A study in Shadow People

by Windfighter

After the ghost attack Sigrun and Mikkel find themselves in the Digital World. But what are The Shadows that are destroying it?

"Hey! Shake the guy awake! We can't have a blasting siren like that!"
Sigrun's voice carried through the cat-tank, travelled to Emil, who was already shaking Lalli.
"I'm trying! He won't wake up!"
"Well, try har..."
Something touched Sigrun. Touched her mind.
"...der..."
Her mind went blank, she couldn't feel her limbs, couldn't remember what was going on.
Sigrun fell.

Slowly Sigrun opened her eyes, but closed them again. The sunlight was strong, sharper than it was supposed to be during autumn. She opened her eyes again.
"Eeee, it's really you! You're really here! I've waited so long!"
Sigrun closed her eyes again. The loud voice she couldn't recognise echoed inside her head. She touched the floor, to make sure she was still inside the cat-tank. The grass tickled her fingers and she clenched her teeth.
"Mutiny..." she whispered.
"Mutiny?" Something jumped onto her stomach and she lost her breath for a second. "What's mutiny?"
"What everyone in my crew is commiting."
"Well, I'm happy you're here anyway! You can't believe how long I've waited!"
Sigrun opened her eyes once more. A small, red creature was using her stomach as a trampoline. When it noticed that she had opened her eyes it stopped and smiled widely.
"Hi, I'm Gigimon!"
Sigrun blinked. She settled up, looked around. Looked at the creature again.
"...Where are the others?"
"What others?"
The creature tilted its head and Sigrun got up, making Gigimon fall down onto the ground. She put her hands onto her sides, looked around again, at the grassy field around them, at the lushy green forest behind them and towards the horizon that lay in darkness. No sign of the rest of the crew.
"I believe we are no longer in Denmark."
Except of course Mikkel. She turned around, curiously looking at Mikkel who was looking past her.
"I'm gonna have to add all of them to the mutiny list! Well, if we're not in Denmark, where are we?"
"You're in the Digital World!"
Mikkel looked at the red creature who tried climbing Sigrun's leg, only to be pushed down by the red-head.
"I see you have also found a creature."
"You too? Man, what are they?"
"My name is Bukamon!"
Sigrun's eyes widened as a tiny white-brown creature with a small flame-like thing on his head floated towards her. It landed next to Gigimon and they looked at the humans.
"We're digimons!" they exclaimed. "Digital monsters!"
"Digi... what?" Sigrun turned to Mikkel. "You think we died?"
"I have not yet ruled out that possibility."
"So this is after-life? It doesn't look much like how Valhalla was described to me."
"After-life?" Gigimon tilted its head again. "What's Valhalla?"
"It's a place where great warriors come when they die. Maybe Odin didn't deem me great enough..."
"Nonsense, Sigrun, you are the greatest warrior I have made acquaintance with."
"You're just saying that to get off the mutiny-list."
"Maybe."
Mikkel gave a crooked smile and Sigrun shook her head.
"Anyway, so the digital world, you say. What is there to do around here?"
Bukamon and Gigimon looked at each other, a shiver running down both's spines.
"There's not much", Gigimon explained. "The Shadows have overrun the place... Everyone just tries to stay as far away from them as possible..."
"It gets harder everyday", Bukamon continued. "The Digital World is crumbling. There will not be anymore safe places if it continues like this."
"But", Gigimon took over, hope returning to his voice, "now that you're here everything will be great again!"
"Whoa!" Sigrun backed away. "I have not signed up for this. I mean, I'm always up for a fight, but shadows? Geez, how am I even supposed to fight them? I can't really stab them with my..."
Her hand instinctly moved to grab the knife she always carried, only to find that there wasn't any knife, but instead a tiny white thing with a screen that fitted in her palm. She looked at it, showed it to Mikkel.
"What'd you think this is?"
"That is a digivice", Bukamon interrupted.
"But what is it?"
"All the chosen people have them!"
"That doesn't explain anything! Mikkel, tell them!"
She turned her back towards the creatures and Mikkel, crossing her arms over her chest. Mikkel put a hand on her shoulder, but she didn't move and he let out a sigh before he turned towards Gigimon and Bukamon.
"What do you mean by 'chosen people'?"
"People who come from the human world to help save the Digital World! It has been a long time since there was any here. Not that we have not needed any help..."
Bukamon gestured towards the horizon and Mikkel saw the broken up ground and the shadows overwhelming it.
"No one has been able to get in touch with the human world for so long. We have waited here, we knew someone would come one day. And here you are! Please, will you help us?"
"Hmm..."
Mikkel looked at Sigrun's back, at the horizon, at the two creatures and back to Sigrun again.
"Sigrun, what do you think?"
"I think this is a stupid after-life."
"Yes, I agree with you. What if we are not yet dead?"
"Huh?"
"What if we are still alive?"
"...They're so going on the mutiny list."
"Yes, of course they will. But what are we going to do about our current situation?"
She turned around to face him, smiling slightly.
"Trying to get back on my good side? I'll play along. If the big bad ghosts are that way, then we're heading that way!"
She pointed towards the darkness and Gigimon pressed himself against her leg.
"You're so brave!"
"Of course I am!"
She grinned and Mikkel smiled again. Bukamon hovered beside him, tilting his head while looking at the red-head.
"You two coming or what?"
Mikkel looked at Bukamon, who nodded, before the two of them followed Sigrun towards the darker areas.

