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ExD 0.5B - Bewitching Melody
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Post by yuuki on Jun 24, 2021 13:58:11 GMT
It was an idyllic afternoon, or it was supposed to be... yet the city was tense. There have been some Digimons with police signal on their hat flying or running about. Not much pedestrian out, and especially... not child stages. Many are holed inside their houses or places of resting. The missiontakers got a message in their device of choice an invitation. Their point of meeting was a small modern bar named Trinity. It's located in back alley of Terminus, close to Terminus Station. They're told to evolve to adult stage or armor adult stage. When they arrived there, the bar is empty, but there is someone waiting...
For Kenny and Skadi, this figure is very much familiar.
"Welcome. Do take a seat, please." Jill, the state secretary of Ys is waiting. Beside her is an Astamon who seems to be fed up of waiting, and is very much pissed.
"Thank you for coming. My name is Jill, I'm Ys' State Secretary. Please hold whatever question you have about the true nature of this crisis as we're currently not in condition to reveal them to you until the crisis at hand is dealt and over with," she began. "We're pressed for time, so I'll begin explanation. This over here is--"
"Vega is my name. I hold the title of Don. Normally I wouldn't even try to turn for outside help, much less those from wet behind ears like you lot."
"That is not the way to ask for help, Don. We're in crisis so it would do you good to drop that attitude."
"Che! Well whatever!"
"I'm sorry for that. Don Vega here is related to our mission at hand. If you have been to Terminus these four days ish... you might have heard about missing child stages... gone, through the cracks of Terminus Station. Thing is that crack leads to Tenebrous, and--"
"It caused Tenebrous to be slandered that we're kidnapping kids for our illegal business! It's one thing about smuggling and black market, but we'll never do any of that sort of thing! What this nonsense about underground fighting ring or all you can eat data feast!? They really have done it this time, Terminus bastards!"
"Politics aside, as you know Tenebrous and Terminus have not been in the best kind of relationship Tenebrous is for people of ill repute who content living dangerously. Normally, Ys wouldn't have any relations with Tenebrous either."
"Ha, you lot are the worst. Preteding to be holier than any of us and instead sneaking everywhere like rats, harvesting here and there. Veiled in goodwill, your'e actually putting your spies everywhere!"
"Why thank you. Nothing I say will change your mindset and so be it. Anyway, our city rises to this opportuntiy to fix this issues because as much as we prefer not to, we have been contacted by Tenebrous to clear their name in return for their support in defeating the source of monsters that have been popping out around in Digital World."
"Hmph, well so that's the story. As much as we'd like to solve this by ourselves, we're lacking intels of what's going on. Any spies we sent ended up dead. Worse, we can't even contact them. Whoever the culprit is, it feels like they exactly knows how our spies work. We could have asked other cities, but our notoriety preceded us. I think in some way or another they would force us to pay some outrageous demand or a cut of our market, a special seat or on our black market or something.
Meanwhile, these fools," he looked straight at Jill who only smiles like it have nothing to do with her. "Only interested in our cooperation in destroying whatever monster is out there. Suspicious as fuck, but as it have been few days and if it goes even longer, it could cause a war between two cities. As much as we could cut our tail and rebuild Tenebrous, we'd rather not run away in disgrace for this... And not to mention, this accusation is a good time to demand a massive amount of goods from Terminus for their slander against us."
"In turn, it's why we have commissioned you all. So far, is there any questions? I'll try to answer it as best as I could... but, I don't think I can explain to you in details when it comes to politics."
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Post by Hanako Hoshidate on Jun 24, 2021 15:31:21 GMT
"Well, I think this is the place." Hana said as she checked the name of the bar against the note she'd written for herself. Trinity bar. Definitely the right place. Behind her, Data and Rush accompanied her in their Guardromon and Peacockmon forms. The trio had accepted the invitation to investigate the reports of missing digimon children in the area recently. And for some reason, all three of them were wearing sunglasses even though Hana was the only one with actual ears to keep them on.
