Chapter 2
A village and training
Starmon was a simple digimon. He woke up every morning, brewed himself a nice drink with simple digifruit, and walked around town to observe the simple folks of Triturate village go about their days. He himself making sure no particularly hostile digimon got into Siligold canyon; their towns main source of revenue with the other villages in the region. The silver star-shaped digimon got up from his bed, looking into the mirror to make sure the red gem on his top edge was clean, and that his yellow scarf was in good condition. One could question though if the super hero-like boxing gloves and boots he wore were separate data from him or not though as he slept in them.
As he was midway through making his morning brew, not expecting the day to be any different from normal. He could make out the noise of someone yelling while running by his house, likely one of the miners from the valley.
"Humans! Humans are here! The rumors were true! The rumors are true!"
Starmon chuckled to himself, sure it was one of the children digimon mistaking a more human-like digimon for one. After all, humans hadn't been seen in forever, well before he had been born at the least.
He continued to chuckle to himself in amusement before a digimon resembling a small dinosaur made out of toy blocks of varying colors and with the brightest green eyes slammed his door open, "Starmon! There really are humans walking into town!"
"ToyAgumon, its probably just some kids prank," the star-shaped digimon responded as he poured his brew into a large tankard before taking a large gulp from it, "Just tell everyone to calm down and we'll see who's come to visit us."
ToyAgumon's green eyes showed concern, "B-but Starmon. I looked at them myself first, they aren't like any human-like digimon I've ever heard of!"
Starmon looked down at his brew and sighed before setting it down to go outside with ToyAgumon, where the front of his house faced the main entrance to the town, "Alright. Fine. Let's see these hu..."
It wasn't just Starmon and ToyAgumon who had come out to see the new arrivals to the village. Nearly every digimon of Triturate village had come out and all looked in awe at the four individuals walking into their quiet town, so far from the war as it was. Two humans and two digimon walking side by side.
The first human was of shorter than average height at around five feet and seven inches(170 cm). With a broad but muscular build and coffee brown skin. He had black, medium length hair that seemed like it could be tied up but was simply flowing. There was was some sort of tattoo on his right shoulder, but it was hard to tell what it was as it was hidden by his black t-shirt. His lower half was simply wearing basic blue jeans and uncolored basketball shoes. Notably however, he had a rather odd headset around his neck, inscribed with the same symbol of that of a digivice. Although the symbol itself was practically unnoticeable without closely looking at the band that would hold it to ones head.
The digimon closest to him was a small dinosaur-like creature with primarily black scales with secondary red scales here and there along its body. It had notable golden eyes like that of a beast and with bat-like wings coming off of its head. On its white-scaled belly, there was an odd symbol that seemed rather similar to that of a radioactive signal, giving off the feeling that this creature would better be avoided at first sight.
The second human was several inches taller than his companion at around six feet on the dot(182 cm). He was much less broad than the first human, though he was obviously quite well built as well. Though on his white skin around his wrists and ankles were notable scars that obviously came from burning. On his head was short, curly light brown hair which accompanied the short beard on his face, clearly not too well maintained beyond being kept at a specific length. Over his white t-shirt he wore a sleeveless leather jacket, alongside black leather pants, and brown shoes. In his hand was a digivice like that of the one the two who were already with the Royal Knights had, with its main body being a bright gold and the grip black.
His partner appeared to be a rather short knight wielding a basic spear and circle shield, with a body like that a pawn piece in chess. Its helmet resembling more that of an american football in shape than the roundness of a human head despite the spikes on it, one on top and one on each side. It's visor and gauntlets defined by gold much like the digivice its partner held.
Starmon blinked, where as the average digimon saw an unusual phenomenon with humans appearing, he knew the old legends, of those human children who wielded digivices and could enable the weakest digimon to fight even those like the Royal Knights or the Olympos XII. He didn't hear the words ToyAgumon said to him as he registered this, though at the same time these two didn't seem to be children. No, they seemed to be individuals leaving childhood far behind and heading into the early or mid years of adulthood.
He knew what this meant, the Royal Knights had called for aid from the human world. Everyone knew of the war waging outside their village, but had it truly grown that terrible in scale to call upon the aid of human-kind once more?
No other digimon stepped forth to greet the arrivals. The second human seemed to be reveling in the attention compared to the first one, who seemed rather laid-back and calm in comparison. As such, Starmon was the one to take a deep breath and walk up to the new arrivals.
"Salutations, strangers," the star-shaped digimon greeted as he walked up, "Mind if I ask your names?"
The first human was about to answer when the second jumped over his words, "Clive Williams, destined for greatness, hello to you."
