MPC 30 Me and My Shadow "Mad Dragon of Darkness"
Apr 8, 2016 17:41:21 GMT
Post by Alicia Westfield on Apr 8, 2016 17:41:21 GMT
"Mad Dragon of Darkness"
Light and Darkness. They're opposing extremes whenever they're represented. The Sun and The Moon. Good and Evil. Order and Chaos. Having one normally excludes the other almost entirely from the person in question. There are some who challenge that idea though, though not all do so by choice.
Young Alicia is one of those who was thrust into challenging the fact that Light and Darkness cannot exist in equal quantities for one being. It was apart of the Spirit that was paired with her. He was at the height of his power a being that perfectly balanced and weilded the two extremes in a chaotic masterpiece. Now just to survive she was put into a position where her best course of action was to live up to that potential. To survive in the long run she'd need to emulate his power in its entirety.
The only problem is that, put simply, she didn't. She'd come to rely heavily on her dark spirit forms. ShadowArmsdramon, Cybercursedramon, and her most recent acqusition, RailTitandramon, were all excessively powerful for their respective levels, able to trample most foes under foot. Those that brute force alone failed to crush fell to some clever tactics honing the immense strength available to them. She had yet to realize what it was doing to her though. She wasn't aware of how her sanity had slipped further and further with each dark side evolution.
She was never so vicious, so blood thirsty, before. When she'd first started, it took a truly vile act to drive her to want to kill. Now, though? Now she routinely slaughtered whoever faced her as an enemy if they were unable to escape her wrath. Her newfound ruthlessness had driven away those she'd called friend, and in her madness she hadn't bothered to understand why. Even the ever hopeful Elliot had come to realize there was nothing he could do to turn Alicia back to her sweet old self. She was too far gone to realize what that said about how vile she'd become in the eyes of others.
"Alicia..." Sol's voice echoed dimly, nearly crushed out of her thoughts by the encroaching darkness. "Alicia please... listen to me one last time, like you used to..." It was no use. With his voice as weak as it was, it had little hope of piercing the veil that had descended over her thoughts. This wasn't how it was meant to be. This was a living nightmare that many were powerless to stop. It was merely a matter of time before Alicia crossed one too many lines, and brought everyone's ire down upon herself. Maybe in her warped and blood lusting heart, she wanted everyone to try hunting her down. It would give her plenty of excuses to weild her full power and push herself to the absolute limit.
From what little he could see from his position, he could tell that Alicia had decided to perche herself at the very top of Tokyo Tower, using ShadowArmsdramon's form to place herself at the very tip of the landmark's spire. That was another change that had occurred in her, she'd become something of a megalomaniac. In fact, it would be easier to state that she'd become similar to the typical anime villains, with all the trappings there-in. This had gone on long enough though, he'd have to do something drastic. But what?
"Why...?" the icy voice of his host asked, catching the Steel Spirit off guard. She had heard him? This was unusual, lately he'd never gotten her to even notice his presence, let alone answer him. "Why should I listen to some has been that doesn't even have a body any more to enforce his will? You basically thrusted this power on to me and threw me into what's basically a death world where everything bigger then you wants to kill you. Why should I ever listen to someone who would do that ever again?"
"Because this wasn't how it was meant to be Alicia. Look at what the darkness of these spirits has done to you...! You're barely even recognizable as Alicia Westfield anymore! You're just some shell of what she once was! But even now it's still not too late to try fixing things, to bring yourself back into balance!" Even Sol himself had to admit, he sounded desperate just then. This could very well be the last time he'd have a chance to do anything about Alicia's twisted Spirit.
"You know... I'm getting real sick of your talk of balance. I already had Mercurialdramon, and you wanted me to go after a Spirit that was weaker then that form. You wanted me to risk life and limb for something that was actually weaker then my best Spirit at the time. All for the sake of this precious 'balance' you keep going on about! In fact, I actually did lose limbs to that hunt with nothing to show for it!" the ninja dragon snarled angrily.
Alicia then raised her right arm in front of her face, shaking it angrily for him to see. The Steel Spirit had to wince and look away as gears whirred and whined in protest from the abuse under a shell of steel plating. Perhaps that was what had done it? The shock of actually suffering an injury so grevious that it had forever marred her human form to such an extent... was it too much for her? "Do I need to sit down and pry my fake leg off and show that to you too!? Huh!?"
