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Tying loose ends [Katherine/Alan]
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Post by Alan Pantell on Jan 5, 2020 19:47:21 GMT
Levi was determined to not let his enemy take control of the battle, and yet... it was asking all of his focus and physical ability to deflect and dodge the assassin's storm of blows. The possibility of making a fatal mistake soon began to creep up in his mind, distracting him and allowing a few of the strikes to pierce into him, making him grunt in pain. He couldn't last much longer without sustaining serious injuries, but since he was already sustaining hits... taking one more for a large gamble wouldn't hurt too bad if it succeeded. Unexpectedly, for a single moment, the golden warrior dropped his defenses entirely and delivered a lightning slash straight through the clone in front of him. He enjoyed a moment's rest, while deciding not to think about the pain setting in until the battle was done.
Watching from the sidelines, Alan swiped his usual "Regenerate" card to help Levi with his wounds, the dragon thanking him for the assistance. Although intimidated by the growth in size and power of their opponent, a knowing part of them couldn't help but smirk.
"When they burst in power, they're getting desperate," said the tamer, though he realized this might not apply to all opponents. "I think he'll destroy his own enterprise before we can, but that doesn't mean we can let him keep kicking."
Levi understood exactly what he needed to do when he was brought up close to Venenomon. His large, flashy laser attack was still on recharge, but he held everything he needed in his hands. The Magnamon boarded the HippoGriffomon, readying his swords, and keeping his eye on his target. When the time was right, Levi crossed his arms, and swiftly uncrossed them, delivering a devastating decapitation blow by using his Virtuous Blades like the blades of a pair of scissors!
"You're not the only cutthroat businessman in the Dark Area, you know!"
Indeed, Levi was proud of himself.
Alan uses SD-03: Regenerate! on Levi to help him with damage sustained from Venenomon's attacks.
SD-03 Card Name: Regenerate! Type: Modify Rank: Starter Duration: 3 Posts The target Digimon heals surface-level wounds and fatigue over the course of three posts. Duration Remaining: 2 Posts
Levi uses his Virtuous Blades one last time to slice through part of Venenomon!
Virtuous Blades - Magnamon summons two one-handed blades - one of fire, one of lightning. These blades last for two posts, but can be dismissed before then. 3-post cooldown. Duration Remaining: 0 posts Cooldown Remaining: 3 posts
Line in the Sand Cooldown: 1 post
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Post by Katherine Jasso on Jan 12, 2020 11:35:06 GMT
Bastian, the Bacomon with ever-changing names, Alan and Katherine were more than aware that the battle had escalated until reaching its final moments. Even if Venenomon had destroyed himself everything he had sworn to protect, it was clear that, if this didn’t work, things could complicate a lot further than they already had. It was time to put an end to a dispute that involved a lot more than a couple of stolen weapons.
The final slash coming from Magnamon liberated a ton of sheer energy. This power seemed to have been granted by Jazz to increase the impact of this technique, in order to finish up the abomination Venenomon had turned into. The issuing rays of power made Katherine cover her own eyes while the massive creature imploded, releasing countless strings of data that just flew into the sky while the gangster issued a deafening screech that echoed throughout what was left of the Kongoro building.
When all of this was over, the curly-haired girl let her rear fall on the floor, feeling a bit exhausted. It was becoming a thing to be tired after Jazz fought, probably from the psychological pressure the whole situation involved. This particular bout, however, had been especially stressful.
As Jazz landed and devolved into Cho-Hakkaimon she extended her arm to offer... a fistbump to Levi. The two had proven to be a rather strong force when combining their individual strengths. And that had been a good battle.
The group decided to leave Kongoro and go back to Bastian’s restaurant. When they did, Red-Vegiemon and the Dracmons were long gone, which was something to be expected. In the end, it made no sense to try to imprison them or anything. It was not like there were authorities in the Dark Area to hand them to. After the lesson they had delivered to them and without their boss around, it was likely they wouldn’t bother anyone for a while.
“So you were buying weapon parts to build weapons and sell them, in order to keep the business afloat.” Katherine addressed Bastian, leaning her back against a chair while her legs remained crossed.
