Series: Division of Destiny||Story: Reign of the Undead King||Chapter: The Surprise
Characters: Piemon, Vamdemon, Chosen Children, others||Pairings: Ken x Daisuke/Daisuke x Ken, Mimi x Sora/Sora x Mimi
Chapters: 37-40||Words: 2,533||Total: 98,167
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.
Pinnochimon could not figure out why he didn't take his hammer and squash all of these humans into a messy little film on the pavement. It wasn't as if anyone would miss them, and it definitely wouldn't dirty up the landscape. That was already trashed far beyond repair. But they were doing something that he'd wanted for a long time, and he couldn't let it stop just yet.
They were paying attention to him. They were listening to him and taking him seriously and they needed something that he knew about. Something that only he could make sure they got, if he wanted to. If they could find the right price for him. He didn't know what that price was yet, but they'd have to meet it before he helped them any more.
Well, he might let them fawn over him a little while longer. He might give them a discount for that. A small one.
He squared himself and stared back at them. "Yeah, that's right. I bet you want it, don't you?" Of course they did. Why wouldn't someone want something that could maybe get rid of Vamdemon? He wanted something that would do that! Only, that meant having to fight Piemon afterward, and he wasn't ready to do that. He knew very well that fighting Piemon meant a horrible, painful death.
The humans didn't know that, though. Too bad for them. If they didn't ask, he wasn't going to bother telling them.
"How can we get it?" The one who'd asked about it wanted to know.
Pinnochimon shifted his mallet to the other should, taking a deep, rich pleasure in this. He hadn't such fun in ages, not since Takeru started to grow up and get really, really boring. This was an entirely new kind of game, and he wanted to play it for as long as he could.
"You'd have to go to the Digital World, of course. That's where it is." And if they didn't know how to get there, then that wasn't his problem. He wouldn't tell them.
Quick glances flew among the group and he wished he were one of those Digimon who could read minds. He didn't like not knowing what his playmates were thinking and here he had a whole new group of them to mess with. But only if he could outthink them.
They were a bunch of humans. He didn't think they were all the way grown up at that. How hard could it be?
"And if we got to the Digital World, what would we have to do then?" The same one asked. Pinnochimon wondered if he should ask their names. No, it probably didn't matter all that much. If he really wanted to, he'd give them names that he liked. If they wanted to keep playing, they'd answer to them, too.
"You'd have to go find the redhead. He's the only one who knows where it is. But he's probably not going to tell you. He's mean like that."
One of the others – he thought it was a girl, but he wasn't good with human things like that – shifted, frowning. "Izumi Koushirou had red hair. I remember meeting him before that summer."
No fair! He'd said it out loud before he even realized it, glowering at them as if they'd committed a great offense. And they had, by not playing the game the way that he wanted it to be played.
"What are you talking about?" The one who'd mentioned knowing the redhead turned to him. "What's not fair?"
"You shouldn't know him! I don't want you to know him!" Pinnochimon stomped one foot, then the other. "How can I have any fun if you're getting everything right before I can tell you? I bet you know how to get to the Digital World, too!"
He didn't care what kind of an answer they gave, or if they gave one at all. "You're not any fun! I want to have some fun! Why won't anyone let me?"
"No one said you couldn't," said one of the others, one who looked a little like that first one. "We might know about how to get there, but we would need your help to really pull it off."
"Ken..." Another of them whispered something, but this one ignored him.
Pinnochimon stared at this Ken. "What? What did you say?"
"I said, we'd need your help. We couldn't do it without you." He took a step closer. "We really need to go there, for a lot of reasons. I bet you could help us find the portal and get through it, couldn't you?"
The Ultimate blinked a few times, his pique forgotten in the light of this interesting new development. "Of course I could." He didn't think anyone else could. Vamdemon was so picky about who could and couldn't go through it. He was probably still annoyed that Pinnochimon hadn't arrived at the castle. Not that he really intended to go there anyway. That place was even more boring than it was out here, and he hadn't thought that was possible!