"PawnChessmon, call me Black. Don't be too awestruck," his partner would answer next to which Starmon slowly nodded at her and Clive before he looked to the other two.
"Ryu Sanchez," the first human responded simply as he crossed his arms, seemingly unbothered by his companions rush to answer.
"Black guilmon, though Ryu calls me Tiamat," his companion responded before she glanced at the crowd again, "You seem to know as well who we are."
"I'd say who wouldn't and tip my non-existent hat to you all, but its a minority of us who go the extra mile to know the old tales," Starmon responded, "You two humans are chosen children, minus the children part from what I can visibly tell. Since Miss Tiamat seems aware and you all didn't react to my saying you're chosen. I assume you all know at least the bare minimum?"
"Of course," both Clive and Black would respond while Ryu simply nodded.
"Unfortunately, I don't have much else to offer than the bare minimum either regarding why you've been called beyond the fact that it was probably the Royal Knights that called you here. That said, I can call one of the flight guides if you all need one."
Clive seemed to be taking more note of all the attention from the staring digimon still, but Ryu responded respectfully, "That would be appreciated... Though, mind if I ask about this place first before you do?"
Starmon was a bit stunned that he would rather know about their little village rather than getting on the objective he was likely called here for immediately, "I... Well, I suppose it wouldn't bring any harm."
He would begin guiding them towards the back of the village where the smell of food indicated a restaurant. Some of the other digimon followed like an entourage, much to the obvious pleasure of Clive and Black, though Tiamat seemed wary compared to the much more laid-back Ryu.
"Apologies for everyone giving you the stare down. It's been a long time since anyone's used the old systems to bring humans to our world. Now, as for our village. It's called Triturate. It ain't been here long, and it's only really got one thing that draws digimon toward it, but it's honest work mining up valuable ore to sell to others. Our populations both a bit small and young compared to most. Not a ultimate or mega digimon to be found in these parts. That said, we do get some good imports in exchange for-"
Starmon was cut off by what sounded like multiple creatures roaring at once just outside the other entrance to the village by the building they were walking towards. Causing the star shaped digimon to turn and narrow his eyes towards it, as he wasn't unfamiliar with rampaging digimon that were driven only by instinct attacking. Though he did take notice that both Ryu and Clive didn't so much as flinch at the sudden interruption. In fact, both humans and their partners seemed eager about the sudden noise.
Starmon felt his confusion ever growing, as these two were definitely different from what he had expected of the chosen. The tales always told him that they were confused and unlikely to seek a fight immediately after arrival, but it seemed that these two were more than ready to fight on the behalf of the town for whatever reasons. He glanced to the digimon still watching, though some were now cowering behind others at the noise, and recognized that if it was a group of hostile digimon, he'd need help to keep those uninvolved from quickly becoming so.
As such he didn't hesitate to ask them, "Mind lending me a hand? I can't say I recognize our foe, but I don't want the good people of this town to be dragged into a fight with multiple digimon."
Clive had an ever growing grin alongside a feeling of eagerness oozing from Black, with the man saying, "I wouldn't ever pass up a moment for a little more glory."
Ryu cracked his neck before looking to Tiamat, "Ready whenever. Best to keep whatever it is from ruining your homes, right?"
Starmon turned around as their 'opponents' began to come around the corner, a three headed shadow looming as the duos digivices began to glow...
Black threw her spear into the air as it began to glow along with her. The black and gold on her body rapidly flowing from her like water unable to stick to an oiled surface. Leaving not but the barely identifiable frame of a pawn chessmon before it began to unfold rapidly. Four strong horse-like legs emerging beneath a rather thin main body. A human-like torso attached where the head of the horse would be, the top of a horses head frame instead attaching to the torsos chest like a breast plate. The head of a featureless knight appearing with a visor. The arms emerging from its sides spindly and robotic. Then the colors flowed back in. Filling out the blacks and golds along her body as light brown hair emerged from the horse half's rear. Flowing majestically behind it.
As she finished digivolving, Black caught the massive dart that had once been a spear and held it up like a javelin.
"Black PawnChessmon digivolved to... Black KnightChessmon!
Tiamat growled as her black scales peeled away from her form. The symbol on her belly oddly enough staying on the frame. Her arms remained skinny towards the top half but bulked up seriously towards the ends, with a singular large blade erupting from the outside of each one. Her legs becoming large and muscular as her talons threatened to dig into non-existent ground. Her tail was now swollen and ready to smash through anything. Her head became broader, with demon-like horns erupting from the top of her head alongside a mane flowing down her neck. Followed by the symbol sliding alongside her frame, splitting into two copies that turned red as they settled on her shoulders. Followed by the black, red, and white flowing back into her form. Revealing bands on her limbs covered in golden letters that seemed to indicate some form of sealing. Her eyes bestial and amphibian despite the fact that she didn't act that way.
