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Post by supesman on May 7, 2022 14:35:48 GMT
Even before one got anywhere near the town the sound of ripping engines and the stink of heavy black fuel smoke was almost enough to choke someone, then the next thing they heard would be the screams and they would catch sight of a cloud of desert dust kicked up around the modest, sunbaked desert town. Looking closer into the dust cloud one would see the glinting of harsh light off of metal and glass. Braving the sound and fury to get to the center of conflagration an observer would find Rustport town under attack! The walls of the rust and driftwood houses rocking and rattling as a fleet of loud, smoke coughing vehicles ran up and down the street, chasing everything in sight.
They were Frankenstein hulks, bolted and soldered together from sun-bleached metal and whatever else that could be half useable, like rolling junkyards with engines that roared like diseased dragons. The larger car and truck like monstrosities smashed the facades of businesses and homes while smaller "creatures" more like motorcycles or scooters chased people, terrorizing those who were eking out a living in the middle of the harsh sand dunes.
A pair of Digimon, a young couple by the look of the way they held hands were running from one of the massive monster trucks at the head of the pack, stumbling over debris that had been left by the smog filled rampage and tripping under the shadow of the oncoming machine. They clutched each other tight and closed their eyes...
"MUSHI CHANGE!" The sound of a voice that wasn't in the midst of screaming ripped through the air and something heavy landed with a bone rattling SLAM in the path of the oncoming truck, a body of broad green and golden armor and glittering crimson gems that held out its hands until machine and digimon collided, until they clashed...and the truck was found wanting for strength. Crumbling, shredding metal played a special high, discordant note in the orchestra of chaos as it crumpled like a beer can against the planted feet of the JewelBeemon that was now tossing its splintered remains to one side.
"First priority we stop the ones that are chasing people before anyone gets hurt, second we stop the ones that are wrecking things before they make anybody's life any harder, third we find out what the HELL is going on. Ok? Break!" Zack said as his silhouette formed out of the clouds of sun obscuring dust, Marigold nodding as he went over their broad "game plan" and then clapped his hands to tell her that the game was on. They both took off at a run, Zack's hard light boot heel buzzing as he leapt up and caught the "head" of one of the riderless bikes with his foot in a flying side kick, sending the metal beast crashing to the ground with a grind of metal on rock, it's wheels spinning impotently in the air like a creature knocked on its back kicking up its legs at nothing.
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Post by Deleted on May 8, 2022 13:14:16 GMT
Bosozoku!
 Mistral sighed as she pushed the wreckage off of her.
It had been an ordinary, relaxing day in Rustport; the restaurant was closed for the day while Patty and Thog spent the day together for themselves. Sure, Mistral had been accompanied by the brats and their mutts, but she had long since gotten used to their shenanigans. So they had accompanied Mistral to her favorite spot in this relatively quaint town, a rather shabby milkshake bar near the center of town. Mistral herself had been enjoying one or two milkshakes, the ingredients of which weren't for the young, human or Digimon.
The tiny Tailmon was nursing her third and final drink for the day, wanting to make it last as long as possible. It was at that point all kinds of hell seemed to be raising outside. The human girls and their Digimon partners ran outside to help deal with the turmoil somehow, and I'm sure that they'll mentioned later on in the thread, but Mistral herself had decided to remain inside so she could finish her drink.
So naturally, one of the big, hulking, frankenscrap monstrucksities decided to completely level the building she was in. The tiny Tailmon was covered in a ton of debris, no doubt dirtying and roughing up her fur. And worse yet, the building's collapse caused her to spill her drink.
Well, that was just rude. Looking out to see the massive metal monster that so rudely ruined her afternoon, she promptly leaped high up and towards the monstrosity, dragging her claws across its body as she fell back down to the ground. There was the screech of tearing metal as well as the nails-on-chalkboard that everyone liked to compare sounds with, as the Tailmon's cat paws touched the ground and the big metal monster collapsed in two separate places.
Mistral calmly looked around at her surroundings, at the smaller machines chasing people around while the more larger monstrosities caused more property damage. Nearby, she spotted a bug lady crush another machine to death as well as a human kick one of the smaller ones. Mistral leaped on top of the fallen small machine and faced the human.
"You." She ever-so-politely greeted the human man. "Who's responsible for all this?" The Tailmon had murder in her eyes. In her current state, couldn't care less for the town and all of the small fry, but whoever was responsible for making these pieces of junk caused her to spill her drink, as well as ruin a fine milkshake establishment.
She didn't know who just yet, but Mistral decided that someone was going to die today.
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Post by supesman on May 8, 2022 14:33:26 GMT
"Ma'am that is an-HI YAH!" Zack was interrupted in the middle of his sentence by one of the snorting motorcycles trying to haul past him from behind. He launched into a spinning heel kick that drove his hard light boot heel into the flickering headlamp of the rusty machine, making its handlebars twist to one side and thump onto the ground with a screeching grind before flipping side over side into a stone wall. "-an excellent question, I'm trying to find out the same thing." He said, giving the feline Digimon a slight nod of his helmeted head as he reached down and helped to dust off the Gotsumon that the bike had been terrorizing. "Head for the edge of town, any direction away from the center of the dust cloud. Help people stick together and assist the injured." He said to the rock digimon, shaken by the violence of the attack. He spoke with an instant confidence to the victim who nodded and stomped energetically away.
"Hey dad?! Not to...NNN!" Marigold had two smaller cars held by their rear bumpers, claws digging into the underbellies as their tried to drive away. She hoisted them up until the tops of the cars crashed in the middle, bashing them together like the heads of two common thugs. "Not to freak you out or anything but have you noticed that nobody actually seems to be DRIVING these things?" She said, getting interrupted again as a trio of the franken-bikes launched off a ramp of debris, taunting her with honking horns as they piled onto her in a harsh three count of mid air collisions right against her head and chest. "Get...off...ME!" She stood up from the middle of the pile the bikes made on the ground, grabbing one like a hammer by its front wheel and using it like a bludgeon to turn the other two into scrap.
