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Post by Alan Pantell on Oct 5, 2018 5:00:49 GMT
Shoutmon's attack connected directly to the "V" marking Levi's forehead. He liked to think he had a pretty hard head, but a heavy, blunt, metal weapon could still cause considerable damage. Levi found himself unable to retaliate, regardless of the train's announcement. He fell to his knees, and looked back at Alan, who was struggling to remain conscious, and wasn't having any more of Levi's shit.
"What's the matter?" he mocked. "Go on. Be the model. Be the fist-brained paragon you love so much." Alan leaned his head in a little bit closer. "See where that gets you." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his digivice, giving it another long, hard, stare.
"I didn't mean what I said when I said it, but there might be something to what I said earlier, you know? Or maybe we do have a connection. Either way, I'm not proud of it." He pushed another button. Nothing. "...cheap piece of plastic..."
It wasn't fair. Everyone else seemed so happy. The two tamers he had met, anyway. Their bonds, far stronger than steel, were forged through what he imagined to be many troubling times. Then there's this douchebag. Ugh...
Alan wanted so much to stay awake. He wanted to look out the window and watch the scenery go by. He put the digivice back in his pocket, if only because he had no means of smashing it, for tormenting him with visions of might have been. He finally allowed a few tears to flow free. "Please... wake me up when we get there... I want to see..." With that, he closed his eyes.
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Post by Leith, Veemon, and Shoutmon on Oct 5, 2018 5:35:25 GMT
"Oh, my God."
"Motherfucker!" As Shoutmon watched Alan not getting up, he meant to take another swing, but he was stopped by Flamedramon at the top of his arc.
"Minimum. Necessary. Force." Flamedramon spoke authoritatively while he held onto Shoutmon's battlestaff. Shoutmon didn't give up the fight easily, but after a little hissing and struggling he apparently managed to cool down. Or, so it seemed when he banished his mic stand. "...I have to agree with the first hit, though," Flamedramon ashamedly admitted. "Hmph. I think I've found a new reason to stick with this body."
"Stay the hell back," Shoutmon tried to command Levi then. He didn't strike, but he put himself between the initiate Tamer and his assaulter, glaring alertly.
If Levi obeyed, then that wold give Leith and Flamedramon a chance to tend to their fallen comrade. The only problem? Neither of them really had any idea what to do. These two were much better at causing injury than curing it. "Crap, is his head OK?" While Leith tried to lift Alan's head to get a look at the back of it, Flamedramon lifted his shirt a little to try and inspect the point of impact. Other than that, though, there wasn't a whole lot they were able to do for Alan. "''Ey! If you die on me, I'm definitely gonna kill you!" the young man 'threatened,' but really he was trying to use rage to keep Alan's attention. Too bad by that point he was out.
Leith was at least knowledgeable enough to check a pulse, which told him the young man was still alive through the journey. It's too bad; Alan missed a truly marvelous sight of the Trailmon exiting a tunnel and apparently being several meters over the ground, overlooking a wide, endless plain while traveling toward a sprawling Metropolis: Terminus City. All Leith and company could do, though, was keep an eye on his pulse and try to make sure Levi kept his distance. Of course, that ended the second the descent into the city was complete, as the Trailmon stopped in a subway very similar to the one they had just left. As the doors opened, Leith made another attempt to rouse Alan. "Come on kid, quit layin' around. This is our stop!" Harsh as his words were, the cracks in Leith's voice betrayed his true concern.
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Post by Alan Pantell on Oct 5, 2018 13:10:12 GMT
Levi didn't need to be told twice to back away. He remained on the same spot on the floor throughout the entire ride. The moment the Trailmon's doors opened, he picked a direction and bolted. There was nothing else to do. He had thought hard about his course of actions up until now, and yet, he had forgotten to think about where those actions would get him. The answer being: back in the Digital World, alone, and running from everyone he had pissed off once more. Humans were fragile. He supposed he had forgotten that, too.
But even he knew that was a terrible excuse.
Back inside the Trailmon, Alan realized that he might have been awake for two or three minutes by now, but hadn't realized it. More importantly, he wasn't dead. That, put bluntly, would have sucked. He opened his eyes to find Leith staring over him.
He... cares? Wait, what am I thinking? He couldn't believe that he had been convinced, for even a second, that someone else wouldn't care if he nearly died in front of him. I really need to work on these self-esteem issues.
