Chip Town was in an uproar. Carnage went on all sides as many digimon fled. The dark digimentals were relentless in their pursuit, capturing any digimon they could find. And any digimon they did find, their minds were quickly silenced. They only obeyed the will of their master, and that master was SkullMeramon.
The flame digimon grinned to himself. This had all gone well. An entire town captured. But one little problem: the humans had gotten away. That alone made him itch for more of a fight. He wanted a good one. And those weak little Champions were hardly good opponents. Nevertheless, it was fun to have some punching bags around. And he wasn't done practicing yet. Looking up to the Blimpmon, he knew what he had to do.
"I'm not through with you yet little worms."
XXX
The fog was thick as pea soup. Least that's what he could compare it to. He wandered through aimlessly, searching for any sign of escape. Despite his search, he could find nothing. His staff thrust into the ground as he kept an open notice for signs of his captor. Yet said captor was elusive. Only appearing when he wanted. Frankly, all seemed hopeless, but he wouldn't give up. It wasn't in his nature.
Then he heard it. Something far off, coming along the tracks. Silently he prayed for them, knowing whoever was coming would in fur a foul surprise. Inside he prayed for them. Prayed and waited.
XXX
The Locomon puffed along the tracks at a steady pace. Inside the passengers took the moment to relax themselves. Albeit halfway, for they were still tense from what had transpired. Kazuya kept his head hidden with his hands. He let out a weary sigh and looked to Gazimon. The rabbit mon was still hoisting a bloated belly, moaning and rubbing it all the while.
"That's the last time I eat." Gazimon bemoaned.
"But why wouldn't you want to eat? Eating is great!" Labramon piped. Just then, her stomach grumbled. "Sho-chan! Labramon is hungry!"
Sho looked at her in disbelief. "Again? But you just stuffed yourself silly."
Labramon tilted her head innocently. "Yeah but Labramon digivolved. So my tummy shrank."
"Well how come my belly didn't shrink?" Gazimon moaned.
Labramon looked to him and shrugged. "I dunno."
Gazimon sank further back in his seat. "Well that's just unfair."
"Eh quit your complaining." Jun waved the rabbit off. "So you stuffed yourself like a pig. There's worse things in the world."
Though most wouldn't agree with her, the group saw that she had a point.
"You know I really think the important thing is that we got our butts kicked." DemiDevimon noted.
That was on everyone's minds. Such a resounding defeat they had been delivered. One that wouldn't be shaken off so easily.
"Yeah. That was a pretty powerful digimon." said Chiisi.
"Why was he so powerful though?" Sakura asked. "I mean our digimon digivolved and everything."
Fairydramon cleared her voice and stood at the center of the train. "I'm glad you asked my girl, for there is a very simple explanation." The dragoness turned to face everyone, her eyes full of serious determination. "He was an Ultimate!" she declared with a hint of dramatic flair.
"An Ultimate?" the humans repeated.
Fairydramon nodded. "Yes, an Ultimate. The next stage in our digivolution."
"Just how many levels do you have?" Jun asked.
Fairydramon's determination brightened up into an enthusiastic cheer. "I'm so glad you asked!" Fairydramon cleared her voice again, and in everyone's mind, a chalkboard popped up behind her. A little visual animation to brighten up the explanation. "Digimon are divided into several levels. First we start out our lives as a Digitama. Then we hatch into a Baby digimon, otherwise known as Fresh. Following that we have the In-training level." Gesturing a claw to herself, Fairydramon continued, "Following that is the Rookie level, such as myself and everyone present. Then there is the Champion level, and the level we currently digivolve into." Everyone knew what the Champion level digimon were. "And then there is the Ultimate level, what SkullMeramon was to our disadvantage. Though types play a role in a battle, generally digimon at a higher level have the advantage."
The group was enlightened now, though Chiisi had another question. "Is there a level beyond Ultimate?"
Fairydramon nodded. "Yes, Mega, a level fabled and often sought but usually never reached."
The group finally understood how vast the difference between themselves and their enemy was.
