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Post by tridoriyaku on Oct 23, 2014 4:56:45 GMT
On a subway wall littered with missing posters for people, animals, and property is a photo that stuck out like a sore thumb. The picture was not of a child, or a cat, or a toy, but a grown man. Every few weeks or so the reward for this man's safe return would grow larger and larger, yet nobody looked for him. Nobody cared, nobody noticed, nobody tried. That man is Tridori Yaku.
It'd been far too long since Yaku'd found himself alone in a situation where he was in very little danger. Between predators, muggers, loonies, deathtraps, natural hazards, serial killers, sexual predators, the wild sea, the frozen tundra, the scorching desert, the bustling city, the endless forests, the dangerous caves, booby-trapped ruins, no man's lands, complex mazes, haunted mansions, an army training ground, an omnicidal forest, the loneliness and anxiety of being stranded in the middle of the ocean, an infinite waterfall, a dangerous battlefield of honor, a massive cliff, unusual and dangerous orbs flying miles above the ground, a floating island, his cracking psyche, his never-ending nightmares, the feeling of starving gnawing away at his internal organs, the grips of thirst messing with his body, his fractured glasses, his missing shoe, his torn and tattered clothing, his ratty and disgusting toupee, his unshaven face, his poor luck, his growing feeling of self-doubt, his money issues, his sleeping problems, and that niggling little thought in the back of his mind that comes when he crosses a railroad track or a large cliff to just quit this entire digital Hell, it was nice to finally sit down and look at why he was still going.
He stared at the photo of his wife, he and her at the beach years before. It was fading and ripped, the corners were curling up and half of it had water-damage, staring longingly at the woman of his dreams. He was gone for three months, on the run from death, destruction, and mayhem of the Digital World. As tears began rolling down his cheeks, Yaku began speaking to himself. "This is my fault... I wanted an adventure, I wanted to explore and learn... S-she probably thinks I'm dead! Or run off with another woman! Or Kidnapped!" Now the tears were coming full-force as he sat under the tree, putting the photo away and getting up, wiping off with his sleeve as the ground shook. "Oh no..." He moaned, trying to run away despite being blinded by his tears.As the ground turned from grass to plush, Yaku found it harder and harder to resist falling over. Finally, thanks to a misplaced toy, the man landed facefirst on the blanketed ground.
Turning to face what was menacing him, Yaku began weeping and pleading. "P-please don't kill me! Please, I'm just lost and I want to go home! I miss my wife!" Silence followed shortly as a humph lead Yaku to finally open his eyes. Before him stood Cherrymon who looked the man over. "No muscles... no courage... no digivice? You are an odd human aren't you?" Cherrymon thinks it over. "Why're you here, human?" "Uh... I... I'm looking for a way back to the human world..." "You're rather far off, aren't you?" "I wouldn't know s-sir, I don't have a map or compass..." The Cherrymon thinks for a while. "Fairly well. Welcome to the Village of beginnings, newcomer. I must go back to patrolling, try not to bother any little ones during your stay..."
The moment Cherrymon was out of hearing range Yaku immediately found himself surrounded by all sorts of curious baby digimon.
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Post by Timmir3 on Oct 24, 2014 8:06:25 GMT
Duster gave a depress sigh as he sat on a plush toy. How long has he been searching for now? It definitely has to have been several months by now. There was little doubt in his mind that he had lost his job by now. Though that weighed little on his mind compared to the fact that he had no real idea if his son was even still alive.
Sure he managed to find a rumor from time to time about someone matching Jimmy's description, but the trails ultimately either went cold or just lead him to a dead end. What he did find were dangers equivalent to those one would find in a video game. The kind that could easily kill a man if he wasn't careful. Still, he hasn't given up hope just yet. He just couldn't.