"If you give us a hand, I can make it worth your while." Ken smiled, and for a brief moment, Pinnochimon could've sworn he saw echoes of Piemon there. That was ridiculous. No human could be anywhere near as manipulative or deceptive as Piemon! Or as he was himself! So whatever trickery this kid had in mind, Pinnochimon knew he could beat it.
"What do you have in mind?" He needed to know that, so he could guess on how to warp it to his advantage. Knowledge was power.
Ken tilted his head back, a thoughtful little gleam in his eyes. "You help us get there and find Izumi-san, and we'll all play with you. One day for each of us, once we don't have to worry about Vamdemon and what he's doing to our world."
Pinnochimon frowned, working through that. He would get a lot of playdays out of that. "And I can do whatever I want to you?"
"Of course. Well, to an extent, anyway."
There was always a catch, wasn't there? Of course there was. "What do you mean?"
"You can't just hit us over the head with your mallet. You can't just kill us right away or make us hurt anyone else," Ken waved one finger carefully. "We're humans. We can't take the kind of play that you can."
That was true. Humans were pretty weak when it came to that. But the more he thought on the matter, the more he kind of liked it. He counted them over quickly. Six of them. Nearly a whole week of fun he could have. Maybe more than a week. Maybe they would have friends he could rope into this.
"So, I can play with each of you for a day, once there's no more Vamdemon to worry about." That meant something else: he'd have to stay by them to make certain they all made it through alive. Which meant he would be fighting against Vamdemon.
Oh, well. It wasn't as if he liked Vamdemon anyway.
"That's right." Ken glanced at everyone else. Pinnochimon thought they didn't look all that happy about the deal, which made him want to do it even more. "And in return, you'll get us to the portal and help us through it."
Pinnochimon nodded eagerly, grinning from ear to ear. "You got yourself a deal, then. I can do all of that. When do you want to go?"
More looks flew among them. He didn't think they'd really thought this out all that well.
"The sooner the better," the one who'd first spoken to him said. "This could be our best chance to get everything done, and I don't think we should waste it."
And so it was decided. Pinnochimon set off quickly toward the castle, his little line of new human playmates trailing along behind him. He could hardly wait to see Vamdemon's face when they all turned up.
"Have you lost your mind?" Osamu hissed into his brother's ear as they followed Pinnochimon. "Seriously?"
Ken shook his head, a quick, sharp motion. "This is the fastest way to get us to the portal and the Digital World. Do you have any better ideas?"
"Wizarmon," Osamu bit the word off, staring at his brother as if the younger Ichijouji had forgotten everything they'd done in the last day. "He's not going to know anything about this. How am I supposed to get in touch with him? What are we even going to do when or if we get over there?"
"Find the other three Chosen, get this special thing that's supposed to help against Vamdemon, and use it to get rid of him once and for all," Ken replied, voice and eyes as cool as ice. He glanced briefly toward Daisuke, then back to Osamu. "I'm not letting him go anywhere near Vamdemon. I'll keep him locked up somewhere if I have to. This is the best way we have to do it, and you know it."
Osamu shook his head. "No, I don't." He wanted to find a way to get back to their base and contact Wizarmon before they embarked on this, but there really wasn't a way. If they let this chance slip, Pinnochimon might decide not to help them after all, and Ken was right about that much. He was the only help they had in finding the gate without anyone knowing that was what they were doing.
But he wanted to let Wizarmon know what was going on, and they really needed to communicate with the base again and let those who'd stayed behind in on what happened. Too much had happened far too quickly, and none of them had had a proper chance to process it all. He didn't think Ken would be this protective, no matter how threatened Daisuke was.
He cast a quick glance to where his brother now strode along beside Daisuke and shook his head a trifle. Maybe he would be. Ken hadn't said anything about the feelings he clearly had, but he didn't really need to. Osamu was his older brother. Even in times like this, it was part of his job to know when Ken had a crush on someone and to tease him about it when the time was right.
