The Digital Edda
Book One
The Dark Ocean
Chapter Two
The serpent exploded through the fog bank like a black arrow. Its maw was wide, sickle-curved fangs extended, screeching as it shot towards Davis. It was fast—reaching the playground's center in the second Kari had instinctively pulled her digivice from her kimono pocket, and slammed into the bridge connecting the equipment together. The chain-link railing went taut, and the playsets jerked and groaned, but held. The serpent's head thrashed against the impromptu collar . Its long, sinuous body coiled and undulated around the playset, whipping the ground so hard Kari could see the flash of the impacts. It flapped its leathery wings in frustration.
The digimon pounced. Gatomon punched the serpent square on a nostril. Veemon slammed his head into its gray underbelly, bouncing away. Hawkmon and Armadillomon flanked it, striking at anything they thought vulnerable. The serpent hissed. It tried jerking its head free, throwing Gatomon away in a single motion. Wormmon crawled forwards and spat his silk over it like a net, pulling the strands closed, gluing the chain-links to its ebony scaled hide.
Davis pulled out his device. "Gatomon wasn't lying. That thing is huge!" He said, craning his neck back.
"Is that a Digimon? Where did it come from?" Yolei shrilled. She watched the serpent's slit-eyes track her partner's movement.
Cody pointed his digivice towards Armadillomon, who rolled under another blind tail swipe. It sheared through see-saw and the remains flew into the woods. "We can't let it escape. Someone could get hurt. Let's go Armadillomon."
Kari nodded. The rookie partners glowed a golden, white light. When the intensity abated, they were in their Champion forms, angling around to put themselves between the humans and the enraged serpent. The creature bellowed and pulled. The bolts mooring the playground equipment gave way, and the serpent lifted its head to full height, towering over Ex-Veemon. Toxic orange eyes regarded them. A purple, forked tongue scented the air from a mouth scaled in impossible black. Kari was struck by how regal it looked against the fog curtain. Its wings splayed outwards, twice the size of its body.
"Enough!" the Changeling roared. His voice was gravely and deep, like graveyard bells. His eyes settled on Kari. "Curse your pet-of-ashes, All Mother." Gatomon stood in front of her, claws bared, teeth bared, holy ring glowing. "Curse all your cats, your Housecarls, everyone!"
Before Kari registered the threat, the serpent lunged again. He had so many teeth. Two fangs, as long as Kari's arm, rushed to greet her as he propelled forwards. Gatomon met the charge head on. The feline darted underneath his head and rocketed upwards, fist in an uppercut, and connected against his jaw. The serpent groaned, banking away into Ex-Veemon's waiting fist. He jerked again. Ankylomon spun in place, swinging his mace tail in a savage arc and colliding it into the snake's jaw. The serpent warbled in pain. He withdrew, flapping its wings once, twice, and shrieking as Aquilamon sheared his left wing clean off.
The serpent plummeted into the cradle of wrecked playground equipment, crushing it utterly.
"Wait," Ken shouted to Stingmon. "It's over. There's no need to keep fighting."
"No," The serpent muttered. He rose again, slower and with greater effort. His jaw hung loose from his head, drooling blood down its gray belly. "Not until she's dead," he wheezed. "You can't hide now, All-Mother." A bitter, disdainful chuckle followed, "You and your thrice-cursed pet."
It lunged again. Angemon uttered his heavenly knuckle. The pillar of light shot from his pointed fist and pierced the serpent's eye, blowing out the back of its head in a blinding flash and, with that, the body crumpled away. The serpent's image, as well as the fog, dissipated, leaving the children alone with their digimon standing in a demolished playground in the middle of Shinjuku Central Park. Cool, August night seeped into Kari's burning lungs. Her eyes blinked away the stinging. She could taste the turnover stuck in her teeth. The other children sagged in place, looking at each other in bewilderment. The digimon returned to their rookie forms.
"What was that?" Takeru asked aloud.
Ken looked over the ruined playground. "I have no idea."
"Oh no," Kari murmured. She ran towards the furred lump on the other side. Gatomon shimmied her claws under Black Gatomon's belly and flipped him over. "Are you okay, little one?" Kari asked.
