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Life Is But A Dream - Demon Lords 2E
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Post by Bonetrousled? on Nov 12, 2019 2:35:44 GMT
The Gotsumon's conversation may have sounded like unintelligible grumbling at first, but as the party grew closer to their table the reason why would become apparent. They were talking over each other relentlessly, barely even allowing one to finish speaking before two others cut them off.
"I say we fish the haul out-"
"And break our backs trying? Took us a whole digi-day to get it on the cart-"
"Which wouldn't have snapped if you put the wheels on right-"
"Oh, they were on damn right, you just had to take the thing on a damn joyride!"
"It's called resting your legs. Ever tried it?"
"Maybe if the rest of you put in the work-"
"Delegating's not real work!"
"And neither's napping on the job-"
"Because digging one hole to fill another hole's so much more productive.
"It's called building character-"
"Character? That and a hundred bits'll get me a cold cup of coffee."
"Or a piss-warm beer."
"Shit, after the cave-in, I'd kill for either of those?"
"We don't have to! Waitress, fetch us . . . one of those things!"
"There are some "piss-warm beers" on the countertop, hun."
At this news, all of the Gotsumon sighed in mutual disappointment and turned away. For all their groaning and griping, none of them seemed very interested in improving their situation. However, the Tapirmon was all too happy to partake. It floated over to the counter as if a living cloud, snatching the beer up in its trunk before floating back. All the while, its eyes never left Alan and Kenny.
The Gotsumon's grumbling faded back into background noise, and quiet fell over the restaurant. That made the sudden, rapid knocks against the wall all the more startling. After a few of these a thick, calloused hand pulled the tarp aside. Mojyamon was now standing in the doorway, shooting the restaurant a wave. "Finally! I've been starving," he said. Hadn't he walked to the restaurant hours ago? Or maybe it only felt like hours. Regardless, the party had beaten him here by a comfortable margin. He didn't seem to notice them yet, walking over to make small talk with the Crescemon at the counter, but his presence did catch Tapirmon's attention. He actually turned away from the party for a second to stare at the new arrival!
~~~~
Running was a good idea, at least for the time being. Both John and Sho succeeded in keeping ahead of the frozen arrows, although by how far was hard to tell. The thick, pillowy snow dampened the sound of each arrow piercing the earth, and they were too high in the air to get a proper visual on. The duo would only have their faith in their speed to go off of, especially as the city came closer and closer to their field of view. With the burst of speed Griffomon promised, surely they'd be able to reach it before being skewered!
However, the Griffomon would find the air quite different from what it was accustomed to in the real world. The typical air currents one needed to both utilize and fight against while flying were near completely absent, only leaving the bare minimum of atmosphere needed to fly. There were no tailwinds to help Griffomon escape the rain of arrows, but there were also no headwinds to fight against him. To further complicate matters, there would be a strange weight pushing down on Griffomon's wings. It wasn't quite like gravity. Instead it was more like a supernatural lethargy, making each effort put forth by the Griffomon twice as difficult. Would he be able to adapt in time to take flight, or would his jump be more of a graceless tumble?
All the while, fog danced around the corners of Sho and John's eyes. If they stared at it for too long, they would seem to see gleaming fangs and shimmering eyes forming within.
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Post by Kenny O'Hara and Skadi on Nov 12, 2019 5:45:01 GMT
Hearing Alan and Levi praise Kenny and Skadi did leave the latter duo with a good case of the fuzzies inside their stomachs, as a small blush lined their faces upon hearing that, and a small, grateful smile arose on Kenny's face. To think he actually managed to do all those things together with Skadi in just a short amount of time. But nevertheless, the young man would start to tell his story. "Well, about a few months back, I took Skadi over to the Spartan Training Grounds, because she wanted to grow and improve herself. And that's where we met Ryouta and Valt, and I don't think they really need any introduction at this point, considering that you pretty much know them already." He lightly chuckled, remembering how Levi knew that particularly muscular member of his kind back at the fortuneteller tent.
"Anyways, to my surprise, Ryouta was training with a Dinohumon, a Champion level of all things, much to my surprise, and Valt was looking for a spar with just about anyone, and needless to say, Skadi quickly jumped at the chance to improve herself, challenging Valt to a fight using their armour forms, Weatherdramon being her Armour Champion. And needless to say, this was where things got a little crazy..."
But at the same time? Admittedly, it was pretty tricky for Kenny to pay attention to what basically boiled down to 2 conversations going on at once about 2 completely different topics; and from what could Kenny and Skadi could overhear from the Gotsumon were saying, apparently both of them were arguing about their job they apparently had. But what was this about a 'cave-in'? Apart from the telltale permafrost and sour mood that they had, they looked perfectly fine... unless they ended up falling victim to the dream realm themselves in some way?
