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Post by EvilAppleLord on Feb 11, 2017 6:34:23 GMT
It was exactly three quarters past midnight, an odd time for anyone to be out and about much less hanging around the train station. Yet, there he was, a human returned from the digital world. Barry took a step out of a secluded hallway, one of the many entrances into the secretive Trailmon Terminal; a place only tamers could get to. He gulped, the view of the human world being almost alien to him after spending so much time away from it. He raised his left hand to block the bright, oppressive light as he emerged from the shadows.
He gripped his cane tightly with his right hand, looking around him. From his view the tunnel from which a normal subway would run stretched on for what seemed like miles, only the occasional light source bringing comfort to his senses. He'd previously made his way back to the human world with help from two tamers named Ryouta and Yuuki, but had lost track of them. Now, it was just him, his fear of coming back to the human world having been realized.
This is what he'd wanted to avoid, after all not having much of a memory of the city you'd come from would be intimidating. Timidly, he took some steps toward the side above the rails, peering from side to side. He sighed, glad that no one else was around at this time of night. Then again, he didn't remember if any trains did operate at this time of night. He began to walk to the southern edge of the tunnel, the sound of his cane contacting the floor below him echoing through the shadows. Eventually he came to a larger area, where passengers would board the trains during their busy commuting hours.
He held up his hand as he peered at a figure in the distance. He wasn't able to make out what was standing there on the platform, only that someone either had missed their train or that they had nothing else to do. Feeling a tad apprehensive, he began to walk forward toward the platform.
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Post by Sophie & Lantis on Feb 11, 2017 8:32:22 GMT
Sophie James didn't really know if it was wise of her to be here at this time of night. Yes, she was 17, very nearly an adult and very much in charge of her own destiny, but, ever since her brother had introduced her to the concept of the digital world, Sophie could really think of little else.
And so here she was, strolling around Shibuya Station in her modest outfit of a coat, blouse, jeans and hat. As an American born girl, she stood a little taller than most other Japanese women here, but her ancestral Japanese features were still prominent enough on her face so that nobody mistook her for a tourist.
"Well now..." she muttered to herself. "Now that I'm here... would there be any way to reach the digital world?"
Sophie had tried the Elevator method several times so far, but it seemed that she really needed a digivice in order to access the hidden Trailmon platform that would take her there. And for that, it seemed, she needed to call upon the assistance of her little brother Colin. Gosh, she regretted her decisions now. That she might have sought out a digimon partner of her own so she could access this. But it wasn't to be.
Instead, Sophie wandered around the station, late at night, wondering if she might find another digimon tamer that might end up assisting her instead.
Eventually, she decided to make one last try. Sophie entered the elevator, closed the door and held her hand below the panel like Colin had done when he had held his digivice there. Hopefully this time, if she wished right, it would lead the elevator to the floor she hoped.
Sophie kept her eyes closed, even when the lift descended, until she heard it stop. Well then. Best hope that wishes came true. She stepped out of it, and onto a floor that hopefully wasn't the basic subway. Sophie wandered around a bit, until she saw an old individual that looked just as lost as she was.
"Er hello?" she asked, stepping toward him. "Do you know which platform this is?" she asked.
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Post by EvilAppleLord on Feb 11, 2017 9:04:28 GMT
As Barry stepped into the light, he was able to make out who the person was. Well she was another human which was at least a comforting thought. As much as he liked digimon he was glad to not have run into anything hostile at the outset of his return trip home. He came to a stop in front of her with his cane making a loud tap as he halted. In a somewhat timid fashion, he took a step back from this stranger as she stepped toward him.
Barry blinked, gripping his cane tightly before he let out a sigh at his social faux pas. He had to remember that he was around other people and not digimon anymore. "Well...uhhh.." Barry began shyly. He scratched the back of his head as he tried to formulate a reply. What was he supposed to say?! Did he bring up the digital world, or try and play the whole thing off as some unconventional situation? After a moment in which he looked as though he was thinking of something else Barry returned his gaze to the stranger in front of him.
"Uhhh, to be honest I'm not really sure where I am either. I got off my train and ended up wandering to this platform. Sorry..." Barry said with a nervous half smile. Technically he wasn't lying since he did just get off a train a few minutes ago. Though if this person was good at reading other people she could probably tell he was leaving something out. "So....anyway..... uhhh, my name's Barry. Do you like walking in subway tunnels at this time of night too?" he asked as he attempted to make a joke. At this point he extended his thin and bony left hand out for a handshake.
