FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"Dark Influences"

The chill of shadow swarmed around Mac as he found himself flying faster than the speed of light itself through the air. The ground of the digital world swirled below him as he was forced to watch it fly by. His captor Shadow held his arms to his side in an encompassing hug, keeping the wolf from escaping. He couldn't speak, the wind flying into his face was almost choking him from the speed at which they were moving. Mac could only lower his head and continue to watch the ground flying past. He frowned, wondering if there would be any way Trey would find them. A chilled wind rose beside them, and he turned to see Frost flying by his brother's side. Anger filled Mac, an anger more than he'd ever felt before. He was normally a forgiving wolf, but this betrayal, this... outrage would never be forgotten.

Suddenly, there was a blast of air from behind them and Mac took a deep breath as the two Wargreymon types came to a stop. They were overlooking an ominous looking castle in the distance. Two tall towers rising from the center of a labyrinthian maze surrounded by several smaller towers and a thick black wall lay before them. There was only one Digimon that came to Mac's mind that could have come up with such a devious looking fortress. He almost scoffed at how easily he could see through it, he was almost surprised then when he heard the sound of another voice entering his mind as he spoke with the other two.

"Excellent, excellent. I am glad you two have reconciled." That was the voice of the dark lord Myotismon. But how was this possible?

"Reconcile isn't exactly the word I would use." Shadow said with a growl, turning to Frost. "More like 'on a trial basis' would be more appropriate, master."

"Nevertheless, we are two allies stronger, thanks to your efforts, Shadow. Come to me now, the both of you and let us celebrate our victory properly."

What did he mean, "two allies"? Mac's mind was a jumble of confusion and worry now. The only ones Shadow had brought to the fortress were himself and Frost.

There was a powerful blur as both Wargreymon flew forward again, flipping to either side of the ruined citadel. As they crossed the border of the city, the labyrinth walls shot up, trying to trap them. But both Frost and Shadow knew how to avoid being trapped by the encompassing maze and flew straight into a passageway within the mountains at the border of the city. They turned downward, deeper into the underground so fast that Mac could feel his claws scrape for a few seconds along the stone which ended up sharpening his claws, then dulling them down to nubs on his feet. Coming to the bottom of the chasm, he was roughly thrown to the floor as Shadow came to a landing behind him, slamming a foot down onto the wolf's back to pin him and prevent his escape.

"Nnngh! Let me go!" Mac howled angrily at the black digimon. "Let me go!" He demanded again but quickly received a kick to the head from the other digimon.

"Silence." Frost ordered him, but backed off when he received a scathing look from his brother.

"Do not pretend to be my ally yet." He sniped at his brother. "When lord Myotismon can tell me where your true loyalty lies, you will be tested by him. But until then, you are not to touch my prisoner. Do you understand?" He asked.

"Y-yes... of course." Frost stammered and bowed his head.

There was a loud grinding noise that filled the cavern as a large stone wall moved aside, revealing a dark passage doorway. Another Digimon master; Piedmon exited the tunnel and walked toward them, a smug grin on the clown's face made Mac cringe. He knew Piedmon would be in on this, upon seeing his handiwork with the labyrinth outside, it just screamed the jester's trickery. No one would be able to get into the fortress undetected, and if his traps were as deadly as they'd always been, it'd be unlikely anyone would make it to the fortress alive. He grunted as Shadow's foot pressed down on him again, practically crushing him into the stone floor of the cave.

"Where is Myotismon?" Shadow asked. "He summoned us here."

"Oh, forgive me. Myotismon is here, he simply sent me down to claim that which is his." He pointed at Mac. "This one here has displayed talents of immeasurable power in the past, and he wants to test him for his army."

"Go to hell." Mac managed to say, even with the heft of the Wargreymon's foot pressing down on him. "I'll never join you, I'll never join an army bent on destroying the good in this world."

"Hmmhmm..." Piedmon reacted in amusement. "You hero types are all the same. Just when you think your will is your own, someone comes along and..." He leaned in close, grinning so widely that Mac could count his teeth from end to end. "Overwrites you."

"You can't, I'm not a Digimon. There's nothing you can do to-UNF!" He grunted as the foot crushed down on him again.

"Bring him." Piedmon said as he started walking away, disappearing into the darkness of the doorway again.

Scooping Mac up into an arm, Shadow followed Piedmon and forced Frost through the doorway before himself. The hall was dark, lit only by a handful of torches that lit their ascent in a long spiral that led up toward a sort of throne room of the tower. Exiting the unfinished tunnel opened up into a large, neatly stoned room that allowed airflow to push through it, making the wolf's fur and his three tails flutter in the breeze. Myotismon was standing in front of a mirror, adjusting a hat he was trying on. As Mac looked into the mirror, he could see the hat moving around on its own, but Myotismon was not in the reflection. He spotted the wolf in the reflection and smiled, turning around to face the wolf. "Ah, you must be the super wolf. Hmm?"

