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The Mystic Digimon Tamer

IV: Wisdom of Wizardmon

The clearing was quiet for a moment as everyone stared at at the newly digivolved Champion.

Takato, like the current Tamer of Wizardmon, was in awe of seeing one of the his most beloved characters digivolve right in front of him. This was almost as cool as having his own digimon come to life. Almost. Definitely at the number two spot of his top five list of Coolest Things Ever, though.

Henry was devastated. While he would normally be impressed at the digivolution, possibly even in the same state of fanboy-driven awe as Takato, he knew this had only come about because of his digimon's inability to control himself. Not to mention, it had attacked a girl around Suzie's age. As an older brother himself, Henry felt nothing but shame.

Rika's teeth grit and her eyes narrowed on Wizardmon. A powerful Digimon like that came from what? An argumentative stick of wax? How was it that the blond boy's Digimon could digivolve, but Renamon couldn't? Renamon was stronger, faster, and infinitely smarter than the candlestick and his tamer combined! What was missing? Rika wasn't sure, but by the time this was all over, she was going to get answers. ...And, maybe, check on the kid. It was, kind of, her fault that the kid was here.

Naruto watched his Digimon stare down the power-mad rabbit. He felt around for his D-Ark and saw it a few feet away. He began to get up, but Wizardmon held his left hand out.

"No, Naruto-kun." The Champion barred his Tamer from moving. "You'll attract his attention, don't worry about it. We're matched right now, in raw power alone. But I have the advantage."

"How?" Naruto asked. Had he been able to look closer, he would've seen that Wizardmon had the smallest hints of a smirk on his face.

"I'm still in full control of myself," he said. "And I have my Tamer's faith in me."

"Heh...Damn right," Naruto said with a smirk. He grunted and looked down at his sister. She smiled up at him, her eyes red from crying, and in her arms was the newly digivolved Salamon.

"I'm telling," she whispered. Any tension that was still present vanished immediately. Naruto gaped.

"Mito-chan!"

"Naruto-kun, Mito-chan, now isn't the time to fight," Wizardmon said firmly. He lifted his staff and narrowed his eyes as he faced down Gargomon. "Salamon, I trust them with you."

The puppy-dog digimon gasped and then put on a determined look.

"You gonna stand there all day or we gonna dance, Magic 'Mon?" Gargomon asked. He had a grumpy look on his face and raised both his gun hands, an audible click heard by all those watching as the gatling guns reloaded.

"Hm, it would seem that negotiations are off the table." Wizardmon pulled his hat down and arcane energy began to build up at the tip of his staff.

"Thunder Ball!" The electrosphere shot in front of the other Champion and exploded into a vast smokescreen.

"Gargo Pellets!" The Digimon exclaimed as he fired into the smokescreen. The smoke dissipated and all that was left standing there was Wizardmon. The magical Digimon swung his staff again.

"Thunder Ball!"

Instead of hitting the ground this time, the attack hit the large bunny full on and exploded in his face.

"Gargomon!" Henry shouted in worry. The Champion Digimon coughed out some smoke. He was lightly scorched, but not too worse for the wear. There was the issue of the static that danced along his body, but he did his best to ignore it.

"Now let's go from the basics to something a little more advanced," Wizardmon said. He raised his staff to the sky and black clouds began to form above them. He brought his staff down, aimed at Gargomon. "Electro Squall!"

A lightning bolt streaked the sky and then shot down, whereupon it struck Gargomon.

"Gah!" The bunny Digimon cried out as he flew right into a group of trees.

"And now for the finale!" The arcane Digimon twirled his staff in both hands and dashed at the downed Digimon.

"No, stop!" Henry called out, fearing that his friend was going to be coded. He was tackled by Takato, to prevent him from getting caught up in the next attack. Wizardmon jumped up and raised his staff above his head.

"It's over, Gargomon! Magical Game!" The wizard landed directly in front of the rabbit, and gently bonked Gargomon on the head. "Now sleep."

