One Mon's Treasure [Solo Hunt]
May 12, 2022 16:30:17 GMT
Post by eyesinthedark on May 12, 2022 16:30:17 GMT
"Of all the places in Shibuya, this is where you want to spend your time?"
Shouta's skeptical question was not unreasonable. The Shibuya River was not exactly a tourist attraction and people generally tried to ignore it as much as possible unless they needed somewhere to dump their trash. Yet when he had happened to mention the river and its current state while explaining the various sites and features of Shibuya, it was this that had caught Hex's attention.
"This place is wonderful!" Hex called out as he wormed his way through a small pile of torn garbage bags that had piled up at the edge of the water by a relatively secluded curve of the river. "There are so many things here. And nobody will stop me from taking them," he cheered incredulously. Periodically, he would snatch some piece of scrap or garbage and press it into his own body, absorbing it into his shadowy form. Shouta twitched every time he did, only restraining himself from commenting because whatever process Hex's storage worked by was capable of completely absorbing the trash, ensuring that no foul scents or stains escaped.
"I might stop you if you try to take it back home," Shouta sighed under his breath from his position well back from the river and then quickly looked away as Hex picked up a discarded apple core that had long turned rotten and nibbled on it, suppressing his rising nausea. He had accepted that Hex's tastes were not particularly discriminating but this was a touch beyond the pale. "Must you do that? I can get you a more suitable standard of food at home... or in most compost bins for that matter," he pleaded.
"Oh yes, can we have more of that tempura you made yesterday?" Hex asked without missing a beat, even as he bit the rotten core in half, chewing noisily. While the digimon was aware of Shouta's discomfort, he could sense that it wasn't rising to unmanageable levels and was honestly just making the whole experience more pleasant for him, adding a satisfying backdrop for his empathic senses to the whole scenario.
"I believe there are some leftovers at home, yes, though I honestly question why I bother. Does eating garbage like that honestly taste good?" he demanded incredulously. Hex shrugged his scraggly arms dismissively before throwing the remains of the apple into his mouth.
"No, it tastes awful," he answered candidly before diving head first back into one of the garbage bags. Shouta stared at him blankly as he rooted through the garbage, humming cheerfully as he did. He finally managed to get his wits about him enough to open his mouth and question Hex further when the digimon suddenly shot upright, scattering trash around as he did so. "Something special is here. Something from the Digital World," he breathed hungrily.
"What? What sort of thing? And how would something from your world get here?" Shouta asked, taken aback as Hex took to the air and started flitting about in the air over the river, eyes scanning both banks frantically.
"I don't know exactly what it is but I can feel that it's here, the same way most digimon can sense each other's presence," Hex answered distractedly as he continued to search for the presence that was nagging at his senses. "Sometimes portals open between the worlds and let things or digimon pass over. It's not common but it does happen," he said before zeroing in on another pile of refuse not much farther down the river, this pile a little larger than his previous treasure trove.
With Hex flying straight at the pile of junk, Shouta was left with little choice but to hurry after him, glancing around to ensure there was nobody nearby who might take notice of the shadowy figure flying through the air. He came to a stop a short distance away from the pile, recognizing that it seemed to be a heap of electronic junk. Old circuit boards, broken monitors and one particularly large television with the screen and internal works ripped out leaning against one side of the pile. Most likely it had been dumped there by somebody who didn't want to go to the trouble of disposing of it properly. Hex didn't hesitate before worming his way into the pile, his insubstantial body easily slipping through gaps between the junk to reach the center.
"Shouta, come see this," Hex's muffled but still clearly excited voice called out from within the pile. Shouta approached a little closer and cast a dubious eye on the damp, dirty junk that made up the pile.
"Why don't you just bring it out here where I can see," he suggested as an alternative, only to be met with disappointment.
"I can't, it's too big to fit inside me," Hex said. "It's amazing, we have to take this with us," he declared assertively. Shouta doubted that there was anything around that he would want to take with them, especially after seeing the standards for what Shouta felt was worth collecting, but he couldn't just leave Hex struggling with whatever he had found underneath all of that junk. Reluctantly, he carefully rolled up the sleeves of his shirt and closed the remaining distance to the pile. After a moment's thought, he grabbed the edge of the broken television, keeping his arms extended and his body arched so that he didn't actually have to come any closer to it than was absolutely necessary. Planting his feet, he heaved back on the television. His stance didn't allow for the best leverage but as large as it was, the largely hollowed out television wasn't overly heavy. It only took a few moments for Shouta to pull it away, dislodging much of the rest of the pile and triggering a small avalanche of junk, which prompted Shouta to take a hasty jump backwards to keep clear.