When the trio entered to bar, they scanned the room and found that they weren't the first ones to arrive for the meeting. At least some of the faces were familiar to the trio as they joined other other invited members of the team. "Sorry we're late. Took a little longer to find this place than expected. Especially since somebody couldn't choose which form to use."
"You're just mad that I'm fabulous." Rush haughtily said as he posed dramatically. This was actually the first time he'd ever used his armor champion form, and Hana certainly wasn't too keen on how it affected the Keramon's personality.
Any further discussion on that front would be put aside as Jill and "Don" Vega explained the details regarding the situation. Hana would adjust her sunglasses before addressing the group. "I can't say I'm particularly fond of Tenebrous due to past events, but I can assure you that as representatives of GAIA, my partners and I will not stop until the truth of this case is brought to light."
Data and Rush nodded in agreement with Hana's words as they stood on either side of the teenage girl.
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Post by Kenny O'Hara and Skadi on Jun 29, 2021 4:22:37 GMT
This wasn't the first time Kenny and Skadi would find themselves tackling a situation inside the seedy pathways of Tenebrous, and they wouldn't be surprised if it was the last.
Skadi having donned her semi-retired form of Weatherdramon for the time being upon request (mainly because Canandemon alarmingly large-for-a-Champion-level size and mass would potentially cause a whole world of problems by itself), the two would find themselves entering the bar, with Kenny casually greeting everyone inside, including Jill herself, "Hey guys. Apologies if we're late ourselves; we're not exactly too well versed with this place here."
While the fears of Tenebrous had dwindled over time, a shadow of doubt still lingered over the duo; after all, they were still outsiders to the lot of them. Even as the cranky Astamon, Don Vega, grumbled his way through his own introduction, the two knew better than to tread on his toes too much. After all, all of them were on the exact same side. Throughout the explanation, the two would keep quiet, not even willing themselves to argue back with Don's rebuttals, and just taking in every detail on what he, and Jill, had to say.
Needless to say, they were not ones to just casually pick fights they couldn't win.
But what was this about these seemingly otherworldly 'monsters' emerging from right out of nowhere? It was hard to blame Don for his bubbling frustrations over this; who were they and why were they just capturing children in Tenebrous. Were they related to the monster in the clouds in the Empyreal Skies? The young man could only scratch his forehead a little bit as his eyes slowly fell to the floor.
While questions were practically arising left, right and centre, in a force of habit, Kenny would raise his hand to try and grab Vega's attention, "Yes, uh, Mr. Vega, sorry if this sounds like a dumb question, but do you know what the monster looks like, or at least, noticed any major patterns concerning the so-called 'kidnappings'?"
A simple request.
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Post by John Jourdain on Jun 30, 2021 2:38:15 GMT
"Excuse me, this is the right place correct?" John asks as he walks in, his partner walking behind him in her Kyubimon form, her tails flicking around in annoyance. "Ah good, looks to be the case, sorry If we where late, my partner and I got a little lost." He says while pointing to her, who just looked around trying to keep a straight face, her tails stop moving when she sits down next to him.
The two of them listened to the briefing of the mission, both feeling concerned for the safety of the child digimon. "Well, I may not know much about the deal between Tenebrous and Terminus, like at all, but If these digimon are in trouble then I don't really need to at the moment." He turns to his partner, who nods "Yeah, I agree with that, let's just get this over with as quickly as possible."
Runa flicks her left ear as questions start being asked, waiting for a turn "So, know of any other areas beside Terminus that child digimon have been disappearing?"
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Post by Alan Pantell on Jul 13, 2021 19:32:30 GMT
Minutes later, the final pair of volunteers arrived. The door slightly opened, and then a human and a middling-sized ExVeemon walked in as quietly as they could.
