Digital Survival Matrix - We Exist to Serve Your Purpose (Digimon IC)

[Vrock_Summoner]

Eventually all of you with injuries are healed by the Dew - Sen’s hurt leg, Ariko’s burns, and the leftover damage Babydmon had from the DarkTyrannomon fight, plus the Geckomon’s rather more severe injuries. However, while the holes in their bodies have closed, they’re still very weak, and remain unconscious. You consider trying more Holy Dew, but just then, the clouds cover up the full moon in the sky, and as suddenly as it appeared, the Dew instantly dries up.

So you all make your way back to the cave to finish up the sleep you’d been interrupted from. Physically, you’re doing better than when the night started. Mentally, you’ve taken a toll from your first experiences with death in this world (or at all, in Ariko and Yoshii’s case). Still, no amount of horror can beat the unrelenting exhaustion, so you all fall asleep fairly quickly... even if Yoshii possibly continues to cry in his sleep.

And so, you awaken to face the sun in the morning...

Tyrannomon yawns and stretches as he awakens, nearly sending a tremor through the whole cave in the process. He smiles down at the rest of you. “Good morning, Children!” his voice booms. Then he notices the Geckomon and furrows his brow. “Oh, were we not alone in this cave...?”

The Geckomon, in turn, grumble and groan when Tyrannomon’s booming voice awakens them. However, it’s only a moment before they stop, and a shocked look dawns on them. The touch their webbed hands to their faces and necks and start looking at their torsos for signs of injury.

“We’re... alive...!” One of them begins quietly.

The other looks up at Sen and Ariko with a big grin. “Yes! She saved us! We will pledge our service to you, mistress! As long as you help us stay safe, we’ll do whatever you need...! We can carry your stuff, and give you massages, and do labor, and forage for food for you! ... Well, not enough food for a group this size, but, we can help!”

The first one perks up again. “We could sing ya a beauuutiful song!”

Their voices are so croaky and gross, you’re pretty sure you don’t want to hear them sing.

[Elfbird]

Sen takes a few extra moments to stir, using her Moonmon bodypillow to hide her morning-face inside her hood. The frogs' voices, unpalatable as they are, bring a smirk to her face. Finally, some minions who want to make themselves useful.

She mentally puts on her mask, flexes her muscles to prepare them without actually stretching out, then rises with the grace befitting this world's newest goddess.

She claps her hands twice for attention. "Rise and shine, Chosen Children! Up and at 'em, digital monsters! Today's the first day of the rest of our lives, and we're gonna start it off right! Out there's a great big world, where meat grows on rocks and wizards conjure seafood udon! Where evil witches terrorize the populace, and we're just the heroes to save 'em! At Gate Castle... our destiny's waiting! So shake off those cobwebs, stretch those muscles, and let's hit the road! Today's lesson, tubafrogs, is fast food! Show us what food's a hit or a miss! Moonmon here can help you out! Now give us those sweet tunes!"

Sen just says whatever comes to mind, flashing back to her gang at home. She steels herself for whatever cacophony the frogs will inflict on her - they may be weak, and gross, and a source of more headaches than even the meathead or crybaby, but they're hers. Rude and broken and perfect.

She leads the way out into the morning sun, knowing full well the effect it'll have against her glossy black hair. The smile may be for show, but it'll take a lot to shake it today.

---

Nyaromon lets out an enormous yawn, demonstrating *just* how far her mouth opens for Yoshii to inspect. Very closely. She's rather proud of it.
She snuggles his warm body, half-listening to Kuroshi's speech and half taking the time for a few extra winks. When the other Chosen Child is done, she bounces to life and hops circles around Yoshii until he gets up.

"That was so cool! Master Yoshii, Master Yoshii, you do a speech too! It'll be awesome! Between you and Kuroshi, we'll be so inspired that we can digivolve right to Ultimate at the first sign of trouble! C'monc'mon pleeeeeeeeease!"

For the last part, she stops bouncing and stares straight into Yoshii's eyes with her big, round, cute, demanding pleading fluffball eyes. Her tail wiggles back and forth, barely containing her enthusiasm.

[aturtledoesbite]

Gigimon wakes up to a brand new day! As per usual for it, it's practically forgotten basically all of the bad memories it didn't want from yesterday. Which explains why it has no problem with Sen despite anything that happened yesterday.

"Yeah, let's go save the digital world! And also find my human!"

It bounces around the group like a living balloon, its little wing-ears trying very hard to flap and give just that extra tiny bit of lift.

[Volthawk]

Listening to the Geckomon's babbling, Babydmon felt a mixture of emotions. For one thing, it felt right to some degree to have subordinates like them - a natural progression of this power and destiny arrangement in his eyes. In another way, though, he felt wary about who they were pledging their loyalty to - she did not have a good track record, and he felt obligated to look out for his lessers, even if it is...them. Above all, however, he felt a sense of wounded pride as he listened to the pair give Sen all the credit. It was a reasonable assumption for them to make, but one that he could not let stand. Mostly disregarding Sen's speech, he heads over to the Geckomon.

"You are mistaken. It was I who dispatched Mikemon in the end, and absorbed his data. However, your loyalty will also suffice for me."

-----

Eiji takes a little longer to wake up properly, only really getting up when Sen starts with her speech - he appreciated not having any weird situations with her this time. He waves over at the Geckomon, seeming to be in a pretty good mood this morning - or at the least, nothing has happened to make things worse so far, not even Sen assuming she's in charge. So far, she was talking sense, and he didn't feel like getting into a fight on an empty stomach anyway.

"Hey! Good to see you little guys are all good! You don't need to be some kind of servant, but if you want to help and need our help then come with us, no problem!"

[fibericon]

This thing...

Yoshii forces a smile and puts a finger to his lips.

"I'll tell you a secret. If you do multiple speeches in a row, they lose their punch. Better to save it for later."