"The term is Saiyan." Mac said through his teeth, not hiding the scowl of dislike he had toward the dark lord. "What is it you want from me, Myotismon? My partner won't rest until he's found me, and if he finds me here well." He chuckled. "You'll be dust once again."

"Oh, color me frightened." Myotismon replied sarcastically before chuckling. "But I don't think your friends or your partner will be coming to rescue you this time. Oh, no."

As Myotismon leaned away, Shadow removed his foot from the wolf's back, making him pant, a little dizzy from the sudden rush of oxygen being given back to him. "But who shall we pit his powers against?" Piedmon asked no one in particular. "The digital essence of a being from the human world with powers of his own who is also worthy of having a Digimon partner would be an interesting experience I should say." He chuckled. "Not worth pitting against a worthless opponent. Hmm?"

"How about Frost?" Shadow asked, pointing to the blue Wargreymon. "He claims to be one of us, he claims to have renounced the ways of a hero all for my sake, but I couldn't trust him as far as I could throw him."

Frost growled. "Thanks, Shadow. I appreciate the vote of confidence."

"No, he is right." Piedmon nodded, putting his fingers under his chin to scratch at it. "After all, your loyalty has yet to be tested."

"I faced against my former allies and helped in Mac's capture. What more do you need."

"But your enemies still live." Shadow said.

"You allowed them to live as well, I don't see why--"

"SILENCE!" Myotismon's voice echoed through the chamber as he punched his fist through the mirror, causing it to shatter into hundreds of pieces that fell to the floor. He stood upright and cleared his throat, regaining his composure. "Shadow is right, Frost, you have not proven yourself... true to our cause. A battle between yourself and Mac here may just prove your usefulness to us."

"Don't bother. I'm not going to fight." Mac said, standing up. "Not Frost, or you, or anyone. I'm not here for your amusement. So either kill me or let me go."

"Well, at least one of those can be arranged." Shadow scoffed as he started toward the wolf.

"Stop." Myotismon said. His voice was calm, but commanding. Shadow immediately stopped and bowed to him. The vampire Digimon unfurled his cape and walked toward the wolf. "I do not wish to waste such potential, Mac." He said as he placed his fingers onto the wolf's fur suddenly bringing searing dark marks into his flesh, making Mac growl and cry out in pain. "But if I must show you that you have no choice in this, then so be it."

The wolf fell still, his eyes staring at Myotismon, having gained a reddish tint to them as the others stared. "How interesting." Piedmon said. "What have you done to him?"

"Made him little more than a puppet." Myotismon said. "I've given him no restriction to his power, his will however has been skewed to believe he has no choice but to fight... should he prove worthy, I have developed measures of insuring that this becomes his only truth." He chuckled.

"Frost. Go." Shadow commanded his brother who stepped back a moment unsuredly. "Test him with your strongest attacks."

"Heh." Frost clenched his fists. "I don't need my strongest attacks."

Mac turned to face Frost, and the Wargreymon charged in, swinging a fist to attack him. Quickly, the wolf dodged the strike and countered with a powerful kick, knocking him back. Frost was shocked for a moment, but came at Mac again. He swung his fist, Mac dodged it. He spun and made a powerful kick back like a bucking horse, but Mac used his strength to dodge it. Mac came in on the offensive then, swinging his fists fast to try and catch the warrior off guard. But Frost kept up with the attacks very nicely, grabbing the wolf by one of his fists, Frost held it.

"Blue Tornado!" He roared as he began to spin.

Myotismon, Piedmon and Shadow stepped back as a massive cyclone suddenly broke out in the palace. Sending everything flying around the room as it gained a frigid atmosphere. Spinning hard, Frost pulled Mac up into the cyclone which then burst through the roof and up into the sky. Mac's feet twisted almost completely behind him as he could feel his lungs freezing due to the cold. Suddenly, Frost released Mac, sending him flying up into the air. "Frozen Force!" He called upon his powerful energy attack, cold energy enveloped into a powerful orb which he then spun and hurled up into the sky at the wolf who was now falling to meet his fate.

"Blazing Paw!" Mac's words echoed through the air as his fist ignited in a orange fiery energy that punched clean through the sphere, splitting it in half.

"What the!" Frost barely had a chance to finish speaking before he received the brunt of the wolf's fist in his chest and forced downward.

