Skip Navigation
Under-Where? (Squire and Mana)
|
Post by Bonetrousled? on Nov 6, 2016 5:13:21 GMT
Pumpkinmon smiled serenely as he saw Squire take the reigns of the Unimon chariot, hopefully bringing them into a controlled stop. Maybe he'd bring the chariot around to school, get through the auditorium, and then bring this little maze to a tidy end. Sure, the middle was a huge mess, but hopefully the kids got a good fright out of it all. Even if they'd need to learn not to attack haunted house employees in the future. In the human world, that would've been a major lawsuit!
Unfortunately, his placid grin faded as he realized what Squire was doing with the chariot. Instead of making the situation any less chaotic, he was proceeding to divert it right in front of the mansion. The mansion where his partner for this little shindig was, as well as a pair of innocent human families and Pumpkinmon himself. He turned to the Mana-ersons and the Stevens, shaking his head in disbelief. With a snap of his fingers the human families vanished, Pumpkinmon muttering "Kid doesn't need to see her family get splattered. I ain't running that kind of haunted house."
And then the Unimon plowed into the mansion, Pumpkinmon holding his hands above his head and ducking underneath the crash. Instead of stopping they tore right through it, as if it was made of cardboard. In fact, judging by the tattered scraps currently falling to the floor, the whole thing was made of cardboard. Slowly the illusions and glamours around the mansion began to fade, and Squire and Mana would see that their previous point of residence was simply an elaborate tower of cardboard boxes. They tumbled to the ground like the world's most disappointing Tower of Babel, folding down with a slight flumph sound.
The Unimon were slowed slightly, but they were making their dash through the sky. From all the way up here, Squire would see the limitations of Pumpkinmon's maze. Beyond the ruins of the mansion, he would be able to make out a few houses that presumably were owned by the neighbors, a single road leading to the schoolhouse, and from there and endless expanse of green in all directions. It couldn't make a convincing neighborhood any further than this little strip of road, and beyond that was simply grass and open sky. Interestingly enough, there were a few lighter panels of teal among the blue sky, just distinct enough in color to be noticeable. The edges were a little fuzzy, but if squinted at closely they would almost look like squares.
"Sorry this got so out of hand, kid," Pumpkinmon said, popping out of the pile of fallen cardboard boxes. "Think he'll stop and pick you up, at least? Gonna be one heck of a walk on-foot."
|
|
|
Post by Avatar of Courage on Nov 7, 2016 22:38:24 GMT
The humans disappeared before the Unimon's could trampled them all. Squire gulped, bracing himself for the slam that was sure to hurt... right before the Unimon plowed through the mansion like as if it were wet paper. Squire was shocked, to say the least. What the heck, he had been expecting it to be a massive, bone breaking crash. What he got didn't even bruise him!
At least the Unimon seemed to have finally calmed down. Unfortunately, Squire still had no idea how to land or make them stop. Glancing down to the mansion down below, Squire's eyes widened as he stared at the crumbling structure, his jaw falling open.
"It was ALL cardboard?!" He screamed from his seat, leaning over the side of the chariot to get a better look. "B- But how?!" He had been inside the damn thing! You couldn't fake marble stones and mahogany doors with cardboard! "This doesn't make sense!" He whined, slumping on the chariot.
Also, the Pumpkinmon was apparently still alive. "Oh good, I didn't kill him." He mumbled, a bit of relief flooding his chest. In the rush and panic of the wild ride, he had shoved the fact that he had apparently killed a digimon over his temper to the back of his head. Then again, he should have known better. How in the world could a rookie defeat a Perfect level digimon?
Somewhere out there, an angel kid probably sneezed and blasted a mountain out of existence.
Wait, now that he was THIS high up... why did the entire town... was just one road leading towards school?
Why was the sky segmented at parts?
His brows furrowing, Squire swung around the reigns as best as he could, forcing the Unimon to turn towards a particular patch of sky standing out from the rest. If it were a normal sky, he wouldn't be able to tell if he was getting closer.
Yet, this was fairly obviously coming closer.