-----

"You have my help! Just point me!"

Kokomon's bouncing seems to be as much a part of it as its face.

[Vrock_Summoner]

Tyrannomon seems positively tickled about your group’s newfound friendship with the Gekomon. “Oh, this is delightful. You’ll have help after all! I feel much better about departing now. In that case...” He looks thoughtful for a moment, then finds a small-ish rock on the ground and picks it up. Without warning and in a quick burst of light and heat, he blows some fire on it from his mouth, seeming not to faze his own hand in the process. Then, as carefully as he can manage with his giant claws, he begins to quickly etch something into the nearly-melted side of the stone. Once he’s done, he starts to hand it off to Ariko, but stops himself.

“Oh, right. Humans and... temperature. One moment.” He offers it over to the Gekomon. “Can you cool this off for me?”

“Er... Sure thing, big guy,” one responds, slightly intimidated. “Water Wave!” A small gout of water bursts forth from its mouth and lands on the rock in Tyrannomon’s hand, causing a burst of steam to rise off it. A few seconds later, Tyrannomon smiles, satisfied.

“Alright, that should do the trick. Here you go.” He hands off his craftwork to Ariko, and now it’s only almost hot enough to leave her hand with burns. On it is a little stick figure drawing, with four little people, five littler circles with eyes and smiles, and one big proportion-exaggerated dinosaur (complete with little teeth!). It looks like a little kid drew it, but given what he had to work with, it’s appreciable just that you can tell what it is.

“This is our friendship rock! So no matter the distance between us, we’ll always be connected! We’ll meet again someday, I’m just sure of it. And then I’ll be the one doing something really heroic to save you! How does that sound, my friends?” He offers a big, toothy smile, which startles the Gekomon again.

[Syless]

Ariko is the last one to wake up- she'd gotten a bit less sleep, having fought off the memories of the night's events by fiddling with Sen and... Kei's? Digivices. Sen's was similar, with just a few minor differences- she guessed it really *was* tailored to the owner. Kei's, however, was... different. Half-dead. I guess it made sense, if it couldn't bond with its owner. Maybe she could do something with it eventually...? Poor Kei. Poor Gigimon.

She takes Tyrannomon's rock with care, smiling. It's a bit heavy, but... "Thank you, Tyrannomon. I'll treasure it, and take care of it until we meet again. Be safe, okay? I... don't want to have to fight you again."

---

Moonmon wakes up once Sen stops using them as a pillow. It's action time! They bounce out of the cave alongside Sen. "Yeah! Master Kuroshi, let's go! Geckomons, let's also go! We have lots of work to do!" They look over at Dracomon. "C'mon, Master Kuroshi has to be the leader! You can fight good and all, but look how commanding Master is!"

[Volthawk]

Eiji grins as Tyrannomon makes his goodbyes, getting up and offering him his hand.
"Alright! We'll remember you, and I'm looking forward to that day! I still haven't fought by your side, after all."

----------

Babydmon snorts, giving Moonmon a dismissive look. "There is more to leadership than what you may find commanding, and she has not proven herself worthy yet. If she is as good as you think she is, she shall prove herself soon enough."

[Vrock_Summoner]

Tyrannomon waves his final goodbyes as he sets out into the morning. You turn to the issue of how much food you have leftover from last night. It’s not much, and not nearly as fresh... but it helps get you moving. Next stop: Gate Castle!

As you move along, you spot the Geckomon moving ahead and off the path deftly, foraging for food while trying to slow the group’s progress as little as possible. The only ones who didn’t forage and thus formed the “core guard” of the party were Eiji, Kuroshi, and Kokomon, who stayed in a central position to organize and be able to be close to anyone who encounters a crisis (since they lacked the skills to forage themselves). Eventually most of the party has fanned out to explore their possibilities in the forest.

Getting fruit down from high treetops is almost impossible, and while you find a few berry bushes to harvest, the bulk of that food is minimal. Yoshii and Ariko have some knowledge of survival strategies, but it becomes immediately apparent that your usual understanding of what’s edible and how to acquire it needs to be adapted for this radically different environment. Your food returns are negligible.

The Digimon fare much better. Babydmon has been doing this his whole life and is used to gathering enough food for two mouths to cover for Gigimon’s unreliable performance. The Geckomon collectively manage to feed themselves despite one of them having an off day. But nobody’s performance matches that of Moonmon and Nyaromon, who make up for their inexperience with survivalism (due to Wizardmon caring for them before) with sheer magnitude of enthusiasm. Moonmon gathers edible barks, grasses, and root vegetables with dizzying speed, while Nyaromon appears to fly up a tree by sheer force of will to acquire hard-to-reach dark purple fruits and strangely thick, juicy leaves. It doesn’t exactly look like food to the kids, but they certainly got a lot.

Still, by the time hunger and exhaustion force you to stop and take stock for a meal in the mid afternoon, it’s clear you don’t quite have enough to fill everyone’s bellies. A brief discussion ensues over if somebody should go hungry, but Kuroshi quickly asserts that everyone should take a small sacrifice so everybody has at least some strength, and this was considered agreeable to the rest of the group. Though the resolution was amicable, you can all feel how hollow your stomachs still are by the time the food is gone. The immediate pain of hunger is gone, but you know you can’t sustain the amount of effort it took to get this far on such low rations for long.

