Legends of the Digidestined

Chapter 50: "How Hope Falls"

Previously on Legends of the Digidestined: During the battle with Mephistomon, the Digidestined are reunited with Wizardmon who has lost all recollections of what has happened to him the past one year. The confusion continues when Kanto reappears after Mephistomon is defeated, revealing that he has found a new digimon partner in a mysterious Karatenmon, and Wizardmon is no longer his partner. To the surprise of everyone, Kanto declares that he now serves Murmuxmon, and reveals that Wizardmon has betrayed him. When the Digidestined try to talk some sense into Kanto, Kanto lets slip that even Jon and Gennai have double-crossed him at some point of time during the one year, but neither Jon nor Gennai had any recollection of ever meeting Kanto. Now, after the revelation that both the Vanguard of Light and the Oracle are captured and held in Murmuxmon's domain in the Southern Kingdom, the Digidestined prepare for a journey to the south.

Present Day

"All aboard!"

Jon grinned back towards Mermaidmon, who was standing by the steering wheel of the pirate ship Bane Buccaneer. Her long blond pigtails blew against the winds, secured only by the large pirate hat she wore on her head. The Digidestined of Sincerity and Knowledge thought that the pirate looked rather majestic, and gave her a salute.

"Aye, captain."

"I never thought I'd be back on this ship again," Max commented as he and Jon walked aboard the ship, his eyes set down to ToyAgumon and Kotemon who were several steps in front of them.

"It's the fastest way to get to the southern region," Jon replied.

"It certainly will beat flying there myself," ToyAgumon commented.

Kotemon nodded at his friend's remark. "I hope the entire journey will go by without a hitch."

ToyAgumon knocked both his blocky knuckles together. "If there is a hitch, Aeroveedramon can take care of anything now that I get to save up energy… and what's this familiar smell…" There was a whiff of something being grilled. "Papa Burgermon's burgers!"

Excitedly, the two Rookies ran towards the lower deck to get their hands on the delicious burgers made by the ship's resident chef.

Fallen back behind the Digidestined were Gennai, who was flanked by Garmmon and Strabimon as he was being briefed by Shibumi on the new security measures they were taking to safeguard Skydancer Mountain.

"The Digixrossed Gundramon will be able to hold the fort for now, alongside Piximon and the Chessmon brothers… Of course, it's nowhere as having the Vanguard himself protecting the castle," Shibumi hinted.

"Dad, I know you're keener on me staying in Castle Eos, but I just don't see myself doing what Lady Angella has been doing. I'd rather go save her and let her resume her duties," Gennai said.

"I know, son," Shibumi said, still evidently worried. "Come back in one piece."

"Definitely, dad." Gennai nodded. "Besides, I still need to restore one chunk of my memory bank which Kanto took away."

Shibumi bore an unreadable expression at that remark, before shaking his head. "I hope we'll get to see Kanto back fighting on our side."

Gennai shrugged. "Yeah, likewise, but not before I return the gifts he gave me the other day… but getting him back to our side is the ultimate goal, definitely!" The youngest Order said upon being glared at by his father whilst grinning sheepishly. "We just need to discover how did he fall to evil, first…."

"Help him, son," Shibumi urged. "If not the Digidestined, the Vanguard of Light ought to be able to do that. Don't let your friend stray too far. Once he starts on the dark path, forever it will dominate his destiny…"

"Dad, did you just quote this favorite movie you were telling me, again?"

Shibumi grinned and shoved his son up the wooden walkway that led up to the ship. The flying ship took off to the skies to new adventures that lie ahead.

Unbeknownst to them, the Bane Buccaneer was being followed from several miles away by a masked birdman with one metallic wing and purple armor.

Ravemon kept his distance, but his eyes never left the ship. As he tailed the flying ship, his memory began to recall the events from the past year.

One Year Ago

Waking up proved to be difficult, for the moment he opened his eyes the entire room seemed to be spinning. His body was sluggish; he could not remember when the last time he was this was weak.

Finally, after several attempts of opening his eyes, the dizzying experience was gradually reducing. His senses began to fill him in with details he had not registered earlier. He was lying on the cold hard floor, with vertical bars forming an inescapable cage containing him. There was a door, made of metal, secured by thick metal chains with an equally formidable padlock. He doubted that he could make the door open even without those two security reinforcements; the door was probably locked as well.

He forced himself to sit, shaking his head to clear off the residual vertigo. His eyes fell on a familiar dark-furred sphere with bat wings, lying not too far from him.

"Demidevimon?" Kanto called out, noticing how hoarse his voice sounded. His digimon partner did not stir. Something was coming back to his mind bank, upon seeing Demidevimon's unconscious form. He concentrated; the details seemed so fuzzy, yet he had a feeling it was important.