Man, this death trap was much more effective than they previously thought. Unfortunately, the Gotsumon eventually made themselves inaudible again, but hopefully the group managed to gather enough information from them, at least for now.
Before Kenny could continue with his story, the rap on the wall, followed by the subsequent introduction of Mojyamon once more, quickly shut him up. But wait. Wasn't Mojyamon supposed to be here already? Unless he went through a similar struggle the DREAM TEAM went through when they tried to muscle their way over to the spire earlier? Because the permafrost Gotsumon managed to reach the burger joint without much of a struggle.
Regardless, with Tapirmon's attention captured by Mojyamon inadvertently, Skadi tugged on Kenny's shirt, quickly grabbing his attention. She gestured him to lean down, which he did, before following suit with either Alan or Levi (whoever was closest to her) and whispered to the group, "I'm just gonna check on Mojyamon quickly, I'll be back in a minute. If anyone asks, I had to go to the bathroom. OK?" Kenny just nodded, and turned his attention back to Alan and Levi.
After a small pause, Kenny continued with his story, "Anyways, as I was saying, just before the battle, Skadi made this crazy out-of-nowhere bet with Valt, where the winner would get to throw the loser into a nearby lake. Without telling me first. And needless to say, that pretty much bit us in the ass when Valt digivolved into his Cardinaldramon form. An Armour Ultimate." He sounded a little sheepish as he said it, "So no prizes for guessing the results there. But props to Skadi for challenging herself, at least."
At the same time, with Tapirmon distracted, and after checking to ensure the coast was clear, Skadi quickly dug underneath her scarf, and her wool ruff to reach for her trusty KIZNA artifact, Geisterseele, buried underneath her wool. With just a tap of the gem, Skadi's body, artifact, and her scarf had turned completely invisible, with little fanfare. Quietly, Skadi lifted herself off the chair, and snuck over to the counter and near where Cresemon and Mojyamon were, making sure not a single step would make even a single squeak or clop on the floor, to hopefully listen to their small talk, and hopefully learn more from the yeti Digimon. All underneath the furry dream eater's long nose.
Just what did they have to say, anyways?
Skadi uses the Geisterseele artifact to turn herself invisible while nobody, especially Tapirmon, isn't looking to snoop on both Mojyamon and Crescemon. Hopefully they'll drop some interesting tibits.
Geisterseele (Weak Artifact): A small gold necklace with a glowing red gem, adorned around a Digimon's neck. It allows the wearer to turn invisible outside of combat, great for hiding or camouflage. It can be used for as long as the user wants, but only outside of combat. It's not strong enough to be used inside of combat. If hit by an attack or if the user uses an attack themselves, the effect automatically wears off. KIZNA. Crafted from [Professor's Chronometer] + [Soul Essence] + [Gold Cat]
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Post by John Jourdain on Nov 14, 2019 1:44:04 GMT
Runa strained her eyes, but no matter how hard she looked she couldn't pinpoint their location, it didn't help any that John was starting to slow down, to which she slapped the back of his head with her tail. "Hey John, I know you can run longer then this, what's going on?" John was about to answer her when the kid who was passed out with them told them to hop on. "I don't think your strong enough buddy, unless you have some crazy muscles or something."
John joked as the guy took out his digivice, after a light enveloped him, he was then shown to be some kind of a bird hybrid digimon, it was quickly apparent that this guy was a spirit user. John blinked after that, then looked at Runa for a moment, as if to ask her what she thought. "We don't have any other options, we gotta get on!" she said, and hopped onto the spirit user's back, John agreed and quickly climbed on, waiting for them to take off. Runa was looking back, still trying to spot any incoming projectiles.
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Post by Sho Tsuginaga on Nov 14, 2019 12:35:37 GMT
The Griffomon galloped on through the forest, warming up his draconic wings and keeping his chrome-plate d helmet facing forward. Sho had to steady himself...even then there were too many factors to take in at that moment. He felt too light, too floaty, too flighty all at the same time...Why wasn't there any wind? It was like trying to fly in space...Flying...in space... Sho began to speed up, pouring all his energy into running faster, making his footsteps in the snow quicker. Even if he had to dodge spikes of snow, he could only focus on running faster! He brought his wings in and began to wind up his cybernetic legs. "Cover your ears and hold on tight!" The Griffomon croaked to his passengers before roaring a cacophonous screech. He'd just bounded up out of the snow with all the momentum he could gather, all the strength he could just to get into the air. He'd begun to fly, or rather to glide, up and out of the forest, but all that energy had rendered him barely able to think. That mighty push seemed to take every ounce of energy out of him. There couldn't have been much gravity to fight against, but he felt so tanky and bully just trying to keep himself in the sky. Just focus on gliding...just focus on gliding... He thought, flapping his wings periodically to make sure he didn't nose dive into the snow. "Hey, look around up there...Tell me if you see anything all civilization-like." Sho requested in tired squaks. Steel yourself...You have to survive this. The environment around you threatens your very will. You act like I don't know that already! Sho thought, trying to shout himself awake mentally so that he could keep going.