Also not helping is the composition of the food, especially that harvested by Moonmon. One of the most pleasant things, surprisingly, was the bark, which had the flavor of chocolate, though still the texture and toughness of tree bark and so it felt rough and unpleasant to eat. Next up we’re what Nyaromon called “leaf patties,” which had a tactile experience very much like eating a slice of ham, but still... tasted like leaves. The purple fruit from the same tree was Nyaromon’s most exciting entry, what she called “nomel” fruit. She instructs you to squeeze the juice onto the grasses and root vegetables Moonmon got and then eat the flesh. If squeezed well, the fruit ends up tasting and feeling sort of like a blander version of an apple, which is a nice return to normalcy. If traces of juice remain, however, the apple relation is immediately overshadowed by how incredibly acidic and sour the juice is. It is not a pleasant foreshadowing of what it would do to the already-least-appetizing-looking elements of the meal. You take a cautious bite into the grass, and... it takes a lot of willpower not to immediately spit out. What the heck? It’s like somebody put sugar instead of salt on a potato chip, and then threw the sourest thing you can imagine on top of that. It’s absolutely nauseating, and takes several minutes to forcefully choke down. The root vegetables are actually the most normal part of the meal; the stuff that looks like carrots kind of tastes like carrots, the stuff that looks like turnips kind of tastes like turnips, and the potatoes... well, most modern folks aren’t really aware of the flavor of wild potatoes, but you could imagine it being like this. Of course, none of these foods go particularly well with the harsh sourness of the nomel juice. Then, finally, you turn to the berries Babydmon gathered, which he assures are extremely filling and nutritious. You go in to eat them... and it’s like eating rocks, both in flavor and in how hard they are. Babydmon and Gigimon casually break them with their teeth while the rest of you resort to swallowing them whole, with Ariko nearly choking as a result.

With how long dividing and eating the food took, it’s now further in the afternoon... you debate making camp, but ultimately determine that there doesn’t appear to be anywhere to shelter in the immediate vicinity and that you should make more progress while there’s still light.

You see an abrupt edge to the forest up ahead. As you clear the edge of the boundary, you find yourself on a rocky cliffside, a few dozen meters from the edge of the cliffs. Two strange things immediately jump out at you. First, the ground is dotted with little hooded outcroppings made of loose stones and packed dirt sealed in place by a hard gold-ish substance, covering over holes about the size of your partners in their current forms. It's apparent to the reptiles in the party what the intended function of the structures is - they're burrowing holes, and the hoods are there to keep rainfall from pouring straight into the hole. This isn't the sign of an individual wandering burrower - you can guess that there's a whole village using this cliff as shelter and possibly digging up and eating ore as a source of sustenance.

The second thing you notice is the sound of clanging, roaring, and high-pitched screaming coming from over the edge of the cliff. Those of you not too timid to approach the cliff's edge peek your heads out to look down and see what the commotion is, noticing a lower level platform jutting out of the cliff face and connecting to a path leading down lower on the cliff, and see two black-armored beasts clashing with their horns, thus explaining the clanging and roaring you heard earlier. The screaming, then, is from the floppy-eared grey blobs bouncing towards more hooded holes in the side of the cliff, which you can guess connect to the ones you're currently standing next to. Some of them aren't running, though - a couple of the exceptionally brave (or perhaps stupid) ones fire purplish bubbles at one of the clashing monsters. It doesn't seem to notice.

One of you pulls out your Digivice and runs a scan on the two Digimon species you see.

Spoiler: Monochromon

Show

Type: Dinosaur
Attribute: Data
Family: Nature Spirits
A heavily armored beast who can unleash flames capable of melting rock. Their hide is not truly metal, but develops a black metallic sheen from sleeping in lava beds and letting it harden into glass in the pores of their skin before breaking out in the morning. This speaks to their near-invincibility and incredible strength, which they get to use often, as they're usually aggressively territorial.

Spoiler: Pagumon

Show

Type: Lesser
Attribute: Free
Family: Nightmare Soldiers
Pagumon are known for being tricksters, inclined towards chaos and painful pranks, and their villages are often rife with infighting. However, they're more rough and mischievous than malicious. Nonetheless, most other Digimon are wary around their sharp teeth and poisonous bubbles; their cute appearance has lost any evolutionary advantage in catching foes off guard due to their widespread reputation.

What do you do?

[fibericon]

Yoshii is... moving. It's all he can do to ignore the pangs of hunger. He understands the basics of survival in his own world, but the rules aren't the same here. He could barely contribute. Sure, he did better than some others, but that's not how he grades himself. Using a curve is fundamentally flawed. Great job, Yoshii! Yeah, you're hungry, but don't you feel better about yourself for outperforming others? No, not really. That doesn't make him less hungry.

He can't even bring himself to complain about the quality of the food. If you want better, do better. This result is already better than he deserved. And communism simply isn't sustainable long term. There's too much dead weight in this group. Every human is dead weight in this group. Even nomadic peoples aren't constantly on the move. Humans do poorly at this form of survival - they're meant to settle.

He's supposed to be smarter.

He keeps telling himself he's smarter than this.

So be smarter.

As he goes to the edge of the cliff and watches the fight. He thinks for a moment as he stares quietly at the fight. He turns back to face the group. Something is changing in him, and not necessarily for the better.

"This fight isn't our problem, but we can take advantage of it. We can't keep going on our foraging skills alone. We need to wait until the fight is nearly decided. Digimon don't leave corpses, but Sen has proven that you can harvest meat from a living digimon. Let's get down there, before one of them dies and disappears."

---

Kokomon bounces along happily, following its child, and frequently getting in his way. Food is easy to come by, but the children don't seem to get it. No, no, don't eat that. Wait, don't throw that away! What are you doing? No, that's not how you do this. You children are silly.

There isn't much, but that's fine. They'll figure it out. They're used to weird food, so they don't know any better. But they're smart and strong and the best at everything so it'll all work out.

[Elfbird]

Sen might be the only human who actually starts to relax over the course of the day. She's getting respect, making progress, and the food is actually pretty good. The leaf patties are pleasantly sweet and chewy, the nomel flesh and root vegetables are bland enough to be unoffensive, and the nomel juice is amazingly savory - better than a ramen cup full of MSG. it even covers up the weird bitterness in the grass.
Really, the meal is so sparse that it leaves her stomach aching for more, but it puts her in a good enough mood to spare some praise for her Geckomon and Moonmon.

