Duat Diaries
Disclaimer: Digimon does not belong to me. This fic is set in Lord Archive's Diaries Universe and is written with permission.
Chapter two: Fateful Encounters
Burner, largest bastion of civilization in the Database Desert, had been the seat of Pharaohmon's reign for about as long as most of the inhabitants could remember, ever since the viral Ultimate and his forces had taken control of the unruly region by force. That rule, though sometimes barely, had survived the Dark Masters, Apocalymon and reformatting of the world twice.
Through it all they had prevailed, Pharaohmon had prevailed, against all outside forces. Now their ruler was gone, defeated by some unknown outside force, and rule of the area had fallen to the leader of the mightiest order of priests, Anubimon. Unlike the former ruler the jackal chose to reside in his own pyramid instead of the royal palace, situated to the south-east of the city.
Full control of the capital had been given to the magistrate and, slowly but surely the delicate order of the city was caving in upon itself. Previously the magistrate had run his business from a building close to the palace, but had now relocated his office to the more luxurious quarters of the palace. No one had protested since moments after their ruler's death most of the higher-ups had left the city for their own bastions.
The palace and its grounds were surrounded by a high circular wall with four large gates, one for every major compass point. From there the city grew out, also in a circular pattern. While its edges were a bit rough close up, Burner made a perfect circle when viewed from the air.
Even when Pharaohmon still ruled, the city had never been a completely safe place, certainly not the slums which made up roughly a quarter of the city. Destroyed by various causes over many years, though most of it from one event in particular, the buildings had never been restored and were a stark contrast to the richer sections of the city. The broken buildings, appearing like a dark and forbidding graveyard, housed a plethora of digimon that for whatever reason wanted to remain hidden. Undead digimon who didn't belong to Anubimon's order, or creatures like Raremon and Numemon who either didn't fit in with the rest of the ordered society or couldn't stand the abundance of sunlight, could be found there in abundance.
It was a place the other inhabitants would rather forget, but such a thing was becoming more and more difficult as the unlawfulness of the slums was sweeping all over town. Violence had increased and slavers, who had at first only preyed on lone digimon at night, had begun taking people in broad daylight.
No one knew where things were going, but, looking at what history dictated, Skelamon believed it could only end in a large conflict. Probably, and dare he think it, hopefully, with the involvement of the Digidestined if recent important events were any indication.
Skelamon rushed through the dark and degenerate streets, a pace he had never used through these parts before since rushed digimon were soon dead digimon. One thing you should never do is let down your guard by running headlong through the slums, a lesson some only learned the hard way and only when it was already too late. The skeletal digimon was not among these unfortunates; he had avoided, or tried to avoid, such foolish actions for as long as he had lived.
An unforeseen unevenness in the ground made him stagger and his bones clattered more than usual while the scabbard of the blade he carried scraped against the underground. The sword's covering was strapped to one of the two pieces of clothing he wore, a black belt which hung loosely around his pelvis bones. The other item was a bandanna covering the top of his skull, which was rather larger than a body of his size warranted.
He sighed, considering for a brief moment how unfortunate it was that his body's bones, or rather his whole body since his bones technically were all there was to his body, always made such noise. Even if he stood still they usually clattered some against each other. Mostly he didn't mind that so much, but it was quite a hassle if you wanted to move quietly.
Yes, he thought, till now he had always managed to keep in the backdrop as much as possible. But now, against his better judgment here he was, running through what was sure to be the most inhospitable place in town. He knew that he had just fallen into the same pitfall as so many others, but he knew he had no choice.
There was a tugging in his bones, a feeling that was compelling him to go somewhere and fast, before it was too late. What he would be too late for he didn't know, though he had his suspicions and his hopes. Even so he was prepared to be disappointed again, a feeling he had known intimately for a long time.
Before he knew it Skelamon rounded a corner and came to an abrupt halt. He stood at the entrance of one of the many alleys of the slums and, like many others this one only had one real entrance. At the other side of the dead-end a group of ghosts, who looked like oversized and dirty white sheets that were somehow filled, hovered around a heap of fallen stones. All looked virtually identical, except that one of them was wearing a ridiculous pointy hat. The ghosts, Bakemon led by a Soulmon, seemed to be toying with something they had trapped in the alley.
Those wretches, Skelamon thought, have they caught yet another digimon for their vile amusement?
But the moment he thought that Skelamon knew he was wrong; whatever was drawing him here was not another digimon. Then he saw the ghosts' prey backed up against the fallen stones and he knew without a doubt that it really wasn't a digimon. With wide eyes he stared at a dark skinned humanoid with short black hair, something he had never seen before but instinctively knew nonetheless.
