I woke up seeing Gatomon still sitting besides me. Only difference this
time is that she was the one who was sleeping. I felt the back of my neck,
it had seemed that the pain I was feeling earlier had just completely
disappeared. Although, even though the pain had gone away I'd like to know
why the pain even came into being. I can't recall anything that could make
that happen. I thought about it until I just finally gave up and just
started to think about other matters. I had noticed that my cloak and hat
were taken off, most likely because it would be easier to tend to my wounds
without all the extra clothing on. I looked around to see them lying on
the floor. I got up, pushed away my blanket and picked them up and put
them on. While I was adjusting my hat, Floramon walked into the room.
"Oh Wizardmon your awake already." Floramon replied,
"Yes, I just woke up." I looked to Gatomon, "Has she been here all this time?"
Floramon responded, "Surprisingly the answer is yes. She hasn't moved from that spot ever since they brought you over here. She must really care for you."
"You have no idea. But tell me is everyone alright?" I asked her
"Oh, yes that's the reason why I came here. I was supposed to get Gatomon. The others are all well rested up and are about to talk over their plans." Floramon replied as she looked at Gatomon
She continued, "Perhaps you should wake her, I'll tell everyone else your up."
"Ok, that sounds fine." I then remembered something, "Uh Floramon?"
She turned around, "Yes?"
"Have you seen my staff around? It wasn't with my other things?" I asked her
She thought, "Um.I'm not sure, when they had arrived you had no staff."
It was an unexpected discovery. If I didn't have my time staff I couldn't perform my magical game attack. Better yet I couldn't open portals, or report to the council. If I didn't have my staff I'll be powerless. I could still perform all of my time techniques, but too bad none of them could inflict damage upon the enemy. My thunder ball could only confuse an enemy, not hurt them. I had to get it back, no matter what happened.
"Floramon, I have to ask you for a big favor." I said to her
"Um...ok what is it Wizardmon?" She asked
I started to unravel my plan, "I have to go back to the fort and try and uh get, uh let's just say I have some unfinished business to do back at the stone fortress. I need you to promise me to tell no one what I'm doing or where I went. Can you do that for me?"
She had an uneasy look on her face, "I don't know Wizardmon, there are still a lot of digimon guards there. What if you get captured or you get injured again? Shouldn't you go with everyone else?"
I thought about it, but that would put them in too much danger. It was something personal, I couldn't ask for their help because I was the one who was careless. I shook my head, "I have to do this one alone. I can't involve the others."
"But...but...what if I just told Gatomon, she could help..." Floramon began
I interrupted, "No, don't tell anyone. Especially not Gatomon,"
It was an odd feeling, but I was trying to protect her personally. No one could know what I was going to do and that was the bottom line to it. I turned to catch a glimpse of Gatomon and then turned back, "Floramon, I need you to promise me this."
She still had an uneasy look on her face. I replied, "Ok, if I'm not back in three hours, tell the others that I went somewhere and I'll catch up with them later, ok?"
I quickly made haste and exited the hut. I looked around to see just the normal digimon villagers. It was a good thing that Tai, Sora, Biyomon, nor Agumon had seen me exit the hut. All of sudden I saw Agumon walking down the dirt road towards me. He was with a small pink digimon bird, which I identified as Biyomon. I didn't have much time as I swiftly got behind the small hut. I couldn't risk being seen by others if I walked out of the village. I closed my eyes and gain a picture of the nearby forest in my head. I concentrated until I my body had teleported away.
When I appeared once again I some how reappeared right above a running stream. I fell to the earth from midair and splashed into the running water. I looked down, "Oh great, just my luck. Now that I don't have my staff my concentration isn't as good."
I got out of the river as I squeezed my cloak of all the water. I didn't bother with the rest of my outfit as I looked around. It wasn't the forest, but it was far enough from the village. I then relied on one of a key instinct that all keepers must use in this situation. I had remembered that a keeper could always sense his staff whether it is just right in front of him or miles away. It was just a backup plan just in case something like this had happened.
It was true that I had never performed such a task, but how hard could it be. I closed my eyes and got a clear image of my staff. After that, I awaited for a sign of some sort to guide me to where it was. Unfortunately I didn't pick up anything.
I sighed, "Ok, I just gotta concentrate a little bit harder then I usually do."
As I did that a small sense began to emerge. Since I really didn't feel like teleporting into another stream or better yet off a cliff. I decided the safest thing to do was just to go the old fashion way. I walked towards the direction I had sensed my staff. No sooner did I started to walk, I heard an annoying sound coming from behind me. I turned around to see what it was when I saw whatever was making the sound coming straight at me. I dropped to the ground as it barely missed me.
"Oh no not now," I thought as I identified the digimon. Its name was Flymon, champion level. "He just had to be the same level as me." I thought as I continued to blame bad luck. I started to run, as I didn't have my main attack power to help and aid me. It started to attack me from above, as it shot it's multiple stingers at me. I barely managed to get out of the way as I turned to face it. I tried my best to attack back as I took aim. "THUNDER BALL!"