A hulking pale-skinned digimon with flaming aura and chains crossed his mind, and Kanto balked as he recalled the event at the Order's castle. Mephistomon's invasion, Darien and Kira both corrupting their digimon into that dark wolf and the demoness before both of them left the team, and…

"No!" Kanto cried out, remembering he himself had darkened his crest, and Wizardmon had dark-digivolved. He rummaged his shirt and pockets; his outfits were torn in many places, covered in soot, and he had lost his bag. "Where are they?"

He couldn't find his digivice and crest.

He closed his eyes, muttering think, think, think as he tried recalling all the details. SkullMeramon had deleted ExWereGarurumon, and that would have sealed his darkened form. The details afterward were still a blur, but he remembered being engulfed by the fireball SkullMeramon was generating with his flaming aura. He saw Jon and the Order members fleeing the castle, before from the sphere exploded. He heard the thunderous collapse of the castle's foundation as the fireball destroyed everything in contact, and everything afterward was… black.

Yet here he was, with a sleeping Demidevimon with him. Odd, he thought, but grateful nonetheless to be alive. I don't even feel corrupted. I'm myself...

There were still so many questions burning in his mind. Slowly, Kanto got up on his feet, and felt his knees wobbling as he took in the surroundings outside the cage. The cage was located on a metallic platform, led down by metal stairs into a dark corridor. There was a high window near the ceiling, giving light into the otherwise shadowy room. A thick metallic door stood closed at the end of the corridor; being the only way in and out of the room, save for the high windows.

"Great," Kanto muttered, sensing his wobbly knees could no longer support him. He was terribly famished and weak. He held on to the metallic bars for support, which proved to be a big mistake.

A jolt of electricity snapped his hand upon contact and Kanto was thrown onto the floor. It was a mild jolt, not enough to burn his hand but enough to cause a sting. Kanto grunted and quickly sat up, watching the metal bars glowing with green light. He heard footsteps coming from outside, before the heavy door slowly was pushed open.

Someone stepped into the corridor before closing the door behind it. Kanto could make out a thin figure wearing a cloak and hat, with blue flames hovering around the digimon. The digimon's features were otherwise shrouded by darkness, making it difficult for Kanto to discern his figures.

"A piece of advice, kid," said the digimon in a low baritone, obviously male, voice. "Hands off the jail bars."

"Helpful tip, but a bit too late for that," Kanto replied, narrowing his eyes. Something about the digimon was familiar.

"Obviously." The shrouded digimon obviously found Kanto's comment funny. "Not only the bars are enchanted to stun you, should you touch it, it also will alert us that you're trying something funny."

"What else could I've been doing, being jailed here," Kanto snapped. "Let us go!"

"Not quite yet." The digimon stepped into the brighter area in the room, and Kanto saw that this digimon bore some resemblances to Wizardmon, but his features differed starkly by his choice of red color. His pointy hat also was burning with eternal flames, and Kanto could feel the heat from those flames as the digimon approached the cage closer. "Around this part of the Digital World, you'll be able to fetch us huge ransom or rewards, why would we let that kind of opportunity pass?" the captor asked, despite the edges of his lips were sewed, similar to Wizardmon.

"Us?" Kanto looked around, but the digimon was alone. "Who are you?"

"My identity is of little use to you." Kanto's captor remained cryptic, giving him a mysterious smile from his sewed mouth, as he pulled out something from inside his pocket. Kanto gasped as he saw his digivice, crest and tag were with his kidnapper. Kanto's reaction was enough to confirm what was on the captor's mind, as he pocketed the stolen devices back. "So it is true. You are the Digidestined, and that Demidevimon is your partner."

Kanto inhaled a deep breath. "What are you going to do, hand us over to Mephistomon?"

The captor chuckled. "Mephistomon is nowhere near the edge of the Southern Kingdom. You're on the run from that demonic beast?"

Kanto remained silent. His captor recognized him as a Digidestined, and seemed to know Mephistomon. He had to be very careful with what he was saying. "Why? You're one of Mephistomon's goons?" he asked back. "You're going to turn us in for him?"

The captor smiled. "No."

"No?" That surprised Kanto. "But you know him."

"I know of him. But I don't work for Mephistomon."

"Then how did you capture us? The last thing I remembered was our battle against Mephistomon and his henchmen."

The captor shrugged. "You and your partner ended up unconscious in our courtyard not too long ago. Naturally, we had to detain you before you and your partner cause any trouble here."

"We won't! In fact, if you let us go we won't give you any trouble," Kanto attempted to negotiate.

The captor gave him a creepy smile as he leaned towards the jail cage, his grey eyes just a mere few inches from Kanto's. "It's my experience that if we want to avoid any trouble from anyone, we lock them inside a cage. Strong cage, like this one. It's when you let the captive go…" The captor then turned away from Kanto, his eyes lingered at the unconscious Demidevimon as the creepy smile crept up on his lips, before he turned away and walked down the stairs, muttering to himself, "… that's when the trouble starts."

"No! Don't go! Wait!" Kanto grunted as the captor walked out of the room and closed the door shut. He could hear the sounds of locks being placed on the door, and the dim glow that shone from the door suggested that the door was magically enchanted as well by the wizard digimon.