"Are we late?" spoke the ExVeemon in an apologetic tone. His partner's response was quick and confident. "No, we're not." After a few seconds of silence and gazing around the room, he flipped out his D-Terminal and punched in a few inputs. "Yes, we're definitely on time. We didn't want to be the first ones here, so we took a stroll around, bought some candy. Ate it, too, lest anyone wonder. I can't imagine this whole thing with rookies is very good for their patronage."
"Good afternoon, Skadi!" chirped the big dragon, his eyes lighting up at the sight of the sheep. "We always take the same jobs, don't we?"
The tamer and partner introduced themselves as Alan and Levi respectively, and seated themselves. The whole time the human boy eyed Vega with sporadic intrigue. He had this curious tendency to gravitate towards digital criminal organizations, as long as they weren't too detestable, or dare I say, openly hostile. Wow! A real Don! thought he, as he listened carefully to the conversation, naturally.
"No questions so far on our end. We're happy to help bring some peace of mind back to everyone." "And some reputation back to the upstanding mafia."
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Post by yuuki on Jul 15, 2021 3:08:04 GMT
"No, not really, no one is late. In fact, it's probably the best time at the moment. Considering it's near dusk, and it'll soon time for the culprit to act," Jill mused.
"And I'm not fond of Detectives going through our businesses either, so let's just say the road goes both way, little girl," Vega sneered. "But just this time I'll begrudgingly rely you. If there's any line Tenebrous doesn't cross, it's this kind of messed up shit."
Don Vega at first looked annoyed that he's directly addressed and stares at Kenny and Skadi... But the question makes sense and it softened his looks some. "...It's not a half baked that's for sure. Monster's look... no, we have no idea. In fact we have no idea whether the monster you people looking to exterminate and the culprit is one and the same. What, do you think that there's something related?"
"...Low chance," Jill answered frankly. "....But we can't really rule it out. I don't really know, but I feel like causing friction between Terminus and Tenebrous seem to be too sophisticated for our kind of monster. However, we can't really rule out that perhaps... maybe, perhaps, it's just side effect of whole thing."
"Well I don't care either way, but maybe you guys can pretty much shed some light from this pattern that I know: First, it only strike at night. According to kids who listened to them, that is Child stage or lower, they sounded melodious, but to the adults, Adult stage above that is, it sounded as nothing but wind howling. We have no idea what's going on but it hypnotizes kids and forces them to go old Terminus. Because we're closer to Old Terminus than Terminus itself, Terminus thought it's all our fault, that's simply how it is.
As for other major pattern... other than that, nothing... really stood out I guess? Apparently the sound still could be heard even when you covers your ears, with earmuffs, earplugs, we tried everything. Nada. The only way is to barricade your house and stay still until the morning. That's why we requested you to go in Adult stage... so you won't go hynotized and get yourself in deeper shit."
When asked if it happened elsewhere, Vega simply answered with frankness:
"Don't know, don't care. For all I know it affects only us and Terminus and that's it."
"I think this case would have been far bigger case in case it happened in other city too," Jill would begin "...and unfortunately, in that case you most likely wouldn't be commissioned by us but directly by Terminus... If that's the case then trust me... I'd rather that be the case than our current position. Because if it's some intercity incidents, then the danger is more predictible... This one? It can be as low as a lonely Digimon looking for friend... or something far more horrible than prolific kidnapper."
Jill let her word sinks in while taking a sip of her mocktail. "......Well any other question? If not..."
She offered several boxes with green crystalline pendant inside. "Digimon, please wear them. Keep them on you all the time."
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Post by Hanako Hoshidate on Jul 20, 2021 16:27:04 GMT
At this point, Hana remained quiet as the others asked their questions and merely hummed in acceptance at Don Vega's sneering reply to her. She did kinda deserve that barb, to be honest.
The trio would listen intently as the Don explained the details of the case. Apparently, whatever was behind this was using some kind of noise that was melodious and hypnotic to Digimon below Champion-level, but merely sounded like howling wind to those who were above the champion level.
