Story Title: Crest Armors

Chapter Title: To the Ends of the World

Author: Mathais

Rating: T

Fandom: Digimon Adventure 02

Warnings: Chosen Children/Digidestined Fighting, Lack of Digimon Partners, Use of Dub Names, Pending Shonen-ai

Pairings: TK/Kari

Summary: The Digidestined have been granted powers to help in the coming battles. Now that the digimon are out of commission for a while, they'll need those powers more than ever.

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon, and the concept of Crest Armors in their current form is mine, though other variations of this idea are no doubt out there.

OoOoO

"Thunder Cloud!"

The attack flew over Yolei's head, but she was already moving in spite of it. Tossing out some of her spell cards as blades of light, she smiled grimly in satisfaction as they impacted on their intended targets; a Necromancymon was stunned enough to misfire his Inferno Cloud attack into a Wizardmon, whose Thunder Cloud then vaporized his albeit accidental attacker. Pushing her glasses up, she tossed more cards up into the air, tapping into her own magic to give them more oomph.

"Surround me, O gales, and wipe away those that seek to harm!"

Her voice rang over the subspace that she had isolated from the other mages, effectively dividing up the opposing magical forces. As red gales whipped around her, she felt more than saw Courage touching down inside her tornado. Waiting for the right moment, Yolei saw Courage draw his weapons back before unleashing a gout of orange flame that morphed her defensive shield into a blazing pyre of hellfire. Knowing what the follow up would be, she pressed her magic into her cards, pushing them away from her to force the flaring tornado to spread over to the surrounding enemies.

Tossing out some more spell cards to ward off a Wizardmon sneaking up on Kindness, she yelled to Reliability, "Grab the Necromancymon and Wizardmon gathering in the back!"

The heavily armored Digidestined nodded, a burst of water building in front of him. Lashing his hammer out, Reliability called, "Fish of Reliability!" as his attack soared through space to strike at a group of magic users who were charging a spell. All attempts to deflect the attack were futile as it struck true; the mass of them were instantly deleted. Gripping his hammer once more, Reliability turned his attention elsewhere as Yolei nimbly rode a gust of air to avoid a savage Thunder Cloud attack.

Kindness touched down at her back, shadow energy making his spear glow an unearthly black which could only be achieved by pure magic. From beneath his visor, he whispered, "I don't think we can keep this up much longer. Courage and Reliability are getting impatient."

"Well, tell them to hold on," she grunted back. "There's nothing I can do right now."

As Kindness leapt forward, shouting "Shadow Stab!" as he went, Yolei focused inward on herself and felt with her power the spell she needed. Leaping into the air with magic fueling her movements, she thrust her arms out and released the energy she gathered with one powerful motion.

"O mighty bird of Love, unleash the might of Wing Blade!"

In a variation of Garudamon's signature attack, the shadow of a bird wreathed in wind erupted from the Digidestined of Mind's body, sweeping away many digimon. Landing lightly on the ground, Yolei pushed back those thoughts that screamed horror at the killing of digimon. She knew that the situation was too dire, and, as the warrior she had become, she could not afford to feel at the moment. Yolei knew that she'd pay for it later, but now was not the time.

"Watch it, Spirit!" Courage suddenly appeared above her, slashing with one katana to deflect a Thunder Cloud and driving back a Fallen Spirits with a burst of flame. With his Flaming Cross attack, the armored Digidestined ran through a particularly dense pack, destroying each and every one of them swiftly.

"Reliability, cover me!" yelled the mage as she realized that someone was attempting to contact her via a telepathy spell. The heavily-armored Digidestined moved with a speed the belied his rather large frame and slammed his hammer down to the ground, causing a rumblings on the pseudo-floor that made many of their attackers lose their footing. In the meanwhile, Yolei reached out with her mind and magic and made contact.

"Yes?" she asked carefully but urgently, an aura melding the colors of pink, green, and red surrounding her.

"I'm merging my subspace with yours," Davis bluntly told her. "Cody and Light have slowed down Friendship and Love enough that you have less forces. Our forces are small enough that, together, we'll be able to handle them faster."

"Let's go ahead and do it then," replied Yolei, a tone of irritation in her mental voice. Joining their magics together, there was a seamless flow of energy that escaped even the notice of the highly trained Crest Armors—and suddenly Hope's blast of light melded into Kindness's shadow orbs to create a small but powerful explosion.

