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.
>>6376995>>6377041>>6377234>>6377066>>6377076Writing!
>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.You've exchanged a few brief messages with Squid over the past weeks. However, you haven't been in the mood to have a long conversation. You finally decide to try and get back in contact with her, so you can catch up on everything that's happened on their end. It's been a complete mystery ever since you returned from your failed climb, and you want to check on your friends."Let's give the Dogs of War a call." You suggest to Phascomon."Yeah... we do need to say thanks." You consider the debt paid, since they did their job and distracted Brigadramon. The idea of creating a new set of back-and-forth favors with them unsettles you, but you decide to give them a call anyway. You just want to check up on them, as friends.hsjdhs@21: Hey, M here. We managed to secure comms. Can I call?CalamariCracker: Hi!!! Yes!! I'll call you in 20?hsjdhs@21: OkDoc has properly secured the partition's communications modules, so it's safe to keep contact with the Dogs of War now. You settle down with some snacks, feeling your eyelids drooping. After closer to half an hour, a ringtone sounds out, and you open up a contact window to accept the video call.
"Marnie! Hey!" Squid's face takes up most the screen. She's gently pulled back by Wind, who's standing off to the side. It's late at night, so he looks like he's getting ready for bed, while Squid is in her labcoat as always. "You're okay! Did you get any injuries? Doc told me-" "I'm alright. Phascomon finished his recovery too." "Except that I got hurt all over again. But this one is nothing compared to my core melting." Your partner says, shifting about within a nest of pillows. "That's a real interesting room you have." Wind comments with a raised eyebrow. You turn around and wince at Liza's poor choice of decor again."I'm calling from inside Doc's partition. Figured I should catch up and see how you guys are doing. All of you healthy?" "It's going good." He says. "After I sent Fumamon up there to help you, they were too busy mopping up the damage to chase him any further. He got away without issues too." You sigh in relief. You figured out by now that that Digimon must have been Kaus Gammamon's Ultimate stage, but you never got confirmation that he was alright. Same with the Deckerdramon they must have obtained. You glance at your partner, trying to figure out what to bring up first. He has his own idea for continuing the conversation."Is Kaus Gammamon there?" "I had him go to sleep early." "Damn. Wanted to say thanks directly.""What about me! I helped!" ToyAgumon says, hopping into view from below the frame."He did. He got to Digivolve." Squid says. A small smile sits on her face, but she doesn't seem as excited as you thought she'd be. "What did you Digivolve into, ToyAgumon?" You ask, trying to see if she'll perk up to explain. "Deckerdramon. I was the one launching missiles!" "Never took you for a fighter." "I'm not. But I was the only Digimon in the base who was a good fit." "But he's a non-combatant, so we're looking into finding more Digimon who can use the same Digi-DNA sample. I'm thinking that with enough of them, we can really counter Brigadramon." "You're planning on taking him down?" You ask. "We have to at some point. I'm thinking that we should do it before they seal off the Portal. What's your plan for dealing with that anyway?""What?!""Huh? Sealing it off?"
Wind and Squid exchange a look on the other side of the screen. "I thought you told her?" "I could have sworn I did!" "What do you mean they're sealing it? Is it because of what we did?" "Of course. Why else? They didn't make an announcement, but Squid has been observing the Tower's movements and deployments recently. Everything points to that being the case." You instinctively turn around, about to go interrogate Hi-Commandramon, but realise that he's not here anymore. "Damn it." It seems like your resolution to take things slow isn't going to work out. "Do you know when they'll do it?" "Luckily for you, it doesn't seem like they're in a rush to. But they've blockaded the area itself. The level of security hasn't gone down since the other day, there's always a whole mob up there." You bite at your nails as you think about your next step. It's a good thing you called them to learn about this. "Anyway, I've got a training bootcamp tomorrow for some new recruits. I'm going to go to bed in a bit." Wind says. "Anything else you need?" You want to ask them about Cutemon and their current business dealings with him. You'll do that for sure. But you have time for something else. >Write-in: One thing that you may want to talk to the Dogs of War about, and ideas you may want to raise.
>>6377299>Tell them what we learned about how the City hierarchy works.The differences between Andromon and Espimon commanding styles could leave gaps that can be leveraged, and Fumamon might be able to manage information gathering.I'm kinda leaning on just letting them seal it. I'll bet it's in preparation for the book coming back, and we could do with a revenge beatdown anyway.
>>6377299>Write-in: One thing that you may want to talk to the Dogs of War about, and ideas you may want to raise.First of all is important for Marnie to calm down, she needs to prioritize Phascomon. Choosing to talk to the Dogs instead of focusing on his recovery is at least questionable.Now:If you can restart the favor chain again, ask for reinforcements to take on the chessmon. Ryan will do it for sure. If they are epic, ask them to take down King Chessmon for an XP shower.If Marnie can't, ask them if Squid can open the portal again or if they know a secondary exit. Maybe if they open a lateral opening, they'll get to the Digital World or to another city with an open portal. It might be possible to take things slow if Marnie just teams up with the Dogs to take down Brigadramon for good. The City won't even need it if there's no portal.I seriously doubt the Dogs can't reopen the it once Squid get the City's source code anyways.
>>6377299>>6377305 and >>6377312 +1
>>6377312+1Marnie and Phascomon need to REST even though we'll be going after the Chessmon later
>>6377305I hope we can at least bring this up to Wind. It's actionable intel he'd be interested in.>>6377312All super good questions regarding the portal. If the goal is the Digital World now, then surely there has to be multiple ways there from City 87-O, if not to other Cities entirely which might have more info or more ways elsewhere or even information on the real world outside.