"Wow. No wonder we were beaten." Sho realized.
Labramon let out a whine, prompting Sho to pet her. "Labramon is sorry Sho-chan. She wishes she was stronger."
"Hey it's okay." Sho reassured.
Jun was about to reach for a cigarette, but stopped when she figured what was the point? "Well it looks like we're screwed."
"No!" Kazuya suddenly piped up. "Just because we got beat doesn't mean we should give up!" Kazuya stood on his feet, fists clenched and eyes full of resolve. "We'll just have to digivolve higher!"
"Yeah...urp!" Gazimon burped rubbing his belly.
"Easier said than done my boy." Fairydramon reminded.
There was that. Even if they wanted to digivolve, getting to that point was another story. And they didn't have a lot of options on how to reach it. All they could do is sit on the train and pray they were taken someplace safe.
"HALT!" a loud voice called as the train came to a sudden and abrupt stop.
Everyone standing, (namely Fairydramon) were sent flying to the floor. While everyone else seated held their ground to keep from falling our of their seats.
The skidding went on until at last the train completely stopped. Everyone stood dumbfounded at the sudden halting.
"LAST STOP. ALL PASSENGERS DEPART." the robotic tone of voice came from nowhere.
Everyone looked out the window and noticed the vast fields of green surrounding the train. They weren't at any station that was for certain, but they didn't know what else to do than simply follow what they were told.
"I guess this is where we get off." Kazuya said.
Helping Gazimon to his feet, the rest of the party followed in suit and headed for the train door. Their feet touched the ground and could hear the familiar sound of crunching grass. But as they looked about, they could clearly see the conductor had made a mistake.
"There's nothing out here!" Jun exclaimed. Turning back to the train, the juvenile delinquent kicked the side of it. "Hey buddy let us back in!" she demanded.
"NO." the robotic voice droned. "THERE IS A FOGBANK AHEAD. I'M NOT STEPPING INTO UNKNOWN TERRITORY."
And with that said, the train began to chug again and ran backwards. Puffing along the path, going in the opposite direction.
"Hey wait come back!" Jun called, running after the vehicle without much success. In fact, she gave up rather quickly. "Stupid conductor! Just who does he think he is? Talking at us like he's some kind of big scary robot or something."
"Um Jun?" Penguinmon said tapping Jun's leg. "That was the digimon talking."
"The digimon? You mean that train was the digimon?" Jun realized at last.
Penguinmon nodded. "Yeah. Well his name is Locomon."
Jun smacked herself in the head. It was so obvious with the naming scheme that she was foolish not to see it.
"Well this world is just full of surprises." she said to herself.
The group was lost for now for what lay ahead perturbed them. A large fog bank lay in front of them. It was so thick one couldn't see what was in front of them.
"Are we supposed to go in there?" Sakura asked.
"Not like we have any other place to go." Sho said.
The rest of the group knew it. And with SkullMeramon on their tail, it was better to stay hidden.
"All right. But we should stay close." Kazuya instructed.
Everyone got in close as they ventured forth into the fog. The moment they did, all they saw was the gray mist around them.
"It's so thick." said Sakura, partially worried.
Fairydramon kept her reptilian eyes open. She sniffed the air and shuddered. "Something doesn't feel right." she warned.
Gazimon, who was still reeling from an upset stomach, could even tell that something wasn't right. "Yeah. I think something's watching us."
Penguinmon shivered in fright and hung close to Jun's leg. "I'm scared."
DemiDevimon kept his perch on Chiisi's shoulder. "I guess I'm the only one who finds this fog comforting." He stated.
It was true, the bat was the only one who found solace in this realm. Now it was common knowledge that dark digimon had an affinity for the dark and mysterious. The same applied to DemiDevimon.
The party continued to traverse and found no sign of land within their fog like imprisonment. It certainly felt like a prison with the surrounding confinement. But they traversed on and realized that as long as they were together, they would be fine. And so far nothing out of the ordinary was happening.
"GRRRRRRRRR!"