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Post by Alan Pantell on Nov 15, 2019 13:56:11 GMT
Like Kenny, Alan also found it difficult to focus on both conversations, especially with the manner in which the Gotsumon were having their argument, but from what he or Levi could gather, it sounded like the rock digimon had been doing some kind of strenuous activity recently. Perhaps this was a cause for relief on their part. Were they talking about something that had happened before the dream? If that was the case, it sounded like a fresh source of discord between them, meaning they had only ended up here recently. On the other hand, this could have meant they were fading fast. Another possibility that crossed Alan's mind is that they had been assigned some task as a manner of "breaking" them, but this seemed a bit more of a reach compared to the first possibility. Either way, the human resolved to do all he could to save them, no matter how slowly he had to move to do so. In the meantime, while he would have to continue laying low and playing slow, he found Kenny's story to be surprisingly enjoyable, not that he hadn't expected it to be enjoyable.
"Sensei~" Levi happily remarked, both because he was looking for something to say, and as a means of confirming he was familiar with Valt. There was a fondness in his voice - this Veemon had all sorts of respect for this older and much more experienced ExVeemon.
Both partners nodded to confirm they understood when Skadi announced she would be doing some recon, and then returned their attention to the main conversations going on. Alan practically snorted with laughter when Kenny mentioned the impromptu bet Skadi had made with Valt. "Excuse me, but I hope you weren't forced to be Skadi's representative in this bet?"
Levi nodded thoughtfully. "And is it just me, or is digivolving to a higher form than your opponent in a spar cheating? As far as I'm concerned, you were the winners there!"
Alan then added in a slightly hushed tone, "You should come watch us get knocked around by Valt sometime. I think he knows how to make it fun, somehow." He said this quietly because, if a listener assumed Valt was someone outside of the dream, this comment would indicate some kind of uncharacteristic certainty that this party would be leaving the dream alive. It was frustrating, all this secrecy, but for the good of everyone and himself, he had to keep it up.
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Post by Bonetrousled? on Nov 19, 2019 2:41:21 GMT
"And look at these fancy boys here. Now they can Digivolve!"
Oh, great. The griping Gotsumon had listened in on the conversation. It seemed with their own conversation running in circles, they decided to collectively move onto something else to complain about. They didn't even have the courtesy to directly address them, either. How rude!
"Well maybe you'd be a fancy boy too if you actually helped lift your fair share of the ore!"
"Well maybe I'd lift my fair share of the ore if Jenkins didn't take it all! He wants to lift it all, I'm doing him a favor!"
"He doesn't want to lift it, you rockhead! He wants to eat it!"
"Only because somebody didn't pack enough rations for the trip!"
"Why would I pack rations? We're surrounded by perfectly good rocks!"
"Exactly!"
"I meant the good rocks! Not the good-good rocks!"
"Oh, I'll give you a rock you can eat, alright!"
The Gotsumon deathglared each other, fists raised in a classic Terminus Standoff, before lowering them. It seemed escalating their fights beyond the point of complaining was still just too much effort for them.
As Alan and Kenny enjoyed dinner with a show, Skadi commenced a virtuous mission for some intel. Fortunately, unlike most famous spies, all she really had to do was turn invisible and walk across a room. Even more fortunately, area security was already distracted, so she didn't even really need to put much backbone into sneaking. She was over by Mojyamon's seat before the abominable snowman had even started talking.
"So, uh. Hell of a weather we're having, huh?" he asked, leaning casually over the counter. With the way his brows were slightly raised, it seemed like he was interested in a bit more than just burgers.
And judging by how the Crescemon didn't even glance up from the filthy glass she was eyeing, she wasn't interested in much of anything at all. "Yep. Just like every other day around here," she said. "What's your poison?"
"I, uh . . . huh." Mojyamon stopped, scratching his head. "You know. It's the damndest thing. I know I was hungry, but for the life of me I can't remember what I'm hungry for. I just know I need . . . something. Right?"
The Crescemon rolled her eyes. "Oh boy, bet this one's gonna stick around for a while," she said. "How about I just get you the one-of-everything, huh? That should keep you good for as long as it needs to."
