Seimei no Shan AO Chapter 002

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Seimei no Shan AO
Written by: SeiferA

Chapter 002: Test of Courage! Xros Battle Start!
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“We’re looking for a Patamon.”

Many thoughts raced through Shinsei’s mind as he was taken aback by the statement from the DATS Agent. DATS, which stands for “Digital Accident Tactics Squad”, is a worldwide agency dedicated to keeping the peace between Digimon and Alters. Normally, they’re dispatched to take care of rogue Digimon that have breached into cities and towns and to return them to their natural habitat and, to some extremes, destroy them. The agents are all known to be top class Tamers, having some of the strongest Digimon in the world.

Knowing this further made Shinsei curious. Was this agent asking for the very Patamon he was taking care of?

“The creature looks like most other Patamon” Digistar began as she digged into her pockets, “But the clear difference between it and the other is it has what looks to be a cowlick on it’s head.” She then presented a picture to Shinsei, confirming his thoughts.

In that picture was a rogue shot of Patamon with a smile flying across the air in between several Alters, all of whom seemed surprised by the sudden Digimon’s flight between them.

It was indeed the same Patamon.

“Have you seen it?”

Shinsei didn’t know what to say at first. Could he really lie to a DATS Agent? Did they just plan on taking him back to his natural habitat? Or were they planning something worse? With his concerns, he looked down, trying to hide his concerns, “N-No, I haven’t seen it.”

“Tch! Why are we even bothering interrogating this kid, sis?” Impmon spatted, waving his hand, “We both know he knows where that Patamon is at!”

He gulped. Clearly he was busted.

Digistar sighed as she placed her arms on her hips, looking at Impmon with a deadpan expression, “You know, I was TRYING to be the good cop and not the bad cop in this situation, Impmon...”

“And I keep telling you that sissy stuff never works! With dudes like this, you gotta bring down the baton!”

She wrapped her arms and sighed as she shook her head, then looked back at Shinsei, “Look, can you just make my job a bit easier and just tell us where he’s at?”

He sulked a bit. As much as he wanted that Patamon out of his life, he didn’t want him to get into trouble at the same time, “... you’re not going to destroy him or anything like that, are you?”

“Huh? No!” Digistar exclaimed as she waved her arms, “No no no no no no no no! We’re not planning anything THAT extreme! Come on, that’s only reserved for rouge champion level or above Digimon that are causing chaos or something! No, we just want to retrieve him! You see--”

A high tech ringer sound was heard as Digistar looked at her pocket, “Of all the times to call...”
She digged in and pulled out a white and black Key Tool (again looking similar to the Key Tool used with Rose) as she put it to her ear, “Yeah, whats up?”

Silence fell between the group for a brief moment before Digistar’s eyes opened wide, “A-Are you serious!? How did he find him?”

Silence fell a bit more. Eventually, Digistar gave a determined nod, “Right. I understand Captain Suzaku.” She pressed a button on the Key Tool before putting it away, “Ok, enough playing around. Where is he?”

“Y-You mean Patamo--”

Suddenly, she got immediately close to his face and exclaimed, “YES! Patamon!! Out with it already!!!”

His nerves began to take control of him, “I-I-Um, well, I--”

“LOOK KID, it’s important we retrieve that Patamon!” She yelled as she backed the teenager to the red beetle, “There’s a dangerous individual trying to obtain him and we need to find him NOW! Hurry up and tell me!”

His fears for the Digimon suddenly ran rampant, but he soon composed himself, “H-He’s at my house!”

Digistar breathed a sigh of relief in response, “Thank you. Come on, my ride is across the corner. We’ll go there in--”

The red bug’s engine suddenly fired up, causing all three of them to look at the car.

“No way.” Rose spoke out, “I’ll take you all there. Shinsei doesn’t go anywhere without me while I’m looking after him for Eve.”

Digistar blinked a bit at the vehicle, “Y... You’re kidding, right? We need something FAST to get there. And a car like you... well, no offense, but you don’t even look like you can break 55.”

Both driver and passenger side doors opened up as Rose’s avatar gave a glaring expression, revving it’s engine.

“Try me.”

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Driving down what looked to be a black slick vehicle, a song playing from the radio as a man with slightly long hair and thin black glasses tapped his fingers on the wheel to the tune of the song. He kept a straight smile as he he hummed along to the lyrics. About halfway through the song, he managed to reach his destination; Outside the two story small home where Shinsei and his grandma reside.

Shutting off the engine, the man got off the vehicle and slammed the door shut. Wearing a brown suit with brown pants and white gloves, his attire looked to be rather professional. His smile was kept on almost as if it was glued on as he walked up towards the front door and politely knocked on the door.

