Book 5 The Unison War, Chapter 21: Epilogue

March 11, Year 5 of New Era, Formally Year 1764 of our Lord Yggdrasil:

It was the kind of town where everyone knew each other and on the other hand not enough of each other. Then again, he had never had the reason to hide before and this was the perfect place to hide yourself if you did not want the world to know you existed. The town folk had been helpful and he was able to gather enough information from those who had loose lips in the face of a few cups of alcohol. His search had paid off and he had been indeed correct to suspect the one he was after did indeed live in this town. Although where he lived still involved a two hour trek into a snow covered forested mountain.

Having spent most of his life by the sea side of the Republic, he was not used to this weather and he lacked the correct gear for such a journey, only fuelled by the desire for payment. He was wearing a wolf skin pelt cloak he had bartered from a trader and it did keep him warm, but having it over his normal cloak did weigh him down by quite a bit.

He soon spotted a house through the tick forest, with the help of rising smoke coming from the exact same house. He wade through the snow as quietly as possible from his years of training and hide amongst the bushes as he observed the house. It was a small house, not too small but comfortable for a family to live in and self sustain themselves for the most part. He hid himself on one side of a windowless wall after making sure he could not be seen by the family inside.

The door bursted open and he could hear foot steps step into the snow. Without a moment's notice, he lifted himself onto the roof the two story cabin with ease. He was out of sight and he continue to observe whoever had came out into the snow.

It was a child no older than five followed by an taller figure who he could only guess was the child's father. Both were covered in long and heavy fur coats that protected them from the harsh winds of the snowy mountain. The two made their way only a short distance from the entrance of their home before stopping at a pile of split wood covered in snow. The man freed two piece of half round logs and giving them to the child.

"Be a good boy and bring this inside for mommy okay. Daddy still has some more work to do. And no more fighting with your baby sister, she's still only two. Your a big boy now." The boy nodded silently before struggling to hold the two piece of logs which were clearly too large for his small body. But the boy having grown in this condition soon made his way inside and once again his attention turned to the main standing by the logs, surprised to find him unmoving.

"You can come out now Assassino." The man shouted at his direction, his eyes focused on him even as he was facing his side. Takuya merely jumped from the roof to land perfectly in front of the man.

"Your boy?" Takuya asked casually.

"Yes. Turns five in two months time." The man replied smiling fondly towards the cabin. Takuya turned to the cabin to see through the window a beautiful women by a fire place, a toddler at her feet and the boy placing the wood he had just gathered into the fire place with the help of his mother. "I assume you have come here for one reason." The man stated calmly.

"For the wrong reason. I had intended to kill you but it is not what Izumi would have wanted." Then he started to laugh. "They were right, these woods do make oneself go crazy."

"Then what are you here for Assassino?" The man turned away from him and started to once again gather more logs to bring inside.

"For closure my friend." He announced before quickly running to the woods and disappearing from the man's sight. Takuya knew he was away from Venice long enough and with the city and the Republic rebuilding, there were more and more corrupt officials that required his attention than a single family living in the forested mountains of the Swiss.

O O O

June 5, Year 5 of New Era, Formally Year 1764 of our Lord Yggdrasil:

He never knew why people found it fashionable to wear frills and such and it annoyed him to no end he had to somehow put one on everything there was an important party to be held. If it weren't for the two most controlling woman in his life, he would happily join the garden party in his everyday shirt; even his old green jacket from his army days would have been better, although that would cause quite with the party goers as they were some of the most uptight people he knew.

Of course these were the same people who had always preached about blood purity and what not but bent their knees the moment they found out he, the infamous Lord of the Liverpool house was going to marry some commoner. Of course his mother was furious when she found out, for the life of him he didn't know how, but she was the not the least upset with Ami, only himself. Ami it had seemed, melted his mothers ice cold heart and by some miracle, his own mother loved Ami more than himself. His sister was no different, she took an immediate liking to the Ming girl, despite her past. They had made it known publicly, it was the right thing to do but they did leave the little detail about her pervious occupation, merely saying she was a poor girl who's father had given her up to Davis so that she could earn some money. Never once did people ever question where this father of hers was now or how she was getting the money she earned back to him, they just all came to love Ami that no one wanted to dirty her. It was some accomplishment he had to admit.

