Flapping his wings against the cold, harsh winds, Karatenmon soared effortlessly towards the blackened heavens. Shrouded with clouds, that didn't bother the Mage General one bit. With speed and magical attributes favoring him, the avian Digimon increased his speed and flew up towards the upper sky. Watching the layers of cumulus clouds underneath him, Karatenmon noticed the lack of air from being this far above the digital grounds below. Yet, with a simple incantation muttered within a minute that problem was solved.
"It is almost time…" he said with satisfaction; his gleaming yellow eyes were observing the higher cosmos above, which were spattered with twinkling stars, but what attracted his attentions was the three large floating spheres in three different colors – soft fuchsia, calm blue and tranquil green.
These were the three moons of the Digital World. The blue moon was currently flanked by its green and fuchsia counterparts. At the angle Karatenmon was at the moment, the three moons of the Digital World seemed to be positioned nearly at each other's sides.
"It is said that while the individual digital solar eclipse is already a rarity…a threesome eclipse is an even rarity. I however have been waiting for this moment for a long time."
Karatenmon was old, but that was never evident from his Ultimate-level form. Physically, he was five hundred years old. Age-wise, he was eight centuries old; the other three centuries had been robbed from him due to his imprisonment by his former master Wizardmon. Karatenmon had been bitter about it, but that feeling vanished slightly when he was able to delete Wizardmon in a matter of days after the two buffoons who acted as SkullSatamon's pages released him.
The mere mention of Wizardmon's name however, could make Karatenmon's blood boil. It would force him to relive the moments when he was a mere apprentice to the wizard Digimon. He remembered every event like it was yesterday. Five centuries of events began to unfold in his mind.
He had started just as a rookie level Shamanmon, who despite his name, had no magical talent at all. The Shamanmon community he had lived in with shunned him, marking him as a disgrace to their species. Apparently he had been the first of his kind who had no mystical power, while other Shamanmon in the village wielded at least one type of magical power, be it the commonest spell-casting, premonition or levitation to the much more complex healing, image projection and mind reading, to name a few.
Bitter, Shamanmon lived on his own for decades, deciding to use his kind as a tool to con unsuspecting Digimon into paying him to read their fortunes. He would tell them some vague fibs, which sounded so believable and with some strokes of pure dumb luck, would come true. However, one day his act was exposed when he attempted to fool a somewhat common-looking Digimon, who unbeknownst to him, was magical. It was a Digimon called Renamon, and he was determined to expose Shamanmon's defraud. It was then that Shamanmon, out of pure desperation to keep his secret safe, delivered a fatal blow on Renamon's head, successfully deleting him. And it was that moment; Shamanmon discovered the art of data absorption…a forbidden and barely-known art…yet something that would enable him to grow stronger. With Renamon's data, he inadvertently gained the magical fox's ability to shift in and out between dimensions.
Decades turned into a century and the formerly-weak Shamanmon had used the ability well in his conquest to become stronger. With the art of phasing in and out between dimensions, Shamanmon mastered stealth rivaling ninja and digivolved into the dark shinobi Kougamon. Stronger and much more skillful than his rookie form, Kougamon terrorized the peacefulness of many villages in the Digital World. He even destroyed his former home and deleted all the Shamanmon, while absorbing each of their data and added their magical abilities into his own, thus mastering many magical arts within a short period time.
Hearing about Kougamon's threat to the serenity of the Digital World, one Digimon then stepped up to stop him. It was Wizardmon, who was then at his prime and was renowned with his mystical talents, specializing particularly in spell-casting, healing and for manipulation of various elemental powers. Kougamon got hold of the news and decided to absorb Wizardmon, but with the wizard's power it was an impossible task at the time. Thus he concocted a devious plan, and devolved back into his rookie stage, pretending to be the sole survivor of the Shamanmon community. Taking pity of the homeless, powerless Shamanmon, Wizardmon decided to make the goblin Digimon his apprentice and together they would look for Kougamon.
Knowing that Wizardmon would not stop until he had found and deleted Kougamon, Shamanmon possessed an innocent rookie Digimon and tempered with its digital code so that it would digivolve into a Kougamon. Then, Shamanmon staged an encounter between the Kougamon and Wizardmon, and brainwashed the Kougamon into attacking Wizardmon and into declaring that it was the Kougamon Wizardmon was looking for. In order to quicken the whole ordeal, Shamanmon also manipulated Kougamon into kidnapping him, thus leading Wizardmon into killing the innocent Digimon in order to save him.
With 'Kougamon' apparently finished off for good, Wizardmon brought Shamanmon into his home, where to the green goblin's delight, was stocked with many books and scrolls pertaining to magical training. He soon discovered that Wizardmon apparently had already able to access his Ultimate level, but refrained from using it as he had trouble controlling it. The rookie then set a goal in his mind to achieve Ultimate form. Wizardmon allowed Shamanmon free reign for the preliminary spell books but kept the goblin away from the advanced books.
However, Shamanmon would attempt from time to time to get some glimpses of the advanced books, and it was then he encountered a dark spell to increase his power even more. The spell was so complex that it would take Shamanmon a couple of centuries in order to master it. But as Wizardmon's training didn't seem to do him any good as he already had skills akin to an above-average champion Digimon, Shamanmon decided to learn from the dark spells, while tricking his teacher into thinking that he was training with the basic spells.
Slowly but gradually, his power began to increase as the result of both the spell, the accumulated absorbed data within him and Wizardmon's training. Without Wizardmon knowing, Shamanmon then successfully achieved his Ultimate level. Yet, it was during his first digivolution into Karatenmon that he was discovered by Wizardmon, who by then realized that he had deleted the wrong Kougamon. Quickly he digivolved into his unstable Ultimate level – Wisemon – and delivered a near fatal blow towards Karatenmon before devolving back into his champion self. He then severed all ties with his pupil, and was about to destroy him as well, but Karatenmon was able to escape.
After escaping Wizardmon, Karatenmon soon discovered that a war was brewing between the forces of good and evil. A demonic Ultimate Digimon called SkullSatamon had risen to power, and was rallying Digimon who would serve his cause. Having no interest in being good, Karatenmon decided that serving SkullSatamon would be a good way for him to gain protection against Wizardmon. At first, Karatenmon had some thoughts of overthrowing SkullSatamon, but after seeing the power exhibited by the ferocious demon, Karatenmon knew that even Wizardmon would be powerless against SkullSatamon, and opted to serve SkullSatamon willingly. Being an Ultimate Digimon, it was not difficult for Karatenmon to gain SkullSatamon's attention, and he was made a general for SkullSatamon's lower-level army fairly quickly.
And noting his affinity with magical power, SkullSatamon had bestowed him the title Mage General, which Karatenmon was proud to carry.
Throughout the next century, Karatenmon gained respect from his fellow generals and lower peers mostly from his previous reputation. Words had got out that Karatenmon had been the notorious Kougamon who had terrorized the villages of the Digital World two centuries ago, and somehow even the times when he had been the powerless, fortune-telling Shamanmon also got out. But what made Karatenmon feared by many was the fact that he had been Wizardmon's apprentice. Even SkullSatamon had taken that very fact into consideration, as a rumor had circulated that throughout the century of darkness, Wizardmon had begun training an ultimate champion to defeat him.
Despite the fact that he was favored by SkullSatamon and respected by many, deep down Karatenmon harbored a secret. It was a secret that he had determined that would never get out.
His dark magic mastery was incomplete. Powerful, yes, but if Karatenmon wanted to become as dominant as SkullSatamon, he would need to wait for another three hundred years. The dark spell he had dabbled with from Wizardmon's book could only be completed during the day when the three moons of the Digital World would align together in one straight line, in front of the digital sun, to generate a threesome digital solar eclipse. The power that came with the threesome solar eclipse would be the catalyst Karatenmon needed to achieve perfection, as stated in the book….and it was probably what Wizardmon needed as well; Karatenmon had always suspected that somehow Wizardmon had used the dark spell as well to become Wisemon. There was something very fishy about the way how Wizardmon was not able to control his Ultimate form completely.
"Well, I certainly do not have to worry about that anymore!"