Data hummed in thought, before deciding to speak up as the pendants were handed out to the digimon. "Well, I have an idea on how we could track down where these kids are being lured to, but I'll admit that it's a pretty hare-brained and probably stupid idea since it involves one of us being used as bait."
Data focused his gaze on Rush as he said the last part, indicating that the Peacockmon was the one that Data intended to use as bait. Rush stopped examining his wing when he noticed his brother staring at him. "What're you looking at me for?"
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Post by Kenny O'Hara and Skadi on Jul 26, 2021 4:49:34 GMT
The Weatherdramon couldn't help but crack a small smile as Levi greeted her, and merely responded with a simple nod. As far as she (and Kenny, for that matter) were concerned, the duo did have a good head on their own respective shoulders. And besides, having at least another member of KIZNA to help fill out the rounds did put them a little at ease.
Naturally, Kenny found himself instinctively flinching, and his own heart skipping a few beats, as Don Vega looked at him at first. Much to his relief, the apparent affirmation that his question wasn't as dumb as it first sounded made him internally breathe a sigh of relief. But as they listened to what Don actually knew about the 'monster' and what they were seemingly capable of...
"That... kinda explains a lot." He quietly muttered to himself, his eyes scanning his fellow Champion-level allies surrounding them.
But why just Rookies though...? That was the big question lingering in his mind. Was it that the monster's abilities caused it to act that way? Was this deliberate, mainly to feed on the weaker Digimon and not run the risk of attracting the stronger ones by mistake? It wouldn't be unlike the many, many examples of those in the animal kingdom baiting weaker prey into falling into their trap. Or was it more along the lines of Jill's predictions?
Whatever it was, Skadi would take one of the pendants and put it on her person. Still gripping the odd artifact with her claw, her glance fell towards the weird emerald emblem as she spoke up, "Hey Jill, what does this do, exactly?"
As for the whole 'bait the monster' idea, Kenny found himself raising an eyebrow at that, "I... wouldn't try that if I were you." He simply noted, "Other than the whole 'hypnotizing Rookies' things, we don't know what that thing's even capable of. For all we know, that hypnosis could be permanent, even if you decide to evolve back to Champion or higher if you try to 'snap out of it'."
"Besides, I think the last thing we want to be doing is to possibly aggravate the monster further into causing untold damage with a sudden sucker punch."
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Post by John Jourdain on Jul 31, 2021 2:24:28 GMT
The two of them listened as they explained what was going on with this situation, both had never heard of any digimon who could do something like this, much less as oddly specific as only effecting rookie or lower, "If this digimon decides to move to a different location, it could end badly." John thinks, "We should put a stop to this, ASAP."
When Runa is handed the pendent, she holds it between her 2 front paws, staring at it for a few moments, before turning to John. "... I need some help, can you get this on, please?" She asks him, almost muttering it. He chuckles at this, taking the pendent. "This is why you should use you rookie form more often, would save a lot of hassle, plus take a weight off my bACK!" He yelps and pulls his fingers away as she snaps at them. "You need all the exercise you can get, since you spend most of your time back at the dorm sitting down." She says, even though she spends just as much sitting down as he does, which he refrains from saying.
When Data mentioned the idea of a plan, Runa ears turned to him, "Is that so? Tell me more about this plan of yours." She asks, only for John to quickly interject. "Runa no, this is a terrible idea." "But-" "You heard that guy, we have no idea how this ability fully works, and I am not going to let you be bait just because you want to get out of your champion form." he said sternly, to which she relented.
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Post by Alan Pantell on Aug 9, 2021 2:44:26 GMT
A threat this wide-reaching certainly made for a strange case, but apart from that, the procedure for investigating it seemed like it would be relatively routine. That is, as far as "routine" could be applied to digital hazard investigations.