"Yeah...Night, night." Gargomon yawned mightily and fell onto his back with a bang. A sleep bubble appeared at his nose and he snored loudly. Wizardmon, seemingly pleased with the outcome, glanced back at where he had digivolved and tapped the butt of his staff on the ground. In a shimmer of digital code, Naruto, Mito, and Salamon reappeared in view.

"Checkmate," Wizardmon said as a cocoon of digital code covered Gargomon and dissipated, showing a sleeping Terriermon. Henry rushed over to his partner and picked him up, fussing over the small rabbit. The Digimon shifted uneasily in his arms and a scowl spread across his face.

"No Suzie, please, not the tutu! Give the sunhat, some eyeliner, heck, I'll take lipstick! Anything but the tutu!"

"He may have nightmares for a bit." Wizardmon told the Tamer.

"I think he'll manage. Thank you for knocking him out." Henry mustered his gratitude as best he could, giving a deep bow to the arcane Digimon. Wizardmon returned it with a kind nod.

"You're welcome, Henry-kun," Wizardmon said. He then drove a swift elbow into Naruto's side.

"Ow! What?" The blond tamer asked sharply. Wizardmon gave him a look.

"Don't you have something to say to Henry-kun?" Wizardmon suggested. Naruto looked at him for a moment, confused. The wizard glanced momentarily at Mito, then back at his Tamer, and then the lightbulb went off.

"Oh! Right," Naruto said sheepishly. He rubbed the back of his head and held his hand out. "About what happened with Gargomon, no hard feelings."

"A-Are you sure?" Henry asked. Naruto shrugged.

"Yeah, I mean, what are you going to do? Tackle him every time he goes power mad?" Naruto asked with a snort. Henry chuckled and took the offered hand.

"No, I'm not brave enough to do that," Henry said. He took his hand back and crouched down to meet Mito's height. "And I'm very sorry to have my digimon scare you like that."

"It's okay." Mito smiled weakly as she hugged Salamon closer to her. "But I might not like bunnies for a while."

"Darn. Guess this means you don't get to practice any hat tricks," Naruto said to his digimon, who snorted in amusement. Takato, who'd walked over with Guilmon in tow, raised his hand and Wizardmon looked at him.

"Yes, Takato-kun?"

"Is it okay if I start gushing like a fanboy now?" he asked. Wizardmon took a moment to ponder the request before he nodded.

"Yes, yes you may," he said to the goggled Tamer. Takato immediately began to do so. Henry, Naruto and Mito all shared a laugh. Naruto's was interrupted swiftly when Wizardmon suddenly smacked him upside the head.

"OW!" Naruto grabbed the back of his crown. "What was that for?!"

"That was for being a daft fool and rushing at a Champion Digimon, one who might I add was out of control," Wizardmon said sternly. He crossed his arms and gave his Tamer a pointed look. "Noble though your reasoning may have been, it was obscenely and needlessly reckless for you to run into such dangers. I have a fine mind to tell your mother about this, Naruto-kun."

The threat caused Naruto to pale and start shaking in his sneakers.

"B-But she'll kill me! After grounding me!" He protested. Wizardmon tipped his hat downward.

"There could be worst ways to go, Naruto-kun," the wizard said.

"I thought I was your partner!" Naruto threw himself at the mercy of his Digimon, hugging the wizard Champion around his waist. "Have a soul, Wizardmon!"

"Eh?! G-Get off of me, Naruto-kun!" Wizardmon flustered as he shoved at his Tamer's face. "This behavior is not appropriate! Think of how it will affect Mito-chan!"

The words seemed to snap Naruto out of his fear and he immediately parted from his Digimon's side. He looked down at his sister, his brows furrowed.

"Come to think of it," Naruto said. He knelt down and cupped his chin as he scrutinized his sister. "Mito-chan, just what were you doing here? I thought you were going to stay with your class?"

"Oh! I was following Rika-nee!" Mito chirped, any sign of her previous terror now gone. The three boys and two digimon blinked as one. Then they slowly looked over to Rika, who seemed to be uncomfortable with all the attention. It didn't help that she was without her Digimon, since Renamon was still recovering off to the side.