Before he realized it he had sprinted past the blockade of ghosts, who were only paying attention to their captured prey and not their rear, and climbed up some of the stones to get to the boy's level. Evidently the boy had tried to reach the top of the heap to make an escape when the ghosts had surrounded him.
"Don't be afraid, I'm not going to hurt you," Skelamon said, feeling his voice constricting slightly and his eyes tearing up.
The look that came his way from the boy though was far different from his own, mistrusting even and for good reason. His voice came across as cold, just as his demeanour suggested. What surprised Skelamon was how collected the boy sounded.
"I'm not afraid; if this is my time then I can only await my judgement."
"What are you talking about? This isn't your time," Skelamon protested, suddenly realizing the boy was talking about his own death, "You just got here!"
"Just in time for a midday snack," Soulmon jeered.
"You're going to eat him! Don't you know who he is?" Skelamon exclaimed, the happiness at finding the one who had to be his partner dampened severely by their predicament.
"Food like you are, only meaty," one of the Bakemon supplied, licking his ghastly lips.
Feeling somewhat queasy at the thought of being eaten Skelamon involuntarily inched up higher on the mound of rock, noticing as he did so that the boy, his partner, was mimicking the action.
"I thought you weren't afraid," Skelamon whispered.
"I'm not," the boy whispered back, "but being judged and being eaten are two different things and it isn't as if I'm more eager for the former than I am for the latter. Say, can't you do something about this? You seem to be like them."
"I can't, even though these slum ghosts aren't very bright they're a level higher than me," Skelamon replied.
"Higher level? What does that mean?"
"If we get the chance I'll gladly explain it to you," Skelamon said.
"Hey! What are you mumbling about," Soulmon demanded.
The boy smirked evilly, looking at something behind the ghost. Something the skeleton had just said was worth trying out, if it didn't work, they were no worse off, but if it did…
"We were just wondering who would be faster, you guys or that thing sneaking up behind you."
True to a fault the majority of the ghosts turned around, but there was nothing behind them. Before any of them could recover from their error the boy and skeleton had started climbing rapidly to the top of the debris heap. The collapsed wall had created an opening at the top into building interior, giving them a chance to escape. Two Bakemon hovered in front of the hole, but the two escapees wouldn't let themselves be stopped by that.
"Rusty Sword," Skelamon called out, swinging a blade that fit the description perfectly. It didn't do much, but the ghosts did back away enough for him and the boy to charge past.
"After them!" Soulmon screeched, malevolent eyes narrowing with undisguised hunger.
In a different part of town another pair of eyes narrowed in hunger as well. From the small shadowy recesses of an opening between two buildings, barely more than a meter wide and filled with foul smelling trash, a young boy watched a food stand intently. Behind the counter a weird creature, which looked disturbingly like a red aubergine with tentacles, was trying to sell his wares to similarly strange creatures. The fruit arrayed there looked like nothing he had ever seen before, but he felt hungry enough not to care about how it would taste.
If the words of his soon-to-be partner in crime were any indication the taste of the fruit would not be a problem. Next to him, looking at the fruit with even more desire than he did was a blue lizard-like creature, a digimon he now knew him to be. It was hard to believe, but he wasn't in Cairo anymore.
"Are you sure about this?" Sethos asked, but from the look of his companion he already knew the answer. The real question was whether he was ready for it.
Before anything else the digimon's stomach rumbled, "Positive, I'm hungry, you're hungry and Red Veggiemon has food. It's as simple as that."
Sethos had to admit he had a point, but he had never stolen before and was a bit hesitant to do so now. But he was in a strange world now and without food he wouldn't survive, normal rules no longer applied.
"What if something goes wrong?"
"What if it doesn't?" V-mon replied with a grin. Resolutely the blue digimon left their hiding place and marched past the few digimon out on the street till he was pretty close to the stand.
"Hey Veg," he said amiably, "you got something good today?"
"My stuff is always fresh and proper," Veggiemon answered, keeping the child in his watchful gaze. He had dealt with this V-mon before.
"Of course it is," V-mon said, "but I wasn't referring to that. What I meant was, did you have something cheap?"
Red Veggiemon snorted, what V-mon meant was that he wanted his wares for free.
"Listen boy, my stock is the best around here and for the best you've got to pay the price. If you can't, you have no business here. I'm not running a charity."
"Stingy," V-mon admonished, taking a step forward as if he wanted to make a grab for some of the stuff closest to him. At once Veggiemon's tentacles shot out to protect his property, dangling them in front of the stall and V-mon. Now there was no way for the child to get to the food, but he didn't need to. Before Veggiemon knew what happened someone else, a humanoid, had appeared next to his counter and took of with a handful of fruit.