Alan's first guess was that the the extra trouble this caused for Tenebrous was a coincidental effect of the pied piping, rather than an intentional one, but there was no way to no for sure until the search began. Alan and Levi searched for other questions that hadn't been asked yet, and Levi came up with one rather quickly:
"Do we have any info on how the bewitching melody™ affects humans or human children? Perhaps the ability isn't targeting actual youth, but rather any low-power entities, a category most humans would fall under, unless they trained themselves bald. Though I'd never let my little dragonet here wander too far off~" The smarmy dragon pat his Tamer's head as he said this.
"You're so thoughtful... I mean, that's a good question. While I trust I'd be kept safe, being hypnotized is quite... undignified, to say the least."
"Speaking of which, someone here mentioned the idea of using someone as bait a moment ago, right?" Levi continued as he grabbed one of the pendants, the pure-blooded dragon being briefly distracted by the luster of the pretty stone, "I agree with Kenny. Using someone as bait would help us find our quarry, but as long as we know the general direction the entranced children are led in, I think they'd be fairly hard to miss, assuming they didn't all completely disappear down there." He put on his pendant before he had a chance to be distracted by it again.
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Post by yuuki on Aug 16, 2021 12:25:56 GMT
"I mean it worth a shot," Jill answered, shrugging. "But just know that you need to snap them out of it before you can evolve them up, There have been reports of humans finding their child stage Digimon following the melody. After seeing the adult stage did not get affected, they tried to evolve the child stage to adult, but there seem to be a rejection. It wasn't until they knocked their partner unconscious that they finally able to evolve them."
What does that do? "...Article 32 of the undisclosed information, you may access it in D-NexT... to sums it up: We're afraid that the culprit isn't a normal Digimon, or just a mere psychopath but something much more... situationally fucked? This, is to protect you from the chance of you getting affected by particles it emits... in case it's really those monsters that father was wary of. However, at this point we can't really pinpoint that they are behind this incident. it feels a little bit too elaborate, but we can't risk it. Just in case, take this."
She handed Skadi an atmosphere scanner. "Press the green button and wait for a few minutes when you get to old Terminus and you saw any clues. If the green button shows red, call me immediately and tell me what you read on the screen, alright? I'll explain it to you then."
Oh that's also a good question. "I haven't heard any reports of any humans who got hynotized too... but... supposedly, someone that's like 12 or younger could hear them clearly. They just don't get pulled the same way Digimons do. It's just like their curiosity is perked. That's how we could get accurate description of the sound... As for 'disappear down there', I'm not... quite sure. How to say, the last reported case of child missing was about two to three days ago, and that was three Digimons. The speed of the hynotized Digimon are quite... slow. You might find them, but at the same time... you might not. However, there should be tracks, considering how dusty and untouched the place are.... Yes there are some dangerous Digimons down there, but... I'm not sure some of them are even child level you know?" Jill commented. "In fact I think it's unlikely they're child level so finding tracks might be easier. Plus.... you have that," Jill pointed at the D-NexT. "....so do you have any other question? Do you need to do anything before you jump in there?"
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Post by Hanako Hoshidate on Aug 16, 2021 16:17:45 GMT
"Alright, so using Rush as bait is definitely a no-go, then. I knew it was probably going to be shot down anyways." Data concluded, before going quiet as the Guardromon processed the rest of what Jill had revealed. Ys getting involved? Not a 'normal' digimon? Protection from emitted particles? 'Monsters'? This was starting to sound familiar to the mechanical digimon, but he wanted to try and confirm if his suspicions were also what their contact was afraid of. "Regarding these 'particles' you fear the culprit may emit, do you mean something like radiation... or a virus?"
That last word caused Hana to snap to attention, as she realized what her partner was implying. "Do you really think it might be related to ... that incident in the woods?"
