You are Marnie, a 16 year old girl living in a digital ark known as City 87-O. All your life, you've wanted to leave, and just recently, you've come close. Along with your Digimon partner, Phascomon, you climbed the Tower at the center of the City and came close to exiting through the spinning vortex that serves as the only way out. Alas, your plan went awry, and the City's ultimate guardian thwarted your greatest dream. The shock and desperation pushed you to overexert your partner, triggering a Dark Digivolution that he only barely survived. With your partner wounded from the attempt, and your friendship frayed from the stress you put him through, you've only just began to set things right again. Now, with your strength greatly diminished, you're continuing your journey with fresh eyes. This time, you'll climb the Tower and escape this stifling playpen. This time, you won't lose sight of what matters. This time, for sure, you and your partner will finally be free.==Thread 1:https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2025/6216903/Thread 2:https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2025/6254189/Thread 3:https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2025/6297141/Thread 4:https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2026/6332376/
>Head out with Liza and Seadramon on a patrol. You need to hunt for a puppet Digimon, so that the right data markers within Porcupamon can be reactivated. Obtaining data stores also can't hurt. Training is pointless for now. Phascomon just can't overcome heavy firepower without his subsequent Digivolutions. Instead, you start making plans to gather up more data. Over the past few weeks, Doc has managed to set up a secure communication line that you can use to contact Squid. The two of them have independently concluded that Phascomon needs a good dose of puppet Digimon data, in order to rediscover the information pathways in his Digicore that are responsible for transforming him into Porcupamon. You haven't had much opportunity to sit down and text Squid back-and-forth apart from that.Once you conclude your practice session, you and Phascomon head off in search of Liza. You find her in the dining room sorting through several vending machines and copying their assets into one another, so that she can make an all-in-one dispenser. You observe her tinkering for a moment, before Phascomon clears his throat and strides forward."Hey.""Marnie! Phascomon!" She grins at you and gives you a quick nod. She looks happy that you and your partner are on talking terms again. "What's up?""We were wondering when your next patrol was.""We need to hunt down a specific Digimon type." You add. "Can we tag along?""Sure. As long as Doc is okay with it.""He is." "Next patrol is tomorrow. I'll let Seadramon know." She gets back to messing with the machine, and you head back to your room with Phascomon in tow.”Do you think the Digimon around here are strong?” “Probably. Seadramon might have to do some of the lifting if we meet a Champion Digimon.” ”All that training wasted. Argh! But we already did it once.”“So we can do it again.” He nods. The two of you settle in for the night. While you lie in bed, you spend some time theorizing on the network voyage you’ll be taking, before sleep claims you.==
Before moving on with the patrol the next day, you make sure you have all your supplies with you. It's been quite a while since the both of you set foot in the outside world, so you end up fearing that you've gotten rusty. You obsessively check the pistol at your waist, and eventually end up requesting a refresher course from Doc. He's happy to provide one, lest you dare to use a weapon that you're not comfortable handling safely. Phascomon, on the other hand, is wide awake and alert. He's gotten the Kokuwamon to volunteer as training dummies, and he's trying to use Evil Snore on them over and over. It seems to be working, they're falling asleep as expected, but he's not satisfied with his own performance either. The two of you keep practicing until Liza arrives to call you over. "Hey. We need to go now. Come on, let's get everyone linked up." She takes you to the entrance of the base. Doc has set up an impressive looking foyer, filled with loose wires and haphazard cabling. Most importantly, there are several floatinng Lifel1ne.app executable files. Liza notices your apprehension. "Don't worry. Doc perfected them since. And Bella recovered, right?" "She did. Fully." "Who's Bella?" Seadramon asks. "I'll tell you later." Liza says. Her partner wriggles in mild annoyance, but says nothing else. Instead, she flattens herself out in front of the entrance terminal. Liza approaches with her building hotbar active, and places a ladder next to Seadramon. She offers a hand to you, and you gratefully take it. The three of you end up nestled on a spot behind Seadramon's head. "Now use that arrow tool you have," she instructs.You activate l1ne and match your physics to Seadramon, keeping you properly anchored to her back. Once you're ready, Doc opens up the Network entrance, and waits for you all to convert your avatars into those blue, textureless shapes. Seadramon pitches forward, and you feel as though you're being plunged into an ocean of static. Your group enters the Network, ready to patrol the surrounding area.==
At first, the patrol goes off without a hitch. Liza sees a few weak Rookies. She just has Seadramon whirl around and scare them off. None of the little ones are foolish enough to challenge a Champion. Some are too terrified to flee, so you decide to approach with Phascomon instead. He takes the initiative to warn them that this area has been claimed, before sending them off into the wilderness. You hope that they'll spread the word, instead of daring to crawl back when they think Seadramon is gone. Afterwards, Seadramon ends up clashing against an intimidating, devil-like Digimon. "This guy again?!" Liza complains. The fight is swift and brutal, with the enemy inflicting several wounds on Seadramon's hide with its wickedly sharp claws. However, Seadramon manages to lash out and whip it with her tail, instantly causing it to flee. You're surprised at how agile the big reptile is, all of a sudden. Even Phascomon is impressed by the way she can weave around and change direction as though she's submerged in liquid. If it weren't for the kinetic matching, you'd have been blown off by now. "What was that?""Ice Devimon. One of those cold ones I told you about! He's always trying to hack his way into the partition."After that, things seem like they're about to end without a hitch. Your partner is disappointed by the lack of Digimon he can beat. Just as Liza suggests going home, you all hear a commotion coming from an adjacent tunnel. Seadramon surges forth to investigate."Hey! I said we should return to base!" She complains."Without even taking a look? Come on!" You see her shoulders tense up in front of you. You reach out to calm her down, and feel her breathing through your touch. Liza takes a deep breath and lets it go, remembering what you told her.
Up ahead, there's a platform where several Digimon are facing off against a singular large one. You scan them with your goggles, and your eyes light up."Got 'em?""Yeah." PAWN CHESSMON (BLACK)- ROOKIE- PUPPET- VIRUS"What're they fighting?" KNIGHT CHESSMON (WHITE)- CHAMPION- PUPPET- VIRUSYou relay this information to the group. It looks like they're subspecies fighting against one another? You watch as the little black Rookies attempt to spear their larger adversary. It leaps backwards, galloping back and forth and avoiding each strike with ease. You see it jump into the air and slam down on a Pawn Chessmon, deleting it instantly. However, its allies on either side charge forward and manage to stab it in retaliation. The wounded Champion backs off. "This is a good opportunity." Phascomon remarks. "Yeah. They have puppet data, this is our lucky day." "Fine, yeah. Let's get them." "I'll take them out in one sweep!" Seadramon declares proudly. She descends onto the platform. However, as soon as she makes contact, the surface turns red, and the air begins to fill with artifacts. The Chessmon turn around in anger."You're not part of this!""Stay out of our turf war!" "Foul blackshields! You dare to seek outside aid?! Very well! Spring the ambush, squires!" Several more Pawn Chessmon leap out from the underside of the platform. These ones are white instead. The reinforcements immediately begin stabbing everything in sight. Seadramon sweeps several aside with her long body, as promised. But before she can gloat, several explosions ring out. You and Liza duck instinctively, and your nose smashes against her spine in the process. You wince, and the two of you deactivate your l1ne.app so you can slide off Seadramon.
