Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story but the idea.
A/N: Summer is here and school is out, unfortunately I do have summer homework to prep for AP. Oh joy, but at least school won't eat up any more of my time. A slightly longer chapter than usual.
xXx Sayo xXx
Running my fingers along the cobblestone walls I counted each stone as I made my way toward the hidden chamber. There was a small glimmer of light underneath the door and I could hear footsteps and voice. Stopping at the door I knocked the intricate pattern and waited. There was nothing but silence before a soft click rang through the air.
As the door opened a man stood on the other side, he moved and allowed me entrance closing the door and locking behind me. Removing my hood I turned to look at the other occupant, she smiled at me and came forward hugging me kindly. "Thank goodness you are here, it is long into the night and you did not come when the time came."
Smiling I gently touched her face. "Be not afraid if I do not appear. I shall always find my way back no matter." the relief could be seen as she moved away from me. Moving around I stood in front of a mirror and smoothed out the long skirt. My black hair was slightly ruffled from the traveling but otherwise still fashioned in place. My skin looked even paler than usual, making my greyed violet eyes stand out even more.
"Aribeth, what of Aribeth? Was she not with thou?"
"Ay, she was accompanying another when we parted ways. Said something about the lord and lady. Tis late now and she stayed not long."
"Alas there is not much of new word. Morrow night we meet again."
"Aye."
"Aye..." still looking at myself in the mirror I found it hard to pay much attention to the other two.
"...Sayo." turning around I looked at him straight in the eye. It wasn't my name yet he was speaking to me.
"I believed you be mistaken as to I. My name is not Sayo."
"Sayo. Miss Sayo...wake up."
"You are mad man? Have you forgotten me? And tis not a dream, wake up you speak yet I am."
"Sayo..."
"My lord, my name is-"
Jerking forward I faintly registered the sound of something falling to the floor beside me as I looked around. Though my eyes were still blurred with sleep I could make out the figure of someone-probably Wizardmon-beside me and the study. Blinking and rubbing my eyes I let my mind settle a little as I stretched slightly.
"Is everything alright Wizardmon? How long have I been asleep?"
"Not very long but your eyes were moving, very rapidly, and you kept tightening your grip on the book. I wanted to make sure that you were fine. Did you recall something?"
"I'm...not sure. It wasn't my body or my face that I was seeing but it was...me. Somehow it felt right to have that body, and it seemed familiar. It might be an old memory of another life."
"But you can never be too sure, there is no guarantee that, that was you. You could have been seeing it from someone else's eyes."
"I know, but it felt like it was right for that to be me. It was like I was home almost. I'm not sure if I'm making any sense, but it's the best way for me to describe that feeling."
"I'm afraid I cannot understand that feeling of yours..."
"It doesn't matter, it wasn't anything all that important anyways." I picked up the book and smoothed out some of the slightly bent pages. "You can keep arranging the books if you'd like, maybe I'll read a little more." flipping through the pages I found where I had left off and settled back into the settee as Wizardmon continued with his work silently.
xXx Koh xXx
Arriving at Highlight Haven I released my digimon and looked around. There were quite a lot of Piximon and Sorcermon around with the occasional Puttimon hopping about. "Masaru, I'm going to go on ahead and start my quest. Although this place is almost strictly Holy types there have been reports of other digimons getting and causing trouble. Namely Dark and Machine types. I'll go ahead and let you take care of them if you want to train. Otherwise, we'll be splitting up. I'll contact you through the digivices when I'm done, but it shouldn't take long."
"Sounds good to me. C'mon Agumon time to go and patrol the place!"
"Right behind you Aniki!" with that those two headed off in the opposite direction.
"Alright then, time to get started." swiping my hand over the digivice simultaneously selected all my digimon and allowed me to digivolve them.
"Coronamon digivolve to-"
"Agumon digivolve to-"
"Patamon digivolve to-"
Data surrounded them and a bright light obscured my vision for a second.
"Apollomon!"
"ShineGreymon!"
"Angemon!"