Alan began to prop himself up on his elbows. He was still sore in a few places, but he had to ask: "So, did we make it?" In the middle of asking, he noticed the door was open. "Should we get out before continuing this conversation?"
He hadn't yet thought to check if Levi was there. That was about the last thing he cared about at the moment.
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Post by Leith, Veemon, and Shoutmon on Oct 5, 2018 22:50:08 GMT
"Hey! Stop him!" That was Shoutmon shouting at the fleeing Veemon at the very moment he ran away. Leith, however, put a hold on that order.
"Forget him. We're probably better off." Originally the reason Leith took Alan's hand was to help him get back on his feet, but when faced with the questions, Leith answered simply, "Yes." Just then the Trailmon whistled loudly and for a long time. Leith and company got the message: that was their warning to get the hell out of Buffalo's cabin. That meant Leith's purpose had to change from helping Alan to his feet to dragging him off the train, at least if he wasn't able to get up and do it himself. Once Leith and Alan, along with Shoutmon were out, the young man called back, "Hey, Blue, get my-!"
"I got it," Flamedramon calmly called back just before emerging with Leith's gig bag in hand. Almost before Flamedramon set foot on the platform, the Trailmon slammed his doors shut and chugged away. That left the company stranded in the middle of the main station in the largest city in the world - that world, anyway. Tokyo couldn't hold a candle to this kind of traffic, not the least because many of the digimon walking around in this area were eight, ten, fifteen feet tall. Fortunately, it seemed the place was built to accommodate them, but a rare few still had trouble getting around. Unlike the Tokyo stop, this place was almost exclusively digimon.
"Hey. I know you probably feel like shit, but I just wanna let you know you're not in Kansas anymore."
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Post by Alan Pantell on Oct 6, 2018 0:45:50 GMT
Alan couldn't quite manage to get on his feet fast enough to exit the train on his own, so he allowed himself to be dragged out. Using his current position on the ground, he got a nice, long look at what he could see of the skyline. Sure enough, what he saw was a sky completely unfamiliar to him. It didn't matter whether there was better to see, or how the locals saw it. To him, it was gorgeous.
After taking in that view for a bit, he moved to begin standing himself up. His feet had been one of the few areas that hadn't been hit, so they weren't a problem. Despite everything, he didn't seem to have sustained any serious injuries. If anything, he was covered in bruises. The blow had caused him plenty of pain, but beyond that, it just seemed to drain him of energy. He wasn't sure if this was a feature of the Digital World, or just dumb luck, but he wasn't complaining.
Eventually, Alan had managed to stand up, even if he wasn't yet back at full mobility. The absence of unwanted company was also a load off of his mind. Out of the blue, he remembered that he wanted to say something else to Leith.
"Leith... I know you have somewhere to be, but... I want you know that it means every world to me that you let me come with you, even though I..." He was still convinced that Leith hadn't wanted him to come along. He had a tendency towards reading other people's gestures in a negative lens, and Leith hurriedly mentioning that he had somewhere to be had struck him the wrong way, resulting in him dejectedly heading for the elevator.
I wouldn't have even gotten on the train if it hadn't been for... no. Don't pursue this line of thought. The end does NOT justify the means.
"Just... thank you." Alan almost started to bow, but stopped himself, as that was not something he usually did. That, and his stomach still hurt when he leaned forward.
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Post by Leith, Veemon, and Shoutmon on Oct 6, 2018 1:29:39 GMT
Probably best that Alan didn't bow to Leith anyway; even after four months living in Japan, he still froze a little whenever somebody bowed to him and felt really uncomfortable doing it himself. Flamedramon passed Leith his gig bag, which the young man shouldered like it had been before he had met Alan, at which point he considered asking whether Alan should get some medical attention. He didn't speak up for himself, though, so Leith figured, Screw it. That can be his problem.
"Leith, want a ride?"
"That would be great. Please." While fire shot from Flamedramon into Leith's digivice, Flamedramon gradually shrank until he was Veemon again. "I wouldn't make such a big deal of it, Alan. I mean, apparently my friend hasn't contacted me yet, and you're uh... clearly not having the best time. Oh, wait, step back again." Leith then tried to gently start pushing Alan away from Veemon so that he could armor digivolve safely again. The display was very similar to before, only instead of a veil of fire, it was a cocoon of lightning that expanded until the digimon on the inside was revealed to be Raidramon. He was a true monster, standing two inches higher than Flamedramon at the shoulder and much longer: perfect for transport. "Shout?" "I got it."