After there most recent venture failed on them. Mug, a Gumdramon that owns an inn in Terminus and a good friend to both Duster and Lea, had informed them that they should go to the Village of Beginnings to try to investigate. Supposedly, it wasn't uncommon for humans to visit this place, and Jimmy was unlikely to be an exception. So even if he wasn't there now, if he was there before, there was a chance that someone has seen him, and knows where he was heading. At least, that was the thought process behind it. It has yet to be seen if it would end up being true or not.
Well he would find out here soon enough as Lea had volunteered to do reconnaissance (or, to be more exact, ran off the moment they got here saying something along the lines that he was going to find any information about Jimmy he could.) He could only hope that the Monodramon was as good at finding out stuff as he said he was. It also seemed that Zelda had went off on her own, which was pretty unlike the Cutemon. She usually preferred to hide close to Duster so she wouldn't be so easy to notice. Oh well... He was pretty sure that she was hiding somewhere around here.
Lea moved around the village like some spy he saw on a movie once. Completely unaware to the fact that a small group of In-training digimon were watching him dumbfounded. This was either the most coolest thing they had ever seen, or the most stupid. Most likely both.
Lea did eventually take notice of his on lookers, but instead of asking them any questions about where Cherrymon was or if they had seen Jimmy, he just put a finger over his mouth to signal for them to be quiet. Then, as slyly as he could, he hugged the wall of a plush house as he peeked over to see a crowd of baby digimon surrounding what looked to be a fairly beat up and distraught human businessman. That is an odd sight for one to see in the digital world. He also couldn't see any partner digimon around him at all, unless one of those baby digimon were it.
Thinking for a moment, Lea decided to leave his hiding spot and check up on the man. The poor man didn't seem dangerous, quite the opposite really, and Lea wanted to see if he could help the man out somehow. Besides, there was a chance this man could of seen or heard something about Jimmy, right?
"Hey there. How ya doing?" Lea chippered in gleefully as he gave the man a friendly wave hello.
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Post by tridoriyaku on Oct 24, 2014 16:28:00 GMT
"Ah!" Yaku panicked and backed away, the baby digimon following his every move before he realized it was something friendly. "Oh... Oh sorry..." Yaku sighed and shook his head. "I'm just a bit... um... j-jumpy..." He said, trying to pull a few babies off of his pant-legs. He approached and cautiously offered a hand. "I-I'm Tridori Yaku... I'm kinda... um... lost. Do you know where Terminus City is?" He asked before putting a firm grip on his briefcase again.
Baby Digimon were trying their best to climb onto the man, perhaps to become his partner or perhaps they just liked him. As they bounced and climbed atop one-another to try and garner his attention and affection, Yaku just tried his best to ignore them. Anyone with eyes would notice Yaku didn't have a digivice of any kind. This meant many, many things: All that damage was real, he'd stumbled into the digital world undefended, he was in greater danger than anyone else anyone would have ever met, and that this location was the safest he could possibly be in the Digital World, even if his ability to attract children would lead to him being buried in his sleep. "What're you doing here anyway? ...N-not to be rude, j-just being curious."
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Post by Timmir3 on Oct 28, 2014 7:59:28 GMT
Lea took hold of the hand Yaku had offered him and gave it a small shake. "You need to get to Terminus City? That's easy. It's literally due west from here." Lea then told him proudly as he pointed in the direction that Yaku would need to go. Lea then paused for a second as he remembered something and took a quick look around.
"You know. I could be wrong about this, but I believe there is a trailmon somewhere in this village that goes back and forth from the to Village to Terminus. So, if you have the money to, you most likely could get a ride from him if you want." Lea then added as the man looked pretty worn from his travels. Yet, as Lea admitted, there was a chance he was mistaken about the Trailmon at all.
Lea then watched the man as the baby digimon tried to climb on him like some sort of junglegym. The Monodramon still couldn't figure out where this man's partner is, or if he could be a spirit user of some kind. After all, just because his digivice isn't out in the open for all to see doesn't mean he doesn't have one. Lea knows that Doc keeps his in his pocket, and other tamers and humans they've met usually keep there digivices hidden on their person. In fact, Lea was willing to bet that if this man had a digivice, it was going to be in that briefcase he's been keeping a type hold.
