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 Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 8:26 am
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The two Monitamon that had been spying on Shiro quickly began to flail around, giving away their position, to avoid being accidentally set upon by the randomly occurring weapons. It eventually got to the point where they were both running around in circles until they collided with one another in a comedic fashion, staggered for a moment, and then bolted in the opposite direction to repeat the process over again.
As such, the image quickly cut out on the third Monitamon who had been broadcasting everything to Taiki. "Well then, I guess that means we're going to have to go in for a closer look," Taiki decided. He had the Monitamon that was with him lead him to the location the other two had been broadcasting from.
"Don't you think that might be kind of dangerous given Shiro's emotional state?" Akari called after him.
"Which is why you and Zenjirou should just stay here," Taiki called back.
"Oh no," Akari got up and immediately stormed after him, dragging Zenjirou along by the back of his shirt. "We're going with you."
"Hey, I was still eating!" Zenjirou protested.
*~*~*~*~*
"Full power, huh? In that case, I suppose I'd better get serious too," Crystal stood her ground and raised her Xros Loader over her head, reflexively dialing in the digimon she had selected to accompany her for this particular battle. "∞Zapmon, Slashdramon, Gururumon, Lighdramon, Black Fladramon, Digi Xros!"
"X-Neo Zapdramon!" the resulting digimon declared powerfully.
X-Neo Zapdramon had the torso of an anthropomorphized Gururumon. The fur on each of its legs eventually transitioned into sections of golden armor from its knees to its ankles with a metallic silver blade in the shape of a bolt of lightning running up the shin with the pointed end extending a little ways up from the knee and an additional blade angled off to each side. X-Neo Zapdramon's feet were covered by Fladramon's spiked flame boots. The fur on each of its arms eventually transitioned into sections of golden armor from its wrists to its elbows with a metallic silver blade in the shape of a bolt of lightning along the back of the arm with the pointed end extending a little ways beyond the tips of its fingers. A small, golden cannon was wedged beneath the blades of the armor on each of its of arms. Its hands were five-fingered, black-scaled, humanoid hands with a pattern of blue and crimson lightning bolt patterned stripes. Each finger ended in a pointed silver claw. Its tail was also distinctly black-scaled and reptilian with blue and crimson lightning bolt patterned stripes. X-Neo Zapdramon's silver eyed, draconic, black-scaled head with a pattern of blue and crimson lightning bolt patterned stripes had a pair of metallic horns protruding from its snout above its nostrils with two additional pairs of metallic horns protruding from above its eyes and from the back of its head. A longer pair of metallic silver horns shaped like bolts of lightning was positioned outside the metallic pair on the back of its head. It wore a golden chestplate inscribed with the ∞ symbol on the front. A row of small metallic silver spikes in the shape of bolts of lightning extended over both of its shoulders from the golden chestplate. Beneath the chestplate was a section of black armor with downward facing lightning bolt shaped spikes that would have been on Lighdramon's back. X-Neo Zapdramon's waist was covered by the section of Fladramon's armor adorned with the Crest of Courage with additional sections of flame patterned armor positioned off to either side. Its shoulders were covered by sections of black armor with a rectangular patch of red that would have been on Lighdramon's front legs. X-Neo Zapdramon also had a pair of draconic wings extending from its shoulder blades fading from gold to crimson to white giving it an impressive wingspan. The helmet armors of Lighdramon and Fladramon formed the bladed ends of of a double-bladed sword held to be wielded by X-Neo Zapdramon.
"Light-Flame Vortex!" X-Neo Zapdramon ignited both ends of the double-bladed sword, with lightning and fire respectively, while spinning it rapidly to produce a destructive vortex to engulf Reichmon.
"Schwarz Lehrsatz!" Reichmon shielded himself with a blast of darkness fired out of his chest. The destructive clash of the two immensely powerful energies could be detected for quite some distance without much difficulty.
Good, Crystal thought. They're evenly matched. That means that this Reichmon is only about as strong as Kouichi's Lowemon. And that's with an environment beneficial to the power of darkness.
