FSE

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Ever felt like you’re being rendered to infinitesimal bits, then plunged into total darkness? Guess what, no matter what you’re comparing it to, it’s barely on the same map as the level of suck that the real thing is. Digitization is a nasty process, for the organic, anyways. Raia and Renamon came through it fine, I’m sure, or I would be, were it not for the complete and total absence of light where I currently was. I wasn’t entirely sure if I was dead or comatose, but I damn sure couldn’t see.

After a bit of time to orient myself to the new dimension, as well as all the binary deciding which way it was going, I determined that gravity was pulling “up”, relative to my body. Which meant my head was stuck in the ground. Which irritated me.

“GRMPH-PHUFOUFOPHR!” Was the most intelligible statement I could make in my current position. Rough translation: “GET ME THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!” I continued shouting through what I assumed to be dirt, my speech muffled as all hell the entire time. After what seemed like an hour, but more realistically about 5 minutes (time drags ass when your head’s in a hole) I felt something touch my ankle and jerk my leg, thrusting me upward relatively, but not freeing me. Whoever was pulling wasn’t satisfied and continued yanking my leg until I started screaming a muffled “stop” through the earth, which had the effect of throwing a tin can at a fighter jet. After several more pulls, I heard muffled speech above ground and felt someone grab my other leg pulling in unison with the other leg. A couple strong pulls, I flew from the earth like a spacebound rocket, toppling two bodies in the process. I made no attempt to stand at first, just let my mild irritation simmer for a moment.

“Whoever the FUCK was doing that is going to get such an assbeating, you won’t believe i-” I craned my head to find I was on top of Raia and Renamon and I threw my head back down and shut my eyes. “Why am I not surprised? Fucking hell.” I rolled off of them and helped each to their feet. I sighed and looked past them for a moment. Lovely scenery really, ya know, black dirt, dead and gnarled trees, an ominous smell that was eerily similar to blood. “Where are we?”

It was less of an actual question, and more of a rhetorical to display my confusion. Anyone with a brain could tell we were in the digital world and, given our surroundings, we were probably in the dark zone. Fucking. Perfect.

“We’ve been looking around, and the other tamers aren’t anywhere near us.” Renamon said, brushing some dirt from my hair. “We’re stuck out here, who knows how far from anyone else.”

Raia, who had been looking around curiously, asked, “Do you think we were the only ones split from the group?”

I sighed. “You know, logically, I wouldn’t be able to be certain, but…” I looked back and forth between them to emphasize my next statement. “With our shitty luck, yeah, I’d say we are. And I’m guessing it’s no accident. Someone’s making a play and we’re gonna have to get after it if we don’t want to just let it happen. That said, first thing, we gotta get our bearings.” I noticed Raia was looking around curiously again. I needed to work off a bit of that irritation, so being a dickhead seemed like a good option.

I leaned close to her, brought my hand slowly up to her face, which was looking away from me, and snapped my fingers. “Raia. Something you want to share with the class?”

She shot me a nasty ass look, but the point went across. She was up to something, I could tell. “I… I’ve been here. Before, I mean.”

I had to take a second to process what she said. When had Raia even been in the digital world befo… oh right, she was dead. Forgot about that. I remembered her telling me about travelling through the dark zone, and it clicked. “Right then, that helps quite a bit. Well, Raia, I guess you’re on point. I don’t know if we should try to leave here and find the others or try to figure out why we’re here, but you’re heading up the charge here.” Raia nodded.

“Where we are didn’t used to be this way. It was clean, normal. I have no idea where the edge is now, but I know which way to start walking. On the other hand, for this place to be corrupted like this, and our “chance” appearance here, I’d bet someone has to be expecting us to try tracking them down. Either way is bad really, one way we’re taking days just to leave, another we’re walking into what’s almost certainly a trap.” Raia sighed in frustration and sat on the ground next to a tree, probably trying to think a way out of this.

“I say we go looking for whoever brought us here. Sure, they’ll be expecting it, but they probably won’t just leave us to it, we’re likely to be attacked soon and we don’t want to get caught running.” Renamon said, a calm and reassuring confidence in her voice. “Better to knowingly walk into danger than unknowingly flee from it.” It was a fairly pigheaded, almost blindly stupid axiom, but to be honest, she did have a point, better to take the lesser of two evils.