On the other side of the battlefield, the black team has brought out reinforcements of their own. A huge Digimon is aiming its guns at you, taking potshots and attempting to snipe you both off Seadramon. With enemy fire arriving from all directions, you and Phascomon end up grouping up, while Liza and Seadramon battle on their own. You're temporarily separated for a bit, forced to spread out and face off against the roving puppets. "Ugh. This hurts." You complain, rubbing the spot on your face where you smashed into Liza. "Why does it still hurt if my nose isn't even textured anymore?""Beats me! Hey, give me a hand!"Phascomon draws his claws across the face of a white pawn. They rip through the golden visor, but they don't harm the Digimon underneath. He hisses at them and retreats beyond the stabbing range of its spear, while you shoot at it with the malware gun. The bullets ping off its body, but leave painful-looking marks. It's being whittled down by them, but its viral nature is making the weapon less effective."CHEATER! FACE US IN MARTIAL COMBAT, OR PAY THE PRICE!" The white knight bellows. You scream as a massive dart flies through the air and impales the earth in front of you, missing by inches. You and Phascomon scrabble back, surrounded. "Argh! Okay, don't piss them off! We've got this.""Back in the saddle, yeah." You reply, gritting your teeth. It's been a while since the two of you have fought like this. You hold your arm up, feeling energy pass between you both. You can do this. Your bond is still powering him up, with your friendship rekindled. You just have to make the right moves.>Have Phascomon attack the leftmost PawnChessmon. If you can eliminate it, you can get closer to Seadramon, who's currently struggling with a big mob of them. Regrouping seems like the most important move right now.>Keep attacking the one straight ahead, that Phascomon has already wounded. You want to move forward and carve through their ranks. Plus, if you can delete one, absorbing the puppet data straight away will be helpful.>Go for the black Pawn Chessmon on the right. The two factions are supposed to be infighting. They've put their differences aside to attack you for stepping on their board, but maybe if you can trigger an imbalance in ranks, they'll try to claim that opportunity and forget about you.
>>6373445If we want to cause infighting, we'd have to bait the big darts into pawns>>6373445>Have Phascomon attack the leftmost PawnChessmon. If you can eliminate it, you can get closer to Seadramon, who's currently struggling with a big mob of them. Regrouping seems like the most important move right now.take it slow, increase the surface area for friendly fire and decrease the area for us taking damage.
>>6373457+1 play it smart play it cool play it chess style
>>6373445If we can bait a battle, we can absorb all that Puppet data, Digivolve, and finish off the survivors... I hope.>Go for the black Pawn Chessmon on the right. The two factions are supposed to be infighting. They've put their differences aside to attack you for stepping on their board, but maybe if you can trigger an imbalance in ranks, they'll try to claim that opportunity and forget about you.
>>6373445Wait hold on why are we even playing by their rules? Changing my vote from >>6373488 to>Go for the black Pawn Chessmon on the right. The two factions are supposed to be infighting. They've put their differences aside to attack you for stepping on their board, but maybe if you can trigger an imbalance in ranks, they'll try to claim that opportunity and forget about you.Greedy? Yes, but we need to be to recoup our losses and progression. I just hope this doesn't do anything stupid like cause one of the pawns to digivolve
>>6373490>>6373495They seem rather offended at the idea of an unfair advantage
>>6373503You're saying they'd never go for it?
>>6373504I think it'd only make them more united against us. Baiting them to hit each other would be the way to spark infighting, the darts are pretty big and there are more pawns than us.
>>6373506Okay fair, thanks for explaining it clearly.>>6373445Changing my vote AGAIN (again!) from >>6373495 to backing >>6373457 (for real this time)
>>6373506Hm, fair point. I (>>6373490) will change my vite to back...>>6373445>Have Phascomon attack the leftmost PawnChessmon. If you can eliminate it, you can get closer to Seadramon, who's currently struggling with a big mob of them. Regrouping seems like the most important move right now.
>>6373445>Have Phascomon attack the leftmost PawnChessmon. If you can eliminate it, you can get closer to Seadramon, who's currently struggling with a big mob of them. Regrouping seems like the most important move right now.If Phascomon can land a good Evil Snore on the mob, Seadramon clears.
>>6373445>Have Phascomon attack the leftmost PawnChessmon. If you can eliminate it, you can get closer to Seadramon, who's currently struggling with a big mob of them. Regrouping seems like the most important move right now.
>>6373508>>6373524>>6373586>>6373761Writing!
>Have Phascomon attack the leftmost Pawn Chessmon. If you can eliminate it, you can get closer to Seadramon, who's currently struggling with a big mob of them. Regrouping seems like the most important move right now."Get closer to Seadramon!" You order. "Evil Snore!"Phascomon puts the black Pawn Chessmon to sleep mid-thrust. The Digimon topples backwards and starts snoring. You follow close behind as Phascomon claws at the white one standing between him and Seadramon. It parries his claws with its spear, then tries to flick the blade into his chin. You blast the weapon out of its hands before it can shank your partner. "Get him!" "Eucalyptus- Hang on."He reaches up and flips his enemy's visor open. Its yellow eyes blink in confusion. "-CLAW!"His slash tears across the Digimon's real face, deleting it in one smooth stroke. The two of you move into the spot formerly occupied by the Rookie, with your partner making sure to pass through the cloud of data left behind. Seadramon is up ahead, ready to help reinforce the two of you. However, as you step onto the squarish tile that makes up the battlefield, you and Phascomon feel a sudden sense of foreboding.Heavy hooves clatter against the polygonal floor. For a moment, you fear that Assaultmon is back. "JOUST! GALLOP WHOLE!" Knight Chessmon leaps into the air. It moves in an L-shaped arc, perfectly positioned to stomp on the spot that you're currently occupying. His hooves come down on both you and Phascomon.
If he stomps on you in your current state, he could do irreparable damage to your body. The Lifel1ne.app may not be able to save you from going DMIA if his viral data makes contact with you. Phascomon isn't strong enough to push it away either. You both scramble for cover, and when that fails, try to push each other out of the way. It's a desperate scrabble that spans only two or three seconds. The shadow of the gleaming knight passes over you both, and you fear that your death will be in this indignifying, anticlimactic manner.Seadramon surges forward and blocks the centaur with her own body. The meteoric force is enough to slam her entire head onto the board, and her sinuous form begins thrashing in agony. The Pawn Chessmon waste no time in running forward to stab at her. Both factions sink their spears into her flank, while the hulking one in the background moves ever closer. "Marnie! We need to go!" Liza seizes your wrist. You nod and raise your weapon with the other hand, firing off a few potshots at the Knight Chessmon's face. They don't deal any damage, but it jumps off Seadramon to come attack you. That's when Liza activates some kind of supercharged f0rce.app and flings you, herself, and Phascomon back onto her partner's back. Seadramon spins in a great arc, toppling several Pawns over, before sliding towards the edge of the chessboard, leaving a trail of blood the whole way. The castle-like Digimon from the black team continues to fire at your group as you retreat. Fortunately, its accuracy seems to be lacking. It falls to one knee and raises its shoulder, like it's about to charge at you. Luckily, it reconsiders after the Knight Chessmon throws another gigantic dart at one of its minions. The battle starts up again, while the four of you return to the nearest Network tunnel. All of you are breathing heavily, and Seadramon is moving swiftly in her panic.
"You okay?" Liza asks Seadramon, glancing at her injuries in concern. "No! Ow! He really- Ah! Those hooves hurt!""More than bullets? I thought you got shot before.""It's not the same! Ow, ow!""Trip's over, we're getting out of here." Liza declares. You have no argument. Phascomon only got a little bit of data, but you were out of your depth there. The two of you can't rely on power anymore, and the Chessmon seemed to have some kind of gimmick that you weren't able to parse. The informational disadvantage was too much to overcome. You examine Seadramon's wound as she snakes through the tunnel. The vicious hooves have broken the surface textures on her back. Static is leaking out in great volumes, coating her body and mixing with the blood leaking from the numerous spear wounds. Luckily, now that Liza has a Digivice, she can properly apply medicine code to the injuries. "Was it enough?" You ask Phascomon hopefully. He shakes his head."We'll have to go back sometime, then. Or find another puppet." "That was too close. The sooner I can turn back into Porcupamon, the better." ==
A second disaster strikes while you're on the way home. You've retraced your steps atop Seadramon's back for a little while, and Liza is right in the middle of checking her map when the ambush is sprung."Just a bit longer. We just need to-" "ATTACK!"You spin around to look out for the source of the voice. Phascomon points straight upwards."Snow Gob Bolt!"Several blue Goburimon are positioned near the top of the Network tunnel, standing on platforms of ice. They fling snowballs into the air and then strike them with their wooden bats, pelting your party with icy projectiles. Seadramon's bright yellow head is a prime target. Despite them being Rookies, she winces when the attacks make contact with her armored skull. "They're harder than they look!" She grumbles. "Damn it! Keep going straight!" Liza yells."Huh? We should fight them! We can take them!" Seadramon protests. She's already starting to slow down."You're racking up injuries! There's no point, just go!" "I can beat them all before they whittle me down! Come on! You never let me go wild!""Us three up here can't get hit by those balls! Any stray shots will take us out!"The two of them start to argue. You and Phascomon glance at each other, recalling the early days where you could never decide on a plan. "Hey. You should make the call."This is a structured attack. Goburimon aren't very bright, if they were wild Digimon on a hunt, they wouldn't be doing things like creating ice platforms on the ceiling to gain a terrain advantage. There are quite a lot of them too.>Stop and fight like Seadramon wants. You're outnumbered, but these are a bunch of Rookie Digimon trying to organize a sneak attack. Seadramon can delete each one rather easily, and even Phascomon should have good odds. If they don't have Champions supporting them, your group stands a real chance of beating these guys, and then figuring out what they're up to.>Run. Agree with Liza and get out of here. You don't know what these Digimon are planning, or if there's any more to their sneak attack plan than hitting you with snowballs. There might be something else going on, and you don't want to spring any kind of trap by slowing down to battle. Seadramon is already hurt, be conservative with your resources.>Use your Lifel1ne.app to return to the base. You and Liza can return your partners to your Digivices, and it won't take much to activate the file and rocket straight home. That way, you can avoid any nasty surprises that might lie ahead, while also not needing to fight. Doc promised that there wouldn't be a repeat of what happened to Bella, but you don't have full confidence in Lifel1ne yet. There could be other unpredictable effects.
