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Post by Tadayoshi Teppei and Silence on Oct 12, 2021 1:22:09 GMT
Oh, boy. This isn't good. Tadayoshi's elbows were on his desk while his hands anxiously rubbed his face. Thinking quickly soon after, Tadayoshi asked without looking up, "Would you close the blinds, please?" He didn't need to look up to know it was happening. He could hear the blinds of his office drawing closed practically all by themselves. "Thank you." This state of privacy left the young man free to slouch and scratch his itches and indulge in all his other physiological signs of stress without letting the whole floor know something was very, very wrong. "I don't know what to do anymore. If this is not handled delicately, it may ruin everything."
The general's dutiful right hand struggled with watching the young man suffer this stress, but he understood it. He understood that the poor boy was caught in a tight Catch-22, and that was without the stress finding out everything he had missed during his term abroad in South Korea. Now this new problem in his first few days back was disconcerting, to say the least. Elsewhere in the building, the water cooler was already buzzing. "I thought he'd be happy to be back."
"I'm sure he is! He just needs to settle back in, you know?"
"Is he still grumpy about that girl?"
"I think he got through that."
Shades or none, the rest of Tadayoshi's team was too keen to miss the change in their leader's mood. Wherever they gathered, they gossiped.
"I bet I know how to - ZZZZZZT - cheer him up!"
"I do not believe your brand of humor will work for him."
If one was able to stay focused on their work and ignore the gossip, it would have been an achievement. For AEGIS agent Dokamon, that was about to be particularly difficult. He was the one Commandramon ultimately tracked down first and so would inform, "Excuse me. At your earliest convenience, General Tadayoshi would like to see you and Agents Zero and Walker in his office."
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Post by Johan Walker on Oct 12, 2021 1:50:22 GMT
Oh Homeostasis, I hope this doesn't take up all of their time...
That's how Dokamon was feeling when he walked past the Silence members that had gathered together to gossip about their general. Apparently he wasn't feeling all that great, just judging based off of what the members were saying. Being Johan's partner, Dokamon was one of the more serious members in AEGIS, contrasting GREATLY with the newest agent assigned under Johan, Zero, so Dokamon was not exactly thrilled to see all these Digimon standing around and talking when there was work to be done.
"As the humans put it, 'if you have time to lean, you have time to clean,'" Dokamon said out loud as he was walking by, carrying some important reports from his and Johan's last mission with him. As he was walking though, Commandramon stopped him, stating that Tadayoshi had requested him, Johan and Zero to his office. "I shall inform Johan and Zero and we will be on our way shortly."
After delivering the reports, Dokamon let Johan know about Tadayoshi's summoning via the Human-Digimon Comm. link before he set out to find Zero. It turned out the AppHackmon was in his bedroom, playing video games on his computer instead of doing any actual work. Typical. "Zero, we have to go see Teppei in his office."
"In a minute, I'm just about to beat this level," Zero would say as he continued to play his game. Naturally, Dokamon did not care. Using his FAR superior strength, he simply walked in and grabbed Zero's cape before turning and heading towards Tadayoshi's office, dragging Zero along with him. The AppHackmon took it as well as you'd expect: he kicked and screamed as he was being dragged. "WAIT! NO! I ALMOST BEAT THE LEVEL! LET ME GO! AAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"
Before long, all three had made it to the office they were summoned to, with Johan in the middle, Dokamon to his left and Zero to his right. They saw first hand how stressed Tadayoshi looked. "Er... good afternoon, Tadayoshi. You needed us for something?"
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Post by Tadayoshi Teppei and Silence on Nov 4, 2021 1:22:55 GMT
"Thank you for coming. I hope I didn't interrupt anything," the boy somberly greeted the group while stood up behind his desk and bearing his weight on it, leaning over the piece of furniture and bracing both arms against it. "Would you close the door behind you?"
