Months passed upon her return without event and Gatomon grew restless. Her routine consisted of training new troops and then training herself to improve her own skills. Now DemiDevimon cohabited the castle with her, she was constantly on her guard and the pair played off against each other, trying to outdo and excel each other, mostly ending up in trouble.
She'd lost count of the times she'd been reprimanded by Phantomon or been sent straight to Myotismon, only to find DemiDevimon limping out of the room before her entering.
The attacks on the castle were becoming more frequent. Digimon with Black Gears jutting from their faces or backs or legs trying the gates of the castle. Guards had been doubled, then quadrupled, duties around the clock, rendering a lot of mons walking zombies from an all day and night shift to then have to drag themselves to scheduled training for the day.
Myotismon's punishments had become somewhat more lenient, his disposition towards disposing of disobedient or useless troops stilling since fewer troops meant less protection of his lands.
The dinner hall was restless one night, more so than usual, a rumour going around that a few small companies had been sent out and as of yet, hadn't returned from staving off a Digimon that was advancing towards the castle.
When Gatomon caught wind, she wondered why Myotismon hadn't simply sent out someone like SkullMeramon to deal with it if weaker troops were having issues.
Gatomon shook her head as she heard names of the incoming Digimon tossed around. First off it was just a Unimon. Then a Trailmon. Then a Fairymon. Then Etemon himself. All nonsense, of course, idle gossip to entertain idle soldiers during their downtime.
'What do you think of it all?' a Gazimon asked her from down the bench they and a dozen other Digimon occupied.
'Not much,' she shrugged. 'No threat to us even if the rumours are true.'
'They are true,' a Gotsumon insisted.
'Yeh, we were on guard two nights ago when one nearly breached the gate,' another Gotsumon piped in.
'Then you need to do your jobs better,' Gatomon growled.
She got to her feet, a headache forming in her temples.
'Maybe some extra training will be beneficial to you?'
The Gotsumon and Gazimon glared at her.
'No way!' one complained.
'We're already working our arses off.'
'And if I hear one more complaint out of your mouths, I'll make sure you're in guard duty for the next month,' Gatomon snapped.
'Bitch,' Gazimon muttered.
Gatomon's paws balled into fists, and she contemplated punching the idiot but the Gazimon pulled him away before she could make up her mind, luckily for him.
She turned and began to stalk off, cursing the three of them in her head. She felt irritable, pent up energy wanting to burst out of her very core. She wanted a fight. It had been months since she'd done anything remotely interesting or productive and it was getting to her. She'd known nothing but routine, yet her small tastes of freedom instilled something in her, taking root and blooming at times like this when the flowers were watered by rumour and gossip. Maybe she could find Phantomon and tell him not to hold back? Or a spar with SkullMeramon, now that would be a challenge.
Her head thumped, pain creeping behind her eyes, and she could hear the sound of her own heartbeat in her ears. No, not a heartbeat, the flapping of wings.
DemiDevimon.
She turned to him and saw his irked expression of not being able to sneak up on her.
'What do you want, you flea-bitten rag?' she asked.
'There's only one fleabag here and that's you,' DemiDevimon shot back.
'If I did ever get fleas, they'd be from you.'
'Well, at least it wouldn't just be Myotismon sucking your blood then!'
Gatomon bared her teeth. 'Get lost before I use you as my scratching post.'
'What's the matter? Out of insults?'
'One,' she said.
'There's something putting the west bar on edge,' DemiDevimon told her finally.
'Two,' she continued, ignoring him.
'You've been ordered to go out and deal with it.'
A Black Gear Digimon?
Her claws began to prickle. Maybe she was going to get to use up her excess energy after all.
'West bar?' she asked.
'Yeh,' DemiDevimon nodded. 'You know, opposite of east, in between the north and south minor gates?'
'I know what it means, you condescending ignoramus!'
'I swear, I'm going to beat you with a thesaurus one day.'
'Sorry, too many syllables for you? Does "fucking idiot" make more sense?' Gatomon shot back.
