The following chapter contains DiD. Digimon Tamers and its characters are properties of Toei Animation.

---

Hours of traveling across an arid, barren desert had taken their toll on a certain yellow Digimon. Her fur felt close to getting singed by the hot sun beaming down. Her two white feet ached from carrying her graceful body over miles of soft, unstable sand. Her purple-clad arms did their best to shield her face from the gusts of sand blowing onto her. Any form of life around her had been scarce, just the occasional small Digimon scurrying on by.

But finally, Renamon now found herself under a roof and on solid ground. That roof belonged to the large structure she had spotted in the distance, one that had her potential salvation lying within.

How she got into this situation in the first place ... that was anyone's guess, hers included.

Renamon had no memory of what had happened to her prior to getting stranded in this desert. She couldn't place when she got here, how she got here, the events that should have led up to it. Even the point where her memory blurred couldn't be placed. When did she even leave the city? What would have taken her from it? As palpable as the simmering heat and fatigue were, this all didn't even feel real at points. Like it was some dream with no rhyme, reason, or rules.

She could tell that she was in the Digital World, at the very least. But other than that, the circumstances surrounding this were a bizarre mystery. And that was the most unsettling part of all this for her.

But it was a mystery that had to be figured out another time. Right now, her goal was figuring out a way back to the "real" world. Her friends and allies must be concerned for her, depending on if they even knew she was gone. She often pondered over how Rika was reacting to it all. With how uncertain things were between them, it was hard to imagine in her increasingly insecure mind ... but that only drove her motivation further to get back to her.

And she believed that this temple was the key to that. One of the many legends of the Digital World revolved around what many referred to as the Destiny Stones: large stones said to be regulators of the boundary between the two worlds. They could be identified by the symbols of some ancient language emblazoned upon both them and the gold bands wrapped around the stones. Or so that's what the tales said.

Which brought Renamon to the tall, imposing temple she'd found in the middle of this wasteland. Its height trumped that of the tallest buildings of Shinjuku, with its width easily covering multiple city blocks. It looked somewhat like a pyramid in the distance, but a closer looked showed the many curves and domes of its upper architecture, as well as the prism-like protrusions closer to its base. Built out of strong, faded yellow bricks, it looked to be firmly rooted underneath the sandy grounds of the desert, and the spears on top further showed how proud whoever built it all was of their towering creation.

But what caught Renamon's eye the most were the strange symbols displayed on the temple's broad front ... ones that bore strong resemblance to what she had heard about those that decorated the Destiny Stones. This gave her the hope that, perhaps, at least one of those very stones resided within the walls of this building.

The vixen Digimon knew very well that she could just be deluding herself with this thinking. She was going off of hearsay, speculation, theory, her only guides to whatever lay within here. But with the position she had somehow found herself in, those were all that she had to grasp onto. So it had to be enough; she would go forward, however shaky that foundation was.

Now inside, the foxlike warrior took her first look at the temple's interior. Initially, there wasn't much to examine. No decorations were found on the walls, and no elaborate paths or hallways were present. The only standout features were two large pillars on either side of the room, and a series of ducts that carried rushing streams of sand from the ceiling above to a large pit of on the ground. It was many meters wide and acted as a sort of interior moat surrounding the rest of the temple, including the entrance to the one narrow corridor visible on the other side.

Renamon narrowed her eyes in suspicion. Going forward, she crouched down and waded a paw through the sand. The thick, wet, barely solid texture let her know that it wasn't just ordinary sand; it was quicksand, and fast-acting quicksand at that. And with nothing around to serve as an anchor to the surface, it was clearly meant as an effective way to trap any intruder who ended up caught in it.

Thankfully, the agile vixen had already seen her path to proceed. She leapt up and ahead to the pillar on her right. As soon as she came into contact with it, her hands and feet bounced her off, launching her across the pit of sand. Thanks to her coordination, she landed properly on the other side, at the start of the hall.