>>6374153>Use your Lifel1ne.app to return to the base. You and Liza can return your partners to your Digivices, and it won't take much to activate the file and rocket straight home. That way, you can avoid any nasty surprises that might lie ahead, while also not needing to fight. Doc promised that there wouldn't be a repeat of what happened to Bella, but you don't have full confidence in Lifel1ne yet. There could be other unpredictable effects.
>>6374150lmao the whole map thing was for a chess move.I'll never win these damn gimmicks, sorry guys.Either there's a trap if you get up on the platform, or a trap for anyone passing under the platform. Do we still have assets to pull up as a shield/battering ram? I don't see much we can use that can destroy the platform.
>>6374193Yeah that makes sense, Marnie would have refilled her .apps and assets during the downtime.
>>6374153>Pull up some assets to shield Seadramon, we can trade shots with the malware gun relatively safely to scope out any traps.Even if we had a column, we don't have a large humanoid to swing it.
>>6374153>Run. Agree with Liza and get out of here. You don't know what these Digimon are planning, or if there's any more to their sneak attack plan than hitting you with snowballs. There might be something else going on, and you don't want to spring any kind of trap by slowing down to battle. Seadramon is already hurt, be conservative with your resources.Ice Devimon is with them.
>>6374153>Goburis.pngOh no, they're T-posing to assert dominance!>>6374200+1
>>6374193We keep failing and I HATE IT>>6374153Backing >>6374200I want to MURDER damnitWe should have got the easy puppet data QM was throwing at us but we're too retarded or the narration wasn't clear with the chess gimmick or I don't even fucking know man, everything around me is souring me and I hate it
>>6374200Which vote option do you consider this to be? Doing it while running, or fighting?
>>6374549uhh I mean, I'm not clear which one will maintain distance. Are we trying to run under them, or away?Icedevimon could be coming from another direction, but we would spot them right?
>>6374553They’re up ahead in the tunnel leading back to base. A whole bunch of platforms attached to the top of it. Running back to base would require passing under it, yeah. To reiterate again, I’ll make it clear in updates if there’s room to do a completely new write-in based course of action. Otherwise, I’ll just take the vote as being one of the existing options. Leaning towards interpreting it as fighting.
>>6374559Yeah, stay and fight
>>6374608Gotcha>>6374200>>6374251>>6374362>>6374209Writing! Fighting using the assets!
>Stop and fight like Seadramon wants. You're outnumbered, but these are a bunch of Rookie Digimon trying to organize a sneak attack. Seadramon can delete each one rather easily, and even Phascomon should have good odds. If they don't have Champions supporting them, your group stands a real chance of beating these guys, and then figuring out what they're up to.The snowballs cascade down in large volumes. With so many falling projectiles, you, Liza, and Phascomon are sure to get hit if you stay out in the open. It's like an unending rain of hail, meant to take out the riders instead of the more durable Champion. Nonetheless..."Liza! We can take them!" "You serious?! But-" "Seadramon can handle it. Trust her." "No! What if she..." You quickly pick up on why she's so unwilling to stay. Seadramon is strong, but this is probably one of the first times she's gotten hurt like that. Without a doubt, Liza is being reminded of her first partner. That fear is clouding her judgement. Running wouldn't be a stupid choice either, but you don't want to take the risk of springing another trap. This is definitely a structured ambush. "I can do it! Just watch!" Seadramon rears up and blasts one of the platforms. The blue Goburimon scatter, but one is immediately obliterated by the pressurized beam of water. Liquid cascades back down despite the lack of gravity. It's rather disorienting to see physics applying so selectively. "Liza. Help me out." You pull out a folder packed with l1ne.app files. "We've got plenty of building assets. If you're worried about her getting hurt, we can create shields for her." She nods apprehensively. Even though she's in charge of this patrol, she defers to you when it comes to fighting. You have way more experience by now, and it doesn't take long for you to put your plan into place.
Snowballs continue to fall. One of them smashes the metal plate that you positioned over your head, denting it severely. Your eyes fly open as you watch it burrow through the material, stretching out the wireframe as it bursts into flecks of ice. Seadramon wasn't kidding, there's an immense amount of force packed into each one. You quickly replace your own shield. Liza is focusing on protecting her partner's body and neck. The surface area you can produce is far less than the total span of Seadramon's body, so plenty of projectiles still strike her, but you manage to limit the damage with this technique. The ambush gets less effective over time, as you and Seadramon gradually shoot them off their prepared positions. Your malware gun hisses viciously as you unload its chamber over and over. You score a direct hit on one Snow Goburimon, causing it to fall off the icy platform. You're then forced to cling on tight as Seadramon lunges upwards to snap it in half.DELETED"Woah! Don't do that!" You scold her, as snowballs rain down once more. That reckless move has pulled you all out of cover. A single .app isn't enough to hold back the force of such a large Digimon either, and the stray thrashing of her tail smashes a few assets that she was meant to hide under. Liza starts building the shield again. Seadramon very badly wants to swim up there and take them out in one swoop, but you're not willing to go close. They can do less damage if they're just trading ranged attacks."SNOW GOB KONBOU!"As though they realized that fact at the same instant as you, one of the Snow Goburimon leaps down in an attempt to bash your head in. "EUCALYPTUS CLAW!" Phascomon springs off your head, forcing your neck downwards. You let out a choking noise as he pounces onto the Digimon and rips it to shreds. "Dude!" "Sorry!" You can't really fault him for that, he just saved you. You shake it off and continue shooting. Seadramon manages to stay put for long enough. The snowballs slowly peter out, as more and more Snow Goburimon are blasted apart by water jets or shot down by your packet pistol. You and Liza take a breather to admire your handiwork. You've stitched together an impressive wall of junk. Shelves, desks, vending machines, and random metal frames all stick together to create a barrier of debris. The Rookies aren't accurate enough to get through the gaps in the shield, and Seadramon can easily pop her head out to fire. Their ambush has lost its effectiveness.
