"Angel Heart"

"aka. The Search for Soda"

by Maria Ruiz

The air was thick and steamy. Although the forest section of Spiral Mountain usually had a temperate climate, the temperature had soared to rainforest levels overnight. And the Digidestined and their Digimon were suffering as a result.

"It's hot!" Whined TK, dragging his feet as he followed the others. "Why'd it get so hot all of a sudden?"

"I don't know, TK, but it's really becoming unbearable." Patamon sighed miserably from where he sprawled on top of TK's green cap, panting. He tried fanning them with his wings every few minutes, but it really did no good moving warm air. It just made Patamon feel even hotter. "I wish there was one of those cold boxes you had at your house around here."

"A refridgerator." TK wiped his forehead with his sleeve. "Man, I really could use a nice soda with some ice in it right now."

"A soda," Kari looked over at TK. "Now there's an idea I could really get behind."

"What's a soda?" Gatomon asked.

Patamon glanced down at her. Despite her thick, glossy fur coat, the heat didn't seem to bother Gatomon at all. Or if it did, she didn't show it. The cat Digimon simply marched steadily along with the others. "It's a sweet water that they have back in their world," Patamon smiled. "TK gave me some in a metal container, but there was also some in a paper container with a long tube... I think it was a Mcdonmon?"

Kari giggled.

"At this point, I'd just be glad to find some water." Tai stared ahead grimly. "Not that it'd do us much good if Puppetmon catches up to us."

TK shook his head at Kari. "I don't know why we're split up this way voluntarily. We spent so much time trying to bring us all together so we'd be strong against our enemies, and now..."

Tai almost stopped, but Sora shook her head firmly at him.

"Oh TK," Kari sighed.

"You know, I'd bet we wouldn't be so sad if we had some soda," Patamon said quietly.

A smile smile on her feline lips, Gatomon turned her eyes towards Patamon and stared. Catching this, Patamon just looked back. He wanted to ask her why she was looking at him that way, but he decided not to bring it up. He could tell that it was meant for him, and him alone. Finally, confused, he blinked his big blue eyes and turned away.

***

That night, the air cooled down slightly, but the kids and their Digimon were still very uncomfortable. They suspected that the bad weather might be part of a plot designed by the Dark Masters, but Tai stood firm. Declaring that a little hot weather wouldn't be enough to wear them out, he stripped as far as the others would allow before yelling at him to stop, then went to bed. Greatful they weren't blinded, the others went to sleep as well.

Except for Patamon.

And Gatomon, who was poking at him.

"Patamon, get up and come with me." She whispered.

"You aren't going to give me much choice, are you?"

"Not really..." Gatomon put her head against his rump and pushed him to his feet. Then she urged him away from the others. When they were hidden behind some bushes, she looked at him. "We're going to go find some soda. That'll really put them in good spirits, which is the last thing the Dark Masters want."

"Are you sure?" Patamon looked back at TK uncertainly. "Maybe we should just stay here, in case something happens."

"Aw, Patamon, nothing's going to happen while we're gone. And besides, Agumon is here with them. Let's go!" With a whip of her long tail, she jumped off into the forest.

"Wait...!" Patamon looked back at TK with a pained expression. Then with a sigh, he ran off after Gatomon. He was much slower on his little plushy legs, so he took to the air.

"Do you have any idea where to find soda?" Patamon asked, finally catching up by flying overhead.

Gatomon paused and sat down. "Hmm. Not really. Don't you? You know about soda, right, Patamon?"

"Well..." Patamon's landed in front of her. "I dunno. I think we should turn back, really."

Gatomon's blue eyes narrowed as she watched him. She recognized that tightlipped expression on his face. It was the same expression she had seen on Angemon many times before during battle. When she knew that he was afraid for TK. She didn't want anything to happen to Kari, either, but she felt that Patamon was sometimes near neurotic when it came to protecting TK. Didn't he know that finding some of that soda stuff would surely lift TK's spirits? She took Patamon by the paw and pulled him along.

"No chickening out on me! Oh c'mon, you lead on!"

"Ouch! Hey, don't scratch me!" Patamon squeaked, as he allowed himself to be hauled off in defeat.

