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Reduce. Reuse. Reformat (Iko and Luke, Spirit Hunt)
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Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Apr 7, 2018 1:05:32 GMT
Frankly, Isaac hadn't had the most luck with his spirit hunt locations so far. A facility full of Dark Area traps, a towering city of junk, and the deepest recesses of the Server Woods had been the charming locations that he had access to so far. Considering all of that, the data processing plant he currently stood before the entrance of seemed downright quaint by comparison.
He had gotten up bright and early to get here on time, wanting to acclimate to the Hardware Den before Iko showed up and the spirit hunt started in earnest. Fortunately for Isaac, that wasn't really the hard part. The sound of grinding gears, while normally irritating and monotonous to Isaac, became almost peaceful when filtered through NeoDevimon's ears. The cyberdemon began humming merrily along to the beat, his voicebox whirring and chirping along with the tempo of the gears. The lack of light in the Hardware Den was very homey for a creature whose eyes seemed far too light-sensitive for the world outside of the Dark Area. It was even casting curious glances at whatever Digimon passed, without flipping out and hissing at them for once. For once it had settled into a state of peace, and Isaac was quite loathe to break it.
A shame he'd have to soon. He had let Iko know that he had gotten a head start on him, and with how worried the wolf had been about him he knew it wouldn't be long before Iko was hot on his heels. That was why he kept taking hesitant glances at the D-Terminal set out before him, just waiting for a message that'd send it roaring back to life.
Who knows? Maybe with the good mood NeoDevimon was in right now, he wouldn't take too unkindly to the disturbance.
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Post by darkblade on Apr 7, 2018 22:54:13 GMT
It wouldn't be long at all before Iko would arrive... but way out here in the middle of the dry Western Flatlands? It was certainly a fair bit better than the Dark Area itself, but it wasn't a place that Iko would exactly call homely. Even as he made his way on the Trailmon over, he could already feel that dry air against his ears, the mechanical grind of the train reminding him of what the travel was going to be like ahead.
"... Seriously? We've been to the Dark Area and foreboding temples the world over, and this is what sets you on edge?" Luke rolled his eyes, the wolf giving a quip back.
"Hmph. You already know the West gets under my skin-"
"Right, right." As the train came to a stop, Luke brought an arm around his partner's shoulder: "Well, the sooner we get this taken care of, the sooner we can roll back on out, right?"
True enough. Right - with one deep breath, Iko tried to compose himself...
... And just a few minutes later, Luke and the familiar Ankomon would step out from the station, making their way to the outskirts of the Hardware Den. A home for Machine Digimon, there wasn't an ounce of water in sight, and the sound of creaking gears and noisy machinery flickered on in the background. By the station, there were a number of Guardromon servicing the electrical grid - were they going to be stepping over wires all day, out here?
It didn't take long to find Isaac - the NeoDevimon stuck out like a sore thumb in this busy, mechanical city. Turning a corner, Luke raised a single arm to wave, as Iko started to make his way over.
"Hm. He seems to be in good spirits, at least." Iko referred to the NeoDevimon, of course. "Maybe the thought of the next spirit's helping him stay calm?"
"In either case," Luke cut in, "Well, we sure the totem is here at all? A mechanical den is hardly a place I think a demon spirit would be hidden..."
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Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Apr 8, 2018 0:31:28 GMT
Good. A simple indicating gesture was a great way of getting NeoDevimon's attention. He turned towards Iko and Luke as they waved, tilting his head a little bit too far as he raised a hand to wave back. His arm creaked like a hinge, and it almost seemed on the cusp of breaking as he waved it. What the hell kind of flexibility did this demon even have?
Isaac stood as the duo came closer. "I feel like I was barking up the tree with all this nature stuff," Isaac admitted. "I think all the tech around here is what's helping calm this guy down. Maybe I should buy a metronome . . ." Compared to how Isaac seemed at a total loss to handle NeoDevimon in previous conversations, this proactivity was a big step forward for him.
"I think the spirit hunt is helping, though. I keep getting flashes as to what's next, and I think NeoDevimon was starting to get impatient with how long I was taking," he added. "So, let's make this one quick to finally settle his nerves, eh?"