However, she then felt the ground beneath her sink ever so slightly. Looking down, she saw that it was one single plate at her feet that had lowered. Darting her head up quickly, her heart leapt when she saw the flurry of dozens of arrows suddenly speeding towards her from wall ahead of her.

The Digimon jumped, pressing her hands and feet against the walls to keep herself just high up enough for the arrows to fly between her legs. Once they passed, Renamon carefully landed back down ahead of the pressure plate, taking a second to make sure she was in the clear.

She turned around and looked at the quicksand again. Surely, it served as a grave for the many who had managed to reach this point, only to become victims to that trap and get sent falling in.

Renamon shook the grimness of that thought aside, as it would get her nowhere. Bracing herself for whatever was lying ahead, she made her cautious walk forward.

It would take more than a few traps to rattle her resolve.

---

As she continued along in this mysterious temple, Renamon kept her eyes peeled for any trap that could spring without her notice. She saw plenty more pressure plates, her keen eyes picking up on the subtlest details to ensure she wouldn't accidentally set one off. Who knew what these ones would have in store, after all; arrows may very well be the nicest of the dangers here.

Currently, she was being granted a reprieve from the winding, maze-like halls. Instead, she now came into a small, circular chamber. Along the upper perimeter was a multitude of statues. Statues that Renamon recognized to be of Mummymons: lanky, grey-skinned Digimons with long claws, covered head-to-toe in bandages save for their eyes and mouths. They typically sported purple fez-like hats and spikes on their shoulders.

These statues, however, were entirely made of stone. It was an odd decision for decoration, Renamon thought. Mummymons didn't exactly have the most imposing physical appearance, and even the sculpted expressions on these statues were rather goofy smiles rather than the dignified visages one would expect to see in a place like this.

Just as she was about to look back forward and move on, Renamon gasped when bandages suddenly shot out from behind one of the statues. As they swiftly wound around her middle and ensnared her arms firmly to her sides, their source revealed itself - or rather, himself. A real-life Mummymon sprang out from its hiding place behind a statue of his kind, the bandages coming from his spindly hands.

Renamon grunted as she felt the bandages tighten, and leered at the assailant as she was lifted up off the ground. She pulled and tugged her arms in the bindings, wincing as this only encouraged the Mummymon to constrict them even tighter.

"Ohoho, we've got ourselves a trespasser!" the Mummymon chortled, in a relatively high-pitched voice. "Can't have that, can we?"

He yanked Renamon closer to him, the whiplash making her gasp as her legs and tail flew back. Bringing a claw underneath her chin, he chuckled softly. "Ooh, you're a pretty one, aren't ya?"

The incensed Digimon tossed her head away from him, but the bandages then squeezed her even more. Renamon hissed through gritted teeth, her shoulders bulging out in a pained reaction to the Mummymon's hold.

She was able to fight through the strain enough to take advantage of the proximity between her and the Mummymon, and delivered a strong roundhouse kick to his face. It made him yell out and involuntarily drop her, the vixen sliding out of his wrappings and deftly hitting the floor.

She then grabbed the dangling bandages and pulled on them, sending the Mummymon down from his perch and at her level in a rather painful-looking faceplant.

But neither opponent had a moment to further collect themselves when, out of nowhere, the floor beneath them quickly slid away.

Renamon and the Mummymon were sent falling, unable to catch themselves in time as they made their descent to what was below.

And that, to Renamon's great apprehension, was another large pit of quicksand.

Positioning herself in midair, the skilled fox was able to land firmly upright. She wobbled a bit, spreading her arms to assist her, managing to keep herself in a shaky standing position.

But still, she could already feel herself starting to sink. The sand was particularly loose, and tickled her legs as it rapidly pulled her deeper and deeper into its foulness.

The Mummymon, meanwhile, used one hand to fire bandages around the nearest support beam, planning to use that to pull his way out.

"Hehehe, enjoy your trip down!" he mocked.

But Renamon, the tenacious furry female she was, reached out just in the nick of time to grab the Mummymon's other arm.