"What are you dummies all staring at?" Rika asked, finally unable to handle the bewildered looks any longer. Four of the five immediately started to look around for more interesting things, Wizardmon in particular swiftly went over to offer Renamon his assistance, while Naruto continued to give Rika a weird look.

"How did you meet my little sister?" he asked. Rika scowled at him.

"It wasn't like I planned to, Blondie," she said. "I was in the middle of a fight and she just walked right into the Bio-Field."

"I helped her win!" Mito chirped, getting a look from Rika that said she believed otherwise.

"You what?!" Naruto looked at his sister in shock. Then, he grinned. "Ha! If you tell on me, I'll tell on you. Kaa-san told you that you weren't allowed to go fighting with Nyaromon!"

Mito pouted at him and Salamon gave Naruto a small growl. Naruto blinked in surprise at the latter's action. Digivolution really brought on an attitude change, didn't it? Before he could say anything more on the matter, an unholy scream filled the air.

"MMMMMMMMIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-CHAAAAAAN!"

The two siblings in the clearing flinched. Salamon and Wizardmon both went rigid where they were. Guilmon jumped behind Takato and started to dig himself a hole to hide in and Renamon disappeared into the trees. Terriermon shivered uneasily in Henry's arms, getting an odd look from the boy.

"What was that?" Takato asked, backing into his partner and flailing for a moment before he fell.

"Sounds like we're going to have another fight," Rika said as she grabbed her D-Ark, determined to use this to make Renamon digivolve.

"W-We gotta run, Mito-chan we gotta flee!" Naruto shook his sister by her tiny shoulders. 'We won't survive if we stay here!"

"Nii-chan, I'm too scared to move," Mito said with twin rivers of tears rolling down her cheeks. Naruto embraced his little sister, a matching look on his face.

"I won't let you die alone, Mito-chan," he said, resigned to his fate as the sound of trees falling filled the air.

"What are you so scared of?" Henry asked. "You've got Wizardmon, don't-?"

"Henry-kun, we have just met, so I will forgive your insane suggestion to have me fight what is to come and out of mercy, I will tell you two very important things you should know about the Uzumaki family," Wizardmon said as he appeared at the young man's side. "Number one: If you value your life, don't ever get between an Uzumaki and their Ramen. It's suicide."

"Number two: Kaa-san is the Unholy Goddess of this world. So all must fear her," Salamon said while her tamer and her tamer's brother sobbed. They both still had tears running down their faces and their eyes were scrunched shut.

"You mean that was your mom?" Rika looked confused, wondering how that scream was even possible. It sounded inhuman!

"Yeah…" Naruto whimpered. A branch broke and the clearing went silent. Naruto and Mito became so pale they were practically translucent. Then, just as Takato was about to speak, the trees that were previously unharmed in Gargomon's rampage exploded away from a woman with nine equal bundles of her long red hair waving behind her.

Kushina Uzumaki, in all of her pantsuit glory, stormed forward.

"Where is my baby?!" She demanded, her eyes literally glowing red. The three teens unfamiliar with the look felt their minds stop and their bodies locked up. The flight instinct was strong, but if they moved, they would fall in her line of sight.

"I'm right here, Kaa-san," Mito said with a small sniffle. All anger seemed to leave the woman as she tackled her youngest child into a bear hug.

"My baby!"

Naruto looked at the rest of the gathered tamers.

"Run now!" He whispered. "Run while you can, and don't look back!"

The kids looked ready to do so, but all stopped at the sharp order from the woman.

"No child or 'Mon moves a step without my say-so!" Kushina said sweetly, not stopping her gushing over her precious baby. "Don't worry sweetie, Kaa-san will assassinate those terrible, terrible teachers. As if they deserve anything less."

"Kaa-san, you can't murder people!" Naruto interjected.

"Naruto, honey, shh. Kaa-san is plotting." Kushina's eyes snapped open and locked on Naruto. "Naruto? I thought you were hanging out with Takato after school today?"