To say that hunt was a disaster was the understatement of the year. Seeing that all of her hunts until then had resulted in near death for people she'd just recently met and grown to care for, Alicia had taken on this one all on her own. It had been the worst mistake of her life. He shuddered at the memory. How could one false move turn into lying in a pool of one's own blood, barely clinging to life desperately screaming for help even though she knew none would come? That was another possibility that could have broken her. The frailty of her own life was something she'd forgotten after gaining her stronger Spirit forms, especially Mercurialdramon. To be so brutally reminded of it could also easily have caused her to snap.
"If you had just..." Sol began, before sighing and stopping. What could he say? It wasn't likely to work, but he had something in mind. "You don't realize how important it is. Sooner or later this darkness that you find comfort in will betray you. And when it does this time there won't be anything left to cry for aid. You need the light counterparts to your spirits to prevent that betrayal!"
"And how exactly would I be betrayed? I've gained full control over all three of them. I have nothing to fear from them. Are you really so desperate to throw me into a gauntlet once more?" Alicia snapped back hatefully, glaring. She never noticed how an ethereal 'spike' seemed to be jammed into her heart at the shot. Her Steel Spirit, though, was acutely aware, flinching at the strike.
"I am truly sorry for causing you so much pain and trouble, but I did all that I could to mitigate things, gave every bit of advice I could. Even now I only have your best interests at heart, though I know you do not believe me anymore. I beg of you. With this power, please... seek out their counterparts so that you can reacquire something resembling your old self..." It was one final desperate plea before the Steel Spirit would be forced to attempt drastic measures.
"I refuse." Alicia spat back, and Sol winced as a second 'spike' was driven into her heart while she was unaware. One more and... he shuddered to think of it. Three strikes and they would cut loose. The darkness would flow from her and curse all that lived in the Real World until they were finally hunted down and slaughtered, and act that would destroy what little fragments of the old Alicia still remained.
"Then I'll resort to my final option, Alicia. Whether you like it or not I will do one last thing to try and drag you back into the light, kicking and screaming if it must be that way!" Sol roared, letting strength surge up for what may be the last time. Alicia gaspedin shock at the sudden change, only to go still, shoulders slumping as she seemed to pass out, held up really only because her mechanical leg had been locked in place and was baring most of her weight.
Deep in her own mind, Alicia groaned and sat up, surprised to apparently be in human form again. "Nnngh... Sol! What the hell did you do!?" the Spirit User snarled out, clenching a fist tight. Standing up in the black expanse, she looked around. Where was the Steel Spirit in this twisted mess anyways?
"This is my final option, Alicia. You do not realize it, but you are one strong expression of darkness away from that betrayal I warned you of..." Sol replied, as the darkness started bleeding out to form a picture of Shibuya. Alicia looked down, as the vision placed her high in the sky, and blinked in surprise as the entire city was starting to burn to the ground.
A mechanical screech caught her attention, and Alicia wheeled around, eyes widening as RailTitandramon flew overhead. The teal Advanced Spirit rained down death from above in the form of both laser blasts and high-powered air-to-ground missiles. People screamed as Alicia shook her head slowly. Why was the vision of her doing this? Was this really the kind of madness she'd do?
Another roar sounded off. Swallowing in apprehension, the Spirit User turned again. Gasping in shock, she watched as Cybercursedramon ran down a fleeing ambulance, crushing the vehicle underfoot once the terrible undead beast caught up. Seeing both of her dark side spirits rampaging on the city at the same time made her heart sink. This wasn't her doing. She wasn't in control of either of these spirits. She couldn't be. But if they weren't her, where was she?
As if to answer the question, the vision swung over to the ruined remnants of what was once her apartment building. The vision Alicia was leaning against the burning wreck and cough, her body practically mutilated to sum up her injuries in a word. The strangest part of the scene was the fact that a second Alicia with skin as black as coal stood over her, the dark copy.
"Too little... too late..." the dark Alicia mused with a manical smirk. "Maybe I'll go and send your precious brothers along for the ride, wouldn't want you to be lonely now!" The Dark Alicia started to cackle as the vision Alicia's weakness. Then in a sudden change of demeanor, she nearly split her face apart with her huge fang-lined grin as she drove the knife down into vision Alicia's-
The vision shattered and the Spirit User was left reeling, screaming hoarsely as she fell on her back and backed aways as fast as her arms and legs would let her. "W-What in blazes was that!?" she screamed out, her throat sore as she realized now she'd been screaming the ever since the vision started.
