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Of Winter and Quiet.... Sorta [Ask]
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Post by Daichi on Jan 11, 2023 8:23:39 GMT
"Oh, that? That's not important right now, but yes, my wife, she's like four months in now. Maybe we'll celebrate the birth of a new child in may or june," Yuuki answered nonchalantly.
"C-congrats?"
"....Heh, yeah, thanks." there's just something that softened within the young man's eyes, but even so, it doesn't seem like he's going to stand still either. "There's no need to melt those people down. I got something for that," he answered, revealing a palm sized crystal that he practically tossed to the ground, where it broke into smithereen. The power contained inside cleared the excess snow, and also releasing the frozen humans.
"But now we shold go somewhere private. I need to talk with all of you... Because if we didn't stop this Hyogamon, we'll have more than just dead homeless people on our newsfeed."
"Then how about my secret base? I have one nearby..." Daichi suggested.
"Whichever it is, you guys should ride my car for the meantime. It's going to be a bit cramped, but hang in there for a bit.'
There's a little dread in Daichi's mind as he was told and practically shoved in, along Kaya, Carlos and Dio inside the car... but thankfully, whatever fear that he had was pretty much abated when Yuuki drives safely to the secret base. Soon, he found himself serving hot chocolates to his guests.
"...Nice place you have here."
"T-thank you. Admittedly this is the first time I got this many people in my secret base, but... I'd be very happy if you could keep this a secret."
"Of course."
"So...?" Daichi asked, pulling a chair.
"...Right... That Hyogamon, that one is Aberrant, as you have known... hmn, but..." Yuuki glanced at Dio and Carlos. "...I guess you wouldn't know what are they, huh... I wonder if I should ask Valt and Ryouta to explain it to you or something... guess not. Anyway, let's just say that they're... mutated Digimons that are affected by some sort of hazarduous external creature that's also datalike in nature. These mutated Digimons bears negative desires and emotions toward humans, and they're... basically, strengthened when these creatures possessed them.
Now, those frozen peoples are unfortunately part of its victims... which means now that they escaped, the danger has yet passed. We need to chase this Hyogamon and terminate them. That's the only currently known cure for being an Aberrant."
"Sure I'll be fine wih that, but..."
"Right, I think they still operates around Shibuya. Thing is... where will they appear is the thing. The wound that I gave him most likely won't heal until... tomorow. In that case, we should try asking around for a myth of frozen people or in case someone seen anything like frozen homeless people just in case."
"...That's concerning," Daichi mused.
"Unfortunately we can't do anything else... especially with you being their main target, Shiki-kun."
"You don't have to remind me again...." he sighed. "So, do you think that this Hyogamon operates outside of this sector of Shibuya?"
"Hope not, but we should not engage it while the sun is away... So the moment you see it at night... run."
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Post by Carlos Rey on Jan 11, 2023 21:47:34 GMT
After the matter of the frozen people was thankfully easily settled (even though Carlos still thought it would have been prudent to call at least an ambulance), there was a part of Carlos that wondered if he should head back home now while the going was still good. That thought was promptly thrown out as soon as Daichi casually offered a "secret base" for the group to talk in private.
"...secret base?" Somehow the nonchalant tone Daichi used was more bizarre than the fact he had a secret base to begin with.
A slightly cramped and awkward ride later, the two were indeed sitting on the inside of said base, Dio crosslegged on the floor while Carlos slumped back into one of the chairs, hot chocolate in hand as if this was just another regular occurence in his increasingly bizarre lfie. How come weird things had a way of finding him even when he tried to lay low?
For the first time since the start of the day the imp and man shared a look of concern between the two at the mention of Valt and Ryouta.
"N-no thanks, the sparknotes version works. No need to bother the old mon with that." Dio was quick to reply, Carlos visibly agreeing with a not suspicious at all nod of his head. Thankfully it seemed they were all too happy to get them up to speed about what the hell an Aberrant even was. Concerning? Perhaps, but not any more than the other type of corruption the duo had dealt with in the past. You met one data twisting aberration of a digimon, you kinda had met them all in their book, which is probably why Carlos would soon interject.
"Are they really that strong? You managed to get them to run away with just a car. Surely the eight of us can handle a single digimon."
Of course, there was still the matter of actually finding them again, to which Dio had at least one possible solution for: "Can't we just track them following the stormfront? Clearly they can mess with weather at will so we just have to zero in on wherever a storm appears that shouldn't."
