Hey, I'm really sorry about the late chapter. I've been busy with schoolwork and sports. But now that it is summer, I got plenty of time to write these. So, here's chapter 10 of Digimon Chronicles! Enjoy!

Chapter 10: Friendship

It had been a while since I saw Wizardmon fly off and I severely missed him. I had never felt such a strong friendship type bond before, but when I met him, I knew he would be my friend and wouldn't leave me like every one else.

Or so I thought.

I sat on the couch in the living room, softly crying to myself. Katie was leaning against the wall watching me. Even she was some what upset, although she didn't know him that well.

As I cried, I thought I heard a small voice. I turned towards Katie with a confused look.

"Did you say something?" I asked her. She looked just as equally confused and shook her head as a sign of no. I thought it was just my imagination and continued to sob. But then I thought I heard the voice again.

"Tiffany….." I bolted straight up. The voice sounded so faint and weak. I listened carefully to what it said next.

"Tiffany…..help….coming….hurt you…..get away!" Some parts were too quite for me to hear, as if someone were messing with the volume. I understood it enough though, and I recognized the voice all too well.

"Wizardmon!" I exclaimed, jumping up and startling Katie.

"What?" she said confused.

"Wizardmon!" I said again. "I could hear him. You didn't?"

"No," she replied, giving me a strange look as if I lost my mind. I rolled my eyes and continued.

"Well I did!" I stated. "I think something is wrong. I couldn't hear all of it, but he sounded hurt. I need to go after him!" She stared wide eyed at me as I ran out of living room, towards the garage. Before I could reach the door, I felt a hand grip my arm tightly. I spun around and saw Katie holding my arm in a death grip.

"Let me go!" I shouted at her. I struggled trying to break. Her being stronger than me, I failed at this. In fact she just griped tighter.

"Tiffany, are you just making something up because you miss him?" I stopped struggling for a moment and felt liking slapping her. Apparently she didn't believe me.

"Of course I'm not!" I said furiously. "I think he needs my help!" I continued to struggle, but she wouldn't let go.

"You're staying here," she commanded.

"No!" I yelled back. I twisted around and kicked her with all my might in the leg. She gasped and let go. I staggered forward and fell towards the door. As I opened the garage door, I turned around and saw her kneeling, grasping her leg. I didn't feel good about hitting my sister, but I had no choice. What if Wizardmon really was hurt, or worse? I couldn't live with myself if I just did nothing.

"Sorry Katie," I apologized as I jumped through the door, slamming it behind me. Once in the garage, I got my bike and headed outside. The wind howled in my ears and felt cold. The sky was covered by menacing storm clouds. Everything seemed bleak and foreboding. I jumped on my bike and peddled down the drive way and out onto the roads. I biked through the entire neighborhood, looking intently for Wizardmon. I didn't see a single trace of him. As I neared the end of the neighborhood, that lead out to the highway, I looked up and down the busy road but still didn't see him. I looked across the highway at the county roads in front of me, the wind ruffling the corn stalks that stood on either side of it. After looking both ways, I made my way across and peddled down the bumpy road.

As I biked, I thought I heard someone laughing. I swept my eyes across the road and the corn fields, but didn't see anything. Then, a dark shadow darted in front of me. I put on the brakes and came to an abrupt halt. I looked around and saw nothing. As I was about to start going again, something flew past my shoulder, knocking down a stalk beside me. Then another one flew past, this time only missing my head by a few centimeters. Immediately, I starting peddling again faster and faster as more of the objects flew towards me. It didn't help that I couldn't see my attacker.

I looked towards the stretched out road in front of me and something caught my eye. I could see ahead someone lying on the side of the road. They looked familiar and as I got closer I could make it more. I gasped and felt joy and fear at the same time.

"Wizardmon!" I screamed. He didn't answer and he didn't move. Fearing the worse, I peddled faster towards him. Another object came flying towards me, this time going right through my front bike tire. The biked skidded along the road. I tried to stop but it made the bike tip over and I went skidding across the pavement. I stopped and lied there on the ground. There were scratches all over my arms and legs. I lied there for a few moments, then threw the bike off me and ran towards Wizardmon. I knelt beside him.

