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A Walk in the Woods (Hiroyo, Tsukiko, Eleonora)
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Post by Tsukiko & The Ashikaga Clan on Dec 31, 2018 2:10:20 GMT
For Tsukiko and Mitsuharu's eyes only: Feeling their senses slowly coming back after a while of being completely hampered due to the fog, was definitely a bit startling for both of the Ashikagas. However, those were good news, no doubt. Weren't for the fact that they were most likely stepping on ponds of digital blood (?) which was terrible. In the wave of good news was definitely included the fact that the fog seemed to be waving off and they were finally starting to see where they were going. A smile was drawn in both the Digimon and the human's faces upon seeing they were closer to each other than they originally thought of. Tsukiko was the first to notice her Digimon partner not too ahead of her. The warrior didn't take much to notice his tamer's presence walking behind him, even though there was a silhouette that had raised his attention already.
"There!" Mitsuharu pointed forward, once he was next to his master.
The duo immediately noticed this was the Gorimon they were initially giving chase to and continued the persecution, now that they could actually move a lot swifter.
The chasing wasn't long. They seemed to have entered a zone belonging to some kind of ruins. There was definitely a bigger structure around here in the past, even though it had definitely seen better days. Very old and half-destroyed walls immediately caught their attention, even to the point of one of those stopping the ape's movements.
Mitsuharu reacted immediately to the beast's technique, protecting his body from the plasma shots as well as he could, by using the blades on his wrists. Seeing how this attack was taking its toll on his already damaged gun, Mitsuharu considered it was time to attack. The dinosaur prepared his blades to launch an attack on the damaged structure to break it and make the Gorimon fall. However...
"Mitsuharu!" Tsukiko's yelling made his eyes go to the right, from where the pink haired girl was addressing him. With a soft shaking of her head, she let her partner know he should go for a less devastating attack. The main reason being that it could hurt Layla, who was right on the other side of that wall, the other being because the human seemed to have a plan.
Instead, Mitsuharu held his position and waited. The dinosaur wanted to see for how long could that cannon withstand the ape using it. He didn't know exactly why was Tsukiko stopping him from destroying that wall, but he trusted his partner. Maybe Layla would put her plan into action?
In any case, being because the cannon had finally collapsed or because Layla had made a movement, Mitsuharu's next move would be to jump and try to tackle the Gorimon and take him down, without endangering Layla by damaging the structure he was on top of. Immobilizing this monkey had to be their first step towards getting some information. |
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Post by Hiroyo Oda on Dec 31, 2018 15:32:47 GMT
Hiroyo's Shenanigans
As the fog went from white to black, Hiroyo became more and more concerned. She had seen fog swirling up from the Shibuya river in the early morning, had watched it rise steadily upwards. That fog had been white.
She pushed on regardless. Shafts of light called to her, beacons of normal and naturalism that led her on a winding path. The ground sucked at her feet and every time she took a step she had to fight for it.
Her footsteps halted and she took off her hat. A few strands of red slipped free from the pony tail and hug by her ears. She wiped her forehead free of sweat then paused with the hat inches above her head. What was that noise that echoed in the distance? It was familiar but she couldn't quite place it with the way it faded in and out. Same with that smell!
Something bumped into Hiroyo's back and her hat fell from her hand and she fell to a knee. Her face immediately contorted at sticky-gross-wet feelng touching her leg.
"Don't blame a tree just watch where you're goi-Oh! Layla!" She twisted her head around ready to verbally eviscerate whatever had hit her (despite the impossibility of actually watching where anyone was going) but stopped immediately when she saw who it was. The red head clumsily found her way to her feet, picking up her hat on the way.
"I-really have no clue where we are! Lost it is then!" The red head said as she smacked her muddied hat against her leg a couple times. It seemed to get most of the gunk on the outside off but she was hardly paying attention.
"I've only been here a couple times myself but that's enough to know this is weird, like, really weird." She gestured broadly with her free hand to the area around them, bits of mud flying off her fingers in the process.
"It's clearly not natural. I mean it looks like night has fallen," She gestured around them then pointed to one of the shafts of light she was following. "but clearly its not the case! Someone has to be doing this on purpose." Hiroyo slapped her hat back onto her head and her face immediately twisted into a twin of Layla's earlier expression of disgust.
"Muuuuud." She whined and gave a full body shiver. She forced herself to put on a smile afterwards, stopping herself from pulling off her hat and clawing at her now soiled hair by only the most iron of wills. At this point it wouldn't do anythign! Instead she held out her hand to Layla. "This is a really weird request since we just met but it's really dark and it'd probably be best if we held hands! Because it's, super dark and I really don't want to get separated on my own again and if its too awkward we don't have to! Just think of it like an elementary school trip when you held hands with a partner to not get lost!"
Hiroyo was really glad it was dark, hopefully it'd keep the growing color change on her cheeks hidden as she babbled out her idea.
Roger's Dilemma
"Hah! Tired out already? I haven't even broken a sweat!" said Roger as he struck a pose on Apemon's back. The worm might act like the run hadn't affected him -and for the most part it hadn't, the benefit of being a rider- but when the electricity coursing through him stopped he knew his exertions would begin to catch up with him. That time would be soon.
Best to make the most of the time he had left!
"Its a good thing I have no qualms about backstabbing you! Poison Sting!" Roger cried and attempted to slam the stinger on his tail into Apemon's back. The last of the electric coursing through his body subsided - whether because it had flown through his tail into the enemy or just because it had worn itself out was the important part, what was important was that it was time to get away from the Apemon as quickly as possible!
"C'mon squirt! We can't nap yet!" Roger said as he threw himself off Apemon, a trail of yellow hair drifting in the air behind him. He was starting to feel itchy from it clinging to him. He scurried over to where Tsukaimon was resting. His sticky feet made quick work of the climb up but there he paused as he realized what Tsukaimon was poking at. "Wha-"
He twisted his head around to look more carefully at the area around them, his beak hanging open. Cut trees, a cabin. It looked like someone was home judging by the smoke coming from the chimmney. Speaking of smoke...
The lightning bolts on Roger's face contracted as he leaned in the direction of the cabin. He could of course see, all Kunemon could, but what he was seeing didn't make sense. He recognized the forms, Flymon was one he himself was intimately aware of though it was rarely used. Was the person inside some kind of world-class smoke blower or was it something more worrisome?
"Hey, hey we need to get going." He turned to Tsukaimon and nudged her cautiously with his beak. There were still a few tingles of electricity coursing through his body and he attempted to aim only a weak static burst at the purple virus. Not enough to truly hurt, just enough to hopefully jolt her awake. "There's a cabin, I bet someone's home!"
But would the being inside help or hinder? And what about Apemon? He glanced back at the ape and watched the still form for a moment. No, not still! The twitch of Apemon's hands caught Roger's attention and he was soon very glad the ape hadn't been able to actually grab him. There was the cottage to consider too...was there anyone home, and would they be a possible ally or opponent?
He stretched his electrical senses toward the building, trying to see if anyone was home. There was a high chance the residual charge from his Rage of Electricity would foul his sense. Distance also made it hard to tell, and depending on how far away he was from the hut he might not get anything useful.
He knew what Morgan and Hiroyo would want him to do in this situation and for once he was in agreement."C'mon potato, I'm not dragging your fat butt around! Don't make me leave without you!" Horror of horrors, he sounded like a mom!
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Roger uses Poison Sting.
Rage of Electricity ends this turn.
The Gears and Morgan
Everyone was scattering in all directions. Morgan could chase them down one by one, could theoretically rise high in the sky after each contact was made and attempt to lure them back but he was not indefatigueable. Already he could feel the ache in his wings. He would need to pick and choose carefully.
An explosion in the sky caught his attention immediately.
'If that is an enemy I may be the only one in a position to act. An explosion suggests an active engagement, or is it a signal?' He thought and hovered for a moment longer. 'If it is signalling, is it one of us or an enemy calling for reinforcements?'
There would be no answer without action and so he flew. He kept high and away from the fog along the way: he did not trust the suddenness with which it had rolled in. As he neared the location another explosion burst in the air ahead of him. He hesistated, but another did not follow. It did not seem to have been directed at him, merely accidentally aimed in his direction.
The danger of fireworks with a flyer in the area!
He darted forward and down, to edge close to the tree line. He spotted the gears almost immediately: bright and shiny as they were they were an excellent attention grabber.
...Now what were their names again? He really should have paid more attention earlier.
Regardless the best way to handle the situation was to call out first- they looked ready for battle and startling them could lead to him getting a rather unpleasant faceful of explosion.
"Hello below! Are you by chance the partners of the General?" He was pretty sure they were (what were the chances of meeting other gears out in the woods?) but it still seemed prudent to check. Especially with the weirdness going on..
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Post by Bonetrousled? on Jan 1, 2019 23:06:09 GMT
For Eleonora and the KoGears's Eyes Only:
Layla smiled shyly at Leo's concern, the worry from earlier melting out of her eyes. She didn't seem to notice the general's earlier bout of stress, instead being fully fooled by the tough girl act Leo slid back into. "That means a lot to hear. Thank you," she said. "But I'm gonna be okay now. Especially with someone like you watching my back." The shyness in her smile only seemed to be highlighted by this, and it almost seemed like she was blushing a bit. Maybe that was just because of the way the shadows fell on her face.
She slid her backpack on again, adjusting the straps slightly to make it more suited for wearing than smashing again. "I got turned around in the fog, and ended up wandering around through the woods for a while. But once I saw those Bakemon swarming around you, I knew something had to be wrong. So I just . . . had to something, you know?" Her hair fell over her eyes as she looked away, casting a shadow that only made her look more bashful. "I know, I know. Without a Digimon I could've gotten really hurt. But . . ."
She didn't have much time to finish that sentence. A whistle came through the treeline, its piercing high note causing Layla to cringe. It didn't quite seem loud enough to be cringeworthy from Leo's perceptive, but perhaps Layla had more sensitive ears than Leo did. Immediately, more Bakemon started to rise from the ground, their beady eyes all focused on the girl. They promptly flew towards her, mouths moving at a mile a minute but seemingly no sounds being made. As they surrounded her she covered her ears, seemingly frozen in place despite the Bakemon advancing closer and closer. If she didn't move or get moved, it seemed she would be in danger of getting completely overwhelmed.