"Black Guilmon digivolved to... Black Growlmon!"
Both of the newly digivolved duo stood heads taller than Starmon, followed by Starmon and Growlmon dodging out of the way of a blue laser as Black stood there. She had recognized better than the other two that if they moved the beam would hit the far weaker digimon behind them. The black knightchessmon used her oversized dart to block most of the energy, doing her best to stand proud and ignore the damage the blow would do to her frame.
Their opponent slowly lumbered through the gate it towered over, crushing it by simply taking steps as its shadow easily covered the group. The main body was that of a large blue dinosaur, with an oddly shaped head more like that of a shark despite the bumps emerging from the back of its head down its spine. It's nose seemingly scarred and as white as its underbelly, two long tails flowing behind it and ending in large cybernetic pieces. Each arm slowly turned into the heads of other creatures, the left resembling the skull and spine of a large dragon, while the right was some sort of cyborg dinosaur that was long and precise. All six eyes focused not on the three digimon, but instead on the two humans as though indicating it knew something.
None of them picked this up however as Starmons body tensed, "I've never seen a digimon like this before..."
The monstrous digimon bellowed as it took several stops forward, attempting to intimidate its targets further. Only to bet met with the loud yell of Black, "Big darts!", which was followed by the monstrosity howling and taking a step backward as the knight chessmons dart found its way into the creatures eye. Both Black and Tiamat now zooming to one side or the other as the two others heads reacted on their own separately from the main body.
The skull head attempted to snap up Black only to be met with her glamorously jump-dodging the attempt to devour her, landing directly on top of its head and making her way up elegantly to retrieve her weapon from the main heads face, tearing it from the monstrosity's eye socket before jabbing it back into its neck. Only to leap back off from the mountain of a creature as it tried to crunch her in its maw with a hiss. The knight chessmon landing with elegance and getting howls of support from some of the digimon observing the fight. Which caused Black's own pride to swell, even as she could hear partner making claims about her prowess being because of him.
Tiamat was met with a much tougher head, who sought to be far more precise and likely had the capacity to do much more even as just an extension of the main body considering its cybernetic nature. Even as Tiamat silently activated her plasma blade ability and heated up the blades on her arms to slice at its bottom jaw, the creature simply moved to mitigate the damage on its fleshy lower jaw. The creature using its tongue in response to her, slinging acidic spit and attempting to wrap it around her to consume her. Even a burst of her ability: exhaust flame, which unleashed a stream of fire from her mouth, did little to its metallic upper-head and drool-drenched maw. Indicating she was at a disadvantage compared to Black.
She hadn't done as much as Black by the time the middle head had recovered, its remaining good eye focusing on her and growling as it began to turn for all three heads to face her. Attempting to ignore Black, who's fight had been going far better as she slashed away the data comprising its skull head and the body's lower half with her dart, the skull in particular missing large chunks from it now, though this did little to stop it as its maws all began to glow blue all together this time. Tiamat gritting her teeth to get out of the way as the creature this time roared, "Triplex force!"
All three fired their beams at once, combining them together into a laser far larger than the one Black had tanked and devastating an entire stream of land. Ripping apart several homes and a chunk of the villages wall as its maws all closed to shut the beam off.
This was followed by a very angry Starmon suddenly slamming down from above on top of its head, "Star upper!"
The monstrosity was very clearly unamused with this effort, shaking its massive form to get Starmon off of its head even as Black and Tiamat continued to slice at its heels and head-limbs, veins bulging up along its body as fury began to take it over.
Tiamat, recognizing they weren't doing enough due to the creatures massive size, backed off to speak with her partner as Starmon raised his arms while still standing on top of the main head, the creatures irritation growing as several small meteors began to slam into its form. Black meanwhile attempted to repeat her earlier trick by trying to launch her dart into the main heads remaining good eye, though she missed by a large margin this time as it reacted by raising its right arm. Her dart wedging itself into the plating of the cyborg head, who swung its tongue at her in an ever disgusting manner, getting a grunt of disgust from the smaller digimon.
Clive was clearly taking this more seriously now, recognizing that their opponent was not an instinct driven digimon, even though the monstrosity wasn't the brightest. He slowly had a plan formulating in his brain for this irritating surprise, and took advantage to go to Ryu as Tiamat ran over to him.
"Our attacks aren't digging deep enough to cause serious enough damage to stop it, and my flame doesn't seem to do much besides irritate it. I don't suppose you have any ideas, Ryu?"