Davis had always hated these parties his mother and Ami would put together, the two always had some scheme to further the status of Liverpool house. This time was no different, Ami was once again with child and his mother had found it the need to put on a big party just to rub in the faces of her card playing acquaintances that she was going to receive another healthy grandchild. He was very different from his mother and Ami for that, he loved the quietness their little manor gave them, giving him free time to spend with his children. On the other hand, his mother and Ami both loved to socialize, both had to be the star of the show whenever there was a party to be had, even when they were guests. He blamed his mothers influences that had made Ami this way but he loved her still, just as he loved her when he first set eyes on her.

Having finished putting on his shirt and party jacket, he looked himself over for an inspection. He was indeed dressed at the height of what was today's fashion; the most expensive money could buy at the insistence of Ami and of the most outlandish colours he would ever had thought of wearing in public. A knock was at his door, he assumed it was his wife coming to gather him so that she could show him off to her friends of nobility. Ami didn't have many friends, most were only acquaintances she managed to gather as she climbed the social ladder but she did have some, less pure of blood friends she had made and maintained during her time at Saint Brebeuf. He shouted a quick "come'in" at the shut door while still making the last of his adjustment so that he could get better freedom of movement in his get-up.

"Looking quite sharp second-mate Davis!" A voice laughed, the figure of was leaning onto the frame of the now open doorway.

"Oh," Davis realized. "It's only you Koushiro. Back so soon from your audience with His Majesty?" Davis asked, seeing as everything was perfect, turned to his old friend.

"Just last minute preparations, he wanted me to go over my planned course with the Royal Scientific Society. They had suggested I dock at New Wales before sailing west for my expedition." Koushiro explained as he waited for his old friend to finish with his cufflinks.

Davis, finally with everything in order stepped out of his dressing room with Koushiro by his side as they walked down his massive hall leading them to this equally grand backyard. This allowed them some time to catch up before entering the loud gardens that a hundred of the Liverpool's closes associates were currently located.

"I hear that Lily will also be joining you on this expedition." Davis asked. It had been years since he had talked to her in person and although Ami was friends with the Crowle girl, they were not close enough that Davis saw her much.

"It would do her some good to step out of that study of her's. I could only imagine what it was like to spend upwards of ten hours each day stuck in there reading those books of her's and having to help her sister in teaching the material to the students. I thought it would be a good relief for her to step out for a year." Koushiro replied as he and Davis matched stride for stride down the hall.

"Are you sure you're not doing this just so you can secretly court the girl?" Davis grinned evilly, cupping his chin with his hand and eyeing Koushiro. He could see Koushiro blush but he had hoped his friend's reaction would be more intense.

"Davis, you and I know she's still deeply in love with Taichi. She knows she'll never see him again but she still holds on to the possibility that there is a chance. And who knows what Taichi has been up to since returning to his world." Koushiro sighed as they closed in no the large french doors which would lead them outside to the gardens.

"All the more reason for you to be there to support her." Again Davis gave his grin to his old friend.

"Enough of this, let's just enjoy the night." Koushiro once again sported his composed face before opening the door, the noise and lights from the gardens hit them.

"Easy enough for you to say. You don't have to deal with three children and your overly clingy wife." Davis mumbled before following his friend out onto the garden.

O O O

September 12, 2005 Anno Domini:

"The vote for motion 7 as brought on by the delegation from Japan is 189 for, 4 against. It is my great pleasure in announcing the formation of the Digital Accident Tactics Squad. Motion Passed." The room filled with clapping as the speaker announced the passing of the motion. All around him his colleges started to congratulate him, patting his back and wanting to shake his hand. After all, he was the youngest United Nation's delegate ever to pass a new motion on his first try.

"We now move on to motion 8 as brought on by the delegation from the European Union for the establishment of Earth's first solar elevator. Members please vote via your clicker once you have gone through the documents you have been provided." He tuned everything out as he picked up his clicker to make the vote. He was too distracted to vote correctly, opting to pass the vote onto another member of the Japanese delegation. This was the calumniation of five years of work, two of which was during high school before spending all his time working as an university student in Todai's political science department.