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Post by Kaya Matsui and Hawkeye on Jan 15, 2023 6:13:59 GMT
"Oh my GOD! Congratulations, Yuuki!" Kaya cheered, as if she was momentarily forgetting about the extremely serious situation the group was now faced with. Hawkeye, however, would at least attempt to get them back on track. "As happy as I am for you, Yuuki, I concur that now is not the best time for celebrations."
At least they didn't have to worry about the frozen people, as Yuuki seemed to have a magic crystal that cleared the excess snow and also began to free the humans. He explained that he needed to talk to everyone somewhere private, to which Daichi suggested that they go to his secret base. "Wait, you have a secret base?" Kaya asked Daichi. Made sense that she wouldn't have heard about it, considering it was a "secret" base, but it was still weird to hear. Then Kaya and Hawkeye practically got pushed into Yuuki's car along with everyone else. After seeing how Yuuki tended to drive, Kaya squeezed Hawkeye like a stuffed animal the whole way while Hawkeye himself was pondering about writing a will right here and now. Thankfully the drive wasn't as bad as Yuuki's crash earlier, and they arrived at what looked like a decorated abandoned bus. "I never knew this was in the park before..."
And before they knew it, everyone was inside and being treated to some complimentary hot cocoa, which Hawkeye was enjoying the most out of everyone there. The joy on his face was a vast contrast to the semi-scowl he had before. "Thank you for the cocoa, Daichi. It is very delicious."
"Carlos... I think I remember you," Kaya said to the white-haired man. "Didn't you have two partners before...?"
Of course, they had more serious things to discuss. Yuuki explained to Carlos and Dio what Aberrants were, what kind of abilities they'd have and all that. Carlos stepped in, saying that he was sure the eight of them could take on one Aberrant. "They're not like other corrupted Digimon, Carlos," Kaya told him. "The Aberrants are extremely dangerous. One was able to take out two AEGIS agents at once by stealing their shadows just like that-" She snapped her fingers. "-and another almost electrocuted me to death before I even knew what was happening. They target humans specifically, especially chosen humans like us. Underestimate an Aberrant, and you're as good as dead."
Yuuki continued, stating the obvious that they needed to go out and hunt this Aberrant. They knew that it was hunting in the Shibuya area, but they didn't know where it would show up, so they had to ask around the area for myths about frozen humans and avoid fighting it during night. Dido then suggested they follow the stormfront to track it. "If we are to do that, we'd need some form of protection against the elements. Because of its power over the weather, we weren't able to defeat it."
"If only we could have you guys evolve higher than it..."
"You know very well that that's not an option, Kaya. But speaking of... Geo, I do not think it would be wise to fight the Hyogamon in your current state. You were clearly struggling against it, due to your water abilities, I'd wager. Unless there is some kind of work-around..."
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Post by Daichi on Jan 15, 2023 10:45:06 GMT
"...I think your reaction is telling," Hikaru pointed at Dio's words. "...While it's none of my business, I think you should present yourself and tell what's going on to him. Because from what I see, if he found three of you in your current state... he won't be pleased, at all. I say this as his friend since our birth."
On the question about power, Hikaru shook his head. "We're dealing not with single individual here, you see... We're dealing with two in body of one. Frags are... frankly, we have yet to study them at length due to them existing in place that we cannot reach normally, and that we cannot really nab a sample without knowing what will it do to us. All we know is that partnered Digimon have high resistance to them due to digivice's protection... Now why I say what I said? Because I have no idea whether the Frags would force evolve the Aberrant or not. Imagine if four of us fought that Digimon in adult stage... and it suddenly decided to evolve into a fiercer Digimon, what then?"
Well, Dio's suggestion is sound, Hikaru admits. "True, but at the same time, it's not as if this Digimon can't turn off his damn blizzard and only activates it when it's about to strike. And on top of that, I think we would need help of satellites to actually check these weather anomalies, because the blizzard only started small and usually forming in secluded places."
"...But there's a weakness that I noticed going around some rumors: None of the incident takes place in hidden aeas like under a pass or something, which means that it must be in open area." Yuuki supplemented.
"Which is great, but the rumors regarding this snow demon are scattered about... So how about we spend today looking for info? Unlikely that it will reveal itself to us today too."
When it's pointed out that Geo is not a good match against it, the earth dragon looked depressed.
"I'm sorry."
"No, no, you did great. Unfortunately, you're an earth dragon, closely related to the planet. You are at your weakest during the winter, where you're supposed to hibernate. I guess... you're kind of like plant spirit also huh." Hikaru mused.
