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Come to the Valley of Dragons If You Want An Asskicking (Az)
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Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Apr 9, 2016 5:45:37 GMT
When Elliot texted Alicia in triumph about their successful adventure in the laboratory from hell, he had expected congratulations and maybe a bit of counselling over his sure-to-develop trauma. He didn't expect a terse text informing him "Valley of Dragons. Tomorrow. Sunset." Still, he figured he might as well inform Isaac about the message. After all, they were a package deal and took on every challenged they faced as a team. It had also been a while since they had seen Alicia, unfortunately trapped in Digital World traffic when she was in the hospital and therefore unable to visit her. They made sure to send as many texts and messages to her Digivice to make up for it as possible, at least.
"She seem a bit annoyed to you?" Isaac asked, pointing out the obvious.
"I dunno. Maybe it's a surprise party or something," Elliot offered in response.
"Nobody invites people to a party like a school bully in a cartoon," Isaac countered. "It's pretty clear whatever we're being asked about, Alicia means business today."
The Trailmon ride to the Digital World went as it always did, and soon Elliot and Isaac found themselves at the Valley of Dragons. Their shadows stretched far along the setting sun, which dyed the already reddish rocks a pleasant orange color. The sky was a beautiful pinkish orange, and for a second Elliot was reassured that today would be a great day after all. Who could ever argue with such a pretty sky?
Still, there was no sign of Alicia anywhere. The two stuck to a tight formation in case of incoming threats, walking and talking as they tried to find the woman. Elliot kept his head high, wondering if she was climbing the cliffs and peaks to get a better view of the sunset, while Isaac looked straight on ahead in hopes that she wouldn't be hiding on them or pulling any tricks.
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Post by Alicia Westfield on Apr 9, 2016 6:07:19 GMT
It was good to be out and about again, that was for sure. Alicia had made some good head way of her own by the time she'd gotten the word from Elliot that they'd pulled off a successful Spirit Hunt without her. She couldn't quite place the emotion she was feeling. On one hand, she was happy for the duo. The more Spirits a user had, the more power they had at their disposal. And the more power they had, the greater their chances of surviving trips to the Digital World.
So what had possessed her to respond in such a way? To call them out here like this, as if to set up a show down? It wasn't as if she regretted doing so, as it was also an excuse to meet up with the two again in a fairly secluded manner. No one would really bother them as it was. Plus it was a beautiful day.
"Hey Sol... do you have any idea what got into me back then?" Alicia asked her Spirit, tilting her head. If anyone would have an idea, he was the most likely to be able to answer her question.
"I believe you're feeling a drive many dragons feel. The drive to test one's self for the sake of honing the fangs and claws of both themselves and their friends. They were able to stand without you, and now you want to see how far their new found power will carry them. I will be honest, it's a drive that I've felt time and again, and it may have bled over into you thanks to the heavy dragon focus of your spirits."
"Oh great so having you around is messing with my head?" Alicia quipped, chuckling. This was ridiculous all things considered. However she was merely teasing the Spirit, not really having any bite to her words.
"Perhaps? Perhaps not. We'll never know now though. By the way, they're here."
That caught her attention, and she looked around, seeing the brothers walking around. She was indeed up on one of the lower peaks, and if Elliot were paying attention, he might have even seen a glint of light coming from steel.
That would be because Alicia was currently in her fraction form of Steeldramon, and jumped off the peak to meet the two. The rattling of chains be came apparent as the Steeldramon used them to slow her descent, though she still landed hard about ten feet in front of them in a crouch. Rising up, the Spirit User reverted to her human form and brushed her hair back, smirking to Isaac and Elliot. "Hey, long time no see!" she called to them.
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Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Apr 9, 2016 6:20:04 GMT
Unfortunately, Elliot was easily the less attentive of the duo. Alicia's descent caught the two off guard, Isaac standing his ground at the sound of an unknown Digimon's arrival and Elliot promptly taking a half-step backwards. Still, upon recognizing Steeldramon the two broke out into big grins, which only increased in size as she turned into a form more recognizable to the two of them. She seemed way too happy to be annoyed! Elliot shot Isaac an "I told you so" sort of look, secretly very thankful that his worries didn't prove true. Everything was going to be okay, and now they were going to have an awesome victory party!
