Digimon Fanfic; Why Am I Even Here...?

In Khrona's isolation, he sent out his numerous friends and partners to assist him in his collection of a great many things and the running of a great deal of errands for him whilst he remained in hiding, even to the point of asking his dear, sweet Meiun to venture out of her element to acquire a special spring water. What he needed these things for was beyond most of the people he sent, but having such care and respect for him, they still did what he asked... Even if begrudgingly, like Meiun here. (it's all love though)

Khrona's spunky little dark Palmon, Meiun, traversed the burning hot grounds of the Ardent Road, not liking it at all... All to go get some special spring water for Khrona to recover faster.

"... Why didn't he send the damn Lopmon to do this...? That things Digivolutions bend space and time... But he sends me, the plant who hates this type of weather... Ugh..."

She pressed on... unenthused.

Aliyah walked along the ardent road with her hands in the ram seal, circulating her chakra and wavelengths throughout her body. She walked in a perfect line, using an inward intake of natural energy and an outward release of wavelengths to balance the heat of the area and the normal body temperature of her own body. She was literally meditating while walking. However, as something appeared in the way of the intake of chakra, she stopped and opened her eyes. Looking several feet ahead, her eyes widened, especially when she heard the creature talking.

"Wha? What's a Palmon doing all the way out here?? Heeey! Are you lost?"

She asked, waving to the creature.

Meiun slowly turned around, hearing the shrill cry of the girl, and much to her displeasure, she wasn't hallucinating.

"... Dammit. Dammit, dammit, dammit."

The sullen Palmon intended to pretend like she wasn't there... but that was stupid considering she already gazed dead at the girl. With a heavy sigh, she decided she might as well go and talk to her...

"... No, I'm not lost, little girl. I'm busy getting some magic spring water from this hellhole. Now... Shoo. Your voice makes me cringe."

Spunky, yes. Friendly, no. Khrona's Palmon had a bad attitude that seemed to flourish with those people who hung around Khrona... Rather, the bad attitudes on the opposite end of the spectrum. It seemed as though everyone associated with Khrona either had a bad attitude or was a goody-goody. Yep... He just attracted those kinda people.

Aliyah's eyebrow twitched at the little digimon.

'Hmph. She sounds more like a Dark Palmon...'

"Rude much? You trying to start something, runt?"

Aliyah called, though she wasn't really upset. She just wanted to see if she could get under the digimon's skin like it tried to do her.

Meiun started to grind her teeth at being called a 'runt' be the clearly inferior creature before her. It was hot, and the heat made her rather irate... Because this wasn't humid heat, like she was used to in the tropics. It was dry.

"... Alright, I haven't had to make a kid look bad in a while... I might as well teach you your place in this world while you're still young, 'runt!'"

Abandoning all thought of her mission, Meiun was prepped and ready to 'school' this new Dusk shinobi like she had done a couple of others who underestimated her in the past... That Chuunin and that Genin... Both of them failed to realize her power and ended up getting whooped. Now, let's have the Special Jounin learn it next.

Aliyah remained calm. She knew not to underestimate anyone or anything. The way this Palmon talked was as if it had seen many battles, and she could sense that this Palmon was no mere amateur. On top of that, she promised herself to go all out against anyone who stood before her. She gripped the hilt of gear drive tightly, her eyes narrowing as she became serious. Once more, she had to wonder if she had run into another of Khrona's partners.

"Tell me, squirt. Are you one of Khrona-dono's digimon?"

Meiun slightly cocked her head to the side, confused.

"Dono...? You're really taking this 'ninja' thing too far... Adding that archaic honorific... But if you MUST know, yes, I am. I take it you're scared and gonna stop bothering me now?"

She flexed her claw-like vines on her leafy arms, getting all of the blood... well... chloroplast flowing.

Her ranking exam with Despair flashed in her mind and her heart instantly began race. Her adrenaline was building and an anxious smile made its way onto her face.

Her feet left the ground before she spoke.

"Not a chance in hell."

She would close the distance between her and the small digimon, using her wavelengths to loosen the muscles in her legs, giving her a huge burst of speed. She was bringing the blade around as if to slash Palmon down the center, however Aliyah herself would seem to fade away. The blade kept going down at the digimon but Aliyah was already on the other side of it, slamming a seal into the ground and jumping back away from her. While in mid backflip, she drew two more seals and held them hidden by her wrist.

"That just gives me more of an incentive to actually try."

With a sharp eye and stiffened claws, Meiun blocked the blade, deflecting it elsewhere as she turned to follow Aliyah exactly where she was, as if she were seen the entire time.

"Then you're gonna have to do better than that, you know."

Disregarding the seal until she saw what it would do, Meiun pointed her claw at Aliyah and unleashed the famed Poison Ivy attack, even one touch of it being rather potent. The claw-vines extended farther outward, aiming to close Aliyah in from all sides. For a moment or two, Meiun was forgetting about the heat... But she knew it was going to be the death of her soon enough. Ugh...

"Wasting my time makes me sick..."

With the seal in front of her disregarded, the 'needle and thread' seal would activate, launching a single kunai out and wrapping the small digimon with ninja wire and slamming its arms to its side. The kunai was attracted to the gear drive as it sparked, having been magnetized by Aliyah while the two were first talking. The blocked blade would sore over towards a hotter area and stab into the ground, the thread of the kunai sending more heat to the bound digimon.

Assuming this all worked, but the vines we still coming towards her, Aliyah slammed the first seal into the ground, collapsing the ground and going under. Using the second seal, she dug into the wall going sideways. After being several yards to the right she grabbed one more seal and a scroll, using the first to pop back out of the ground.

Unraveling the scroll, Aliyah sent out a volley of hundreds of kunai and shuriken towards the digimon with the Battalion Scroll. Each and everyone had an exploding tag attached. Once the weapons were loosed, Aliyah went through handsigns.

"Ink clone jutsu!"

She called and created four ink clones, two in front of her two on each side of her.

With the wire wrapping her up, Meiun got a little more pissed with every passing second. Using her Root Stretch to make herself expand rather large before shrinking back to normal size, the wires would expand with her and when she shrunk, they would be extremely loose, setting her free.

