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Ryan:

I knew a lot about swords, didn't say I could use one.

We tumbled over the rubble that had fallen from all the buildings from above, creating a now stone covered hill that scraped out bodies against each other as we rolled all the way down to the bottom. I felt my clothes get torn a little but nothing too major since I had a sleeveless hoodie and jeans on with tennis shoes but I knew I got cut up a little from the whole tumble downhill.

I grunted as I felt Rodrigo scratch at me, clawing my arms some like an angry cat would, which hurt a lot since his claws were extra sharp, just for me I guess. We met eyes a couple of times and I could see those blood-red irises, they stared at me for a brief moment that felt like an eternity of suffering. I had to slam his face against the rubble covered ground just to get away from that gaze, getting a howl of pain from the guy in return. Well, he did her Piper, so this was kinda like payback. That and he also hurt Nick badly if I had the opportunity I was going to make him pay for both Piper and Nick's injuries just because of that.

Once we finally reached the bottom we broke away from each other and skidded to two opposite sides. I rolled over a few times and it my head against the stoned ground (heh, stoned...) as I finally skidded to a halt, dust and dirt rising around me while some covered my face and clothes. My body felt like it had just went through the worst roller-coaster ride of its life, getting smacked around, thrown around, and then ending with a hard thud to the ground. My head hurt like it was getting slammed again, and again, and again; my muscles were extra sore now; and I was losing strength. Ugh.

I looked up to see Rodrigo trying to gather himself and his thoughts. He was groaning in as much pain as I was (total lie), looking to reach for something. Realizing he was going for one of his swords, immediately I reacted with new determination. He had let go of his first blade while the other had broken off from his back, the gold one was the closest to me while he was reaching for the black one.

Reacting to that, I grunted and crawled forward and grabbed the handle of the blade and pulled it towards me. Using it, I pushed off from the ground and wobbled to my feet, knees wobbling, body shaking, mind racing all at the same time. I held the blade up, feeling it wasn't as heavy as it looked but it did show it could seriously do some hurt to someone else. The blade glistened in the light, no scratches, dents, nicks, whatsoever. It was as bright, shiny, and new as a new sword might be. I suspected this thing had seen plenty of this war but I also expected to see a few dents or scratches along the length of the blade but there was nothing. There still was an inscription but I'm sure it was written in a language I couldn't understand.

But the whole thing felt perfect in my grasp, from point A (the handle) to point B (the tip of the blade). It was lightweight in my grip, easy to move, and looked strong and majestic. I marveled at the sight for a few more seconds but stopped once I saw Rodrigo start to get to his legs, holding the black blade.

He stood up, looking better than I did, with lesser cuts, lesser bruises, (not to mention he wasn't exhausted), and looked perfect aside from the dirt that covered his arms and face.

The Shadow-Flamedramon wiped his eyes and growled, looking up at me. He cocked an eye and looked at me again, up and down. I think he was studying me, trying to figure me out or something, which, of course, made me feel awkward. He was clearly the better swordsman and war guy, which meant he had the advantage against me and that was not good in my case.

Finally, after a few minutes of looking me over, he cracked a smile and laughed deeply, letting his voice echo all over the area.

"Ha! Another human decides to step up to the plate?" he chuckled, looking at me with a crooked smile. "How amusing. How about you give me my sword back and I promise to take you as a prisoner, how does that sound? Any human who has enough charisma to tackle the Great Rodrigo surely has just as much spirit as that other female had, and you look like one of such courage. Now, give me my sword." He stepped forward, expecting me to give up right there.

No.

I stepped back and held my blade up with two hands, holding onto the handle tightly. "No, I'm not gonna surrender just 'cause you ask me. I don't surrender especially--" I drew that word out to get some emphasis --"to the Shadows." I looked at him with my eyes squinted, my brow frowned ever so.

He cocked an eye and smiled. "I see. In that case, it seems I have to kill you now." He held up his blade in the same position I had mine. "Such a shame, I barely know you and yet I still have to kill you."

"I'm not going down easily," I retorted, grunting at him with a step forward.

His smile faded. "Which will make this more interesting. Come at me."