"Wha?! Hey, get off me!" the Mummymon shouted indignantly. With the oozing quicksand already reaching her hips, Renamon ignored the demand and dragged herself over to him. It caused her to sink at an even faster rate, but she was sure to keep going, not letting go of what was ironically her lifeline.

"A fighter, are ya? I'll fix that right up!" The mummified Digimon fired his bandages to pin her arms down again. They also covered her mouth and neck for good measure, smothering her face in bandages.

"Hrrrgh!" Renamon snarled, wheezing a bit from the choking bandage around her neck. She still kept her paws clasped firmly around the wrappings and kept moving herself along.

Growing irritated, the Mummymon resorted to shoving her down several feet beneath the gravelly, near-liquid substance. The fox cringed at being so suddenly and totally submerged in the disgusting sand, feeling it crawl up her nose. But she nonetheless wrapped her ankles around the Mummymon's leg, gripping it for dear life.

Urgent to escape his own sinking fate, the Mummymon pulled himself up using the support beam. But this inadvertently got Renamon to the surface once more, her feet still grappling onto him. She managed to raise her pinned arms just enough to dig her claws into him and try to shove him under. The Mummymon, in response, removed some of his bandages from her upper body, in order to fire a separate set that wrapped her legs together.

This, however, thinned out the wrappings on her arms. With a great burst of strength, she pushed and strained until she was able to snap them clean off. In response, the Mummymon pulled her leg wrappings up to send her falling into the sand on her back. But before she was sent back under, she swiftly unleashed a Diamond Storm at him.

"Mmmph."

The Mummymon let out a terrible shriek as the attacking shards pierced his body. Just as the wrappings on Renamon's legs were tightened, he went limp.

Renamon could see the bandages wrapped around the beam start to go slack. She thrust herself forward, the quicksand trickling up to her neck, and rushed to just barely grab a hold of them. Just as the quicksand was about to consume her beautiful face, she began rising back up and inching closer to freedom.

Right when her upper half made it onto solid ground, the bandages came loose completely. She collapsed, but kept her claws digging into the floor in order to pull her bound legs out, her sand-caked body fully emerged.

She instantly reached over to tear and slice the bandages off her supple legs. Renamon exhaled in great relief, wriggling her legs out of the loosened bandage coils. She stretched them out and massaged them for a moment, shaking and brushing the remnant sand off of her.

That fight could have so easily failed had one thing not gone as planned, a fact not lost on the beauty. If that was just what one Mummymon and one trap were capable of putting her through ... it was safe to say that venturing any further would be a very risky prospect.

But if she had already come this far, it was senseless to turn back now. The thought of returning home, back in her familiar city, reuniting with Rika ... it was enough to keep her going forward, to find the bridge back.

---

Renamon had voyaged through trap after trap of this mysterious, ominous place. One guarding Mummymon after another. One panel triggering a deadly attack after another. Constant lookouts as she moved slowly and methodically, each step gentle and delicate. The prospect of her end goal, her way out of this entire realm, was creating temptations for her to speed herself along and throw even the slightest bit of caution to the wind.

But she had far too much self-control to give in to that. And too much conviction to do whatever was needed to achieve her goal, even if it meant more time spent in this series of perils.

And now, that patience looked like it was about to be rewarded.

She could see the Destiny Stones. From where she stood at the bottom of a staircase corridor, they were visible atop a tall pedestal, one littered with the same kinds of symbols as the stones themselves. A bright, heavenly light shined down upon them, widening Renamon's radiant blue eyes in a look of wonder she didn't show too often. Them being real in the first place was an enrichening discovery for her, let alone in this uncertain hour.

The Digimon was sure, however, they would not be so easy to grab. If this temple was truly made to house them, it was likely to save its worst for last. A carving of some demonic-looking head hung over the doorway to this final room, after all; a clear omen of things to come.

So, Renamon proceeded with extra care. She made sure to not rush even a subconsciously small bit, tried not to let her eyes become too fixated on the stones she sought.

But even that carefulness proved to not be an option.

That demon head's eyes began glowing an evil dark red. Looking up, Renamon could see another identical face directly above her was doing the same thing. She didn't know how to proceed, unsure of whether moving ahead would help or harm her.