"What." He muttered as the Unimon suddenly snorted in surprise, their snouts bumping against a patch of Sky. "What."
|
|
Mana
In-Training
Posts: 0
OOC Name: Yuu
|
Post by Mana on Nov 8, 2016 21:51:49 GMT
Situation had been... super weird, to say the least. If Mana had been scared before, now she was... apathetic, if anything. What had happened thus far had been so otherworldly that she just couldn't bring herself to feel fear anymore. Heck, one could say that she had even gotten used to be on these pajamas.
What happened when the school chariot crashed into the "house" however, was the straw that broke the camel's back. Now Mana couldn't but feel like she was in some sort of a videogame; the kind that were designed to have just plain weirdness in them. After the chariot tore through the house, just as it was taking into the sky again, the redhead decided to come out and face Pumpkinmon. At least he seemed to be a sensible and agreeable guy.
"Well, I'd like to held onto hopes, but..." She made a pause, noticing how the school chariot was running into... maps errors. "Looks like our friend is trying to find glitches in here, rather than clear the stage. I don't really want to walk towards school, so can we just pretend that I did everything I had to do and return where I was? I'd appreciate it a lot."
Pumpmon wasn't probably letting her go so easily, but she didn't lose anything by trying, right? Worst case, he'd probably force her to go school by some magical effect or something, so at least she wouldn't have to walk there. That seemed like one hell of a trip.
|
|
|
Post by Bonetrousled? on Nov 8, 2016 22:11:44 GMT
"You know, kid, I'll level with ya. There's nothing I hate more than a humbug. But when I've got a guy about to crash right through my window? I'm willing to play ball and get you off this crazy train. So how's about I give you two options, the easy way or the hard way?
The easy way, you wait for this guy to break right out of my house. I'll pop ya right onto the back of his chariot, and you'll be out of here no questions asked. But won't it burn ya up, leaving that unfinished business behind?
That's the hard way. I can warp ya to school so you don't gotta drag your feet all the way over there. Day's almost over, but there's still time for your big presentation. You knock that lesson out of the park and shut everyone up, and you get your promised bonus on top of everything else.
I'm a fair guy. If you're fed up, I ain't gonna keep you back. Just wanted to let you know the score before giving you your options. 'Til you make up your mind, I'm gonna watch the show." Pumpkinmon flopped down, whipping out a bag of popcorn from beneath his cape and greedily munching away.
Broken windows perhaps explained what Squire was currently experiencing, as his Unimon hovered in front of a solid piece of sky. They flitted in front of it impatiently for a few seconds, but then started turning back out of irritation. No sense standing in front of a wall! If Squire examined the panel before they started to fly away he would notice the lighter color wasn't due to paint but instead due to light. If he was lucky enough to reach out and touch it, he would notice it felt like glass.
Pumpkinmon must've had some big windows on budget.
Regardless, the glass would be quite sturdy. If he pulled the increasingly-impatient Unimon back to it to try and attack it, he would find it solidly vibrating but not cracking. Even his mightiest strikes would only result in tiny bits of cracking. Next to the panel were more solidly blue regions, feeling much more like wood if Squire had the chance to touch them. They seemed equally interspersed with more light blue regions, eventually forming an even ring around the "sky."
|
|
|
Post by Avatar of Courage on Nov 11, 2016 3:15:53 GMT
There was a ring of light patches in the sky, he noticed now. Looking more carefully, it really looked more like glass... but that didn't make sense, why would there be glass in the sky.
Curiosity was said to have killed the cat; he hoped it didn't kill the dragon too. Reaching for the sword on his waist, the little dragon stuck his tongue out the side of his mouth as he shoved the weapon in the space between the lighter patch of sky and the darker patch.
His features contorted into a tightened scowl as his arm muscles tensed, the young dragon growling as he tried forcefully yank away at the piece of sky. What the heck did he even expect to be on the other side? Honestly, he had no idea. But hey, he didn't call himself an adventurer just cause it sounded cooler than mailboy.
"Grrrgh!" Sounds continued to escape from his throat as he struggle mightily, his arm muscles bulging slightly from the immense effort. Damn, it was wedged in way too well. After a few more tugs and grunts, the Young dragon finally gave up, his arms dropping to his side, leaving his blade still wedged into the crevice.