“That’s right, Misu. I admit getting more weapons into the Dark Area was probably not a good thing but… I remained wary to only sell those to the digimon I considered trustworthy. I can't remember every customer I’ve had, but it is possible these guys had come to buy weapons and I rejected them because I did not trust them.” Bastian explained with his characteristic robotic voice.
“So Kongoro was trying to have their vengeance by stealing the weapon parts from you. However, they were too coward to do it frontally, so they tried to intimidate you by saying they were members of the Deeplane City Council.” Jazz contributed to the reconstruction of the events with her own piece of insight while she and Bacomon helped clean up the mess the burglars had caused.
Of course, the fact this was over led Katherine to posit the next question. “So… what are you going to do now?” The raven-haired girl stared at Bastian.
“W-Well, he’s obviously coming with u-“
“Jazz.” Katherine interrupted her partner before she could finish that sentence. “It is true that we need Bastian. It is true he is an important piece in our plan to defeat the Dark Army. But… it isn't less true these digimon need him too.” The green-eyed teenager could perfectly understand what was troubling the robot. She knew why this was not, by any means, an easy decision.
“You’re right.” The hog muttered. Then, her eyes drifted towards Alan and Levi. “You have delivered the weapon parts to the rightful owner so… I guess it’s mission completed for you.” A tender smile appeared on her lips.
And yet still… Katherine knew they might not be completely satisfied with this ending. If Alan was the type of person she thought he was, he might want to know more about the reason Katherine had come looking for Bastian and… who this robot really was.
“After everything you have done for us… no, as a fellow curious, it would be unfitting for me to not answer any questions you might have.” The tamer declared in a rather timid tone of voice. “So… if you have any inquiry, please go ahead. We'll try to answer them to the best of our capabilities.” The fact that she was open to talking about this right now meant she really trusted Alan.
Were Alan and Levi curious about this whole matter, though? Did they have any interest in going further into this whole thing or… were they done here?
Said in another way: was it time to ask questions or time to say goodbye?
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Post by Alan Pantell on Jan 16, 2020 20:01:36 GMT
Magnamon stared at the ground where his opponent had once stood, panting heavily. Thank goodness that as over. In the end, Venenomon proved to have been a petty leader of petty criminals, though Levi admitted that judgement seemed rather premature, but if they wanted to speak of motives, the Dark Area respawn point was rather close by, if he had remembered correctly.
Seeing that his ally had reverted to her Cho-Hakkaimon form, Levi decided to revert as well, shrinking down to an unarmored ExVeemon to return the fist bump, a pleased smirk gracing his face. "Levi," his young tamer called, "You don't hafta keep showing off." The ExVeemon sighed and devolved once more into his Armor Champion form, Flamedramon, and slumped into Alan's arms. "Woah, boy, you did great, but I said loosen up, not fall asleep..."
"Meh," was the dragon's eloquent response.
"I think he's expended his maturity for today," Alan whispered to the others, offering his partner conciliatory strokes on the head.
Later, the group would all have returned to the restaurant, discussing what had happened that day. The partners were huddled next to each other where they sat, where they would have seemed to have been off in their own world, yet they were hanging on every word of the conversation between the others. The one thing that caught them off guard was being reminded their mission was complete: the delivery which they had agreed to carry out. Alan remained silent, then tried multiple times to attempt to argue, thinking at first he was being told the rest wasn't his problem.
"Well, I-... I gue-... I mean-..." he tapped his foot, clearly flustered, and only slightly less clearly blushing, though he scratched his head and felt even sillier when he was offered answers to his questions. "Oh-oh! You noticed too, huh? I suppose we did finish our mission, yeah, but... you could've fooled me. If... if I was the type of person to say 'this isn't my problem' and walk away, I... well... I certainly wouldn't be here right now!"
"We... do some pretty crazy shit for the sake of new experiences..." Levi remarked, as if he had only now realized the extent of the craziness of some of the things they had done in the past. "'Curious,' huh? This... delivery was the shadiest deal we had ever seen. We did it anyway, we were curious about the Dark Area, and where the job may lead... naturally we still wanna know where it leads, right? We may have finished our assigned task, but like hell does anything look 'resolved' to me!"
"We were curious about pirate stuff once and now we're actual pirates..."
"...he's not exaggerating."
