Disclaimer: I do not own the Unico manga/anime movies or any of its characters. No profit is being made from this story.
The West Wind gazed down intently at the forest canopy far below as she soared high overhead, the tiny sleeping form of Unico held firmly but gently in her arms.
"Poor Unico" she said softly as she looked at the little unicorn, her blue eyes filled with sadness. "Twice now you have found friends that loved you and twice you have been forced to leave them. It is not right that you should have to live this way, in fear and in hiding, not when everything you have done has been to help others."
She looked down at the forest below. "This land is distant. Perhaps here you will at last be safe from the gods" she said.
Even as she spoke the words she secretly doubted them. Wherever Unico went he would always help others and bring happiness into their lives, thus drawing the gods' attention to him and forcing him to leave, breaking the hearts of the new friends he had made.
But at the very least I must try she thought. The only other choice is to let Unico be sent to the Hill of Oblivion and I will not allow that to happen.
The West Wind flew downwards, descending below the forest canopy and flitting between the trees so that the branches were tossed and leaves rustled in her wake. Finally she came to a stop and placed the sleeping Unico on the grassy ground.
"I will leave you here Unico. The gods have always seemed to shy away from this land before. Perhaps they will continue to do so now and thus leave you in peace. I pray that it will be so" she said tenderly. "Good bye Unico."
With that she flew upwards and disappeared from sight, leaving only a few windswept leaves to indicate that she had ever been there.
Soon afterwards Unico stirred and opened his eyes. "Where am I now?" he wondered as he looked around. "Hello is there anybody here?" he called.
For a moment there was no reply. Then the sound of rustling leaves reached his ears.
A strange bipedal creature emerged from the undergrowth in front of Unico. Upon seeing the tiny unicorn he stopped and stared at him.
Unico looked back curiously. The creature had a large green belly button, a small black nose, brown skin and a long tail that ended in a sharp point. A mass of long black hair trailed down his back and over his face, concealing his eyes. Had Unico possessed all of his memories he would have recognised the creature as a devil, like Beezle.
Something about him seemed oddly familiar and a name suddenly occurred to Unico but an instant later and he had forgotten it. He smiled at the stranger and said, "Hello my name is Unico."
"I don't care what you're name is" he snapped. "I don't have time to sit around talking."
With that he walked past Unico and continued on his way. Unico hurried after him.
"Wait, I just want to be friends" he said.
"I said before I don't have time for this. I need to get to Devil's Rock."
"That's okay; I'll come with you so we can both go there" said Unico cheerily.
The devil started to snap at him again but then stopped. I'll play along with the little annoyance. When we get to Devil's Rock I'll ditch him there he thought.
"Sure, I'll let you tag along."
"Yay!" Unco exclaimed happily. "I made a new friend!"
"Yeah sure" the devil replied with a small, insincere smile. "Anyway, let's keep going. Oh my name's Mephist by the way."
"Okay" said Unico as he trotted after Mephist happily. "Why are we going to Devil's Rock?"
"It's a tradition among devils. Every fifty years we go there to gather. It's supposed to bring good fortune."
"Oh that's nice" said Unico. "That means there'll be lots of new friends there."
"That's right" Mephist replied. And I'll offload you on one of them while I sneak off he thought sneakily as they continued on their way.
In another land, a giant black bird was standing besides a small cottage. On its back there were a small blue devil with brown hair and a single white horn, and a pretty girl with black hair and green eyes wearing an orange-pink dress with a white apron and with a red ribbon tied into her hair. They were Unico's friends Beezle the devil of solitude and Katy, a kitten turned into a human by Unico.
An elderly woman, Katy's adoptive grandmother, stood next to the giant bird and smiled up at the two of them. "I hope that you have a very good time" she said.
"We will Granny" replied Katy. "Don't worry, we'll be back soon."
"Yeah I'll keep Katy out of trouble" Beezle added, earning him an annoyed look from Katy.
The old woman chuckled. "Take care both of you."
The bird began to beat its wings and lifted into the air. Just a few minutes later they were flying through the skies high overhead.
