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Washed Up on the Beach... Resort [Completed]
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Post by Yuko Himura on Sept 13, 2019 14:24:26 GMT
The last 24 hours had been a real doozy! One moment, Yuko and her friends were merrily swimming in a river. The next, they were sucked into a portal to an alternate dimension, meeting strange creatures that called them ‘partners’. They had officially become Digimon Tamers, an idea that 16-year-old Yuko Himura was still trying to come to terms with, along with every other crazy thing that had happened to her.
After narrowly escaping death at the hands of a man-eating, jungle-dwelling Wendigomon, they had finally found civilization; Whitewater City, a beach-side metropolis much like the real-world city of Cancun, except populated with all sorts of digital monsters that ranged from cute, to terrifying, to downright bizarre. While the boys were presumably looking around town for lodgings, Yuko took some needed time off to process things.
The young Japanese delinquent found a public shower room near the beach, and used it to clean herself of all the dirt and sweat she had gotten on her while running through the jungle. This wasn’t so bad, she thought. Granted, she still needed to get new clothes ASAP, but walking around the beach in a bikini didn’t make her feel as uncomfortable, since it actually made sense.
After cleaning herself, Yuko got under one of the hundreds of umbrellas lining the beach, hugging her knees up to her chest. Perhaps she could sit there for a while without drawing much attention… as the only human… in a beach filled with Digimon.
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Post by Unica & Birdie on Sept 13, 2019 16:41:07 GMT
Ever since Unica magically appeared in the Folder Desert on her way to school, she was curious of how exactly it happened. From what her new friends told her while escorting her back home, it sounded like her digivice was the cause. Somehow, the tiny device had ended up in her backpack and, upon bumping up against something at the Shibuya Train Station, a button was clicked, a portal was opened, and Unica alone fell through. If such a tiny machine could do all that then what else could it do? Even Unica's new Digimon partner, Birdie, was awestruck and defensive over it. If a complete stranger had that sort of reaction to the digivice then it must've been a truly powerful item indeed.
Partially in an attempt to discover what other secrets the digivice had hidden within and partially in an attempt to figure out how the portal function worked, Unica pressed a few buttons while carefully watching the screen. She was sitting in her room, away from the prying eyes of her parents who had doubted her claims that she really did go to a strange new world -- a world inhabited by a bunch of scary and adorable creatures that looked like animals but could talk and walk on their back legs and transform into other animals. Of course anyone who heard such claims would've chocked it up to a child's imagination, but the doubt only made Unica feel more determined to return to the world she had only briefly visited before.
With legs dangling off the edge of her bed, Unica clicked the tiny red button and watched the screen flash to life. The text on the screen seemed foreign to the seven-year-old, though someone who was older or more fluent in Digicode may have been able to decipher what was displayed. Without any discretion, Unica clicked the up and down arrows, tapped right and left on the wheel, and pressed the center button at random intervals in an attempt to see what would happen. Some times, a light would shine or the occasional beep or buzz would sound from the device, but more often than not, there was no response whatsoever.
And yet, with enough persistence, she found what she was looking for. After clicking the central button again, a portal tore open in the space directly in front of her. On the other side of the interdimensional doorway was a beach, but not just any beach. This one was different in the sense that the individuals on the other side weren't human at all, but Digimon! Unica struggled for a moment to decide whether she should go fetch her parents in order to prove herself to them or if she should step through with no guarantee of having a way back home, but pure excitement superseded any room for deliberation and before anyone knew it, she was standing on the sandy shores of Whitewater City.
The portal snapped shut behind her, but Unica didn't even seem to notice. She was far too preoccupied with staring at all the Digimon. Some were massive, leaving deep impressions in the ground as they walked too and from the waters. Others were tiny, keeping to themselves under the protection of one of the many, many umbrellas which lined the beach. If only Unica had brought her bathing suit! For a moment, she considered rushing to the waters and swimming in regardless of her outfit, but her mommy would've be so upset with her if she got her dress dirty. Oh, but it looked like so much fun!