"I think that's good!" Poor Mojyamon seemed confused, but Crescemon was too busy ducking behind the bar to fetch it to shed any more light on his situation. With them gone, that left the bar empty. It also left a certain Tapirmon right in Skadi's field of vision. The good news was that he hadn't moved from his spot.
The bad news was that he seemed to be staring directly at her.
~~~~
It seemed the dream world was like a game of tug of war played against a wall. The harder Sho pulled against it, the harder it pulled back. Every beat of his wings would be slower and harsher than the last. Every breath he took would be shorter and sharper than the last. The fog at the edge of his vision would continue to blur and accumulate, and a low howling would whistle through his ears. At times his vision would fade to black for a hundreth of a second, only to come back just quickly enough to make him think it was a trick of the light.
John and Runa wouldn't be spared these effects, either. A fatigue would set over their bodies, pulsating in and out by the second. A soft warmth would try and lull them to sleep, only for a harsh, piercing cold to try and snap them out of it. The fog gathered at the clouds of their vision, too. It seemed to almost be chasing after them, hovering in Sho's shadow.
Civilization would indeed be on the horizon, but on the horizon it stayed. No matter how fast Sho flew, it would never seem to get any closer. It would only be after agonizing minutes of flying, each minute harder than the last, that Sho would successfully approach the distant city.
Or, rather, it approached him. In one blink of an eye, it was a speck on the horizon. In the next, the towering city walls would be right in front of his face. It would require reaction times that would make most fighter pilots blush: would Sho be able to avoid impact, or would he and John be heading towards a faceplant?
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Post by Kenny O'Hara and Skadi on Nov 19, 2019 23:31:18 GMT
Kenny kinda jumped a bit when one of the grumbling Gotsumon had briefly changed gears into complaining about the fact that the dream team's own Digimon could digivolve. Admittedly, that was kind of an odd point to focus on, but more importantly to our group, their ramblings, which they could hear once more, held a good slither of more information, no matter how little of it there were. Did they honestly forget to pack enough rations for their job for promise of tasty rocks? And were they simply not co-operating properly, hence the cave in?
If at the very least, Kenny just paused his story for a moment to turn to the Gotsumon, "If it makes you guys feel any better, our partners can't exactly hold onto their higher forms above Rookie forever. It's just semantics." He shrugged to them a little. It probably wouldn't pacify them, but it would at least tell them the group, or at least he, held no ill will towards them for judging them. Small steps.
Regardless, once Kenny hopefully cleared the air with the Gotsumon, he turned back to the 2 boys... only to be met with Alan laughing and him and Valt questioning about more details about the battle, making Kenny blush a little and chuckle a bit as well, nodding in agreement about watching Levi's own spars with Valt, "Well, if I remember correctly, she said 'winner gets to throw loser in the lake'. And I'm sure as hell she meant me as well. Needless to say, after the battle, dad was wondering why my room was smelling like pondwater when she got home."
"Anyways, so our Digimon started the battle, and, let me tell you, Valt's quite a nasty individual to face in combat, no matter the form. First he subjected Skadi to vicious winds and practically thrashed her with them. Then, after she absorbed some of the winds, he chased her down, and nearly caught up to her, but then, something amazing happened."
"When he got close to her, she struck back by firing the winds back at Valt's face. Literally. It struck him head on, and he was sent flying back. Next thing I knew, he was laughing and clapping happily, and saying that Skadi 'passed'. And I remember how she was so giddy when she caught onto it, she was so happy that her soon-to-be-senpai was praising her. It just felt so... euphoric." He smiled fondly as he reminseced about that happy memory. It was almost enough to take his mind off the true reason he was doing this. Almost.
As for Skadi, she felt herself beaming with pride a little bit as she felt herself be in the clear, what with no one making a huge show and dance about her alleged disappearance, not even Tapirmon. Unfortunately for her, as she listened intently for what Mojyamon and Crescemon had to say to one another, they really didn't really have much to say.
...Or so it seemed. She felt her ears twitch once more when Mojyamon mentioned he forgot what he honestly wanted to eat. She did remember that smell of pie earlier that drew him away from the group, and the fact he mentioned he wanted to sample some stuff around here. But the real question that boggled the mind was that why Tapirmon was so interested in him all of a sudden when Mojyamon entered the diner. Did he have some special connections or something he knew the rest of the group didn't?
Unfortunately, that question would go unanswered for now, with Crescemon setting off to grab the so called 'one-of-everything' for Mojyamon. As she watched Crescemon go off, her glance met up with the Tapirmon from earlier once more. And he was now directly looking at her from afar.