Karatenmon chortled darkly and settled to watch the moons, which were moving slowly to begin forming a straight line.
"It is now only a matter of time. I shall wait here; Joshua will make everything easier for me, but I have every intention to see to it that Wizardmon's plan would never be fruitful. The heirs of Grademon's DigiSpheres will not survive the day – all of them, shall not see the light of tomorrow's sun. The dark age of the Digital World shall be restored once again, under the rule of SkullSatamon, and the Digital World shall know that it is Karatenmon who has made that possible."
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WIRA DIGITAL
- ShadoWira Unveiled, Part V –
Chapter 20 – Spell Broken
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"Move it!"
"Hey!" One male student was shoved, nearly thrown off balance, by a taller boy with blonde hair. He glared at his offender's back, but knew better than to mess with the school's renowned troublemaker. Sighing, the unfortunate student walked away.
"Outta' my way!"
Another student, a smaller boy with dark skin and a short-cropped hair, was pushed away by the blonde boy, who had his attention solely fixed on a trio who were sitting at a rather secluded spot at the school's assembly foyer. The commotion he was causing began to draw attentions, but nobody dared to protest towards his actions. Whispers were heard, coming from two girls who wisely moved away from the blonde boy's path. They however weren't quick enough, with the short-haired girl's shoulder knocked against the blonde. The blonde teen huffed and moved away, he didn't bother to stop and apologize.
"Of all the nerve," Dina Fadlullah muttered indignantly as she looked at her friend. "Bel, are you…?"
"We've brushed shoulders," Belinda Foo said dreamily. "I'm not washing this shirt…"
Dina shook her head. "You're impossible. If Gaya were here, she'd tell you the same thing."
As the two girls walked towards the canteen, a plump, songkok-wearing boy approached the blonde. The blonde didn't seem to notice him at first, but when the latter blocked his path he narrowed his hazel eyes in annoyance. His mouth contorted to a sneer, which gave him a malevolency so unbefitting his age.
"Hakim, move your ass out of my way."
Hakim looked flabbergasted at the teen's harshness. "I just…I just want to ask you, whatever did I tell you about Adam…"
JD Kamaruzaman snorted. "Not now. Step aside; you don't want to make me step you aside now, do you?"
As JD didn't sound like he was kidding, Hakim had no choice but to move aside. He watched as JD made his away towards a familiar trio, one of the three being his best friend. The three students however didn't seem to notice that somebody was approaching them; they were too engrossed in their conversation. However, the shadow cast by JD's impressive frame halted their conversation, and the trio – two boys and one girl – turned their attention towards the unwelcome intruder.
"Wow. A private party? Mind if I join you?" JD snickered as he crossed his arms against his chest.
Adam Ariff's formerly pleasant face darkened a little as his eyes narrowed, while both Chang Liu Ying and Emmanuel Abah, who'd had their backs facing JD formerly, turned around quickly. Their reactions attracted the attentions of the passer-bys, but one quick glare from both JD and Liu Ying caused them to walk away. It was hard to discern whether they did that because of the fact that JD was a famous troublemaker, or that Liu Ying was one of the influential prefects in school.
"What do you want?" Liu Ying demanded, staring with a profound loath towards the teenaged villain.
"What are your games now?" Adam said with a flat tone, at the same time Liu Ying spoke.
"My, my, impatient, aren't we?" JD gave his lopsided grin, and tapped his black and red watch. "I'm making my move now."
"During school time? You can't be serious!" Liu Ying hissed, but JD merely laughed off her reaction and walked away leisurely. He went towards the farthest end of the corridor, and made a left turn – towards a very secluded area of the school at this time of the day. It was at the school's science labs, where nobody was supposed to be there as it was recess time.
"Come on," Liu Ying gestured. The three of them sprinted towards the science labs, but JD was nowhere in sight.
"There's no way he could disappear like that!" Adam said with disbelief, looking around him.
"Actually," Manny said, drawing immediately the attention of his new comrades. "It's possible. JD's cellphone model is very advanced; it is one of those newer smart phones with an operative system. It can act similar to a computer, and a computer is needed to open a DigiPort. I've seen him done that a couple of times."
"Unbelievable," Liu Ying muttered irritably.
"We can still catch up with him if we go to the computer lab now. Jackie and our partners are already there." Manny beckoned towards the stairs. "But, the flexibility that JD has with his cell phone means that the DigiPort he opened could lead him practically anywhere in the Digital World, while the computers in the lab all pointed towards the Forest Sanctum, right Adam?"
Adam nodded, having filled Manny in with some details the previous night, when the latter spent the night over at his house.
"So let's get to it then," Manny continued.
"Wait a minute! It's school time now," Liu Ying pointed out, shifting her gaze alternately between Adam and Manny.
"I can't believe you're worried about that now," Adam said exasperatedly.
"No. But how are we going to explain our disappearances to the teachers?" Liu Ying asked her fellow DigiWira.
"Umm…good point," the dark-haired boy muttered. His eyes then brightened as an idea sparked in his mind. "How about we ask Jackie to cover for us? In the meantime, let's get moving too. The more time we spend standing around here will give JD more time to destroy the Digital World." And without waiting for Liu Ying's answer, Adam dashed towards the stairs.
Manny looked at Liu Ying wordlessly, his expression clearly said that he agreed with Adam. He then made his way towards the stairs.
Liu Ying huffed. "I can't believe I'm skipping half-day of school because of this." With that, she too, headed towards the stairs which would lead them towards the second floor, where the computer lab was situated.
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The first thing the teens and their partners noticed when they arrived at the Forest Sanctum was the fact that it was a rather dark day. Although it was still morning, the darkness was reminiscent of dusk. The Forest Sanctum had no roof and its main source of light was the sun, but now, they noticed that candles had been lit to illuminate their hideout.
"Don't look upwards," TobuCatmon instructed quickly. "The fabled threesome eclipse is about to happen. You can't watch it directly as it would severely damage your eyesight, but you can observe it through Wizardmon's sun staff. This is a grave moment, DigiWira," TobuCatmon paused as his eyes watched Manny, who looked surprised to be addressed as a DigiWira as well, before resuming, "Karatenmon has been waiting for this moment for a long time. His power will be almost unstoppable – and with one member down the three of you should work together as one."
All of them observed the staff, which was displaying the three moons of the Digital World. The blue moon was at the center, with the fuchsia moon in front of it and the green moon at its back. They were almost in one straight line.
"Not to mention Satriamon will also be fighting us," Adam added with a low tone.
"Adam is right. He will force you to split up so that you will not be at your best against Karatenmon," TobuCatmon said. "Have you any news about Gayathri?"
"Gayathri is supposed to be released from the hospital today, right?" Manny shifted his gazes between Adam and Liu Ying, waiting for conformation.
"I think so," Liu Ying answered. "The doctor confirmed that yesterday, he didn't say exactly what time she'll be released."
"Fairymon will be an invaluable help to us, especially in times like this, but the six of you will have to make do with whatever we have to battle Satriamon and Karatenmon." TobuCatmon sighed. "I will attempt to contact Gayathri and Tanemon to see when exactly they will be able to help us."
"Hey. From the way you said that it's as if you won't be joining us in the fight," Penguinmon suddenly spoke with an annoyed look on its face. His statement immediately drew the attentions the others, save for Manny. "What gives? You fought well enough against that ice freak with us yesterday; we'll need all the help we can get to beat that evil birdbrain and that pyromaniac!"
Patamon and Labramon snickered. "Evil birdbrain? That's really ironic, coming from you," Patamon said.
"Watch it, hamster," Penguinmon warned, and shot a look towards Labramon. "And don't make me spew a nickname on you too; I have one in mind and it certainly is not pleasant to these youngsters' ears."
"I certainly love to see you try…" Labramon said with venom and a sideways smirk towards Patamon.
"Penguinmon…" Manny muttered with exasperation while Adam shook his head.
"These two have been ganging up on me all morning!" Penguinmon protested. "And this morning hamster here suggested to dogface that I should be called fat birdbrain."
"Dogface?" Labramon muttered.
"You started it; I seem to remember you calling Patamon 'bat-pig' last night," Manny interjected.
