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Me, Myself, and I (Spirit Hunt)
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Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Apr 20, 2017 3:02:36 GMT
One night. That was all the time Isaac would have to mull over his thoughts before Iko and Luke got moving. While he may have turned down their offer for the time being, he wasn't really ready to leave them behind. Barring the occasional run-in with a hostile Digimon roaming the jungle, they were the first company Isaac had in ages. It didn't help that they were old friends that he had dearly missed. Why couldn't he just let go and come with them? It should've been such an easy decision. The Server Woods sucked. Even after 70 Digital World days he was still getting lost in them. Some days were spent just going through dead end after dead end, and dead ends were usually full of hostile Kuwagamon and Veggiemon. Another day here and he'd go mad for sure.
Yet how could he go back? His friends were in civilization. So were his loved ones. Even his brother might've showed up there. Elliot was a resilient kid. Isaac just knew he'd show up sooner or later. There'd be so many people that Isaac knew, and so many that he let down. How could he face them? What if they needed him? What was he even supposed to say about all of this?
In all of his thinking, he almost missed the purple blur ducking around the treeline.
"Hey, get back here!" he shouted. For a brief second, he wondered what the hell he was doing. Chasing a color through a maze on a whim? Sure, it was the most interesting thing he had seen in ages, but it could've also been the deadliest. Maybe it was the danger that attracted Isaac to it. Since coming to the Digital World he had been an explorer first and a fighter second. Even the relaxing vacations he planned with Elliot ended up turning into total messes. It had been about two months since he had tasted adventure in earnest, and his little spelunking session with Iko must have made him thirst for it once again.
Each corner that Isaac turned exposed another facet of the strange blur. At the first left he saw a smooth purple tail disappear behind a tree trunk. Leaping over a tangled mass of roots showed him a flash of a red boot. A long-eared shadow stretching out in the moonlight was what truly convinced Isaac of what he was seeing, however. For a second he paused, wondering if he was going insane. Then he shrugged, charging through the trees that the all-too-familiar shape seemed to phase through.
He stumbled out into a small clearing, the figure he was chasing facing away from him. From the red bandana around its neck to the way it slightly hovered off the ground, Isaac knew just what he was looking at. "So I'm not the only Impmon around here, huh?" Isaac asked, taking a few steps closer to the other Impmon. He tried to keep an easygoing smile on his face, but it fell as soon as the other Impmon turned around. The look in his eyes already spoke volumes, but it was his voice that truly sealed the deal.
"Took you long enough, eh?" it asked, it's voice a perfect copy of Isaac's. |
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Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Apr 20, 2017 3:40:01 GMT
"You're me." It was an incredibly idiotic statement, but it was all that Isaac could think of as he stared down his mirror.
As if completely unconcerned by this the other Impmon floated into the air, cupping its hands behind its head and reclining. "Or the ghost of the Impmon that patrols these woods," he said, phasing through a tree without a care in the world. "Or maybe you're just going crazy and seeing things. Take your pick of the three."
"Can I pick all three?" Isaac asked, his doppelganger having to hold back a snort. "Still, surprised you're sticking around to talk. Aren't ghosts supposed to be mysterious?"
"You've been following me around for 70 days! I can only keep the mystery going for so long, you know?" it complained. "Gotta say, though, you're a stubborn one. I figured you'd quit on me halfway through."
"You sure I'm the crazy one?" Isaac asked, quirking a nonexistent eyebrow at the vision before him. "I just saw you, like, five minutes ago. Unless time just freaked out on me for a bit. We didn't just run into some glitch, did we?"
"Nope! You've been hot on my tail since we got here," the Impmon explained. "You just didn't know it 'til five minutes ago."
"I can't be following you if I'm not following you, though," Isaac said. "Isn't that, like, half the point of following someone? Otherwise we're just walking in the same direction. If that's following someone, I follow a thousand people each time I go to school."
"Are we seriously talking semantics right now?" the Impmon asked, incredulous. "You're talking to a vision and the first thing you do is argue with me about what words mean?"