Keeping Patamon company from upstairs, the older grandmother heard the knock from downstairs. Not expecting anyone and knowing Shinsei wouldn’t knock as he had the keys with him, she suddenly felt slightly cautious.

“Stay right here, young one.”

Patamon looked over to the grandma as she walked out the room and down the stairs. Wondering who may be at the door as well, he couldn’t help but quietly follow behind her.

Looking into the peep hole from the front door, the elderly lady saw the man, whom didn’t seem rather threatening. She opened the door a bit, “Yes, how may I help you?”

“Ah, hello madam!” The man said as he extended his hand and gave a polite bow, “My name is Raldo The Fourth. I have had the most unfortunate experience of being separated from my Digimon partner. I hope you may have found him? The kind people around this neighborhood have informed me they have seen him here. He’s a Patamon.”

She looked at the man. His facial features and attire made him seem to be a trustworthy person, yet something kept nagging the back of her mind that something wasn’t right. She then inquired, “I hope you don’t mind me asking, but could I see your Tamer’s license?”

The man rubbed his head slightly in embarrassment, “Ah! Well, you see, I have just become an official Tamer as of last Tuesday and I’m still waiting for my official license to come from the mail.”

Her suspicions raised up a bit, “How interesting. If I recall, Tamer licenses are usually transferred to a Tamer’s Key Tool. Mail copies are rarely sent.”

“Except when one’s Key Tool is in disarray, madam!” He retorted with a finger up, smile intact, “Again, I do apologize for my suspicious activity, but your response clearly says that you do have my Digimon partner!” He then looked over towards Patamon, whom was looking at the conversation from a corner, “Ah! And there he is!”

The gentleman forced his way into the house, causing Eve to retort, “Excuse me sir, but I did not give you permission to barge into my--”

“Patamon, I am so glad you are safe!” He exclaimed, ignoring Eve’s retort, opening his arms, “Come now, friend, let us return back to my humble abode!”

Patamon’s wings tucked away a bit in fear as he slowly backed away.

“Oh? Tell me you haven’t forgotten about me! Your dearest Tamer whom you got separated from weeks ago!”

Patamon shook his head as he continued to back away, “I-I don’t know who you are...!”

Eve spoke out, “If he doesn’t know who you are, then he is clearly who you aren’t looking for! Now leave this place!”

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Patamon found himself surrounded by a pink ball. He looked to see that Raldo had his right hand wide open. He began to bang on the ball, which gave a hollowed THUMP! with every bang. His voice was muffled from the barrier as he shouted, “LET ME OUT!!!”

“Ah the poor dear doesn’t even recall me! Clearly he must have amnesia!” He remarked as the pink ball floated towards him and to his open hand, “Anyway, I do apologize for bringing about such a ruckus with this thing. If you’ll excuse me, I will--”

WHAM!!!

A large silver cane being held by Eve slammed the back of the gentlemen. While Eve was certain that it would knock him out, she was shocked to find out that he stood his ground, back slightly pushed down.

Silence fell for a bit... and eventually the gentlemen’s tone turned more neutral:

“Tell me, madam... are you a retired SnS Solder?”

She gave a hard glare.

“... that’s what I thought.” He sighed as he continued, “And to think I thought you would just simply back down...”

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“HOW IN THE EVER LOVING CRAP CAN THIS CLUNKER GO SO FAST!?”

Digistar held onto the side of the backseat, as did Impmon, as the old Volkswagen was somehow darting down the streets at fairly fast speeds, it’s engine roaring loudly, and weaving in and around traffic. Rose exclaimed from the key tool, “Told you I’m fast! A finely tuned single carb 1700cc engine with the right parts can make all the difference! Isn’t that right, Shinsei!?”

Shinsei was holding onto a bar from the dash on the passenger side seat as he exclaimed, “Rose, I appreciate the gloating, but keep your headlights on the road!”

“You got it!”

The bug charged down the streets, taking corners with hard turns and causing the passengers inside to almost get flung left and right as such. Impmon in particular began to get dizzy eyes, “I... I think I’m gonna be sick...”

“We’re here!” Rose exclaimed.

Digistar looked over the seat and shouted, “And there he is! With Patamon!!”

Patamon, seeing the red bug racing down with Shinsei inside, banged on the ball once more, “SHINSEI!!!”

Raldo noticed the red volkswagen racing down the street towards him. He shook his head as he chuckled a bit, then opened the door to fling Patamon to the driver side door, then quickly hopped inside. The engine to the vehicle immediately roared in a very electronic tone of sorts as he darted off.

“He’s escaping with Patamon!”, Digistar exclaimed, “QUICK, AFTER HIM!!”

“Wait!” Shinsei exclaimed, “What about Grandma!?”