"Howling Blaster!"

"Needle Spray!"

As Davis and Yolei jumped back into the fray, the two mages of the Crests combined their attacks to unleashing needles of icefire that went quickly to mopping up what forces remained. Before long, the battle was over, and all that were left were really sweaty teenagers standing inside of an apartment.

"Where is Cody's group?" asked Tai in alarm once he took a head count.

Cody's quiet voice gripped Yolei's mind rather than her ears, but the news the voice brought was of good things. "We're fine. Just..." Here Cody's mental voice roared out a particularly violent spell involving the hydroshock element mixed in with... dimensional warping? Yolei did a mental check on that and winced, especially when Cody came back and said almost cheerfully, "All done!"

His words were punctuated by the return of the foursome. Among them, Matt, Sora, and Kari were rather green in spite of their battle-hardened natures.

"Cody!" whispered Sora harshly. "Warn us next time you do something like that."

There was a rare smile playing on the small boy's lips, though his eyes were far more serious. "I understand. I needed things over with, however."

When Yolei looked up, she discovered that the other Digidestined had pointedly decided that they did not want to know.

Honestly, however—she couldn't blame them.

OoOoO

"They're getting bolder," sighed Mimi as she leaned against a tree in the park. It'd taken their group a couple hours to reconvene after their battle, too busy they were with taking showers and resting their weary bodies.

"And stronger too," Ken added from his own position sprawled on the grass, Davis next to him.

TK looked down at the group, feeling the aches and pains jarring his body. He hadn't been at his peak form during that battle, still reeling he was from the damage done to the Digital World. He could see it in the eyes of Kari, Yolei, and Cody as well—their own weaknesses had been to the detriment to their group.

"We need to strike at the source; we can't afford to let them take the battle to us any longer."

It was Tai who spoke, and everyone turned to him at the simple admission.

"So far, most our battles have been in the Digital World where we could fight with minimal worry about collateral damage. We were also making headway into enemy territory. At the moment, however, all we're doing is defending." He shook his head in a show of anger. "We can't do this any longer." Tai's blazing eyes stared at each and every one of his friends in turn. "We need to go into the Digital World and strike at the source."

"We have no intelligence," protested Joe. "We have no clue who we're fighting..."

"...but we will," interrupted Izzy. His own gaze held each of the Digidestined before focusing on the other technological experts in the group. "Ken, Yolei? It'll be long nights from here on out," he stated meaningfully. Both of the Destined looked at each other, smiled grimly, and nodded.

"I'll put protective barriers up," volunteered Cody. "I still have enough magic for that."

Before anyone could protest, Joe cut in. "And I'll make sure they don't kill themselves while doing so." The rare glare in the soft eyes quieted the three technological experts.

"You do that," Tai agreed. With various farewells, the five stood and left, leaving the seven remaining to hash out their own plan of action.

"If you're willing," Davis murmured, all eyes on him, "I can cast invisibility spells. They'll only be good at night, since I can't manipulate light, but they'll let you fly over the city unobtrusively to see if you can find any agents."

There was a pensive look on TK's face as he said, "I think Kari and I will opt out."

"We're still recovering from the damage to the Digital World," Kari added slowly. "We'll take out leave and rest, all right?"

After receiving acquiescing nods, the Digidestined of Hope and Light stood to leave. TK laid a comforting hand around Kari's shoulder, and she rested her weary body on his.

Neither saw the pained look on Davis's face, which was quickly wiped away. He could already feel his obsessive crush on Kari whittling away, but it still hurt to see them together, even unconsciously. Before any of the older Digidestined noticed, the Child of Body focused on the matter before him.

"So, can you cast those spells?" asked Tai.

"Meet me at Ken's place after the sun sets," Davis answered. "We'll cast them there."

The five remaining Digidestined continued to plan in the park, voices overriding each other, but never coming to anger.

OoOoO

Unfortunately, a week brought no results. In the meantime, the Digidestined had their own battles. There were sparing attacks in multiple locations, and Matt had instantly seen through them as an attempt to test their power. Unfortunately, they were unable to do anything except fight and reuse maneuvers in order to keep some of their trump cards secret.

Joe had eventually forced the three Digidestined to sleep their all-nighters off, and Cody rested his magical powers in that timeframe, with Davis taking up Cody's job whenever he felt the invisibility spells weren't too taxing.

