Myotismon grinned in satisfaction as his former slave dropped to her knees in a pool of her own blood, bruises and open skin wounds decorating the soft white fur.
"I'm impressed, Gatomon," he remarked. "I've never seen you hold against my punishment this long before." He looked down at her form, shivering with pain. "I guess those filthy humans haven't totally corrupted you." Her eyes shot up at him, full of hatred.
"Or maybe you're just loosing you touch," she spat, pushing herself to a painful standing position. The vampire's whip struck the ground a few inches from her feet, knocking her over in surprise.
"Remember whose holding all the cards before you make another comment like that." He gestured to one of the Bakemon, who quietly floated over and handed him something. "Here," Myotismon tossed a roll of bandages at Gatomon, which landed by her paws, soaking in the lost blood, "we wouldn't want you to die on us, not just yet." She glowered as he left the room, but scooped up the stained cloth, tearing off the bloody part with her claws and letting it fall to the floor. She ripped off another strip and gently wrapped it around a particularly bad cut on her left arm. One of the Bakemon snickered, and she tossed the discarded bandage at him, which adhered itself to his forehead. Bakemon's eyes traveled towards one another as he stared at the bloody bandage, what little color in his complexion draining to nothing. The next moment he was flailing around the room, squirming at the fact her blood was on him, another one trying to calm him down long enough to remove the article. Gatomon snorted at the stupidity as she continued to tend to her wounds. She finished covering up her cuts and bruises and tossed the spool over her shoulder, purposely beaming a ghost in the head. Seeing she was done, the guards came over and led her back into the dungeon. Gatomon silently went along with them, too weak to protest at the moment.
She was shoved into the cell, wincing as the Bakemon neglected to avoid her injuries. The scar-eyed one stayed behind, red streaks on his face from where she had pulled him into the bars. He cringed under her withering stare and turned his back to the cage to avoid her gaze. Gatomon smirked, pleased that she was still feared amongst the servants. She sat down on a small mattress practically shoved in the corner, back resting on the wall.
Looks like I have some cards of my own.
---
The group of junior digidestined and digimon had traveled to a remote sector of the Digital World. Silently they crept through the darkened woods, under the guide of the newly revived Wizardmon, who was leading them to Myotismon's back-up headquarters, since his castle had been demolished after his arrival in the real world. Around the group of twelve, trees rustled ominously and red eyes peered out from the shadows. A black crow suddenly launched out of the darkness, feathers in a flurry and screeching angrily. Yolei screamed and clung to Ken's side, while Patamon, perched on T.K.'s head, managed to aim his Boom Bubble at the bird, scaring it off.
"It's gone Yolei," Ken said calmly, smiling at her.
She opened her tightly clamped eyes and looked about. "Uh, I knew that." She hugged Ken a little tighter. "Thank you for protecting me, Kenny!" she cooed before letting go. "Isn't he the greatest?"
Patamon huffed. "It was my Boom Bubble." Ken laughed a little, blushing while rubbing the back of his neck.
"I didn't do that much..."
"Will you two lovebirds knock it off!" Davis yelled.
"Jealous?" Yolei snickered. Davis glowered at her, but thankfully their leader interrupted with a shush. Wizardmon paused and looked around.
"We're being watched," he said.
"No kidding,"Cody replied, casting a worried glance at the many pairs of demonic eyes staring at them, but he didn't receive a response to that comment. Wizardmon stepped back suddenly and mouthed several magic words. Immediately, in a puff of smoke, his sun staff slid into his hand. He swung it around and struck a defensive pose towards the unseen enemy.
"Woah, how'd you do that?" T.K. asked.
"I am a wizard, am I not?"
"Wizardmon look out!" He dodged a sudden attack from a giant red claw. Two Devidramon crept out of hiding with menacing snarls baring their teeth. The one who didn't attack roared and swung it's tail out at the digidestined, who scurried out of the way just in time.
"We gotta digivolve!" Veemon said, ducking as the tail swung over his head.
"Right!" the digimon agreed. Their partners began to pull out their digivices, prepared for battle.
"No, don't digivolve. They aren't real."
"Look pretty real to me," Davis challenged, completely ready for a fight.
"No, he's right," Ken said. "There's no way that two Devidramon could attack like this without any of the forest being demolished." The others looked around, and saw his point. As much as the demon dragons had been thrashing around, none of the closely huddled trees had the slightest mark on them. "And notice how only one attacks at a time. The real thing would continue to fight until someone was defeated, not take turns."
"Then explain how these scratch marks got into the ground," Yolei said, pointing at several furrows that rested before their feet, none of which were there before the attack.
"Someone must be attacking from the shadows, and using the Devidramon as a distraction," Wizardmon explained, dodging the claws again. "We should probably avoid their attacks anyway."
"So where are our attackers?" Kari asked as she slid out of the way of the illusion's tail, synchronized with a real attack. Just as she spoke, the other Devidramon opened it's mouth, preparing for a breath attack.
"We're about to find out. Thunderball!" Wizardmon answered, throwing his attack into it's open mouth, which just as he predicted, soared right through the beast's head. A crash and a thud resounded from the darkness and slowly the Devidramon began to fade away.
"Whose the wise guy playing tricks?!" Yolei growled, fists shaking angrily in the air.
"I doubt they're up there," her partner replied.
"Over here!" Armadillo called from the direction of wherever the attack had been hiding. Cody pulled back the high grasses in order to see what was behind just as the others came over. Lying huddled up in the grass with a good sized bruise on it's head was the little brown Tapirmon, whimpering as the larger beings converged on him.
"Please don't delete me, I was only following my master's orders!" he whined, trying to cover his head with his small hooves.