"So Beezle, why are we going to this Devil's Rock place?" Katy asked.
She had just been returning to the cottage from gathering water when the giant bird, easily as big as the cottage, had descended from the sky, startling her. Beezle had quickly rushed over and explained to her that it was a devil bird that had come to pick him up for a short visit to a place called Devil's Rock. He had then asked if she would come too. After her grandmother had assured her that she would be fine without them for a little while she had agreed to come.
"Well devils are usually solitary but every fifty years we meet up at Devil's Rock" he explained. "It's said to bring us good luck and help our wishes come true. I thought maybe if we went there it might bring Unico back. I know it's stupid but…"
"It's not stupid at all" she interrupted him. "You miss Unico as much as I do. If there's any chance at all that this might help then we should try it."
"Yeah well I guess it can't hurt at least" he muttered. "Anyway there's no rule saying we can't bring anyone else along too so I thought if we both went there'd be twice as much chance of Unico coming back."
"That's good thinking" she congratulated him. "What are we waiting for, let's go!"
"Yeah" Beezle agreed, feeling a renewed sense of enthusiasm.
The devil bird carrying them cawed in reply and beat its wings faster.
"Well here we are, Devil's Rock" said Mephist as they emerged from the forest and stood at the top of a tall hill. Unico stared at the sight below him in amazement.
Devil's Rock was a giant rock formation the size of a castle. In front of it, at the bottom of the hill on which they now stood, there was a large crowd of devils, all of whom looked much like Mephist except for their colours being different. As he caught sight of a blue-skinned devil Unico again felt a sense of familiarity but again it passed.
"Let's go down and say hello" he said excitedly.
"Yeah about that… Unico mind if I ask you a favour?"
"Sure, friends always help each other" he replied.
"Right, well would you mind waiting here for a bit? There's someone down there I need to go and talk to" Mephist lied. "I haven't seen him for a really long while and there's some stuff I need to talk to him about privately."
"I understand" Unico said. "I'll wait here while you talk to your friend."
Mephist gave the same insincere smile he had before. "Thanks. Don't worry I won't be long."
"Okay bye, see you soon" Unico said cheerfully.
Sucker he thought meanly as he climbed down the hill.
Unico patiently waited at the top of the hill for his new friend to return. An hour passed and still he waited.
That's funny I didn't think he'd be this long talking to his friend he thought. I hope that nothing bad has happened. Maybe I should go and look for him just in case. No I promised that I'd wait here. But if something has happened then…
As Unico was wondering what to do he heard the leaves behind him rustle and turned to see a blue devil and a human girl with a red ribbon in her hair appear from the foliage behind him.
"Hello, I'm Unico." he said brightly. "It's nice to meet you."
Katy and Beezle stared at him in disbelief for a moment. And then they both rushed towards him and hugged him tightly.
"Oh Unico I've missed you so much" said Katy as tears streamed down her face.
"Blazing Brimstone, I knew we'd see you again" Beezle added as he playfully brought his fists down on Unico's head much as he had done on their first reunion.
"Um, I'm sorry, I don't think we've met before" said a confused Unico.
The two of them let go and moved back slightly, looking at him in surprise.
The West Wind was flying high above the earth, seeking out another possible refuge for Unico should the gods find him again when a sudden familiar feeling came over her. She knew at once that Unico was in danger. While she could not sense every time he was in trouble she always knew when a divine or semi-divine entity had its attention on him.
Impossible she thought. They couldn't have found him already…
But almost immediately she realised that what she had sensed was neither the gods nor the Night Wind. It felt different somehow although she was not sure how. She was certain though that the presence she felt, whatever it was, meant the little unicorn harm.
The West Wind immediately turned and flew back towards the site where she had left Unico as fast as she could go. Hold on Unico she thought.
Beezle and Katy stared at their friend, not quite believing what they had heard.
"Unico it's us" Katy said, her voice trembling slightly. "We're your friends, don't you remember?"
"Yeah, you can't have just forgotten about us" Beezle yelled, trying to hide his hurt at Unico's reaction with anger.