Thankfully, the four Digidestined who depended on Hope and Light were almost fully recovered.

School had been cancelled due to the attacks, and it was all the more imperative that their actions were masked. Because of the curfew installed, they did not want to risk being caught outside of the house.

Their small stalemate was broken on Christmas Eve.

TK's screams could have been heard around the entire block.

Kari's must've echoed around the entire neighborhood.

But Ken's beat both of them.

TK, in his pain, flung himself into a dresser, the vase atop it falling on him and shattering. He didn't even have the grace of unconsciousness as pulsations continued to wrack his body.

Kari didn't thrash around—but her fingernails dug bloody wells into her arms as she clenched harder and harder in her pain. But she didn't even feel the self-inflicted wounds—all she could focus on was the pain which rung even in her soul.

But Ken?

He felt like he was being ripped apart. It felt as if knives pierced his body again and again, twisting and turning with burning pain. He couldn't stop his own screams, as they were his only method of dealing with the pain. There was no way he could internalize it—so he externalized it in his entirety.

Ken's only stopped when Davis finally gathered enough wits to cast a protective barrier over Ken. Tossing his spell cards around the room, Davis managed to create a sanctuary from the pain, just as Cody and Yolei warped in with TK and Kari.

The screams of the three Digidestined only stopped then, though they continued to be shaken by phantom echoes.

"What happened?" growled Davis, his hands clenching and unclenching with his anger.

"The Darkness," gasped TK.

"Not Darkness," murmured Ken, whose element dealt with the shadows. "Evil. Someone tapped into something which should never have been awoken." His eyes gained an eerie light, as if he was just remembering something. "Something had lain dormant for a long time, and it should not exist, yet it does and they intend to use its power without knowing its true roots." His hand slowly went up to his neck, rubbing it almost unconsciously.

Now that Yolei was looking, she knew something was there. "There's something in your neck," she stated softly, and, as everyone looked at her, she reached toward Ken with hands glowing pink. The moment the Digidestined of Mind touched Ken's neck, she recoiled from a burn. "It's... powerful. Davis, Cody, I need your help."

"Crest Armor of Hope."

"Crest Armor of Light."

The two Armored Digidestined appeared, glowing with their respective colors. "Take our power too."

With TK and Kari helping, Yolei, Cody, and Davis set into an impromptu magical surgery inside Ken's body. To the Digidestined of Kindness's credit, he didn't flinch as the auras of their three mages invaded his body and attempted to figure out what exactly had housed itself inside him. It took some time, but when Cody's eyes widened and his hands clenched, it was well known that an answer was found.

Cody's fingers weaved a small dance and then he tugged in mid air—hard.

Ken let loose one final scream as a small ball of darkness wrapped in Cody's light appeared. Without Ken's aura masking it, all of the Digidestined present could now feel how seeped in evil the object was.

"It's very strong dark magic," murmured Yolei, her magic ineffectively prodding it.

But TK and Kari, taking off the masks which held their identity safe, instantly knew what it was.

"Ken, how come you have a remnant of Milleniummon in your head?" TK asked warily. "Unless..."

"You were the one who helped Ryo," breathed Kari in awe. "Gennai never disclosed his name..."

Ken's eyes shifted to the side, as if remembering something. "I... Milleniummon? I didn't..." Suddenly, his eyes brightened in recognition. "Crap, it's one of Milleniummon's Dark Spores. They increase the capabilities of the bearer but also increase their internal darkness as well."

"Milleniummon?" asked Cody hesitantly.

"An Evil God Digimon. He's so powerful that our Crest Armors wouldn't do anything even now, but you don't have to worry about him," Kari commented absently. "We thought Ryo had taken care of him, but not as well as we thought apparently."

"Ryo finished him, I'm sure of it," Ken stated with finality.

TK suddenly leaned forward, an expression of comprehension on his face. "Oh crap, that's the thing in the prophecy. If that's true, then..."

Davis suddenly recoiled as a blast of energy hit his barrier. The wince was repeated as more and more blasts hit him, and Yolei and Cody responded by unleashing spell cards which acted as their own barrier.

"Armor up, Ken, and Kari and I will check it out." Placing their helmets back on, Hope and Light warped out of the building with Yolei and Cody, leaving Davis to prep some spell cards.

"Crest Armor of Kindness," Ken murmured, feeling the shadows wreathe him in a cool embrace. Grabbing his spear out of mid-air, he whispered, "Yasashia no Yoroi," and looked at Davis. "I'm ready."