"Needless to say, we were listening to the conversations you've been having, so we've pieced together how most of the things we've witnessed relate... but not all of them. The Deeplane City Council is obviously nothing like the bandits we encountered, but they're well-known enough for bandits to want to use the name for intimidation purposes... that is our first question: What is the Deeplane City Council?"
"After that... as far as I could gather, Bastian here doesn't know who you are. This, I'm sure he wants to know, too: how do you know of him, and how is he supposed to be able to help you with... with... with something that will be the subject of our next question?"
"I think his maturity's back..." whispered Alan.
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Post by Katherine Jasso on Jan 23, 2020 0:14:05 GMT
Not only it seemed like both Levi and Alan had been paying attention to the conversation happening around them. It also seemed like they were more than interested in the adventure that they had been part of, even if it was for just one day. By now, it should be clear there was a more complex matter surrounding the whole situation and whatever type of relationship Katherine and Bastian could have.
On her side, Katherine did not take long to notice Alan’s interest, which became evident by his attitude upon facing the possibility of leaving without any more information. “You’re probably right.” She noted with a smile and a firm nod. If they were still here, it meant they wanted to know, right?
“Then Jasso was right when she said we weren’t too different.” While still putting things on their place along with Bacomon, Jazz looked at Levi for a moment. While staring at her partner, Katherine frolicked with one of her curls. Without releasing that curl swirling around her index finger, her eyes went to Levi.
Pirates, huh? Well, it was not as if the pair hadn’t proved already that they were willing to go the distance. So keeping any info from them right now made no sense.
“I can answer that.” The Bacomon, whose current name was hard to keep track of, let his voice be heard for the first time in a while. This time, both Katherine and Jazz's eyes shifted towards the creature. “Well, that is interesting. I would like to know how other inhabitants of the Dark Area see the council.” The teenager admitted. “Go ahead. We will add any piece of info that we see necessary.”
After clearing up his throat, Bacomon went ahead.
“The Deeplane City council is a nascent faction within the Dark Area. Two things set them apart from the rest of the factions, groups, bands or criminals who have become influential in this territory:” Getting on top of a stool, he raised two of the cardboard flaps on his left hand. “First, they claim to be building a city for the benefit of the digimon in the Dark Area, to make this zone flourish. So, for starters, them not acting purely for their own benefit is an important difference.”
A little smile appeared on Katherine’s lips.
“Second,” The Bacomon continued. “It was founded by humans and their leader is… probably a human, too.” That wasn’t less interesting. “The reason why the bandits used that name to try to intimidate Bastian is that the DLC, as they call it, recently won a dispute in Tayichi’Tai’s territory. So… if I had to guess, I would say they assumed Bastian would be fretted by having them showing up here, since they knew he had deals with Tayichi’Tai.”
“That… actually makes perfect sense.” Katherine’s green eyes widened a bit upon hearing that statement. “Did you know what we had done at Tayichi'Tai?” Jazz asked, looking at the robot.
“Not really, Misu.” Bastian admitted with a shake of his head. “While I had heard about the nascent DLC, I didn’t know they had won a dispute in Tayichi’Tai’s fortress. Were you there?” He closed his answer by handing a question at the two females.
Nodding slowly, Katherine confirmed. “We were. We beat some oversized Brachimon and then disabled an operation of spies that were messing with them.”
So! That seemed to be enough to explain what the DLC was and its motives, right? Both the tamer and her partner didn’t seem to have anything to add. “You definitely keep yourself well informed.” Jazz leaned forward to get her face close to the little cardboard digimon, showing him a smile.
However, Katherine would tackle herself the responsibility of answering the next question. Before delivering a proper response, the teenager’s eyes went to Jazz, who was also looking at her a bit perplexed.
“I guess we said some of it during the battle but… I’m aware that explanation was definitely not enough to clarify everything.” To punctuate that sentence, the teenager let out a sigh. Where should she even begin? Their individual story was definitely a lot more complicated than the role the DLC played in all of this, and it couldn’t be summarized in just a few sentences.
Before Katherine started, Jazz invited Bacomon to the back of the restaurant. Maybe there was something they could also organize there, right? It wasn’t that they didn’t trust the little guy. It was just that… well, it was better to be safe. After all, this was not the type of info what they would share with just anyone.