"Damn it Sky, you are a worthy opponent..." He hissed softly, dragging his forearm over his forehead. What the heck was he supposed to do now. He was pressed for time too; the Unimon were making a lot of noise, and generally being annoying. Squire stomped his foot on the chariot, glaring in irritation at the horse digimon. "Shut up already, I'm doing a thing here!" He berated them, spitting on both of his gloved hands before trying to grasp the sword again, resuming his mighty struggle.
Unfortunately, the Unimon didn't take too kindly to his shouting. Rearing their legs back, the mighty beasts suddenly took off, intent on getting some altitude before swooping down for another scare.
Unfortunately, Squire was still holding very tightly to his sword at the time. The chariot came to grinding stop as the dragon refused to let go, a mighty upwards leverage straining against the panel. "You traitorous pieces of crud! My arms, damn it! Are you trying to rip them off?!"
|
|
Mana
In-Training
Posts: 0
OOC Name: Yuu
|
Post by Mana on Nov 11, 2016 3:45:42 GMT
Mana pondered Pumpmon's words, taking them seriously. Truth was that the thing probably had more tricks under his sleeve, but unless he went to a pretty much forbidden limit, the girl thought she would be alright. After all, she already could feel the terror she had felt before wearing off. Almost being killed by a flying chariot, digimons squashed glitchy maps just did wonders to ruin the scary atmosphere that this place would have otherwise have. Or at least any kind of self-consciousness Mana had towards her clothes.
Heck, if anything, she had grown used to these pajamas. They weren't exactly itchy and she had to admit that the fabric was pretty comfortable, even if the taste behind it could've been handled better, but that was probably the point of the whole thing.
"Fair enough." She nodded to the Pumpmon with determination; being this far, she wouldn't just give up midway. "I'll accept, but first, let me ask you a quick, simple question, okay?"
The teen went silent for what felt like an eternity, but was like, three seconds.
"My previous clothes... did you change me out of them to put me into these?" Because that meant that... her modesty had been slightly compromised, and would result on the girl trying to slap the digimon across the face if he answered positively.
|
|
|
Post by Bonetrousled? on Nov 12, 2016 0:50:50 GMT
Pumpkinmon's eyes widened at the suggestion. "The hell kinda haunted house do you think this is, kid? I ain't one of those weirdo carny types. Lemme show you what I mean." He clapped his hands twice. The illusion over Mana faded, revealing her normal clothes safe and sound underneath. He clapped them again, and the illusion restored her back to her previously pajama'd self. "Look, I'm a magic talking pumpkin. That means I'm able to keep a nice level of decorum around here. Glamour fades once you're out of the house, so if Tin Can over there can bumble his way out of the window he'll find himself back in his security blanket too.
Anyway, you said you'd play along, so off ya go. Alaka-warp!" Pumpkinmon finger-gunned at Mana, and in a cloud of smoke she vanished.
When her vision returned to her, she would notice herself in a much different situation. She was on a stage at her classroom's auditorium, the lights dim with the exception of a giant spotlight shining down on her. Behind her was a Powerpoint on Sun Tzu's The Art of War, and in front of her was an adoring audience of her friends, family, and classmates. The Mana-ersons were there, shooting each other embarrassed looks at their daughter's breach of school uniform. So was Gallantmon, checking his watch and wondering where his pupil was on this oh-so-important day. With those exceptions, the crowd was one part astonishment to three parts laughter, a few people pointing at Mana and exchanging "can you believe this?" looks. Finally there was Pumpkinmon, looking up from his seat and mouthing "Knock 'em dead, kid!"
It was time for the school presentation of a lifetime.
On Squire's end, things would be way different. Between the leverage given by his sword and the strong, upward force of the Unimon, he was able to pry Pumpkinmon's window right open. The blue stained glass went sailing away, falling to the floor and shattering in a million tiny shards. Behind it was the night sky, its inky blackness standing out starkly from the painted-on blues that made up the rest of the "sky." A chill breeze rolled in through the hole, and starlight twinkled in the distance. Squire had not only taken this maze off the rails, but he also broke right through the walls and found the exit.
|
|
|
Post by Avatar of Courage on Nov 20, 2016 3:46:54 GMT
Freedom. He had discovered Freedom. His great curiosity and inability to correctly process fear had allowed him to bypass the little house of horrors prepared by Pumpkinmon!