Three more Snow Goburimon leap down to fight. They land heavily on the shield and begin smashing it with their clubs. You detach yourself from Seadramon's coordinates and prepare to engage them. "Marnie! How long are we gonna stay here?" Liza asks. She raises her hand, showing you the slight fizzling motion of her skinless avatar.You look down and notice the same happening to your limbs. Battling was a good move, and your barricade strategy has worked out wonderfully. But you have to get a move on at some point."There aren't enough of them left to make another avalanche." Phascomon remarks. "It's safer now.""We'll take these three out, then go. Seadramon, how're you holding up?""Good! Hurry up with it!" She's itching to take their data. Countless packets of valuable information are floating high above, courtesy of all your ranged attacks. Phascomon needs some of that too, and he's about to get it. The trio of Snow Goburimon crush the wooden shelves land on Seadramon's back, then immediately charge forward. Liza swiftly gets out of the way. One enemy attempts to blow cold air at her, but her untextured silhouette hops backwards, maintaining her balance even upon Seadramon's smooth back. The cold temperature forms a thin layer of ice on her partner's glistening back, that the Snow Goburimon steps on as it tries to rush her again. That brief moment of imbalance is all it takes for her to fling a heavy-looking ball at it. It flails with its arms out, unable to lift the bat on time. The Sportsball ball smacks it in the head, sending it tumbling off Seadramon. Meanwhile, you and Phascomon face off against the two Goburimon. They take turns swinging their weapons, pounding against Seadramon's scales each time they fail to hammer your partner. He lunges at the first to try and headbutt it, but it raises its wooden club to bunt him to the ground. Before they can capitalize on it, you raise your Linker."PHASCOMON!" The familiar surge of power flows between the two of you. It's been a while since you fought like this, but the sensation is the same: A blazing heat, pulsating in duplicated, yet synchronized beats. It feels comforting despite the burning feeling it elicits, for it confirms that your bond is still intact. "EUCALYPTUS CLAW!"He slashes hard enough to tear the club into three segments. The Snow Goburimon stands there, dumbfounded, as his weapon disintegrates in his arms. Phascomon's other claw rips through his head and chest a moment later, deleting the Digimon in a single stroke. DELETEDThe second attacker is momentarily as well. You take the chance to shoot it in the head. Its hat falls off as the malware packet makes contact, revealing a white mohawk, flattened against its head by the tiny cap. Phascomon bowls him over with a second headbutt, then carves him apart in a flurry of crimson claws. DELETED
Your partner stands up straight, the data steadily flowing into his body. It's not the puppet data you needed, but it's still strengthening him and repairing that residual damage. For a moment, you wonder if he could unlock any kind of different form. However, Doc's reminder echoes in your mind. Messing with his core like that could lead to permanent corruption, more than even his incomplete Mega-stage caused. It's too unsafe to experiment. You let him soak in the Snow Goburimon data, then buckle the two of you back in. Liza slaps her palm against Seadramon's back. "Okay! You can go now!" The last of the snowballs ping off the barricade, smashing the more fragile parts of your shield. By then, the piled-up junk has become obsolete. Seadramon ascends to the roof of the ping tunnel and tears several Snow Goburimon apart in her jaws. The rest pack up and flee. You watch in bemusement as a pair of them reverse their grip on their bats. They stick them off the sides of the icy platform and paddle desperately, causing the whole block to sail through open air.Seadramon heads up to the top of the tunnel to gather up the data. She idly shoots down one of the frozen canoes, leaving the two Rookies stranded. They flail in a panic, then continue to propel themselves through the Network environment. "That wasn't too bad." Liza admits."See? You just need to have some faith in me!" Seadramon beams. You feel as though her toothy smile is a little insincere, like she's forcing herself into a good mood.You look around, wary of whatever else the Rookies had in store.
There don’t seem to be any more enemies. Huge amount of debris has been left behind by the battle. Your assets are floating around in the void, and with no sewer for them to be teleported to, they’re doomed to stay here until a wild Digimon eats them. Or maybe the currents will carry them far. Chunks of ice have also been left all over the place. Some of Seadramon’s attacks have created new glaciers, but there are plenty of abandoned platforms created by the Snow Goburimon. You stare at your arms, which are now fizzling rapidly. The electric interference is traveling up to your shoulders now. You’re on a time limit. This one is more severe than the type you’re used to dealing with. If you don’t go back soon, your data could erode. You’ve already seen the kind of permanent consequences such a thing can cause. >Leave the normal way. Keep an eye out for anything ahead, while you ride on Seadramon’s back. Try not to make any further commotions, just prioritize returning to base. >Stay and clean up a little. The junk left behind might be noticeable to City patrols. You don’t have to remove everything, just the largest pieces that will likely stick around instead of being eroded by data flow. It’ll be relatively easy to put them back in your inventory. >Activate Lifel1ne.app. You don’t have to be in an emergency to use it. Make use of this tool and jettison yourself back to base. It’ll get you home without factoring in the time limit, but it’ll have unknown additional effects.
>>6374744would the lifeline ping the City? Hmm. Or we just slam 2 humans into IceDevimon, injuring us all.>Stay and clean up a little. The junk left behind might be noticeable to City patrols. You don’t have to remove everything, just the largest pieces that will likely stick around instead of being eroded by data flow. It’ll be relatively easy to put them back in your inventory. Hand Lize the gun to shoot stuff into smaller pieces, while we pocket the biggest ones. Not sure which ones the digimon should target.
>>6374744>Stay and clean up a little. The junk left behind might be noticeable to City patrols. You don’t have to remove everything, just the largest pieces that will likely stick around instead of being eroded by data flow. It’ll be relatively easy to put them back in your inventory.
>>6374762Marnie currently has no info on it, apart from Doc promising it won't explode her skin like Bella.
>>6374152Is it even possible for us to go back to the Chessmon and, once we find out how the gimmick works, beat them at their own game so to speak?>another puppetLike who?>>6374740>You quickly pick up on why she's so unwilling to stay. Seadramon is strong, but this is probably one of the first times she's gotten hurt like that. Without a doubt, Liza is being reminded of her first partner. That fear is clouding her judgement.I wonder if us voting to stop and fight is, unknowingly to Marnie, helping Liza get over this fear and trust Seadramon more?>>6374741>Liza is focusing on protecting her partner's body and neck. The surface area you can produce is far less than the total span of Seadramon's body, so plenty of projectiles still strike her, but you manage to limit the damage with this technique.>You and Liza take a breather to admire your handiwork. You've stitched together an impressive wall of junk. Shelves, desks, vending machines, and random metal frames all stick together to create a barrier of debris. The Rookies aren't accurate enough to get through the gaps in the shieldAnd in this way, Marnie is indirectly passing on her knowledge of ASSET COMBAT to Liza and by extension to Seadramon>>6374743>You watch in bemusement as a pair of them reverse their grip on their bats. They stick them off the sides of the icy platform and paddle desperately, causing the whole block to sail through open air.Love this cartoon as fuck moment. Definitely something that wouldn't be out of place in an actual Digimon anime episode or a 4koma>>6374744>Stay and clean up a little. The junk left behind might be noticeable to City patrols. You don’t have to remove everything, just the largest pieces that will likely stick around instead of being eroded by data flow. It’ll be relatively easy to put them back in your inventory.Please don't punish us for this. Please don't show up, IceDevimon
>>6374744>Stay and clean up a little. The junk left behind might be noticeable to City patrols. You don’t have to remove everything, just the largest pieces that will likely stick around instead of being eroded by data flow. It’ll be relatively easy to put them back in your inventory. Better safe than sorry
>>6374744>Leave the normal way. Keep an eye out for anything ahead, while you ride on Seadramon’s back. Try not to make any further commotions, just prioritize returning to base. There's nothing to connect this to us rather than just some random ice and machine mons in the area.
>>6374762>>6374763>>6374767>>6374799>>6374833Writing! >>6374767Yeah, a Chessmon rematch is possible.
>Stay and clean up a little. The junk left behind might be noticeable to City patrols. You don’t have to remove everything, just the largest pieces that will likely stick around instead of being eroded by data flow. It’ll be relatively easy to put them back in your inventory. Despite the impending timer, you decide that you should spare a few minutes to clean up. Virtual debris isn’t a rare occurrence, but this route was pristine before you got here. Object metadata could be used to trace you in some way, and you want to take any precautions you can. “Let’s go. We should get back right now.” Liza says. “Actually,“ You interject, “I think we need to spend some more time here.” ”Huh? But you’re fizzling!” ”Aren’t you worried about the DMIA risk? Come on. You’ve forgotten the ghost girl already?” Thinking about her sends a chill down your spine. But you can’t just leave all this stuff lying around. Once you explain your rationale to them, the rest of the group reluctantly agrees that it’s necessary. ”You didn’t need to build all this stuff anyway!” Seadramon complains. ”I would’ve still won!” ”And what about us? Your partner doesn’t have that kind of endurance. One hit would have deleted her.” Seadramon clams up, a look of distinct guilt on her scaly face. “It’s not just about you. You’re traveling with Liza now. Keep each other’s capabilities in mind.” She nods, going back to quietly dragging the largest chunks of debris closer to you two humans. You both occupy yourself with sucking the objects back into your inventory, to be trashed later.“Sorting through this sucks.” “Don’t worry too much. The damaged parts will probably completely erode after a while. We just can’t make it too obvious that something happened.” You both keep working, going as fast as you can, while the static tingle spreads further and further up your limbs the whole time.
