the knight in distress [MPC 52-ABC, COMPLETE]

"Still feeling like you can do this?"

Ry glared at Guilmon, the red lizard grinning in spite of his obvious illness, "Yes, Guilmon," he snarled, though he made sure to pay a bit of attention at his footing so that he didn't accidentally wobble off the road, "I can do this."

Guilmon only stared back just as hard for a minute, but then looked away and stared at the open path instead, "Fine, if you're going to be stubborn, so be it."

Ry only glared harder, what was that supposed to mean? But he let it go, his headache was already too painful to add anger on top of it. Plus, Guilmon wasn't exactly wrong, he was being too foolhardy for his own good. But he had to do this, it was his job, his mission. His purpose in life.

He had to get there and save the princess, he had to. He must, there was no question about it.

Even if the fog looming throughout the forest was chilly as fuck and very much intimidating to go through.

"You think you can get through the fog?"

"Yeah, I'll just hold on to your tail."

Guilmon turned around and glared at Ry.

"Kidding," Ry held up his hands, "I won't touch your tail, promise."

Guilmon snorted once more, the flame puffing out of his nostrils again, "You better not."

They entered the dark woods, the fog enveloping them instantly as if welcoming them in a chilling embrace. Ry shivered at the thought of it, even though he felt as if he was burning up.

The fog was definitely not helping him, he could numbly feel the cold seeping into his very bones, yet he still felt as hot as ever. His already shaky vision was now impaired thanks to the fogginess of it all as well, making it way too hard for him to even simply navigate. He took a step forward, and a loud crack resounded underneath his feet, cracking on a branch. He sighed in relief, and then immediately after almost tripped on a tree root.

Guilmon glanced at him for a split second, then sighed, "Fine, hold my tail," he said, swishing his tail up for Ry to grab on.

"Thanks," he muttered, grabbing on to the tail before Guilmon started walking again. It definitely made his walk easier, having something to guide him through the forest.

They walked in silence, the Server Woods itself was devoid of any other living creature aside from the two of them. Ry would have thought that perhaps the fog had scared away all the birds and digimon, if he had any thinking power left with his fever draining him, but he would have been wrong. It was the sheer and overwhelming pressure that struck the woods to its very core, the monster that laid within to claim the forest as its own.

Guilmon noticed this when his tamer didn't, but he was silent himself. He didn't say anything, and instead continued onwards with his own bravery. His tamer knight may be stubborn and reckless, but Guilmon was brave in his own way too, and as a knight's partner, he will show that he will not back down from simple pressure.

They walked for a long time, at least that was how Ry felt. At the very least, he could tell that they were definitely making some sort of progress, for the fog was slowly getting thicker and thicker the more they pressed on. Though it might also just be his vision getting hazier and hazier from his illness, he couldn't really tell at this point.

Which was probably not an ideal situation for Ry, but he would never admit to that, of course.

"How much further do you think we'll be from the dungeon?" he asked, "You said you can see right?"

"Kind of," the Guilmon replied, then directed his snout upwards to sniff the area, "We should be almost there, I can see some kind of rocky outcropping in the distance."

"Good," he replied, "The faster we can get this done with, the better."

They resumed back to silence, only the crack of branches beneath their feet accompanying them. It was only a walk, perhaps a short walk, but Ry could feel the effects on him already. His breathing was ragged, though he hoped that Guilmon couldn't tell, and he felt as if he was walking slower than he usually did. That Guilmon would definitely be able to tell, and Ry was grateful that he kept his mouth shut about it instead of reprimanding him.

"We're here," Guilmon said all of the sudden, stopping so suddenly that Ry almost bumped into him. He was so focused on walking that Ry didn't even realise the rocky cavern that they were now in front of, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, of course," Ry replied in ragged breaths, "Never been better."

Guilmon rolled his eyes, "Alright, well, stay behind me."

"Gladly." Ry let go of his tail, now that they were out of the fog. Yet his headache didn't lighten, only worsen. Whatever was exerting its pressure throughout the forest was definitely in that cavern, and even as a human, he could feel it clamping down on him.

"Alright, here we go then." Guilmon looked back at his partner, and Ry nodded. He fished out the D-Arc out of his pocket as the pair took their first step on the cavern floor.