As the hours of mindless walking pass by, the reality - heh, reality - of her situation begins to... settle. Her concept of the two worlds begins to merge in her mind, and without quite realizing the shift, it doesn't seem so different to be hiking here with a bunch of digimon, or at summer camp with a bunch of kids, or down the heat-hazy streets with her gang. Though, in the last case it'd be a lot easier to get cheap ramen and canned coffee...

More and more, they're all becoming hers.

. . .

The scene at the cliff shakes her confidence. Creatures she knows nothing about, who could break her bones with a twitch, and somehow she needs to get her people through this in one piece. They have families who actually care.
She has Kazue.

Yoshii's words strike a chord, though she needs to be a lot flashier than his plan to keep her leadership status. So long as she acts before Meathead...

Look out for your own.

Take every advantage.

Sacrifices have to be made,

So make them in your favor.

"Yucca. Moonmon, c'mon! Time to do somethin' crawfish stupid!"

Acting swiftly and deliberately, every motion full of bravado - to mask her fear, never stopping long enough to quiver or hesitate - Sen pushes back her hood (the sweat on her hair sparkling in the dying sun), picks up Moonmon and puts her in the hood, walks to the cliff face, and flips herself down.
Hanging from the ledge with one hand, barely balancing with her toes, she plunges a dagger into the soil to use as a handhold. Lowers herself on that, and repeats with the other hand. Pull, skid, flex, stab. Pull, skid, flex, stab. Again, again, again. Her mind goes blank with the repetitive effort.

Then, her feet touch solid ground.

She allows herself just a moment to catch her breath and size up the situation. Picking the most likely target for her plan, she starts moving around the perimeter of the platform to get behind one of the obsidosaurs, minimizing her presence in the way that lets her sneak through a room or out a convenience store in plain view.

The monsters' armor gives better footholds than the cliff, and she vaults up onto its back without much effort. She crawls up to get her head behind the frill as much as possible, in case of fireball, and lets Moonmon slide out of her hood for the same benefit. She throws her voice into the darkness of the frill, using the enclosed space to make her words reverberate inside its skull and pierce the battle-haze.

"Hey, Krispy! Listen up! You wanna win? Then follow my orders! You've got a warrior-spirit on your side! Now! Slide its horn to the left, step in, snap at the throat! Make it move to the edge! Mashing faces together is for lovers and losers! Like that! Keep goin'! When it's time, lean in and... psych! Body slam off the edge!"

Sen continues calling encouragement and directions, as best she can with her head kept down, and holding on for dear life with Moonmon braced in the crook of her elbow. If either of them fall like this, they're screwed. If they live, they've got a walking tankosaur to watch over them, if only for the night. The thought of messing with real dinosaurs fills her with a childlike glee that keeps her energized behind the desperation and serious facade.

[Volthawk]

Eiji can't help but be a little annoyed at the food situation, given he's not exactly a small child and his usual hearty appetite. This isn't annoyance at the others, who were doing more to help than him, but more at the universe in general, which would make this stuff for them to eat. All in all, this whole adventure had been pretty okay for Eiji so far, but if this was what he has to get used to when it comes to food, he is not looking forward to the future.

Some people would call Eiji an idiot who just punches things. That isn't quite accurate - he does know about other options, but he also puts a lot of faith in his strength, and sees it as the best way he has of solving problems in many situations. So here, seeing a bunch of big strong guys causing trouble for more of the little guys, Eiji naturally jumps to the usual solution - punching something. After all, it worked with Tyrannomon.

Already pumped up, the matter of gravity, and specifically how painful it can be, doesn't really cross his mind as he leaps down at one of the Monochromon, making his entrance known with an attack.
-----
Of the members of the party, Babydmon was one of the ones least concerned about the food situation. Being hungry wasn't an unusual situation for him, and he lamented the inability of the humans and other digimon to eat the berries - how did they survive, with such weak jaws? Nonetheless, it wasn't something he enjoyed, so he resolved to do better next time.

Looking at the scene below, and some of the humans rushing in, Babydmon sighs. They really had no idea how things worked here. Taking on a pair of battling Champions and trying to help a bunch of Pagumon, of all people...foolishness. Then again, they had done well doing foolish things already, so perhaps this was another one. Yoshii's suggestion surprised him - he didn't think any of them would think like that, even if it was a smart way of doing things. Staying where he is for now, he looks to Ariko, interested to see how she reacts to this situation.

[Syless]

Ariko is a bit uncomfortable with the actions of her friends... eating them alive? Attacking them directly? Sen is being the least unreasonable, but even she's encouraging the fight... There has to be a way to settle this. She pulls out her digivice and scans the creature she sees, reading the entries. Near-invincibility...? It might not stop the fight, but she could move it away from the Pagumon. She turns to Babydramon.

"Can you get to the Pagumon? Get them to concentrate their bubbles on the ground underneath the Monochromon once Eiji and Sen and Moonmon are out of the way? We might be able to cause a landslide, and the two of them will fall... if they're as strong as they seem to be, their armor should absorb most of the impact. If you can help weaken the ground too, do so... I'll see if I can do that thing from yesterday. That... digi-evolving thing."

Whether or not Babydramon follows instruction, she shouts down at Eiji and Sen. "Please move! It's not safe there, I think we can get them away from here!"

---

This is exciting! Miss Kuroshi is carrying Moonmon around, and being a boss! How can Moonmon help her... "Miss Kuroshi, Miss Kuroshi! Should I shoot at the one you don't want to help? Or go over there and do a confusing dance? I can do all sorts of things, just trust me!"

[Volthawk]

Once Ariko explains her plan, Babydmon nods. "Very well. Do it now, so I may reach there safely."