Perhaps if Leo let her ears follow the source of the sound, she would notice a brown tail poking out from the bush. But compared to the mass of ghosts currently surrounding her new friend, it might be an easy-to-miss detail.
For Tsukiko and Mitsuharu's Eyes Only:
Layla's "plan" didn't seem to be a ton of success so far. The Gorillamon continued to nimbly hop from one section of the wall to the next. His arm cannon rained plasma down on Mitsuharu, and while Mitsuharu was adeptly using his arm blades to parry and guard it was unclear just how long he'd be able to hold out for. After all, each deflected shot would heat the blades up all the bit more, and the more he fired the more Gorillamon tried to vary up his attack patterns. Whereas at first his attacks were rather focused and even in tempo, after the first few blocks he began firing shots with tricky timing to throw Mitsuharu's focus off. Even his stance was starting to change, with Gorillamon ducking, weaving, and leaping in between shots.
It was once Gorillamon landed on a one-handed balance that Layla snapped into action. She flung a vine around the ape's thick wrist and pulled as strong as she could, the plant burying itself into a dense mat of white fur. The Gorillamon turned his head to Layla in surprise, only for her to smirk. "Might want to keep your eyes on the prize there," she hinted, pointing over towards where Mitsuharu was once standing. Gorillamon's eyes narrowed suspiciously as he turned, promptly opening his chest open for a full-body tackle. Laylamon whistled as Gorillamon and Mitsuharu tumbled down, the sheer force of Mitsuharu's tackle sending them sliding through the treeline.
It was another stone obstruction that brought the tumbling pair to a rest, this time not a wall but a statue. Specifically, it was a statue of a Gorillamon, only its upper half sticking out of the ground. The rest must have either been shattered or buried in the ground, leaving approximately half of an ape behind. Its mouth was twisted open in a war cry, and its hands were solidly clamped over both of its ears. If Mitsuharu and Tsukiko looked around, they'd notice several similar statues were littering the ground. Most of them were rubble, near impossible to make out properly, but there were two others still in a recognizable form. The first was what seemed to be Apemon, toppled over in a way that left the right half of its body ground down to dust. What little of its hands weren't reduced to rubble were layered over its mouth. The third was a large, flat mask, X shapes carved over its eyes.
With Mitsuharu having him in a classic mount, and Gorillamon's arm cannon sparking dangerously, it seemed like he was in a perfect positioning for questioning. However, with how he kept reaching for the statue he was facing, it seemed like this monkey wasn't about to give up the fight just yet.
For Hiroyo's Eyes Only:
"Um, Hiro? Your-" Ooooh. Too late. Despite several attempted interjections, each underlined by a subtle cough or polite raise of the finger, Hiroyo had successfully rambled her way past all of Layla's warnings. As soon as Hiroyo's hat hit her head Layla cringed, knowing full well that her attempts at stopping this had failed. Once the cringe had passed she started to laugh softly, offering a sympathetic smile. "Maybe we can find a lake or river to get your hair washed out at, eh? It isn't like mud can just come out of nowhere. Unless there was some rainstorm we missed, there's gotta be a source somewhere."
Perhaps Hiroyo expected Layla to find her suggestion as embarrassing as she did. After all, Hiroyo was certainly blushing up a storm over it. Before she could even finish Layla took hold of Hiroyo's hand. For a split second, Layla seemed to consider interlacing their fingers, a teasing smirk on her face. However, the look passed as soon as it had started. It was likely just the darkness and Hiro's own nerves playing tricks on her, a flicker of light from the canopy revealing an innocent, almost reassuring look on Layla's face instead. "There. Feeling better?" she asked, voice softened as if hoping not to startle Hiroyo. "I know, this isn't really a fun day for you. I'm really nervous too. But . . . if we let ourselves get worried, we're not gonna have much luck finding Tsukaimon, you know? Heck, we won't even be able to find our way out. And I'd feel awful if you got hurt like that just for trying to help me out.
We're gonna be okay. I promise."
Of course, all of Layla's kind words didn't change the fact that they were in the middle of nowhere. She turned to try and survey the treeline, squinting in an attempt at peering through the darkness. "If we follow the mud, we'll probably find water . . ." she mumbled, stooping down to try and see if there were tracks. Unfortunately, the mud seemed so irregular and so well-traversed that any footprints were ground down into an indeterminate mass. "And since we came from dry land, if we walk away from the mud we'll find our way back? Probably. Maybe?" It was clear this was a lot shakier of a conclusion. She turned to Hiro, a sheepish smile on her face. "I'm gonna guess you're not really sure how to retrace your steps, since neither of us are even sure how we got here, huh?"
For Morgan, Gurren, and Lagaan's Eyes Only:
Thankfully, all seemed quiet on the gears' front. The second flare bathed the area in light, revealing that the many shadowy trees stretched around them were . . . well, trees. Considering the many anthropomorphized creatures that the Digital World had, it was a legitimate question to ask, but fortunately none of them were lurking Cherrymon or Woodmon that had their eyes on causing trouble. It also revealed the sheer number of trees that had popped up in this neck of the forest. Even with the light of the flare guiding the way, the light revealed that the trees were pretty much a solid wall. The exception was what seemed to be a single corridor leading outwards, almost as if the trees were parting to let the party pass.
Beyond that, the stillness was almost eerie. Any word coming out of Gurren, Lagaan, and later Morgan's mouth seemed to catch within the trees, bouncing back and forth in a series of echoes. The weirdest thing about the echoes was that they almost seemed imperfect. One out of every ten echoes seemed to drop a word, or perhaps repeat a word twice. Worse than the echoes was what could be heard when there were no echoes to speak of. Whenever conversation fell silent, a drumming pulse reverberated through the air. It almost sounded like a heartbeat.
Worse, still, the trees seemed to be pulsating in time with the sound.
For Roger's Eyes Only:
So much rushing! Tsukaimon let out a yawn, rolling over. She didn't even seem to be responding to Roger's nudges. In fact, she didn't seem to be responding at all! Her fur didn't even bristle as the previously static-charged bug poked her. Was Tsukaimon's fur that short-cropped, or had Roger really spent that much electricity on Apemon? Regardless of the case, it was clear that the so-called potato really didn't have much interest in movement. "Its just some stinky old house," she complained. "This stump's way comfier. And there won't be, like. Some witch that eats children living on it.
. . . What? Who else is gonna live in some weird cabin in the middle of the woods?" Tsukaimon puffed her cheeks out indignantly, as expecting everyone to be right on her wavelength. "Lay's way more fun to cuddle than this axe, though. Where is she? I miss her!"
While one Digimon threatened to take a nap right then and there, another one was starting to stir from his own. The Apemon had forced itself onto one knee, looking very poofy from all of the static currently discharged into its fur. There was a haggard look in its eyes that wasn't visible from its previous prone position, and it kept one hand close to the ground as if afraid it would start floating away from the earth. Most disconcerting, however, was how it didn't make a single sound on the way up. There were no pained gasps, no furious groans, and not even a huff of exertion. The only sound that could be made out was Tsukaimon blowing a raspberry in its direction, seemingly not concerned in the slightest.
Finally, the Apemon had soundlessly forced itself to its feet. It took a shaky step, then reached a quivering hand towards Roger. Its entire arm seemed to be trembling, and if Roger looked more closely so were its legs. It could barely do more than stagger forward, one step at a time.
Say, was the house closer than it was before? Or was that another trick of the light?
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Post by Eleonora on Jan 2, 2019 3:02:41 GMT
Eleonora Seems Layla was fooled by her bravado, good, seeing how upbeat he was minutes before everything happens and how shy she is right now send Leo a signal that he has to be the strong one here, being honest it was kind of hard to keep the act when she was completely alone and powerless, but seeing how much faith has Layla put on the German girl it rekindle her spirit to keep the bravado for a little while, after all Layla hired her to protect her and Tsukaimon in the forest, so far that mission have not gone the way she wanted, but doesn't mean she can't redeem herself!
"Don't worry Layla, you took the right decision" Said Eleonora, shyly the German girl reach with her hands Layla's face and help the girl look at Leo in the eyes. "You actually save me, don't feel bad for that and I promise for now on We'll have your back, you're gonna need more than a stupid sheet ghost to scare a German, just believe in me and I'll push through any problem we'll find Tsukaimon and the rest in a flash, you'll see" Said Eleonora with determined eyes, did she believe on the words she said? Maybe? The only important thing for her right now was for Layla to believe in her
Sadly the cheering up attempt was interrupted by a whistle, at first Eleonora didn't pay attention to it at first but it was when Layla cover her ears in pain that thought something was wrong, the German girl tried to reach for Layla but before she could even react the Bakemon came back and start surrounding Layla, now Eleonora had to think fast how to spread those ghost away? She could throw one of the KoGears and let it release it's poisonus gas but that could affect Layla too, her desperation start to rise again the German girl wasn't a fast thinker and work the worst under pressure so this kind of do or fail situations fill her with stress and fear.
It was at that moment that both Gears started beeping looking at a bush where it seemed that a brown tail was popping up, would that be the origin of the whistle and the Bakemon? Would attack it make the ghost go away? Was it just an innocent Digimon? Too many questions to take in considerations but now it was time to act if she fails she'll deal with the problem later, now she needed to take Layla out of here
"Ok guys... You did a great job even though we didn't find Gurren and Laggan and I know it'll be harder for us to find them without you two but I need you to do your thing, I have faith that the message was receive and the group will slowly reunite" Leo talked to the KoGears, she didn't want to lose them but it was a now or never situation. "HOLD YOUR BREATH!" Eleonora shouted to Layla and then throw one of the little gears towards the Bakemon and the second towards the bush with the tail, once that was done she hold her breath too and reach for Layla, holding the girl by the hand Leo pull her out of the ghost reach and kept running until it was safe to stop.