"Now... to make my daring escape!" He said with a grin, grasping the reigns, feeling a chilly breeze waft in from the opening. Finally, freedom (and clothes!).
Wait, hadn't he been here with someone else?
"Oh Yeah." He paused, looking up while pursing his lips. He had been captured along with a human. He didn't really care much for humans, despite Kyo's best efforts to rectify that. They were in a better position as a species now than they had been before he met her, but he certainly held no great deal of love for them.
Still, he was a Knight and hero first and foremost. Leaving someone behind, even a human, specially a human considering how fragile they were alone, was a very dickish move.
Oh yeah, and he also had a carriage full of children behind him who were varying degrees of bored, rattled, outright scared or just annoyed at being late to school.
He sighed heavily.
"Being a hero is sacrifice." He said simply as he snapped the reigns, prompting the Unimon to neigh before they moved once again. "This is actually getting easier." He commented idly as he directed the Unimon towards the School, the flying carriage making a beeline for the building, passing by all the cardboard nonsense that surrounded it.
"Man, this neighborhood is really rundown." He commented idly, clicking his tongue. Someone needed to get an actual architect next time; this was obviously the work of an amateur!
The school was reached swiftly, with the students all quickly getting off the carriage almost as if it had burned them. Squire rolled his eyes at the jab at his riding skills. "Babies." He grumbled under his breath as he also got off, casually walking over the Pumpkinmon's corpse as he did.
Now he just had to find the human, and get out. Wait, didn't he have something to do at school today?
"Oh crap!" Yes, yes he did. And he would be late at this rate. Breaking into a sprint, the young dragon moved through the school halls, practically shoving the other students into walls and lockers before finally dramatically throwing the doors to the auditorium open.
As his luck would have it, Dukemon was there already. Shit.
Squire quickly walked his way down, clearing his throat as he climbed onto the stage to stand next to Mana. He glanced at her off the corner of his gaze, clearing his throat. "How did you get here so fast, anyways?" He mumbled lowly, before turning his attention to the crowd.
They had a presentation to give, after all.
|
|
Mana
In-Training
Posts: 0
OOC Name: Yuu
|
Post by Mana on Dec 2, 2016 7:15:27 GMT
Wait so... everything was just a cheap illusion? Her pajamas, the people, even... this whole place? Huh, well. Was there any reason to be afraid, even? Or to just about this, like... at all? More than relieved, Mana was weirded out by this; just... what was the point?
Still, she had accepted to get on with this, and that's how she had ended up in a giant auditorium after a certain magic spell of dubious effectiveness. As strange as this was, the full reward was just too appealing to pass it up.
She didn't care about the stares or the laughter; after realizing that everything was mostly fake, there was little to do about that, but... she then realized the obvious; she had no idea about "The Art of War". Like, at all. Who'd read a Chinese author's cryptic sayings about something that wasn't a true issue in this time and age? Well, she would have to make something up, at least until...
Squire seemed to crash back into the auditorium, defying all the odds of him exiting this pace as soon as he got the opportunity. Why? The redhead had no idea at all, but...
"I just got a helping hand. Didn't help that you decided to take your sweet time at glitching this place, you know?" She said, a in a bit of a matter-of-factly way. "Anyway. Do you know anything about this book? Because I don't."
|
|
|
Post by Bonetrousled? on Dec 3, 2016 3:58:51 GMT
Ah, Squire had arrived! Dukemon smiled somewhat proudly as he noticed his pupil landing, only for his eyes to widen in shock upon seeing what he was wearing. A few other high ranking members of the guard snickered through the audience, occasionally shooting teasing glances at their fellow knight. In response Dukemon returned their glances with death glares. It seemed secondhand embarrassment was running wild today, but at least even in Squire's worst nightmares Dukemon would still stick up for him.