"Time to go find us the Archangels." setting off in one of the three directions I could only hope that I wouldn't get lost. From the looks of it, this place was a huge maze.
After crossing countless bridges, climbing up latters, and getting stuck at dead-ends we finally managed to find Cherubimon, but Ophanimon and Seraphimon were nowhere to be found.
"Ah! Hello there Koh. Thank you for coming, we asked Slash Angemon to send you here. The quest will require you to battle three battles in 3 different locations within Highlight Haven. We'll each have a different strategy for each battle, so please do give it your all. With that said, are you ready?"
Nodding I allowed my digimon to take their positions, the three of us against Cherubimon hardly seemed fair.
"Let us begin!" much to our shock Ophanimon and Seraphimon both came out to aid their friend.
"Well at least now we know it'll be fair. I was worried that this was going to be rigged."
"But now we can fight at full power." Apollomon knocked his fists together and smirked.
"Come at us. We'll give you first move." ShineGreymon roared.
"Wait, these guys are high-leveled digimon. Angemon I'm going to digivolve you again."
"Alright." he nodded waited. Swiping my hand over the digivice again a stream of data surrounded Angemon before dissipating. "Magna Angemon, Battle Mode!"
"Okay then, we're ready!" I yelled as the digimon across from us huddled together. I saw them nod before Seraphimon readied an attack.
"Oh no you don't! Sparkle Shoot!" bullets of light were shot so fast that it looked like fire. Before the attack made contact with Seraphimon, Ophanimon leapt in the way and repelled the bullets with her javelin, which ended up reflecting back at my digimon.
"Shit." jumping out of the way I could see that, that had caused my digimon to break up.
"Strike of the Seven Stars!" without missing a beat Ophanimon was on the offence and firing orbs wildly.
"Heaven's Judgment!" looking up I realized that while everyone was distracted with Opanimon and Seraphimon, Cherubimon had summoned a large, grey cloud. Not even a second later thunderbolts were falling, way too many to dodge without getting hit. Looking back at the Archangels I could see that they were grouped together again.
"Arrrghh!" snapping my head back I could see that ShineGreymon was taking a lot of damage, his large form and lack of speed compared to the other two made him a sitting duck.
"Magna Angemon! Apollomon! Group together and help ShineGreymon!"
"Right!" the two of them went to quickly help their teammate. I could see that the Archangels are just standing there, they were waiting for our move. Looking around I cursed this location, there was nothing to use to our advantage. It was wide open and everything was visible, any chance of us using our normal strategies was out the window. I had to come up with something to help and real soon.
Think Koh!
They're huddled together, which means they're protecting each other. They cover for each other as they charge up. Ophanimon was obviously the defensive teammate. Seraphimon was the straight on attacker, and so far Cherubimon seemed like both...
That's it!
"Magna Angemon engage Seraphimon! Apollomon, ShineGreymon occupy the other two. Hold out and wait for my instructions!" they looked at me and nodded. And as soon as the thunder stopped Magna Angemon launched himself at Seraphimon, both of them had drawn the blade on their arms.
"Phoebus Blow!" much to my surprise Ophanimon managed to take the blow and not topple over, normally a blow from Apollomon's fist would have an opponent down on the ground. These digimon really were tough! She only skidded a few yards back but was still steady. ShineGreymon had taken to just shooting at Cherubimon, as long as he was busy Cherubimon wouldn't be a problem.
"Sefirot Crystal!" the crystals in Ophanimon's hands glowed for a second before launching at Apollomon. It didn't help that with the lighting here the crystals seemed to have disappeared.
"Arrh!" seven of them hit him but, where are the other three? A glimmer caught my eye as I spotted the others heading for Magna Angemon and ShineGreymon.
"Guys! Watch your backs!" the attack caused ShineGreymon to retreat and Magna Angemon let go of Seraphimon. The Archangels gathered together again on the opposite side. "Alright guys, I've got it. Apollomon, ShineGreymon keep them busy and together otherwise this won't work. They're obviously using the tactic of staying together. Attack frequently and keep them at bay and then I'll give you the signal to give it your all."