***

"Alright. Maybe if we find a cold place? Soda was usually always cold." Patamon's eyes glittered in the dark. He couldn't tell which direction the kids' were anymore. "There's nowhere around here that's cold, though."

"Then we'll just have to go north." Gatomon declared. "It'd be a lot faster if we could digivolve..."

"We're kinda too far from TK and Kari to digivolve, I think." Patamon flew up to a tree branch. "If we..."

"No." Gatomon shook her head. "We'll do fine close to the ground." She turned and walked north. "I'm sure we'll find something soon."

"Gatomon, what if we don't?" Patamon landed next to her with a weary sigh. He hadn't gotten any sleep, and he was exhausted. "This is a bad idea." His legs gave way, and he sunk to the ground. His bat-like wings hung limp on either side of his head. "I'm tired."

Gatomon frowned. "We'll never find any soda if you have that sort of attitude." Her face softened at his pleading gaze. "Fine, we'll just rest her for a little while." She wouldn't admit it, but she was just as worn out from the day before. She cuddled in next to Patamon. "We'll get some soda back to them though, you'll see."

Very doubtful of it, Patamon just closed his eyes. She was warm, but he didn't mind, even if the night air was on the hot side. He snuggled up to the curled up cat Digimon. Then he realized that he was feeling something strange. It was very similar to what he felt when he was TK, but different somehow. He tried to examine the sensation for a moment, then became too caught up in it to care. He simply let himself fall into it, savoring the emotion like honey.

Patamon was too far gone to sleep to feel Gatomon's long tail curl itself around him.

***

When Patamon awoke, he felt an icy wind ruffling through his fur and his wings. He slowly turned his head to the side and opened his eyes. "C-Cold..." Patamon attempted to focus his eyes, but there was nothing to see. And there was nothing beneath his feet. "Cold! WAH!"

"Patamon, I think we're in trouble," Gatomon's wavering voice was coming from somewhere next to him. By stretching his nearly non-existant neck as far as he could, he could see her floating there with him. No, she wasn't floating...

"Oh dear..." Patamon jumped in fear. Except he couldn't really jump, or move, at all. Gatomon and Patamon were in the grips of two talons belonging to a big, ugly, Freakimon. For the most part, and the worst part, a Freakimon was nothing more than a giant set of teeth with wings and claws.

"It must have gotten us while we were asleep!" Gatomon hissed. "I knew we shouldn't have stopped!"

"Hey, don't look at me!" Patamon cried. "This wouldn't have had a chance to happen at all if we hadn't wandered away from the others!" He squeaked. "Oh no, what if TK's been hurt!" He began to squirm uselessly.

"Grr...well, arguing isn't going to do us any good." Gatomon shifted her eyes up to the giant set of sharp teeth. "We need to do something before we end up as digisnacks!"

Since he couldn't possibly compete with it physically, Patamon decided to try diplomacy with the Freakimon. "Umm... Mr. Freakimon, Sir, I'm sure you must be hungry, but did you know that Gatomons and Patamons are very bad for you? We're high in fat and cholesterol! You eat us, and you'll be a heart attack waiting to happen!"

The giant teeth clacked sharply. "I don't have a heart," the Freakimon screamed.

Patamon's fur stood on end, and was silenced in terror.

Meanwhile, Gatomon cringed, with her paws over her ears. "Oh Gawd! Freakimon has the worst voice I've ever heard! Enough with the talk, I'm getting us out of here, now!" And she bit down on Freakimon's claw as hard as she could.

Which resulted in Freakimon letting her go. She tried to jump onto the Freakimon, but she fell faster than she expected. Patamon was nearly deafened by the Freakimon's screech of pain, so he didn't hear Gatomon's screams as she went falling into the endless abyss below. Then he looked down and saw the feline tumbling ever further out of sight.

"Gatomon!" Patamon cried, tears in his eyes as he watched his friend disappear.

There was a bright flash of light. Freakimon screeched again, setting Patamon's fur ablaze with white fire... Wait, that isn't right, Patamon thought to himself. Then it hit him. He was digivolving!