"Huh?" Lea responded as his train of thought was ended by Yaku's question, "Oh yeah. I'm here with my general, Doc, in hopes to find his son. You wouldn't happen to have seen him, would you? He's a human about yea tall..." Lea stopped for a second as he stood on his tippy toes and raised his hand as high as he could to show Jimmy's height, but because of his small size, was pretty inaccurate, "... about seventeen years old and goes by the name Jimmy." Lea told Yaku in hopes that the salesman would know where Duster's son is at.
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Post by Callie and Layer on Oct 28, 2014 13:41:08 GMT
What fear holds you back? No weak coward should belong here. You need this power of the darkness. Become strong and soar to great heights, with wings that blot out light. Claw all that stand in your way to power. Don't you want to...
"Hey, come on, stop! Hee hee, that tickles!"
Layer was snapped out of her nap by the sound of a Spadamon playing with baby digimon. But not just any Spadamon, as this orange and brown furred digimon was a spirit user. Layer's younger sister, Callie. After a lot of begging, Layer finally decided to let her go to the Village of Beginnings. This was the first time for the two to go a considerable distance away from Terminus. This world was dangerous, but this area in particular was actually quite safe.
Still, what was fairly easy on Callie and her "powers" was a bit more draining for Layer, hence the nap. But she did not initially want to take a nap. No, she would probably hear that voice again. And if she told Callie that would worry her.
That voice telling her to use the darkness. Wings that blot out the light. Layer well knew that Light was the element of Callie's spirit. She feared that this power would harm her little sister. She would never forgive herself if that happens, never mind what her parents, who don't know about their travels here, would do. Scratching her head through her had, Layer thought back to that red and green digivice buried deep in her backpack that she had for the last few weeks. She couldn't bring herself to throw it away, but she feared using it.
Looking at Callie, she saw that the Spadamon was distracted, looking off to some older man who had came about.
"Hey! Heeey! Remember me!" Callie cried out to him, waving. It was Duster, whom she saw when she first got her spirit. Unfortunately, she had totally forgotten his name. Layer figured that the guy must have been alright, or else Callir wouldn't be trying to wave him over.
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Post by tridoriyaku on Oct 29, 2014 0:24:34 GMT
Yaku smiled. "Due West? Th-that's good! I need to... um... well, I've been trying to go home for months now and that's the only place I know that has a way out... Out t-to the human world, I mean..." The man explained, pulling another Botamon off his shoulder. "I-I'm saving the money for home, I-I've been gone for months..." He mumbled, worried. Yaku blinked and shook his head. "N-no, I haven't encountered a boy by that name... h-how long has he been in here?" Shuddering, yaku tried to get closer to her and tried to push away the children. "H-hey, do you mind finding a way to um... distract them? I want to be a father and all b-but this a bit too much... a-and I'd rather not have to drag fifty children with me back to the human world..." He gave a weak chuckle as he hid behind her, the babies now swarming the both of them as he kept the briefcase out of the little one's grasp.
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Post by Timmir3 on Nov 1, 2014 8:52:15 GMT
((Uhh... I'm going on a hunch here that when you say 'her' Yaku, you mean Lea seeing how he's the only one closeby in that scene. That is, unless I had completely misread or misinterpreted something in your or Panz's post.))
Lea was a little disappointed that Yaku hadn't seen him. He was sure he was close this time, yet it appears not. That was too bad. Lea sighed as he thought on how long he and Doc had been searching now. It had to have been several months by now at least.
However, that answer seemed like it'll have to wait as the businessman appeared to have problems with the Fresh level digimon swarming him and asked for her. It seem to have gotten so far out of hand that the pitiful man moved to his behind him as if that would help. Which, of course, it didn't, and now both of them were being swarmed by the young digimon. Lea tried to think quickly on what he possibly could do to distract the kids, but nothing came to mind. He was a scout, not a baby-sitter.