"... That was stupid."

She turned to Aliyah, who had more seals ready to go. She sighed, being reminded of how annoying such things were because of Taomin and her talismans that worked to the same exact effect... But it was no matter. If you hadn't guessed by now, her vines had retracted back long ago, and were now ready to be used again for these weapons. Extending them with the utmost precision and expertise, she took hold of 6 weapons by their handles, holes or anywhere that was safe as not to activate the apparent explosive seals on each one, then quickly flung them at another weapon to cause those two to explode, and then repeated the process until they were all gone. Of course, this looked like a raging flurry of vines to the untrained eye.

When the weapons were taken care of, her vines retracted yet again and Meiun sighed.

"... I really do hate you. You know that?"

With the Ink Clones made, Meiun's flower started to perk up atop her head, then rotate a little bit, as if she were happy... But her face said otherwise. She was filled with malice for these clones... a sinister murderous intent that made her feel oh, so wonderful... And alas, it was released. Spores from her head were released into the area, floating gently down and contaminating the air... But that smile was still on Meiun's face the whole time.

Aliyah's eyes narrowed more. How could this digimon take out ALL of the weapons. Her instincts were right, it was no trifle matter.

"Hate...how dreadfully lovely."

She spoke with Despair's accent as well. However, the truth was that she was a bit nervous.

'Hell no, not letting this crap happen.'

Taking hold of two seals, she placed them on the two clones in front of her.

"Vacuum!"

The seals began to glow and they began to take in the poison. They would be able to continue taking it in for as long as Palmon kept spewing, especially with two vacuum seals working in unison.

"Beat it."

Aliyah said to the clone to her left and the clone began to run away from the battlefield. Looking at the last clone, Aliyah held her hands out, signaling the 'after you' motion. The clone began to move towards Palmon quickly, leaving drips of ink as it ran.

Aliyah stepped onto the closes ink drops, putting ink on the bottom of her shoes. She inhaled and then began to spit ink strands at rocks in five directions. After there was what appeared to be a small spider web of ink, Aliyah stepped onto the center her eyes gleaming at the digimon.

"You're boring me you know."

Even though Meiun was much more well-trained than the normal Rookie Digimon, she was still a rookie nontheless, and would probably find it necessary to digivolve to fight this girl... She hated to admit it... So she didn't. But the thought was clear in her head.

Seeing the one ink clone run, she knew that it was up to no good. That had to be stopped now.

"Hmph. Even your clones are scared of me. That's pathetic, you know."

Her original plan was going to be to stop it by digging her roots into the ground, but it was far too hot to do that. She was thinking of letting it pass, but... That wouldn't do at all. So she figured, now was as good a time as any to Digivolve while this girl 'set up.'

"You're only bored because you have peons fighting for you... You can't fight by yourself, like I can!"

That said, her body began to shine white for a moment, as if achieving a new power. Her body started to grow larger slightly as the light became more intense.

"Palmon, Digivolve to..."

Suddenly, her body exploded upward into a rounded shape, her root-like feet having the same effect. Her claws curled over into the shape of huge spheres, the light bursting from them to reveal boxing gloves. The light around the rest of her body dispersed as well, the flower on her head now just a tuft of bristly plant-like hair and her eyes and mouth becoming nothing but perpetually open holes. Thin needles suddenly stuck out of her body, as if readied like a porcupine as well. Now standing several tens of feet in the air, she was completed.

"... Togemon..."

Immediately after digivolving, Meiun pointed a fist at the running ink clone, letting loose a rocket fist at it, going at speeds double that of which it ran. It wouldn't be long at all. Sooner than later, there would be a huge explosion that shook the earth all around, the fist of Togemon gaining another boxing glove. That was her Knockout Punch.

"Much better."

With such destructive projectile power on her side now, Aliyah stood no chance. Readying both fists now, several Knockout Punches were fired in rapid succession about the area, aiming to blow away the ink clones, the rocks and Aliyah all at once.

Aliyah tensed. This was what she was waiting for. Making Palmon digivolve meant that she was at least a small threat and that made Aliyah feel accomplished. However, the real fight started here. Using the ink she stood on as a trampoline, she sprung herself high into the air. While rising, she unraveled two scrolls and began to unleash over two hundred kunai and shuriken down upon the entire area, even going as far as to pepper Togemon with some of them. Once the scrolls were empty and began to burn away, Aliyah smiled at the now ink covered area. Togemon's punches destroyed her clones yes, but they sprayed ink all over the place as well. The seals from the ink clones were still active.

"Funny how those clones work. They aren't much for fighting."

Aliyah made a hand sign and the ink erupted into a full blaze, engulfing the area in raging flames, made hotter by their environment. Things began to slow in her mind once again as she calculated her trajectory. Starting with a 90 degree angle from her to the ground and to Togemon, the flames that sat below her would be up to 5 feet in the air, meaning if she went straight down, she would need to change course within at least ten feet from the ground to grab a 30 through 50 degree angle for what she was planning.

Clearly, Meiun already knew that the clones would have exploded when her explosive fists hit them. It was probably part of Aliyah's plan, anyway, considering she tried to be sneaky about it, and yet failed. With the rain of kunai and shuriken coming toward her, Meiun simple used her famed move as a Togemon...

"You're a one trick pony, aren't you? Needle Spray!"

Almost instantly, she spun around at insane speeds, releasing torrents upon torrents of sheer powerful, hard-as-steel needles from her body in every direction, though... Somehow, they were aimed with great precision. More evidence of the fruits of her training, perhaps. Every needle hit every kunai and every shuriken, knocking each of them away whilst the rest of the needles were aimed at Aliyah, threatening to impale her, and considering the size of these needles in comparison to her body, they could easily be deadly.

That's when the flames kicked up, however, though it didn't seem to bother Meiun one bit. She only spun faster now, the force of her spin creating a galeforce push that would blow away and suffocate the flames all at once. It wasn't like this trick hadn't been done on her before... In fact, everyone tried to fight her with fire, and she always snuffed it out in the exact same way every single time. In all honesty, she was tired of them even trying.

