Corrupted Power [Mission] [5/5]

During their past week or so of…pretty much being lost on the Digital World, Carlos had somehow not only managed to survive all of the curveballs thrown in his general direction, but he almost felt a bit wiser now. Either that or having helped his partner reach the next stage in evolution was making him way too cocky of their abilities. Both seemed just as likely.

And what better way to prove said wisdom that than by joining on a potentially dangerous and life endangering mission? Easy: There wasn't a better way

The request asking for assistance had actually been brought to his attention by Dio, who was clearly eager to put all of their new found power to the test. While the human was a bit doubtful at first, he didn’t have the heart to say no to his partner. Plus this would probably help out with the research club’s endeavors of gathering knowledge and learn more about their world, seeing how they were going to be working within Old Terminus, a place that seemed to be just as much of an anomaly to both human and digimon alike.

“Hope we’re not too late, researcher and muscle reporting for duty, hoping we can be helpful.” He greeted (with a somewhat self deprecating tone) the Datamon once they reached the meeting ground, the entrance to Old Terminus. Boy did this place bring back some memories…really fresh memories that couldn't be more than a week older, at most. “This isn’t exactly our first time peeping around Old Terminus, so we have a good general idea of how to move around down there.”

“As well as the dangers that lurk around there.” Dio added calmly.

Only then Carlos noticed that he recognized the other human present on the scene. It seemed he hadn’t been the only one on the club with a similar idea.

“Oh hey Haru, nice seeing you here.” He’d then approach and greet the girl with a friendly smile, the purple megalomaniacal partner not too far behind.

“Gogglehead.” He’d simply say, nodding a bit to Haru, then to (who he assumed was) her partner Tawna. “Furball.”

---

[OCC: yea let's get this show on the road!]

    After long debate, Maia had finally decided to venture back to Terminus. After all, she couldn't just sit around in remote parts of the Digital World all day, every day, right? While Kuu had been pushing for his tamer to return to her world, this was at least a baby step! Though, maybe one step forward meant two steps back, ultimately.

    Having spotted the job board, the two paused to look over it. "What're we doing?" The Kudamon chirped, tilting his head. The last time they had taken up a mission, it had been one of the worst choices they could have made! Why was this Maia's first stop, after taking so long to recover from the last? They were still suffering side effects from the D-Reaper! Now, she wanted to find something else?

    Please be 'save a kitten from a tree' or something! Or an eating contest! Or...!

    "Corruption," the teen murmured, reaching up to dig her nails under the corner of one of the job requests. Pulling at the page, it began to tear, before the tamer pressed her lips tightly together and let go. No. It was rude to rip down other people's advertisements! Even if certain words might be a bit of a trigger to her! After leaving the ad mostly in tact, the girl shifted on her heel, and began toward Old Terminus. If they moved fast enough, surely they'd still make it!

    "Y'sure you wanna?" The [surprising] voice of reason inquired from her shoulder. His body lifted, then dropped, as Maia gave a shrug. "We gonna be heroes?" Ah, right. Heroes. Kuu always wanted to be a hero. That seemed like good enough logic for him!

    "Sure," the girl agreed, continuing pace. "If we get there on time, at least."

    And, as luck would have it, they did! So far, it seemed that three other humans had decided to participate, along with two Digimon. While Maia made it a point to keep her eyes off of the Impmon in the group, Kuu gave it a quizzical stare. "I never knew those were such comm--" Now, the fox spotted a large cat-monster. Jaw dropped, while yellow eyes grew to the size of a Frisbee. It reminded him of a big version of someone he once knew! "I like you!" The fox shouted toward the Vicious Meicrackmon, before Maia could even consider how to start their introduction. "Can we be frie--?!"

    Soon, mouth was clamped shut by both of his tamer's hands wrapping around his entire face. He was shouting in her ear! What else was she supposed to do at a time like this? "I'm glad we made it in time," Maia started, pretending entirely that her partner hadn't already ruined the chance of a quiet introduction. Then again, since when was any introduction with Kuu a quiet one? "I'm Maia, this is--"

    "--Aiiiir?" The fox squeaked out from his tamer's fingers, before she finally released her hold on his face. With a rapid shake of his head, the rookie seemed to bounce back from his moment of suffocation, to happily finish his introduction! "I'm Kuu! We're heroes! Nice to meet you!"