And when all hope seem lost for the two, a soft, sweet lullaby could be heard on the wind. One that made the once excited kids eyes feel heavy as they were lull to sleep. The singer of the lullaby was no other then Zelda, Duster's Cutemon partner, who had saw that the two were being overwhelmed, and decided to help while trying to keep to her hiding spot behind a nearby plush building. She continued singing the lullaby for only a little bit longer before ending it, less she give her hiding spot away.
"Well... That worked." Lea commented in a quiet voice, as while he may be immature at times, he knew enough to not disturb the kids while they are napping. Slowly and carefully, he stepped around the children that were now sleeping around them, and waved for Yaku to do the same so they could continue their conversation without disturbing the kids. Hopefully, Yaku would have enough common decency to try to do the same.
"Hey! Heeey! Remember me!" Duster heard a female voice ask him.
"Huh?" Duster grunted as he looked up from his deep thoughts to see the owner of the voice. In front of him was a Spadamon that he couldn't quite admit of having seen before. Yet, despite that, he couldn't help, but feel like he heard her voice from somewhere before. This made him feel especially bad seeing how this Spadamom seemed to know him.
"I'm sorry. I'm afraid I don't remember having met you before." Duster admitted as he gave her a small frown. Perhaps he had met her in a different form, and that's why he couldn't recognize her. Or he could have just forgotten about her altogether. After all, a lot has happened during his stay in the digital world after all.
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Post by Callie and Layer on Nov 1, 2014 19:55:26 GMT
Callie had stood up, gently pushing aside the babies (must be the less clingy bunch, all things considered), before the beast digimon glown in orange and blue light. What was revealed was a young, dark skinned girl with hair covering her right eye. Layer also got up, stretched a bit, and went up to her sister.
"So, you seen this guy before?"
"Yeah. Just once, though. He was there when I saw the portal to here."
"Oh, that night you dissappeared..."
"I came back..." It was almost a whisper uttered from the younger sister. She had gotten in trouble for leaving late that night. Just imagine what would have happened if she actually went to the digital world then? But Layer shook her head. That was in the past, over and done with. Catching this, Callie turned her attention back to Duster, a bit embarrassed.
"Well, um... I'm Callie, remember?"
"I'm her older sister, Lafayette Belmont. But you can call me Layer."
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Post by tridoriyaku on Nov 2, 2014 17:16:49 GMT
((Oh, sorry. Lea just sounds like a girl's name. We should get these groups together so I don't get confused like that again...))
Yaku calmed down with the baby digimon as the group of freshly hatched adorable cuties dozed off, allowing Yaku to carefully push them off of his body and set them on the ground. Sneaking past, the businessman finally found himself not being hounded by baby digimon. "A-anyway... m-maybe now would be a good time to ask a few questions that have been haunti- I mean, plaguin- erm, That have been floating in my mind..." He tried to phrase everything as delicately as possible as not to cause his new companion any worries.
"I've... been here for a while and suffered a lot of injuries... a-apparently if Digimon are killed they just come back as eggs. I-Is that true for humans as well?" This was a very important question to him. Knowing he had a few spare lives would get a LOT of pressure off his mind. "A-and if they do, do they come back as humans or digimon? ...Anyway, um... how did this place... show up? H-how come nobody's brought up the Digital World to our world? A lot of us probably don't know it even exists... b-but there are thousands of humans who know it, wh-who's keeping the lid on this proverbial can of beans? I-Is it DATS? Are they real or just rumors spread by drunken digimon?"
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Post by Timmir3 on Nov 6, 2014 10:23:25 GMT
((Is that so Yaku? Huh... I've always seen Lea as being a generally masculine name. Or, at least, I don't know of any females that go by Lea. Well I guess that's not completely true as there is Ty Lee from A:tLA, but other then that, I'm drawing a blank.))