"... I deal with flames like these every time I go into battle. Why don't you actually try to be creative next time, huh?"

She only spun faster and faster, the force she omitted becoming stronger whilst the needles were still being ejected from her body, now made much stronger and faster due to the help of the wind beneath them pushing them along. Such strong forces should have not only knocked Aliyah for a loop and out of the air, or at least out of her positioning, but the needles... they were coming with a vengeance.

"My, whatever makes you think that?"

With her weapons being handled, she was able to see the needles. Her focus had been on her weapons instead of Togemon, so that a counterattack could be formulated. The needles would've been to fast for her to deal with alone but if she focused on areas where she knew were targets, it would make it easier.

The wind would almost throw her off if she hadn't already began to change her center of gravity rapidly to twirl and spin throughout the needles with great precision, though she wasn't fast enough to avoid them all as a few tattered her clothes a bit to her chagrin. Adding to her annoyance, she was using Altering Space Sonada as she fell to send burst of wavelengths into those that would have potentially pierced into her but it was still harder than she thought.

Nearing the ground at her mark, she frowned as most of the flames were being sucked away, so she only had one shot at this.

"Trust me, I'm a bag of surprises!"

Aliyah inhaled and performed great flowing river at the 40 degree angle mark towards the ground. The water hit the remaining ink and flames and started up the flames again. The position pushed the flames towards Togemon, but it was unnecessary seeing as her spin was already drawing the flames closer and closer to her body at an astonishing speed. With the water, Aliyah had turned the ink into oil, making the wind build and move the flames around instead of putting them out. It also pushed most of the discarded needles and weapons back over towards Togemon.

The jet of water pushed Aliyah backwards, away from Togemon and she vaulted into a standing position.

"Believe me, I never use anything I don't believe will work. Singular Soul Resonance!"

"Tch, just a few minutes...I'm pathetic..."

She whispered to herself as her wavelengths didn't change much at all. It would only be a small boost that would fade after whatever she did next.

Meiun thought that her defensive maneuver worked on this girl, but clearly she was already thinking ahead with this ink. Now that the ink was changed to oil, it was highly flammable to a point where this wind couldn't suffocate the flames, either. Perhaps Meiun was in for a treat this time... Sadly, she was out of her element in this Ardent Road, making it a lot harder for her to move.

"Dammit... Flames, huh? I'd better get out of this hellhole. I hate fire..."

She immediately stopped spinning just as the flames began to lick her body, seeing the only way out was above her. A powerful uppercut should fix this one.

"Lightspeed..."

She positioned herself, clenching her fists as the flames were now damn near smoldering her body and the weapons and needles close to making contact with her body.

"... UPPER!"

Mixing her Lightspeed Jab with... clearly, an uppercut, Meiun thrust her fist upward, moving at the speed of light most literally, launching herself up high into the air with incredible force. She looked like a streak of green light as she reached the clouds with this in only a moment, now floating helplessly in the air. Not like she could fly or anything. She began to spin once more, pinpointing Aliyah once more with her Needle Spray. The force of the spin would keep her afloat, allowing her to hover down instead of fall down and not take damage from the fall, and stay in the air for a very long time if need be. Plus, thousands upon thousands of large, powerful needles were raining from the sky across the whole area, though the majority were aimed at her. When Aliyah thought that she had figured out this digimon, she would find that Meiun still had many tricks of her own. But she would digivolve into her most favored form, if need be...

The shine in Aliyah's eyes reflected that of a cold glacier, her visage taking that of a harbinger of death. She smiled, forming her left arm into the giant scythe that indicated her weapons form and blocked some of the needles that were aimed to rain down on top of her. She loosened the muscles in her entire lower body, which made the force of the needles push her downward. With herself as low as she would allow, she pushed off of the ground forward, literally disappearing from the untrained eyes sighte. There were no crystals around her scythe and she didn't change form, indicating that she wasn't using Cantata Mortis and just the scythe. She ended up at the area where Togemon had jumped.

"Didn't want to use this against you. Such an exotic plant such as yourself should be trimmed with a much more refined tool."

Aliyah swung her blade in front of her, sending a static pulse over the oil and flames. All of the weaponry inside of it became magnetized. Streams of electricity could be seen connecting from the hundreds of weapons to Aliyah's scythe.

"I was never one for gardening though. Lightning Vortex!"

The magnetized weaponry began to spark wildly while still covered in oil and flames. Aliyah rose her scythe/arm up with great force, sending all of the electrically charged weaponry up at the helpless digimon. They were lightning powered, meaning they would be moving fast enough to break through Togemon's needles. Was this the end?

Not by a longshot, this was not the end. Meiun, having a bird's eye view of the entire area, saw Aliyah's new position and allowed her line of fire to gravitate toward that one rather than the old one, as if following Aliyah religiously. But she had her own plan, sending the magnetized weapons up into the sky for them to pierce the poor girl. Sadly, this wasn't going to be the case.

With her body still spinning at insane speeds, She pointed both of her fists downward, releasing a nonstop barrage of her rocket power fists down at Aliyah as well, exploding through the weapons as they came. Each of these fists seemed to vary in size for specific reasons, but once all of the weapons were blown off course yet again by the sheer force of these explosive fists, Meiun fired off larger fists, now massive in size and able to cover up large portions of the entire area by themselves. These falling down at a rapid rate alongside the needles would prove most... displeasing to Aliyah, for these larger fists were packed with explosive power beyond that of what she had seen before. All the while, Meiun still slowly hovered downward, nowhere near the ground at all.

Just as it was said above, the weaponry was still covered in oil and flames. As the first of her weapons began to get destroyed, she cursed under her breath for needing to activate a plan prematurely again. But that's why the great always planned ahead.

"Gas Chamber!"

