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Aforementioned Consequences
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Post by Alan Pantell on Oct 8, 2018 16:51:58 GMT
"Ow... ow... ow... ow..."
Levi sprinted from the Trailmon terminal as quickly as he could will his legs to carry him, breathing heavily. With every step, his head throbbed with pain, and every breath he took in served as a means to huff the next "ow." He stared down and held his head in his hands as he ran, in a fruitless attempt to ease the pain. He was practically seeing triple. Looking where he was going was out of the question; doing so would cause him to stop running, and all he could think about was running as far as he could. He had done something terrible. He had knocked the boy who was supposed to be his "partner" unconscious, and worse, he didn't stick around to make sure he was okay. For all Levi knew, Alan could have been dead.
It's okay, thought Levi, aware he was using only the loosest meaning of the word, If he wakes up, the last thing he'd want to see is me. This is the best thing I can do to help now.
Running, bumping into other people, nearly tripping over himself, and running again.
It continued until Levi noticed the ground on which he was running was now wetter, colder, and dirtier than it was before. At that moment, Levi heard a faint voice from behind.
"...Demi Dart."
Moments before Levi could process what he had just heard, he felt an excruciating pain in the back of his neck, immediately followed by a weight that caused him to faceplant hard.
Now there was another voice, this time in front of him, cackling loudly. Levi couldn't see what was happening, but his assaulters were going out of their way to make it easy to understand.
"HahahaHAH! Nice shot! Careful, though, DemiDevimon. We wouldn't want gravity to pull that dart of yours right through the kid's neck before we've even had a friendly chat! Gazimon."
"On it."
A third Digimon stepped on Levi's back for leverage, then yanked the gigantic dart from the nape of his neck. The foot stayed firmly in place, ensuring Levi made no movements whatsoever.
The second voice continued, much closer to the side of Levi's head, "You really shoulda thought twice about coming into Strabimon's turf looking like you wanna die. I think you'll find he's very obliging. I'm Strabimon, by the way. It's me."
I think I understood that.
"But you know what we're really after, right? Since we're so nice, we wanted to give you a chance to offer it to us."
Bits. Data. It didn't matter. The system of bits as currency made transactions highly efficient, but as a side effect, it made the line between mugging and murder increasingly hazy. One way or another, Levi was about to die. His tears mixed with the puddle water that dampened his face, so he wasn't quite sure if he was crying. In what he viewed as his last moments, he began to resign himself to the idea that this is what he deserved for being so hateful. For being such a, what had Shoutmon said? "A wuss." So weak that he had been beaten by three rookies in one day, and never even fought back. Strabimon needn't do anything.
Levi didn't speak.
He closed his eyes, waiting for Strabimon to "oblige" him.
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Post by Cross on Oct 8, 2018 19:11:50 GMT
"Three on one. Not a particularly fair fight. What do you think Hime?" A low voice rumbled out from further down the alleyway as a Tactimon with a cracked faceplate stepped forth from the darkness of a doorway. Pinning the group beneath the gaze of his gleaming gold eyes the Mega held his arm out to a small svelte blonde woman in a pale white Doctor's coat who carefully rested her hand upon his armored forearm as he helped her gingerly down the steps with exacting care. The woman in question would half turn revealing the white armband with a green cross pinned to her arm as she considered the group with slightly off-blue eyes and an eeriness to her presence that made the Veemon's attackers pause as they considered the strange pair in front of them. "No. No I do not believe it is." The Doctor spoke her voice whisper soft a smoky roughness to the sweet fullness of her accent like bourbon on the rocks. "I would even go so far as to suggest they find a different target. One..." And the Doctor glanced down her eyes narrowing as she noted how very young the Veemon looked, "That is perhaps not a child." She continued her tone once one of ease going hard and razor sharp as she narrowed her gaze at the group. Her displeasure some silent signal to her partner as the Tactimon shifted his free arm coming to rest on the massive chained sword tied loosely to his back. "You have till the count of three." The Tactimon warned. "One...."
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Post by Alan Pantell on Oct 8, 2018 20:38:22 GMT
Strabimon cracked his knuckles and faced the newcomer with an exaggerated scowl painting his face. "Now you listen here! If you think you can scare me with th-"
His sentence was cut off by a swift disabling chop by Gazimon from behind.
"Sorry, boss! Just following your orders!" said the Gazimon as he slung Strabimon over his shoulder and began to run away, with great effort. "Really, I apologize for inconveniencing you, and we hope you have a lovely day!"