Seeing that there would be no escaping the cage, Kanto sat down, trying to make sense of everything their mysterious captor had just mentioned. He imprinted all the details of the captor in his mind, wanting to ask if his knocked-out digimon partner had an inkling of the captor's identity.

Something still is not adding up, Kanto thought, thinking of how he and Demidevimon had ended up in their captor's domain. The captor had mentioned them being at the edge of the Southern Kingdom, and as far as Kanto could recall, he and the other Digidestined had been at the south-eastern region of the Digital World. And there was no sense of time lapse between the event at the Order's castle and the present.

"Ughh…"

The soft grunt pulled Kanto out of his thoughts. He saw Demidevimon stirring back into consciousness, and went to pull the winged furball onto his lap.

"Hey," he said, seeing Demidevimon blinking out confusion.

"Kanto?" Demidevimon sounded himself, which made the Digidestined relieved. "How did I get here?"

"That's something we both need to figure out. But first thing's first." The strawberry-blonde pulled the little winged digimon close to him. "I'm so glad you're ok."

"Why wouldn't I be?" The rookie digimon was still groggy, and Kanto let Demidevimon off. The rookie digimon stood on his stubby feet, moved his torn wings, taking in his surroundings.

"What's the last thing you remember?"

Demidevimon thought of his answer before a grimace crossed his facial features. "Becoming SkullMeramon." He sighed and plopped down onto the cold floor. "Did I actually delete X-WereGarurumon and destroyed the Order's castle?"

Kanto nodded slowly. "I'm sorry, Demidevimon. That was my fault."

"You couldn't help it," Demidevimon replied, which made the Digidestined breathed out a relieved sigh. "But I'm surprised that I'm back in my rookie form, and as far as I could think of… I'm myself again. Considering that upon deleting a digimon in my darkened mode, I should've remained…"

"Let's be glad that's not the case," Kanto cut in, despite being curious himself.

Demidevimon nodded. "How long was I out?"

"You got me there. I have no idea."

"Where are we?"

"Well, I'm not sure of the place, but there's this digimon who kind of looked like Wizardmon, but he's wearing red, fire-motive kind of outfit."

"Sounds like a FlameWizardmon," Demidevimon confirmed, grimacing.

"You know him?"

"No, but he fits the description. How did we end up being his captive?"

Kanto shrugged. "He said we ended up in his courtyard. He also said… Mephistomon is nowhere close to the edge of the Southern Kingdom."

"We're so far away from where we were at. We're talking about weeks of journey here, but the last thing I remembered is the event in the Order's castle."

"Weird, yeah…" Kanto's voice trailed off as he heard the door being pushed open. The pair turned their attentions towards the entrance, expecting FlameWizardmon to come in.

Instead, it was a different digimon who bore a greater resemblance to Wizardmon. In fact, this digimon was so similar to Wizardmon in outfit, height and appearance; the only difference he had with Wizardmon was the color scheme of his outfit, being white and turquoise instead of Wizardmon's predominantly brighter colors. The sorcerer digimon was holding a tray of food.

"I… I was told to bring you foods," the digimon said, with a nervous and meek voice.

"Who are you?" Kanto frowned at the newcomer. "Ice Wizardmon?"

The digimon gave a nervous chuckle. "Sorcerymon, actually."

"Oh…" Kanto braced himself as Sorcerymon brought the tray of food close to their prison cell. The digimon placed the tray down on the floor, before with a flick of his hand, a magic staff appeared on it. He aimed the staff towards the tray and white smokes engulfed the tray, vanishing and reappearing before Kanto and Demidevimon.

"I was told not to unlock the prison cell," Sorcerymon said as with a flick of his hand the staff he was holding disappeared.

"That's a nifty trick," Demidevimon said, "which makes me wonder why do you work for FlameWizardmon?"

"Excuse me?" Sorcerymon blinked.

"You obviously worked for him."

Sorcerymon backed away. "It's a bit more complicated than that. But it's not of your concern. I'll be back in an hour to collect the food tray." The digimon hurriedly walked out of the room and shut the door.

"Way to go," Kanto whistled, as he eyed the two large bowls.

"What do you mean?"

"He probably has answers to our problems before you drove him away." Kanto frowned as he eyed the greenish goo inside the two large bowls. "Oh well. No use crying over spilt milk. What is this icky stuff?"

Demidevimon took a whiff from one bowl, considered for a moment, before wolfing the contents down in one go. "Well, it's not horrible, if that's your concern. I can't however make out what exactly is this stuff. Go ahead, eat it. Somehow, if they have us captured I doubt killing us by poisoning our meals is on top of their to-do list."

Kanto rolled his eyes. "Can you be any less morbid?" He held his breath, ate the food he was given, before the two of them sat inside their prison cell, wondering the many questions they had in mind.

Sorcerymon walked along a dimly lit corridor, which was only lit by the lights passing through the large barren window at the corridor's farthest end. Upon reaching the window, he made a turn to the left, where the corridor ended with a door with a torch hung at each door's side.