He looked awful! His face was very pale and his foot was twisted at a sickly angle. But what caught my attention most was the object sticking out of his back. I gently plucked it out and held it in my hands. It looked like a syringe with a face on it. I could tell it had contained some sort of liquid, but was now empty. I threw it on the ground and tried to shake Wizardmon awake.

"Wizardmon, please wake up!" I pleaded, but he didn't move. Just then, I heard the laughter again. It sounded like it was coming from in front of me. I looked up and saw a little round bat like creature. "Demidevimon!" I was so surprised. What on Earth is he doing here? He looked down on me, smiling wickedly.

"Luring you here was easier than I thought!" he chuckled. "You sure have a thing for that digimon!" I really wished that Wizardmon would wake up. He would know what to do. But me being only human, I couldn't think of a way to defend myself. I felt fear because I didn't know what he was going to do me or way he even wanted me. I prayed that he wouldn't attack me. "Now to bring you to Lord Myotismon." Myotismon! I remembered him from the show that Wizardmon had showed me. He used to be under his employment. This must be the same Demidevimon! That explains why he's after Wizardmon, but why me? I had no idea what that awful Myotismon would want with me.

Just then, Demidevimon made another one of those syringes appear and threw it at me. I ducked and rolled out of the way. It landed very close to Wizardmon. I got to my feet and looked for cover. I couldn't find any place to shelter myself and the darts kept coming. I ran every which way to avoid the darts. If one of those things did that to Wizardmon, I didn't want to know what they could do to a human.

I ran off into the corn fields, trying to hide myself. As I ran, I could hear him coming after me. "You ought to do better than that. I can see you from up here!" I looked up and saw that he was nearly above me! I stopped and quickly picked up a cob of corn and threw it at him. He dodged and it went sailing past him. I ran again, zig zagging around trying to lose him. I emerged from the corn field to find that I ended up where I had started. I ran to the other side and, not bothering to pay attention to where I was going, ran face first into a tree.

I slumped to the ground and sat there dazed. I heard a sinister laugh and quickly turned around. Demidevimon was approaching. "This ought to finish you off, girly!" He charged at me, a syringe wrapped tightly in his claws. I tried t get up and run, but I was paralyzed with fear.

I heard a snapping sound and a large tree branch fell right next to me. An idea suddenly popped into my head. Quickly and swiftly, I picked up the tree branch and got to my feet. Getting into a batter's stance I waited for Demidevimon to get closer. Once he was a few feet in front of me I swung. He tried to stop himself, but couldn't in time. The branch hit him full force. He went soaring into the corn fields. I heard him land with a thump. I waited for a little bit to see if he would try to attack again. He didn't emerge from the fields.

I flung the branch aside and approached Wizardmon. I dropped down on my knees and gently rolled him onto his back. "Wizardmon," I said shaking him in an attempt to wake him up. But it was no use. He was out cold. Or at least I thought he was unconscious. Could he be….? My heart raced at the thought. I put my ear against his chest and listened for any signs of life. I could hear his heart beating very softly and could feel his chest moving ever so slightly.

I got up and sighed with relief. He was only unconscious. But he needed help and fast. The only problem was I didn't know how I was going to get him home. I didn't think it would be right to try and drag him because of his injured foot. I thought of calling for help, but I didn't have a phone. I wish Katie had come along, I thought.

Just then, I heard someone yelling. I looked up and saw someone biking very fast towards me, waving their fist in the air and yelling their head off. With a mixture of relief and dread, I realized it was my sister. Perfect timing. She stop short of a few feet from us and hopped off her bike, stomping furiously towards me.

"How dare you attack me and then just run off like that!" she yelled. She was about to go into a tirade when she suddenly stopped in front of us. "What happened to you? And him?" she asked. For once she had a concerned look on her face and knelt down beside me.

