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Lions and Dragons [Armor Hunt] [Leith]
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Post by Leith, Veemon, and Shoutmon on Mar 26, 2019 3:37:22 GMT
Lantis was right. Plesiomon was indeed able to carry Sophie, Lantis, and Leith up front without much apparent effort. Riding him felt a little like riding a gentle wave itself, meaning rather gradual fits of acceleration and deceleration with each paddle and a small easy up-and-down motion with each stroke. One could almost ride hands-free and feel completely secure, but apparently that didn't apply to Leith as he didn't let go despite being the most used to it of the four.
Enkidu didn't get such an easy time. It was a bit easier toward the front, but the serpent he rode on wiggled and arched much more unpredictably, to a point where Leith personally felt very nauseated after too long at it. He followed behind Plesiomon since only Plesiomon could easily hear Sophie's directions.
Go left? Not exactly an precise orientation, but Plesiomon supposed Sophie would correct him if he strayed. Head for an island? That, he could easily do. But Lantis so suddenly standing up on top of him made him look back at the lion with a hint of concern. Leith looked back with a lot more than just a hint. "Lan, I don't think-" But apparently he was just fine standing up and taking off, and there was no need to be concerned in the first place. "-well, that's a new one." Naturally, without Sophie around Leith never got a chance to see Lantis' other bodies before.
He liked the shirtless one better.
"Might I mention your bad feeling isn't exactly reassuring?" Leith groaned as he dismounted the beached plesiosaur. That digimon promptly returned to his Flamedramon form, but as he did he stumbled a bit into Leith, forcing the smaller human to brace and almost get knocked down. "Whoa- hey! Flame!" Flamedramon managed to stand under his own power after a good shake of his head, but Leith still asked, "You good?"
Flamedramon reluctantly admitted, "That was a lot of digivolving in a few minutes."
"That was more of a yes/no question," his Tamer insisted.
"Relax, I'm fine. Really." Flamedramon spoke with some pushback in his voice, which he thought he needed in order to convince the others he was ready for anything.
Leith saw that as suspiciously defensive, but he also knew Flamedramon's headstrength didn't just come from a helmet. As for MegaSeadramon, he could slither easily enough on land and so kept the form. "After you guys, then," he said to Sophie and Lantis.
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Post by Sophie & Lantis on Mar 29, 2019 11:44:57 GMT
Enkidu eventually came to regret his decision to ride MegaSeadramon. At first he thought he could tolerate it, but the constant movement, even on his head... the BlackGaomon knew he'd probably be in for some serious motion sickness once his feet returned to dry land. Initially he wanted to make conversation with him since they might not get a chance later, but before he could say a word he felt his stomach heave and he had to quickly turn to the side and be seasick. Well, at least none of it touched the digimon he was riding.
Meanwhile on Plesiomon, Lantis realized he hadn't yet shown Leith any of his other forms. He gave a bit of an awkward chuckle at the look of surprise on his boyfriend's face. Well, regardless of what he felt, he'd probably only interact with him in private in his Leomon form anyway, seeing as he doubted Sophie would evolve him simply for pleasure.
As they arrived on land, Enkidu had to sit down for a few moments, the world spinning above him. While he didn't blame MegaSeadramon for this at all, he would have rather not have experienced that. Oh well, he'd learn for next time.
Lantis made an apologetic look at Leith at the reception to his scouting, but gasped as Plesiomon side-evolved to Flamedramon and nearly collapsed, almost taking Leith with him. Sophie was closer though and assisted as best as she could, providing a small but hopefully decisive bit of support for Leith and Flamedramon before they fell.
Sophie was about to suggest that they take a break for a few moments, but, she realized that the signal she was receiving may only be temporary. If they squandered their opportunity, all of this might be for nothing.
"Well then... let's have a bit of water, catch our breath, and continue" she reasoned, hoping that would be enough. Enkidu for one was glad of the opportunity, taking a swig of water as Sophie and Lantis did the same.
When they were all set, they would proceed into the jungle, following the lead of the D-Terminal radar.
"Got any specifics on this bad feeling of yours, Lan? Or are you just doing a Star Wars trope?" Sophie asked her partner.
"Well... I saw a village clearing, and I descended for a closer look. I saw some digimon, but, none of them looked up, even though I went as low as 50 feet. They just... didn't notice me at all. I even called out to them, they didn't look up".