"Hey!" Veggiemon called out in shock, retracting his tentacles away from V-mon but he was too late to catch the thief. When he looked back V-mon had disappeared as well, but not empty handed. The salesman let out a litany of curses as he stomped about in impotency, he had been tricked again, but one day he would turn the tables on the lizard and his new friend. He would make sure of that, one way or the other. A dangerous line of thought since the city guard seemed to be harsher in keeping order every day that went by.
Two pair of feet clattered against the stone ground, making more noise than either of them wanted. There were patches of sand, but most of it had been hidden beneath the rocks of fallen buildings. Even so, Hesire was not happy with the sand. While it didn't make as much noise as running on the rocks did, it did slow them down with their feet sinking away partially every time they put them down on the ground.
Wherever they went the few digimon around always hid themselves quickly. He was sure they wouldn't have simply left like that if they'd been alone, but with the ghastly following they had they were hardly alone. Getting two kids in trouble was one thing, but even the denizens of the slums thought twice about harassing the prey of one of the ghost gangs.
"Partners you say?" Hesire asked the skeleton running at his side, feeling a bit out of breath already.
"Yes, the digivice proves you're a Digidestined," Skelamon answered, "It is said they have the ability to help their partners evolve in the face of danger. I feel you're my partner, the one I've been waiting for, for almost my whole life."
Hesire nodded, though that was hard to notice with the way they were running, "This 'evolution' business, it means to get up to their 'level' right? Then you could fight them."
"Well yes, but," Skelamon started to say before being interrupted.
"We're partners," Hesire concluded, "so I should be able to evolve you. I'm tired of running like this, better to face them now before we're too tired."
With that the boy stopped running and wheeled around to face the pursuers that had just appeared around a corner they had taken moments earlier, his expression grim. Skelamon looked worried, but got in front of his partner nonetheless. He gulped, while he knew the theory behind being the partner of a Digidestined he had never met one before nor actually seen or experienced the kind of evolution they were so well known for.
"Right then Skelamon," Hesire said in the face of the oncoming ghosts, "Evolve!"
The boy thrust the digivice in front of him, as if that could activate it somehow, and Skelamon tensed up. Surprised by this turn of events Soulmon and the Bakemon stopped approaching, opting instead to first take stock of what was going on. A few seconds went by with nothing happening, then the skeleton's bones clattered loudly for a bit.
"Skelamon?" Hesire asked in concern. He had taken the clattering of his digimon's bones when he moved for a natural trait, but this didn't seem quite right.
"Too hungry," Skelamon moaned apologetically.
Without another word the Digidestined and his partner ran away again, the ghosts in hot pursuit.
Back out in the more sunlit streets another pair was having some trouble of their own, though nothing as pressing yet as what was going on in the slums. They moved slowly, and unsurely, down the same market street where Sethos and V-mon had robbed Veggiemon.
"It's all so unbelievable," the taller of the two, a human girl, muttered. She took the time to fully take in her surroundings, so different from where she had been before.
"But it is real, you're really finally here," Alraumon replied happily.
Nephthys felt slightly more at ease at the genuine happiness the plant displayed at having her around, but that didn't take away from the fact that she was alone in a strange world with strange creatures. And not all of them seemed to be that nice and that feeling wasn't just caused by their appearances. Some looked at her like they wanted to eat her.
"Don't worry, I'll protect you in any way I can," Alraumon said suddenly to set her partner at ease, though she didn't feel that confident about actually carrying it through. Both girls just hoped they would be left alone till they found the others.
Nephthys wasn't so sure there were any other humans around, but her partner was firm in her belief that they weren't alone.
Unknown to them two of those others were watching the pair from the vantage point of the roofs of the buildings lining the street.
"A girl?" Sethos asked, taking a bite from a juicy fruit they had swiped. It looked like an apple, but it was softer and the taste was completely different too.
"Yeah, that's Alraumon, though I haven't seen her in a while," V-mon replied and then looked at the boy with a sceptical look, "Can't you tell?"
"All I see is a plant buddy," Sethos shrugged, "now her partner is clearly a girl though."
"So you can tell the difference between genders, I was starting to worry about you. You haven't made a single correct assertion yet."
Now Sethos looked at V-mon with a disproving stare, "Oh shut up, how was I supposed to know that lumbering ogre was a girl? She certainly didn't look it, what with those teeth and that scowl and all."
Still Sethos was glad for the light banter between them, it helped keep his mind of the fact that he was very far from home. V-mon was about to reply when he noticed something happening down in the street. Two not so friendly looking digimon had broken away from a wall and were now intercepting the pair.
"Well, what do we have here?" The larger of the two digimon, an Apemon, jeered, "A pair of young girls out for a walk alone in these troubled times. Don't worry ladies, we'll protect you."
"N-no thank you," Nephthys said after regaining her voice from the shock, "we're just fine and don't need any protection."
"Aw, don't say that," Goblimon interjected, crowding round the human girl together with Apemon, "we know the perfect place for you to be safe. You can never be too safe in this cruel world."