"The sun does not bless the earth that well at this time after all. Not to mention, the aberrant won the field change. Geo is.. very dependant on the field."
"............Then, burn the field or something?" Hikaru mused, but quickly added "oh no, I'm just thinking randomly, that is all... I'm just spitballing, alright?" when he saw Geo's horrified expression. Both him and Geo exhaled in relief once they got their misunderstanding cleared.
"Either way, Geo's water wasn't immediately frozen, right? There are still application to it. I don't know if Dio can use lightning or not, but... considering that Geo's water are seawater then I felt like it still can act as a conduit at worst as long as it's not yet frozen." he continued.
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Post by Carlos Rey on Jan 22, 2023 23:58:17 GMT
"Yeah I bet he won't. Why do you think we're avoiding telling him?" Dio asked as if this was the most obvious thing in the world. As much as he hated it though he knew Hikaru was right, if only because deep down he knew Valt finding out on his own would be a lot more painful than coming clean willingly.
Of course, this was something they necesarily had to discuss right now, so Carlos was all too eager to shut down Kaya's line of questioning about him having more than one partner. "Yeah we met forever ago on a ship I think? And I did...well, I do." He sighed, giving her a tired glance before looking down at his cup. "It's complicated, ok?"
"Is it, now?" Dio said, eyes squinting at the man, who was quick to meet his glance with a glare of his own.
"I'm sorry, would the Dark Lord like to share with the rest of the class?" Dio grimaced but otherwise didn't respond, turning his attention back to his cocoa. "Thought so."
That bit of drama aside, things didn't seem much brighter on their current predicament either. Aberrants or frags were considerably more dangerous and alien than any of them anticipated,
"Sorry, I didn't know they were so, uh...particular." He managed a somewhat forced looking smile shortly after. "But we faced stuff like the D-Reaper before, so we'll think of something. Or well...you guys will, we'll probably be there as bait." He chuckled, though there was no audible irony in his tone.
As for their suggestion about Dio using lightning against them, the imp could only shake his head.
"I can, just not in this form." Dio replied, looking down at his palms with frustration. "And if what you're saying is correct it's not worth it for me to go even a single stage higher against it, even if I faced it alone." There was the possibility of asking Gio for that but...well, that meant asking Gio for help.
Also actually finding him, that was kinda important too.
"Curse that cheating bastard, what's the point of fighting something without a human partner if they can still digivolve out of desperation?" Dio snarled, fists clenched in righteous indignation.
"...but what about steam? If you heat up the water enough to evaporate surely that would be too hot for them to actually freeze it?" Carlos suggested after mulling it over for a moment. It was a reach sure but that was about the only way he could think about combining Dio and Geo's strenght like that.
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Post by Kaya Matsui and Hawkeye on Jan 23, 2023 5:03:16 GMT
Kaya and Hawkeye just kinda tilted their heads in confusion when the subject of a "Valt" came up. Carlos and Dio wanted to avoid telling this guy something? What could be so bad? What was Valt even like? To them, it was like they tuned into a TV show mid-season, with no context on anything that was going on. It didn't help much when Carlos tried to shut down Kaya's question, only stating that his situation with his other partner was complicated.
"If he's still alive, you should go find him," Kaya told Carlos with an extremely serious tone. "Find him, hug him, tell him you're never abandoning him again... I don't know what's going on with you guys, but I do know that cutting ties with my own partner was one of the worst mistakes I ever made."
"Kaya..."
Kaya was referring to a couple years ago, when she had made a bad judgement call after she and Hawkeye attacked their friends, Adrian and Shoutmon, for a very personal reason. In her grief over what she had allowed herself to do, she just left Hawkeye to fend for himself in the middle of the Digital World. Granted, it only lasted two weeks for her, but it was much longer for Hawkeye, and she had felt bad about it ever since then. Hawkeye may have forgiven her, but she was realizing in this moment that she still didn't forgive herself.
Hikaru properly explained to Carlos and Dio what the Aberrants were, and they both realized just how much more dangerous this current threat was. Still, Carlos seemed confident about facing against them after the "D-Reaper," or as he put it, being more like the bait. "The D-Reaper? What's that?" Kaya asked. "I think I heard that name somewhere before."
Well, it seemed that tracking the Aberrant via blizzards was a no-go, since it can't turn the blizzard off and only turns it on as it's about to strike. Plus, they would need the help of satellites to be able to track it to begin with. The only information they had that could help was a weakness of the Hyogamon needing to be in open areas, but the rumors are so widespread that it wouldn't do much to help. Hawkeye began to chuckle a bit.