“Sounds good to me, what do you think Raia? This is your call.” I wanted to make sure she was fully confident in whatever we did, because if she wasn’t… well, I can’t really see that working out very well.

“Yeah, I suppose.” She replied reluctantly, taking another moment to ponder. “Alright, yeah, seems like the best choice of the two, so let’s get going.” Raia stood, her silver fur shining in the moonlit darkness, like a beacon to guide us through the hellscape around us. She’d be our pathfinder, mine and Renamon’s, the Virgil to our Dante so it were.

=====

Wandering about in the darkness, even with company, has a way of making one feel lonely. Constant alertness, always weary and paranoid, it takes it outta you. Sometimes, you almost want to be attacked, just to kill the suspense. Raia was guiding us, a ball of ghost fire in her palm palely lighting the area around us. It was after moonfall and I seriously doubted this region even had a sun, so I did my best to get used to the odd, low light and remain vigilant through it. We were practically silent, the only sound being my almost imperceptible footsteps, given how stealth came natural to Raia and Renamon. Raia seemed to have taken on a serious nature, as if being a leader had forced the sarcasm out of her, although it may just be that she knew just what kind of hell we were in, while Renamon and I were still pretty much in the dark, literally and figuratively.

The silent travel had an effect of making every sound a threat. A branch might sway in the wind and groan, due to being practically dead, and we all would jump out of our skin. The moment finally came, though. A branch snapped somewhere behind us and the three of us were back-to-back-to-back near instantly. I tried to pinpoint the source. Silence.

Silence.

Silence.

Another snap, and two ghost fire orbs were hurled into the blackness, illuminating as they went. I caught a glimpse of something just beyond a tree and gestured towards it with a nod. Raia and Renamon peeled off of my back and closed in on opposite sides of the tree. Just as they got close, a shrill laugh rung out and form flew straight up from the tree, the laugh echoing down from it. I barely caught sight of it before it disappeared into the sky, a robed figure with a sort of staff.

“Shit.” I said, frustrated that not only had we been being followed, but the fucker got away. “Someone’s playing with us. Guess that means we’re going the right way.”

Renamon shook her head as they returned to my side and Raia light up another ball. “I don’t like this. That one felt strong.”

“Very.” Raia said as we began walking again. “We need to be careful, I doubt that one’s alone, much less the strongest.” I sighed and nodded, resigning myself to her leadership again. It’s a bit weird to play follower when you’ve been the one leading the pack for so long.

“We just need to be careful.” I said calmly. “I have confidence in both of you, so long as we see it coming. We just have to keep our eyes up.” And with that, the dead woods around us fell into silence once more as we continued to travel through them, seemingly endless.

=====

I was about ready to drop. I had about a dozen steps left in me before I made whatever I fell on my bed for the next few hours. I’d been putting up a tough front, keeping quiet and everything, but I was utterly exhausted.

“Raia, unless we’re right about to, and I mean right about to get out of here, you shouldn’t expect me to walk much farther.” I struggled not to groan with each step, fighting the urge to collapse on the spot. “And I highly doubt you want to drag my ass along.” Raia sighed. She and Renamon seemed to have endless energy, but the lack of a day/night cycle really kept me from having an excuse to rest. We stopped, and dragged some loose brush in a circle to conceal us from the wind and anything that might come along, where I promptly crumpled in the center.

“Goddamn, Luke, have some grace.” Raia said, only half-joking.

A finger shot up from the heaped form that was me, pointing at her general direction. “Fuck you, I’m tired. Now, lay next to me or don’t. You have five seconds.” Renamon resigned and curled next to me.

“Well, since you two are going to be pussies, I guess I have to keep watch.”

“Bullshit, get down here.” I said. I was tiring quickly of the whole leader routine. “Quit playing leader for the day and just be Raia.”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Oh, wonderful. She’s pissed. I propped myself up on an arm, my body screaming at my brain to leave it for the morning and lay back down next to Renamon, whose warmth alone was alluring enough to make me seriously question what I was doing.