Ry gritted his teeth, finally allowing his sword to fall and his adrenaline to rush away, and instead filling his head back with the illness again. He only realised that his arm was burning from the strain he was putting it under, and that his knuckles had turned white from grasping his D-Arc so hard.

Whilst they may have declared their intention to fight, watching the situation as it is now isn't very reassuring. The Examon dwarfed Dorugreymon, the furry red-and-white dragon perhaps only one-third of the magnificent red scaled dragon. Ry gulped, whilst they had both pulled through precarious situations before, he wasn't sure if this was something they could turn into a miracle.

He shook his head, no, the first step to becoming a true knight was to trust in your partner. He had almost forgotten even the most basics of knighthood. He clenched his D-Arc with more fervour, "Go, Dorugreymon!"

The Dorugreymon roared in response, his tail swishing back and forth in anticipation, "Metal Shot!" he shouted, a huge ball of metal forming in front of the furred red dragon and shot towards the Examon.

"Ha, and you call yourselves knights?" the Examon snarled, and held a single hand out.

Ry watched in disbelief as the Examon caught the metal ball and crushed in a single move with its bare hands, "What..."

"That..." the Dorugreymon was at a lost for words as well, eyes widening from the sheer power of the bigger dragon. That single attack had always been able to immediately put their opponents out of commission, and here was one who was able to crush their attack in a single instant and with no effort at all.

The Examon grinned, sharp fangs showing through its lips, "My turn," the dragon raised its lance even higher, hitting the cavern ceiling and shaking the entire cavern, yet ignoring it entirely. The dragon then pointed the lance down at Dorugreymon, and the tip of the lance started to shine bright with a red light, "Avalon's Gate!"

"Watch out-"

Yet his warning was too late, as the Dorugreymon took the full brunt of the attack. It all happened in a second, the lance brightened with a dark red flash and fired what seemed like a red laser, and struck the Dorugreymon on his chest. The full brunt of the attack threw the Dorugreymon into the cavern wall, shaking it even more. Ry struggled to stay on his feet, his eyes beginning to get hazy again and his balance completely off with his illness as well.

Ry fell on his knees in the end, unable to retain the strength to stay on his feet. His breathing was slow and too ragged, unable to control his breathing in a steady rhythm.

"Ha, and for all that talk, you were so easily defeated." Examon snorted, releasing his grip on the lance and letting his guard down.

"I'm not through yet!" the shout resounded through the cave, and the Dorugreymon shot through the cave straight for the Examon, blade-first, "Bloody Tower!"

As if in a casual move, the Examon lifted his hand and let it fall on the Dorugreymon, yet the result was astounding. Such a move with no power behind it swatted Dorugreymon to the ground, so deep into the ground that it created indents on the cavern floor from where Dorugreymon fell.

"Dorugreymon!" Ry forced himself up, however he was hit by an instant wave of dizziness and was forced back on his knees for a second. He took a deep breath as sweat beaded his brow, and then let himself up slowly, using his sword as a makeshift crutch. He ambled towards Dorugreymon, huffing and puffing all the while, "Dorugreymon, are you okay?"

Dorugreymon opened an eye and looked at Ry, "Yeah," he whispered, "I'll be fine, don't worry about me. Get princess Arianne out of her cage, she's in danger."

Ry glanced at the princess, still locked in her cage. He was right, if the cavern shook any more, it might fall on them. With the princess stuck in the cage, she wouldn't be able to move out of the way or defend herself if rubble were to fall on her cage.

"I'll distract it."

"But-"

"Don't worry about me," the Dorugreymon muttered, pushing himself up on his legs, "I'll be fine, go!"

At that, the Dorugreymon charged back once more at the Examon, "You never learn, don't you?" the Examon snorted.

Ry took that chance, he forced himself to leap and run towards the princess before the dizziness even had a chance to hit him. In the end, he managed to make the full sprint towards the princess' cage, though he had to lean against the bars of the cage and try to regain his breathing for a full minute.

"Are you okay?" the princess whispered as quietly as she could, understanding the gravity of the situation should they attract Examon's attention.