Duster was a bit surprised as he saw the Spadamon in front of him transform into a young teenage girl. While he had heard of Spirit Wielders before, he believed this is the first time he had knowingly met one face to face. Yet, despite her transformation, Duster still couldn't exactly place her face. That was until her sister had mentioned the portal.
That's right. I remember now. She was there when I went through the portal. Though I do believe I vaguely remember something about her disappearing before I went in. Duster thought to himself as he thought back on that night. He had so much hope back then that he would finally be able to find his son, but now...
"Well... It's nice to see you again Callie. And it's a pleasure to meet you Layer." He told them in greeting, "If you don't mind me asking, but what exactly brings you all the way to the Village of Beginnings?" He then asked with idle curiousity.
Lea just looked at Yaku oddly as the man just started spitting questions at him. Despite what he might want to claim, Lea wasn't exactly knowledgeable about the subjects Yaku was asking him about. Don't get Lea wrong. He is a very decent scout, and is pretty capable at gathering intel when he needs to be. Yet the questions Yaku wanted answers to were far outside his expertise. In fact, Lea could think of several others who would be better at answering those questions then him.
Still, wanting to prove himself, Lea decides to at least give them a shot.
"Uhh... Well..." Lea paused as he dwell on the questions for a bit, "I haven't heard of any humans coming back to life. At least, not as humans. I guess it could be possible for a human to come back as a digimon, but as I said, I haven't heard anything like that happening before. Perhaps you should ask Cherrymon about that." Lea suggested.
"As for your other questions, I can't really say. I have never been to the human world myself, so I have little clue as how to things operate there. Well I mean I've heard of DATS, and if the advertisements they have in Terminus were to be believed, then I think they are real. But other then supposedly being some kind of police force, I don't really know what they actually do. I never had to find out." While Lea honestly hated to admit that he didn't knew something, this man looked like he was in desperate need of help and it was Lea's duty as an 'expert' scout to give him what little answers he could.
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Post by Callie and Layer on Nov 7, 2014 1:38:12 GMT
It took him a few moments, but Duster remembered Callie. Callie herself tried to think back on any other things that happened... was he supposed to be looking for someone?
"Well, I'm here because... well it's actually my first time here. I wanted to see this place for myself... nice to see all the cute little babies!"
Well, it seemed the baby digimon took the complement well, giggling and cheering her.
"It's pretty neat how most digimon who die end up back here. And safe, too. This is the farthest I've been out of Terminus City."
"Yeah. I don't want to tell mom and dad how my little sister got eaten by monsters. Or that she can turn into one."
"Yeah... I really wish you got a digivice too..."
"Y-yeah."
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Post by tridoriyaku on Nov 7, 2014 4:23:30 GMT
"DATS... D-DATS is real." Yaku looked at him like he'd handed the man a solid gold ingot, without the whole "collapsing under the weight of a gold ingot" thing that people usually overlook, those things are heavy. "Oh thank GOD!" Yaku hugged Lea happily. "I wasn't running after a piece of fiction, they do exist! I can go there, they'll take me home, write me an alibi, and I can forget the past months!" He was beginning to cry tears of joy, his voice more ecstatic than anyone who'd known the man would suspect he could be. "I just need to get to Terminus City and talk to DATS and my nightmare is finally over!" He repeated, as if to confirm to himself that what he was saying wasn't a vain hope.
Of course, we as readers know that Yaku has a snowball's chance in Hell of escaping the Digital World, not with his mind, body, and soul intact anyway. And he's only lost the last one, we still need to get rid of 2/3rd of the man! But anyway, let's get back to the story.
Adjusting himself and clearing his throat, Yaku adjusted his suit. "R-right... s-sorry, I was... just... um... m-maybe you should bring me to your t-tamer so we can meet properly? Y-you said his name was Doc?"