Finally, you’re confident that the evidence has been cleared up. It only took a few minutes, way less than the encounter with the Rookies. You whistle at your crew, and they all hop onto Seadramon without further delay. Before she starts paddling, Seadramon whirls about and smacks the last bits of debris, sending them flying off into the infinite span of the Network. They vanish beyond the thin rings that mark out the ping tunnel. The tunnel itself is starting to erode. It was never really a physical construct, just a space carved out by a packet of info that was sent to some random endpoint. You need to get out of here before it dissolves, or you’ll be stuck slowly wading through cyberspace. As Seadramon swims past several bends in the tunnel, you see a shape up ahead. It looks like a gangly, winged Digimon, with claws outstretched. It’s flying in your direction, yet is visible enough that you're not caught off guard. “Hey!” Liza points it out. That’s the Ice Devimon that she faced earlier. Was it lying in wait? It seems like delaying caused it to lose patience and come after you directly. It quickly prepares an attack.”ICY SHOWER!”Numerous spinning icicles fly towards Seadramon. You do your part to shoot at them, but the serpent performs a spinning roll instead, throwing your aim off as she avoids the majority of the projectiles. The remaining ones get her in the tail, sending up more streaks of blood. She winces. ”Hey. That's a bigger ice Digimon.”“He must be the boss.” "Twice in one day, too..."
Ice Devimon hovers out of reach, constantly flapping its wings and launching new attacks. The tornadoes are the worst ones, threatening to erode your data with a mere touch. Seadramon ends up having to dive out of the entire tunnel to dodge those. ”Get out of the way! You won’t get another chance!” She threatens.The devil cackles wildly. ”I’m not the one short on time! Your humans can’t last forever!” It didn’t manage to ambush you, which is an ideal outcome. However, the fact that it’s blocking the way is bad news. You really have to get a move on. It somehow knows about humans, and how your minutes are numbered. It’s trying to stall you out till something bad happens. ”Damn it. If only I could…” Porcupamon would stand a good chance against it. You didn’t manage to secure his Champion stage this trip, so you’re short on one option for dealing with this Digimon.>Fight him. He’s wounded from the earlier encounter, but this will still take a while at the bare minimum. You’re out of time, if you risk this and fail, there’ll be consequences for your group.>Try to slip past him and flee. Seadramon will have to bear the brunt of the damage, and it’ll put her out of commission for a while, leaving her unavailable for future use. However, this is the safest way to get back before your simplified avatars lose coherence and you go DMIA. >Digivolve your partner into Porcupamon. With your newfound puppet data, you may be able to restore your partner’s Champion form. That’ll allow him to tank the hits with ease, while Seadramon does whatever she needs. [LOCKED] >Activate Lifel1ne.app. If at any point you feel like the situation is hopeless, you have this quick route to force yourself back to base. Unknown effects will follow.
>>6375314>Fight him. He’s wounded from the earlier encounter, but this will still take a while at the bare minimum. You’re out of time, if you risk this and fail, there’ll be consequences for your group.Does Marnie has CAMO? She can turn invisible and have Phasco use evil snore on this guy.
>>6375314Hmm. Yeah we might not have a choice I'll support >>6375397I wonder if reducing the distance we have to travel will also reduce the strain of the app.
>>6375312I love Seadramon getting these lessons now rather than later when it's too late>>6375313>That’s the Ice Devimon that she faced earlier. Was it lying in wait? It seems like delaying caused it to lose patience and come after you directly.On one hand, cleaning up caused us to lose time.On the other hand, no debris to be traced back to Marnie AND we unknowingly denied Ice Devimon his ambush and forced him to play his hand.He would still be there to block our way even if we had ran from the SnowGoburimon attack. I think this was still the best outcome we could have>>6375314Backing >>6375397We need to go for broke or we're doomed regardless
>>6375314>Activate Lifel1ne.app. If at any point you feel like the situation is hopeless, you have this quick route to force yourself back to base. Unknown effects will follow.Time to put our trust in Doc's technology.
>>6375447What if IceDevimon can follow the Lifel1ne.app? Or even cut it off midway and screw us over? Maybe using it before could have helped us bypass his ambush, but now that he's here he can take advantage of it. I refuse to risk it. This shitter MUST die here
>>6375593We have Hi-Commandramon and three more rookies back at base for back-up.
>>6375593>>6375594That would be a rather interesting way for hi commandramon to earn more time alive.
Does she have camo though?
Marnie could try to make Liza empower Seadramon with bond.
It would be interesting to try to digievolve. At best we'd get a MadLeomon but if his core tries to make a "bear" with ice data, Phascomon would turn into Yukidarumon
>>6375729no they just explained. Trying to force a digivolution now would be a terrible idea. It could horrifically mangle phascomon even if it succeeded, and attempting to change the evo is highly invasive surgery in an unknown field.
>>6375397>>6375402>>6375439>>6375447Writing! Will be a while, tired today>>6375620No camo refilled yet, it's a more expensive tool for special usage, and Marnie used the last of the free gifts in the climb.
>>6375615All the more reason to try it!>>6375705I don't think they're sympatico enough.>>6375729Dark Digivolving our biy into MadLeomon would seem like a real breaking point in the relationship after ZombiePlutomon, methinks, even if we pulled it off.
Might post in multiple parts, it ended up being quite a long and eventful one.
>Fight him. He’s wounded from the earlier encounter, but this will still take a while at the bare minimum. You’re out of time, if you risk this and fail, there’ll be consequences for your group."We should fight him." You say to Liza."Yeah." She agrees."Really? I thought you'd want to get away." Seadramon replies, sounding surprised. "And let him chip away at you while you're on the move? No, we've fought this guy enough times already. This will be the last. We've got Marnie and Phascomon here." "That's what I like to hear. Get me close, then!"You separate yourself from Seadramon, taking your partner along with you. Ice Devimon watches suspiciously as Seadramon thrashes through the tunnel, swimming across the empty space and ending up on the other side of the demon man. One pair of Digimon and Tamer is clearly more intimidating than the other. However, he's not some feral beast. He can clearly see that you're up to something. "Leather Wing!"Instead of trying to attack Seadramon, he sends several tornadoes your way. You and Phascomon are thrown off-course, forced to dodge the malicious wind data. There's enough distance for him to repeatedly use the same move, in between attempts to whittle Seadramon down. He's stalling and wasting your time. Your plan to get in close with the jetpack is foiled by the projectiles. Grouping up with Seadramon wasn't an option either, or he'd just keep outmaneuvering you all while trying to shoot you with icicles. You can see now that he planted the idea in the Snow Goburimon's heads in the first place.Noticing that your flanking maneuver isn't working out, Liza charges forward on the back of her partner. Ice Devimon twirls out of the way and holds his claws out as the blue pillar passes by him. He dodges by a hair's breadth, close enough to counterattack with his trailing limbs.You shout out a warning, but it's too late. His claws tear across Liza. She yells in pain, and her voice is distorted by the damage to her data."NO!" You activate your f0rce thruster and shoot towards him, with Phascomon firmly clinging to the back of your head. The Digimon turns around and grins, the exposed lower half of his face twisted into a wicked snarl."ZERO FREEZE!"