"Hm, okay" Sophie said, a little unnerved, but, still, felt that it would be alright to press on. "What do you guys think?" she asked Leith and his partners, interested to hear the more experienced tamer's opinion about this.
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Post by Leith, Veemon, and Shoutmon on Mar 31, 2019 18:50:07 GMT
Flamedramon did not take kindly to the suggestion of waiting and resting. It seemed like each time somebody suggested directly or not that he was anything less than completely capable, the more hurt and defensive he became. With Sophie's help nobody ended up tasting sand, at least. "I said I'm fine! We should keep going!"
"Screw you, dude," Shoutmon, having just devolved, rebuffed him. If the group was stopping, he was gonna use a lower form to save energy. "I'm thirsty." Leith produced a bottle of water from his digivice, the Infiniti-store, like one he always kept around on Shoutmon's insistence for keeping the red digimon's voice fresh. After waterfalling half of it, he threw the half-full bottle back to Leith. The Tamer, however, tossed it to Flamedramon instead of having any himself. Flamedramon wasn't prepared for the catch but barely managed it anyway.
He didn't appear grateful for it, though. The blue drake gave Leith a look the conveyed his annoyance and offense to the supposedly charitable gesture without saying a single word. He didn't break eye contact as he had one mouthful, still leaving quite a lot of water in the bottle by intention when he threw it back to the young man. Leith supposed he'd have to be satisfied by that and, like Flamedramon, communicated with looks alone. You'll thank me later. If you don't, well, I'll thank me later. After the human emptied the rest of the bottle he stored it again - hey, he wasn't gonna litter on such a nice beach - and sighed. "Back on the trail, then."
Much as Leith didn't care for Flamedramon's stubbornness, there was one part of the drake he envied just about then: his boots. Shoutmon was barefoot everywhere, so he didn't have a problem with his toes in the dirt, but a jungle environment was not the right place for Leith's open-toed shoes. The human spent a lot of time watching the ground, monitoring for hazards in his path. "My first instinct is, 'That's creepy as shit, and we should avoid it at all costs.' But something tells me neither you-" Leith looked at Sophie and Lantis. "-nor you-" He glanced at Flamedramon. "-agree with me on that. My second instinct is..." The young man crossed his arms and shut his eyes, apparently needing a moment to come up with any other thought to Lantis' report. "...illusions? I don't have any evidence, but if a flying lion shouted at any real person, a reasonable real person should notice. Maybe it sounds like a reach, but I think humans have to suspend some of their disbelief on this side of the portal."
"English, dude."
"English: Second instinct is the same as the first but with actual reasons."
"We'll keep you safe," Flamedramon promised. "That's what we do." Leith's next look to Flamedramon betrayed his personal uncertainty in Flamedramon's resolution.
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Post by Sophie & Lantis on Apr 6, 2019 11:18:05 GMT
Lantis noted that Flamedramon seemed to bristle at the suggestion of taking a break. While he didn't say anything about it, it was something new he noted about the digimon. The GrapLeomon was familiar with types like him, those that absolutely refused to be a burden. While admirable, there were times where they should probably just dial it down a little. He recognized this because before he had met Sophie, as a constable of the Terminus City Guard, Lantis was rather like that too.
Sophie meanwhile tried not to be too astonished by Leith's Infini-store. After all it was probably one of the things that she should already know about, but for now she hid the fact that she didn't. She only put that on the list of things she should probably already have. As well as digimentals and D-Arcs and cards and all the other bits and pieces that other, more experienced tamers had.
For the moment, Sophie, Lantis and Enkidu shared a swig of water from their own flask, of which Sophie had kept in her jacket pocket. Both of them had drunk plenty of fluids earlier in the day so they weren't particularly thirsty, but that could change in this heat and unknown environment.
After that was done, they listened to Leith's opinion on the situation. Ordinarily, yeah, it would be wise to avoid such a strange setting, but, according to Sophie's D-Terminal, they'd have to go there anyway.
Next, Leith suggested illusions. Lantis refuted this possibility with a shake of his head.
"Not the situation, my love. They were there, I could smell them" he explained. But he didn't want to shut his boyfriend's thoughts down entirely. "I mean... if the illusion could affect scent too, then... yeah, but, it takes a lot to confound Ultimate level beast digimon..."