"The future you will face if you don't shape up now. Your ignoble end as a backstabbing cutthroat fiend. The annihilation of anything you still cared about. The destruction of your family at the hands of your own mad darkness. Do you see now why you need to balance yourself?" Sol answered, his voice noticably weak.
Alicia nodded numbly, not trusting her voice at the moment. "Then why do I feel like you're just trying to get me to shut up and leave you alone? No, I suppose I'll have to use the other half. Alicia Westfield... face your vile shadow!" The Steel Spirit went silent at the declaration, leaving Alicia to her own thoughts as she stood up again. What did he mean by 'face her vile shadow'?
"He~ey..." The sing-song voice came behind her. Alicia snapped around to see her dark clone show up again, already starting to twirl that accursed knife around between her fingers, gears audibly whirring at the precise movements. "Didja miss me?"
Alicia snarled and grabbed the D-Scanner from it's place on her hip, only to scream as device was struck from her hand by a throw of the Dark Alicia's knife. "Ah, ah, aaaah! No cheating, no cheating!" Dark Alicia cooed in a sickeningly sweet tone, having already pulled a new knife out to twirl. Daring to take her eyes off her copy for a moment, Alicia turned to look at the D-Scanner. Unfortunately for her, it was now little more then a sparking, ruined paperweight. She wouldn't be able to call on her Spirits to fight this enemy.
"Pay attention!" the shadow barked, and Alicia only had a moment to turn around and realize her clone was practically on top of her, bringing the knife down in psychotic stab. The Spirit User screamed as the steel bit into her shoulder, tearing away to put some distance between the two near indentical women.
"Oi, oi, don't you get it already? The more you run and the more you look away, the more I'll drag this blood fest out. So really, stop so I can just kill you. Or, actually, don't. I'm enjoying hearing you scream like a school girl." That erased any speck of doubt that reminded, the copy was utterly insane. And she didn't have her D-Scanner to help her put an end to the copy's rampage. "Aren't you gonna get a weapon? We're not in reality right now, don't you know? Oh! Oh! I know! You're so dumb that you never bothered to learn how to really fight without your spirits! You couldn't even hurt a fly like this, could you!? Well too bad I guess!"
Dark Alicia charged again, laughing maniacally as she swung and thrusted the bloody knife at the original Alicia with frightening accuracy. Each blow would've been a belatedly fatal one had she not thrown herself back from the cold steel. "What's wrong, suddenly scared of a little bloodshed!? Too scared to even whimper without you little black security blanket!? And you thought you have control of the darkness in your heart!?"
There had to be something the Spirit User could use to turn the tides. Something that would somehow stall this mad dark clone of hers. "You have no hope and you know it, Alicia...! Everything you could do, I can do better without a little trinket containing all my powers! And to make my point, Whispering Star!" Dark Alicia called out, flinging wave after wave of shurikens that seemed to manifest from nowhere.
Alicia screamed as the storm of steel ravaged her. Her legs failed her, causing the Spirit User to crumple to the ground. As she coughed up blood from the impact and injuries, she stared up at her dark clone in horror. She hadn't even evolved and had been able to call upon one of ShadowArmsdramon's signature moves. That shouldn't be possible. It couldn't be done.
"Man you're dumb sometimes. I don't play by the same rules as you do, Alicia. I'm the only one who gets to cheat around here. I mean, I could've gone all Cruel Rampage on your or something, but I figured Whispering Star would be just fatal enough to let you scream a little more." Dark Alicia said, tilting her head as she loomed over the original one. She'd gone back to playfully twirling the knife through her fingers. "Now, what should I cut off first? An ear? A finger? Maybe I should speed things up a bit and just hack off a hand or carve out an eye. Say, be nice and tell me what'll make you scream the most, okay?"
Alicia had nothing to say to her though, all she tried to do was feebly put some distance between her, eyes frozen in horror as the vision looked like it was about to come true. And there was nothing she could do about it. "Aww, scared witless? Why? Aren't we one and the same? Oh well, guess I'll just have to poke you and see what gets you talking. I suppose this is kinda fun too!" Taking a firm grip of her knife again, Dark Alicia thrust the weapon down, aiming for-
Nothing. Before it connected, the clone broke apart into shadowy wisps and faded away. And Alicia didn't feel any more pain her body from the shurikens. "Oh God..." she breathed, laying back and shuddering, pupils constricted to mere pinpricks out of fear. "Oh God... oh God..."