He was young, only a year out of full time university, but he was the world's leading expert when it came to the digital world. Of course he would never tell anyone his secrete and only one other person had known. Everyone else, including his friends had thought the Digital World as being just that, another world that existed due to human evolution of technology but he and his fellow Japanese diplomate knew about it's secretes; what really went on underneath everything. Of course, they both feared that people would not take well to knowing there was a supercomputer capable of world domination if she so chooses too; with himself thrusted so far along in his career thanks to his unique relationship with the god.

"The vote for motion 8 is 193 for, 1 against. Motion passed, Project Ar Tonelico is approved by the UN General Assembly. That is all for today." The speaker of the house once motioned for the doors as the security guards began opening the doors leading out of the large room. He began gathering his documents, picking up whatever he was still required to go through before their next meeting tomorrow morning; although he had other plans already and was afraid that he would barely get started that night if everything were to go as planned, but hardly anything does.

"Congrats Yagami!" A female voice called as she gave him a big slap on the back. He turned to meet his fellow delegate and fellow classmate in the political science department.

"It's not like we weren't expecting it, after all it was Masaru-san who mentioned it being in existence during his time." He replied as he gathered the final documents he needed as he finished putting everything away in his traveling bag. "Anyways Rei, don't you have a plane to catch?"

"Nope, flight was rescheduled for tomorrow morning. Going to hit the town with some of the girls from England. What about you Mister Hotshot, don't want to be keeping that fiancee of yours waiting, not with her mood swings." Rei exclaimed with a big smile.

"Don't remind me." Taichi sighed.

"Well it is your fault for knocking her up!" This time Rei had her tongue out cutely like a child joking around with her friend. Again she was met by a sigh.

They made their way through the building and out the door in silence. He knew something was bothering Rei, her face was overcast and she looked to be deep in thought. She had agreed to share a cab with him as they lived in the same apartment complex, all of their Japanese colleges had rented apartments within a mile of each other so that they would be near one another if anything should happen when they were in this foreign city They waited in line, dozens of other delegates standing before them and after, all waiting to catch a taxi home.

"Hey." Rei tugged on him, "Today is the day isn't it?"

"Yeah. Five years huh? It feels like an eternity away. I hope everyone is doing well." His mind shift to everyone they had left behind. He hoped that everything would return to normal for them in that world and he often asked Yggdrasil whenever he was in the Digital World if she knew anything. He would only ever received vague answers from the girl, but she had always told him they were fine and there was no need to worry. Then he remembered to ask about Masaru, he had assumed Yggdrasil had sent him back to his time but what worried him was Yggdrasil's answer when he last asked.

"Daimon Masaru is indeed in the future, however not the future he remembers. It seems he has found his way to yet another new world, one that exists between the Real World and the Digital World." She would leave it that and made sure they moved to a different topic when he tried to ask for more information.

"Yeah. I sort of miss them all." She whispered sadly, "But I'm sure everyone is doing a-okay. Though I'm sure one girl misses you a lot." She was again in her happy mode before giving him a wink.

"Jesus Rei, don't ever let Mimi know. She'll have my head if she ever found out what we went through and especially not of Lily." They had found themselves back to in their sixteen year old bodies when they had returned, only having a day passed. Yggdrasil had explained to them that time flowed faster and slower from world to world, they were just lucky to have been in one that flowed extremely fast compared to the Real World.

They ended up at their apartment complex minutes later, only a short distance from the United Nation's General Assembly Building. Waving good bye to each other, Rei would otherwise had come over for dinner as she once made an excuse of loving her cooking too much but he knew she lack any sense of taste or cooking skills of her own and that she was going out with her girl friends. The apartment which he shared with Mimi was on the lower floors of the tall building, only on the fifth floor as his pay did not allow him the luxury of a penthouse suite, even with Mimi's modest income; New York was just too much of an expensive city for a couple only a year out of university to afford.