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Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 9:02 am
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SHiro of course just gritted his teeth, feeling the clash of the powers, his hands twitching as the weapons began getting more erratic and numerous in their summoning and disappearing, but they weren't doing anything to the Monitamonz in the area as he sat there, but he did bring one arm up after a few moments, the weapons all fading from sight and instead the energy began to coalesce on that hand as a new weapon was starting to form in his hand, one that Crystal would be familiar with given he had used it against Death-X-mon and even DarkKnightmon, the segmented blade spinning and whirring dangerously, crackling with energy erratically, responding to it's owners fluctuating emotional state ~********.... i can't help Crystal... i know i'm useless.. but.. this is too much... DUSKMON!!!!~ he shouted in his head as the segments stopped and started again and again, never releasing any destructive energy, but the raw power from the blade could still be felt.
Gabumon of course followed, with a tired Agnimon as well as Ranamon and Kudamon, who at the moment called Truce with each other so they could help Shiro, to make sure the other humans didn't get hurt from being too close to a -very- barely in control Shiro.
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Kuukyo_Fushichou Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 10:24 am
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"Thermal Resonance!"X-Neo Zapdramon ignited the surface of its body with high intensity flames that quickly excited the molecules in the surrounding area so that they also began to catch fire, rapidly spreading to curl around Reichmon as he continued to defend himself from X-Neo Zapdramon's earlier attack.
"Alright," Crystal held her Xros Loader in front of her so she could look down at the display screen. "Are the rest of you ready to pulverize this guy while I have X-Neo Zapdramon keep him pinned down?"
"That is why we came here with you," Shoutmon responded. "You just make sure you rest up once this is over or you'll exhaust yourself from wielding too many high powered Digi Xrosses."
Crystal nodded. "Yeah, I already know that. But I've still got to try if it means being able to eliminate Duskmon so Shiro won't have to."
"Then let's go," Dorulumon spoke encouragingly.
Crystal raised her Xros Loader once again. "Shoutmon, Ballistamon, Dorulumon, Starmon, Pickmonz, Digi Xros!"
"Shoutmon X4!" The sword-wielding warrior took shape from the combination of digimon.
"This is Xros Heart's power," Crystal reached into her back pocket and pulled out a couple of Digimon cards. "And this is some of mine! Card Slash! High Speed Plug-in B! Card Slash! White Wings!" She swiped the cards through the card reader slot on the side of her Xros Loader to boost the movement speed of Shoutmon X4 as well as giving him the means to fly even in the absence of Sparrowmon.
"Rot Kreuz!" Reichmon brought around his staff to try to divert X-Neo Zapdramon's steadily growing flames. As such, he was caught entirely by surprise when Shoutmon X4 essentially pulled a flash step to materialize directly behind him.
"Burning Star Crusher!" Shoutmon X4 slashed from behind unleashing a wave of intense crimson energy.
"Electrical Overload!" X-Neo Zapdramon quickly followed by maximizing its electrical output to expand its electric field to engulf Reichmon while he was still staggered from being struck by Shoutmon X4 while the latter performed another flash step to move out of harms way as Reichmon and space surrounding him became intensely electrified in a huge, blinding flash. When the light faded, there was no sign of Reichmon left in the area.
*~*~*~*~*
Within the electrified space, Reichmon's form had destabilized and shattered so that he reverted back into Duskmon and only narrowly escaped through a portal of darkness with his life. He had almost gravely underestimated the strength of Team Epoch's general and the strength of her bond with Xros Heart. Certainly, the girl didn't just claim to be part of the team, for all intents and purposes she meant it and now Duskmon had seen it for himself. He had exhausted his power as Reichmon simply trying to defend himself. "It would seem that endangering the girl isn't as simple as it at first appears," he murmured to himself before losing consciousness in front of the viewing monitors.
*~*~*~*~*
"I think he got away," Shoutmon grumbled as he kicked at a rock outside of the huge mansion filled with the usual assortment of digital ghosts and other conventional monsters.
"Yeah, I didn't sense him dissipate into data," Zapmon agreed. "Still, that should put him out of commission for awhile."
Crystal sighed. "Oh well, guess we'd better head back to the resort to let everyone know the plan was a success for the most part."