Gurren-Lagann & Morgan With the second flare the mist clear completely and the gears where able to see that those trees where in fact trees and not digimon, that was actually a relief as having to fight those digimon would've been a really bad idea, starting a fight here with any local digimon was a bad idea since they had the advantage of knowing the terrain perfectly, a voice call them from above it was the FanBeemon that was partnered to Hiroyo and the Kunemon.
"Affirmative" both gears respond to Morgan's question
They took a look at their surroundings they had a pretty big wall of trees on their way there was only one open path to regions unknown, to make matters worst Gurren stop receiving signal of his KoHagurumon meaning that hey have been deactivated...
"Do you happen to see where does this path will take us?"
"Or were the rest is? Or if they will be able to see another flare?
As of now the air Scouting of Morgan was all the the clues they had to know where they are and how to regroup with their General. |
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Post by Hiroyo Oda on Jan 4, 2019 23:40:14 GMT
Gears and the Morgan
“Well, this is not how the woods normally are, I bet the humans will find it creepy.” Morgan said to the gears as the echo tossed their words back at him.. He already knew for certain Hiroyo would. He expected to hear her enraged yelling at the mocking echoes soon, or maybe a scream of fear because the ‘fog’ was talking back? It’d be dumb, but that was her.
“This is not…creepy.” The echo repeated his words on the wind in a whisper and he paused, lifting his head. His antenna twitched at the rather conspicuous choice of wording. Mere coincidence or something more? He dropped his head to focus on the twin gears again.
“From above I saw everyone splitting apart, I do not think any more will come to the explosions. They almost seem muted in this.” He said and gestured with one large foreclaw at the forest around them and the remains of the fog. His hearing did seem off, it was like he could hear coherency from the echoes.
“Everyone…more…explosions…” Was that a denial of his words or support for them? His eyes narrowed with a new suspicion. What if the fog wasn’t as dumb as he though? Could not their foe be lurking within, throwing their voice to confuse and confound the group? The Fanbeemon grit his beak, the sharp edges sliding against each other.
“I suspect the cause of this would not take kindly to our attempts at going off path. It might be best for us to continue to push ahead and try to tackle this from outside.” He didn’t mention his thoughts on his perhaps long shot of the cause of the fog lurking by them, best the gears were ready for violence regardless. “It is dangerous right now but traveling straight ahead might be best.
“I…cause…not…kindly…off” Repeated the echo. That was an admission of guilt if Morgan had ever heard one. He ground his beak and the sound reverberated through the area in what he could only take as a mockery of his frustration. It wasn’t done twisting his words though as a very belated echo bounced back. “Best for us…push…out…Traveling…dangerous…”
Morgan ripped up the ground beneath his claws mindlessly. His claws scooped mounds of dirt and messily dropped it into the hole it had come from. It was probably clear to the twins that the echoes were starting to effect the bug’s mental state, or maybe they would chalk it up to annoyance at the over all situation.
“You’ve brought up good points and if I recall correctly then straight ahead will us to move movement under the tree. Whether friend or foe I cannot say, but I believe following the path would be prudent. We could fire off explosions as we go to try and attract attention.” He spoke with a dark glower on his face, an interesting expression with vertically split jaws instead of horizontal. He also did not stick around to hear what the foe he believed to be hiding in the fog said next. With a loud buzzing of his wings he took to the air. Perhaps the buzz drowned out the noise for Morgan, but the twins would likely hear the echo in the wavering mimicry of his voice.
“Brought…good…ahead…Friend…be…following…path…”
Roger is a Morning 'Mon
Apemon is up and moving and Roger doesn’t like it. He parts his beak and hisses, waving his tail around as if it would rattle with the movement. He almost wants to tussle with the Apemon again solely as an outlet for his budding frustration with the situation. The simian is acting strangely compared to what little he’s seen of him and Roger is reconsidering his ‘no fight, flee’ policy, temporary as it is.
He sneaks a glance at the cabin. It is there, no one has come out of it. He sneaks a look at the weird smoke (if there is any) to see what shapes he can see but only looks long enough to maybe catch one or two of the curious shapes before turning his attention to what he’s really suppose to be doing.
There are few things more aggravating in this world than lazy bums that won’t get up in the morning. There is a reason the day begins with the giant blazing ball of light entering the sky and it is because that’s when people are suppose to be up and doing things! Not laying around in bed complaining that they worked third shift and their tired or that cuddling an ax is ‘fun’ or ‘comfortable’. All Tsukaimon’s quite protests do is annoy Roger and feed his aggravation.
Roger’s patience isn’t very long and the purple potato has used up the last of it. He expresses this by darting forward like a snake striking at its prey to grab Tsukaimon by the earwing and shake the virus. Or attempt to. Regardless of whether he’s successful or not he rears back and hisses with his antenna stiff behind him.
“We can’t find your ‘Lay’ without moving! Right now she’s lost in the woods probably alone and scared and here you are wasting time by lounging around! Get! Up!” He whisper-screams at the Patamon variant. He fixes his gaze and keeps his beak pointed straight at the little virus. If Tsukaimon finally snaps out of her stupor then Roger will gesture for them to hop off the far side of the stump, away from Apemon to run across the clearing. If that puts the two of them by the house so be a it! The Ape is clearly the more immediate threat. “Hop away from Apemon and stop blowing raspberries at ‘im! Can’t you tell he’s acting real weird?!”
Hiroyo's a Deviant
There is twitch under Hiroyo’s right eye that had begun to appear and disappear randomly on Hiroyo’s face as Layla talked about dryness and paths and water. Despite that the redhead did seem to be paying attention: she nodded between Layla’s sentences as if to encourage her to keep going.
The only time the tic stopped is when Layla took the older girl’s hand.
“Aaah, well as long as it won’t make you uncomfortable!” Hiroyo said, her free hand rubbing at the back of her neck as she grinned despite her -wait what was that? Her own smile faltered as the mischievous look appeared and disappeared on Layla’s face. Hiroyo paused with her free hand part way back to her side and then finally lowered it all the way with a shake of her head. Just a trick of the light in these deplorable conditions.
“Touch isn’t a common thing in Japan.” She explained as she reached up to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear. This dislodged a piece of mud which brushed her hand which grabbed the brim which provided the handhold for Hiroyo to tear the hat off her head and hurl it away from her with a yell. After a moment of quiet Hiroyo turned to Layla and gave the other girl a pained smile. “I would really, really like to shove my face into a river right now. Even with an angry digimon in it!”
Someone is not enjoying the mud. Said someone stopped ranting enough to listen to Layla talk about back-tracking and pathways and being lost. Hiroyo settled down, her expression slowly smoothed out into perplexed rather than barely contained anger.
“I followed the lights.” She explained and raised her free hand to gesture skyward above her head. “They kind of curve? It wasn’t muddy where we walked before as a group, and the way I’ve come only recently became muddy so if we want water I suspect we should go forward…but that might take us away from the path? We can always double back though!” said the muddy muddy red head. With that last sentence she took a couple steps forward then turned back to face Layla with a pleading expression.
“Listen, I know you really want to get to Tsukaimon and I really want to get back to everyone too but can we just, please, please try to find water first? Roger’s probably still with Tsukaimon and he’s a really tough fighter! He never quits, even when outmatched, and I know he’ll protect her until we get there! So please, water? For my hair?” She abruptly switched from reassurance to justification as a thought occurred to her. A sound reason for pursuing this little side quest. “I don’t want mud to get in my eyes during a fight or something, and maybe the trees will be thinner too!”
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Post by Tsukiko & The Ashikaga Clan on Jan 5, 2019 4:43:10 GMT
For Tsukiko and Mitsuharu's eyes only: Some of the plasma shots the Gorimon was throwing had managed to actually reach Mitsuharu. After all, the change on the attack pattern and the quickness of the bursts had given him a hard time to withstand the offensive. It was the first time he had to receive any kind of attack coming from the ape, and it had definitely hurt. The fact that canon was malfunctioning definitely didn’t make those shots less harmful.
However, Layla’s plan seemed to finally had paid off. The short-haired girl managed to cause a distraction for the enemy, leaving him wide open for Mitsuharu to attack. The tackle seemed to have been effective, and the development of their battle only lead Tsukiko to follow their trail, discovering more of this zone they were at.
Tsukiko’s blue eyes just went everywhere, analyzing every bit of the layout. It just couldn’t be a coincidence, right? Even though these statues had definitely seen better days, she could definitely identify the figure of an Apemon and a Gorimon.
“That was amazing!” Tsukiko celebrated, getting closer to Layla. This was definitely a new side of the human they hadn’t seen so far, and the pink-haired girl was loving it. “That fog made us split. It was almost as if it was its objective.” Placing her right hand around her chin, Tsukiko mused about this matter. There were still some things she needed to ask Layla, but right now, they had a much more important lead right in front of them, and they had to get the best of it.
“Don’t let him escape, Mitsuharu.” Shifting her expression to a rather angry one, the tamer’s eyes went back to the monkey up for questioning. On his side, Mitsuharu let a loud roar escape, making a small curtain of lava rise from the ground, taking the shape of a ring around Gorimon, the statue in front of them and the Dinohumon. At the same time, he funneled all of his weight to stop the ape from moving. He was trying to immobilize him, but even if he could break free, he wouldn’t be able to escape that ring of lava. At least not for now.
Mitsuharu remained trying to immobilize Gorimon as much as possible, but didn’t look to hurt him any further. In any case, they would need for him to be as calmed as possible to give them some answers. Tsukiko stood in front of the ape, making sure he could see her. With her hands, she pointed at all of the statures, moving her lips very slowly while she uttered her question. “What do these statues mean? Do you belong to some kind of tribe living in this forest?” During her last question, she pointed at the ground where she was standing and then at the trees around them.
“Where did you take Tsukaimon?” She asked. Again, moving her lips very slowly for the monkey to read them, and making her hands take the shape of a small rounded thing.
Why was she questioning him like this? Well, if her assumptions were right… this digimon was deaf.
Battle Log:
One on one: Mitsuharu roars, raising lava from the ground around where he stands, to make a combat ring between him and his opponent. If the opponent hits the borders of the ring he will take a medium amount of damage. Mitsuharu will also take damage upon touching these borders, but only 30% of the damage the enemy takes. Any other enemy or ally who tries to enter the ring will also receive damage. The lava ring lasts for 5 turns. 5 posts cooldown.