"... now... do y-zzt-... und-zzt-nd?" Sol's near whispering voice came, noticable static coming into it almost like when they first began this journey. Was she losing her connection to him? "Noth-zzt- ... so... sim-zzt-... I -zzt-k... I exhausted... what li-zzt- -zzt-er I... had left..."
"Sol...? Sol...!?" Her own voice was weak, both from her earlier screaming and the fear gripping her heart. "Sol, don't go...! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry for everything! Please don't leave me! I get it now, but I still need you!" When had she felt so weak and powerless before? Had she ever been so helpless?
"Nrgh... S-Sorry, kid. This is... one fate I cannot defy... not anymore." The reply she feared most at this moment was uttered. And the sickening part was that she knew, deep down, she was the cause of his weakness. She had pushed him to burn everything he had left to snap some sense into her. "So... while I can still keep the connection strong... Hear me one last time. Gather... the light Steel Spirits... save yourself... from that dark future. Goodbye... kid..."
The voice she'd once feared, then taken for granted, and finally ignored for so long fell silent. Like a lead weight the reality sank deep. He was gone. She'd never hear his voice again. All she had now was his last will as he faded away. Even at the very end he'd thought nothing of himself. Everything was given to help her succeed. And she'd squandered it to the point where she would never have that innate support ever again.
Snapping awake, the ShadowArmsdramon looked up to realize she was standing in the middle of a thunderstorm. Rain drived down into her soaked body. She was filled with a grim determination now, a will to set right what she'd allowed to go awry. And she was the only one who could fix her own mess. She'd done this to herself in the end.
She would never allow that vision to pass. She refused to become the Mad Dragon of Darkness. It chilled her, though, how close she'd already come to taking that final step. She'd fallen so far that Sol had had to sacrifice everything to fling one last mote of light to her, with the dying hope that she would take it and grow it into a brilliant sun.
As she flew from the tip of Tokyo Tower, at least one thing went her way today. The rain hid the first tears she'd shed in months, in memory of the spirit that was lost to darkness.
Bits please
Light and Darkness. They're opposing extremes whenever they're represented. The Sun and The Moon. Good and Evil. Order and Chaos. Having one normally excludes the other almost entirely from the person in question. There are some who challenge that idea though, though not all do so by choice.
Young Alicia is one of those who was thrust into challenging the fact that Light and Darkness cannot exist in equal quantities for one being. It was apart of the Spirit that was paired with her. He was at the height of his power a being that perfectly balanced and weilded the two extremes in a chaotic masterpiece. Now just to survive she was put into a position where her best course of action was to live up to that potential. To survive in the long run she'd need to emulate his power in its entirety.
The only problem is that, put simply, she didn't. She'd come to rely heavily on her dark spirit forms. ShadowArmsdramon, Cybercursedramon, and her most recent acqusition, RailTitandramon, were all excessively powerful for their respective levels, able to trample most foes under foot. Those that brute force alone failed to crush fell to some clever tactics honing the immense strength available to them. She had yet to realize what it was doing to her though. She wasn't aware of how her sanity had slipped further and further with each dark side evolution.
She was never so vicious, so blood thirsty, before. When she'd first started, it took a truly vile act to drive her to want to kill. Now, though? Now she routinely slaughtered whoever faced her as an enemy if they were unable to escape her wrath. Her newfound ruthlessness had driven away those she'd called friend, and in her madness she hadn't bothered to understand why. Even the ever hopeful Elliot had come to realize there was nothing he could do to turn Alicia back to her sweet old self. She was too far gone to realize what that said about how vile she'd become in the eyes of others.
"Alicia..." Sol's voice echoed dimly, nearly crushed out of her thoughts by the encroaching darkness. "Alicia please... listen to me one last time, like you used to..." It was no use. With his voice as weak as it was, it had little hope of piercing the veil that had descended over her thoughts. This wasn't how it was meant to be. This was a living nightmare that many were powerless to stop. It was merely a matter of time before Alicia crossed one too many lines, and brought everyone's ire down upon herself. Maybe in her warped and blood lusting heart, she wanted everyone to try hunting her down. It would give her plenty of excuses to weild her full power and push herself to the absolute limit.