"Well, what am I supposed to say? 'Oh wow, a ghost, I'm so scared?' Seeing a ghost was, like, how I spent my third day in Japan! And I haunted it's ass!" Briefly Isaac fell quiet, eyes darting down to his feet. "Besides, I've seen way worse stuff than ghosts in my time. Stuff you wouldn't even believe. Stuff like-"
"Stuff like this?" Isaac looked up, but quickly wished he hadn't. The spectre was hovering right in front of his face, but it had completely changed. Its bandanna, gloves, and boots had turned purple, while its skin had turned an uncomfortably familiar shade of red. Purple veins seemed to spread across its body, and where its face was supposed to be there was only a giant bulging eye. "Trust me, kid, I know what I'm talking about. I'm you, after all! Or not. Still gonna leave that one up to interpretation."
"Interpret that thing away from me!" Isaac shouted, pointing in accusation. An Imp-losion swirled around his fingertip, prepared to launch at what could only be described as a D-Reaper styled Impmon. "Because that isn't me. Like hell it is. Like hell it ever will be."
"Really, now?" the Impmon asked, tilting its head curiously. Its body denatured into pink slime, quivering and pulsating as it took on the profile of Yasyamon, only he too was different. His body was crimson with the same purple venation, with deep violet pants and hair. Its mask, too, had formed into a large eye, this one far more bloodshot than the last. "Is this your card?" it asked, eye darting around. It then molded into pink slime again, stretching into the long, vicious form of D-Evidramon. "Or is this your card?"
Isaac's fist was clenched so tight that his hand was starting to go numb. However, it was the last of the imp's transformations that caused Isaac to really pale. After melding into pink slime one last time, the spirit formed into a mirror of Isaac's human form. Isaac took a few steps back in shock, trying to find words but instead stammering awkwardly.
"This is what you want, isn't it?" "Isaac," said, taking a step closer to Isaac for each step he took back. "What you miss? Why you're here?"
"More than anything else," Isaac found himself muttering.
"You sure? Even if-" Slowly, "Isaac's" eyes took on a sickly yellow color. Purple bile shot up through his veins, slowly dissolving through his body until his skin was a corpselike blue. His grin stretched from ear to ear, fangs sliding down his face. His clothes melded into his body, forming into unnatural looking red and violet patterns. Finally, wings unfurled from his back, a red connecting cord rolling down his spine and stretching into the woods. "-it was like this?" "Isaac" no longer spoke in his own voice. Instead it was only Ebemon's.
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Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Apr 20, 2017 4:15:06 GMT
Isaac couldn't even answer his doppelganger, only capable of heaving as if he was going to retch. "You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?" it asked, advancing toward the boy as he stood paralyzed in fear. "You know better than anyone what happened to you. That code implanted into you wouldn't just pass that easily. Like it or not, it's a part of you now. But I think you already knew that."
"Turn back." Isaac's voice was an inaudible mumble. Much less inaudible was the roar of pain and disgust as he rushed right at his doppelganger, aiming a fist right at its face. "I said turn back, goddamnit!" he screamed, voice crackling a little as he punched right through his doppelganger. He landed in a crumpled heap, having phased right through.
He wasn't surprised to hear laughter, but he was surprised that it was so warm. As Isaac turned to look at his doppelganger, he was pleased to see that it had returned to a state of normal looking humanity. "I knew there was still some fight in there," "Isaac" said, stepping forward and putting a hand on the real Isaac's shoulder. He recoiled, expecting it to feel like a goopy mess, but was relieved to see it felt like a perfectly real hand. "If you were wandering here for two months, you'd either have to be one hell of a fighter or had given up completely."
"How about both?" Isaac asked.
"You know? Not all that inaccurate," the spirit said. "Hell, I think we can both tell you're a mess right now. But you're pushing on anyway. I was half sure that bit was gonna get you crying like a baby, but nope! You just got right back up. Decked me good, too." As if to emphasize the spirit rubbed its nose.
"Oh, don't bullcrap me," Isaac responded. "I phased right through you! 'Course, if it did hurt, I'd just say you deserved it."