The little unicorn started to reply but then stopped as he experienced the same feeling of familiarity. This time however it was far stronger and did not pass as it had before. Two names suddenly came to him and he said;
"Beezle… Katy."
"Yes that's right" Katy replied, a smile returning to her face and her voice filling with hope. "Unico, you do remember us!"
"No… I don't" he replied sadly. "I mean both of you are familiar. I know your names and I know we've met before but I can't remember anything else."
Katy's face fell again and Beezle clenched his fist in anger. That lady that took Unico away, I bet this is her fault. She did something to him to make him forget about us he thought bitterly.
Before anyone could say anything else there was a sudden rumbling noise. The three of them looked towards Devil's Rock to see that it was shaking, sending small pebbles tumbling down its sides.
The devils gathered before the rock started to back away nervously as the rock face started to crack and split apart. A thick cloud of green-grey smoke hissed forth from the fissures.
Immediately the devils recoiled away from the smoke but some of them weren't quick enough, Mephist included, and it engulfed them just before it dissipated. Their bodies turned completely white and dissolved into powder.
Unico, Katy and Beezle stared in horror as the entirety of Devil's Rock crumbled and disintegrated to reveal a monstrous creature.
He was huge, easily as big as Devil's Rock itself had been. His body was humanoid, with dark greenish-black skin, leathery, dragon-like wings and a ridge of spikes running down his back. A large maw filled with teeth like stalactites was set beneath two sulphurous yellow eyes. Most horrible of all, his skin was covered in numerous tentacles that continually writhed and twisted like a mass of worms.
As he saw the giant creature towering over them Unico had a sudden mental image of facing a similar monster alongside Beezle and Katy.
"At last, after all these years I am free" the monster roared in a booming voice like thunder. "Typhon is free!"
The assembled devils all panicked and began to flee in all directions. Typhon laughed mockingly as he looked down at them.
"Foolish devils" he said. "You thought you came here in hopes of seeing your wishes granted but each time you did so I fed upon your greedy, selfish thoughts until I had the power to break free of my cage. Now you are of no further use to me. So you shall all be destroyed!"
"Leave them alone!"
Typhon looked up to see who had spoken. At the top of a hill Unico stood firm with a determined look on his face. On either side of him there stood Katy and Beezle. Both of them were afraid but determined to not let Unico face such a monstrous creature alone.
"If you care so much for these wretched devils then you can share their fight" Typhon roared. With that he leaned back and then thrust his head forwards. His jaws opened wide and a stream of deadly toxic vapours blasted forth aimed directly at Unico and his friends!
Just as the vapours were about to engulf them a sudden gust of wind blew the poisonous gases away. Katy's dress and hair billowed in the wind as did Beezle and Unico's manes. The sparkling figure of the West Wind materialised in front of the three friends with her arms spread wide as a vortex whirled around the group, preventing the gas from reaching them.
"West Wind" said Unico happily.
The wind spirit faced Typhon calmly and said, "leave them be. They have done nothing to you."
He sneered. "I suppose I do have more important things to do than squashing insects. It is time for a reckoning with the gods."
Typhon spread his massive wings and took to the air. For a moment the area turned dark as he blotted out the sun. Then the light returned as he flew away and soon disappeared into the distance.
By now all of the other devils had fled, leaving only Unico and his friends. The West Wind turned to him.
"Are you all right Unico?"
He smiled. "I'm fine. Thank you for saving us West Wind."
"Yes thank you" Katy agreed.
Beezle folded his arms and frowned. "Yeah thanks for saving us but I'm still mad at you for taking Unico away from us."
Katy's eyes widened. "What?"
"Wait!" Unico cried as he spun around to face the two of them. "Please don't be mad at the West Wind. She's my friend."
"We're your friends!" Beezle exclaimed. "Why don't you remember us?"
Before Unico could answer the West Wind reached out and gently touched his forehead. It glowed brightly for a moment and as the light faded Unico's eyes brightened.
"Beezle, Katy, I remember now! I remember everything" he cried happily.
Again Katy and Beezle hugged him tightly, all three of them laughing in joy.