"I really hope it isn't that, but if it is? I fear that it would make things a lot more complicated." Data solemnly stated, examining one of the pendants that had been passed out while handing another one to Rush. "Whatever we do, we need to do it fast."
"After this is over, we are going to have words about offering to use me as bait, Brother." Rush added in irritation.
"Fair enough."
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Post by Kenny O'Hara and Skadi on Aug 22, 2021 4:57:17 GMT
"...well, shit." Kenny found himself lightly conceding concerning Jill's statement. Not that he was torn up about being wrong or anything; that was small potatoes compared to the fact outright lives were on the line. If at the very least, it was enough to give them a little more detail about the monster's powers.
Skadi did catch onto Rush's musings, if her briefly turning her head over to him was anything to go by, "To be honest, we do need all the help, and the firepower, we can get if we have any hope of possibly subduing this thing for good." She was quick to gently point out to him. It wasn't a bad idea in theory, but without any idea of the monster's true capabilities, the execution itself would end up leaving a lot to be desired.
But on the topic of the monster...
'Situationally fucked?' Skadi's glance found itself drifting between both Jill herself and the pendant as the latter waffled on... right until her concerning emphasis on the word 'monsters'. Not Digimon. Potentially an outright Lovecraftian-esque creature wandering the streets with the mentality of a mere wild animal. And what was that about the 'particles'? Already, just by listening, chills were running up Kenny's spine. The mere description of the potential perpetrator alone left a lot up to the imagination, for all the wrong reasons. A sense of unease was also starting to form in Skadi's core.
Regardless, she'd take the scanner off Jill's hands, and cautiously nodded in thanks after listening to the instructions. Even as her glance laid back onto the scanner itself, that same weird gut feeling emerged again hearing of Jill's answers to the mysterious 'siren song' and the effects on humans. Why would this be affecting Rookie-and-below-level only Digimon anyways? And not humans, period? What sort of crazy witchcraft was all of this?
"...no, I think we've gotten enough, thanks." A sense of unnerve and caution could be heard from Kenny's otherwise unassuming own tone of voice, "We'll take it from here."
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Post by John Jourdain on Sept 1, 2021 7:30:38 GMT
The more he heard about this mission, the more worried John got, Digimon he was used to, but this is sounding farther from that with every minute. The particles seem to be something that everyone was curious about, John and Runa included, but nether of them had ever encountered something like this.
Thankfully it seemed the humans where safe from whatever song this thing sung, John was glad that he didn't need some special earplugs for this mission.
What did peak John's interest was Hana's mention about some forest incident. "Something about this remind you of something else? Did you two encounter some odd digimon?" He asked.
John was a bit surprised at the phrase 'situationally fucked', but Runa stifled a laugh, and took a moment to regain her composer. The two of them had no other questions, so they just shook their heads, and waited for the leaders to start the mission.
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Post by Alan Pantell on Sept 19, 2021 1:20:42 GMT
Alan gazed around the room, checking each face and waiting for someone to ask another question. "Well, if that's all the relevant 'undisclosed' information you have for us, or at least all the stuff that will help us be safe, then I see no reason to pry any further until after the threat is either ascertained or dealt with. I trust you'll tell us more if it really is one of these 'monsters' of yours. Thanks for the info." He truly did want to ask for more specifics, but he understood that it would likely be dangerous to risk making assumptions they couldn't know were correct just yet.
"Yeah, thanks..." mumbled Levi, still half-focused on the emerald-like trinket. Alan nudged his leg.
"If Skadi says her device is reacting, there might be some kind of dangerous airborne particles about. We'll be careful, right?"
The big guy nodded, feeling a little ashamed of his inattentiveness. Sometimes meetings were difficult for him, no matter how important they were.
After that, all there was to do was ruminate on what he had been told. So some humans could hear the music... Alan wondered what it sounded like. Was it truly so beautiful, or was it simply magic? If they didn't know when the melody started, it was possible they'd have to look for an affected digimon and follow them down.
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