But the answer quickly became clear when both of the sinister heads began breathing fire out of their stone-constructed mouths. Worse yet, thick, metal, double-sliding doors, both in front of and behind her, were beginning to close up. Should they close completely, there would be no way out of this hallway.

The yellow fox knew that she had to bolt. Knowing that going back would likely lock her away from the Destiny Stones permanently, she ultimately dashed forward. Feeling the heat of the building flames, she went as fast as her feet could carry her. She ducked under the fire that nearly consumed the hall now, hissing as it nearly caught on her fur. And, with less than a second to spare, she jumped into a diving position and barely slipped her way past the two doors in front of her. She could feel the metal brush against her hips and tail, and landed in a crouch as she heard the doors slamming shut an instant later. The few licks of flames that made it past the metal dissolved into nothing as well.

Despite the extremely close call, the determined Digimon was unwilling to take even a second to collect herself. She kept on her highest guard and looked around this new chamber.

The entire room's ceiling was coated in tall spikes that looked more than sharp enough to kill. The pedestal containing the stones turned out to be accessible via a staircase surrounding it on all sides in a circular perimeter. That staircase, however, was yet another stone island on a sprawling pit of quicksand. It looked like it might be possible to get across with just the right powerful jump. Even then, though, just barely, even for her.

But the biggest pressing issue was what stood directly in front of her.

From within secret chambers in the walls, an ambush of seven Mummymons leapt down as soon as they saw the yellow intruder. They all looked fairly similar to all the ones she had encountered earlier, but their builds were more filled out and developed, and they were a good deal taller as well. They also moved at a greater speed, instantly surrounding her on all sides.

One thing they did share with the prior Mummymons, though, was that cocky, toothy grin at the very sight of her.

"Well, well, well. It's been a while since anyone's made it this far," one said.

"Yeah. Tell ya the truth, it's gotten pretty boring around here," another chuckled.

Renamon, in typical fashion, didn't say anything in response. She merely lowered her legs and raised her arms in a fighting stance. This may not have appeared quite as terrible as any traps she may have expected, but she was going to take nothing for granted. One Mummymon was a modest threat with its snaking bandage ability; seven were going to be a struggle.

But it was a struggle she was ready for. She'd made it to the end, and would not let this stop her now.

The Mummymons all fired their bandages at her at once. Renamon leapt up and out of the way, landing outside the circle of enemies. As a result, the bandages became tangled up with each other, and each Mummymon pulled and fidgeted to get their strands free of the mess.

"Hey, let go!"

"You let go!!"

Deciding to take advantage of this, Renamon made a run right for the Destiny Stones, thinking she could possibly flee with them in her possession. But once one of the Mummymons managed to get free, he shot out his bandages to wrap her tall, furry ankles together.

Renamon grunted as she fell over onto her chest. As she was dragged further away from the pedestal, the fox flipped herself over and brought her claws up to slice off the bandages. With a spread of her now-free ankles, she spun her way back up to her feet, arms crossed in preparation for continued combat.

As another Mummymon broke out of the tangle, he and his ally fired more bandages at her. But the acrobatic Digimon jumped and spun over them with ease, and landed in front of the Mummymon who'd aimed at her. She charged up and delivered a great spin-kick to his bandage-wrapped gut. He was sent flying into the pit of quicksand, face first. Unable to see and sinking fast, his bandages flailed about blindly, desperate to latch onto something. But the guard's fate was sealed, and Renamon had to focus on the remaining ones.

Just before she could turn back around to do so, a lone bandage wound its way tightly over her mouth and pulled her back.

"Mmph!" she grunted, landing on her side with a thud. Another Mummymon leapt onto her rich chest, causing her to cry out. "Grrmph!!"

The Mummymon used one hand to ensnare and hold down her arms and middle. He brought up his other hand in a fist, cackling as he prepared to strike her down even harder. But the flexible fox managed to sneak her tight legs underneath the assailant, got her feet to glow a marvelous blue, and delivered a double-kick right to his chest.

