Hunter and the Hunted [Mission]

"This feels wrong..." Shoutmon says as he and Adrian approach the village, towards the rendezvous point that they were told to meet up at. "I mean, I don't feel right hunting another Digimon like this..."

"Neither do I, but it might have to be done," Adrian tells his partner. "This Digimon could be causing a lot of trouble for the client. And besides, we need the bits. If we do this job, we'd be set for months."

"Bits won't be good to us if we're dead though."

"Why do I feel like we've swapped personalities or something? I feel like we're saying out of character things right now."

"Maybe we did switch bodies in the middle of the night! And we haven't realized it yet!"

"Aaaand there's the Shoutmon I know," Adrian laughs. After a while, the group then reached the welcoming party, and the two of them saw a Renamon and a Cherrymon, along with the woman and... two... very intimidating knight Digimon.

"U-Umm... hey," Adrian waved. "I'm Adrian, and this is Shoutmon. We're able to help in any way we can."

A Devidramon flew high above the desolated place that was the Dark Area, his partner, a tanned man with bleached white hair was silently holding on to the draconic digimon's back, every so often looking downwards as if looking for something. Or rather, somewhere.

As evidenced by the dragon's grim expression, the self proclaimed Dark Lord hated having to be back to this wretched place. Even if it had been his birthplace, Dio felt nothing but sheer contempt towards the whole Dark Area, which was understandable when you had to spend the first years of your life having to run and hide from stronger digimon looking to consume you and absorb your data. Such was the life in the Dark Area. Even Carlos couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable being in a place with such a bleak atmosphere, the sheer dark and foreboding feeling this place exuded was almost unbearable.

But what really brought them both to such an inhospitable and unpleasant zone, if they both would have rather avoid it completely? Well, besides the payment offered by the mission giver, there was something that made this whole assignment jump to their attention immediately. Namely, the mission’s “target”: a seemingly feral Meicoomon. A quick phone call later to make sure it wasn’t any Meicoomon they knew, the duo immediately set course to the marked location, as if out of a weird sense of duty and obligation.

They knew, thanks to some rather harsh (and all too recent) firsthand experience, that if there was a feral Meicoomon involved, it had to be stopped now before it grew out of control. Not everyone had had the misfortune of dealing with something like this before hand, so to them it was only logical they’ll reach out to lend a hand. As soon as they were able they took the first bout available that passed close to the Dark Area, and decided to use Dio’s champion form to quickly close in the remaining distance to the site.

It didn’t take long for the duo to reach the rendezvous point, the small village known as Akla by the locals. Upon approaching, they quickly noticed other five figures waiting close by.

Clearly these had to be their team members for the day. Neither Carlos nor Dio recognized the woman with the pair of digimons that resembled knights in black and golden armor following her, but they did recognize the other three: the teen Adrian and his Shoutmon partner, they had already met once quite a while ago, back when Carlos had paid Haru a visit on the hospital after that whole Arkadimon debacle. It seemed him and Adrian were doomed to meet under less than ideal circumstances. But it was the other figure that really got the partners attention, a very familiar looking Renamon. The man sighed a bit once he noticed this last individual. In any other occasion, he would have been overjoyed about seeing a familiar face.

Sadly, recent events involving said face made this whole situation slightly uncomfortable for the duo. But…it was better to leave that aside for now and focus on the mission. At least, that’s what Carlos kept telling to himself as his partner began his descent.

The black dragon landed loudly a couple feet away from the group, Carlos carefully jumping off his partner’s back as a bright light enveloped the Devidramon’s form, which soon shrunk and became smaller, Dio’s Impmon form now being just barely taller than Carlos’ knees. The rapidly got close to the group.

“…hey K.” Carlos quickly greeted the fox, giving a small wave in her direction, not entirely too sure how to react to her now. Dio however, was not nearly as friendly, the small rookie not being able to take his glaring eyes away from her.

“K.” Dio nodded briefly in what could barely be considered a greeting, his tone as forcibly flat and dull as one could possibly imagine. There was neither resentment over what happened in his voice, nor happiness over seeing his teacher again. Nothing but a barely concealed feeling of distrust and confusion.