The General needed a moment to collect himself before he explained himself. He was looking down at his hands as he began, "There's an- an unfortunate situation. There's a student at our school with clear video evidence of the existence of digimon." When Tadayoshi finally looked up, he was showing an anxiously bitten lip and the soft sheen of a little sweat. "He's blackmailing the digimon and that digimon's human. If they don't both meet with the student after school tomorrow and explain everything,, that student will just post the video everywhere he can think of. I'm sure I don't have to explain why we AEGIS needs to intervene, but this case needs to be handled discreetly."
Commandramon didn't need to be told to close all the blinds just then, making the room noticeably darker. He did it without prompt. This only made the general relax a little. "This is shameful, but..." Tadayoshi went on to beckon the group closer with one hand and set a tablet down on the desk with the other. A video was queued up already, and with a light touch Tadayoshi made it play.
"I knew it! I knew that kid was hiding something!" The young male voice was excitedly exclaiming that was out of view; the heavy bass of the sound and its prominence over the events of the foreground suggested this was the voice of the person taking the video. "Little Mr. Perfect cutting class again. Where do you keep going, little man?" Johan may have recognized the setting as his own school's baseball field. The video was being taken from beneath some bleachers, but despite the poor lighting it was nevertheless plain as day that Tadayoshi, still in his school uniform and apparently unawares, stood firm just behind home plate. In front of the boy there was Commandramon, armored up and advancing with his rifle in the high-ready position.
"Drop- I said drop it!" The soldier commanded. The camera only panned a second later to show the apparent target on the pitcher's mound. Johan would have known a Kotemon when he saw one, but the person behind the camera apparently didn't. They were just whispering some exclamations and curses to themselves in the background. The Kotemon only held a shinai for a weapon, but they held it up and ready, and Commandramon seemed to find it dangerous enough to warrant caution. "I won't ask again: put the stick down!"
Four seconds and several paces forward later, the Kotemon had only mumbled something too soft to hear and planted their feet more firmly. It looked like it should have been a fight until, seemingly out of nowhere, a Strabimon materialized from the fencer's shadow and swiftly kicked the back of one knee. This caused the knee to involuntarily bend, not in a way it wasn't supposed to, but the surprise shift in weight sent the Kotemon's whole body tumbling down. The wolf was also swift enough to catch the suspect's wrist in one hand and the shinai in the other. The disarming move was obscured, but when it was over the wolf stood over the Kotemon holding the stripped weapon for himself. "Hey, man, you know you were banned after last time, right?"
"Good one, you two! Charging the digiport." While Commandramon ziptied the subject, Tadayoshi could be heard praising, "That's a clean arrest, no violence, no noise, no witnesses. You should be proud of yourselves."
There was more talking, but the videographer talked over them with his own whispered whimpering. "Oh, sh- shit, I gotta get outta here!" After the camera lens shakes and dips to face the ground, the video ends.
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Post by Johan Walker on Nov 5, 2021 19:04:41 GMT
"All that was interrupted was Zero's electronic game, but I am positive he will live," Dokamon said, earning a glare from Zero as Dokamon closed the door, per Tadayoshi's request.
Tadayoshi got right to the point: a student at the high school has video proof of Digimon. This was a definite shock for the trio, as even Dokamon had a look of surprise on his face. "Welp, show's over, it was a good run while it lasted," Zero said as he turned around and started heading towards the door.
"You aren't leaving that soon, we need to hear Teppei out," Johan reminded the AppHackmon. Tadayoshi continued, stating that the student was blackmailing those in the video to come forward and explain everything, or else it would be uploaded to the internet. "Yeah, that's... not good. Can we see this video by any chance, Teppei?"
Commandramon would then close the blinds of the office and Tadayoshi would hand over a tablet to the trio, the video beginning to play. Johan could immediately recognize not only the location, his school's baseball field, but the voice of the person recording as well. "Wait... isn't that the kid that's always picking on you, Teppei?"
The video would then show none other than Tadayoshi and Commandramon facing against a Kotemon on the baseball field. "Oh no..." Dokamon said in an almost monotone kind of voice.
"You and Commando made a fucky-wucky," Zero teased, though this time in a less jokey kind of voice. For all of Zero's quirks, when shit needs to get done he will get it done, and this was definitely something that needed to be fixed.