Luke also raised a good point in his confusion. "I don't think it's really demons that are my thing," Isaac admitted. "I mean, these are tied to elements, right? First Spirit User we met was fire. Alicia's obviously Metal. I think it's more an order and chaos deal with Elliot and I? Which, if you saw our rooms, you'd know that's no surprise.
But you're right. What would chaos be doing in a factory? That's, like, the least chaotic thing I could think of!"
Oh well. No arguing with the Digivice. Isaac looked at the entrance to the data processing plant, sighing as he went to open the door. His eyes squinted in annoyance as he beeped in disagreement, but as he peered down to check out the card reader it promptly turned green and opened up. "It's like the train to the Digital World in Shibuya. Weird," Isaac muttered, figuring it must've responded to the energy internalized from his Digivice. "Well, guess this means we're supposed to be here, eh?" He looked towards the opened door, noting the winding grey corridors in the distance. "You want to go first, or should I take the lead?"
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Post by darkblade on Apr 8, 2018 3:03:32 GMT
"Heh... figures something like this would actually calm him down. NeoDevimon could barely handle an empty beach on his own." Maybe the constant stream of noise made him feel much less isolated? It was hard to say, but it seemed that Isaac had at least a bit better of a handle on it.
Luke, meanwhile, gave an apologetic chuckle at his assertion. "Heh, whoops - all I've really seen is Impmon, NeoDevimon, and SkullSatamon, so I thought I'd nailed the theme down. Though if its something like that," he gave a shrug, "well, chaos is just the means by which order is turned to energy. Its possible that the totem ended up here to be used as some sort of power generator - or at the very least, a transformer to some kind of fuel?"
"That's... an interesting thought, actually." Luke managed to peg a decent guess as to the reason it might have been here, but wouldn't it be complicated if the totem already belonged to someone else? Heck, would they have to pay out of pocket for it, or replace it? It turned out it wasn't that simple: seeing the light blink red, Luke gave a sigh. "Don't worry, I got - this?"
The lock opened? And it responded just to Isaac's presence? Luke and Iko gave a brief glance to each-other, before the wolf would reply: "If its like that, you lead. I'd rather you disable anything problematic before we touch it first."
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Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Apr 8, 2018 4:48:48 GMT
"I know, right?" Isaac said. "Don't know if it's because of the monotony of it all, or because this thing's probably more tech than Digimon at this point. But hell, if it makes my life easier and my spirit happier than I'm fine with any explanation." The slightest disruption would probably ruin it, of course. You don't get as high strung as NeoDevimon just to be saved by some light monotony. However, it was better than nothing!
At the mention of his theme, Isaac realized just how little he had shown Luke in the past. "Yeah. Can't lie, most of my forms skew demons," he admitted. "Yasyamon's really the big exception. He's kind of a forest guardian. And even then, with him looking like a grown-up Impmon, I can't say he's not a demon. And even Orochimon's some kind of demon snake in myth, I'm pretty sure. So maybe you're right, and it'll be demons again. So, I guess we're looking for some kind of cyborg demon beast?" That was certainly an odd description! Nevertheless, maybe Isaac'd luck out and get a hint as to its nature soon.
The other part of Luke's statement was actually really pertinent. "So find the facility's power room, and we'll likely find the spirit?" Isaac asked. "I like the way you think. And for a spirit of Chaos, it makes a lot of sense. Bet Order spirits make Elliot, like, jump through a bunch of hoops to find them or something." If you're following along with Elliot's spirit hunt, you'd see that was exactly the case! "Always good to have a goal in place. So, let's do this!"
The first thing that Isaac noticed as he walked through the grey hallway was a conveyor belt running on the ceiling above them. For the time being he shrugged it off, but once opening the double doors at the other side of the hallway he noticed it was just one of many conveyor belts. They practically filled the entire airspace above Luke, Iko, and Isaac, traveling between small windows and passageways that covered every direction of the expansive facility. Small, dense clusters of data sat on each of these belts, traveling at neatly-spaced intervals. It was honestly a little overwhelming of a sight, and NeoDevimon's six eyes were each darting in different directions trying to keep track of all of the belts.