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Post by Timmir3 on Nov 11, 2014 10:00:21 GMT
Layer's comment about not wanting to tell her parents that her sister was eaten by a monster struck a chord for Duster. The possibility that his own son could have met his end in this world weighed heavily on his mind. He really wanted to trust that Jimmy was all right, but the possibility that he fell victim to one of this worlds many beasts is all to likely. Could that be why Jimmy never came home? How many others could have met with a similar faith?
Using his arm to wipe some of the tears welling up in his eyes, he looked at the girls. "I'm sorry. Uhh... You two should probably look at heading back home here soon. No need to make your parents worry." He told them, knowing full well how their parents would fell if they went missing.
Lea gasped for air as Yaku's sudden hug forced all the air out of his lungs. Still he was happy to see that Yaku was really happy to hear that DATS actually existed. Yet something in the back of Lea's mind told him that Yaku probably shouldn't celebrate just yet. While it could be just the spy hype he's in right now, but wouldn't it be more likely that DATS would just eliminate him to keep the digital world secret then to go to the effort to actually help the man out. Though seeing how happy Yaku was right now, it would probably be best to keep that quiet for now.
Once the salesman was done celebrating. he had then suggested something to Lea that the Monodramon wasn't so sure if it was a good idea.
"I never said anything about Doc being my Tamer. He's my general." Lea quickly, but adamantly defended, "Besides, I'm not exactly sure he would be happy with me bringing someone who has absolutely no information about his son whereabouts. It'd probably make him annoyed more then anything else."
Lea then sighed as he began massaging his chin (replicating what Duster usually does when he's thinking about something). This was quite a predicament for Lea. While he believed it would be good for Duster to see he wasn't the only adult human in this world, it was also a scout's job to bring useful information, and Yaku had none. Yet, then again, it was also a scout's duty to help people in need, and Yaku definitely fit that bill. Maybe if he introduce Yaku to Doc with that in mind, Doc won't be disappointed with him, and maybe even the opposite in fact. Was that a chance that Lea was willing to take though?
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Post by Callie and Layer on Nov 11, 2014 13:40:38 GMT
The sisters looked at each other, stunned to see Duster's reaction to Layer's comment. She didn't mean to... what did she do anyway?
"Did... did we do anything wrong?"
Layer went up to Duster, concerned for the parent. It all made sense, but now Layer felt bad for unintentinally hurting him emotionally. Layer wasn't even joking when she said that... if Callie did indeed get hurt, or worse, Callie knew she failed as a big sister.
"You don't have to tell us twice, sir. That night you met Calliè, she had a chance to come here, but she didn't because she knew how much we would worry about her. And until now we've more or less only been around Terminus. We know not to make our parents worry so we don't travel too far, alright?
And sorry for my comment. I'm... no spirit user like she is but I want to make sure my little sister is safe and that we don't dissappear for a long time. And judging from the reaction it looks like you went though something similar.
I won't get into your business, but as far as we are concerned none of us wants to make our parents worry."
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Post by tridoriyaku on Nov 11, 2014 19:44:08 GMT
Yaku nods, sighing. "Yes, I suppose so. If I lost someone very close to me I'd feel the same way..." Yaku's mind wandered to what his wife was doing. It was now months since He'd vanished. Although missing posters in notable locations in Shibuya, none of them would be in locations where the people who WOULD have seen Yaku would be: Kid's places. Yaku had only met children, teenagers, digimon, and the only grown men he encountered either wanted nothing to do with him, never wish to return to the human world, or are just plain assholes. He had no real friends either, other than Vetina, who'd gotten him into this mess. "...Speaking of which." Yaku said, following up his statement. "If you... um well... if you ever return to the human world... oh man this is kinda embarrassing..." Yaku sighed and took out the photo he'd gone through hell and back to keep safe and held it out to the digimon. "If you go to the human world and find my wife... tell her I miss her..."
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