It easily dodged my attack and continued to attack me ruthlessly. I just have to keep up with my dodging and I can probably teleport away from it. Of coarse for me to teleport I needed to close my eyes and get an image of the place before I could get there. I looked straight ahead; luckily for me there were no obstacles in my way. I was about to teleport when I forgot to take into consideration one minor flaw in my plan. With my eyes closed my sense to dodge Flymon's attacks decreased. Before I could teleport one of the stingers managed to make contact. It didn't actually hit me, but it did caught onto my cloak as it stopped me dead in my tracks.
I reopened my eyes to see that the sting from Flymon's attack had impaled my cloak. I was unable to move now and was an easy target. It launched its stinger right at me as I reacted in the only way I could think of. I placed my hands in front of me and said the incantation. "Astral Shield." Sure enough the invisible shield rose and defected the attack. It wasn't until I really noticed what I had just done. I thought, "Oh great, I have to wait three hours now."
I pulled at my cloak as I fell backwards and tumbled downward. While I was doing that I somehow teleported to another place not far from where I was. It was good news that I actually got out of there while I could. The bad news was where I had teleported. It turns out I reappeared right above a tree branch and the moment I became solid again, gravity had it's effect. I fell instantaneously as I hit tree branch after tree branch until I finally landed on the hard ground.
"Uhhh..." was all I could mutter as I tried my best to get up. "This just isn't my day." I leaned against the tree as I started to soak up everything and realize my position. "Ok, I don't have my staff, I teleported twice to places that could have been better. I was attacked by another digimon, and I wasted my astral shield just to deflect a simple attack. And plus, my cloak is torn. Just great, what else can go wrong today?"
I just let everything just breeze past my mind as I leaned against the tree. I looked up to see the packets of light shine through the leaves. I took in a deep breath and then exhaled as a slight breeze blew across the forest. I looked down upon my hands as the wind blew my bangs across my face. It wasn't until that had happened when I really looked down on my hands.
My gloves were slightly changing; I didn't understand it at first. Then, they seem to change completely as they resembled human hands now. I panic at first, but then they changed back. It kept switching back and forth, until it finally staid a constant form of my gloves. I thought, "Oh no. I must be losing much strength. I can't hold my digimon form if I don't have the energy to. The only reason why this didn't happen sooner is because my time staff basically dealt with form. I'm going to have to keep an eye on my disguise and another eye on my techniques.
Since I didn't like to experience another teleportation failure, I got up and started to walk. One thing was for sure; I knew that I was heading on the right direction. I'll just hope that no other evil digimon will find me.
Meanwhile back at the digimon village...
Agumon walked right into one of the huts. "Hey Gatomon you in here?"
He circled his eyes until he found Gatomon sleeping. He approached her and placed his paw on her shoulder, "Hey Gatomon wake up."
She seemed to ignore him and continued to sleep. Agumon once again placed his paw on her shoulder and shook her, "Gatomon wake up. We're about to have lunch."
That seemed to wake her up, but before that happened she snapped her tail and hit Agumon straight at his face. This of coarse knocked poor Agumon across the hut as he hit the wall. Gatomon of coarse didn't notice what she had done as she got up and stretched out. She opened her blue eyes to see the fallen Agumon on the other side of the hut.
"Hey Agumon. What are you doing over there and on the floor too?" Gatomon asked
"Uh...never mind..." Agumon grunted out. He got back up and approached Gatomon, "I went in here to get you, and we're having lunch. By the way where's Wizardmon? I thought he was here resting?"
Gatomon looked to where Wizardmon was resting before. She then looked around, "Hey yeah, where is Wizardmon?"
"I thought you knew? I mean YOU have been here this whole time." Agumon included
Gatomon looked at him, "Can it Agumon! He was supposed to be resting here."
"Well it looks like you've lost your lover." Agumon replied as he sneaked in a little laugh
Gatomon sighed, "I knew telling you that was a mistake." She approached Agumon and quickly grabbed his mouth with her paw. "Listen dino-boy, you say one word to anyone else about this. You'll find yourself walking funny the next day, got it?"
Agumon nodded his head. "Good" Gatomon said as she let go of his mouth. Agumon rubbed at the place Gatomon had grabbed. "Well, we still don't know where he is Gatomon?" Gatomon walked over to the cot. She grabbed the blanket that was over it as she muttered, "Where could he have gone?"
All of a sudden Floramon went in to the hut. "Gatomon, I was supposed to get you for...oh I see you're busy right now. Well I better get going..."
"Oh wait Floramon do you know where Wizardmon is?" Agumon asked
"Wizardmon you say?" Floramon said nervously
Gatomon continued, "Yeah, he suppose to be here resting. Do you know if he went somewhere?"
"Oh...um...I-I-I wouldn't know" Floramon said as she continued to lose it. She made a break for the door as Gatomon quickly blocked the way. "Do you know something Floramon? Something you're not telling us?" she asked her
"Um, why no. I don't. What gives you the reason to suspect anything?" She asked
Agumon replied, "Oh come on Floramon, it's pretty obvious that you're hiding something from us. So just spill it already, you know we'll find out eventually."
Floramon was in a spot now. She said, "I...just...can't. I can't tell you where Wizardmon went to." It was until after what she had said it when she realized what she had just done. Gatomon caught up on it as she approached Floramon, "You know where Wizardmon went? Tell us!"