As he was sent into the air, Renamon ripped the loose bandages off her body and mouth, flew up to him, and finished the Mummymon off with well-placed, relentless strikes of her fists.

As she descended, however, Renamon could do nothing to stop the remaining Mummymons from collectively wrapping her waist, forearms, and knees in their bandages. The second she landed, she instantly yanked her arms and legs forward. But to her surprise, the Mummymons were not sent towards her as the ones she'd fought earlier would have been. Clearly that enhanced bulk of theirs made such a maneuver not so easy.

One of the Mummymons instead yanked her over to him. Her feet dragged along the floor to slow herself down, but couldn't stop herself from getting close enough for the Mummymon to then lash out with his claws. By under a second, she was able to sidestep away in time. She then attempted to slash back at him, but similarly missed. This placed the Mummymon behind her, which he used to his advantage to wrap her wrists together behind her back in a thin but tight layer.

Grunting, Renamon performed a front-flip and a roll, using her bound arms and the momentum to send the Mummymon tumbling over. Two of the other Mummymons tugged at her with their wrappings, with one of them winding the bandages further and further up her bound arms. Getting up from the ground, the tripped-up Mummymon slashed at his foe. Renamon's reflexes proved just quick enough to allow her to position her arms to have those claws tear at the bandages instead, breaking her limbs free of the bonds. Tearing off the rest of the wrappings before they could yank her away, she swiftly made her way to the Mummymon and vanquished him with a few more mighty swipes and kicks.

In this time, though, the four still-living Mummymons closed in on her. Despite their dwindling numbers, they still held their smarmy, cackling expressions, clearly thinking they had the fighter cornered.

Admittedly, it would be tough to fight them all in this position. So, Renamon began to levitate ever so slightly, crossing her arms over her chest to charge up another blast of diamonds.

But two of the Mummymons were well-prepared for this, and saw their opportunity. They fired another flurry of bandages at her, these ones flying completely off their arms, enabling them to shoot out freely. As if having minds of their own, the bandages wound themselves securely around Renamon's upper body and head. They pinned her crossed arms tightly against her chest, burying them in her fur and underneath the multiple layers of bandages. An extra bit coiled around her forehead, after thoroughly gagging up her mouth.

"Mmrmmh!"

Despite this, Renamon managed to land cleanly, on one foot and knee. She immediately yanked at the bandages to pry them off ... but this time, they proved to be too strong. The thin strips were tougher than they looked and piled up together to strengthen the bind, grasping her furry torso and arms in a flexible yet seemingly iron-clad hold. She wriggled, shifted her arms, tugged her hands, tried to reach her claws to slice them off, but it was no use. She couldn't even pry the bandages off her mouth; it was as if they were sealed to her, too tightly to slip off.

"Mmph ... Nnrrph ..." she grunted.

And the Mummymons were still ready to keep up the assault.

Like it or not, Renamon would have to fight like this.

Partially out of the anxiety of being wrapped up, she made the first move and charged at another Mummymon. He lashed his bandages out, but Renamon managed to slide underneath. She used one leg to sweep his feet out from under him, and then kicked him with enough force to send him into the nearest wall. Springing back onto her feet, she charged them up with their blue flames. She dashed forward, dodging attempts by other Mummymon bandages, and, with a loud grunt through her bandage gag, kicked with as much power as possible into the Mummymon, finishing him off.

The bandages behind her continued to charge, forcing her into a nimble leap up backwards. Enough Mummymons tried to readjust themselves to account for her landing that she needed to weave and spin her way around the bandages the second she touched down. It was a feat made even more difficult with her arms trapped as they were, unable to help with her precision or fluidity of movement.

Another Mummymon dashed towards her, and she darted herself out of the way with a little grunt escaping the gag. With a fast and flexible flip, she gripped onto his head with her free feet and slammed him harshly to the floor. A flurry of furious kicks to the back of his skull was then enough to finish the job on him.

But that same move also then triggered an idea from her two remaining attackers.

"Try fighting like this!" one of them shouted.