Penguinmon huffed and turned his body sideways irritably. "Whose side are you at anyway? You're my partner; you should be on my side!"
Manny shook his head while Adam offered him a sympathetic smile.
Liu Ying looked at the boys, puzzled. "What was that all about?"
Adam sighed. "They've been at it since last night. While Manny and I got along fine…we can't say the same for our partners."
The female DigiWira looked amused with the fact, and looked down towards her partner. "Labramon?"
"The chubby penguin is quite a mild irritancy at his best," Labramon said nonchalantly.
"HEY!!" Penguinmon cried indignantly and averted his eyes towards TobuCatmon. "I bet you're enjoying the distraction, huh, PussyCatmon? You haven't answered my question; aren't you joining us for the upcoming battle with Karatenmon and Satriamon?"
"You could fight? I have known you for more than half a year now and I am not aware of that fact. You have always said that you are not a fighting type," Labramon stated.
"Hey, no more interruptions until the cat answers my question," Penguinmon said.
TobuCatmon looked as if he had been expecting this question. "I'm not a fighter, yes, but I do know how to defend myself." He turned his gaze towards Manny and Penguinmon. "The attack you two have seen me performed yesterday is actually a recent development, attributed to… a lot of practice. And to answer Penguinmon's question, no, I'm not going to be able to help you. Now that I'm out of the Cave of Solitude I'm bound to protect the Forest Sanctum."
"So you're out from a prison and back in another prison?" Penguinmon reiterated. "Why would the sanctum needs protecting anyway? From what I know it's protected already by some kind of ancient magic or whatever. No evil can waltz in here, welcomed or not. Heck, Karatenmon had quite a hard time figuring out how to capture you without entering here, but it was JD who came up with quite a brilliant solution."
"Hmm?" Both Adam and Liu Ying looked at Penguinmon with interest. They then looked at TobuCatmon inquiringly.
The DigiWira mentor shifted uncomfortably and waved his wings towards the sun staff, which began to show a series of events. "Early yesterday morning, I saw a fight via the staff between Joshua, Flarelizamon and IceDevimon at the Green Meadow. They looked like they were losing and needed dire help. I couldn't contact you as it was way too early in the morning, neither of you would've woken up yet. And since Green Meadow was just outside the sanctum's jungle I decided that I'd help them. In my mind, if IceDevimon was attacking them, perhaps it was because Joshua and Flarelizamon have also broken the spell, and that Karatenmon would have ordered IceDevimon to bring them back to him. So I went out and attacked IceDevimon, only to suddenly find Satriamon behind me. Then the next thing I knew I was in a rather foul-smelling sack." The feline's explanation was sufficiently illustrated by the staff up till the point when Satriamon attacked him from the back with what seemed to be his Dragonforce Striker technique.
"So it was a staged fight to draw you out in the open." Adam made a face as he crossed his arms against his chest. "How very JD." There was a slight sarcasm in the tone, but was downplayed by the evenness of the boy's voice. His face however looked unconcerned. "Anyway, speaking of JD, any idea what he's up too now? He seemed eager to start a fight back at school."
"Not that it's unusual," Liu Ying added. "But Adam's right. JD said that he was going to make his move."
The sun staff shimmered, drawing everyone's attentions towards it.
"Looks like the staff is going to answer your questions in my behalf," TobuCatmon said. Upon meeting Penguinmon's narrowing eyes, the feline Champion sighed. "And pertaining to your earlier question, Penguinmon…there's more to the Forest Sanctum than what you already know. I'm not a prisoner of the sanctum, but rather, I'm at my best while inside the sanctum's protection, both power-wise and defense-wise. I can step out from the sanctum's protection anytime I want, but outside I'm just a somewhat average Champion-level Digimon. And the sanctum's not hundred percent impenetrable; the magic invoked around the sanctum is only strong enough to prevent those who aren't as strong as the ones who cast the spell. Those such as SkullSatamon or a powered-up Karatenmon probably would be able to penetrate the barriers around the sanctum if sufficient efforts are taken by them. Someone needs to stay inside to ensure that the sanctum remains safe, should that happen. Luckily that never happens, but it's always wise to be alert."
"Who invoked the spells around the sanctum?" Adam asked.
"Grademon and Wizardmon, backed up by the White, Pink and Yellow DigiSpheres." TobuCatmon then beckoned towards the staff. "But enough about that; we have a dire situation right now that needs your attention." They however halted when the others who had been observing the staff turned around with serious looks on their faces.
Adam looked at them curiously. His curiosity was further piqued when the sanctum darkened up to the point where it almost resembled nightfall.
"The threesome solar eclipse…it's happening now," Liu Ying stated grimly.
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"It is happening!" Karatenmon closed his eyes as he basked in the power that came from the much-anticipated eclipse.
His chest tightened, the muscles on his arms and legs became tauter and his wings became momentarily rigid as the foretold solar eclipse took place. Glowing with purple aura, Karatenmon felt stronger as seconds passed. Floating above the cumulus, he opened his eyes and watched the sun, completely blocked by the three moons of the Digital World. The kaleidoscope of color coming from the ring that formed as the effect of the moons blocking the sun fascinated him; he could feel the power coming from it.
Physically, Karatenmon didn't look different, but there was a certain edge now displayed by his very being. He had improved in many ways, but it was difficult to point out exactly how he'd changed, but indeed he felt like he was no longer the same Karatenmon. After several centuries, his dream was fulfilled. He had reached the pinnacle of his power.
With little more training, perhaps he could unlock his Mega level as well today. But even with the sheer amount of power he had now, Karatenmon had no doubt that he could give any Mega Digimon a great challenge, if not beat them.
"It is just too bad that Wizardmon is not here to experience this as well," he thought with a smirk. "His Wisemon form needed a lot of fine-tuning, as I recall. But certainly I am not complaining now of his absence; it is I who had killed him anyway." His smugness was only mirrored by his confidence. "Nothing could stop me now….nothing."
Something crossed his mind. "Ah yes. The meddlesome DigiWira and the traitorous ShadoWira. It is time to pit dear Joshua against his fellow humans. It shall be a beautiful sight indeed when he slays the DigiWira and that renegade Emmanuel, and it will be a prettier sight when I lift my spell over him. The guilt will consume him and take away his sanity, he shall wish for nothing more than death itself. Perhaps I should force him to commit suicide? If he refuses, I suppose it will not be a problem either, because I can just kill him and be done with it."
He snickered gleefully at his thought. His eyes suddenly narrowed as one possibility came up. It could spoil his plan. "But that girl with the Yellow DigiSphere has unlocked her fused form as well. Satriamon might not fare well against both Samudramon and Xianamon. There is also Adam and Sagittarimon to consider. Joined forces, they might beat him…
"But no matter, they can never break the spell. To do that they will have to delete me, and that is a joke so funny I could die laughing and the spell over Joshua would be lifted without effort.
"And I suppose if they do beat Joshua, they will never have the heart to finish him off. They could never kill a fellow human. Probably weaken from battle by then, I will then single-handedly slay all of them myself.
"All possibilities are in favor of mine. There is nothing to worry about. All I have to do now is to sit back, and enjoy the show."
Karatenmon let his power slip and allowed gravity to pull his body down to the earth. When he passed down the clouds, he retracted his wings which halted the gravity pull, and walked over the air lazily until he reached the highest peak of a cluster of stone hills. Standing there, he looked down below and saw a figure in bright red armor looking up at him. He nodded towards the red figure, no words needed to be spoken as Satriamon understood what he needed to do.
He then watched Satriamon go, and followed him quietly from the air. From where he was floating, he could see amidst the darkness elicited by the eclipse, the lush greenery of a wide paddock located not so far from the stone ridges. Thick forests lined the farthest end of the meadow, and Karatenmon knew that deep within those forests was the hideout of the DigiWira, formerly the hideout of Grademon and Wizardmon from SkullSatamon. The forest was enchanted with a spell so strong that no evil could walk through it, invited or uninvited.
The forest is of no concern for now. If the DigiWira were destroyed, there was no need to infiltrate the forest.