"Hey there, Alicia! Long time no see! You been healing up well?" Isaac asked. Naturally, making sure the woman okay was their first priority. With how lively she seemed it hopefully wasn't a matter of too much concern, but it was always good to try and make sure. "I'm really sorry we couldn't be there to help you out back there. We'll try to be quicker on the draw next time."
Elliot, on the other hand, was already fishing around in his pockets for his Digivice. "Man, our new forms are so cool!" he cheered. "Maybe they're even as cool as yours are. You wanna see?" His finger hovered over the button, and he was prepared to start showing off as soon as he got the okay from Alicia. Sure, everything associated with finding these spirits was pretty nightmarish, but they were awesome enough on their own right to make it worth it. Mostly.
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Post by Alicia Westfield on Apr 9, 2016 6:30:27 GMT
The Steel Spirit user grinned, holding up her own D-Scanner. "Yeah. Gotta say though, the injury itself hurt a lot. Stupid Sagittarimon and his metal arrows. Anyways, no worries. Things went alright and I sent him packing pretty much solo." It was a bit boastful, yes, but mostly true. She rested a hand on her right side, fully healed up at this point.
Hopefully she would never have to admit that the centaur archer had perished. Even if it wasn't at her hands, once things were cleared up for her, she didn't wish death upon him. That choice was out of her hands though. "Still, I haven't been completely idle either, I have a few new tricks up my sleeves too. But please, the stage is yours right now."
Smiling, the redhead nodded to them. Their excitement over their new forms was infectious, bleeding over into her if the smile growing bigger was any indication. What forms did these two gain now, and how did they compare to Impmon and Veemon?
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Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Apr 9, 2016 6:48:23 GMT
"Alright, let's do this!" Elliot cheered, turning excitedly to Isaac. Neither brother wanted to go first, each somewhat selfishly wanting to be the one to make the last grand reveal. It seemed like neither of the duo was going to budge any time soon, so eventually they both held their Digivices high in the air. Cocoons of light and energy enveloped them, but they quickly expanded to twice the size of the ones that nurtured Impmon and Veemon. Elliot's took on a dark blue coloration, while Isaac's was almost a pale teal.
The cocoons faded, and where Elliot and Isaac once stood now Strikedramon and Yasyamon were standing. Yasyamon admired his swords and shield, relieved to see that they had reformatted since when he had last used this form, while Strikedramon excitedly stood tall and flexed. "Pretty cool, huh?" Isaac asked, the masked demon holding out his swords so Alicia could get a good look at the new form. "These new looks helped us get out of a real sticky situation. I had to fight some kind of android, and Elliot was dealing with this really persistent nightmare teddy bear."
Elliot really didn't want to think about Porcupamon. Fortunately, he had something he could easily distract the conversation with! He lifted up his own flowing red hair to show it off, noticing the slightly less luscious red hair at the back of Isaac's head as well. "Ooh, look at this! We're all matching now," he stated, feeling oddly proud of his observation.
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Post by Alicia Westfield on Apr 9, 2016 14:17:11 GMT
Alicia nodded to herself, looking over Strikedramon and Yasyamon with a smirk. "Oh wow, you guys certainly got big with only one new form. I suppose Impmon and Veemon were just... I don't know, fun-sized in comparison? Still, you're looking pretty good in those new spirit forms. Though..." She tilted her head, looking closer at Yasyamon's weapons of choice. "Wood? I'm guessing there's more to that then meets the eye."
"Well? Aren't you going to show off one of your new forms, Alicia?" Sol asked her, and she smirked in response. He had a point, if they were going to show off a bit, she might as well join in the fun. But which one to open with? How about the one she used to fight Sagittarimon, that seemed like a good idea.
Twirling her D-Scanner, she grinned as the area seemed to get a bit darker all of a sudden. "Allow me to be a bit show off-ish as well, please." The ring of energy appeared around her hand and she slashed the D-Scanner over it. Deciding to modify the chant, she began, "Stained Steel shall be hidden in shadows... Spirit Evolution!" Unlike the cocoons of light that encased Elliot and Isaac, her evolution instead spawned black mist once more which whipped around in a small cyclone around her. With a swipe of her arm, the ninja dragon once more stood in Alicia's place.
"This is the form I faced that Sagittarimon in, ShadowArmsdramon!" Alicia announced, smiling to to the brothers before her. Perhaps she'd let them comment on her own new form before bringing up why she'd called them out like this.