Following the concerns, Rose stopped hard next to the house as Shinsei got out and ran inside, “GRANDMA!!”

He heard muffled noises as he looked around. Eventually, he saw his Grandma, tied up by a bunch of energy ropes and mouth taped, “Grandma, are you ok!?” He pulled out the tape as she gasped out, “AH! ... Shinsei... Patamon... he... I’m so sorry...”

He immediately hugged her, “It’s ok Grandma, it’s ok...”

Digistar quickly followed Shinsei and head inside to check on him. As she stepped in, she received another call from her Key Tool, quickly pulling it out, “Yes sir?”

“Digistar, I have a lock on the kidnapped target. I’ll mark the coordinates to your Digivice iC”

She nodded, “Roger that, Captain Suzaku.” She then hung up as she spoke to the teen patting him on the shoulder, “Shinsei, I’ll hunt him down. You wait here and keep your grandma safe.”

As she turned around to head out, she heard him speak out, “Transfer the location to my D-Ark.”

She turned back, “Huh?”

He got up as he looked towards her, “I got my own Digivice! I’ll save Patamon myself!”

Impmon put his hand on his hip as he rolled his eyes, “Oh brother... Kid, stop trying to act like an adult here! This is official DATS work now! Leave it to us!”

“I REFUSE TO!!”

Impmon gave a confused look as Shinsei looked down, “This is my responsibility. Please.”

Digistar looked towards Shinsei, then pulled out her Digivice iC and looked at the digital compass now showing Patamon’s location. She looked back to Shinsei, then sighed, “If you insist. We’ll take care of your Grandma. But seriously, be careful. There’s not much we know about this man, but all I know is he’s not your average criminal.”

Shinsei nodded as he ran upstairs to grab his Digivice. Impmon put his arms to the back of his head and sighed at the DATS Officer, “Are you sure you should leave this up to him, sis?”

She looked to Impmon, then back upstairs, “Even if I wanted to stop him, I couldn’t. When a Tamer has eyes like that, the word ‘No’ doesn’t exist in their vocabulary.”

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Inside what looked to be an abandoned warehouse with the black vehicle now parked outside it, Patamon continued to bang hard on the pink energy ball, screaming to let him out and occasionally even try to use attacks on the barrier with no results.

“Come now you insignificant creature.” Raldo remarked as he shook his head, “I’ve told you countless times that it’s pointless to try to break my magical sphere. Now why don’t you just sit your rear on the ground and await your fate.”

“YOU WONT GET AWAY WITH THIS!!” Patamon exclaimed, “SHINSEI WILL COME FOR ME!”

An unknown voice chuckled from the dark corners of the warehouse, “Shinsei, is it? Is that your Tamer?” The source of the voice soon revealed itself as it stepped out. Wearing a white and black mask with a heart marked on the white end, with a large red coat with a white regal colar and white gloves with green pants and two sheathed blades from behind, most Digimon Tamers recognized this as the Mega level Digimon known as Piedmon, the strongest level a Digimon can obtain. Piedmon leaned over the ball with a smirk, “Oh believe me, Master Raldo is much looking forward to encountering him before his client arrives!”

Confusion ran through Patamon’s panicked eyes, “Client? What are you even talking about!? What do you all want from me!?”

The gentleman chuckled as he paced around, “It’s not my place to ask my clients their purposes for acquiring their targets. All I know is I’m being paid quite handsomely for this job. Enough to retire from my job as a bounty hunter for that matter! Truthfully it’s becoming rather boring to do this job over and over again. 15 years doing this and only once had I ever lost a target.” His black eyes then looked towards the Digimon, “But I digress. My client will be here in 30 minutes, so I can only hope your precious Tamer will arrive beforehand.”

“I’m already here, you idiot!”

Raldo and Piedmon’s eyes turned towards the source of the voice, seeing Shinsei give a hard glare towards them, wearing his light blue D-Ark around his neck like a necklace, “Ah, I see your Tamer has arrived!”

“I’m not his Tamer!” Shinsei countered.

“Not his Tamer you say?” Piedmon quipped, “Then why did you come here, pray tell?”

“Because I refuse to let a Digimon that’s under my watch get harmed by anyone ever again!” As Shinsei reached out towards his pocket and pulled out a Digimon Card, however, Raldo brought out his hand, “Hold on, boy.”

“GAK! S-SHINSEI!”

Shinsei looked from behind Raldo to see the pink energy ball around Patamon shrink down slightly, with the Digimon looking like he’s choking from a lack of air, “PATAMON!”

Raldo’s eyes were now ice cold as his smile faded away with a neutral expression, “I recommend you step down. My client requires this specimen intact but I can certainly do as much harm to him as I want before I hand him over.”