"Well, its clearly a reptile, but I don't think any of us have anything cold to slow it down more than how it already is... If I think of this like a game... Then it might just be like that one series of games, and we'll just have to wear it down until-"
"Or! I have an idea that will down this monster without the possibility of us wearing down before it!" Clive walked between Tiamat and Ryu, "This thing is clearly sapient, if a bit dull, with only its size and strength to aid it. As such, a classical approach to dealing with giants is best here. That said, though my strategy is clearly perfect, I need you to listen carefully to execute it properly, Tiamat. Now, to begin with, I'll need you to..."
Ryu and his partner digimon shared a hesitant glance, deciding that they didn't have any better options but to listen to Clive's strategy...
The monstrosity finally got the idea to let one of its other heads try to bite Starmon, who let himself fall backwards to slide down its back, then jump off of its tails to the dirt below. The main head now focused on him even as the cyborg head took a snap at Black, who finally managed to get her dart back from it. Her pride refusing to let her admit that the damage she was doing was merely surface damage on its main body, even if it was more than the other two digimon were accomplishing.
"Black!"
The knight chessmon dodged another snap at her before looking to Tiamat, who yelled to her, "I don't know the term Clive said! But aim for a bit above the middle on the back of its legs!"
Black simply nodded before moving in a suave motion underneath the sideways snap from the cybernetic head, making a dash for its right leg. The creature's focus on Starmon keeping it from attempting to stomp on her, the main head bellowing as it fired off smaller bursts of blue flame as the silver star digimon, only to screech as it felt Black's dart impale itself into its calf, "Knight lancer!"
Black's movement drew her dart across the back of its leg, slashing it open and letting rainbow colored data pour out as she landed. Though the creature didn't get a chance to go onto one knee as Tiamat followed Black's example on its left leg, "Plasma blade!"
The black growlmon's armblades glowed red as she impaled them into its leg and slid down, cutting open its leg in a far more brutal manner than Black had. The desired effect coming through and causing it to fall forward, now unable to stand entirely. Starmon quickly dashing to the side to avoid being crushed by its large form as he unleashed another meteor squall onto the digimon's backside. Only its limbs able to move, but now limited in range with the main body stuck on the ground. Causing it to look as though it were flailing rather than attacking. It's inability to work together with its other minds making it unable to get up as its veins pulsed up further, the main body's rage ever growing as Black and Tiamat sliced even deeper into its legs to numb them before falling back a decent distance away from its flailing tails. Tiamat and Black then split off, Black towards the cyborg head and Tiamat towards the skeleton head.
"Knight lancer!"
"Plasma blade!"
Both of the extra heads would stop flailing as both digimon came to the other side and stood alongside Starmon. The cyborg head now with an empty socket and the a massive molten wound on the skull head that likely either put both heads into a stunned state or completely removed them as a threat. Its opponents backs faced the villages exit as the monsters main body struggled now that its extra heads had been rendered inert for the moment.
"Easy enough. Now, for the finishing bl-"
Black would be cut off by a roar of defiance as the monster stubbornly forced its deadened heads into the ground and stood on its shaking, damaged legs. It's blind rage beginning to shift its form to something new, body starting to glow, as an unseen force began pushing away Tiamat, Black, and Starmon from both it and each other as its extra heads began to split into four long gangling limbs. It's main head growing a horn and becoming more bug-like as its torso began to change and its tails retract. Causing all three digimon to feel a bit of fear at their foe completely undoing the wounds they'd just inflicted to its legs, power beginning to radiate from its form.
"Waltz's end."
As the digimon's body began to fill in with color, it was cut off by what seemed as though space itself had been sliced open for the briefest of moments. The data it had been consuming to digivolve releasing in an instant as it fell back away from the group. It's body then sliding apart, twain into two before exploding into a cascade of glowing particles that quickly faded from the naked eye.
"It seems that Omnimon's prediction was accurate. They are already aware we have reactivated the chosen system."
Tiamat was the closest to the source of the voice as she looked over, her body regressing back into that of black guilmon despite wanting to stay in the form of black growlmon due to the new arrival. Before her stood an intimidating knight, who's armor held a skull theme along its purple and blue design. The massive dual-headed spear in one hand and the shield in the other screaming skill as the red dots in his helm scanned her, then her allies further away. The knight sheathed his shield on his back, which then freakily disappeared into his armor, as he walked past the black guilmon to the humans. Black seemed ready to start another fight with the new arrival despite having spent much of her own energy tearing at the legs and heads of the now dead hostile, while Clive had a look on his face that said that the new arrival had stolen his thunder, though he had the etiquette to not say it aloud in any form of true rudeness, which would be beneath him.