"Leave her alone!" Alraumon protested, gaining only an angered look from the yellow-furred brute. Before she could react he had swung his large bone club around, knocking the poor child against a far wall. With a painful groan she slumped down, unconscious.
"Alraumon," Nephthys screamed. She started to move to the fallen digimon but with another scream she was suddenly lifted over Apemon's shoulder. Ignoring the girl as she started to alternately screaming to be released and calling for help the yellow-furred strong-arm walked away with the girl over his shoulder and Goblimon at his side. No one did anything, in fact everyone were busying themselves with looking the other way.
Kidnappings had started happening in broad daylight and if you didn't want to run the risk of being the next one taken you made sure that you saw nothing and heard nothing. Patrols had increased since the fall of Pharaohmon, but somehow they were never around when the kidnappings occurred. As such none of the bystanders made a move to interfere even though the two adults would have stood no chance against the collective strength of the townsmen.
On the roof Sethos was gritting his teeth and V-mon was ready to jump down and help; only his partner's reluctance was stopping him.
"Shouldn't we help them?" V-mon questioned, pointing at the ape carrying the girl.
"Can you beat them?" Sethos replied with another question. He too would've liked nothing more than to jump to the girl's aid, but he wasn't looking forward to getting captured along with her, much like the townsmen who kept silent. He didn't know much about where he was yet and compared to V-mon the two kidnappers looked a lot more formidable. After all, the flower digimon had stood no chance either.
"Well," V-mon considered, "not really. Maybe the Goblimon if he had been by himself, but Apemon is a bit beyond me I think. But still."
The boy shook his head, "If we get captured we can't do a thing. Let's see where they take her, maybe we rescue her then. At least we'll know where she is so we can make a plan."
Not waiting any longer they followed the retreating kidnappers and their captive from the safety of the higher ground. Mere moments after they had all left the scene, Alraumon stirred and slowly got back to her feet, still feeling a bit wobbly after the blow to her small frame.
"Nephthys?" She croaked, but the girl was nowhere to be seen. Some bystanders were giving her sympathetic looks, but most were still acting as if nothing had happened. Sniffing and looking around hopelessly for some sign of her new friend she broke into a run, trying to find some help to get her partner back.
Hesire leaned against a wall of the largest intact building he had seen so far and drew air through ragged breaths; the ghosts were still following them and showed no signs of relenting in their pursuit. Close to him stood Skelamon, bend slightly over with his hands resting on his knees.
Even for a skeleton the boy thought he looked rather famished. From what he had seen of these creatures' living conditions there wasn't a lot of food to go around. That was probably why the ghosts were still trying to catch them so vehemently, though Hesire also reasoned that their escape had made a blow to the gang's collective ego.
For the moment they were alone for which he was thankful, being chased around took more out of you than he could have imagined.
"So, what do we do now?" Hesire asked, "Is there a way to escape this place?"
At the question Skelamon took a good look around himself, something he hadn't had the time or consideration for before then. His eyes widened considerably when he finally noticed where they were, and exactly what building his partner was leaning against.
"What?" Hesire asked brusquely when he saw the worried look coming his way. The last thing he wanted was to add more trouble to their plate.
"I-we are, well, we're close to the edge of the slums," Skelamon started saying, "but in this part the barricade separating us from the rest of the city is practically impenetrable. The only way out or in, and I'm only speaking of rumours here, would be to go through the building you're leaning against."
"Well that's good isn't, if we can escape through the building?" Hesire remarked, "So what's worrying you so much about this thing, it can't get any worse than being eaten by ghosts."
Skelamon shook his head, "It's rumoured that this building is the base of a large group of bandits, smugglers and slavers. If they get us we'd be better off eaten."
"They're here!" A ghastly voice suddenly shouted from a distance and within moments the lone ghost was surrounded by the rest of his kin. They started to advance, but were doing so slowly and deliberately. Like Skelamon they had no intention of alerting the tenants to their activities, ghost gang or not they didn't stand a chance if they angered them. A fact that had been made quite clear to the shouting Bakemon after Soulmon had whacked him on the head.
All of this proved a nice distraction that the boy didn't dare pass up.
"I don't know about you, but I'll take my chances inside," Hesire remarked. As luck would have it there was an opening in the wall at what he guessed was between the first and second floor. If they could reach it they would be free from the undead pursuit. The wall, while still more in one piece than the others he had seen, was highly irregular and thus usable for climbing.
Skelamon alternately watched his partner and the ghosts, but decided that he really didn't want to get eaten or leave Hesire alone to face whatever was in the building.
"Stop, you don't want to go in there," Soulmon objected, but in a much quieter tone.