Scratch that. Something indeed was happening. Something was vocalizing. Something deep and guttural. The sound bounced around covering all sides of the area. Everyone could hear it, especially the digimon.
"W-W-What was that?" Penguinmon whimpered.
Penguinmon heard it especially.
The other digimon stood at the ready, for the sound was clearly audible.
Labramon herself pawed at the ground on all fours, teeth bared and growling all the while. "Something bad is here!" she growled.
Even in his bloated state, Gazimon was at the ready. To the best of his ability. His portly belly was still getting in the way.
"GRRRRRRRNNNNNNN!" The growl came again, circulating around and swirling about. Just as the mist was.
Everyone watched with careful eyes for a sign of the mysterious source. But all they saw around them was gray overcast. Not a thing could be found around them, yet as they focused closely, they noticed something amiss. There within the fog, were twin shiny dots of red.
"There!" Sakura pointed.
"What the heck is that?!" Sho asked fearfully.
No one had the answer. And just as they had appeared, the dots had vanished. No, they weren't dots, but for some reason, everyone could just tell they were eyes.
"Woah!" Sho suddenly cried as something grabbed hold of him.
"Sho-chan!" Labramon cried.
Everyone noticed to see a tendril of fog grabbing hold of Sho and dragging him into the fog bank itself.
"Don't worry Sho-chan! Labramon will save you!" Labramon called after her partner, running in after him.
"Hey don't break the group!" Kazuya said with alarm.
Just then another tendril appeared and grabbed hold of Kazuya. Following it was another tendril who grabbed hold of Gazimon. Squeezing him hard, it forced out another burp from him.
Before anyone else could react, more tendrils appeared and captured Jun, Penguinmon, Chiisi, and DemiDevimon.
As Chiisi was grabbed, he looked to Sakura with wide eyes. "Sakura! Run!"
With wide eyes of her own, Sakura wasn't sure of what to do. She could see the tendrils dragging her companions in, and noticed two more coming out. One for her, and the other for Fairydramon.
Fairydramon was having none of it, and swiftly grabbed hold of Sakura's hand.
"Come on!" She urged.
Sakura said nothing, but continued to look forward, never looking back. They just continued to run through the fog, searching for any sign of safety. Behind they could hear sounds, and that only quickened their pace.
"GGGGRRRRRRRRNNNNNN!"
The growls came again, surrounding them just as before. And as they did, the more panicked they became. And just then, at the height of their run, Sakura tripped.
"Sakura!" Fairydramon cried.
Sakura had fallen, landing right on her knees.
"Are you okay?" Fairydramon asked fervently.
Sakura rolled over, rubbing her knees of pain and of grass strands. "Yeah. I'm fine." Sakura half lied. She was fine physically, but not mentally. And soon she could see why.
From the fog came forth another pair of tendrils. The fog like appendages surged their way towards the human and digimon pair. Fairydramon stood ready, waiting to send out a "Fairy Flame" to defend themselves.
"Thunder Cloud!"
Then, from out of nowhere, a ball of electricity flew forth and struck the tendrils. Upon contact, they exploded into nothing.
"This way! Quick!"
Sakura and Fairydramon looked behind them to noticed a humanoid shape in the fog. Though they were not sure whether to trust this new source. But they were low on options and thus didn't have any other choice. So therefore, they followed. Through the fog they went until they were close enough to the figure. And once they were close enough, the figure began to move. It was clear it was waiting for them to grow closer, and close as they were it could now lead.
"Stay close to me!" The figure urged.
Sakura and Fairydramon did as they were told, but sneaking a quick look behind, they noticed several fog tendrils coming towards them. They ran with all of their might, but just as they had felt they had run enough, they heard it.
"Stop!"
They skidded to a halt and looked behind them once again. The tendrils came and just as they had grown close, they exploded. Upon contact that is. Upon seeing this, they noticed something. A strange glow was filling the area. It went upwards enclosing in a dome like pattern.
"Thank goodness you made it." a relieved voice spoke.