Aliyah began to concentrate a lot of chakra into using the dispersing static in the air. It was helped by Togemon's exploding fist. She was heating the oil in the air with static just before it could all go up with the explosions, making the lingering building cloud turn into a giant gas cloud. So with each new explosion that Togemon made, the gas cloud expanded and ignited more with every explosion. The fiery gas explosion was now covering the sky and every explosion that went off inside of it made it grow larger and higher, moving towards both the ground and outer atmosphere. It was if Togemon were attacking herself. Aliyah would be able to move freely, but Togemon was merely hovering. How would she be able to escape a building gas explosion coming straight for her?

The truth was, Aliyah was trying hard. She was using everything in her arsenal that she thought would be effective. But she held off one thing and one thing only. And it was only because she wanted Meiun to take her seriously. She wanted this digimon to respect her, especially since she was Khrona's. If she could gain the respect of her kage's digimon, then maybe, just maybe, she could gain his respect too.

She wanted Meiun to go to her last form.

When she did that, then Aliyah would go all out, completely. She would give everything she had. Why?

Because she was sick of losing.

She hadn't beaten Bahamut. She couldn't even touch Despair. So she would damned if she lost against anyone else. More than anything, she needed to prove to herself that she was stronger. Stronger than she was before coming to the past. Stronger than she was before Leo's death. Strong enough to make everyone proud.

"I can't lose...I won't lose..."

Aliyah began to build her wavelengths. Her excitement in this battle was turning into determination.

"... Huh. You're not bad. Impressive, kinda."

Meiun was in a predicament, considering the explosions still coming at her in the sky and she had nowhere to go to, except somewhere else in the sky, she had no choice now. She wanted Meiun to digivolve again, and so it would be... But she'd have a long way to go for her to have to digivolve into Mega level.

"... I guess you've forced my hand... I haven't taken this form in quite some time. I might just stay this way from now on!!"

As the flames engulfed the poor Togemon, a huge light shot straight out from the explosions, seeming to come from Togemon's eyes.

"Togemon Digivolve to..."

The light became insanely bright, the tuft of orange on Togemon's head blossoming like a flower, releasing a flurry of petals. These petals quelled the flames, bursting outward with an unknown great power. These petals flew now higher into the air as the body of the cactus withered into more of them. The petals converged into a focal point, creating a massive rose harboring a divine creature. She sprouted outward, consumed by nothing but light of the brightest intensity, the form of what looked to be a teenaged girl dressed in flowery themed clothing.

"... Lilymon."

The light fled from her body, the sun now shining intensely over this hot and arid land. She seemed to enjoy the light of the sun phenomenally... But something was off about her Digivolution...

With the flames taken care of by the force of her digivolution, she was safe for the moment, but Aliyah wouldn't be.

"I'll give you only one chance. Take it now or die."

She pointed her hand down at Aliyah... Waiting.

Aliyah's jaw dropped at the digimon that floated above her now.

'She's...she's still not at full strength...'

Aliyah's heart sunk as tears fell from her eyes. Her knees grew weak and she wanted to just give in there.

"You're beautiful, you know that..."

Aliyah spoke, her head down and her hair covering her face from view. Her tone was even, not betraying any of the feelings she held at the moment. She knew, now, that if Meiun were to be at full strength, she would have no hope of winning. What she wanted...was a far off dream.

She wasn't strong enough...

"I hope...my strength can match your beauty Lillymon. I hope I don't disappoint, because I can't run anymore! I promised...I promised not only my parents but myself. And..."

She looked up at Meiun with a smile.

"As a kunoichi of the Dusk village, I cannot disappoint my Kage! Cantata Mortis!"

As she did with Despair, Aliyah's form began to change. Her outfit, however, began to shrink. Instead of becoming darker, her clothes and hair became lighter. Her emotions began to seal away just like before. Her form looked different, though the only difference between this form and her other form was the appearance. She took on the shape closer to her father than her mother this time.

Watching the girl take on her new form, it seemed like she understood the gravity of the situation at hand. Meiun as a Lillymon was nothing to be taken lightly, even if she felt that she had so easily gotten past her first two forms. Now... The real battle began. And it started off with a...

"Flower Cannon."

She said it low, yet somehow it echoed throughout the entire canyon for everyone to hear. A massive amount of energy, its power increased by the sun, out at Aliyah with devastating results. It was ultra quick, giving her little time to dodge, and the explosion would be far greater than those of the Knockout Punches she used when she was a Togemon. She crossed her arms and kicked up a leg over her other, letting them cross as she watched what destruction was about to befall the girl.

"Sorbere."

Aliyah's dull voice rung out as she brought her overly large scythe/arm into the path of the attack. Instead of a blue force field, a red one appeared, absorbing the attack into her scythe. Aliyah cringed at the amount of energy that was in the attack but began to let it flow throughout her body regardless.

She held out her opposite arm and created two ink clones. Both began to spread out in opposite directions. With her hand still to her side, she rose it into the air.

"Vexata Tenabrae."

White ink began to drip from her body. The ink didn't break off, however, and formed a dozen ink tendrils that shot into the air quickly. All of them had a faint red glow about each of them as they headed for Meiun. They weaved about swiftly as if they had a mind of their own.

Two of the six crystals fell from Aliyah's scythe and faded away.

Absorbing an attack like that was no easy feat, but it wasn't enough to sweep Meiun off of her feet. She scoffed, rotated her legs so that the bottom leg now crossed the top, then watching Aliyah make the clones. Pointing her index finger at one and her middle finger at the other, she flicked her wrist upward, a huge and powerful beam of light engulfing the two ink clones and literally causing them to disintegrate on contact, leaving no trace that they were actually there.

"Rising Ray..."

She said nonchalantly, speaking the name of the move she just used. Next was Aliyah with those inky tendrils. They were glowing, But Meiun didn't seem to care. Instead, she started to swirl her other hand in the air nonchalantly, creating a whip of vines from her hand that would then be lassoed around the tendrils. When she squeezed, all of them would be clenched together into one spot and held in place by the vine, which then began to forcefully drain Aliyah's very life essence and energy through the tendrils, through the vine and into Lillymon for more strength. She'd find her power boost would go away much sooner if she stayed in contact with Lillymon like this.

"Yawn... Don't even act like you know how to use transformations, sweetie."