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Post by Yuko Himura on Sept 13, 2019 17:21:59 GMT
Yuko heard the distinct sound of childlike laughter coming from a distance and squinted her eyes hard. Maybe the sun and sweltering heat were just tricking her with mirages, but she swore she could see something that looked like a human child running towards the shore. “Oi, Jokermon. Do you see this too? Please tell me you see this too.”
The colorful clown in question suddenly manifested, sitting cross-legged on top of Yuko’s umbrella, wearing large sunglasses and a visor hat over his jester cap to shield himself from the sun. “Are you asking if I can see the little girl playing in the water? I can see her alright.” He confirmed, licking an ice cream cone he’d gotten from a nearby vendor. “There aren’t any Digimon in the water, are there?” Yuko asked with a clear look of worry in her face. “As in, wild aquatic Digimon that would attack humans?” “Weeell…” Jokermon started to sweat, not necessarily due to the heat. “Would you like some ice cream? It’s Cherrymon-flavored~” He dodged the question, offering her a spare ice cream cone instead. “Oh, for fuck’s sake!” The Tamer groaned loudly and stormed off.
Once the Japanese delinquent had reached the shoreline, she confirmed that what she saw was indeed a human girl, and a very young one at that. Yuko stepped into the water herself and waved at her. “Uuuh, hey there, you! Didn’t think I’d see another human here. You shouldn’t swim with your clothes on. You might catch a cold, you know.” She told her, smiling a bit awkwardly. She was trying her best to be friendly, but she didn’t have much experience dealing with small children.
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Post by Unica & Birdie on Sept 13, 2019 18:56:33 GMT
The dilemma of whether or not Unica should go swimming didn't last long, as she ultimately gave into her childish desires. After all, her parents weren't even here! This was a place where she could talk to strangers, eat desserts before the entree, and go swimming with her clothes on regardless of whether or not they were swimwear. She shoved the digivice into her dress pocket and rushed forward. The moment she touched the water, she laughed loudly. It was pretty cold, but it felt nice all the same. Better this than the blistering heat of the desert, that much she knew for sure. As she waded deeper into the waters, she cupped her hands and tossed a small amount of ocean water into the air, laughing again as the droplets landed on her head like rain from the sky.
Unica made sure not to go far. She wasn't the best swimmer yet and, as such, she always stayed in the shallow regions where she could still feel the sand between her toes. The waves crashed against her chest, covering her in salt water and weighing down the heavier fabrics of her outfit, making it more difficult for her to move as carelessly as she had been doing only moments before. Even still, with the water splashing her face, Unica continued to laugh in joy. To her, this beach was as safe as the ones she visited back home. From her brief experience in the digital world, everyone was friendly and no one was looking to do humans harm... How wrong she was.
Unica didn't initially hear the stranger's calls, but after a short while, she did eventually turn her head around to see what the ruckus was about. Within a matter of seconds, she locked eyes with the bizarre-haired adolescent who was standing just on the edge of the water. Unica giggled and waved back, not sure why the stranger was talking to her, but the answer soon became apparent. The teen said that the young girl shouldn't swim with her clothes on because she might catch a cold. In the way children misunderstand words, Unica thought the stranger was talking about temperature rather than sickness and, as such, she didn't find the teenager's words very convincing. She was already cold, but the chill of the water didn't bother her. "It's okay!" she hollered back, still waving, "It's fun!"
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Post by Yuko Himura on Sept 13, 2019 19:32:50 GMT
“That’s not what I meant… Never mind.” Yuko said with a tired sigh. This kid’s complete numbness of self-preservation instincts instantly reminded her why she disliked dealing with little children to begin with. Yuko was an only child, so she had no idea how to play the part of a big sister. She had to, though, since that girl’s parents were nowhere around. She couldn’t just leave her out there all on her own.
The bizarre-haired teen walked closer, until she had reached the much younger girl. Thanks to their height difference, the water only got up to her waist. Her multitude of earings shined under the bright sunlight. More importantly, the younger girl would be able to see the purple and red Digivice hanging from one of the straps of Yuko’s black bikini.