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Post by Sophie & Lantis on Feb 13, 2017 8:53:37 GMT
Sophie took a closer look at this individual. He seemed like he was a few years older than her, in his early twenties, so presumably there was a reason why he was walking with a cane. And... there seemed to be a look of disorientation on his face, like he wasn't really sure where he was. Was her intuition true or not? She was inclined to think so when he took a step away from her, presumably unsure what to make of her.
He answered that he got off his train and wasn't sure what this platform was. "Ah well, that's okay" Sophie said. She was glad that he sounded like he was from the USA like her, somehow she felt it was easier communicating in her native language.
"Barry, right? I'm Sophie" she said, offering her hand to shake. Then he asked if she enjoyed wandering the subway tunnels too. Sophie gave a small chuckle at these words. "Er, well, not exactly..." she said. "It's just... well... I'm looking for a platform. Here at Shibuya Station I mean"
Sophie wondered how she could get the full impact of her meaning across. "It's just... I've heard rumours that there's a platform below all the others that can take you to a place only a few can reach" she said. "It's a bit silly I know, but, I'm meant to be meeting some folks from my school Occult club" she broke off, chuckling nervously. Well, at the very least, if this person didn't know about digimon, he'd only think she was a bit of a weirdo. But, however, if he did know about digimon, perhaps he got enough hints that it was okay to talk to her about it.
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Post by EvilAppleLord on Feb 14, 2017 5:13:17 GMT
Barry gave an understanding nod as Sophie described her reasoning for being at the subway at this hour. To him the story checked out, after all it seemed like people in highschool were always interested in 'alternative' activities even if those involved looking around for ghosts. Although there was one part of her story that made him curious, which was the mention of a place only a few were able to reach. Was she talking about the entrance to the Trailmon Terminal? Barry gave off a clear aura of hesitation as he looked like he was struggling to give her a proper answer.
"Well..." he began, "I... do know of another level of the subway, but I can't really...er, show you, I'm sorry. I guess I'll explain, since...you seem to know about Digimon?" he inquired, raising an eyebrow in curiosity. Barry coughed into his sleeve as he cleared his throat. He took out his cracked and ruined digivice, pointing it down the subway tunnel. "Thing is...if you're a tamer you can get into a place called the Trailmon Terminal, it leads to a place called the Digital World." Turning back to face Sophie, Barry shuffled in place a little uncomfortably. "So, uh, yeah. I realize I don't really know you all that well, but you seem like a nice person...like someone I can trust, can you try to keep this a secret?" he asked.
After asking his question, Barry'd look down at his digivice to reminisce for a moment while Sophie pondered what he'd told her. Barry had a look of confusion on his face while looking at the digivice, almost like he had no idea how he'd gotten it; but it would be clear to Sophie that something about it was troubling him. After a moment Barry would put his digivce away, giving off a nervous smile.
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Post by Sophie & Lantis on Feb 15, 2017 0:16:45 GMT
Sophie gave a breath of relief as the word 'digimon' was mentioned. She immediately blushed, giving a kind of squeaky chuckle. "Er, I'm really sorry, but I think I may have lied a little just now, about the Occult club thing, it's just... I didn't know if you knew about digimon as well" she said, hoping that wouldn't be a problem. "I haven't lied about anything else though".
The girl looked around to ensure that they were alone. They still seemed to be. So she continued.
"You see, my brother actually took me to the digital world the other day" Sophie continued. "He's a tamer, and I'm not, so, I mainly came here tonight to see if there's a way I can go to the digital world too. It's just... winding up on another world, I haven't really been able to think about anything else since I went, and, I kind of want to go again, you know?".
She nodded as he asked if she could keep it a secret. "Of course. I know I probably damaged my credibility and all that, but you can trust me not to go blabbing about the digital world to people" she said. She saw that Barry also had a digivice. She looked at it with interest. "Oh so you're a tamer as well?" she asked. "Do you... have your partner around?" she looked up and down the platform again, wondering if his digimon partner was hiding somewhere. And if they were, would they be a talking animal like every other digimon she had met?