All the other digimon, including Starmon, were all having different reactions to the new arrival. Some stared in shock, others kneeled, while most whispered between each other at how things had gone. The knight silently and intimidatingly scanned both Ryu and Clive, which may have come across as arrogant to the two of them as the far taller being stared at them from above.
After some silence, the knight spoke, "I am Craniamon. One of the Royal Knights, and the Holy Knight of Loyalty. At the request of my fellow knight Omnimon and because of your importance, I came to ensure your passage to the citadel of our lord Yggdrasil."
"Craniamon...?"
"I can't believe one of the knights is standing in our town..."
"Why would they need humans...?
"He just killed that monstrous digimon with a single slice..."
Clive ignored those whispers as his attitude about the fallen digimon went away instantly, instead focusing on the words 'because of your importance', the obvious chance to leave a historical impact on another world slamming into his head at full speed, to which he responded, "If the Royal Knights need our help, then I'm certain I can clean up whatever your problem is without issue."
Ryu asked a more prudent question as he checked on Tiamat, who was a bit slower to come over, though she seemed fine, "What was that digimon exactly?"
"A deltamon," the purple and blue knight responded, "A being that does not occur from normal circumstances. I have no doubt that our enemy had hoped it and its companions would find and kill you before you could make your way to us. I am impressed the both of you and your partners at nearly being able to slay it had it not been for its sudden attempt to digivolve."
Clive ate up the compliment at Craniamon's being impressed, "It was my strategy they executed to a T. I'm just glad they were able to keep up with my-"
Black, now having regressed back into pawn chessmon, smacked Clive over the head with the flat side of her spear, getting a glare from her partner as she stood with pride before the far larger knight, "It was a team effort, my lord Craniamon. Though I certainly, with grace and perfection, could have executed that creature on my own with a little more time."
The purple and blue knight merely gave them a brief nod of acknowledgment before focusing on the other two, eerily staring at Ryu and Tiamat for some moments before saying, "It seems fate has given you an interesting partner, human. If it were not for my wariness of our enemies, I would take the time to discuss it with you."
Ryu noticed the tone about his partner felt wary rather than complimenting, "And who are your enemies exactly?"
"The Seven Demon Lords. Beelzemon, who represents gluttony through battle. Leviamon, who represent envy of those who rule. Belphemon, who represents an eternal slumber marred by blind rage. Lilithmon, who lusts for the power to rule all things. Daemon, who's wrath seeks revenge against those who once defeated him. Barbamon, who's greed seeks to take all that even the smallest digimon has in any form. And their leader, Lucemon, who's pride would see this world destroyed for a world of his own making. They have defeated all but us Royal Knights with unknown tactics that they have not displayed for us, though our strategist has theories as to how."
Ryu looked to Tiamat, his unshown hopes for just hanging out with the average digimon dimming a slight bit. Although if what Craniamon said was true, this Lucemon threatened to destroy this world he had already fallen in love with, not to mention the digimon who he had already befriended.
"We will stay here for tonight. I am going to make sure that the demon lords did not send more assassins after the four of you that are more beyond your skill levels than a wayward deltamon," Craniamon's words were obviously an order, not a suggestion or gesture of kindness.
However, the insurance of their safety was more than enough for Ryu to give a simple "Thank you" to the knight, who simply nodded as Starmon came over.
"You and Miss Tiamat can have my guest bedroom if you want," Starmon offered to Ryu as the human looked to Clive and Black, the two having gone to a watching crowd when the conversation floated away from them. Of which the digimon were now swarming them with questions, Clive clearly in his element and oozing charisma as he spoke at length about himself, while Black was showing off based on how she had acted in the battle. It was almost comical, were it not for the implications of Craniamon himself having shown up.
"Sure."
Ryu and Tiamat began to follow Starmon after agreeing to his offer, only for the man to stop. Ryu realizing something that Craniamon had said about the deltamon and looked back at the knight, who was now observing Clive, "Who were deltamons companions?"
The knight answered without looking, "Digimon that far more certainly would have made sure you never made it to us had we not acted."
Though it wasn't a specific answer, it was enough to make Ryu thankful the royal knight had shown up as he began to follow Starmon again. Thoughts swirling in his head about what was coming, the words of Craniamon now weighing upon him, and likely to weigh upon him in his dreams that night.
He would have more questions for the knight later.
….
Outside of the colossal castle belonging to King Yggdrasil and the Royal Knights, the few chosen that had been already found and brought there were being trained...
"React quicker, or your opponent will annihilate you," Leopardmon spoke as he dodged blow after blow from the fiery humanoid digimon Agunimon. The warrior of flame obviously trying to take his time to try and decide where he was going to aim each blow, with the royal knight not retaliating and simply moving to avoid his attacks.