From what little he could see from his position, he could tell that Alicia had decided to perche herself at the very top of Tokyo Tower, using ShadowArmsdramon's form to place herself at the very tip of the landmark's spire. That was another change that had occurred in her, she'd become something of a megalomaniac. In fact, it would be easier to state that she'd become similar to the typical anime villains, with all the trappings there-in. This had gone on long enough though, he'd have to do something drastic. But what?
"Why...?" the icy voice of his host asked, catching the Steel Spirit off guard. She had heard him? This was unusual, lately he'd never gotten her to even notice his presence, let alone answer him. "Why should I listen to some has been that doesn't even have a body any more to enforce his will? You basically thrusted this power on to me and threw me into what's basically a death world where everything bigger then you wants to kill you. Why should I ever listen to someone who would do that ever again?"
"Because this wasn't how it was meant to be Alicia. Look at what the darkness of these spirits has done to you...! You're barely even recognizable as Alicia Westfield anymore! You're just some shell of what she once was! But even now it's still not too late to try fixing things, to bring yourself back into balance!" Even Sol himself had to admit, he sounded desperate just then. This could very well be the last time he'd have a chance to do anything about Alicia's twisted Spirit.
"You know... I'm getting real sick of your talk of balance. I already had Mercurialdramon, and you wanted me to go after a Spirit that was weaker then that form. You wanted me to risk life and limb for something that was actually weaker then my best Spirit at the time. All for the sake of this precious 'balance' you keep going on about! In fact, I actually did lose limbs to that hunt with nothing to show for it!" the ninja dragon snarled angrily.
Alicia then raised her right arm in front of her face, shaking it angrily for him to see. The Steel Spirit had to wince and look away as gears whirred and whined in protest from the abuse under a shell of steel plating. Perhaps that was what had done it? The shock of actually suffering an injury so grevious that it had forever marred her human form to such an extent... was it too much for her? "Do I need to sit down and pry my fake leg off and show that to you too!? Huh!?"
To say that hunt was a disaster was the understatement of the year. Seeing that all of her hunts until then had resulted in near death for people she'd just recently met and grown to care for, Alicia had taken on this one all on her own. It had been the worst mistake of her life. He shuddered at the memory. How could one false move turn into lying in a pool of one's own blood, barely clinging to life desperately screaming for help even though she knew none would come? That was another possibility that could have broken her. The frailty of her own life was something she'd forgotten after gaining her stronger Spirit forms, especially Mercurialdramon. To be so brutally reminded of it could also easily have caused her to snap.
"If you had just..." Sol began, before sighing and stopping. What could he say? It wasn't likely to work, but he had something in mind. "You don't realize how important it is. Sooner or later this darkness that you find comfort in will betray you. And when it does this time there won't be anything left to cry for aid. You need the light counterparts to your spirits to prevent that betrayal!"
"And how exactly would I be betrayed? I've gained full control over all three of them. I have nothing to fear from them. Are you really so desperate to throw me into a gauntlet once more?" Alicia snapped back hatefully, glaring. She never noticed how an ethereal 'spike' seemed to be jammed into her heart at the shot. Her Steel Spirit, though, was acutely aware, flinching at the strike.
"I am truly sorry for causing you so much pain and trouble, but I did all that I could to mitigate things, gave every bit of advice I could. Even now I only have your best interests at heart, though I know you do not believe me anymore. I beg of you. With this power, please... seek out their counterparts so that you can reacquire something resembling your old self..." It was one final desperate plea before the Steel Spirit would be forced to attempt drastic measures.
"I refuse." Alicia spat back, and Sol winced as a second 'spike' was driven into her heart while she was unaware. One more and... he shuddered to think of it. Three strikes and they would cut loose. The darkness would flow from her and curse all that lived in the Real World until they were finally hunted down and slaughtered, and act that would destroy what little fragments of the old Alicia still remained.
"Then I'll resort to my final option, Alicia. Whether you like it or not I will do one last thing to try and drag you back into the light, kicking and screaming if it must be that way!" Sol roared, letting strength surge up for what may be the last time. Alicia gaspedin shock at the sudden change, only to go still, shoulders slumping as she seemed to pass out, held up really only because her mechanical leg had been locked in place and was baring most of her weight.