"Patamon digivolve to...Angemon!" Everything became clear. Angemon exploded from Freakimon's grasp, sending the evil Digimon flying out into space in several pieces. Angemon didn't even bother to look back.

Downward and downward he went, zeroing in on where he had last seen Gatomon falling. In the deep cold nothingness, it was becoming difficult for Angemon to tell which end was up. His jaw clenched in fear and anger.

"Why can't I find her?" Angemon let his wings go slack behind him. He needed to be faster! No longer flying, Angemon shot down into the nothingness like a comet. He spiraled deeper and deeper down. "Gatomon! Where are you!?"

"Angemon?"

Through the hazy mists below, Angemon saw the glint of yellow metal. It was the coins on Gatomon's tail! In one movement, he pulled out of his dive and floated the rest of the way with his wings spread. He found Gatomon clinging to the side of a large rock floating there in the abyss. She had her eyes tightly shut.

"Gatomon!" Angemon quickly flew over to her and gathered her trembling form into his arms. Her almond eyes opened. They were a bit unfocused.

"Angemon? But how...?"

They drifted up into the air, as if carried by an imaginary air current. "I don't know. It just happened after you fell. Good thing I did digivolve though." Angemon smiled. "Are you alright?"

"Thanks to you..." Gatomon grinned. "I suppose I shouldn't question miracles, huh?" Being careful of her claws, she crawled up Angemon's shoulder, and slid beneath his hair. Her whiskers against his neck tickled Angemon a little, and the corner of his mouth twitched upwards. He tried not to giggle.

Gatomon was momentarily tempted to stay within the soft lovely locks of hair. Then she felt foolish for thinking of such a thing, especially with the situation they were in. She nudged her way though the other side, and perched over his shoulder, resting her gloved paws over his chest. Her long striped tail remained wrapped around Angemon's neck, and the end curled against his chest. "Nice view from here," she noted. "Wherever here is..."

"It looks like this place goes on forever." Angemon gazed out across the dark mists of the abyss. "Is this still the Digital World?"

"I think so..." Gatomon slid her tail tighter against him. "I've never seen this place before, but I think it's the end of the world. This is where boundaries end in both the real and the digi world. I don't know if it's easy to reach in the real world, but it's only spoken of in myth in ours. And I've only heard of it because Myotismon confided it to me once."

"Really?" Angemon turned his face towards her. Gatomon rarely spoke of Myotismon, or the time she spent as his servant. He wasn't really sure what her life had been like before she switched over to the good s ide, but he was pretty sure it hadn't been pleasant. Sometimes he could see the shadows deep in her eyes when she thought she was alone. Or when she spoke of Myotismon. He could see it at that moment, and it pained him.

"Yes." Gatomon replied. "Myotismon was always fascinated with the idea of other worlds. It was his obsession. He was never satisfied with the idea of ruling the Digiworld alone. He wanted to control all worlds. He quested all over the digiworld seeking the answers to the great mysteries of our world. He gathered up followers along the way. Those who refused to follow him were destroyed."

"That's how he found you," Angemon said quietly.

"Right." Gatomon's ears drooped slightly. "I hated him. But I was so full of rage at being alone and confused, that I allowed him to give me an outlet to take out all my pain on whatever evil he wanted me to do. I had no one to turn to. I had no purpose. So I turned to his wishes, making his purpose my own. I fooled myself into thinking that was what I was meant for all along..."

Angemon slowly drifted up the rock face. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

"No," Gatomon shook her head. "I want to tell you. Who else am I going to tell? Kari's too young to understand, and I wouldn't want her to experience any of the kind of pain I went though. She's very sensitive like that, you know."

Angemon nodded.

"And Wizardmon...well." Gatomon bit her tears back. "You're the only one I can really talk to."

"I'm glad." Angemon smiled. "Before you came along, TK was the only one I had to talk to. The other Digimon tend to ignore me. Before I digivolved, it was because I was so small and insignificant... It's not that they meant badly. They're my friends. But as Patamon, I am small, and when it comes to protecting the children, I'm not very helpful."

Gatomon saw his smile wane. "Patam--Angemon, of all the digimon I know, you have the biggest heart, no matter what your form. How could you have possibly seen yourself as insignificant?"