“It means,” I began slowly. “That you’re acting different now, because you’re the leader of the group, which was my job prior. I don’t necessarily like it, but I’ve been making due since you have seniority here. But right now, I’m kindly asking that you try to relax a bit and be like normal.” I had every inclination that this was going to piss her off more, and it seemed to do so.

“Well, you know what?”

“Nope.” I said, pressing back close to Renamon, who was sensibly pretending to be asleep. “But that tree over there might, go tell it about it.” And with that, I was out like a light.

=====

When I woke up, Renamon was still present and Raia was unsurprisingly gone. Wonderful, twice over. It was still dark, confirming my suspicion that there was no “daytime” here. I pressed closer to Renamon, wanting to relish every bit of her warmth before having to move.

“How long was I out?” I whispered.

“About 30 minutes.”

“What?” I asked, utterly confused. I felt rested, at least, I thought I did…

“You slept pretty fitfully. I tried to keep you calm, but you kept muttering Raia’s name in your sleep and you refused to stop tossing and turning.”

I sighed. “Where is she?”

“Not far, just scouting around.” Renamon replied, little tone accompanying her voice. “May I ask a question?”

I sighed again. Perhaps the ever-pragmatic Renamon could help me sort this out. “Sure, shoot.”

“Have you thought you don’t like Raia’s new attitude because you miss being the leader?”

I shook my head, sitting up and reluctantly allowing the cold wind at me again. “Not a power thing, if that’s what you’re going for.”

“Hmm.” Renamon looked puzzled for a moment. “You miss her careless attitude, then?”

I chuckled at the passive-aggressiveness latent in that “honest” mistake. “I’d call it care_free_, but yeah. Your logical attitude mixes well with mine, but she provides a note of whimsical laxness that resonates with the inner foil to my logic. For normal creatures, they’re usually one way or the other, but humans are different. We need a sort of balance on the scales to keep us sane. Although, balance hasn’t done much to keep me ‘sane’.” I smiled, admiring the attentiveness that was plain on Renamon’s face. I lightly kissed her nose. “So serious, one of the things I love about you. Come on, let’s go find little miss pack leader.” I rose, taking the hand of a blushing Renamon and pulling her to her feet as well.

Renamon lit up a ghost fire and we began to walk in the direction we presumed to be forward, based on the noises that Renamon detected. After a while, I heard a light rustling, and I realized Renamon had been leading me right to it. Although I wasn’t initially worried, I grew a bit nervous when a flash of purple light in a clearing ahead brightened the trees obscuring it. I looked to Renamon, who was waiting for me to be ready to enter, and nodded. We pressed past the branches to find Raia in combat. Can’t leave her alone for a damn second.

=====

We arrived to find Raia in the midst of combat with what I could only assume to be the creature from before. Now’s a better chance to get a look at it, I thought, and maybe get a bit more insight into just what the hell’s going on. I was tempted initially to call out to Raia, but I decided against it, opting instead for stealth, seeing as we hadn’t been seen yet. A surprise attack would yield the best chance of catching the digimon before he fled. I sent this all over to Renamon through our mental link, conveniently obscuring my plans from Raia, though I doubt she would even catch them unless I really pressed into her mind.

Renamon nodded in agreement, although she didn’t look at me. Bright shots of dark energy and ghost fire flew all around the battlefield before us, lighting the ruined earth beneath the combatants. As Renamon led me to a good position to attack from, I couldn’t help but think how any life could be sustained here. Another thought occurred to me, briefly, before being shoved aside to focus: where did the dead of this world go? The answer was very likely here, but the question wasn’t fully answered. Yes, they were here, but where exactly?

Renamon pulled me into the dead trees, phasing us as she did so to prevent noise, onto a particularly thick branch that looked as if it could support us, rotted or not. There we waited, and I watched the fight unfold before me as we did so. Raia was holding her own to be sure, fighting harder than I had seen her fight. Perhaps being in the digital world empowered her somewhat, but I knew the real reason for her power was likely a trait she shared with me: she was pissed, and anger made her strong. Many become reckless and unfocused when angered, but others have a different mindset. Those others zone in on the target of their anger and strike with extreme, unrelenting force, accompanied by such ferocity and ruthlessness that one cannot help but be put at awe by the vicious nature of the act. So Raia was now, angered to the point of a quiet, unyielding rage. I glanced at her opponent, realizing it to be a Phantomon. A champion, and she was handling it, unassisted and in her rookie form. Sure, she was strong, but this level of competence against a foe with more inherent power seemed out of place. Then I saw it.

