When Flynn heard of demons he expected our evil big menacing creatures. From all the legends and fairy tales he had been told being brought up he imagined meeting one would be something out of a nightmare...

Recently he had become a samurai after passing the gauntlet rite and was told the demons of the fairy stories were real. He was a young man with long black hair in a ponytail with triangle bangs. He had striking green eyes and wore the traditional prentice samurai garb. White robes lined with gold and a blue coat lined with white. He wore a white scarf like a bandanna around his neck. A blade hung from his belt. On his left arm was a metal gauntlet which supposedly had a demon inside it?!

“Don’t worry, the demons you have had were raised from birth for the purpose of working with samurai to defeat other demons.”, Commander Hope assured, he was an elderly samurai with a white coat rather than the blue one like the prentices.

“Even still...the idea of partnering with a demon is very off putting.”, Jonathan said, another prentice like Flynn with curly brown hair and brown eyes with a yellow scarf.

“You can say that again...it would be one step up from dealing with Casualry.”, Navarre said, looking very uncomfortable at the idea. He was another prentice with a brown pompadour and brown eyes with a green scarf.

The comment earned him a snicker from Walter.

“To be fair, people have tamed animals. If demons are similar it should be possible.”, Isabeau replied, a female prentice samurai with short brown hair and brown eyes with a red scarf.

“I don’t know the specifics of how they raise the demons before partnering them with samurai, but I assure you they won’t attack you.”, Hope said.

“So, in reality did these demons choose us not God?”, Walter asked, a prentice with spiky black hair and purple eyes with a blue scarf. His robes hung loosely letting his bare chest be on display.

Navarre scoffed at Walter’s comment.

Flynn looked down at his gauntlet at the question remembering his dear friend Issachar. He was rejected by this very gauntlet which he now owned. Because of that he would never get to live his dream of being a samurai.

“Walter, there’s no way the church would allow demons to pick the samurai.”, Jonathan replied.

“You're right on the part they don’t Jonathan. The demons aren’t even conscious while the gauntlet is deactivated so they can’t influence who gets picked. It’s prudent before you descend into Naraku to get acquainted with your demons.”, Hope said.

“Get to know demons?! How unsightly...”, Navarre replied.

“I’m not saying you have to be buddies. At the bare minimum know their strengths and weaknesses so you can form proper strategies. Also, you’ll need these chips for tough fights with them. Your demons get stronger temporarily. Be careful though they can drain their stamina quite a bit so don’t abuse them.”, Hope told them, giving them the mysterious chips with odd symbols on them.

Oddly for Flynn he got the pink one which made Walter chuckle.

“Okay, so let’s meet these demons!”, Walter said eagerly.

After that they split up to meet their demons because of some tradition. Flynn sat down in the barracks on his bed. He felt nervous at the idea of meeting a real demon.

“Issachar wouldn’t be scared. I just have to do it.”, Flynn thought, activating his gauntlet.

Some strange lady in the gauntlet introduced herself as Burroughs who was something called an AI. Was that a type of spirit? She informed him on how to summon his demon from the gauntlet. He touched the strange glass on the gauntlet to summon the demon. His heart beated rapidly against his chest as light shot out of his gauntlet which shifted into the form of a creature.

His eyes widened when he saw the form of the creature, but not for the reason he expected. The demon was a rather big blue bipedal lizard about the size of a toddler. It had claws, a thick tail and long strange ears along with a golden v on its forehead. It had big red eyes which were oddly more cute than intimidating. Actually yeah it was rather cute it’s build reminded him of a stuffed animal. His mouth hung open in shock.

“That’s...the demon?! I expected something a lot scarier.”, Flynn thought, sweat dropping.

“Hello, there human I’m uhh...I don’t remember.”, the demon introduced.

“I’m Flynn…I-I guess you're my new partner?”, Flynn replied.

“What’s that?”, the demon questioned cluelessly, making Flynn sweat drop.

“Commander Hope said you guys are raised to be partners to samurai. But you don’t know what a partner is?”, Flynn questioned.

“I don’t know much of anything. Now that I think about it I don’t remember anything at all.”, the demon admitted.

“I detect data corruption in my systems, it must be responsible for its memory loss. It is from an ancient Digimon species known as a Veemon. It is a rookie level, free type, tiny dragon Digimon. It’s attacks include Vee Punch, Vee Headbutt, Hooping Kick, and Boom Boom Punch.”, Burroughs explained.