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Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Apr 10, 2016 0:35:24 GMT
"Yeah, way too fun sized," Isaac grumbled, so thankful that now he had an actually respectable form to show off. Yasyamon was so much cooler than Impmon, even if it didn't have much of the utility such as flying and teleporting. It was definitely more of a combat form than in comparison. "Don't underestimate these things. They may be wood, but they sure managed to bash an android to bits like they were solid steel." Of course, speaking of solid steel, they were about to deal with the master of it. The two brothers watched and waited, prepared to see Steeldramon again.
They didn't. With a badass incantation and a cloud of darkness swirling around her, Alicia turned into a completely different form. The brothers watched in shock and awe, before Elliot turned to Isaac and began excitedly shaking his shoulder. "Why don't we do that?" Elliot asked, somewhat pleadingly. "Come on, we gotta try and come up with some cool catchphrases too! It'd be so fun!"
"Half the time we're too busy getting our butts kicked to say anything," Isaac countered.
"That's why we gotta commit them to memory. Think about how cool it'd be!"
Slowly, a little grin spread across Isaac's face. "Heh. You know it would be.
Looking good there, Alicia! Ninja, I'm guessing?"
It seemed like the surprise party was drawing closer and closer. This was still going to be a surprise party, right?
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Post by Alicia Westfield on Apr 10, 2016 3:23:14 GMT
Alicia chuckled softly, taking Isaac's word for it with regards to his wooden equipment. Digimon had certainly surprised her before, what with a submersible Digimon and other such madness. She would do her best not to assume things about any digimon now a days, that's for sure.
Hearing two start bantering back and forth about her use of a chant prior to evolution, Alicia smiled fondly. She decided to put her own two cents in on the discussion. "You know... I don't actually memorize these things at all... They just kinda come to me when I want to evolve to one of my Digimon forms. And yes, ninja indeed. Considering where Maia and I found it, not that big a surprise."
The ninja dragon smirked under her mask. "Now then, I've been thinking, we've always wound up having to use new Digimon forms for the first time in life-or-death scenarios, praying that instinctive knowledge of what a form has available to it would be enough to carry us through. This is a serious problem in my eyes, especially since I was almost killed in part because of it. So, to get to why I called you guys out here..."
Alicia trailed off and settled herself into a relaxed, but prepared fighting stance. She hadn't raised her arms yet, merely tilting her head to the two brothers. "I propose we have a sparring match to get more used to these new forms of ours. The two of you against me, how you two go about it is up to you. If we're going to be fighting in the Digital World for the majority of our lives, we'd best have something set up as a means of honing our abilities."
Folding her arms, she sighed softly. "Basically, we need a plan where we can fight and push ourselves, without having to worry about a misstep getting ourselves or one of our dear friends killed. I nearly watched you two die getting thrown off the Trailmon, and if I was just a bit slower Maia would've been shishkabobbed on a storm of shurikens... I'm sure you two can relate similar experiences where the pressure was almost too much."
"Hehehe... let the games begin..." Sol commented, smirking.
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Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Apr 10, 2016 4:41:24 GMT
"Not gonna lie there," Isaac said. "We're pretty sick of it too. I had to pull this thing out of the core of some malfunctioning android. It kept trying to get me with these freaky wires." The boy briefly de-digivolved from Yasyamon to his human form, rolling up his sleeve to show a faint scar from where one of the ProtoAndromon's wires jabbed right into his shoulder. It was still fresh enough to be visible, a sobering reminder that spirit users had to keep careful in their fights. Surface damage usually faded away with a de-digivolution and some bedrest, but the really nasty ones left some lingering. Alicia was likely just as familiar with that, judging by her trip to the hospital.
"And I almost got clobbered real bad by this horrifying Porcupamon," Elliot said. As the only one still in his Digimon form, it seemed like he'd end up taking the stand for this first sparring match. He listened carefully to Alicia's worries, looking down a little guiltily when she mentioned them being thrown off the train. He'd try to be stronger next time, surely! Heck, that was half of why he and Isaac were on the hunt for these spirits in the first place. Then they could be better equipped to protect the people they cared about.
"Yeah, I gotta admit, I worried about bringing her on our hunt too," Isaac admitted. "It was a really dangerous place, and I didn't want her to get hurt. But I trust her, y'know? And if she needs a hand, I'm sure I could help keep her safe. So you're right. We gotta keep getting stronger to protect each other."