"Alright then" Sophie acknowledged these thoughts, then thought of what to do next. "So the digimon of this village seem to be unresponsive, yet apparent to sight and smell. Your bad feeling is valid, Lan. We can't discount the possibility that these digimon have had their consciousness removed".
"So... something like mind control?" Enkidu asked, the BlackGaomon visibly worried. This complicated things considerably. He had no qualms in beating down bad digimon, but, good digimon that couldn't help what they were doing? That was a different matter.
"Either way, seems we need to investigate closer" Sophie concluded. "So... we'll approach the village to its boundaries and see the situation for ourselves, then decide on our next moves from there. Does that sound okay with everyone?"
"What 'next move' do you have in mind, Sophie?" Lantis asked his partner. Sophie paused to gather her thoughts, then looked at the others.
"If it's an illusion, we go on and ignore them. If they're real digimon, and our presence triggers them to hostility... we have 4 strong digimon in our number, we can split up so that we divert their attention while we investigate how this is happening".
Sophie glanced at Leith to silently ask if he agreed with that. She was open to other ideas though.
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Post by Leith, Veemon, and Shoutmon on Apr 7, 2019 16:19:25 GMT
Finally, after a long battle of Leith trying to get Flamedramon to hesitate at least a tiny bit, did he finally show a little pause. The drake paused for almost an entire second. He couldn't pause any longer because that alone made him fall far out of step with the others, forcing him to jog in order to catch back up with the group. Unfortunately it wasn't Leith who had managed to get through to him but Lantis. Of course, the Tamer didn't have to wonder why. He knew the very mention of mind control daunted Flamedramon. Hell, it daunted him, too, for the same reason: Flamedramon was once forced to turn on Leith.
"...Fuck." The young man gave away his rising anxiety by rubbing his forehead, fiddling a little with his hair, and beginning to breathe a little deeper, that last being necessary because of a rising heart rate. As much as Leith didn't want to admit it, he had to share an idea he had for the safety of the group: "Sophie, there's another possibility. If your 'mind control' is localized, infecting an area instead of a target..." He looked at Flamedramon before he could think about not doing it, which, unfortunately, the blue drake noticed. Both of them frowned, and Leith felt guilty for letting Flamedramon know what he thought. Then again, he had to say it anyway. "...I don't think we want to know what'll happen if we get too close," was the most diplomatic way he could think of to say, "some or all of us might completely lose our freewill, forced to wait for some other idiots to come rescue us instead of the other way around."
"But Lan flew low over it and came back just fine!" Even though he was a witness, Shoutmon was the only one of Leith's group not acting terrified of mind control. Lucky for everyone, that was probably why he had the clarity of thought to remember that.
Leith sighed and calmed down a little but not completely. Flamedramon remained hyperalert. "...I guess there's that." So, Sophie's plan was valid again. Reluctantly he agreed, "Alright, lead the way, chief."
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Post by Sophie & Lantis on Apr 15, 2019 9:59:49 GMT
Leith raised a very good point there. If mind control was involved... were their partners also at risk? She realized with horror that she could have possibly lost Lantis to it if he had strayed too close. Sophie raised her hand to her mouth as she gasped in realization of this.
"Sophie, it's okay, I didn't feel any effects like that myself" Lantis tried to assure her, but still, there was logic behind those worries. And then Shoutmon pointed out that he had flown within 50 feet of the village and remained unaffected. That was also something to keep in mind.
Sophie pondered what to do with this information. She then decided on an exercise they could do to ensure they all kept their minds as they approached this village.
"Okay, I have an idea" she began. "Let's play a little game as we get nearer. One of us says a word, then the next person says another word with the first letter being the same as the last letter of the previous word, just so we know we're still conscious".
"Alright, sounds reasonable" Lantis replied, the GrapLeomon supposing he might as well start. "Reasonable."
"Energy." Sophie said as they continued their approach.
"Yellow." said Enkidu. "...we can still talk normally if we want to though, right?"
"Of course, just keep to the exercise on the way to make sure we've still got consciousness" Sophie clarified. This way they'd be able to at least have early warning signs if one of them was beginning to succumb to whatever spell affected the village ahead.
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Post by Leith, Veemon, and Shoutmon on Apr 18, 2019 23:36:21 GMT
"What, like one of those improv games?" Leith caught on quickly. "I like those."