"Let the battle begin…and here is to hope that it will not be a corny ending where good triumphs over evil."
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"Isn't this the place where we fought Lynxmon?" Adam wondered, from atop Sagittarimon's body. He looked sideways at the elegant feminine Digimon who was hovering beside his centaur partner.
"Yes." They were in the same valley where they had fought Lynxmon, who had been Liu Ying and Labramon's first challenge as a DigiWira. The Stone Valley still looked the same; walled by stone hills, narrow passage, and deathly quiet. No signs of vegetation were seen, only sands, dry lands and rocks. Xianamon then glanced behind, towards a man with his lower body, waist-down, enveloped by swirls of water. "Why here, I wonder?"
The man waved the silver trident he was holding, and the water vanished, revealing a sleek blue fish-tail. The fishtail shimmered and was transformed into a pair of legs as the merman, now human, descended on the coarse ground. Samudramon shrugged as he noted his surrounding. "You tell me. I wasn't even a ShadoWira yet, I think, when you guys fought this…Lynxmon."
Adam wrinkled his nose. "I don't like this. It looks fishy." The dark passage was giving him the creeps. Not to mention, the sound of the wind billowing through the passage created a whispery sound which unnerved all four of them.
"Everyone stays alert, we're going in," Sagittarimon said, and trod into the narrow passage carefully. An arrow was already fixated on the bow, ready to be shot should anything come towards them. And he had no qualms of Adam riding on him; the boy had excelled in his teleportation skill. He could get himself to safety, if not for both of them, and Sagittarimon knew that with their bond usually, unless Adam thought specifically not too, whenever the boy teleported he would join along the ride as well.
Suddenly something that looked like a meteorite streaked down from above and crashed onto the ground, causing a loud fiery explosion. The ground reverberated and Sagittarimon and Samudramon struggled to maintain their balance. The earthquake continued as thick smokes blocked the passage the DigiWira were going.
Xianamon held her right arm up in a meditative position and her left hand lowered; the feather duster was pointed towards the ground. She was floating in midair, thanks to Liu Ying's telekinetic ability, thus immune to the earthquake. Deploying the earth power within the Yellow DigiSphere, her body glowed with yellowish-tan aura and a beam was shot from the feather duster towards the ground. Instantly, the rumbling earth calmed.
Claps were heard, coming from the smokes. Satriamon emerged, snickering as the claps he'd done echoed all over the rocky valley.
"That was just for starters." The red-armored knight grinned towards the DigiWira with a similar lopsided grin that could only be pulled off by JD. "Still no sign of that girlfriend of yours, Manny. Where is she anyway? It's really unlike her to not show up in two consecutive battles." Besides, it wasn't as if Satriamon really cared that Gayathri was not there; it was merely an annoyance to him right now as he wouldn't be able to finish up all the DigiWira at once.
"Not for you to find out," Samudramon answered evenly, and pointed his trident towards the villain. JD hadn't been made aware of the fact that Gayathri was hospitalized, and the DigiWira wanted to keep it that way.
Adam looked around nervously. "Umm…I think I better go behind those rocks." Sagittarimon nodded, and Adam vanished from his back in sparkling white orbs. He reappeared around the corner from where they had came from earlier, just enough distance to remain safe from the melee that was about to occur. Sagittarimon, Samudramon and Xianamon then applied their battle stances in order to combat Satriamon; they were now waiting for Satriamon to initiate the battle.
Satriamon chuckled. "I'll deal with you later, kiddo, after I trash your friends and partner."
The three Digimon tensed; Satriamon sounded so full of himself that they couldn't help but to feel unnerved.
"JD, stop it." Samudramon wanted to at least try appeal to the human within Satriamon; he knew from experience that Karatenmon's spell was extremely powerful. The spell on him wavered due to his affection for Gayathri and the potent dark spell eliminating attack from Lilymon, which was twice delivered onto him.
"Oh, save it," Satriamon snorted. "Not even that flower girl Lilymon could make me weak as you are now. Karatenmon's giving me more power; I'm stronger than any of you!"
"He is so full of himself," Xianamon commented.
Satriamon snickered. "Don't believe me? How about a demo then?" The fused fire-based Digimon then leaped forward, withdrawing his gauntlet-clad arm back as he made way towards Xianamon, who hovered over Samudramon and Sagittarimon. Flames erupted from the gauntlet and an image of a blazing dragon erupted from Satriamon's back, coupled with an earsplitting roar as the image came to life. The dragon coiled around Satriamon's gauntlet as the knight attempted to attack Xianamon.
"Dragonforce Striker!!"
Xianamon quickly attempted to defend herself, but she was shocked when suddenly the villain turned sideways and slashed Sagittarimon instead. The draconic centaur howled in pain, and Satriamon delivered a swift kick over the centaur's front legs, causing the massive creature to topple onto the ground. Without mercy, and with a murderous glint reflected from his eyes, Satriamon used his Chrome Digizoid gauntlet to break through Sagittarimon's protective armor, exposing the leathery torso underneath. He then sent a torrent of flames onto Sagittarimon's chest and burned the hide, gravely injuring Sagittarimon.
Samudramon couldn't believe his eyes; Satriamon had gotten so swift that everything seemed to be happening within a blink of the eye. He then saw Satriamon was about to assault Sagittarimon once again with his Dragonforce Striker technique, and quickly decided to intercept the attack.
"Thunder Storm!!"
"Pathetic!" Satriamon didn't move; instead he did a somersault and kicked the electric-blue thunderbolt sideways. The thunderbolt sailed malevolently towards Xianamon.
Once again, the move was unpredicted, but Xianamon was careful enough to eye Satriamon's every movement, and when she saw the deflected thunderbolt, quickly she employed Liu Ying's shielding ability to create an invisible ward in front of her. Now as Xianamon her proficiency and power had increased, and Samudramon's thunderbolt was countered with yellow energy bolts that reverberated from her own ward. The ward shook for a moment but then the thunderbolt exploded in a flash of golden light. Xianamon then emerged from the lights and waved her feather-duster, sending thousands of needle projectiles towards the armored knight.
"Diamond World Mandala!!"
Waves of indigo and yellow lights were showered onto Satriamon and Xianamon made sure that the waves would shower Sagittarimon as well. The Diamond World Mandala could heal her allies and injure her enemies; it was a perfect attack in times like this.
However, Satriamon knew what was coming and whilst evading the attack he delivered a powerful roundhouse kick towards the hulking figure of Sagittarimon, throwing the centaur out of Xianamon's attack range. Turning around, his body began to emit a black aura with a sickly green hue. This made him look even deadlier than before as dark power radiated from the aura. It was the same aura that Reichmon had back during their first encounter at Megalith Coliseum. The black aura consumed Xianamon's Diamond World Mandala attack and Satriamon laughed heartily.
"It cannot be!" Xianamon gasped. She however knew better than to just stand still in shock, and waved her feather duster towards the ground. Yellow energy wave was blasted onto the earth, and suddenly the earth began to rumble. "Gaia Retaliation!!"
The ground where the wave hit cracked as an earthquake happened all of a sudden. The crack grew larger and formed a crevice right underneath Satriamon, causing the fire knight Digimon to yelp in surprise before he jumped away from the opening. His path to safety was further blocked as several massive stones fell from the top of the rocky hills, all making Satriamon their targets. The sands from the ground were magically lifted and were sprayed by an unseen force towards Satriamon's face, blinding his sight and hampering his escape. Satriamon howled as he attempted to block the sands from entering his eyes even more, which successfully halted his attempt to escape Xianamon's earth-based attack. The rocks that fell from the top of the hills around the barren valley buried Satriamon underneath them, not allowing the villain a chance to escape.
Xianamon heaved her breath slowly as she lowered herself to the ground. Even she was shaken by the effect of her attack; she had thought that the Diamond World Mandala, her primary magical attack, was the strongest attack she could muster. However, the Gaia Retaliation technique, her primary earth technique, had proven to be more useful against a threat such as Satriamon.
"Didn't you just go overbroad a little?" Samudramon croaked, out of sheer surprise and awe of Xianamon's display of power.