Deep in her own mind, Alicia groaned and sat up, surprised to apparently be in human form again. "Nnngh... Sol! What the hell did you do!?" the Spirit User snarled out, clenching a fist tight. Standing up in the black expanse, she looked around. Where was the Steel Spirit in this twisted mess anyways?
"This is my final option, Alicia. You do not realize it, but you are one strong expression of darkness away from that betrayal I warned you of..." Sol replied, as the darkness started bleeding out to form a picture of Shibuya. Alicia looked down, as the vision placed her high in the sky, and blinked in surprise as the entire city was starting to burn to the ground.
A mechanical screech caught her attention, and Alicia wheeled around, eyes widening as RailTitandramon flew overhead. The teal Advanced Spirit rained down death from above in the form of both laser blasts and high-powered air-to-ground missiles. People screamed as Alicia shook her head slowly. Why was the vision of her doing this? Was this really the kind of madness she'd do?
Another roar sounded off. Swallowing in apprehension, the Spirit User turned again. Gasping in shock, she watched as Cybercursedramon ran down a fleeing ambulance, crushing the vehicle underfoot once the terrible undead beast caught up. Seeing both of her dark side spirits rampaging on the city at the same time made her heart sink. This wasn't her doing. She wasn't in control of either of these spirits. She couldn't be. But if they weren't her, where was she?
As if to answer the question, the vision swung over to the ruined remnants of what was once her apartment building. The vision Alicia was leaning against the burning wreck and cough, her body practically mutilated to sum up her injuries in a word. The strangest part of the scene was the fact that a second Alicia with skin as black as coal stood over her, the dark copy.
"Too little... too late..." the dark Alicia mused with a manical smirk. "Maybe I'll go and send your precious brothers along for the ride, wouldn't want you to be lonely now!" The Dark Alicia started to cackle as the vision Alicia's weakness. Then in a sudden change of demeanor, she nearly split her face apart with her huge fang-lined grin as she drove the knife down into vision Alicia's-
The vision shattered and the Spirit User was left reeling, screaming hoarsely as she fell on her back and backed aways as fast as her arms and legs would let her. "W-What in blazes was that!?" she screamed out, her throat sore as she realized now she'd been screaming the ever since the vision started.
"The future you will face if you don't shape up now. Your ignoble end as a backstabbing cutthroat fiend. The annihilation of anything you still cared about. The destruction of your family at the hands of your own mad darkness. Do you see now why you need to balance yourself?" Sol answered, his voice noticably weak.
Alicia nodded numbly, not trusting her voice at the moment. "Then why do I feel like you're just trying to get me to shut up and leave you alone? No, I suppose I'll have to use the other half. Alicia Westfield... face your vile shadow!" The Steel Spirit went silent at the declaration, leaving Alicia to her own thoughts as she stood up again. What did he mean by 'face her vile shadow'?
"He~ey..." The sing-song voice came behind her. Alicia snapped around to see her dark clone show up again, already starting to twirl that accursed knife around between her fingers, gears audibly whirring at the precise movements. "Didja miss me?"
Alicia snarled and grabbed the D-Scanner from it's place on her hip, only to scream as device was struck from her hand by a throw of the Dark Alicia's knife. "Ah, ah, aaaah! No cheating, no cheating!" Dark Alicia cooed in a sickeningly sweet tone, having already pulled a new knife out to twirl. Daring to take her eyes off her copy for a moment, Alicia turned to look at the D-Scanner. Unfortunately for her, it was now little more then a sparking, ruined paperweight. She wouldn't be able to call on her Spirits to fight this enemy.
"Pay attention!" the shadow barked, and Alicia only had a moment to turn around and realize her clone was practically on top of her, bringing the knife down in psychotic stab. The Spirit User screamed as the steel bit into her shoulder, tearing away to put some distance between the two near indentical women.
"Oi, oi, don't you get it already? The more you run and the more you look away, the more I'll drag this blood fest out. So really, stop so I can just kill you. Or, actually, don't. I'm enjoying hearing you scream like a school girl." That erased any speck of doubt that reminded, the copy was utterly insane. And she didn't have her D-Scanner to help her put an end to the copy's rampage. "Aren't you gonna get a weapon? We're not in reality right now, don't you know? Oh! Oh! I know! You're so dumb that you never bothered to learn how to really fight without your spirits! You couldn't even hurt a fly like this, could you!? Well too bad I guess!"