The trio watched the video until the end, all of them exchanging looks at each other. "...yeah, this is bad," Johan admitted.
"He could have checked for bystanders first before he pursued the Kotemon," Dokamon said.
"Yeah, but he was clearly under the bleachers. No one typically goes under there, or so I thought..."
"So, are we gonna give in to the blackmailer's demands? It couldn't hurt to explain, he practically knows about Digimon at this point."
"That isn't going to be enough. Even if we give in, that kid has it out for Teppei. He won't delete the video, he'll probably use it as future blackmail, or probably even upload it to the internet anyways out of spite. What we need to do is delete the video before he gets a chance to do anything with it." He focused his attention at Tadayoshi. "I have an idea. You and I will meet up with him, on the condition that he brings the video. Then while we have him distracted, Zero will use his skills to dig into his camera and delete the video from inside."
"Assuming he or no one else catches me in the process, I can even edit it so that it makes the kid look stupid if he even tries to upload it."
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Post by Tadayoshi Teppei and Silence on Nov 9, 2021 23:58:36 GMT
Even though Johan disputed that they were at fault, both the captain and the general hung their heads in shame as Zero and Johan insinuated that this situation was squarely their fault. "I'm sorry we put you in this position," the boy formally apologized. "It's true that we should have been more attentive. If you help us through this, I promise we will never repeat this mistake."
Commandramon was the one who first weighed in on the solutions proposed. "It may work," he assented, "I agree. It would be foolish to take this boy at his word. Direct action such as this is needed. However-" Commandramon paced stepped forward to place himself at the center of the room. "-I see two risks: one of thoroughness, and one of long-term benefit. Consider the possibility the boy has a backup on another device. In order to be absolutely sure, we'd have to search them all as well as any cloud services he may be using. This is something AEGIS could realistically do, but..." Commandramon glanced back at Tadayoshi. "...I fear you may not be able to do it without arousing the attention of others in the agency. General Teppei would prefer your discretion in this matter to avoid professional embarrassment."
Tadayoshi looked at the floor.
"Nevertheless, it may work. I would even say chances are favorable he does not have a backup. We're dealing with a school bully, not a criminal mastermind. The long-term issue is we need to be confident he will never attempt to collect similar evidence. General Teppei shouldn't have to look over his shoulder all hours of the day, sleep with an eye open in the nights, for fear he may be watched and followed."
"I'm willing to meet him." Tadayoshi seemed to agree with that part of the plan. "It makes sense I'd want to watch him destroy it. I can make him agree to bring the video."
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Post by Johan Walker on Nov 10, 2021 3:33:26 GMT
"Look, you aren't the only one who's messed up before," Johan told Tadayoshi. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm the reason Psych isn't here with us. If I had just been a bit more cautious instead of rushing into an investigation..." Johan started to drift away before he took a deep breath, facing Tadayoshi again. "What I'm saying is, I'd be a hypocrite if I shamed you because of this. I want to help you fix it. I don't want to go behind Sophie's back again, but... damn it, I want to do SOMETHING right again."
"If Johan stands beside you, then so shall I," Dokamon responded. "I shall help fix this situation with you."
"...why not? Got nothing better to do," Zero said, with a sense of genuine compassion hiding behind that seemingly aloof response.
Commandramon would have control of the discussion now, stating two separate risks involved with the plan. One risk was the idea that the boy could have backups, or even uploaded it to the cloud, meaning those would all have to be searched. "The cloud won't be a problem. Anything technological, digital, online, any of that stuff is my specialty. I can search through the cloud for the video, if he was that smart."
The other risk was potentially clueing in other AEGIS agents on the act. "...I suppose we will just have to, as the humans say, cross the bridge when we come to it," Dokamon stated.
"Yeah, exactly... and as for what he saw..." He looked down at Dokamon. "How's your acting?"
"About adept level. I will play out any scenario you wish for me to play out."