Gazimon turned around to find that DemiDevimon had fled approximately yesterday. "GET BACK HERE AND HELP ME WITH THE BOSS YOU SON OF A DOBERMON!" His grumbling gradually faded as he made his way out of the alley and into the distance.
Levi, on the other hand, remained on the ground, trying to find the strength to lift his head and look at whoever had apparently rescued him.
A... child? Levi felt like this comment should have made him mad. Something like "Who are you calling a child?" seemed like the correct response, but... Am I... a child? He couldn't remember how old he was, and he couldn't even remember his life before coming to the human world. Did he have amnesia, or was he truly a newborn? Was he actually telling the truth when he said he didn't have a home? If he really was a child, then a lot of things would immediately make more sense.
He felt exactly like a child, after all. He tried running around on his own, and now he was hurt, beaten, and crying on the ground. He was weak, impulsive, and ignorant. It was all there.
Levi realized that at that moment, he wanted nothing more than to be seen as a child. He had been throwing his fists at everything, assuming that he had some kind of responsibility to be in control of every situation, but it never happened, and he always blamed himself for it. It came as such a relief to him that it wasn't entirely his fault.
He wasn't a terrible adult.
He was just a child.
Levi continued to struggle against his neck injury to lift his head off of the ground, only succeeding for long enough to get two words out before slumping back, still completely conscious, but immobile:
"Th... thank you..."
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Post by Cross on Oct 8, 2018 22:47:04 GMT
For a heartbeat there was silence. The Tactimon never reaching a count of two before his grip on his sword eased off his posture relaxing as the group of would be muggers beat a rapid retreat. With the threat dealt with however, the Doctor was quick to approach making a soft shushing sound as she drew a clean cloth from her pocket and carefully pressed it to the back of the Veemon's neck.
"It's all right now. I've got you little one." She murmured the woman's voice tinted with a strange almost mechanical edge to it, but gentled to be as soft and nonthreatening as she could manage. Carefully the Doctor scooped him up pressing Levi carefully against her front so his chin could rest on her shoulder one arm looped under him and the other still holding the cloth steady against his bleeding wound. Oddly he wouldn't be able to feel the cloth of her coat beneath his fingers, nor did the Doctor have a scent like most humans. Were it not for the fact she was holding him and the very very incredibly faint muffle scent of ozone that clung to her the woman might as well have existed in a vacuum.
"Will he be all right Hime?" The Tactimon with the cracked faceplate questioned stepping closer to peer at the little Veemon with those hard gold eyes that seemed to soften a fraction at the bedraggled appearance of the child.
"It's nothing I can't fix easily enough. Come. The Cornered Bat is a few streets over and I happen to know Shred keeps a few juice boxes behind the counter." The Doctor murmured carefully adjusting the little Veemon as she turned on her heel and strode away. The Mega following close at her side seemingly to hover almost protectively around the two making it almost humorous to watch the black armored Samurai Digimon fuss so were the thought of the violence he would reek should they be threatened not legitimately terrifying.
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Post by Alan Pantell on Oct 9, 2018 0:59:00 GMT
Levi was still crying, but it had been a seamless transition from tears of misery to tears of joy. With all of the weight he had been putting on himself lifted, and all of the weight that had been quite literally put on him a minute ago lifted, he felt as if he were floating. Admittedly, the fact that the woman carrying him had an incorporeality about her may have helped create that feeling.
That part didn't matter.
He had been told that it's all right.
Someone else had saved him, and someone else had treated him, and someone else was holding him, and someone else had told him he would be all right.
Someone other than himself had...
Had...
Had...
The tears were now flowing more freely than ever, to the point where the crying began to become audible. It felt as if he had been releasing every ounce of emotion he had been holding back for the past nine days, and it filled him with pure happiness. Levi thought to himself about this feeling while he was being carried.
Is this... what it's like to be a child- to have a childhood? Telling people about your problems, and having them care... When you grow up, you still get scared, sad, and lonely... everything's the same. But you're not supposed to "burden" other people with your problems... it's so stupid. Why would anyone ever grow up?
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Post by Cross on Oct 9, 2018 3:03:30 GMT
"Shhh you're all right little one." The Tactimon murmured taking the edge of his cape and very carefully cleaning some of the tears from the Veemon's face heedless of the stains it might add to the already rather ragged piece of fabric. Once Levi's face was relatively clean the looming Mega smiled or as much as one could smile when their face was covered by a mostly battered faceplate leading the the Tactimon's eyes softening and going almost half closed as the Doctor hummed low in her throat a soft comforting sound that seemed to vibrate through the woman's chest as she pushed open the door to a rather dingy looking bar.