Floramon could tell she was very serious now, "But Wizardmon made me promises him that I couldn't tell anyone, especially not you Gatomon. I have to keep that promise."
Gatomon was getting angry now, "Forgot about what the little twerp said."
Agumon crept up behind her as he said in her ear, "you do know that he is taller then you."
She looked to her side to say something to Agumon, "Can it Agumon. I swear if Wizardmon went on some suicide mission, I'll make sure to make him pay for It."
"That is if he's not dead already." Agumon added
Floramon and Gatomon stared at Agumon giving him a good long look. He responded, "What? You did say a suicide mission. Actually that didn't make much sense; if he went to a suicide mission and he doesn't come back you're going to make him pay for that even if he's dead." The two digimon girls continued to stare him down
"Alright already I'll shut up." Agumon said as he closed his mouth.
Floramon started to give in, "Well I can't tell you where he is. But I suppose you could guess where he is and I can tell you if you right or wrong."
"Ok that could work." Agumon said, as he was about to ask her.
Meanwhile back to Wizardmon...
I was slightly limping from the fall I had taken when I had teleported. For the past forty-five minutes, I've been walking towards the direction of my staff. Hopefully my senses were not wrong, because everything else was going wrong for me. I was breathing deeply, I needed all the strength I could muster up. I continued to walk, not really thinking about things.
Step after step, I took just following my senses. Then something had happened. It had suddenly hit me as I took another step and then quickly stopped. The sense that was supposed to be guiding me was now fading away. I couldn't really explain it, but after I had thought about it everything fell into place. I placed my hand at my belly, as I felt the pain. "Just as I thought," I leaned against a nearby tree. "My wounds from when I took on Etemon haven't completely healed. Erg..." I held my arm. "And those wounds I just received earlier doesn't help either. My injuries must be taking an effect on my concentration, my strength and my senses."
I breathed harder as I sank against the tree I was leaning on. "I can't even rest now until I get my staff or I'll revert back to my human form. Heh, I should've waited until my pervious wounds healed. At least back then, I had more strength and could sustain my digimon form. I'm in a real tight spot now."
I couldn't think of a way out of this one. If only I could use more of my time techniques, my other abilities could really help, but it was dimensional rules that a keeper could only have three. I had to move on, I couldn't just wait there until I both completely lost all my strength and revert back or I become a victim of another evil digimon.
I forced myself to get back up and on my feet again. I held my shoulder as I limped and walked slowly to what little sense I had for my staff. It wasn't much, but I managed to pick it up again. At the speed I was going at, it was going to take some time to reach my destination. I tried not to think about it, but it was always in the back of my mind. I continued to walk for about fifteen more minutes or so, when I saw a familiar setting. I realized it was the same place where Tai, Sora, Agumon, Gatomon and I were standing right before we entered the fort.
I thought, "Well if I was right, the fort must be right over there." I placed my hands through the thicket of leaves. After they had been pulled back it had revealed the image of the stone fortress. The only difference this time was that there was a dark smoke coming off from it. I squinted my eyes to see that some of the guards were still on duty.
A few Gekomon were walking back and forth while Shellmon was at the entrance. There was no way how I could take them out, not in my current condition. I couldn't muster the power to slow down time, that technique requires incredible amount of power and concentration. Two qualities I did not have at the time. I couldn't sneak across; I was slow enough as it is. I was left with one last option and that was to teleport in. My senses had told me that my staff was within the fort. It was my only chance, but an incredibly risky one. I could teleport right into the open; I'd be a sitting duck.
I inhaled a large breath and then let it all out. "This one has to all depends on faith and a little luck. Well.here goes nothing." I closed my eyes and slowly faded away into the wind.
Slowly I opened my eyes. I didn't hear any screeches of attack or any shouts of an intruder, so that was a good sign. Then as I completely opened my eyes I saw that I was in a dark corridor with torches on either side. I sighed in relief, "Finally something good happened to me." I started to limp down the dark corridor. Now that I was closer, my senses strengthen as well.
While this was happening, other things we're taking place.
"HE WENT BACK TO THE STONE FORTRESS!?!" Gatomon shouted as she had just found out where Wizardmon had gone off.
Agumon grabbed a hold of Gatomon, "Calm down Gatomon, at least now we know where he is." She looked to her side to see Agumon's gripe. She shrugged him off using her shoulders, "Lay off Agumon, is he crazy or something? Why did he go there?"
Floramon responded, "I don't know, he didn't tell me. He just told me that he was going there and if he didn't return to tell you to go on without him."
"Oh just wait until I find him again." Gatomon shouted as she stormed out of the hut and into the forest. All that was left now was Agumon and Floramon. They just stood there in silence until Agumon declared, "Well, I better go and follow her."
"Wait Agumon." She made a break for him. Luckily for her she managed to grab his arm. "Don't you want to stay here with me?"
Agumon blushed and nervously replied, "Um...I don't know Floramon I have to make sure Gatomon doesn't do anything uh...dumb while she goes and get Wizardmon. So I should go after her right now."