Renamon's eyes went wide with a muffled gasp as that Mummymon fired a separated round of bandages at her feet. She jumped just high enough to avoid it, but then had to jump right away to dodge another attempt by the other attacker. And then again, and again, trying to gain some distance with each leap and evasion. But the constant, relentless attempts at her legs were coming one after another, with not a single second in between, leaving Renamon solely focused on them and unable to plan out her next move.

Just as she made an attempt to leap in for an attack, one of the Mummymon was able to lead his aim with one more shot of wrappings. And it proved successful; bandages snaked their way around her pure-white ankles, and Renamon had to make sure she didn't topple over upon landing. She wobbled ever so slightly to keep herself standing, grunting in distress.

This opened up the window for another round of bandages to wrap its way around her knees. A few more then came to bind the rest of her long, lean legs together.

"Mmmnnh!!"

The bound and gagged vixen squirmed and tugged her bandaged body. Her legs bobbed up and down, her thighs trying to spread themselves even slightly against the tight hold of their bonds. She twisted her torso and chest, bending herself for any kind of leverage. The bandages hugged her curvaceous figure clingingly tightly, showing off every bit of her sleek body, every perfect muscle that strained and wriggled against the skin-tight cocoon.

But those mere seconds of struggling made it painfully clear to Renamon that she was now stuck like this. Bound shoulder-to-ankle in this stifling, constricting, claustrophobic paper-like prison.

It would not deter her, though. She was driven, now more than ever, to make it all the way and achieve what she had come here to do: escape and get home.

She would not succumb to any captors this time. She would prove she could do this.

In the faces of these Mummymons, who were sure they had her now, the vixen narrowed her lovely blue eyes, gave a small tug of her arms, tightened and bent her bound legs, growled through the gag, and accepted this challenge.

"Ha! I got this," one of the Mummymons said, all too confidently. He ran forward to punch her, clearly thinking it would be as easy as knocking over a vase.

Only to be caught off-guard when the mummified fox hopped back just enough to dodge it, and then sprang herself forward for a fast headbutt. She then skillfully leapt over him, needing less than a second to keep her balance upon landing, and rammed into him once more. This sent him to the edge of the quicksand pit.

And with a mighty midair kick, he was sent in on his back before he could properly recover.

"Whah?! How!!?" the Mummymon roared, struggling to get out now.

As Renamon prepared to make sure he couldn't escape, she felt more bandages wind around her hips, courtesy of the other Mummymon. She was dragged over to him by the strand, instinctively wrenching herself in her binds. "Gmmph!!"

"Hehe, nice try! Ya got more in ya than I thought!" the Mummymon chortled, as he pulled her now directly beneath him. She squirmed and flailed in the wrappings, scraping her heels on the floor to tug herself away. But she couldn't get herself free, nor snap the bandage tethering her to him.

"But I think we're done here."

He curled in his claws, reeled his free arm back, and got ready to bring down upon her the ultimate blow that would finally end this yellow-furred pest for good.

Renamon grunted and rolled out of the way just as the hit came down. With an annoyed growl, the Mummymon yanked her back and got ready to repeat. But Renamon, thinking fast, sharply brought her heavily wrapped knees to her equally-concealed chest, the bandages brushing against each other. This caused the Mummymon to stumble over her, collapsing on his hands and knees inches above his bound opponent.

Again charging her feet, she launched him straight into the air with a kick. The now-airborne Mummymon fired his bandages at her again, wrapping them around her already-covered middle, her eyes, and even her tail.

Renamon's eyes narrowed beneath her blindfold, and she focused all her power into her feet once more. With her vision taken away, she had to make the best guess she could as to when to kick again. With her sharp, ever-alert ears, she could very faintly hear her attacker getting closer, no doubt intending to finish her off upon touchdown.

With a stifled grunt of exertion, the gagged vixen made her move. Her powerful, toned legs wielded the strength necessary to shoot the Mummymon back up with double the intensity as before.

Enough to send him right into the ceiling ... or rather, into one of the lethally sharp spikes that coated the ceiling, which went straight through his stomach.