Immediately, Skadi's heart skipped a beat. She swore Tapirmon wasn't watching her cloak herself, nor heard her whisper to the group about her true intentions. But then she remembered, either Belphmon and/or Pajiramon must have been keeping tabs on the 2 tamers and their Digimon, considering that 1. Alan and Kenny were the only 2 humans there (there was no way in hell the fortuneteller was human, and besides, she was gone, for now anyways), and 2. the aforementioned struggle to the spire may have raised a few eyebrows.
If that was true, then it would come as no surprise to anyone if Belphmon/Pajiramon set Tapirmon there to keep an eye on them, or even gave them an ability to sniff out weak disguises.
For now, she just opted to stay where she was, still keeping an eye on Mojyamon, but also an eye on Tapirmon. It was honestly too early to tell what were Tapirmon's true motive at this point, honestly, so attacking him first wouldn't exactly be in good form for the group. But Tapirmon's behaviour did raise some big red flags. While to the average bystander it may have just looked like Tapirmon was staring at empty air, Kenny's quick glance at him was enough to tell him that Belphmon/Pajiramon was most likely smarter than they thought.
Hopefully Tapirmon was on their side, at least.
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Post by Sho Tsuginaga on Nov 21, 2019 0:28:27 GMT
Was...was he drifting off? Sho's confusion grew with every flap of his draconic wings, every crow that he shouted out in an attempt to keep himself awake. This was...this was something far more taxing than he'd ever imagined...But it was working! His eyes had met the end of the horizon; there was civilization becoming more and more clear in the distance! Only, every so often it was like the light turned off in his eyes, his wings would shrink too far in or droop too much in one direction. For a child who'd have no idea how to fly through this, and for the heart of the flying creature itself, an ordeal like this was torture. Torture he'd have to endure so that the people on his back could survive. "Hold...Hold...Hold on tight...please...Just bear with me..." The Griffomon whined, seeming to grow weaker I both its speech and its roar by the minute. This was a hell like no other, and the escape was just dangling itself right in front of Sho's face. Wait...it was dangling a little too close now. How long had he been out? Were they falling? Sho's brain, faced with the shock of these thoughts while his glide turned him in front of a building, turned off. But the will of the Griffomon had grown stronger and stronger in the face of danger. In a mighty screech it gave one huge flap of its wings, turning skyward and stalling itself as it just coasted over the walls. Then it began to spin, it began to use one of its limping tired wings and twisting the other in turn to spin straight over and slow itself as it crashed and screamed and clawed at the snowy ground below them able to keep itself upright through the maneuver but throwing his passengers off all the same. In a burst of digicode, Sho's exhausted body tumbled out of the Griffomon too, rolling out through the snow until he was fully laid out, heaving.
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Post by John Jourdain on Nov 21, 2019 2:49:18 GMT
Something was wrong with this place, John and Runa couldn't figure it out, but for some reason they where feeling tired. Despite having just woken up and are currently fleeing for their lives, the two of them can't help but want to lay down and nap on the Griffomon. Runa was able to shake off the urge through willpower, and John didn't do it because he thought it would be odd to nap on a complete stranger.
Runa was determined to keep an eye on the sky, she knew that even a moment could be the difference between safety, and skewered chicken. John on the other hand was trying to stay on, something that was somehow getting increasingly hard very quickly. "Ah man, what is with me today?" He said, In a sort of half yawn, Runa started to yawn as well, covering her mouth with her tail. "Just stay awake, if we fall asleep here we're goners, how far until we get to the city?" She asked.
John looked at the town with growing frustration, they should have been there by now, even with Sho slowing down. "I don't get it, this town shouldn't be this far, is it running away from us orrrH SHIII-" Somehow in the blink of an eye, the three of them went from a few blocks or so away from the town, to right in front of it, thankfully they got over the walls into the city.
They all fell on the ground, thankfully the snow lessened the pain, but it still hurt. John and Runa get up, groaning in pain and reluctance. They then looked at Sho, now exhausted, and they quickly went to him to make sure he's okay. "Hey, you okay? You did a great job in getting us in, thanks man!" John congratulated him, giving out a hand to help him up.
Runa on the other hand was looking at the city walls outside, a look of concern on her face. "I think we should get farther into the city before we celebrate, preferably somewhere warm. Maybe there's a police station, or the closest thing to it somewhere here?" Runa suggested, pointing into the city with her tail.