She seemed like she wasn't even trying... All of her moves came out so effortlessly. Was this true...? Aliyah had to make Meiun try before she even considered her Digivolving a final time.

Aliyah's face didn't change at Meiun's taunting. The ink merely disconnected from her body before any of the draining effects could happen. The ink, now on the whip seeped upwards towards her hand and formed into one last ink clone. The glow of the ink was still on the whip though.

"Substitution."

Aliyah would vanish, and so would the clone. Aliyah appeared right in front of Meiun in the blink of an eye, replaced with the ink clone. She spun herself upwards, behind Lillymon as the seals on the whip activated and caused an explosion. Aliyah attempted to smash the blunt side of her scythe into Meiun's back to send her into the explosion along with her whip. If it hit or not, she would toss a kunai attached to a ninja wire strand at Lillymon's foot subtly, while she was going over her and out of her sight. If the strand wrapped around her foot. She would pull Lillymon back towards her while using Altering Space Sonada to deliver one powerful kick to her stomach that would feel like dozens of strikes at once.

The third crystal dropped from Aliyah's scythe.

The whip seemed to wither away once Aliyah used her substitution to get up to Meiun. Mostly because, well, it was clear that the ink was detrimental to her overall well-being, so why wouldn't she let that shit rot away once it was infected? Thus, that left no time for the explosion to go off, having no conduit for the energy within the now disintegrated whip. Aliyah was now behind her, and Meiun was following her movements from point A to point B. When she tried to bludgeon her with said blunt scythe end, another whip was created to latch onto the scythe's handle before she was hit, sending her flying, but the whip was extending all the while.

As soon as she was far enough, one of the thorns on her whip grew a flower, followed by the rest of them doing the same, and each one of the flowers spewed out a special pink gas that would shroud the entire are around Aliyah, causing her life essence to be sapped away by the gas itself. Not noticing the wire wrapped around her leg, she was pulled in by Aliyah, but that was only a wonderful opportunity for her, as when she got close, she fluttered her wings violently to regain composure and control in the air, unleashing her Sun-Crescent Kick just as she was about to make contact with Aliyah, thereby outspeeding Aliyah's knee and evading any dangerous situation Aliyah was putting her in at that time. This crescent kick was able to move at the speed of light when increased in power by the sun's rays, and there was no way Aliyah was beating that. The sharpened flowers that trailed behind her kick would cut the wire from her leg and set her free, where she would quickly fly higher to the sky and assume the same relaxed, uninterested position as she had done before.

"I don't think being sneaky will help you here."

Aliyah was pushed forward by the momentum of her kick, even though it missed. Feeling the whip on her handle, she made a small scythe blade expand up the length of it and cut the vine off, but she was already effected by the pollen. She coughed and began to circulate that which she already inhaled through her body, slowing down its effects. However, it would instantly drop the fourth crystal from her scythe, leaving her with only two.

"Fuck you..."

Aliyah spoke in her calm monotone, which sounded funny since she was livid and couldn't show it.

Throwing a scroll down below her, in a poof, a large catapult appeared. She landed in the cradle and instantly activated it, pushing her up, threw the pollen and towards Meiun.

"Claudicatis (Halt)."

As Aliyah entered the range of Lillymon, a pulse would go out and Lillymon would stop moving if she was caught in it. Aliyah was slowed as well, but she was still able to move. Ink formed over her scythe as she brought it around in that 3 seconds that Lillymon should be halted and once again aimed to slam the blunt end of the scythe into the girl. She tightened the muscles in her should so that the swing would be strong enough to send Lillymon smashing into the ground from the force, since it should be fast enough to prevent her from recovering in the air.

The fifth crystal fell from Aliyah's scythe leaving only one.

The catapulted girl caught Meiun off guard, but her reflexes were amazing, as shown by her previous digivolutions, and only got better as she did. When Aliyah got close, Meiun already had her hand extended and glowing with energy for another Flower Cannon. Aliyah was about to thrust the scythe at her and knock her down, but the sphere of energy was launched at the same time, causing a cataclysmic explosion that would force the both of them in the opposite directions. Meiun wasn't hurt much at all, actually, but she was still knocked for a loop, like Aliyah should have been... and she should have taken more damage. Meiun caught herself in the air, retaining composure.

"... You know, it's just so amusing watching you get so frustrated... Hee hee hee."

What a dark digimon this was, indeed. Many flowers started to swirl around her body as she assumed the crossed leg and arms position back in the sky. It didn't seem like Aliyah was equipped for fighting an airborne individual... Which was extremely apparent.

If Lillymon had been prepping to fire a flower cannon while Aliyah was using halt, then she would have seen the energy coming. Therefor she had enough time to twist her body into a position so that her swing would go through and she would wither some of the damage from the attack that she couldn't avoid. Since Halt also slowed Aliyah down too, there was no way for her to completely avoid it.

So once the explosion went off, Lillymon should've been smashed headlong towards the ground with just as much substantial damage as Aliyah, even if she could recover from the attack. Aliyah was blown back by the force of the explosion, most of the damage being down to her mid-section and thighs. Falling in pain, a sense of nausea over her from the close range explosion, it took her a moment to regain her senses. Halfway to the ground, she swung her blade towards Meiun, but nothing attacked the digimon instead, a wall of glowing blue wavelengths appeared.

"Delerent." (Annihilate)

Still falling, Aliyah tried something new. She turned the part of her arm that was the pole of the scythe into ink and threw her hand forward. To her surprise, the ink extended and the giant scythe soared towards the ground at an angle that would put Aliyah closer to being under Lillymon than anything. Using the ink to drag her fast across the air and onto the ground, she rolled and aimed the side of her scythe up at Meiun. Then she turned, aiming it instead at the wall of wavelengths she had created, seeing the object at an angle.

"Dimittere." (Release)

The release of Meiun's flower cannon, circulated with Aliyah's own wavelength, went off just as fast as Lillymon herself could do. It hit the wavelength shield and rebounded off at an angle, headed straight for Lillymon faster than the speed of light and with three times the amount of potential damage Meiun had fired at Aliyah. At the same time that the flower cannon hit the shield, Aliyah would perform one hand sign.