Xianamon sighed as she tried to breathe easily; the attack had taxed her. "He will live."
The stones suddenly shook violently and a figure exploded out, sending debris all over the valley. A figure fully coated with dark aura emerged, and he didn't look at all happy. Several parts of his armors were chipped and scratched, but his gauntlet was still intact and he looked relatively uninjured. Cuts could be seen on his cheeks, and blood leaked out from his nose and the lower right corner of his mouth.
"He's still in one piece!" Samudramon exclaimed. "And not to mention, extremely, downright pissed!" he added in a tone that could only belong to Penguinmon.
"DAMN YOU!" Satriamon shouted; his voice sounded maniacal. The black aura which surrounded him pulsed crazily as he walked down the pile of stones, kicking away any that stood his way. His eyes blazed with crimson intensity as he held his arms up. "Shadow Flame Helix!!"
From one arm, a dragon made of orange fire emerged while from another arm, a hissing serpent blazing with greenish black flames coiled out. The two fiery creatures both went for Xianamon and Samudramon, roaring and hissing as they bared their deadly fangs, burning with red hot and black flames.
"Look out!" Xianamon shouted as she raised her telekinetic barrier to stop the black serpent from reaching her. To her surprise, the serpentine image crushed its fangs onto the barrier, and the barrier broke. Xianamon found herself coiled by the snake tight, and summoned the lasts of her energy to coat her entire body with defensive aura. She felt the serpent's body burning onto her own, and gasped for breath.
"Xianamon!" Samudramon raised his trident towards the sky and propelled himself upwards with the water that appeared around him from out of nowhere. The orange dragon coiled around the water spire but roared as its flames came upon contact with the cool water. His legs morphed back into his merman tail and Samudramon maintained his stance; he was safe for a brief few seconds as Satriamon tried to figure out how to get to him. But he had to save Xianamon. An inspiration struck him.
"Divine Rain!!"
The sky thundered and clouds began to form above the battlefield. A heavy downpour suddenly rained from the heavens, causing both the dragon and the serpent to recoil in pain as their fiery bodies came into contact with the rains. They had no way to escape and their bodies slowly dissipated into wisps of smokes. The dragon that was after him was the first to vanish, while the black serpent seemed to need a little more persuasion. Thus Samudramon swung his trident down and raised his left arm towards the sky.
"Deep Ocean Submerge!!"
'Hope you can swim, Xianamon,' Samudramon prayed, and unleashed a tsunami of water from both his trident and his hand. The attack was focused primarily to eliminate the black serpent, while at the same time thwarting Satriamon as well. Seeing that the serpent was able to withstand his Divine Rain technique Samudramon had no choice but to drown everybody in the nearby vicinity with his Deep Ocean Submerge. He couldn't see Adam or Sagittarimon, but hoped that Adam was able to teleport himself and his partner away to safety. Looking down, Samudramon decided that it was time to call back the attack and waved his trident up. The water flowed away from the valley and the serpent was nowhere in sight. Xianamon, glowing faintly in yellow aura, was lying on the ground but conscious; apparently she had used her barrier-projecting capability to not only protect herself from the serpent but from being drowned by Samudramon's Deep Ocean Submerge.
Something however looked wrong.
Satriamon was nowhere in sight. Samudramon looked around anxiously, when suddenly he heard the distinct sound like an erupting volcano. He turned his body around, only to find himself colliding with a raging fireball, which knocked him off the water pillar he had created earlier. The fireball zoomed down and magma-Satriamon emerged before shifting back into the regular Satriamon. Samudramon however felt himself plummeting towards the wet ground, but his fall was slowed by…something.
'I have to stop him from falling.'' Xianamon concentrated her telekinetic power to safely bring Samudramon down. A tall shadow fell on her lying form right after she managed to place Samudramon onto the ground.
"You take out all the fun!" Satriamon seethed, and held one arm towards the helpless Xianamon. "For that, feel my Dark Rage!!"
An obsidian wave emerged from his gauntlet-less arm and hit Xianamon squarely on her bosom. Her body convulsed in pain before it glimmered in yellow light, separating back into a battered-up Liu Ying and an equally beaten up Shaomon.
"Heh. Piece of cake." Satriamon turned around and saw the horrified look on Samudramon's face. "Don't worry old friend, I haven't forgotten about you! Dark Rage!!"
Samudramon was blasted with the same attack, and dedigivolved unwillingly back into Manny and Penguinmon. Their conditions however were much better than their female friends; Samudramon was not injured in any way prior to the sudden dedigivolution, which made Manny wonder why did they dedigivolve?
"Now, who should I destroy first?" Satriamon said cockily. He pointed his finger towards Manny. "Eenie…" He then shifted the same finger towards the beaten up Liu Ying. "Meenie…" The finger was then taken back towards Manny… "Mynie…" …before finally pointed back towards Liu Ying. "Mo. Ladies first!"
"Ladies first? Why thank you…at least you have manners!" exclaimed a familiar perky voice from above. "I thought that you're just a brainless brute."
"What the hell?" Satriamon looked up in annoyance, recognizing the newcomer's voice immediately.
"It can't be…" Manny looked up as well, and couldn't conceal his grin upon seeing the floating feminine Digimon that had come to their rescue.
Liu Ying and Shaomon breathed out in relief. "Thank goodness."
Floating several meters above them was a skimpy-outfitted sprite with glittering transparent wings. She had her hands on her hips.
Fairymon.
xxx
xxx
"Sagittarimon…" Adam looked upon his injured partner with worry. "You're hurt. Badly."
The centaur's breathed out raggedly, and it worried Adam even more to hear the apparent difficulty Sagittarimon was having in doing so. He was lying on the ground, too weak to move due to the wounds he had sustained from Satriamon. He was not battle-weary, thus he remained in his Armored Champion form instead of devolving into Rookie. But regressing into Patamon was the only way for him to heal, and it didn't seem to be happening anytime soon. Sagittarimon could only attribute it to the fact that somehow, he was still needed in his current form.
Prior in seeing Samudramon was about to launch his attack, Adam had wisely teleported both of them away to a further, higher location so that they wouldn't be drowned by the merman's submerging technique. Both of them however were wet due to the rains, which didn't seem to help Sagittarimon with his injury.
"I don't know what to do," Adam said, slightly panicky. He eyed his gray jacket, which was already compressed on Sagittarimon's bleeding chest. The jacket was already soaked wet, apparently with liquefied data that was akin to blood. The boy considered using the white long-sleeved skintight shirt he was wearing to compress the wound, but Sagittarimon had declined.
"Perhaps," a chilling voice said from the shadows. "You should just give up."
Before Adam could even turn around, a hand snatched up his shirt from behind, pulling him along. He saw black feathers covering the captor's arm and knew instantly who had seized him. His blood ran cold; he may have escaped Satriamon but he'd been captured by…
"Karatenmon."
"You really have missed a battle down there," Karatenmon said with a light, uncaring tone. "Satriamon has been trashing both Xianamon and Samudramon, thanks to my power-ups over him. I was watching from afar, and when I saw you escaping I knew that I would have to take care of you myself. Your teleportation power is really a nuisance to me; Satriamon could have destroyed all of you in one go but then you went and teleported him away."
"As far as I remember Satriamon was the one who kicked Sagittarimon in my direction," Adam grunted.
Karatenmon snickered. "Smart boy…it is just too bad that smart boys do not really bode well with me. I like them…destroyed, so that they will not foil my plan." He raised Adam up with one arm, clutching his claws securely around Adam's throat, causing the boy to gag.
"Let…Adam…go!" Sagittarimon demanded harshly, and struggled to stand up. His body shook with fury when he fell back on his knees once more.
Adam's gray eyes widened; it was as if he was experiencing deja-vu all over again. "Sagittarimon…don't…"
"Oooh, what is that? The boy does not want to be saved, does he not?" Karatenmon said, and swung Adam over the cliff. "Oh no, I cannot just let him go off the cliff, the boy would just deploy his teleportation ability and go off somewhere safe. No, no…almost fooled me now have you not?" Karatenmon walked towards the hard walls of the hills. "Now, this is more like it. How about I crush his head over and over again onto the wall? That way, his death is a guarantee."