Shinsei’s glare was intact as his hand began to shake. Soon, however, after he realized his situation, he gave a side glance and got off his stance. Raldo smiled as the bubble expanded a bit once more, allowing Patamon to gasp for air, “Good. Looks like you know your place.”

Raldo began to step towards Shinsei as he continued, “Now I consider myself to be a fair gentleman. I like to make my objectives more... challenging. Let’s say this: If you defeat me in a game, I will free your Patamon.”

Shinsei was confused by this man’s declaration. Patamon especially, as he just heard Raldo express how important it was for him to give Patamon to his client. But despite this, Shinsei asked cautiously, “What kind of game are we talking about here?”

“Oh it’s a simple game!” Raldo exclaimed as he arms opened wide, “A very fun one at that! I recognize that you’re an SnS Student judging from the jacket you are wearing so I can assume you were told about this sort of game. Illegal in many parts of the world, but a very fun sport in the underground. Pitting rival races against one another, using their deep soulful hatred against one another to flourish!”

Shinsei’s eyes shook a bit as the description soon made him realize what the man was proposing. His suspicions on what he was proposing was further confirmed by Piedmon’s chuckling, “No...”

“That’s right boy!”

He pointed towards Shinsei in declaration.

“I CHALLENGE YOU TO A XROS BATTLE! POKEMON VS DIGIMON!!”

Shinsei couldn’t believe what was being proposed to him. He heard all about Xros Battles from his instructors and teachers at SnS Academy. How such battles were forbidden by the Pokemon League and Digimon Network as the inner instincts from both creatures are usually forced out on one another to the point of bloodlust. In fact, the very reason why wild Pokemon were rampant in towns and cities and wild Digimon were more excluded in rural areas was for this very reason; To keep both races apart from one another as Digimon have held a long reputation for hating Pokemon for being the primary race to partner alongside Alters, and Pokemon feeling that they need to not only protect that status, but also to protect their Trainers from the violent and devastating Digimon.

It’s a form of battle that opens up that very hatred into a dark source of conflict... and death. And Shinsei didn’t want to see this, “I... I won’t-”

“You don’t have a choice, boy!” Raldo exclaimed, “Either you challenge me in this game or I’ll continue to put your Patamon through hell!”

Shinsei didn’t want to do this. He knew what would happen if he tried to get involve in this sort of battle, “I... I don’t have any Pokemon though!”

The pink ball shrunk again, this time dispelliing electricity at the same time

“GAAAAAH!!!!”

Raldo’s eyes gave a sinister look as he gave a devilish smile, releasing the grip once more as the ball grew back to normal and electricity no longer expelling, “... don’t lie to me, boy. Almost everyone has a Pokemon. You are no different. Now hurry up and summon your Pokemon.”

He didn’t have a choice. He had to do it. He winced as he grabbed his Pokemon and whispered, “I’m sorry Majestic. Please... try to control yourself.” He then exclaimed as he threw the Poke Ball in the air and caught it, “MAJESTIC, I CHOOSE YOU!!”

As he threw the ball, the mermaid seal Pokemon known as Primarina popped out of the ball, it’s nickname clearly being Majestic. Giving an elegent pose, it gave a soothing cry as it’s entrance call, its eyes closed with a smile.

But when it’s eyes opened to see Piedmon, it’s blue eyes suddenly narrowed, quickly exposing its fangs and giving a loud snarl and growl. Shinsei was taken aback by Majestic’s sudden feral action; This was the first time he’s ever seen a Pokemon get this angry and offensive, “M-Majestic, control yourself!”

“Kehehehehehe!!” Piedmon laughed as he began to flex around his hands, causing bones to pop, “OHHH HOW LONG I’VE WAITED FOR THIS MOMENT! Master Raldo, I must thank you for this opportunity!”

Raldo smiled as he backed away, arms gesturing towards the Primarina, “You are quite welcome. Please. Go and let loose all of your emotions on it.”

The seal princess Pokemon slammed it’s flippers on the ground, and extended its head to give a terrifying growl, “GRAHHHHHHH!!!!”

“KYAHAHAHAHAHA!!” The Digimon once again laughed, extending his head forward as well as he walked towards the Pokemon, “Yes, yes, yes, yes, YES!!!! Bring about your stupid anger! That mindless urge to protect your Trainer from Digimon!! You pathetic POCKET MONSTERS stole EVERYTHING from us when you took our place in this world as the Alter’s primary protectors, forcing us Wild Ones into exile! So many years of fending out in the wild... SO MANY YEARS OF DEALING WITH SURVIVAL WITHOUT AN ALTER TO CALL OUR OWN!”

Electricity began to spark from Piedmon’s hands as his sadistic anger grew.