"Perfect. We'd have to explain just exactly what he saw in the video, so I propose that we tell him I've been working on a new hologram technology in my spare time, and that you were helping me test it, Teppei. It's a bit more on the spot than I would like, but given it's me I'd like to believe the idea is more than plausible. What do you say?"
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Post by Tadayoshi Teppei and Silence on Dec 3, 2021 3:32:37 GMT
"The plan is... risky," Tadayoshi hedged. "All it takes to debunk is reaching out and touching them. We'll have to make sure he can't do that. Still, if it could be done, I bet you could do it." After some thought, "We should bring Commandramon and Dakota as well, just in case he wants to see them, too." Eye contact with Commandramon was all it took for the captain to take it upon himself to step out of the room, presumably to inform the Strabimon of the current state of affairs. "If the five of us can fool Asahi while Zero surreptitiously verifies the video's complete erasure..."
Tadayoshi paced in place a moment, visibly struggling. "...It may work. It must work. It doesn't feel like the right thing to do, going behind Miss Sophie's back and violating Asahi's privacy, but alright." Tadayoshi ended by asking Zero, "I assume you won't leave any trace like, say, a mocking voice recording or some such?"
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Post by Johan Walker on Dec 4, 2021 2:28:57 GMT
"I know it's risky, but we don't have any other choice," Johan said. "Usually, I would prefer more time to think, but the entire secret of Digimon could easily be compromised if Asahi decides to upload the video onto social media early just because he feels like it. Time is not on our side this time."
Johan didn't have any qualms bringing Commandramon and Dakota along, since Tadayoshi did have a good point about Asahi potentially wanting to see them as well. Commandramon left the room, presumably to tell the Dakota about the situation. "Be careful who hears you," Dokamon warned Commandramon. "Speed in particular. He may go to tell Sophie and Lantis the very moment that he finds out."
Tadayoshi paced in place for a bit, seemingly pondering the current plan in motion. Johan, Dokamon and Zero agreed they didn't like going behind Sophie's back again but considering the circumstance it really couldn't be helped. "Just remember that I'm already in the doghouse with Sophie. If any of this goes out and we lose our jobs, I'm bringing you and Silence down with us."
As for the question to Zero... "Aw but leaving behind a calling card is my favorite part," Zero mock-complained, before providing a real answer in a more reasonable tone. "He's just some kid with a Sony Handicam or something, he's not worth leaving behind any messages. Besides, I know this is a more stealth based thing, I'm not dumb enough to leave something like that behind, so no worries."
If there was nothing else to discuss, then all that was left to do was prepare and set out to meet Asahi.
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Post by Tadayoshi Teppei and Silence on Apr 28, 2022 2:13:27 GMT
Tadayoshi had been fidgety and anxious through his classes all the next day. What if Asahi just changed his mind and posted the video without meeting? What if Asahi had already shown it to some people offline? What if Sophie found out about him and Johan going behind her back? Heck, what if Colin found out just by how clearly restless he was in the classes they shared together? As far as Tadayoshi could tell, no such thing had happened (he was certainly watching Asahi's social media to be as sure as he could). Paranoid as he was, he even tried to walk a route that he thought would shake any tail between the school proper and the baseball field. The baseball club wasn't expected to practice that day so far as he knew, which was why no one prevented him ultimately from going there and standing out in the open in front of the away team's dugout. Every second of waiting for someone, anyone to show up after him made his heart rate climb. His eyes darted all over the open field as he silently prayed for some living soul to meet him there. Tadayoshi was sure Johan would be there for him, but what if Asahi arrived first? What was he supposed to do then? The best the guilty boy could do was keep fidgeting with his watch and pray Johan got there before Asahi did.
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Post by Johan Walker on Apr 30, 2022 3:06:14 GMT
Johan was not doing much better in his classes, either. He had the same exact worries that Tadayoshi was having, about Asahi uploaded the video without meeting, or if he already showed others, or if Colin and Sophie found out. However, unlike Tadayoshi, Johan kept his cool, carrying on with his day as if it were like any other. The nervous nagging feeling was still there, but Johan was able to work past it.