The floor was mostly holes, sloping conveyor belts descending into the darkness below. However, a catwalk connected doors in four different directions. One was the door that Isaac, Luke, and Iko had just passed through, obviously an exit. Digimoji writing topped the other three doors. The one to the west read "CORRUPTED," the one to the east read "EXPIRED," and the one to the north read "VOLATILE."
Of course, if those didn't appeal to Luke and Iko, they could always try riding a conveyor belt. But that'd just be silly.
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Post by darkblade on Apr 8, 2018 17:48:09 GMT
"Cyborg Demon Beast, huh? So what, Cyberdramon?"
"... I question this side's naming logic, sometimes." Hearing such a convenient-sounding name said so simply, Luke couldn't help but roll his eyes as he followed both the Ankomon and the NeoDevimon deeper into the facility. In that first hallway, just a single conveyor ran above them, nothing particular of note. "That has to be an inward conveyor," Luke pointed out, "Dragging items in for processing. They wouldn't have something as risky as disposal in an entrance hallway." Idly, the Ankomon looked up in brief interest...
... And as they went into the next room, Iko gave a blink, and chuckled. "And could you tell us what all these are for?"
"... Not immediately, and not without climbing onto the conveyors. But obviously its to different levels of processing. Most of them would lead to another point of processing... in fact, there should be one or two points where a bunch drop off into one line. If we can find those two points, we would just need to peak through the entrance port when they open up. One would lead to a disposal heap, and one would lead to the central power unit. If we have to choose between two points, the 'exit' conveyor of the other port would likely have excess smoke, steam, or something coming from its product."
"Um... huh." Okay, wow, Iko sort of forgot that. "Right, right - your study is in electrical stuff, right? No wonder you're calm about this."
"Anyway, what do these doors say?" Luke glanced up, and Iko translated: from left to right - 'Corrupted', 'Volatile', and 'Expired'.
"So for chaos, it could be any of the three-"
"It's Volatile." Luke didn't even lose a beat, after just one moment of thought. "Its statistically the most likely. Anything 'corrupted' or 'expired' would already be slated for disposal - if the signal from Isaac has been at all consistent, then the only thing even worth checking out is the room with the highest potential to keep something. Otherwise, Isaac's spirit wouldn't still remain in this place."
"... And for once, I'm the third wheel."
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Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Apr 17, 2018 0:41:03 GMT
"Cyberdramon," Isaac repeated. Luke was right. Some of these names were questionable at best. "Well, it's a cyber dragon, so it probably fits the bill. And it's at least nice knowing what we're getting into before even going on the hunt. I mean, imagine if they were named like us. 'What's Frank do?' 'I dunno. Acts like Frank?' Way more confusing." NeoDevimon was apparently a bit of a rambler when at ease, judging by this brief little interlude in the world's least funny comedy club.
Bad Digimon names weren't the only things Luke knew, though. This power plant was Luke's wheelhouse, and before Isaac and Iko could even set foot into the building Luke had already basically mapped out their direction. The goal was to find either the Disposal or the Exit, and Luke seemed to put his faith in Volatile leading to the Exit. "Makes sense," Isaac found himself saying. "If its volatile enough to need to be here, it's probably too volatile to dispose of on its own. At the very least, we'd probably find the midpoint where the data gets turned inert, and who knows how much spare chaotic energy we'll find once we get there?" In a way, it almost made sense. Get a nexus of pure chaos to purge volatile data of its instabilities, and then send it back out into the world.
For that reason, it was a no-brainer that Isaac would follow Luke and Iko to the roomed marked Volatile, even if the faint sound of explosions was making him reconsider.
Upon opening the door, Isaac realized that the sound was less faint due to distance and more faint due to how thick and heavy doors masking it. As soon as Isaac tugged the door to the Volatile room open, he practically found himself recoiling away from the sound of a massive explosion. One of the conveyor belts near the top of the room had broken down, sagging near the ground and leaving packets of corrupted data raining in free fall. For the most part they seemed to dump into a large, well-worn hole in the floor, presumably already blasted through by many explosions in the past. However, occasionally one hit a nick in the conveyor belt and skipped away from its destined location, instead impacting the thrice-reinforced floor of the room. It almost seemed to leave the room swaying when this happened, soot marks on the floor indicating many areas where this may have happened.