“I WILL MAKE YOU PAY FOR YOUR KIND’S ACTIONS WITH YOUR LIFE!!”

Majestic lept forward almost purely by instinct, causing Shinsei to raise out his hand, “WAIT!! MAJESTIC!!!”

A stream of steady water began to form around the Pokemon and soon darted out quickly right towards Piedmon. Shinsei identified this attack as Aqua Jet... however, it caught him off guard as he recalled making Majestic forget that very move long ago.

How did Majestic relearn this move at will?

Piedmon’s confidence in victory was showing through his smile as he brought out both of his hands, electricity coursing through as he declared his attack:

“ENDING SNIPE!!”

A blast of electricity acted as a barrier as it blocked the attack and began to cover the barrier of water around Majestic. Majestic struggled to break through, using its inner rage as the energy needed to do so. The electricity began to slowly wrap towards the Pokemon, breaking through the water barrier and causing intense pain. Using the pain to further bring out it’s rage even further, it struggles further until it slowly started to break through.

“W-What!?”

Suddenly out of nowhere, the electricity barrier broke away, causing Majestic to rocket right into Piedmon’s stomach, “GWAHHH!!!!”

Like a rocket, the water attack caused Piedmon to be pushed towards the steel wall of the warehouse, causing a huge SLAM!!!!. As the attack made contact, the water dissapated and the water Pokemon landed on the Digimon’s body.

“Oh?” Raldo remarked, “A stage 2 Pokemon was able to break through a Mega level Digimon’s attack! Most impressive!”

Shinsei couldn’t believe what he was seeing. His Primarina was never much for fighting. In fact, he rarely used it in battle, if at all, except for the occasional friendly match ups and gym challenges that occured in town from time to time. To see it not only use an attack it hasn’t used in months, but also use it to overtake a Mega level Digimon’s attack... it was surprising to say the least.

As Majestic reganed itself, it’s eyes continued to glare as it opened it’s mouth wide open, looking as if ready to tear apart the Mega level Digimon. Shinsei immediately began to remember what kind of situation was this as he called out again, “MAJESTIC, NO! STOP THIS!!”

Piedmon’s closed eyes suddenly opened up wide as he smirked, “I’m not done yet.”

It came out of nowhere. Both Shinsei and especially Majestic thought Piedmon used up his attack.

But they failed to realize that there was still a bit of electricity coursing through his right hand.

He flung his hand right into the Primarina’s mouth as it bit right into it. However, at that exact moment, the powerful electric current coursed right into it’s mouth and it’s whole body, causing it to close its eyes and cry out in pain.

“MAJESTIC!!!!”

Piedmon got up almost instantly, almost as if the Aqua Jet attack did little to no damage, then twirled around a bit as it flung around Majestic in it’s hand, electricity still wrapping around it. Finally, the force from all the flinging forced Majestic’s fangs off of Piedmon’s hands and caused it’s body to rocket towards Shinsei. Before his body had a chance to react, the Pokemon’s body crashed right into the young teenager, causing him to also get caught in the electricity before both of them slammed into another wall in the warehouse.

The electricity finally ran out as Majestic’s body landed down on the ground, Shinsei’s eventually following suit right behind her.

As Piedmon cracked it’s head a bit, Raldo gave a polite golf clap, “Well done, well done! Now proceed with taking it’s head!”

As Piedmon continued to move towards the Pokemon, Majestic’s eyes slowly opened up, struggling to force itself up. It continued to snarl in self defense, hard narrow glares continuing to target the Digimon in pure bloodlust.

“Majestic...”

Suddenly, hand was placed on it’s body. For the first time since it came out of it’s Poke Ball, the Primarina’s eyes were now looking at it’s Trainer, whom was also hurt from the attack as he forced himself, his eyes looking sad and extremely concerned.


“Stop... Please... Nobody is going to win this fight... if you fight with death as the conclusion to the battle.”

Maybe it was his sad pleas or the words directly associated with it... but as Majestic looked at it’s trainer, it’s killer instincts seemed to suddenly dissolve itself. Realizing what has happened and, in turn, realizing that it’s actions caused the domino effect of getting it’s trainer hurt, the Primarina gave a hard hug towards it’s trainer. If it could speak, it would have told him, “I’m sorry.”

However, it’s actions was more than enough to get the message to Shinsei as he hugged back, “Heh... it’s ok Majestic.”

Raldo gave a confused look in response, “A Pokemon... broken out of it’s bloodlust in a Xros Battle? How did you...?”

“It doesn’t matter how it happened, Master Raldo!”, Piedmon exclaimed as he unsheathed his two blades, “Because right now, that Pokemon is dead!!” Suddenly the Digimon darted towards Majestic as he exclaimed his attack:

“TRUMP SWORD!!”

