Prologue
“I am so tired… How long has it been? Months? Years?” A flicker of light pulses faintly in the darkness as the words are considered. “…Hundreds of years? I cannot recall. I have lost count. They’ve failed. I’ve failed.” The light pulses again, flickering weakly as it gathers its remaining strength. “So many lost…but it must not be. I have to try…one more…time…” A sudden, strong pulse comes from the light, streaking away brightly as it shoots out into the darkness. One final attempt.
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Chapter 1
Wind rustles through the leaves as he settles onto a branch, his back resting against the trunk of the tree he had just climbed into. He peers out from cover, his eyes scanning the clearing just ahead. Lifting one arm, he taps the bracelet that was around a long purple arm guard. Instantly a menu pops up and he quickly checks the time displayed in the corner. “Damn…not much time left.” he mutters quietly to himself before closing the menu. Come on, man. Where are you?”
A sudden noise below catches his attention and he leans forward for a better look. Down below, a figure darts from the tree line and into the clearing. He tenses as the figure is revealed to be his partner, Leomon. The lion Digimon darts forward several feet before turning and bracing himself in a fighting stance. The sounds of pursuit follow in Leomon’s wake and two more Digimon dash out of the forest after his partner. One is a large quadrupedal bear with purple fur, Grizzlymon. The other is a wasp-like red Digimon with a metal visor on its head, Flybeemon.
“You’re not getting away, Leomon.” Grizzlymon growls in a deep voice as it charges forward, a look of fury and determination on its face.
The Flybeemon gives a high-pitched laugh as it darts through the air, “Once again you’ve bitten off more than you could chew, kitten.” It taunts as it lines up its stinger. “Lightning Sting!” it cries as it unleashes arcs of electricity towards Leomon. As his partner dodges to the side, wincing a bit at the close call, the Grizzlymon begins to wind up for its own special attack. “Crescent Dawn!” it yells as its claws flash forward to strike in a large arc to the left and right. The claws catch Leomon across his chest, causing him to groan as the strong attack hurls him to the ground.
He crouches further in the tree, powerful legs pushing off suddenly as he leaps out into the clearing above the two. Yellow and white fur flash into view as arms and legs curl inward before spreading, the trap he had laid with his partner finally sprung. “Diamond Storm!” he cries, unleashing his own special attack. Shards of white crystal form around him and then shoot out to pelt both of his opponents. As the two cry out in both pain and alarm, they turn their attention to him. He lands afterward, legs bending to cushion his fall. Raising one arm, he beckons to the pair with his hand. “Bring it.” He calls to the pair.
The Flybeemon sneers after recovering from the surprise attack. “Lucky shot, Renamon.” It snarls, the insect wings buzzing furiously as it cuts through the air toward him. The sharp point of its stinger is lined up with his chest, and Renamon tensed as he expected another Lightning Sting attack. Instead, Flybeemon dashes forward in a rush as it tries to impale him with the stinger itself. Renamon dives, tucking his body and rolling forward to evade, dodging underneath as Flybeemon comes close enough to nearly shave a few hairs from the top of his head with the tip of the stinger.
Planting his hands on the ground, Renamon pushes hard, springing up behind his opponent, legs flashing out as he executes a Spin Kick after righting himself. The strikes connect with the back of Flybeemon who had slowed in order to turn. Each kick forces him lower until the last slams the insectoid Digimon into the ground. “Not so tough without your partner, are you, gnat?” he says. “Just surrender now, while you can.”
Several feet away, the Grizzlymon snarls as he watches his partner get knocked down. He gnashes his teeth, his feet moving to charge in and deal with Renamon, when a voice rings out behind him. “Fist of the Beast King!” Turning, Grizzlymon’s eyes widen in surprise as Leomon unleashes a spectral lion head in his direction with a single punch. The attack hits the Grizzlymon square in the back, causing a roar of pain and surprise as it pushes him forward.
Renamon turns as Flybeemon slumps to the ground, the fight gone out of him, just in time to see Grizzlymon staggering forward. Seeing his chance, he leaps once more into the air, arms and legs contracting and spreading as he cries “Diamond Storm!” for the second time. This time, against a singular opponent who was off balance, it slams into Grizzlymon with much more force. Caught between the two attacks, Grizzlymon collapses to the ground once the attacks are finished. Breathing hard, Grizzlymon raises a hand in surrender.
“We yield.” Grizzlymon groans. “The fight’s yours.”
Leomon smirks, his arms crossing as he walks over to Renamon. “Well, you were right. A surprise attack was better than my plan of a head on assault.”