"I also don't want to go in your mouth," Hesire called back, far louder than the shouting Bakemon had been earlier. Skelamon gulped nervously and likewise the rest of the ghosts halted their advance out of worry.
Soulmon hissed, for their prey it didn't matter much if they were eaten by them or captured by the ruffians in the building. Either way they lost big, but Soulmon wasn't looking forward to a confrontation which was sure to follow if the boy continued making such racked.
"If that's what you want, then go right ahead," Soulmon said, no longer making any advances to the climbing pair, conceding the loss, "but you'd better not return here, or we will eat you."
Ignoring the threat Hesire was the first to reach opening and, seeing as Soulmon and the rest of the ghosts weren't doing anything, took a moment to look inside first. At first glance he saw that they had two choices for proceeding. He could either try to wring himself through the small crevice between the wooden floor and the bottom of the hole to get to the lower level or go up into the higher level. As the opening for going down seemed a bit too snug he opted to go up.
The floorboards creaked when he put his feet on them, but it didn't make half as much noise as they had all been making outside so he wasn't all that worried. There were a few hallways and doors, but apart from him there was no one around.
Turning around to the outside again he helped his partner up and gave the ghosts one last look.
"I'll keep that in mind, thanks for the warning. Let's go Skelamon, maybe we can find some food for you in here while we're at it."
The two considered where to go to next for a moment. As far as they knew any direction was as good as another. With a shrug the human boy simply went down the first passage he saw, Skelamon trailing close behind. They went slowly and mostly quiet, though the creaking of the wood came across as far too loud in their ears. The digimon hoped they would be able to get out of the building without being discovered, but the chances of that were exceedingly small.
Especially so when somewhere ahead of them, still hidden in the gloom of the barely lit hall, a pair of voices could be heard. It didn't take either of them long to realize they were heading their way and that if discovered their fate might be worse than if they had been eaten outside.
Taking a chance, not that they had any choice otherwise, the skeletal digimon dodged into a room to their left. As luck would have it the room was stocked with several boxes and wooden crates and not with digimon as Skelamon had feared. Though Hesire couldn't see it, he had no doubt that every one of the boxes was filled. There was a wealth here that didn't exist outside of the walls. The trespassers hid between the containers, waiting for the owners of the voices to pass them by. Instead, they entered the room they had picked to hide in.
Resting one rooted hand against a sandstone wall Alraumon stopped to catch her breath. Her chest rose and fell in quick succession, but that was only in part because she had run all the way over from the market street to her present location.
A quiet street, there was no one around except for her, at least as far as she could see. While the city was large enough for thousands of digimon the truth was that it currently housed but a fraction of that number. Probably the only section that contained the intended number was the slums, but that was nothing to boast about.
There was a house in this street, empty most of the time like the ones around it, where she might find help. She and her friends had lived there on and off for a long time, ever since their previous dwelling had become unmanageable. Though most of them had either flocked to other parts of the city or even beyond it, the small group still met there once in a while. It was the only place she considered safe. Well, safer than any other place at least.
Slowly she started walking again, ignoring the dull throbbing in her side, a result of being slammed by a club and into a wall. No one in the city would even consider helping her aside from her small circle of friends. But if they weren't there, and she had no real reason to believe they would be, than she had nowhere else to go to help her save Nephthys.
A murmuring of voices came to her from a distance as she was reconsidering her options if the house proved to be empty. It was still pretty faint, so she looked around to find whoever was whispering. Moments later she realized that the sound came from the other end of the street and was thus quite loud to reach her over such a distance. Hope rekindled in her mind as the voices could only come from her house.
The house in question wasn't very big and virtually identical to the others in the street. There were two floors, three if you counted the flat roof, one at ground level and one some three meters above that was reachable by a flight of stairs at the back. The roof could be reached through a rope ladder and trapdoor in the ceiling of the first floor.
The ground floor held a small kitchen, though no food had been prepared there for a very long time, a small and empty storage and a main room with a shoddy table and some seats. The first floor was empty aside from some mats strewn about on the floor for sleeping. Aside from the front door there were only two small windows, one for every floor.
Inside, a girl with short dark hair slammed both hands on the table hard, her face a thundercloud waiting to burst. Two on-looking digimon winched, they weren't sure the poor furniture could survive much more punishment. Across the table stood a boy, also with short hair and an equally clouded expression, his arms crossed in front of him.
"No," he said simply, though his voice was terse. It was hard not to snap back at the girl who would not listen to reason. It was aggravating to no end, especially since their argument had already gone full circle several times.