*~*~*~*~*
"That doesn't look good," Taiki observed once he and the others had gotten close to the area where Shiro had gone to train. He's really losing control over all this, he thought.
"You know, I don't think you're going to be able to get through to him by punching him like you did with Kiriha," noted Zenjirou. "He seems really out of it."
"No kidding," Akari elbowed him and shoved him back.
"I don't like it," Taiki concluded. "But we might have to wait for Crystal to get back so she can get through to him. I doubt he would listen to any of the rest of us in this state."
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Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 2:53 pm
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Shiro just stared up at the sky, he could hear them perfectly, and was focused on the disappearance of Reichmon's energy signature, gripping Ea lightly before actually dropping it, causing the weapon to disappear, the other blades also disappearing, leaving things clear for anyone to approach him as he stood there, staring upwards lightly ~... am i that weak? that i can't defend myself and need crystal to pull crazy stunts to make sure i'm safe?~ he just continued staring at the sky lightly with one open eye, the other closed to fight back from letting his emotions flow out.
Gabumon blinked, watching Shiro curiously, and sighed, seeing that kind of aura "well, he doesn't have a deathwish, but he might after this... i know that kind of aura anywhere."
Agnimon lightly nodded, sighing "depression... he feels useless."
Ranamon just watched while shaking her head lightly "that, and he feels useless, then again, given this is Shiro... he won't try to commit suicide, and instead rather throw himself into fighting untill he does die, though that usually ends in failure as it is."
Gabumon nodded lightly, noticing the silent Kudamon and raising an eyebrow, before speaking up "either way he's approachable now, i just don't know if we can keep him falling even further at this point."
Centralized Break, Scene Change!
Tactimon had watched everything with a cold calculating eye on both the battle that happened, as well as Shiro's mental state "hmmh.. it seems his mind is close to breaking... good. now to wait and see if he will split up from the others. and then i will put my perfect plan into action..."
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Kuukyo_Fushichou Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 3:39 pm
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Once Crystal had gathered all the other digimon back into her Xros Loader to recharge from exerting themselves during the battle, she mounted Gryphomon to fly back to the resort. As was expected, she had exhausted herself pretty badly through all that and intended to seek out gratuitous amounts of sugar and/or caffeine to energize herself once she regrouped with the others. Of course, she still had to make it back to the resort first.
*~*~*~*~*
Seeing Shiro the way he was now, Taiki got the distinct impression that, for whatever reason, Shiro couldn't believe in anyone. He had seen hints and traces of it already, but now it was there plain as day. From what he could tell, Shiro didn't just have simple trust issues. It was like he had some kind of psychological imperative to distrust everyone, even the digimon who were supposed to share a bond with him, and take all the blame for anything and everything that happened onto himself, even when he had no right to do so. The feeling Taiki got was very similar to the darkness he had sensed around Kiriha in the past, but it seemed like Shiro's must run more deeply and carried an intense weight of such extreme, unbearable despair that it almost got Taiki all choked up just from being in such close proximity to such a powerful, intensely sad atmosphere.
Just what happened to him to make him like this? Taiki clenched his hand against his chest. Such a sad feeling can't have resulted exclusively from his being made into a hybrid. Something else must have happened to him even before that to leave him so emotionally damaged. He dropped to his knees and very nearly passed out from the exposure. Has Crystal also sensed this about him? he wondered. With her intuitive awareness, he was sure she must have, but then, why hadn't she said anything about it?
"Taiki!" Akari rushed to his side while Zenjirou went to check up on Shiro.
"Hey, snap out of it," Zenjirou shook him lightly by the shoulder. He looked to Gabumon.
"I'm okay," Taiki struggled to get back on his feet. "Whatever is wrong with him, he seems to be beyond help." He looked to Gabumon. "I don't know what could have happened to him to make him so completely devastated as to be unable to trust another living being, but it's like he's cocooned himself inside a shell of despair to prevent anyone from getting through."
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Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 9:29 pm
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Kuukyo_Fushichou Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 10:07 pm
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You aren't fine, Taiki thought although he kept it to himself. It also bothered him to see how easily all of Shiro's digimon were able to just brush the whole thing off without saying a word about it. I don't know how long you've been like this, but you most definitely aren't fine.