"And to think we would be going home around this time," Hawkeye said. "You'd best inform your family about what we're doing, Kaya."
"Right..." Kaya said as she pulled out her phone to begin texting her mother.
Geo felt ashamed for his initial performance against the Aberrant, partly thanks to Hawkeye pointing it out. Hikaru explained that Geo was an earth dragon, at his weakest around winter, and very dependent on the field. However, Geo's water wasn't frozen, so it could be used as a conduit of some kind. Unfortunately, Dio didn't have a lightning move in his current form, so that idea seemed to get shut down.
"I may be able to assist with that problem," Hawkeye spoke up. "I am able to charge my own feathers with lightning energy and fire them as projectiles in this form. Should that suffice in acting as a conduit?"
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Post by Daichi on Jan 23, 2023 10:27:23 GMT
Hikaru sighed hard. "...If you know that, you will know that at this point he might have known about you guys separating... and from the hostility that I sense in all of this, it wasn't done in proper way. I know there are times where we have expectation, and got disappointed because it wasn't met. Bitterness builds up and eventually exploded, but you should have known better than to separate without plan like this. From what I know, you guys are not dumb... just the worst spontaneous decision maker. That's why it's best to immediately fix it. If you do not know how... Well that's what teacher is for. He might will scold you heavily... but at least you know he cares a lot about you. You know what's the worst sin in his eyes? That you know it's wrong and you dilly-dally to fix it.
Well, you're not my disciple, neither you are the subject of my crown, so it's fuck all at this point, but take it from a more veteran Digimon I guess. Valt will never abandon his students, just know that."
"Out of question," Daichi answered fiercely the moment Carlos said that they'll probably gonna act as a bait. "It shouldn't go to that point where we have to sacrifice one of us to fight back!"
"Also unfortunately it'll not be four against one," Yuuki calmly interjected. "...It's three against one."
"Wait wait, why can't you join the fight, Yuuki-san!?"
"It's it clear? Hikaru is still locked to Adult stage maximum. When it becomes four aganst one, not only we'll be a deadweight in case it evolved to the next stage, we'll be a primary target because we're the weakest. That was why I slammed my car against that Hyogamon instead of actually evolving Hikaru."
"......!"
"...It pains me more than anything, but unfortunately at the moment, I'm still in stagnant."
Daichi has learned that term from Hikaru. Some chosens who have been in the business for so long tends to lose out of hope and went against the crest that was once their source of power. Becomes embittered, so to say. Those whose crest flipped means that they went to the other side completely and might unlock dark evolution, but those who are stagnant basically does not act out of their despair, and instead are still trying to find their way back to the path they once abandoned... or a new path that are more in line with their current belief.
And it seems that Yuuki believes that Stripes, the Agumon X, have the needed answer to once again convince him, of the actual path.
"...So there's no other way than to tackle it one against three huh..."
"Just saying also, I'm pretty strong for my level, but my element is light and ice. I'll be a burden even if you ask me to help," Hikaru commented. "No, I can't wrestle that aberrant's ice power. Mine is not specialized to ice, but more to light. That's why the best we can do is to be your rearguard."
"...To ensure escape?"
"That's no other way. Chosens are essential to fight aganst aberrant after all, Oracion or not."
"I don't like the sound of that, honestly."
"...Anyway, first you have to check around for rumors or..."
"Actually it made me curious," Daichi raises a hand. "what if we determine its hunting ground versus rumors of its whereabout?"
"Hmn? Say what?" Hikaru asked
"If Aberrants behaves like a controlled wild beast, then isn't it better to find their hunting ground instead?"
"Hunting ground...?"
"Ah!" Geo perked immediately "...Because the Frag inside of them, I might be able to detect their hunting ground also. It'll be place where they return after a hunt, so usually there are strong feeling of malice seeped into the ground..."
Hikaru have heard of it before. A land that have blood spilled on them might won't recover for decades to come. The smell of 'death'... is it similar to what Geo is saying? But in that case...
"Then we might be able to track this Digimon faster than we thought. Oracion should not walk alone though... so Kaya, Hawkeye, Carlos, Dio, may I ask you to accompany these two just in case? I'll be driving you guys around," Yuuki suggested.
On the strategy tho...
"...No, ain't that worse?" Hikaru asked. "Water vapor means water particles are not in singular grouping, which would cause it to freeze faster? The surface area would be bigger than when it was water. If anything, hot water is better, but Geo can't produce such water. Mare Vishamon is like a reflection of sea of the planet."