Using Dracomon's wings to ease his fall and land properly, he turns to face the Pagumon."Listen! If you want to succeed here, do what I say. Focus your fire on the ground beneath the Monochromon - send them down below and make yourselves safe! Teach them a lesson."

[fibericon]

Yoshii watches his friends very literally leap into battle and blinks.

What.

He shakes his head and starts carefully climbing down.

[Vrock_Summoner]

All of your plans are executed perfectly and come together.

All of them at once.

First Eiji lands harshly, rolling into the fall on the platform to minimize how hurt he gets. Then he lunges up, beginning to swing at the Monochromon to minimal damaging effect, though it clearly notices.

Almost immediately afterwards, Sen and Dracomon come down together - Dracomon having started to come after Sen, but landing faster since he jumped instead of climbing - and he bellows his command to the Pagumon crowded within their den, as Sen sneaks around to the back of the Monochromon Eiji hasn't directed punches at.

The Pagumon rapidly begin to debate amongst themselves, but it's short-lived - Dracomon's forceful order was agreeable to the vast majority of the Pagumon. Even as they amassed towards the entrances of their burrows to enact it, however, one of them charged in front, trying to cut the rest off.

"Wait! Our friend is there! We can't risk hurting him just to-"

"Shut it, Creep!" The head of the crowd lashed back. "He'll survive the fall, but we might not survive their fight! This plan is good; let's not turn away smart help!"

"But he's out there to protect us, we can't just-"

The mob hisses aggressively and shoves forward, pushing Creep out of one of the holes onto the platform as the rest amass at the exits of their burrows. The crowdhead viciously retorts, "If you're so desperate not to leave him, go die for him! The rest of us would rather beg forgiveness than die waiting for permission!" Then they began to follow the plan - shooting a huge wave of purple, sludge-ish bubbles into the platform, turning the dirt and rock into miasmic mud, which begins to slide in response to the weight of the Monochromon...

By this point, Sen is on her Monochromon's back, directing its strategy to shove the second Monochromon over the edge. Together with Eiji's fist, her Monochromon's horn wheedles at the other's defenses, inching it back bit by bit towards the edge. Near the edge, the enemy Monochromon buckles down and rams forward at full strength, preventing any further clever efforts to work past its guard and reducing this to a direct battle of might... However, it can't properly dig its feet into the mud that it hadn't even noticed seeping under it! Sen's Monochromon successfully forces its foe's back legs off the edge of the cliff, leaving it clinging desperately to the sliding ground, as the whole edge of the platform slopes down, no longer solid enough to support the weight of the two Monochromon.

Sen's Monochromon seems about ready to back off and let nature take its course, when suddenly the dangling beast is engulfed in a scorching blaze! It raises up its horn and the flames focus around it, shining brightly, and, within its final burst before it would lose its grip, it slams its horn down on the ground, shattering half of the softened platform outright. With the solid rock falling out from under it, Sen's Monochromon is left frantically slipping on the beginnings of a mudslide under its feet, rapidly beginning to hitch straight down the cliff face...!

Eiji manages to stumble back to a position where the mud is buoyed by solid earth, though he can't help notice how nauseating the mud has become, caked as it is in biological toxins. As he watches, both Monochromon fall down the side of the cliff, while Sen swiftly flings herself and Moonmon off the back of the Monochromon she'd been riding. At the same time, he sees out of the corner of his eye that one of the Pagumon, who had been ejected from the burrows the rest were staying in, was also sliding out into the mud.

Sen seems to land on a patch of solid ground, having propelled herself an entirely reasonable distance to reach a spot that looks safe... but the rocks give out from beneath both her and the Pagumon, and they begin to fall into the mudslide as well.

Eiji is the only one close enough and long-limbed enough to reach them. (Sorry, Dracomon.) But he'll be putting himself in harm's way to make the attempt - he could succeed in saving Sen and perhaps even the small Digimon, but he could also just go over the edge with them. And if that happens... well, on the bright side, you doubt you'd have to figure out a warm place to sleep tonight...

[Volthawk]

When the platform starts crumbling, Eiji doesn't really think much, just acts. Sen and Moonmon were his people now in his mind, and when he sees that he can help them, he gets moving to grab them and the Pagumon. For a moment, it looks like he's going to succeed, grabbing a hold of Sen's arm, but then the ground he was standing on moves a little, and that's all that is needed to tip the balance and send him down with the lot of them.

That wasn't what he thought would happen. This wasn't it at all.

[aturtledoesbite]

As Sen, Moonmon, Eiji, and Pagumon tumble over the cliff's edge, they're buffeted by the wind, and all four parties instinctively cling to one another. With the platform having jutted out from the face of the cliff and the rest being almost directly vertical, you aren't tumbling along the side of it - you're in freefall. You look to the side, out past the eastern edge of the cliff, drinking in what might be the last sunset you ever see, peeking out from where the cliff curves away from view. Without any other options left, you find yourselves just... making wishes. Wishing on the Sun, on your Digivice, on your parents, on your siblings, on your Digimon partners, something, anything to save you. You're not ready to die, you want to go home...!

Then the blur of a dark silhouette cuts off the Sun for just a moment, and the next thing you know the crack of a sonic boom has deafened and dazed you and a concussive force to your torsos has knocked the wind out of you. Moonmon just manages to ball herself up within Sen's hood and Pagumon has wrapped its ears around Eiji's arm as the two of you regain your senses to notice that you aren't falling anymore... You're being held tightly in the claws of a giant, black bird monster! And being carried away from the party, fast!

Spoiler: Saberdramon

Show

"I can't believe it! Two Chosen, right in my path! LadyDevimon's gonna praise me so much for capturing them!" It's right about now that he realizes that said captures can hear him. "I-I mean, you puny mortals! I am the great Saberdramon, one of LadyDevimon's mighty generals! Your lives now belong to us!"

[Elfbird]

It's a while before Sen has thoughts again. She merely feels and reacts.