“Digimon? You mean demon?”, Flynn questioned.

“If that’s what they're being called, yes.”, Burroughs replied.

“So, I’m a Veemon?”, the demon questioned, pointing at himself.

“Hmm...I guess I could just call you Veemon, but that’s like you calling me human. What do you want to be called?”, Flynn asked thoughtfully.

“I dunno. As I said I don’t know much. You look like a smart guy I’ll go with whatever you come up with.”, Veemon replied as Flynn cupped his chin.

“Alright…”, Flynn pondered a name for his demon companion for some strange reason one instantly came to mind.

It was odd since the name he was thinking of was one he had never heard before, but he felt it was right for some reason.

“How about Masakado?”, Flynn asked.

“Ooh! That name sounds cool I’ll go with that!”, the Veemon said.

“Okay, Masakado I’m a samurai which means I fight bad demons who would hurt humans. I’m going to need your help to defeat them.”, Flynn said.

“Alright. I feel like I can fight...I think. If they’re guys causing trouble I’ll give em a good walloping!”, Masakado replied.

“Hoy, Burroughs what is Masakado weak to? And what is he strong against?”, Flynn asked.

“Nothing it seems…for both strengths and weaknesses. His species attacks are primarily physical.”, Burroughs explained.

“I guess that means at least the other demons can’t exploit his weakness. Alright, let’s go err...You’ll have to go back in the gauntlet outside, normal people shouldn’t see you.”, Flynn replied.

“Awww…”, Masakado whined, making Flynn feel bad before desummoning the demon.

He quickly made his way to Naraku assuring the master samurai he was ready. A chill like none other ran down his spine when entering the lair of the demons. After entering he quickly let Masakado back out. The demon jumped up happily at being able to walk around freely making Flynn sweat drop.

“He’s like a kid. I guess he is a child demon, that's probably why he’s so small.”, Flynn thought.

He descended the stairs with Masakado who skipped merrily.

“Be careful you could fall and get hurt.”, Flynn said, making the demon pout a bit before it tripped and almost fell down the flight of stairs being quickly caught by Flynn who grabbed his arm.

“Hehe. Seems you were right Flynn.”, Masakado replied, chuckling nervously, rubbing the back of his head bashfully.

“Just be careful.”, Flynn replied politely, continuing down.

Masakado nodded sheepishly as they walked.

“I’m sorry, Master, but I completely forgot. Master Hope mentioned an important detail of this training exercise...I’ll register this as a quest to ‘defeat a demon’. Would you like me to provide an explanation of quests?”, Burroughs said.

“That won’t be necessary I’m familiar with the idea.”, Flynn replied.

He was going on a real quest! Like the heroes in fairy stories! The inner little kid part of him actually felt excited. He was really going to do it! He was a samurai! It was now starting to sink into him when he was chosen it hardly felt real.

“Okay, we’ll skip over that. Until next time, Master Flynn.”, Burroughs replied.

Flynn opened the double doors bracing himself for his first demon fight. Shadows shifted around ominously in Naraku as Flynn grabbed the hilt of his sword prepared for battle. Masakado raised his fists sniffing around. Out from the shadows pounced a demon moving at rapid speed however Masakado detected it quickly jumping and punching it in the face before it could reach them. Flynn swung his sword at the figure Masakado struck. The demon was beheaded with its body clattering to the ground. It was a red and blue quadrupedal demon with big ears and blue eyes. It’s remains faded away quickly, greatly confusing Flynn.

“Do demons decompose that quickly?”, Flynn questioned.

“I dunno.”, Masakado replied.

Flynn looked around warily, his guard greatly raised by the sneak attack. His body had moved more on pure instinct than anything when the demon.

“That was so impressive I would swear it wasn’t your first battle together. Your hot stuff Master Flynn, Lord Masakado. I also have some good news for you. You’ve earned some app points. Do you want an explanation of how app points work?”, Burroughs commented, Flynn sweat dropped as Masakado puffed up his chest at the ‘lord’ part.

“Why is she calling him Lord Masakado?”, Flynn questioned, looking at Burroughs sideways.

He had a feeling Masakado didn’t need his ego to be fed.

“I could get used to being called Lord Masakado. Now that sounds awesome.”, Masakado said.

“Sure.”, Flynn replied as Burroughs went on to explain.

Flynn got the mapper app working so they knew where they were going.

“Congratulations on completing the quest.”, Burroughs congratulated.