The newbie Tamer figured that if she couldn’t convince this kid to get out of the water, she might as well keep an eye on her, and also try to fish some info out of her while she was at it. “You don’t mind if I join in on the fun, right? Say, what’s your name and how did you end up here? My name is Yuko.” She introduced herself, flashing as friendly a smile as she could.
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Post by Unica & Birdie on Sept 17, 2019 17:52:30 GMT
As the teenager approached, Unica could see their features much better. Not only did the woman have funny hair, but she had all sorts of piercings and some black nail polish on her fingers. The only thing she was missing to complete the punk look was some clothes to match, but they were at a beach so a bikini made sense given that fact. Such classifications were of no concern to the seven-year-old, however, as she was far too young to understand styles or cliques. While some people may have made assumptions about this teen based on the way she presented herself, Unica had no such biases. She was far to fascinated by all the colors and shiny bits. Anyone with such colorful hair and accessorized so wildly had to be a fun person, she decided.
When the teenager stopped walking, lingering a short distance away, she asked if she could join Unica and have fun too. Of course, this excited the young girl a great deal. She laughed and nodded eagerly. "Yes, yes, yes!" she said while splashing some water in the woman's direction, not seeming to care whether or not any got on the stranger's face. "Got you!" she giggled, sounding proud of herself as she did. Unica was at that age where she was still fairly inconsiderate of how her actions affected others, so no one should've expected anything different. However, after the initial splash, Unica returned to tossing the water into the air and splashing toward the open ocean rather than at people.
It was about then that the teen introduced herself as Yuko after asking for Unica's name and how she got here in the first place. "Hello, Yuko! I'm Unica!" the young girl exclaimed, throwing caution to the wind when it came to disclosing personal information to strangers, especially those who were older than herself. Unica didn't see any danger in it, especially since the last time she was in this world, she was helped out by an older woman and a few Digimon who were incredibly nice. Nothing bad could happen here! "I pressed buttons on the phone, and the wall wasn't a wall anymore, and I walked into the door," she explained hurriedly, not bothering to clarify things further. Such discussions of digivices and portals were boring in comparison to how fun the beach was.
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Post by Yuko Himura on Sept 17, 2019 19:29:45 GMT
The little girl seemed more than happy to let Yuko play in the water with her. Of course, her idea of fun was immediately splashing sea water on the teenager’s earring-filled face, causing her to let out a short yelp and shield herself with her arms. “Eeek! Hey, be careful!” She said, bringing her hands together and splashing some water back at the giggling child. Only a very small amount, though. She didn’t want to accidentally drown the poor thing.
The girl eventually introduced herself as Unica, and Yuko nodded at that. “Nice to meet you, Unica-chan. Your Japanese is pretty good.” She complimented her. After all, Unica looked distinctly Caucasian, so Japanese might have not been her native language. Now that she seemed to have gotten the kid’s trust, all the young delinquent needed to do was keep asking questions.
Granted, her answers created even more confusion instead of solving things. “You pressed buttons… on your phone? How? What kind of phone creates a door to another world?” As far as Yuko know, she and her friends had been transported to the Digital World by accident. Unica’s innocent explanation made it sound like the Digital World was actively kidnapping small children from their homes, and naturally this was bad news.
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Post by Unica & Birdie on Sept 19, 2019 16:52:42 GMT
Yuko's eagerness to playfully splash Unica back not only made the young girl giggle, but it also helped elevate her status from "interesting, bizarre-haired woman" to "really nice and fun teen." It was nice to be able to play around in the water without being lectured. Unica could clearly remember splashing her parents at one of the beaches back in the human world, and her mom scolding her as a result. She always assumed it was just part of being an adult -- sucking the fun out of things, that is -- but Yuko was proving her otherwise. The compliment to Unica's Japanese-speaking abilities was greatly appreciated as well, even though she couldn't remember a time when Japanese hadn't been spoken in her household in some capacity.