The lurching ground-- a leap toward safety.

Eiji's grip-- an instinct to latch on.

Falling, falling-- hollowness, Kazue.

Kazue...!

Having the breath blown out of her, grasping pressure-- she thrashes against the restraint.

When her captor's words sink in, and her situation stops changing at lightning-speed, a desperate instinct-fueled plan begins to form.

She keeps thrashing, keeps up the ruse, but it's more deliberate now. She flails her arms uselessly against the massive talons ensnaring her, retrieving a knife in each hand and loosening herself in her hoodie.

She tries to make eye contact with Eiji to deliver a meaningful glare and push a knife's handle into his hand.

She wriggles herself as far out of her hoodie as she can while leaving her shoulders mobile, and tries to twist herself to face upward without the grilled chicken noticing - she's a little thinner than she is wide, and the talons seem broader than they are long. Every bit of wiggle room matters.

"Moonmon, hold on."

When the moment's right, Sen slams her knife into the grilled chicken's foot with all her might. If the claw opens all the way, she'll grab on and climb on top, then work her way up the burnt nugget until it falls or obeys. If there's only a little slack, from surprise or a damaged tendon, she'll slip out of her hoodie and take her chances with the trees below. Better to die free than be helpless.

Nobody said it was a good plan.

[Volthawk]

This was definitely not what he expected.

Hanging in the claws of this new bad guy, Eiji's first reaction is helping Pagumon, using his free arms to guide it up to somewhere it won't fall or get in the way of his arms. The knife from Sen was a surprise, but he quickly picks up on the beginnings of the plan, jamming the knife into the claw holding him. When it gets the response Eiji wanted, he scrambles to climb up the claw rather than fall and takes a moment to look back at Sen, who seemed to still be having issues.

[Vrock_Summoner]

This airborne battle rages on for only a brief time, as Eiji is thrown from Saberdramon's back. Sen is almost carried off, but uses the light of her Digivice to briefly drive the darkness from the talons holding her, causing her to plummet as well; and when Saberdramon flies down to recapture his target, he is confounded by Sen slipping out of her hoodie at the last second, thus ultimately claiming it as his only trophy before being driven off by Dracomon's flaming bombardment.

Spoiler: Eiji, Sen, & Lunamon

Show

This did nothing to help the two falling kids, however. Each of you positioned yourselves to break the fall for your Digimon companion (whether intentionally or simply out of emotional response) and crashed down into the canopy below...

Sen barely hit anything, snapping a couple of thin branches in her path with minimal slowing before crashing hard into a small stream, her speed punching through the shallow water and smacking back-first into the bed of the water. Lunamon is also rattled nearly to unconsciousness by this, but Sen shielded them from the worst of the fall... However, they no sooner notice this than realize that Sen is no longer moving and, on a second glance, there's a cloud of red spreading through the water...

Lunamon finds themself with the strength to remain in their Rookie form, since they didn't fight very extensively. This is good, because otherwise they wouldn't be able to save their partner here. With all the muscle they can muster, they drag Sen ashore, checking if Sen is still alive... And she is! Once removed from the stream, she coughs up some water and then starts breathing more or less normally again. Her head seems to be bleeding, though. That's not good.

Also not good is that Eiji isn't around... The kids didn't fall too far apart, so he should be close by. But there won't be light for very much longer... if they're going to find him, Lunamon needs to search now. Thankfully, it's not too hard - Eiji had crashed into much denser foliage not thirty feet away, clutching a passed out Pagumon to his chest, and was actually somewhat less hurt than Sen, though still unconscious. It's not too hard to drag the two of them together, but by the time it's done, the sun has officially disappeared from the horizon, and Lunamon knows their light and energy are both growing scarcer by the minute.


You have to find a way to start a fire, or Sen might freeze... What do you do?

Spoiler: Ariko and Yoshii + partners

Show

The two of you manage to get down to the platform just fine with Dracomon's help, before the dragon Digimon degenerates back into an exhausted Babydmon. The sun is nearly set by now... You're both very worried about your friends, but before you can immediately throw yourself into trying to find them with your Digivice locators, you are propositioned by the Pagumon.

"Please wait!" They proclaim. "It's not a good idea to try and navigate the path down the mountain at night, with a tired group no less. And... and we don't feel very safe, with our protector gone and such strong monsters roaming about. Please, let us show you our gratitude for your heroic efforts by staying with us tonight! We'll feed you, and it's warm inside, and... and your friends will surely be as fine in the morning as if you went and found them two hours from now! Please stay!" It's not a very verbally persuasive speech, but it's definitely heartfelt.

[Elfbird]

Nyaromon bounces up and down as she recaps the fight for everyone!

"That was sooooo coooool! Master Yoshii gave the signal, all suave and cool-like, and Mr. Eiji and Ms. Sen were all 'leap into battle rawr!' They're so strong that they don't even need their partners to take on rampaging Monochromon! Bish, pow, bang! They beat the baddies toward the edge... and then... Ms. Ariko instantly organizes the Pagumon Artillery and blows the cliff apart! Of course, Master Yoshii knew what would happen, and timed it just right for Saberdramon to catch Mr. Eiji and Ms. Sen! But...! Saberdramon had been corrupted by LadyDevimon's wicked powers! The two struggled and shattered Saberdramon's vicelike grip, and nearly defeated him before he fled crying in pain and horror! And then Mr. Eiji and Ms. Sen... And then... and... then..."

The feline blob stops bouncing. She turns to Yoshii, enormous eyes brimming with tears.

"And then... Master Yoshii... P-please... please tell me. Everything's going to be okay, right? The... the Chosen Children are fine, right? We'll find them tomorrow and they'll tell us all about their adventures and we'll laugh and eat a real dinner and and and you have to save them Master you're the only one who can! N-n-nyaa-uwaaaaaah!"