He placed his hand on the brass doorknob, and twisted it open before pushing the door in, ending up in a dark chamber with windows obscured by curtain. He narrowed his eyes towards the shadow of a humanoid digimon with blue flames hovering about him, shrouded in darkness, standing far away from him.

"So?" the baritone voice of FlameWizardmon asked. "How did it go?"

Sorcerymon bowed his head down. "I didn't get to ask anything from them."

"Why not?"

"I… I got scared."

"Come closer, don't just stand there."

The shadow of FlameWizardmon approached Sorcerymon as the latter walked closer towards the former. "So… you got scared? How typical of you."

"I…I'm supposed to return to their cell in an hour to collect the food tray. I'll get information out of them then, I promise," Sorcerymon sputtered.

"See that you will," FlameWizardmon agreed, still shrouded, despite now standing merely inches away from Sorcerymon. The blue flames about him became brighter, illuminating the corner of the room. Sorcerymon was revealed to be standing in front of an oval mirror with golden edges. Instead of reflecting himself, the mirror however displayed FlameWizardmon, standing in the same posture as Sorcerymon's. "How many times do I have to tell you, Sorcerymon, to stand up straight, and get that terrified expression out of your face?"

"I'm sorry," Sorcerymon immediately straightened himself, and FlameWizardmon inside the mirror mimicked his movement.

"That's better," FlameWizardmon said, as his image withdrawing from the looking glass. "Now, go back there and get them to talk."

The chamber's door was opened and Sorcerymon meekly walked inside, his neck careening forward to see an unexpected spectacle happening inside the cell.

"What's going on?" Sorcerymon wondered amidst the scream exchange between the two captives.

"What the hell, Demidevimon?!" The human roared, crumpling his soiled hat with one hand. "Why'd you have to wolf down all those foods?"

"Hey, I was hungry!" The Demidevimon shouted back.

"You're not the only one hungry around here!"

"Excuse me, but I was doing all the digivolving work around here while you just sat on the sidelines with your fancy gadgets!"

"Without those, you won't even get past your weakling Rookie form!"

"Take that back! You know I can deliver you a severe beating even in this weakling form!"

"Hah! I'd like to see you try!"

Sorcerymon saw the human threw his hat towards the Demidevimon, obscuring the Rookie's eyes when the hat landed on his face. Without wasting time he then jumped with his right fist raised high, and delivered a punch that threw the Demidevimon onto the solid hard floor.

The Demidevimon rolled on the floor, knocked out unconscious, but then the human saw a half-filled syringe rolling beside the digimon. He raised his knuckle and saw a pin prick at the center of his knuckle, which became red, swollen and pulsating in pain.

"What…poison…? How could you…." The human's eyes drooped shut and he collapsed on the floor face-forward, convulsing for several seconds before he became very still.

Sorcerymon panicked. "Oh no, no, no . . ." He stood very close to the cage door, which was secured with heavy chains and with a heavier padlock. He gazed upon the unmoving forms of the two captives, feeling very sure that the Demidevimon was just knocked out unconscious from the heavy blow landed by the human, but what was the content of the syringe that had pricked the human. "That meal wasn't worth this you two . . . ok, ok, Sorcerymon, don't panic. You don't want him to know . . ."

The sorcerer raised an arm and magically his white staff appeared. He waved it in front of the locked door. The padlock was snapped open and the chains snaked away from the door. Sorcerymon waved his staff again and there was an unlocking sound before the door swung out; the sorcerer had to jump away lest the door slammed upon him. He pointed his staff onto his captives, feeling the need to be careful.

"Hey . . . you two?"

There was no response. Sorcerymon slowly approached the prone form of the human with the pinkish- blonde hair, his eyes darted back and forth between the human and the knocked-out Demidevimon. He knew of this Rookie to be of a trickster species of digimon, hence his wariness. His eyes then saw the swell on the human's hand, and realized that the imprisonment might have caused their loss of sanity. Sorcerymon shook his head as he knelt down to inspect the swelling on the human's hand…

To his horror, the swollen, still, hand sprang up and made a grab on his hand. The human maintained a firm grip on his wrists with both hands now, and Sorcerymon felt his right shoulder being jabbed by something sharp. The sound of giggles made him panic; he saw the Demidevimon flying out of reach just as he dropped the now-empty syringe, with the last bit of the strange concoction dripping out from the needle.

"What…"

"Yeah, it's poison, buddy," Demidevimon confirmed with a wink. "Now, Kanto!"

The human with remarkable speed got back on his feet and dragged Sorcerymon in the process before he turned, bent forward, pulled Sorcerymon up his hunched back, and sent him flying onto the metal bars that formed their cage. Sorcerymon crashed onto the bars and was brutally electrocuted, causing him to scream in pain. The Demidevimon swooped up from the floor and grabbed his staff as the two made a beeline towards the opened cage door.

"Wait…" Sorcerymon weakly protested, just as the Demidevimon worked on using his magical staff. To his horror, the door swung shut and the chains and padlock were in place once again, keeping him in.