"Don't…don't…you…DARE!!" Sagittarimon howled, and black aura erupted from his body. Suddenly, Sagittarimon slowly, clumsily, stood up on all fours. The wounds were still there, but their presence didn't seem to bother or limit Sagittarimon anymore.
"No…Sagittarimon, don't!" Adam pleaded. 'Please, not again. Not Black Knightmon…' Adam's Digivice shook violently.
"Hmm…dark-digivolving into Black Knightmon again?" Karatenmon snickered.
Adam's D-Terminal shook as well; he immediately hoped that with the White DigiSphere in his possession now, the power of light that resided within it would be able to stop Sagittarimon's attempt to dark-digivolve. His heart pained when he thought that Sagittarimon was risking, once again, his sanity and life, in order to rescue Adam.
This time around, Adam wouldn't let his partner down. With determination and noticing that Karatenmon was distracted with Sagittarimon, Adam kicked Sagittarimon on the torso. This took the Mage General by surprise; Karatenmon squawked loudly and inadvertently loosened his hold over Adam's neck. Seeing this, Sagittarimon sprang towards Karatenmon and delivered a punch onto the avian Digimon's face, which nearly crushed his beak. The centaur then grabbed Adam and withdrew from the evil general.
"Sagittarimon, don't do this," Adam said softly. "Don't dark-digivolve. It's not worth it."
"You're worth the risk," the centaur said gruffly, staring at his human partner who was safely held within his grasp. "And Black Knightmon is a surefire way to beat this evil fiend."
In a way, Adam was glad to hear the centaur's reply; it showed him that Sagittarimon was still in a right state of mind. But the black aura that was glowing all over the centaur still bothered him, and gave Adam a creepy sensation. And Adam felt…strange, weaker somehow, when he was in close presence with the darkened Sagittarimon.
"There's another way, I'm sure of it," Adam urged Sagittarimon; his eyes trailed back to Karatenmon who was beginning to regain his stature.
"I don't see us using the Digital Access ability like the others," Sagittarimon growled. "Dark-digivolving is the only way."
"No, it's not. I don't want to lose you. I'll teleport us out to the others, and we…we'll think of something. Just don't dark-digivolve."
"…"
"Promise me, Sagittarimon."
"I…"
"Please?" Adam's voice sounded broken. Heartbroken.
How could the centaur deny his partner's request, despite how important he thought his impending action would be doing to their situation? "I…alright…"
With Sagittarimon's confirmation suddenly Adam's D-Terminal sprang out from its compartment. At first, Adam thought that he was about to gain a fused warrior form similar to Samudramon and Xianamon, but his eyes widened when it wasn't the White DigiSphere that came out from the device.
Instead, it was the Ivory Gem. Adam had almost forgotten about it, having been separated from it for a long time.
The arrowhead-shaped gemstone released a brilliant flash of white light as Sagittarimon placed Adam onto the ground. The flash soon vanished, and the creepy sensation that he was getting from Sagittarimon had instantly vanished, replaced by warmth. He turned around slowly; aware of the lights glittering from Sagittarimon thus he had to raise his arms to protect his eyes as he turned to look at his partner, wondering what could have changed. He gasped upon setting eyes on the shining figure behind him.
Karatenmon saw what was happening as well, and was surprised with the sudden turn of event.
"Curse it!!"
xxx
xxx
"Hah! What a joke!" Satriamon sneered, upon seeing Fairymon's entry. "You think you could stop me? I've beaten your friends severely, and they were at their highest forms then! You're just a mere Champion; I could beat you without lifting my arm."
"Words, just words," Fairymon shrugged. "Attack me if you can, I dare you."
She flew away towards the opposite direction, but Satriamon wasn't fooled. If Fairymon was around, Gayathri would be close by. He remained close by for a moment, waiting just in case Gayathri would appear.
"What's the matter, pretty-boy? You're not scared of little ol' me now are you?"
Satriamon started to feel annoyed, but tried to ignore the sprite.
"Ooh…what's this? Flame boy's afraid to chase after me? Oho! Why, I never would have thought!"
Manny and Penguinmon couldn't believe what they were hearing. They've had a major hard time trying to beat Satriamon, and here Fairymon was taunting Satriamon to attack her. Didn't she know that she was only egging Satriamon? Satriamon could delete her instantly with his sheer power; Manny had seen that with his own eyes.
"Don't make me say the C-word now, Human Torch wannabe!"
Satriamon swore foully which made Fairymon's cheeks adopt a redder shade than before. The sprite growled in anger and huffed.
"Well, you're CHICKEN! You know that? Cluck, cluck, cluck…"
"That's it."
Satriamon chased after Fairymon, and both Manny and Penguinmon sweatdropped. A gust of wind was suddenly heard, and Manny saw a flash of pink coming from the way they'd used to enter the Stone Valley. Despite the situation they were in, Manny couldn't help but grin when he saw a familiar petite figure with lovely curly brown hairs. The girl had a bandage around her head, but otherwise looked perfectly fine.
"Hey," Gayathri smiled. The smile soon vanished. "C'mon, we need to go. You're strong enough to walk so I'm gonna help Liu Ying, ok?"
"Oh…umm…sure," Manny said, not believing that he could get tongue-tied at a dire moment like this. He watched Gayathri zipped away towards Liu Ying and beckoned for Penguinmon to go first. He watched as Gayathri flung Liu Ying's arm across her shoulder and helped the willowy girl stand. Seeing that Shaomon would need someone to carry her, Manny quickly went to pick the little puppy Digimon so that Gayathri would be able to escape with Liu Ying without much distraction. With Liu Ying in tow, Gayathri zipped off, while Manny immediately made a run for it with Shaomon in his arms.
"Why, oh why, didn't I dedigivolve to Tsunomon? That way I don't have to run, you'd be carrying me!" Penguinmon whined as he trotted behind Manny.
Manny and Penguinmon however halted when they saw Gayathri stopped in front of them, screaming. The reason was immediately apparent, causing them to gasp in horror.
Karatenmon stood there, blocking their escape. A malevolent sneer was fixated on his face. Despite the fact that there was a clean hole on his right chest, which was bleeding out liquefied data, he stood there calmly and staring towards the girls.
"Going somewhere?" he leered. His voice wavered a little, but still had that edge which sent chills down the DigiWira's spines.
Another piercing scream echoed the narrow valley, followed by a contemptuous laugh that belonged to Satriamon. They immediately knew that Fairymon had fallen as well. Everyone dreaded upon the sprite's fate; what if Satriamon didn't hold back his power when he attacked Fairymon?
Feeling compelled to check on Fairymon's condition, as she was the one who'd made it possible for them to attempt escape although that failed as well, Manny went back towards the rocky valley. He immediately saw Satriamon advancing towards a writhing Tanemon.
"JD, stop! She's defenseless!" Manny shouted.
Satriamon turned sideways and snickered. "Oh, it's you. How about if I attack you?!"
"How about you pick on someone your own size, Satriamon?"
All three of them turned around as a bright flash of white light ensued. Sagittarimon emerged from the lights with Adam riding on top of him…but there was something different about the Digimon. He looked like Sagittarimon, but was wearing a completely different set of armor. Whereas the former Sagittarimon wore crimson armor with yellow designs, the Sagittarimon they were witnessing now was wearing pristine white armor, with golden accents. His armor had adapted a slightly sharper edge on it; no longer had the white armor had the smooth curves of the crimson armor.
"Introducing, Sagittarimon – Radiant Mode," Adam said as he peered from his partner's back. He held out one arm out and summoned, "TANEMON!"
Tanemon was immediately teleported out of harm's way and into his grasp. Adam saw that the injury the little vegetation Digimon had sustained was extensive and felt sorry for his friend. He jumped down from Sagittarimon to allow his partner to battle Satriamon, and approached Manny.
"Take her, and run," Adam instructed, handing out Tanemon to him.
"We can't; Karatenmon's there!" Manny exclaimed.
"He's there?" Adam repeated, somewhat surprised. "Sagittarimon's injured him just now; we thought he had run away."