While Shoutmon circled behind Leith, the young man got to explain, "I guess we're not in the rush I thought we were. We're supposed to pick up Shoutmon's bass and run to band practice fast as we can, but our third isn't calling asking where the hell we are." Shoutmon, meanwhile, unzipped the a pocket of the gig bag, withdrew a pair of thin, black leather gloves with fingers only up to the last joints, and passed them to the Tamer. While Leith put them on, he proposed, "There's some cool shit in Terminus, though. I could show you around a little if you don't mind making a personal stop first. Thanks, Shout."
"I gotcha."
"What about Levi?" Raidramon reminded the group. Apparently, neither Leith nor Shoutmon had an answer.
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Post by Alan Pantell on Oct 6, 2018 1:52:20 GMT
Alan's expression turned stern in almost an instant.
"What about him?"
He stared each of the trio down until he was sure they all understood what he meant by that, then returned to the relatively-cheery demeanor from before.
"I don't mind a personal stop! Besides, it's not like I'll find my way around otherwise. Oh! That reminds me!"
Alan dug into his backpack and produced a pair of two fingerless gloves of his own, which he always carried around for no other reason than he thought fingerless gloves were cool. These ones were dark blue, and much cheaper than Leith's. Some kind of thin, stretchy material of which Alan didn't know the name. "I didn't think I'd ever actually get to use these," he remarked as he put them on, trying to be quick.
"Alright, now, hmm..." he stared up at where Leith and Shoutmon were sitting. He wasn't terribly confidant in his ability to climb onto surfaces ten inches taller than he was. "I might need some help with this."
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Post by Leith, Veemon, and Shoutmon on Oct 6, 2018 2:24:22 GMT
The company got the message. Leith, Raidramon, and Shoutmon all exchanged glances like they were silently asking each other whether they should press the matter. Apparently, they also decided that, no, they would not press further. Those two are Tamer and partner... allegedly. Something tells me it takes more to break that bond than just running away. The young man glumly looked to his digivice then before adding, Then again... apparently, it can be done. But the young man didn't let that show for long. When he looked up, he found his counterpart was already dressed for the occasion. "Well... didn't see that coming. Don't know if those'll help much, but they can't hurt."
"He's copyin' your digimon and your gloves!" Shoutmon had to snicker.
"Yeah, he's got the look of Veemon with your personality."
"Hey, fuck off. I never hit you."
"You hit Raidramon."
"Raidramon ain't a little bitch who can't take a punch."
"Is that your idea of a compliment?" Raidramon grumbled as he lay down on the sidewalk. This would make him much easier to mount, though still a challenge. Even though Leith could now see over him (though Alan likely couldn't), the young man still had to hop and push off Raidramon's back in order to get the height required for swinging one leg over. Once he was in place, one hand wrapped itself around the base of the armored digimon's center spike while the other reached out to help the next in line. Good thing he worse those gloves, else the sharp spike would have shredded his hands. Shoutmon claimed the spot behind Leith and wrapped his arms around his waist.
"Are you sure you can carry three?"
"Don't insult me." Leith seemed to think that was a joke because it made him chuckle pretty loudly. Raidramon didn't correct him, so perhaps Leith was correct.
"Alright. It's kinda cramped, but I think there's room," Leith said to Alan as he held his hand out once again.
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Post by Alan Pantell on Oct 6, 2018 3:25:55 GMT
Alan took a deep breath as he took Leith's hand. I just gotta go for it.
He pushed him self off of the ground, swinging one foot out in order for it to gain enough height to reach the other side of Raidramon. He was barely able to make it up. Once he got himself situated, he turned his head to see that he was uncomfortably close to the edge, so he leaned a bit forward to compensate. However, turning his head back to the front made him acutely aware of the general sharpness of the head of the Digimon in front of him.
He wasn't quite sure where to put his hands anymore. It wasn't quite clear how rough of a ride this was going to be, so he had to choose which of two kinds of serious injury he would risk suffering.
I think I'll go with the spikes. I've already got blunt force trauma checked off of my bucket list.
He took the hood of his jacket, wrapped it around the front of his neck, and tucked it into his collar for extra cushioning, and leaned forward, placing his hands next to those of Shoutmon.
All Alan could do from their was grip Raidramon's back with his legs and brace himself. His life... might have very well depended on it.
Now remember, Alan, this is incredibly dangerous. But above all else, it's freaking awesome. You should still hold on, though. Definitely hold on.