"Hey what do you know, it worked!" Demidevimon exclaimed gleefully. "My Wizardmon knowledge served me well."

"You can't do this to me…" Sorcerymon called, feeling a slight numbness coming from the shoulder where he was jabbed, but the pain of being electrocuted was more overpowering.

"Funny, I thought we just did it," Demidevimon replied. "Bye now!"

Sorcerymon watched the two former captives ran out of the room, feeling a huge dread welling up his mind. "You don't understand…" He felt a much terrible, yet familiar, sensation rising up from the core of his existence. His body trembled.

"Oh no… not again."

After managing to fool Sorcerymon, Kanto and Demidevimon made a run aimlessly inside what seemed to be a huge old mansion. They knew that while Sorcerymon was out of the way, their biggest problem was still lurking around, and he had their digivice, crest and tag with him.

"Can you work on… you know, magic-ing them back, the way Sorcerymon did with the food tray?" Kanto asked, when they stopped to take a breather.

"I don't know how," Demidevimon admitted. "I never knew how to do teleportation."

"You knew how to lock the cage," Kanto pointed out.

"That was easy." Demidevimon shrugged. "The Wizardmon in me knew how to move object with his mind. I can't do it on my own, but with a magical instrument… well we both know now I can do it."

"Maybe if you concentrate enough, you can call them back to us?"

Demidevimon thought about it. "It's worth a shot."

"Do it quickly, before that FlameWizardmon comes," Kanto said with dread, before his eyes landed on his swollen right fist. "Then maybe you can do something about this too."

"Relax, it's just an allergic reaction. It'll wear off in few hours," Demidevimon waved off the request distractedly as his clawed feet grabbed the staff tighter. He concentrated, trying to recall the devices towards them. Sweat beads rolled down his small form, as he realized it was a no-go. "I can't, Kanto. What do we do now?"

Kanto nodded. "We have to escape this place. If we stick around, that FlameWizardmon will find us for sure. If we get out of here we have a chance to reunite with the rest of the guys… then we'll figure out a way to get back the digivice, crest, and tag."

It was the best plan they had then. The pair frantically looked for a way out of the old mansion, getting lost in the mazes of pathways before they saw light coming out from a dim corridor. Without thinking they went to the corridor and saw that it was a window covered partially with moss. Kanto hid himself behind the parts where the window was covered while Demidevimon sneaked a peek outside.

"A huge garden with broken statues, empty, no evil wizard sighted. At least now we know there's an outside of this smelly place. I swear this is worst than Boogeymon's lair…"

"Less facts, more running, now!"

"You mean flying, for me… you know…"

"Now is not the time, Demidevimon!"

The pair ran hurriedly along the windowed corridor before they found a flight of stairs that, to their relief, took them down. They finally reached the foyer with tall stained glasses flanking a sturdy wooden door. Thick candelabra dimly-lit with flames were hung on each side of the door.

"That door has to be a way out!"

Kanto jumped the last three stairs and landed on the floor, before making a zip towards the door. However to their surprise, the two candelabras sprung out from the walls and landed in front of Kanto and Demidevimon.

"Not so fast!" the two candelabras said at once.

"Candlemon!" Demidevimon roared. "Get out of our way!"

"You're the prisoners!" One of the Candlemon spoke.

"You're not getting away from our watch!" The second Candlemon followed. "Brothers!" he yelled.

"We have a situation!" the first Candlemon shouted.

Instantly, the other candelabras sprang out from the walls and in a blink of the eye Kanto and Demidevimon were surrounded by at least ten Candlemon. Fireballs began to form from the smokes emitted by all ten Candlemon, and they saw that the fireballs had eyes. "Demi Mamon," Demidevimon grunted.

"Are they strong?" Kanto hissed.

"One on one, no. Demi Mamon's just an In-training, for the Sovereigns' sake! And Candlemon is the same level as me. But I can't digivolve, remember?"

Kanto's sweat due to the heat was enough to dampen his shirt and his hair stuck to his scalp and the sides of his face. The heat and smoke were suffocating, and their foes knew it too; they hadn't attacked, knowing that their fiery presence held the advantage over Kanto and Demidevimon.

"Don't come any closer!" Demidevimon pointed Sorcerymon's staff towards one of the Candlemon. "Or I blast you with this. Surely you know what this is?"

"If you know how to use it, you would have used it already!" the Candlemon retorted.

"Oh yeah? Then explain how I managed to imprison Sorcerymon with this?" Demidevimon challenged back.

The Candlemon's confidence faltered. Demidevimon waved the staff and a blast of invisible force knocked the Candlemon away. "Ha! I told you so!"

The Demi Mamon retaliated by zipping at once towards Demidevimon's clawed feet, and successfully scorched them to force Demidevimon in letting go of the staff. One Candlemon seized the staff, but the staff flared with blue aura that dropped the temperature around it to nearly sub-zero level with cold winds and snow. The Demi Mamon were all evaporated and the Candlemon lost their flames, becoming nothing but candelabras with frozen waxes.