Nodding sharply, Kindness teleported out with Davis's help.

"Seraphim of Hope!"

"Ophanim of Light!"

The angels summoned by the two attacks were countered with blasts of flame from an armored individual. Floating by two red wings and wielding a wicked trident, Kindness searched his mind for the name before coming up with Phelesmon. Unfortunately, Kindness had no time to dwell as their opponent reoriented himself and gave another burst of flame which Hope quickly knocked away.

"Kindness, Body, Mind, Spirit, go to the others! We'll take care of her!" To punctuate his statement, Hope flew forward and, weaving around a swipe, kicked his opponent in the back, sending him directly into Light's arrow barrage.

Before he could react, the three mages had teleported him away. They now stood in front of six armored Digidestined, whom they could tell were worried.

"Can you feel them?" Courage asked immediately.

"We'll take you to them," Yolei stated. Holding a hand out to Sincerity and Love, the three girls vanished. Cody did the same with Knowledge and Reliability, leaving Davis with Kindness, Courage, and Friendship.

Davis warped once and dropped Courage and Kindness to one, stating that he'd go help Friendship.

Kindness focused his attention on the icy landscape around him. Russia was currently in the middle of a snowy season, but he was protected from the cold. His eyes then caught sight of the child before him. Blonde hair and blue eyes instantly reminded him of TK, but there was a coldness to his gaze that TK, even in his angriest moments, never attained. The boy before him had a relaxed expression, his eyes half-lidded. A lazy grin stretched across his face, and his body was completely slack. It would have been normal, if not for the fact that he wasn't affected by the cold despite being in a wife-beater and jeans.

"So you are the Crests of Light," he murmured delicately, a soft smile twisting his face. His eyes slanting, the smile turned into a dark expression. "I was waiting for you."

"Who are you?" Courage demanded.

"I am Yuri Zhivago," the boy said lightly. "But I assume that's not what you're talking about. I think you'd rather see this..." Suddenly he lunged, dark chains glowing with green fire covering his body. "Crest Armor of Sloth!" The chains shattered, revealing a gray-cloaked man in black armor in his wake. Twin knives were his weapons of choice, and the dark flames emanating from them told that they were not trifling weapons. "Kasei no Yoroi! Bindings of Sloth!" As he was propelled by two demon wings, Sloth sent forth many chains. (1)

Kindness attempted to block with his spear, only to have the bindings rip his weapon from his grasp. Courage was luckier, as his Flaming Cross managed to slice cleanly through the attack.

"Shadows of Kindness!" His special attack launched through the air, but Sloth's knives flared with infernal fire and cut through them, though he was not ready as Courage charged, katanas alight with their own fire. The weapons scored many hits on Sloth's body before he recovered, a burst of pure energy sending Courage into an uncontrolled spin.

Kindness flew in, his fists glowing with shadow magic, but Sloth kicked him in the face. As his head snapped back, Sloth wasted no time in calling out his own special maneuver, "Energy Dance!" and spinning into an elaborate combination of slashes with knives coated in pure magic, ending with a cut-through that had him feeling pain even as Sloth raced off toward Courage. Pulling himself together, Kindness flew toward his weapon, and his Shadows of Kindness broke the now inert Chains of Sloth. Grabbing his spear, his instincts told him to spin and raise it, which allowed him to block Sloth's dive.

"Too weak!" he shouted, anger touching his tone. The knives spun again, and Kindness felt his defenses shatter once more. He simply couldn't win against Sloth's skill and speed.

The last thing he saw was Sloth's pose, simple yet efficient, lax yet not, and Kindness felt himself fade to black. His last thought was surprisingly irrelevant, only that he thought that Sloth looked an awful like Astamon.

Courage unleashed a gout of fire in the wake of Kindness's reversion to Ken, striking Sloth in the back. He danced a bit around Sloth's counters, and his katanas soon found themselves at Sloth's neck, prepared to behead him in an instant.

"The Crests of Darkness?" he growled.

"Yes," Sloth replied lightly. "I know I've lost this battle, but, hey, there'll always be more. You have absolutely no clue what we're planning, why we're doing what we do. For the moment though, take care of your fallen. Even if ours masters do not, we Armored Chosen of the Crests of Darkness know respect for battles well fought." With that, Sloth's armor vanished to reveal Yuri again, who fell down into a portal before Courage could move.