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Post by EvilAppleLord on Feb 15, 2017 23:54:27 GMT
Drake let out a nervous laugh in response to Sophie telling him she'd fibbed on the occult club. He didn't feel bad that she felt the need to give an excuse as to why she was here. He had a feeling that when he'd first started out on his journey he also had to make up a ton of excuses. He did look relieved when Sophie said she hadn't lied about anything else however. "Ah, it's no problem, I understand." he said as a relaxed expression started overtaking his face.
She was quick to explain that her younger brother had actually taken her there before, explaining her interest in revisiting the world. He did understand how she felt, after all he himself had wanted to go to the digital world the first time he'd seen a digimon up close and personal. Upon thinking back to this, he couldn’t help but wonder about his partner digimon….were they okay? He couldn’t remember anything, only that they had existed and were with him at some point. At that point Sophie mentioned her credibility being damaged, which Barry felt obligated to deny. “Ah, no no there’s no need to worry about a small fib. I’m sure I had to tell a few lies back when I first discovered digimon too, you know?” he chuckled nervously. Ironically after he had put his digivice away Sophie asked if he was a tamer with Barry growing a surprised look on his face. Feeling a little embarrassed at not being able to give her a direct answer he looked at the darkness of the tunnel to their right.
“Uh…..well I’m pretty sure I still have a partner….somewhere… I can’t really remember what might’ve happened to him. I’d introduce you if he was around.” Barry said in reply, shrugging with a gloomy look on his face.
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Post by Sophie & Lantis on Feb 20, 2017 0:33:44 GMT
Relieved that what she had said wasn't a big deal, Sophie smiled. She didn't really enjoy not telling the truth, but, when it came to digimon she wasn't really sure what the right thing to do was. Her brother had advised not to start chatting about such things casually after all.
"Ah, I see" Sophie said when Barry admitted that he didn't know where his partner was. From the gloomy look on his face, she concluded that this was not a very positive topic of conversation. She would have offered to help him find him, but, somehow, she thought that might not be any use.
"Well then, Barry..." Sophie said instead. "So what are you doing down here at this time of night? Are you trying to get home or are you heading out to the digital world? Or something else?" she asked. If he needed to find his way home, Sophie could hopefully help him out there. As scarce as late night trains were, Sophie had memorized most of the timetable around this area so she would hopefully be able to guide him home. If he wanted to head to the digital world, however, Sophie didn't know if she could help him out there. And she wasn't about to call her little brother over at this time of the morning.
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Post by EvilAppleLord on Feb 20, 2017 6:45:44 GMT
Barry returned his full attention to Sophie as she asked him why he was here himself at this time of night. More or less he was on his way back home, although he didn't have a clear picture as to where that was. Barry pulled out his old, beat up and barely kept together wallet from his back pocket. Barry's face remained blank as he rifled through the falling apart thing, eventually coming upon a few old membership cards. The ink was mostly destroyed on quite a number of them, but a few had some old segments of his address.
At that moment Barry's eyes widened as something he'd forgotten to consider popped up in his consciousness. He looked at Sophie with a half surprised half worried look. "So...this is going to come off as weird...but uh... what's the date?" he said, his voice quaking just a little. He'd completely lost track of how much time had passed here in the human world compared to the digital world. Considering he had almost nothing to go off of as to who he was before he'd fallen into his coma in the digital world, to say he was going up a creek with no paddle was putting it lightly.
He shuffled in place uncomfortably as he tried to make sense of things while waiting for Sophie to fill him in. Out of a sense of desperation Barry would start talking just before Sophie, "Basically I.....had to spend a really long time in the digital world and I don't know if my family's still at my old place..." he said worriedly.
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Post by Sophie & Lantis on Feb 20, 2017 9:08:44 GMT
After Sophie asked the question, Barry pulled out his wallet. The poor guy, it seemed he had some sort of amnesia. She sincerely hoped that one of the cards within still had some kind of semblance of his address. Fortunately, that seemed to be the case.
"The... date?" Sophie asked. She pulled out her phone, looking in the corner. "It's the 11th... no... 12th of February" she answered, then added "2017" giving an awkward expression, hoping she hadn't delivered news that was too big of a blow.
Hopefully it wouldn't be too long though. After all, time in the digital world travels 7 times faster than it did on Earth. So even if he spent 70 days there, that would only be 10 days here... although... that was still a rather long time to go missing.