One on one:
cooldown: 0/5.
duration: 0/5.
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Post by Bonetrousled? on Jan 6, 2019 6:14:17 GMT
For Eleonora and the KoGears's Eyes Only:
Hold her breath? "What? Why?" Layla asked, eyes wide with worry. She less spoke and more shouted her question, having no idea what holding her breath had to do with her being spooked. "What does that even have to do wi- Oh." As soon as the Ko-Gear slid to Layla's feet, she immediately understood. Promptly the girl turned away from the gears, hunkering down and covering her mouth with both hands. Just in case it'd effect her ability to see, she also squeezed her eyes shut. The ghosts almost seemed to take this as an invitation, their smiles stretching to a predatory with as they oozed closer. Their incorporeal bodies almost seemed to meld into one another, forming a wall of tattered ectoplasm as their fingers crept towards Layla.
Then their poison gas kicked in, leaving the wraith wall wailing in agony. Their claws immediately turned on themselves, as if they were trying to tear themselves away from the poison before the others could hold them back. This just lead to them pushing each other further into the virus, like a mass of crabs scrambling out of a bucket. Layla, at least, made sure to keep on the ball. As soon as their frantic thrashing left an opening, she forced herself to crawl through. Coughing and sputtering, she was able to make it over to Leo, who had already come running to catch up with her. Hand in hand, Leo ran off, Layla trying to regain her bearing as she tried to follow.
Back from the bushes, a pained "Ack!" echoed out. The tail promptly slithered back into the bush, but surely by then Leo and Layla would've been too far to notice. Occasionally ghosts seemed to gather in the corner of their peripheral vision, but Leo and Layla were always a step ahead of them. No rocks, tree roots, or obstructions would break their stride, and soon even the ghosts had faded into a distant mass. Layla panted, trying to catch her breath. She gave Leo's hand a gentle squeeze and flashed her a warm smile. "Thank you so much. I owe you big time for that," she said.
It would've been a sweet moment, and it was! Or at least, it was until an almost cheap looking puff of smoke interrupted the duo. It was like a bad special effect had appeared, and by the time the smoke wafted away a masked monkey stood facing the group. It looked to be a small chimp that wore a large tribal mask, the eyes on its mask scratched out by Xes. In one hand it held an oversized red boomerang. In the other it held the KoGear, tossing it in a seemingly random direction away from itself. "Aha! I knew I'd catch up to you hooligans," it said, facing in the same incorrect direction. Did it think Leo and Layla were there? "Who the heck are you, even? And what do you think you're doing here?"
For Tsukiko and Mitsuharu's Eyes Only:
Layla smirked at Tsukiko's praise. "Like what you see?" she asked, clearly enjoying Tsukiko's compliments as much as Tsukiko enjoyed her more strategic side. "When you don't have a partner to call your own, you start to learn little tricks for making yourself useful anyway. Most of the time I still need a hand from Tsukaimon, but you'd be surprised what a human's capable of when they put their mind to it."
Of course, if Tsukiko would be surprised by what humans could do, Layla would be surprised by what forests could do. Her face took up a blank look as she considered what Tsukiko was saying. "Its . . . objective?" she asked. "That's impossible, right? I mean. Its fog. It's not like it has a brain, or emotions, or the willingness to do anything. It's just . . . fog. Unless . . ." Her brow furrowed as she tried to consider Tsukiko words, worry shining in her eyes.
"You don't think this forest is, like, just one giant Digimon. Do you?"
At least the two were free to have this talk now that Mitsuharu and Gorillamon were safety locked away. If the weight of the Dinohumon wasn't stopping him from moving, the uncomfortably close ring of lava certainly was. The heat and pressure seemed to work the Gorillamon up into more of a frenzy, and he started groping for the arm of his own statue to start pulling it down. Was he trying to bring the thing down on him and Mitsuharu's heads? Or was he just nervous and lashing out? The wide-eyed look of fear in his eyes made it tricky to tell, as did the almost pained grunting noises he was making.
It was only when he saw that Mitsuharu wasn't attacking him that he started to calm, even if he still fidgeted uncomfortably in the Dinohumon's grip. He tried to focus instead on Tsukiko, following her lips to get a sense of what she was saying. At first he was confused, but he nodded in understanding as he continued to watch. "No tribe," he said, with all the unsureness of one who had no idea of his own words sounded right. "Forest, look out for number one. Born all alone. Most Digimon fight, some Digimon friends. But no tribe.
Statues?" He looked up, realization dawning on his face as he noticed his own face looking down on him. ". . . This . . . is new?"
At mention of Tsukaimon, the ape burst out into laughter. "Apemon has the beast, not me!" he said. "Apemon stronger. Much, much stronger. And much, much faster. Halfway across forest by now!" Layla didn't seem to take too kindly to the response, deathglaring at the Gorillamon. Nevertheless, she said nothing for the time being, if only due to the ring of lava that would surely sear her if she intervened. Instead she balled her hands into fists so tight that her nails seemed to stab into her palms.
"My question, now. What are you? Why are you here?"
For Hiroyo's Eyes Only:
"True," Layla hummed, looking aimlessly into the treeline. "But we're not in Japan, are we? We're in the Digital World, and Digimon don't really seem to care one way or another. Not that any are around to see us, of course." What did Digimon think of human social mores, even? They seemed not to care much about fighting to the death, which was certainly a big deviation from standard human behavior. And they grew in stages that they could freely hop between, rather than maturing year after year. So maybe Layla's argument had a few gaps in it. At the same time, it was true that the sheer difference between worlds also meant standard operating procedure varied between said worlds. In the human world, Hiroyo wouldn't be spirited away by a malicious fog and taken to a mudhole.
Layla laughed warmly again as Hiroyo continued seething about the mud. Did the forest seem to get a bit warmer and lighter? Or had Hiroyo just adapted to the cold darkness by a half-measure? "I'm sure the angry Digimon would swim away in terror, with how pissed you look," she teased. " 'Sides, I doubt the really big ones show up in rivers. So it's not like you'll get hurt or anything."
Hiroyo's anger may have been a bit of a surprise, but her boldness was even more so. She had just asked to put the rescue mission on hold for the sake of . . . hair care? Most tamers grieving their partners would have likely flipped out upon hearing this, but Layla seemed a bit more understanding. She turned away from Hiroyo, her hold on the girl's hand tightening some. "Tsukaimon's never been separated from me for this long before," she admitted, voice laced with worry. Her eyes seemed to be arcing up and down the ground, as if trying to look back up to Hiroyo but not having the strength to do so. "I . . . I'm scared, Hiro. And I know Roger's strong, but he's just a Rookie, and both of those monkeys are Champions. I really don't think they're going to be okay without us there."
It was sounding like a hard no so far. However, a bit of guilt shined in Layla's eyes, and she smiled softly as she finally turned back to Hiroyo. "But I know you're not feeling great right now. I mean, I'm not feeling great either. And I know we're both kinda lost right now, so it isn't like we can do anything anyway. So . . . " She trailed off as she tried to think. "Maybe it's okay if we take a bit of a break, right? To clear our heads, and come back giving our 100% for Tsukaimon?"
With that said, Layla began guiding Hiroyo deeper into the forest. She kept an ear out for the sound of flowing water as she waded through the mud, and sure enough her faith had been rewarded. The muddy path quickly intersected with a gently flowing river, mangrove trees seemingly dotting the waters like islands. Layla looked at the water with an approval smile. "There. This'll make a fine pit stop, at least," she said, letting go of Hiroyo's hand to survey the banks. The river was gentle, barely disturbing the roots of the mangroves as it flowed. A rock that Layla had dropped into the river sank down to a pleasantly deep bottom, proving it was deep. And it was almost appetizingly crisp and clear. Fine didn't really capture just how perfect of a river this was.
Maybe that was why Layla had taken a break from surveying to sneak up behind Hiro, pushing her into the river before jumping in herself. She laughed mischievously as she resurfaced, shaking water from her short hair. "See? Told you we'd get you cleaned up!" she joked, the dip in the water seemingly doing wonders for her mood.
For Morgan, Gurren, and Lagaan's Eyes Only:
The trees continued to pulse as Morgan, Gurren, and Lagaan passed through, moving in tempo with the strange heartbeat that echoed through the breeze. It seemed almost impossible to ignore once first spotted, now subtly yet clearly underlining almost every word spoken. Worse still, it seemed to be getting faster with each step that the group progressed forward. If they ever stopped moving the pulsing would stop as well, only to resume the second they continued onwards.
Worse still, if anyone turned back, they would notice that the path they were progressing through was sealed off. More trees had seemingly sprouted up behind them, or perhaps shuffled between them and safety while they were otherwise occupied. These trees were darker and more gnarled than the others, with bark that peeled off into twisted barbs. Approaching them seemed . . . unwise, to say the least.
The echoes only got worse by this point. Previously they appeared once every few sentences, but soon they would be repeating every word spoken by Morgan and the gears. These echoes were less simple omissions and more flat-out twists of what was previously spoken. Some had even intermingled words spoken several sentences ago, making it clear this was no mere echoing. All the while the heart of the forest continued to pulse, the most distant trees seeming to thrash back and forth along with it. Whenever the party got close enough for this to be noticeable the thrashing stopped, only to resume once the trees were far enough from the party's view. It was as if the forest itself was going mad from the sounds, only putting up a front of stability to seem presentable.
Of the echoes, at least one stood out as something that nobody in the party would recognize. A haggard sounding voice, warm and cold in equal amounts, insisted "You shouldn't be here."
Far in the distance, a pale figure sat cross-legged, a single hand out as if beckoning.
For Roger's Eyes Only:
When Roger turned around to hiss at Tsukaimon, he would notice something quite strange. While he and Tsukaimon hadn't gotten any closer to the cabin, or in fact moved at all, Apemon was suddenly twice as far away from the duo as he was before. He continued to stagger forward, as if not even daunted by the change of distance, but it was clear that at his current pace he would not be making up all of the distance that he had suddenly lost. It was almost disconcerting how unaware of his own situation he was. If Roger were to turn away again, would he be even further?