Shinsei forced himself up as quickly as possible as he flung his right hand forward in declaration, “MAJESTIC, USE PROTECT!!”

Several swords were suddenly flung from Piedmon as a powerful frontal energy barrier was unleashed by Primarina, blocking all the blades from striking. However, Piedmon was right behind the stream and unleashed the last two blades, thrusting straight into the barrier. While he was doing this, Shinsei quickly digged into his jacket, looking for something...

The protection from the energy barrier was enough to hold Piedmon back, despite his struggles to force through, eventually forcing him back and causing him to land on his two feet.
As Piedmon evaluated what to do next, he noticed the blades he threw at the Primarina were all scattered about. Getting an idea, he got into an offensive stance and declared his next attack:

“TOY WONDERNESS!”

Swiping his right arm forward, a gust of wind suddenly formed, flinging the blades high into the air. As this was happening, Shinsei managed to pull out what he was looking for in his jacket: A White Z-Ring. However, before he could snap it on, he saw the blades being thrusted forward. Shinsei commanded yet again, “Majestic! Hold off his attack with another protect!!”

As Majestic followed it’s Trainer’s command, Piedmon gave a smirk as he suddenly declared:

“MASK SQUARES!”

Suddenly, the entire area turned pitch dark. Before Shinsei could even figure out what was going on, several stone masks that looked similar to Piedmon’s face started to form from the darkness. Some of their mouths opened wide, absorbing the very swords that were just flung upwards.

Then, out of nowhere, several more masks formed behind Majestic and him. Before either of them had a chance to react, the blades were shot out from the masks’ mouthes, striking Majestic and piercing straight into it’s body, causing it to wallow out in pain.

Shinsei exclaimed Majestic’s name once more as it’s body nearly fell to the ground... but it’s two flippers managed to catch itself beforehand. The blades were sucked back by the masks before being dispeled back to Piedmon as they were sheathed back in mid-air. As the light returned back to the abandoned warehouse, the virus Digimon simply gave a bow.

If Majestic’s health could be measured, it’d be at 1 HP right now. How it managed to barely survive was likely through the will to protect it’s Trainer.

Shinsei put on the Z-Ring.

He knew this had to end right now.

“Majestic, hang in there! We’re going to finish this off now!!”

“Kyahahahahaha!!”, Piedmon laughed out loud, “Boy, your precious Pokemon is at the end of it’s rope! With my last attack, not only will I win this fight, but I will also take it’s life! Say goodbye to your insignificant Pokemon!!”

Shinsei gave a hard glare towards Piedmon as he posed with his Z-Ring, “Don’t underestimate the power of a Pokemon and it’s Trainer!!”. At that moment, a blue light began to glow from the ring as he initiated a series of gestures. At the end of it, a stream of golden energy suddenly engulfed the Primarina and caused it to rise up, almost as if it was back to full health as a symbol flashed in front of it.

Piedmon, never seeing this movement before, was taken by surprised by this, “W-What the...!?”

“Witness the power of the Z-Ring! OCEANIC OPERETTA!!”

Clearing it’s throat, Majestic breathed in and then bellowed out an opera tone from it’s voice, raising it’s flippers high into the air as a stream of water suddenly rised from the ground and towards the air, slowly forming an sphere of water energy. Piedmon tried to move to stop the attack... but noticed that for reasons he couldn’t fathom, he couldn’t move his body. His face showed frustration as he was unable to retaliate.

As the last drop of water was absorbed by the sphere high above, Majestic then gently mimicked it’s flippers forward to move the sphere. It slowly began to do so, dripping water to the ground as it soon loomed over Piedmon, right on top of his head. His frustrations grew as he struggled as hard as he could to get out of this unknown grip, but to no avail.

When the sphere was finally in place, Shinsei thrusted both of his index fingers into the air and exclaimed, “GO!!!”

Majestic bellowed out one more mighty tone, raising it’s flippers high as the sphere lowered briefly to absorb Piedmon. He began to choke in the water, but soon felt the pressure intensify in the inside of this sphere.

“This power...!” Piedmon thought, “How...!? Where did it...!?”

At that exact moment the sphere produced a mighty explosion. The pain Piedmon felt from the resulting blast was the equivalent to a powerful bomb. It rivaled that of other similar attacks from Mega level Digimon. His screams of agony could be heard as his body was thrusted upwards and landed hard on the ground with a powerful THUD!!!

At that moment, both Majestic and Shinsei gave a proper bow as the area gave a mist of rain for a brief moment. Soon afterwards, both of them keeled over, exhausted from the battle.

Raldo’s expression could not be read as he walked over to Piedmon. The mega level Digimon struggled to force itself up, but the sheer power from that last attack somehow managed to paralyze a good chunk of his body. “D-DAMN IT...!!”