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Post by Alan Pantell on Nov 21, 2019 19:55:16 GMT
Alan's attention was blinking back and forth. They had a mission to do, but dang, had Kenny and Skadi had quite the first run-in with Ryouta and Valt. Levi had a slight tinge of envy that Skadi had earned Valt's praise in such a spur-of-the-moment spar like that, but it made sense to him. Many digimon were a lot more keen on battling than he was, and the little Veemon had to admit... he still largely found himself unable to battle for fun, or in any situation where it was just about anything but a necessity. If there was a villain to be defeated, if something was on the line, then he had far fewer qualms about giving his all. Perhaps that was why Skadi had made that bet about throwing the loser into the lake? It was certainly an interesting take on the situation. He'd have to ask Skadi herself once they were freer to have a normal conversation. Alan, too, had a softer, slightly bittersweet expression upon hearing about how impressed Valt had been. "That's amazing, you too," he said. "I'm happy for you." He wanted to offer his own experiences with Ryouta and Valt, but he figured he shouldn't get too deeply invested in the conversation while they still had a job to do. Perhaps now he could strike up a calm conversation with the "locals" without arousing suspicion?
"Heh, I'm not sure that's as comforting as you think it is," said Alan, referring to Kenny's comment to the Gotsumon. The tamer didn't take any offense to their grumbling. He had to assume nearly any digimon here wouldn't be acting like themselves. Afterwards, he'd offer the rock digimon his own input. "You guys doin' alright? You seem pretty tense. Anything we can do to help clear the air?"
By far the most intriguing exchange going on was that of the Crescemon and Mojyamon. Levi would do his best to pay attention to them. This was valuable information: how did the dream affect truly oblivious newcomers? How were they treated? How were they assimilated? The Veemon had noticed the plates stacked high with various untouched dishes before, and had little doubt that this was the "one-of-everything" in question. Had Mojyamon forgotten what he was hungry for so that he would order this option? How much food is "one of everything"? Was it endless? Was a prospective victim to glut themselves on it until they became sluggish, unable to eat another bite? This was the theory bouncing through Levi's mind. While dangerous to jump to conclusions, acting on the assumption that every accommodation provided by the city was provided with insidious intent was, he figured, the safest way to exercise caution.
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Post by Bonetrousled? on Nov 26, 2019 1:53:46 GMT
"The fluffy kid's right! It's not comforting at all!"
Being directly addressed only made the Gotsumon's griping stronger. Nevertheless, they didn't turn to face Kenny and Alan, despite directly addressing them in turn. It was as if they were glued to their seats in an endless debate. "Course it's comforting," another one countered. "Means these kids haven't left us in the dust quite yet. They might be a bunch of fancy boys, but that doesn't mean they've got the Stuff!"
"Ah, hush your trap! The only stuff you've got is stuffing your mouth with the ore we were supposed to be hauling!"
"And the only hauling you've got is hauling your rocky ass into the cart to go slacking off on us!"
"And the only slack I've got is all the slack I keep cutting you bozos! What, is it your first mine? Newsflash, we're made of rocks! You should be better at this!"
"Well why don't you pick up a pickaxe and show us how it's done, yet?"
"And do more work for you freeloaders? As if!"
As Alan turned to them, they harrumphed one by one. "You know what's tense? Being caught in a cave in and waking up in the middle of the snow-boonies!" one Gotsumon said. "You try it out if you think it looks so fun, eh?"
"Ah, go easy on him! He's just a boy!" another one said.
"He's a boy that looked at me funny!"
"Well that's 'cause you got a funny face! Ever think about that, wise guy?"
"Oh, why I oughta!" And yet whatever Gotsumon decided he oughta do, he never quite got around to it. "Look, kid. The only thing clear about this air's that it's stale, cold, and cruddy. You don't gotta tell us that twice."
"He's just sore 'cause he can't win a damn argument to save his life. Don't pay him any mind," another Gotsumon interjected. "Look, unless you know how to blow this cave to smithereens, nothing you can do about it."
"Maybe if you used your fancy-boy Digivolution for a change-!"
"Will ya quit yammering on about that already? The nerve of this guy, I swear."
As the Gotsumon argued and Mojyamon twiddled his thumbs curiously, Tapirmon drifted over to Skadi's location. If she had any illusions about him not noticing her, they'd promptly be dispelled. "Pretty big crowd today, huh?" he asked. " 'Tween you and me, half the people here seem like goners. Any bets on who's first?"
"Uh . . . are you talking to me?" Mojyamon asked, scratching his forehead.
"Oh. Right. You're invisible, huh? Sorry, I forgot," the Tapirmon said. He promptly lost his vision of Skadi, then floated away. "I forget things a lot. Don't worry about it."