"But Agumon, now that we're alone." She cuddled on his chest, "Don't you remember that night when you came by." Floramon reminded him
"Uh...Floramon...please..." Agumon couldn't think of anything else. Then, as if something answered what Agumon was hoping for, Biyomon entered the hut. "Hey you guys, where did Gatomon go to? I just saw her sprinting towards the forest."
"I'll tell you on the way" Agumon reached for Biyomon's wing as he quickly exited the hut. "Uh, tell the others we'll be back soon Floramon. Some other time maybe we could get together."
"Alright Agumon" She winked at him as he left the hut, "Some other time then."
Back to Wizardmon...
Limping through corridor after corridor my sense was growing stronger. "Well at least I haven't seen one other digimon guard since I've been here. That's some good news." While I walked however, I noticed that I knew where I was going. I've been here before, with the others. And if my instincts are correct, my staff was in the room where we had faced Etemon. As I approached the next corridor I recalled the pain I had felt. It wasn't the pain I felt from Etemon's attack, but the pain before that. That one pain that was at the back of my neck. I was still clueless to what had caused that.
I paused and placed my hand at the wall as I leaned against it. I was almost out of strength as my digimon form was breaking up. I sat down and placed my back to the wall as I breathed deeply. I closed my eyes and concentrated on keeping my form stable. After a moment or so I reopened my eyes and looked down on my hands. "Still gloves" I thought as I managed to keep my form, but for how long? I did not know it was the same reason why I should get going. I got back up and continued my walk. After a brief walk down the next hallway I turned the corner to see the room I was searching for.
"Finally I've arrived." I looked up to see the light shining through the room. It was the hole that Angewomon had created when she stormed in on us. I started to look around the place; he looked like a hurricane had past through here. I could guess what had happened here while I was past out. For now I just wanted to locate my staff. As I walked around the place, something seemed to scream at me as it was pulling me somewhere. I decided to follow it as I saw a bunch of burnt debris on the floor. I knelt down and started to push away the rubble, slowly a shine began to emerge from the ash. I pushed it all away to see my staff once again. "Well there you are, it's finally over." I reached forward to grab the golden staff. The moment I held it in my hand, I was once again infused with its energy. I wasn't exactly completely recovered, but it felt like a big burden had lifted from my shoulders. I could ease up on my concentration. I had gained a little bit more of my strength back, but I still needed time to recover completely.
I started to walk out of the room when suddenly three digimon blocked my approach. I identified them as Gazimon, rookie level. Normally three rookies wouldn't pose any threat, but in this case I was well below half of my strength. I didn't have the energy even with my staff to defeat them. I couldn't teleport out of there without having the Gazimon see me. I couldn't slow down time; I didn't have the power to do so. I could only think of one way to get out of this. I griped my staff prepared to take my plan into action.
"ELECTRIC STUN BLAST" one of them shouted. I managed to side step that attack as another Gazimon lunged right at me. Using my staff I swung at it with all my might. Luckily for me, it hit him dead on as it repelled him back to join the others. The third and last Gazimon choose to attack with its long ranged ability.
"ELECTRIC STUN BLAST" Instead of dodging this one, I used my staff to deflect it right back at them. After they had succumbed to their own attack. I formed a ball of energy at my hand and quickly threw it at one of them. "THUNDER BALL!" it hit one of them, making them confused and dazed. I did it once again and then again until all of them were too dazed to notice that I had closed my eyes.
"Well see you around, guys I don't have time to deal with you right now." And with that said I teleported out of the room and outside of the fort into the woods.
I dusted myself off, "Well at least this nightmare is over."
"HALT RIGHT THERE!" a voice shouted behind me
I turned to see two Gekomon behind me. "Can I ever get a break today!?!" I shouted. I was prepared to attack. Suddenly something happened. I knelt down as I had discovered that I was low on strength. I thought about it, "Oh no, those three thunder balls took more out of me than I thought." The two Gekomon realizing I was in a weakened condition started to approach me.
I kept on repeating, "What am I going to do? What am I going to do?" in my head. I seriously had no plan or even a thought to what I could do. I prepared for the worst as I shut my eyes.
"LIGHTING PAW!!!" I heard from a familiar voice. I reopened my eyes to see Gatomon kneeling down on the side of the Gekomon. Suddenly one of the Gekomon dropped to the floor. She got back up and turned to see the remaining Gekomon standing. It was scared out of its mind as it started to run in the opposite direction. It started to run when all of a sudden a voice was heard in the distance, "PEPPER BREATH!!!" a fireball emerged and hit the Gekomon right in the face. If that wasn't bad enough an attack came from above, "SPIRAL TWISTER!!!" a green wind blasted the small Gekomon making it unconscious on the floor.
I saw Gatomon turn to face me. "YOU! Why did you come here again! Are you crazy? Do you want yourself to get killed!?!"
I was about to answer, but before I could I fell to the floor. I was just completely out of strength and energy to support myself anymore. Gatomon quickly rushed over to me, "WIZARDMON!!!" she placed her paws on me. "AGUMON! Help me carry him back to the village!"
