Chapter 27: The Battle Within
"Koichi, Koichi wake up." A teen with pale blue hair and orange eyes asked shaking his friend.
"Where are we?" Koichi groaned slowly sitting up.
"You just all of a sudden collapsed and we ended up in your subconscious. What happened?" Uryuu explained.
"I don't know it felt like I kept blacking out. I can't remember anything from those points. The last thing I remember before ending up here was something was crawling up Ryuu's arm." Koichi answered as best he could.
"You cannot get rid of me that easily." A dark voice echoed around the two.
"Who's there?" Uryuu ordered the voice standing up and looking around.
"It's Duskmon." Koichi whispered.
"Who's Duskmon? Come on Koichi you have to tell me these things if we're going to work together."
"The first time I went to the digital world Loweemon and I was possessed. Duskmon is what resulted from that." Koichi said.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Uryuu grabbed Koichi's collar and pulled him up to his feet then stood back to back. "Then we'll just have to take him on together."
"Ahh…" Koichi gripped his hair.
"Koichi!"
"You can't help him. In fact in a few moments you won't be able to help yourself." Duskmon appeared in front of Uryuu.
Uryuu braced for the impact, but it never came. "Loweemon!" He said in surprise.
"Take care of Koichi, I'll deal with him." Loweemon ordered pushing Duskmon away and then followed him into the darkness.
Uryuu turned around to an arrow an inch away from his face.
"Uryuu y-you have to run." Koichi pleaded a tear slowly making its way down his face. His eyes were hazed over.
Uryuu grabbed the arrow and ripped it out of Koichi's hands. "I don't run away from a friend."
The arrow exploded and the darkness engulfed Uryuu.
"Fate… there is no such thing as fate for us, only those who are swallowed by ignorance and fear… fall into the rapid river we call fate." Koichi recited.
"Please you think this can scare meme Koichi? Why don't we test my fate then?" He smirked.
He evaded every attack just barely. Uryuu could only tell where the attacks were coming from a second before they could connect to their acquired target areas. Four purple spheres appeared around him. "Dark Torment." The spheres launched into the darkness and Koichi started glowing purple. "I found you." The other three spheres knocked Koichi into the air and the darkness around them faded.
He hit the ground hard. "Now that we can see each other lets' bring back time shall we?" The scenery changed to the arena at the academy.
Koichi stood up and threw his arms out. "Those who want to fight…let them fight. Those who don't want to fight in this world of eternal struggle…do not deserve to live." Koichi chanted.
"Shit I know this spell. But I never taught him this." Uryuu got ready as black blades appeared around Koichi.
"One thousand blades slash." He threw his hands in front of his body and the blades flew towards Uryuu.
He did a couple of back flips and back hand springs. "one hundred down nine hundred to go." He smirked jumping out of the way again.
By the end he made a circle out of the blades and stood in the middle. "Thank you, thank you I'll be here all week." He bowed to the invisible crowed. He moved and snatched the arrow out of its directed path. A bow appeared in his hand "In fact I'm just getting warmed up." He shot the arrow back at Koichi.
~Outside~
"What happened?" Ryuu asked as June checked his temperature and pulse.
"We don't know he just suddenly collapsed." Kaylee stated her hands shaking.
"Has he been eating normally?" June asked.
"Yes he's been eating plenty and has gotten enough sleep so I don't know what's wrong with him." Ryuu replied.
Koichi started sweating and breathing heavily. "Noelle can you get me a wet towel?" It was more of an order than a question.
Noelle soaked the washcloth and handed it to June. Koichi started screaming in pain and gripping the bed sheets with a death grip.
"Koichi." Ryuu tried getting close but a black aura appeared around Koichi. He reached out to hold him down but his arm started turning black so he quickly withdrew. "What's going on?"
~Subconscious~
A dagger formed in his hand and he stabbed Uryuu in the shoulder. Then a wire wrapped around Uryuu's neck. It tightened. Uryuu kicked a small disk of magic at Koichi. Making him lose focus and the wire disappearing.
"Damn this is harder than I thought." Uryuu muttered getting up. "He just keeps getting faster." He drew another arrow. "Three left." He shot the arrow and it skimmed Koichi's shoulder.
"Now you only have two left." He went to punch Uryuu.
"You fell for it." Uryuu smirked moving out of the way and grabbing Koichi's wrist. He threw him into a wall and placed a hand on Koichi's forehead. He forced his Magic into Koichi's body.
~Outside~
"What happened to you hand?" Noelle asked
"I don't know it's like something didn't want me connecting with Koichi." The color started coming back to his hand.
"Guys It's me Uryuu."
"Uryuu!" Ryuu started towards him but Noelle held him back.
"Do you want that to happen again?" She asked.
"I don't know if you guys can hear me, but I need help. Duskmon is back and he has control of Koichi. I can't break it. If you…" The connection was cut.