The Black Gatomon coughed. His eyelids creaked open. He eyes were a brilliant gold, like freshly minted coins. "I hate snakes," he muttered. Looking down, he pulled his paw away from his belly wound. "Auch, that's not good. I lost count of lives I had left."
Kari shucked her Kimono's sash from her waist. She gingerly wrapped it around the black feline's scabbing wound. "You're okay. The bleeding's stopped. We'll take care of you."
"Don't have much of a choice, really," Black Gatomon blubbered. Kari picked him up and cradled him in both arms. Gatomon hopped onto her shoulder. "I've must've lost a lot of data," he said, staring up at the white feline. "There's an angel that just perched on your shoulder."
Gatomon expression went half-lidded. "You'll be fine," She spoke bluntly. Black Gatomon grinned, closing his eyes. His tail curled around Kari's arm as she adjusted the bundle in her arms.
The group made for the pathway. Fireworks thumped above them. The festival's culmination poured through the tree canopy in dazzling shafts of multi-colored light. It danced down the length of the cement, almost dictating where to go; back towards the people and the music and the food. Yolei and Davis murmured in awe, watching the colors pulse like a heartbeat. Takeru steered the group using the growing volume of singingas a compass. Kari could barely process anything. Between admitting her feelings for Takeru and the sudden appearance of whatever a Changeling was, her thoughts swam.
Slowly, in the quiet, Kari relaxed. She cradled Black Gatomon. Her mind replayed what happened—seconds in real time, but as minutes in her daydreaming. All-Mother. The serpent-thing seemed obsessed over it—over her. It reminded her of another title, one more distant in memory, but all too real. Queen Kari, she recalled, down to the very pitch of the black Scubamon that uttered it. They too were engrossed with her. Kari mentally shuddered, unnerved by the similarities.
The festival continued as if nothing happened. People sat on their picnic blankets or sat on the benches too mesmerized by the fireworks above. It proved a blessing, for none spared a thought for the teenagers shuffling past them or their strange creatures running at their heel. Kari glanced upwards, catching a bedazzling explosion of pink and roman purple staining the night sky. Vendors packed up during the display, some spending a second to sky gaze before pulling hoses, hauling propane tanks, or spreading ashes for the plants. Kari spied the Matsuki's taking down their stall; the little boy clutched the poster while his parents pried the booth apart by the nails. Soon the group walked into Shinjuku station a couple blocks away.
Yolei exhaled the breath she'd been holding since leaving the park. "You just had to jinx it, eh Takeru?" she said.
"That's not what I had in mind, trust me," Takeru replied. He produced his wallet and pulled out his train pass. "But, I certainly won't forget that."
Ken rubbed his chin. He looked back towards the park and saw the fireworks bursting in the distance. "No one was distracted by the noise?"
Davis shrugged. "Guess we lucked out again," he replied.
"So what happens now?" Cody said. He rested his hand on the pommel of his training sword, eyeing Armadillomon for cuts or bruises.
"We can crash at my parent's apartment above the store, Kari. We've got plenty of bandages and first aid there," Yolei chirped up. "Besides, strength in numbers, right?"
Kari adjusted the injured digimon in her other arm. She nodded at the offer. "Thanks, Yolei. I'll call Tai and let him know what's happened."
"We'll walk you there," Takeru added.
"I'll go home and let Joe and Izzy know what happened." Cody informed.
Cody and Armadillomon bade them farewell. The group continued through the warren of Tokyo Station's hallways until riding the escalator up to their platform. The train to Odaiba had departed fifteen minutes earlier and another car would return in the same time, so the teenagers sat and waited. The platform was deserted. Kari could only hear the steady breathing from her friends and the quiet hum from the vending machines nearby. Takeru, sitting next to her, leaned back, allowing Patamon to settle in his lap.
"How's our friend doing?" he asked, peering at Black Gatomon.
Kari regarded the cat's closed eyes and shallow breathing. The sash around his belly was dry and clean. "I think he'll pull through."
"How about you? You doing alright?"
She nodded. "I'm okay, though I might have whiplash after all of that."
Takeru chuckled. "Tell me about it. We went from saying 'I love you' to fighting a twelve foot-tall serpent. My brother was right, love really is a battle." They both laughed. Gatomon and Patamon dipped their heads in agreement. "Can't imagine what's going to pop out if I asked you to marry me."