"I will be," Ry managed through ragged breaths, "Are you okay?"

The princess nodded frantically, and looked up as the Examon threw the Dorugreymon at the ceiling. A loud resounding noise boomed through the cavern, as it shook even harder than it did before, now with debris and rock falling apart from the ceiling. The princess clutched at the bars even harder than she did earlier, knuckles going whiter than Ry thought possible.

"Don't worry," he said, though he didn't know how reassuring he actually sounded, "Don't worry, I'm going to get you out of here."

The Dorugreymon quickly got back into action, zooming back down again at the Examon, "Metal Meteor!" it cried out, gigantic balls of metal materialising in thin air in front of him.

"Ha, is that all you've got?"

Ry frantically searched the cage, they didn't have much time now, the Dorugreymon wouldn't be able to hold up the pretense much longer. There, the cage was held up by a simple lock, and though they didn't have the key to it, they would have to just improvise.

Ry brought his sword up and swung down on the lock, though he felt completely sluggish doing so and could feel the energy drain away from him each time. The first time he tried, he missed the lock entirely by accident, his aim had been thrown off by a sudden jab from his headache. The second time, he had hit it but it wasn't strong enough to break the lock. He hit it a third time, then a fourth, then a fifth.

Behind him, the Dorugreymon was straining to keep his attack held up in the air, creating more and more metal as he could to keep the Examon's attention. He glanced back at the struggling Ry and gritted his teeth, "Ry!"

With a shout, he raised his sword yet another time and forced all of his energy to crash along with his swing, and only then did the lock finally break free. "Princess, you're free now!"

"Oh so that was your plan, was it? To distract me from you?" the Examon muttered, his eyes now gazing towards the two humans, "I supposed I must have underestimated you."

"Your opponent is me!" the Dorugreymon shouted, letting free of the metal and shooting them all towards the Examon, "Metal Meteor!"

"Avalon's Gate!"

Ry did the only thing he could: snatch the cage's door wide open and pulled the princess into his embrace, shielding her with his back as they huddled down in the floor. The red blast from the Examon's lance was directed towards the Dorugreymon, shattering through the ceiling and collapsing the entire cavern. Ry closed his eyes and held on.

"Ha!" Examon snorted, bringing up his lance to ready, "Just a show of lights, what idiocy."

Yet before the red dragon could react, the knight vanished in an instant and then reappeared right next to the red dragon, high above in the air and all.

"What-"

The knight swung his axe, striking the Examon straight on its abdomen. Though the axe managed to wound the Examon, it couldn't get through its defensive plating, and instead, the force behind the axe flung the Examon into the ground, the same way the Examon had once flung Dorugreymon into the ground.

"How did you get so much power..." the Examon muttered as it pushed itself back up, then its eyes snapped away from the MedievalDukemon, "The princess! You!"

The Examon leapt up and swooped towards the princess, yet the princess didn't look scared at all. As if she thought that there was no way that she could be hurt.

And she was right, for the MedievalDukemon arrived to block the dragon's path before it could even reach her, "A knight will always protect his princess," he raised his axe, and it started to glow green, "Rage of Wyvern!"

The Examon screeched but was unable to dodge in time for the inevitable. The glow of the axe shot into a green laser towards the red dragon, and the sheer power of it threw the Examon high into the air, as if it had been catapulted away.

"This is not possible," the dragon roared, " I am the most powerful being to ever live!"

"No longer, foul beast," the axe in his hand began to spark green, "We will defeat you, and you will be no longer."

Examon roared once more, "You will not survive!" he swooped down, lance glowing red, "Pendragon's Glory!"

The sparks of the axe began to form into a bundle of electricity around the axe's head, coupled with a new bright red fire erupting around it as well. The MedievalDukemon rushed upwards, axe first, to meet the Examon's attack, "Final Crest!"

Their weapons clashed, red fire against green-and-red sparks. The dragon gritted his teeth, and forced more pressure against his weapon and towards the MedievalDukemon, yet the knight only increased his own power in return.

The clash of power was overwhelming, too much for the naked eye to see and comprehend. In the entirety of it all, the clash brought about seismic destruction of unimaginable proportions, never before seen in the world. The sheer power began uprooting the rock and fields below the beings, the world so drawn to their power that it began to unravel itself.