'Just get to the gate or get to Phantomon for your punishment for disobeying orders!'
'I'll take either if it gets me away from you.'
They stared each other down before she flounced off with a huff, heading out to the smaller West gate in the castle wall.
The bitter chill of the night immediately took her breath away and her whiskers lay flat against her cheeks in the wind. There was no one in sight and the gate was cracked and hanging from its hinge. It was less secure than the main gates and bigger bars, but it was also hidden behind a thicket of thorns and brambles no Digimon would be stupid enough to try to get through.
'Except whatever the hell that is,' Gatomon groaned as she heard rustling from the bushes.
She dared to step through the bar, craning her ears, sniffing the air, the wind travelling the wrong direction for her to pick up a scent.
Her tail ring itched against her fur and she raised her paws, claws out and ready to defend herself.
'Who's there?' she growled, meeting no response. 'I can smell you,' she lied.
She stepped farther out, paws snapping twigs underfoot. She got closer to the thicket line and heard snorting and scraping of feet. The ground began to rumble as whatever Digimon hid in the thorns began to charge forwards, tearing through the brambles, leaving chunks of its fur and flesh as it stomped.
'Vikaralamon, Ultimate level. Shit,' Gatomon thought aloud as she dashed out of the rampaging beast's way.
It headbutted the wall next to the gate, knocking some of the old flint stones from their mortar. Data fizzled from a deep gash on it's about which hung at an awkward angle now, but the pain didn't deter it from charging at her again, red eyes fixed on her tiny frame.
'Boar Bog!'
Gatomon leapt away from the sticky tar that spewed from its mouth, landing on her feet and rolling from the power of her movements. She couldn't stop herself from barrelling into the overgrowth and let out a hiss as the thorns tore into her sides and face, snagging her tail as she tried to get out, a tuft of purple fur left behind.
There was no way she could fight this thing, she was a high powered Champion but this was a Black Gear controlled Ultimate, way beyond her capabilities.
Vikaralamon turned again, erratically charging, nearly trampling Gatomon if she didn't manage to claw her way up his leg in a fit of desperation, biting hard into his fur as she clambered up his side. The beast bucked and reared when it realised what she was doing, her claws digging through the thick hair and piercing his flesh, only enraging him more. Gatomon avoided the gear jutting from his back leg and bit into his back as he began to charge for the wall again.
'Oh no. No, no, no,' Gatomon panicked, unable to jump from her stead before he slammed himself into the wall again, throwing her from his back and propelling her into the wall too.
Her jaw crunched as it connected against flint, and she slid down the wall, knocked out, bleeding, and she was sure there was a loose tooth in her mouth somewhere, swallowed before she could spit it out.
She regained consciousness quickly, staying as a crumpled heap on the ground, only just able to comprehend Vikaralamon launching several attacks in quick succession at the gate. His tusks were shattered, the sharp tip of one sticking out of his forehead with red data fizzling violently around it.
Her head span as a flash of red struck Vikaralamon and sent him exploding into millions of bits of data, the Black Gear in his rump flying up from the destruction and trying to fly away, stopped again by another flash of red.
'You little idiot,' she heard a familiar voice scold as heavy footsteps approached. 'You reckless little brat.'
'Ouch,' she moaned as the scruff of her neck was grabbed roughly and her body was lifted off the floor. 'Please Master,' she began to beg.
'Quiet, save your strength. You'll need it for the beating I'm going to give you.'
'No,' she whispered, letting her head flop.
She'd failed her mission. There were consequences. She knew how it worked. She wasn't surprised, just exhausted and annoyed at herself for once again being too weak to hold her own.
The light around her changed from the dim of twilight to soft torchlight and she knew they were back in the castle. She tried to wriggle, Myotismon's hand shifting to grip her around the throat. He was going to strangle her as punishment, ending her useless life without even looking at her again. His fingers jabbed into the vein at the side of her neck, cutting off the supply but leaving her trachea intact. She could breathe, but every breath made her head spin.
'Think I'm gonna be sick,' she mumbled.
'If you vomit on my boots, I will rub your face in it and make you eat it.'