Tsukaimon let out a yelp as Roger shook her by the ear, eyes widening in pain. That shook her right out of her rest, the Tsukaimon gingerly rubbing the shaken ear with her other ear. "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, that hurts!" she yelped, although it didn't hurt as much as the call to arms that Roger had promptly followed his shake up with. He was right. Layla was alone and scared out there, and even if she wasn't in any direct danger she wasn't doing a thing about it. After pondering for a bit she hopped off of the stump, only to stop with wide eyes
Once Roger turned back to where Tsukaimon was facing, he would see that they were now right on the cabin's doorstep. Smoke continued to gently waft into the air, and a withered, hollow voice could be heard humming from within. The cabin seemed to be made of rather old wood, moss and lichen gumming themselves into any cracks or dips in the wood. It also didn't seem like there were any lights, lamps, or torches present inside, despite the clear presence of smoke and at least one occupant. The plant life around the cabin was wild and poorly maintained, weeds and tall grass present in abundance to the detriment of anything else that might be growing there. However, there was one exception to this overgrowth, a square of plants so small that they may have been all too easy to miss.
Growing in this square were iridescent black flowers.
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Post by Tsukiko & The Ashikaga Clan on Jan 8, 2019 16:47:37 GMT
Until now, it wouldn’t be accurate to say Tsukiko had exactly considered this forest could be a living thing. However, that was kind of what her initial words meant. “I hadn’t actually considered that, but you might be right. I don’t know if it’s a digimon, but it definitely seems to have some type of intelligence.” It definitely could be a coincidence that the fog had cleared only when they were separated, but the way it acted was actually pretty strange.
All of this elucubrating left multiple questions open. One of them was pretty obvious. “What I don’t understand is…” Tsukiko took her right hand to her chin. “If the fog wanted to separate us, why did we find each other so quickly?” Could it be that the forest hadn’t done a very good job? In that case, the others should be nearby, even though it didn’t seem like. “How did you get here, Layla? What did you see on your way behind that wall? Anything in special?” There had to be a reason why Layla had been so easy to find, while the rest seemed still astray.
All of this matter would have to wait. After all, their best possible source of answers was in front of them. Gorimon had now started to reply to Tsukiko’s questioning. It was good to know the way they had handled this until now seemed the right way, not mentioning her deduction skills had worked this time around. His answers were rather interesting, no doubt. It was a good thing that, even though deaf, he knew how to speak. For the rest of this conversation, Tsukiko would keep moving her lips slowly for the beast to understand her, as well as using physical language to help deliver the message.
“For number… one?” Was he talking about each and every one of them? Or was this ‘number one’, someone in particular? The theory that this forest was alive, was definitely starting to gain some strength. This forest protected the digimon. “So if this forest looks out for you guys, then it made the fog appear for us to not be able to catch you, right?” If that was the case, Tsukiko knew she had to be extremely careful from now on. There was something bigger than her protecting this monkey, and it was probably not a good idea to try to fight it.
It was hard for Tsukiko to remain calmed after the monkey flat out laughed off at her question about Tsukaimon, but she knew it was for the best. Okay, those had been too much questions without interchanging any type of information. Tsukiko had some more questions to ask, but first, she decided to answer Gorimon’s inquiries, so this didn’t look too much like an interrogation.
“My name is Tsukiko, and this is Layla. We're humans. The one over you is Mitsuharu, my partner.” She pointed with her head to her human peer. “We’re allies too. Just like you and Apemon. We look out for each other.” She explained. “We came here to help Layla and the ‘beast’ as you call her, look for a flower, but you and your friend took the ‘beast’. Why? Why did you take her?”
The girl pointed once again at the figures. “About the statues… they are new?” It sure didn’t seem like. “They look like they’ve been here for a while.” The girl took a seat on the ground, on the other side of the ring of lava. “You’re telling me you’ve never seen these? They are half buried or destroyed. They seem antique. Besides, the one on that statue represents you.” She said, now pointing specifically at the Gorimon’s statue. “Do you think the forest made this as a tribute to you? These seem like… ruins. Did this place used to be something else?”
Battle Log:
One on one:
cooldown: 1/5.
duration: 1/5.
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Post by Eleonora on Jan 10, 2019 17:52:33 GMT
Eleonora Her plan worked and the German girl could take Layla out of that dangerous situation, Leo kept running holding the girl's hand tightly to not lose her, sure running this forest without a clear clue as to where to go was a terrible bad idea but what else was Eleonora suppose to do? Just keep moving forward eventually you'll be somewhere, she just hope this "somewhere" was near one of her partners or at least Tsukiko or Hiroyo, wherever this path was taken them it felt like the right one as no obstacles where in the middle, at least Eleonora doesn't remember crossing any obstacle after realizing how lost she was.
After some minutes running Layla panted and squeeze the German girl's hand was at that moment that she thought it was a good time to stop and catch some breath, Leo blush a little when Layla thank her.
"Don't mention it, I did what I thought was the smart thing on that moment" Keywords "on that moment" because now they have no way of reaching her partners without the KoHaguru to guide them. "I'm really bad at taking "now or never" decisions, can't handle the pressure of knowing that if I screw up not just me but those who count on me will be in huge problems"
But luckily she did not screw up and seeing Layla safe was enough to draw a smile on the German girl's face, at least now the two had a time to relax or that's what she thought, not soon after they stop a poof of smoke draw closer and from it a new digimon come into view, it look like another monkey it was wearing a tribal mask and was arm with a boomerang.
"Stay close..." Leo step in front of Layla and hold her hand again. "I could ask you the same, bold of you to chase down two innocent
and defenseless humans, aren't you proud?" While of course Eleonora wasn't as stupid to really try to fight the digimon she wasn't going to show fear or weakness, she have to be strong now and protect Layla no matter what.
Gears and Morgan The twins noted the weird echoes but they really didn't put much thought on it, it wasn't bothering them yet, sadly the same couldn't be said about Morgan, the FanBeemon looked very annoyed by it.
"Maybe we should keep talk to a minimum
"It seems that the forest tries to disorient ourselves with the echoe, if we remain silent it won't affect us"Keep... Talk...
After roaming the woods for a while Lagann thought of shooting another flare as Morgan recommended but it seemed that they were too deep on the forest to even work, either no one sees the flare or they start a fire which can't be good when they're surrounded by trees, speaking of them the deeper they move through the woods behind them trees grew and seal the path so turning back was not an option, was at that point that both gear reach a conclusion.
"With all the information we have about this forest... We have two theories about what is happening, first the spirit roaming the woods are trying to lure us away from our tamers to be an easy target?
"Second, what if the forest itself is the one trying to split us? in both theories we are not lost just someone else is forcing us through a fix path..."
That looked like the two more logic options, something or someone wants them away and just following one path, but who or what could do that and more importantly why would it want that? All questions seemed to be answer soon as in the distance the trio could distinguish a figure that was sit cross legged and with one hand making gestures for the group to get closer, the gears would consult Morgan about what he wanted to do but keep talking would make the echoes continue and the bee had enough troubles with that, for now both will wait to see what Morgan does, if he gets closer to the figure they'll do it, otherwise they'll just stare at it cautiously in case it decides to attack |
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Post by Hiroyo Oda on Jan 11, 2019 3:17:35 GMT
Much ABuzz About Voices "You are right, the less ammunition we hand out the better." Morgan said when the gears gave the excellent advice of speaking less. It would give the woods - or the source in the woods - less to work with. He nodded sharply as if in confirmation to himself and took to the air. His wings created a steady drone that would, perhaps, overpower the quieter sounds.
The fog was stifling, but it and the silence were not enough to quiet his anger.
There was something in this forest using him, using them. The gear twins, the humans, the samurai. Morgan would have sworn he could feel its malicious presence in the shadow under every leaf, in the gap between every trunk were he speaking. It was probably for the best that he wasn't.
Soon the twin gears spoke up again and Morgan listened.
"A spirit...?" He quietly repeated as he raised a claw to his beak. He was clearly giving their suggestion much thought. "In the days that I travelled with another human there were tales of spirits here. This was...several years ago, slightly less than a decade our time. With this fog I could believe it, although it would not surprise me to learn the forest has its will. It may even been that both are true and it is the spirit of the forest we face."
"Travelling...another. Spirits...believe..."
It was a sobering thought. He was still incensed at what he took to be purposeful mockery of his thoughts but he would not be goaded into action.
A good thing when the three came upon the wispy figure seated. Morgan stopped completely when he noticed the shape. His antenna quivered and every bit of him was drawn taut like a strung bow, but still he did not move. But the twins' words had reached him and so he did not go charging in a rage. He did draw closer but kept a slow, careful pace so as to not stumble headlong into a trap.
Silently he advanced toward the seated figure with violence in his eyes. Roger's Very Bad, No Good Decision Making process Roger stared down the Apemon, his beak half-parted in a warning hiss. His electrical sense was coming back to him now. Fuzzy, limited to short-range, he could feel only the fuzziest hint of static to show him that Tsukaimon had not yet moved. Eventually he was sure the Apemon wasn't planning to move and so he twisted around with admonishment already on his beak.
"Why haven't you gone yet you lit- oh." His angry diatride petered out as he came almost beak to doorknob with the hut. Up close it was worse than he had imagined it to bee, and now he knew he had not misjudged the house earlier. He gulped, his antenna waving in definately-not-fear as he took in the humming, the plants, the lack of light.
But something dark caught his eye.
"Hey, hey potatomon." Roger whispered as he crawled to the edge of the stump and leaned over. He stretched himself to half-way down the edge before he spoke again. "Your girl was looking for some flowers, right? Them the flowers? If so, I need you to get moving to the edge of the forest, you hear me?"
Maybe Roger couldn't face up directly against the creepy hut and its occupant or the ridiculously strong simian behind him but he sure as hell thought he could spit in some eyes while making his escape.He was certainly going to never let the others forget the fact that he did all the work! He hadn't even wanted to go on this stupid mission but as always nothing would get done without him! Hiroyo's Mess Pt |ERROR| The words of Hiroyo's companion made the red head realize just how selfish she was. Here Layla didn't even have a digivice, for all the good it did Hiroyo, to keep track of her partner and they were seperated for what sounded like the first time in a long time and Hiroyo just. Wanted to clean the mud off.