She was very young when her new daddy joined the family, and he taught her a handful of foreign words when they still lived in the United States. Unica was four when they moved to Shibuya, a place where everyone spoke Japanese, and she was forced to adapt. Being so young and already having some basic knowledge to build off of, it took her no time at all to get the hang of this new language. Plus, she had been a student in the Tokyo school system for a little over a year now, so the exposure to other Japanese-speaking children really helped too. She was also continuing to learn more about the English language everyday, as that was the dialect her mommy was most comfortable speaking.
Then came the questions regarding Unica's brief explanation about how she ended up in the digital world. Yuko was clearly puzzled by what the girl meant by "phone" and "door," as anyone who hadn't spent much time around a child would be, but Unica didn't pick up on the confusion right away. "Yep!" she chimed, agreeing with the observations that the teenager had made. In response to the "how," Unica sighed and said, "My phone!" Though clearly annoyed by the fact that she had to repeat herself, Unica took two steps backwards and pulled the lavender digivice from her pocket so that she could show it to Yuko.
Obviously it wasn't a phone, but the mistake was an innocent one that any naive seven-year-old could've easily made. Besides, "phone" was easier to remember than "digivice" anyway. With her other hand, Unica pointed at the circular button in the middle of the device, just below the screen. "I pressed this button," she explained slowly, carefully enunciating each word she said as though she were talking to a child who was having a difficult time understanding something, "and a door was on the wall and I walked here!" The way Unica spoke may have been perceived as demeaning, but she was simply trying to explain her situation in the best way she knew how to.
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Post by Yuko Himura on Sept 19, 2019 17:21:57 GMT
Upon seeing the lavender-colored Digivice, Yuko’s eyes widened. “Oooh, that thing! Yeah, that’s not a phone. It’s called a Digivice. Funny word, right?” Why anyone would mistake such a retro piece of machinery for a phone was beyond her. It had buttons on it, honest to goodness buttons! What kind of phone had buttons in this day and age? Anyway, there was no reason to be condescending. She was just a kid, after all. “Digital device… Digi-vice.” The older girl said in slightly accented English.
“I have one too, see?” Yuko continued in Japanese, holding her own Digivice in front of Unica. Interestingly, her own model was colored purple with red grips. She wondered if Unica’s was custom made, or if they all came out in different colors. She held that thought for later, since there were more pressing issues at hand. Namely the fact that Yuko had run into another Tamer. “If you have one of these, you must also have… umm… a partner? Friend? Pet?” She asked, not sure what term a small child would use.
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Post by Unica & Birdie on Sept 19, 2019 18:39:04 GMT
Yuko tried hard to explain what a digivice was to Unica, and Unica tried her best to understand what the teenager was saying. "Digivice," she mimicked, trying the word out for herself and making a face when it didn't sound right. It seemed fake, though it did have a ring of familiarity to it. She thought she could remember someone saying that strange word when she first met her digital partner, but she couldn't exactly recall who might have uttered it. There were so many "digi" things in this world, it was all very confusing. "Digivice," she said again when Yuko tried to explain that it stood for "digital device." Unica didn't like the way it sounded.
Just as the young girl was about to put her digivice away, Yuko pulled out one of her own. The only other human Unica had met in this world was a woman named Yuu and she also had a digivice, though she hadn't gotten a good look at it at the time. Yuko's device was purple and red, a far more striking combination than Unica's fairly basic white and lavender one. That's not to say one is superior than the other, but there was one which captivated Unica's eccentric curiosity more. "Woah!" she exclaimed as she reached out to touch the teenager's device. She probably shouldn't have been so surprised; Yuko was a colorful individual, so it stood to reason that her digivice would be too. Still, Unica was slightly jealous that the older woman got to have such a fascinating color combination.