Flamedramon caught on fast, too, seeing as he was the next one to give a word. "Whamon." Hey, there was no reason digimon kinds couldn't work, right? "I guess it can't hurt. Leith?"
"You said Whamon? Uh... N?" Leith appeared to be struggling to come up with a noteworthy word under pressure. He hesitated and thought fast as he could, maybe taking the exercise more seriously than he had to in the process. He mentally reached out for an N-word and grabbed at the first one he could wrap his metaphorical hand around before it slipped away. "Nihilism." He appeared a bit sheepish after that; he knew he put too much effort into reaching for an impressive word, but it was too late now.
"How the fuck do you spell that?"
"N-I-H-L- wait, hang on. N-I-L- Uh... Crap."
"The last letter's M."
"Yeah, I guess that's the important thing."
"Musketeer, then."
"I guess no one's mind is being controlled yet."
"Only someone being mind controlled would've had 'nihilism' as the first N-word that popped into his head!"
"Excuse me, Mr. 'Musketeer?'"
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Post by Sophie & Lantis on Apr 28, 2019 7:31:38 GMT
Lantis gave a little smile at Leith's choice of word. Yep, that was his beloved metal singer alright. It seemed that for now they were unaffected by whatever was there on the village.
"Rock" the GrapLeomon said, simply. They were beginning to get closer now, the road leading into the village was becoming wider and smoother, indicating a path well treaded. With this, he turned to his partner with concern. "So, assuming this power is affecting them and not us, what would the plan be, Sophie?"
"Kettle." Sophie would say first, before considering her reply. "I think our next move would be to isolate a digimon of the village and figure out exactly what the situation is. Maybe... not actually abducting them persay, as long as we don't have to, but, just get one digimon alone and ask if they're aware of what's going on?" she turned to Lantis and Enkidu. "What do you guys think?"
"East" Enkidu was sure to say first, but the BlackGaomon rubbed his chin. "That could be risky, but, I can't really think of any other way. We won't know what we're getting into until we put our toes in the water, so, maybe trying something at the edge of the pond would be better than throwing ourselves in the middle".
"Sounds logical" Lantis agreed. "But if we stir up trouble we retreat quick-smart, that's what I think."
Sophie thought that was sound logic, then turned to their companions for their thoughts on that plan.
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Post by Leith, Veemon, and Shoutmon on May 1, 2019 21:33:40 GMT
"I hate it," was Leith's honest and blunt answer to Sophie's plan, but he finished it with the equally honest conclusion, "which probably means it's a good plan." He waited for someone else to say something after that, but no one did. What were they waiting for? "Oh, right. Uh, 'tower.' Yeah, Enku- En- Look, I can't pronounce that without a little more practice. I'm with you on the water metaphor, except I don't like to dip my vulnerable toes to test the temperature of water infested with parasites... or sharks. f But I get that we can't just not do this."
"Then why do you keep whining about it?"
"Because it makes me feel good." Leith's started to grip each of his own upper arms with their opposite hands. "Y'know what doesn't make me feel good? The fact that there's no evidence you aren't being mind-controlled."
Shoutmon crossed his arms and gave Leith a look like he couldn't believe the Tamer was really pushing both the game and his own personal worries about an endeavor he chose to undertake with informed consent. "'Riot,' you big baby." For a moment it was tense, each of them waiting for and nonverbally daring the other to say one more word.
Lucky for them both, the third of their group was tactful enough to intentionally walk between them, look them both in the eye, and speak as if it were an imperative, "Think." Leith looked confused when Flamedramon didn't say more only to realize that was his choice of word for the game. His other intent, though, was also clear to the young man: break up what, so Flamedramon perceived, Shoutmon was trying to start.
"Alright. That's fair. I don't like whiners either." He looked down, a bit ashamed of himself, but he resolved to quit expressing his fear anxiety over the unknown that way. It was still apparent in his tense body language, however, or his pursed lips and hyper-vigilance.
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Post by Sophie & Lantis on May 5, 2019 8:56:27 GMT
Sophie was a little startled at first by Leith's opinion of the plan, but listened to his rationale. Yeah, they were exposing themselves a little here, but the signal from the digimental was coming from the village, so, they had a reason to get to the bottom of this.
