Series: Division of Destiny||Story: Reign of the Undead King||Chapter: The Plans
Characters: Piemon, Vamdemon, Chosen Children, others||Pairings: Ken x Daisuke/Daisuke x Ken, Mimi x Sora/Sora x Mimi
Chapters: 14-40||Words: 2,709||Total: 37,377
Genre: Romance, Drama||Rated: PG-13
Summary: Vamdemon and Piemon rule supreme. Only now, ten years after their victory, are things about to change. For good or for ill.
It took Wizarmon a few moments to realize the scream that came from whoever he'd just set on fire wasn't a human's scream. In fact, he thought he recognized that voice, and he paled behind his mask. If that was who he thought it was, then if he made it out of this in one piece, he was going to be very lucky, and after all this time hidden within Vamdemon's army, he thought he'd used up all of his luck anyway.
Taichi landed next to him, leaning forward to get a better look at the person swatting themselves all over in an attempt to put the flames out. Wizarmon did his best to extinguish them as well, ignoring the large amount of profanity coming from the other Digimon.
"What's going on here? Who goes around throwing fireballs at perfectly innocent Digimon?" The voice was just as Wizarmon remembered it from their few encounters back home, harsh and annoyed with life in general. From what little information he'd had, the new arrival had every right to be annoyed.
"Whoa…is that you, Pinnochimon?" Taichi shook his head as the wisps of smoke finally cleared, revealing the Dark Master standing there.
Or, if all the reports were true, former Dark Master. But still a powerful Digimon, and one with something of a hair trigger, and no qualms about killing anyone who got in his way.
Pinnochimon glared at both of them. "You know, I should smash you into the pavement for this." His hand already rested on his mallet, and Wizarmon prepared to back off at a moment's notice.
"Pinnochimon-sama, I humbly beg your forgiveness." Wizarmon bowed as low as he could, still tense and ready to take off if he needed to, but exposing the back of his head at the same time in a show of submission. "I meant no harm to you at all."
"You set me on fire." Pinnochimon's glare burned at Wizarmon, as clearly as if he looked up to see it. "How is that 'not meaning any harm'?"
Wizarmon winced and lowered himself even more. He couldn't see Taichi's expression, but he firmly believed the vampire was laughing, inwardly if nothing else. He hoped he kept his mouth shut and let him work through this.
"It was a complete accident. Taichi and I have been sent out to locate a human who is attempting to…" How to describe this? Finally get rid of the vampire pack? Start trying to take back their world? Well, perhaps… "attack the members of Vamdemon-sama's pack. A crossbow was used a few days ago and we've been searching for the user since."
Pinnochimon snorted, and Wizarmon took that as a chance to keep going. "I heard your footsteps and thought that it might be who we were searching for."
"Well, next time, use your eyes first." Pinnochimon snapped, wooden arms folded over his chest. "Do I look like some dumb human to you?"
"Of course not, my lord." Wizarmon carefully began to straighten himself up. He refused to look at Taichi, not wanting to see the expression he knew had to be there. "I would never mistake you for a human."
Pinnochimon snorted again and Wizarmon began to relax a fraction at that. "Is there something that we can do for you, Pinnochimon-sama? No one knew that you were visiting." Not that visits tended to be announced, but Vamdemon would've wanted to show off his domination of the human world to anyone with contacts to Piemon, and he would've heard about that.
"Yeah, that's because I'm not visiting. I'm staying here." The wooden Digimon glared at the two of them. "And I don't need Vamdemon's help to do it, either."
Taichi strolled up, amusement flickering all over his pale features, and for once, Wizarmon didn't think all of it was because of himself. "Master will want to know that you're here. He likes keeping track of people who come into his kingdom."
"Do I look like I care what about that bloodsucker wants?" Pinnochimon shifted his grip on his mallet, and before he could move, Taichi hovered in the air, his lips twisted into a mocking grin that showed his fangs.
"You might not, but Vamdemon-sama rules this world, which means if you want to stay here, you've got to do it by his rules. Piemon-sama said as much, remember?"
"Well, I'm not playing by his rules either anymore!" Pinnochimon snapped the words out even as he started to bring his mallet down. Taichi darted out of the way, and Wizarmon moved as well, not wanting to risk getting caught by the backlash. "So I don't care what he thinks! I'm just as good as he is!"