Adam saw a flash of pink light coming his way. Gayathri, holding Liu Ying, appeared within the pink streaks of light when they approached Adam. Sagittarimon had his gleaming white bow ready with one golden arrow already fixated on the string, ready to be released at any moment notice.
"We'll hold them off; you guys escape the other way." Adam beckoned towards the other side of the valley.
"We can't just leave you here," Gayathri protested.
"You can. I'm the one with the power to teleport away anytime I like, right?" Adam assured his teammates. "Don't worry. I don't plan to pit Sagittarimon against Satriamon AND Karatenmon despite his new power-up; I've nearly lost him again just now no thanks to Karatenmon. Gayathri, you and Liu Ying go first. Quickly, we don't have much time."
"Take care, Adam," Gayathri said, and zipped off with Liu Ying towards the other side of the valley's entrance.
Satriamon saw the girls escaping and was about to stop them, when…
"Celestial Judgment Arrow!!"
…a golden arrow streaked just past his face, hitting the stone walls instead. The arrow proved to be so sharp and deadly, it caused the valley's wall to rumble as the arrow streaked through it, leaving a clean hole that marked its trail. The hole however was beginning to destroy the stone wall's solid foundation. Cracks began to spread out from the hole at a slow rate.
"Don't even think about it," Sagittarimon warned. He was glad to see that the girls were already out of sight.
"Manny, Penguinmon, ride on Sagittarimon, now."
"What about you?"
"Why do people always forget that I can teleport myself away? I can't teleport everyone away but Sagittarimon can get all of you out quickly."
There was a certain edge on Adam's voice that Manny found intimidating, and he couldn't argue with Adam's logic. He did as he was told, and Penguinmon was relieved that he wouldn't have to run. Manny held both Shaomon and Tanemon securely against his body and Sagittarimon began to make way to escape. Satriamon was about to go chase after Sagittarimon, but when he saw Adam remaining at the battlefield his interest was piqued and he sneered towards the DigiWira.
"How noble of you," he jeered. "I suppose your friends seem to forget that your teleportation is severely limited?"
Adam remained quiet, hoping that what he had in mind would work. It was a daredevil, kamikaze plan, but to ensure his friends' safeties Adam had to risk it. After forcing Karatenmon to retreat earlier, Adam had discussed the plan with Sagittarimon. The centaur had adamantly refused to agree with his plan as it would put his partner's life in great peril. But Adam knew that his friends wouldn't fare well against Satriamon and Karatenmon all at once, they would have to retreat and regroup.
Adam however had neglected to mention the fact that his teleportation power worked in short distance. In that dire moment, no one noticed it and Adam was glad. It was ironic that it was Satriamon who realized about it first, but then again, hadn't JD done a complete research about him? Nevertheless, the plan could still work; with the White DigiSphere in his possession Adam's power was no longer limited – he'd just have to perform multiple teleportation to get out of the valley and hope that it wouldn't tire him out before he'd reach the safety of the Forest Sanctum.
But first, he needed to make sure that all of his friends had escaped the valley. As long as he could hear the sounds of Sagittarimon galloping, he must never attempt to escape towards the same direction. That left him in the battlefield, with the other way blocked by an injured Karatenmon.
The DigiWira leader backed away slowly towards the direction where Karatenmon was at. 'Time to see if my foolhardy plan can actually work. God-willing, hopefully it will. Or else, it's bye-bye Adam…'
Satriamon smirked. 'Now what the hell the kid is up to?' He observed Adam's movement with interest, noting that Adam was moving towards the first entrance of the valley instead of the one the other DigiWira had used to escape. 'Ah, I get it. He's trying to escape the other way so that we'd chase him instead of his friends. Kid's got a hero-complex in him.'
Karatenmon appeared thirty meters away from Adam, causing the boy to pause. The Mage General was clutching his bleeding chest, a souvenir of Sagittarimon's Celestial Judgment Arrow, and was staring towards Adam with fury. He was shaking with anger.
"I shall deal with him," he said tonelessly and extended both of his wings. Adam's eyes widened.
Satriamon didn't exactly appreciate the sudden change of plan. "HEY! Back off, Karatenmon! You told me that I'm the one who's going to finish off all the DigiWira, and that traitor!"
"So go after the others, I have a personal score to settle with this brat!"
"No. He's here, in front of me. You have a score to settle with his partner, not him. Sagittarimon hurt you, so go after that blasted centaur. Adam hurt me once, so I'll be the one to destroy him. You can go after the rest!"
Adam held his breath. 'It's working.' He widened his eyes, feigning being transfixed.
"If you do not move, then you shall be at the receiving ends of my attack as well!"
"I could say the same thing about YOU, birdbrain!"
"Insolent fool! Ballistic Feathers!!"
"Dark Rage!!"
Adam closed his eyes. 'NOW!'
Just as the two attacks were about to collide upon him, Adam vanished in swirls of bright orbs. He could hear screaming from both villains as he vanished completely, with a couple of cuts from the front-most feather projectiles from Karatenmon, and luckily Satriamon's Dark Rage attack didn't hit him yet as it was released seconds after Karatenmon had unleashed his attack. He reappeared merely meters away from the crossfire path between Satriamon and Karatenmon, at the place where Sagittarimon had fired his warning arrow towards Satriamon earlier. Adam was just in time to witness Satriamon being at the receiving end of Karatenmon's merciless projectiles, and he soon dedigivolved back into JD and a pink puff ball Digimon Adam didn't recognize. They appeared to be unconscious. JD had multiple cuts all over his body; his uniform was slashed in various sites. The pink puffball didn't fare better as well.
Everything became quiet. One minute passed and nothing happened. Adam could see JD and the Digimon, which Adam presumed to be the In-Training form of Agumon. He didn't hear anything coming from Karatenmon as well.
Adam could've teleported out from Stone Valley right there and then, but somehow, he felt bad for leaving JD there. The blonde teen was obviously gravely injured. Adam couldn't just leave him there. Good or bad, JD was human. Despite the bitterness Adam had against the older boy, deep down Adam knew he couldn't put the blame entirely on JD. Manny had told him the previous night that Karatenmon's spell was extremely strong.
'Strangely, it didn't really take much effort to defeat Karatenmon…' Adam mused. 'Sagittarimon in Radiant Mode is able to injure him easily. I suppose with all that powers Karatenmon has gotten from the solar eclipse, it didn't make him immune to physical attacks. It didn't make him invincible from Sagittarimon's Celestial Judgment Arrow. From what I could see…Satriamon had more power, being able to trash each of us and still maintain his fused form. He's truly a powerful Digimon. It'll be great if he's on our side like Samudramon.'
Adam approached the unmoving figure of JD and his partner cautiously, remaining in the shadows as not to attract Karatenmon's attention. For all he knew, Karatenmon could be there waiting for him to step up towards JD. Adam however doubted that; if Karatenmon was conscious he'd destroy JD and the In-Training. Praying that nothing would go wrong, Adam stepped towards JD's body, and gasped when he glanced sideways.
Karatenmon was missing.
'Is he deleted? For good?' Adam thought. 'It's unbelievable! JD's still alive and Karatenmon's gone! That means, Satriamon is more powerful than Karatenmon!'
Suddenly, Adam felt something grabbing his right ankle. He lost his balance when his right leg was yanked, causing him to fall on his back. To his utmost shock, JD leaped up and pinned him on the ground firmly. He had a glazed expression and his eyes shone blood-red. An ugly sneer contorted his facial feature. Both of his hands were tightly grasped around Adam's neck.
"Your curiosity is really going to be the end of you, Adam," JD said. "You should've just escape when you had the chance!"
Adam choked and felt his windpipe slowly being constricted by the unyielding grasps of the blonde's hands. 'Oh, God, how can this be? The spell on JD is still intact?'
xxx
xxx
"Damned that accursed brat!"
Karatenmon reappeared from the shadows just outside the entrance of the Stone Valley, with extensive injuries on his previously wounded site. The Dark Rage attack from Satriamon was a power-stripping attack; it would severely deplete the energy of a Digimon. Karatenmon had seen it performed onto Samudramon and Xianamon; both being inexperienced Digimon they had reverted back into their composite selves. One with power and experience such as he, however, would require much more than just a blast of Dark Rage.