"Your left leg is too far back," the Royal Knight ducked under Agunimon's fist before slipping to his side then leaping back to dodge an unrefined kick, "Do not use a technique you have not mastered against a clearly superior foe."
Leopardmon quickly closed in as he ducked a blast of fire from another of the fire warriors attacks, before he then kicked out Agunimon's footing and left him on the ground, "You rely too heavily on hard footing and your ability to think. While your will to stay calm is admirable, your style must be quicker to process alongside being more fluid. You must become as the flame you wield rather than the kindling it comes from."
The knight offered Agunimon a hand, the warrior taking it and standing, cracking his neck before looking to where Kyou was some distance away practicing CQC with another human, who had their partner watching over the twos bought.
This man had dirty blonde hair that was rather short, around a quarter inch(6.4mm) in length which curled at the tips. He was only an inch or so taller than Kyou, though his bulk was definitely smaller, if not close to unhealthy in comparison. His body was obviously mostly muscle despite its thinness though, the kind built through repeated motion day by day. His skin a hefty tan coloration, with his arms in particular bearing quite a few small burn scars, with some obviously being quite fresh compared to others. He was simply wearing a khaki colored tee and midnight blue shorts. Though nearby seemed to be more that was his. Including several pieces of rudimentary armor seemingly made from leather and bone, some sandals, and what was likely his digivice. Said digivice was like that of a girl who the three who were with the royal knights had not met yet. Its main body bone white in coloration, with its detailing being midnight blue, and where the strap should have been having been replaced by a steel-chain strap.
The mans own partner seemed to be acting as the referee for the two. A bipedal yellow fox-like creature with a white belly and fluff around her upper torso and neck. On her arms were odd sleeves adorned with the yin-yang that let her paws through. With three large talons at the end of each hand and foot. Her eyes had jet black whites, while her iris was a dark blue that, while it had a sort of motherly softness to them, were certainly the eyes of a warrior at heart. Which was likely why she was observing rather than training with the rest.
Leopardmon looked to where the two were practicing, "Kyou still does not trust you?"
"I don't think he does," the warrior of flame responded, "Not yet at least."
"I suppose we cannot expect all older individuals to trust their digimon as immediately as children may," Leopardmon responded, "it is simple to say then you will have to earn his trust with time. As is the normal way of things... Though have you perhaps simply tried speaking of something you have observed of him?"
"I … Suppose I haven't tried that yet," Agunimon replied as he faced his instructor again, taking position only to duck as a figure missed colliding with him by a few inches, causing him to look up and yell, "Hey! Be careful up there!"
Up above, a transformed Alizee looked down at Agunimon, "Sorry! Sorry! I am still learning to balance myself!"
Alizee's current appearance was fairy-like to say the least, with flowing purple hair and an odd visor on her head. She was wearing rather exaggerated gauntlets and boots, which were strapped to an outfit that covered her chest and hips but left her thighs, stomach, and upper chest exposed. Massive, translucent wings fluttered behind her, maintaining her position in the air but only barely.
Dynasmon was her trainer, floating far above her with his arms crossed. His eyes betraying no emotion to his current protégé, "Repeat the maneuver again!"
Alizee looked up to him, only nodding as she floated up higher to be even with him. Taking a position that was based upon standing on the ground, which caused Dynasmon to growl slightly as small dragon-shaped energy projectiles launched at her from various directions. Although Alizee was able to dodge, or even deflect those from her sides and directly above her, she was quickly bombarded from below, above, and at the various angles. Causing her to almost drop onto Agunimon again, who turned to yell at her only for Leopardmon to 'gently' grab and slam him into the ground for turning his attention away from him.
"You are Kazemon, warrior of wind and in flight. You are not standing upon the earth that once supported you, and so we must remove your old defensive habits. My training may be brutal, but you must learn to adapt with your changed form quickly. As your first battle approaches with every minute we waste," the wyvern knights eyes focused on the visor that Alizee was wearing as she floated back up to his height once again, it was intimidating but the young woman felt she understood the weight and importance his stare was giving, her heart roaring that this was a way to find a path in her life.
Dynasmon commanded her again as she almost took on the same position again, "Do not tighten your legs to the side as though to brace against the earth. Be loose, be versatile. In the air, every movement must be made with an exact amount of force or you'll find yourself in any number of poor positions."
He began to summon forth the mobs of energy again and fired some of them. Watching as Alizee took a deep breath, followed by flipping herself upside down as the vast majority of his projectiles launched at her and spreading her legs out as though she was attempting to spin kick several enemies around her, an instinct taking over briefly that fired away a burst of powerful wind that dispersed or spread out most of the projectiles, though several still smashed into her before dispersing.
