I'm suddenly starting to wonder if my use of synonyms and vocabulary are being affected by this one-a-day update. I'll need to pull my thesaurus out of the pile, then, even though the online thesaurus works fine.
It had been a long day, and Salamon was exhausted. She still wasn't used to the corridors, and it was clear she was lost. Even if she were to pass by someone, no one was willing to help her, such was the norm in the castle. Upon turning a corner, the Rookie spotted a familiar shadow and paused in fear, wanting to back away and pretend she didn't see him.
"How many times have I told you?" the cold voice resounded in the hall, bringing her to gasp. "Never look at me with those eyes."
Unable to find her voice, all she could do was whimper and bow her head. Willing her legs to move, she turned to leave, only to receive two stripes across her back, the second strike sending her tumbling down the stone steps, stars bursting in her vision enough she thought her eyes would pop out. Once she came to a rolling stop and shook herself from her daze, a shadow fell across her face when she leered up at her approaching master, crimson whip still in hand.
His icy stare narrowed as he towered over her. "Even in your next stage, they're still the same," he noted bitterly. "How revolting."
Before she could speak up, Myotismon smacked her aside, and the grand castle doors swung shut with a clack. Holding her paws close, she glanced down at herself to find she had grown, but didn't feel different about her strength. Turning around, the feline gaped at the outside world, the only color visible being the sky's. And without knowing why, she hated looking at it, so she dropped her gaze.
Laying facedown before her, also grayscale, was a dying Wizardmon, who weakly lifted his head. She became transfixed with his green irises, having never seen anything like them before, yet sensed a familiarity to them. Despite his predicament, he still managed a smile.
"To have a piece of the sky gaze back at a cipher such as I... it's more than enough to keep on living."
A gasp caught in her throat, the Champion Digimon turned her face away and pressed her paws to her ears, scrunching her eyes closed. "Shut up about my eyes! I never asked for them to look this way!" Growling in frustration, she began to dig at her face. "Just take them! Take them far away where I don't have to look at them!"
She couldn't tell without opening her eyes whether it was blood or tears streaming down her face. Either way, she didn't want to know.
"Yo, what're ya staring at?"
Gatomon blinked the remains of her sleep away, realizing she had been staring off into space. Her whiskers twitched when she sniffed, her eyes glued on the grounds. "Maybe I'm watching the morning come," she muttered dryly, not bothering to turn to address her visitor.
DemiDevimon wasn't convinced. "By standing in the doorway? Yeah, right, you hate the sunrise."
"I hate everything, but that doesn't mean I can't look at it whenever I want."
Hovering over her shoulder, the bat hummed. "Hey, is that Wizardmon at the gates? What's he doing? Why aren't you out there?"
She took a swipe at him. "I ordered the Bakemon to take him out to the forest."
His eyes bored into the back of her head. "You keep doing that to every recruit that pisses you off," he reminded her, much to her annoyance. "You know Lord Myotismon doesn't like that, he's going to be mad when he hears of this."
When she snorted, dust scattered and irritated her eyes. "Well this time, I can convince him that he'll come back in one piece unlike the others."
"Yeah, good luck with that." As he flapped off, she heard him grumble, "I don't know why he keeps you around."
Refocusing back on the retreating Digimon, Gatomon couldn't help frowning deeply as she thought back to the dream. She had been having issues with nightmares as of late (then again, those were all she ever seemed to remember), though she couldn't tell if last night's counted. Her encounter with Wizardmon must have bothered her that much in order for it to manifest itself somehow into her dreams.
She moved to leave as the gates were closing, but hesitated when she noticed the mage glancing over his shoulder. Despite the distance, the moment their gazes met, he touched the rim of his hat, and his eyes crinkled in a smile. It confused her how in spite of his defenselessness, he went quietly with no sign he was confident nor anxious about his fate. Unless it was all an act and he just did it to toy with or humor her.
"Uh... what should I do with this, ma'am?"
Turning to tell off the Bakemon, Gatomon noticed the questioned staff leaning against the wall. She just frowned and waved her paw about. "Put it away in storage or something. We'll use it as firewood if he doesn't return in a week."
The ghost was then zapped by a streak of blue lightning just by barely touching it. A group of passing Numemon burst out laughing, causing the feline to snap at them, "If you slugs have nothing better to do, then take it to storage!"
"Which one?" one of them snarked, earning a succession of whooping.
"You, wiseass!"
Shrugging and rolling his eyes, the slug pushed passed the Bakemon to grab the staff only to suffer the same fate. A couple more scoffed and tried as well, but it just resulted in more smoldering Numemon. The first one swerved to leer at her. "Is this some kind of prank?!"
Gatomon scowled. "Never mind, I'll do it. It's not like I have anything to do."
They gaped at her when she swiped the staff away and marched past them. "Wait, so it was a prank?" the Bakemon asked, miffed.
"I've got better things to do than..." she hissed, her sentence trailing off when it dawned on her. She inspected the staff every which way, and even swung it about trying to shoot out a spark. "What the..."
"What's going on down here?" Phantomon demanded from behind the group, startling them into running off. He only gave them a passing glance before approaching Gatomon. "What was all the commotion about? Did you have something to do with it?"
Her fur bristled at her neck, but she maintained her glare. "I know as much as you do," she huffed, dismissing herself. "I'm going to be a moment late, have to drop this off in my room very quick."
The specter's eyes narrowed in puzzlement. "She's never late, though," he mused to himself.