"We were attacked by Demidevimon," I explained. I saw that she was looking at the scratches that covered my body. "Well, I fell off my bike," I said sheepishly. "He blew a hole in the tire." She looked confused. I sighed. "I'll explain who he is later."

"And him?" she said pointing at Wizardmon.

"Demidevimon hit him a syringe. It contained some kind of poison." Her eyes went wide.

"You mean he's….."

"No!" I quickly interrupted. "He's just knocked out. We need to get him back to the house! He's hurt badly!" She stared dumbly at me as if this were an impossible thing to do.

"And how are we suppose to do that?" she inquired.

"Simple. We carry him."

"What?!" she yelled. "I'm not going to carry him all the way back to our house! Do you know how long that will take?"

I shrugged. "It's our only option." She didn't look to happy.

"And what about our bikes?"

"We come back to get them later!" I was getting fed up with this. I hated it when she didn't want to help others. "Just come on," I said standing up.

"Fine," she grumbled and got up sulking. She went over and grabbed his arms. I went to the other side and grabbed his legs, being careful not to damage his foot further. We carefully lifted him up off the ground and started for home.

"He's heavy," complained Katie.

"Oh, be quite!" I snapped. This is going to be a long walk home.

Some time later that evening, we finally arrived home. I didn't bother being stealthy this time and just walked in through the front door. My mom heard us and stepped into the foyer where we were at. I could tell she had been baking, for she was wearing a flour covered apron.

"Where did you run off to?" she asked sternly. "I…." She stopped short upon seeing who we were carrying. "What? Who?" I ignored her and Katie and I went into the living room and gently set Wizardmon down on the couch. My mother came running in after us. She knelt down beside the couch and examined him.

"Isn't this the guy you were with at school?" she asked. I nodded. "Your sister said he was a local magician. What on Earth happened to him?" I shot Katie a look and she just shrugged. "We better get him to a hospital," she said, getting up and starting towards the phone.

"Mom, wait!" I called after her. She stopped and turned around. "I'm not sure that's a good idea."

"What do you mean?" she asked puzzled. "If your friend is hurt then we need to get him medical attention."

"Yes I know, but I'm not sure the doctors would understand."

"Understand what?" I could tell she was getting frustrated. I didn't want to tell her, afraid of how she would act, but I had no choice. Here goes nothing….

"Mom, he's not exactly human is why." She stared blankly at me.

"What?"

"I mean, he's what is called a digimon. He isn't human." All of a sudden she broke down laughing.

"Is this a joke?" she said laughing. I felt my face turn red with anger.

"I'm serious!" I nearly screamed it. "He's a digimon! His name is Wizardmon and he comes from the Digital World!" My mom shook her head and gave me a stern glare.

"Honey, listen. This is no time to be playing one of your pretend games. This man needs help!" She grabbed the phone and took it out of her hand. "Tiffany you give back that phone right now young lady!" She advanced towards me and I ran over to the couch where Wizardmon was.

"We can't take him to the hospital mom! They wouldn't understand!" She put a hand to her head and paced the room. Then she walked towards me and gently took the phone from me.

"Alright," she said, her voice now calm and gentle. "How about this? I call grandma and she can come over and fix him up. Better?" I nodded my head. My grandma was a traveling doctor. She had a big trailer full of hospital supplies that she took with her everywhere she went. She called her "mini hospital".

My mom went into the kitchen to call up grandma. Katie and I stayed in the living room with Wizardmon. I looked down at him. He still didn't look too good, his face still very pale, and he showed no signs of waking up. I sighed, sad that I hadn't gotten there sooner. But a question was nagging in the back of my mind. Why was he still here? I thought he would have been long gone, but there he was, not too far from my neighborhood. Why had he come back?

My mom came back in right as she hung up the phone. She looked at us with a half smile on her face. "Well, your grandmother said she'd be here in a few minutes. Is it just his ankle?" I nodded, not telling her about syringe. She wouldn't understand. "You two keep an eye on him. I need to finish up dinner." She walked back into the kitchen, leaving us alone.