"He's nervous..." Dokamon said to Zero from within Johan's V-Pet. "He's not showing it, but I can sense it."
"Poor kid... being nervous is not a good feeling at all," Zero said with an oddly sympathetic tone, "but in a way... I'm kinda proud of him. He's able to put on a good poker face, working like he usually does without a hint of nervousness visibly present. You got a good partner there, Dokamon."
Finally, the day was over. After putting his outdoor shoes back on, Johan would also make his way to the baseball field, which was empty today since baseball practice wasn't happening that day. Good, that just made it easier to keep this on the down low. He quickly saw Tadayoshi waiting for him, though of course he was very fidgety. Johan honestly couldn't blame him, since he was feeling the same way.
"Here I am, Tadayoshi," Johan would call out to his co-worker and classmate before letting Zero out of the V-Pet... before Asahi even had a chance to see him. "Zero, you know the plan. Go hide behind that tree over there, and-"
"-and then once you have Dokamon start distracting him, go into the camera and delete the video," Zero interrupted, "I got it, Righty, no prob." As he ran over to the tree to hide, Johan looked back at Tadayoshi.
"This is gonna work, I promise," Johan said, giving his superior a warm smile. Hopefully that would ease up his nerves for a bit...
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Post by Tadayoshi Teppei and Silence on May 3, 2022 4:16:04 GMT
"May I ask you to do most of the talking?" Tadayoshi sheepishly requested of Johan. "It's just, this is your plan and all. I'm scared I'll say the wrong thing." One of the young man's hands dipped into his back pocket, where he let it rest on the Xros loader, now sticking slightly out. If only this were something to simple as an impersonal digimon-related problem! Those, he knew how to handle. Faced with a situation that couldn't be solved by calling on the right digimon for the right job had Tadayoshi feeling a bit hot under the collar.
"Oi! Freak!" Asahi was not polite, quiet, or even very punctual. As discreet as Johan and Tadayoshi were trying to be about this whole thing, this hulk of a boy was happy to shout at the pair from opposite dugout before he strolled casually on over. Even at a glance, it was easy to see why Tadayoshi had so much trouble standing up to this bully. Asahi was tall; Tadayoshi was below average. Asahi had the build of an American football linebacker where Tadayoshi was built more like the water boy. Asahi oozed self-confidence, even arrogance with every step while the sight of him made the Xros general lower his gaze toward the ground. "Oh, that's cute. You brought a friend to help beat me up?" Clearly, the bully wasn't afraid of the thought as he swaggered on up to well within arm's length of the two boys.
I don't believe in violence against children, was something Commandramon had to chant to himself within the Xros loader in order to restrain himself from bursting out of it.
"Kinda surprised you didn't get your monster pals to do it, honestly. Pretty stupid," the bully scoffed. "So, what's the deal with little Yoshi and that monster fight back there, huh?"
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Post by Johan Walker on May 4, 2022 1:25:04 GMT
Johan blinked when Tadayoshi asked him to do all the talking. From what he could remember, Tadayoshi was the most qualified to be the leader out of the two of them. Though he supposed this was a very personal problem for Tadayoshi, since it did involve one of his main tormenters. Johan offered Tadayoshi a warm smile. "No worries. Asahi is a brute, so he'll be easy to fool, especially with convincing effects. Just follow my lead, and we'll get through this perfectly, that much I can assure you."
Asahi's sudden calling made Johan tense up a bit. He shouted at the pair from across the baseball field before he casually walked on over. Johan has had a few encounters with Asahi before today, and none of them were all too pleasant. The poor British boy sweatdropped as he watched Asahi come closer and closer... just what had he gotten himself into this time, he was asking himself at this point in time.
While Tadayoshi was essentially forced to look to the ground due to Asahi's intense confident aura, Johan did no such thing. He wasn't afraid of brutes like this... if he got beat up, so what? He simply gave Asahi a neutral look as he acknowledged Johan's existence. Holy hell, this guy didn't know the meaning of "personal space," did he? "Unlike you, I do not believe in physical violence to solve my problems," Johan coolly told the bully.