"Shit," Courage cursed and flew down to Ken.

OoOoO

Love blocked a well-placed claw strike by her scantily armored but dangerously efficient foe, twisting into roundhouse, which was similarly blocked. She stared into Lust's masked eyes before breaking their stalemate, wind energy surrounding her.

"Bird of Love!"

"Lilim of Lust!"

When her bird of wind met the poisonous seductresses conjured by her opponent, Love dove forward through the collision, her well-placed kick smashing into Lust's face and, as her head snapped back, Love unleashed the fastest combination she could. Still stunned by the pain, Lust made no move as Love trapped her in a headlock, ready to snap her neck at a moment's notice. Perhaps she'd gone a bit harder than she intended, once she recognized the form similar to the LadyDevimon who had given her friends so much trouble.

"So, Armor of the Lust, what brings you here?" Love growled.

The reply was simple.

"Testing you."

Love shouted as Lust reverted back to Catherine Medici, curly blonde hair and bright blue eyes—and fell back into a portal with a sultry smile on her face. She hoped that Spirit would come back and rescue her from France soon.

OoOoO

Knowledge used bursts of electricity to neutralize the bullets heading his way. He weaved around each of his opponent's shots, lightning crackling around his mace as he called, "Electric Crush!"

The blow was blocked by a sudden guarding maneuver by Gluttony, and the Digidestined of Knowledge glared at his opponent armored in a skulled outfit in the darkest black. Using his increased strength, he smashed through the defense, and the spikes protruding from his mace dug into the dark armor, chipping it. With a savage kick, Gluttony flew back from Knowledge, who then summoned as many Insects of Knowledge as he could. He surrounded his opponent who reminded him of SkullSatamon with them to the point where even moving would cause a world of pain.

"I see I have lost," he said softly. "I'm impressed."

Before Knowledge could react, Gluttony had reverted to Da Ge Hoi, a plump Chinese boy, before fading into a dark portal. Muttering dark curses, all Knowledge could do was wait in Hong Kong until Mind returned.

OoOoO

Avarice faded into a boy named Derek Dingo, the Mephistomon-armor around him shattering and his orb-tipped staff disappearing as he retreated from Reliability's crushing foot and Mind's paralysis spell. Cody took one look around before warping them away from Australia.

OoOoO

Despite Friendship's and Body's efforts, Envy's squid-demon armor and fang-like twin swords vanished to reveal Rosa López, a small skinny girl with too bright eyes for her current status as a Crest of Darkness. She fled into the darkness, escaping Friendship's long sword and Body's frost spell with her size so diminished from her previous MarineDevimon form. Davis wanted to leave Mexico as soon as possible, so the two vanished as well.

OoOoO

The tainted white aura of Pride faded into Michael Washington and, in spite Sincerity's pained eyes, he gave a smug smile and vanished. Cursing the Lucemon-look alike, Sincerity lashed her whip to uncoil it from where it previously held Pride's body, ready to choke him. Spirit shook her head, gathered her powers, and took the two away from America.

OoOoO

Hope and Light's angelic sentinels could do nothing as the red-skinned Wrath faded, along with his trident, into a dark-skinned boy. Phil Sam smiled at them grimly before disappearing, and the two Armored Digidestined looked at each other in disgust before returning to the Kamiya home in order to regroup with the others.

OoOoO

When the seven of the Crests of Darkness reappeared before their master, each one smiled.

"Mission accomplished," they said together.

The man stood above them, a smile stretching wide.

The Darkness within each of his Digidestined, each of his warriors, was growing—all due to the Dark Spore.

A Seadramon, Flarerizamon, Octomon, Coelamon, Kiwimon, Monochromon, and Kuwagamon looked at their partners in self-loathing; they could do nothing to help the perversions visited upon those they were sworn to protect.

And each cried for the innocence lost.

OoOoO

(1) Kasei no Yoroi means Armor of Mars. Why? I'll explain later, part of it stemming from the fact that I don't know how to translate Sloth.

Note: I'm starting to hate this story, but I promise to see it through. Why did I turn seven Digidestined to evil? Because if they have armors—so will the enemy. And if you can guess what'll happen later, then, wow, because I'm not sure myself. But I'm sorry for the way this came out—two years and you get this piece of crap. I don't know why, but it took a lot out of me to write this. Maybe I'll drum up something for the next chapter.