"Kinda did. But you needed it," the spirit argued. "It's why you found me in the first place. But I'm not really the one you're looking for, am I?"
"I wasn't looking for anyone, though," Isaac said, perplexed. "Was I?"
"If you weren't, you would've gone off with your friends, right?" the spirit asked. "Everyone's got a reason for what they do. Yours? Guilt. Helplessness. Classics, really."
"Yeah, yeah, I'm a wreck who let down everyone around me. Are we really gonna rub this in?" Isaac asked, clearly irritated with the turn this conversation was taking.
"What? Why would I ever do that?" "Isaac" responded. "If I was just gonna torment you I could've kept this game going way longer. I'd like to think I'm here to help instead."
"Iko's pep talk was way better. Didn't even need any dumb visuals, either," Isaac explained. "So, what's the point of all of this again? Another person telling me it doesn't matter and that I'm fine just the way I am?"
"And lie? Nah," the spirit said. " 'Cause you aren't. You lost half your spirits, you lost your humanity, and if you keep being this stubborn you're gonna lose all the people close to you too. Doesn't sound too fine to me. But it's not the end of the world. It just means you've gotta climb back on the horse."
"With what? If it isn't obvious, Impmon kinda sucks," Isaac said.
Immediately, the spirit looked hurt. "Hey! I'm an Impmon, don't forget," it chided, Isaac rolling his eyes in response. "But you're right. If you're gonna get back to business, you're gonna need a bit more firepower than that. And I think I've got just what it takes. Come on, follow me." "Isaac" faded back into an Impmon spirit, which floated its way out of the clearing. Isaac could only follow.
The woods grew darker and tighter with each minute, until soon Isaac was forced to squeeze himself through pitch-black masses of trees. He considered asking if they were there yet, but before he could even ask the spirit chided "Come on, don't try that tired-out cliche. I'll tell you when we're there, okay?" Isaac nodded, swallowing his questions as he continued trudging forward.
A sudden pain in his toe caught his attention. Isaac whipped his head around, trying to find the source. "Try looking down!" his guide advised, prompting Isaac to look down and notice a small, golden-trimmed totem on the floor.
He stooped down to pick it up, squinting so he could better see in the dark. It looked like a distended Impmon wearing a golden mask, with long, clawed arms and crimson wings. "Another totem?" he asked, a bit of suspicion in his voice. "Unless this thing's as strong as Relicdramon was, I don't think it'll help me catch back up."
"It's no Beast, but it's something at least," the spirit said, shrugging. "Baby steps, kid. You try rushing right back to where you were and you're just going to snap under the pressure. Is that seriously what you think your friends would want? Besides, this one's got way less D-Reaper taint clinging to it than your old set. You're still not going to get your humanity back, but at least this one doesn't have a chance of melting into a deformed monster when you get pissy."
"So what? Does this just replace Yasyamon or something?" Isaac asked, continuing to look into it. The totem shook slightly in his hands, as if screams were echoing within it.
"It's more of a sidestep?" the spirit said, somewhat confused. "Don't ask me. I'm just a spirit. And not that kind, either. Like, the ghost kind. All I know is that this thing's a lot like you. It's all wrapped up in guilt, and practically bubbling over with anger. All those same feelings you've got right now. It's like the two of you were made for each other.
So what's it gonna be? Are you going to keep wasting away in the woods? Or are you going to harness that rage and move on?"
Isaac looked at the spirit, shaking his head slightly. The description that the spirit gave did not sound very healthy. In fact, it sounded like another Gargoylemon waiting to happen. Thankfully, Sol's advice was still on the forefront of Isaac's mind. Meditate. Focus. Don't let the totem's will win. Make sure he was the boss here, and then they could work through all of this together.
He nodded, absorbing the totem into his Digivice. Now he saw what he needed to do. |
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Maia
Better Mod
Might Actually Be A Cat.
Posts: 627 
OOC Name: Cheshire/Mai™
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Post by Maia on Apr 20, 2017 4:30:42 GMT
Approved!
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