"Uh, Hi...Uzumaki-san," Takato said with a weak wave. Wizardmon shook his head.

"You fool, you should've kept your mouth shut," he said softly under his breath.

Kushina's gaze fell on Takato, then on the red lizard-like tail that waved in front of him. Her eyes went to Henry and the rabbit in his arms. Then she spotted Rika and the device in her hand. Kushina looked back at Naruto, who'd quickly moved to cower behind Wizardmon, who currently looked ready to leave Naruto to the wolves.

"Well, Naruto, you certainly left all out the fact you knew more Tamers than that...redheaded..." Kushina's eyes drifted back to Rika, who suddenly froze like a deer that was caught in the headlights.

"Rika! Flee!" Naruto cried out towards the girl from the safety that was behind his Champion level Digimon. "If you value your life at all, listen to me just this once!"

"You," Kushina said venomously. She released Mito, who promptly scurried over to join Naruto behind Wizardmon, and stalked over towards the girl. Rika's eyes went wide as the older woman stared her down, her grip on her D-Ark slackened significantly, almost to the point that she dropped it. Kushina stopped when she was an arm's length away from the girl, before bending forward to get in Rika's face. The mother of two squinted her eyes and jabbed the girl roughly in the chest.

"Don't think I don't know what you're up to, Missy!" Kushina hissed. She pointed at herself with her thumb. "I'm the one who gets the last say in what girl gets to date my baby boy, got it? You're just after him for his father's looks!"

"Oh, Kaa-san, why?" Naruto whimpered as he buried his face in his hands. Mito patted his back consolingly while her brother began to cry again. "She's so embarrassing!"

Wow, and I thought my mom was bad. Henry and Takato thought, both embarrassed for Naruto, but definitely willing to hold this over his head if the time came.

Rika gained a flustered blush and pushed Kushina's hand away, while also backing up to keep some distance from the psychotic woman. She pointed at the older redhead in outrage.

"You're nuts, lady! Why would I want to date, let alone like, that-that idiot blond! He ran headfirst into a fight with a Champion level digimon!" Rika refuted, instinctually deflecting attention from herself. Or trying to, anyway.

"Heh, as if I'd believe you!" Kushina sneered at the younger girl. She pointed at Rika just as outraged as the ponytailed redhead was. "Admit the truth of your evilness! Acknowledge the schemes of your plots!"

"Lady, you're as crazy as he is! I'm not living in your deluded world, in fact, I'm outta here!" Rika declared before she turned around and stormed off with her hands in her pockets. "Let's go, Renamon!"

"Yeah, you better run!" Kushina shouted and waved her fist.

"Bye, Rika-nee!" Mito called with a wave at the girl. "Bye, Renamon!"

"R-Rika-nee?" Kushina repeated, oblivious to the yellow vixen's pause and hesitant wave back to the child. The mother of two grabbed at her hair and let out a howl of dismay as she sank to her knees. "No! She's already corrupted my baby girl to her side! I'll get you for this, you little hussy! I know where you live!"

"Do you?" Naruto asked in bewilderment.

"No, but I can find out with a phone call." Kushina whispered back.

"...You scare me to no end, Kaa-san." Naruto deadpanned. Kushina looked prideful at this and stuck out her chest and placed her hands on her hips.

"Then my motherly duty is done today," she said. She tilted her head in thought. "For you, at least. Still gotta kill Mito's teachers."

"Uh, guys, we might have a problem." Takato stated as he looked around the destroyed area, "I don't think Guilmon can live here anymore. I'm sure the cops are going to investigate…"

"Ah, craaaaaaaaabs, you're right. Sorry, Takato." Naruto apologized. He beamed. "Wait, I've got an idea! Wizardmon-?"

"Ahem," Kushina said suddenly, reminding her son of her presence. She crossed her arms and looked down at her now nervous eldest child. "Care to tell me why Candlemon deemed it necessary to digivolve?"

