Disclaimer: Let's be honest, shall we? If I owned Digimon, I wouldn't be here writing fanfiction about it. I'll leave the legal jazz to Toei and Saban, and stick with this. Enjoy.

Power is a Black Dog

By Son Rhandi

Chapter 1: 'Message from the Monster Dog'

Darkness.

All that was there was a sickening, festering, blinding darkness.

A void where no light could penetrate was where Mummymon was trapped with nowhere to go. No matter where he ran, whatever the direction, it never led anywhere, only to more darkness. All he could do was stand there, filled with fear and helplessness.

There was no escape.

'Take a look, you pathetic loser, you worthless swine, you scum of the universe! You, who are lower than the worms that crawl in the dirt, cast your eyes on me!'

The voice boomed and echoed throughout the dark void. It wasn't human. Well, not totally human. That much he could tell. More like some sort of animal feigning speech through slurring its snarls. Suddenly, a pair of eyes glowing blood red faded into existence. The rest of the face followed suit. Mummymon's eye widened when the disembodied head and claws of the figure came into sight.

A dog. A black dog.

No, not a dog. Not quite. The ears were much too large for that. The creature appeared to be much more similar to a wolf or a jackal than man's tamed companion. 'Do you see?!' The beast pulled its 'lips' back in an attempt to speak. 'Now open your ears, as well! I have a riddle for you! From Ankhmon comes Styxmon, from Styxmon comes Amuhtmon, and from Amuhtmon comes Mummymon. But do you know what comes from Mummymon?'

The digimon hung his head. He didn't know nor did he care. All he wanted was to escape the void and the creature of the same color. The beast took Mummymon's silence to be ignorance and continued. 'Graahh, that's what I thought…'

Without warning, one of the bodiless claws lashed out and slashed the left side Mummymon's face, inertia demanding he move with it. He felt the unforgiving pain of the assault all too well, but even as his blood leaked out and formed a puddle on the non-existent floor, he did not flinch. He merely looked up at the creature, which opened its mouth slightly to form a toothy grin, and glared.

The creature turned its claws to Mummymon, holding them up for all to see. 'Do you recognize these claws, corpse puppet?' He eyed the talons steadily, then looked away, seeming almost ashamed.

"…They're mine…" He whispered, not wanting to believe such a thing, much less hear it coming from his own mouth. The beast threw its head back for a nauseating laugh, which sounded like a dog trying to regurgitate.

'That's right!' It shouted with glee. 'They're yours!' This time, the other claw slashed at his chest, creating ribbons out of his blue overcoat and injuring the skin. 'From Mummymon comes the invincible judging beast! The masterless black dog of power!! You can become what you see before you! Not a snarling monster, but a god of death!' With every sentence the creature spoke, it attacked a fresh part of the digimon's body, until all that remained were shrapnel of what used to be clothing and a bloody Mummymon.

He did not wince. Not even once.

The beast began its disgusting laugh again and resumed its speech. 'Mummymon! Only when you gain both eyes can you see things more clearly! But do so quickly! For if you delay, you'll lose the blood red spider and your life as well!'

"'Blood red spider..?' Are you talking about Arukenimon?" He inquired with a slight hint of desperation in his voice. But that was all the information the black dog would divulge. 'My predecessor, remember this well…' were his last words before retreating back into the darkness from whence he came.

"Wait!" Mummymon cried out. "Tell me! What's going to happen to Arukenimon?!" His shouts went unheard. Whatever force that was supporting him earlier suddenly gave out, and the surrounding abyss shattered like shards of broken glass. And he plummeted, faster, faster, faster, with no end in sight. Until he hit bottom…

…to find himself on the cabin floor.