Note: I get my influence from Travis and Scorch, the two sick-minded dragons, and of course, my Lava Lamp. Long Live the Green One!
I do not own Digimon, they are owned by Bandai or Toei, although I wish they could make some Plushies.... Oh, yeah, the characters, in my story everyone except for Joe, Kari and T.K., is 14, Joe is 15, T.K. and Kari are 10. Other than that I hope you enjoy!!

Mistress

By: Zoshi the Confused

They were walking by a river. It gurgled happily as its blue waters flowed over rocks and ditches in the riverbed. The sun had come out and, birds, it seems, were flying about. The trees were full of fruit and flowers. But no one noticed these things. They were too intent on trying to figure out how to escape from this paradise.

"We have to get out. It seems that this paradise of sorts is really an elaborate hoax to capture us again," Izzy said pointedly, gazing up at the clear blue sky.

"You're right, this is too good to be true," Tai said as a blue 'bird' flew down and landed on his closed fist. Chirping, it looked him in the face, and he thought he saw a flash in its eyes. With a happy chirple it took off and made figure eights in the sky.

"This place is so nice; it gives me the creeps," Sora said with a shiver. The others looked around, the oasis they had held as a miracle turning into a trap that could be their end.

"Come on guys, let's go," Tai said, heading off in the general direction of where they had come from. The others followed, gazing around and wondering who would make a trap like this just for them. T.K. ran ahead, playing tag with Patomon while he could. He had only run a few feet when he slammed into something. The others saw it as him slamming into an invisible something. He stood for a second, and then fell on his back.

"T.K., are you alright?" Matt asked as he hurried over to his brother.

"I'm okay," T.K. said, getting back up and gazing forward. He reached out a hand, which was stopped after a few inches, "Wow, cool!"

"This is very interesting," Izzy said, sitting down and typing on his computer. After a few seconds he continued, "It seems that there is a force field extended all around this place. There isn't any way out, not even through air."

"Then we can blast through," Tai said, turning to the invisible wall.

"Well, no. First of all it would probably be impossible to blast through that wall, and secondly, it is reflective from the inside, meaning that any attack that we send would come back at us."

"Someone really took the time for this one," Matt said, looking back at the garden they had the intention of leaving.

"It took much time."

A cold, sinister voice reached them. They turned around to look eye-to-eye with a cold darkness. That's what it was. A black cloud that could only be discerned from anything else by the red, oval points of light that hung in its dark mass. It seemed to suddenly become anemic, swirling around an invisible rod to come to the form of a person. A black haired youth stood before them, his eyes still red and containing malevolence that sent a shock through each of them. A smug smile crossed his lips, and he waved a hand at the garden behind him.

"Welcome to my little part of Paradise," he said, his voice, though cold, containing a hint of wicked laughter.

"And what do you want from us," Tai said, stepping forward.

"What everyone seems to want," he said, giving Tai a piercing look that sent tendrils of cold racing through his body. Tai stepped back, surprise clearly on his face, "I am Transomon, and this is my garden. Why do you want to leave, digidestined? You can have such a wonderful life in here, no worries, no problems."

"I'm sorry, we're the digidestined, problems seem to follow us around," Matt said sardonically, rolling his eyes.

"It will not follow you here," Transomon said, and the kids looked up at him sharply. He continued, "This is a place of peace, a solace to your lives of fighting and running. Just come with me and everything will be alright."

"No way," Tai said, giving him an angry look, "We're not going to come and give up on our worlds just because of some stupid garden of paradise."

"Yeah, we're needed," Sora said, "There are lives depending on us."

"Oh, fools, you really need some heavy persuading, don't you?" Transomon drew back one hand, which started to glow with a blue fire, "some call me impatient, but I like to think I'm opportunistic. And this is one opportunity I won't give up! Blazing Dragons!"

He thrust his hand forward, and the blue flames split to form three dragon-like auras. They flew forward toward the digidestined, who could do nothing. Just as the dragons were about to reach them, they hit an invisible barrier, and flamed outwards and away.

"What? Who dares interfere?" Transomon thundered, his red eyes blazing with anger.