"...Uh…" Naruto hesitated. If he said anything about Gargomon, Henry would be dead. Like, immediately. No warning. Just dead. If he said anything about Guilmon, Takato wouldn't make it home and they'd have to move away. Which sucks, because Takato was so easy to get food fro-er, uh, he was a good guy.

That left only one logical option.

"It was like a freak accident, a small cat was falling from a tree and he leapt to action to save its life!" Naruto exclaimed with frantic gestures and miming. Lying was his only way out of this!

"...Uh-huh?" Kushina asked, disbelieving. She looked at Mito. "Mito-chan, is that true?"

"Nii-chan had to save me from a Champion-level digimon that by-oh-charged and beat up the others' Digimon," Mito said. Naruto gave her the stink eye, she was always much better than he was at lying. Lucky little brat.

"And Wizardmon beat him up?" Kushina asked.

"Shocked him with lightning!"

"Was it very, very frightening?"

"Gali-Leomon!" Terriermon exclaimed in his sleep. He shifted to hang halfway out of Henry's arms, the boy laughing nervously and then jostling the Rookie Digimon in an attempt to wake him up.

"Huh, that's one's culture savvy. I approve." Kushina nodded.

"Uh-huh!" Mito nodded. She then offered Salamon up. "And look! Nyaromon digivolved!"

"I'm Salamon, now!" Salamon chirped, which got a smile from the redheaded woman.

"Yes, you certainly are." Kushina looked at the two other boys. "So, I'm familiar with Terriermon because of the movie, but, Takato, who's that?"

"That's his broken self-insert Virus Dino," Naruto said with a smirk. Takato flushed and stammered out denials. Guilmon took that moment to pull his head out of the ground.

"Is it safe now, Takatomon?" Guilmon asked. He looked around and blinked. "Oh? Where'd Renamon go? Does this mean I win?"

"He. Is. Adorable!" Kushina squealed and rushed forward. She hugged the dinosaur and nuzzled his head, getting a confused croon from the new Rookie and deadpans from everyone else. Kushina looked at her children with sparkling eyes. "Can we keep him!?"

"...Do we even have room for him?" Naruto asked flatly. Wizardmon rubbed his chin.

"I'm certain I could teach him how to reverse digivolve," he said. He then looked down at himself and frowned. "However, how do I know if I can get back to this form?"

"Simple, we train until you can do it at will!" Naruto reassured him with a beaming grin and a pat on the shoulder. Wizardmon nodded in agreement and then looked at Kushina.

"Kushina-sama, I will have to take Guilmon so that we're not stopped by any confused humans," he said. Kushina pouted, but relented and released the overwhelmed dinosaur. Wizardmon stepped forward, but paused and leaned down to examine the image on Guilmon's chest.

"Hm...Takato-kun?" The goggled boy looked up at the wizard, who pointed at the image. "Did Guilmon appear with this symbol on him or is it recent?"

"No, I drew him with that." Takato shrugged. "It just came to me, I thought it looked cool."

"I see. Nothing to worry about, just a passing thought. Brace yourself, Guilmon." Wizardmon said as he took the virus-type by the arm and tapped his staff against the ground. "Magical Game!"

After a large sphere of digital code appeared around them, Wizardmon and Guilmon vanished. Naruto and Takato awed over the sight before they shared matching grins.

"That. Was. Awesome!" The two boys cheered. Henry chuckled and adjusted his hold on Terriermon.

"I should get going," he said. He bowed to the Uzumaki family and Takato. "It was nice to meet you, have a nice day!"

"Bye, Henry!" "Later, dude!" Takato and Naruto waved at the boy before they looked at Kushina, who clapped her hands together.

"Alright boys, before we go back home, I need to have a small chat with Mito-chan's teachers," she said. Her eyes blazed red again and the three kids shivered.

They did not envy those teachers right now.

"I wasn't really going to kill them, Naruto," Kushina said with a frown as she led her children and her son's friend to their home.

"Kaa-san, I'm pretty sure that guy's arm will never work again," Naruto said dryly while he glanced at his sister, who was being comforted by Salamon.