Previously, Aliyah had covered her entire sycthe in ink. So when she struck Lillymon just a few moments ago, the ink was smeared onto her.

"Amusing...is the beauty of annihilation."

The ink would ignite into a small explosion meant to cause Meiun unexpected pain that would negate whatever she could do to stop the incoming wave of wavelengths and energy. Maybe...maybe finally this could be the end. That's what Aliyah hoped as the final crystal fell from her scythe and her body began to return to normal. She dropped to one knee, using gear drive as a crutch to not collapse completely.

Meiun was affected by the slowing effects, however not for long, considering the power of Aliyah. It happened just as Aliyah flew into the explosion, sending them both flying, as stated before. Also, as stated before, Meiun recovered somewhere along the time she was in the air and before she hit the ground, allowing Aliyah to complete whatever she was doing with that scythe whilst Meiun generated those flowers, as said before.

When Aliyah drew closer and created the large shield, Meiun wasn't going to just sit there and allow her to do that. She'd break through the shield easily with another Flower Cannon. Prepping one-- no, both of her hands, just in case the first one hit the barrier and it was somehow nulled out, she wanted the second one to DEFINITELY hit Aliyah. Charging it up, Aliyah was about to fire off the attack she absorbed earlier, causing the shield to explode. With two Flower Cannon's prepped, taking down another one should be no problem at all. And even with it moving that fast, she was able to react to such things... Considering her last two forms used attacks at lightspeed like it was nothing. So, without further adieu...

Until she felt a pain in her arm, where she was hit when she fired at Aliyah before, causing her to pull it back in pain. Aliyah fired her attack and with no hesitation, Meiun did as well, causing yet another violent explosion to push her away, though this time back into the sky, where she'd hover above with her arm cringing.

"Grrr... Alright, you know what...? I'm sick of you. It's hot as sin in this damn place, you're efforts are useless and... You're just plain fucking annoying! I'm tired of 'playing' with you, now. I'm going to annihilate you!"

The Lillymon started to glow, surging with power, it would seem that she drew from the sun. Her body tightened and curled up, as if harnessing the awesome power within in a larger form. Suddenly, the already faintly glowing ground would start to brightly shine with a different sort of light... A familiar light... It started off in one point, then quickly spread across the ground farther and farther, until there were very few spaces left safe from it. When this was complete, she stretched her body outward toward the sun, the light coming up along with her body in the form of a massive Rising Ray, the light utterly destroying everything that it could. The light engulfed Meiun, yet did no damage to her... only vaporized the ink that was dormant on her body, and any other ink in the area. Aliyah, if she couldn't evade, would find that the power of this attack would relieve her of her consciousness... and injure her body severely.

"You should have just left me the hell alone, little girl!!"

Aliyah was still on one knee panting at the now upset digimon. She would have made a snark, or just something to let Meiun know she was amused with her frustration now. But her body was still in pain. The growing thoughts that she was about to lose again made her cry. Tears streamed down her face not for the physical pain, but for the mental.

"...I won't let you win..."

She said against fate itself. She knew she couldn't win. Even after what she was doing now, there was absolutely nothing more she could do. As the fierce wave began to rise, Aliyah screamed, all her heart going into her last stand. Using her flowing wavelength as best she could, Aliyah pushed the wave around her, flowing so powerfully that it cracked the ground beneath her. She pushed all her strength into making sure the attack did not touch a single hair on her body, but the force was so powerful that it only missed her by less than an inch. She glared up at Meiun relaying all of her emotions through eye contact.

'I won't let you beat me...if I fall...it would be of my own free will!'

With that, she increased the frequency of her wavelength flow, letting the wave naturally flow around. Tears still poured from her blurring eyes.

'Khrona-sama...'

Watching her take her last stand, Meiun started to calm down to her normal gloomy self, sighing heavily as the light faded at her will.

"... Crap. I guess it's good I didn't kill her..."

She had gotten beside herself. The girl was clearly on the brink of consciousness and had absolutely no power left to fight her. Though for a normal smart-mouthed shinobi, Meiun would have struck them down right here, Meiun decided against it, considering that she was clearly going through some things.

"Sigh... It's just that... I don't feel... sorry for you?"

... With the girl unable to follow most likely, Meiun quickly zipped off to the spring within the Ardent Road and extracted a great deal of water from its fountain. A few moments later, she'd be back in the same area with this girl, now floating a little lower to the ground.

"Maybe next time you'll think again before you challenge someone so haphazardly. I swear... people think that fighting people far more powerful than they are makes them cool or strong... It's just stupid."

The last little notions she said were more or less to herself than to Aliyah, but Meiun was just about ready to leave this girl in the unbearable heat... Probably to suffer the curse of this land. Yet, she didn't leave. She waited for a bit... Just to see.

"I'm just...being selfish..."

Aliyah whispered. Her head was down as she sat on her hind legs.

"...I just...want to be stronger. To protect what's important to me..."

Silent tears hit the ground, fading just as quickly from the heat of the area.

Jubundenai...

'Not enough...'

She looked up into the eyes of Meiun, her emotions once again unreadable through the emptiness that set in.

"I don't want to runaway...and lose everything again..."

The images of the night three years prior flooded her head. The night she was beaten, tortured, and sealed. The last night she had seen her parents...

"I'm sorry...I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

Aliyah's voice grew quieter and quieter...the world grew dark until she lost consciousness.

"I'm...sorry..."

... With the words of Aliyah still resonating in her head, Meiun couldn't just... leave her here. No matter how much she wanted to. Even if she DIDN'T feel sorry for her at all. In all honesty, this girl was a point of interest to Meiun, and when she got stronger, they'd fight again. That's the only thing that drove her to this...

"... Alright, stupid girl. I'll help you out only once."

She flew down to the unconscious Aliyah, picking her up and strapping her to her back with vines.

"... But don't expect me to do it again."

And with that, she flew off back toward the Dusk.