Lightning and fire... "But in case of your feather, it explodes, right? It's better to use it on the enemy instead than Geo."
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Post by Carlos Rey on Feb 4, 2023 21:14:33 GMT
To say Carlos would have loved to catch Kaya up to speed with his situation involving the twins would be a bold faced lie. If anything between her and Hikaru's pep talk he was doing everything in his power not to snap back something he might regret. As was Dio, who was making a much more noticeable and visible effort if his gritted teeth and lashing tail were anything to go by.
The worst part however was them knowing deep down that they were both in the wrong, and that nothing neither Kaya nor Hikaru had said was off base.
"Tch...I...fine." Dio said, surprisingly enough being the first one to cave to the pressure, letting out a long defeated sigh. "I'll...we'll see about meeting him, if only because if I stall I might not get to keep all my limbs."
"We still have to find Gio first but...we'll figure something. Now can we focus on the living cooler rampaging around the place?"
Still, there was a rather large concern about the future proceedings, as Yuuki didn't seem like they were going to be able to help out much. Something about being locked out of higher stages and being stagnant? It probably was it's own can of worms but...he couldn't help but wonder if he might be in a similar situation soon, if not now. When was the last time him and Dio had been on a fight after all?
It seemed the imp was quick to catch that too, as he stood up from his seat, pointing and glaring daggers at the man all the while right after they were asked to assist Daichi in the hunt.
"Don't even try to stop me, I was already comitted to the hunt before you even got here."
Carlos blinked once or twice, before retorting with a plain voice, "I was just going to say they could count me in too."
"...ah. I see." The imp looked back, a vacant expression like that of a startled hare in his face. He soon turned himself around however, facing away from Carlos as he flicked the tip of his nose with the index. "Well, your help is not needed. But...it's appreciated."
Well, that was about the nicest he had been all day, so Carlos was more than happy to take this as a win and not dwell on it for long, instead shifting his attention to Hikaru. Sadly it seemed his plan wasn't particularly good or helpful. "Well, I'm fresh outta ideas, unless you want to risk keeping him in an enclosed space so he has the least possible amount of snow to play with." And good luck getting him to a place that could both contain him while also minimizing collateral damage.
"I guess I can focus on keeping you hot and warm." Dio said with a shrug.
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Post by Kaya Matsui and Hawkeye on Feb 5, 2023 3:44:04 GMT
Kaya and Hawkeye both smiled when Carlos and Dio caved in, agreeing that they'd find Gio after they dealt with the current Hyogamon crisis at hand. It was likely mostly thanks to Hikaru's words, but Kaya wanted to think that she contributed at least somewhat. "I hope things work out for you three," was the last that she said on the matter for now.
Daichi completely disagreed with the notion of Carlos and Dio being the bait, a sentiment that Kaya and Hawkeye sided with Daichi on. One of them shouldn't have to be sacrificed for the others to fight back. That's when Yuuki spoke up about not joining the others in the fight, explaining how four Champion level Digimon at once would likely cause the Hyogamon to evolve, and Hikaru was still stuck at having his Champion form be his highest form. Kaya recalled back in the Server Woods when he evolved to the Champion level after so long to help defeat the ExD Cannonbeemon.
Hikaru, while strong for his level, was out of his element when dealing with an ice Aberrant like this. It seemed that the most he and Yuuki could do was ensure an escape route for the others if things didn't go well on their end. Kaya just watched as Daichi, Yuuki and Hikaru had their conversation as she was still deep in thought about the whole thing. Eventually, the conversation shifted to Hyogamon potentially having a hunting ground, and Geo claimed that he could detect where their hunting spot would be, because of the Frag within the Aberrant.
"A hunting spot... that does sound plausible," Hawkeye said. "A strong feeling of malice doesn't sound appealing, but it makes sense for Frags and Aberrants." Yuuki then asked the others if they would be willing to accompany Daichi and Geo with this case, since Oracions shouldn't travel alone.
"You can count us in," Kaya said, giving a thumbs up to Yuuki. "When there's Digimon trouble of any kind, Hawkeye and I aren't known for just sitting around and doing nothing."
"Precisely," Hawkeye added, giving his own peace sign in addition. His face suddenly grew dark. "Wait, did you say you would drive us, Yuuki...?"
They also had to discuss the strategy they'd use. Carlos's plan wasn't particularly helpful unfortunately, since water vapor would end up freezing faster. He did suggest getting it to an enclosed area without any snow, but there were plenty of reasons why that might not have worked. And Hikaru thought that Hawkeye using his feathers on the enemy instead of Geo would be more beneficial.