Inside standing behind a worn counter in front of a cracked bar mirror was a rather haphazard looking Devimon with a mostly missing wing that had been rendered down to just the stump. At such an early hour the place was relatively empty the only patron being a rough looking Black WarGreymon that commonly served as the places bouncer where he sat asleep draped half-across a table.
"Ah evening Cas, evening Cloak. Your~" Shred began only to pause blinking at the site of the Veemon tucked in the Doctor's arms as the woman in question gave him a nod of greeting sliding onto a stool as she carefully set Levi atop the bar counter. The Tactimon sliding onto a stool next to her as he watched the Doctor gingerly pull the cloth away from the back of the Veemon's neck which had thankfully stopped bleeding data.
"What's with the kid Doc? I figured at some point sure you'd end up a parent, but always pegged your offspring to be more blonde haired and human then digital and reptilian." The Devimon joked as Cas rolled her eyes heavenwards and sighed at the Digimon's teasing.
"A juicebox if you will Shred." The Doctor ordered arching a brow at the Devimon as the Digimon in question shrugged his gaze shifting to Cloak.
"Found the poor kid getting jumped in an alleyway. Seems to have had a rough time of it." The Tactimon summarized the situation quick and neat as the Bartender darted back into the back to return with chilled juicebox with the straw already inserted into it and handed it to the little Veemon.
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Post by Alan Pantell on Oct 9, 2018 3:41:43 GMT
Levi's face was still somewhat wet, but he had stopped crying. He was beginning to be able to move again, but kept movement to a minimum. He wanted to revel in how completely at ease these strangers had managed to make him. He almost felt like falling asleep, but he didn't want to miss a second of anything that was happening.
After being placed on top of the counter, Levi kept his mouth closed as he gave a muffled, quiet laugh at the Devimon's joke, sounding something like "Mm-h-hmm-hm-hmhmhm."
He took the juice box with an acknowledging nod and another quiet "Thank you," and began to sip from it. It was incredibly refreshing, and surprisingly sweet. Sweet was good. He liked sweet. He glanced around the room in silence as he continued to drink, occasionally looking at the faces of those around him. Needless to say, he felt quite cute, as it was hard not to when drinking from a juice box held in both hands. Earlier today, he wouldn't have allowed himself to indulge in thinking himself cute. He had had an unspoken image to uphold until now. It helped that he was a Veemon, but he tended not to give that too much thought. That was just how he looked, after all.
Levi decided he would speak primarily when spoken to for the time being, understanding that no one would expect him to initiate anything. The juice box didn't last for long. He had been quite thirsty, and continued sipping until he was sure he couldn't squeeze any more drops from the box.
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Post by Cross on Oct 9, 2018 3:56:30 GMT
"Ok I gotta admit~" Shred began taking the empty juicebox from the kid as he tossed it in the trash filling up a glass of water as he carefully handed it to Levi. "He's pretty cute for being one of those cocky little Veemon S%!#$, but then again you don't see much of them down here and they don't take too kindly to our type in their neck of the woods." The Devimon quipped with a bit of a lopsided smile Levi's actions even managing to draw a chuckle from the Tactimon as Cassandra shook her head with a smile smile motioning for the Veemon to half turn.
"All right little one. This is going to sting a bit, but I need to disinfect and take care of your wound. However you'll get a cool bandaid out of it. How about you decide whether you want Star Wars, Power Rangers, or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles while I take care of that hmm?" She explained carefully fishing out the aforementioned bandaids and setting them in front of Levi as she opened up her medical kit to soak some disinfectant on a cotton ball and gently dab it on the wound on the Veemon's neck.
"Ooo Star Wars! Look kid~" The Tactimon ood and aahed clearly trying to distract Levi from the sting of the disinfectant as he held up the Star Wars Imperial bandaid that showed the images of Darth Vader and some Stormtroopers. "It's me!" He quipped pointing to Darth Vader on the bandaid.
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Post by Alan Pantell on Oct 9, 2018 4:33:17 GMT
Levi was about to say something about the Devimon's comment, but he eventually thought to himself, Heh heh, I am a "cocky little Veemon S%!#$," aren't I? He did as he was instructed and turned himself.