"We've been over this; we don't know what's out there. It's not safe to just waltz right out into who knows what, we need more information and in the meantime we're safe here," Ahmose explained once more, feeling himself lose pretty much what was left of his patience. What he proposed, and what was shot down by the other time and again, was that they stayed in the house, at least for a while. First they would get as much information of the world they were in from the two natives who called themselves their partners. After that they would make the best possible plan and go outside, since staying in the house forever was definitely out of the question. He agreed with her on that much. However going out without a clue as to how things worked was simply begging for trouble in his opinion. He had seen examples of such things enough in his days of part-time work renting out Hantoor rides. Tourists, unaware of how things worked, were often easily duped into taking rides that were in some way or another defective, or when shopping they'd pay too much for things not worth a dime. Simply because their understanding of the world, something which might or might not, work fine at their own homes, didn't apply to the streets of Cairo. The last thing he wanted was to fall for the same thing himself.
"But we don't know for how long we're safe here, we should go out and explore while we can,"
Eboni answered, pointing at the digimon sitting nearby, "There's no substitute for experience, even if they tell us everything they know we'll still learn more when we see things for ourselves."
"Explore?" Ahmose said, his tone one of exasperation, "like you were doing when I found you? When you were this close to getting yourself killed?"
Uncrossing his arms as he was talking the boy slammed his right hand on the table, eliciting yet another wince from the two digimon, and moved his right hand till it was right in front of the girl's face holding his thumb and pointer-finger exactly a centimeter apart.
If she had been angry before, now the girl looked livid, slapping aside the hand in front of her.
"I was in no danger; I was just examining that digimon. Aren't you at all curious about any of this?" Eboni countered.
"Of course I am curious, that's not the issue here. The problem is that you are too curious for your own good."
Once again Eboni started to open her mouth in protest, but Ahmose was having none of it, "No, you listen to me now. You were the one who went up to that ogre, an ogre for crying out loud, and annoyed her without any regard for what you were doing simply because you were curious. You didn't even notice she was a girl, or that snarl forming on her face or her fingers tightening on her club. If I hadn't come along you would have been splattered all over the street."
"It wouldn't have gone that far," Eboni insisted, unwilling to concede her point, "and how was I supposed to know that was a girl?"
"Because it was obvious?" Ahmose remarked dryly.
"It was not obvious and I wouldn't have gotten hurt. But even so we can't just stay here."
Ahmose sighed, "If we stay here you'll be safe."
"What? You think I need your protection?" Eboni gritted her teeth. He knew she'd be even angrier if he said yes, but he felt that she needed protection indeed, if not from others than from herself. He recalled that he already had mentioned that and once again he cursed the circular structure of the entire conversation, they were getting nowhere fast.
"They're really going at it aren't they?" Leormon, a catlike digimon and Eboni's partner, whispered with awe.
Plotmon nodded solemnly, "Neither of them is backing down, even though it's clear that Ahmose is in the right."
"What was that?" Leormon replied, "You can't mean that, obviously Eboni is right in wanting to explore and see our world with her own eyes. What will staying cooped up in here do for us?"
"It will keep our charges safe. Just as Ahmose has said, if we hadn't come along when we did Ogremon would have attacked you."
"You doubt my ability to protect my own partner?" Leormon hissed, pointing a sharp claw in front of Plotmon's face. The emerald ornament on her collar made a clinking sound as she moved.
"I doubt your ability to stay out of trouble, you're too reckless," the puppy replied. He wasn't feeling all that intimidated by the size difference between them, even though she was nearly twice as big as he was.
It didn't take much more to get the two digimon in the same kind of heated discussion as their human partners.
"P-please stop," Alraumon said hesitantly from the door opening, surprising everyone in the house. Absorbed as they were in their discussions no one had seen her coming.
The young plant, happy at finding the people she was looking for, was also cowed by the hostility of the building's occupants. If there was one thing she abhorred above all else it was conflict.
"Alraumon," Leormon said amiably, the hissing tone she had previously been using dissolving in the air.
"It's good to see you again; it's been what, a week, maybe two?" Plotmon said, he also seemed to have put the argument behind him at the arrival of the timid girl. The two digimon knew of their friend's discomfort when people were fighting and weren't inclined to make her feel bad.
Alraumon smiled weakly, relieved that the house wasn't abandoned as he had feared it would be. The house was so often empty she remembered, aside from herself the others rarely came back. She was almost always there, feeling safe while taking care of things, keeping things tidy. Of her friends she saw Leormon and Plotmon the most, but not as often as she would have liked. The former was always following her curiosity, going all around the city and sometimes to the river beyond, being gone for days at times. Her fur was yellow whereas the puppy's was light beige and she had a tuft of red hair on the top of her head.
Plotmon came around more often, though he too had been gone for a long period of time. Usually he did odd end jobs and made sure she got some of the earnings to make a living, the puppy was the most responsible of the lot of them.