Meiun took Aliyah to the Mezzanine where she could restore herself and be out of the heat, but definitely did so begrudgingly, as well. She wasn't the type to like... Anyone or anything. Except Khrona. Something about him just actually made her genuinely like him. But no, she legit basically hated everything else. Even doing this much was rare for her.

Meiun had already dropped off the special spring water to Khrona, flying over the Pit of Havoc and seeing the battle between Atra and Tabris raging on. Khrona had taken the philter through mental means. So, with Aliyah in hand, Meiun decided to take her somewhere to... rest. Or relax. Or something.

In truth, Meiun wanted to relax the most, but Aliyah was her cover story.

She landed in front of the pool, dropping Aliyah off on the side, hoping that she wouldn't fall into the water.

"Hey. We're here."

Aliyah had been awake for a good while now, but had decided to remain silent. She pulled her legs up to her chest and glared at Meiun.

"...I won't thank you..."

The defiant little girl said, turning her gaze away for only a moment. She grumbled under her breath before asking.

"Where are we anyway...?"

Meiun shrugged, ready to take off again, anyway. She didn't want to have anything to do with Aliyah as she was right now.

"... I don't care."

As she was about to fly away, Aliyah asked her a question, making her halt in the air and turn right back around with the most upset face there was to have. She was still holding her back even now...

"... We're at the Mezzanine. The newly made hotel for all Dusk Shinobi to live in for free. Anything and everything they need to survive and be entertained here in this resort. Why?"

Aliyah removed her shoes as Meiun spoke, dipping her feet into the pool and sighing in a slight sense of ease. She paused before she spoke again, seeing that she had almost made Meiun leave.

"...You should stay and relax too if you're not too busy. You seem over worked. Besides...dare I say, I actually want to talk to you."

Even though she wasn't in the happiest of moods, and even after their fight, Aliyah didn't hate Meiun. She was pissed at losing, but it was a battle she started in the first place. Besides, like she said before, she felt that she and Meiun had a bit more in common than either of them knew.

The tone in Aliyah's voice wasn't one of malice or joy. It was just spoken. Something about her was different for sure, maybe finally having chosen what she wanted to do; the path that she wanted to walk down.

Though exceptionally reluctant to have anything to do with this girl, she had a point... to an extent. Meiun wasn't an overworked Digimon, but she was definitely a dark one that didn't relax much. Being out was definitely good for her. Those factors coming into play decided her answer.

"... Alright, fine."

Her mood was slightly lightened, but even a good mood for her was a generally bad one for most other people. She floated down to the poolside, took off her shoes and dipped her feet into the water as well. She liked the water, but didn't take any in, due to the chlorine within. That wasn't good for plants. Still, it felt rather good.

"Well. If you want to talk, then talk. I'll respond."

She leaned back, basking in the sun that came in through the open space above them. That was something she could actually take into her body for nourishment.

Aliyah looked at Meiun as she took in the sunlight. She smiled slightly, turning before the digimon could see her. The silence that surrounded them for the moment was well enjoyed, much different from the loud and fast paced battles that she had been enduring lately. It was finally a moment where she could slow down and put her thoughts in order. It was why she needed this right now.

"I've pledged allegiance to a man I've never even met before. I want to know about Khrona-sama, and how you became to be one of his digimon partners."

Even though it seemed a bit cryptic, Aliyah would use the answers she received to finalize the path she would walk down. She hadn't seen either of her parents in a while, and being away from them only made the anger and hatred she felt towards the people that separated them even more. Her bloodlust was growing and the scary part was she just didn't care.

Meiun's eyes were closed as her head went back limp, taking the sun in more pleasurably than should be allowed. She was, admittedly, a bit tired from the battle and was already hungry. The heat of that Ardent Road didn't make anything for her better. This was a nice little change.

When Aliyah asked her about Khrona, her Tamer, Meiun smiled first, turned her head slightly and half-opened one eye, then released the chuckles she was trying so hard to keep it.

"Khrona...'sama,' you say? Ha... Hahaha. He's insane."

Though she could have left it at that, Aliyah seemed much too interested in him to leave it at that. Plus, she knew nothing of her own Kage, apparently, so it was only fair.

"... He's a good guy, but he's extremely misunderstood in his ways. Very few people can understand his true intentions outside of his destructive and rather... unorthodox ways. Though he's unpredictable in every way possible, he wouldn't hurt anyone unnecessarily. He's not as scary as everyone makes him out to be. He just likes to... play. A lot."

Even though that's what she said, Aliyah had to take into consideration just how dark this digimon was, herself... This 'playing' she was talking about might not be the same as that of normal people.

"... I uh... Was his first digimon. Seemed that he had a thing for Palmon. He says he... 'Watched the show as a kid and always liked Palmon the best,' so that's why he chose me... Whatever that means. He's lucky he got one like me... The other ones out there are pretty girly. Me and him grew close fast."

Aliyah nodded, taking in the information with a bit more confusion than understanding. She could tell that Khrona would be a darker type of person just from Despair and Meiun, but to hear that he was insane was unexpected. As Meiun continued her explanation, butterflies entered Aliyah's stomach. But when she said he didn't hurt people unnecessarily, Aliyah almost sighed in relief. Aliyah was afraid that she would fall into a darkness that would be inescapable. Though it was still a possibility, she would be defiant to the bitter end.

She didn't know exactly what she expected to hear about her kage. But she learned just enough to know where she was headed. Khrona was dangerous, that was obvious. The only thing she didn't know, which she would find out from the man himself is what he wanted from his shinobi.

Hearing Meiun telling about how she was Khrona's first digimon, Aliyah rose an eyebrow. She wondered if Khrona knew something about a fourth wall and had decided to smash it to bits.

"Sounds dreadfully beautiful...sorry, got Despair-nee-chan on my mind. And you are a unique digimon. Your personality reminds me so much of the real me its scary. I wish we could've met sooner, I wouldn't have mind having you as a partner."

Meiun listened to Aliyah give her little two cents on the situation before she closed her half-opened eye again and turned her head back to a normal position.

"... Nah. This decision was fated. Besides, I wouldn't have liked you."