Sakura and Fairydramon looked to notice someone else was in the dome with them. The figure was about the size a child, Chiisi's size to be precise. It was humanoid in shape, but they could tell it wasn't human. It's body was a primarily yellowish tan color, with areas of red upon it. Mainly in the left ankle, the knees and a red vest, hooked only by two leather wires. Zippers were a prominent design upon the creature. Namely around the knees and on the left side. And upon the brown gloves, just going down the center. A indigo cape lay upon the shoulders, with a hood that obscured the face, held only by a skull choker. Within the cape were several strange symbols. Maybe just for decoration or simply an ancient unknown language. A hat lay atop it's blueish pale face, with green eyes and light brown hair. The hat itself was like a witch or a wizards, with a large black horizontal stripe with a large skull emblem upon it. On it's feet were brown boots in similar fashion to the gloves, with crescent moon emblems upon them. Finishing the appearance was a slightly curved wooden staff, and at the end lay a golden egg symbol with sun like extensions upon it.
The creature stared at the pair with its clear eyes. Neither Fairydramon nor Sakura stood ready, for they could sense no harm from this creature. Just something about its aura gave off a sense of peace.
"Don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you."
That and it, or rather "he" just admitted it.
"Who are you?" Sakura asked.
The creature bowed himself. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Wizardmon. Traveler, and pursuer of the unknown."
Fairydramon eyed the digimon with caution. Though she had gotten a good vibe from their rescuer, she couldn't help but feel suspicious.
"Why did you save us?" she asked.
Wizardmon started to walk towards them, his pace slow. "Should there be a reason? You were in danger and I did what a decent digimon would do."
Fairydramon tried to will herself to be on the defensive, but just couldn't just bring herself to do so.
"Well you have my thanks Wizardmon. For both my sake and Sakura's." Fairydramon at last relented.
Sakura looked about the dome, marveling at the sight of it. "What is this thing?"
"It's my barrier." Wizardmon explained. "When I realized this fog was a danger, I set it up. But alas, I only had one saved spell for this."
"Saved spell?" Sakura repeated.
"Yes. Though my abilities lay in the magical and the occult, but this magic is far beyond my abilities."
That was true. Digimon were slightly limited.
"Well in any case, we thank you again for-" Fairydramon's speech was halted as something slammed against the barrier. It was another fog tendril.
As it slammed against the barrier, it flickered, disappearing momentarily.
"As I feared. The barrier is not holding up." Wizardmon lamented.
"But whatever is outside could come in!" Sakura feared.
Wizardmon nodded. "I'm sorry. It's all I can do."
Sakura was afraid. Whatever was out there had taken her friends, and she and Fairydramon were next. But still, she couldn't give up. And she came to a decision.
"Well then we'll just have to fight." Sakura stated.
"Fight?!" Fairydramon questioned. "Sakura my dear. I do appreciate your valor, but we don't know what we are up against."
"I know that. But what choice do we have?" Sakura asked.
"Your friend is right. I'm afraid fight we must." Wizardmon concurred.
The Rookie dragon knew they were right, but wasn't sure if they could do it. How could one fight tendrils? A sound gave out akin to a dying lightbulb. The barrier was holding out for as long as it could, but at last it was giving out. And soon, it gave out.
A cold air brushed past them as the barrier died, and it filled everyone down to the bone with dread. And just as the barrier died, the tendrils came.
"Magical Game!" Wizardmon was the first to act. From his staff shot forth a wave of blue lightning. It struck the tendrils evaporating them into nothing. Yet just as they were destroyed, more came.
"Fairy Flame!" Fairydramon spat forth her pink fire. It too struck some tendrils and destroyed them.
Despite grabbing hold of their companions, they were easily defeated. That lessened the overall terror Sakura was feeling. In fact, she was so relieved, she dropped her guard for that moment. So much that a tendril snuck up behind her and found its way around her waist. Sakura let out a yell as she was thrown to the ground.
"Sakura!" Fairydramon cried.
Both she and Wizardmon ran to her, but the tendril was quicker. It snatched Sakura right up and attempted to drag her in.