"Because I was." Angemon turned his gaze what he assumed was skyward. The rock wall seemed to rise up forever. "Then, after I became Angemon, I finally felt as though I fit. I could protect TK just as well as the other digimon, if not better. But I was wrong, I didn't fit. Now the others tend to be apart from me. It's like they're unsure of who I really am. Not always, but sometimes I think they're a little afraid of me. You're not afraid of me though." Angemon met Gatomon's look. "You don't know how glad I was to meet someone else like myself. I guess it's like what TK said about being happy to have someone else his own age around when Kari joined us."

Gatomon smiled. "I'll bet I was happier about it than you were." She glanced back down to the abyss below. She squinted her eyes down, trying to find a bottom with no luck. "Anyway, during my delusional period, I became one of Myotismon's closest servants. I was one of those he confided in when he felt like a good mad rave, and the sort. One time, he told me that the reason he knew that other worlds existed was because he was sure he had come from another world beyond the digiworld. Myotismon told me that the first memory he had was of pulling his torn and bleeding body out of the black abyss at the very edge of the digiworld. He said that he had since discovered that the abyss is the boundry between the digiworld and all other worlds. Possibly even the place where deleted digimon must pass through before they can be re-born in Primary Village." She flicked the tip of her tail uneasily. "I wasn't sure if he was just nuts or what. I simply accepted it at the time for his sake. But now, looking at all this...well, where else could we be?"

"There are stranger things in heaven and the digiworld than we can imagine," Angemon murmured almost to himself.

"That brings up another unpleasant thought," Gatomon said worriedly. "If we're here, does that mean we've been deleted?"

Angemon shook his head. "I don't think so."

"How can you be so sure? Have you ever been deleted?" Gatomon asked with a strong touch of sarcasm.

"Yes, I have."

"What?" Gatomon recoiled in shock. "You can't be seri-"

"Well, however we ended up in this place, I hope the kids are okay." Angemon abruptly changed the subject. "I wonder how long we've been out here."

"This is all my fault," Gatomon put her head on her paws sadly. "If I hadn't insisted we find soda, this wouldn't have happened."

"You didn't know this would happen..." Angemon flew faster up and up. "You just wanted to do something nice for the kids. I shouldn't have insisted on stopping in the middle of nowhere. I'm really to blame for this mess."

"Okay, so we both screwed up big time," Gatomon sighed. She glanced down over Angemon's wings. "Hey, just don't de-digivolve, or sprain a wing. That's one heck of a drop."

"Good news, I think I see the end of this cliff." Angemon soared even higher. "There may actually be some solid ground in this place." As he spoke, they finally reached the top of the rock. Over the edge, there was an expanse of rocky ground that reached far beyond the dark mists. Angemon landed cautiously.

"There's nothing here," Gatomon whispered in his ear. She wasn't sure why she was whispering now. Perhaps it was the spooky atmosphere on the surface of the rock. As if...

"We're being watched," Angemon said quietly. "I can feel it."

"Freakimon?"

"No chance after what I did to him...there's something else out there. I don't see anything though." Angemon started walking across the rock, watching their dark surroundings very carefully.

"This place makes my whiskers tingle," Gatomon shuddered. "I hope we aren't far from the exit."

***

"Gatomon?"

Kari checked behind the berry bushes one more time. "Gatomon, where are you?" She moved around with her head down, since the bushes had scratchy leaves. Gatomon usually wasn't tall enough to make Kari have to look up to find her anyway. Then she hit her head hard on something. "OW!" She fell backwards out of the bushes. "Gatomon?"

A head of messy yellow hair tangled with scratchy leaves popped out of the bushes. TK's blue eyes were watering. "I can't find Patamon!"

"You too?" Kari clasped her hands together. "When I woke up this morning, Gatomon was gone! I can't find her anywhere!"

"Patamon and Gatomon are missing?" Tai stepped up behind her. He glanced over the area quickly before turning back to the others who were still waking up. "Did anyone see Patamon or Gatomon this morning?"

"I haven't seen them since last night," Palmon yawned. "It's still early though. Are you sure they're really missing?"