Meiun smirked and snickered, wondering how long this relaxation was supposed to... be?

"... Sooo... I guess while I've decided to still be here, I'll bite... What's your origin story?"

"Ha."

She chuckled dryly. Of course Meiun would say something like that, but it was ok. There was no malice behind it. It was the truth. They probably wouldn't have liked each other, but that didn't change the fact that they would've made one hell of a team.

She sighed, shuddering at the thought of her past. It wasn't hard to explain, like many people thought it was. The only thing that kept her from outright saying it was the death seal on the back of her skull. Her hand instinctively touched it, making her feel a chill down her back. She would find a way to remove it some day....

"Well, it's not much to tell. I'm from the future, 16 years from now, supposed to be born within the next three years, and I haven't seen my parents since I was ten. I was beaten and tortured for 6 months, sealed with chakra inhibitors and a death seal, and escaped only to be on the run for the next 2 and a half years. I met a peculiar man who could control time and was sent back here for god knows what reason, and here I am."

She smiled sadly.

"All in all a pretty shitty story, but there's a lot more to be happy about now than ever..."

Aliyah didn't want any type of pity. She didn't want anyone to feel sorry for her, not like most of the people she knew would anyway. All she wanted was to be able to prevent what happened to her from happening to anyone else. She still didn't even know why she and her parents were separated in the first place. But maybe the reason she was sent back to this time was to find out why.

Finally tiring of the glorious sun, Meiun stood up and looked at her reflection in the pool, seemingly untaken by the story.

"... That it? I mean, it's just so... Plain. I'm used to more dimensional travel, reality warping, insanity, destruction and loads more death, you know. Khrona goes through all of that on a daily basis, actually. I bet he could help you out, if you made it worth his while."

Making Khrona sound shallow, Khrona usually did help people out if he got something in return, unless it was a complete responsibility he had to do. Khrona just... Didn't like doing things for free. Made him seem used and made it seem like the others were lazy.

"Everything comes with a price... no matter how drastic it may be."

Aliyah was interested to say the least in what Khrona could help her with. And she had heard that quote before. 'Everything comes at a price...' It left a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach but a devious glint in her eye that she hadn't had since her last visit with her mothers.

"Oh really? And just what might this price be other than the fact that I've already pledged my loyalty and life to him and his kingdom? I'm sure I can fit my afterlife in there somewhere."

She said with a smirk. Aliyah knew how things went with ninja. Equivalent exchange and all that jazz. She wasn't an exception to that rule in some cases.

Meiun couldn't stop the laugh that immediately welled up in her being, as Aliyah was showing all the signs of someone who was exceptionally new to this village. It was just... too rich.

"HAHAHAHAHahahaha... Ahh... How should I know what his prices are? It varies on what kind of person you are. He'll usually make bothersome and annoying people endure horrible and arduous tasks and tortures. Swearing fealty to a village means nothing to him. But being a worthy fighter with a lot of potential and good will does. He focuses on personality more than anything."

A dark look would pass over Aliyah's face as her eyes narrowed.

'My loyalty to this village means nothing?'

She thought but then just sighed. It shouldn't have surprised her. Most of her friends were from other villages anyway. Whatever kinship she held within the Dusk was shared with those from other villages too. Khrona was an enigma indeed, one that she would have fun figuring out. Aliyah wasn't the lost little girl from the future anymore. She knew where she wanted to go and what she wanted to do. If she had to dance with the devil to get there, then she would wear his ass out first.

"Personality huh? Looks like he has a strange taste in personality with you and Despair-nee-chan around."

She joked with a sparkle in her eyes. Then she sighed happily, having not felt this calm in a long time. She hated to admit it, but Meiun wasn't bad company at all.

Meiun scoffed, kicking her feet in the waters a bit before crossing her arms.

"Huh. Strange taste, huh? At least we're not fake suck-ups who only love Khrona because he's the Kage. We're always there for him and get the job done, even when the going gets tough. We've never faltered or let him down. Can't say the same for you Dusk shinobi, can you?"

She seemed to have taken offense to the comment, but her words spoken were true. Many of the Dusk shinobi weren't ever around when something big happened, but were always the first ones to come ask Khrona for anything and everything to better themselves. Because of how selfish they were, it was only natural Khrona had to separate the friends from the fakes... And there weren't too many people that were loyal truly because of who he was. That was a fact.

"Stupid power-hungry whelps... I should just beat them all down to a pulp..."

Her speech sounded similar to Misery's now. The lingo in that household must spread around through the family easily, as everyone picked up on the other's mannerisms.

Aliyah almost drew her blade against Meiun again at her words but was refined enough not to. She turned a hard gaze onto the digimon though.

"My loyalty to Khrona-sama is anything but fake! I search for power so I can protect, not only this village, but the people I care about too! If Khrona-sama becomes one of those people, then I will gladly give my life to protect him! But should you or even Khrona-sama himself raise a hand against one of my precious people, I would not hesitate to end your lives! My loyalty does not come from what I can receive from Khrona-sama, it comes from my love and respect for the fact that he protects this village! I will stand by him loyally until he gives me a reason not to!"

Aliyah shook with rage, but suddenly she calmed down. She blushed deeply before lowering her head. She hadn't meant to go off like that, nor had she meant to reveal everything she had figured out while talking to Meiun. With a sigh, she held her head with one hand.

"...sorry..."

Was all she could think to say afterward.

Meiun's personality called for her to 'silence' the girl once she started to speak, but the words she spoke out caused Meiun to think against it for this time only. She listened, her feet now still in the water, getting up once Aliyah was done with her little speech.

"Well, I guess that resolve is good. You're not all that bad. Khrona might like you. Maybe."

She shrugged her shoulders and turned away from Aliyah. She'd had enough relaxation for one day and it was about time to go see how Khrona fared. After drinking the spring water, he should have instantly regained all of his power, anyway.

"... Well. It's been real."

She put on her shoes and started to sputter her wings just a bit, getting them started. Kicking up a little bit of wind as she did, Meiun flew off into the air without even waiting for Aliyah's response.