"I noticed sweetheart..." he said, reaching down into the wreckage of the bike Mistral was standing on, pulling out the dented remains of a black plastic box, electronics spilling out from its mangled remains with a single red LED now grown dim at one corner. "Remote control receiver. Someone is winding these things up like tin toys and letting them loose on the town. But WHY?" He said, having half forgotten Mistral as she stood there in the dust as it raced around them all, blotting out the sun like the height of a sandstorm. He did notice other figures moving and fighting in the dust and sand, twins it looked like. "Friends of yours or just more good Samaritans? Because I'm willing to be thankful for either at this point." He said, shaking his head and rubbing his helmet, trying to banish the galloping headache that the mix of smog and noise was giving him.
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2022 21:15:38 GMT
Bosozoku!
 Mistral flicked her tail mindlessly as she listened to the Digimon and human briefly converse. So finding out who she needed to absolutely destroy wasn't going to be so easy, after all. Kind of hard to interrogate a self-driving vehicle. When the human-Digimon pair noticed that Mistral's humans and their pet mutts were also helping out, she shrugged. "Friends is a strong word, but they're traveling companions, at the very least. But you might regret wanting them to help. They tend to make matters they involve themselves in considerably more compli-"
Mistraly was cut off by a girl's voice yell of unadulterated glee. She was sitting on an armored wolf Digimon, Garummon, dressed in a dusty brown poncho, complete with an old-western-style hat and boots. Sitting directly behind her, clutching the cowgirl's waist for dear life, was her younger sister of all of twenty-two minutes, dressed far more normally, a long-sleeved shirt, denim shorts, and sneakers. Tears were forming in the corner of her wide, panicked eyes. She was also screaming, though they were by no means as joyous as her cowgirl counterpart.
"Haru, running around like this is getting to be a bit tiring!" The Garummon warned, his voice soft and gentle despite his fierce appearance. He veered off to the side as one of the unmanned motorcycles nearly rammed him, their metal bodies sending sparks flying upon impact.
"Just a little bit further to go, Gabumon!" The cowgirl assured her trusty steed, patting the Garummon's side. "Now giddy-up!"
"I already told you that I don't know what that word means!" The wolf Digimon complained in an exasperated tone.
"Just go fas-EEP!" The more normally-dressed girl began, only to be cut off as a bike came dangerously close to crushing her leg. She nearly fell off the Garummon as she threw her body to the side, only able to remain seated thanks to her sibling anchor. The girl's next word were a nigh-shriek. "Just go as fast as you can!"
"Okay, Miss Natsu!" The Garummon yelled out, accelerating to double his previous speed in a near-instant, putting some distance between the trio and their pursuers. He was moving towards a more open space in the town.
"Now jump!" Haru the cowgirl yelled out as Garummon obliged and soared through the sky, golden blades extending out and acting as wings as he glided across the open area, inches above the ground. The motorcycles continued to give chase. "Natsu, your mutt better be done by now!"
"Dorulumon!" The normal girl cried out, nearly screaming into her Digivice. As the biker gang of just bikes drove over the open area, the ground gave way and they fell into a large pit. Unable to brake in time, the ones behind them also skid into the pit, landing atop the ones that had fallen into the pit first, crushing their predecessors.
A gruff scream, though muted at first, gradually grew louder as blue-furred wolf Digimon covered in crimson drills burst out from the ground, sending mud, clay, and dirt flying towards Mistral and Zack. "Hell yeah! Stupid girl, I told you I could dig that pit up before you..." He paused as he gave Zack a level stare. "Who are you?"
"Alright! Operation: Backyard Bone is a success!" Haru triumphantly declared, waving her hat around in the air. Unfortunately, one of the motorcycles used their fallen brethren to drive itself out of the pit and straight towards the human, cat, and drill doggo. "Gabumon!"
"On it! Speed Star!" In a blur, the Garummon moved past the motorcycle, its wing-like blades still extending out on either side. The armored wolf skid to a stop in front of the others as motorcycle came to a stop as it crashed to the ground in two separate places.
"Howdy there!" Haru greeted, tipping her hat to the man and comrades. Meanwhile, Natsu was clutching her mouth and stomach, sickened by the combination of the tense situation, the smog, and the fact that moving so fast then stopping so suddenly caused her insides to shift around in undesirable ways. Haru was silent for a second before looking back at the fallen bike. "You know... I know it wouldn't have made any sense, but even so, I was still half-expecting an explosion, or something..."
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Post by supesman on May 10, 2022 13:55:44 GMT
"HI YAH!" Marigold hollered as she brought two fists, clenched together down on top of the last of the largest trucks in pursuit, turning the front cab of the monstrous vehicle into a crumpled beer can in an instant, making its back end catch up with it's front as she stepped aside, sending the entire thing crashing head over heels in a violent metal somersault.
"My name is Zack! Helping out during stuff like this is sort of what I!...huh?...sort of what I do..." Zack said, looking over his shoulder and realizing that the ringing in his ears had quieted for a moment. He blinked for a second and removed his helmet, rubbing the inside of one of his ears with his gloved pinkie. It was impossible to see for very far in the dust plume, even the buildings on the other end of the street were a mass of indistinct, dusty shapes under the sun blotting clouds billowing in every direction. He coughed and slotted his helmet back over his head, the last thing he needed was a mouthful of sand. "Nice work out there, that pit trap took out like a half dozen or more of those bikes in one swoop. Looks like there weren't as many of the big trucks to go with them." He complimented the quartet, idly flicking a clod of hard packed, dusty mud off of the shoulder of his golden jacket. Marigold stepping out of the darkness looked like some kind of titan until her form actually came into view, still towering over everyone present in her hulking Beetle form.
