Power is a Black Dog

By Son Rhandi

Chapter 2: 'To This, He Simply Said, "No"'

It was seventeen minutes past the fifth hour when Mummymon awoke to the common sights of their cabin near Mt. Fuji. The sun had barely risen and skies were a plethora of oranges and golds. All things in nature seemed to take on a glow of their own as they were complimented with the good graces of the then red-orange sun. A very beautiful sight, indeed. Mummymon slowly rose to his knees and placed his hands on his face. No cuts, no gashes, no blood. Good.

"Was it just a dream..?" He inquired aloud, then clasped a hand over his mouth, forgetting that Oikawa and Arukenimon were still sleeping. No, it wasn't a dream. It was a nightmare… Thought he, as he pondered the meaning of what the dark beast had said to him…

'From Mummymon comes the invincible judging beast! The masterless black dog of power!! You can become what you see before you! Not a snarling monster, but a god of death!

"What did it mean? A god of death?" Oops. He did it again. This time, Oikawa stirred a bit and mumbled something about turning the volume on the television down, then resumed his slumber. Mummymon breathed a sigh of relief. His boss would be angry with him if he roused him from sleep, and his lady would be even angrier if he did from hers, so it was decided better to go someplace where he wouldn't risk waking either of them. Casting a look to the window, outside seemed to be the best option.

The digimon ever so quietly slid the door shut behind him. The breath he held was slowly exhaled, and he watched as it became visible in the cold air all around, giving him some mild amusement. A deep layer of snow blanketed the ground, he took notice. It had snowed last night, as was commonplace that time of year. It was all so… serene… The snow on the ground, the trees all around, and, of course, Mt. Fuji in the distance. They all reminded him so much of the things he loved about Arukenimon. The snow resembled her pale, flawless skin. The bare trees, tall and thin, were like her frame, and Mt. Fuji? Her strength and majestic beauty.

Mummymon felt a blush creep up his face and sighed languidly. If only… Wait. Hadn't the nightmare dog mentioned something about his Arukeni?

'Only when you gain both eyes can you see things more clearly! But do so quickly! For if you delay, you'll lose the blood red spider and your life as well!'

"I could lose Arukenimon..?" Never mind losing his own life; the thought of Arukenimon deceased was absolutely terrifying to him. Once, Oikawa had told him that someone he loved for died four years ago. Mummymon had thought about what it would be like if his Arukeni died… …The tears kept flowing and just wouldn't stop…

He felt those same tears welling up once again, and quickly refocused his attentions to interpreting that… dream? Nightmare? It felt too real to have been just a night vision. Perhaps it was a premonition? Whatever it was, it was causing him undue irritation and stress.

"I don't understand. It just doesn't seem right... " He walked the small stoop and planted his feet in the snow, which gave a muffled crunch under his weight. Solemnly, he looked to the sky, as if trying to find an answer written in the clouds, perhaps even looking to some semblance of a god in the heavens. After some time, he brought his head back down to level and parted his lips in a wide grin.

"I'll make… a snow-Arukeni."

He had oft watched children in the park playing in the stuff, making snowmen, snow angels, even little forts, and wondered what all that was like, but he was more content to observe from afar. But there was no sign of anyone for miles, and the two inside had no intention of getting up this early in the day, so he was free to do as he pleased for now. Mummymon brought his knees to the snow, laid his cane to rest on the stoop, and took to the task of creating a tribute to the apple of his eye.


"There. Finished."

The digimon took a few steps back to admire his work. The fruit of his labor was a rough, almost crude figure of his Arukeni in her true form. He had stripped the branches from the barren trees nearby to form its arms, legs, and horns. He gathered many a pine needle to pile upon its head to create some aspect of hair, and even pawed the dirt to find two perfectly round pebbles for its eyes. To anyone else, it would look like a ragged, raw and just plain ugly display of snow clumps, but not to him. To him, this was an extension of his love for his lady in red, standing proud and just in the winter morn.

He hoped she would like it.

Just then, he heard a rapping at the glass panel. Turning around, he saw that Oikawa was the source of the noise. Oikawa, looking his usual somber self, gestured for him to come back inside and stuffed his hands in the pockets of his purple trenchcoat. Mummymon blinked. The boss is up already? How long have I been out here, anyway..? Not really wanting to leave his masterpiece, the digimon sighed, relocated his cane, and trudged his way back to the cabin.


"Playing in the snow, Mummymon..?"

"Hmm?" The digimon's attention was caught as he slid the door shut one more time.

"Never mind. It's not important. Go and fix breakfast. I'd have Arukenimon do it, but she can't even boil water."

Mummymon chuckled, knowing he shouldn't, but it was quite true. The last time she tried to make toast- toast, mind you-, she nearly set the whole place ablaze. He quickly slipped out of his boots and into a pair of house slippers and scuttled to the kitchen, but not before inquiring about her whereabouts. "Say, boss, where is Arukeni, anyway?"

Oikawa shrugged. "Showering up, I guess. Now, hurry up and fix something before she gets out. The last thing I want to hear this early in the morning is one of her usual rants about how hungry she is."

The mon chuckled a little louder this time as entered the kitchen, grabbing his apron and tying it loosely around his trim waist. As he rummaged through the refrigerator for something to prepare for the three of them, his thoughts floated back to the nightvision.

"'Only when I have both eyes…'" He muttered to himself, clutching three eggs in his massive hand and placing them into a bowl on the counter. Mummymon brought his hand to the right side of his face. Where there should have been his second eye, was met with just a smooth, unbroken patch of skin. He had always been a cyclops throughout all his stages. To him, it was just as natural as having two eyes was to everyone else, so what was all this nonsense about gaining another eye?

Mummymon laughed at his own ineptitude. "Of course. It was just a nonsense dream," he reassured himself. "Probably just from something I ate last night. Yes, that's it for sure..!"

That may have been what he was telling himself, but a gut feeling was telling him that there was a bigger picture to all of this. Humans are the only animals that train themselves to ignore their instincts. This was probably the human part of Mummymon showing itself, but of course, that aspect of himself was still unknown to him. Quiet happy with his delusion, the mon continued with his task of cooking.

Luckily for both himself and Oikawa, the breakfast of egg on toast and coffee was completed a split-second before Arukenimon stepped out of the bathroom, dampened hair and all. The human and womon sat down to their respective places at the table, Oikawa at the head, Arukeni at the right side, but Mummymon's spot was empty. The mon, looking a bit tense, scurried to the steamy bathroom and locked the door behind him, then silently slipped out of his gijinka and into his true bandaged form. Mummymon placed his rifle at the tub's edge and began to slowly unravel the bandages covering his hands until his bare charcoal skin showed itself.

"…It really did have my claws…"

The mon scrutinized the palms of his hands and tips of his talons in disgust. The thought of that hateful, hurtful, snarling monster turned his stomach. There was no way- no way- that he could ever be connected to a bloodlustful beast like that. It wasn't possible, it wasn't probable…

It wasn't real.

"No. None of it was real. It was nothing more than a dream, so what am I getting all worked up about?" He gave a little half-hearted laugh. It was only a bad dream, right? Now all he had to do was bring himself to believe that…