As Raldo finally stood above the broken Piedmon, the Digimon gave a sadistic smile, “Heh... don’t worry Master Raldo... I... I’m not done yet...! I... I will eliminate that Pokemon with my very hands! I swear to you I’ll--”

SHING!

Piedmon’s eyes shook in pure terror as it felt something in it’s stomach. Looking down, he saw one of his own blades stabbed right through.

“M... MASTER RALDO! PLEASE! I--”

“Silence, you failure.”

Suddenly the remaining blades from Piedmon struck him all around his body, causing him to scream in agony. Shinsei and Majestic were barely able to regain themselves to see this surprising turn of events, taken by surprise by Raldo’s heartless action.

As Piedmon raised his hand towards Raldo, he gave out one statement, “D... DAMN YOU, RALDO...!!”

And the last blade from Piedmon struck him right in the face, breaking the mask on his face... forcing his hand to the ground as his body began to dematerialize.

How Raldo was able to command those blades at will was beyond Shinsei’s guess, but he could feel a very strange and abnormal power coming from Raldo. Was this what Digistar was trying to warn him about?

Raldo flicked his hands as he sighed, “Pathetic. Not even a Mega level Digimon could handle something as moronic as a Stage 2 Pokemon. I admit I was not expecting this... but no matter.”

He then flicked his left hand, suddenly freeing Patamon from his sphere prison as it shattered into hundreds of energy particles. Exhausted from trying to break down the sphere, Patamon could only look on in confusion as he saw himself no longer entraped.

“I am a man of my word.” Raldo began as he looked at his hands, “Your Digimon is free.”

“However.”

In an instant, he was there.

Right in front of Shinsei’s face. Smiling maniacly.

“I never did promise anything else.”

A blade suddenly appeared right on Shinsei’s neck, startling Majestic right next to him.

His fears grew. Not once had he was ever brought into a life of death situation like the one he was in now. He winced in complete and utter terror as Raldo looked at Shinsei, almost nose to nose, “I’m done playing games, boy. In a few moments, my client will be here to pick up this Patamon. Even if he did want to run away, there’s no escape from this place, so any attempts he makes is futile. Though despite all of this, my client had one specific request I had to abide to, otherwise the reward was off. Do you know what that is?”

“No witnesses.”

His heart raced. This was it. He was as good as dead.

“Say hello to the reaper for me!”

POW!!!!

Raldo’s face was flinched by a powerful air blast of sorts, causing his black glasses to fall to the ground. The blade lowered as Shinsei quickly moved away from the blade, with both Raldo and Majestic looking at the source of the attack.

It came from Patamon. Whom still look exhausted from his endeavors.

If glares could strike like daggers, then Raldo’s cold pure black eyes would have instantly and silently killed the Digimon. No light reflected off the irises of his eyes. He felt his face... and noticed a bit of blood was coming from where the blow struck.

He started to walk slowly towards Patamon as Shinsei shouted, “RUN AWAY PATAMON!!”

Patamon, however, kept his ground as he glared hard. Majestic attempted to rush right towards Raldo, but her efforts were proven to be in vain as Raldo gave a quick slap towards the Pokemon, sending her sliding down to the ground and, exhausted from the fight, causes her to get knocked out.

Seeing this, Patamon jumped up and expanded his body as he began to declare his attack:

“AIR--”

He didn’t have a single chance to even prepare his attack as Raldo quickly gripped his neck with his hand and began to choke him. Patamon struggled as hard as he could to get out of Raldo’s grip, but the mad bounty hunter’s grip was as strong as an iron lock.

“Funny...”

Patamon’s eyes looked towards Raldo as his expression was neutral and cold, almost looking sadistic.

“This feeling...”

Both of his hands now began to grip Patamon, as he choked loudly in utter pain.

“I feel... like I’ve been waiting for this moment. But why? I suddenly want to kill you... I shouldn’t because I’ll lose my reward, but yet... I wish to! Not because you’ve been a thorn in my side now... but because of something else...!”

“Who are you!?”

Patamon’s did not give a response to Raldo.

“WHO ARE YOU!?!”

Instead of answering the mad bounty hunter, he looked over to Shinsei weakly, “S... Shinsei...”

Shinsei was paralyzed from complete fear and anguish. His hands trembled. This unknown bounty hunter was about to kill Patamon and he felt like all he could do was just stand and watch.

Flashbacks came to him from when Tsukaimon died.

“This is... your fault...”

“I... hate... you...”

Tears began to stream down his face as he looked down. He wanted to help Patamon. But how? How could he against an adversary as insanely strong as this individual? His mind was a blank. There was nothing he could do!

“Shinsei...”