"My feathers alone will likely not be enough to fend off that creature," Hawkeye said. "Hyogamon has the upper hand against us. Without a way to effectively use my feathers, I fear the result may end up being the same as last time..."
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Post by Daichi on Feb 7, 2023 3:35:07 GMT
"...Being poked there hurt, doesn't it?" Hikaru commented. "Well, get used to it. Valt will be especially very brutal. But before then... I'd like to fix this a little bit. You," he pointed at Carlos. "asked if he's picking fight with anyone. Shiki-kun, did the imp caused any trouble for any of you?"
"W-what?" Daichi asked back, flabbergasted. Hikaru did say anything else to that, to which Daichi understood that he was serious. "...N-no, sir. He was helping us."
"I appreciated his flame!" Geo quipped. "It made me warm enough to fight back!"
Then he looked at Kaya and Hawkeye, as if asking them the same question he posed before to Daichi.
"...There you go. I know what it sounded like, but you're making him sounds like he's troublemaker and just a troublemaker. Do you know how someone would react when they're being told that they're black sheep over and over again? They'll lash out like this; with the vitriol fouler than concentrated vinegar. Of course you have knee jerk reaction because this is a repeated history, right? ........but have you ever considered that no one want to be told that he's the troublemaker all the time?"
then he looked at the Impmon. "You next. Your partner went there, against the blizzard, to join you. You know what does that means? Sure he went and shoved his entire boots inside his mouth and asked if you picked a fight with someone again. But bottom line is... have you ever thought why he would not just drop you like a hot, burning potato? Why he's always there, even if sure, he immediately went there and shoved his boots in his mouth? Why he doesn't let you just die like total strangers ...If you don't know the answer to that, then you guys are far gone. So obvious, yet so clear why you three just broke off like that. You three are hurting. Not enough appreciation, not enough understanding."
Anyway, back to the current topic.
"Yeah, I'll drive us. Why? You wanna use public transport instead? Well suit yourself if you want. All I suggest is to not ride your Digimon before it's late at night or something. At the very least at night I could ask my acquaintances to hack down the cameras and changes the images inside to ignore Digimons and... cases of human riding Digimons."
"I hate to say this but it's better if... we all just ride the same car, and uh.... actually, can you two devolve your mon back to baby stage...?" Hikaru asked Carlos and Kaya. "In that case the car won't be so cramped."
With the mons in baby stage, then at the worse, they're in perfect seating number. Geo can't devolve, Hikaru already know, but at the very least he can be on the back seat cargo.
"What places should we look first?" Yuuki asked.
"An open place, perhaps? Like a construction lot or something..."
"That makes sense."
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Post by Carlos Rey on Feb 11, 2023 2:58:47 GMT
Carlos was nothing if not rather taken aback by Hikaru's line of questioning. Well yeah, of course if he put it like that without context it sounded badly, but the man had plenty of reasons to expect the worst from his partner, after all it had gotten him in plenty of troubles before, not to mention it had partially been the catalyst for the breach suddenly appearing in their team.
So what was it so hard for him to just point that out and defend his side of the argument? He looked down and to the side, and as soon as he looked down at Dio and was met by the impmon avoiding his gaze, head turned yet clearly focused on the floor, he knew why. They were right, weren't they? His constant worrying and singling out, even if it came from a good place, wore down on Dio. The words "black sheep" echoed on Carlos' mind again and again, a painful stab of guilt gnawed at the back of his head, no matter how hard the man pulled at it with one hand to make it go away.
"When you put it that way it makes me feel like a proper dick, alright..."
Of course, Dio didn't come away from this unscathed. Validated sure, but the dorumon had some choice words for him as well. The worst part being however that Dio already knew what was coming, and furthermore the right answer to it: of course he knew why Carlos risked himself to look for him, of course he understood why he refused to just let Dio go and forget about him. And the fact he knew the answer only made it more painful and frustrating for the imp, that it was such a clear and cut case yet accepting it for what it was was just...too damn hard. He grit his teeth, but otherwise kept quiet, knowing they would have to talk more later but still hoping this conversation wouldn't return for a bit.
They had bigger fish to hunt anyways. (That's how that saying went, right?)
"Yeah no thanks, I rather drive myself in the snow than take my chances with the public transport." Carlos said soon after, eyes rolling at the prospect. Though speaking about unpleasant ideas, Hikaru would ask yet another favor of the duo: for Dio to devolve a stage so the ride on the car would be less cramped this time.
