Angel of Vengeance
Chapter 7 Part 1:
Seen and Unseen
Renamon sat atop the Makino home. The battle with the Violator and its strange companion had been only an hour or so prior. The creature she had seemingly defeated with little more than a gesture would be back. The old man— Cogliostro— had called it The Tormentor. There was little need to explain what its general role was.
The bigger bombshell was that, according to Cogliostro, she was a Wild HellSpawn.
She still wasn't entirely clear on what that meant. Cogliostro seemed certain, however, that it meant things had taken a unique turn. More importantly, he had warned, the Violator was almost certain to come back.
As if I hadn't enough to worry about, Renamon mused to herself. Her cloak had settled around her body, closing off all but her head to the wind and the world around her. Since her return to the human world, Renamon had been left with more questions than answers. This new development had only added to that. If the old man could be believed, then most Hellspawn made deals with the demon Malebolgia that led to their arrivals on Earth, largely tormented by their own fragmented memories and haunted by deals that were never properly upheld. No Digimon had ever traversed the planes of Heaven or Hell before her that she was aware of. And now not only had she apparently done so, but she had also found herself in a perpetual state of confusion and disorientation.
Not all of it was bad, of course. Guilmon had become some kind of local hero alongside Impmon— and that still sounded weird to her even after having witnessed it herself. Terriermon had found a career in comedy. Guilmon was romantically involved with a former Daeva (and by the Sovereign that was probably the most stunning thing she'd heard since coming back from the dead), and the Tamers had all grown up healthy and happy for the most part.
Turning her gaze to the open door leading from the backyard into the Makino house, Renamon smiled behind her mask. The Tamers and their Digimon were inside, roaming about and discussing various issues. Takato and Jenrya were in deep conversation, huddles around the latter's laptop. Guilmon, Lopmon, and Impmon were close by, checking over a map of Shinjuku. Curious as she was, she decided to leave it be. Their business was their own. Best to leave them to it. Ruki, her mother, and her grandmother were in the kitchen, last she knew. By the smell of things, they were preparing a dinner to be envied.
The wind blew and carried on it a strange scent. Renamon lifted her nose into the breeze and inhaled, trying to get a better idea of what she was smelling. It was unlike anything she could recall. Seeing that the others hadn't picked up on it, Renamon's ears twitched. Lopmon, Terriermon, and Impmon she could almost understand. Guilmon however, being a creation of Takato, had been gifted with an almost absurdly powerful sense of smell by the brown-haired Tamer. How he wasn't picking up on this, Renamon couldn't begin to fathom.
Rising slowly to her feet, Renamon let her gaze roam the skies. Nothing seemed out of place, but that odd scent still carried on the wind. The other Digimon continued to act as if nothing was out of place. Either they had gotten used to it, or it was something that was only capable of being picked up on by her.
Renamon's cape rustled a bit as her brow furrowed under her mask. She vanished from the roof a moment later, using her old teleportation ability, and began to run along the roofs of the neighborhood, following the strange smell. As she did, she marveled at how much faster she was now. She'd always been one of the quickest in the group. Certainly, faster than Terriermon or Impmon if one were to put her up against them in a race. Guilmon's unnatural physical capabilities kept him a close second. But now she was certain she would leave even him in the proverbial dust if they were to have a full-on race.
The trail led to a strange location buried deep among the skyscrapers of Shinjuku. Only a few blocks away, she could see the Hypnos HQ. If Renamon were asked to put a word or descriptor to the place, she wouldn't have been able to answer. Humans seemed to be oblivious to it. It was so deep in the city that it seemed even the few homeless in Shinjuku didn't know or care about it.
Or do they somehow not even see it? The thought popped into her head unbidden. But somehow it felt accurate. She looked around, and indeed, it seemed like somehow the humans didn't even react to it. As though it wasn't there. It was weird. Many of them were taking roundabout paths that would extend their walks or drives by anywhere from seconds to in excess of twenty minutes.
The sound of footsteps caught Renamon's ears and she turned her gaze towards the streets below.
What in…?
The creatures she was seeing weren't human. Some came close, but many were as far as it could get from humanity. A woman with a massively long neck, a creature whose skin was as red as fire with a long nose, something resembling a western goblin, and even a creature that she was sure was an umbrella with a foot and a single eye, among an incredible host of others were taking up the strange human-free cross section of Shinjuku. Nothing here was Digimon. That much she was certain of. What they were, she couldn't say. But she could at least say with little worry about what they were not.
The place below seemed like a mixture of market and residential area. How the humans let this go on, she had no idea. The more she looked around however, the more she wondered if this place had had a similar effect in her prior to her death. She had seen the place from afar before but had never once crossed through it. Though in all fairness, back then she was apt to just teleport all over town when a wild Digimon would emerge in the city.