As the remainder of the pile shifted, Hex sprang out of the space in the center, his prize clutched against his body with both arms. "Look, look! It's amazing!" he cheered, holding it up over his head while Shouta carefully extracted a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his hands clean.
"It's...," he began, trying to figure out exactly what it was that Hex was holding. Roughly egg-shaped and large enough that he would likely want to carry it with two hands, if he was going to hold it at all. It was primarily a bluish-grey color and though it seemed solid, its surface had been carved to resemble a semi-gelatinous texture. A number of cables emerged from its surface close to its base and an irregular metal plate was attached to one side with a symbol Shouta didn't recognize carved onto it. "What is it?" he finally gave in and asked somewhat irritably. He didn't see what was so special about what appeared to be some bizarre decoration.
"It's a Digimental," Hex explained eagerly, unfazed by Shouta's dour attitude. "You can use it to make me digivolve to a higher level. Temporarily, at least," he elaborated as he turned the Digimental over and looked at the symbol on the front. "I think this symbol means perseverance? That's fitting for us, right?" he asked, again proffering the Digimental to Shouta. While Shouta's first impulse was to draw away, he had to admit to being intrigued by Hex's explanation. Maybe not enough to actually touch something that had been pulled from a literal garbage heap but enough to take a closer look at it.
"Okay, and how exactly am I supposed to do that?" he asked as he examined the item. Recalling the other item that Hex claimed was connected to his supposed ability to help the digimon grow, he pulled his digivice from his pocket. "Is this supposed to do-" he began to ask, only to get cut off as the digivice's screen suddenly lit up with a bright light, a light that was quickly imitated by the Digimental and then by Hex as well,
"Eyesmon armor digivolve to..." Hex began to call out jubilantly as he grew... and grew... and grew. Shouta quickly retreated as Hex grew far beyond his expectations, continuing to expand until he dwarfed Shouta and had a bulky, quadrupedal body. "Raremon!" the newly digivolved armor digimon announced himself proudly as the light faded.
Shouta's first impression of Hex's new form was much less ideal. Composed primarily of what seemed to be rotten, almost liquid flesh and adorned by haphazard cables and metal plates, Raremon was not anybody's idea of attractive. "So this is your ChampiooOH MY GOD!" he suddenly cried in alarm as he reeled back, clapping both hands over his mouth. As unattractive as Raremon looked, his smell was much, much worse. Shouta had thought he had experienced some unpleasant odors during his mother's depression, when she had allowed the house to deteriorate and sink into squalor. This, however, was so foul an odor that he doubted his mother could have created such a mess if she tried. Not without getting her hands on multiple rotting corpses anyway.
"This isn't my natural champion level," Hex answered the aborted question in his now raspy voice, unperturbed by Shouta's disgusted reaction. Indeed, if this new form provoked the same emotions in everybody who faced it, Hex would just enjoy it all the more. "The Digimental has temporarily raised me to a higher level but I don't think it's as strong as a real champion," he explained. He started to take a lumbering step towards Shouta, dragging the rest of his body along the ground behind him, only for Shouta to retreat even faster.
"Stop!" he shouted, his voice nasally from having his nose blocked. "Don't...don't come any closer. Just stay where you are for the moment," he continued, struggling to keep his tone of voice level while also trying not to breathe any more than was absolutely necessary. Fortunately, Hex took the message and came to a stop, staring at Shouta. Confident that the distance between them had not diminished by any major amount, Shouta risked taking his hand away from his nose. A decision he instantly regretted as the stench was still overpowering. Gagging, he took another couple of hasty steps backwards, only for his foot to catch on some of the remaining junk. Losing his footing, he was alarmed to find himself teetering on the edge of the river and quickly losing what little balance he had.
"Dammit!" he yelled in a break from his usual composure as gravity finally pulled him over the edge and towards the filthy water. Twisting around, he reflexively tried to raise his hands to catch himself. It would have been a futile gesture if not for the fact that his digivice was still clutched tightly in one hand. As he raised it in front of him, focusing entirely on how much he did not want to fall into that water, the screen lit up once again. This time, the glow was reflected not by Hex but by the water below him as the surface lit up and turned into a luminous portal. Before he could process this, he had fallen directly into the portal and disappeared.
"Shouta!" Hex shouted in a panic, hauling himself towards the water and hurling himself over the edge without hesitation. He quickly followed Shouta through the portal and vanished as well. A moment later, the light faded from the water and once again there was nothing but an isolated stretch of a murky, trash filled river.