'Ok, I not vomit,' she sighed, letting her head droop again and paying no mind to where they were going.
'Wake up!'
She was being shaken, violently, and before she had time to open her eyes, she found herself being thrown to the floor, too out of it to stop herself from crashing into the flagstones of the room.
'Give me one good reason I shouldn't rip your ears off and choke you with them?' Myotismon asked, eyes ablaze with annoyance.
'Huh?' she asked groggily, the pain not setting in as she sat on her hind legs, looking lazily to Myotismon, stood with arms folded by the wooden door of the room.
She felt something hot and wet trickle down her head, between her eyes, dripping into her lax lips. Blood. Yuck. Before she could stop herself, she spat it out and coughed, unable to stop until Myotismon ordered her to.
'What in the Dark Area's name were you doing out there? You were given orders to go to the mess hall and then train for the night. Do you think you can defy me with no consequences?'
'You said to go to the west bar,' she grumbled, claws curling and uncurling.
'No, I didn't,' he spat back.
'Yes you did!' she yelled, forgetting herself, her brain fogging all sense of inferiority.
Myotismon's eyes flashed, his face stormy.
'You insolent little brat.'
'I… fuck. Ow,' she groaned, trying to lift herself onto her back legs, swaying and lurching back to all fours.
'There's no use in punishing you tonight. You can stay in here until you're conscious and then you're going to suffer the consequences for defying me.'
'Myo… Master,' she began, unable to formulate the rest of her sentence.
'I would advise you to keep your mouth shut.'
'But, DemiDevimon told me you told him to tell me to go to the gate.'
She frowned at her words, head swimming as they failed to process properly.
'Then your punishment will be for being stupid enough to do anything he tells you to.'
'Lying piece of flea riddled garbage,' she spluttered before eventually falling face-first into the floor. 'Why did you save me?' she asked as she rolled onto her back, limbs splayed in all directions.
'I didn't save you,' Myotismon scowled. 'There was a Digimon in my domain that shouldn't dare enter my domain.'
'Devimon is getting brave.'
'This isn't a matter of your concern.'
'It Piedmon's.'
She lifted her chin and stared upside down at him as he glared at her from the doorway.
'Don't mention that name in my presence again.'
She couldn't help herself. All sense of restraint and self-preservation had packed up and left her weak body and spinning brain.
'I will deal with Piedmon. You will stay in here until I get back.'
'Can't I come with you?'
'Enough,' Myotismon snapped.
'Oh, yeh, he wanted you to kill me.'
'I'm starting to come round to his way of thinking.'
'When will you be back?' Gatomon pressed, resting her head back on the floor.
'Why are you still talking?'
'Why are you still here?'
Before she knew it, his foot was on her stomach, pressing down hard.
'You continuously step out of line, Gatomon. If you weren't useful to me, your data would be smeared across these walls. You are on your last warning, and you should be grateful I have given you so many.'
She gasped as his foot pressed harder, her ribs bending under his weight.
'If there is not a change in you by the time I get back, I will destroy you. If you mess up again, I will destroy you. If you are sent to my office for punishment again, I will destroy you. Do you understand?'
He pressed harder to reiterate his point.
'Stop, please,' she gasped, clawing at his boot.
'Mark my boots and I'll destroy you.'
'I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please, it hurts.'
Her resistance gave in and she found herself yowling like a newborn kitten, desperately trying to push him off her, scared by his sudden change.
'I will break you, mark my words. You will never act against my will again.'
'I can't breathe!'
'Good.'
She began to panic, her brain screaming at her despite its inability to formulate anything that made sense at that moment.
'I'll behave, I promise,' she gasped. 'Please don't kill me.'
'Better,' Myotismon smirked, lifting the pressure from his foot just a little. 'I have the only key to this room. Get comfortable.'
He lifted his foot finally and she gasped for breath, every inch of her body now aching. She could do nothing but watch as he stormed from the room and locked her in, concussion overtaking finally and sending her to sleep, sprawled with limbs painfully outstretched at all angles.