She buries her face in Yoshii's legs, clearly hoping for further comfort but not daring to ask for it.

---

Spoiler: Adrift in Your Arms

Show

"Owowowowie! B-Big shish, I got a boo-boo..."

"Come here, let me see."

Sen toddles across the yard to where Kazue is kneeling, arms outstretched. The little girl fell from a tree - not very far - and wants comfort and approval more than anything.

Those big, strong, gentle arms wrap around her, pressingly lightly into her back, running through her hair, surrounding her in warmth.

"You're okay, little sis, you're okay. It's just a little bump. Does it hurt now?"

"N... nuh-uh."

Sen clings to Kazue's uniform. She wants to be brave, but... she doesn't want her to let go, either.

"Tehehe! You were very brave, climbing that tree all by yourself. Next time will you show me how?"

Next time...

"Uh-huh! I will! Hehehe, yay!

---

Tears roll down Kazue's smiling cheeks, and suddenly she turns into water and splashes all over Sen. Neither of them want to let go, though. The water is warm, gentle, like the sea. Sen hugs tighter.

Something tugs at her, something invisible, like the moon pulling the tide. It hurts. Everything aches, but Kazue makes it bearable.

"N... No... S..."

Kazue gradually slips away. It hurts. Everything aches, until Sen's dream disappears into blackness.

"I... th' moon..."

. . .

. .

.

[Syless]

Ariko can do nothing but helplessly watch as Eiji and Sen fall... she starts tearing up, fearing the worst, but tries to think in between sobs. It's her fault, if she hadn't made the request... and now the Pagumon want to reward her for it... But... they have a point, don't they? Ariko doesn't have a source of light, and she barely ate, and Babydramon is exhausted... Yoshii shouldn't push himself either. She goes over to the younger child. "I... think they have a point. I'm going to stay with them tonight, and go out as soon as the sun comes up. Please stay with me? I wouldn't want you to get lost too..."

---

Lunamon stirs after the fall. "Oof... Saberdramon's a meanie... Miss Kuroshi, what should we- Miss Kuroshi?" Lunamon pulls Sen out of the water and nudges her, but seeing her lay still causes a moment of panic. "Ohno ohno she's hurt! I gotta... I gotta help her! Where's the other one? The punchy one? I need to get them together and... and... and I'll start a fire to help her dry her fur after her shedding, and once one of them wakes up I can go look for food, and... I gotta get to work!" Lunamon starts dragging Sen gently, looking for a safe place to set her up before looking for Eiji. It's hero time!

[fibericon]

Yoshii simply picks up the squishmello and tucks it under one arm. He stares out into the darkness for a moment. This situation fit the "two in the bush" saying almost too well. Besides which, the two missing team members didn't seem to care about him. From a purely survival standpoint, they need Eiji and Sen in a fight. If they don't jump off a cliff like a couple of idiots.

"They'll be fine in the morning. No point getting lost in the dark."

[Vrock_Summoner]

Spoiler: Everyone: Rewards!

Show

You all gain 2 EXP/DP for the day's fight participation. Sen gains 1 additional EXP for attempting a Sanity check.

Spoiler: Lunamon, Kuroshi, and Eiji

Show

Lunamon works fast, gathering up firewood and, after several false starts, finally manages to get a fire going. Along with this they collect batches of leaves and such refuse and fashions a makeshift blanket for the two kids, though it's sparse enough that they have to push the kids directly next to each other to cover both of them. By the time this is done, their energy is nearly spent, and they're sluggish from using this new form's strength so extensively... but there's still work to do... oh, but they can just rest their eyes for a second, their partner looks so comfy, and... oh, where did their limbs go...? Back to Moonmon, I guess... Oh well... Zzz…

…

Morning comes. The first thing the three of you notice is that you're incredibly sore. Kuroshi's head, in particular, is throbbing. After taking a moment to orient yourselves, you don't think you're injured in any significantly hindering way... but everything sucks. You feel nauseous, perpetually groggy... was the soreness mentioned? Because wow, ouch. It feels like you bruised all your muscles. Your bones are creaking. And Kuroshi in particular *stinks*, as her clothes have acquired mildew overnight. Gotta go downstairs, do laundry, take a bath... er, uh... oh. It hits you that you've once again woken up in the Digital World instead of your own bed. Maybe it hurts just as much as it did the previous morning, or maybe you're already starting to get used to it...

Eiji also notices Kuroshi's stink, as the second thing both children notice is that they awoke cuddling, with Moonmon and Pagumon nestled between their stomachs. As awkward as it might feel, there's no question why that impulse would've occurred - it's seriously freezing. That's really what woke you up - the sun is just barely starting to shine, and though you can see where a fire used to be, it must've gone out at some point in the night and stopped providing warmth. And the blanket of leaves... A nice gesture, but whatever benefit of warmth they offered, they took back in trade by trapping moisture on Sen's clothes. You've both got dirt and leaves caked in your hair as well. This is getting more miserable by the moment. You need a change of clothes... and a bath... and breakfast... which, incidentally, you just lost your two main party members with survival skills. And one of you is down your partner, in favor of... some other blob.

How in the world are you two supposed to figure this out?

Spoiler: Remainder of party

Show

The Pagumon welcome you all inside, and you soon find yourselves offered... well, mostly ore, but once the Pagumon figure out that you can't eat that, they bring out their store of berries and what appear to be clams. They even taste like normal clams from the human world! … which, for a couple of kids, probably doesn't register as "great," especially without butter, but at least it's normal.

As you size up the inside of the Pagumon den, you almost immediately catch sight of what appears to be a faintly glowing blue vein of crystal stretching and jutting out around the back end of the tunnels. The Pagumon are more than happy to explain their treasure, if the children are curious.