We started to circle each other after raising our swords. Our eyes locked with each other, neither of us making a move yet. I was scared if I took my eyes off of him he would run up at me and start attacking me. Okay, I knew I was going to have to literally study him or else I was going to die.

Okay, let's see. He and I had the same build by the looks of it, not really skinny yet not too muscular. He looked light on his feet and swift with his movements, which would give him a better advantage over me. Great, ugh. Besides that he looked smart and I bet anything that he could whoop my butt easily at this, the way he held his sword told me everything I needed to know. He twisted it in his hands and spun it, looking at it as a way to tip my game off.

His face, aside from the dirt and dust, looked very well for a guy who's been fighting in a war. His skin looked smooth and clean (dirt and dust making it look bad) with no signs of scars or much. His eyes were sharp, dark, and soul-piercing, the red color they gave off made them look like they were filled with dark red blood that seemed to almost glow at a distance.

So, he was strong, fast, swift, and scary. That was the best I could assume from him, but I had a sick feeling in my gut that he had more harbored inside him that he was giving off to me. I knew I was going to regret this soon, it was just nagging at me from the inside. My mind was telling me to run but my body however told me to keep what I was doing--buying time. I also knew he was going to catch on soon and I was going to get cut into pieces with his skill, but I needed to draw this out for as long as I possibly could so I could buy Jason enough to time to get help for Piper and Nick. If I had to fight this guy in order to do it, I had no other choice.

For Piper and Nick.

We both stopped at the same time. Once more, we met each other's eyes and glared at one another. Our time to study each other was over, and now it was time to (sadly) fight each other. This was not going to be pretty, that much I had already guessed. And soon, I knew I was going to die.

We both let out loud battle cries and charged forward.

Times seemed to move slowly until our blades came in contact of each other, the CLANG! sound echoed throughout the park as we locked with one another for a brief time, pitting our strength against each other to see who would cave first. I gritted my teeth and tried to push back, but he smiled with his fangs barred as he pushed me back, causing me to stumble backwards as he lunged forward. I brought my blade up and deflected a blow that would've skewered me, but that didn't stop him from kicking me in the stomach. The kick managed to make me fall on my back, but just as he brought his blade down to end me, I rolled to the side then spun myself as my leg caused him to trip forward and fall on his hands. I quickly got onto my feet without any hesitation and started to swipe at him, which didn't do much. He got back onto his feet by the time I had and had begun to deflect my attacks.

I pulled back and swung my sword in a diagonal downwards to spin around and do it again, but he blocked my attack and pushed me back then began to return the attacks I had given him. He bombarded me with hammering blows that rattled the ground and echoed through the park as our blades clashed over and over again. I saw the sparks fly a few times which reminded me of an action movie, but sadly I was the one in this movie and I was fighting against the odds.

I grunted and kicked at him, managing to get him right in the chest and as he staggered backwards I regained myself and began to get some quick swipes at him. With a few of those attacks I managed to get a few cuts on his leg and arm. I felt much better about myself then but it only seemed that I pissed him off even more now. He snarled at me and met my eyes with an anger-filled frown as his red eyes glowed again. The Shadow-Flamedramon ducked and avoided another slash from me, he took that opportunity and lunged at me, getting me right good in my side. I cried out and jumped as far as I could backwards and tried to recover my breath as I felt it rush out of my lungs right when he got me.

I coughed and didn't even realize I was panting like a dog. Sweat dripped down my forehead and off of my nose as I gasped for air. One hand was clutched to my side and was soon beginning to feel the trickle of blood that bled from my wound. My mind was getting fuzzy as I saw the blood leak onto my palms, the crimson color staining the skin on my hands. I gulped and looked away then back at Rodrigo, this wound was only going to make me even worse of a fighter but I was going to have to fight through the pain as long as I could.

I grabbed my blade again and gritted my teeth, ignoring the searing pain in my side as I charged at him again. He seemed surprised by my semi-recovery and brought his bade back up to his body, smirking at me with an evil grin. I hated his smile and it was only ticking me off more and more. He was getting cocky and overconfident in himself, which was actually understandable since he was a war guy.