He attempts to blast you and your partner with a sub-zero mist emitted from his hands. Phascomon leaps off your head for a second time today, clearing the fog cloud with the added altitude. The motion also pushes you downwards, away from the attack. As you spin head over heels, you keep your gun pointed straight forward. You manage to stabilize yourself by deploying a l1ne tool to arrest your momentum. Phascomon is trying to get close enough to hit him with an Evil Snore, but the Champion has far superior reach. His claws are many times the length of Phascomon's body, and the effective range of his hypnotic wave is just too short to keep him out of danger. He manages to score a painful hit on your partner's body, sending him flying backwards with streaks of blood trailing off into the void.Even though his attack landed, Ice Devimon flinches in the aftermath. He touches a leather-wrapped hand to his own chest, and you recall how Seadramon struck him there earlier. He's not at his full power, thanks to that. Maybe you can overpower him. You fire at his thin-looking wings, trying to rip holes in them, before raising your Digivice.But as you try to channel energy through your Linker, you notice the rapidly destabilizing shape of your own body. You're starting to feel like your thoughts are foggy and distant. For a moment, your point of view shifts to outside your own head, and you see your own wireframe flailing about, goggles and jetpack and all. Then your vision returns, but it's laggy and choppy, with every frame of your vision fading into transparency instead of smoothly transitioning. It's like looking through a faulty camera. No, this isn't normal. You're completely out of time."LIZA! ABORT!" You call.
Liza is suddenly yanked in the direction of the Partition. You see the winding threat of the lifel1ne stretching far into the distance, converting her into a wad of scrambled data and pulling her through the rapidly retreating cord. It looks painful, and you're not looking forward to activating it for yourself in a moment."Marnie, come on! Go!"You flick the window open. Doc has made the interface simple. Just a red button hair-trigger, that can be toggled even with your HUD. He'd rather have it be overly sensitive than fail to function when you need it. As soon as you click it, the colors of the Network tunnel seem to invert themselves. The last bits of sensation you can feel as an avatar cease all at once, and you collapse into an indeterminate shape. You feel... fuzzy. blocky. like bits and pieces o f yo u a r e flaking off. as ou enter the l fe 1n , u see a CLAW reaching out. it remains in view the who l e way.lights and s und beat at you, a th usand sens ti ns f ght ng t be transformed into senso y inp t. you cant m ke e en a fractin of it out, but what' eft is eno gh to heavily disori nt you.-SNAP-
The lifel1ne spits you out. You're back in the partition, feeling like your skin textures are on fire. You glance down at your hands urgently, and see that thin filaments are extending out of your skin. It's nowhere near as bad as what happened to Bella, but you feel unbearably tingly. You try to beat at your limbs, but you can't seem to move. Luckily, the fuzz wears off quickly. You haven't been disfigured by it, but it's not a good feeling. Liza is on the ground near you. She's similarly paralyzed, and in way worse shape. Her arm has a devious looking gash, leaking those strange little letters now that her form is complete again. Several deep gouges have been taken out of her wireframe and textures. You don't look at her for long, though. Something else demands your attention.The entrance to the partition, usually sealed tight, is currently being forced open. Alarms begin to blare, and a vivid red hue colors the portal. You see a figure half immersed in the tunnel, pulling its way into the workshop before your eyes. Horrid claws swish through the air as Ice Devimon pushes his way in, having clung on to your lifel1ne.app. He made it through the security filter by forcefully using your credentials. Liza tries to get up, but she still can't move or act. She tries to lift her Digivice, and you see her lips twitching. She isn't able to call out the command.Phascomon has no such limitation. He bursts out of your Digivice all on his own, like he's always been able to do. Ice Devimon is completely caught off guard. He doesn't have any time to gloat, examine the partition he's been trying so hard to invade, or even attempt to finish you off. All he gets is a savage claw to the face, causing him to yell in anger. "EVIL SNORE!" Phascomon blasts him with a wave, and the Digimon falls to his knees, temporarily stuck in sleep mode. Your partner moves with haste, quickly hooking your jacket and pulling you further away from the enemy. Instead of checking on you after, he runs over to Liza to rouse her. You feel a little pang of panic when he leaves your side, but you realize that he's trying to help her deploy Seadramon.Ice Devimon sways back and forth in his sleep, precariously balanced on his knees. His limbs are long and spindly, and the way they bend is disturbing to look at. You watch in horror as his anatomy causes him to slump over harshly, his head smashing into the cold floor in the process. That motion is enough to stir him awake. He looks around groggily, just as disoriented as you and Liza. "Yes... This place will be perfect!" He declares.
Seeing that Phascomon is trying something yet again, he clears the distance in one great sweep of his wings and kicks your partner in the head. Phascomon is sent flying into a stack of crates with a pained grunt. You try to call for him, but your mouth is numb. It's been less than thirty seconds since you emerged, and motion is already returning to your limbs, but he can delete two humans in mere moments if he feels like it. And he does feel like it. He raises a claw, seeking to put Liza down. Sensations return to her limbs, but all she can do is raise her uninjured hand up in a futile attempt to ward off the blow. A piercing sound devastates your ears. Your hearing fades in the aftermath, and you scrunch your eyes closed in agony. Ice Devimon instinctively places both hands on either side of his head to escape the noise, his ugly face contorted more than you thought possible. A hulking shape crashes into him and knocks him to the floor, rescuing Liza from a grisly fate. The three Kokuwamon join Hi-Commandramon in restraining the enemy. Despite your dire circumstances, you find a bit of joy in watching them lunge at him, each one picking a spot that's sticking out from under the riot shield, then tazing it with all the power they have. Liza manages to recover, and you see her lips move. Seadramon bursts out a moment later, poised to slam down on anything that comes close. Finally, feeling returns to your arms, legs, and ears. You take a deep breath and run over to check on Phascomon.Your partner is hurt, but it's the kind of injury you've dealt with before. He gives you a shaky thumbs up once you extract him from the pile of fallen crates. Seeing that the situation is handled, you place him straight into your Digivice to apply the medicinal code. "You good?" "No, but I'll live. Those are SHARP! Damn!"
You look over to Liza, who's cradling her shoulder. Doc has arrived on the scene as well, and is ushering her over for treatment. You watch as his Digimon partners, joined by an unlikely ally, gradually whittle down Ice Devimon. That guy never really stood a chance once he hijacked the lifel1ne. The partition he was chasing after turned out to spell his doom. Still, he could have killed you both if he had even a few more seconds to spare. It was completely unforeseen that he'd be able to tag along, so you can't fault yourself at all for that. However, you end up regretting your choice to fight. Especially when you were running so short on time. Failing to extract on time would have resulted in a fate worse than death. It's not like the data center missions, where running out of time would result in a mere flagging. You join Doc and Liza as they shuffle off. The last thing you see is Solarmon flying into Hi-Commandramon's arms. The big reptile drops his grenade launcher, picks up the spinning gear-shaped Digimon, and uses him to decapitate their quarry.==
>>6376152so it would've been better if I switched and left it to a draw.I'm kinda interested if repeated injuries and healing changes humans somehow, though.
"Hand me that." You, Doc, and Phascomon all cluster around the medical bed, helping to repair Liza's shoulder. You can already tell that the injury is impossible to heal. The wireframe has been cleanly severed at several points, making it possible to fuse back together, but other segments are completely missing. Doc reaches up to touch his own face while waiting for you to pass him the wave emitter.Once his grip closes on the device, he focuses on sealing up the breach in your friend's body. "It hurts! I didn't think it'd hurt so much." She gasps. "Gets past the pain cap." Phascomon mumbles sympathetically.You stand vigil by a nearby workbench, your hands hovering over the countless objects. While Doc works, you dutifully pass him tools and do your best to be useful. "It'll be okay." You try to reassure her."I can't move my arm! How am I- Fuck!" She shudders as several freshly-woven bits of her wireframe snap apart. Doc clicks his tongue in frustration and steps away, leaving Phascomon there to hold a set of calipers wide open. Liza's skin textures are being forced back by the prongs, allowing Doc to work on the injury site. "Quiet. Quiet! All of you. I need to think." He demands. You fall silent. You've only seen him this stressed once before, and it was when he was kidnapped by DarkTyrannomon. The alarm has faded by now, meaning that the situation has been dealt with. None of the Kokuwamon have come by to report yet, and he needs the both of you here to help with Liza. Seadramon also refuses to leave her side, so he can't deploy her as a runner."You're certain it was the lifel1ne?" He asks again.You nod solemnly. "Damn it. Damn it!" He looks like he's barely restraining himself from flipping the bench. His hands quiver as he tries to pick up a medical tool again, and he's forced to wait for the trembling to stop before he can operate again.""It's... not your fault, Doc." Liza hisses through clenched teeth. Despite the agonized look on your face, you can tell she means it."It really isn't... That's not something we saw coming." "But I should have foreseen it! Me!"He paces back and forth with the magnetic sealer in his grip. His dark skin shimmers with sweat particles as he tries to regain his composure. "Hijacking it. Of course. It's all digital. It's all information once in there. And the reboot time. It's too long, leaves you helpless. I didn't cut it enough. How could I have not-""Come on, geezer, I can't hold this forever!"