It was better than ice water for cooling her off.
She lifted her free hand to rub harder at the back of her neck, carefully not looking at Layla as she prepared to apologize and explain that yes of course they should look for Tsukaimon first only to be interuppted by Layla agreeing to her request.
Well. Shit.
"I-Thanks, Layla." Hiroyo said and sighed immediately after. IT could be taken for a sigh of relief with the way she immediately smiled reassuringly at the other female after. "Yeah! Besides, a water will give us a landmark to find our way! Depending on how far it stretches the others might run into it as well! Plus its good to not get too serious in a situation like this! Roger will protect her, and I bet some of the others have caught up by now!"
Mentally Hiroyo attempted to pull her hair out as she blindly walked through the woods. She wrestled with her own loathing for a moment then brushed it away, confident in her choice once more. It was important to not let despair overwhelm one!
The river was peaceful enough for Hiroyo to actually believe what she was telling herself. 'Just enough time to get the mud out of my hair.' She thought to herself as she made her way to the edge of the water. 'Just to get the mud out then-"
SPLASH
Whatever the end of the thought had been was destroyed by the sudden impact with the water. She came up coughing and inarticulate, glaring around until she saw Layla surface herself. The glaring ended as the coughing did, both petering out for something happier.
"Alright! You win!" She laughed as she splashed some water at Layla in retaliation then went under the water. When she surfaced again she slid her fingers through her hair, dislodging pieces of mud. The water around her was soon cloudy from mud - and probably whatever was in her purse was now ruined - but with how strong the current was it would soon clear up. Soon there was very little mud left on Hiroyo and she made her way to the bank. "Alright, I'm good so lets go! We've refreshed body and mind! We've got a Tsukaimon to chase down!" The red head stood on the bank and held out a hand towards Layla, no sign of wavering or indecision in her movements or voice.
She was ready.
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Post by Bonetrousled? on Jan 12, 2019 5:20:41 GMT
For Eleonora and the KoGears's Eyes Only:
As soon as he heard the word "innocent," the cantankerous ape froze up. He then immediately doubled over into laughter, his mask practically vibrating from his merriment. "You two? Innocent?" it asked, wheezing between the words. At one point it had to fumble for a tree just to steady itself, because it was threatening to tip over just from how hard it was laughing. "Now that's rich! Sheesh, and the way you're talking almost had me thinking you were serious. And I thought I saw everything in my old age."
Once he finished laughing, he promptly straightened himself up and took a look around. Upon confirming the coast was clear he flung a bag on the ground, another cheap-looking explosion of sparks forming where it landed. As the sparks faded he was gone, appearing in another shower of sparks right next to Layla and Leo. He promptly started walking around the two, feeling the space in front of his path with his boomerang. With each step he sniffed the air around Leo and Layla, leaning closer to them with each sniff. "Y'know, you call yourselves humans, but you two just reek of Digimon," he muttered.
He must've gotten too close for Layla's comfort, because the girl promptly pushed the monkey away. Seemingly unprepared for this, he was left stumbling back far more than a Champion normally would from human contact. "If you must know, that's because we are looking for a Digimon," she insisted. "My friend. Who a gaggle of apes just like you made off with."
The Sepikmon righted his balance shortly after, digging his boomerang into the ground to make sure he wouldn't tip over again. "Yeah? Well, good for them, then," the ape said. "About time those two banana brains listened to me for a change. At least that . . . thing is something they'll take seriously!"
Furious at hearing her friend referred to like that, Layla's fists clenched to a white-knuckled grip. She bit down on her lip hard, and her eyes had practically squinted from the death glare she was currently giving. "Talk about Tsukaimon like that again and I'll . . . I'll . . . "
"You'll do what?" Sepikmon asked. "Hit me with those noodly human arms of yours? 'Oh, no, I'm so scared! The big bad human's gonna mess my fur up!' Man, you two are just real comedians, aren't you?" Man, for someone with a wise old elder of the forest vibe, this guy could be a real crank.
Once Sepikmon finished his impersonation, he started to roll his neck out a bit. "Anyway, you're not seeing that thing again. Forest spirit business. Pretty sure you humans wouldn't understand," he said. "Can we make this quick and boot you two out of here already?"
For Tsukiko and Mitsuharu's Eyes Only:
"I'm not sure," Layla admitted, as Tsukiko asked her more about the forest's maze-like layout. "Maybe because I was separated first, I was able to find my way back sooner? I'll admit, the scenery's been a bit of a blur. There's not a lot of time to take it in when you're just running, and running, and running so far that your lungs are about to burst. I settled down here because at least the statues were a place to sit, and maybe a good landmark to boot.
It sure was lucky that you came along here, too. If you didn't, I could've been in serious trouble."
Speaking of trouble, Gorillamon was still quite the captive audience for this little QnA session. "No," he explained. "All look out for number one here. Forest looks out for forest. I look out for me. And then, we survive." Its poor grammar made Gorillamon a bit difficult to understand, but he tried to stress the most important words of his summation each time he spoke. "All lost in the fog. It comes, we separate. Like hands, pushing us apart." It seemed the forest really did have a will of its own, but one bigger than all the participants in this little drama. If Gorillamon and Tsukiko's hunches were both right, the picture it painted was quite the ugly one.
Not that Gorillamon could elaborate more. It was downright dumbfounded by what Tsukiko had to say next. "Why take beast?" it asked. "Beast is dangerous! Beast being here makes forest angry. And when forest angry, all lose."
Layla's eyes flared. "Tsukaimon is harmless," she insisted. "She doesn't even know how to fight, let alone be dangerous. She even runs from the ducks at the park! You have to be thinking of someone else. So please, give her back."
Gorillamon just looked at her, uncomprehending. It seemed Layla didn't cotton onto what Tsukiko had realized. Ignoring her, it focused in on the last thing that Tsukiko had to say. "Everything something else, once," he explained. "Forest never same twice. Fog comes in, everything changes. Never see statues before, but forest always has something new."
Layla sighed, wrinkling her nose in disgust. "He's right. I've never seen this place look the same way twice," Layla said. "I was kinda just hoping that I had no sense of direction. But it seems like there might be something way worse going on here than that.
Still, what do you think it means? Does this place write its own history or something?"
For Hiroyo's Eyes Only:
"Hey, hey, cut it out!" Layla said, giggling as she splashed Hiroyo back in protest. "We've got something important to do, remember?" Nevertheless, the smile on the girl's face was as wide as the tone in her voice was warm. She seemed thankful for the respite, at least, even if she was still quite worried about how Tsukaimon was doing.
It seemed that Hiroyo agreed, judging by how quickly she had snapped back into a good mood. Layla's smile grew slightly wider as she saw this. "Oh, good," she said. "For a second, I was worried you'd stay all glum on me." Layla popped her head out from the water, shaking her hair dry from the worst of the dampness. It was surprisingly elegant, for someone who had just cannonballed into a river for the purposes of messing with a new friend.
She looked at Hiroyo's hand, smiling as she took it once more. However, the confidence left her expression for a second as she looked almost to the side. "You know, you're actually pretty cute when you let yourself relax like this," she admitted, trying to ignore the blush lightly dusting her cheeks. "Might be a nice change of pace instead of the whole panicking thing, eh?"
With that said, Layla allowed herself to fully leave the water. "Believe the goal was back the way we came, right?" Layla asked. "I'm sure if we press on like that, we'll at least bump into somebody again. They can't all be hidden on us, right?"
For Morgan, Gurren, and Lagaan's Eyes Only:
The figure resembled a large, goat-like monster, Its eyes were perfectly closed, almost resembling crosses due to the black marks down their sides. Its tattered looking wings held perfectly taut, as if being pulled to the sides by invisible springs. It held its head proud and high, despite having horns practically the size and thickness of its face that should be weighing it down. It sat with its legs folded, one hand raised and the other held out to its side. Were it not so immobile, it would have been an incredibly convincing looking Digimon.
And yet immobile it was, to an almost perfect extent. Its maroon fur didn't ripple in the wind, and the hair lining its goatlike head fell limp around its shoulders. Its chest never heaved from a need to breathe, and it never even came close to opening eyes.
At least, of course, until it sensed the group's presence. In one second it was looking straight forward, and in the next its gaze snapped towards Morgan at an alarmingly fast rate. It still didn't open its eyes or move from its seated position, but it opened its mouth to speak. Faintly, Morgan would hear his own innermost thoughts. They relayed all of his anxieties, minor and severe alike, back to him like a record player.
This continued until a large, skeletal arm reached out towards the group. It didn't seem to be attached to anything. In fact, it pretty much seemed to be hovering in the space in front of Morgan and the Gears. For a second the arm lingered like this, before grabbing hold of the air in front of the trio. It strained for a second, then quite literally pulled away what the group was currently seeing. While the tight enclosure trees still outlined their peripheral vision, and the horns of the beckoning demon were still visible, there was now a "hole" in their current location. Visible through the hole was a forest just like the one that everyone had been walking through before the fog settled.
Now attached to the arm was a haggard-looking figure in platemail armor. He had long, silver hair that flowed down past a thick black beard, dark olive skin, a long cape that nestled down onto the forest floor. At a glance he looked almost completely human, but the more one looked at him the more this would change. A quintet of horns surrounded his head, and six small black wings nestled against his back. They seemed that they could be decorative, but the way they rose and fell with his breath made it clear that they were natural. More strikingly were the large, skeletal limbs replacing his right arm and leg. While they seemed to be bone at first, upon closer examination they were instead made of a white-barked ash.
"What are you doing?" the figure repeated. "This is no place for you. Or anyone, in fact."
For Roger's Eyes Only:
Tsukaimon's eyes widened in excitement as she saw the flowers that Roger had pointed out. "Yes!" she chirped, clapping her bat-winged ears excitedly. "Yes, yes, yes! Those are the flowers! Lay's gonna be so happy when we go tell her we found them! Ohhhh, I can't wait" Tsukaimon had pretty much snapped out of her earlier laziness entirely, and was now excitedly running in circles on top of the stump. Frankly, it was almost adorable and almost certainly headache-inducing.