Still, with both parties arriving, the presentation could now finally start. The Digimon manning the projector (who, of course, was Pumpkinmon) slammed the on button, and the title screen appeared on the screen behind the duo. After a few seconds it moved to Slide #1, a fairly comprehensive breakdown of the Art of War book. The notes were detailed and clearly presented, and written at a level that even a kid like Maia could grasp at just a quick glance. Maybe this assignment wouldn't be so scary after all. It seemed to hover on the slide for quite a bit of time, giving the duo time to catch their bearings and start talking.
Problem is, as soon as someone spoke, the slide would immediately change. At first it was just a one slide difference, quickly skipping from a breakdown on the book to a detailed biography of Sun Tzu. Then the slide changed again and again in rapid succession, words blurring across the screen at speeds far too fast for either of the two to really process. Half of the words didn't even seem related to Sun Tzu by that point, anyway. While occasionally it would freeze on a slide long enough for Squire or Mana to get some useful information, most of the time it showed off inane things such as the history of boxing, a pie chart documenting burrito sales in Terminus City, and the lyrics to the classic Halloween hit The Monster Mash. It seemed looking at the Powerpoint would only be a source of further anxiety rather than anything helpful.
Tick tock, tick tock. As the presentation aid went terrifyingly past, the clock went agonizingly slow. This was going to be one doozy of an assignment.
|
|
|
Post by Avatar of Courage on Dec 13, 2016 21:21:40 GMT
Squire did his best to ignore the laughter of the hall, trying to smile reassuringly at his master before turning his attention towards the screen. He knew plenty about war; just not about this 'Tsun-Zu'. Was that a human? Certainly wasn't a digimon name. What the heck could a human know about war?
Humans were puny as heck! Could they even hurt each other without digimon?
Ha!
But it did present a problem, since he didn't know if anything this Chun-bu said would contradict what he had learned. He wouldn't put it past humans to not know anything about war, either! Luckily for them, they had the power of Powerpoint presentations! Surely these slides contained the information they needed!
If only he could read them.
'What the-' What the heck, why were the slides passing so quickly? He couldn't read like this, he was lazy as it was already in his reading!
"What gives-!? ..." He stared at the person manning the presentation with such disdain it almost dripped out into his aura. "Didn't I kill you?" He hissed lowly as he dropped off the podium, making a bee line for his master before taking the Aegis Shield.
He dragged the (comparatively) massive piece of equipment behind him as he walked towards Pumpkinmon with a dead serious expression.
And then he swung down the massive shield upon the other Digimon's head.
|
|
Mana
In-Training
Posts: 0
OOC Name: Yuu
|
Post by Mana on Dec 20, 2016 23:50:20 GMT
I apologize profusely for the delay Things got a strange turn again. Once again, Squire seemed to be acting rather weirdly, and with the whole thing starting, Mana herself didn't know what to do. Sure, the presentation was readable at first, but soon enough... things got a turn for the worse. As expected, this wouldn't be easy, given that was pretty much Pumpkinmon's job, but... Squire seemed to not to be too happy about it.
What Mana hadn't expected, however, was for the small dragon digimon to take into a murderous stance towards the digimon, preparing to... execute him again, apparently? She doubted that the same trick would work twice against the same digimon, but oh well, he seemed angry enough that trying wouldn't hurt him... maybe? Well, at least Mana hoped that wouldn't happen.
Thinking a bit about it, she just thought about Pumpkinmon's reason to do this. They had been cured of their fears after the earlier events, but now... what was the point of all of this? Squire being Squire was a given, so probably it was related to it? Huh... this was too complicated for a house of spooks. Hopefully she would understand the meaning of this soon, or at least she'd get out of this place.
Watching dragon kids trying to squash pumpkin kids got old reaaaally fast.
|
|
|
Post by Bonetrousled? on Dec 22, 2016 2:05:40 GMT
The presentation seemed to jar to a halt as the shield crashed down on Pumpkinmon's head. The entire front row was splattered in orange goo, much to the collective shock and horror of the audience. Except the Manasteins, who continued to look perfectly placid. The house really had no idea what to do with these hypothetical parents, it seemed. Nevertheless, the whole setup seemed to halt in place as soon as Pumpkinmon was murdered for the second time. His axe clattered to the ground, and after feeling for his head his clothy grey body slumped over. Such a mess.