There were two more she had hoped to find here, V-mon and Skelamon, but they were absent. The lizard was a known troublemaker and as such usually kept himself far from their house so that if he happened to draw some unwanted attention to himself, something she didn't doubt happened often enough, they wouldn't try to find him at the house. It was very considerate of him, but she had rather seen that he let go of his tricks and simply settled down. It was selfish, but she really wanted the company of her friends.
Skelamon was the scholarly type, just about the exact opposite of V-mon, always trying to learn more and figure out the reason of things. For a time he had stayed at home with her, but one day he had left and hadn't been seen since. She knew he had gone into the slums, where most undead digimon seemed to go if they weren't with Anubimon's Order, something she sometimes thought he would have joined if he hadn't been waiting like the rest of them. Being an undead digimon in the order was a great honour, not being in it made them shunned and reviled. It was an odd dichotomy, but Skelamon had explained to her why he thought this was so. The first part, he had said, was simple. Anubimon's order was focused on what lay beyond life and undead digimon were practically the personification of what the priestly order stood for. Of course they weren't really dead or creatures from the other side of life; they were simply a particular subset of the digimon species.
Alraumon could still hear his voice in her mind as he put things in more complex terms than were necessary. So that particular order was comprised mostly of undead digimon and those part of it were in an honourable position, even if they only did lowly guard duty it was a better way of life than most others had in the desert. Therefore it made no sense if you were undead and not in the order, it had to mean that somehow you weren't fit for it. If you weren't fit than there was something wrong with you, something devious perhaps, even if you had legitimate reasons.
Shunned by normal society they had become outcasts and in the slums they had become exactly what people had accused them of being. When asked why the skeletal digimon hadn't joined the order he had replied that Anubimon was only focused on exploring the secrets of death while he wanted to find out everything. He'd feel too restricted being part of the priest's organisation. And then he too had left for the slums, partly to discover what that was like, partly because he was tired of the silent and sometimes not so silent accusations that came his way, and in part because before it had become what it was now they had all lived there. As it stood none of them knew if he was even alive or if they did at least she hadn't heard anything about it.
"Who's this?" Ahmose asked.
"Ah, how rude of us," Plotmon said, "Alraumon, this is my partner Ahmose. Ahmose, meet Alraumon, a very good friend of ours."
"And this is my partner Eboni," Leormon purred.
At hearing the word partner she started sobbing again, reminded of the harsh reality that her own partner had been abducted and she had done nothing to stop it. The others in the room exchanged worried glances and Leormon put a paw on the girl's shoulder.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
"They took her, I couldn't stop them."
"Who took who?" Ahmose bent down to the sobbing girl, his face set in concern.
"The slavers, they took your partner," Leormon deduced.
"Slavers?" Eboni gasped and Plotmon nodded gravely.
"They've been active in this city for a while now, doing everything from trading to smuggling and kidnapping. Lately they've gotten a lot bolder."
Ahmose's expression became hard again, more than it had been when he'd been arguing.
"This is unacceptable," he spat out and within a moment he stood outside looking in, "What are you waiting for?"
"W-what?" Eboni stammered, caught of guard, "you don't want to plan or anything?"
She was itching to help out the new digimon's partner as much as anyone, but the fact that the guy who seemed so vehemently to be against reckless behaviour was going out before her was enough to give her pause. It briefly crossed her mind that maybe she had misjudged him.
"We don't have time for that, who knows what's happening to her while we delay ourselves," Ahmose replied, as if rushing out unprepared was the most logical thing to do, completely contrary to his earlier actions. But though he preferred not to do things without thinking it through first he wouldn't hesitate if his help was needed. Without waiting for a response the boy started down the street.
"Now you're speaking my language," Eboni smiled briefly, then she and the others followed him out, "so where are we going?"
Nephthys groaned and tried to swallow, a painful exercise since her throat seemed unnaturally dry. It was completely dark around her, but only till she realized her eyes were closed. Somewhere along the line after being taken she had lost consciousness. Part of her wished she was still out, so she wouldn't have to face the reality of being a captive in a strange world.
Trying to move she found herself being restricted by a length of rope wound all around her upper body, trapping her arms behind her back. A second, though smaller, piece of rope around her ankles kept her from trying to get up. Not that it would have helped her had she been able to stand, as the larger rope was also connected to the large crate she was seated against. Whoever tied her up made sure she wouldn't be able to free herself in any way. As far as Nephthys could see there was nothing in the room she could use either. Sparsely lit, the room was not large but even so she could barely make out any of the walls. Turning her head to both sides she saw more crates like the one she was bound to, but there were none in front of her. Nothing between her and the door, it could be nothing else with the strip of vague light coming from bottom, at all.
No, that wasn't true, there was an odd shadow standing next to the door. A digimon set as guard she realized. By now he had to have noticed she had come to, yet he gave no sign at all so she didn't do anything either. Even if she had dared ask him something she couldn't make a peep through the gag in her mouth.