Enkidu gave a little smirk at Leith being unable to pronounce his name. "Eh, I'm used to it, you're doing better than the digimon I grew up with in the dark area at least" he assured the human.
Next to speak in their game was Lantis, so he said "King" before adding his thoughts. He noticed that Leith seemed a little anxious here, and that made the GrapLeomon in turn conflicted. Should he comfort his boyfriend? Or remain professional on their mission? Still, he felt the need to reassure him that he cared about him.
"You holding up okay, Leith?" he asked, gently. "And if it helps, I don't think you're whining, you're just raising valid points."
"Garden." Sophie said next, then noted the first building of the village ahead, visible through the trees. "Okay, there it is. Let's approach carefully."
"Night." Enkidu spoke, then motioned to stop the group. Sophie and Lantis looked at him. "Listen... Lan, Shoutmon and Flamedramon are the strongest digimon here. If one walks into this village and gets mind-affected, well, better me than one of you guys. Because if I do lose my mind, I trust you'll break me out of it somehow..."
"You're saying you want to go ahead alone?" Sophie asked, a little worried. But, his logic seemed valid. If he lost control, the three of him could better handle him as a BlackGaomon than he could if one of them lost it. "Well... alright, but, the moment you feel something's not right, come right back."
Enkidu nodded, then, rather quicker than Sophie thought possible, leapt into a sprint toward the village, keeping to the side of the road to hide himself from view. To Enkidu's luck, as he hid behind the building on the village's border, a Hyokomon seemed to be walking close by. The canine digimon took a deep breath, paused, then revealed himself.
"Hello there" he said in a casual tone. To his disappointment and horror, the Hyokomon's reaction was immediately aggressive, drawing his sword, lunging at him. The attack was completely reflexive and disproportionate. Thankfully Enkidu still had his wits and ducked the vicious sword blow, grabbed the rookie digimon by the wing so that he dropped his sword, grabbed his other wing, then rushed back out of the village toward where the others were.
"Oh... god!" Sophie gasped as she realized what was happening. It seemed that the digimon in this village were primed for aggression.
"Come on, retreat!" Enkidu called as he approached them. "I'm fine! Whatever it is it's not affecting me! But it's got these guys berserk!"
Lantis gulped as he realized the implications of this. But, Enkidu had at least managed to capture one of the digimon alive. As much as it tried to peck and slap him, without his sword, the Hyokomon was powerless against the boxing canine. It seemed that their next forced option was indeed to retreat into the island jungle and find out what they could from the captured villager.
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Post by Leith, Veemon, and Shoutmon on May 7, 2019 2:52:24 GMT
Thank God Enkidu understood Leith's difficulty with less common eastern names. There was a moment he wanted to ask about the Dark Area, as all he knew about that place wasn't very nice, but maybe that could wait for another time. Specifically, maybe it could wait for a time when the boy wasn't walking a distance in flip flops on an unfamiliar island toward certain trouble.
Lantis got his answer before Leith could even think about the question. He wasn't paying attention until he heard his name, which made him sharply inhale and snap to alert, even pivoting on the spot so he could more quickly face the one who'd called him (as if that would help sell the illusion he wasn't preoccupied). He knew he was caught, too, appearing real deflated after that jump. "Lan, I don't do great with new places, unexpected changes to routines, and unpredictable dangers. Put 'em all together-" Leith stopped talking because he was starting to feel short of breath, though not from any physical fatigues, and began to breathe rapidly for a spell before managing to gradually slow himself down. It took about a minute for him to finish, "-this." He started to walk a lot closer to Lantis after that. "But that's no reason-"
He didn't try and defend his pride once Enkidu started to talk. He was trying to keep his voice down and not be noticed, speaking only to Lantis there, and so submitted to someone else talking instead. He also went along with the plan just so he wouldn't have to talk and draw attention to himself some more, an unusual desire for him. It didn't hurt that someone besides him and his digimon was volunteering to put themselves in harm's way, which did bother him but in this state bothered him a bit less. It wasn't until Enkidu inserted that Leith finally had something to say about the plan. "Can we really just let this happen?"
"You wanna go get 'im?"
"I'd rather just let this happen."
"So, you skippin' your turn?" Shoutmon whispered, "You ain't bein' controlled or nothin', right?" Crap! Leith completely forgot the game, but he was feeling good and sick of it. On mention of it he just huffed grimaced. "Fine, dude, don't have a fit. 'Trouble.'"