Thankfully, there was a janitor on the scene. And Squire would likely be very nonplussed to see that it was Pumpkinmon. Again.
"Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win," he said in perfect Chinese. Thankfully, subtitles appeared on the projector board to show what the heck he was saying. Heck, would Squire be able to understand anyway, considering he was a Digimon? Oh, this was way too confusing for this narrator. "I mean, sure, that plan'll probably get you expelled in any other school, but I guess if you've already won then the war for your grade's basically over. But I'm getting ahead of myself, aren't I?
You just did that. Like, you just marched right on up to your master, wrenched his precious shield out of his hands, and used it to murder a guy. I'm pretty sure you're dangerously insane. But I'm also pretty sure if you're willing to do that, there's, like, nothing that can terrify you. Good job! 'Course, that means there's really nothing left for you here. Presentation would be a formality at this point, wouldn't it?"
His head swiveled 180 degrees as he turned to Mana. "And you? Jeez, you're a good sport. Your partner brings the literal house down around you. Your parents are watching your presentation-" One of the Manaersons twitched like a malfunctioning cyborg. "Okay, remind me to work on that bit next year. Hell, your closet gets filled with the goofiest outfits. And you still rose to the occasion like a pro. That takes some guts.
Yeah, you guys faced your fears today. Gotta admit, not sure entirely which ones were even faced, but whatever they are they seem pretty dead and buried. Like me! Speaking of, don't do that crap again." The Pumpkinmon paused his laughter to coldly glare at Squire. "So! Any other questions, kids? Or are you ready to get on out of here and take your prize?"
|
|
|
Post by Avatar of Courage on Jan 9, 2017 22:07:02 GMT
He didn't think he was insane! Maybe easily enraged, but insane? Come on! It wasn't like he had died anyways, what did a few, brutally merciless bashes to the head mean to a perfect level anyways?
Well, that was scary. Squire thought he had caught a glimpse of Pumpkinmon's true nature for a second there. He guessed constantly pummeling the pumpkin's head had not been well received.
Squire simply raised his arms in defeat. "Got it." He agreed easily enough, not too interested in testing the perfect level's patience further. He couldn't assure he would keep his promise if he was kidnapped again, though.
He simply shrugged his shoulders at the offer, glancing behind him towards the group of people in the seats, wondering if they were all fake too. For some reason, the entire presentation was quickly losing its importance... as was doing school, too.
Wait, did Digimon even go to school? "Wait a minute..." He mumbled to himself, his brows furrowing together in confusion. What the heck was going on?
"What the..." He reached to place his fingers to his temples, looking slightly disoriented as he did. There was something weird going on.
Maybe he was going a little crazy.
"Urgh... Let's get out of here, somethin' weird is happening in this place." he grumbled, massaging his temples.
|
|
Mana
In-Training
Posts: 0
OOC Name: Yuu
|
Post by Mana on Jan 9, 2017 22:27:35 GMT
Now they were getting... congratulated? Well, this had been one of her weirdest experiences thus far, but she guessed that this was fine. Well, as fine as it could be. Mana was pretty sure that her parents didn't look like that... like at all.
"Yeah, it's probably a good idea for you to try to impersonate your victims' families a bit better. That would probably add some spice to the whole thing. And thanks, I guess."
More than scared, the girl was puzzled right now. But at least she was glad that this... experience was over. It wasn't fitting to call it a nightmare anymore, but it still had been something strange and somewhat interesting, at least when seen from this perspective. Her conclusion? Never doing this again, like... never ever.
She sighed with some relief, glad that this was probably over for good, already getting ready to abandon wacky place and nodding softly, yet in a definite manner to Pumpkinmon.
"The only questions I got are... we are we going to appear and... it'll be in our normal clothes, right? Because wearing this illusion out of this place would feel weird, maybe a bit too much. Other than that, yeah, I'm ready to go back."
She wasn't going to admit it, but... the whole experience had been its own brand of strange fun.
|
|
|