Hopefully Crystal would know something. Anything to explain what was really wrong with Shiro.
*~*~*~*~*
Gryphomon touched down on the floating island of the resort close to the cafe and ice cream parlor the group had visited the night before. The digimon quickly dispersed from Crystal's Xros Loader once they reached the resort, but Crystal was going to regroup with the others after she grabbed something loaded with sugar to munch on to get her energy back. Doing so quickly amounted to her walking out with a cup of hot chocolate in one hand and a box containing a dozen assorted donuts in the other.
Of course, once she finally caught up with the others, she immediately recognized that Shiro was in an even worse mental state than when she had left. She was rather disappointed by this fact because, true to form, it meant that he was still taking her success as a personal blow and would apparently have preferred if her plan had ended in failure. He always got so offended when she proved she could take care of herself and somehow managed to perceive it as a sign of his own weakness when it was her choice to go out there and fight on her own. She wanted to discover the truth about what was happening. But no, she couldn't do anything on her own without it becoming a blow to Shiro's already brutally damaged self-esteem. Maybe it was fine when he had been leaning on his sister and Yukimon as a crutch, but Crystal wasn't some timid little maiden who desperately needed to be saved all the time. She was stronger than that. And, more than anything, she would have liked it if Shiro could appreciate that about her instead of being so god damned offended by it that he broke a little more every time she showed her strength as an independent entity.
But he didn't trust her. So far as she knew, he didn't trust anybody. And that was going to pose a real problem for him in this dimension since trust was a key element in making a truly powerful Digi Xros. Without it, he was just combining digimon and putting all the stress on them because his heart just wasn't in it. And, of course, he just didn't get it. Not that that was anything new, Crystal supposed. Shiro had never seemed to truly appreciate the bond he shared with his digimon even when they were right there with him. But, she wasn't going to say anything about it right now. Besides, talking to him about it would be useless. It hadn't worked in the past and he wasn't any better at listening now than he was then.
"Anyone else want a donut?" she decided to make light conversation since she really just didn't have the energy for anything else at the moment.
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Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 10:26 pm
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Shiro just mentally flinched but showed no outward signs of crystal's emotions of him, and just shook his head at the offer "no thanks... i think i'll go get a burger or something." he said, lightly stepping off towards the food stalls for himself, needing away from everyone for now before he actually snapped and did something he wouldn't be able to forgive himself over.
Gabumon just frowned while watching Shiro leave, before grumbling a bit under his breath, something about 'what is making him so damned distant?' as if not understanding things at all, while Agnimon just narrowed his eyes, and glancing to crystal lightly "i'll take one thanks." he said, swiping a donut with a sigh and eating "i'm honestly curious, i know i haven't been around as long as Manadramon and Garandoumon with Shiro or Roveth, so what the heck is up with Shiro that would make him so damned reclusive?"
Ranamon and Kudamon both nodded, also curious about this and wondering how to help him, even if it meant a truce between each other for his affections.
Gabumon just closed an eye tiredly "it's like he's beginning to hate or fear digimon especially, or the bonds at least."
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Kuukyo_Fushichou Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 10:54 pm
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"I guess I'm not the only one he hasn't talked about it with," Crystal realized seeing the confused and worried state of Shiro's collective digimon. Of course, she had always assumed that it was a sensitive topic for him when he never mentioned it to her himself, but then she knew it must have troubled him since she had heard about what had happened from Sadame. "When I first met Shiro, he was already split into his light and dark halves so I guess I never really knew the 'real' Shiro Musouka because I didn't meet him until after he split into the Shiro I knew and his counterpart, Roveth. And, by that point, he already had a digimon. But, before I was introduced to Shiro, I had already become close friends with his younger sister, Sadame, and I learned from her that their parents had died tragically in a plane crash, although it wasn't until years later that she discovered that the crash had, in fact, been caused by a digimon called Devitamamon because it happened before she had become one of the chosen children in our dimension. I'm pretty sure Shiro must have realized it too, but he seems to have taken the whole thing way, way harder. And, of course, he internalizes everything and blames himself even when things are completely beyond his control. Of course, it was never this bad when we were back in our dimension living with Sadame, but then I guess the fact that she was always getting kidnapped or seduced by evil digimon was taking his mind off his pain." She sighed heavily. "It seems like traveling with me has only ever made things worse."
