The Christmas Shadow

Author's Note: I am thoroughly out of ideas for the month of January, so I'm skipping to February. Valentine's Day won't be far behind. I can't believe I've made it this far and I plan to keep going for a while. So, enjoy…chapter 14.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my character.

January had come and gone without many incidents, just more pranks and other forms of fun between the three. Jack hadn't gotten back at Shadow and Kisa for all of the pranks, but you never know what the future holds.

It was February first and Shadow was lounging on the couch when Jack came in. She turned away from him and he was curious as to why she was avoiding him.

"Did I do something wrong?" She glared at him.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, you did."

"What?" He thought hard, but he couldn't think of anything.

"I never celebrate Valentine's Day, and now, because of you, I have to." There was a silence before Jack burst out laughing.

"Is that all?"

"What do you mean 'is that all'? That's a big problem for me. I don't know what to do!"

"You've never celebrated Valentine's Day?"

"No! I've never had a reason to. You're my first boyfriend, as pathetic as that sounds. And besides, I don't celebrate a lot of holidays. New Years, Independence Day, and Halloween are the big ones."

"What about Christmas?"

"Oh, Kisa and I don't really celebrate Christmas. It's just not our thing. I mean sure, I hang out at the North Pole and everything, but we just don't get into the spirit of things like other people." That was surprising, with as long as he had known her (meaning the alternate timeline, because he hasn't really known her that long in this one), she had never told him that. She then smiled kind of sheepishly. "But don't tell anyone at the Pole that."

"Why?"

"Well, you remember how I was there. I always act like I love Christmas when I'm with the elves. It makes them happy, but that's all it really is, an act. In fact, Kisa likes to wake me up in the mornings by blaring Christmas carols. It's a good thing we have plenty of money, because we go through a lot of radios…" She drifted off as she looked at Jack's expression. "What?"

"You really do get more and more interesting every day." She smiled at hit him in the arm.

"And you get more and more annoying every day, but I don't say anything about it."

"You just did."

"You were asking for it." Jack then looked around, confused.

"Where's Kisa?"

"At work."

"She works?" Shadow hit him again, a bit harder this time. Jack rubbed his arm. "Ow."

"Serves you right. Yes, she has a job. Nothing you would understand, but it is important."

"What is it?"

"Demon things. Like I do Digimon things and you do…whatever it is you do." He raised his eyebrow at her. "Stop looking at me like that!" She sighed. "Sorry. Just a bit stressed here." She walked past him and he didn't stop her.

Later, after Jack figured Shadow had had enough time to cool down (not that she was really mad at him, but she was stressed enough that he gave her some space for a while), he went looking for her. He went to the one spot he knew she would be, but he couldn't find her there either.

He hadn't realized he was being watched until he was approached. The girl had bright red hair that was chin-length and almost neon green eyes. She was wearing a red T-shirt and knee-length skirt and had black gloves and boots.

"You look lost. Lookin' for someone?" He hesitated.

"Yes, I'm looking for my girlfriend." The girl nodded slowly. She had a smile, like she knew something he didn't.

"Oh? What's this girl's name. I might know her."

"Shadow, her name's Shadow." The girl's smile widened.

"Yeah, I know her."

"Do you know where she is?"

"I do." She was nearly laughing at this point. Jack didn't understand what this strange girl found so funny.

"Where?"

"You're looking at her."

"What?" Now he was really confused.

"I thought you said you knew about Digimon. Don't you know digivolution when you see it?"

"This is…?"

"Jack, meet Vampiremon," she said, sticking out her hand. "My champion form. Not a very original name, but…there's not much we can do about that, now is there?" She looked at Jack. His eyes were wide and his jaw was dropped. She reached up and pushed against his chin, closing his mouth. "You can stop staring at any time now."

"Sorry," he said as he regained his composure. "It's…just…I've never seen you like this."

"I know. I hadn't intended for you to. It's kind of hard to explain. Listen, how about you go on home, I'll meet you there-or rather, Shadowmon will meet you there-and answer any questions you have." Jack left-in a slight daze-and when he got home, Shadow was there waiting for him, in her human form.

"Hey, sorry about that. I didn't expect to see you there."

"Do you always go out like-?" She cut him off.

"People here know me. I digivolve when I need to get away. But I couldn't resist messing with you."

"Okay, I understand the digivolution, but what about this?" He asked, gesturing at her (meaning: he's asking about her human form). She looked at herself.

"Oh, this? This has nothing to do with digivolution. This is a disguise. Didn't I tell you Kisa is the best engineer I've ever met? We designed a card (season three of Digimon, I can't explain it well enough) that could create a separate form. It works for when we're in public. Pretty convincing, isn't it?" He didn't answer and she giggled. Suddenly Kisa came in.

"I'm home! Hey, why does he look like a dog about to get his-"

"Whoa, whoa! Don't finish that. I don't want to know." Shadow cut Kisa off (because nobody really wants to hear what was coming next, that and the rating won't allow it). "We were just having a little conversation about digivolution."

"Ah, that explains some things."

"Yeah."

"Did he see Catmon?"

"No, Vampiremon."

"Oh."

"Wait, Catmon?" Jack cut in.

"Oh, yeah. See Shadowmon is just my Rookie form. Vampiremon is my Champion form. Catmon, whom you haven't seen yet, is my Ultimate. And Charcoamon, who you also haven't met, is Mega." Shadow explained.

"Don't forget Fangmon." Kisa said.

"That's exactly what I was trying to forget."

"Why?" Jack asked.

"It's my In-Training form. We Digimon aren't too fond of that one." Before Jack had the chance to ask another question, Kisa announced:

"Well, I had a great day today, but now I'm tired and I'm going to go to bed."

"I agree, goodnight." Shadow quickly followed. She kissed Jack and rushed away. He was left standing there, with more questions than answers.

"I'll ask her tomorrow." He decided.

A/N: Well, that's where I'll end it. I have another story to work on and a whole bunch of other things I need to get done, so I'm done wasting your time for the day/night/whenever.