Wait...maybe I could use that against him.

I stopped right where I was, only a few feet from him but far enough away from striking distance. He cocked an eye at me and tilted his head to the side, making his neck pop. Ugh, I hated that sound too but I mimicked exactly what he did but added a little smile of my own to the mix. He kept his eye cocked and let out a drawn out breath that told me he was also getting a little tired.

We circled each other again, while we did so I decided to put my Plan B in motion. If I could get him off-balanced then I could get an advantage from this. If I couldn't then I was as good as dead.

I spoke first. "You seem confident in...yourself." I almost coughed again, my wound making it hard to talk clearly.

He chuckled as he circled with me. "Why of course, why should I not? I have fought countless battles with humans and good Digimon alike and none have bested me. Do you honestly think you have a chance at me?"

I nodded. "Yes, I do. I'm not like the other's you've fought. I have a few surprises up my sleeve for you." I lied, but it sounded pretty convincing on account of my injury. I needed him to buy this.

"Oh? Well, now I'm interested," he replied with a smile. "You really are as good as you say? Why then have I managed to land a hit on you then?"

"Because, idiot, it's all part of my plan," I gave him a cheesy smile back and laughed myself. "You were...such a fool to fall for such a ploy, and to think I thought you were some sort of war hero who won all the battles he fought."

He snarled at me, his smile quickly fading. "I am not a fool! You think you can best me with this plan of yours? Ha!"

"But I do, because you were stupid enough to fall for it," I replied to him, chuckling as convincingly as I could.

He growled at me and lunged forward, thrusting his blade right at me, but I deflected the blow and jumped back a few feet, somewhat the same distance we were before. He looked mad at me, but I needed him even more than that. He was going to need to be out for blood by the time I was done talking.

"You missed? I'm shocked! Maybe you're not as good as you say!" I bellowed in laughter, throwing my head at the sky as I spread my arms in a gesture that told him I was meant to be taken seriously. "You are nothing to my power. You are a bug under my foot. And you fell for my plan so easily it was such a...novice mistake."

The word "novice" struck a nerve and I knew it. He was actually better than he looked, much better than I was, and I knew he could kill me easily. I just needed to throw his game off a little, just enough so he would get reckless and start getting risky.

Instantly after finishing my sentence, he lunged at me again and locked his blade with mine and forced his strength over me. Oh yeah, he was really strong all right even if he did look like he had the same muscles as me. His red eyes glowed vibrant blood red and met mine, making sure I saw all the anger and furiosity he had to give at me. Good, I had gotten him to his boiling point. Something felt weird though, not only did his red glow reflect off my body, but I started to see a yellowish glow start to appear on his face which caught him off his guard. He stared into my eyes again and squinted at me, trying to understand what the heck was going on.

I took that moment as an opportunity.

While he was distracted I took a hand off of my handle then swung at his face, hitting him square in the jaw. He cried out in pain as he stumbled to the side and cupped his jaw. The hurt didn't stop there as I took his moment of confusion to attack. He looked to see me swipe at him, with his footing already off he tried to move back and deflect my attacks but managed to get cut more times than I expected. Blood dripped from his thighs, stomach, chest, and arms. I got a nice cut on his un-hit cheek just for a little pay-back for getting me in my side. No more perfect skin for him of course, and no perfect skin for me either. Well, I guess even I didn't win there. Oh well I guess, as long as I got him back for getting me in the gut was all that matters.

Right before I attacked him again, he jumped back and wobbled to his legs. Now I was beginning to see the pain in his stature. He had really underestimated me and now he was regretting this now. I wasn't really one to be underestimated, I usually used every-thing when I really needed it and now was a time I really needed some extra strength, for now I could see the anger in his eyes.

He was pissed.

He roared again, this time much louder than I had ever heard before. It forced me to cover my ears from the sound. It was a mixture of pain and pure hatred of me, telling me I had pushed farther than I had originally intended to. Crap.

He pointed his sword at me with a feral snarl. "You will pay dearly for scaring my body, you insolent whelp! I am going to make your death slow and as painful as I can make it to you! By the time I am done with you, you will be begging me for me to kill you but I will not!"

