Digimon: Crest of Reflection
Intermission: Harbingers
Chapter 7: Death Is Both the Beginning and the End
Death's movement was calm and perfectly calculated, wasting no more energy than he needed to. His chain wrapped around Shadow's neck in one quick snap, and threw him into his throne, causing a small gash to open in the black cat's head. "Shadow! Patamon!" Gatomon squirmed and tried to break herself free of her chains, but without her tail ring, her efforts were wasted.
"Pitiful. These two were able to kill all three of my subordinates, wreck my castle, and reach my throne room by themselves?" Death heaved a sigh, "perhaps it's time I found better lackeys." He broke all of Gatomon's chains and wrapped around her body, pulling her to him in quick succession. "Maybe the only ones worthy of standing at my side are my offspring? You should make a wonderful queen."
Shadow's own chain was flung towards Death's head, but he was ready, merely smacking it away with his paw. "Get your filthy paws off her!"
"Or what? What could you possibly do to threaten me? Or perhaps…perhaps you'd like to join me? You may make a useful general, I could even let you borrow my queen if you so desired." A sinister smirk played across his face, and when Shadow didn't answer, Gatomon shouted at him.
"Shadow, don't even think about accepting-!" Before the words could leave her lips, Shadow wrapped his chain around his claw and punched forward with it, a move that Death blocked with his own chain.
"I WOULD NEVER DO ANYTHING TO HURT GATO!" Shadow threw an uppercut, but Death backstepped and whipped him in the legs, bringing him down to his knees.
"Very well. Then die." He spun his chain, and the swung down, intending to slice Shadow clean in half, but instead, Shadow took the blow with his body, and spun kicked.
Death stumbled back a foot, and growled menacingly. "You are trying my patience. It's time to end this idiotic charade." He started spinning his chain above his head, and a scythe appeared at the end, "you've done well in forcing my ultimate weapon, but none have ever survived upon seeing it! Dance of Death!" His strategy changed from making quick, calculated strikes, to swinging wildly, tearing holes and completely destroying the data of what his scythe touched.
Shadow noticed this and was quick to dodge, the blade of the chain scythe sometimes missing only by a hair. He unraveled his own chain for a counterattack, but Death was too quick for him. He disappeared before Shadow's eyes, and the next thing Shadow felt was a stabbing pain in his back, turning in horror to see Death standing behind him, the other end of his chain having turned into a handle with a long spike at the end, which was currently driven into Shadow's back. "Ngh…" Shadow fell forward, after coughing up some blood, and Death stepped on him.
"SHADOW!" Gatomon screamed and leapt at the sinister cat, "Lightning Paw!" He didn't even bother to dodge, and swung his scythe, cutting her lightly along her stomach, just enough to break the skin.
"Pathetic, it's time you said goodbye." Death stated coldly, drawing his scythe back into his paw and raising it up to deliver the final blow.
"Boom Bubble!" The shot of air hardly phased Death, who turned his blood red gaze onto the small orange Digimon, covered in bruises, and with a few cuts.
"You want to die first then? Fine!" He swung his scythe at the small Digimon, who immediately began glowing once again.
"Angel Rod!" The evolved Angemon deflected the Scythe and flew at Death, his rod retracting back into his fist. "Hand of Fate!"
"You make yourself to easy to dodge." Death jumped to the side, but Shadow regained consciousness long enough to throw his chain and pull him back in.
"Where the fuck are you going?" He rasped, "finish him! Angemon!"
"No! You think you've seen the last of me? Think again, I'll be back, and I will have my revenge! Damnit!" Angemon's attack hit him dead center, which spread light through his entire body and causing him to explode into fragments of data.
Patamon reverted, floating down and smiling as much as he was physically able to. "We…did it…we saved you…Gatomon…" He finally passed out, and Gatomon was only able to stand for a moment longer before she too passed out.
Three Days Later
The next thing he knew, Shadow was having something cold and wet pressed against his forward, to which he snapped his eyes open. Gatomon was standing over him, and he noticed that he was laying on a bed inside the basement of the castle.
"…Gatomon…?" The cat blinked his eyes a couple of times to be sure, and then he noticed something odd about her. "Wait…you're not…"
"Shh." She squeezed the wet rag out and dipped it back into the water, "you need your rest. All three of you do. Though, you have almost fully recovered, she woke up yesterday, and your friend only a few hours ago."
"Who are you?" Shadow croaked, and started to sit up.
"…I used to be known as 1, but perhaps I can take my old name back now…I am Elena." She smiled slightly, "and even with that nasty wound, it seems like you'll be okay, your body regenerates quickly as a Champion after all." She brought her tail in front of her, laying her paw on her golden tail ring, "I can't remember the last time I felt that way…"
"Where is she?" Shadow wasn't interested in this girl's stories, he only had one real thing on his mind.
"I believe she went to the foyer. It was nice meeting you all, come visit sometime." Elena gave a small wave, "I need to help the others find new homes as well." With that, she walked out, and Shadow also left, heading back up the stairs.
Gatomon was standing near the door, talking to Patamon, and he was clearly displeased with what she was saying, but he nodded. "I guess you're right…that must have been quite an ordeal…"
"Gatomon!" Shadow ran over, and then stopped, quickly diverting his gaze to the floor. "I…"
She placed a claw on his lips, "I know, I know. I can tell what you said before was the truth…" Gatomon turned her blue eyes away, "and…thank you…both of you…if you hadn't come…I…"
"Does that mean-" Shadow began to ask, but was cut off again.
"No. I forgave you, but thanks to this…I…I just need a break. Romance is the furthest thing from my mind right now…but I will still live in the house we built together. But only as roommates, and I'm getting a separate bed."
It's a start. Shadow nodded, and she continued. "Let's get out of here, this place is nothing but a source of bad memories." They all agreed with that, and walked out, with Gatomon in the middle, and her rescuers winging her. All they could do was wish that Gatomon would recover and come back to them, not knowing it would take nearly two more years. When darkness overtook the entirety of the Digital World once again.
Phew! Well, that's all for…uh…"Book 3" I guess? I had lots of fun, and join me next time when we continue on in Book 4, The Second Adventure! And it will be almost nothing like Digimon Adventure 02 as we know it. Sure, we'll still have Ken as the Dark Emperor or some such nonsense, but he won't just be some pushover kid this time around!
Until then, later guys!