"Wow, this guy's a prick..." Zero whispered to himself from behind the tree. That, dear viewer, should tell you quite a lot about Asahi right here and now.
Finally, Asahi went straight to the chase: he asked about the monster fight from the other day. Johan smirked; he had this perfectly rehearsed just mere hours before. "I'm glad you asked that, Asahi," Johan said as he pulled out his Digivice. "You see, those monsters were actually holograms of my own design. I can show you, if you want... but first, you gotta prove that you have that video you recorded. I don't want my work being shown off to the public before I can finalize it, you know?"
Dokamon and Zero were both impressed with how Johan's been handling this so far... his baloney story actually sounded logical! Especially since Johan would be smart enough to design holograms. But here was the golden moment: did Asahi truly live up to his promise?
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Post by Tadayoshi Teppei and Silence on May 8, 2022 2:47:33 GMT
By contrast, as Johan confidently riposted the bully, Tadayoshi let himself step backward so that Johan was standing slightly in front of himself. It was hard to determine whether Johan was taking the right attitude. On one hand, Asahi's swagger and attempted dominance through body language didn't abate even one bit, but on the other no one had yet been relieved of their lunch money. As far as the Xros general could judge, it was thus far a tie.
Apparently Asahi judged Johan's request to be reasonable enough. After withdrawing a smartphone from his pocket, the larger boy was quick to queue up and play a video. While he faced its screen toward Johan and Tadayoshi, he showed his suspicions of the pair by only holding the phone close to his own chest and backing away from any attempts to lean in and get closer. It seemed he wasn't keen to let them have a chance to snatch the machine out of his hands. At least he was good to his word, at least as far as the other two boys could tell; the video he played was the same one Tadayoshi had shown him in the AEGIS office.
"Now, I ain't no genius with all this nerd stuff," Asahi preambled (which was, no doubt, a complete shock to Johan), "But something stinks. This is your hologram?" Perhaps he wasn't a genius, the raw suspicion alone seemed to make the bully yet hard to convince. "I looked everywhere when little Yoshi-boy left, and y'know what I didn't see?" Clearly, the bully was already convinced he had a 'gotcha,' and he was happy to show it with an arrogant crossing of the arms and a knowing smirk. "No projectors... and no you."
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Post by Johan Walker on May 8, 2022 4:32:48 GMT
Johan had dealt with his fair share of bullies in the past, and if he was being honest, he wasn't impressed by Asahi. If it weren't for the fact that Asahi had some incriminating evidence for the existence of Digimon, Johan wouldn't have even given this brute the time of day. It amazed him how Tadayoshi took this guy's abuse for so long, if he were being honest. Asahi would then pull out his smartphone and start recording the video, albeit he held the phone incredibly close to his chest. Johan assumed that this was to prevent Johan or Tadayoshi from easily swiping the phone and running away. Unfortunately for Asahi, it didn't matter how close to his chest he held his phone... Zero was going to find a way to hack into it. "Ehehehehehe..." Zero chuckled as his claws opened up, revealing tiny insta-connector ports. These ports stretched all the way over to Asahi's phone without him knowing and attached themselves right to it, giving Zero instant access to everything about the phone and the Cloud. "Alright, keep him talkin', you guys... now, where's that pesky video... nope... not that one... no... no- AAH! DEFINITELY not that one... *shudder* ...a-HA! Here we go..." While Zero was busy with that, Asahi was starting to call Johan's bluff, stating that neither he nor any projectors were there after Tadayoshi had left. Of course, Johan had this planned, as well. "That's the amazing part... these devices here are the projectors. They're able to create holograms with mass, anywhere and everywhere. Observe." He pressed a button on the Digivice and out shot a beam of light towards the ground, forming into Dokamon... who somehow looked even more lifeless than he did before. "This is one of the monsters of my own design that I based off of one of those kids monster catching shows," Johan explained, as he mimic-pressed some buttons. "I programmed him with pre-written lines to speak..." "Let us adventure forth, Johan," Dokamon spoke in a more forced robotic tone.