"Now all we gotta do is-" Tsukaimon froze up after saying this, sorrow shining in her eyes. "Oh.
We can't leave now, Roger! None of us have hands to pick the flowers with. We'd end up breaking them and all that stuff," she protested. She promptly squatted back onto the stump, huffing as she turned to the flowers. "Besides, Lay won't know where to look if we aren't there to tell her. She's gonna just walk past this old, stinky, creepy, weird old house!"
"Got anything else to say about the old place?"
Tsukaimon promptly jumped as she saw the figure at the door, cringing at the fact that her words were heard. Nevertheless, the figure seemed more amused than anything. Her stitched-up mouth had spread into a wide grin, and she promptly stooped down to take a closer look at Tsukaimon. Not that she needed to stoop much, of course. The figure was almost an exaggerated portrayal of a human grandmother, and that meant she had withered to the lofty height of about five feet tall. And that was counting the bun hairstyle she wore, which had to have accounted for at least four or five of those inches.
After a few seconds of obvservation she held out a blue-skinned hand to the Tsukaimon, whistling. "Easy does it, girlie," she said. "I'm not the kind of old crone that'd hurt a guest. Although I am one that wants to know who's rooting around through her garden! Come, come, come on in for a bit of tea. And maybe when you're in you can explain yourselves, eh?"
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Post by Eleonora on Jan 14, 2019 5:54:31 GMT
Eleonora Eleonora found the cackling monkey irritating, who does he think he is to laugh like that, she was completely serious about being the innocents here they were the ones attacked them, her irritation grew bigger when the Sepikmon got closer and sniffing them, Layla manage to push him away just in time because the German was ready to punch the monkey on the face... Mask.
"So you admit you're on the same group as that Hanumon and Gorimon!" The urges to punch it just rise and only when he started mocking Layla she took a step forward and reel back her hand getting ready to throw a punch. "She might not but I will totally do it" She said and throwing a punch with all her strength, granted hitting a wooden mask was not her smartest idea but in the end it felt really good "Wanna do it the easy way? Tell us where Tsukaimon is and we'll go, otherwise I'll take out your stupid mask and beat the answers out of you"
Eleonora was really tired of this monkey act, cranky old mon or not it was a digimon that needed to learn a lesson and while she might not be the strongest fighter nor she knows a martial art, she can punch really hard and is stubborn as a rock, of course protecting Layla was still her main priority but if she has to fight well she'll give on hell of a show even if the fight is an automatic lost on her side for trying to fight a Digimon
Gurren-Lagann and Morgan The gears slowly move with Morgan towards the mysterious goat like figure, a sense of uncertainty filling the forest, the more they got closer the more their logic mind was almost begging them to turn back that this was a big threat and the small trio of rookies would not get away if they fought, but before they could get anymore closer a skeletal hand loomed above the trio and with a swift grabbing move it seem that the fabric of reality bend and try to transport them to a different place.
In front of the rookies there was now a big hole that show a forest not much different from where they were, the new figure that was on the other side looked imposing, the armor, the cape, the stern look on his face made him look like a king or some kind of ruler, definitely the more interesting thing of his aspect was his right side that had a long skeletal arm and leg, even as he spoke calmly the sound of his voice was enough to trigger all kinds of warnings in the gears who rapidly step in front of Morgan
"WARNING! WARNING! Strong enemy in front DO NOT engage
"Even with the three of us our chances of getting out in one piece are 0%, best course of action is to turn back and fine a new route!"
Are robots capable of feeling fear? Most would say not but seeing how this two were acting it was obvious that they are aware of the danger they are, call it fear or sense of self preservation the only thing that was for sure is that they should turn back and run although with the forest sealing their path that wouldn't be an option either... |
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Post by Hiroyo Oda on Jan 16, 2019 3:06:57 GMT
Morgan Fog, fur, skeleton.
Morgan met the figure's gaze and felt his insides squirm as everything that threw him off balance was brought to the fore. His wings stilled in mid air and he dropped to the ground, his beak partway open. He breathed heavily as a half dozen should haves met a half dozen wishes and wants.
'I could not stop the Agent, I could not stop this fog. They are laying dead somewhere and it is all my fault. Losing Isao was bad enough, but I will not survive losing two at once. If she hadn't...If he hadn't...'
For a moment he listend to himself, to his darkest fears and dreads. An coldness settled into his core. For a moment he closed his eyes as he truly believed he had lost everything. He didn't notice the hand reaching toward the group, wasn't watching when reality around them was torn and pulled apart before him. He was busy forcing himself back to baseline, struggling to shoot his doubts down one by one with logic and reason.
He opened his eyes again just before the figure began to speak. A round of confused blinking gave way to gratitude as the gears moved between him and the foe. He took a deep breath to steady himself before he gave a sharp nod in acknowledgement of the Gears' words. Whether fear or just self-preservation their words held a logic Morgan could find no fault with.
"Agreed. We have people to find and a task to complete, we bid you adieu sir and shall trouble you no more." With that Morgan was quite prepared to follow the Gears away from this particular patch of the forest. If worse came to worse he would use his winds to try and cut through the forest surrounding them. It would be slow going but it would be better than no progress at all. Roger The voice of the old digimon from the hut startled Roger into jumping. Normally this wouldn't be so bad, with gravity's help the person who jumped would just land on the ground again. For the most part that was true in this case as well: Roger leaped off the side of the log and landed on the ground beak first.
It took him a couple minutes but when he pulled himself up it was with the cry of "Rude!" because startling him when he had been listening so intently to Tsukaimon's comment definitely counted in his book! Whether his book mattered was a different story.
"Oh I have a lot more to say about your place." Roger snarked. He gave his head a good shake to fling the last bits of dirt clinging to his beak off then shifted so he was between Tsukaimon and the elderly figure. He didn't bother to hide the action, let eithe rparty make of it what they wanted. "For one thing the way it moved from across the clearing is down right creepy, like, B-horror film creepy! Like, it's going to eat us and you'll use our bones for your garden's fertilizer creepy!"
Was...was he aware digimon didn't leave bones? Maybe Hiroyo should watch what he watched more closely.
"Anyways we are being chased by an Apemon. He's ridiculously strong and you should probably get back in your creepy moving house and run away before he gets any closer." Roger's voice was less exasperated though and more serious warning at this point. With how easily Apemon had been crushing things earlier he really didn't think the charming-but-weird house would be able to stand up to it. "We're looking for flowers like the one in your gardern, a whole bunch of us were, but then these two simion sissies rolled in and there was this fog and everyone's split up. As much as I'd like to
Despite this he did take a moment to fill the old lady in on the details of their shenanigans. Morgan would've said no but Roger didn't feel like there was any problem with telling the creepy moving hut's creepy owner who showed up out of nowhere! ...wait. Maybe there was a problem here. Oh well! Too late now! "If you wanna point us in the direction of a patch of those flowers we'll be outta your hair in a jiffy and take the big dumb ape with us too." Hiroyo "A little uplift never hurts!" Hiroyo replied as she helped Layla from the water. A smile graced her lips, one that sat naturally upon her lips. She made her way out of the river before she answered. "Staying glum wouldn't help either of us right now, y'know? Better to face everything with a clean mind."
Of course Hiroyo's new serenity wasn't able to last long with Layla's comment. The red head choked on air for a moment at Layla's comment on her looks then laughed shakily. She was able to reply back with a little sass of her own. "Really? I look cute as a bedraggled mess, huh? I think you might want to get your taste checked out."
Layla was quick to move the conversation past that so Hiroyo wass too. She felt like responding to the panicking comment but let it drop instead. There were more important things on the table like retracing their steps!
"Yeah, follow the swirl of lights back until the ground becomes firm again." Hiroyo confirmed as she gently pulled Layla along. The red head's need to clean some of the mud off was met and Hiroyo felt better than she had since the Desert. It was time to move forward again. "Knowing Roger he's probably kicking up a ruckus somewhere, I wouldn't be surprised if we heard him before we saw him. What's Tsukaimon like? They seemed really affectionate earlier, are they always like that?" |
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Post by Tsukiko & The Ashikaga Clan on Jan 17, 2019 0:05:09 GMT
For Tsukiko and Mitsuharu's Eyes Only: While she listened to Layla, Tsukiko just kept her arms crossed and remained quiet. So Layla… ran there. The pink-haired girl decided to assume she had started running once the fog allowed her to move properly, even though there was something about the short-haired girl’s tale that sounded rather odd. In any case, this probably wasn’t the time to dwell too much about it, they had an ape to question. “I’m glad we found you too, Layla.”
Now that the monkey had elaborated on his first declaration, Tsukiko was able to understand what he meant a bit better. “So everyone looks out for themselves, no one else.” She muttered. He probably wouldn’t be able to understand this part, but that was ultimately fine. “So the forest was not trying to help you escape. It was simply making everyone split… including you two.” She kept making signs so the monkey could understand what she was saying, moving her lips as slowly as she could. “Beast is ... dangerous?” Her eyes wide open, Tsukiko and Mitsuharu were now the dumfounded ones.
“Tsukaimon?” Mitsuharu asked, still from atop the gorilla.
On the other side of the lava wall, Tsukiko kept making signs, while she spoke. “So you two took the beast because you know her presence makes the forest angry. Therefore, you are not looking out for the forest neither the forest is looking out for you, you are just looking out for yourself, making sure the forest doesn’t get upset.” As much as she hated to say it, this actually made sense.
“He… can’t hear you, Miss Layla.” Mitsuharu explained. “He’s deaf. You need to speak through signs so he can understand what you’re saying.”
“That makes a lot of sense too.” Tsukiko admitted, after hearing the monkey last remark, followed by Layla’s thought. “You did mention this place seemed to change constantly, and that’s why you couldn’t get to the spot where you previously found that flower. Could it be that bee with giant arms came to you because the forest is against Tsukaimon being here?” Just in case Gorimon had something to say about what she was lucubrating, the blue-eyed kept making signs and moving her lips slowly so he could understand too.