Sophie decided that it would just be callous and irresponsible of her if she just left this guy on his own. "Well then, Barry, if you know what your address is, how about I help you find it?" she asked, pleasantly. Even if she had just met him, she felt it was kind of her duty to help him out in any way she can.
A figure was wandering around the subway, a little nervous and scared. This figure looked different to those that normally walked around the subway. For one, he was covered in thick shaggy white fur with a long silver mane, dressed in blue armor with a sword sheathed on his back. And for two, well, he was basically a digimon that took a wrong turn somewhere.
At least, Spadamon hoped that it was a perfectly reasonable mistake to make. He meant, a wrong turn at the Terminus City Trailmon Station could mean he'd end up anywhere. But this near empty giant train station, where the trains didn't speak, and where strange tall creatures wearing clothes were all walking about, he didn't really know what he was meant to be doing here. And, more importantly, how he could get home.
Spadamon eventually saw two individuals talking in the distance. They seemed to be different genders. Then a thought passed his mind. Were these... humans?
'I wonder if they might help me out?' he thought, but kept his distance as he followed them, keeping hidden.
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Post by EvilAppleLord on Feb 21, 2017 1:12:50 GMT
Upon hearing the revelation as to what the year was, Barry brought his hand up to his forehead. A sharp pain rang through his skull as he struggled to come to terms with how much time had passed. He couldn't shake the feeling that the last time he'd been in the human world was at least a year ago in human time. Had a year really passed by, and if so... what was he going to do now? Using his cane Barry steadied himself from falling over as he leaned onto the nearby wall to the left of the two.
"I...I've been gone an entire year?" he said questioningly. The pain was like a horrible sting that wouldn't go away, making Barry wince. He knew he had been gone long, that much Gatomon had at least explained. Though she'd never said exactly how long of his life in the human world had gone by. Barry's face began to grow pale as he imagined all of what he probably missed in the lost year. The ex-tamer let out a sigh as he shut his eyes for a few moments.
It was at that point that Sophie asked if he knew his address, offering her help. Barry opened his eyes and looked over at her in surprise. She didn't even really know him, but was willing to try and help him out? Barry felt moved at her kindness, although what nagged at him was that he had no way to pay her back for helping him. Nevertheless, he felt a little bit of opportunism wasn't a bad thing, and stood up.
"Honestly, Sophie... I'd really appreciate it. Sorry to be a burden on you like this..." Barry said, like he was demoting himself. Barry felt as if he could have, and should have tried to be more cautious about the situations he was likely to run into. Because of his lack of preparedness now someone else had to help him out of another issue. If there was anything to take from this situation at least, it was that he felt Sophie would probably be a great tamer some day.
Barry rummaged through some more cards until he was able to make out what he assumed was his address from the smudged cards. He showed them to Sophie for confirmation, like he wasn't entirely sure if it looked right, but maybe she had an idea of where the address was located?
OOC: I figured the address could be unstated since I have no idea what their naming system is like.
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Post by Sophie & Lantis on Feb 21, 2017 3:01:51 GMT
Sophie gasped as Barry seemed to lose his balance for a moment and started forward, but thankfully he prevented himself from falling over with his cane, leaning back against the wall. Sophie's eyes widened as he said he had been gone for an entire year.
She didn't know how the time would have passed in his perception, but, if he had been gone a year on Earth, that would be the same as seven years in the digital world. Seven? Gosh, that was a long time.
"Well... if you entered the digital world around February 2016, then... yes, a year has passed" she said.
He said he'd appreciate her help. "Oh no, it's not a burden, I was just, er, down here for silly reasons myself, looking for a gate to the digital world and all that, but, you sound like you could really do with some help. And of course I'd be happy to help you find your home".
Sophie looked at the card she had given him, reading it. "I see... that's not too far from here" she said. "Well, alright, I'll show you where to go, and let's hope that we can find some good news there, okay?" she asked, smiling.
Spadamon overheard their conversation. The trust he had in the girl was growing. It appeared that the man was in some kind of distress, and she seemed to be trying to help him. The white lion digimon also heard the word "digital world" mentioned. So... she knew about his kind? Still a little shy, Spadamon continued to attempt to hide while following them, waiting for the right moment to reveal himself.