Agumon quickly rushed over to help Gatomon. She placed Wizardmon's arm over her shoulder and Agumon did the same thing with his other hand. They managed to pick him up and started to walk back. They didn't notice it, but they had left behind a small golden staff on the floor. Biyomon was about to leave with them when she had noticed this. She called out, "Hey you guys! What about this thing? Should I take it?" She had received no answer, but she just decided to bring it along anyway. "I wonder if this belongs to him?" she thought as she rushed over to catch up with everyone.
"Oh Wizardmon your awake already." Floramon replied,
"Yes, I just woke up." I looked to Gatomon, "Has she been here all this time?"
Floramon responded, "Surprisingly the answer is yes. She hasn't moved from that spot ever since they brought you over here. She must really care for you."
"You have no idea. But tell me is everyone alright?" I asked her
"Oh, yes that's the reason why I came here. I was supposed to get Gatomon. The others are all well rested up and are about to talk over their plans." Floramon replied as she looked at Gatomon
She continued, "Perhaps you should wake her, I'll tell everyone else your up."
"Ok, that sounds fine." I then remembered something, "Uh Floramon?"
She turned around, "Yes?"
"Have you seen my staff around? It wasn't with my other things?" I asked her
She thought, "Um.I'm not sure, when they had arrived you had no staff."
It was an unexpected discovery. If I didn't have my time staff I couldn't perform my magical game attack. Better yet I couldn't open portals, or report to the council. If I didn't have my staff I'll be powerless. I could still perform all of my time techniques, but too bad none of them could inflict damage upon the enemy. My thunder ball could only confuse an enemy, not hurt them. I had to get it back, no matter what happened.
"Floramon, I have to ask you for a big favor." I said to her
"Um...ok what is it Wizardmon?" She asked
I started to unravel my plan, "I have to go back to the fort and try and uh get, uh let's just say I have some unfinished business to do back at the stone fortress. I need you to promise me to tell no one what I'm doing or where I went. Can you do that for me?"
She had an uneasy look on her face, "I don't know Wizardmon, there are still a lot of digimon guards there. What if you get captured or you get injured again? Shouldn't you go with everyone else?"
I thought about it, but that would put them in too much danger. It was something personal, I couldn't ask for their help because I was the one who was careless. I shook my head, "I have to do this one alone. I can't involve the others."
"But...but...what if I just told Gatomon, she could help..." Floramon began
I interrupted, "No, don't tell anyone. Especially not Gatomon,"
It was an odd feeling, but I was trying to protect her personally. No one could know what I was going to do and that was the bottom line to it. I turned to catch a glimpse of Gatomon and then turned back, "Floramon, I need you to promise me this."
She still had an uneasy look on her face. I replied, "Ok, if I'm not back in three hours, tell the others that I went somewhere and I'll catch up with them later, ok?"
I quickly made haste and exited the hut. I looked around to see just the normal digimon villagers. It was a good thing that Tai, Sora, Biyomon, nor Agumon had seen me exit the hut. All of sudden I saw Agumon walking down the dirt road towards me. He was with a small pink digimon bird, which I identified as Biyomon. I didn't have much time as I swiftly got behind the small hut. I couldn't risk being seen by others if I walked out of the village. I closed my eyes and gain a picture of the nearby forest in my head. I concentrated until I my body had teleported away.
When I appeared once again I some how reappeared right above a running stream. I fell to the earth from midair and splashed into the running water. I looked down, "Oh great, just my luck. Now that I don't have my staff my concentration isn't as good."
I got out of the river as I squeezed my cloak of all the water. I didn't bother with the rest of my outfit as I looked around. It wasn't the forest, but it was far enough from the village. I then relied on one of a key instinct that all keepers must use in this situation. I had remembered that a keeper could always sense his staff whether it is just right in front of him or miles away. It was just a backup plan just in case something like this had happened.
It was true that I had never performed such a task, but how hard could it be. I closed my eyes and got a clear image of my staff. After that, I awaited for a sign of some sort to guide me to where it was. Unfortunately I didn't pick up anything.
I sighed, "Ok, I just gotta concentrate a little bit harder then I usually do."
As I did that a small sense began to emerge. Since I really didn't feel like teleporting into another stream or better yet off a cliff. I decided the safest thing to do was just to go the old fashion way. I walked towards the direction I had sensed my staff. No sooner did I started to walk, I heard an annoying sound coming from behind me. I turned around to see what it was when I saw whatever was making the sound coming straight at me. I dropped to the ground as it barely missed me.
"Oh no not now," I thought as I identified the digimon. Its name was Flymon, champion level. "He just had to be the same level as me." I thought as I continued to blame bad luck. I started to run, as I didn't have my main attack power to help and aid me. It started to attack me from above, as it shot it's multiple stingers at me. I barely managed to get out of the way as I turned to face it. I tried my best to attack back as I took aim. "THUNDER BALL!"
It easily dodged my attack and continued to attack me ruthlessly. I just have to keep up with my dodging and I can probably teleport away from it. Of coarse for me to teleport I needed to close my eyes and get an image of the place before I could get there. I looked straight ahead; luckily for me there were no obstacles in my way. I was about to teleport when I forgot to take into consideration one minor flaw in my plan. With my eyes closed my sense to dodge Flymon's attacks decreased. Before I could teleport one of the stingers managed to make contact. It didn't actually hit me, but it did caught onto my cloak as it stopped me dead in my tracks.