"I didn't know an arm could bend that way," Takato said, still stunned by what he saw. Kushina huffed and undid the lock on the door, pulling it open and holding it for the kids to enter first. Before she could, something leapt into Takato's chest with enough force to knock him down.

"Takatomon!" A high pitch voice squeaked at the now groggy boy. While Takato rubbed his head, the Uzumaki family stared owlishly at the little ball-shaped quadruped. It was mostly red, with two large yellow eyes, what hinted at a white belly, and black tipped ears and a tail.

"Wha-? Huh?" Takato blinked as he looked at his assailant. "G-Guilmon?!"

"Actually, he's Gigimon now." Demimeramon said as he floated over to Naruto's side. He looked at Kushina. "He emptied out the fridge."

Kushina was stunned into silence as she watched the new In-Training Digimon bounce up and down on his tamer's chest.

"Takatomon, I'm hungwy, can I has bwead? Pwease?" Gigimon asked before his stomach let out a rumble that did little more than roar in need.

Hearing the creature speak, Kushina squealed like a little girl and scooped up tiny lizard.

"You can has as much bwead as you want!" she cooed as she nuzzled her face against Gigimon.

"Kaa-san, let me hug him!" Mito pouted.

"You have Salamon! Cuddle her!"

"But I wanna cuddle both!"

"Don't make me ground you, young lady."

Takato got to his feet and rubbed the back of his head.

"Man, your mom is weird."

"Tell me something I don't know." Naruto sighed, but looked amused as Kushina was swarmed by Salamon and Demimeramon, the woman laughing gleefully as she played with the Digimon. "I think Gigimon is going to fit right in. Much better than having to keep him stashed away in a shed."

"Yeah, I know!" Takato smiled. He scratched his cheek. "Seriously, Naruto, you're a lifesaver. If my mom wasn't so strict about having a pet, then I'd take him home. Now, I don't have to worry about that!"

"Yeah, but it looks like you need to learn about fighting. That's something I can help you out with, too. But, you know my price," Naruto said with a devilish grin while Takato sighed. The blond looked at the Digimon and then hummed. "I wonder how long it took Wizardmon to teach Guilmon to reverse-Digivolve? Can Gigimon even change at will like Demimeramon?"

"Give him incentive and he listens like a puppy," Demimeramon said as he floated back to his Tamer. "I gotta tell ya, being Wizardmon gives me the patience of a Jijimon, Niisan. I would have set him on fire like this or as Candlemon."

"...Can you even light things on fire-?" Takato began, only to be interrupted by the dry stare of his friend.

"Yes, yes he can." Naruto cut the goggle-head off flatly. Demimeramon whined.

"It was one time!"

"That's still one time too many!" Naruto snapped. He clapped his hands over his eyes and whimpered. "All my Gundams...Gone!"

"They weren't yours in the first place," Demimeramon said. "You took them as payment for the back alley games you played."

"That's beside the point!" Naruto hissed.

Takato watched the two argue with an amused smile on his face. He glanced over at Gigimon, who was laughing with Salamon and Mito at the faces Kushina made at him while she prepared dinner. Takato was invited to stay and, after a call to his parents, accepted the offer. He enjoyed the madness that was an Uzumaki meal, especially the moment when Gigimon dove body-first into the oversized popcorn bowl that was made for Demimeramon.

After all, no one would ever forget the night a sentient ball of fire cried out a river's worth of tears.

E4E: Man, Wizardmon has some seriously scary attacks. Magical Game is broken! Hope we did the fight scene some justice, showing Wizardmon's calm collected side, even in battle.

BB15: Not to mention the little, itty bity, hard to notice unless you really squint at it easter egg we added in to his digivolution.

E4E: Of course Kushina gushes over cute little digimon, why do you think she wants them as small as possible?

BB15: She wants to hug them and love them and pet them and call them hers. Now we're going to get started on the next chapter, so be sure to do that thang we want you to do...

Kross Kings: REVIEW!