"Gotcha."
"Alright."
"Good. Now go. Magna Angemon I'm going to degenerate you because I need Angemon's attack."
"Whatever you want." a flash appeared and faded and once again Angemon stood in front of me.
"Great, now I need you to gather all of your energy and store it. Wait here until you're all done. I'll tell you what I need then." nodding Angemon became very still. Looking at the others it was apparent that they were just throwing attacks out there. The rapid shots of ShineGreymon were mixed with Apollomon's fire created some pretty cool and killer looking attacks. Flashy to keep their attention and dealt enough damage for them to concentrate on just those two. Feeling a hand on my shoulder and turned to face Angemon.
"All stored up, what do you need me to do?"
"Fly up and above them, keep a safe distance and wait until the three are all lined up and open. Then use Omni Typhoon, once you do move back so the other two can get their shots in. This should be enough to defeat them or at least weaken them enough that another blow is all it takes."
"Right." nodding his wings spread and he took to the sky, now all I could do was wait and see if my plan worked. The seconds ticked by and nothing but the sound of the fighting five digimon could be heard. I anxiously looked around for Angemon and I could tell he was itching to fight himself. After the hour long seconds passed the three Archangels were finally all gathered up together. "Now." I whispered, and almost as if he heard me Angemon got in position, his wings opened as wide as possible, he summoned the most massive confined tornado I had ever seen.
"Apollomon! ShineGreymon! Now's your chance! You know what to do!"
"Sol Blaster!"
"Glorious Burst!"
Still caught up on the tornado Cherubimon and them had no chance of defending or counter attacking, giving us a perfect shot. When the smoke cleared the three of them were on the ground looking really disoriented; especially Cherubimon. My digimon helped them up as I approached.
"That was amazing Koh, truly your teamwork is sublime! You managed to figure out our strategy and work around it, even using it to your advantage!" Seraphimon praised us, with a lot of hand motions to boot.
"Hmm, teamwork is a lot harder than I thought. I see. Koh, would you mind coming back tomorrow? By then we will have devised a new strategy and be ready for another battle."
"Alright, that's fine with me. You guys put up and tough fight, it'll be interesting to see what you are planning next time."
"Thanks again for taking us on Koh! We'll see you tomorrow."
"See ya." I waved back as we retraced our steps, after a few wrong turns we finally made it back to where we began our quest. Sending an e-mail to Masaru there was nothing left to do but wait. I let everyone wander around as I waited on a near-by ledge. Tracing my name in the ground I let my wander off to Sayo again.
I wonder how she's doing. There hadn't been any disturbances since she left, everything became kind of mundane and...normal. Almost as if she was never there in the first place, and that pisses me off. How could everyone just keep moving forward like she was never there to begin with? I get moving forward to make advances in finding her, but to completely act as if she had never existed in the Digital World was just a little too cruel.
So many things have happened since then and everyone is back to normal, and it isn't as if they're faking it. No; they've all moved forward and yet here I am, always thinking about how she's doing. I suppose you could assume this is guilt but it isn't, this isn't to ease how I feel. No it's about how she is, I want her back because it's empty without her. Even before when we didn't see each other much we stilled talked all the time, and now without her around there's a hole.
Ah, how depressing one's mind can be when it wanders.
Hearing footsteps I stand up and dust myself off, looks like Masaru is finally back from wherever. "Anything happen with you two?"
"Are you kidding? This place is too perfect, we just wandered around and waited for you guys."
"Sorry to hear that, maybe you can head into one of the other areas tomorrow. I can give you the codes so you have access."
"Yeah, yeah. Let's just get going, I kind of want to see the others. I wonder if they've done anything interesting."
"Might as well, it's still only like noon. There's still a lot of time left in the day. Maybe we can swing by Dark Moon and see if Lunamon and them are still there."
"Sounds like a plan! Let's go."