"Do we really need to?" The impmon sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, though he knew better than to start arguing now. Or maybe he was already too drained for it.
"Sorry. I promise you get to pick the pizza toppings in return." Carlos replied with a grimace as he extracted his digivice from a pocket of his jacket. With another defeated sigh, Dio gave a small nod as a dull, weakened light covered his figure, the impmon form giving way to the rotund, big eared pagumon one that would soon (somehow) roll up and rest atop Carlos' head, looking not unlike a novelty hat based on some sort of mascot.
"Pepperoni. Blue cheese. Also bacon." Was all the round grumpy ball would mutter in reply as they made their way back into the car.
"And some basil?" Carlos added, trying to force a smile.
"Specially basil." Dio replied, his smile anything but forced.
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Post by Kaya Matsui and Hawkeye on Feb 11, 2023 4:41:10 GMT
When asked the question about Dio, Kaya and Hawkeye shook their heads no. "...my answer's the same as Daichi's, sir. Dio was absolutely helpful and, in my opinion, very brave with the way he jumped into the battle like that."
"Especially with how he helped us push the Hyogamon away from the victims," Hawkeye added. All in all, the speech from Hikaru served its purpose to make Carlos feel really bad about supposedly treating Dio like a black sheep. It was a conflict that neither Kaya nor Hawkeye were all too involved in, so they chose not to comment on it for the time being.
One thing was clear to the both of them, however... Carlos, Dio, and even Gio were all struggling, and all hurting in their own ways. In essence, they seemed like their partnership was hanging on by a mere thread. And that right there upset Kaya so much... it just reminded Kaya that her own partnership with Hawkeye wasn't as strong as it seemed to be on the surface, and she wanted to distract herself from that topic as much as possible before it got even worse.
On the topic of transportation, it seemed that Hikaru just wanted everyone to ride the same car together. The human and the Hawkmon both began to sweat a bit, as they had seen Yuuki's absolutely bat-shit insane driving skills crashing into the Hyogamon earlier. To add insult to injury, Hikaru suggested that he, Dio, and Hawkeye all reverted back to their in-training forms so that they could all fit in the car.
"Absolutely not."
The way Hawkeye declined the offer was weirdly intense and aggressive, so much so that it even managed to startle Kaya a bit. Afterwards, he cleared his throat and continued. "Sorry about that... it is just that I have a strong distaste of that form, so I would prefer not to go back to it, if at all possible." Hikaru would likely remember seeing Hawkeye's past back in that special archive in Ys... it was possible that Hawkeye still associated that form with that awful day that Eizo died, considering that he had been unable to evolve past that form for a long time before he even met Eizo.
"I'd offer to put you in the V-Pet, Hawkeye," Kaya said, "but you've been spending a lot of time in there, and I doubt it's at all comfortable."
"It's either the V-Pet or I fly alongside the car," Hawkeye stated, crossing his wings. "I will not negotiate on this."
Kaya sighed as she pulled out her Digivice. "You're such a stubborn little bird," she said as she pressed a button on her Digivice, causing Hawkeye to get digitally transported inside it. She then got up from her seat and followed the others to the car. "I'm sorry about him, really. He's a nice Digimon once you get to know him, really..."
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Post by Daichi on Feb 12, 2023 13:20:29 GMT
"Sometimes, just like how some parents didn't stop to think 'have I did them justice' when disciplining a child... you're too conditioned in 'I need to keep them in line'. Which is honestly, the worst mistake one can make when they're partnered with Digimons with huge independent desire." Hikaru pointed out. "While it is not wrong to try to keep your partner in line, you must also understand that despite their destructive tendencies and bad decisions, they do have a reason why they picked that choice. And you must communicate more to understand why. If you keep going 'think of poor me' all the time, people would snap eventually.
We all want to be heard, we want to be understood, but have we asked ourselves, have we truly stop chirping about ourselves and instead stay silent and listen to other? Have we truly ignored the burning ego that said 'I'm the right one here!' and listen to the other without prejudice and self righteousness clouding our mind? Even when it comes from place of concern? Even when you know that they are wrong, yet you're unaware of their reasoning? ...I'm not saying this to further press your buttons, but may you keep these words close with you when you talk with the missing third element of your group."
well, they made their choice. The division became quite clear cut. Kaya, Dio and Carlos on the passenger seat, Daichi on front passenger seat with Yuuki driving. Geo on the baggage area on the back. Once the car hums and turns on, Yuuki... pulled out normally from the parking lot. He simply... well, drives normally! Much to his partner's displeasure.