He entered his home to have his nose filled with a sweet scent, although he did not recognize what it was, it was indeed calming. He could hear music softly playing as the noise of something sizzling on a pan informed him Mimi was indeed in the kitchen experimenting. Over the years, Mimi had become what she always wanted, a celebrity; but instead of a fashion model or an idol like they all thought she would become, she had instead become a celebrity chef. He was thankful it had turn that way, the thought of other people ogling at her half naked body if she had indeed gone the way of a model did not sit well with him.

"Tadaima." He announced as he replaced his well waxed shoes for a pair of slippers.

"Okaeri." Mimi's voice sang, "I'm in the kitchen." He found her soon enough, wearing a white blouse and matching faded green dress skirt and her hair still done as she always had from a shoot; no doubt she had just returned from taping a new episode of her cooking show. "Guess what Taichi! Davis just called to say he'll be in town next week. He wants to expand into North America and he wants my help in promoting it. What do you think, Davis' Noodle Carts, as designed by Celebrity Chef Mimi Yagami!" He could see that she had stars in her eyes, her new found fame getting the best of her and he could only smile to her.

"Mimi honey, what are you cooking?" He could see the pan was glowing bright orange and from his experiences the last few days, he knew a pregnant Mimi was on par with his mother's cooking, no matter how good of a chef she was before he had knocked her up.

"Smells good right? It's a new recipe, Salmon with Orange Sherbet." She grinned. He sighed, all was right.

O O O

November 28, 2011 Anno Domini:

His eyes was blinded from the white light, all he could hear was the ticking of a clock, back and forth, back and forth. He remembered that only moments before, he had entered a portal which Yggdrasil had promised to lead him home. However, knowing Yggdrasil as he did, he still did not fulling trust her and he was sure this was some kind of catch for once again defeating her. The clock continued to tick, his eyes slowly recovering from the intense light.

He found himself in a small room, it looked to be some kind of work shop; a jeweller or a clock smith perhaps. Tools were laid out on a table, oddly enough the room itself was big enough so that who ever was the owner had decorated with some potted plants and large ones at that. Agumon was beside him, he could see that he too was regaining his eye sight. He looked around to find the source of the ticking sounding, it was driving him nuts.

"You okay Agumon?" He asked.

"Just fine Aniki."

"Chi, chi, chi, chiii." Something was laughing at him, again he could not tell what.

"Welcome Daimon Masaru! We've been expecting you." An elderly voice called out and soon he came face to face with someone who looked like a homeless man. Masaru did not know where the man had came from, just mysteriously appearing right in front of him, nearly giving him a heart attack. The man had somewhat reminded him of Commander-General Yushima Hiroshi as they both had a air of mystery when they had first met.

"Where am I?" He was surprised he didn't resort to his usual attack first ask questions later tactic.

"Why simply, you are in the Game, Daimon Masaru. Welcome to the DigiQuartz!" The old man announced. Masaru was trying to make sense of what was going on. He had been promised to be returned back to his own world but somehow he was here, a place called the DigiQuartz. He reminded himself to have ShineGreymon fully burn the god next time they came across one another.

"Hey old man, what's the DigiQuartz…" He looked up to find the man gone and shop once again emptied. Shrugging, he exited the workshop with Agumon in tow, the alleyway where the shop had been was dark he did not find anything particular until the alleyway gave way to the main street. Where ever he was, it had almost been a weird carbon copy of the Real World, except for the odd colours and what seem to be moss growing every where.

"I'll say this once more Yuu. Give me Cutemon!" His thoughts interrupted by a girl's voice. Looking towards Agumon, they both nodded as they rushed to the source.

They reached a clearing, hiding themselves so that they could not be seen. A blond haired girl was standing on one side, with her, a giant pink stuffed teddy bear. On the other side, a boy with a pink bunny from what he could tell, under his arms and a yellow, gnome? His mind went to overdrive, there was no doubt these were Digimon and there was no doubt this boy in front of him had kidnapped the girl's pink bunny Digimon.

"Oi! Didn't your mom ever teach you it's wrong to steal from a defenceless girl?" At that point he made his presence known to them.

"What?" Before the boy could answer, Masaru had already jumped at his Digimon and punched it, leaving the two human spectators wide mouthed. Masaru only grinned as his hand once again lit up in its familiar orange glow.