At least Luke was correct in his assessment. The conveyor belts all seemed to funnel into one location from here. All they'd have to do was cross this unstably-swaying room that had come down with a bad case of the explosions. Easy, right?
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Post by darkblade on Apr 17, 2018 3:42:21 GMT
It seemed that Luke's guess was accurate.
What Luke didn't account for, however, was the sheer craziness of the Digital World. Almost as soon as they opened the door, as if on a trigger, a terribly loud explosion rang from one of the upper conveyors! Taking a glance upward, seeing the track hang down from above and that raw material pouring out onto the ground, Iko grit his fangs. "You would think that they were just talking about the fuel - but the whole room?"
"It's not too surprising." Luke shook his head, trying to get that ringing in his ears to stop. At a mere glance, it looked like a chaotic room, but the tamer was quick to note the soot marks on the floor. "Its more than likely that so long as we avoid where the explosions have already hit, we shouldn't be caught up in anything else. That said, there's always the chance for a bad bounce..."
"Then figure out where the bad bounces would happen." Iko's logic pierced through, and with a sigh, Luke took one more look at the conveyors. Where it dropped, where it was likely to nick, what caused it to fall... it took a good few minutes, but with a nod, Luke had his answer. "If we follow directly beneath that conveyor on the left," Luke pointed up to an outgoing conveyor, one with little damage, that led out of the room, "We should be able to get most of the way across with only one or two bad spots."
"Alright, then wait here-"
"You nuts? What are you two going to do in a power plant without me?" Luke gave a chuckle. "I'll stay between you two. The stuff explodes when it hits the floor, so even if something does happen, you two should be able to react in time."
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Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Apr 18, 2018 1:06:40 GMT
"I've stopped expecting the expected around here," Isaac admitted. "And hell, at least volatile means volatile. Not like explosions are that far of a bridge from there." This bridge, one the other hand, would be quite far indeed if the explosions kept getting to it. Another packet of data landed on the ground near Iko, Luke, and Isaac's position, binary code fizzling from the top before it exploded into a bright light. It was quite the effective reminder that the trio didn't have a lot of time to dawdle here.
Fortunately, following the conveyor belt proved to be quite a smart decision. Any errant packets would need to somehow flip around and launch backwards in order to hit the trio. There were still some bad spots from worn-out areas in the conveyor belt above, of course, but small rings of soot helped indicate where such positions might be. Isaac made sure to keep a sharp eye on the floor below and conveyors above, muscles tensed just in case he needed to snap into action.
It was a nice, easy walk. At least, until the the conveyor belt behind Isaac snapped right off of its restraints. The ravages of time, gravity, and explosions had finally caught up with it, and the NeoDevimon damn near jumped out of his skin as he wheeled around to check it out. He hissed like a tea kettle that had just hit a boil, but all six of his eyes widened in surprise as he noticed what was coming after the conveyor belt.
The assembly line of data packets was not stopping, and if nobody acted fast they would rain down upon the group without any mercy.
Fortunately, acting fast was Isaac's middle name. He quickly scooped up the segment of fallen conveyor belt, balancing it awkwardly in NeoDevimon's long, lanky arms to hold it up like a shield. The data packets started to make impact, and NeoDevimon was forced to cringe away from explosions of light mere inches away from his face. Rubber and small bits of metal went flying in every direction, but the conveyor belt was holding up surprisingly admirably. "You guys have any suggestions?" he asked, raising his voice quite a bit to try and overwhelm the sound of the explosions.
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Post by darkblade on Apr 18, 2018 22:53:56 GMT
If Luke had to guess, the odds of exactly that happening rounded out to either 1-in-50 or 1-in-20. But then again, maybe it was a certainty - Luke was in the Digital World with Iko and Isaac, after all, and it seemed the three had quite the habit of running into these sorts of situations! As soon as that explosion echoed above, sending the conveyor askew, Iko was quick to grasp onto his tamer and shield him against the ground, waiting for that inevitable impact!
... An inevitable impact that didn't come, as Isaac thankfully managed to make an impromptu shield for the three. Still, there was no time to lose: even muted, it was clear that NeoDevimon's arms couldn't keep up this abuse forever, though the constant flashes of light and the loud explosions in the ear made it difficult to focus! "Damn it, we might just have to punch our way through! Let's-"
"Ugh, hold up!" Sitting back up, Luke shook his head, and pointed further down the conveyor, where the data packets were still coming through. "The belt's broken anyway! Just break it near the source!"