"Really, Shoutmon?"
"Will you two just shut the fuck up for once?" They did, and both appeared shocked by Leith's tone. It was a hostile hiss. For him lashing out was a fear response, and this time he didn't even show any remorse for it. "I'm not in the mood for thinking games right now." And from that moment on, the trio watched in tense silence as Enkidu waded good and deep into almost exactly the sort of trouble Leith had been worried about. Maybe it wasn't a worst-case scenario, that being mind control, but instant hostility wasn't exactly great either. "Ah, hell."
"Help him hold 'em!"
While Flamedramon and Leith talked, Shoutmon acted. It looked like Enkidu was doing a fine job of restraining the villager without outside help, but Shoutmon ran to try and keep the beak shut and still with his hands as well as help move the struggling digimon by force. "Congratulations! You caught some seriously pissed off poultry! What are you gonna do now, Einstein?" Of course, the Tamer still had a healthy respect for the power and unpredictability of even rookies, so he backed up good and far, behind both Lantis and Flamedramon.
"We're supposed to talk, Shoutmon. How are we gonna do that if you're covering the beak?"
"You said help, dude!"
"Just let him go!" While Shoutmon did let go, intentionally staying close and ready to grab the villager again, Leith had definitely had enough of their shouting. He backed away still further, far enough back to be partially behind a tree. This was his response to an increasingly chaotic environment - become less visible and less audible, as well as letting the rest of the world become the same, that he might reduce the load on his senses as well as not be easily caught if he failed. He wasn't hiding per se, but he was putting a noticeable amount of effort into being discreet, or rather noticeable if someone was checking for it.
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Post by Sophie & Lantis on May 15, 2019 14:17:03 GMT
Lantis made a small exhalation, not quite a sigh, but a sign that he acknowledged Leith's unease about this situation. For a moment, Leith seemed to slow down, inhaling deeply as though he was frightened. Lantis wanted to kneel down in response and comfort him, but realized that would be an overreaction that would probably make him feel worse. In response, he simply walked closer to his boyfriend, gently patting his back as a sign of calm acceptance of his feelings.
Supposing she might try and help too, Sophie thought of something that was hopefully helpful to say. "It's alright, Leith. Just because we have digivices doesn't mean we have to be heroes. If this is too much for us, I'm happy to head back and call for help."
She didn't mean this as a way of shaming him, she meant it as a way of saying that they didn't have to proceed if it got too dangerous, that they had other options.
By now, none of them really minded that none of them were sticking to the exercise. It was clear that for now they were all safe. There had been a moment when they were scared for Enkidu, but, he managed to keep control of his body to himself for now. At least so he hoped.
"The exercise, Enkidu." Sophie told her mercenary firmly. "Control."
"Life." Enkidu replied, proving his mind was still in this. With Shoutmon's help, they managed to restrain the Hyokomon, but, now they had to solve the issue of what was wrong with him in the first place. Even with his beak released, he said nothing discernible. It was here that Lantis took his place in front of them.
"I will attempt to heal him. If this is the cause of some kind of corrosive data, my ability should be able to remove it." the GrapLeomon declared. "Enkidu, hold him in place so I can focus my energy."
"Alright then..." the BlackGaomon said, doing so. Lantis then focused, then cast his Second Wind ability on the Hyokomon. For a moment, the small chicken digimon seemed to freeze up. But then, as the winds of Lantis's technique faded, he stopped struggling against Enkidu, then blinked.
"W-where am I?" he asked, confused. Enkidu let go of him, recognizing he was now docile. He looked up at Lantis and recognized him as an Ultimate level. He gasped.
"Easy now, we're not here to hurt you" Lantis assured him. Hyokomon then took in the sight of the other digimon here. There were two humans, yes. And there was also a BlackGaomon, Shoutmon and Flamedramon. Ones he didn't recognize. But, they weren't moving, and didn't seem to be threats, so he didn't flee just yet.
"Hello, Hyokomon. My name's Sophie. I understand you must be somewhat disorientated right now. You're currently about half a mile away from your village in the forest. However, you have just recently awoken from some kind of state that made you... primal and aggressive so to say. Do you know what happened?"