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Post by Leith, Veemon, and Shoutmon on Oct 6, 2018 3:57:48 GMT
"What're you actin' so damn nervous about?" Shoutmon exclaimed as he watched Alan struggle to get comfortable. "It's a digimon, not a rocket."
The Tamer, on the other hand, understood. Shoutmon wasn't around for the acclimation process, but riding didn't come naturally either to Leith or Raidramon... and that's not to mention other, less comfortable forms. As Raidramon began to stand up - which always made Leith feel like he was much higher off the ground than he really was - the young man added, "Relax, man. Shoutmon's got a point; it's not like he's a horse that just puts all the responsibility on you. He's figured out how to respond to a shift in weight and make himself as smooth a ride as he can - and that's coming from a guy who's still actually afraid of horses." And if that didn't calm him down, maybe what happened next did: Raidramon set off at a real casual walking pace. Apparently, there wasn't any hard riding in store; Raidramon was walking down the street faster than the group on foot to be sure, but he wasn't putting much effort into it. "Besides, it's the city. It's not like we're just gonna sprint everywhere and run people over. That'd be pretty dickish, wouldn't it?"
As it turned out, though, Leith was a very poor tour guide. Hopefully Alan wouldn't ask too many questions, because Leith probably wouldn't know the answer to any of them. In fact, he hadn't even really memorized how to get to the music shop since his sense of direction was so bad. That's why it was Raidramon who was really doing the navigating. Eventually, though, he ended up stopping in front of a shop whose sign was too faded to read, but a Gekomon could be seen through a window running a counter in a store filled with musical instruments of all kinds, some recognizable to humans and some exclusive to the digital world. None of them had brand names a real-world native would recognize, but all looked shiny and new.
Leith and Shoutmon each swung a leg over to sit side-on atop Raidramon before sliding down his side to make the fall a little easier. "Jesus, these things make my hand sweat like a Devimon in church," Leith groaned as he removed his riding gloves.
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Post by Alan Pantell on Oct 6, 2018 5:10:13 GMT
The realization that he had gotten nervous over nothing had embarrassed Alan a bit, but it combined with relief to create what was, over all, a very pleasant feeling. It was a feeling that reminded him that he had found some good friends.
Alan didn't ask any questions. The casual pace of the ride allowed him to view the scenery to his heart's content. Although it was a different world from the one he had stumbling around for eighteen years, a city was a city, and most of what he saw was rather self-explanatory. To their left, a glass storefront. Around the corner, residential buildings. There were even a few of what might have been theaters. Alan made a mental note of these to check out some time. He hadn't even begun to wonder what the Digital World's entertainment industry was like! That thought excited Alan quite a lot.
Alan's interest was also piqued when they arrived at the music store. He began to make the motion to slide off of Raidramon, but thought to ask, "You said this was 'personal business,' right? Would you mind if I came in anyway? I wouldn't mind taking a look around a music store. I'll be quick if so!"
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Post by Leith, Veemon, and Shoutmon on Oct 6, 2018 14:57:56 GMT
"I mean, it's not 'personal' like 'secret.' It's just not directly related to you. If you wanna go in, be my guest, and you can take your time. I mean, it's a music store; it's a fun place to be." Leith and Shoutmon headed on inside then, but Raidramon thought it would be safest if Alan dismounted him before shrinking to an indoor size.
Somehow, the inside managed to be even more grand than a peep through the window had let on. There were little sections for absolutely every kind of instrument from guitars to basses to drums to brass to winds to keyboards, not to mention as many materials and accessories as needed. And that was just the instruments themselves; that didn't account for a section just for specialized recording equipment (speakers, boards, compressors, etc) and, probably the flashiest part, a big old stage in the center covered in impressive lights, monitors, and other flashy things that were all for sale.
At first it seemed like a no-brainer that Leith and company liked this place just for its amazing selection. However, should Alan take a closer look at pricing, he'd find all of these things were extremely affordable - absurdly affordable. Alan probably didn't know anything about the currency of bits, but even he could probably tell most of those numbers had one less digit than the average musician was used to.
And yet, despite the size of the place, the only employee in sight was that Gekomon behind a desk by the door. "Ey, Lande," was how Shoutmon greeted her, "I left a bass here a couple days ago. Name's-"
"-I remember darling. Hold on!" she cheerfully and politely responded. Quick as an Elecmon, she disappeared behind a back door.
"Why does she always do that?"
"I kinda like it, actually. She remembers her customers and doesn't make me interact unnecessarily."