"Unico, I never gave up hope we'd see you again" said Katy as she started crying tears of happiness again.
"Me neither" added Beezle.
The West Wind smiled as she watched the friends' reunion. When they had finally calmed down somewhat she spoke.
"I apologise Unico. When I took you away I veiled your memory of the friends you had made. I thought it would be easier for you that way."
"But why did you have to take him away at all?" Katy asked.
The West Wind told them the whole story of how the gods had grown jealous of Unico and the happiness he brought to others. Of how she had been ordered to take him to the Hill of Oblivion but had instead taken him to Beezle's island and how the gods had sent the Night Wind to perform the task that she would not.
When she had finished her tale Beezle was fuming. "Those darned gods! How could they do something like that to Unico?"
Katy was just as angry. "That's right. All Unico wants is to help people be happy and they hate him for that? They're horrible."
Then something occurred to her. "Wait, you aren't here to take Unico away again are you?" she anxiously asked the West Wind.
"No Katy. I came when I sensed that Typhon had been released" she replied. "I knew that he threatened Unico."
"Hey what was that thing anyway?" Beezle asked.
"Typhon is the last of the titans, an ancient race of beings that ruled this world long ago." the West Wind explained. "The gods overthrew them when first coming to power. Now that he has been freed from his imprisonment he will take his revenge upon them. Even as we speak he is on his way to Olympus."
"But they defeated him before didn't they?" Katy asked.
"That was very long ago when the gods power was at its height" she replied. "Over the centuries they have grown decadent and their powers have faded. They will be no match for Typhon."
Beezle snorted. "Well good riddance. After what they did to Unico they deserve what they get. I say we just sit back and leave them to it."
"Beezle's right" said Katy. "Then Unico can stay with us."
"No" said Unico firmly. "We can't just leave them. Katy, Beezle, I know what the gods did was wrong but we can't just let them be destroyed. If they hadn't told the West Wind to take me to the Hill of Oblivion then we wouldn't even have met and become friends."
Katy smiled warmly. "Oh Unico" she said as she hugged him again. "You're so kind you'd help anyone in trouble."
Beezle joined in the hug. "Well if you're going then I'm going too" he said. "I'm not letting my friend go up against that monster alone."
"I'm coming too" said Katy.
Unico started to protest that it was too dangerous but one look at his friends faces and the words he had meant to say were forgotten. Instead he smiled. "Oh Katy, Beexle, thank you" he said.
He turned to the West Wind. "Can you take us to where the gods are?"
She hesitated, torn between wanting to keep Unico safe and knowing that he would never willingly abandon anyone in need. Finally she replied "very well Unico"
"Well what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Beezle exclaimed.
The West Wind scooped the three of them up and held them close to her as she rose into the air and flew away.
Among the clouds, far above the Earth, on Olympus the gods huddled together trembling in fear. All around them lay the shattered remains of once-majestic marble pillars and foul vapours defiled the formerly pristine white clouds.
With terrified eyes they stared at the scene in front of them. A handful of their fellow gods lay scattered around groaning weakly in pain. These were the ones who had tried to fight the vengeful titan when he had first arrived. Before them there stood the towering figure of Typhon. His triumphant laughter rang all around Olympus.
"Spare us! Please spare us" one of the gods wailed.
"Spare you? Of course I will spare you" he replied. "I have no intention of killing any of you. No, death would be far too easy. You deserve much worse for sealing me away."
"Leave them alone!"
The gods stared at each other in surprise. "That was Unico's voice" one of them said.
Typhon turned to see the West Wind emerge from the clouds carrying Unico, Beezle and Katy. He immediately breathed out a torrent of poison gas but the West Wind dispersed it with powerful gusts of wind as she had done before.
"You insects should have stayed away" Typhon bellowed. "Now you will all die!"
The West Wind set the three friends down upon the cloudy surface. At once Unico leapt into the air as gauzy wings sprouted from his back and his horn grew longer, becoming a fearsome weapon. He flew towards Typhon with Beezle running right behind him.