“But it’s too early to celebrate now. I have the details of your next quest. This will be your final training exercise. You must learn the basics of exploring labyrinths. A solid grasp of your surroundings is necessary for a samurai. I have hidden a certain item of value somewhere in Naraku. Your task is to find and retrieve it. Moreover, for this exercise, you will be completing against each other. As soon as one of you acquires the item of value, the exercise will end. That is all.”, Hope said from the live feed on his gauntlet.

“This thing really is some amazing magic.”, Flynn thought, as Masakado looked wide eyed in awe at the mysterious gauntlet.

“Is that guy in the gauntlet too?”, Masakado asked.

“Uh...no. I don’t know how he did that though. Anyway we got to find this thing he’s talking about.”, Flynn replied.

“Alright boss!”, Masakado replied, with a goofy smile as he saluted Flynn.

They started walking around Naraku and more and more demons popped out. Facing them is a yellow bug demon with black z patterns where it’s eyes should be. Flynn raised his sword and Masakado raised his fists in case it tried to attack them.

“Take this samurai scum! Electric thread!”, the demon hissed as it shot electrified webbing at them.

They jumped in opposite directions out of the way of the webbing. Flynn swiped at the demon causing it to jump away. Seeing the opportunity Masakado jumped at the distracted demon.

“V headbutt!”, Masakado called out as his head slammed into the body of the demon making it collide with the wall.

They continued their search for the item. After seeing a small gap in the wall Masakado easily slipped in due to his smaller size followed by Flynn. The instant they slipped in a pink bird demon attacked from above. Masakado punched the bird demon in the stomach as Flynn tried to fit himself through. Flynn swiped at the demon with his blade after Masakado bought him time to get in, easily defeating the demon who cried out in pain. Flynn felt a bit guilty hearing its screams but...he shouldn’t feel guilty right? Demons are pure evil beings that corrupt people. But...Masakado wasn’t like that...his thoughts were diverted to the strange relic he picked up. It looked interesting, perhaps he could sell it for macca later?

“I guess this isn’t the item. The commander hasn’t said anything.”, Flynn thought.

He heard talking and complaining from beyond the wall. He raised his sword bracing himself for another demon attack. Instead he caught glimpses of the sleeve of the same uniform he wore.

“A samurai?”, Flynn questioned.

“Oh, it’s you...one of those Casualries. Is the item in there?”, he heard Navarre asked him as he struggled to get through the gap.

He could barely make out Flynn’s boots and the lower half of Masakado. He was frightened at first thinking he was about to be attacked before recognizing that the demon must be Flynn’s.

“No it’s not.”, Flynn replied.

“Ah, thank heavens! Then, I can get myself of this dirty floor and claim it for myself!”, Navarre replied, making Masakado raise his fist.

“Hey that’s what Flynn’s looking for!”, Masakado said angrily.

“It’s a Masakado competition which means others are competing to get it first.”, Flynn explained.

“Masakado?! I was informed all the demons name’s end in mon. Don’t tell me you named yours like a you would a dog? Don’t you think you’re getting a bit too chummy with it? Oh well...I would expect nothing less from Casualry.”, Navarre questioned, in a condescending tone from behind the wall after getting himself back behind it.

Flynn’s cheeks flushed red at Navarre’s words. Chummy? He just didn’t have a name so he gave him one. That’s not just for pets! He had a name given to him by his parents, but he wasn’t a dog!

“What’s a dog?”, Masakado questioned.

“That’s not important, we need to get the item before the others!”, Flynn replied, trying to mask his flusteredness.

“Alright, boss! The way that guy talked was making me mad! Let’s beat that chump!”, Masakado replied.

Masakado quickly slipped through followed by Flynn. Navarre seemed to have moved on ahead. Flynn looked around carefully for any other secret spaces where the item could be kept. After noticing the stairs down they descended. They continued looking around seeing a fight in progress between Walter and his demon: It was a strange ball shaped creature with bat wings and tiny legs. It had horns and tiny legs. It was like a chibi version of your traditional demon.

They were fighting an armadillo demon. Walter growled in frustration as he had a hard time piercing its hard shell. Also the demon due to being pinned by him and his demon had a hard time trying to attack them back leaving them at a stalemate. Flynn sweat dropped at Walter’s stubbornness to defeat the armadillo demon. He didn’t look like he was in danger and like he was going to be here for awhile. They slipped past Walter and his demon into the door.