Renamon nods. “Of course I’m right. Head on works sometimes, but against brute force like his, coupled with a speedy flying type, that might not have worked as easily. You remember what happened last time? We got our butts handed to us.” He looks over as a soft tinkling sound fills the air and watches their opponents disappearing in a flurry of sparkling motes. “Think that was it?” he asks after a moment. “Did we do it?”
Leomon laughs as he punches Renamon in the shoulder. “It has to be, man. We’ve been working our butts off for this.” He flexes his arms and flashes a toothy grin. “We’ve gotten quite a lot stronger since the last time. Quicker, too, I think.” He rests his hand on Renamon’s shoulder. “So, do you want to train a little more? Find another battle, perhaps? Or do you want to call it a day?”
Renamon grins and punches Leomon in the chest lightly. “Na, man. I think I’m done for the night. Besides, I’m not sure how much time we’ve got left. We should get going.” As Leomon nods in understanding, he reaches for the bracelet on his arm guard. He gives it a few quick taps and as the world begins to flash into bright light around him, he sees his partner doing the same. The world goes completely white, then flashes to blackness. As the sights and sounds of the battlefield he’d just left fade, other sounds begin to filter into his hearing.
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Adrian groans softly as he stretches his arms up and leans back in his chair. He felt the burn muscles that had been sitting still for just a little too long, and the popping of joints that were slightly stiff. After he lowers his arms, he pulls off the pair of haptic gloves he wore, then reaches up to remove the bulky headset and headphones he wore. The sounds around him get louder once the headphones are removed. Laughter, groaning, some angry shouts. It was usual for this place, really. Once the headset itself was removed, he looks at the computer screen in front of him, showing Renamon’s current stats and the recorded win for the battle he’d just fought. He reaches to the keyboard and finishes his logout, then shuts the Digi-Verse Online program down. Just as he makes to stand, a voice calls out in elation.
“Adrian, my man. Come on, we need to check the rankings.” Turning his head, he spies his best friend Marcus striding confidently toward him. His friend was slightly short, just under five feet tall, and nearly so skinny one might consider him to be reminiscent of a beanpole. The mop of dirty blonde hair was long enough to nearly get into his eyes as he raises his hand like a rocker in victory, banging his head up and down. He stops in front of Adrian. “Surely a win like that gave us the points we need.”
Adrian laughs and nods his head. “Yeah, I hope so, man. We’ve crashed out of the running too many years. This time has to be the one.” He begins making his way to the front of the store, Marcus in tow, bypassing other customers who were chatting or moving to other computers to take their turns in Digi-Verse Online. They get to the front, where the store counters were, as well as the large ranking board on the nearby wall. The board listed rankings not just from this local DigiZone store, but from stores all over the world. Adrian scans up the list, his eyes rising higher and higher as his hands clench into fists as he searches.
“There!” Marcus shouts, his finger pointing to the tenth rank spot in the section reserved for Duo teams. Beside the rank number was their team’s name: Foxfire Pride, the two words glowing brightly against the black backdrop of the board. Adrian’s eyes then move to the countdown clock next to the lists. He is just in time to see the final number drop to zero. They’d made it…by the skin of their teeth. Both boys let out a loud whoop of joy. They finally qualified for the Digi-Verse Battle Circuit. They’d come close last year, but were bumped out of the running just before the final day to qualify, plummeting too far down the list to make it back up in time.
Running his hand through his short, dark hair, Adrian grins. “It’s about damn time.” He says with pride. “We need to celebrate. Pizza or burgers?”
“Pizza, man, definitely pizza. And a lot of it.” Marcus replies. “I could demolish a whole pie by myself right now.”
“Where the heck do you put it all, in that skinny frame of yours?” Adrian jokes, laughing as he pokes Marcus lightly.
“It all goes to my good looks.” Marcus shoots back.
The two of them continue to jokingly banter back and forth a bit as they make their way out of the DigiZone to get their victory pizzas. As the door closes behind them, Adrian’s phone buzzes. Glancing down as he pulls it from his pocket, he sees an update to a Digi-Verse forum he’d been following. The headline that jumps out of the message reads: Another Top Player Missing?
Adrian frowns as he reads the short post. He’d seen several like this over the past few months. Marcus glances over at the headline and laughs, waving his hand. “Man, people have too much time on their hands. It’s obvious they’re trying to scare the competition.”
“Yeah, I guess so.” Adrian says with a shrug as he pockets his phone.