"This is blue diamante!" One of the Pagumon explains excitedly. "It's a gift from the Force of Harmony! Monochromon says it only grows naturally up in high mountains, but we've got a bunch right here! There's no other explanation except a miracle! We can't actually eat it ourselves, but it makes all the other ore that touches its vein super yummy and filling! But we keep getting attacked by the mean Monochromon because he wants to eat it all... It's said that any dragon that consumes the blue diamante will become super powerful. We can't let that happen, of course! It's far too important a blessing to let some jerkbutt use it just to increase their own power!" They all nod sagely, then one cracks a giggle and they all burst out laughing.

They seem like pretty weird little blobs... but so far, harmless. That Digivice description is making you feel a bit uneasy about sleeping in their space, but it's still a lot better than the freezing cold outside. The freezing cold... without food provided... or even a little blob army for protection...

… B-but you'll still meet up with the others again tomorrow. You're just sure of it. You have to be.

…

Spoiler: humans

Show

You're awoken in the morning with a sudden splash! The two of you are simultaneously drenched in cold water, and find yourselves flailing around for... you're not sure what. You don't have weapons. Maybe your Digivices? Maybe your blobs, to use as projectiles?

By the time you orient yourselves, you're able to clearly hear the true source of your new discomfort - the whole clan of Pagumon is rolling around laughing, grins spread ear to ear. "Good mooorning! Heheheheee!"

"Guess you should go stand in the sun for a bit to dry off... once it rises! Gahahaha!"

… Y'know, even this is tamer than you were expecting, all things considered. It's still pretty unpleasant, though. Especially since you don't have any other clothes to change into. Maybe you could make more clothes, but you have no idea how, or really any good materials to make it with... Guess you'll just have to dry these ones out the old fashioned way and keep wearing them. Ugh.

On the bright side, the Pagumon did pretty much wake you up right with the sun. If you wanted to get an early start on searching for your companions... Well, it's about as early as would be practical to do so.

Spoiler: Babydmon

Show

You have trouble sleeping tonight. You can't help but feel... drawn to the faintly glowing blue crystal. "Blue diamante," they called it. To everyone else, it probably seemed like just a kinda pretty vein of gemstone. To you, it's the most salivating food you've ever seen in your life by a thousand times. Knowing it's there under the Pagumons' guard is like being shown water when you're about to die of thirst and being told you can't drink any. There's a deep, instinctual part of you that craves that ore to such an intensity that it would be difficult to describe... any other dragon-type Digimon probably feels some part of them drawn to it, depending on how dragon-aligned they are, but as the purest of all dragon-type Digimon, you feel the urge bleeding through you, every part of you so desperate to devour that crystal...

With the coming of morning, you are faced with the prospect of leaving it behind so the kids can start their journey again. It's too painful and disgusting a feeling for you to be sure how to deal with, like walking away would be betraying some part of yourself that you'd been taking granted for so long... your pride as a dragon. It's not mind control, however. You know it's your choice whether to walk away, or...

[Volthawk]

Eiji has to take a moment to get a handle on what was happening now and to get his head straight. The accidentally cuddling Sen thing doesn't quite register at first as he sits up and looks around, taking stock of himself and the situation.

Ow. Eiji had gone through more than his fair share of bumps and bruises, but this was one of the worst. The mud and dirt didn't really bother him that much compared to the cold and pain and the hunger. Especially the hunger. It shouldn't really, compared to the bigger problems, but it was really bothering him.

He finally looks around to Sen, Moonmon, and...oh yeah, the other little guy. "You guys okay? What do we do now?"

---

The Pagumon's prank provokes an angry snort of steam from Babydmon, but he doesn't take any further action quite yet. It was what he expected of such annoying creatures, despite the gratitude they should be showing, so he can't quite be bothered with them enough to retaliate. Not with a larger matter at hand.

For a short while after waking up, he remains quiet, mulling over his instincts and letting his mind work it over, rationalising what he wanted with what he could justify. Really, it made perfect sense. The Force of Harmony had given the Pagumon a source of power for draconic Digimon, and he, a draconic Digimon, was accompanying one of the Chosen Children. It was obviously here for him to use. Anyone could see that.

If this was just a few days ago, it would be simple, but now...Babydmon finds Ariko, leading her somewhere quiet. "I must speak with you about something we need to do before we leave here." His mind was already made up, of course. If she agreed, then all was well, but if she did not, she would just have to deal with it.

[Syless]

Moonmon smiles at Eiji, now that he's awake. "I saved you! I caught Master Kuroshi and I went and found you and then I took you here and built a fire! Now we can go back and find the others and go back to being a hero! But what you did was so cool! You were like raaar and stab and woosh!"

---

Ariko is shivering a bit from the prank as she's pacing in the sun to keep warm. That was kind of mean... but it's not like she wasn't warned they were pranksters. At least they didn't do anything worse. When Babydramon approaches her, she seems a bit concerned with how solemn he sounds. "...need to do? What is it?"

[Volthawk]

"It is simple. I must consume the blue diamante. We need every edge we can get in what's to come, and the ore would give us that edge. It...calls to my instincts, and I think doing that is what I am naturally supposed to do. I am the companion of one of the Chosen Children, and the Force of Harmony placed the ore there, far from where it would naturally occur but exactly where we would be going. The connection is undeniable, it is there for us to use." He pauses to see Ariko's reaction, his gaze fixed on her eyes. "Allow me to be clear. I am going to consume the ore, regardless of what you say. It is up to you whether or not you help me, however."

[Syless]

Ariko hesitates. They said it was their treasure, a divine gift... but Babydramon's voice is steely. She doubts she can keep him from following through, just like he says. But she doesn't want to antagonize the Pagumon, they might need friends and a sanctuary... "...okay. Let me talk to them first, please? We might be able to do this without making more enemies."

[Volthawk]

Babydmon considers the request for a moment, before nodding. "Very well. We shall try things your way, and I shall follow your lead until it becomes untenable."