"Oh wow! A real live HellSpawn!" Renamon's ears perked and she looked down to see a child…or at least something like a child, if children were mottled gray with pointed ears and two tails emerging from near the base of their spines, anyway. Those tails were flicking excitedly and the child had a wide, awestruck grin on its (his?) face.
"You know what I am?" Renamon asked. The child nodded vigorously.
"Yeah! We learn about the various other demons and the like in school. Hellspawn are supposed to be some of the strongest around." He chirped while doing a playful little dance. Coming to a stop, he crooked his head to one side. "Never heard of a Hellspawn made from a Kitsune though."
Renamon couldn't help but chuckle and leapt down from her perch to land net to the young creature. "I'm not a kitsune, child. I'm a Digimon. And if you know about Hellspawn, then you have me at something of a disadvantage. Because I know next to nothing about them despite being one," Looking around, she gestured with a single arm at the odd conflagration. "What is all this, anyway?"
The child seemed baffled by the term 'Digimon', but once the conversation had moved back onto a topic he knew about, his grin returned full force. "This is the Hidden Quarter! You've probably never seen it before, have you?"
"As the name would suggest," the DigiSpawn remarked dryly. The child laughed.
"Right, well, there's places like this all over Japan and the rest of the world. All of us supernatural types live in places like these. We've even had a few Hellspawn over the centuries. How did you find us, anyway?"
The barrage of information and the question of how she'd found the Hidden Quarter all came with the boy enthusiastically grabbing Renamon's hand and trying to take her on an impromptu tour, during which she tried to explain her presence. Intrigued by her description, the boy took her to a large building that seemed to serve as the Quarter's equivalent of a town hall.
"A Hellspawn. We haven't seen one of you in almost fifty years."
The 'mayor' for lack of a better term, of the Quarter was an old birdlike creature, who's very being radiated power. A politician he might have been, but every instinct Renamon had screamed that this man had been, and still very much was, a warrior.
"I apologize if I'm intruding," Renamon said with a slight bow of respect.
"Not at all, not at all," the mayor replied. "I'm Velkan. The little one at your side is Galius. I suspect he's been dragging you all over the Quarter?" Galius grumbled a bit, and Velkan laughed. "He's got a good heart, but he's still young. In any case, would you mind terribly if I asked what happened the other day? The appearance of two Phlebiac demons is no small matter."
Renamon's ears flattened for a moment, trying to figure out what the mayor meant before it hit her. "Right…those things." She muttered.
A quick discussion followed, as Renamon knew little to nothing about the creatures, let alone what they wanted with her. Cogliostro seemed more informed on the matter, but he seemed content to keep his cards close to his chest.
"Great. So not only did one of the Phlebiac Brothers come here, he brought one of the lesser members of his kind with him," a new voice interjected. This one belonged to a female, one who looked like she had been fused with a tiger at the genetic level. "And you wonder why I say Hellspawn are nothing but trouble."
"Raina, we've been over this," Velkan snorted. "Hellspawn have no say in where those disgusting things go or what they do. And I won't turn any supernatural away who means no harm to us."
"And what happens when some 'well meaning' Hellspawn leads one of those fuckwits from Hell right to us? We have a good thing here, Velkan! To let the Hellspawn continue to come here is dangerous. They'll be the death of us sooner or later!"
"It's rude to talk about someone when they're right in front of you like they aren't even here," Renamon interjected. The tiger woman clearly had issues with Hellspawn. If not for her behavior and attitude, she could almost sympathize with her arguments. But being as Renamon was now one of the very beings she was railing against, plus the dirty looks being shot her way…well, she might have been dead, but she still had her pride.
"Do something about it, you fake Kitsune bitch."
Renamon's green eyes narrowed, energy beginning to bleed out and upwards from them.
"Is that a challenge?"
A dark smile crawled along Raina's face.
"Fuck yes." The tiger woman snarked.
The two stared one another down. The tiger growled. Renamon's cape rustled and snapped, her chains rattling in expectant fury.
From a nearby rooftop, Cogliostro watched, intrigued by the events as they unfolded.
"You're on." The DigiSpawn replied.
The Unenviable Author's Post notes!
Yes folks, another Halloween has come and gone. Damn, this past year has been brutal. On the plus side, things seem to be getting back to normal. Sorry this year's chapter is so short, but with work on my novel getting to near the end point, I've been somewhat busy. So, this year is a shorter adventure. But still a fun one to write.
Angel of Vengeance will continue its annual Halloween updates, if I have anything to say about it. So I hope everyone enjoyed Halloween 2021, and with luck, Halloween 2022 will bring an even longer chapter by comparison. You will see entities and creatures beyond just the Spawn universe and the Digimon multiverse. I can't say how long this story will go. But I hope everyone will come back each year till the end.
Happy Halloween, folks! Remember, may your night be filled with frightful fun and candy to match the power of the sun!
*At this point, Godzilla pops up and waves!*
Godzilla: HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYBODY! ^.^
Yeah, what he said. Don't forget to leave a review!