“From The Sadows”

By

Alex Day

* * *

~~~ Samee's P.O.V. ~~~

Now that I've separated myself from the hold of the Digimon Queen, things have become a bit confusing . . . okay, extremely confusing. I don't even know who I am anymore or where I came from. Apparently my true destiny is to save the digital world, but how can they expect me to save it? I was the one who caused all that damage in the first place! I needed a timeout to gather my thoughts, so I let Sunemon stay with the Digidestined while I left on my own. Although I did figure out quite a bit, I still have a ways to go. I just hope that when I return, Sunemon and the others will find it in their hearts to forgive me.

Moments earlier, the skies of the Digital World had been fairly bright and clear. Now a dense, murky cloud was sweeping across the sky, spreading ominously like some sort of a sign. A sign that danger was approaching. . . .

As the cloud continued its dark blanket over the digital world, it started to cover the sun. All over the world, patches of land were being shrouded in shadow, the plants closing up and turning away from their bright provider and the Digimon gazing at the black thing confused and mystified. The oceans roared violently and rain and hail began to fall, covering the world in a depressingly dank and cold atmosphere.

* * *

In the Digi Palace where the Digidestined friends and their Digimon protectors were sleeping, the cold had hit most bitterly; all of the humans were huddled under their bed covers, trying to stay as warm as they could. Jaymon, Huntermon, Yazumon and Cunomon were also hiding under the bed covers. The thunder scared them (Although, of course, Cuno wasn’t scared, he was “just doing my duty to protect Lexxy!”). On the next breath a fierce clap of thunder rumbled through the skies, and a flash of lightning pierced the air, making Cuno’s eyes go wide and making Nerimon (who had previously sat rather nervously on Alex’s bed) jolt upwards and scramble into the bed covers.

“Hey, this is even worse than England,” Emily muttered to herself, laughing somewhat unenthusiastically and wrapping herself still deeper into her blankets.

Foximon, who was peeking out curiously at the window from her spot on Jenn’s bed, called out, “Shouldn’t someone shut that and stop it getting any colder?” She looked in Tania’s direction.

She promptly grinned in disbelief and exclaimed, “I ain’t the one with the goggles here! Let our leader do it!” Jennifer groaned and got out of her bed, running over to the window and shutting it.

“Hopefully that’ll help warm the room,” she stated, promptly returning to her bed.

“Thank goodness,” Lina said, shivering silently in her bed, “I hate the cold.”

“I don’t get it though, guys,” Erica spoke up. “The storm was so sudden, as if. . . .”

She trailed off her sentence, leaving Pandamon to pick it up by saying, “As if it’s the fault of some new evil thing?” Pandamon’s words hung in the air, all the Digimon and humans silently contemplating how true the statement could be.

“It creeps me out, whatever it is,” Kristina said, breaking the icy silence. “What do you think, Jaymon?” The vibrantly colored Digimon poked her head out from under the bed covers before whimpering at the sound of another shattering thunderclap and squirming back down again. Kristina gave a look of disbelief and said, “So this is my fearless protector, huh?”

The others laughed, but Jenn’s expression became solemn as she turned to the window and saw Sunemon sitting and gazing out of it, seemingly unfazed by the storm or the horribly cold air. Jenn didn’t know how she could have missed noticing her when she closed the window, and wondered what she was thinking about.

Samee’s probably out in that . . . I don’t even know if she’s surviving any of it. Sunemon sighed. She was always strong, but this storm is frightening. . . . Sunemon’s thoughts were interrupted by the sight of a red-haired girl who knelt down beside her, studying her face with interest.

“Samee will be okay, you know,” Jenn told Sunemon, who looked down to the floor and shut her eyes, before looking up again at Jenn.

“How can you be sure?” Sunemon asked the goggle-girl.

“She’s one of the strongest people I’ve ever known,” Jenn answered with a smile. Sunemon turned and continued looking out of the window, clearly unsure as to how Samee would cope with such a storm, and so Jenn offered, “You’re welcome to sleep with Foxi and I if you want . . . you might feel better once you’re warmed up.”

Jenn wasn’t sure how Sunemon would respond. She had somewhat isolated herself from the rest of the group and made no effort to get close to them. For almost all of the time they were at the Digi Palace, the Digimon spent her time peering out of the window, like a dog waiting for its master to return, hoping beyond hope that Samee would return to her.