“This place is alive. I hold no doubt about that anymore.” She responded to Layla’s question. “The reason why it keeps changing things by using the fog could vary. Maybe it’s just its natural way of acting, maybe it’s trying to hide something.” However, that was probably not the most important question right now. That one was about to come.
“So… Gorimon.” Her eyes affixed onto the beast’s pupils, Tsukiko addressed him directly, still accompanying her words with signs. “Do you have any idea about why the forest thinks Tsukaimon is dangerous? Why does her presence make it angry?”
That wasn’t all, though. The other side of the story needed to be known.
“Layla.” Now Tsukiko’s gaze, as blue as the sky, had shifted towards the human. “First of all, I want you to know I consider you a friend. Trying to aid you in all of this has gone further than a simple job you hired us to do. I really want to stand by you and Tsukaimon’s side through all of this. But I do need you to be honest, that’s the only way I can help you.” A small pause came, before she asked her question. “You mentioned you found a wounded Tsukaimon, and you two have been inseparable since then. Where did you find her? Has she ever told you anything about her past? Is there something, anything, that you haven’t told us that could be important for us getting to the bottom of this?”
Battle Log:
One on one:
cooldown: 2/5.
duration: 2/5 |
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Post by Bonetrousled? on Jan 18, 2019 2:38:02 GMT
For Eleonora and the KoGears's Eyes Only:
Leo's punch slammed into Sepikmon's face, a hollow thudding sound echoing from the site of the impact. It was almost as if the ape had no face beneath the mask. Nevertheless, it reacted, staggering back a few steps from the force of the impact. It may have been a Champion-level Digimon, but it was small in size and hit by quite the hard punch. While it wasn't hurt, the impact with its wooden mask more than likely hurting Leo's hand more, it was still rattled slightly. "Sheesh! At least this one can throw a punch, eh?" the Sepikmon said. Then it promptly lashed out with a punch of its own, aimed right for Leo's stomach. Were it not for the fact that the punch stopped an inch before her gut, that could've hurt really badly!
"Well, if you're still standing after that one, I'm gonna have to let you down. I don't know where the damn thing," Sepikmon explained. "Once something gets lost in this forest, you might as well kiss your chances of finding it goodbye. And you know what? Good riddance to that. I hope the cursed thing's bug food by now!"
That was it. Layla couldn't take it anymore. With a furious cry she tackled Sepkimon, knocking the two of them to the ground. "Shut up!" she shouted, fear and pain spiking to a fever pitch in her voice. "She . . . she was my friend! Maybe one of the only ones I had. And I won't just sit by and let you mock her like this!" Layla opened her mouth to say something else, only for her jaw to stay perfectly dropped in place.
The Sepikmon's mask had popped right off in the struggle, and there didn't seem to be anything else behind it. There was only a dark void, the occasional pixel of data rising out from it. In Layla's shock she didn't even resist as Sepikmon pushed her away. He hunched close to the ground, rapping it with his boomerang as he tried to find his mask. "Kids these days got no respect," he grumbled. "Look, what else do you want me to tell you? The thing reeks of bad juju. But if you want to just charge off and get yourselves killed, be my guest. If you'll excuse me, I've got a mask to find . . ."
Unlike Gorillamon and Apemon, Sepikmon seemed a lot less dedicated in his goals. Unfortunately, he was also a lot more talkative. Layla looked at the stooped over ape, then back over to the forest horizon. She seemed willing to let this sleeping ape lie.
For Tsukiko and Mitsuharu's Eyes Only:
"Yes! Yes!" The Gorillamon beamed happily at Tsukiko's signing. By this point she was trying to convey enough information through gestures that Layla thought the day had turned into a game of charades. Gorillamon, however, seemed to understand it perfectly. "Beast bad for forest. And forest bad for everything, if mad." It was a succinct way of breaking down all of Tsukiko's theorizing up to this point, but it didn't seem to be an inaccurate one.
It was a shame that his insights became much less valuable when the questions got more specific. The Gorillamon's forehead wrinkled and furrowed as he tried to focus on an answer, but nothing came. He tried grunting, pacing, even picking his nose, but nothing was helping him find his inspiration. "Not sure," he admitted. "I think . . . oh!" The Gorillamon perked up as he saw another statue through a gap in the flames. This was the blinded stone mask, which Gorillamon immediately identified. "Sepikmon! He saw beast coming, and told us it was a bad sign. Said it was why forest was mad for so long.
Said we need to get rid of it. Or else."
Layla cringed at what that meant, but her cringing stopped as Tsukiko turned her sleuthing against her. Her eyes widened in shock, and she almost seemed to pale. "W-what?" she asked. "You . . . you can't really believe that, can you? I know today's been a lot, but . . . come on, you've seen Tsukaimon. There isn't a mean bone in her body. She . . . she couldn't be what these apes say she is, right?"
Nevertheless, it'd be wrong of her to not at least answer the question. "I found her on the outskirts of Terminus City. She was hurt, but all these other Digimon kept walking past. My brother told me it was just the way the Digital World could be sometimes, and that I was lucky she hadn't been loaded. But . . . I just couldn't sit by while that happened. I mean, that's no way to live, right? To just let others get hurt for your own gain? So I took her in, and kept her safe and warm, because I thought that'd just be the right thing to do.
She never really told me much about her past. But she's just a little bean. I know Digimon get reborn all the time, but how much of it could she really have?" She stopped, taking a breath to ease herself. "The closest thing I can think of is that she's a virus type. But it can't be that easy of an answer, can it?"
Meanwhile, Gorillamon was starting to sweat a little. Was it from the ring of fire surrounding him, or some other sort of nerves? "Can I go?" he asked. "Answered all your questions."
For Hiroyo's Eyes Only:
Layla giggled at Hiroyo's sputtering reaction. "Oh, come on, you say that like the mess isn't the best part," Layla teased. "Don't get me wrong. I love getting all fancied up too. But half the fun of putting in all that effort's seeing what it's like when all the effort's messed up. Especially when you're the one making the mess~." In this case, Layla had been a bit more directly responsible than most were for their messes. However, it was clear from the tone in her voice that pushing people into a pool wasn't her only meaning. " 'Course, if the other girls at school found out I dug the bedhead and baggy t-shirt look, I'd probably never hear the end of it. They always think I'm all proper, too.
I wonder if they'd last a minute in a world like this." There was almost a mischievous smile on Layla's face as she asked this question.
She followed along with no objections as Hiroyo lead her to drier ground, sighing with relief when she finally felt her shoes starting to rise out of the ground. "It's finally over," she half-groaned, half-cheered. "And here I thought we'd be caked in mud all over again by the time we got out. Good thing at least one of us has a sense of direction, eh?" Despite them being away from the mud, Layla still didn't seem to mind the contact with Hiroyo. In fact, now that the two were slightly less lost, her grip on Hiroyo's hand eased from a tight grab to a more relaxed hold.
"Tsukaimon's always really affectionate," Layla said. "Ever since I found her and patched up her wing, she's pretty much latched onto me. It's adorable, isn't it? She can be a bit lazy, sometimes, and she loves teasing people when she sees a good opening, but I know she doesn't mean it to be a brat or anything. I think she just burns her out whenever she gets too energetic.
How about your twins? They seem . . . animated." Its okay, Layla. You tried.
For Morgan, Gurren, and Lagaan's Eyes Only:
The knightly figure laughed as Gurren-Lagaan and Morgan took one look at him and walked away. Amusement shined in his eyes, and despite the weariness in his voice he sounded surprisingly gentle when laughing. "As you would be right to," he said. "Although I must ask . . . escape where?" Sure enough, the forest had continued creeping up behind the gears and Morgan as they made their approach. When the trio turned around to bid the knight their farewells, they would see that the wall of trees was now right behind them.
Maybe it would surprise the trio when the knight promptly started walking to the trees. He stooped forward to look at them, stroking his beard with his ashen hand all the while. "I see . . ." He then continued to walk, not even slowing down despite getting up close and personal with the trees. Did he not even care that he was about to bump right into them?
Apparently not, because he phased through the trees with no issue. "In these woods, your mind may be your own worst enemy," he said. "But if you would still like to run, I suppose I can help you follow." The ashen hand once more rolled out through the treeline, extended so that Gurren, Lagaan, and Morgan could grab onto it if need be.
Whether they took the knight's hand or not, any attempt at going through the trees would be met with a surprising amount of resistance. It would feel almost as if they were trying to pass through a physical object, like water forcing itself through a clogged up straw. All the while, dark whispers would continue echoing in their minds, anxieties spreading not just to Morgan but also to Gurren and Lagaan.
"He is correct," a dull voice completely devoid of emotion said. It sounded less like he had spoken, and more like his voice had projected into their heads. "Your minds are mere playthings here. Will you allow him to play with them, too?"
For Roger's Eyes Only:
Babamon laughed uproariously at Roger's assessment of the situation. "You think my house moved?" she asked. "Oh, child, how little you know. My house is the one thing in this whole forest that doesn't move! I'd say it's the axis these woods are based around, but that seems awfully self-important, does it not? No, no, I like to think of it more as . . . a beacon for those who are lost. And you look quite lost right now, if I do say so myself."
At mention of an Apemon, the Babamon's head tilted in confusion. "A what?" she asked, parting the bangs on her head. She set her broom on an angle to lean on it and peered forward. "I don't see what you're talking about, dearie . . . ah, wait! I see him!" She pointed into the distance, where a golden dot on the horizon was shambling forward step by step. "Oh, the poor thing will never find his way here at this rate," she chimed. "Try as he might, he just can't move. No matter how much he may walk." That literally didn't mean anything, but it seemed to be right. Apemon was staggering in place, and who knows for how long he had been left like this?
The small, sad grin on her face immediately hardened when Roger mentioned the flowers. "Somehow, I knew you'd ask," she said. "I may be old, but I can promise you I'm no fool. And only a fool would give away such a dangerous bloom so freely. I'd ask you how you knew about them, but honestly? That doesn't mean a thing, and all of us here know it.
Instead, I'm going to ask you one thing, and one thing alone. What makes you think you deserve these flowers?"
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