I looked over at Katie and saw worry etched into her face. The first time I had ever seen it there. "Tiffany?" she said, her voice but a whisper. "You think he'll be alright?" I looked down at his still form, thinking the worst possible outcomes. But I answered her confidently, "Yes, I'm sure he'll be fine. He'll probably be waking up any minute now."

As if I had said the magic words to a spell, I heard him cough and his eyes fluttered opened. Katie and I both gasped and I threw my arms around his neck.

"Wizardmon, you're awake!" I cried. My sister stood there with a smile on her face. He groaned and I removed myself from him. He reached out his hand gently grabbed my arm.

"Tiffany? You're ok." He sounded so weak, it broke my heart.

"Yes, I'm ok," I replied. He tried to get up, but winced when he moved his foot. I gently grabbed his shoulders and made him lie back down. "You need to lie down. You hurt your ankle pretty badly. But don't worry, my grandma's coming and she'll fix you up." He lifted up his head and looked down at his foot. His eyes widened when he saw it facing the wrong way. "It's ok," I assured him. "She'll fix it." He lied back down and closed his eyes.

"Whatever you say," I head him reply. I heard a clanking sound and the rumble of tires and knew she was here. I stood up to look at the window that was behind the couch and saw a red truck hauling a big trailer roll up into the driveway.

"She's here!" I cheered and ran over to the door, pulling it open. My grandma walked in the door with her bag of simple medical supplies.

"Howdy darlin'!" she greeted me. She shook my hand then came on in. "So where's the patient?" I lead her over to the couch, where I found Katie had left. She had funny expression on her face when she saw Wizardmon, but suddenly became serious when she saw his injury. She crouched down to get a better look and I knelt down next to Wizardmon. "Is it serious?" I asked her.

"Looks like it," she said. She carefully grabbed hold of his ankle, making him wince in pain. "Can you move it?" she asked him. He shook his head.

"I can't feel it," he told her. "But it really hurts." She carefully removed his shoe and pulled his pant leg up to his knee. I looked away when I saw how bad it was. You could tell it was broken. Part of a bone was sticking out and it was badly swollen. My grandmother shook her head.

"Yup darlin'. It's broken might badly. But don't worry. Grandma here will make it all better." She talked as if she were talking to me or Katie, which is the way she talked to all her patients. It gave her a friendly appearance. She got up and walked out the door to her trailer, getting the supplies she needed. This would be the perfect opportunity to talk to Wizardmon in private, I thought.

I looked down at him and saw he was still staring at his ankle. His face didn't look as pale anymore, but he looked very tired. "Wizardmon?" He took his gaze off of his ankle and looked up at me.

"Yes?" he said.

I took a deep breath and asked, "Why were you near the cornfield? I mean, I thought you'd be farther away. Don't you want to see Gatomon and Kari?" His eyes looked sad at the mention of their names, but it quickly left and were replaced with a kind gaze.

"I was, but I didn't feel right about leaving you." I was surprised to hear him say that. After he wanted to see his friends so badly, he came back for me? "You helped me and were nice to me. I was wrong to leave you. I'm sure Gatomon will understand. I'll see them again someday. But for now, I think I ought to stay with my friend." I felt tears come to my eyes as he said that.

"We're friends?" I asked. What a magical word. He chuckled weakly.

"Yes, we're friends. And always will be. I'll never leave you again. I promise." He closed his eyes and slipped back into unconsciousness. I knelt beside him, crying. But not tears of sadness. They were happy tears. We're friends, I thought.

I felt a soft hand on my shoulder and looked up to see my grandma. There was a bunch of medical supplies in the living room, surrounding her. She whispered to me in a soft voice, "I think you might want to go upstairs sugar. You might not want to see this." I nodded and got up, wiping away my tears with the back of my hand.

I reached the stairs right as she pulled out this curtain and set it up around the couch. I smiled and climbed up the stairs to my room.

We were friends. And he wasn't going to leave me again.