Frost's arms and legs were kicking free, but he wasn't able to change their direction, the saiyan wolf had a power of flight that was driving him harder and faster toward the castle. Frost looked down at the fast approaching citadel and roared his objection just as they struck it. Crashing straight down to the floor where the rest of them were, Shadow jumped back as Frost was slammed into the stone floor, an explosion from the wolf's technique filled the entire room with fire and black smoke, which slowly vanished.

Mac stood over Frost, a foot planted firmly on his chest plate, which had cracked from the impact. But otherwise he was done, he looked up with a stare of surrender at the wolf, a sneer on his muzzle of pure anger at this creature's surprisingly powerful attack.

Mac had regained his senses, unsure exactly how Myotismon was able to make him see no choice but to fight, but he glared at the vampire. "This is how all of you will end up if you don't release me."

"Such brave words from such a powerful... yet inferior creature." Myotismon said as he started toward the wolf. Not stopping until he was within inches of his muzzle. "But you've given me all the proof I need to see your potential." He said with a grin before waving his hand.

Just like he was being thrown, Mac found himself flying back toward the wall at the edge of the room. Piedmon drew several daggers from his sleeve and threw them at him, all striking mere inches from stabbing him through the chest, through the arms and through the legs. They activated and suddenly Mac was suspended in some sort of a field pinning him to the wall.

"You... you won't get away with this!" Mac snapped, trying to pull himself from the wall to no avail.

"Ah, but you see... I've planned for every contingency." Myotismon said as he raised his hand, causing g a flicker of black energy to appear in his hand. The energy split into four parts and objects that looked like black strips appeared. "You will serve our purposes, Mac. Whether you like it or not." He laughed as he sent the objects flying at the wolf.

The first two struck his wrists and coiled around them in a long spiralled wrap that clamped to the wolf's fur. Then the other two wrapped around each of his ankles. Erupting into black flames, Mac screamed as the dark spirals came to life. "As you can see, we've modified these to work with humans from the other world." Piedmon said, idly filing his fingernails as he spoke. "Since you are some... mutant almost caught between Digimon and human, these should fit you quite nicely."

Mac's screams faded and his head fell into a bow of unconsciousness for a few moments. As the others watched he opened his eyes and looked up. A rather creepy grin stretched across his muzzle. "I am yours to command, master." He said to Myotismon. "What is it you wish me to do?"

Myotismon approached Mac, Piedmon snapped his fingers to make his daggers vanish and the wolf dropped to the ground unharmed. The vampire had a smile on his face as his fingers gently stroked the wolf's muzzle and tugged him in abruptly close. "Very good. You will serve us well, Mac."

"I live to serve." Mac said, almost automatically.

Frost had gotten up and rejoined his brother, still in quite a bit of pain he watched as Myotismon snapped his fingers and opened another doorway that led into darkness. "What is this? How will he have the power to stop not only good Digimon, but his friends by himself?"

"He won't be alone." Piedmon said, interrupting Shadow before he could answer.

From the doorway, another Digimon appeared, this one appeared like Leomon, except he had a strap of armor over his chest. He wore an open vest and thin, loose pants. A pair of blades lay crossed over his back, partly concealing a long ponytail mane that traveled most of the way down his back. He fell to one knee in front of Myotismon, crossing an arm over his chest as a sign of respect. "Bladeleomon at your service." He said.

"Bladeleomon has no clue of his past." Myotismon explained. "To his knowledge he has never worked with a human partner, and has never had any friends to aid him in battle." He turned to Mac. "You, Mac shall be his partner from now on. To do what we command you at any time we command you to do it, do you understand?"

"Yes, master." Mac said as Myotismon handed him a black device which suddenly began to shine in a dark light in his hand, making Bladeleomon growl and roar in response ot it.

"Bladeleomon, Mac will be your partner from now on. You will work together to do our bidding, do you accept this task?"

"I shall follow what I am ordered without question." Bladeleomon said dropping almost completely to the floor in a bow.

"Then rise, Bladeleomon." Mac said, holding out his device. It glowed and the Digimon stood immediately. "We shall guard one another from the influence of the good and just." He smiled. "And we shall be partners forever."

"Yes."

Frost frowned, watching the two of them. "What would happen if--"

"Silence!" The very force of Myotismon's command almost knocked Frost to the ground. "You too must learn your place, Frost." He turned to the other two. "Mac. Bladeleomon, there is a village of champions nearby. Their power radiates throughout this entire continent, which they protect with their very lives. You are ordered to go destroy this village, return here only when that task is completed."

"Yes, sire."

"Frost. Shadow." He turned to the Wargreymons. "You two will accompany our warriors and aid them as needed. If they are in danger, you will protect them. If they resist your command..." He turned and glared at the warriors. "Destroy them."