"I'll go first!" Elliot volunteered, standing to his full height and rolling his shoulders. The dragon's tall profile and cheery, youthful voice really weren't that fitting. "Good luck, Alicia!"
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Post by Alicia Westfield on Apr 10, 2016 4:55:39 GMT
Alicia nodded softly, sighing. "We certainly got the short end of the stick huh? Not that envy Tamers in any way. In some ways it might be more stressful for them, watching someone they've become such close friends with get hurt protecting them, while they can do nothing but stay out of harms way..."
With that said, the time for words was over, as Elliot had taken up Alicia's challenge. Now that the match was on, Alicia finished making her stance, arms raised and body tensed. "Good luck to you too, here I come!" The ninja dragon lunged forward towards the Strikedramon, wings spread wide and bleeding off shadow-like wisps. Claws flicked out into place from her gauntlets, and Alicia beat her wings, twisting herself into a powerful spiral that had shoved back and winded even the very well grounded Sagittarimon before with just one blocked attack.
"Night Shredder!" she called as she rapidly closed the distance. Given the sheer power behind the move, she wondered how Elliot would respond to it, and the results there of. She wasn't entirely sure what the Strikedramon was capable of, so attempting to predict his move was not feasible.
Well, time would tell, wouldn't it?
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Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Apr 10, 2016 5:19:05 GMT
Elliot tensed up as Alicia prepared to advance, winding up like a drill and launching herself at Elliot. It looked like a really powerful foot to begin a fight on, and Elliot could tell getting hit by it would be bad news. Thankfully, it seemed like she was aiming for center mass, which on such a tall dragon was a pretty high target. Immediately he hit the deck, staying as flat on the floor as possible in hopes of Alicia passing right over him. For the most part it went well, except that his tail refused to necessarily stay down. He didn't even know how to use tail muscles, really. Did he just clench his butt? As he tried to figure it out dark energy sliced past the tail, painful but nothing too bad.
He waited for Alicia to land, hoping that the attack would daze her sufficiently. After all, how could you spin so much and not end up a little bit dizzied? Upon the woman's landing he charged forward, trying to get his arms under hers and stick her into a powerful full nelson. Grappling was the main technique he used against Porcupamon, and it was able to help keep the more powerful foe on its toes. Maybe he'd be able to pull off the same against Alicia! "Commando's Lock!" he shouted as he tried to apply the hold, hoping he'd be able to wear Alicia down and get an early gauge on her power. Depending on how she dealt with the grip, he'd have an idea of how much force to apply against her attacks without inadvertently hurting her. Everyone wins!
Unless Alicia dodges, of course. Then only she wins.
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Post by Alicia Westfield on Apr 10, 2016 7:17:41 GMT
Alicia grunted a bit as she touched down a about a foot or so behind Elliot, only scoring superficial damage on the Strikedramon's tail with her attack. Perhaps she hadn't thought that out very well, going high on a tall opponent. Oh well, mistakes were made. Predictably, Elliot took full advantage of the short time she needed to regain her bearings after the spiralling attack, successfully pulling off the Commando's Lock and putting her in a bit of an awkward position.
"Well, now what kid? The chances of you being able to just brute force your way out of this are slim at best, he has the advantage of leverage on you." Sol commented, deciding to play a bit of 'captain obvious' in response to her predicament.
"Really Sol? Now is not the time." Alicia snapped back quietly with a roll of her eyes, struggling a bit in Elliot's grip to test him. To her and Sol's expectation, the hold was a strong one that she couldn't slip through or break out of easily. Spying a nearby rock formation, the ninja dragon got an idea to attempt to break the Strikedramon's Lock.
Lashing her foot out, she tried to shove one of Elliot's out of position to weaken his stance. If she could do that or at least take his attention off of her upper body, then despite being in the weaker position she could control the grapple they were in. Regardless of success or failure, she'd only have a moment's opportunity to finish. The ShadowArmsdramon pushed hard on her other leg, trying to basically throw herself towards the rock while rolling in the air so Elliot would be slammed against it first.
Let's see how he handled that one.
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Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Apr 10, 2016 7:27:38 GMT
Alicia's strategy was a very sound one. While Elliot was busy scrambling to reposition his foot, the ShadowsArmsdramon had managed to spring them both toward a nearby rock. She had control of the momentum now, and with it she had the advantage. Even as Elliot tried to flex his body and counteract the force of her spin, he found it hard to overcome her rotational speed. Like it or not he was flying back-first toward the rock, and trying to minimize the impact would be essential to getting out of this sticky situation.