"Sounds like someone really needs to take a chill pill," I replied nonchalantly trying to sound as casual as I could despite feeling actually fearful of him.

He growled at me much like a dog would. I actually wondered if he would pounce on me and start to snap at my face like a brutal dog. Eh, guess I thought of him already as a dog in a way, getting easily mad and all that.

Somehow, he didn't come at me and attack, which I found very odd. He only stood there and snorted air, eying me with an anger-filled glare. I gulped. Something told me that this didn't feel right, and I was right.

The ground beneath Rodrigo and I began to rumble deeply, I looked down to see small pebbles and stones begin to bounce up and down and left and right. The air around me began to disorientate, almost like I was in the middle of a heater. My eyes darted to Rodrigo, which caused me to gasp. He was glowing a deathly black hue that glowed around his body, even his eyes had gotten brighter red until they looked pure red lights that beamed right at me. The ground beneath him began to crack in various places, most of it around his feet.

I stepped back as the ground began to shake violently like an earthquake, much like when those tanks were firing their pay loads. The mark on my hand began to glow as well, which was breaking the Freaking Weird Scale by a mile, my whole body trembling at this newfound feeling. I don't know what I was feeling. Power? Fear? Anguish? It could be all three and they all put me in a hard spot. My mind fluttered with random thoughts of death, war, and destruction. It made me cringe on the inside just because it was so powerful that my mind was having a hard time to figure out what the heck was going to happen next.

What I saw next blew my mind. Rodrigo began to rise into the air like he was being lifted by an invisible string, which was impossible since all the trees and lampposts around us had fallen or had been burned down. The black aura around his body snaked around his arms, chest, and legs and seemed to get even stronger. The sight made me want to run for my life but the ability to move was completely gone in my legs and there was nothing I could do to help it other than stand there.

Once he was about eight feet in the air he then curled into a small ball then, with a loud yell, he spread his full body out and let loose a dark red wave of light at me. I was about to start running for my life because I didn't know what the heck that thing was but I knew it was something bad, but my mark stopped me by projecting the symbol it had done earlier when I had touched Piper. The symbol appeared in front of me and started to spin so fast it was like a helicopter blade. The red wave met my symbol instantly, creating this CRACK! sound that rattled the air like lightning. The red wave fought against my symbol but it caused me to stagger backwards just from the sheer force and impact of the two things.

"What?!" Rodrigo exclaimed towards me, thrusting his hand forward.

That thrust made the dark red wave push forward even more than it did before. I was totally clueless at what was going on but I could feel my strength begin to fade away as my mark began to flash like a dead light-bulb. And with one more push of Rodrigo's hand, he pushed the wave even harder against my symbol that it caused my shield to shatter which had the red wave throw me back several feet.

I landed on my back with a painful thud and rolled even more backwards. Once I had stopped, I found that the sword in my hand had been blown out of my hand and had impaled itself in the ground several feet away. I didn't know if it was possible to feel even worse, but I was very wrong.

As I took in air I realized that I was getting shaky with my breaths, even my whole body shook like I had just experienced the worst fears of my life. I also felt like I had ran a marathon (not that I actually ran one) without stopping for a breath, which meant I was gasping for air like there was no tomorrow. My throat felt really dry, almost like sandpaper, and my side was burning like someone had lit it on fire. It hurt just to move my body and with the added coughing I couldn't stop doing it only got worse for me. I was vulnerable, defenseless, and weak, easy prey for the Shadow-Digimon. There was no way I could get out of this now, I had nothing more to give.

All I could do was lay there was Rodrigo floated down and walked towards me with his sword in his hand. His frown had returned to his "signature" sadistic smile as he stroke towards me. Great, I just had to push him so far, and now I was going to die, for real this time!

He stood over me as I clutched my side while it burned with searing pain. God, I don't know if he was going to get me or the gash was. I just wanted this pain to end and it seemed he was the willing Digimon to help put me out of my misery.