For a moment she closed her eyes, willing away the despair that was threatening to wash over her. As if being whisked away to a strange world wasn't bad enough, she was now in the hands of who knows what and with no hope of rescue. No one knew she was there, except perhaps Alraumon, but what could she do to get her free again. She couldn't even keep her safe from two thugs in the street.
Before she could think any more the door swung open and some more light flooded in to dispel bits of the darkness. With that new source of illumination she could make out some of the features of the silent guard. She thought it looked a lot like the small thug that had taken her on the street. One gesture from the large form entering the room and the digimon left, closing the door and the light behind him.
The helpless girl gave the newcomer her fiercest glare, but that melted away quickly when she saw the tall muscular form towering over her. Her eyes trailed upward from the large clawed feet and the baggy brown pants the stranger wore to the bared chest lined with scars. There were scars everywhere, so many that she hardly noticed that the body was actually furred. Finally her gaze settled on the being's head, a lion's head, possessing even the wild rugged manes of one.
"Impressed?" He spoke, his voice rough yet smug. The one in charge, she knew that without question. Slowly he brought his face close to hers, transfixing her with his eyes. Now that they were so close she could see one was a complete pearly white. Before she knew what was happening he sliced away the gag with a clawed finger, breathing out into her face before rising again. His breath washed over her and she coughed violently, a painful experience given the state of her throat, but unavoidable since the swath of air was far from being pure.
"So you're one of those humans," he scoffed, "I must say I'm not impressed. Just look at you, frail build, flimsy clothes, and are those tears I see?"
Nephthys didn't make a move, not even blinking her eyes which were getting somewhat watery, even if it was more from the smell of his breath than fear on her side. She tried to hold her captor's stare, but even though he only had one good eye to see with it made her feel ill and weak. Shamed she put her eyes down and looked away.
The scarred Leomon stepped back and slightly away, giving her a sideway glance, almost uncaring.
"Who are you girl, and what are you doing here?" He asked softly, "This really is no place for you."
Again she stayed silent, unable to form any words just yet and sure that she would never be able to give him the answers he wanted to hear. Seconds went by without either of them saying anything more when suddenly Leomon crouched low to her again but keeping his head above hers. A hand took hold of her long hair and she was partially pulled up to his eye level. The sudden pain elicited a sharp, but short outcry of pain. In an almost futile act she tried to balance herself with her feet so her weight wouldn't be solely carried by her hair.
"Perhaps you don't fully understand your situation," Leomon stated coldly, enjoying the feeling of causing pain and anguish a bit too much, "you think there's any escape for you? Well think again, even if you manage to get out of those ropes there are dozens of my men here, you can't get past them all."
He paused briefly to let his words sink in, "Perhaps you believe you'll be rescued? You know your little friend is a weak weed; she'll simply forget about you and move on. Trust me because I've seen it happen more than once."
"Maybe," he continued, taking on a mocking tone, "she'll find help if she can't do it alone. Wrong again, this entire city is cowed under our power, not even the guards can do a thing against us. And just between you and me, even if you fell in their hands you'll be mine again before you can bat an eye. And other humans? There are none and if there are, they're like you, new, lost and weak, with more on their minds than saving a helpless girl. If they even know you're here that is."
Suddenly released from the iron grip on her hair Nephthys unceremoniously sank back to the ground, her breathing coming in short gasps.
"But," Leomon started saying in a more soothing tone, though with the rough edges to his voice this was hardly different from his normal speech, "if you were to tell me what I want to know, I could save you. If you were to cooperate I could set you free, bring you right back to where we picked you up and let you be. Or you could come work for me, I'm sure I could find something useful for a human to do, even a frail one like you. A position of power and authority, a means to getting whatever you desire, a way so you'll never be caught like this again. Wouldn't you like that?"
Nephthys tired to answer, but found herself unable to use her voice. She tried to move, but couldn't do that either. Briefly she tried not to show her fear in eyes and face; wild animals would often attack if you showed them fear, but failed miserably. She couldn't believe this was actually happening to her, but it was only all too real.
Leomon strode to the other side of the room, back to the door that let out of her cell. His back turned to her he stopped after placing his clawed hand around the door handle.
"Think carefully about what you heard here girl," he said, "there are many ways to make you speak, none of which will be pleasant for you. Remember also that we don't need you to speak, that you are of no real consequence to us, so it would be wise to take the easiest way out of your little predicament, which is cooperation."
"As an aside, we are among many things also traders with a large clientele. A rather diverse clientele I might add with, how shall I put this," Leomon stopped briefly for emphasis, "a wide field of interests. Someone might just like having a human around, for things that would even make me shudder and believe me that there are few things that give me pause. So consider your options carefully child, consider them very carefully."
And with that he was gone, leaving the girl behind to cry in the darkness.