Eventually, Yuko pointed out that if Unica had a digivice then she must've have a partner too. Fortunately for them both, she knew exactly what the teenager was talking about. "Birdie!" the blonde girl exclaimed, a massive grin spreading out across her face as she remembered the pretty pink-and-blue bird. The two had only met once before, but there was an instantaneous connection... well, sort of. Birdie tried picking a fight with Unica and her friends, but she was stopped when the digivice began to glow as a result of the emotional distress Unica was under. And, just like that, the two were dubbed partners. Unica still didn't understand it entirely, but Birdie promised to be her "guardian angel," a thought that brought the young girl comfort.
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Post by Yuko Himura on Sept 19, 2019 19:24:52 GMT
The young Tamer smiled uneasily when the smaller child touched her Digivice. While Yuko didn’t exactly believe in destiny and all that jazz, there was this intuitive understanding that this mysterious device had ended up in her hands because it had chosen her, so having someone else touching it felt… mildly unsettling, even when done with no ill intent. “Yeah, Digivice. You’re getting the hang of it.” The punk girl said, hanging hers back on the strap of her bikini. She would need to actually get a plastic holder for it someday, wouldn’t she?
Unica happily confirmed that she did have a partner of her own, but only gave a name as an answer. “Birdie? Does your friend look like a bird? Is that it?” A rather puzzled Yuko asked, since she could not read the kid’s inner thoughts. Of course, if Unica did have a Digimon partner, that raised another important question. “So, where is Birdie right now? She’s not with you?” The Japanese delinquent asked.
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Post by Unica & Birdie on Sept 23, 2019 18:04:33 GMT
Unica followed Yuko's lead: when the teenager hooked her colorful digivice back onto her bikini, Unica shoved hers back into her dress pocket. Fortunately, digivices were waterproof; otherwise, Unica's would've been thoroughly destroyed with how much water it had been exposed to. Whoever designed the devices in the first place must've had the forethought to realize that tamers would've been getting in all sorts of precarious situations and, as a result, made the digivices sturdy enough to endure something a trivial as water. Someone more adventurous may have been able to attest to its ability (or lack thereof) to withstand blunt force, wind damage, fire and lava, or electrical strikes.
When Yuko asked questions regarding the young girl's elusive partner, "Birdie," Unica was all to happy to elaborate. "She's my guardian angel!" she chimed, lifting her arms in the air and quickly lowering them again, slapping her palms against the wave's surface and splashing sea water in the process. She repeated this action over and over again, seemingly pretending to fly with non-existent wings. "She's a pretty birdie, and she's pink and blue and red, and she'll turn into a big birdie!" she exclaimed excitedly, still flapping her arms and spraying water as she did. Unica's words weren't really enough to shed light on who or what her partner was, though some hint was given in the colors she listed.
Unica's ramblings weren't nearly as crucial as the answer to Yuko's follow-up question about where Birdie was now. "I dunno!" she giggled with an exaggerated shrug, finally stopping her incessant splashing. "No, she's away," the young girl clarified when Yuko asked if Birdie was with her now. The answer wasn't a satisfactory one, but there was truth in it. The first and last place they met each other was in the center of Terminus City. But that was a few days ago. For all Unica knew, Birdie had left the city. The young girl had no idea where her digital partner lived or was located at that moment, a fact that didn't seem to bother her in the slightest.
After answering, Unica wading a bit farther into the water, just enough to get submerged by a massive wave, and laughed as she wiped water out of her eyes. Slowly, she turned around and waddled back toward the teenager. "Okay, all done now," she announced softly, as though she were only talking to herself, and walked straight passed Yuko toward dry land. When she reached the edge of the water, she turned back around to face the ocean and plopped into a sitting position. She braced herself as she fell, getting sand stuck to her damp hands in the process. Silently, she wiped her palms against her dress to try and free the tiny grains.
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Post by Yuko Himura on Sept 23, 2019 19:16:26 GMT
“So… is she a bird or an angel?” Yuko asked half-seriously, half-jokingly, while little Unica pretended to fly, flapping her tiny arms up and down, and splashing water everywhere in the process. The older girl took a step back in order to avoid the splashing radius. Obviously the term guardian angel was metaphorical. She was kinda surprised that such a young child even knew of that term. Perhaps she came from a religious family?