"Now," he spoke once more, returning to smooth voice from before. "what was it you were saying that I am the fool? It seems to me that the fool is the one who is on the ground, ready to be sent to Oblivion."

I hated to agree with him but it wasn't like I had an army anywhere near me. I was by myself, which was how I started this whole damn thing--alone. I couldn't see Jason, Piper, or Nick anywhere and all my strength had faded into nothing. Even my vision was getting blurry, maybe from my loss of blood and fighting throughout this entire day. Rodrigo had me right where he wanted me, and now I was nothing to him other than a little pest.

I made no effort to even reply.

"Now, time to put you through the worst pain of your life," he hissed through his breath, raising his sword into the air. The black blade glistened beautifully with the reflected light, but it was only a ruse since it was now the bringer of my death.

I closed my eyes and let a tear streak down my face. It was over. I was going to die and this would be the end of me.

Just as he yelled as he brought the sword down, I heard the pop of a gun really close by. I expected to die right then and there but nothing happened. I opened my eyes to see a grunting Rodrigo holding his wrist like someone had snapped it, he was hissing and grunting in pain once I realized he was bleeding but only a little. The sword had dropped from his grip down next to me, which made me feel better.

My spirits lifted once I saw why he was clutching his wrist. Chief Hector was standing at the top of the hill with a pistol in hand, smoke rising from the tip of the barrel of the gun. I never in my life thought I would be so glad to see him but here he was, saving my butt from another near death experience. I decided to not even care how many times I was going to get close to dying, it was only going to get worse.

The chief was surrounded by a group of over a dozen soldiers as they all ran down the hill to meet us. A few soldiers, after getting back to the ground, ran for Rodrigo and began to restrain him by tackling him to the ground. I wanted to help them out (and give the Flamedramon a nice kick to the nuts) with the cuffing and beating but I still had no power in my body to give so watching it was still pretty good to me.

Chief Hector appeared in my vision as I saw him kneel down to my level. His partner was on my other side as they looked down on me. They didn't look mad (like usual) but actually looked impressed at me. Hell, I even saw a smile on the Chief's face! That was a new one and it told me I had done something right.

"Kid, you 're one crazy sonofabitch," he put the words together in a quick voice.

His partner nodded and spoke as well, he sounded smoother and less intimidating than his human partner did which made me feel a little better knowing that at least one of them were still nice.

"I agree, you are crazy but you have also exceeded our expectations," he said to me, handing me what looked like a chocolate bar.

With newfound strength in my arm I grabbed the candy bar and took a hungry bite from the food. Holy crap! It was probably the best chocolate I had ever tasted, sweet and light but not too sweet that it made it yucky to eat. The taste melted in my mouth and reminded me of my mom and dad's cooking, their sweet deserts. Mmm, I really just wanted to tear into the bar but I still had my manners. They let me gobble down the entire chocolate bar like a ravenous beast that hadn't eaten anything for an entire day (which I really didn't actually).

"Feel better, kid?" Chief Hector asked me, actually sounding like he cared about me. Now I thought that was pretty weird. But he kept his tight voice and strict tone that made me still remember his real personality.

I nodded and coughed, licking the chocolate from my lips. "Y-yeah...I think so." I replied using the energy the chocolate gave me to finally sit up. "God, my body hurts so much."

The Angemon laughed. "You get used to the soreness after a while, trust me. This is only your first battle, you still have many more to come."

I groaned and grunted again, not sounded very pumped up. "Great, just let me know when I have to put my life on the line again." They helped me stand up as I spoke, getting yelps of pain as the soreness stepped in. Dang! I was in a lot of pain.

"Don't worry, the chocolate will dull the pain and help you move," Chief Hector told me as I felt the soreness lighten up just as he said.

"Whoa," I breathed. "I feel lightheaded."

The Angemon chuckled. "You lost a lot of blood during that whole ordeal, it's only normal that you feel woozy."

I nodded, touching my side gently. Once my hand met my gash, I hissed at the sharp pain that I had felt before.

"J-Jason...Piper and Nick!" I gasped and nearly fell forward. "What about...?"

Hector held up his hand. "You're friends 're bein' tended to but your partner insisted that he stay with them until they got help."