I reopened my eyes to see that the sting from Flymon's attack had impaled my cloak. I was unable to move now and was an easy target. It launched its stinger right at me as I reacted in the only way I could think of. I placed my hands in front of me and said the incantation. "Astral Shield." Sure enough the invisible shield rose and defected the attack. It wasn't until I really noticed what I had just done. I thought, "Oh great, I have to wait three hours now."
I pulled at my cloak as I fell backwards and tumbled downward. While I was doing that I somehow teleported to another place not far from where I was. It was good news that I actually got out of there while I could. The bad news was where I had teleported. It turns out I reappeared right above a tree branch and the moment I became solid again, gravity had it's effect. I fell instantaneously as I hit tree branch after tree branch until I finally landed on the hard ground.
"Uhhh..." was all I could mutter as I tried my best to get up. "This just isn't my day." I leaned against the tree as I started to soak up everything and realize my position. "Ok, I don't have my staff, I teleported twice to places that could have been better. I was attacked by another digimon, and I wasted my astral shield just to deflect a simple attack. And plus, my cloak is torn. Just great, what else can go wrong today?"
I just let everything just breeze past my mind as I leaned against the tree. I looked up to see the packets of light shine through the leaves. I took in a deep breath and then exhaled as a slight breeze blew across the forest. I looked down upon my hands as the wind blew my bangs across my face. It wasn't until that had happened when I really looked down on my hands.
My gloves were slightly changing; I didn't understand it at first. Then, they seem to change completely as they resembled human hands now. I panic at first, but then they changed back. It kept switching back and forth, until it finally staid a constant form of my gloves. I thought, "Oh no. I must be losing much strength. I can't hold my digimon form if I don't have the energy to. The only reason why this didn't happen sooner is because my time staff basically dealt with form. I'm going to have to keep an eye on my disguise and another eye on my techniques.
Since I didn't like to experience another teleportation failure, I got up and started to walk. One thing was for sure; I knew that I was heading on the right direction. I'll just hope that no other evil digimon will find me.
Meanwhile back at the digimon village...
Agumon walked right into one of the huts. "Hey Gatomon you in here?"
He circled his eyes until he found Gatomon sleeping. He approached her and placed his paw on her shoulder, "Hey Gatomon wake up."
She seemed to ignore him and continued to sleep. Agumon once again placed his paw on her shoulder and shook her, "Gatomon wake up. We're about to have lunch."
That seemed to wake her up, but before that happened she snapped her tail and hit Agumon straight at his face. This of coarse knocked poor Agumon across the hut as he hit the wall. Gatomon of coarse didn't notice what she had done as she got up and stretched out. She opened her blue eyes to see the fallen Agumon on the other side of the hut.
"Hey Agumon. What are you doing over there and on the floor too?" Gatomon asked
"Uh...never mind..." Agumon grunted out. He got back up and approached Gatomon, "I went in here to get you, and we're having lunch. By the way where's Wizardmon? I thought he was here resting?"
Gatomon looked to where Wizardmon was resting before. She then looked around, "Hey yeah, where is Wizardmon?"
"I thought you knew? I mean YOU have been here this whole time." Agumon included
Gatomon looked at him, "Can it Agumon! He was supposed to be resting here."
"Well it looks like you've lost your lover." Agumon replied as he sneaked in a little laugh
Gatomon sighed, "I knew telling you that was a mistake." She approached Agumon and quickly grabbed his mouth with her paw. "Listen dino-boy, you say one word to anyone else about this. You'll find yourself walking funny the next day, got it?"
Agumon nodded his head. "Good" Gatomon said as she let go of his mouth. Agumon rubbed at the place Gatomon had grabbed. "Well, we still don't know where he is Gatomon?" Gatomon walked over to the cot. She grabbed the blanket that was over it as she muttered, "Where could he have gone?"
All of a sudden Floramon went in to the hut. "Gatomon, I was supposed to get you for...oh I see you're busy right now. Well I better get going..."
"Oh wait Floramon do you know where Wizardmon is?" Agumon asked
"Wizardmon you say?" Floramon said nervously
Gatomon continued, "Yeah, he suppose to be here resting. Do you know if he went somewhere?"
"Oh...um...I-I-I wouldn't know" Floramon said as she continued to lose it. She made a break for the door as Gatomon quickly blocked the way. "Do you know something Floramon? Something you're not telling us?" she asked her
"Um, why no. I don't. What gives you the reason to suspect anything?" She asked
Agumon replied, "Oh come on Floramon, it's pretty obvious that you're hiding something from us. So just spill it already, you know we'll find out eventually."
Floramon was in a spot now. She said, "I...just...can't. I can't tell you where Wizardmon went to." It was until after what she had said it when she realized what she had just done. Gatomon caught up on it as she approached Floramon, "You know where Wizardmon went? Tell us!"
Floramon could tell she was very serious now, "But Wizardmon made me promises him that I couldn't tell anyone, especially not you Gatomon. I have to keep that promise."
Gatomon was getting angry now, "Forgot about what the little twerp said."
