9

Ambush in the North

"The cat is cryptic, and close to strange things which men cannot see. He is the soul of antique Aegyptus, and bearer of tales from forgotten cities in Meroe and Ophir. He is the kin of the jungle's lords, and heir to the secrets of hoary and sinister Africa. The Sphinx is his cousin, and he speaks her language…" – H. P. Lovecraft, "The Cats of Ulthar"

Shortly after returning to the human world, Hikari and Miyako had reentered the Digital Gate, emerging in the Digital World a considerable distance north of where they had left it. The land in which they and their partners found themselves was best described as desolate. There was little in the way of plant life, even grass, the ground generally being an odd combination of sandy and soggy. Shallow creeks meandered through the landscape, the monotony of which was further broken by occasional train tracks.

According to the information they had received, the Dark Towers were located nearby, though they could not see any from where they stood, and before going any farther the two Digimon Armor evolved to Holsmon and Nefertimon. They flew northwest, passing over a low rise only to see that the other side descended sharply into a deep valley. Nestled in the valley were a number of ramshackle buildings apparently forming a mid-sized town, though there were no signs of life.

"You think they could be hidden in one of those tall buildings?" Miyako asked, pointing to one of several large buildings resembling decrepit churches. During the Digimon Kaiser's reign, both of them had seen Dark Towers cleverly disguised as other structures, such as Starmon's gallows and the "lighthouse" overlooking the Dark Ocean.

"Maybe," Hikari answered, "but I think before attacking we should make sure no one is inside." The two Digimon landed in an open court beside the nearest of the church-like buildings. It would be difficult to land in the streets, which were excessively narrow. Still they caught no glimpse of inhabitants.

"I'll check this one out," Miyako volunteered, pointing to the building. "You guys want to look at one of the others?"

"Mm-hmm," Hikari agreed, and headed down the narrow street with Nefertimon following behind her. Nefertimon could sense that her partner's spirits were higher than they had been for a while. While much of the threat remained mysterious, it made the girl feel good to talk openly to her friends, and to join with them in taking action against the Dark Towers.

Miyako approached the building's rotting door and sighed. "It smells like something died in here."

"Would you like me to get it?" Holsmon asked.

"No… I guess this is just what my gloves are for." She gave the door a push with one hand, but it didn't budge. "That's strange. You'd think it would just fall down in that condition." She pressed both of her palms into the wood and pushed hard. This time the door offered no resistance at all and swung wide open. Taken by surprise, Miyako nearly tumbled headlong into the opening.

She was just regaining her balance when a large hand closed around her wrist and jerked her forward into the dark.

"Miyako-san!" Holsmon called, charging forward to his partner's aid. But just as he reached the door—

"Baluluna Gale!" A wall of wind whipped out of the aperture and struck him full in the face, temporarily stunning him into immobility. "You'll stay there," the Witchmon said, stepping forward so he could see that her gloved talons were closed around Miyako's neck. Though Holsmon didn't dare take his eyes from the sight, he heard doors opening stealthily behind him. Hikari had been right. This had been a trap. "Don't say a thing," the attacker continued. "No alarm, or I'll tear her throat out."

Hikari was pretty sure she remembered the location of another of the tall structures, but had trouble finding her way through the maze of alleys. Occasionally she would turn around and ask Nefertimon's opinion on which direction to go. She was just passing by another street opening up on her right when she heard the sound of a tin can starting to roll. Since there was no wind, she could only assume that she had found an inhabitant of the town after all.

Looking to her right she saw a small dark shape which crouched near three steps leading to the door of one of the old buildings. As she watched, it sprung into the center of the street, knocking the can it had been toying with into a gutter. There was something oddly familiar about the creature's shape and movement, and upon realizing why the girl turned abruptly. Nefertimon was there, quietly watching. "Hikari?"

"It looks," she started to say, then turned back and stopped when she saw the new Digimon staring back at her. At first Hikari had attributed its dark appearance to its shadowy surroundings, but now could see that it was indeed black in color. It looked remarkably like Tailmon, though its luminous eyes were not Tailmon's bright blue, but rather a feral yellow. Hikari stood, bemused. Nefertimon, on the other hand, didn't like the looks of the thing.

"Who are you?" the white Digimon asked.

"BlackTailmon," it purred, getting to its hind feet and performing a little bow.

"What are you doing here? Where is everyone?"

BlackTailmon cocked her head.

"Everyone's gone. They left long ago."

"But you're here," Hikari said. "Did they leave you behind?"

BlackTailmon smiled and shook her head.

"I came to find you. We all did." And so saying, she turned and raced down the street. Hikari and Nefertimon instinctively made to follow, but had gone no more than a few steps before something dropped from the rooftops above.

"Hikari!" Nefertimon saw the newcomer's claws, and acted fast, batting her partner to the side with one of her large paws just before those claws lashed out.

"Vampire Dance! The claws slashed across Nefertimon's face, drawing blood. Before she could issue a counterattack, the assailant leaped high and landed on her back, gouging her deeply before sliding off and landing behind the Chosen Digimon.

"Nefertimon!" Hikari screamed, alarmed at the red gashes in her partner's body. There was no room for Nefertimon to turn around, and any minute she expected another attack from the rear. Releasing the power of the Digimental, Nefertimon reverted to Tailmon. Disregarding the danger, Hikari ran up to her partner. "Are you okay, Tailmon?"

"Yes," the Digimon answered. "But where's the enemy?" They looked up to see their attacker standing calmly in the intersection of the two alleys. This Digimon was obviously female, though she resembled a cat just as much as she did a human, with a cat's ears and claws, and two cat-like tails.

"Who are you?" Hikari asked, anger building within her.

"Bastemon," the Digimon replied. "A Perfect-level Digimon, I'll have you know."

"Perfect level?" Tailmon said under her breath, then, to Hikari: "We need to Jogress Evolve."

"There's no chance of that," Bastemon said, having overheard the remark. "My friends should have taken care of the other two by now. You're on your own."

"Miyako-san?"

"Don't worry, Hikari," Tailmon said. "Let me evolve again, and we'll go and help them." Tailmon reasoned that if the town really were empty except for the enemy, there would be no reason not to tear the place apart in order to escape and help their friends. Hikari nodded.

"Digimental Up!"