"Well what if I want to talk a little?"
"Lande is definitely not into what we do."
"Here you are, dears." The sweet lady passed another gig bag across the table, which Shoutmon took.
"You wanna carry that?"
"Not really." Leith took his digivice in his hand in response to that and apparently used some kind of plugin to digitize the gig bag like the digimon had been earlier and sucked it right into the digivice.
"Here, let's settle up." Leith then held up his digivice toward the Gekomon, at which point a bunch of tiny, blurry pixels flew out from it and somehow into the Gekomon's body. Apparently this was payment... somehow. Leith didn't fully understand it even still, but he did know he was good for it.
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Post by Alan Pantell on Oct 6, 2018 16:07:13 GMT
Having received confirmation from Leith, Alan slid off of Raidramon and jogged in to catch up to the others. Once inside, he knew it was safe to browse on his own, since he at least had a decent sense of direction, and the chance that the store would randomly change its shape so he couldn't find the entrance was incredibly slim, if the architect knew what was good for a business.
Alan never spent quite as much time looking around music stores as he did most game stores, but there was a lot to see here. Even for instruments which he didn't know how to play at all, like any wind instrument, or instruments he had only ever played a little, like guitar or piano, had something interesting to see. Even in the human world, they had always been full of recent inventions or accessories which he had never even thought to want, like specially-made drum heads and cymbals that were far more quiet than normal drums and cymbals, to be used for practicing. Although there were no brand names he recognized, a small part of him wondered if he would find the practice pad his drum teacher had patented years ago, with four different sections of various hardness, for four different sounds. Unsurprisingly, it wasn't there. It was a fun thought, though.
Alan didn't want to lose track of the time he had spent in there, so, considering that ideally, he'd be able to come back later to explore as much as he desired, he made his way back to the entrance. Everything seemed rather cheap, but he wasn't about to just buy something for the sake of it. Not until he had found the local bureau de change, at least. Plus, he didn't know how he would transport anything bulky. He saw that Leith was just finishing up his business at the front desk, so he approached.
"You know," Alan chuckled, "I've always wanted an electronic drum kit. Buuuuuut... I don't think it would count if I bought an acoustic one here."
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Post by Leith, Veemon, and Shoutmon on Oct 6, 2018 18:17:51 GMT
Raidramon actually didn't devolve when his back became vacant. Instead, he just lay down on the sidewalk outside the shop. He tried to not to make eye contact with anyone inside as they did their thing, but he did watch from outside with a sort of longing on his face...
He tried to keep that hidden, though, and Leith and Shoutmon were too involved in their own activities to notice. When Alan finally came around and remarked about drums, Shoutmon informed him, "Ha, we got technology in the digital world you humans might never get! We got drums that just sound like what ever the drummer wants 'em to. We got instruments for all sizes of digimon. We got guitars that light up as you play 'em!"
"Uh, we have those, too."
"Ours look cooler!" Shoutmon seemed quite proud of the digital world's musical capabilities, maybe even a little too proud... especially considering he lived the first days of his life in the real world.
"You a drummer, then?" Leith inquired as he casually leaned on the counter. "You any good?" Leith's whole body language had changed, actually. It was like he was trying harder to act casual and, yet, appeared more serious anyway. It sounded like there was a right or wrong answer to the question he had just asked.
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Post by Alan Pantell on Oct 6, 2018 19:28:32 GMT
"Well..." Alan put his hands behind his back, looked off to the side in no direction in particular, and made a sort of light sweeping motion with the front of his left foot.
Any good? Boy, was he.
"I've been playing drums since second grade, about eleven years ago. I don't want to mouth off about everything I did, because my drumming history consists of a lot of minor things. School assemblies, four years of marching band shows, which I wanted desperately to quit, but couldn't, both because I needed to do that to be in the jazz band, and because I was the best drummer in the percussion section..."
He looked back at Leith to clarify, "For the record, I'm not just spouting self-praise. I've been told that multiple times by others." He cleared his throat. "I don't give myself any praise I haven't actually received from other people. I've also been told that I naturally get a better sound out of the drums, whatever that means. Someone who heard my drumming for high school productions of musicals said that I played at a professional level..."
He searched his mind for anything else he should mention.
"...And I am fine with playing any genre, but I have a somewhat negative relationship with sambas."
Anything else? Uh...
"I cannot blast beat. I never try to, anyway."
A few more seconds of silence passed before he spoke up one final time.
"That was long-winded and I apologize, but I'm done now."
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