Agumon crept up behind her as he said in her ear, "you do know that he is taller then you."
She looked to her side to say something to Agumon, "Can it Agumon. I swear if Wizardmon went on some suicide mission, I'll make sure to make him pay for It."
"That is if he's not dead already." Agumon added
Floramon and Gatomon stared at Agumon giving him a good long look. He responded, "What? You did say a suicide mission. Actually that didn't make much sense; if he went to a suicide mission and he doesn't come back you're going to make him pay for that even if he's dead." The two digimon girls continued to stare him down
"Alright already I'll shut up." Agumon said as he closed his mouth.
Floramon started to give in, "Well I can't tell you where he is. But I suppose you could guess where he is and I can tell you if you right or wrong."
"Ok that could work." Agumon said, as he was about to ask her.
Meanwhile back to Wizardmon...
I was slightly limping from the fall I had taken when I had teleported. For the past forty-five minutes, I've been walking towards the direction of my staff. Hopefully my senses were not wrong, because everything else was going wrong for me. I was breathing deeply, I needed all the strength I could muster up. I continued to walk, not really thinking about things.
Step after step, I took just following my senses. Then something had happened. It had suddenly hit me as I took another step and then quickly stopped. The sense that was supposed to be guiding me was now fading away. I couldn't really explain it, but after I had thought about it everything fell into place. I placed my hand at my belly, as I felt the pain. "Just as I thought," I leaned against a nearby tree. "My wounds from when I took on Etemon haven't completely healed. Erg..." I held my arm. "And those wounds I just received earlier doesn't help either. My injuries must be taking an effect on my concentration, my strength and my senses."
I breathed harder as I sank against the tree I was leaning on. "I can't even rest now until I get my staff or I'll revert back to my human form. Heh, I should've waited until my pervious wounds healed. At least back then, I had more strength and could sustain my digimon form. I'm in a real tight spot now."
I couldn't think of a way out of this one. If only I could use more of my time techniques, my other abilities could really help, but it was dimensional rules that a keeper could only have three. I had to move on, I couldn't just wait there until I both completely lost all my strength and revert back or I become a victim of another evil digimon.
I forced myself to get back up and on my feet again. I held my shoulder as I limped and walked slowly to what little sense I had for my staff. It wasn't much, but I managed to pick it up again. At the speed I was going at, it was going to take some time to reach my destination. I tried not to think about it, but it was always in the back of my mind. I continued to walk for about fifteen more minutes or so, when I saw a familiar setting. I realized it was the same place where Tai, Sora, Agumon, Gatomon and I were standing right before we entered the fort.
I thought, "Well if I was right, the fort must be right over there." I placed my hands through the thicket of leaves. After they had been pulled back it had revealed the image of the stone fortress. The only difference this time was that there was a dark smoke coming off from it. I squinted my eyes to see that some of the guards were still on duty.
A few Gekomon were walking back and forth while Shellmon was at the entrance. There was no way how I could take them out, not in my current condition. I couldn't muster the power to slow down time, that technique requires incredible amount of power and concentration. Two qualities I did not have at the time. I couldn't sneak across; I was slow enough as it is. I was left with one last option and that was to teleport in. My senses had told me that my staff was within the fort. It was my only chance, but an incredibly risky one. I could teleport right into the open; I'd be a sitting duck.
I inhaled a large breath and then let it all out. "This one has to all depends on faith and a little luck. Well.here goes nothing." I closed my eyes and slowly faded away into the wind.
Slowly I opened my eyes. I didn't hear any screeches of attack or any shouts of an intruder, so that was a good sign. Then as I completely opened my eyes I saw that I was in a dark corridor with torches on either side. I sighed in relief, "Finally something good happened to me." I started to limp down the dark corridor. Now that I was closer, my senses strengthen as well.
While this was happening, other things we're taking place.
"HE WENT BACK TO THE STONE FORTRESS!?!" Gatomon shouted as she had just found out where Wizardmon had gone off.
Agumon grabbed a hold of Gatomon, "Calm down Gatomon, at least now we know where he is." She looked to her side to see Agumon's gripe. She shrugged him off using her shoulders, "Lay off Agumon, is he crazy or something? Why did he go there?"
Floramon responded, "I don't know, he didn't tell me. He just told me that he was going there and if he didn't return to tell you to go on without him."
"Oh just wait until I find him again." Gatomon shouted as she stormed out of the hut and into the forest. All that was left now was Agumon and Floramon. They just stood there in silence until Agumon declared, "Well, I better go and follow her."
"Wait Agumon." She made a break for him. Luckily for her she managed to grab his arm. "Don't you want to stay here with me?"
Agumon blushed and nervously replied, "Um...I don't know Floramon I have to make sure Gatomon doesn't do anything uh...dumb while she goes and get Wizardmon. So I should go after her right now."
"But Agumon, now that we're alone." She cuddled on his chest, "Don't you remember that night when you came by." Floramon reminded him
"Uh...Floramon...please..." Agumon couldn't think of anything else. Then, as if something answered what Agumon was hoping for, Biyomon entered the hut. "Hey you guys, where did Gatomon go to? I just saw her sprinting towards the forest."
