Digimon: Digital Monsters
The Clockwork Alchemist
Chapter One: The Disappearing Bridge
BOOK ONE
Hello, and welcome to my first fanfic! Some tidbits of information you ought to know before you embark: this story is set after the second Digimon season, but it occurs before the epilogue. Clockwork chronicles events that take place as everyone in the world receives their own Digimon partner. Enjoy!
Wizardmon started and looked up sharply, as if he had been struck by an invisible hand.
"What's the matter?" Meramon asked, more curious than concerned, but Wizardmon shook his head.
"I'm not sure…" he replied. "I thought I felt something."
His companion's flames danced for a moment, bristling.
"Anything I should be worried about?"
"No, it's nothing like that," Wizardmon replied slowly, but it was obvious his mind was elsewhere. "Stay here; I'll go check it out."
"In that storm?" Meramon asked disbelievingly, gesturing at the rage of snow and ice beyond the cave's mouth. The blizzard had seethed for days now, and while there were signs of stopping, it was a still a dangerous and foolhardy thing to brave it now.
"I'll be alright."
"Suit yourself…"
Wizardmon tipped his old pointed hat in farewell as Meramon settled himself against a wall. Then he set out into the storm, following the faint prod at his mind and wondering what in Magic's name was summoning him.
.xXx.
At the exact moment Wizardmon had felt something tug at his magic, somewhere else in a world quite unlike his own, a girl had jumped off a bridge. Her name was Rosemerry Elric, and let it be said that she was generally not the sort to do this type of thing. But her life had taken a turn for the worse, and in an instant of insanity she had chosen to end it all.
However, and she was not quite sure how it had happened, but somehow she'd managed to miss hitting the river altogether and instead landed in the middle of a deep forest. A torrent of snow raged in on her from all directions, striking every bit of exposed skin with biting force and blowing straight through her clothes to reach the rest. She lay there for a moment, shivering and winded, staring up at a canopy of white branches and pinecones where she knew there was supposed to be a bridge.
The bell hadn't even stopped tolling midnight when she'd jumped, but she couldn't hear it now. Actually, she doubted she might hear anything over the howl of the wind, yet whatever had happened seemed to have knocked her sanity back into her, and with a grunt she pushed herself up and started walking. If there was one thing she couldn't stand, it was freezing. But it was soon apparent that if she didn't find shelter soon, she wouldn't have much choice in the matter. Every tree, every snow drift, even every snowflake looked the same to the point where she suspected she was going in circles.
"Hello?" she called into the storm, a fruitless effort as the wind immediately hurled her words back down her throat. "Is anyone there? Someone! Help me!"
It was then her foot caught a branch and sent her tumbling head over heels into a tree, which promptly dropped what seemed like a few tons of snow straight on her head. Everything went dark, and the howling that had filled the air was suddenly muffled.
I guess freezing to death wouldn't be so bad, she mused in the relative quietude. You just go to sleep, and that's that. Come to think of it, I don't even feel the old anymore…
So Rosemerry closed her eyes and began to sink into an empty unconsciousness, just as she and everything else around her was abruptly lifted into the air.
.xXx.
"Hey, hold up a minute!"
Wizardmon turned and smiled beneath his cloak as Meramon hurried to catch up with him. "I thought you weren't coming?"
"Yeah, well, I couldn't let you go off and have all the fun, could I?" the fire-man replied. "Besides, what's a blizzard between friends? S'not like it's affecting me. What are we looking for anyway?"
"I don't know, exactly," Wizardmon answered truthfully. "But I suppose we'll find out soon. It's in this direction."
"Lead on, then."
The two Nightmare Soldiers walked for a few minutes in companionable silence, Wizardmon maintaining a small force-field to keep the snow at bay and staying close to Meramon so as to keep warm. It was not that he particularly disliked the cold, but there was no reason not to use his friend as a personal heater.
"How much farther is it?" Meramon wanted to know.
"Just a little more…Who's that?"
They paused, peering into the raging gloom at the dark figure making its way towards them through the trees.
"A ghost?" asked Meramon, a quaver on his voice, though he quelled it sternly.
"No, it's too solid to be a specter," Wizardmon replied. "Believe me, I would know. It's shouting something. Can you make it out?"
The flaming Digimon shook his head. Then the creature staggered and fell straight into the base of a tree, which proceeded let loose its loaded branches and buried the thing beneath the snowfall.
"Come on!" the Majin cried, starting forward at an ungainly run through the deep white before levitating himself the rest of the way, Meramon sloughing after him. Then the snowdrift rose straight into the air and gently shook itself, and he was surprised to see a girl floating there before him.
"A human!" he said.