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Post by EvilAppleLord on Feb 21, 2017 4:45:01 GMT
Barry's face kept it's sullen look while Sophie confirmed his hunch about the time difference. He was glad that he had someone he felt he could rely on, at least a little bit. He'd anticipated having to work his way back home by himself, but things didn't seem like they'd be going that way. At least he had a little bit of relief, but nevertheless negative thoughts crowded him; what if his family moved away and forgot about him?
The thought caused him to turn away for a moment before responding to Sophie, who'd said he seemed like he needed help. Barry allowed a small laugh to pass from his lips as he thought back to the past week and a half. "Yeah...I had two other tamers tell me that while I was on my way back." he said, allowing himself to smile awkwardly. As Sophie read the card Barry was preparing himself to hear something along the lines of her not knowing where that was.
Fortunately, and to his surprise she knew just where to go. Barry let out a sigh of relief before smiling at Sophie, a newfound glint in his eye. "I.. for real? Alright, cool. Uhhh...ready to head out?" he replied. He sounded both excited and nervous after hearing that his old home was apparently not far off. With his cane making a semi-loud tapping noise he moved over toward the elevator. Barry eyed the set of stairs nearby with a look of distrust.
As he walked Sophie mentioned a hope of finding some good news. Barry hoped so as well, after having come all this far it'd be hard to try and find where his family had gone if they'd moved.
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Post by Sophie & Lantis on Feb 24, 2017 5:49:27 GMT
Sophie looked with sympathy to hear that two other tamers had offered help but had failed. "Well then, third time's the charm, right? As the saying goes" she said, trying to sound cheerful.
It seemed Barry was pleasantly surprised to hear that she knew where to go. "Haha, yeah. When I first arrived here a couple of years ago I got lost every day, so, as the motto of the Round Table goes - 'adopt, adapt and improve'".
Sophie had memorized most of Shibuya's layout in her mind. She thanked her lucky stars that she had inherited her father's sense of direction too. With that, she accompanied Barry toward the elevator.
Meanwhile, Spadamon was watching them. He realized that if they entered it, then he could no longer follow them. Well... he had followed them enough without being seen, so, he made a 'do or don't' decision on the spot. Should he make himself known to them? Or continue hiding? Spadamon looked at the girl, then decided he could trust her.
As Sophie pressed the 'call' button on the elevator, Spadamon immediately ran forward. The elevator doors opened, and Sophie entered. Then just before they closed, Spadamon burst into the elevator with them, standing with an expression that was shocked at his own audacity.
Slowly, he looked up at the humans, his tail a little twitchy from nervousness.
"H-hello..." he said, quietly. "C-can I follow you guys?"
Sophie was quite speechless at this point. She stared down at Spadamon, then looked at Barry, wondering how he would react to such a thing happening.
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Post by EvilAppleLord on Feb 24, 2017 23:06:56 GMT
If there was anything else Barry was happy to have gained from talking to Sophie it was that she seemed very confident in knowing where to go. Which was good considering Barry's lack of memory regarding a lot of things around the train station. If he focused he was able to recall bits and pieces of the old Shibuya, but he wasn't sure how many things had changed in his yearlong absence. His train of thought would soon be distracted by the arrival of a digimon, however, as Sophie called the elevator down. Barry gasped in surprise of the digimon suddenly appearing. At first he was unsure whether or not this was an enemy digimon, though it's appearance of a vaccine or data digimon did reassure him a little.
Barry gripped his cane tightly and was prepared to throw himself at this digimon if necessary, so Sophie could escape. Luckily that didn't appear to be the case, as Spadamon seemed to have some similar tendencies as Barry. For one thing it seemed incredibly shy for a rookie level, darting into the corner. Typically if a digimon was aggressive they'd take an offensive posture, something to be threatening. Barry relaxed as Spadamon presented itself in a non-threatening way, letting out a sigh.
It asked to follow them, for whatever reason. Barry was unsure how common rookie digimon had been since he'd been away; maybe it was more common to see them these days? "Well.....I dunno...why do you want to follow us?" Barry asked questioningly. He wasn't trying to come off as intimidating, but he was just distrusting enough to want to know their possibly new companions intentions. Curious what Sophie was thinking of the change in situation, Barry turned to look at her. She was looking right at him as well, was she questioning whether or not he knew what to do?
Barry seized up for a moment, completely unsure what to do. He looked back at Spadamon. "I mean....I guess with it being nighttime we wouldn't have to worry about people seeing you, but.... what do you think Sophie?" Barry asked, shrugging.
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