“You’re right about that first part. Bastian didn’t know me until today.” The green-eyed admitted. “But he does know the Dark Army, an organization that stole something from me and Jazz. We’re trying to get what belongs to us back and, in order to do that, we need to be able to enter the Dark Army’s hideout, where that item or… that set of items is being kept.”
Katherine seemed to be thinking each word carefully, in order to deliver the message as clear as possible. “The Dark Army is strong and cautious. Entering their hideout is going to be very difficult, and we’re more than aware of that. That’s why we need Bastian.” She added, crossing her legs. “Back in the Human World, Jazz and I met Paul, who is Bastian’s best friend. He was worried about him and told us Bastian was probably in the Dark Area, the place where he was born. Part of why we joined the DLC was because we knew that being in the Dark Area was the only way to find a lead on him, eventually. When we were at Tayichi'Tai's fortress we found a note of some type of transaction with the address of this restaurant and his name. We decided to come all the way up here for him. We knew he was the only one we could count on to enter the Dark Army’s hideout because…”
For a second, the curly-haired girl seemed to have doubts about actually revealing this information.
However, Bastian himself would finish the sentence.
“… Because I worked for the Dark Army in the past." He admitted. "I don’t know if I can effectively find a way for you to enter their hideout.” He continued, his eyes going from Alan towards Katherine. “But I definitely know how it can be done.”
Well, there it was. It would probably be a good idea to let Alan and Levi just… process everything. That had been a lot of info! They should probably leave room for them to ask more questions if they had any.
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Post by Alan Pantell on Jan 29, 2020 16:12:17 GMT
If there was something Alan was most trying to work on when it came to being a good listener, it was definitely this habit he had of trying to feel smart by guessing things before the speaker said them, so that he might feel observant. As they were still only ever guesses, he resolved to simply let the others in the room speak, only submitting comments when there was an obvious pause for such things.
The first bit of information the pair had requested was on the Deeplane City Council, the mysterious (to them) organization they believed themselves to have been facing when they first ran into the disguised bandits. They claimed to be 'building a city for the benefit of the digimon in the Dark Area.' This was a noble goal, but the word 'claim' reminded Alan of the reality that not all organizations could have their goals taken at face value. Yet, if the DLC was founded by humans, and was most likely led by a human, then Alan, himself having a perspective on being a human in the digital world, had a reason to believe there was no ulterior motive. Not to mention, the boy had already been given plenty of reason to trust them.
"Oh. That kind of dispute," he added, indicating he was listening, "The word 'dispute' makes me think more of a verbal argument. But it all makes sense so far - do go on!"
Their explanation of the overarching story so far was clearly greatly simplified, but done so in such a way that it was perfectly understandable. If Katherine was leaving the nature of the objects they were attempting to retrieve vague, Alan had to assume that, for one thing, she had a good reason for doing so, and for another thing, that if they stuck around, they'd learn all about them eventually.
"Our pirate crew specializes in stealth operations, but we're not about to ask them for help with someone's personal mission that we're barely a part of ourselves. Not because we don't want to, only because it'd be weird. It's a fun thought, now that I think about it."
"If we're lucky, maybe she'll read your mind from wherever she is and come to help just to humor us."
"Pff, nah, I think we'll let them do their thing."
"So then," said Alan, "thank you very much for getting us up to speed. Naturally there are a lot of details left to learn, but I know from experience these things are best not taken in too big chunks at once. I guess that leaves the question: what's next for you? For us? We heading to the aforementioned city, now that you've got me curious? ...There's that word again."
"Oh, and what about Bacomon? Were we supposed to return him to our 'employer'? I suppose we should ask him."