"I... yeah... I think so" Hyokomon answered, being reassured by the gentle tones with which he was being spoken to. "For the past 3 days, I felt like... I was coming down with a kind of sickness, so, I kept to my house, stayed in bed, then, last thing I remember is falling asleep. And then I just woke up then, and... oh gosh, have I been sleepwalking?"
From this, Sophie concluded several things. She spoke to her companions. "I see. Firstly, it seems that the spell of the village took at least 3 days to take hold. Secondly, that Lantis's healing ability appears to be sufficient to cure it. And thirdly, it seemed the afflicted digimon are indeed aggressive, but, had no consciousness of their actions."
"...excuse me?" Hyokomon asked, looking afraid. "Did... did I act aggressively?"
"Yeah, you did" Enkidu said. "Thankfully I disarmed you before you did any damage to me."
Hyokomon noticed his empty scabbard, then rubbed his sore beak, feeling rather bad now, but was at least glad he was under his own control now. With this information, Sophie turned to Leith, Flamedramon and Shoutmon.
"So... what do you guys think about this?" she asked. "Should we go in and solve this? Or call for help?"
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Post by Leith, Veemon, and Shoutmon on May 18, 2019 1:38:26 GMT
In answer to a paw on his back, the young man exhaled a breath he didn't even know he was holding, an unconscious sign of slight relaxation. Sophie, too, told Leith just about exactly what he wanted to hear and yet ironically just made him feel a bit worse by doing it. Isn't that great? Now the partner's first impression of the boyfriend is he wants to run away at the first sniff of digital trouble. Well that was an impression he wasn't keen to let anyone hold of him, but especially not her, and even less so... him. "...well if it doesn't mean we gotta be heroes, what does it mean?" He mumbled, and it meant both that he didn't think it was an ethical choice to back away and as a serious question at face value.
But when asked again about a course of action, Shoutmon and Flamedramon both beat the Tamer to the punch. "We gotta, don't we? We're here! We know! Besides, it's your digimental that called us here!"
"We've come too far to turn back. We can do this! If we aren't at risk of losing our will, we should do what we can - because we can. Right?"
No! Was what Leith would have screamed if he thought he were allowed to. At this point, the only things keeping him here were trying to not look like a coward and, well, Flamedramon's moral argument: he could, and therefore he must. What would everyone else think of him if he shirked that duty? Heck, what would he think of himself? "...Right. 'Course... where do we even start?"
"Could always handle this the simple way." Shoutmon demonstrated his point by arming himself with a battlestaff - unbent and undamaged, being a replacement from another Shouton. "Shoutmon, that's ridiculous! We're here to help them!" Flamedramon looked to Lantis and asked him, "You did help him. Do you think you could help the rest?"
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Post by Sophie & Lantis on May 28, 2019 10:26:18 GMT
For a moment, Sophie was reminded of one of the earliest moments when she found out that both she and her little brother Colin were tamers. They once had a conversation somewhat like this. How they were chosen, why they were chosen, what they should do in response to this?
Colin had raised an almost similar point. "If we're 'chosen' and we back off away from the reasons that we were chosen for, what would the point be then?" he had asked her. Sophie remembered, although her brother was 14 at the time he had said that, and she was sure that 2 years later he had a different opinion after all his experience. She turned to look at Leith in return.
"Regardless of what it means, we have to recognize what battles we can win and those we can't, and should retreat from." she replied. "We humans might be the destined keys of what happens to the digital world, but, we have to remember that we're still mortal here, and I recognize that if we can't achieve something by ourselves, it's better to retreat and plan than to charge into something headfirst and die because of things beyond our power."
Sophie wasn't sure how those words would affect Leith. They at least had made Colin cool his head 2 years ago, but, she recognized Colin and Leith were different people. But she was interested to hear what he had to say to that.
Lantis meanwhile mulled over Flamedramon's question. Yes, he had healed the Hyokomon, but, healing the whole village? That would certainly be a challenge. He paused, rubbing his chin and closing his eyes as he remembered his initial flyover. Thinking about it, there was a peak of strange energy when he flew over a certain building. But... he didn't think he had the power to heal everyone in the village in one go. Even if most of them were Rookies. This ran the risk of him suddenly passing out and de-digivolving and them being overrun. However, it was also the most likely chance of success for them.