Releasing Alicia was first priority, giving him actual use of his arms back. There was no chance in hell of him turning around while the two of them were still connected. From there he twisted his upper body to try and rotate himself, hoping to end up stomach-first with the rock instead of back-first. A shot to the ribs and chest would be painful as heck. A shot to the spine would be debilitating. Finally he twisted his neck up and went spread-eagle, hoping to maximize the amount of surface area the force would be spread across. It was like a stage fall in reverse, which led to Elliot gracelessly bellyflopping the rock with a meaty thud.
He peeled himself up off the floor, battered and bruised yet still very much in fighting shape. "Nice counter!" he said, putting a hand on his tail to try and direct it as he planned out his next move. He lowered his iron head and roared a battle cry as he charged toward Alicia, hoping to trick her into thinking he would make a headbutt. However, instead of following through with the strike, he skidded to an early stop and aimed his tail right at the ninja dragon. "Tailblazer!" he shouted as a gout of flame promptly shot from the nozzle-like tail.
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Post by Alicia Westfield on Apr 10, 2016 7:43:33 GMT
As soon as she felt the Strikedramon let go of her, Alicia beat her wings hard to reorient herself and land on her feet as Elliot kept sailing on. She'd admit that she winced at the sound of the thud of his body against the rock, that sounded like it hurt a lot. Well, that was kinda part of the point. She had to put a few metaphorical lumps on him to get him to let go.
Seeing him lower his head and roar had the effect he wanted. Alicia was lead to believe the Strikedramon was going to headbutt her and prepared a counter. Fishing out some shurikens from her pockets, she waited for the expected head but so she could jump back from it and toss her steel stars at him while he was recovering. In all honest she should've suspected something was up when he grabbed his tail earlier.
As it was, though, her eyes went wide as he wheeled around and loosed the torrent of flames at her. Thankfully her planned reaction was still good for this, so she leaped back. It wasn't perfect however, the front of her body was scorched by the flames, and the ShadowArmsdramon had to take a moment to brush some clinging embers off. She had to admit, he got her there.
"Not too shabby yourself. Whispering Star!" Alicia hissed, launching several waves of shurikens every which way. There was a method to the madness though, the shurikens were rebounding off the rocks around them and off each other in mid air, surrounding Elliot in a literal storm of steel that was rapidly closing in.
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Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Apr 10, 2016 7:56:33 GMT
Elliot threw up his arms to block the incoming shuriken. However, he was very surprised to see that the attack wasn't directed at him. Upon noticing the distinct lack of pain in his arms he dropped his guard, looking around to see just what Alicia was trying to accomplish. Was she trying to hit a weak spot in a cliff and bury him in a cave in? Or was she trying to rebound some shots and hit him from behind? He always made sure to keep one eye on Alicia, but he tilted his head each way possible to try and get a sense of what the other spirit user had planned.
Judging by Isaac suddenly diving behind a nearby rock for cover, the answer was quickly becoming apparent. A storm of shuriken, bouncing off of each other and swirling into a tornado-like storm, was starting to surround him. If he had wings he could have likely flown out of the sticky situation, but as is he was still too groundbound to properly function. He was already surrounded, and at this point it was simply a question of how much pain he'd let slip through his defenses. Did he try to run through and get out of the attack, taking more pain up front and less later? Or did he stand his ground and try to block it, risking getting torn up from all sides in his attempt at finding shelter?
Elliot found himself looking for another option. He hunkered down his body as best he could and backed up toward the edge of the steel storm, trying to get as much of a running start as possible. By the time he heard metal scrape against metal, he knew his flesh would be next and he had gotten as much breathing room as possible. Once that distance was obtained he charged forward, rolling into a handspring and taking advantage of his low profile to minimize the amount of blades currently tearing into him. He had to admit, it hurt, but this was just one of those days where he'd need to play through the pain. A roll turned into a handspring, and from there he launched off of his powerful forearms into a thrusting kick with both legs. "Rolling Start!" he shouted as he burst through the storm of steel, armor scraped and scales punctured. Already the boy's breath was starting to get heavy, but he hoped this powerful attack would shift the momentum back towards him.
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