No reaction from Dynasmon as he simply stated, "Gamba tornado, and with that, visible progress. Now, again."
Alizee, really starting to feel the burn from being hit over and over again, internally was somewhat wishing for a much less violent lesson at the moment.
The training of the humans and their partners went on for nearly the whole day till the sun was halfway down the horizon, with Kyou and his opponent being allowed to quit well before Alizee and Agunimon were allowed to. The two warriors were practically about to fall over and pass out by the time Dynasmon allowed Alizee to land and Leopardmon stopped letting Agunimon meet the ground.
Dynasmons arms were still crossed as he spoke, "You've both made adequate progress in the usage of your abilities. Which is good enough for today's training session."
Leopardmon chuckled before he said in response to Dynasmons statement, "What he means to say is that you've both impressed him with your progress."
This got a grunt from the wyvern knight before Leopardmon continued, "I have heard that once, the spirits endowed their personalities and a lifetime of skill on the wearer, though I have no doubt such is either myth or the original personalities are long gone. So yes, I agree with Dynasmon that both your progress with using the human aspects of the spirits you've inherited is impressive."
Alizee's form flashed as her normal human self took back over, the woman wiping the still existent sweat off of her forehead as she gave a simple "Thank you" in response to Leopardmon's praise.
Agunimon was more silent, which Leopardmon noticed and as such asked, "Agunimon, would you mind going and getting Kyou from your shared chamber for me? I shall go and get Viktor and Sif for tonight's repast. Dynasmon, we shall meet you and Alizee there."
Dynasmon shrugged before turning to go inside the massive gate, "Fair enough. Alizee, follow me. I'll show you where the dining hall is."
The young woman followed, but gave a glance to her fellow trainee as she did so. Though it took some moments for her to even begin to disappear into the gate after Dynasmon.
Agunimon watched her go before looking back to where Leopardmon had been, only to find the knight was gone already. Leaving him to his thoughts as he then went to go find Kyou, "Maybe I should try being more humorous for him..."
The sheer size of the castle did mean it took him around twenty minutes just to get to the room he and Kyou shared. As Agunimon entered, he'd find Kyou looking between two different books. For Agunimon, the titles of both were easy to read where the human Kyou was having more difficulty. One was a book on prior wars in the digital world, while the other was a 'French to Digicode made easy'.
"Are you having trouble reading the book?"
Kyou looked up at Agunimon, "Honestly? Yeah."
The warrior digimon walked over and sat next to Kyou, his form far taller than Kyou's even sitting down, "I can help you learn it if you want me to. Translations books like that usually aren't the best."
Kyou nodded as he passed the book to Agunimon, "Alright, sure."
Agunimon began to look it over as he asked first, "So why are you interested in the digital worlds wars?"
"Well... I figured maybe if I want to be more prepared than just physical training, it'd be good to know the past battles this world has gone through. The strategies their leaders put them through and what kind of war we might be about to go into now."
The warrior of flame nodded as he finished looking the book over, noting it was one of the wars where chosen children were involved, "You wish to be more than a warrior on the battlefield."
"Something like that I guess. I'd rather make the hard decisions to save more lives than an easy one that spends them."
"That sounds like it could backfire on you."
"Maybe."
"..."
"..."
"So, I know I've been kind of silent," Kyou acknowledged towards Agunimon as the boys face softened from how guarded he'd been so far, "I uh... Do have some trust issues nowadays since I've seen what a lot of people are like. But seeing how hard you're training with Leopardmon, for the idea of helping to save so many others at the cost of yourself. I think that's trustworthy."
Agunimon nodded, "I can understand that you wouldn't give your trust to someone immediately. Not every digimon has good intentions. Like this dracmon I met one time before I met you and got... Well, this form."
Kyou nodded, "So... We're partners, right?"
"I'd like to believe so."
"So should I do what Viktor did and give you a nickname?"
"A nickname?"
"You know. To say you are you, different from any agunimon before or after you."
Agunimon stared at moment before smiling and joking, "Alright. Fire an idea at me then. Tell me what ideas are blazing in your head. Whatever name you come up with should burn with passion, right?"
The digimons terrible attempts at puns was enough to get a snort of amusement from Kyou, more of at Agunimons attempt than at the puns themselves, which got a friendlier smile from the man digimon.
Kyou then suggested, "How about... Blaze then?"
"Blaze?" the warrior did a fake thinking pose before responding, "I'll take it."
The newly nicknamed 'Blaze' offered a strong hand to Kyou, "To being partners?"
Kyou took it in hand, the two of them gripping each others hands strongly, "To being partners."
