Frontiers Unexplored

40) Hell Born Knights

Takuya forced himself to his feet despite the pain pulling at the rest of his body from the sudden rough impact against the side of the Trailmon. He couldn't help but feel the sting of pained sympathy for the creature they were traveling inside of, and Takuya wished inwardly that there was more he could do to help the poor Trailmon. However, he wouldn't be able to help until he knew for sure who was responsible, so he made his way towards the doors with as much speed as he could muster. His legs felt as if they had been turned to gelatin, and every step came with the threat that he was going to fall apart and crumble into perfect ruin a moment later. 

The doors of the Trailmon slowly opened, and Takuya could tell that the Digimon was just as exhausted and hurt as the rest of them were by the sudden strike to the side of the train car. Takuya dashed out as soon as he had the chance to do so, and he could hear footfall behind him to show that the rest of the Legendary Warriors were close behind him. 

At first, Takuya didn't know who could have possibly been responsible. He glanced around through the empty shadows of the Continent of Darkness, but he couldn't find anything that would have told him the identity of his foe. Takuya reached for his D-Tector, and adrenaline coursed through him fiercely. He may not have been aware of who his enemy was, but that wasn't going to stop him from fighting back. 

As the Trailmon was fully emptied, the rest of the team joined Takuya outside, and Koichi let out a gasp before pointing up to the sky. "Look up there!" he cried out, his eyes going wide as his voice cracked from something that sounded like terror. 

Takuya followed Koichi's hand to see what he was pointing to, and he saw soon afterward that Koichi was gesturing to a set of five silhouettes against the darkness. The details of the newcomers were impossible to make out due to the large distance between them, but Takuya was sure somehow that they were the ones behind the sudden attack to the Trailmon. 

"Who are you?!" Takuya cried out, his voice filled with far more bite than he would have expected given how exhausted he was from the previous battle. He had enjoyed being able to rest on the Trailmon after the encounter with Cherubimon, but that didn't stop him from still feeling the lingering tinges of sleepiness as he stared up at the quintet of figures in the sky above. 

"You can call us the Royal Knights," came a voice from above, and a figure wearing pink and yellow armor came into view. The voice was feminine, and the person responsible landed beside the Legendary Warriors a moment later. She rose to her full height, showing off just how impressively tall she was in comparison to the small teenagers. Takuya didn't consider himself short by any stretch of the imagination, but he felt as if he was nearly invisible when placed next to the pink Digimon. 

"What are your names?" Koji questioned next. He managed to keep his voice somewhat even, but his unsettled rage was still palpable beneath the surface. His hands were clenched into fists at either one of his sides. 

"You can call me Crusadermon," the pink Digimon began, and Takuya could hear the snarky pride behind her voice already. She bowed before the Legendary Warriors, but every part of the action absolutely bled sarcasm, and Takuya had a sudden urge to walk up to her and punch some fire into her armored head just to make her quit it with the theatrics. 

A white Digimon landed next to Crusadermon. He was wearing white armor edged in golden spikes, and purple wings stretched out behind him in a show of elegance. "Dynasmon," he said simply, unwilling to go any further than he had to. He glanced up to the sky, and Takuya felt the air above him stir. He was sure that the other three were coming in to land soon as well. 

The next Digimon to arrive was one covered in black and gold armor. A jagged cape fell from his shoulders. He looked down at the Legendary Warriors with distaste, but he refused to properly introduce himself. He simply stared as if he found them to be little more than insects, and once again, Takuya became overly aware of how small he was by comparison to these Digimon.