Wizarmon tensed as he found a spill of ruined building to perch on. Taichi landed on the other side of what had once been a street of some kind, he guessed. Now wasn't the time to try to put the city back together, even in his head. "Pinnochimon-sama?" He knew the rumors, but exactly what had happened was a mystery to virtually everyone on this side of the gate.
The rumors and reports, vague as they were to him, told that Pinnochimon had somehow angered Piemon in a way that no one could agree upon, and in vengeance, the dark clown had cast him out of the Dark Masters, installing Black Rosemon in his place. That much everything agreed on, and no more.
Wizarmon wondered what else there was to it, but Pinnochimon didn't appear to be in any kind of a mood to discuss it at the moment, not with the glares he shot both of them.
"Just leave me alone and that's all I care about." He shouldered his mallet and stalked off, not looking at either one of them again and soon fading out of sight into the distance.
Taichi tilted his head and shot a look of his own over to Wizarmon. "I don't think I've seen anyone that childish since my sister was three years old."
Wizarmon refused to let himself react to that. Everyone knew that Yagami Taichi and Yagami Hikari were, or had been, brother and sister, but Taichi himself almost never mentioned her, and certainly not in the context of being family.
The vampire shrugged, taking off into the air once more. "I don't think we're going to find that human out here tonight. If we got lucky, Pinnochimon swatted him before he showed up here. Or might get him later, who knows. Too bad, I wanted him for myself." He made something of a face. "Vamdemon-sama will want us back out here until we know one way or the other, though."
"Yes, he will." Wizarmon fought to keep his voice neutral. Playing matters as he did put more and more of a stress on him, and he needed some time to himself, just to be himself. "Let me know when and I'll be ready."
"Right. I'm going to get something to eat." Taichi didn't wave, but sped away, looking here and there as he did in search of any stray humans. Wizarmon doubted there were any in the area, but a vampire would check nevertheless. He'd probably end up dining out of the pen back at the castle.
Wizarmon bit back a sigh and let himself sink down a little, some of the strain easing out of his shoulders and back as he did. He needed to go home as well, and find himself some form of nourishment. He couldn't go see LadyDevimon again, but he did have several other matters he could tend to. Any of them would keep him occupied for days on end.
Weariness dragging at him, he pulled himself into the air and headed back to the castle. He would have to recover as soon as he could. His meeting with the humans of the resistance wasn't that far off, and if Pinnochimon had decided to move here in truth and wasn't just spouting off nonsense, then the sooner the humans managed to get into fighting condition, the better.
Pinnochimon grumped and muttered under his breath as he stomped his way through the ruined city streets. He hadn't asked for a map, nor did he really care where he was going in the first place. He just wanted to find a place where he could have his own people to boss around and not have to worry about anyone trying to take what was rightfully his away from him.
He kind of liked this place, even if it was dark, grungy, and didn't have anyone around at all. What it also didn't have were plants, and he didn't like plants, not as much as he had once. Not that he had a green thumb or whatever, but he'd held dominion over the woodlands of the Digital World, and that meant he got to know a lot of plant Digimon.
There weren't any of those here. A few trees scattered here and there, moss and grass sticking up from points in the street, struggling to survive without sunlight, and some of them doing a decent job of it. He kicked at one patch a little, making sure to get it uprooted, then tossed it as far as he could. "Yeah, see how you like that!"
Piemon would've called him a fool for it. Pinnochimon saw another clump of weeds and tore into it even faster than he had the first one, throwing it in another direction. The very thought of the clown Digimon sent sparks of rage through him and he wished that he could see the Dark Masters' leader in front of him right now.
I'd smash him. I'd smash him right in that stupid mask of his and keep right on hitting!
His magical threads couldn't control Piemon; he'd found that out the hard way. But his mallet could still hurt him, and when he got the chance, he would make certain that he did hurt Piemon, over and over and over, until there was nothing but an egg left, and then he'd smash that, as many times as he needed to until Piemon didn't exist at all!
He tilted his head back and laughed at the thought, a good, deep, rich laugh that echoed from his lonely surroundings, and for a few brief seconds, he forgot that he was alone at all.