She struck, and the Phantomon, nearly hit and potentially in life-threating danger as such, merely flitted out of the way. A lucky dodge, some might guess, and those some might be right, but I suspected that he might be toying with her. As we waited for their fight to grow nearer to us, I saw her rival dodge several more strikes, seemingly effortless. Something’s up. I thought to Renamon. He’s not trying to fight her. We’d do best to intervene, quick.

I’ve noticed as well. I think he wishes to tire her out then capture her. He’s taking the light hits, but the heavy ones never land, almost as if she were sluggish, but she’s hardly a slow fighter. Yes, we need to be in that fight, and soon.

Just as we poised to strike, I saw the kill shot. Phantomon’s scythe swung down upon Raia, who’d gone to the ground from the momentum of her own swings, but, to my shock as well as (I’m sure) Renamon’s, the scythe was coming down backwards. That is, the blade was aimed away from her. It wasn’t a kill shot at all, but just a heavy strike aimed for her head. Lucky enough for Raia, Renamon had quick reflexes and quicker aim.

A thick shard fired through the dead night air and struck the staff of the scythe, toward the base, causing it to twist to Raia’s front and barely graze her. From there, Renamon had already launched from the branch, immediately after her shot, leaving me to attempt to get down without breaking an ankle, which I successfully managed to do. While I was thinking myself the miracle worker on deck, I saw Renamon engaged with Phantomon, fighting for control of the scythe, so I ran to Raia’s side. I was somewhat relieved to find she was disoriented enough to accept my help, despite our prior fight, although I doubted altogether whether she even knew who I was at the moment. I led her to some nearby brush, made sure she wasn’t injured to the point of needing immediate care, and ran back into the clearing to find Phantomon wrenching his scythe free of Renamon’s grip.

“Troublesome.” He said with a tone of mild irritation. “My goal was to secure her without too much struggle; however, I was wanting to kill something tonight, so I suppose you’ll do.”

“Oh, you suppose?” I said, stopping a yard or so back from Renamon and pulling out my deck and Digivice. “Well, I suppose you’ll have to work for your kill, because no one takes someone of mine and lives to talk about it.”

A snort. “Ha! A human? Really, you think I’m threatened by you? That rock over there is more likely to fly up and hit me than you are to kill me.” He threw his head back to laugh, and Renamon, out of what I hope was a sense of irony, proceeded to dash to said rock, a 20 pound chunk of flagstone, and pitch it at him. It hit, and shattered due to the brittleness, and he became downright pissed in under a second. Damn, son of a bitch broke my record.

“Ya know,” I said, my voice just filled with the power to egg him on, “I really don’t even know what to say about that.” I chuckled a bit, but I stopped quick when he started laughing. I quickly looked and saw some kind of black and purple shit’s-about-get-crazy kind of haze coming off him, which I could probably just call dark energy… nah, doesn’t have the same “foreshadowing” effect. And man did shit get crazy.

He threw his head back again, this time letting loose a sinister, villainous laugh, and while I could have heckled him for being a textbook villain, but this was hardly the time for that. Something was going on, as he started to rise from where he currently hovered, cracks of blackened lightning arced off him, and a heat-haze kind of aura formed around him. Before long, the heat-haze darkened, overtaking the reaper in an umbra that seemed like a portal into nothingness.

“Renamon,” I started, and although I didn’t have to finish, because she’d already gotten back, I did anyways. “Get the hell away from him.”

“OH,” Came a reverberating voice from the nearly unrecognizable mess of darkness before us. “SO NOW YOU’RE SCARED? WONDERFUL.” The darkness which had enveloped Phantomon tightened from the amorphous state it was in to a more defined, distinguishable form, slightly larger than before. The form before us was larger, taller, and had a bigger stick to swing around, which made me realize what was happening, finally.