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Post by Katherine Jasso on Feb 5, 2020 18:23:25 GMT
The explanation had been delivered and, although some important details had been temporarily put aside for the sake of time, things were more or less clear. Now, what Alan had posited was an interesting question. Even if, maybe, the answer was not that interesting itself. Katherine, however, was a bit shocked at such a proposition. For all means and purposes, Alan and Levi seemed committed to discovering more about this whole matter, including the DLC. Moreover, that was perfectly fine, since they eventually would. “Deeplane City is being built as we speak.” The tamer clarified, standing up from her chair. For the moment, Bastian had disappeared from their sights. However, both Jazz (who had come back with the Bacomon) and the human were too focused on their conversation with Alan and Levi to notice. “So… it probably wouldn’t be too useful to take you there right now.” The green-eyed wrinkled her mouth, folding her arms. “We would definitely love to meet your pirate friends sometime, though. That would be exciting!” A fist clenched tightly, Jazz remarked. Katherine had to admit that yes, in fact, it would. A sigh ensued, as the teenager realized she had run out of offers for the time being. “For now, there is not much to do. Until we’re ready to go and take back the objects the Dark Army stole from us, we won’t make our next move. I will… give you my D-Terminal contact information, i-if that’s okay with you…” The green-eyed muttered that last part. “Jazz and I have to get back to the construction site and get ready for our next move.”Immediately, The Cho-Hakkaimon's eyes widened. “B-But…! What about…?” Before Katherine could send Jazz's worries off, Bastian’s voice brought the two females’ attention to the back door. “I’m going with you.” The robot’s voice sounded. The Ballistamon had a small backpack on his back and seemed ready to take off. “I will go with you to the Deeplane City Construction Site and install my most basic equipment. However, since most of my researching materials are here, it is possible I… no, we, have to come back here to look for important stuff that can help me help you get inside the Dark Army’s hideout. I mean, I would have to come back anyways to open the restaurant now and then for the townsfolks.”
Silence ensued. “If you would be okay with that… of course.” The chef added, quietly. Slowly, a smile appeared on both of the girl’s faces. “O-Of course!” Katherine squealed, bringing her hands together and bouncing a bit in the same spot. “Yes! Yes! Yes!” A lot more effusive in her celebration, the Cho-Hakkaimon went to hug the robot fiercely. “That is exactly what we came for.” Her tamer added. “We came for you, Bastian. We need you.” She said, firmly looking at their new teammate. Then, her eyes trailed for a second towards Alan and Levi. They had actually found more than what they came looking for. And that was great. With everything decided, the Bacomon’s next destination was the only end that remained to be tied. Katherine (the last name the Cardboard digimon had acquired) looked at both Alan and Levi and went to deliver some type of answer. “I… guess I’ll go back with you to Whitewater. You still have the silver remote Kosomon gave you, right? That should bring us back. About the weapon parts…” His hand on his mouth, the package turned to look at Bastian. “We couldn’t really recover them from the Kongoro Hideout but… considering how everything changed, I guess you won’t mind if I say the delivery was successful, right?” He asked. “That’s perfectly fine. I don’t need the weapons anymore. I have a new objective.” Bastian remarked. With everything said and done, it was time for goodbyes at the entrance of Bastian’s restaurant, while everything around the Dark Area started to get darker with the setting of the scarce light that ever reached the territory. “As we said, we still have a lot to plan before we can make our next move to retrieve our… things." Katherine admitted while frolicking with one of her curls. "However, now that we have exchanged our D-Terminal info…” Hopefully, they had! “… I can tell you a bit more about it through there and we can meet again soon. I still might need a lot of help with everything that’s coming so… we should definitely stay in contact.” A slightly pink tonality appeared around Katherine’s cheeks while she addressed Alan for their goodbyes. She was trying to be less socially awkward, it was just still… a bit hard, yeah. As a last gesture, both she and Jazz bowed respectfully. Bastian, surprisingly, did the same. “Thank you for everything!” The three of them said in unison to Alan, Levi, and Bacomon. If they decided to take the silver remote route back to Whitewater, Katherine (the Bacomon) would say goodbye to them there. If they didn’t, he would ask for the remote and leave himself. In any case, the adventure was over for now, and the loose ends had been, more or less, tied. The next time Katherine and Alan would meet, things would have changed a lot. Probably for both of them. “Hey, Misu…” “... Yes?” “Alan and Levi... they were talking about some pirate friends they have, right?” “Yes. They apparently belong to a group of pirate digimon.” “I've heard things have been quite busy in the ocean, lately.” “You have?” “All of those… pirate stories remind me of a pirate Paul and I met years ago when our restaurant toured through the ocean. I heard his daughters became somewhat famous across the seas, recently. Their names are... Erika and Barbara, I think. I wonder where they are.” “That story reminds me of a movie I saw once. You better tell us all about it soon.” “I think that… I will have time to tell you about a lot of stuff.”
(IV) Episode 3 (Part 2): Tying loose ends. (COMPLETED).
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