When he remembered, more rage twisted and festered and he seized hold of his mallet, dashing with it upraised until he ran into the nearest building, smashing it with all of his strength. The building, clearly not at its best even before his attack, shuddered, shivered, and fell into a pile of stone and mortar. Pinnochimon growled; couldn't anything give him even a little satisfaction here?
He darted after another building, and another, smashing each of them into bits.
No matter how often he tried, nothing even came close to soothing the empty hole within himself.
Wizarmon took only enough time to find Vamdemon and report to him what happened during the mission. Taichi still hadn't returned, taking his lazy time, so Wizarmon made certain to report Pinnochimon's presence, and what he'd said, keeping everything as neutral as he could. He hated politics. He hated getting involved in politics even more.
And most of all, he hated getting involved in politics between Vamdemon and the Dark Masters. For the most part, the two arenas kept separated, each to their own world, and when Vamdemon and Piemon crossed paths, it was always with the greatest respect for one another, insofar as either of them ever respected anyone else.
As always, other rumors flew about the level of their alliance, but that was something Wizarmon chose not to touch on at all. There were things he didn't want to know, and there were things he would've given his staff to never even think about.
"I see." Vamdemon appeared a little distracted when Wizarmon first appeared to make his report, but the moment Wizarmon spoke of Pinnochimon, his attention sharpened. "Good enough. I want you and Taichi out there as often as possible until this hunter is found and brought to me." A smile slashed over his lips. "Alive. Make certain Taichi doesn't attempt to have him for a meal."
"As you command, Vamdemon-sama." Wizarmon bowed at once, quite glad that he was only moments away from relaxing in his room. He'd had enough of bowing down to Digimon he hated for one day.
Vamdemon dismissed him, and Wizarmon hurried off, taking the time to head into the kitchens and get something to eat. He'd used more of his energy today than he normally did and with the added stress of encountering Pinnochimon, he felt he deserved a little something extra.
Settling himself into his quarters, he made certain to lock the door and put up every kind of ward he had the strength for. He didn't want to be interrupted for anything tonight short of the absolute destruction of the world or worlds and the way he was feeling, he wasn't especially bothered if that happened either. He settled in with his food and his favorite book of spells, taking mental notes for skills he might be able to use in the future.
Vamdemon knew for a fact that Piemon hadn't had any idea of where Pinnochimon could've run off to. If he had, then the dark clown would've said something during his last visit, and Vamdemon recalled every moment of that with crystal clarity.
I knew he was pouting over what happened with Black Rosemon, but to come here? Why? There would be no carving out of his own territory in this world. Earth belonged to Vamdemon, and he'd gone to a great deal of trouble to make certain that it stayed that way.
He would send a message; someone would have to come deal with the pesky puppet and set him firmly in his place. It didn't matter if that place were Earth or the Digital World, so long as he understood where he was in relation to everyone else.
That still left the problem of the unknown hunter in place. Sending Taichi and Wizarmon out again stood a chance of finding the renegade human, but it was a risk he wasn't fond of. He'd spent years crafting all of his pack into what they were now, and he'd not lose any of them to some fool human thinking a vampire could be so easily defeated. Their foolish books and movies might've told them of stakes and sunlight, but Vamdemon hadn't ruled this world for a decade without knowing how to protect himself and his pets.
Perhaps he'd take a turn or two around the city himself and see what he could find. A hunter who thought to aim at one of the pack would definitely not turn down the chance to take him in particular down. And if there was more to this than just a simple human having cobbled together a tool from the remains of books and whatever scraps of wood they could find, then he wanted to know about it.
Humans had tried to fight him once. He'd shown them that there was nothing they could do to defeat him. Now some of those same humans stood by his side, his most loyal companions and slaves.
The thought of increasing pack numbers had occurred to him once before. He'd fondly imagine one of his blood pets for a spot in it before.
Ah, Daisuke. Vamdemon's lips thinned in pleasure at the memory of the child. He favored young ones for blood pets; they had plenty of time to live in the position and grow used to serving him. Older ones liked to try to run away.
And yet, Daisuke had done just that, fleeing with a pair of humans. He'd searched for months before finally giving it up as a lost cause. He'd never taken another blood pet after that.
His eyes narrowed in thought. He'd kept Daisuke for some time. The boy had had a chance to learn a vampire's weaknesses and skills. Could he be this mysterious shooter?
Something worth looking into, Vamdemon decided. And he would do just that.
To Be Continued