Tai sat in his room, staring at a mirror.
Every time he looked away from it, a black dragon stared out of it, shadowy,
laughing, mocking him. But when he looked back, it was only his reflection.
He glanced at the window. It was sunny summer weather outside. No breeze stirred the curtains of the open window.
A shadow passed over, and suddenly it was freezing, ice cold. Tai jerked his gaze back to the mirror.
Nothing.
A shadow dragon with coal-red eyes.
Tai screamed and shattered with mirror with the nearest thing on hand. His clock. It burst under the impact, and the glass and plastic buried itself in the carpet, the walls, his skin. Blood ran down his arms and he cradled his head in his hands and cried.
Something laughed at him, a quiet voice, cruel, mocking.
The voice from his dreams. The voice driving him mad.
* * *
Kari sat on the balcony with her legs dangling out over the busy street, sitting several stories up from the busy traffic.
"Hikari! What are you doing here?" Daisuke said, from behind her. He sounded surprised.
She shrugged, and then nodded at Gatomon, sitting
a few feet away with a smug cat smile on her face.
"Hello," Gatomon said, licking her paw in the regal manner that only cats
have.
"Look, Daisuke, I need to talk to you about something."
Kari said, and carefully stood up.
"Yeah?"
"Okay. First of all, Digimon Empress."
"The only think I know about her is that she's there."
"Right. What do we do? I'm scared of her. When Digimon speak of her, they act like she's connected to something evil. . . like the Dark Masters. But worse. Older." Kari shivered in the summer heat.
"I know. But I think that we should burn that bridge when we get to it. You beat the Dark Masters, after all." Daisuke put his hand on Kari's shoulder. Kari shrugged it off.
"Yeah. You're right. But, Daisuke . .
. What if it is the Dark Masters? What if they came back? And
. . . what about T.K.?"
"We'll handle it." Daisuke paused for a second.
" . . . T.K. could still be alive . . . We haven't seen Patamon,
either."
"Who knows what happens to a Digimon when their
partner dies?" Kari said.
They reflected on that for a moment.
Daisuke broke the silence, awkwardly. "I think you
better go home pretty soon."
"Oh, yeah." Kari reached for her D-3.
"You can go out the normal way, you know. Down the stairs?"
Kari blinked and then laughed shakily. "Thanks.
C'mon, Gatomon."
* * *
Dracaemon stood in front of the giant, wrought-iron
door that bisected the hallway.
"Keep out, my scaly arse." she muttered, and traced her claws
over the intricately disturbing hammered work. "What's Goddramon
got in here, anyway?"
She knocked, twice.
The door slowly slid open a crack. A small
DarkGatomon peered out through the slit, and then slammed the door shut
again. The hall reverberated.
"You can't come in," the DarkGatomon said, sounding
tiny and muffled. And helpless.
Dracaemon couldn't abide females who acted helpless.
"Let me in, you gutless rabbit!" she yelled, and pounded on the door.
"Who sent you?" the DarkGatomon asked, through the
door.
"Goddramon, dammit."
"Oh." A bolt slid creakily, and the DarkGatomon
opened the door. "It's your dark scales, ma'am, I'm sorry."
"I doubt any 'evil servant' wears khakis and a t-shirt,
you furred imbecile." Dracaemon growled.
The little black cat looked mortified.
"Forget about it, whatever-your-name-is."
"Ysa." The DarkGatomon said.
"Right." Dracaemon glanced around. The room was small and dark and dank, with fetid water dripping in a corner of the room. "Shit. You'd think Goddramon could take better care of his palace. This hardly worth those fancy doors."
"It's Kay's choice that it's this way." Ysa said. "He likes it better."
"Yeah, well . . . say, what? What's in here anyway?"
Something clanked and rattled, and Dracaemon had
a distinct impression of bright orange eyes and very sharp fangs.
She shrieked and stumbled backwards, throwing her claws up in front of
her face to ward off the attack.
"What in the hells was that?!"
Ysa was hauling back on a chain, which was attached
to a hissing, mad-eyed DarkGatomon. "My brother, Kay." she said apologetically.
"Shit, girl. And you stay down here with
him?"
"Yes . . ." Ysa looked down at the ground,
holding the chain tightly in one claw. "Well, it's my duty as a good
Digimon."
"Who conned you into that one?" Dracaemon
laughed. "You're an evil-type, dammit, go have fun."
Ysa's eyes narrowed into yellow slits. "I
thought that you were sent by Goddramon."
"Uh . . ." Dracaemon fidgeted uneasily. "I
sort of got in trouble. Community service, that sort of thing.
Stock market, you know, it's so fragile these days."
"What?" Ysa cocked her head to one side. Kay
hissed and rattled his chain.
"It's amazing what you can do with a laptop and
internet access." Dracaemon cleared her throat, cutting off Ysa.
"So . . . I'm to get a very important message from insane kitty here."
She crossed her arms and glared at Kay.
Kay regarded Dracaemon with a steady gaze, not quite
sane, but steady nonetheless. He started to laugh, a raspy, grating
noise. "Goddramon wants my prophecies now, does he?"
Dracaemon snarled. "Yes, you pointy-eared
runt, I'm already sick of you. Get messaging, dammit, or I'll do
something drastic and not very nice, like ripping off your ears."
Kay laughed again, and cocked his head to the side
like a canary.
Dracaemon glowered at him, and started forward,
claws clenched. "Screw Goddramon, I'm going to make cheese whiz out
of you, fucking little Champion."
"Dark scales," Kay sang out suddenly. Dracaemon
stopped. "Last hope. Eyes in the dark, gleaming red– red like
blood, flowing down mountains to the blackness new evil rising rushing
up to the light– Light gone hope dead no wounded bleeding red bright
red rushing there is no hope left but one black scales shine in black on
black on black and the darkness always reigns red on black bleeding emperor
against tower one evil conquered by a worse and still the rushing up to
the light all is gone." Kay grinned again, white teeth splotched with
dark red. "Nothing is as it seems."
Ysa stood behind Kay, looking sympathetically at Dracaemon. "My brother . . . isn't quite . . ."
"Sane but nothing ever is white against black
intermingle gray is everywhere shadows fall from light soon to be gone
disappear hope is fading fast the flower heals and courage dies." Kay
finished, then cocked his head, as if listening to something.
"And still blood rushes down on black wings dark
dragon it comes end of all evil beginning of the end apocalypse . . . he
dies so sad. And yet hope lives in one small soul burn like fire is fire
two people no three one is fire-" Kay yawned and looked directly at
Dracaemon, bloodshot orange eyes narrowed. "Fire hid by darkness released
by trauma Dracaemon beware and tend your fire hid by black deep blue is
all lost I think not insanity creeps up quick glinting knives feed on flesh
a flashing light medics is not dead. This is before the darkness on two
wings of black fire rushing down spread many evils and still blood sweet
blood–"
"Yeah, I figured that already, Ysa." Dracaemon snarled, cutting Kay off. "How do you expect me to remember all of that?" She glared at him and clicked her claws against the moldy wall. "Now repeat it again, slowly. I want my laptop back, and the sooner the better."