"Only two or three of them it seems like. Big, heavy spearhead for the little guys, probably more expensive to make than the bikes...whoever made them." Marigold said, crossing her arms over her chest and actually considering the prospect for the first time as she looked at the carnage they had caused. Front walls of homes and businesses smashed, the packed roads leading through town all torn up and scarred with deep groves and rubble. "God knows how many livelihoods they wrecked today." She said, clutching her hands against her upper arms and snarling a little. It was just cruelty, plain and simple whoever had done this to these people.
"No casualties though as far as we can tell, unless you folks saw something. They seemed...mostly here to terrorize and not much else. I mean, we saw them chasing people down but...what kind of motorcycle can't outrun a pile of rocks fleeing on foot?" Zack said, thinking back to the Gotsumon that he had saved from one of the motorbikes. They seemed more invested in the process of the chase rather than actually closing ground on their target. "Most of the civilians started fleeing out toward the edge of town. If we're lucky the folks we actually sent out there were able to keep things from devolving into a panic. We should go get them, there's a lot of rebuilding to do already and we haven't even gotten to the bottom of this." He said, turning and waiting a moment for the group to realize they were supposed to follow him before he started walking toward the edge of the slowly settling dust cloud. As far as he was concerned, all of these folks were already neck deep in whatever the hell this was so he might as well cut them in on the action.
"Appeal: Everyone remain calm, care for the injured and the shaken, if you are missing an individual please calmly ask about for their presence, a full headcount has been taken, I am sure your missing loved one is alright." Zack and Marigold turned toward the sound of the robotic but reassuring voice, finding Violet scuttling from one Digimon to the next in the makeshift disaster camp, helping to tend wounds, analyze damage and keep people's heads on straight.
"Folks, I won't lie, it's a mess and a half back there. Lots of splintered buildings and torn up roads. But." he paused, cutting off a wave of worried murmuring from the assembled crowd, raising his hands to keep their attention. "Nobody's dead. And nothing got smashed that can't be fixed. All in all, we got lucky. There's a lot of work to do but make no mistake, we're going to find who did this, stop them, and then be right back here for cleanup." Zack said, speaking with a heroic confidence. There was no room to question his words or his intentions as he spoke to the mass of digimon.
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Post by Deleted on May 20, 2022 5:35:20 GMT
Bosozoku!
Mistral's tail twitched in light of recent events. All she did was slice one big machine in half, and now things seemed to be slowing down as everyone shifted into damage control mode. She watched as the humans and their partner Digimon introduced themselves to Zack and followed along as he made his grand speech to the public. He did say he was going to find who did this, and Mistral hoped that it was a more of an immediate thing more so than an empty promise.
"Hmm... would the damage to the town really be that hard, though? If we found the right cards for it, then..." She heard Haru mutter to herself as the human girl, barely a teenager, seemed lost in thought. She was scheming something, it seemed. Granted, that was the norm for her.
Natsu, on the other hand, was in the thick of it. She gathered up as many of the recent increase of the homeless population she could, emptying a bag as several cubes spilled out. The girl sorted through them, opening up several of the Infini-Stores and began to stack up large piles of packaged food and began to pass them out. Whenever another Digimon started to get a little disorganized or aggressive, the drill-covered Dorulumon would bark and growl at them until they backed down from his tamer.
Haru shrugged as she faced Zack and Mistral. "I'm no good at this kinda relief stuff, but I'm willing to help track down whoever made these things and take them down," She admitted. "These guys all came from somewhere and someone, right? Probably best to find that all out!"
"Oh!" Garummon piped up, his metal ears perked up. "While I'm in this form, my nose is super sensitive! Is it alright if I try and track them?"
"Well-"
"It might be best if we asked around, see if anyone here saw anything suspicious!" Natsu offered.
"And when we find them, we'll beat the information out of them!" Dorulumon added with a wolfish grin.
Mistral interrupted. "Those machines were polluting the air with their exhaust. So much so that they're still traces in the air. I'll trace the exhaust and we can track whoever did this."
"Or..." Haru held her hands out, then pointed towards the ground. "We can just use our eyes. These guys weren't exactly subtle, and vehicles aren't nearly as popular here in the Digital World as they are in the human world. We can just find where the dozens of tire tracks that are accompanied by several sets of 7-million cm footprints originated from."
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Post by supesman on May 20, 2022 13:55:31 GMT
"...she's got a point." Zack said as Haru pointed out the fact that literally the entire town was shot through with fat tire tracks that stood out against the beige expanses of the sand dunes. if they followed around the outside parimeter of the town, found where all the track had entered and then followed them backwards they would end up exactly where they wanted to be in no time. "Everyone should keep those talents in their back pocket though, we never know what might come in handy." He said, cradling a crying Kuromon in his arms until he rocked it gently into a more comfortable state of mind, handing it off to its mother and receiving a kiss on the cheek from the augmon which he chuckled and shrugged off. "The town's people seem to be getting organized on their own, sorting out who's in charge of what now that the panic is dying down. Violet should probably stick around here to help organized, they've got all sorts of brains for that math and organization." He said, looking down to the dust covered purple machine as they darted back and forth from one problem spot to the next.
"Agreement: I will stay behind to help organize rebuilding efforts. Right now the population is correlating how much of everything we have to go around. As far as I can tell they are in no danger of important resource shortages thanks to Natsu's extra supplies especially." Violet said, pleasent beeping as they spoke Natsu's name, thanking the young lady for her kindness with what little amount fo expression and intonation that they were capable of.