". . .Goodness, everything sure takes a lot of time to make." Mojyamon went back to twiddling his thumbs, a confused look spreading across the poor guy's face. A sudden crashing sound from outside would only worsen his confusion, the abominable snowman leaping up in surprise before nervously hunching over.
None of the other patrons seemed to even notice.
~~~~
Perhaps as Griffomon rocketed out of the sky, he would notice what appeared to be a sheep centaur staring from the top of the spire. He seemed so close that, if they noticed, Sho or John could reach out and touch him. Unfortunately, any attempts at doing so would lead to them phasing through him as if he were thin air.
Upon hitting the ground, the unlikely duo would notice they were surrounded by a ring of buildings. Granted, buildings were a strong term for them. They were really more like snow hovels, panels of old metal, and holes in the ground covered in ratty old tarps. Each of these buildings was marked by a pristine outline of a shape etched into the snow. They were simplistic drawings, sure, but at least they were clear in design.
In clockwise order the markings were as followed; a burger, a cross, a pair of glasses, a photograph, a pair of handcuffs, and a house. No Digimon or humans were in a hurry to enter or leave these buildings. In fact, other than some Gotsumon gliding across the ice on the fringes of the city and the occasional grim-looking ShimaUnimon walking past, the place looked completely deserted.
Nothing was in a rush to make John or Sho make their choice. But it sure was getting cold out there, wasn't it?
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Post by Kenny O'Hara and Skadi on Nov 26, 2019 5:25:29 GMT
There was no denying it; Alan and Levi were a couple of sweet boys, and Kenny really couldn't help but smile as Alan praised the duo once more. He could only chuckle lightly a bit as he thought about how Skadi would react. It wouldn't be like her to lap up the praise in a less serious situation. But she had a job to do right now, and quickly, the conversation shifted over to the Gotsumon and their reactions.
"You have a point there." Kenny could only reply to Alan remarking about his 'comforting' comment, but none of the permafrost Gotsumon couldn't exactly agree with each other on that front, which only looped around once more back to the apparent incident at the mine. But what really caught his interest was one of them mentioning about blowing up the 'cave'...
"Wait, slow down for a moment, you guys. Can you tell us where were you digging, exactly?" Kenny quickly interjected, before pausing for a brief moment, "We might be able to help you out with your job, if you know what I mean." Maybe waking the victims up from the nightmare from the outside world was one of the ways to free them; for example, if the Gotsumon were knocked out stone cold (ha) unconscious from the disaster, then perhaps resuscitating them would do the trick?
Regardless whenever he got a good answer or not, his glance still drifted to where Tapirmon stood, and then down to his D-Nexus, compentating whenever it was worth it to digivolve Skadi or not. It all depended on what Tapirmon did as he saw him approach where she was.
For a moment there, Skadi felt like she died for only a brief moment as Tapirmon approached her, but kept herself on guard, anticipating a strike. Rather, surprisingly enough, he opted to make chitchat with her, guessing about which victim here was next on the chopping block. She said nothing.
But still, like the mysterious fortuneteller before her, somehow Tapirmon also knew of the apparent effects of the city, and just shrugged it off like it was nothing. More and more signs so far were pointing to him being an apparent spy for Belphmon and/or Pajiramon, considering he wasn't being affected as badly by the dream world, unlike the majority of the residents there.
Unfortunately, this must have confused the poor Mojyamon by mistake, which the Tapirmon happily blurted out the fact that yes, Skadi was invisible, like if it was nothing. Thankfully, he didn't really do much beyond that, just simply waltzing away, leaving Skadi and Mojyamon to be. For a moment, Skadi felt a little conflicted on what to do next. She couldn't just up and explain what was going on to him. Regardless, with Tapirmon's back turned once more, she quickly tip toed back to the group's table, dug into her wool once more to tap onto Geisterseele to transform back to normal, again, without much fanfare other than just a simple, and, once again taking her seat back at the table.
Until all of a sudden, a loud crash outside of the restaurant threw the tamer and Digimon offguard, Kenny's heart skipping what felt like one too many beats, and Skadi getting startled and freezing in place for what felt like forever. "What was that?" Kenny exclaimed in surprise, turning to the general direction of the noise, as did Skadi. Whatever it was, it certainly scared the poor Mojyamon out of his wits indeed. And who could blame him? Poor guy most likely just wanted some food, is all.
Quickly, Kenny turned to his 2 teammates near him and whispered, "Alan, Levi, you guys mind checking what just happened outside for a moment? We'll be taking care of Moyjamon. Don't you worry. We'll still be here." Then he turned to the Gotsumon, "Sorry, we kinda need to take care of something quickly. We'll be back in a minute, OK?" He reassured them, hoping they would understand where he was coming from.