His brown eyes looked towards Patamon. And he was caught by utter surprise as he saw the Digimon smile at him as his body started to slowly dematerialize.

“I... will never hate you... Shinsei... You’re... my Tamer... Believe... in yourself... I know... you can do it...!”

“I... trust you...!!!”

Something struck his soul from those words. Something that he never thought he’d ever hear from another Digimon.

I Trust You

His D-Ark from around his neck slowly glowed a bright light as he tried to comprehend the situation. Why would Patamon, close to the brink of death, put so much faith in him? He was a pathetic excuse for a Tamer. In his heart and in his mind, this is what he accepted. Yet this Patamon, with his own words, was telling him otherwise?

His hair began to flutter as Raldo noticed a blue energy field suddenly covering around Shinsei. He loosened his grip slightly in pure confusion as his D-Ark started floating around wildly from the energy. Both it and Shinsei’s Z-Ring began to glow a white light before an explosion of light caused Raldo to cover his eyes and let go of Patamon, who fell to the ground.

When the light dimmed, Raldo looked on to see Shinsei with his eyes closed. What was on his wrist was now falling into thousands of pieces as the D-Ark on his chest finally dimmed down as well, revealing a white D-Ark with a red ring. However, 3 crystals, Orange, Green and White, were now on the outer portion of the ring. The inner portion of the ring also looked different with a screen with multiple colors displaying and the buttons below having a more directional set of buttons.

Raldo recognized the device and backed away slightly, “I... Impossible! That’s...!?”

However he felt several drops of water float past him and going towards Shinsei’s right fist. The source of the water was coming from Majestic’s unconsience body. And a powerful wind energy was also coming from Patamon’s body. As the two energies mixed into his fist, a powerful light soon bursted.

His brown eyes opened... and gave a hard glare.

“You... HOW DID YOU GET THAT DEVICE!?”, Raldo exclaimed as he drew out his sword. The device was recognizable to him and it brought a great deal of fear to him.

Shinsei simply stepped forward, his facial expression not changing and not providing a response. Energy started to build as he continued to march forward. For the first time, Raldo was showing an intense amount of fear.

“S-STAY BACK!!! I-I WILL DESTROY YOU!!! I WILL--”

Suddenly, a powerful burst of energy caused Shinsei to leap forward right towards Raldo, his fist backed away, preparing an attack.

“HURRICANE...”

He could counter this easily, he thought. He could simply phase in and out as he was doing before. He could use the very dark magic he learned to easily escape.

But somehow... these fears... these emotions that he was somehow giving him... prevented him from moving whatsoever.

“Why?”

“WHY!?”

“PUNCH!!!!”

Shinsei’s right fist struck Raldo right on his injured cheek, causing him to wallow in agony from the sheer pain of the power of wind and water as he body was shot like a powerful rocket right into the nearby steel wall.

KER-SLAM!!!!!

The dust from the powerful attack covered the entire area from where Raldo’s body was launched at. As Shinsei’s eyes focused, his body still in the pose where he punched Raldo, he looked towards his right hand as the energy diminished, completely in shock and confusion from how he was able to gain such power.

As the dust finally settled, Raldo’s body was resting from a crater formed on the wall from the sheer impact of the attack, his right cheek completely beaten and his face lowered down.

Seeing that the threat was now taken care of, Shinsei soon snapped out of his trance and looked towards Patamon’s body, which was still slightly dematerializing, “PATAMON! HOLD ON!!”

Shinsei ran up to Patamon, wincing a bit from the pain from the attacks from earlier, but pushing it to the side as he grabbed his new D-Ark and grabbed a Digimon Card, quickly slashing it.

“CARD SLASH! CURE BOX!”

Dozens of sparkling energy covered the Digimon... and at that moment, the dematerializing stopped. Shinsei slid on his knees right next to Patamon and cradled him in his arms, “P-Patamon, are you...!?”

Patamon opened his eyes weakly and gave a positive smile, “I’m ok... Shinsei...” He then chuckled, “But that cure box... can’t regain stamina... Heh... that’s something new for you to learn... huh?”

Shinsei rubbed away the tears forming from his eyes and nodded.

“Shinsei...”

“Hm?”

“Can we... be partners... now?”

The tears formed in his eyes once again. Through Tsukaimon’s words and death, Shinsei lost his self confidence in himself and his ability to find a purpose in his life 10 years ago. Yet on this day, a Digimon similar in looks yet very different in heart gave that back to him. The tears in his eyes not only reflected his joy that Patamon was alive...

But that the orange Digimon brought a positive outlook to his life once more.

Shinsei nodded as he hugged Patamon, and the mammal Digimon hugged right back.

“Yeah. You are my partner... Patamon.”

TO BE CONITNUED