"Whatever sent those...thing after these people was doing it to scare them. Like my dad said, there's no reason nobody ended up dead here save that killing folks wasn't the objective. If we let whoever did this go unanswered then it'll happen the second we turn out backs. Whether it was for some kind of protection tribute or just to prove they were serious, this has got some serious bad guy energy around it." Marigold said, maintaining her hulking JewelBeemon form for the moment. If she shrunk down, even reevolving wouldn't let her get back her ability to form change for at least the next day or so so for the moment she stuck around in the hulking form just to maintain her energy for the upcoming fight.
"I say we split into two teams, one goes clockwise around the town, the other counterclockwise. The first people to spot tracks leading out stays put until the second team meets them in the middle. Helps cover more ground and keeps us from getting surprised on our own." Zack said. he wasn't always the best at organization but that didn't mean he was always going to run off half cocked with NO plan at all.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2022 5:08:12 GMT
Bosozoku!
A plan was set in motion and it was time to get a move on... if only that were the case! Everyone seemed ready to search the town's perimeter, as Natsu left with Dorulumon while Mistral took off in another direction, her bloodlust yet to be sated by mere scrap metal. Everyone from their group had left, except the for the western-dressed Haru, who stood in place while a distraught Garummon trotted impatiently around her.
"Haru, we need to get a move on if we're gonna search the town!" The armored wolf Digimon stated while Haru looked back at her partner with a deadpan expression.
"Yeah, about that... it sounds like a pain. I'm all for busting down the door and spanking bad guy butt, but... Searching the edge of an entire town with just a big bug, a helmet dude, and us all sounds like it could take a really long time..."
"But in order to find whoever is doing this, we need to put in a little more effort! We need to do the unpleasant things first, in order to get to the fun part, right?" Garummon reasoned.
"Yeah, but... somethin' doesn't sit right with me..." Haru looked around at the now-homeless refugees. The girl couldn't really empathize with them. Sure, she figured it must suck, but it wasn't like she felt particularly bad towards them. A dusty old town like this could probably use a few home renovations. There were some Digimon looking after the young ones, some providing aid to others, while others seemed more distraught, almost listless. Haru had no problem doing a good deed and being showered with praise afterwards, but some of these were adults!
"Alright, everyone!" She yelled out, clapping her hands together to get attention. "We're gonna be looking for some of these monster's tracks leading out of town in order to hunt down the people responsible for letting their bikes and... giant robots... out of control! So if we got any spare bodies around, let's get out there and make things a little easier for us! The faster we find this guy, the faster my friends and I can take this guy down, right? We'll be supervising up in the sky, so if you find something, just stay still and scream as loud as you can!" Haru and Garummon took to the skies, while Haru's partner was thinking of the right words to tell her.
"Haru... You're just being lazy again, are you?" Garummon asked. "Because Miss Natsu said you'd get like this and-"
"It'd just annoy me., Gabumon," Haru answered. "There are some of them helping the others, sure, but for the rest of them, if something like this happened to me, I think It'd bother me if I just sat around while a group of strangers fixed all my problems while I sat around and did nothin'."
"I think I can understand that," Garummon nodded in acknowledgement. "Though I think that Miss Natsu is definitely going to think you're just being lazy."
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Post by supesman on Jun 6, 2022 13:35:24 GMT
Zack and Marigold split up, each of them following one of the groups as they walked along the outskirts of the town. Zack seemed to be visibly bothered by the clouds of dust and the mounds of rubble and scraps that he found sitting outside the edges of the city, sometimes stopping, reaching down and pulling out some otherwise unremarkable trinket. The shattered corner of a finely decorated plate, the lower leg of a chair carved in fine detail, a scrap of paper with the dirtied remains of a crayon drawing on it.
"This...this was people's lives." He said to his assembled companions as he walked with them, letting the scrap of the drawing blow away in the desert wind. Something seemed to be bubbling up inside of him as he watched it twirl and circle away in the breeze. "This dusty little desert town was all these people had." he turned to natsu as they walked, the sunlight bouncing off the ebony blackness of his visor, expressing a kind of melancholy emotion even with his face covered. "And somebody came in to wreck it in an afternoon. How long is it gonna take until these people can get on with living?...and how much longer is it gonna take before they start to feel safe again?" He said, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. he had to take that anger, that emotion and hold it in to use for later. If he let that anger out right now then he'd just be wasting it.
"This is one of those things that's gonna bug my dad for a long time." Marigold said, heavy footsteps kicking up small gouts of sand as she walked with Mistral. her flying wasn't so good in her hulking beetle form, the best she could usually do was slow a fall so getting in the air to look around wasn't really an option. "He worries so much about the...the little people I guess is the word. I mean, obviously, he's taking his time to be a superhero for god's sake I just...I know this is gonna keep him up at night for a while and I worry." She said, speaking to the Tailmon though knowing that the Tailmon most likely wouldn't have any reason to care, she was just here to avenge her favorite bar but Marigold needed to get all of this out there somehow.
"Hey uhh...she's with you, right?" Zack said, turning to Natsu again as he saw Haru take off in midair, directing teams of the digimon to search through the streets as the "heroes" circled the wider perimeter. They would be able to search the hidden alleyways and other forgotten places in their own town that the heroes would never even think to look. "Gotta admit, I'm jealous. I never even though of mobilizing the population like that. Shame on me for being protective and expecting them to sit on their butts and wait huh?" He said, grinning and waving up at Haru, giving her a thumbs up on the idea as they all went back to searching for the time being.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2022 20:41:53 GMT
Bosozoku! As Natsu, Dorulumon, and Zack traveled alongside each other, Natsu couldn't help but feel for Zack's plight. Natsu would by no means associate herself with being a hero, but she could empathize with Zack's feelings of uselessness. Natsu and her sister made a lot of trouble when there were very little, and Natsu hadn't realized how much trouble they had been until much later. And even the very petty things they did just for kicks had serious consequences, and unlike her sister, Natsu felt that the consequences of her actions outweighed the joy she felt from living in the moment.