Kari's laugh wavered. Despite herself, she played it up. "Imagine the honeymoon."
Takeru's laugh stuttered into a giggle at that. He cleared his throat, cheeks highlighted in a blush. "Yea," he stammered, "Yea."
"If you guys are done over there," Davis interrupted, "We can figure out why that snake-thing was after you, Kari." Him and Veemon sat on their own bench on Kari's side.
Ken placed his hand on his chin. "Or how it got in the Real World." His gaze turned distant, thinking. "Changeling," he muttered, letting the word hang in the air. "Was he a digimon?"
"Nothing I've ever seen," Hawkmon replied. The other digimon offered shrugs or shook their heads. "Most of us have seen our fare share of black Digimon before, and I'd certainly remember something like that."
"What are you thinking, Ken?" Wormmon asked from his seat.
"I'm not sure," Ken replied. He rubbed his chin. "That thing was after Kari, but our friend here thwarted his plans," he said, indicating Black Gatomon. "Yet he attacked anyway, knowing he was outnumbered."
Veemon grunted. "Maybe he thought we were push overs. Serves him right, huh Davish?"
Yolei folded her arms across. "Do you think the Digital World is in trouble?"
None answered her. An unsteady quiet followed. Kari mulled over what the Changeling had said. Was it her connection to the Light, she thought. She remembered how his onyx scales and orange eyes looked so pristine and faultless. Could it have been from the Dark Ocean? Kari looked down at the Black Gatomon's wistful smile, feeling him purr against her arms in content. She hoped he could shed some light on the situation. The platform ringing drew her attention. The train to Odaiba was arriving, the led screen announced. The announcement system chimed again, three times instead of two.
"Attention, attention," the female voice intoned. "The Tokyo Metro will be suspending it's subway and above ground train services for the entire prefecture of Tokyo beginning at eleven in the evening until six the following morning for routine maintenance, when services will resume by seven. During maintenance, all Metro related services will be inactive. We apologize for any inconvenience. We here at Tokyo Metro strive to make your daily commute a special one. Thank you."
"Alert," a more robotic, male voice followed. "Municipal workers report to your transit station hub for assignments. Report any suspicious or anomalous activity to Metropolitan Police. Citizens interfering with authorized personnel will result in punitive,disciplinary action."
Takeru glanced at his digivice. "Looks like we're the last ride," he said.
The train pulled in and the group boarded a single car, finding their own rows. Kari settled in the closest, still holding the sleeping Black Gatomon in both arms. Gatomon hopped onto the seat beside her. Municipal workers draped in their florescent, orange jackets appeared on the platform from the escalators. Two barred the entrances behind them setting heavy, steel gates across the entrances. One woman, shorter than the rest, noticed the group in the car and waved. They reflected the gesture. The train car chimed twice and its doors slid closed. A policeman climbed half-way up the escalator, seeming to inquire on their progress. As Kari felt the train pull away from the station, she wondered why such gates were needed.
"Housecarl," Davis said, leaning back in his seat staring up at the ceiling. He appeared stuck on the word. "What is that, should I be insulted?"
Veemon stood on the seat and looked outside. "Sounds important."
"Sounds condescending," Yolei harrumphed. She splayed her arms out, showing off her lavender Kimono. "Would a Housecarl wear something this brilliant?"
Hawkmon rolled his eyes. "Your taste in fashion aside, Yolei, I too am rather curious about that word." He smiled, or Kari assumed he smiled with a beak. "It sounds like a title."
"An important title," Veemon quipped.
"A Housecarl is a guard," Black Gatomon muttered from Kari's arms. His eyes creaked open, annoyed. "He thought you were protecting the All-Mother."
Gatomon planted her claws on her hips, looking down at the swaddled feline. "Someone's feeling better."
Her counterpart's expression balled into a frown. "I got gored by a fang twice my size," he retorted. Kari felt him slack in her arms. "I'm right as rain."
Kari scratched around his ears much like she would for her house cat, Meeko. "Rest. There will be plenty of time for questions tomorrow."
"Aye," Black Gatomon agreed. He leaned into her scratches. His eyes closed once more, falling asleep.
Gatomon's flat expression seemed less than enthused. "Did he just sass me?" She mumbled.