"Let me go!" She cried.
Being a non sentient creature, it paid her no heed, and she was dragged all the more. Yet Sakura continued to struggle. She wasn't giving up. And as it neared the innards of the fog, something strange occurred. Sakura's digivice began to beep, and along with that beep, came a glow of light. It shone forth and as it did, the fog tendril dissipated.
"Sakura!" Fairydramon cried. The dragon ran towards her partner, inspecting her closely as she did. "Are you alright?"
Sakura got to her feet and dusted herself off. "Yeah. I think I'm fine. This thing saved me." She gestured to her digivice. The screen of the pink device shined briefly, then went silent once more. Such power contained within these little devices. It broadened their mystery all the more.
Wizardmon noticed all of this, and he was amazed all the more. "Amazing! So the legends are true." He said to himself.
All thoughts were put on hold as a growl echoed throughout the fog. The sound grew louder in pitch as a shape became clear through the fog. Something lumbered it's way out. It clumsily, yet strongly held itself on two arms. Broad things with skinny limbs. Brown fur covering the entire body, save for patches of bare red skin. Two large spikes rose up on the shoulders. A dog like face stared out, with two beady red eyes. A strange rabbit like hat hung upon it, with floppy green ears.
"I should have known." Wizardmon mused. "Wendigomon!"
"Wendigomon?" Both Sakura and Fairydramon repeated.
"So it was a digimon that was behind it?" Sakura asked. But not just a digimon, for around it's left arm, was the shape of a dark digimental.
"We must destroy that thing!" Fairydramon instructed.
Wendigomon heard this and slammed its fists down. Wizardmon was quick to move out of the way, but Wendigomon was relentless. The beast man digimon continued to slam its arms upon the ground. Yet Wizardmon wasn't going to take this standing.
"Thunder Ball!" Wizardmon sent another ball of electricity towards the creature, hitting him square in the chest.
Despite the hit, Wendigomon wasn't giving up. Taking one of its arms, it extended like a cable and grabbed hold of Wizardmon. Raising him up into the air, it slammed it down and planted Wizardmon upon the ground.
"Wizardmon!" Sakura and Fairydramon shouted.
Grabbing hold of her digivice, Sakura pointed it at her digimon. "Fairydramon it's time to digivolve!"
Fairydramon nodded in agreement, and the digivice began to beep and glow.
"Fairydramon! Digivolve to! Tiamon!"
The light of evolution filled the fog filled area and in the Rookie's place lay a Champion. Tiamon swished her tail and let out a roar, charging towards with such force. Wizardmon dodged out of the way while Wendigomon took the brunt of Tiamon's attack. Tiamon was very fierce as she bit down with her sharp teeth. Wendigomon let out a pained roar as they sank into his flesh. But he wasn't down. Suddenly, there came a great explosion as a blast of smoke erupted between the two Champions. Tiamon flew back as several energy blasts shot forth. From Wendigomon's stomach had emerged a set of barrels, and from those barrels came forth the attack.
"Tiamon!" Sakura cried.
The dragoness fell backwards onto her back, and just as she did, Wendigomon was on her like a mosquito to blood. But that gave Tiamon the opening she needed.
"Tiamat Fire!" From Tiamon's maw spewed forth the violet colored fire which got Wendigomon back to his feet. Taking advantage of that, Tiamon leapt at the monster and swirled about with her tail. With a mighty swipe, her tail knocked back the monster.
But Wendigomon was able to counterattack with his Howling Destroyer. His chest opened up unleashing the attack. Tiamon took the brunt of the attack, this time more solemnly as she was prepared for the attack this time.
"Tiamat Fire!" With a mighty breath, the violet fire streamed forth and engulfed the monster. But Tiamon wasn't aiming for that. At the last minute, she redirected the attack towards the dark digimental on his arm.
Wizardmon was watching all of this with eager eyes. He could sense a great darkness wafting from the digimental, and figured that was the source of the digimon's violent behavior. Taking that moment, he thrust his staff forward.