"... Not gonna argue with that one..." Giving a nod, the brief light of Digivolution shone around him, the Ankomon taking the form of the ultimate Shaininmon. A slot opened on the forehead of that fresh suit of armor, a single blast of energy shot out to crash against that same conveyor, several yards away! A hole would be blown through, and the data packets would come crashing down - not on top of them, but several yards behind the group.
"Alright, let's make a run for it! Push through!"
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Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Apr 19, 2018 1:01:42 GMT
Frankly, Isaac was a little surprised that Iko and Luke's answer to explosions was more explosions. That didn't stop him from letting out a little proud laugh at the plan of action. "Now you're speaking my language," he said, a little bit of the old destructive spark coming back to him. Who knew such an intense mission would get his pulse pounding like this? Of course, the second he heard the sound of another battery of explosions hitting his conveyor belt shield, NeoDevimon let out a very displeased shriek. "Just . . . not so close, okay? Last thing I want is NeoDevimon to start flying around here and knocking bombs over." Could NeoDevimon assert that much control over Isaac's body? After the Devidramon incident, Isaac didn't want to chance it.
Fortunately, Iko's aim was notoriously precise when using his Lunar Ray. The white beam of light scanned clear over Isaac's shoulder, passing clean through the conveyor belt that was bringing the volatile data into the room. It seemed unaffected at first, but after a second more of operation the wheel-and-rubber body of the apparatus slid cleanly in half. The rubber along the remaining end of the conveyor belt flapped loosely from the continued motion of the wheels, and before long packets of data began brushing past it to careen to the floor.
Isaac relaxed as the explosions were no longer on top of him . . . but man, a cut to the source like that could get inconvenient down the line. "I take it we're looking for a different exit," Isaac suggested, not wanting to brave the rain of explosions while trying to squeeze through a narrow doorway.
He eased his conveyor belt shield off, pushing it down so that he could finally catch a proper breather. The next "So. Other end of the door's where all this data's going. What do you think's going to be in the next room?" Isaac asked. "Figure we might as well make a plan of action and catch a breather, now that we're not dancing around a bunch of explosions."
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Post by darkblade on Apr 19, 2018 1:56:26 GMT
The plan worked! A single shot of the Shaininmon's 'Lunar Ray' blasted the conveyor out of commission from the start, putting that chaotic symphony of timely explosions several yards away from the pair. Thankfully, the echo hadn't coursed throughout the room in a chain reaction, allowing all three to stand up and right themselves - though as Isaac freed himself from the conveyor, Luke and Iko were quick to move to the other end, where there was at least a protective overhang above the door.
At that, the three got their much needed breath, Luke resting his hands on his knees as Iko re-assumed the champion form of Ankomon. What was the next room going to contain?
"Well, Luke? You've been mostly spot-on so far..."
Luke chuckled, scratching the back of his head. "Um... it has to be some kind of stabilization room - a cooling core, or whatever the Digital World equivalent of it is." Luke gave a nod, figuring that made enough sense in his head. "Its one of the two most likely rooms that would contain Isaac's spirit - something that processes this much chaos may very well be part of the assembly line."
"... Hm. But if that's the case, even removing its going to be a problem..."
"Either way, it has to be safer than this room. You're our keycard, so lead on, Isaac!"
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Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Apr 21, 2018 2:57:51 GMT
Stabilization seemed like the next step. That was alright by Isaac's standards. "If that means these explosives become a lot less so, hell, I'll take it. Because it's getting really annoying trying to talk over those," Isaac said, voice still slightly raised. For a normal Digimon this would've sucked bad enough. For NeoDevimon, whose hearing ranged from sensitive to superhuman depending on his level of focus? It was horrible. Even now he found himself cringing slightly whenever the conveyor belt dropped off another bundle of data packets into the doorway.