What they didn’t expect was to see Navarre and his demon laying in the ground in defeat rather ungracefully. They were still semiconscious. His demon was a living candle with red eyes and hands made of wax. Standing above them was a massive red bug demon with no eyes instead strange black markings. It had wings, four arms and massive pincers preparing to gobble down the two. Without think Flynn ran forward followed by Masakado. He brought out his sword and struck the massive demon only for his sword to shatter on impact.

“Vee punch!”, Masakado called out, winding up his arms.

Masakado set a barrage of rapid punches at the demon only for it not to leave a scratch.

“Grr! Vee heatbutt!”, Masakado called out as he tried head butting the demon only for it to also have no effect at making him see stars.

“Masakado!”, Flynn called out as Masakado swayed.

The demon batted Masakado away like a fly, making him collide with the wall. The demon flew at the weapon less Flynn pinning him against the wall with its pincers. It grabbed Flynn with its arms who struggled against its iron grip trying to move, but it wouldn’t budge. Extreme pain registered in Flynn’s receptors as the demon squeezed him, making him scream. The demon laughed it enjoyment as he screamed.

“Scream more for me boy. It’s been awhile since I’ve heard good screams.”, the bug demon said as it squeezed Flynn tighter, clearly toying with him.

Masakado could barely stand growling in anger at what he saw.

Masakado launched himself at the demon again with a around him.

“V headbutt!!!”, Masakado roared colliding with the demon’s back, actually hurting it by hitting a part of it not covered in its red armor and making it drop Flynn.

The demon growled, turning its attention to Masakado. Flynn was surprisingly still standing, his eyes were shadowed. Strangely he winded up his fist like Masakado as if mimicking him.

“Vee punch!”, Flynn said, before striking the distracted demon in the same unarmored spot Masakado had hit him before making it stagger.

“Oh! It seems Lord Masakado’s attacks have already been whispered to you, congratulations master. Would you like me to explain demon whispering?”, Burroughs said.

“Maybe later…”, Flynn replied, actually surprised himself that he performed the attack.

He didn’t know why, but the attack just suddenly came naturally to him like it was second nature. Masakado struck the demon again, diverting its attention. Flynn brought out his chip. This definitely seemed like the kind of scenario where he’d need it. He looked over his gauntlet seeing a hole which it could fit into almost on instinct he plugged it in.

“Initializing...Armor digivolution activate!”, Burroughs said as the words appeared on his gauntlet’s screen, before the pink symbol on the chip flashed on his gauntlet.

Masakado was surrounded by a bright light blinding the big demon.

“Masakado armor digivolve to!!!!!!!”, Masakado shouted.

A tornado of ethereal feathers surrounded him forming white clothing and making him grow in size. Over the clothing formed various silver buckles. Wings formed where his ears were and a X shaped buckle covered his eyes. Angelic wings spread forth from his back which flapped making a gust of wind and feathers that blew the demon back.

“Gargolyemon!”, Masakado finished with a roar, gripping his fist.

Flynn’s eyes widened in awe as he looked at Masakado. That appearance…! It was like how the angels from the legends were supposed to look like. He heard Navarre gasp in surprise at the sight finally getting his bearings back.

“Power guillotine!”, the big demon said as it flew at Masakado.

“Freezing Wing!”, Masakado called out as massive white angel statues formed out of nowhere which it launched at the big demon.

The statues all bombarded the demons making it be sent back. Masakado shot forward delivering a finishing punch to the gut killing the demon and making it disappear.

“A-angel?! How do you have an angel?”, Navarre questioned as Flynn looked at his gauntlet.

“I don’t know. I used the chip and he changed.”, Flynn replied as Masakado flew over holding a ring.

“Look master Flynn! Lord Masakado has found something interesting.”, Burroughs said.

“I found it above over there in some box. It was easy to get up there with these wings.”, Masakado explained.

“All prentices, this is Hope speaking. Your training session has come to an end.”, they heard from both their gauntlets.

“Oh no that means…!”, Navarre said.

“It would seem someone has beaten me to the finish line.”, Jonathan said, appearing on the gauntlets with a strange orange guiney pig like creature with wings on its head sitting on his head.

He was sweating hard so he must have been fighting just before this.

“Aww...I was so close, too.”, Walter said, making Flynn sweat drop remembering when he passed him.

“Return to Aquila Plaza at once.”, Hope said.

Flynn looked at Masakado who smiled.

“That means we won!”, Masakado said, before he was enveloped in light again reverting back to a Veemon.

To be continued...