"Let's get him Unico!" Beezle yelled.
As her friends charged the titan Katy ran over to the downed gods and began helping them up. "Hold on, help is here" she said reassuringly as she guided them over to their fellows. "Take cover behind these pillars" she said.
The injured gods did as she said. She turned to one that was unhurt. "Can you do anything to help them?"
"Yes, I can heal their wounds" he replied. He crouched next to the most seriously injured of his fellow gods and placed his hands to his injuries. A white light shone and they began to heal.
"I don't understand. Why is Unico helping us?" asked another one of the gods. "Shouldn't he want Typhon to destroy us?"
Katy glared at him. "Unico doesn't want anyone to get hurt, including you" she exclaimed. "He's the kindest and most caring person I've ever met. Even after what you did to him he's still risking his life to help you because that's who he is."
The gods looked at each other in astonishment at her words.
Meanwhile Unico was zipping around Typhon's head. The titan roared angrily as he swiped at the little unicorn with his huge hands but Unico evaded each attack.
"That's it Unico, keep him distracted" muttered Beezle as he raised a finger and twirled it around. "Lightning, get him!" Beezle yelled.
A miniature thundercloud formed around him as he pointed his finger at Typhon. "Let me show you what the Devil of Solitude can do! I've been working on this!"
Bolts of lightning flew from his fingertip, bigger than those he had used against the Baron, and struck the titan directly in the chest, sending electricity flickering over his body. But he did not react with even a twitch.
"Insignificant devil! Your weak powers insult me" Typhon roared. He raised a giant hand and slammed it down.
"BEEZLE!" Unico and Katy cried simultaneously.
Thankfully their friend managed to leap clear just in time but the distraction cost Unico badly. While he was focusing his attention on Beezle, several of the tentacles covering Typhon's body shot towards him. Instantly the tentacles wrapped tightly around his legs, holding him in place.
"Hey! Let me GMMM!" Unico's protests were cut off as another tentacle coiled around his mouth. More tentacles wound themselves around his body until he was completely covered by them.
"You dared to trifle with me little unicorn?" Typhon growled. "For your insolence I will squeeze the life from you!"
Unico tried to struggle but it was no good. He couldn't budge the slightest inch. Slowly but surely the tentacles binding him began to tighten.
The West Wind stared in horror. "No, Unico!" She tried to fly over to him but a sphere of deep purple light formed around him, blocking her rescue attempts. The orb in turn sprouted tentacles of its own and she barely flitted back in time to avoid being caught.
"Hold on Unico" Beezle yelled. "Lightning, get HMMMMPPH!"
In his haste to help Unico Beezle had forgotten how close he was to Typhon's hand. Tentacles wrapped around him, covering his mouth and pinning his arms to his sides. He struggled furiously while letting out muffled growls but he couldn't get free.
"Wait your turn little devil" snarled Typhon. "I will deal with you as soon as I'm done with your unicorn friend."
"Unico! Beezle!" Katy screamed. She was about to run towards them but one of the gods stopped her.
"No child it's too dangerous" he said.
"I can't just leave them!" Katy yelled. "Unico, don't give up! You can't die, not after we've just found you again!"
Despite the thick mass of tentacles that had ensnared him Unico heard her words. Katy, I won't give up he thought. I don't want to leave my friends again. I don't want to lose you, or Beezle, or the West Wind.
"Unico! Unico!" Katy cried.
To her surprise the gods joined in. At first just a few but then more until all of them were shouting encouragement to Unico.
Suddenly the dark orb that enveloped Unico was shattered by a burst of radiant golden light. Typhon bellowed in pain as his tentacles were ripped apart.
The light faded to reveal Unico in the form of a majestic fully grown white unicorn with large feathery wings.
"Thank you my friends" he said. "Don't be afraid. I promise I won't leave you this time."
"Unico" Katy said softly as her eyes lit up with joy. She remembered the first time she had seen him assume this form.