Yet it all ended in an instant, the Examon's lance began to give way, cracking at its edges, and seeing the chance, the MedievalDukemon pushed harder. The red dragon screeched, but there was nothing that it could do about it as its lance fell apart into tiny shards.

"Begone!"

The MedievalDukemon's axe found the Examon's chest, and a bright light enveloped them, as the Examon began to unravel into tiny red shards and fall apart.

Ry opened his eyes, immediately shielding them from the sunlight with his arm, "What... Examon!" he exclaimed, suddenly remembering all the events of the day, he sat straight up and... felt normal. He held up his palm on his forehead, "I'm not sick anymore. Wait, what happened?"

"You both did it, you defeated Examon."

He looked up to see the princess standing over him, and then she crouched and sat down next to him. He found himself sitting on grass, next to the now destroyed cavern and upturned rocks and patches of fields everywhere, "Wait, where's Guilmon?"

The princess nodded to his left, where the red lizard digimon lay on the field, "Guilmon!" he scrambled up and ran over to his partner, who he saw was breathing and relaxed immediately, yet still asleep. He looked back at the princess with grateful eyes, "Thank you, princess."

"No, thank you for willingly sacrificing your lives to save me," she nodded, "This is the least that I can do for you both."

Once Guilmon woke up, they trekked their way back to the castle, stopping at some points on the way to allow the princess to rest. Yet, even after the devastating battle, the Guilmon and his partner felt invigorated, perhaps another effect of the princess' power. Ry was just glad he no longer had to go through the foggy forest whilst sickened, he did not want a repeat of earlier that day.

It took them until nightfall when they finally reached the castle, each of them huffing and puffing regardless of their earlier vigour. One of the castle guards met them in front, and he panicked when he saw the three of them all ragged and wounded in several ways.

"Relax, sir, I am fine. We all are," she smiled, "However, I would appreciate it if you could please find someone to escort us to the queen."

The guard scurried around until he found a servant, and the servant led them inside the castle directly through to the throne room. Ry knew the path himself, he'd been there several times whenever the queen summoned him, though...

"Your highness, is it really okay for me to present myself to the queen in this state?" he glanced down at his muddied clothing and ragged cape, "I'm not very presentable at the moment."

She laughed, her voice a tinkle of bells, "It's fine, after all, you saved me," she whispered back, "The queen couldn't care less about your clothes."

The servant pushed the great doors leading to the throne room open, and showed the way to the massive hall with the two thrones sitting on the very end of the room. One inlaid with gold and the other inlaid with silver, where a the regal queen sat. She was beautiful for her age, the same long blonde hair as her daughter's and the same twinkling blue eyes.

"You have returned," she announced, then nodded to the servant, "Thank you, please leave us now."

The servant bowed and excused herself from the room. The three of them approached the throne slowly, and once they were of a reasonable distance from the throne, they stopped, "Mum," the princess whispered.

"Oh, my daughter," the queen said, dropping her regal facade and extending her arms wide, "Come here."

The princess' lips quivered, and she let down her own guard and ran up the steps of the throne, "Mum!" she cried out, throwing herself into her mother's embrace.

"There, there, my child," she said, patting her back, "I am so glad to have you back safe."

The princess wiped her tears from her face and stood back up, adopting her royal air once more as she stood aside next to her mother's throne, facing the pair of knights, "And we have both of you to thank for my daughter's safety," the queen smiled, "Thank you both for your service."

Ry smiled back, and dropped to his knees to kneel in front of the queen. Guilmon did the same, placing a a claw over his chest, "It was our honour, my queen."

"I know I've said this before, but," the princess smiled deeply, "Thank you again for sacrificing both of your lives to save me."

"It's nothing, your highness," Guilmon replied, "We would do it again for you."

"Thank you for your service, the kingdom relies on you both greatly, and no doubt we will again once more in the future," the queen said, "Can I entrust the safety of our kingdom, and the Digital World, in both of your hands?"

"Always, my queen," Ry bowed, "We, the Royal Knights, will always serve to protect this kingdom and the Digital World. Now, and forever."