Following the cue of the fortuneteller, Kenny and Skadi quietly excused themselves, and merely casually walked over to the startled yeti in question. Hopefully, Alan and Levi would do the same. Once they reached the yeti, Kenny gave him a little pat on the back to calm him down, "Hey, are you OK, Mojyamon?" He kindly asked him, "It's us, your travel mates from earlier. We just wanted to see how you were doing."
Skadi followed up by giving a reassuring smile to the yeti as well. "Don't worry, pal. Our friends are taking care of the problem outside. You don't have to worry about a thing!" She happily proclaimed to him. Hopefully, this reassurance would remind the Champion-level Digimon that he was among friends once more.
Also hopefully, Alan and Levi would be safe as well.
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Post by Sho Tsuginaga on Nov 27, 2019 17:36:02 GMT
Sho limply lifted his exhausted hand to meet the tamer's, his eyes coming back into focus and his ears beginning to hear their relieved thanks. At least he knew his crash landing wasn't thankless, but the thanks would be short-lived if he couldn't keep any of them alive. He struggled to tug onto the tamer, using them as leverage to pick themselves up and once again ground themselves in the heavy snow. The air, the atmosphere, the feeling of the whole place began to hang on him again, the weight carrying itself through into the sluggish way his head drags through the open space in his attempt to look around. Cheerful. Grateful, but limited. You've already assessed them, correct? Take charge, you of fluttering chest. ...Yeah. I did. It'll get done, cross my heart. His thoughts were at least maintaining a moderate pace compared to the rest of his currently aching body. He couldn't muster up the motivation to digivolve; he didn't even notice how long he'd been heaving in silence even though he'd been on his feet. "These buildings...these people...We're going to go inside, no time to waste." Sho groggily responded, going from using his partner's hand to pick himself up to grabbing at it to move them both towards the building with the house under it. It seemed so universal; Shelter, it said, "Come inside!". If it was a trap, he'd fight like hell, but he wanted to move more than anything else. "We can introduce ourselves afterwards...I don't know if you've seen someone like me...but if you have, you might know how terrible this feels right now." He explained, pointing towards the building his feet was slogging towards. This was going to be slow and terrible...if he could leave his body right now, he would've taken every chance...
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Post by Alan Pantell on Nov 27, 2019 18:51:25 GMT
The entire group of Gotsumon was a broken record in their bickering, enough so to convince Alan they were likely arguing amongst each other to pass the time. The more the human could glean of their story, however, the more he realized just how little of an idea he had as to how much anyone in the entire dream knew of their own situations- how much they were supposed to know. Alan jolted from the crash outside, assuming much the same position as the Mojyamon had, and looked around the cafeteria for anyone else who reacted. Either most of the other digimon didn't notice, or they didn't care, which seemed more likely, given the context of Belphemon's modus operandi. Surely even a slothful person would be interested in a sudden crashing noise, though, right? If they had heard and simply didn't care, did that mean this was a common occurrence, or did it mean they were even farther gone than he had previously thought?
Well, if Mojyamon heard it, there's no harm to our cover in asking...
"Hey..." the boy said to the rock monsters, "...did any of you hear a loud noise from outside just now?"
"Alan," said Levi, softly, "we should go with them to investigate."
"Thank you. I know." The partners began to rise from their seats. "We'll see you guys later, if you or the building is still here. That wasn't a threat, I just don't trust geography anymore." With that, they followed Kenny and Skadi to the Mojyamon, and then to the door. Luckily, the other pair hadn't gotten too far, or else they might have forgotten to tread casually, without too much purpose.
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Post by John Jourdain on Dec 3, 2019 17:07:00 GMT
John notices how this guy was having a hard time moving, but before he could do anything he felt a sudden burst of cold. He shivered in place while crossing his arms, and even Runa felt the cold. She climbed up John, with more difficulty then usual for some reason, and got in his backpack, zipping it up to a point where she could still see whoever was attacking was still firing.
John was still feeling somewhat energetic, so he helped support the guy's weight as he walked towards the building with the handcuffs. "If that thing's still after us, we need to alert some guards, That building that have some handcuffs looks like the place to go, once we get in and talk to someone, we can hopefully relax." John said.
He then turned his head to the side. "Of course, we could get there quicker if someone would come out and help." He said, getting an eye roll from Runa. "I need to keep an eye out for any incoming attacks, it could still be after us." She said, "Oh yeah, and I'm sure it has nothing to do with how comfortable that backpack is, none at all." He shot back,and Runa replied as she zipped the backpack close a little. "One more comment like that, and I'm zipping it completely." John chuckled and turned back to facing the building.
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