Typical Jason, wanting to be by Nick's side more than Piper's.

"And...Rodrigo?" I asked, sounding like I was concerned for the guy that had nearly gotten close to killing me. I felt no sympathy for the guy, just as he felt no sympathy for me either but still, I wanted to know.

His partner pointed to the cuffed and restrained Digimon a few yards away. Rodrigo was bound by rope, shiny metal cuffs behind his back, and a chain that locked at his legs. He reminded me of a prisoner who had done the impossible and had nearly escaped, only to be caught and chained like there was no tomorrow. It made me feel better at least but he struggled a little, trying to free himself from the restraints. The cuffs, chains, and rope didn't move so he was secured.

"Rodrigo Avanto Dezera Xantivia," Hector spoke. I didn't know the full name of this guy so the whole thing struck me by surprise. "One of the seven children of the King and Queen. He's also one of the worst, his sister being the second. Trust me, kid, you don't wanna tango with his sister, she's just as bad as Rodrigo, maybe even worse."

My luck. Something told me I was going to have to face her at some point as well. Just the way of the universe, I was somehow drawn to the worst of the worst. And if I somehow survived her I knew I was going to face the other five the colonel didn't mention to me, which of course didn't make me feel so good.

"But you've done the world a great thing, child," the Digimon spoke. "By taking Rodrigo into custody you've caused the rest of the forces on Manchester to break away and surrender. We're currently securing the rest of the city as well as the outskirts but in no time we'll have Manchester back in our control."

Well, that was probably the best news I heard all day. Forgive me for not jumping up and down in joy but I was injured in several places and I'm sure I would only hurt more from jumping and cheering.

I held up a finger. "I wanna talk to Rodrigo one last time before they...take him away."

Hector cocked an eye and looked at his partner then back at me. He shrugged and helped me walk. "Why?" he asked me.

"Might as well say 'goodbye' before he's imprisoned," I smiled.

"You really are a crazy mother--"

I cut him off. "I've done crazy things today."

Without another word from the peanut gallery, I limped over to the restrained Shadow Flamedramon. I realized I had done a great deal of hurt to him, but he did just as much on me and it showed. I bet if we were both at our peeks we could've done more than what we did, but I was impressed with myself that I actually survived the whole thing, only by barely.

Once Rodrigo met my eyes I saw that fire-filled anger return as he struggled with the cuffs and chains again. Oh, yeah, he was pissed at me. I bet he never expected someone like a young human to take him down like I did. A kid vs. a war master and guess who turns out to be the winner? Me! Yay! Talk about some painful irony! And it was some irony I was not really feeling to repeat.

The soldiers held him up as I stood in front of him. We stared at each other for a few seconds until he broke the silence.

"You got lucky this time, you worthless little cunt!" he snarled at me, pretty much spitting in my face. "Once I get free I will personally set out and gut you so slow that you will need me to kill you when I'm done!"

I smiled and wiped the spit off of my face. "Sounds like someone's a sore loser, huh? You really need to calm your tits."

He snapped at me, almost getting my nose. "I swear I will tear you to pieces! You will pay dearly for this you fag! You and all your cunt friends will pay for all of this, you hear me? You will pay for--"

I had put up with enough of him for one day. So, I grabbed his head and pulled my back then propelled it forward and slammed our foreheads hard together. Instantly he cried out in pain but I added a punch to his jaw just to shut him up. He was out cold in just seconds. Okay, my head hurt (a lot) but I ignored the pain as best I could, even if my head throbbed. I was going to have a nice lump on my forehead later but it didn't matter to me, as long as I shut him up that was all that mattered.

The soldiers who held him in place were in awe at what just happened. The also looked a little scared of me as well, which was understandable. I just knocked a dangerous criminal out cold with my head and a punch without even hesitating, so yeah, I hoped I got some points for doing that.

With I rubbed my forehead as the soldiers took the unconscious Rodrigo away, a familiar voice stepped into the picture.

" __Non sapevo che tu avessi in te_ ,_ Ryan." Jason spoke from a few feet away. (Didn't know you had that in you, Ryan.)