Notes:
Masaru's epilogue was written months before Digimon Hunter's reveal that the old hero's would be back, so please don't message me about it. Some idiot once did just such a thing on my Nene story, which was posted a week before it was revealed she was in Hong Kong - I guess the reviewer guy had a big ego to make up for what he lacked down under.

Now on to news about sequels. The first one, which was going to be called Tales of Le Monde is only 1 chapter in and I don't know when I'm going to find time to write more. The plot was originally going to explore the past history of Le Monde as main characters travelled to the still unexplored content of South America. It was also going to be about the Zero ARMS weapons - and that's all I'm going to say about the plot.

The second sequel, which is a short story that will be posted to Anthologies of Le Monde (some day), will explore Taichi's summer in the real world - one year after he returns. Good news is that it's 9000 words in, bad news is that it's only a third done - so hopefully it'll be around 20k plus words.

Final note, is anyone interested in a free epub or pdf version of Chronicles of Le Monde? I'm planning on having the entire story reedited (msg if you want to edit it), then distribute it as an epub.

Please review - both this chapter and the story as a whole. Praise or Criticism, but just don't post because you want to show of your Digimon knowledge. I'm sure there's some game show out there you can enter for that very purpose, just not reviews.

Complete preview of Tales of Le Monde Chapter 1 (incomplete and unedited) after the line break

Tales of Le Monde, Chapter 1: The Slum God

The streets were dirty - not full of filth and waste but of beggars lying at every which dark corner his eyes could see and he had no doubt that more lied hidden within the ally ways. It was also unusually dark, there wasn't a cloud in sight and it had just turned to dusk but the city had become famous for it's pollution and a history of violence on it's streets. That was why he had been the only person walking the streets this night - no sane person would have done so in fear that they would be robbed or worst, mugged and killed. His other sense went into overdrive as to compensate for the lack of light, his ears could hear the barking of dogs echoing throughout the streets and his nose picking up feint smells of rotting meat.

It made it worst knowing this was the dangerous part of the city - the most dangerous in fact, where the criminals came to prey on the poor and where the poor came to find opium to forget about their tragic lives. With his sharp senses, he could already tell more than one eye was watching him from the shadows.

He had heard of a new gang of criminals that had recently gained power in the city - a ruthless bunch of cohorts people had said, stories of their brutality as they slowly rid themselves of any other opposition. If he was any other person, he would have stayed in his house - a house he had recently come to buy after shortly arriving in the city - but he was not any other person. He had years of training and experience, he doubt anyone in this city could lay a finger on his person but it was still wise to stay cautious.

After all, it wasn't everyday that the Grand Meister of the Assassin's Guild, Takuya da Capulet visited a new city. And in this case, it was even more rare for him to have left the Old World to come to this bleak city in the New World, but it was an important mission he had. The Assassin's Guild had been losing members in recent years, a combination of too much peace and failure of certain missions left them with minimal numbers. He too had been recently retired because of his old age - his body could no longer take the strain of climbing buildings and traversing on rooftops. No, his time was better use for recruiting new members and that was exactly why he was here.

A lot had changed in the fifty years since the Unison War - a war that was bloody and pointless, all because people were easily fooled by their belief of gods. And as the name implied, it was a war were the superpowers of the world came together to fight a common enemy and once that enemy was no longer a threat, they saw the benefits of not fighting amongst themselves - in a short amount of time the world went from a place of boarders to one without any. Indeed, nations came together, formed alliances, and forced others into the very alliances. Royal France, The Empire of Britain, The Republic of Italia his own country, and even The Kingdom of Ming all became a single entity - gone were the ruling power of the royal families of each nation and replaced with a greater rule by the populations. Of course the royal families still existed but they were simply symbols of a time gone by.

This city was no different, once a small fishing town belonging to the Colony of Albany that was part of the Thirteen Colonies of the New World owned by The Empire of Britain, it now was transformed to an city of industry, of iron forging. Gone was the small town of New Amsterdam and replaced by the industrial city of Manhattan, now part of a new country called United - a country that was to be a shining star of the world, a place where anyone from anywhere could make a life for themselves. Many were captivated by the hopefulness that they otherwise did not have back in the Old World.

