Power is a Black Dog

By Son Rhandi

Chapter 5: 'The God of Death'

There was no time for the lady in red and the man in blue to sort things out, as the next two days had been a total whirlwind. That menace, Black War Greymon, showed up, questioning his existence, as usual. It was an answer he knew well, as it was the lady in red herself that had given him life. However, when it came to the question of her own appearance in this life, she had no explanation to offer. It had struck Arukenimon and Mummymon as a huge shock to find that Oikawa, a human, had created them. This made the whole phantom dog thing look like small potatoes. Not to mention the arrival of those Chosen Children fools. Lucky for the three of them, they chose to give their attentions to fighting Black War Greymon instead of taking chase to them right away. And so, they left them to deal with Arukeni's mistake.

To Oikawa's pleasure, he had succeeded in absorbing the first Dark Spore, and early one, which had sprouted in a little girl. But to his extreme displeasure, Arukeni's mistake caught up with them in a chance meeting with Iori's grandfather, Hiroki's father. A torn Oikawa kept alternating between reminiscing- himself- and advancing for attack- his dark parasite-. The parasite won, however, as it fired its dark aura directly at the elderly man. The Chosen Children- Iori, especially- looked on in horror, anticipating the worst. Luckily, the worst was not to come, as Black War Greymon had taken the hit, thus protecting the old man. Mortally wounded, the doppelganger of War Greymon flew off, knowing what he had to do. With his flight, Oikawa and his two made a hasty getaway.

That night was spent not in sleep, but in planning. The Dark Spores planted in those children would be ready for harvest come tomorrow, and there was no room for error. Everything was calculated down to the wire, and they had to be ready for tomorrow, they just had to be, or else everything that lead up to this would be entirely in vain. That was day 1.

Day 2 was where the tension was thickest. They all gathered, those children with the spores, one by one to Heightenview Terrace, awaiting Oikawa and his crew, as the Chosen Children and theirs hid in the bushes, watching and waiting, as well.

In what seemed like an instant, Oikawa, Arukenimon, and Mummymon appeared. The Chosen ones felt this was the time to confront the three, and charged to the area where they were gathered. Tensions were high on the side of the Chosen Children and theirs, but Oikawa and his were too overjoyed to be tense. Oikawa's dream of going to the Digital World was finally going to be realized. Unknown to him, Black War Greymon sealed the weak spot at Heightenview terrace the day before, so despite what the human thought, he was not going to arrive at his desired destination.

"This is it! It's opening!" With that, Oikawa and his children dashed off into the portal he tore into the real space, his two digimon straggling behind. The Chosen Children and their digimon followed suit.


"What is it? What's wrong? Why aren't you playing with the other children?"

"This is wrong. This isn't the Digital World."

"What are you talking about? Of course it's the Digital World..?"

"No, it's all wrong. This is not the Digital World."

The ugly reality of the child's perceptions was realized as the morose spiral background blazed and ugly pink. The scenery looked like something out of one of Van Gogh's works. So twisted, so grotesque, so not like the Digital World. To make matters worse, those meddling Chosen Children showed up, ready to make some noise. Just then, something no one expected happened: A mouth- a giant mouth- formed in the atmosphere above them, and to add to the confusion, spoke in Oiwaka's voice.

It was revealed to all that were present Oikawa's 4-year past of how he surrendered his body to fulfill his desire of travelling to the Digital World. Shame, grief, and anger swept over the human, upon discovering that all of his actions up until now were not his own. He was just a puppet for a parasite to play with. After sharing this information, the mouth disappeared, and Oikawa felt a ripping pain in his gut. He threw his head back as a glowing specter spewed from his mouth and formed a mirror image of himself. Humiliated, Oikawa advance, but the specter's leave left his body weak, and he fell to the ground.

Mummymon and Arukenimon leapt at the pseudo-Oikawa's order to distract the Chosen Children as he harvested the Dark Spores from the huddled group of frightened children. Unfortunately, they did not fare as well as they did three days prior. Still, they held them back long enough for pseudo-Oikawa to collect every last Dark Spore, and reveal himself for what he really was…

"Allow me to introduce myself! You may call me Burial Vamdemon!" The very embodiment of evil stood straight and tall. He was easily more than twice the size of both Arukenimon and Mummymon, beaming a sinister delight and setting his sights on Arukenimon. Without delay, Burial Vamdemon growled and seized the blood red spider -which emitted a scared little yelp-, by her neck, pulling her to his malicious smile.