However, Isaac wasn't going to go in blindly this time. He pressed himself up against the door, NeoDevimon's neck bending and contorting to try the find the best listening angle. "Ten, nine, eight . . ." he started muttering, counting under his breath. However, halfway through it seemed like NeoDevimon was getting a little bit too wound up. "I don't hear a thing," he added. "Just conveyor belt noises. I'm going in." With that said, he swung open the door and leaped through, claws flared out just in case.
Fortunately, the room was mostly empty. A few other conveyor belts from the last room continued to feed into this one, with the merciful exception of the broken conveyor belt complex that Iko had taken down earlier. The remaining conveyor belts all fed onto a single larger conveyor, which was heading towards what looked like a laser gate that spanned the room from one wall to the next. Most of the data packets passed through the gate without incident, moving into another room that would most likely contain the purifier. A few packets, however, seemed to be jittering in place and leaking small pixels into the air. When one of these passed through the gate, the conveyor belt immediately stopped to a halt. A heavy iron door fell over the room's exits, and the offending data was promptly sucked off of the conveyor by a large tube that had descended from the ceiling. Isaac watched as the data packets traveled, a strange teal fluid inside of the pipe keeping these high-priority packets inert so that they wouldn't explode.
Once there was no more trace of the instability, the room unlocked and the remaining packets could pass on uninhibited. It seemed there was a distinction being made here between the volatile data that would explode if handled irresponsibly and the volatile data that would explode if it simply felt like it. That'd be handy to know for further exploration. He continued to watch as the packets went by, asking Luke "So do we follow the strong stuff, or the really strong stuff?"
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Post by darkblade on Apr 21, 2018 22:08:21 GMT
Well, Luke wasn't quite right: he missed a step before what would be the processing room. Idly, Luke looked at the progress in motion: data packets were brought in from different parts of the factory, settling in on the conveyor belt above. They moved along, largely without incident - and near the end, there was some filtration process that kept the more unstable data out of the process.
What was most curious was that all of the room's exits sealed off when this happened. Iko turned to face the door, as Luke watched the data siphoned out: held in some kind of stasis, and pulled away from the assembly line.
Which did they follow? "Hm... well, Luke might have a better idea..."
"More than likely, the packets being siphoned out are headed for a kind of disposal. Maybe somewhere inside of the facility where they can detonate without a problem. I say we go forward - worse that happens if we're wrong is that we just have to come back to this room anyway."
Reasonable enough, right? "Well, if they don't dispose of it, what would you think they do with it?"
"More than likely..." Luke mulled the thought in his head. "The data would reach individual processing and be refined back in a new state, and brought back into this room anyway. In short, it wouldn't be an entirely new line, but a 'circle' added that leads back to here."
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Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Apr 22, 2018 20:14:49 GMT
So the pipe was either a containment of purification unit. Whatever it was, it seemed unlikely to be more than either a dead end or closed loop, so it probably wasn't worth the group's time. That was a good enough explanation for Isaac. "Alright. Full speed ahead, then," Isaac said, stepping cautiously towards the room-spanning scanner. Something in his gut gave him an uneasy feeling, but that might have just been the fact that NeoDevimon's eyes were swimming in six directions trying to follow the path of each and every laser on the scanner. "Fixation on pretty colors" was another risk inherent to this form, it seemed. Nevertheless, there was no sense in slowing down now. How dangerous could an empty room be?
Very, it turned out, when Isaac stepped through the grid. Immediately the doors to the room slammed shut, and klaxons began blaring right in Isaac's ears. He clutched his claws to his head, NeoDevimon's shrieking now adding to the awful noise that had suddenly filled the room. The large vacuum tube slowly started to descend, NeoDevimon's hair standing on end as the tube's suction started to turn on.
Unlike a normal packet of unstable data, Isaac wasn't taking it. He promptly bolted, the tube making rusty whirring noises as started sucking up a whole lot of nothing. Isaac sighed in relief, but his relaxation was cut short when he heard a loud creak from behind him. The tube had turned, still sucking all the while, in order to start following Isaac. It damn near swept him off his feet, but fortunately Isaac was able to fling his wings out to catch himself. He dug his long, pointed claws into the ground to serve as anchors, and proceeded to beat his wings in a frenzy to try and overpower the force of the tube's suction. "Help me stop this crazy thing!" Isaac pleaded, slowly pulling himself away from the tube one claw-drag at a time.
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