"These are not yours to destroy, Transomon," a cool, female, voice said. A gray vortex appeared where the dragons had burst around. It was soon blown away by a pair of steadily flapping black wings, their feathers glistening like knives in the sun. They were attached to the back of a hooded figure, who was no doubt a female person. On her legs were metallic boots of spiked metal, made of a silver material run through with a tattoo of black. Her right hand, from the shoulder down, was metal, the same like her boots. The black lines on her arm formed a tapestry of sorts on the silver metal. Her fingers were in fact flexible claws. Her hood was a silverish gray, and the rest of her outfit a dark gray.

"Mistress," Transomon said, with an annoyed tone, "And what makes you think I am not to destroy them?"

"I am here, therefore it would be fatal for you to even try to get rid of them," Mistress said, matter-of-factly, and Sora thought that she recognized that voice, vaguely. Matt looked at her a bit closer, trying to figure out if he knew that voice, and even Tai looked like he recognized that voice.

"Oh, I pity you," Transomon said, a meeting before telling him she would be easy to defeat. Raising his hand, he shot another Blazing Dragon at her. Calmly, she lifted her metallic hand and grabbed the blue-fire dragon. She brought it to her hooded head for closer inspection, then shot it out, suddenly, back at him. He was too surprised to move, and the shot hit him dead-on. He rocked back with the impact, then looked up at her.

"It seems that you are intent, Mistress," he said, then gave a low bow, "Fine then, have your digidestined, but I will get them one day, that is a promise."

With those last words he transformed back into a black cloud, and blew away with a cold wind. Mistress hung in the air, her black wings wafting slowly. For the first time they could see that she seemed sad, almost melancholy. The aura that hung around her gave them a sense of both good and evil, a comfortable feeling that let them feel both sides and experience none.

"Mistress," Sora said, almost forcefully, "Who are you? You're not a digimon, then who are you?"

"Heh, do you really want to know who I am," Mistress said, bowing her head as she laughed quietly, "Are you so sure you want to know who I am?"

"It'd be nice, considering we already met you somewhere," Matt said, trying to force her to tell them.

"Yes…already met somewhere," she said, sadness in her voice, "Might as well let you know."

She turned around to face them. Looking at them she reached up with her metal hand to pull back the gray hood. Dark chestnut curls bounded from beneath a silver/gray helmet that sat on her head. It covered half of her face, leaving the other half open. One brown eye regarded them solemnly, and the other shone from a hole in the helmet with a green light. She gave them a weak smile as they all gazed in shock at a girl they all, at one time or another, had called a friend.

"Caley, but…how?" Sora asked, her eyes darkening. Caley gave her a sad smile, but said nothing, the scene of all her friends standing there not allowing her to.

"You…moved," Matt said. He had been the last one to see her before she left, "You moved."

"It's a kind of moving," she said, shrugging her shoulders sadly.

"You moved, but you moved on." Matt said again, a hint of anger in his voice. Caley gazed at him sadly, her eyes reflecting a cold light.

"No, I didn't move on. That's why I'm here. Because I didn't want to move on," she said, trying to explain, "I got taken here because I decided that responsibility was too much, that having to live my life was too much."

"Who sent you?" Tai asked, looking at her closely. She had changed since the last time he had seen her, but that was to be expected. It had been three years since he saw her.

"The Ones. They're not from the Digiworld, they're from a different dimension. They sent me here for punishment," she said, sighing. Suddenly a gong sounded out from the distance, and she looked toward its source. Squinting her eyes she tried to see what had caused the alarm, "I need to go now, they are calling me back. Farewell Digidestined, good luck to you on your journey, maybe we'll meet again."

With those words the gray cloud formed again. This time as it whirled around her the only things that stayed intact were her wings. The cloud disappeared to reveal a black griffon with metal claws and glowing green eyes. With a griffon's roar she reared in the sky and flew off, her speed so great that she was gone in a matter of seconds. They looked after her, wondering why it had happened to her. Why had a human been dragged into the digiworld to serve as a messenger to a higher power? But their questions went unanswered, and the sun sank to the ground.

The END

E-mail anyone? Go ahead, I don't bite.... Usually. e-mail me at Zoshitheconfused@yahoo.com. Anything will be gladly accepted. Except for viruses, other than that I'll except. Yeah, and pics of Twix will get you an extra credit ;-)