Yet those dreams of making it rich in the New World soon became just that, dreams. The rich and powerful still existed in this new land, mainly those who were nobles from the Old World that had moved to the New World during the Unison War - the most powerful of which were the Liverpool's, Manchester's, and Crowle's, all families of noble heroes who fought in the Unison War and all who were still very much loyal to the royal family of The Empire of Britain, the Tottenham's. People still lived in poverty and people still went hungry, there was civil unrest in the New World, something that did not exist in the Old World - and this was exactly why he was here seeking new members for his order.

Amongst the criminals, deep within the bawl of the poor, there was bound to be those who were innocent, those who were noble, and those ready to fight for ones in need. He had come to Manhattan in particular because of an rumour he had heard while living in retirement in his city of Venice. Manhattan's Slums had an unusual past time, underground Digimon Fights where humans who had Digimon Partners fought amongst each other, the winner often made a large sum of money from those who were in attendance and from betting - even the rich would come watch. Digimon were a common thing now, once only belonging to those of noble blood, it had become something anyone with the will to summon one did - it was more uncommon for one not to have a Digimon - Digimon did not age and if they had not died in battle, would be passed on from father to son.

It was exactly why someone who participated in these Digimon Fights would be the perfect candidate for the Assassin's Guild. The only problem was trying to find the location of where these fights were being held but lucky for him, there were more than one person he could "ask" and such opportunities were about to present themselves.

From the shadows a man came forth, following behind him until he was in arm reach away from him as he slowly walked down the barren street.

"Don't Move!" The man whispered. He could see the knife the man was now holding in his right hand, pointing straight at him, "You look like one of those rich folk. Hand over your money and no body will get hurt."

"Oh and what if chose the latter?"

"The latter?"

Clearly the man was not a smart one and already Takuya had ticked him off of the list of potential candidates - Assassins were required to think on their feet and this man was simply too dumb, a simple petty thief.

Although in his old days he would have been wearing his armour - an crimson set of armour made from the remains of his long dead Digimon KaiserGreymon. However, he was still an Assassin after all and his experience would be more than enough to deal with some ape such as this one but he still had his trump card - his bracer, it too was made from the remains of his Digimon and his Hidden Blades, the iconic weapon all Assassins had.

With a small flick of his wrist, his Hidden Blade sprung forth and with his quick reflexes, his Hidden Blade made contact with the man's knife and a second later, the very same knife flew meters from the man. It was then the man found himself spun around with his arm twisted on his back and his face inches from the Assassin's Hidden Blade.

"If you want to live, you're going to tell me where these Digimon Fights are being held."

The man was visibly shaken and he could see that the man was now relieving himself from fear as a dark stain appeared in the man's pants. The man started to shake but he hoped the man would give him an answer before fainting.

"By the West Docks!"

"Grazie" He slipped into his native tongue before shoving the man down to the street below. He hoped it would set an example of anyone else brave or indeed stupid enough to attack him.

In his younger days he would have wore his iconic Assassin's uniform, it had made him look all the more imposing and the safety of his armour but as he was an old gentleman now, a simple white shirt and black pants with a jacket coat made him look more refined - it was a wonder why no one had attacked him until now, after all his appearance gave off the image of wealth. Of course his Hidden Blade bracer had been wore on both his arms and his coat hid the fact from on lookers.

It had seem the little show he put on with the man was enough to put anyone else from attacking as in the little time it took for him to find the docks, he could no longer sense anyone trying to tail him. And again using the same sharp sense, he began looking for what should be an entrance to the Digimon Fights, as the man had only told him of the general location and not how to find it. It was soon obvious that the Digimon Fights were quite a spectacle as he found a large group of people weighting to get into a large warehouse.

He read large letters painted onto the side of the building - Liverpool Shipping. The Liverpool's were a power family that had power within the parliament of United and it was no wonder why the Night's Watch - those who were responsible for keeping the city safety - had not come to question why there was such a large gathering of such suspicious characters outside of an warehouse. It was a safe bet the Liverpool must be the ones profiting from these underworld fights and would have simply paid off officers to turn a blind eye.