"W-W-What are you doing?" Arukenimon stuttered. "I've been nothing but loyal to you, master!"

"You tell me!" The towering metal vampire retorted. "I'm curious to know…"

"Please! I don't know!" She pleaded.

"Liar. Show me…" Burial Vamdemon raised his free fist high into the air and brought it down to collide with her bosom. She unleashed a fierce scream. All the children turned away, wincing from her anguished cries.

"Arukenimon!! What are you doing to her?!" A horrified Mummymon shouted the offender's way.

"I was only acting out what she was thinking," he turned back to the spider. "You wouldn't be thinking about it if you didn't want it to happen, would you?"

"Please, stop..!" She pleaded with the evil once again. "Just because I was thinking about it doesn't mean I want it to happen!"

"Such is the game," he tittered. "What do you think I'll do next? Take your time."

"Please, stop. Just please, please stop…"

That was enough. Mummymon rushed to his partner's aid, "Arukeni—OOF!" but was slapped away like one's own housefly by Burial Vamdemon, taking a rough landing on the floor. That last one had gotten him good, as there was blood flowing from his mouth and staining the bandages wrapped around his chin. He didn't care how many times he would be knocked down. He had to try and save his Arukenimon. He had to. Lifting himself to his feet, Mummymon prepared for another dash to the bloodsucker, but toppled over as soon as he put his best foot forward. He looked down to see what the problem was.

"God, no…"

His left leg brace was split and would no longer support his weight. Mummymon was frantic. He needed his brace to walk, and if just one was damaged, he couldn't do so. And if he couldn't walk, then he certainly couldn't run to help his blood red spider. All he could do now was watch as Burial Vamdemon beat the life out of his love, like everyone else. It pained his ears and heart to have to look on in horror, unable to do anything.

"Reveal, reveal! What are you thinking?"

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!"

He could sense it. Her death was nigh, and he could do nothing to prevent it. He hadn't gained both eyes in time. Any and all hope was now non-existent. With a final, tearful cry, he shouted her name one last time.

"ARUKENIMON!!!!"

Suddenly, he felt that unbearable burning sensation in the area of his mystic wound. And to his and everyone else's surprise, from it shot a blazing red laser directed straight at the arm which was holding his Arukenimon captive. Burial Vamdemon, unable to react quickly enough, hissed as his arm was burned off below the shoulder and fell to the solid floor, disintigrating into data. Lucky for the spider, the detached arm absorbed most of the impact while it still existed, but she took enough of it to slip into unconsciousness. Raving mad, the metal vampire fixed his sights on Mummymon, from whom the now dissipated laser had come. The laser not only burned off the enemy's arm, but also the bandages that once covered that section of its origin's face. With the bandages now gone, the only thing to see there was…

An eye. A second eye.

Burial Vamdemon drew nearer, infuriated by the loss of his arm. "Death is too easy for you…" He hissed at the disabled mummy. "I think I'll just devour your core, instead." The fellow lumbered over him and opened one of the mouths on his shoulders. "Don't worry. It's only painful until you cease to exist..!"

In an instant, Mummymon's eyes flashed red and a brilliant white aura blazed around him. He brought himself up to his feet, and was able to stand. He could do it on his own, without help from the braces. His body was in a sleepwalker state, moving of its own free will as he recessed deep into his mind, where the nightmare dog laid in wait, except this dog was no longer a dog. He stood a lean, muscular man with a carved helmet of a black jackal on it, a vest of gold and bronze, adorned with four lapis lazuli stones (two on each side) and silver shoulder guards. His abdomen, with its perfect six-pack, stayed bare as his white and blue striped tunic covered the necessaries and his clawed feet were nestled into sandals made of a malleable metal. His eyes were not visible, but they didn't need to be. Mummymon knew- oh, yes, he knew-, just who this was.

"Do you see now?" Asked the strange being. The mummy nodded. "Yes, I see."

"You know what to do, then?"

"Yes."

"Alright then. You are the god of death now. Go forth and show the offender why monsters shouldn't challenge gods!"

"I understand."

Mummymon blinked, regaining full consciousness and knowing what had to be done. He looked up at that heartless creature, Burial Vamdemon, and called out with a smile:

"Mummymon! Digivolve to…"