But all the trouble she caused before middle school was a minor annoyance compared the the things she had to deal with in the Digital World. Angry volcano gods, her houseguests' homicidal father, and now this. Natsu's stomach began to remind her that she was just a little girl way in over her head at this point. As Zack was overlooking the damages that this culprit's actions wrought, Natsu shivered in place. She couldn't even pretend to be like her sister, or this helmet-clad hero, who were either too brave, too insane, or a mixture of both that couldn't be considered healthy for a long life.
Natsu remained frozen until the Dorulumon besides her jabbed her backside with his nose. Dorulumon didn't say anything, just meeting her gaze with clear eyes, but his message was received. Natsu took a deep breath before turning to face Zack, hearing his question. "It's unfair when you're the one defending something," Natsu added.
"I think... the moment you stop caring about something is when things start to go wrong. Whoever did this didn't care about the people in this town, or the things they cared about. So we'll find whoever did this and remind them of what that feels like! I don't know if that will fix anything or not, but I think that it might be a good first step..."
"And smashing things up when the person deserves it sounds like fun!" The drill doggo added with a grin. Natsu sighed as she patted her partner's head. Well... at least he was honest with his feelings?
As for Mistral and Marigold, the Tailmon seemingly ignored the insect Digimon's comments for a good while, seemingly focused on the search. Then out of the blue, the kitty spoke up. "You can't change who people are. Or rather, changing someone for your own preferences doesn't seem right. But if this person cares for you as much as you care for them, then simply do your best to ease their troubles so they can sleep at night. And if that's still not good enough, then at least the two of you can stay up together. Late night television is shockingly entertaining when sleep-deprived."
Mistral was silent for a moment longer before adding, "And I suppose you could also put something in his drinks, forcing him to sleep when he looks like he needs it the most. For as much as the idealists would argue otherwise, sometimes the ends do justify the means. Your human could be the strongest, most durable of his species, yet just about any adult Digimon could tear through him like he were tissue paper. Having him be ripped to shreds because he was too sleep-deprived to dodge some stray hit seems like a trite way to go out. And I assume if your pet human dies, you'd be unable to Digivolve, and you'd likely get killed and loaded. So it's probably best for you both."
And back to Natsu, Dorulumon, and Zack, when Haru appeared in the air on top of Garummon the girl sighed again as she stared back up with a look of annoyance.
"That foul witch..." Dorulumon growled in anger, distaste for his partner's sister evident.
Natsu listened in to Zack's comment, and just shook her head. "Please don't be jealous," She insisted. "She likely didn't want to bother searching the entire town, so she probably made some speech like... 'You townsfolk need to step up for yourselves! You can't just rely on outsiders to save you! If you don't learn to wipe your own butts, then even in times of peace things will still smell like poop!' just to avoid a little extra work."
"You think that if I jumped up there and slapped her off my brother's back that she'd die from the fall?" Dorulumon asked, legitimately sounding serious. "I promise that I won't hit her with too much force. I'll even use my rookie form if I need to!"
Natsu shook her head as she gave her partner a "that'll do, piggy" pat on the head. "Involving the townsfolk like that is too irresponsible! Even if they are able and willing to help, there was a reason that you and Marigold were the ones to fight them off in the first place! If whoever did this feels like they're going to be cornered, then they might resort to something more than property damage and scaring the townsfolk!" She scowled as she guided Dorulumon. "Let's hurry up and finish this search, then! The sooner we find what we're looking for, the sooner the scared, irrational townsfolk can go back to being safe!"
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Post by supesman on Jun 7, 2022 12:52:42 GMT
"Yea, you're right. That's all it ever is, isn't it? The fact that someone out there decided that the point he was trying to prove was more important than the lives and livelihoods of the people around them and this...this was the outcome. A smashed up town and a bastard looking on from somewhere, sitting pretty probably laughing his ass off. Well, we'll see how much laughing he feels like doing when I shove my boot straight up his...*sigh*. Sorry, I get a little heated sometimes and forget I'm in polite company." Zack said. He'd been going through a string of particularly inhuman villains lately and it was starting to bubble over and put him on edge, he had to catch himself before he started defaulting to angrier, less forgiving methods less he start inching toward that single line in the sand he had drawn for himself. "This is about helping people, no about punishing the bad guy. There's a difference." Zack said, mostly speaking to himself as he reminded himself of the distinction he used to underpin everything he did in costume. No matter how much rage he was feeling or how much he thought the bad guy deserved to get what was coming to them, he had to remembered he wasn't some avenging angel. He was a hero and that distinction counted for something.
Marigold paused right there in her tracks, her posture and the look on her face turning angry and dark for just a flicker, just long enough for Mistral to pause, turn around and notice that she had stepped on the large insect digimon's metaphorical toes and said something that struck right up again a nerve.
"Don't you ever. EVER. Refer to my father as a pet human again, certainly not in my presence." Marigold said, continuing her march with heavier footfalls now as she clenched and unclenched fists that were larger than the feline digimon's head and chest put together. "That man pulled me out of the cold and gave me EVERYTHING for no reward and a whole bucketload of stress and responsibility. He fed me, he clothed me, he gave me my name, he gave me a family when I didn't even know the meaning of the word." She said, reaching up to run her hand along the edge of the rolling crimson scarf around her neck. It was her greatest treasure, the feeling of her father's hand tucking it around her neck and telling her that she had somewhere that she belonged, that she would be loved, that she would be safe for the rest of her life even though Zack owed her nothing. "That man is my father. I am his daughter. If you want to question that further than I will gladly, GLADLY shown you I am very willing to defend his honor against cynical little alley cats." She said, briskly marching past Mistral to make her point. Marigold was not always a kind young woman and that was especially true when one of her strings was pulled. The honor of her father being the biggest, most sensitive string she had.