A giant of a man, skin black as night was guarding the entrance of the building - the warehouse was much too large to simply be a warehouse, it looked as though the offices of the Liverpool's business was also part of the building. He simply reached into his pockets and gave the man a few gold coins, in which the man laughed.

"Republican? We don't get much of your kind in our neck of the woods." The guard merely pocketed his coins before allowing him to walk in.

He was correct in guessing the building was much more than a simple warehouse, the insides were elaborately decorated, as if he had stepped into an elegant manor house of a noble. This was the opposite of what he had expected from the slums, the walls were flush with luxurious wallpapers hand made from the Old World and above them was a large chandler, at least three times as large as himself and covered in sparkling crystals. He spotted a staircase leading to the second floor, as three sides of the building was covered with elaborate balconies - he could see that man of the richer gentleman and their lady friends, dressed in their finest had taken to the balconies. And at the centre of the room, a large crowd was gathered - this time he could see these were the lesser fortunate members of society, as they were dressed in regs, were shouting and waving their arms in the air. Each and every one was holding a piece of paper; betting slips he could easily tell with his sharpened eyes - it was the amount of money each one of them had on their chosen fighters.

It was seconds later a man, dressed in such a way that he could tell the man was a waiter, approached him and offered him to seat him. As he was wearing more expensive cloths then those who were gathered in the centre, the waiter must have assumed he was a gentleman of money.

He was seated quickly, a empty balcony far away from the staircase - he could not help but observed the other compatriots that were attending the night's fight. In one room a large man, not as quite as large as the guard, dressed in the finest of silk coats - a disgusting purple colour - had with him a group of women or rather girls from what he could see, hanging on to him and flirting with him. A balcony further, he could she two people seated by a table - it was strange as this was the only balcony that did have a table - and it too held an overly big man, no muscular like the ones before, but fat. Sitting across from the fat man was a girl, no older than sixteen - a skill he had developed from his years of profiling people's faces - and she was elegantly dressed. There was something familiar about this girl but he was sure he had never seen her in his life, yet in the back of his mind, he had an uneasy feeling that they had indeed met before.

"Ladies and Gentleman!" A loud voice awoke him from his thoughts, "The evening festivities are about to begin! First let me introduce our champion, with a fighting record of twenty wins and zero losses. The undefeated, Xin Fu."

An man stepped forth into the circle the crowd had made. The man had a long face but it was hardened from years of experience; and by his side, his Digimon - the floor shook as it stepped forward, nearly twice the height of his Human Partner and covered in green. He recognized it as Boltmon - although the Assassin's worked in stealth, there was still times they had come to encounter Digimon and it was a good practice to know one Digimon from another.

"And our challenger, a boy from the south. Known simply as Taiki!" A boy stepped up - a weird little thing, hair wild as a lion and dressed in rags. Except, on closer watch from his eagle eyes, he could tell the boy was not wearing regs, rather these robe like cloths were made of fine silk and dyed in an imperial red - the boy too looked regal and calm. Something about this boy had himself smirking, he had already determined who was going to be champion - he could see it with one look at each fighter but it was weird that the boy himself did not present a Digimon.

"Two thousand Units on the boy." He found himself shouting. A waiter soon came for the money and he paid with the amount in Floreins that had equaled to two thousand Units. Others seated on the balconies merely laughed at him, thinking him as easy money.

"Oi boy! Where's your Digimon?" The champion asked in his malice of a voice.

"Digimon?" The boy questioned back confusedly.

People began to laugh and he had thought he would have made a bad choice in betting on the boy, but his inner feelings were telling him to stick with the bet. There was something strange about this boy.

"Don't tell me you came to a Digimon Fight without a Digimon. Ha ha ha, this will be easy money." The champion laughed then directed his Digimon, "Bolton lets get this over with."

The green Digimon stepped forward as the ground beneath him shook violently, enough so that every step could be heard from the balcony and even felt as the building itself shook.

"Oh, looks interesting!" The boy, Taiki smiled.

And at once, the boy leapt from where he stood and with a blink of an eye had punched the green Digimon square in the stomach - with no ill effects to the receiver.

"Ahahaha, is this all you have boy?" The champion collapse onto the floor in laughter.