"Indeed," Wizardmon agreed. "She must be a new DigiDestined, if she's here."
"What's she doing all the way out here?"
But the wizard only shook his head and pulled the girl within his sphere of protection.
"Hold out your arms, Meramon."
"Like this?" Meramon said, doing as he was told, and Wizardmon nodded, levitating the child across his forearms.
"Keep her warm, but try not to touch her. We don't want to set her on fire," Wizardmon warned, and began to trek back towards the cave, Meramon following at his heels.
.xXx.
"What'cha got there?" a curious Pumpkinmon asked as Wizardmon and Meramon returned with their charge in hand.
"Hey, it's a girl!" several Gekomon observed brightly.
"What a doll," Frigimon grinned. "But what's she doing here? She's not one of the DigiDestined we met."
"That's what I'd like to know," Wizardmon admitted, setting her down by the fire as several others gathered in curiosity, and cast a drying-spell upon her drenched clothes.
"If she is, where's her partner?" asked Apemon.
"Don't know," said Meramon. "She was alone when we found her. Maybe they were separated, or she doesn't have one yet."
"How'd you find her?" asked a Gazimon, his brothers crowding behind him to get a better look.
"Wizardmon said he could sense her," Meramon told them.
"That's a Witchelny D'mon for you."
"Well, the only thing to do now is to wait for her to wake up," said Wizardmon. "Then maybe she can answer a few of those questions."
"You mean if she wakes up," the Gazimon added cheekily, earning a swipe from the Majin's staff. They scampered away laughing as Wizardmon settled himself down to wait. It was not long before the others lost interest in the novelty and had wandered off, leaving him and Meramon alone with their unconscious charge.
"Why do you think she's here?" asked Meramon, stroking the fire. "I mean, it's only been a few months since the DigiDestined were last here, and there haven't been any new threats to our world. There hasn't been enough time, really. So what's this kid doing here?"
"Why do you keep asking me?" Wizardmon sighed. "I don't know all the answers."
"You sure act like you do," Meramon grinned.
"I will admit it's strange," Wizardmon said, choosing to ignore the jibe. "Perhaps a new threat is about to surface, one we aren't aware of yet. After all, overly-powerful evil D'mons seem to be cropping up quite a lot recently."
"Yeah, but they usually let things quiet down for a few years before showing their faces."
"Well, maybe this one's just impatient. Taking over the world's a hard job; it's better to get started right away."
They laughed quietly to each other and eventually lapsed into silence. Ten minutes time found Meramon asleep and snoring softly, but his Witchelny friend had yet to find his rest. Wizardmon leaned against the wall, fingers linked across his chest, regarding the child with eyes like emeralds. Frigimon was right; she certainly looked like a doll. She had to be at least fifteen, and would always be more cute than beautiful—as humans went at any rate—with short wavy red hair, fair complexion, and petite build.
To say the least, she didn't look like much. He doubted a soft little thing like her would last long in the Digital World on her own. Yet, something about her made him uneasy. For what reason he hadn't the faintest idea, but it was there just the same, buzzing anxiously within his mind.
Still…if she was here, perhaps the other DigiDestined would return as well. Despite himself, Wizardmon smiled. He might be able the see Gatomon again. Though he would have trouble explaining how he'd managed to return to the digital world after being trapped in the real one as a ghost for so long. He didn't remember much of it, actually, only that one day he'd been pulled rather forcefully through the Gate and landed hard just outside Primary Village.
Wizardmon shook his head and closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep as a shadow slipped from the cave and disappeared into the night.
To be continued…
Disclaimer: I. Own. Nothing.
Vocabulary:
Majin are a group of magically inclined Digimon hailing from Witchelny, which is a separate part of the Digital World. Other Majin include Sorcerymon, Flawizarmon (FlameWizardmon), and Witchmon.
The Nightmare Soldiers represent one of the Digimon Families within the southern section of the Digital World. Digimon of this family primarily consist of demon, Undead, and other mythological and mystical Digimon.
D'mon is the abbreviation of Digimon (think of it as Digital slang) that I just made up so I wouldn't have to say "mon". Frankly, I hate that word.
Salutations! I hope you liked the first chapter of Clockwork. I do apologize if it's a little confusing at first—I like to start stuff like this off right in the middle of things and explain it all later. I think it's way more interesting that way, don't you? Anyway, Wizardmon's my favorite character out of the lot, so I decided to give homage by writing a fic about him. He rules. And as to why he's reappeared in the digital world, all will be explained in due time.
Anyway, yes, I posted this some time ago but decided to take it down and do a rewrite. I think it's better this time. Triumph!
REVIEW!
Until next time,
Calfuray