    Shoving her hands into her pockets, the teen felt the need to quietly point out, "we're not really heroes. Kuu's just easily--" uh, what was the right word for this? "--excited." Close enough! "I hope we can help out."

    Would anyone else be showing up for this, too? Only time would tell!

Datamon was broken from his thoughts by the arrival of the humans, staggering a little and waving his arms to hold his balance. "Oh! Gosh! Sorry, you just startled me there" he said, then looked up at Haru. "So... you're a human are you?" he asked, rubbing his chin with his mechanical hand. "Gosh, you're smaller than I pictured but oh well, inconsequential trivia. Pleased to meet you. And..." he turned to Tawna. "Ah, hello. That would be rather useful for the purpose of this mission, yes".

Next to arrive was Carlos and Dio. "I see, well, Old Terminus isn't all that bad... once you get past the anomalies and hazards and... mutants" he then realized with a start that what he was saying might be frightening. "Not that I'm saying we'll encounter any down there! If we move in a group that is..."

While Datamon was doing most of the talking, Kokabuterimon was being mostly silent for the moment, taking in the faces and names of the arrivals.

Next was another girl. Datamon blinked at her, noting that she didn't appear to have a partner. "Ah... hello, Miss Amelie" he said after she introduced herself. "I mean no offense to humans, but... there may be some risks down here and you may want to bring along a digimon partner".

"She may be a spirit user, Mr. Datamon" Kokabuterimon said in a curt voice.

"Oh. Are you really?! Gosh, that must be... something" Datamon said awkwardly. Next was a blonde girl and a rather excitable Kudamon. At least he didn't seem nervous, Datamon thought, before greeting them too. And the last to arrive was another girl. Datamon noted that she had a D-Tector instead of a partner as well.

"Alright, we all seem to be here... at least... physically speaking" Datamon began. "Now then. I take it you know the goal of this excursion. Terminus City power has been overloading rather a lot lately and we've had unfortunate blackouts. So since the Power Company refuse to fix the problem since they claim that their union policy does not cover going into dangerou- I mean... high risk facilities to be possibly consum- I mean... negatively affected by corrupted data, so, I've called you all here to help fix the problem myself".

KoKabuterimon then activated a device with his talons, displaying a large 3D holographic map of Terminus City, zooming in on the underground.

"Now then, how it was originally laid out was that this entrance would lead directly to the underground power station" Datamon explained, pointing to an area marked in yellow on the map. "However, due to the emergence of what people now call "Old Terminus", the path has been 'warped' so to say, so now the route has been cut off by the emergence of the old city".

He clicked his fingers and the hologram became animated. The power station seemed to have been shifted deeper underground while a large area highlighted as blue and red move in to cut off the path between it and the surface. The part of Old Terminus appeared to be a deep shaft, with some kind of facility at the bottom.

"I've taken extensive reconnaissance, once or twice, and found that the only way to reach the station is to pass through this area of Old Terminus, then once we manage that, we can deal with the power" he said. "Do you have any questions? If you do, just say 'Apple'" he then paused. "Did I just say 'apple'? Sorry, I meant, 'so'"

The lights around them flickered for a moment to emphasize that the power situation wasn't going away soon.

“It’s a small world I guess. Good to see a familiar face here though.” He said with a smile and a friendly (if perhaps a bit too brusque) pat on Haru’s back. Though his expression became a bit more serious as he pointed at the dark entrance while adding, “Makes the prospect of going down there a lot more bearable.” His previous experience with the ruined city had not been a pleasant one, even if admittedly his partner had gotten the worst of it…but at least they had some more backup than last time, so things should go more smoothly this time around.

Hopefully.

Admittedly, there was a small moment of fright that came over Carlos when his partner greeted the other two club members in his usual standoffish style. Last time he had tried that (which ironically was also at the entrance of Old Terminus) it had almost ended in a fight, which had only been only narrowly avoided. Luckily, Haru didn’t seem to take offense to it, while Tawna just seemed indifferent about it.

Meanwhile Dio, upon hearing Tawna’s dry reply to his couldn help but begin snickering uncontrollably, for some (possibly childish) reason finding Tawna’s other nickname not funny, but downright hilarious.

“Pffft hahaha! “Knocker cat”! I can’t believe I didn’t think of that, it’s glorious, I’ll have to write it down somewhere.” He said with a smile, not even bothering to hide his laughter. He was actually seriously considering starting to call the tall feline like that, but ultimately decided against it. Even someone with his larger than life ego knew it was probably a bad idea to make an Ultimate level digimon angry at him…not that it was enough to wipe that amused smile from his face.