Doc tries to return to fixing up Liza's arm, but after a few more minutes of stabilizing the limb, he sets his tools down again. He signals for Phascomon to release the calipers. With a heavy, the little bear pulls them out of place, allowing the skin to crawl upwards in an attempt to obey the ruined geometry. Flat textures begin clipping everywhere, flashing you with constant flickers of motion."No. It's not going to close. I just have to seal it." "Seal it?" Doc touches his own face again."One of these. I'll need to fill up the malware damage with a foreign material. But it's okay. Liza, you'll come with me after." "Go where? I can't get up like this." She hisses."The Hospital." "Huh? But-""No, girl, not the inside. I had plans to meet up with your little bunny friend anyway." You sign in relief. You forgot about Cutemon. His abilities were never anything to take for granted, so you never even considered that it was an option."When?" "First thing tomorrow. So you won't have to stay like this for long." He sifts through his own inventory and begins swapping to a different set of tools. He gives up on repairing the limb, in favor of stemming the data leakage and preparing it for temporary replacement.==
While Doc is partway through replacing Liza's shoulder joint with metal, a Kokuwamon runs into the room. "There you are, little one. Everything peachy? Anyone injured?" He asks."NO. BUT... HE GOT AWAY."Doc shoots you a look."I thought you said they chopped his ugly head clean off.""I saw that too.""NOT THE INVADER. THE SOLDIER. ESCAPED THROUGH HOLE.""Ah..." Liza tries to sit up, and Doc roughly pushes her other shoulder back onto the bench."Don't move! Do you want me to mess up and weld your armpit shut?! This is delicate work!" "No, it's just- He got away? Hi-Commandramon?" "YES... HOLE PATCHED NOW. SECURITY VULNERABILITY CLOSED.""That's what took you so long." Doc says with a solemn nod. Kokuwamon 3 returns the same motion. You feel a mixture of relief and apprehension. You're glad that he's out of here. Your friends wanted to delete him, last you remembered, and were just waiting for the right moment to. But enough time has passed in here that it'd feel wrong to just attack him. Doc clearly didn't want to in the end, even though he was the one to make the call.You don't believe Hi-Commandramon wanted to hurt you. He even sprang into combat to help out, and from Kokuwamon's body language, you doubt that anyone else got wounded. However, now that he's heading back to his own faction, the base might be in trouble. You never managed to establish a proper friendship with him. After that failure to convince him, you stopped trying to get close to him (partially on Doc's orders) expecting that he'd have to be put down at any time.Doc's expression softens. He doesn't look as bothered as you thought. "Nothing we can do." He sighs, letting it go.
"I gotta get out there." Liza complains. "He's going to bring all of them down on you, Doc, we need to chase him before-" "I'll do it."Seadramon slithers towards the partition entrance."Where are you going?! You're hurt too! You can't go hunt him down in that state." Doc protests."If I don't, he'll snitch on all of you, right?"Doc looks at you. "Do you really think he won't?" You don't know. But however you feel, there's only one thing you can really say to stop Seadramon from charging out while wounded."He won't. He said so. And you've all spoken to him a little, right? He's not the kind to go back on his word.""Yeah. The guy's solid.""Again, there's nothing we can do even if it does. So stay here with your partner instead." He instructs. Seadramon reluctantly returns to Liza's side. She gently lowers her huge head, making sure not to shake the workbench or disrupt Doc's operation. You exchange a meaningful look with Phascomon. The two of you were in that chair once. It wasn't that long ago, but it feels like you've experienced an eternity. "She'll be okay." He reassures you."I hope so." "We've got the best treating him." "Maybe it'll help them appreciate each other more.""I don't know, not like she took a bomb for her." He smirks.You gently squeeze his paw, then return him to the Digivice to let the rest of the code do its work. He's hurt too, and needs time off. ==
The rest of the night is spent in silence. Doc seems quite upset by how things have gone down. He's not mad at the two of you, but he seems bothered by the second failure to perfect lifel1ne.app. Liza is also in a bad mood thanks to Hi-Commandramon's escape. She was never able to forgive him. And Seadramon is frustrated with her own failure to keep her partner safe. Ice Devimon scored that hit while Liza was riding her, she must feel terrible about letting it happen. Even the Kokuwamon are bothered that they couldn't stop Hi-Commandramon's escape. In the grand scheme of things, that's the worst outcome. Liza is heading off to get fixed the very next day, Phascomon and Seadramon just need to heal, but Hi-Commandramon could end up ruining this whole base. You end up leaving Liza's bedside to pace through the storage facility, deep in thought. All your allies are out of commission now, thanks to the bad outcome of the patrol. Doc will be leaving as soon as Liza is stable enough to move. Seadramon will be with them. You can't even follow along since you're flagged, so that just leaves you with the Kokuwamon and Solarmon. While the sounds of drilling and welding pierce your ears from the operating room, you sit against a fake wall and think about your next steps while dozing off. When you're alone in the partition tomorrow, you want to use your time productively. You don't have to rush, but you're too antsy to do nothing. Jumping into action has always been how you escaped negative thoughts.>Spend time talking to Doc's assistants. Maybe you'll find out if Hi-Commandramon said anything relevant, and they may be able to help you look for clues regarding where he went. You need to thank them for coming to your aid too.>Work out your next plan with Phascomon, if he's feeling healthy enough to hold a conversation. You'll need to climb The Tower again, so you have to review all the information you have and work out possible routes you can take. >Use Doc's archives and study up on the Chessmon. You should be able to find them again, and you sorely need that puppet data. You were unprepared last time, you have to learn everything you can about them so that your next battle will be a success. It'll be a while till you can even go there, since you need assistance from a Champion.
>>6376154Can't be good, that's for sure.Fuck, that was a long update, I didn't realise I wrote so much.
>>6376171>Use Doc's archives and study up on the Chessmon. You should be able to find them again, and you sorely need that puppet data. You were unprepared last time, you have to learn everything you can about them so that your next battle will be a success. It'll be a while till you can even go there, since you need assistance from a Champion.We NEED Porcupamon to stand a chance
>>6376171>Use Doc's archives and study up on the Chessmon. You should be able to find them again, and you sorely need that puppet data. You were unprepared last time, you have to learn everything you can about them so that your next battle will be a success. It'll be a while till you can even go there, since you need assistance from a Champion.
So on one hand, all this shit happenedOn the other hand, now Doc has way more info on how the lifel1ne can work better, in addition to now Marnie and Liza being damaged when they used it which they also share with Bella.I don't think Hi-C will fuck things up. I don't think he's that kind of fool and he knows it. Although if he does return to his faction and they STILL continue to try to execute him no matter what he tries to bargain with, then that might finally get through to his thick dino skull
>>6376173It was badass, though. HC coming in clutch. I really hope he doesn't force us to kill him.>>6376171>Use Doc's archives and study up on the Chessmon. You should be able to find them again, and you sorely need that puppet data. You were unprepared last time, you have to learn everything you can about them so that your next battle will be a success. It'll be a while till you can even go there, since you need assistance from a Champion.
I should have known there was no camo. Fuck.>>6376171>Use Doc's archives and study up on the Chessmon. You should be able to find them again, and you sorely need that puppet data. You were unprepared last time, you have to learn everything you can about them so that your next battle will be a success. It'll be a while till you can even go there, since you need assistance from a Champion.If Phascomon can't evolve normally, sooner or later he'll need to do on a pinch. Better to fix that.