Dark Alicia charged again, laughing maniacally as she swung and thrusted the bloody knife at the original Alicia with frightening accuracy. Each blow would've been a belatedly fatal one had she not thrown herself back from the cold steel. "What's wrong, suddenly scared of a little bloodshed!? Too scared to even whimper without you little black security blanket!? And you thought you have control of the darkness in your heart!?"
There had to be something the Spirit User could use to turn the tides. Something that would somehow stall this mad dark clone of hers. "You have no hope and you know it, Alicia...! Everything you could do, I can do better without a little trinket containing all my powers! And to make my point, Whispering Star!" Dark Alicia called out, flinging wave after wave of shurikens that seemed to manifest from nowhere.
Alicia screamed as the storm of steel ravaged her. Her legs failed her, causing the Spirit User to crumple to the ground. As she coughed up blood from the impact and injuries, she stared up at her dark clone in horror. She hadn't even evolved and had been able to call upon one of ShadowArmsdramon's signature moves. That shouldn't be possible. It couldn't be done.
"Man you're dumb sometimes. I don't play by the same rules as you do, Alicia. I'm the only one who gets to cheat around here. I mean, I could've gone all Cruel Rampage on your or something, but I figured Whispering Star would be just fatal enough to let you scream a little more." Dark Alicia said, tilting her head as she loomed over the original one. She'd gone back to playfully twirling the knife through her fingers. "Now, what should I cut off first? An ear? A finger? Maybe I should speed things up a bit and just hack off a hand or carve out an eye. Say, be nice and tell me what'll make you scream the most, okay?"
Alicia had nothing to say to her though, all she tried to do was feebly put some distance between her, eyes frozen in horror as the vision looked like it was about to come true. And there was nothing she could do about it. "Aww, scared witless? Why? Aren't we one and the same? Oh well, guess I'll just have to poke you and see what gets you talking. I suppose this is kinda fun too!" Taking a firm grip of her knife again, Dark Alicia thrust the weapon down, aiming for-
Nothing. Before it connected, the clone broke apart into shadowy wisps and faded away. And Alicia didn't feel any more pain her body from the shurikens. "Oh God..." she breathed, laying back and shuddering, pupils constricted to mere pinpricks out of fear. "Oh God... oh God..."
"... now... do y-zzt-... und-zzt-nd?" Sol's near whispering voice came, noticable static coming into it almost like when they first began this journey. Was she losing her connection to him? "Noth-zzt- ... so... sim-zzt-... I -zzt-k... I exhausted... what li-zzt- -zzt-er I... had left..."
"Sol...? Sol...!?" Her own voice was weak, both from her earlier screaming and the fear gripping her heart. "Sol, don't go...! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry for everything! Please don't leave me! I get it now, but I still need you!" When had she felt so weak and powerless before? Had she ever been so helpless?
"Nrgh... S-Sorry, kid. This is... one fate I cannot defy... not anymore." The reply she feared most at this moment was uttered. And the sickening part was that she knew, deep down, she was the cause of his weakness. She had pushed him to burn everything he had left to snap some sense into her. "So... while I can still keep the connection strong... Hear me one last time. Gather... the light Steel Spirits... save yourself... from that dark future. Goodbye... kid..."
The voice she'd once feared, then taken for granted, and finally ignored for so long fell silent. Like a lead weight the reality sank deep. He was gone. She'd never hear his voice again. All she had now was his last will as he faded away. Even at the very end he'd thought nothing of himself. Everything was given to help her succeed. And she'd squandered it to the point where she would never have that innate support ever again.
Snapping awake, the ShadowArmsdramon looked up to realize she was standing in the middle of a thunderstorm. Rain drived down into her soaked body. She was filled with a grim determination now, a will to set right what she'd allowed to go awry. And she was the only one who could fix her own mess. She'd done this to herself in the end.
She would never allow that vision to pass. She refused to become the Mad Dragon of Darkness. It chilled her, though, how close she'd already come to taking that final step. She'd fallen so far that Sol had had to sacrifice everything to fling one last mote of light to her, with the dying hope that she would take it and grow it into a brilliant sun.
As she flew from the tip of Tokyo Tower, at least one thing went her way today. The rain hid the first tears she'd shed in months, in memory of the spirit that was lost to darkness.
Bits please