With his bandages still wrapped around her, though, Renamon was yanked up with him. As his body went lifeless in an instant, she fell back, halted by the stretched strands a foot above the ground. She was suspended and bobbed around by the bandages, moaning in pain as they pulled on her tail.

She struggled in place, until she felt them loosen and ultimately allow her to slip back onto the floor. She landed on her shoulder, brushing its exposed fur and spikes on the floor as she wriggled her way back onto her feet.

"NO!!"

The one remaining Mummymon, just about to escape the quicksand, roared at the being that had somehow taken out all of his comrades, even constricted as she was. Gone was his cheeky demeanor, replaced by blood-boiling ire. "YOU STUBBORN LITTLE SHREW!! YOU'LL PAY FOR ALL OF THIS WHEN I'M DONE WITH YOU!!!"

In the midst of his spiel, Renamon quickly hopped forward towards him. Her toes flung her off the ground and over the Mummymon, who was a second away from pulling himself up and out using bandages wrapped around a ceiling spike. But the pads of Renamon's bound feet landed on his head in a crouch and gave it a sharp, swift push. This not only launched her forward across the quicksand, but it shot the Mummymon right back down into it, his bandages sharply coming undone from their anchor to freedom.

With his entire body now submerged, it appeared that it was too late for escape.

Gratefully, Renamon herself managed to aim her jump properly to land safely on the other side of the quicksand pit, at the bottom of the staircase that led up to the pedestal.

The vixen twisted her mummified body around to take a look at the fallout of the fight. Five lifeless Mummymon bodies now littered the room, with the other two deep underneath the sand by now. The flailing bandages of her last attacker finally sank beneath the surface, making her believe he was defeated for good. She looked around, her eyes darting, seeking out any additional trap that could be coming her way.

But there was nothing to be found. Everything was still, the only sound being the rushing of sand from nearby ducts into the pit.

Looking down at herself, Renamon then tried to struggle free of her bindings. Now that she wasn't under attack, she could be slower and more thorough, trying to look at the details of the wrappings coating her body. With each move of any muscle, she could feel and see the stubborn stretching of the bandages, determined to not let their lovely vixen go even when their originators had perished. Her fists were tightened as they curled and twisted, the bandages pulling back when they tried to even slightly break away, pressing even further into the dense, luscious fur on her chest and back.

Her legs bounced and curled themselves, shifting as pitifully minimally as they could. The form-fitting wrappings only dug deeper into them, constricting and suffocating the beautiful limbs. With the calmer surroundings allowing her to really take in her bondage, Renamon could feel the claustrophobia now settling in, especially with how stiflingly warm she was becoming underneath these strands.

The struggling began to intensify, and her body began teetering. She hopped back to make sure she couldn't tip over into the quicksand. The mummified fox then brought herself to her knees, hoping this could be easier if she didn't have to focus on balancing. It was still useless, though, as no matter how much her body twisted, curled, yanked, or tried to slip a single bandage free, nothing came of it. She rolled around onto her side and kicked her bound legs with great ferocity.

"Grrmmh!! Hnnngh, nnnnnph!! Mmmgph!!"

The grunts of exertion grew louder. She shook her head to at the very least free her mouth, but even the luxury of proper breathing remained out of reach.

Reeling her bandaged head back, she eventually was forced to accept that she couldn't get free from this. At least not now. "Rrrnnnmh ..."

And so, the Digimon turned her attention back to the Destiny Stones, now mere meters from her.

After bringing herself back onto her knees, she wormed her way up the first few steps, then used her toes and legs to push herself back to standing up. From there, she hopped up each step, having no real issue with her level of agility. The closer she got, the more her icy eyes gleamed, looking particularly intense when accompanied with the bandages gagging her.

Finally, she made it to the top. There lay the stones that somehow formed a bridge between two worlds.

She leaned over to graze one with her claws, partially just to ensure it was real. This whole ordeal still had quite the hazy, surreal feel to it. She first tried to use the stones' somewhat jagged edges to cut herself free, but even that was no good, eliciting her muffled annoyance.