"Tomahawk Knuckles!" The attack connected with it's target, the boy's body flew in the air for what seemed like hours before it fell to the ground limp.

People began to clap and the champions taking his bows. Those who did keep their eyes on the boy, himself and the girl he had looked onto earlier, saw the boy slowly raise from his feet.

"Haha! That was fun!" The boys voice cried out in laughter. Those who were congratulating the champion stopped at once, wide-eyed at the boy who had just survived an attack from a Mega level Digimon.

"I guess I really can't beat a Holy Beast with my bare hands. Guess I'll have to use that."

Immediately the boy forth an outstretched hand and a moment later it became engulfed in a bright blue flame. He recognized that flame from anywhere - it was the exact same flame the man who had killed his own Digimon used during the war, he had come to known it as Digisoul.

With a click, the boy snapped his fingers which were engulfed in the Digisoul and a sharp glass breaking sound echoed throughout the building.

"VERTO!" And at once the boy's body was covered in blinding light. Even the Assassin himself had to shield his eyes with his hands from the intense light.

"Susanoomon!" A large armoured Digimon stood where once the boy had been. No traces of the boy could been seen, as if he had disappeared in an instant. The Digimon's armour was primarily gold, his breastplate shone crimson and his leggings a sea blue, but above all else, a large golden ring floated behind his back - an angelic figure the Digimon was and Takuya himself could feel the power as it escaped the Digimon.

"Zero ARMS Orochi!" Millions of light began to shine all around them, then as if pulled by gravity, the light gathered to a single point and a magnificent sword of light became grasped by the large golden Digimon.

"Celestial Blade!" The Digimon disappeared with a blink of an eye and when Takuya next blinked, it reappeared behind the green Digimon. Mere seconds later, Boltmon yelled in agony before it collapsed onto the warehouse floor.

When it was apparent that the mysterious Digimon had won, it once again began to shine with the same light the mysterious boy had produced before. And then, the Digimon turned into particles of light before they dispersed and the mysterious boy who had before disappeared, now floated down from where the Digimon once was and met the floor as with one knee and with Takuya's sharp eyes, he could see the boy was slightly panting.

The crowd was speechless and the administrator of the match was wide mouthed - the boy once he gathered himself, looked none to happy.

"Tch. You aren't the one I'm looking for then." The boy said with a whisper but Takuya's eagle senses once again picked up something which would else have been a secret.

The boy was looking for someone, Takuya concluded - but the boy did not know who he was seeking. Takuya was confused why the boy would come to a Digimon Fight to look for someone. Then again, he had the same motives as Takuya himself, looking for those who were strong and willing to join his ancient order.

"L..lo..looks like we have a new champion!" The administrator finally announced, stumbling from his shock. The crowd was still silent, many still in disbelief of what had just happened. "Is there no one who will challenge our new champion?"

The crowd began talking amongst themselves. Takuya caught wind, many were discussing who to bet on for the next match; many thought it had been a fluke and others thought the mysterious boy had cheated - all Takuya had cared about, was that he was now a little richer from his winnings. It was a small amount he had put in and the return would help fund the Assassin's Guild.

Takuya, as like many of the patrons of the warehouse were still deep in thought or arguing amongst themselves; as they did not see who finally did step up to fight the mysterious boy. Many who had first caught sight of who was going to be fighting caught the long bee legs of the person. It was not before many screeches of whistling could be heard, did Master Assassin Takuya reached over his balcony to gather a better view.

It was the girl who he had spotted earlier - the same girl who he had thought looked familiar but could not place a name on her. This was unusual, as Takuya had never caught sight of two interesting people in one day.

The girl was indeed in an expensive dress, but unlike the many dresses the higher class ladies in attendance were sporting - and even some of the escort girls - the girl's skirt was short, very short; only reaching an inch above her knees. It was something his fellow Assassins would ware, as the female members had opted for the mobility and flexibility it provided them for their missions. And unless this girl had been one of his assassins, Takuya wondered why she would ware such a thing - was the girl preparing for a quick get away if things went bad with the old man she had been with?

"And who might you be?" The administrator had asked.

"Nene de Delemont. Princess of Schweiz and Duchess of Basse Normandie!"