"That boy with the White DigiSphere…he orchestrated all of this! He wanted Satriamon and I to fight each other while he flees to safety. I should have known!! Arghh!"
However, the injury he had obtained from the ivory-armored Sagittarimon had left him vulnerable to attack. Thus, the Dark Rage had actually done him much severer damage than he thought it would be able to. Now, he had to retreat back to his lair where he would be able to heal.
"I thought the threesome solar eclipse would be able to propel my power to its peak? How come I was still at my old self's power? I could have sworn I have felt power radiating through my body whilst watching the eclipse taking place."
Muttering all the way, Karatenmon was forced to crawl as the after-effects of the Dark Rage was still taking place. He was growing weaker and weaker. Karatenmon had the remedy back at the Cave of Solitude. He needed to get back before the DigiWira realize that he was not actually dead.
With him still alive, the spell over Joshua Daniel Kamaruzaman would remain. He would still be a thorn at their side, although now, Karatenmon would not want to have any tie with the Red ShadoWira. That arrogant ShadoWira was the one who had caused him to end up like this.
Karatenmon froze upon seeing two shadows sailed past him, fearing that it would be the DigiWira. However, he soon relaxed upon seeing that it was only SkullSatamon's two bumbling henchmen – Sorcerymon and Shutumon. The two of them were standing side by side several meters away from him, watching him with…pity?
"Do not look at me with such pitiful gazes, the two of you!" he spat. "I am still your superior."
Shutumon merely smirked while Sorcerymon was keeping a firm grasp on his staff. Something did not seem right about the two of them.
"How does it feel to be beaten by the DigiWira, hmmm?" Shutumon asked with a smile.
"Not very nice, isn't it?" Sorcerymon added.
Their sarcastic tones caused Karatenmon's blood to boil. "I will not have that tone spoken to me, especially by the likes of the two of you!"
Shutumon chuckled and looked at her companion. "Badly injured, and he's still in his I'm-a-great-general-don't-mess-with-me mode."
"He could be nice to us if he needs us to help him return to Cave of Solitude," Sorcerymon chimed.
Shutumon snorted. "Not that we'd want to help him."
Karatenmon's eyes bulged. "WHAT did you say?"
"See, we don't appreciate your stunt yesterday, for making us go against the DigiWira in your stead," Sorcerymon said airily. "So we did what we thought we ought to do."
"We went to see the Master," Shutumon continued. "And guess what? We told him everything about your intention to gain power during the threesome solar eclipse."
Sorcerymon laughed hard. "You should've been there to hear what the Master said about that! It's really a killer, I could die laughing."
Karatenmon narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "What exactly did the Master say?" He was careful to keep his tone even.
"He told us that that thing about the threesome solar eclipse…is just a mythical folklore amongst the magical Digimon of the past. Complete fabrication. Believable lies concocted by one wizard Digimon with a weird sense of humor to see whether there's an actual fool who'd think that the eclipse would give it a power up." Shutumon joined in with the laughter.
"Actually Shutumon, you're forgetting another explanation," Sorcerymon pointed out amidst his laughter.
"I know!" Shutumon wheezed. "I know! You tell him! Wizard to wizard."
Sorcerymon took a minute to stop laughing. "Alrighty! Actually, the story about the threesome eclipse isn't entirely a complete fabrication or lies. There's some rings to truths…it's just that, well…things actually would happen the opposite way. For those who dabble on the dark magic, the threesome solar eclipse is a sore spot. Dark magic practitioners won't come out of their hiding during this one particular day, as the eclipse would only weaken their power. Not making them stronger, but WEAKER."
"So it's actually not a power up!!" Shutumon screeched like a happy drunkard. "But more like a power down!"
Karatenmon couldn't believe what he was hearing. He was stunned. Surely this was not true? But it was SkullSatamon who had informed them about this fact, and SkullSatamon was known to be extremely knowledgeable. Karatenmon didn't know whether he should trust Sorcerymon and Shutumon on this one, however, as they might just want to goad him for his humiliating defeat even more. Perhaps that was it.
"Don't you DARE speak to me in that tone," Karatenmon hissed. "Just you wait until I regain my health."
Shutumon's and Sorcerymon's expressions suddenly turned ugly. Malicious glints escaped their eyes. Against the dark day, they looked menacing even to the vulnerable Karatenmon.
"Oh, but we're here to make sure that doesn't happen," Shutumon began.
"Nope. No way!" Sorcerymon reiterated. "See, we were watching the whole battle between you and the DigiWira, and we have to admit that what you did to cover your track was superb! The White DigiWira actually thought that you've been deleted by the Red ShadoWira's fused form, while actually you escaped."
"Everyone in the Digital World will know from the DigiWira that you're destroyed by your own precious ShadoWira." Shutumon mimicked a baby's voice as she stated the last four words to mock Karatenmon. "We're just here to make sure that the story goes that way." Shutumon grinned and glanced towards her cohort. "Shall we?"
"Wait…"
Sorcerymon smirked. "We shall." He pointed his staff towards Karatenmon, who gaped in shock.
The last thing the famed Mage General saw was two streams of greenish-white and pink energy beams coming from Sorcerymon's staff and Shutumon's extended palms, before he felt a writhing pain radiating from all parts of his body. It was as if his soul was being ripped out from his body. Slowly, his body felt lighter and his vision blurred. Then everything became black.
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JD watched in grim satisfaction as slowly the younger boy in front of him closed his eyes, when suddenly he felt as if a lightning bolt had struck him. No harm came to him, no physical injury, but severe pulsations were felt on his temples, seemingly coming from out of nowhere. The pain was so overwhelming that he'd instantly let go of Adam's neck. Flashes of images began to appear in his mind in rapid succession, JD at first couldn't comprehend of the meaning of the images.
Then, several things caught his attention. He recognized the faces of the female DigiWira, the one with the Yellow DigiSphere in particular. He had enjoyed teasing the girl ever since he had laid his eyes on her. Something about her attracted him. That was about a year ago. He didn't really know the girl with the Pink DigiSphere, but was rather aware of the fact that one of her two best friends was interested on him. Then Manny appeared. He knew this teen when they met at the Cave of Solitude. He couldn't see why Karatenmon had chosen Manny to wield the Blue DigiSphere, but then was reminded that it was the DigiSphere that chose its wielder. They got along well enough to cooperate in their conquest against the DigiWira.
Watching the still figure in front of him, flashes of recollections related to the boy invaded his mind. Why had he attempted to kill this boy? Why, wasn't the boy his friend?
Friend?
Was Adam his friend? How did they know each other anyway?
His sixteenth birthday. Computer club. Basketball training. Just plain hanging out. And Adam was there in each memory. Recent memories, but a few of the best memories he had lately.
Looking down at the still body of the younger teen, JD suddenly panicked. 'Oh God, no. Did I actually kill him…?'
Adam's body was still. Lifeless. 'What have I done?'
Quickly he knelt beside the boy, feeling his mind clearing. Everything was now vivid. He remembered everything.
"Adam…?" he croaked, and raised up the boy's hand before letting it go. The hand fell back onto the ground lifelessly.
Then, to his surprise, the DigiWira's body twitched. Once. Twice. Then, the boy opened his eyes. JD was relieved at first, and happy, but his jubilance faltered upon seeing the horrified expression Adam had upon seeing him. The look on his eyes was that of fear.
"Adam, wait…"
The DigiWira however didn't waste any more time. He shut his eyes tight and vanished in swirls of bright white orbs. He had teleported away. Where?
Angry at himself, and at Karatenmon, and at the fact that he'd ended up where he was right then, JD punched the ground repeatedly until his knuckles bled. He didn't care. Adam had lived, but that was not the point. He'd almost committed a murder! Had he held on the boy's neck any longer…
"I'm so sorry."
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Author's Notes:
Finally the ShadoWira Unveiled arc is completed, and I'm so relieved! I don't really have much to say, other than the fact that Sagittarimon Radiant Mode is my creation…but I do look forward for your comments for this arc's finale.