"Next time, can't you drive as normally as this?" The Dorimon Hikaru protested.
"Well, gotta drive slow so that Geo can follow traces of the Abberant, right?"
"Oh, on that topic, how does it feels, Geo?"
"Nooothing yet, but it's clear that from the sound of the wind, our Abberant is still around this area..."
"....That's a bit vague, but alright, let's follow the previous idea. We should look for construction lot or various open area with open covers."
"So definitely not football field eh," Hikaru mused. "I only can think of construction lot on that one then... either that or carnival, but carnival is unlikely.
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Post by Carlos Rey on Mar 5, 2023 13:38:36 GMT
Surprisingly, rather than taking the compliments to further boost his own ego and current standing, Dio seemed rather more taken aback than anything, borderline embarrassed at all this attention. It was weird having his situation being this public and summarized with little need for his own input. Had he known more about human culture, he might have compared it to a kid seeing their parent being chastised for the formers poor grades.
Either that, or maybe having strangers and acquaintances stick out for him this much was such an unexpected turn of events not even the he knew how to take it all in. So much for a gigantic ego.
"Eh, just did what felt right in the moment, I'm sure he'd have done it too." He retorted, scratching the back of his head whilst shooting a side glance at Carlos. The man kept quiet, but conceded to that much with a nod of his head. If nothing else, he was at least taking some solace that Dio wasn't taking the chance to put him further on blast.
Not that Hikaru needed more help doing just that, even if all of his points were nothing but valid criticism. With little else to add he'd simply nod and keep all that was said in his mind, knowing full well it'd follow him all the way until they figured where Gio was. Hopefully by then he'd have his own ego in check. He had to do better for the two of them if he wanted the twins to reciprocate that.
"If we can find him." He'd said back to Hikaru as they got ready to leave, unsure of how serious and how much of a joke his statement was.
Once back in the slightly cramped car (which if anything felt more cramped than usual thanks to the slightly awkward silence now standing between Carlos and Dio despite them sharing a seat), the duo kept their gaze locked into the snowy outside, half trying to avoid eye contact whilst also trying to see any clues that might help them out with the search.
They were unsuccesful at both.
"Guess there's also empty lots to consider, they'd probably have to be away from really crowded areas though, not that there's many people out right now." Carlos said, trying to think of other places that would maybe fit that description.
"What do we do if we find them though? Or...I guess how do we keep them from running away again?" Dio asked, raising up one of his floppy pagumon ears as if it were a hand. "I know Hikaru can't fight, but maybe he could cover an exit just in case?"
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Post by Kaya Matsui and Hawkeye on Mar 6, 2023 4:15:10 GMT
When they were getting ready to leave, Kaya heard Carlos doubt that they would even be able to find Gio to begin with. It didn't matter if Carlos meant it as a joke or not, it wasn't funny to Kaya. "Don't say things like that," Kaya scolded Carlos as she walked past him. "You two are going to find him."
So, there Kaya sat in the back passenger seat behind Daichi, with Carlos and Dio to her right. She smiled slightly at the sight of Dorimon Hikaru, finding him to be unbelievably adorable in that form. Kaya wished that Hawkeye was more open to riding in the car in his Poromon form, but she couldn't really fault him for refusing. It was the form he was in when he saw Eizo get murdered, after all. Surprisingly, Yuuki was actually driving... well, normally! Based on the crazy crash into the Hyogamon earlier, Kaya had her doubts about Yuuki's actual driving ability, and feared that she'd be losing her breakfast if it got that bad. Hikaru asked Yuuki if he could drive as normally as this next time, which tipped Kaya off that this was not a normal occurrence. Geo expressed that he couldn't fully detect the Aberrant quite yet, but it was still around the area based on the sound of the wind. This might take a while... Kaya thought to herself. She figured she might as well try to make this go a little bit faster. She pulled out her phone and opened up her main human world based social media app and wrote out a post:
@kayakyukon: Hey, has anyone noticed any weird snowstorms in the Shibuki Forest today?
Surely one of her followers would see the post and respond if they saw anything. On the topic of big, open spaces that the Hyogamon could be in, however, Kaya was still trying to brainstorm any potential places it might go to on her own. "With how cold it's been lately, the ponds and stuff in Shibuya have been frozen over. Do you think the Aberrant could've gone there? Like to a frozen lake or something?"
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