"I can make him walk around..."
Dokamon took a few steps forward.
"And I can even make him dance!"
And that's when it happened. Dokamon knew this moment of humiliation would dawn upon him when he and Johan were making the plan. So without hesitation, Dokamon gave in... and he did the floss dance for Asahi.
"Oh... my... god..." Zero muttered as he got a glimpse of the scene playing out in front of him. Zero was definitely glad that he had his own secret video camera set up when he overheard Johan and Dokamon discussing their acting plan. This was absolutely PRICELESS! But would it be enough to fool Asahi?
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Post by Tadayoshi Teppei and Silence on May 20, 2022 2:37:29 GMT
Anxious as Tadayoshi was, perhaps even rightfully... he couldn't help himself. He tried to be polite about it, turning away from Dokamon and shyly covering his mouth. But the sound was still audible: Tadayoshi laughed at Dokamon. As for Asahi, well, he was significantly less polite about it. He was happy to sneer at Dokamon and deliver an inappropriately enthusiastic belly laugh. "Ha! Look at that!" Well, at least the bully was entertained. He observed out loud, "He looks like such a tough guy, but he's doing the stupid dance," as if this were a fact he had trouble handling - or perhaps it was just his bully instincts kicking in, wanting to really rub in the humiliation for Dokamon even if he was allegedly just an unconscious light projection.
"Uh- yeah!" It seemed the general had finally found his voice. "Yeah, and he made one for me, too! He told me he wanted to try making YouTube videos with them, so he asked me to test them out. Uh, didn't you see him filming it that day?" The problem was Tadayoshi was clearly less a slick liar than Johan. Immediately after weaving this tale, he couldn't help showing Johan a sheepish expression, meaning to silently apologize for what he had just done. He tried to change the subject hastily from there. "Here, look: Commandramon, realize." When the boy held out his Loader, the captain materialized, armed and armored, beside Dokamon.
Lucky for everyone involved, Commandramon was a better liar than his superior. He could have easily been mistaken for a completely static projection. He was fighting off his urges to blink and even made an effort to slow his breathing to undetectable levels. It was worth putting in the work during stealth/scout training, the digimon was grateful, but this is not how I expected to use it. The captain was glaring daggers at Asahi, but fortunately that was fitting with his strong soldier persona.
"See, he can do stuff, too. Here, he'll take two steps forward." When Tadayoshi pretended to push a button, Commandramon did step two paces closer to Asahi.
"Damn, that thing looks so real!" In particular, Asahi looked fascinated by the M4A1 in hand. "The detail on that thing is crazy..." Good news for Zero: he got what he wanted. The bad news was that it was a long and boring path to get there. Zero had to wade through a vast sea's worth of senseless and unfunny memes, cat pictures, and selfies in order to locate the right file. Ultimately, though, there it was: wtf_is_that_nerd_doing.mov. It was a good thing that Zero was thorough, too, with enough effort he'd learn that his library was in fact backed up to a cloud server... and many things he'd presumably deleted were there, too.
For example, Zero probably understood why Asahi wouldn't keep a certain photo timestamped on Halloween eight years ago. True, he was quite adorable in his little Sailor Moon costume, but he likely didn't want to glance past that old photo every time he looked in his photo library.
From there, there was little doubt the hacker digimon would notice the other connected device: a tablet, which not only was miles away from here according to its geo data, but it contained the same file locally. Perhaps the bully had wanted to keep a copy even after supposedly deleting the only one. "How'd you get 'em to look so solid?" Commandramon couldn't move independently or he'd risk blowing his cover, even as the young man showed no respect for his personal space by crouching down and holding out a finger. By the way he tentatively poked at Commandramon, it was clear he didn't actually expect to hit anything solid. But the bully still inquisitively poked at the captain's weapon - a death wish for most. There was no helping it at that point, thought the soldier: with a quick motion, Commandramon smacked Asahi's hand away like one might a naughty child before resuming his previous stance.
"Ow- hey!" Asahi growled, "What the hell?"
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