….
The renamon called Sif smiled to herself, having been asked to listen in on the twos conversation by Leopardmon before quietly running off to meet everyone in the knights dining room.
She got there several minutes before those two, being stopped by her partner Victor Kee Von Jotunheim who simply asked her, "Eid et go vwel?"
Sif nodded, "Kyou seems to be putting his trust in his partner now that it's been a few days.
"Gud. Vwe don't need un erzon oo voes not trust zere vartner, ven if we ourvelves don't speak vuch," Victor responded before looking to the rather oddly shaped dining room, which had multiple tables due to the varying sizes of the knights. The table on the right was the smallest for those within the feet/cm measurement range, similar to the heights of humans. The center table was the one where the knights that were a few meters tall, the majority, sat at and ate. While to the left was an absolutely massive open balcony where that was odd to say the least. As though made to accommodate an absolutely massive creature flying down then walking in. The man simply stating as Sif followed him the table on the right, "Zertainvy an odd vlace."
The two silently sat at the right-side table as Leopardmon spoke with Dynasmon, who was sitting at the middle table to accommodate his size. Though notably, he had his back facing Alizee's chair, indicating which human he was comfortable with. Victor was a quiet man by nature, he didn't speak much with others outside of his partner and those few others he opened up with, of which none of them were here in this world, but as a quiet man, he could hear their conversation.
"Alphamon is up in his study and refuses to dine with us tonight, he has denied my theories about the demon lords tactics. He doesn't believe they the possibility of millenniummon or perhaps even multiples of the demon lords. He actually believes the demon lords were months ahead of us and that..."
"Surely he jests. Where would they even gain access to the human world before Lord Drasil reactivated the system? Why would they not throw them at us immediately if they had their own chosen?"
"Waiting for a specific gap I imagine. I have doubled down on making sure the fronts are perfectly in order. Crusadermon, UlforceVeedramon, and Examon have all reported that despite hit and run tactics testing their defenses. There has been nothing unusual."
"Perhaps Lucemon has no need for our land..."
"If he wants to destroy the digital world as a whole and to recreate it. He would have to defeat Lord Drasil to prevent conflicting access. He has every need for our land if only to gain access."
Victor took notes about what they said as he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. He had been the first person the knights had summoned, nearly a month ago as their test run of the changes to the system. Of which it failed to call upon him a partner, with his encounter with Sif being entirely accidental after she came to request the knights aid to take back a lost village of reincarnation, only to find she was not the only one, and that the knights were stretched thin over several regions. They had grown quite close in their time training under the knights, and Sif was well ahead in training compared to likely any other chosen. From what it sounded like, Alphamon was making a guess based on little information, or perhaps there was something the black knight had found he hadn't shared with the other knights yet.
As Leopardmon hadn't shared it with them all yet, he assumed it was something he could put in the back of his mind for now.
He glanced at Alizee, who was nervously twiddling her thumbs as Kyou and Blaze arrived to sit down as well.
Victor couldn't help but feel this place was rather empty even if there was a war going on, with only a skeleton staff of knightmon helping to maintain it. Though he didn't know if the knightmon were the ones cooking or not, the food always seemed to be here before anyone got to the dining hall. Maybe that would be something to ask later before the night crept down and Dynasmon went on his rounds. He didn't really notice that he was too deep in his thoughts as Sif stared at him for not getting food and eating, which would have acted as a signal for the others to eat.
Some quiet minutes would pass before Leopardmon would then cough to get the attention of everyone, "I apologize to all of you. You all seem to be waiting on each other or for some signal to eat. You don't wait for us to begin eating."
"Enjoy yourselves before we begin training anew tomorrow. It is our hope that in a few days, you will meet the rest of those you will call allies."
"So please, feel free to consume what has been placed before you."
Authors note
I actually had a different ending spot in mind for this chapter, but I guess that's gonna have to wait till next week. Where we'll hopefully end the introduction chapters and move onto the meat of the story. I've got plenty of arcs planned and I hope I can give mostly equal attention to everyone characters once we get deep enough in.
The next chapter might be a day delayed because I have an appointment next Wednesday, but we'll see how it goes.
Victor Kee Von Jotunheim belongs to Victor John Foxfire.
Ryu belongs to Zerato
Clive belongs to Rokebuto
I didn't go over and edit this one on FFN too much(Really I just kind of did a fast glance). So please tell me if FFN caused some weird issue like cutting a sentence or that one error I mentioned last chapter..
-6/17/21 update: Thank you Victor for pointing out the absolutely ridiculous amount of periods I had in this that should have been commas. I also found a few other grammatical errors I fixed and filled the spot forgetting to say which table they sat at.