"You know it isn't your fault," Taiki reminded her. "So you can't just blame yourself for what's going on with Shiro now. It sounds like he's been running from the past for a long time and he still hasn't been able to reconcile with himself about what happened."
"Even so," Crystal went on. "It is my fault for dragging him on all these crazy, reckless adventures when he obviously isn't mentally stable enough for it."
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Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 11:12 pm
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Gabumon pondered things over while hearing this, before narrowing his eyes in obvious annoyance "i think i get it, though it's not because of you crystal... i think Shiro has felt helpless and such because he hasn't been able to stand on his own two feet, not because of you or anything, because of his own past weighing him down, it didn't weigh as much i think when they split into Shiro and Roveth, but when they re-merged, it hit him full force again on top of what happened after, and it's not exactly a good combination."
Agnimon nodded, crossing his arms lightly "he probably thinks we will all betray him, at least the digimon, because of this, and while he has tried to put his heart into things... he can't. he feels as if opening up again will let others hurt him, or if he loses another person close to him he'll probably.. crack." he then munched on the donut he took "he feels himself helpless and useless, and when someone fights his problems for him.. it makes it worse, but if he fails himself, its' twice as bad as if someone fights for him."
Ranamon pondered over things, wincing lightly "then how can we help Shiro? even if he passes the trials, he's still not breaking his shell like everyone hoped he would."
Kudamon pondered lightly, knowing a fox glomp would probably scare him away "i hate to say this... but he needs to break, i think that's about the only way we can make him face reality, even if it's very risky."
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Kuukyo_Fushichou Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 11:44 pm
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"In which case," Crystal concluded reluctantly, "it might be time for us to part ways. Since my helping him only seems to be hurting him, maybe it will be better to just let him face things on his own. I wanted to try to ease him into the flow of this world since it's radically different from what he's accustomed to, but maybe he's better off just learning everything the hard way."
"That reckless idiot seems to prefer it anyway," noted Zapmon. She looked up at Crystal with a hint of concern. "So then, how do you want to break it to him."
"Well, we can't just ditch him here," Crystal sighed heavily. "I suppose once I inform him of my decision I can do him one last favor by having Imperialdramon drop him off somewhere and just let him fend for himself from there."
"It sounds like you're talking about giving him some tough love," noted Zenjirou.
"Well, that idiot really just doesn't seem to respond to anything else," Crystal responded.
"And you're sure you're okay with this?" asked Akari.
"Of course I'm not okay with this," Crystal answered automatically. "But if it might help Shiro to open up to his digimon, even just a little bit, then I'm just going to have to see this through. I've caused more than enough damage as it is so this is the least I can do to try to make up for it."
"Then I guess you'd better tell him before you lose that resolve," Taiki smiled and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. This had the unintended side effect of making Crystal blush before she managed to get a hold of herself.
"Stop making me like you," she quickly stepped away from him. "It's very distracting." Then she went off to look for Shiro with Zapmon trailing a little ways behind her.
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Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 11:53 pm
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Shiro's digimon all collectively proceeded to follow, nto to comfort him, but to be ready to leave, though Gabumon did speak up from his walking along next to Agnimon "i would say at least let him off at monitamon village, so he can find out from Nene about Kiriha, and then look for a MailBirdramon on his own."
Shiro would be easilyl found, for once, given he was currently eating a few bacon cheeseburgers with a side order of fries at a Burgemon stand, making small talk with the cooks every now and then, when he looked up and saw crystal and his digimon, he mentally braced himself for the obvious lecture and just dug deep into hiding behind his mask, though he was vaguely surprised his Digimon had went into the Xros Loader without complaints after Agnimon tossed him the digivices.
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Kuukyo_Fushichou Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2011 12:12 am
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Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2011 10:26 am
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Kuukyo_Fushichou Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2011 12:12 pm
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