"I don't know, laziness could be what it is but it's also letting these people be part and parcel of their own solutions." Zack said admiringly as people looked through the rubble and homes, some of them deeply searching for tracks and others sorting through the mess to pick up and organize the pieces of people's lives that had been scattered across the dunes by the cruel attack. "It's a...paternalistic instinct to expect people to just stand around and wait for the day to be saved. Protective sure but on the other hand it's treating them like helpless victims rather than people who are actually involved in fixing things." he said, waving to a pair of digimon who were sorting through the back of a blown out building with a tilt of his helmeted head that communicated a smile. "Maybe it'll help them feel better, feel safer one we're gone knowing that they took some kind of part in stepping up and fixing what was broken where they could." He said. He was giving Haru the benefit of the doubt a little, sure but he truly did think the idea was a good one when you got right down to it.
"Over here!" Somebody shouted from just around one of the bends as Zack and the pair were walking. Zack took off at a jog and paused.
"Woah...yea...yea that'll do it." Zack said as they turned the corner to see a mass of tire tracks so deep and so close together that they had made a ten foot ditch in the sad leading far off into the dunes. There was still a cloud of swirling particulates in the air leading all the way back down the trail. If the group of Digimon knew anything about the land's geography then they also knew that that trail lead in one, slightly worrying direction. The Hardware Den, hidden oasis of inorganic and machine digimon where the kind of parts and knowhow to create vehicles of this size, number and power might exist, along with a technician crazy and isolated enough to unleash it onto the town.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 20, 2022 20:05:28 GMT
Bosozoku! While Zack was getting his emotions in check, Natsu and Dorulumon stood around, stared at each other for a bit, and shrugged. It didn't seem like he was talking about them, and he wasn't exactly opening up, so the pair decided not to press anything, with Natsu not wanting to be too pushy and Dorulumon not particularly caring.
"Punishing someone and helping people doesn't gotta be mutually exclusive!" Dorulumon suggested. "We'll bust this guy up, along with any other crazy wheels he's got! And if this guy's so good at making machines, then we'll force him to make some kind of construction equipment for the town! Or better yet, we'll make 'em do it by hand!" The Dorulumon grinned. "Any pansy who goes around making machines to do their dirty work probably needs to do a little more heavy-lifting!"
"I think you're missing the point..." Natsu sighed, shaking her head.
Meanwhile, Mistral flicked her tail from side to side as Marigold went off on her, tilting her head curiously while smirking. The kitty had struck a nerve. She had only intended on making casual conversation but now that it was here, she might as well play around with it. After all, you don't dangle something in front of a cat and not expect someone to pounce on it!
"I see now that I misunderstood," Mistral commented. "I had assumed that you were the protector, but it seems like you're the pet in the relationship," Mistral stated, strutting alongside her. Due to the nature of Digimon, a familial relationship wasn't necessarily a common thing. It was a possibility that Mistral just didn't understand the kind of bond the pair shared. Then again, it could also be that the cat was just screwing with Marigold.
"Though I hope you can keep your emotions under control with your enemies better than you can with your allies," Mistral commented. "Your... father... can be the most generous, most noble, most honorable human alive, but he's just a sack of meat to anyone who doesn't care about any of his qualities," Her pace slowed a bit as she stared down her her front paws. "If you're not careful, loving someone and defending someone can turn into two different things. And when that happens, trying too hard in one can result in failing in the other. And sometimes when you fail, you don't get another try."
Mistral came to a full stop for a second, before shaking it off and looking intently for some more tracks. She could really use another drink. But... she supposed getting revenge would be the next best thing. "Anyways, just make sure to be careful. You might not like what you become if you're not. You might end-up half-drunk and accidentally offend some bratty bug that's too big for her britches. And I wouldn't wish that upon my worst enemies."
"Even if it makes them feel better, it doesn't change the fact that they needed a bunch of visitors to solve their problem for them," Natsu disagreed, giving her sister up in the sky a disgruntled glare, tilting her head towards Zack. "They can be in the highest spirits ever, but if something like that happens and there aren't... people like you around, then it'll only hurt them that much worse afterwards..." She bit her lip as she began to tremble. Maybe the little girl was getting ahead of herself, but she couldn't help but think of what was going to happen later on down the line. The girl was a worrier, through-and-through. Always had her eyes forward.
"Then... we should send this guy and anyone else who would wanna do a similar thing a message!" Dorulumon suggested. "They wreck this place with a bike and a truck, we wreck their place with a bulldozer! They send one of ours to the hospital, we send one of theirs' to the m-"
"We're cancelling Foreign Film Fridays," Natsu groaned, playfully batting at the Dorulumon's nose.
"What!? But I have to know who Rocky fights next after the big Russian dude!" The drill doggo pleaded. But before that rather silly conversation could continue, there was a cry from one of the citizens. Natsu caught up with Zack, finding the tracks while Haru and Garummon swooped down to pat the townsfolk on the head.
"Good work, citizen!" Haru stated in a hammy, faux-heroic tone. "You've done us a great service today, but we'll take it from here! We'll find this evildoer and bring him to justice!" Meanwhile, Garummon would fly up and let out a little beacon of light to signal Mistral and Marigold over.
Meanwhile, while they were waiting, Natsu pulled out a map. "The.... Hardware Den?"