That brought her realize: could she even use them like this? She'd never even found out how they worked in the first place, let alone if it would be manageable with bandages wrapping her so tightly. What if she needed to get her body in a certain pose? What if she needed to chant something, a feat impossible with her gag?

She continued to study it, observing its ethereal glow. She had to make her efforts count for something.

In the process, she had been completely oblivious to the set of bandages that had broken out of the quicksand. The sinking Mummymon was sending them in any and every direction, relying on their touch to identify what they were even coming across.

It was mostly nothing of worth ... until he felt the strands graze over the bound feet of the yellow Digimon.

"Hrmmh??" Renamon grunted, looking down.

The Mummymon made his move, coiling the bandage around her ankles and pulling hard.

"Mmmhh!!" Renamon shouted as she hit the floor. More bandages came to her position, wrapping around her whole body within seconds to essentially double the layers of her cocoon. They yanked her harshly away from the Destiny Stones, prompting an immediately dire fight to break away from their pull.

"Nnrrmm!! Rrrnngh!!!"

The wrappings coiled around her neck, doubling over her mouth, completely covering her fists. Renamon grew desperate as she saw the stones get further and further from her, intensifying her struggles.

When a set of bandages flew over her ears and eyes, she felt the seeds of despair rapidly growing within her.

"NMMHH!!!"

The Mummymon dragged her further, until she felt her feet touch the perilous quicksand.

If he was dying to this fate, he was making sure she would too.

Renamon couldn't feel any of the quicksand's texture with the bandages completely covering her, but her slender body shuddered regardless. She tossed herself forward, thrashing like a fish on the hook, but she wasn't slowing herself down.

The fact that her nose was the only thing unwrapped didn't matter, once it too was submerged with the rest of her.

"...... mmmggrmmghh ......"

And thus the yellow, fiery Digimon disappeared. The ripples of the quicksand became invisible, as she was dragged down deeper and deeper ...

... Then it all went black ...

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Right off the bat, I'm sure there are questions about this one. Firstly, unlike the prior Renamon fics that are based around an existing episode, this one was entirely made up by me. The only exception being the inclusion of the Digital Stones, which I did vague research on to make them a motivator for Renamon here. I thought their function fit a purpose in this story as something Renamon wants, and one thing led to another ... you don't need to hear the entire brainstorming process. Just know that they're not meant to be perfectly tied in with their respective season, just something I borrowed for this. If anything about them is inaccurate, chalk that up to me just not knowing much outside of what I looked up.

Then there's how Renamon got here to begin with, something that's made a mystery even to her. Light will be shed on what that's all about in the final main chapter, believe it or not, where you'll see the context of this fic in the anthology. The setup of Renamon facing Mummymons came first, of course, then after coming up the baseline story and considering how it'll fit in by the end.

I'm not sure how many readers of mine are okay with distress fics that end with the hero failing to escape, so I don't know how many will be put off by the ending to this. But if you're in that position ... bear with it. Sorry if it's still discomforting regardless, especially with how I deliberately built this up as the time Renamon finally overcomes her bondage and triumphs through her hardships on her own, only to rip it away from her right at the last second.

Believe it or not, having her fight the Mummymons while bound and gagged was an idea I had shortly before beginning the draft, rather than what was intended from the start. When looking more at Mummymons' fighting styles in their season (they didn't appear in Tamers, rather the season before it which I've never watched), when I realized they can fire bandages without having to keep them attached to their hands, it hit me that I could use this to make a scenario like this happen. It surely makes the fic more distinct from the rest of them, with this being the most combat-oriented bondage scene she goes through.

Sorry to say that the next chapter is probably going to take a similar length of time as this to come out. My life's just really gotten full, leaving this as something I can't do as often as I used to. But I do intend to finish this whole thing! Up next is Part 1 of the final story, and the one I'm most looking forward to doing from a bondage perspective! ;) Thanks to all who read, fave, and comment as usual! Sorry for the wait, but hopefully it was worth it! :D