“Shit. He’s digivolving.” I said, trying to suppress my anxiety. Renamon looked at me as if I were insane, and yet fearful all the same.

“How? Calumon isn’t here, I would know.” I shook my head, unsure.

“Not certain,” I said, reverting my eyes to the nearly fully-defined form before me. “But I’m guessing he’s got a pretty powerful bastard leading him if he’s able to do this.”

Suddenly, the umbra shattered, revealing the finalized form of the ultimate before us. His newly-detailed, steel skeletal face somehow cracked a grin as he swung his massive double-bladed energy scythe from his shoulder to the ground, cracking the earth as it slid in.

“Damn straight!” He called out. “Ready to play now?”

“Crap.” I said, swallowing hard. I didn’t need a digivice to scout this one for me. MetalPhantomon, Ultimate level, special attack: cutting your goddamn head off. Renamon heard this over my mental link. Oh, very helpful. “Shut up and get ready. I know I’ve got that damn Zero Unit card somewhere.”

“Find it quick.” She said as she dashed into the fight. I wasn’t worried for the short term as I searched my deck for the card, because Renamon had the speed advantage. That didn’t stop me from looking up occasionally to survey the situation. I was still hopeful, despite not finding the card on the first run through of the deck, until I felt a pinging on the mental link.

Shit. Shit. Shit. Fast. Too Fast. Shit. Shit. Shit. Looking up, I saw Renamon barely evading swift swipes of the scythe. Shit indeed. I ran through the deck again, going as quick as possible. Still not there!? What the hell!? I ran through again. Come on, attack modifier, speed boost, X antibody, Holy spear… wait. I flipped back to the X Antibody and made a motion as if snapping my fingers, causing the card to slip. A card was stuck to it! Sliding the top card away, I saw the Zero Unit symbol below and was overjoyed.

“I found it!” I said as a yellow form flew along the ground to my feet. Renamon opened her eyes and looked up to me.

“What are you waiting for!? That freaking hurt!”

“Right, right.” I said hastily, swiping the card deftly. “Matrix Digivolution.” I said involuntarily. The form below me rose a few feet above me. Taomon, thank Christ. “Better now?”

“Very much so.” Taomon said with a hint of indignation. Hey, not my fault those two cards are so damn sticky. Taomon just dashed in once again, more prepared to fight his time. She had enough autonomy that I was sure I could check on Raia without helping her. I dipped back into the brush and placed a hand on the back of Raia’s neck, feeling for signs of stress or pain. She seemed to be out cold, which was honestly preferable. Knowing how she’d been acting, she might have tried to get back in the fight. I dragged her halfway out of the bushes, still concealed from the fight, but easily accessible for me. Having done that, I turned back to survey the battle.

Taomon was pelleting MetalPhantomon with scrolls, not really hurting him, just keeping him back. Ugh, makes sense. She’s a ranged figher, with her brush being more of a last resort, but he’s a bit more flexible. Just as her short barrage ended, he began to back away. Taomon took the initiative and began painting a seal with her brush. As she worked through a very complex symbol, MetalPhantomon seemed to be gathering energy. He released it in a burst and his scythe’s blades nearly doubled in size, looking more like a pendulum as they curved back toward him. He swung high and let the axe stop above him before allowing it to fall down on Taomon. Just as he did, Taomon swept a circle around the seal she’d been making.

“Soul Predator!” he called out. “Guardian Seal!” She replied. Damn, I was trying to use a binding seal on him, but I had to waste it. Renamon had told me after her first experience as Taomon that there were “lesser” seals that any seal could be reverted to for a reaction, and that a more intricate seal before the reversion would strengthen the effect. If it weren’t so damn complex! Still, the seal had saved her, repelling the blow and rebounding the strike, causing MetalPhantomon to be carried back by the momentum.

“Quick reaction, Taoist.” MetalPhantomon said, earnest for some reason. “But don’t expect me to telegraph so much in the future.” With that, he dashed quicker than my eyes could perceive and was suddenly being held at bay by another quick seal, although weaker this time.

It won’t be long before he catches me off guard. Taomon pinged to me. Once he does, we’ve lost. I swallowed hard, thinking quick and trying to consider my options, despite the obvious and impending stress.