Typhon roared again and breathed out a stream of flames. Unico flew straight up, evading the fiery blast, and soared high into the sky until he almost disappeared from sight. His wings sparkled like diamonds as he spread them wide and then dived straight down, his horn glowing brightly
Once more Typhon unleashed a torrent of flames at him. Unico didn't even slow down. Instead he flew straight through the flames, his shining horn splitting them and deflecting them to either side so that they did not singe so much as a single feather on his wings.
Down Unico dived, through the fiery river and down into Typhon's open mouth. He flew down the monstrous giant's gullet and continued through his body. All the while his horn was emitting its blinding glow and every part of Typhon's flesh that the light touched was instantly dissolved.
Typhon uttered a final garbled roar as he was engulfed by a light so brilliant that even the gods were forced to look away. When the light cleared Typhon was completely gone and Unico stood there in his normal form once again. Furthermore the destruction that had been done to Olympus had been undone. The marble pillars once more stood tall and the clouds were again pure white, cleansed of the fumes that had polluted them.
"Unico!" Beezle exclaimed as the tentacles holding him dissolved. He rushed over and embraced his friend happily. A second later and Katy joined them.
"You did it Unico! You beat him!" Beezle cried.
"You were amazing Unico!" Katy agreed.
"Thanks guys" he said modestly.
Laughing happily, Beezle and Katy let go of Unico, held hands and began dancing just as they had done when Unico had defeated the Baron. The West Wind smiled fondly as she watched them.
After a long moment the three friends turned to face the crowd of gods watching them. Beezle and Katy stepped in front of Unico protectively and Beezle tensed, ready to summon his lightning again.
To everyone's astonishment the gods made no move towards them. Instead all of them bowed in a show of humility.
"Unico, after what we did to you, you risked your own life to help us" said one of them. "We see now how selfish and petty we were in ordering your exile. All we can say is thank you and we are deeply sorry for what we did."
"Can you forgive us?" another one asked.
Unico smiled. "Of course I forgive you" he said brightly. All of the gods sighed in relief.
Katy also smiled as she watched. "Unico is so pure-hearted to forgive them just like that" she said.
The West Wind nodded. "He is truly special" she replied.
"So you'll leave Unico alone and let him stay with us?" Beezle asked.
"Absolutely, it's the least we can do" the god answered. "There is one thing however…"
"And what's that?" Beezle snapped, fully expecting a betrayal of some kind.
"Unico has other friends in other lands, plus his mother and siblings back home. It hardly seems fair that they should never see him again. Ah, I know."
He turned to the West Wind. "O West Wind, with your gift you can take Unico to all of his family and friends wherever they may be so that all of them may see him again."
"It would be an honour" she replied with a polite bow.
Unico's overjoyed smile became a look of puzzlement. "Wait, what other friends?"
The West Wind reached over and restored the remainder of the memories she had veiled. He beamed joyfully as he remembered the other friends he had made on his journey. "Cheri! Baby Sphinx! Toby!" he exclaimed.
"Who are they?" Beezle asked.
"They're other friends I made after I had to leave you and Katy" Unico explained. "West Wind, can you take us to them?"
"Of course Unico" she replied. Her voice was calm as always but the joy it held was unmistakable. Now instead of taking Unico away from his friends she would be able to take him to them. No matter how far apart they were, Unico would be able to visit all of his friends whenever he wanted to.
"First can we go home?" Katy asked. "I want to tell Granny the good news"
"Okay Katy" Unico agreed happily. Already he was thinking of how he would be able to see everyone again and would be able to introduce all of the friends he had made to each other.
The West Wind took Unico, Katy and Beezle up into her arms as she prepared to leave Olympus. They waved to the gods and the gods waved back.
"Goodbye all of you, with our blessings" said one of the gods. He glanced at his fellows to see all of them were smiling warmly. He realised then that Unico had not only saved their lives, he had liberated them from their own selfish, jealous feelings that had trapped them for far too long.
"Goodbye, see you around" the three friends called happily as the West Wind flew off, carrying them away from Olympus and on their way back to Katy's grandmother's house.
Beezle grinned happily as he recalled what he had said to Katy on their trip to Devil's Rock. Our wishes came true after all he thought.