"Magical Game!" The green lightning surged forth and struck against the digimental.
A great cracking sounded out and with it, the digimental crumbled away, dissipating into data. Wendigomon let out an abrupt roar before ending it just as quickly. The creature held its head up before snapping it down in confusion. Wendigomon's stance softened, going into a relaxed position. Both Tiamon and Wizardmon stood ready, unsure of how to act, but soon dropped their stance when they no longer sensed the bloodlust coming from the digimon. Tiamon de-digivolved into her Rookie form, walking over to Sakura with concern.
"Don't worry Sakura, it's over." Fairydramon reassured.
The girl too felt the peace in the air, and she too relaxed. But there was one problem: the fog was still present. And there was no sign of the others. She looked to Wendigomon, watching the gigantic creature with careful eyes. But with the digimental gone he was no danger.
"Poor thing." Sakura sighed. "You must have been tortured with that thing on." Sakura felt nothing but sympathy for Wendigomon.
Wendigomon tilted his head, then nodded.
Sakura continued to walk towards him stopping right at his feet. "Could you please bring back my friends?" Sakura asked.
Wendigmon returned his head to its proper position and nodded again. Just as he did, the fog began to clear, revealing a grassy landscape. The fog continued to swirl about Wendigomon, his form vanishing along with the mist.
"Thank...you..." Came a grateful voice, sinking away into nothing.
"Sakura?"
Sakura turned around and to her surprise, she saw everyone there.
"Kazuya! Chiisi! Everyone!" Sakura cried running over to her companions.
Everyone was standing there, confused and thoughts drifting.
"What happened?" Kazuya asked.
"I'll tell you later." Sakura laughed. "But I'm just glad you all are back.
Kazuya smiled back, but was unsure of what had just happened. But he knew that Sakura and Fairydramon were responsible for saving them, from whatever fate had befallen them.
"Hey? Who's the big hat?" Jun's voice interrupted the tender moment.
Sakura knew who she was referring to. "That's Wizardmon. He helped me and Fairydramon, and he helped free you all."
Wizardmon did a bow. "It was a pleasure to aid you Lady Sakura, Lady Fairydramon."
Fairydramon blushed at the title of "Lady", but offered a bow herself.
"Well I must be off. Farewell!" Wizardmon said before turning around and leaving.
"Goodbye Wizardmon! I hope we see you again!" Sakura called.
Wizardmon waved off before returning to his own thoughts. "So that was the power of the digivice. Just as she said." Wizardmon looked up to the sky, the free open sky. Sadly the Digital World wasn't as free. "They alone may have the power to free this world."
And so Wizardmon began to think, and he remembered what had been told to him long ago.
XXX
Wizardmon watched the lady in white with thankful eyes. The light emanating from the back casting a warm glow. Within it, he could make out the outlines of two orbs.
"Thank you. You have done so much for me. I don't know how to repay you." Wizardmon said as he kneeled down upon one knee.
"You owe me nothing. I sense the potential within you and I sought to cleanse your soul." The lady in white said. "But I can still sense the darkness clinging to your soul."
Wizardmon was afraid of that. He clenched his chest and felt his data within. Even though he had repented, he still had a long ways to go. It would seem redemption wasn't as easy as everyone thought.
"Yet worry not, for the golden radiance of Miracles, and the silver mark of Destiny will mark your path."
Hearing that made Wizardmon smile.
XXX
That had been a while ago. And it still hung within him.
"I am no longer the reaper." Wizardmon told himself, and he meant it with every word.
A/N: Okay. Back after a long absence. Now apologies for taking so long to get this out. Lack of motivation was a key factor in this, and I must say it was a long lack of motivation. That and writing other things. But I managed to get this out. And so we introduce another side character: Wizardmon. Now I have big plans for Wizardmon. I won't say what, but this is not the last we will see of him. The same applies to Terriermon and Lopmon. Man this is turning out to be a good reboot. I just hope you all stick around till the finale. Hopefully by then I will have more readers.