>>6376184>>6376191>>6376233>>6376298>>6376460Writing!
>Use Doc's archives and study up on the Chessmon. You should be able to find them again, and you sorely need that puppet data. You were unprepared last time, you have to learn everything you can about them so that your next battle will be a success. It'll be a while till you can even go there, since you need assistance from a Champion.You're exhausted from the long day. Travelling through the Network really wears away at a person, and this was the first real battle you've undergone in quite a while. Despite how badly it went, you at least feel like you've shaken the rust off. The cacophony of drills and magnetic welders slowly fade away as sleep takes you, and you drift off right there on the comfortably cool partition floor. Phascomon snoozes in your Digivice, equally spent. His stamina has been cut in half, but the loss of his data can't get rid of his training and experience. The upside of his Rookie form is that the medicinal code works faster, repairing the damage that Ice Devimon did to him. He'll be unable to fight for two days or so. The both of you stay put till morning comes and Doc rouses you.=="Huh? What's going on?" You ask, stiffly pushing yourself to your feet. You plant your back against the wall and shimmy up rapidly, using it for balance. The Code Cracker is standing in front of you with a folder in hand. He offers it with a tinge of hesitation. "Here. You'll need to hold on to this while we're gone.""What's this?" "Credentials for the partition. The admin codes are encrypted in there." "You're giving this to us...?" Phascomon asks, his voice echoing from your wrist."In case anything happens on the way. Give it back as soon as we're home." You're honored that he's trusting you with something so important. Even if you're not a Cracker yourself, you understand what a monumental show of trust this is. You're a close enough friend for him to give you admin access to his life's work. You feel a little giddy at the thought."We won't do anything stupid with it. Everything will be as you left it." "Good. I don't have any tasks for you in the meantime. Solarmon and Kokuwamon 4 will be staying behind, ask them if you need anything. But don't exit, you don't have any backup and they can't Digivolve without me nearby." "Got it, Doc!"
With that, he heads towards the gate. You follow along to see the two of them off. Both he and Liza look exhausted from the full night of surgery. She's wearing a shawl that covers her shoulders, hiding the mutilated arm, and he quietly places a simple mask on his face. The two of them look extremely conspicuous. Doc fastens a lifel1ne.app to himself, then helps Liza equip hers. Phascomon notices before you do that it's a different color."Doc, did you make a new version?""I did." "But you were already up all night. How'd you find the time to...?" "Some things just can't wait." He grumbles, rubbing his cybernetic eyes out of habit. "Alright then. Girl, you ready?" Liza double checks her tools, makes sure Seadramon is sitting snugly in the Digivice, then nods. "Yeah. See you in a bit, Marnie." "Bye! Say hi to Cutemon for me." The two of them digitize themselves and head into the portal with the pair of Kokuwamon in tow. You're left standing in front of the gate as it seals shut, with a spinning robot and a cyborg bug pacing beside you. "There they go." Solarmon comments. "MISS THEM ALREADY..." Kokuwamon chirps."Well, no sense pining the whole time. Come on, Marnie, let's go dig into those puppet chumps."==You dig into Doc's archives while eating breakfast. The system is a nightmare to navigate, and with him absent, you can't ask for any help with it. You just make sure Kokuwamon is nearby to stop you from opening the wrong windows or breaking anything. At one point, you try to drag a file into view and almost reshuffle the entire directory. It takes a nightmarish hour before you can even start looking into the actual info. Doc has a few notes on the Digimon, but like most of the species that he's seen, but not interacted with, there are only a few superficial lines."Says here that they're based on data from a game?" "A game. Like one of those job district things.""What's a Chess anyway? Look for that keyword by itself."You manage to find it easily. Apparently, Chess is some sort of dead game. You find yourself rather drawn to the idea of a traditional human hobby after accessing some publicly available info on it. This is a strategy game that extended all the way back to ancient human history! It has quite a few different pieces, and it doesn't take long to figure out the link between the game and the Digimon.
"Pawn, Knight, Bishop, Rook, King, Queen." You recite."We've seen three of those. Wait, what about the horse?" "That's knight." "Is this a game we can actually play?" It is! There are numerous chess engines available online. When you keep digging, you discover that there are niche communities who still enjoy this game. It's just something that's fallen out of fashion. You hesitantly begin a match, taking turns to move back and forth with Phascomon. "Hey! How'd you get me?!" You complain, when your knight is taken by a pathetic little Rookie piece. This is nonsense, why can the weak one defeat your knight? Where are the combat stats?"Huh? You marched right in front of me. These guys move diagonally.""That doesn't make sense, it doesn't let me go that way! They can only go straight ahead! See?" You move one of the many duplicate pieces one space forward. Phascomon moves two, confusing you further."What are you even doing?!" He lets out an evil laugh as you take his piece with the diagonally-cutting bishop, then has his knight ambush it from the backline. "Horse can jump right over pieces. Hey, not a bad game.""Are you kidding?!"Despite not really enjoying this lame turn-based game, you feel a sense of relief that you can sit around and play with Phascomon again. Things are properly back to normal now, if you can enjoy each others' friendship. You manage to halt your own complaining for his sake, but the more you play, the more you realize why this game died off. There's no gratification you can find in just taking his pieces, there's nothing interesting about the board, and he just keeps winning. Chess sucks!
"That's enough." You say at last."Enough of me beating your sorry behind?""We haven't learnt anything about the Digimon!" "I did." He says, sounding serious. "The way they move is a lot like the pieces they're based on. Except uh... no ranged attacks."That's true, you can't correlate the giant dart with anything you can do in this game. Maybe there's a version with guns or something. Try as you might, you can't find any chess mods. There are games with similar concepts, but at that point, they've mutated into completely different (and far more enjoyable) programs. You close the chess engine and start dragging images into place on a presentation board."So, it looks like the pieces represent Digimon of different stages."You examine images of Pawn Chessmon, Knight Chessmon, and the big cannon-shooting one that tried to snipe you. "Lowest guys are Rookies. It wouldn't make sense for any of the other to be below that."You nod in agreement. You immediately drag King and Queen into the highest part of the canvas. Even someone as lousy at chess as you can identify the strongest and the most important piece."King and Queen Chessmon would be the Digimon at the highest stages. So the rest are either Champions or Ultimates.""I don't think it's worth gunning for them. Why don't we just go back and beat the Rookies?"You find yourself agreeing again. There's no point in punching above your weight class. You just decide to make some educated guesses and figure out how the other Digimon might behave, in order to come up with plans for dealing with them. It takes you the rest of the day, but eventually you have a decent plan for facing the Chessmon again. You can now predict their moves a little better. == Doc and Liza don't return at night either. You'd like to get to bed soon, but you also want to stay up to wait for them. Hopefully they haven't run into any trouble. You consider doing something else before they get home.>Contact Wind and Squid. It's been a while since you had a proper chat, you'd like to know how they've been faring. Things have been silent between you and the Dogs of War for a bit, it could be helpful to re-establish contact.>Go check on Solarmon and Kokuwamon 4. Doc would want you to make sure they're doing alright. They can take care of themselves, but you just want to put your mind at ease.>Rest up early. Phascomon is still hurt physically. Going to bed a few hours early could make a difference in his recovery time, since the medicinal code needs to repair his data in the Digivice. You'll give up this time slot to get him back in shape faster.
>>6376968>Contact Wind and Squid. It's been a while since you had a proper chat, you'd like to know how they've been faring. Things have been silent between you and the Dogs of War for a bit, it could be helpful to re-establish contact.I want to know what's the next step in Wind's master plan.
>>6376968>Contact Wind and Squid. It's been a while since you had a proper chat, you'd like to know how they've been faring. Things have been silent between you and the Dogs of War for a bit, it could be helpful to re-establish contact.They also have correspondence with Cutemon.
>>6376968>Go check on Solarmon and Kokuwamon 4. Doc would want you to make sure they're doing alright. They can take care of themselves, but you just want to put your mind at ease.
>>6376968>Contact Wind and Squid. It's been a while since you had a proper chat, you'd like to know how they've been faring. Things have been silent between you and the Dogs of War for a bit, it could be helpful to re-establish contact.