"I'll tell you on the way" Agumon reached for Biyomon's wing as he quickly exited the hut. "Uh, tell the others we'll be back soon Floramon. Some other time maybe we could get together."
"Alright Agumon" She winked at him as he left the hut, "Some other time then."
Back to Wizardmon...
Limping through corridor after corridor my sense was growing stronger. "Well at least I haven't seen one other digimon guard since I've been here. That's some good news." While I walked however, I noticed that I knew where I was going. I've been here before, with the others. And if my instincts are correct, my staff was in the room where we had faced Etemon. As I approached the next corridor I recalled the pain I had felt. It wasn't the pain I felt from Etemon's attack, but the pain before that. That one pain that was at the back of my neck. I was still clueless to what had caused that.
I paused and placed my hand at the wall as I leaned against it. I was almost out of strength as my digimon form was breaking up. I sat down and placed my back to the wall as I breathed deeply. I closed my eyes and concentrated on keeping my form stable. After a moment or so I reopened my eyes and looked down on my hands. "Still gloves" I thought as I managed to keep my form, but for how long? I did not know it was the same reason why I should get going. I got back up and continued my walk. After a brief walk down the next hallway I turned the corner to see the room I was searching for.
"Finally I've arrived." I looked up to see the light shining through the room. It was the hole that Angewomon had created when she stormed in on us. I started to look around the place; he looked like a hurricane had past through here. I could guess what had happened here while I was past out. For now I just wanted to locate my staff. As I walked around the place, something seemed to scream at me as it was pulling me somewhere. I decided to follow it as I saw a bunch of burnt debris on the floor. I knelt down and started to push away the rubble, slowly a shine began to emerge from the ash. I pushed it all away to see my staff once again. "Well there you are, it's finally over." I reached forward to grab the golden staff. The moment I held it in my hand, I was once again infused with its energy. I wasn't exactly completely recovered, but it felt like a big burden had lifted from my shoulders. I could ease up on my concentration. I had gained a little bit more of my strength back, but I still needed time to recover completely.
I started to walk out of the room when suddenly three digimon blocked my approach. I identified them as Gazimon, rookie level. Normally three rookies wouldn't pose any threat, but in this case I was well below half of my strength. I didn't have the energy even with my staff to defeat them. I couldn't teleport out of there without having the Gazimon see me. I couldn't slow down time; I didn't have the power to do so. I could only think of one way to get out of this. I griped my staff prepared to take my plan into action.
"ELECTRIC STUN BLAST" one of them shouted. I managed to side step that attack as another Gazimon lunged right at me. Using my staff I swung at it with all my might. Luckily for me, it hit him dead on as it repelled him back to join the others. The third and last Gazimon choose to attack with its long ranged ability.
"ELECTRIC STUN BLAST" Instead of dodging this one, I used my staff to deflect it right back at them. After they had succumbed to their own attack. I formed a ball of energy at my hand and quickly threw it at one of them. "THUNDER BALL!" it hit one of them, making them confused and dazed. I did it once again and then again until all of them were too dazed to notice that I had closed my eyes.
"Well see you around, guys I don't have time to deal with you right now." And with that said I teleported out of the room and outside of the fort into the woods.
I dusted myself off, "Well at least this nightmare is over."
"HALT RIGHT THERE!" a voice shouted behind me
I turned to see two Gekomon behind me. "Can I ever get a break today!?!" I shouted. I was prepared to attack. Suddenly something happened. I knelt down as I had discovered that I was low on strength. I thought about it, "Oh no, those three thunder balls took more out of me than I thought." The two Gekomon realizing I was in a weakened condition started to approach me.
I kept on repeating, "What am I going to do? What am I going to do?" in my head. I seriously had no plan or even a thought to what I could do. I prepared for the worst as I shut my eyes.
"LIGHTING PAW!!!" I heard from a familiar voice. I reopened my eyes to see Gatomon kneeling down on the side of the Gekomon. Suddenly one of the Gekomon dropped to the floor. She got back up and turned to see the remaining Gekomon standing. It was scared out of its mind as it started to run in the opposite direction. It started to run when all of a sudden a voice was heard in the distance, "PEPPER BREATH!!!" a fireball emerged and hit the Gekomon right in the face. If that wasn't bad enough an attack came from above, "SPIRAL TWISTER!!!" a green wind blasted the small Gekomon making it unconscious on the floor.
I saw Gatomon turn to face me. "YOU! Why did you come here again! Are you crazy? Do you want yourself to get killed!?!"
I was about to answer, but before I could I fell to the floor. I was just completely out of strength and energy to support myself anymore. Gatomon quickly rushed over to me, "WIZARDMON!!!" she placed her paws on me. "AGUMON! Help me carry him back to the village!"
Agumon quickly rushed over to help Gatomon. She placed Wizardmon's arm over her shoulder and Agumon did the same thing with his other hand. They managed to pick him up and started to walk back. They didn't notice it, but they had left behind a small golden staff on the floor. Biyomon was about to leave with them when she had noticed this. She called out, "Hey you guys! What about this thing? Should I take it?" She had received no answer, but she just decided to bring it along anyway. "I wonder if this belongs to him?" she thought as she rushed over to catch up with everyone.