[Exit to Digital World!]
[Final Word Count: 1931]
Shouta's skeptical question was not unreasonable. The Shibuya River was not exactly a tourist attraction and people generally tried to ignore it as much as possible unless they needed somewhere to dump their trash. Yet when he had happened to mention the river and its current state while explaining the various sites and features of Shibuya, it was this that had caught Hex's attention.
"This place is wonderful!" Hex called out as he wormed his way through a small pile of torn garbage bags that had piled up at the edge of the water by a relatively secluded curve of the river. "There are so many things here. And nobody will stop me from taking them," he cheered incredulously. Periodically, he would snatch some piece of scrap or garbage and press it into his own body, absorbing it into his shadowy form. Shouta twitched every time he did, only restraining himself from commenting because whatever process Hex's storage worked by was capable of completely absorbing the trash, ensuring that no foul scents or stains escaped.
"I might stop you if you try to take it back home," Shouta sighed under his breath from his position well back from the river and then quickly looked away as Hex picked up a discarded apple core that had long turned rotten and nibbled on it, suppressing his rising nausea. He had accepted that Hex's tastes were not particularly discriminating but this was a touch beyond the pale. "Must you do that? I can get you a more suitable standard of food at home... or in most compost bins for that matter," he pleaded.
"Oh yes, can we have more of that tempura you made yesterday?" Hex asked without missing a beat, even as he bit the rotten core in half, chewing noisily. While the digimon was aware of Shouta's discomfort, he could sense that it wasn't rising to unmanageable levels and was honestly just making the whole experience more pleasant for him, adding a satisfying backdrop for his empathic senses to the whole scenario.
"I believe there are some leftovers at home, yes, though I honestly question why I bother. Does eating garbage like that honestly taste good?" he demanded incredulously. Hex shrugged his scraggly arms dismissively before throwing the remains of the apple into his mouth.
"No, it tastes awful," he answered candidly before diving head first back into one of the garbage bags. Shouta stared at him blankly as he rooted through the garbage, humming cheerfully as he did. He finally managed to get his wits about him enough to open his mouth and question Hex further when the digimon suddenly shot upright, scattering trash around as he did so. "Something special is here. Something from the Digital World," he breathed hungrily.
"What? What sort of thing? And how would something from your world get here?" Shouta asked, taken aback as Hex took to the air and started flitting about in the air over the river, eyes scanning both banks frantically.
"I don't know exactly what it is but I can feel that it's here, the same way most digimon can sense each other's presence," Hex answered distractedly as he continued to search for the presence that was nagging at his senses. "Sometimes portals open between the worlds and let things or digimon pass over. It's not common but it does happen," he said before zeroing in on another pile of refuse not much farther down the river, this pile a little larger than his previous treasure trove.
With Hex flying straight at the pile of junk, Shouta was left with little choice but to hurry after him, glancing around to ensure there was nobody nearby who might take notice of the shadowy figure flying through the air. He came to a stop a short distance away from the pile, recognizing that it seemed to be a heap of electronic junk. Old circuit boards, broken monitors and one particularly large television with the screen and internal works ripped out leaning against one side of the pile. Most likely it had been dumped there by somebody who didn't want to go to the trouble of disposing of it properly. Hex didn't hesitate before worming his way into the pile, his insubstantial body easily slipping through gaps between the junk to reach the center.
"Shouta, come see this," Hex's muffled but still clearly excited voice called out from within the pile. Shouta approached a little closer and cast a dubious eye on the damp, dirty junk that made up the pile.
"Why don't you just bring it out here where I can see," he suggested as an alternative, only to be met with disappointment.
"I can't, it's too big to fit inside me," Hex said. "It's amazing, we have to take this with us," he declared assertively. Shouta doubted that there was anything around that he would want to take with them, especially after seeing the standards for what Shouta felt was worth collecting, but he couldn't just leave Hex struggling with whatever he had found underneath all of that junk. Reluctantly, he carefully rolled up the sleeves of his shirt and closed the remaining distance to the pile. After a moment's thought, he grabbed the edge of the broken television, keeping his arms extended and his body arched so that he didn't actually have to come any closer to it than was absolutely necessary. Planting his feet, he heaved back on the television. His stance didn't allow for the best leverage but as large as it was, the largely hollowed out television wasn't overly heavy. It only took a few moments for Shouta to pull it away, dislodging much of the rest of the pile and triggering a small avalanche of junk, which prompted Shouta to take a hasty jump backwards to keep clear.