Demidevimon blasted a poisonous syringe that struck one of the Candlemon and deleted it into thousands bits of data, before swinging it to seize Sorcerymon's staff. With the Candlemon team were incapacitated by the unexpected turn of events, there was no one stopping their escape now.

Kanto grabbed the doorknob, realizing that it was locked. Demidevimon waved the staff, and the blast of air from it destroyed the doorknob, and they were out of the mansion.

Unbeknownst to them, just as they escaped, Sorcerymon crawled over the balcony, still trembling, having somehow escaped the prison cage he was put in. He watched as Kanto's and Demidevimon's forms disappearing into the setting sun, and smiled.

"Your plan has failed. They've escaped."

Sorcerymon closed his eyes, and his whole body burned in blue flames that slowly turned red, just as his white outfit turned crimson, and his features shifted to that of FlameWizardmon before the flames died down.

"Curse you, Sorcerymon. I did not foresee you have cursed your Aquarian Staff to freeze all flame-type digimon who touches it… but no matter. I will get my prisoners back, and then…" The stitched mouth of the fire-type wizard contorted horribly as he leaped down the balcony, before flying to give chase to his escaped captives. "Then you will be sorry, Sorcerymon…"

The pair made a dash amidst the setting sun, realizing that the night now gave them the advantage of being more difficult to be seen by whoever that was chasing them. They reached the edge of the forest and stopped for a breather.

"We can't stop," Demidevimon said with dread, pointing towards a distance.

Kanto followed his partner's pointed claw and saw what seemed like a floating jet of flame coming their way. "He's on hot pursuit for us. Looks like he hasn't seen us. Let's go into the woods, they'll give us the cover we need."

The Digidestined pulled his partner into the shadows cast by the trees, and they retreated further into the dark of the forest, running for their dear lives for the most part of their night, always seeing the glowing flame flying in the sky through the openings provided by the forests' canopies, as if waiting for them to make the mistake of coming out of the forest. The forest ended up becoming their prison, and they didn't stop walking until they saw the forest was getting sparse again. They stopped, knowing that if they were out in the open once again FlameWizardmon would find them.

"Kanto, look…"

Amidst the bushes and trees they could see a stone-walled house with straws as roofs, overlooking a clearing that ended up with a cliff. Light poured out the windows and they could make out a moving figure inside the house. The house was built to house someone nearly twice Kanto's height, which made them hesitate to approach it. They knew FlameWizardmon was dangerous enough, for him to have caught them prisoners. There was no telling who the stranger in the house was; he or she could be a bigger problem.

But they had no other choice.

"I don't like this," Kanto grunted, as FlameWizardmon was seen flying away to the other direction – he would be back in approximately ten minutes or so, Kanto estimated. If they were going to get out from the forest, now would be the time, and they had to get the stranger in the house to help them. "But here goes."

They quickly made a run towards the door, and gave it rapid but soft knocks. "Hello? Please... we need help…" Kanto pleaded, his voice hoarse of not having anything to drink since their escape few hours back.

Heavy footsteps were heard approaching the door, which made Kanto retreat several steps behind just as it swung open, and from Kanto's eye-level he was face-to-face with the toned abdomen of a man with a bare muscular body and arms, wearing a baggy crimson pants that ended up strangely with bird talons. The baggy pants were secured by a belt with two long scabbards, housing most likely two long swords. Kanto looked up and gulped in fear, seeing that the man's face was that of a golden-feathered falcon with prey-like, emerald eyes staring down at them. From the back of his body, a pair of golden falcon wings was folded down, the feathers nearly reaching the floor.

"What do you want?" the birdman asked gruffly, his voice strangely noble and reassuring, tinged with annoyance for having been disturbed at that particular hour of the night.

"Sir, I'm so sorry for intruding, but we were chased by a dangerous digimon who had captured us. We escaped, and he was chasing us…" Kanto sputtered.

"Just so you note when you say dangerous digimon, well… so am I. But I already have my dinner, so go away." The birdman was ready to close the door.

"FlameWizardmon's approaching," Demidevimon hissed, and the birdman paused. "We have to make a move now if he's not gonna help us."

"FlameWizardmon, you said…. " The birdman asked, suddenly interested as he opened his door wide. His hawk-eyes narrowed and he grabbed hold of Kanto and Demidevimon with his large hands, and pulled them inside, motioning for them to hide. The pair didn't need to be told twice, but saw that the house was as Spartan as it could get, with nothing much to provide cover. Still, there was a door leading to another room, and they immediately went to hide over there. They could hear the birdman growling just as someone was heard landing in front of his footsteps.

"Good evening," the patronizing voice of FlameWizardmon was heard greeting.

"It has been until you arrived," the birdman replied.

"Now, now, Buraimon, is this how you treat guests?"

"Get on with it, FlameWizardmon. State your business, or leave."