"Never been there before, but I've heard stuff about it," Haru commented. "Lots of machine Digimon," She crossed her arms and frowned. "Probably should have figured that they would have come from a place like that though..."
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Post by supesman on Jun 21, 2022 13:41:40 GMT
Marigold paused again, glaring at Mistral like a mongoose staring at a serpent. Her wings buzzed and flitted on her back like they were the only outlet for her stress. She bit down, setting her jaw and grinding her back teeth together. She could feel an unhealthy kind of anger bubbling up her spine, like boiling water climbing up the container it was placed in as it evaporated.
She could feel that explosion of emotion building in her body. The anger that would get her screaming, red in the face, diving at the feline imp just to make her shut up. It was a basic emotion. It was something terrible and hot that made the flesh of her face turn a few shades closer to crimson but just as the emotion was about to bubble over and send her lunging at her conversation partner...
She stopped, closing her eyes and taking a pause. One small bit at a time she opened her balled up hands and let out a long breath. She let her eyes slowly open and the emotion of that rage slowly faded from her face. She looked at Mistral with a new kind of emotion...pity.
"I'm sorry that you're alone enough to think that way." She said. She would not give the cat the satisfaction of seeing her lose her cool but she still made a small shot across the bow. If anything the pit in Marigold's eyes and voice might be worse than the anger that had been in them only a moment before. "But I am loved. I'm part of a family. And you? I don't know WHY you're here because you clearly don't actually give a shit. Put you're petty, you're cynical, and you're so very, very small. That tells me all that I need to know about your cynical little words." Marigold said, an almost happy spring in her step as she moved toward where they were being signaled, leaving the Tailmon behind with a hum in her voice.
"Make no mistake, whoever this person is they're going to pay for the things that they've done. I just can't let the need to "get them" outweigh the importance of the people, you know?" He said, shrugging. It was a hard thing, that instinct of vengeance. It could choke you if you're not careful, make you forget what you were even there for to begin with and leave you making bad calls at the worst possible time.
He turned to face the digimon that had signaled them over, reaching up and hooking his thumbs under the rim of his helmet and pulling it free, looking down at the Digital monster with a smile and a small nod.
"Thank you. Truly." He said, wanting to make sure that their helper knew he was being completely genuine. Haru's hammy entrance and props were appreciated if only to break the tension, they certainly make Zack throw his head back in laughter but he also wanted the digimon civilian to know that stepping up was important. He had done a good thing and Zack wanted him to know it.
"Yea, that looks like what we were looking for." Marigold said as she fluttered down next to her father, the long trenches that had been scraped outward into the desert toward that hidden mechanical sanctum.
"How far out is the Den? Not to say anybody here isn't in good enough shape but we are talking about a march through the desert. If it's a good ways away I want to make sure we don't leave without water." He said. He had a few bottles in his backpack wrapped up against an ice pack but not enough for more than him and Marigold especially if they were going to be making some kind of real trek through the sand.
"Agreed. Something tells me that there's not exactly going to be many provisions when we get there, considering the machines living there wouldn't have any need for them. Wouldn't help our chances against whoever the bad guy is if we all show up sunburned and dehydrated now would it?" Marigold said. Her exoskeleton would keep her from baking too much under the endless beating of the sun over the desert but she already knew that her exceptionally pale father wouldn't be that lucky especially when he was going to be making the trek in a full leather ensemble and helmet.
"Prepare for the fight you expect, know it's not the fight you're going to get." He said, patting Marigold on the arm. It was one of his little "truisms" that she had already heard a thousand times. Something along the same sentiment as "no battle plan survives first contact with the enemy" or the like. They would prepare as best they could with the information that they had at the moment, even if it was an almost certainty that they would end up getting blindsided by something or other when they actually got there to do the deed.
Things became complex fighting a totally unknown enemy.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2022 23:50:12 GMT
Bosozoku! While Marigold told the kitty-cat off, Mistral rolled her eyes as the bug Digimon walked. She was trying to give genuine, helpful advice, but apparently the JewelBeemon was queen of missing the point. "Stupid child..." She muttered under her breath, shaking off and committing to silence for their remainder of their time together. They met up with the others, and began to formulate a plan.
"Oh, we've still got plenty of supplies handy!" Natsu assured the helmeted hero. "And we have EV Suits, so the heat isn't an issue," She pointed towards a small device clipped onto her shirt. "It keeps us safe from most environments, so the desert won't be a problem so long as we have food and water!"
Hopefully Zack's concerns would assuaged before Haru spoke, "We should probably determine how we're gonna move across the desert, though," she stated while pointing out towards the tracks. "There's no guarantee that the tracks lead towards directly towards the Den, so we'll still need to follow them. So we need to keep an eye out on the ground to make sure we're going the right direction."
"And the longer we wait, the more likely the tracks will get covered back up!" Garummon added. "Sand isn't known for keeping its shape, after all!"
Haru patted the armored wolf's side as she nodded. "Gabumon's right. So we should move as quickly as possible. If those scrap-heaps were being controlled remotely, there's a chance that whoever did it knows we're coming. The less time they have to prepare for us, the easier I'll feel when kicking down his door."
Haru moved towards Marigold, Zack's large insect partner. "If we're gonna be traveling a good distance, then it's probably best if you conserve your energy as much as you can. If you're an ultimate-level, then you and Mistral are our heaviest hitters. Just let Gabumon carry you and your partner," She turned towards Natsu and Dorulumon. "Gaomon, too. He's no good at conserving his strength so it's best he has as much of it as possible."
Natsu nodded while Dorulumon grumbled as he reverted back to his Gaomon form. "I'll conserve my... fist... to your face..." The small doggo nonsensically grumbled under his breath.