Lantis looked at Sophie. "Could this be linked to the corruption epidemic do you think?" he asked her. Sophie looked back, eyes widened, then eventually gave a nod.
"It could be..." she said, then turned to Leith. "Over the past few years of the digital world, there's been incidents of corrupted data taking hold of a place and then infecting it. In all of these cases, as far as we've heard, our digivices seem to be enough to counteract it. This might be such a case. If you agree, we could test this village out by using our digivices to attempt to cleanse the corruption, if it's there. If it doesn't work, we can retreat and try something else."
All of a sudden, she remembered how important it was to make sure they had the correct mindset for this. She looked at the others and stated her word for the exercise. "Restore." she stated.
"Expel." Lantis responded.
"Life." Enkidu finished, the three of them showing their minds were clear of whatever pestilence was present.
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Post by Leith, Veemon, and Shoutmon on May 29, 2019 2:23:46 GMT
"Y'know what, Sophie?" Leith was about ready to walk away from this conversation, but he was forced to turn back around when a thought cross his mind that he blurted out without any further consideration. "I sure don't feel like the 'key' to much lately." His voice was raised, but he wasn't quite yelling yet. "Flame and I helped expel a rogue Elecmon. Big deal - he wasn't gonna tear the city apart." He began to pace. "So we dropped a slave tower. So what? That thing was coming down with or without us. It was three against one for God's sake." Though he'd seemed calm a moment ago, his emotions were clearly bubbling back to the surface. "Y'know what? We did get to be the heroes once: my buddy Adrian damn near got us all killed, but fuck it if it didn't come way too fucking close! Hell, what am I telling you for? No way AEGIS missed it." He was referring to the moment just hours before a control spire was built in the real world when he jumped from an airship into a bay on dragonback. Of course, it was reasonable Sophie and company missed it or forgot it given other, more pressing matters of which Leith was yet unaware. "And when I'm not doin' nothin' or dyin', you know how we're wastin' our time? Some- some little pet music project!" Leith slammed his fist against a thick tree trunk. It hurt. It showed in his eyes, too, though they were already a bit watery before he went and broke his pinky. "It doesn't mean anything! I wanted to do music because I thought it was something I could do that would mean something and it just fucking doesn't!"
Shoutmon dropped his mic.
"I can't- I can't compete with you - hell, I can't compete with your kid brother! You guys, the things you've actually done and the way you've come out of it - you guys are 'keys' to the digital world's destiny if anyone is. Not me! Not us! Now we're here, and we gotta- ah, fuck!" Leith ran into Lantis like a homing missile and slammed into him with about the same force. A smaller person might have gone to the ground or at least stumbled backward, but someone Leith's size probably couldn't have that effect on someone Lantis' size, nor was Lantis in danger from Leith squeezing him in an embrace like a child begging his mother to protect him from the monsters in the closet. The only thing the lion really had to worry about was wet fur as a result of the poor boy's now uncontrollable sobbing. At least he stopped yelling, but now he was whimpering. "I don't- I, I can't- I don't wanna be here." The lion's fur muffled that a bit. "I'm nothin' over there, and I'm nothin' here, too." He meant the real world in the digital world but didn't think to clarify that.
When he yanked the digivice off his wrist, Flamedramon nervously stepped forward and warily interceded, "Hang on..."
"I ain't gonna- I ain't gonna throw it." Leith finally peeled his face away from Lantis and shook his head to get hair out of his eyes, both his and not his. "I'm gonna use it. 'Cause we're here, and we can, so we gotta, and it might not kill us, and you might need us, so we don't have any fucking choice!" After wiping both eyes, Leith looked at Sophie. "Alright, you're the one who knows about this shit. I don't know how this goes, but whatever we gotta do I'll do it. Look, I- I'm sorry, and I ain't doin' great, but this has gotta get done, plain and simple. Doin' something dumb and stupid comes later." He started to hold his digivice in front of himself toward the village, which was about the best he knew how to do, and hoped it would do literally anything. "'Everything,'" was Flamedramon's mumbled answer to the game. Shoutmon took a good long while to think about everything he'd just seen before deciding on, "'Git,'" with a glare at Leith. "Fine. I ain't deaf. 'Temper.'" A word that both denoted a predisposition to negative emotions and meant to be a counterbalancing force, perhaps against such things as the forces of corruption.
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