"Excellent. Straight to business." FlameWizardmon cleared his voice. "I have been in pursuit of two rather peculiar beings. One digimon, and one human child."

"So?"

"I thought they probably have come this way…?" FlameWizardmon's tone suggested that he knew better than the question he had posed to the birdman.

"No. You know I don't entertain guests. If they have come here, I'd have them leave. And now, please, take your leave, FlameWizardmon."

"You sure about that? You don't want my master to know you are harboring his captives in your place now, do you?"

"Such claims are unwarranted without proof, and I'm not afraid of this master of yours, FlameWizardmon."

"Of course. You serve a bigger master in this part of the Digital World."

Buraimon grunted. "My patience is wearing thin, FlameWizardmon. It has been a long day for me and I'm looking forward for my rest. If you don't leave now, I'm afraid I will have to make you leave." To prove his point, he pulled out one sword from one of the two scabbards he had hanging from his belt.

"Now, now, there's no need for a fight now. I'm afraid I am not a match of the master of swordsmanship in this part of the Digital World. I shall take my leave now, Buraimon. But I'd appreciate if you happen to come across these two runaways, you would come to me with the information. I shall see to it that you will be rewarded handsomely for this particular information."

"Unlike you, I have no interest in rewards. I have no obligation to provide you with any information, should I see these two former captives of yours. I am curious, though, how come they have slipped past your nose… but then again, maybe I'm not. Leave!"

They heard the door being closed and for a moment, remained hidden in Buraimon's room.

"You can come out now," Buraimon called them. "He's gone."

Kanto and Demidevimon exited the room, and approached Buraimon who was looming over them with arms crossed over his chest. The fearsome birdman was silent, and they dared not speak, having heard how Buraimon was able to drive away FlameWizardmon, they knew that this was no ordinary digimon.

"Whoever you are, you must be important for FlameWizardmon and that no-good master of his," Buraimon spoke as he pulled on a sleeveless crimson shirt over his body, but held a clawed hand up before Kanto and Demidevimon could speak out. "Hold it. I'm not interested in hearing anything right now. You two can stay here for the night, but you will leave first thing tomorrow."

Buraimon then walked past them into the room where they hid earlier, and shut the door, leaving them confused more than ever, but also grateful for the safe place for the night.

"Curse that Buraimon," FlameWizardmon muttered as he entered his private chamber, back in his mansion. "I know for sure the Digidestined and his Demidevimon partner are with him."

"You cannot prove it, though," a voice replied from the mirror.

FlameWizardmon seethed as he saw Sorcerymon speaking to him. There was mirth in the ice sorcerer's eyes. Although still sounding meek, the latter also had a touch of boldness in how he had voiced out his thoughts.

"A minor setback," FlameWizardmon said. "It was not mere incompetence that had caused the Digidestined and his partner to be able to escape you."

"Perhaps not," Sorcerymon agreed.

"The master will not be pleased," FlameWizardmon warned.

"I've suffered the worst part of his punishments," Sorcerymon said. "What else can the master do to me that will top this?" Sorcerymon pushed both his hands to the sides, as if indicating himself. "Being trapped with you inside the same body is probably the worst fate one can handle."

"Now, now, that's not the way to talk to someone who can help you digivolve?"

"You're just saying that because you can't digivolve any further."

"My disadvantage as an Armor, but you'll probably end up dead before achieving your Ultimate level on your own," FlameWizardmon retorted, before his stitched mouth stretched into a grin. "Come now, surely you can see how apt this arrangement is. Together we can digivolve…. And not even Buraimon will be able to keep his talons on the Digidestined pair."

"Save your revenge plan for yourself, FlameWizardmon. I want no part of this. I'll let you deal with the master on your own this time."

Sorcerymon waved his hand, and the surface of the mirror rippled before he vanished, replaced by the reflected image of FlameWizardmon.

FlameWizardmon could only grin. "It's lucky that when we switch bodies, the same applied to our minds. You can't know what I am up to, although that makes me unable to know what you have in mind as well. However… lucky for me, the Digidestined pair who has escaped will sooner or later return… for one of their own."

The fiery digimon walked out of his private chamber, and headed towards the ground floor of his mansion. He walked to the farthest back of the house, where there was an entrance to a lower floor – the basement. With a wave of his hand, blue flames floated out of the tips of his fingers, dancing around him, casting faint lights amidst the dark basement.

FlameWizardmon grinned as he saw at the farthest corner of the basement, there was the prone form of a digimon lying on a pile of dry straws, shackled to the wall. Via the lights from the floating blue flames, the wizard studied the little digimon's unconscious form. From his robes, he took out Kanto's digivice, crest and tag, and they pulsed upon being pointed onto the unconscious digimon.

"I might have lost the Digidestined and the Demidevimon, but at least I still have you to work on before the master arrives. Just wait until they discover who they have accidentally left behind..."

