The shadow forest whispered secrets.
There was a great and terrible stillness, for no wind blew here, the trees' bared branches blackened and broken, twisted like a crown of thorns toward an indifferent horizon. Thus, secrets fell dumbstruck upon the ground in a series of forever unanswered question marks the color of HTML values. They crunched beneath Ryo's feet like dead leaves in autumn. He was uneasy; they were interlopers. The forest knew. The forest always knows.
"Are you sure something strong is here?" Ryo asked.
"Yes." Cyberdramon marched forward, back turned away from Ryo.
Always one step ahead, always an impenetrable fortress of serrated claws and rusted steel and tattered wings. Sometimes Ryo would try to see Monodramon in him and ponder if Monodramon had only ever been but a wistful dream. Every day the dream faded further. Time passed unremarked in the Digital World.
Rebellion slowed Ryo's step. He placed a gloved hand on one of the trees and pulled away to see the glove covered in soot. After a moment, the soot floated off his hand and drifted upward in motes of data packets, rotating around each other in slow revolutions. They glittered in the sky like black diamonds. Every so often, the glimpses of whimsy and wonder lurking even in the darkest glade caught Ryo off guard.
Suddenly Ryo realized he was alone.
He looked around. But Cyberdramon had vanished, swallowed by the surroundings. Ryo called out for him, but the forest swallowed that too. Only whispers had been left behind.
"What big blue eyes you have…"
"The better to see us with?"
"What great large hands you have…"
"The better to grasp us with?"
"What bright white teeth you have…"
"The better to smile at us with?"
"No, no, surely not? To rip and tear, surely? The wolf in sheep's clothing, surely…?"
Ryo's hands trembled as he took out his D-Power. It flickered to life. The red arrow spun round and round, then pointed to the right. He followed it, and ignored the warning that other digital lifeforms were nearby.
Out of the shadows stepped the big bad wolf. It stalked toward him, blood red fur coating a rail-thin, lupine figure that undulated like a snake. Ryo's D-Power flickered again: Fangmon. Its smile was large enough to devour children whole. All teeth and no lips; razor sharp teeth and a long tongue that lolled with unbridled hunger. Ryo stumbled back.
"What are you afraid of, meat computer? Not us? Not us, no?" whispered Fangmon. "We are friends, are we not? Friends? Friends of meat computer? Together we ascend? Ascend to Earth?"
"Leave me alone." Ryo's voice cracked, high-pitched and nervous, worn from disuse. He felt all his thirteen years then, more than ever before.
"No… no. Meat computer has no friends. Meat computer has no one. But has us now. It will be alright, you will be part of us, you will help us ascend. Be at peace, little one." Fangmon loomed over him.
Ryo ran.
The forest writhed around him. Too much movement, the stillness had been defiled, who dared—? Ah, of course, Ryo Akiyama, Legendary Tamer. Who else? Who else, indeed? Foolish child.
Fangmon caught him easily and knocked him to the ground. Ryo rolled, avoiding one of Fangmon's paws as it attempted to spear him on its long claws, then rolled again to avoid the other. The D-Power clattered off to the side, red arrow still spinning.
Terror lit him from the inside out, incandescent, nerves set aflame with the epiphany: I don't want to die. Until that moment, Ryo hadn't realized such a thought was even in question. But he knew now, irrevocably, the answer beyond doubt.
A dry wheeze rattled Fangmon's skeletal frame. It howled with laughter; the mockery added insult to injury. Spittle dripped off its long fangs and flecked his hair, his clothes, his face. Rage threaded through the terror, a bright red to accompany the overwhelming gray. Ryo lashed out and punched Fangmon in the jaw. It hurt, but the fury overwhelmed the pain, and he glared with defiance. Fangmon flinched, more puzzled than anything, then laughed again.
Cyberdramon descended and grasped Fangmon by either side of its long muzzle. With a tremendous roar, he wrenched and split Fangmon in half. It exploded into a cacophony of blood red data, its laughter still echoing long after it had died.
The data was ignored. Cyberdramon strode toward Ryo and swept him up in a bridal-style embrace. Ryo clung to Cyberdramon, relieved yet also deeply humiliated. His own helplessness stung like acid. They took off, soaring high into the sky. The shadow forest grew smaller, smaller, smaller until it was but a postage stamp and then at last gone from view.
