid and took out the spatula from inside the jar, and placed some ointment on Patamon's injury. The rookie Digimon yelped a little, but soon his face calmed down as the herbal concoction began to take effect.
"The special powers," Adam said promptly.
At the same time, Liu Ying and Gayathri both said simultaneously, "The ShadoWira." They shot incredulous looks towards the boy, who cringed ever so slightly upon meeting their gazes.
"What…? We already know that the ShadoWira are bad guys, but we don't quite have a clue of our special powers," he reasoned, smiling weakly towards the two girls. Gayathri seemed to consider Adam's reasoning while Liu Ying remained stoic.
"Settle down, DigiWira," TobuCatmon said, and gestured towards the marble floor of the sanctum. "Sit down. Make yourself comfortable. I shall explain both inquiries at the same time, and more. It's time for you to know the history of the DigiSpheres' creation and their fullest potential."