We warped to Sun Shine to stop by the Union room to look for Litton and hopefully Yoshino. No hope there, apparently they would choose today of all days to be out. So began our journey to track down all the members of DATS because Masaru wanted to.
Yoshino and Litton were nowhere to be found in Sun Shine, we gave up looking after we ended back in the Union Room to double check.
With Sayo gone Raigo got Ikuto dumped on him, the two had been playing some sort of odd game. I didn't bother to ask because that always ends up being a big mistake.
Newton had taken in Touma, who usually stayed with Raigo, it made no sense but hey, they were Chief Julia's orders. Though I think their arrangement fits, both being geniuses and all. Those two had been helping Chief Julia with the computers and then some. So far they were the only ones making progress on Sayo. The rest of us can't do anything but wait until they finish.
Last on our stops was to find Dorothy who was in current possession of the digimon we set loose on Dark Moon. So surprisingly we found them at Sayo's place and by the looks of it they took it on themselves to clean up; every surface was dusted and spotless. Everything was in order and in their proper places-although Sayo has always been neat so maybe it was like this before-overall it looks almost lived it.
Even Phascomon was here, wandering about.
"Wow, look at this place. It feels almost like everything is normal."
"Mmhm! We thought it would be a shame for Sayo to come back and find that this place was unlived in so for long." was Dorothy's cheery reply as she cleaned around living room.
"Have you touched her room yet?"
"No, not yet. You're free to help out too if you'd like. We were planning on having a late lunch later, so it was great that you stopped by. We would've called if you weren't back by then."
"Did they buy too much food?"
"A little, I met them as they were shopping so I helped out a little. Lunamon and Lalamon are currently in the kitchen watching the pie."
"You guys made pie?"
"Yep! We found Sayo's little black book of recipes, and decided to try it out." I smiled lightly as Dorothy's Bearmon began rearranging some things on Sayo's shelves.
Walking into her room I leaned against the doorframe just looking over the place. Her bed was neatly made, not a single item laid on the floor, even all the things on her desk were neatly organised. There really wasn't much to clean but the dust, but I'll do what I can.
xXx Sayo xXx
Closing my book I heard Wizardmon entering the study, this time he held a tray of food and the usual tea. Moving a little I offered him a seat, upon taking it he poured a cup of tea and handed it to me. Slipping the tea silently I snuck glances at him.
"Wizardmon? Do you believe in past-lives?"
"I'm not sure where this is going..."
"You don't have to, I'm just thinking about this book. The more I read, the more familiar it seems. I'm not sure what to think. I might just be getting too into the book, or this book could be more than it seems. It's magical in a dark sort of way, the story is a touch tragic. But not in the usual story way."
"I see."
"I'm not even half way through with it, there are many more pages than what you would think for a book this size."
"Do not always trust looks, they are indeed very deceiving." putting my cup down I took the plate of food presented to me and thanked him. I nibbled on a slice of the sandwich as I stared at the book.
"I suppose not, looks are not a means in which you should judge something. I feel as if this book is much more than a story and that I should take heed of what is hidden in it's pages."
"If that is how you feel then you should. Something tells me that we will no longer be here soon. It will begin soon."
"That means I'll go back to being just Sayo soon."
"Do you oppose this thought?"
"No, not at all. I just still have holes in my memories and that is not a comforting thought if I am to return soon."
"I can see your worry, but so long as we still have time I can continue to help you."
"As long as you're still by my side throughout this I have no fear of what to come. You're a very faithful digimon and I have no doubt that we will return together."
A/N: The talking at the beginning was a little weird to write considering no one uses it nowadays and I had to reference some older English and even Shakespearean works to help me a little. So this quest was a pretty long one when I did it and I didn't want to do a super long battle scene and I actually thought that it would be more reasonable to have the quest span over a course of a few days. But that's just my thoughts on things.
I'm going to try and update more often this summer and post as many chapters as I can since I know once summer is over AP classes are gonna eat up my time like nothing else. So enjoy the updates while you can!
Love,
Dragon