Turning to face Jenn, Sunemon looked at the red-haired human as if pondering what to say, before answering, “No thanks. I think I’d rather stay here. No offence.” Jenn gave a half-smile and patted Sunemon’s head before leaving to go back to her own bed.

Although it wasn’t usually the time the DigiDestined went to bed, some of the group were sound asleep. The Digi Palace felt very drafty because of the fierce storm raging outside; not only were the beds warm, but a small fireplace crackled with energy in an alcove to the side of the room. The ones that were awake were deep in thought.

“If there is a new evil around, what do you think we should do?” Nerimon asked, somewhat timidly, in a tone that was unusual for his character.

“I guess we should cross that bridge when we come to it,” Lina responded positively.

“Or jump off it, ya mean,” Dani declared rather sharply. “We’ve only just got over the last big evil. Don’t we deserve a break?”

“That’s the hardship of being digital saviors, I guess,” Alex commented. “No rest for the wicked, and all that.”

“Well we don’t have any information about this new evil, so there’s not much we can do at this point, is there?” Lexxy pointed out wisely.

“She’s right. Plus, we couldn’t do much right now anyway, and if it’s a real threat it’ll show itself sooner or later,” Magimon stated.

“I know what you mean . . . but just waiting for trouble to hit us makes me feel awkward,” Cheekomon spoke out. Not long after that the rest settled down to get as much sleep as they could.

* * *

From outside the room where the FDD’s rested, Piximon was quietly listening to the conversation. I hate that they have to stay cooped up here, the small ball Digimon thought to himself. No clues or info to help them fight . . . I wish there were something I could do.

As Piximon lost himself in his thoughts, he became suddenly surprised when the whole of the Digi Palace began to shake violently. Piximon flew into the nearby wall and was thrown from place to place in confusion.

Inside the DigiDestineds’ room the beds shook with an unidentifiable tremor; some Digimon jumped to the floor, ready to battle. Others grabbed on to their partners, huddling in fear. Without warning the room’s window burst open. Sunemon shot backward, hit by the impact of a powerful gust of wind that filled the room and extinguished the fire in a flurry of strength. Almost instantly afterward, all of the lights in the room went out, and the FDD’s were covered in darkness.

“Well . . . that’s what happens when you don’t pay the electric bill,” Skye said with a nervous chuckle. No one had a chance to respond before Piximon flew into the room, checking that everyone was okay in a worried frenzy.

“We’re all okay,” Diratimon told the pixie Digimon, who sighed with relief.

“Speak for yourself,” Cunomon spoke, a crumpled heap in the corner of the room where he had flew as soon as the room began to quiver. “That was painful!” The proud blue dragon got to his feet and ran back over to Lexxy, glad that the immediate danger appeared to be over. This feeling of safety, however, was shattered by the sound of an agonizing scream coming from Piximon. . . .

The FDD’s turned to see that Piximon had been struck down by something that could not be seen or identified. Although it had sounded like an attack, there was no sign of anything having hit him. A moment later evil laughter filled the room, making everyone tense up with fright and nervousness, looking around wildly.

Jennifer and Skye sped to Piximon’s aid, Jenn cradling the injured Digimon in her shaky arms and shielding him from any more danger that could occur. The other FDD’s could feel the evil, terrifying presence all around them. In a split second, the group all decided that their best option was to escape outside, to make sure Piximon was safe from whatever horror lurked inside the Digi Palace.

As the Digidestined and their digital protectors got outside, the storm was starting to die down. The black clouds started swirling and separating, and blinding beams of sunlight shone through onto the world below. Within a few minutes the beaming sunshine had returned, and it seemed as though none of the strange and shocking events had ever happened, that is was all some twisted dream. "Well," started Pandamon, looking left and right. "That was odd."

"Mabey it was that new evil guy?" Jaymon sudgested, as she curiously searched behind some bushes.

Although the FDD’s were confused they finally concluded that as it was the digital world, anything was possible.

Jenn and the other FDD’s looked down at Piximon with sad expressions on their faces.

Crocking, Piximon whispered, “Don’t . . . let . . . it win. . . .”

With a final, breathless cry, Piximon’s body broke into pixilated pieces of data that scattered and disappeared into the crisp, bitter air. With tears in their eyes at the fall of their mentor, the Digidestined made a vow that what ever would happen, and no matter what, they would not let anything stand in their way until the digital world was saved at last.