"Aw yes, a Tapirmon. Crafty little rookie digimon who are masters of nightmares and illusions," Hawkmon explained. "They aren't very strong in hand-to-hand combat, so they resort into tricking opponents into submission."
"You mean THIS little thing was causing so much trouble!" Yolei called out, pointing an accusing finger at the poor digimon. In response he buried his face deeper. Kari, always sympathetic, came closer to the Tapirmon, frowning at how scared the creature was.
"He doesn't seem that bad." Surprised, his fan-like ears twitched and his face came back into view, astonishment washing over the boar's features as he stared at Kari, who smiled back in a calming way.
"It's you," he merely stated, "the one my master tried to kill years ago."
"What!" Davis yelled out, grabbing the Tapirmon by his forelimbs and roughly shaking the digimon back and forth. "You mean to say you work for Myotismon? Huh? Answer me!" On answer me, he began to shake him even harder, making a response nearly impossible, especially in his already dazed state.
"Davis, you're not helping," Ken told him.
"But he won't answer me," Davis said, but he did stop shaking Tapirmon long enough for him to say something.
"Yes, I do work for Lord Myotismon. Now please put me down." He added the last part with a meek and helpless voice. The goggle-wearing boy released his grip, and he plummeted to the ground.
"Okay, now tell us what he's planning, and how he returned!" Davis demanded.
"I do not know of how he reconfigured his data."
"But what about his plans?"
"I don't know that either."
"Liar!" Davis exclaimed, pulling him off the ground once again. "tell us what his plans are now!"
Tapirmon whimpered again. "I don't know, honest! He-he never reveals his plans to lowly servants like myself."
The shaking began again. "Yes you do! Stop withholding information."
"He's telling the truth." Both froze in place and slowly turned to the voice. Wizardmon adjusted his hat before replying. "Myotismon rarely divulged the true nature of his actions to those working under him until he was close to achieving his goal. The only ones who could ever really figure out what his schemes were Gatomon and myself."
"I thought you were dead!" Tapirmon proclaimed, now noticing Wizardmon for the first time.
"Let him go," Wizardmon told Davis, completely disregarding the last statement. "There's nothing we can gain from holding onto him." Davis shrugged and let him go. Tapirmon immediately scurried away into the shadows until he was out of sight.
"Where do you suppose he's going?" Wormmon asked.
"Probably back to Myotismon. He was only sent out here to deter any trespassers who may come along, but now he's bound to warn his master of our arrival. I only hope we came before he finished whatever he was plotting."
"So what is he plotting anyway?" T.K. asked. "You said you and Gatomon could usually figure it out."
"Revenge. He plans to get back at you digidestined. As for kidnapping Gatomon, he always knew that we could figure him out, so with her out of the way, you all would be completely clueless. Plus, he could get back at her for her betrayal, but he won't do anything serious until we come. That's his special way of making people suffer, forcing them to watch someone they care about being hurt." He subtilely clenching his fists, remembering the times he'd personally experienced that emotional form of torture. "But what he didn't count on was me."
"But won't Tapirmon tell him of you're return?"
"Probably, but the point is, he's not expecting it. The surprise will most likely throw his plans off slightly. We have a slight advantage."
---
Tapirmon crept into a large cage in the middle of the dark forest, quietly floating down the corridor. Lanterns flickered on as he progressed down the hall, till he reached a huge door. The vaccine digimon quietly knocked, greeted with a cold 'Enter.' He gulped and using all his strength, pushed open the massive door just enough for him to slip in. It slammed shut behind him. The room was cold and empty, consisting only of a few torches, which barely illuminated the space. A table rested to the side of a large chair, where his master was sitting, only the tips of his oversized cowl peeking over the top. The vampire had his back to Tapirmon, facing a large screen which had a crude digital map of the forest displayed, twelve red blips slowly moving to the right of the screen, where the cave was displayed.
"So, who are our unexpected visitors?"
"The younger digidestined and their partners, my lord."
"And I see you ceased to stop them."
He cringed and bowed. "I apologize my lord, they saw through my illusion."
He spun around and leaned forward and Tapirmon saw the fire raging in his icy blue eyes "Unacceptable! You're illusion just wasn't effective enough!"
Tapirmon pushed himself lower to the ground, his breath blowing up dust from the dirt floor, threatening to make him sneeze. "I'm sorry! You are absolutely correct, Master. I just didn't train hard enough."
Myotismon calmed himself, leaning back into the chair. "Well, see that you do. Since you failed you're mission, I'm still not quite ready to confront them yet. I'll just have to find a way to occupy our 'guests' until the time is right. You are dismissed, Tapirmon."
"Yes Master," he said, pushing himself off of the ground in order to leave. He grasped the handle and strained to pull the great door open.
"Oh, by the way. Who is the twelfth member of their group, since one of them is missing her partner?"
Tapirmon froze in place. "No one, just some random digimon they must have picked up along the way," he answered before slipping out.
---
A quick note on Wizardmon's staff. This is just a theory of mine, but I believe he has the ability to conjure it up at will. Just look at episode 34. One scene he doesn't have it with him, but the next, he does. I doubt he had time to make a stop and pick it up. He must have hidden it away again when he fell into the water because something like that would get in the way. And the reason he didn't have in in episode 37, when they confronted Myotismon was because he was too weak from the previous battle and nearly drowning to summon up enough energy to retrieve it. As a ghost he didn't have any of his powers to bring his staff back (plus there wasn't really any need for it)
Okay, that's out of the way, so please review guys! This chapter was harder to write than the others, so I made it longer to apologize for making you wait.