Wizardmon awoke slowly to an unpleasant weight on his torso. It was even more unpleasant since he was still hurting from the wallop he took from Myotismon. He moaned and feebly tried to hold onto sleep, but the paws kneading his chest were hard to ignore. He cracked his eyes open at Gatomon's mischievous face and groggily pushed it away from his own face. "You do that too rough." He complained, changing the pushing into petting the top of her head when she didn't move to get off him.
Gatomon seemed pleased and crawled forward, pressing her paw pads against Wizardmon's face and squishing his cheeks a little. "No, you being a grumpy old man is what's rough." She countered in a self-satisfied tone.
"I am not old." Wizardmon grumbled. He was waking up more, and successfully pushed Gatomon off to his side with his next attempt at removing his fuzzy alarm clock. He winced as sitting up set off a series of burning aches all over his chest and stomach, a few spots more prominent than the others. His gloved hands cradled his stomach. That was going to be a joy to feel all day. "I'm surprised you waking me up that way hasn't 'gotten old.'" He muttered as Gatomon eyed him more seriously.
"Did you get into a scrape yesterday, Wizardmon?" she asked, pressing a paw to his hand. "Just tell me who it was; I can round them up and carve a lesson into their thick skulls."
As welcome as the concern was, Gatomon would probably take the sentiment back the second she heard his attacker's name. That reminded him of the news he had for Gatomon. Wizardmon took one look into Gatomon's fierce, calculating gaze and decided to skirt around telling the truth for now. Just until she'd calmed down some. Later today would be ideal; it could wait just a little while.
His heart thumped faster with the memory of Myotismon terrorizing him and the panic that came with it was freshly brought to his mind. Wizardmon took Gatomon's paw and patted it before letting it drop. "It was nobody. They aren't worth your time, I assure you." He lied, his voice a lot more steady than he felt.
Gatomon didn't look convinced. "I'm also perfectly capable of defending myself." He added with a huff.
"Apparently not." Gatomon growled, visibly put off. She watched Wizardmon struggle out of bed and scratch the tangled mop he called hair. "You better make yourself presentable. Lord Myotismon might call on us to go after the digidestined instead of that moron Demidevimon."
"I doubt that. He seems too preoccupied with raising his forces that are to conquer the human world." Never-the-less, Wizardmon got ready; brushing out his hair, securing it and donning his cloak and hat.
As it so happened, Myotismon called a strategy meeting that afternoon. The list of those summoned included Myotismon's favorite toy, Demidevimon, and higher-ranked digimon in the dark army that were not only fierce warriors in their own right, but could serve as generals to lead the lesser masses and give them direction in the field. Wizardmon wasn't some weak drone, but there were quite a few curious stares wondering exactly why he was there.
If Myotismon noticed the confusion and speculative glances among his subordinates, he didn't show it. In fact he seemed very intent on getting the little Wizard's opinion on how things were progressing, sometimes pushing the suggestions of others aside. It felt like some strange sort of favoritism. Wizardmon didn't like it and wished he didn't have to be a part of this in any capacity. He was getting too much attention, and it didn't feel very positive.
"We should send forces more destructive than that dippy, incompetent bat!" Phantomon insisted in the wavering voice you'd expect a cartoon ghost to have. If he weren't such a threat, other digimon would giggle when he said "boo" with his silly ghostie voice, but this conference was quite serious. "My Lord, you must consider sending some of my troops before these children reunite and become more powerful."
He waited a moment for Myotismon to answer before becoming irritated and calling his name again. "Lord Myotismon!" Myotismon's full attention snapped onto Phantomon so quickly that he flinched, also hoping he hadn't offended his lord. "Uh…like I was saying, we should send some of the Bakemon troopers to take care of the chosen children." He said nervously.
"I heard you, Phantomon. Do you fear I've gone deaf?" Myotismon asked pointedly. No one dared to answer that question. No one except for Gatomon.
"What Phantomon is stuttering to say, Lord Myotismon, is that your attention appears to be elsewhere."
She shouldn't have said it. In all honesty, Wizardmon understood why she was irritated. Everyone else seemed to be too since their lord couldn't shut up about the little Wizard's opinions, almost refusing to take his eyes off of him as well. The lightening never came, though. Barely a reprimand even fell from Myotismon's glossy purple lips. Once again that afternoon, Myotismon returned his attention to Wizardmon, even as he spoke to the group as a whole. "I assure you, my attention is on the matter at hand. My attention is also capable of holding more than one thing at a time."
"So, what do you think of Phantomon's plan, Wizardmon?" Nearly everyone's eyes bore holes through their master and Wizardmon in irritation. Wizardmon who had no experience in commanding an army beyond the lower level viruses he occasionally ordered about. Wizardmon, who seemed to have their master's favor.
"I think it's terrible." Wizardmon said bluntly, going on nervously as more attention turned to him. "The children are already scrambling to get together, so Demidevimon is doing a decent job."
Here is where Demidevimon laughed it up and congratulated himself while everyone else went on listening.
"We're very close to our goal, we could always open the portal and leave early if they pull together and come after us." A few folks sneered muttering something about 'the coward's way out,' which was heard by almost everyone because sounds carry in castle walls. "And? The Bakemon troopers weren't trained to fight digidestined, they were trained to corral humans. They aren't equipped to handle the digidestined and it would be a loss to have less of them when we go to the human world."
There was quiet around the room as the logic of Wizardmon's words sunk in. Myotismon smirked. "I knew having you at this meeting would be helpful. Keep proving your use to me, Wizardmon."
There were more details to speak of, but they did settle on Wizardmon's plan of letting Demidevimon continue to play the children for fools while they continued preparations to travel to the human world.