Sigrun, Mikkel, Gigimon and Bukamon walked silently through the Dark Forest. The digimons kept close to the humans as they made their way between the rotten trees. A lot of the trees were covered in black goo that no one wanted to know what it was. Sigrun ducked under a pair of branches and gave a satisfied smile when she heard Mikkel walk straight into them. She turned around to face him.
"See, this is why I don't bring you along. You have to keep an eye on your surroundings when you're on the field."
"Yes, yes, I know that."
Mikkel wiped some goo off his forehead and Sigrun saw the tiny device he held in his hand.
"You also have one?"
"Of course he has", Bukamon answered before Mikkel had a chance to. "You are both chosen, otherwise you would not be here, and as chosen you recieve a digivice."
"What're you doing with it?"
"I am trying to figure out what it is, what it can do and how it works."
"Boooring."
"Indeed. It's not reacting to anything, no matter what buttons I press.
"There's not much energy in the digital world these days..." Gigimon said. "They need energy."
"Who needs that? We just need to find these shadow-things, ask them to leave and then everything'll be solved."
"I am not certain it is going to be that simple", Mikkel said while ducking for another branch. "If it was, I believe these creatures..."
"Digimons", Bukamon interjected.
"...these digimons would have already solved it."
"Probably", Sigrun agreed and went further among the trees. "But we don't know."
The ground shook beneath them and Sigrun lifted Gigimon before quickly moving out of the way for a fissure that was opening. Mikkel looked down into it.
"Bottomless, it seems", he said before throwing a rock into it.
They listened silently as the rock hit the sides of the fissure. They couldn't hear any final thump, it just continued.
"Good thing we didn't fall down there", Sigrun nodded. "Come on, hurry up. I want to get this over with so I can move on to Valhalla."
Shadows started moving around them and the ground shook again. Sigrun ignored it, but Gigimon quickly snuck in under her shirt.
"That's not very brave you know."
"You are trespassing."
Sigrun stopped in the middle of a step. Had Mikkel been walking he would have knocked the two of them down, but he had already stopped. Both of them looked around, trying to find the owner of the voice.
"You are trespassing", the voice tried again.
The voice was raspy, somehow transparent, and dark. Sigrun looked at Mikkel before looking into the darkness.
"Are you one of the shadows?"
"You are not welcome here."
"Yeah, I get you. Not like I asked to be here. Anyway, if you could please stop what you're doing that'd be great."
"You are not welcome here."
The earth shook again. Trees fell around them, black goo from the trees covered the four of them. Sigrun wiped it away from her eyes, glared into the darkness.
"Look, I heard you the first time."
"Leave now, and never return."
Sigrun clenched her fists. She was just going to yell to the voice when something grabbed her around the waist and lifted her. Gigimon clutched to her shoulder. The next thing she knew they were flying. The dark forest quickly flew past beneath them and suddenly the ground was coming closer.
"Well, Gigimon, I guess this is it. It was nice knowing you."
Gigimon's eyes flashed.
"It's not over yet!"
"Bubbles!"
Pink bubbles appeared from somewhere behind them, bounced on the ground and stuck themselves to Sigruns sweater.