Wisely deciding to stay out of that one, the man turned to the rest of the group with a small but warm smile on his face.

“Sorry, hi ya'll. Name’s Carlos, this here’s Dio, and we’re here to help dealing with the problem.”

"I rather wish I was a bit less familiar with the variety of factors of which I have suspicions are causing this issue, but my knowledge is to the groups gain." Dr. Cross spoke offering the Cherrymon a polite fanged smile even as his eyes slid over some of her more...demonic features. The bloody red of her iris's with their low crimson glow enough to hint at conflicting elements in her dna alongside the telltale canines and faded blue slash mark across her cheek that stood out in stark contrast to the ugly burn scars that could be seen twisting their way up the left side of her neck. The full extent of the damage carefully hidden by her long sleeved turtleneck and lab coat though if the woman happened to straighten her shoulders tucking her hands behind her back in a loose militaristic stance that favored her left arm such was at best circumstance. Since the woman herself was careful to keep her hands covered in gloves to hide the swaths of bandages obscuring her more pressing injury.

Turning to the rest of the team she gave each a polite nod in greeting as she carefully folded her legs beneath her and sat at Cherrymon's suggestion. Dagger, the Zubaeagermon, was quick to settle down next to her resting his head lightly in his Tamer's lap as she lightly scratched the metallic ridge above his eye earning a low rumble of pleasure from the gleaming Digimon. Cloak seemed more inclined to stand, the SkullKnightmon looming protectively just behind Cas's shoulder as he assessed the rest of their allies for the mission with calculating gold eyes. Seeming to already be silently weighing their odds. 

"I haven't been able to study a Meicoomon before though I have encountered one of their evolved forms. If it has any of the poison resistance it's advanced stages possesses it's not as though normal pest control methods will work on it. It seems you really do not have a choice other then the more hands on methods and I'm not about to leave you in need or pass up the chance to study a possible anomaly where my medical background can be of use. You have my services." Dr. Cross spoke assessing the situation with a quiet sort of level-headedness one might expect from a woman used to dealing with the chaos and insanity that came with being in the medical field. 

"Where Cas goes we follow." Dagger adds with an amused huff, Cloak nodding his silent agreement, as if the mere implication that they might not stand beside their Tamer was funny in it's complete unlikelihood. 

"Likewise my advanced scanner and skills can be a boon to the team if the Hunter does possess abilities beyond what would be standard for it and it's type. We may not be the best trackers, but we're no slackers when it comes to combat and support. I'll be the acting medic for the team." Cas explained laying out her role and the abilities she could bring to the table to the others as she gave the rest of the group an encouraging, albeit sharp, smile in hopes they would do the same.

K scratched her neck and stared at the renamon that addressed her. They didn't seem to like the idea that a holy digimon was here; or at least what fell into that category. It wasn't really a surprise with how the knights or luminas' reputation seemed to gather the worst sort of attention. The renamon let out a soft sigh and shook her head.

"Me? Oh. I've wanted to come to the dark area since my rebirth. Thought to pay my respects to where I lost my father. This mission is something I think he'd want handled too so..."

K scratched her ear, she was not completely used to this sort of thing yet. She had a special place in her heart for virus types thanks to him; it wasn't really a surprise and this renamon seemed to want to poke at the fact her appearance firmly landed her in the 'holy' zone. She'd give Carlos and dio a quick but bright smile before turning her attention to the Cherrymon.

"It all makes sense; from start to finish. Nothing really seems out of place; it's unfortunate that you have to deal with a 'monster among monsters' but that's just how things are I suppose."

There was a distinct pause and she'd size up those were here for a moment before crossing her arms. The cherrymon seemed to think that if they failed they'd have to destroy the forest because of this 'monster'.

"I'm up for it. I wouldn't of come out here if I wasn't."

The renamon's ear flicked and she'd dip her head in a nod as the Doctor spoke. Saying that they hadn't been able to study a Meicoomon before but they had encountered an evolved state of them. If it did have poison resistance that was fine, K could just simply use fire, ice or some other means. The absolute worst that she could assume...