It was still nighttime at Buraimon's lair, where Buraimon had stepped out from his home. The human and his digimon partner had fallen asleep, and from what he could have gathered they were part of a group called the Digidestined. Buraimon had heard of the legends of the Digidestined, but the odd pair didn't strike him as stuffs made out from legend. They were weak, afraid, and was running from a mad wizard.

"I need to seek his council," he decided.

Buraimon flapped his large wings and jumped off the cliff, floating over the night sky. He had to get to the Lookout Point, where he would be meeting someone who could provide him answers.

The Lookout Point was actually located within the many mountains that lined the Forbidden Territory of the Southern Kingdom. It was actually the highest cliff opening up to an area obscured by bluish-green clouds and mists, where the Forbidden Territory was. It was where the leader of the digimon there would seek council with Lord Zhuqiaomon, the Digimon Sovereign of the South, before his capture by the hands of the Legions of Darkness. The area beyond the Lookout Point was forbidden for any digimon to enter, and since it was a decree set by a godly digimon such as Zhuqiaomon, nobody dared to oppose this rule, not even when Zhuqiaomon was not around.

Now, all meetings with Zhuqiaomon were handled by his second-in-command, and this was the superior Buraimon planned to seek council.

Buraimon knelt by the edge of the Lookout Point, and waited. He had been here hundreds, not even thousands, of times, when he was still actively serving the Southern Kingdom's army. He was a war veteran, having fought many battles, but he was approaching old age as well and had never surpassed his Champion form. Not that he had minded; he was the best as he could have ever been in this form, and a whole lot more.

The bluish-green mists and clouds swirled vertically before forming the large image of a digimon's head. It was a humanoid head, male, wearing a white eagle-motif helmet.

"Lord Valkyrimon," Buraimon acknowledged.

"Buraimon," his superior returned the greeting. "To what do I owe the honor of being a renowned war veteran's audience?"

Buraimon was not one who would easily be pleased with compliments thrown his way, but he was secretly honored when his achievements were acknowledged by a digimon of the highest order. Valkyrimon was a Mega digimon, the same as Zhuqiaomon.

"My lord, recently, a human child and his digimon partner had appeared on my doorstep. They were running from a mad wizard and his master who have been quite a thorn on my side for quite some time."

There was genuine interest piqued from Valkyrimon's partially-covered face. "And what does this human child call himself?"

Buraimon rubbed his chin. "He calls himself a Digidestined."

Valkyrimon nodded. "They could not have been in better hands." Swirls of greenish mists and clouds took place near the vision of Valkyrimon, showing Buraimon a group of children, the one in his home included, defeated a Phelesmon, then banished a Dragomon into the Dark Ocean. Next, they were in the battle with a Mephistomon and his forces of evildoers inside a castle, which led to the appearance of a SkullMeramon that ended up destroying the entire castle where the battle took place.

"They couldn't even defeat Mephistomon," Buraimon noted, as the battle scenes slowly broke up into swirls of mists. "What hope can we have for them to defeat Murmuxmon?"

"Have faith in them," Valkyrimon said. "Fill them in with what is transpiring at this side of the Digital World. Perhaps they can help us as well as we can help them. Buraimon, I know you are retired, but…"

"… you want me to protect the child and his digimon?"

"If it's not an inconvenience to you. I know it's a lot to ask from you, after all you have been through. If it is, I will appoint another protector for the Digidestined."

"No, I'll do it," Buraimon said, wondering why he was immediately regretting his decision, but he kept that fact to himself.

"Really, Buraimon?"

"It will be done, my lord."

"Good," Valkyrimon said, sounding relieved. "Please keep me updated. Perhaps one day, you can bring them to see me."

Buraimon nodded as he got up from his kneeling position. The birdman spread his wings wide before flying down the mountains at top speed, as the visage of Valkyrimon watched Buraimon's form growing smaller the farther he flew into the distance.

Valkyrimon smiled, but it was not the same benevolent kind of smile he had earlier when Buraimon was present. Instead, it was a wicked smirk, as his peach complexion turned pasty gray. The white falcon-motif helmet diminished out of sight, replaced by green turban and sash that wrapped around his neck. Facemask made of yellow-tinged steel appeared and covered his red glowing eyes, fastened in place onto the turban via a metallic black bat-shaped pin.

"Defeat Murmuxmon? Foolish, foolish Buraimon. Of course, the Digidestined can't even hope to defeat me. What with their corrupted harbingers of Hope are now in my hands…"

To be continued….

A/N:

Getting started with the new arc proved to be a lot harder than I thought. But here goes. I had to compress a larger chapter into this final edit, which sets the story of Kanto's turn to evil. Of course, he is still his good usual self in the flashbacks here. The entire chapter is dedicated for him and Demidevimon here, with new faces taking central stage. This new arc will have a Jekyll-Hyde theme, as you can see from FlameWizardmon-Sorcerymon situation, as well as towards the end with Valkyrimon. More about it in the next succeeding chapters.

Shibumi quotes Yoda in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. I think I've put in somewhere long ago that it was Shibumi's love for Star Wars that led him to create the Order's outfits and weapons similar to the Jedi.