He had enjoyed being pampered, but the Tactimon talking to him like that made him feel a bit embarrassed. Uh oh. Did I overdo the cuteness? "Haha, okay, okay," he said, deciding it wasn't worth it to just keep sitting quietly through it. "I choose that one!" He pointed to the Star Wars band-aid. It was the most unassuming. He wasn't sure how he felt about the color-coded teams of characters on the others. As little as he wanted to risk altering the mood in the room, there was a part of what Shred had said that bothered him, apart from the blatant racism. It was too important for him to not ask.
"This is gonna sound like a stupid question, but..." He put his head down, tapping the claws of his index fingers together. "What... IS my 'neck of the woods,' exactly?"
Hmm...
Perhaps he could soften the blow of that question a bit with some jocular flattery.
"I just wanna know, so I can avoid anyone who 'wouldn't take kindly' to nice people like you!" Levi gave a big smile to everyone in the room, including the sleeping bouncer, whom he had just noticed, for no reason in particular.
He was only half-joking. He wanted to know so he could check if he lived there previously. He also wanted to know so he could go give those people a piece of his mind. That would come later, of course. But one day he'd be stronger. He knew it.
He, uh... hoped the sudden increase in vocabulary he displayed wasn't too jarring, in retrospect.
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Post by Cross on Oct 9, 2018 5:26:17 GMT
"Star Wars it is." Cassandra murmured taking that aforementioned chosen bandaid as she carefully applied a bit of ointment to the wound and pressed the bandaid over it. For the most part the Tactimon and Devimon didn't seem terribly surprised by his sudden jump in vocabulary given the majority of Digimon came out of the egg talking half the time. Instead the Barkeeper just grinned tossing a nod to Cloak as the Tactimon took his seat once more.
"Ah good so you're not actually mute." The Armored Samurai Digimon rumbled out the trio of adults sharing a somewhat weighted look at Levi's question in regards to his 'neck of the woods.'
"I believe what Shred meant was we do not often see Veemon's in Old Terminus. That aside do you have a name and are you lost little one?" The Doctor asked with a tilt of her head carefully steering the conversation away from such dark topics as what Devimon truly meant.
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Post by Alan Pantell on Oct 9, 2018 6:00:05 GMT
"Yeah, I have a name. I go by Levi. And, uh..." Levi looked around the room once more, as if he expected doing so might suddenly change his next answer: "Yeah, I can safely say I'm pretty lost!"
He couldn't hazard a guess at the nature of what the Doctor seemed to be trying to hide, so he allowed whatever it was to slide.
He heaved a sigh. He was going to have to explain why he was lost. This is part of why he didn't want to speak unless spoken to earlier. Oh well. If he was ever to get over it, he'd have to tell other people eventually.
"Like I said, my name's Levi, and I'm a..." he tilted his head down again. "I'm supposed to be a partner Digimon. To a kid, well, technically not a kid, but a person named Alan. Last I saw of him, he was arriving at the Trailmon Terminal from the human world. It's his... " Levi was stinging himself with his own words. "It's his first trip to the Digital World. He almost gave up on coming, due to something I did, but... he came anyway... d-" he gulped. "Due to another thing I... a-another thing I did."
Another thing I did... just say it!
"Another thing I..." beginning to sound like a broken record, Levi ended up skipping the detail entirely, practically shouting his next confession:
"And the last time I checked, I'm pretty sure he still had a PULSE!"
After a moment or two of awkward silence, Levi took a sip of his water, which he had only just remembered had been given to him, then cleared his throat, and turned his head away from everyone.
"A-anyway... I'd be shocked if he still wanted to see me at all anyway, after that. It's not like I know where they'd be at this point; I just ran off, so..."
Levi trailed off, having run out of things to say.
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Post by Cross on Oct 9, 2018 7:01:57 GMT
"You attacked your Tamer?" The Tactimon ground out seeming more than a little taken aback by the Veemon's confession. The thought of laying a hand on Cassandra causing something within Cloak's very core to scream and thrash at the very idea like nails upon a chalkboard jarring him with the wrongness of it all, but...