Immediately someone else arrived, a lone girl named Amelie, which Haru quickly recognized as yet another member of the Club.

“Hey Amelie, good to have you on board too.” He greeted the girl with a friendly nod. “Welp, counting the digimon that makes it five club members, I guess this is now an unofficial Club assignment.” He shrugged. Seemed today’s expedition would be beneficial not only for the city, but for the Field Club as well. Two birds with one stone!

Amelie, however, was not the last one to arrive, as soon another girl that called herself Maia also approached the group, accompanied with a small (and ridiculously adorable) white fox looking digimon named Kuu, which soon began to pester Haru’s tall partner, much to her confusion and Dio’s amusement.

“Better her than me.” The imp thought to himself, not being too big a fan of overly friendly creatures either.

Finally, the last member of the group arrived in the form of a raven that, much to Carlos’ shock soon transformed into a human girl. The man’s eyes widened for a moment, awestruck.

“God that was…so awesome.” He managed to say once the girl presented herself as Ravenna. So that’s how a Spirit Wielder looked. Needless to say Carlos felt the slightest bit of jealousy upon seeing that, after all who hadn’t wished at least once in their lives to transform into a bird and being able to fly? If anything, that girl was living the dream. He soon snapped out of his surprise however, as soon as he felt his partner harshly prodding him in the ribs with his elbow. Right! The mission.

It seemed the whole group had arrived, so Carlos shifted his focus to the Datamon’s explanation of the matter at hand: the power brownouts, the power plant and the “corruption” within said plant. While their employer seemed…eccentric, to say the least, at the very least he seemed relatively knowledgeable about the whole thing. At least he seemed knowledgeable enough for Carlos to feel the need to ask a question.

“Uhm, apple,” the man raised his hand to ask when the explanation was over, before quickly correcting himself “I mean “so”…whatever, screw it: what are we supposed to do about the corruption when we find it?”

“Clearly we get rid of it, dumbass.” Dio snidely remarked, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Which granted, probably was, but that’s not why Carlos was asking.

“Well, yeah, but how? And please don’t say “punching it really hard”.”

    The teen would give a small nod when acknowledged by the mission-givers, while listening to everyone greeting one another. So, it seemed that part of these people were all from the same club? That was probably a safe move on their part. Teams had to work together pretty well, right? Maia wouldn't know. She wasn't part of one! But, maybe someday!

    Poor Tawna, though! She didn't look like she knew what to make of Kuu! While Maia occupied one hand with keeping Kuu tightly bound to her shoulder, she reached out to shake Haru's hand with the other. With the Mini-Mei poking around at Kuu, it wasn't like she really needed to keep him too restricted! Distractions were the best way to keep her partner under control! The rookie gave a happy trill, reaching out a paw to lightly boop at the strange entity. If only he could learn to keep his paws to himself!

    On the bright side, this would give Maia an opportunity to actually talk to the girl partnered with the cat-mon! Or, so she thought. "Kuu's pretty good at--"

    "Friends!"

    "--Breaking through--"

    "Good friends!"

    "--To shy people."

    "Maybe bestest friends!"

    Okay, this was ridiculous! "Kuu, please?" Thirty seconds of silence! That's all the tamer wanted! And, somehow, received! With a small sigh, she released her hold on the Kudamon's collar, and he soon slithered down her arm and dramatically plopped onto the ground. He was kind of hoping his 'assigned' Mini-Mei would follow! "Anyway. Hopefully, we can be friends," the teen added, with a smile. Or acquaintances. Or anything that didn't involve killing each other, really. Maia wasn't all that picky!

    While Kuu's first target had been to bounce toward Tawna, in hopes of establishing friendship, there were more people to focus on! Amelie soon became his next target, as the Kudamon jumped across the ground toward her. Kuu had learned that he could float months ago, but it seemed that the creature still primarily opted to bound across the ground, even though two legs made this far more hassle than it was worth! "You smell pretty!" The fox chirped, tilting his head in as cute of fashion as possible. "Like flowers!" Maybe that was what had caught his attention about the girl! Apparently, any perfume she was wearing had found its way to the rookie's nose! "Also! You're tall! Can I climb you?" Oh. Right. There was that reason, too. It looked like Dio was going to get lucky and avoid the Kudamon's attention. For now!