Unfortunately, now wasn't the teasing him, and all he could do was try to find a way to get through all of this without anyone losing sanity or body parts. He couldn't be certain he could do it, either.
"Look out!" Iori cried out suddenly, and everyone dodged without pausing to find out why. Osamu took cover under the nearest piece of rubble that didn't look as if it were about to fall over and tried to see what was going on.
Something hit the ground not that far away from them, and hit it hard. At first Osamu thought it was nothing more than a pile of clothes, carelessly tossed from somewhere. Though who would throw away clothes that were still good, if in need of some mending, escaped him.
Then he got a very good look at what actually lay there, and scrambled out and over to them, heart in his mouth.
"Wizarmon!" How the Digimon had arrived here and what had happened to him, Osamu didn't know. He did know that the other was clearly hurt, burn marks and injuries that Osamu didn't recognize all over him. "Wizarmon, what happened to you?"
The only answer was a faint, completely wordless groan. Wizarmon didn't even open his eyes. His fingers clutched a little at Osamu's arm, but that was all. Osamu couldn't even be sure if the Digimon realized he was there in the first place.
"Oh, there you are," a strange voice spoke, and Osamu looked up. Of all the possible beings, he didn't expect to see what looked like Wizarmon, but as if he were partially on fire. This one also seemed a little taller than the one he held in his arms, and his staff resembled a matchstick more than anything else. "Do back away, human. This is Digimon business, not yours."
Osamu didn't budge. "You're not going to hurt him while I'm around." He had no idea of what he could do to stop this, but he would do whatever he had to. Whatever he could. Perhaps if he got out his knife? But did he dare to take one move away from Wizarmon?
Another Digimon, all black armor, skulls, and claws, landed roughly next to the fiery sorcerer Digimon. "Hey, FlaWizarmon! Did you... oh, you did find him!" This one cackled, flexing sharp talons and glaring at Wizarmon. "Oh, look, we can shred some humans, too!"
Osamu shook his head. "Not going to happen." He hoped Pinnochimon would realize that their bargain rested on him making certain they all lived until after the end of Vamdemon, which meant these Digimon couldn't take them out no matter how much they wanted to. He couldn't see the puppet from where he knelt, however.
Wizarmon's hand began to tighten around his own, and Osamu looked down automatically. Green eyes, clouded with pain but beginning to clear and focus, looked back at him. "You should...get out of here..."
Osamu no more moved for him than he had for either of these two attacking Digimon. "Not going anywhere without you."
He thought Wizarmon smiled. There was some sort of movement behind his mask, anyway. "Thank you...Osamu." He closed his eyes and for a few seconds, Osamu's heart nearly stopped as he feared the worst. Something was going on. Something was happening, and he didn't know what it was, and he couldn't think of anything good that would happen and he wanted to stay with Wizarmon, to find out what it meant to have a partner who was as meant for you as you were for him, to have a friend as close as one's own soul...
"Well, this is very disgusting and emotional and I think I'm going to be sick. I've really had enough of it, and I'm going to have to tell Vamdemon-sama that you heroically died fighting us and there wasn't anything that I could do about it. I would be sorry, if I actually cared about you," FlaWizarmon declared, raising his staff. "So, good-bye. To both of you. "Fire Cloud!"
Osamu closed his eyes and bent over Wizarmon. At least they would go together. He could only hope that Ken would find a way to lead the rest of them to victory. He wanted to be able to see it for himself. He wanted them to win. Somehow.
Something shimmered. It could only be FlaWizarmon's attack blazing toward them. Osamu looked up, deciding in a heartbeat to face death head on, and reached up one arm in an automatic defense.
Funny. I thought being burned alive would hurt more. He could feel Wizarmon moving next to him and there was something strange about all of it, and then he heard words he'd never thought he would, and he didn't understand them anyway.
"Wizarmon evolve to... Mistymon!"
To Be Continued