But he could remember his Tamer's red red blood on the edge of his twin's blade. A careless cut, an accident, nothing more. Dagger hadn't been aiming for her and clumsy in his Sakuttomon form. It had been the first and thus far the only time he could ever recall trying to genuinely hurt his twin though during the incident in the North the sting of betrayal had made him badly wish to do so, but his arms had been far to full with the form of the dying Doctor her body heavier in his grip then any weight in the world. Yet when they were freshly reborn it had been an accident though it had taken Cas sometime to pull the two apart and reassure Dagger she still loved him, loved them both. The Veemon before them however was a child. Couldn't be more then a single life old without the regrets and experiences of previous incarnations even if they were unremembered at the time. He had yet to bond, yet to grow, yet to learn...and slowly the Tactimon let out the breath he was holding in a soft sigh.
"Did you mean to harm them?" Cloak questioned softly, "Because I do not believe you did if you are here crying and distraught." The Tactimon pointed out as Cassandra glancing between her partner and the little Digimon with soft eyes gave the pair a small slim smile.
"I'm fairly certain your partner is fine. Unless they were a very very young human most rookies lack the power to kill and I doubt you used your full strength against them." The Doctor assured the distraught Veemon gently reaching out to carefully pat his head.
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Post by Alan Pantell on Oct 9, 2018 7:38:22 GMT
Levi removed his hat to allow himself to be pat on the head. "You're right... I really didn't mean to hurt them."
He dug into his memories, trying to explain himself.
"He had told me that he wanted nothing more than to see the Digital World. But there was something that happened, an incident I won't tell you about on his behalf, that made him want to give up on it. The Trailmon made it quite clear that he was about to leave, and I didn't know if he would ever emotionally recover to try again. I knew he wanted to go to the Digital World, and I wanted to go with him. I'm not sure if I can claim so much as not using my full strength. I didn't have time to try to persuade him, and I had already gotten him in no mood to listen to me. I kicked him across the room. Into the Trailmon."
It almost sounded justified when he put it like that. That wouldn't do at all.
"The worst part, though, is that I didn't even tell him that was why I did it. I was spouting some nonsense about making him 'stand up for himself.' There was another, far more experienced Tamer with him. His Shoutmon called me out on acting like a 'dumbass.' He managed to hit me square on the forehead with his microphone before the Trailmon told everyone to stop causing a commotion. My Tamer told gave me a few bitter words before passing out. I deserved all of them. I stayed right where I was on the train for the rest of the ride... and... bolted as soon as the door opened, running with my headache until I..." Levi gestured towards the back of his neck. "...You know the rest."
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Post by Cross on Oct 11, 2018 4:33:11 GMT
Cassandra sighs and casts her eyes skyward her usually unemotional face darkening with something akin to sorrow and anger, but is neither and both at the same time as she questions for not the first time why some pairs are made so young. She doesn't know the age of Levi's Tamer, but Levi is just a kid. Just a kid trusted with keeping a human alive in an all too dangerous world who's dangers he doesn't even understand because he is a child.
"Then I see no reason they won't forgive you in time." The Tactimon rumbles out softly trying to sooth some of the Veemon's fears.
"Indeed. The digivice has a tracking device on it for partners. I suspect if you stay here he'll find us soon enough. My name is Doctor Cross, but you may call me Cas. The Tactimon here is one of my partners Cloak. The Durandamon," And the Doctor half turns motioning to the hooded figure leaning against the building across the street from the bar watching the building and them from a distance, "Is my other partner Dagger." She explains introducing the lot of them.
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Post by Alan Pantell on Oct 11, 2018 5:39:20 GMT
Levi heaved a sigh of what could have been either resignation or relief. "That's good to hear. I know if I were him, I wouldn't come looking for me unless I knew exactly where I was located. Chances are, if I hadn't met you guys here, we'd both be sitting on our butts forever, waiting for the other to show up because we don't want to 'force' ourselves onto each other. Here's hoping that digivice actually works. I haven't seen it do anything yet. Like, beep or light up. At all." Ugh. Clearly, he still had his fears.
"It's nice to meet you, Cas. Cloak." He leaned over to wave at the distant figure. "Dagger. And you, uh... you... Sledge? No, Shred! Shred, I knew that!"
Still feeling a bit embarrassed over that last mistake, Levi returned to sitting quietly and sipping his water, not sure what else to do.
I guess I'm just supposed to wait for Alan to show up. Hmm... I wonder if Leith will show up, too? You know what, that's the real question, forget whether Alan forgives me, if Leith comes with him, I'm gonna have to deal with Shoutmon. Who am I kidding? Of course Leith's coming. Why would he let a partnerless human wander these streets? I may be weak, but if I can't safely navigate them, then there's no way Alan would. Might as well just brace myself for another concussion.
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