As the remainder of the pile shifted, Hex sprang out of the space in the center, his prize clutched against his body with both arms. "Look, look! It's amazing!" he cheered, holding it up over his head while Shouta carefully extracted a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his hands clean.
"It's...," he began, trying to figure out exactly what it was that Hex was holding. Roughly egg-shaped and large enough that he would likely want to carry it with two hands, if he was going to hold it at all. It was primarily a bluish-grey color and though it seemed solid, its surface had been carved to resemble a semi-gelatinous texture. A number of cables emerged from its surface close to its base and an irregular metal plate was attached to one side with a symbol Shouta didn't recognize carved onto it. "What is it?" he finally gave in and asked somewhat irritably. He didn't see what was so special about what appeared to be some bizarre decoration.
"It's a Digimental," Hex explained eagerly, unfazed by Shouta's dour attitude. "You can use it to make me digivolve to a higher level. Temporarily, at least," he elaborated as he turned the Digimental over and looked at the symbol on the front. "I think this symbol means perseverance? That's fitting for us, right?" he asked, again proffering the Digimental to Shouta. While Shouta's first impulse was to draw away, he had to admit to being intrigued by Hex's explanation. Maybe not enough to actually touch something that had been pulled from a literal garbage heap but enough to take a closer look at it.
"Okay, and how exactly am I supposed to do that?" he asked as he examined the item. Recalling the other item that Hex claimed was connected to his supposed ability to help the digimon grow, he pulled his digivice from his pocket. "Is this supposed to do-" he began to ask, only to get cut off as the digivice's screen suddenly lit up with a bright light, a light that was quickly imitated by the Digimental and then by Hex as well,
"Eyesmon armor digivolve to..." Hex began to call out jubilantly as he grew... and grew... and grew. Shouta quickly retreated as Hex grew far beyond his expectations, continuing to expand until he dwarfed Shouta and had a bulky, quadrupedal body. "Raremon!" the newly digivolved armor digimon announced himself proudly as the light faded.
Shouta's first impression of Hex's new form was much less ideal. Composed primarily of what seemed to be rotten, almost liquid flesh and adorned by haphazard cables and metal plates, Raremon was not anybody's idea of attractive. "So this is your ChampiooOH MY GOD!" he suddenly cried in alarm as he reeled back, clapping both hands over his mouth. As unattractive as Raremon looked, his smell was much, much worse. Shouta had thought he had experienced some unpleasant odors during his mother's depression, when she had allowed the house to deteriorate and sink into squalor. This, however, was so foul an odor that he doubted his mother could have created such a mess if she tried. Not without getting her hands on multiple rotting corpses anyway.
"This isn't my natural champion level," Hex answered the aborted question in his now raspy voice, unperturbed by Shouta's disgusted reaction. Indeed, if this new form provoked the same emotions in everybody who faced it, Hex would just enjoy it all the more. "The Digimental has temporarily raised me to a higher level but I don't think it's as strong as a real champion," he explained. He started to take a lumbering step towards Shouta, dragging the rest of his body along the ground behind him, only for Shouta to retreat even faster.
"Stop!" he shouted, his voice nasally from having his nose blocked. "Don't...don't come any closer. Just stay where you are for the moment," he continued, struggling to keep his tone of voice level while also trying not to breathe any more than was absolutely necessary. Fortunately, Hex took the message and came to a stop, staring at Shouta. Confident that the distance between them had not diminished by any major amount, Shouta risked taking his hand away from his nose. A decision he instantly regretted as the stench was still overpowering. Gagging, he took another couple of hasty steps backwards, only for his foot to catch on some of the remaining junk. Losing his footing, he was alarmed to find himself teetering on the edge of the river and quickly losing what little balance he had.
"Dammit!" he yelled in a break from his usual composure as gravity finally pulled him over the edge and towards the filthy water. Twisting around, he reflexively tried to raise his hands to catch himself. It would have been a futile gesture if not for the fact that his digivice was still clutched tightly in one hand. As he raised it in front of him, focusing entirely on how much he did not want to fall into that water, the screen lit up once again. This time, the glow was reflected not by Hex but by the water below him as the surface lit up and turned into a luminous portal. Before he could process this, he had fallen directly into the portal and disappeared.
"Shouta!" Hex shouted in a panic, hauling himself towards the water and hurling himself over the edge without hesitation. He quickly followed Shouta through the portal and vanished as well. A moment later, the light faded from the water and once again there was nothing but an isolated stretch of a murky, trash filled river.
[Exit to Digital World!]
[Final Word Count: 1931]