In any case, this confirmed that ‘Birdie’ was someone that Unica saw as her protector, therefore her partner. At least, that’s how the newbie Tamer understood that this thing worked. Jokermon was more a devil than an angel, but he had still saved her life by fighting off that bloodthirsty Wendigomon. “She’s away, huh? Don’t you miss her?” She asked, seeing how the girl didn’t seem to mind.
“Woah, careful there!” Yuko warned the young American as she got deeper into the water, but she actually took getting sea water all over her face with a sense of humor. Seemingly done playing in the water, Unica got out and lied down in the sand. The older girl soon followed and sat down next to her, sprawling her legs so that the waves still brushed against her toes. “We should get you cleaned up… and probably find new clothes.” She pointed out, while the child carelessly got her dress even dirtier.
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Post by Unica & Birdie on Sept 27, 2019 18:17:40 GMT
Birdie was, as her new name suggested, a bird. To be more accurate, she was a collection of data points which converged to create something that resembled a bird. Regardless of the technicalities, the reason Unica called her partner a guardian angel was because that's what Birdie had called herself. Unica wasn't particularly religious and so she didn't fully understand the mythological connection of the phrase "guardian angel." However, the idea of Birdie being her holy protector was a charming one.
And yet, even this wasn't enough for Unica to miss her partner. The two barely knew each other, and as far as Unica was concerned, they didn't need to be together at all times. So, when Yuko asked if she missed Birdie, Unica replied with a quick, "Nope!" Her tone didn't carry with it any hint of malice or hate. It was a short, simple response which made it seem like Unica wasn't even thinking that hard about Birdie. If they had parted on a sour note or if she feared Birdie was in some kind of trouble, her answer would've certainly been different. But as far as she was concerned, all was well and the two would meet again some day in the future.
As the waves crashed against the shoreline and splashed the girls' feet, Unica wiggled her toes, though the act seemed largely instinctive. She was too preoccupied by wiping the sand off on her dress. When Yuko suggested the young girl get cleaned up and change her clothes, Unica huffed and looked up at the teenager. "Nooo!" she whined, "I don't wanna." It almost sounded like she was about to throw a temper tantrum, but as quickly as the attitude arrived, it disappeared again. She turned her hands over so that she could get a better look at her palms before slowly grabbing the grains one by one.
Unica wasn't usually one for prolonged conversation, especially if she was preoccupied by something more urgent or interesting. Her growing silence wasn't caused by anything Yuko had done, it was merely a result of Unica being distracted by the sand and not being entirely engaged in the conversation with Yuko in the first place. She was listening and would've answered any question that was presented to her, but unless the teenager thought of something to really captivate the girl -- such as a game or a sweet treat -- then Unica would've remained as quiet and aloof as she had been.
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Post by Yuko Himura on Sept 27, 2019 19:23:00 GMT
Hearing such a whiny, bratty ‘No’ coming from the little girl certainly threw the pierce-faced teenager for a loop. “W-what do you mean ‘No’?! You have salt water and sand all over you! You HAVE to take a shower!” Great, now Yuko was beginning to sound like her own Mom. Well, it didn’t seem like the absent-minded tyke was going to move from her spot anytime soon, and she didn’t really wanna keep pressing the issue. Things could get worse if the child got upset enough to start crying.
A large, menacing, deformed shadow suddenly loomed over Unica, while she was so busy staring at her own palms. “Awww, you seem bored. You know what you need? Some quality entertainment!” “Jokermon, wait! You’re gonna freak her out!” The older Tamer tried to stop her partner. “Don’t worry, Yuko. Children love me! What child doesn’t love clowns? Hahahaha!” The demonic jester chuckled, before picking up the little girl by the armpits and raising her up to his eye level. “Hello there! Do you happen to like magic?” He asked, while smiling a smile that looked more creepy than heartwarming. Then again, that was just how his face looked most of the time.
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