"Umm... Haru?" Garummon inquired. "With you, Miss Natsu, my brother, Mistral, Mr. Zack, and his partner... I don't think everyone will quite fit!" He pleaded, then gave Zack and Marigold and apologetic look. "I'm sorry! I wasn't trying to imply that you would be a burden! It's just that three humans and three Digimon would be a bit much and..."
"You'll just need to carry Zack, his partner, Mistral, and Gaomon. I've got an idea for Natsu and I!" Haru assured him. "Mistral and Gaomon are small enough to not matter too much, and so long as Zack's partner isn't the size of a truck you should be fine!" That was, assuming Marigold was willing.
"I think that'll be fine, then..." Garummon confirmed. "But what are you and Miss Natsu...?"
Haru grinned as she pulled out a grapple gun from underneath her poncho, firing it off into the ground as the hook and cable flailed around across the sand. Then she hooked it up into the Garummon's armor. Then she stood atop a hoverboard as she floated over the sand. "You'll be a our little sled-wolf! And thanks to our anti-grav devices and our hoverboards, we're practically weightless for you to luck around!"
"She just wants to play around with a bunch of toys..." Natsu corrected, opening up yet another infinistore cube and taking out a bicycle helmet and some elbow and a knee pads. Then she pulled out her own grappling gun and followed suit. Apparently Haru wasn't the only one.
However, things weren't completely resolved just yet. Natsu gave Haru a level look for a moment, while the cowgirl-attired sibling just shook her head, only to continue to face Natsu's unwavering glare. Haru sighed before pulling out her own protective gear, putting her own helmet on while tossing her cowboy hat aside. A strong wind picked up, carrying the heavy hat off and landing directly atop Mistral's head.
The cat in the hat then leaped onto Zack's shoulders, and almost immediately the human would feel the air around him cool off as if he were standing in an air conditioned spot in the desert. "Your little girl wouldn't stop worshipping you. Are you sure you're not running some sort of cult?" Mistral playfully inquired. "Regardless, she doesn't seem like she'd be very stable if you were incapacitated, so it's probably best to make sure you're as comfortably alert as possible."
She flicked her tail around energetically as she added, "Oh, and your daughter used a swear word towards me while discussing differing philosophical views. I'm unsure of your parental values but I thought you should be informed."
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Post by supesman on Jun 23, 2022 14:08:01 GMT
"One problem with that plan, not that it's not a good plan, just that it might need a tiny bit of adjustment." Marigold said in her hulking beetle form that she had stayed in since they had fought off the machines. She had been hesitant to let it go. There was a reason for that. "I've already done my form change, this isn't the base form of my Ultimate level. And I only have enough energy to do this once in...well, basically once a day. if I let it go, I won't be able to get it back and we have no idea what we're walking into, I'd rather have my firepower at the ready." She said, extending one of her hulking arms down toward her father and he scampered up it with the ease of a monkey scaling a familiar branch until his legs were wrapped around Marigold's neck and shoulders.
"We won't be as fast as Balto here more than likely but we can certainly keep up. Besides, having some eyes in the sky will be good for us. Like the lady said, we have no idea what kind of lion's den we're spelunking in." he said with a chuckle as Marigold's wings, small compared to this version of her body unfurled and began to buzz, pushing her upward until the sand was being tossed about beneath her hovering feet.
"No worries, we didn't think you were trying to imply anything. We've just got to make our own way of things, seems like." Marigold said, waving off the concerns of the Garurumon had had been made into the makeshift steed for as much of the group as possible. Making a compact caravan was important, the more people they had hoofing it through the dunes individually was more energy they were wasting under the beating sun. A long march with a surprise battle at the end of it had been the ruin of many an army in the history of the human world.
"That's the power of love~" Zack said, giggling as he leaned over, looking at Haru hitching herself to Garurumon like a wagon, mumbling the opening theme to Back to the Future which had a similar conceit of someone riding along with a skateboard pulled behind a vehicle. "I hope you're wearing something protective and holding on tight. The last thing anybody needs is for you to lose your balance at however fast big dog here can run and getting sand blasted by a face first fall into the dunes." Zack said with a comedically exaggerated shiver. He had seen what a full like that could do to people and it wouldn't exactly leave Haru in fighting ship shape. "I mean, who WOULDN'T want to play with their grappling hook? I bought one even though my kid can fly in every one of her forms just on the hope that I'll get to play with it sometime." Zack said, patting his own hook that was hitched to the side of his belt. he almost never needed it but it certainly completed the image of the superhero, didn't it?
"Keeping an eye in the air means that we can watch the road ahead while you guys watch the road underneath your feet. If something screwy comes up on the horizon it'll give us a chance to brace for it without blundering in head first." Marigold said, turning to face out along the deep tracks. A few of the trucks had been so heavy that when they had blasted between the valleys in the shadow of the sand dunes they had displaced enough sand to get at the dried out clay and bedrock underneath, the evidence of a long dried up ecosystem with no roots to hold anything in place. Knife tracks that Garurumon pointed out they'd need to follow fast before the wind picked up and the sand started to shift back into its natural equilibrium.
"Sigh...I do worry about her being so overprotective sometimes." Zack said, looking onto his shoulder to where the feline Digimon was perched, grasping on tight as the group too off, leaving back so he was sitting more on her shoulder blades than her actual shoulders as she levelled off in flight. "She's always so quick to defend my honor and I'm sorry if she stepped over a line thinking she was doing it for my sake. I don't need to have my honor defended. I don't do this so that my name looks good. i do this because I KNOW what I'm doing is right." He said, the sound of the wind whipping past them making it so that he could speak quietly up to Mistral standing right there next to his head without alerting Marigold below them. Though she did grumble a little about the cat being taken along with them
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