"Bubbles!"
More bubbles, Sigrun was almost covered in them. She heard the word several more times, not sure what was going on. She couldn't see the ground, but knew it was approaching and she closed her eyes. And bounced. Five times. She landed flat on her back ontop of a small bush and looked into the sky.
"What just happened?"
"Bukamon saved us."
Mikkel dusted off his pants and helped Sigrun off the bush. Beside him Bukamon blushed.
"It was nothing..."
"Nonsense, Bukamon. Without you we would have been minced meat by now. Thank you for saving us."
"Okay, so anyone can enlighten me about what that thing was?"
"The Shadows", Gigimon said. "I told you they were dangerous!"
"But they're just shadows!"
"No one really knows what they are", Bukamon said. "We should go see The Prophet. He might not know what we are facing, but he knows a lot about this land."
"The Prophet?" Sigrun shook her head. "Well, I guess we're out of options. Where is this prophet?"
"Under the ocean", Gigimon said, jumping excitedly. "The Shadows can't get there!"
"Okay, but how're we gonna get there?"
"I... I don't know..." Gigimon sank to the ground again. "I didn't think that far..."
Sigrun picked him up and put him on her shoulder.
"Cheer up, cherry, we're gonna find this prophet and we're gonna solve this thing, don't you worry!" She turned to Mikkel. "You with us?"
"Will you allow me to accompany you on this expedition?"
Sigrun rolled her eyes and started walking. Bukamon quickly hovered after her.
"Do you know where the ocean is?"
Sigrun didn't answer and Bukamon hovered infront of her.
"No need to worry, I will show you there. I hatched near the ocean."
"So what, you're some type of bird?"
"Sigrun, that is insensitive. They clearly told us they are digimons. Beside, birds do not talk."
"Yeah, sure, whatever."
They continued following Bukamon in silence, Sigrun not saying anything because she didn't have anything to say to the mutineer, Mikkel staying quiet because there was no need for him to say anything and Gigimon didn't dare to say anything if his human didn't talk. Bukamon sometimes gave a comment about something that could be found in the digital world, but when he noticed no one was listening he fell silent again. After a couple hours they reached the shore and Sigrun settled down on a rock before she gestured towards the water.
"After you, Mikkel."
Mikkel glanced at her, before going up to the water. He placed his hands on his sides, looked out over the ocean. Nothing except water as far as the eye could see. He turned towards Bukamon, who was playing with Gigimon in the sand.
"Bukamon, how are we supposed to get over?"
Bukamon stopped for a moment, looked to his human and shook his head. He didn't know. Sigrun let out a sigh.
"So we're stuck here? Great, just how I wanted to spend my after-life."
"Sigrun, I would advise you to not give up so early. There is most certainly a way forward."
"I'll believe that when I see..."
A large whale breached through the surface and landed in front of Mikkel, opening its mouth.
"We have waited for you, Chosen Ones. Come, The Prophet is waiting. I will take you there."
Sigrun and Mikkel looked at each other, looked at the whale, looked at their digimons. Mikkel opened his mouth to say something, but Sigrun cut him off.
"Finally something happens!"
With that she entered the whale's mouth, the other three followed her and the whale closed its mouth and dived back into the ocean.