    Maia tried her best to press her lips together and avoid making an ashamed expression at the Kudamon. "At least he asked this time," she mumbled, mostly to herself. It was better than any alternatives! Eyes shifted to look at the next spirit user to join, who had interestingly appeared as a crow! Huh! Well, that seemed two make two spirit users in this group, if Maia was assessing the situation correctly! Unlike the others, she opted not to say anything about the spirit evolution, or the flight. No matter how many times the teen was forced into flying, she was never going to find an appreciation for it!

    Much like corruption was another one of those keywords that Maia really didn't like. Body tensed, ever-so-subtly, at the term. First, when Datamon used it. And, again, when Carlos said it. Maybe, she shouldn't have taken this mission if she was going to be such a pansy over words! Either way, she was here now, and far too stubborn to be put off by such a thing! Eyebrow raised at the 'apple' from the two, also, trying to fully establish where that seemed like an easy mistake. Granted, everyone might just be as weird as Kuu, and use random words as fillers. Who knew! Maia certainly wasn't going to point it out!

    "I imagine, we find the source of the corruption and either contain or destroy it?" Maia both attempted to answer Carlos, and question Datamon at the same time. Could corruption be contained? The word felt as bitter on her tongue as it did in her head. Ugh. Either way, the teen suspected that her interest looked similar to Tawna's! And, by that, she assumed she was strongly lacking the concern that they should probably have for the mission!

    Of course, anything involving the cause of the problem surely wouldn't be an easy fix. Giving a small spin at Amelie's feet, Kuu looked to the job-giver, "I have a question!" Oh, this couldn't be good. His tamer could only pray that it wasn't going to be requesting food! "How dangerous is this for the humans?" That was... wow. That was actually a legitimate question! Color Maia surprised!

    Other than that, it seemed like everyone had already posed decent enough questions that Maia couldn't think of anything else to really contribute! Maybe that was a sign of carelessness! Was everyone else more prepared for this task?

Datamon seemed to be relieved at the cordial relations the group seemed to have. "Ah, good, you seem to know each other I take it?" he asked, cheerfully.

"Exactly, that's what I told them. I told them 'You're paid to keep Terminus City powered aren't you?' and they told me 'clause this' and 'paragraph that' and 'our workers shall not be forced to enter places of considerable risk of being overcome by the forces of darkness'... or some such thing like that, but not like that" Datamon said, relieved at getting this off his chest (well he technically didn't have a chest but that was beside the point). He backtracked on the last part of the sentence.

"Yes, the path is considerably risky, I'm afraid I can't guarantee your safety, hence why I've asked for experienced volunteers in the matter" Datamon answered Tawna. "And, yes, if reports are to be believed, being wary would be a valid means of approaching the power plant. Indeed on the approaches too".

With that he turned to Carlos. "Indeed, ideally we need to remove it from the power generator area. However, given that yours truly is in fact a "Data"mon, I believe that with careful approaches and proper scientific method, I may be able to analyze the corrupted data and be able to safely neutralize and quarantine it. Yes, I may not have a peer reviewed paper but, I think I'm pretty good at data research. So, if you would be so kind as to escort myself and my assistant down to the corruption, I'd have a good chance of getting rid of it without the need of a senseless bout of bickering and... explosions and all that what occurs in a battle".

Next he turned to Amelie. "Of course, not at all. As far as I know, spirits seem to be immune from the corruption as well, so, the more the merrier".

Datamon affirmed her question. "Yes, that's right. However, as a Perfect level I will of course be willing to utilise my extensive years of combat abilities to, erm, support you wholeheartedly in the background". In truth he had never battled before. But as a Perfect level he had plenty of abilities that could help out the team.

To Kuu's question, Datamon honestly blinked, putting one of his hands to his 'chin'. "Well, considering the fact that I've never heard of a human dying on one of these Corrupted Data incidents, I would say... it's not overwhelmingly dangerous, but, please do be careful, and you and the other digimon should look after them". Datamon had an inkling that the humans were the key to eliminating the corruption. That and the fact that they had no means of reconfiguration like digimon.

Kokabuterimon gave a small cough, which was his means of telling Datamon 'you've probably been rambling on for long enough, sir'. Datamon understood at once. "Well then. If we're ready, shall we proceed?"

If they were, Datamon would lead them forward toward the maintenance shaft where their journey would begin.