Well. There were called extremes for a reason.

They were quick to take the role of medic and she wasn't about to argue against them. They didn't seem to think that they had the best tracking skills but she supposed that wouldn't stop them from trying.

"Very well. It's good to have the three of you then. I've had experience with fighting both Meicoomon and it's evolved form."

There was a brief pause and the renamon tapped her muzzle thoughtfully.

"I'm willing to take the lead when combat arises. Most of my forms are combat heavy but if the need arises I can fill whatever role... I have a plethora of forms available to me and each one of them can fit a different scope."

The renamon flicked her ear and glanced at Adrian and his digimon. They seemed young, a little out of place in the dark area. But to grow and such you'd need to go to dangerous places. Do things that were out of your comfort zone. She'd shake her head at their questions and turn to look at the forest. She wasn't ignoring them, but she certainly wasn't going to humour those questions until after the cat was dealt with.

"Where was the last place that they were sighted? The last place that they attacked? We should start from there."

K shrugged as the other renamon didn't seem too particular to have her here. Maybe it was because she seemed to be a holy type or perhaps her answer didn't really do it for them. It didn't really matter to her; she was here to do this job and hopefully get to pay her respects. She didn't so much mind if the latter part got completed or not.

What was she supposed to say really to the other's skill sets? She knew Dio's varied but the last time she could recall he only had access to Rookie or armor champion. This was a huge step for him wasn't it? Upon given the answer K would flick her ear and nod a little bit. It was nice that they at least knew that much; if they didn't this search would be so much more wider than they'd like.

"So that area in general. All right then. Thank you."

K rubbed her muzzle and turned to the woods. They needed proof that the target was gone? That would be difficult to prove honestly as even if they failed and managed to get back they could easily lie if they really wanted. But she doubted either way that they would be unable to tell. Success meant that there were no more attacks. Failure meant more attacks. It was pretty damn simple.

K's ear flicked when the Doctor spoke again. Saying something about wanting photo's for her files... Was that really a smart idea? Unless the files were in the digital world of course. She wasn't sure what she should say to that so she simply refrained from addressing it for the meantime.

---

Given the forest entry and the problem it presented only made K sigh a little bit. Her natural white fur across all forms and that red cape would present a problem of course. It'd be really easy to spot her so there really was no hiding. She wasn't terribly used to searching in this darkness honestly and the only thing she could think of was to use her fire to light up the location.. but that would draw attention so much more wouldn't it?

The renamon perked up a bit when addressed by Cas. Her hand came up to the sigil and passed through it before gently clasping on the arm.

"It's only in this form I have this mark. I'll switch to something else; Sangloupmon should suffice for now and if problems arise I can go further than that."

The renamon frowned and shifted to the side for a moment, so that the rest of the group wouldn't have to look at the bit of pale light that would come from her switching to her Sangloupmon form. It wasn't piercing like most of her holy digivolutions and the light would be more like one of the mushrooms or plant's bio-luminescence.

She'd lose out on hands for the most part, but she'd get a better nose. She couldn't really ask or argue about that. She'd quickly shift back to join the group, stretching her limbs and wiggling her ears as she tried to get used to this body again. It was always a treat digivolving; it was always a pleasure to use her higher forms.

With Dagger mentioning that they had company the Sangloupmon glanced back and then shook her head. It wasn't their target and likely just wanted to see what they were up to. Cloak brought it to their attention that they should avoid attracting attention with flashlights and other types of Illumination. He did have a point; but this also meant that they couldn't use attacks that would provide light of their own if trouble arose. But considering everything she figured that if they did get in a fight it'd probably be with hostile digimon as it was and they'd be forced to do something.

"Even normally splitting up would be a bad idea. He said that the attack happened down the west path, so we should start there. Two or three days aside, there's a chance it might still be in that small area."

There was a brief pause and the sangloupmon sniffed to try to get a handle on her new nose.

"I'll be refraining from Mega or Super-mega unless things go really wrong. I don't think the Denizens around here would like seeing any of those four forms I have access to."