>>6377299I'll back >>6377305 on>Tell them what we learned about how the City hierarchy works.Then,w e should rest. I also am NOT in favor of abandoning going through the portal. Even if its' not to get to the real/physical world, I don't want to end the quest with Marnie stuck in the fake city she still resents.
>>6377305>>6377475>>6377312>>6377321>>6377398Writing!
>>6377646err, are these mutually exclusive?
>>6377680Nope I just phrased the vote really badly in hindsight. I wanted it to convey: One big thing you might want help with, a proposal, important questions, etc, and then telling them anything you guys think they should know. Spending time on a detailed portal question and letting them know about the city Digimon hierarchy fits into that, am writing both.
>Write-in: “A few more things. Squid, you’ve been helping Doc keep in touch with Cutemon, right?” “Yep. He told me he was visiting today.” Before you can keep talking, Phascomon nudges you. ‘Liza’, he mouths. You nod and consider whether you should tell them. Ultimately, you decide that it’s relevant to the topic at hand. “He took Liza, actually. The two of them left this morning.” “Liza? What’s she doing there?” Wind asks, looking surprised. “She’s been doing some work for Doc. But yesterday, she got hurt while we were out on patrol. Pretty severe damage. So he decided to take her.” ”We were wondering if you heard anything from them. Or from Cutemon. They should have been back by now.” “He didn’t say anything in particular. But you know how Cutemon is! He sticks to deals really strictly.” “So if he brought a second patient along, he’s probably getting some complication thrown his way.” Wind finishes. “I guess he has his own quest to go on. Hopefully he comes back soon…”Doc’s status is a mystery, but he and Liza have a total of three Digimon capable of reaching their Champion stage. They’re as well-armed as they can be, no point worrying about it. You move on to your next topic. “Oh. Another thing. Hi-Commandramon escaped.” Wind sighs. “… I don’t want to rub it in. But-“ “I know. I still wouldn’t have wanted to do it.” You’ve briefly updated them on the Digimon’s presence over the last few weeks. Wind gave his advice again, and said that he expected Doc to do the same since it was his brand new home on the line. You never indulged those conversations for long. “But while I was talking to him, he dropped some info that you guys may need.”You go into detail on everything Hi-Commandramon told you. Wind seems quite a bit more interested than Squid, and by the time you’re done explaining, he’s almost rolled her chair out of the frame. He taps his fingers on the desk, deep in thought, as you address the orange-haired hacker instead. “Did you know about their leadership structure before this?” ”Not at all!” Her partner answers. “We knew there were squad leaders. And I guess Sealsdramon made it obvious that some hated humans. But I didn’t think there’d be this kind of schism among their ranks.” She adds.“Something you can use?” “Maybe. Once we take down Brigadramon, that’s not the end of it We still have to contend with the Tower. But without that kind of instant-win solution on their end, a revolution will be much easier. So this could help.” “I just wish I managed to convince him to stick around.” You sigh. “You’ve given him plenty of chances already. He would’ve been deleted five times over if I was in your shoes, so don’t kick yourself over it.”“I guess. Can you two keep me updated about the Portal sealing thing?”
You and Phascomon may have come to terms with your true goals, but you both still want to get out of here. If this thing closes, you don’t know how you’ll manage.”What do you mean by sealing, anyway? How tightly could they really shut it?”“Well… I don’t have any insight into it. Portal research is pretty much an informational black zone. But it’ll be a problem. You know how we can pretty easily carve ping tunnels through the Network?” You nod. “That’s because a ping is a back and forth request. The infrastructure is really friendly since they don’t expect it to be exploited like this. But in really secure installations, you can’t carve that tunnel without the ping being allowed. And you can’t hack it remotely without any kind of thread of connection.” You don’t get it, but ToyAgumon reads your expression and prompts Squid to continue. “So, if that thread of connection is completely severed-“ ”It becomes up to the other side to accept or reject the request. And by then it’s completely out of the City’s control.” You feel a pit of unease in your stomach again. “If they completely close it…” ”It can’t be forced open without permission from whatever is on the other side.” “I’m not saying it’s impossible. If we take over, we'll have access to a LOT of data. Everything! This whole world! But we know literally nothing about the kind of system that the Portal is connected to. So we can’t make any guarantees, or even predictions on what's impossible.”Getting through the portal before they close it is vital, then. Otherwise you’ll be trapped in here. You’ll definitely be dragged into the DOW’s plans for a revolution, all while being marked. You know yourself, you won’t just sit tight and wait for it to blow over. That’s not you. The sense of urgency has been re-ignited. You and Phascomon have to leave together, and then wherever you go, you’ll be happy as long as it’s not 87-O.
“One more thing. Can I get some help? Phascomon is still weakened. I was wondering if you could spare maybe one person with a Champion Digimon.” “I don’t think I can. What do you need them for?” ”We’re trying to harvest Puppet Digimon data. We found a bunch of wild Digimon, but there are Champions mixed in there.” “This is inside the Network?” You nod. “I’m sorry. I can’t spare anyone for something as dangerous as that. We’re heavily limiting Network use after the last time. If we want to send you just one person, they need a whole escort to safely pass through the tunnels. I could lose multiple people coming back and forth. It’s too much manpower for something that doesn’t benefit us.” You sigh. That wasn’t expected. It’s a big operation to have someone travel all the way from their base to Doc’s partition. Meeting them halfway is difficult too, as neither of you want to stay in the Network excessively. You were fine before thanks to the big group, but even then a stray Digimon nearly killed someone. Things are even worse now.”Not worth your while, huh?” “It’s not. We can train against sewer Digimon at any time. There’s no benefit on our end to sending someone through hell to reach you.”
“But…” Wind trails off, just as you’re about to hang up. “Okay. You gave me some good info. But you’ll still have to meet me halfway here. If you can properly escort her back and forth, I could send Bella.” That’ll be a challenge to do. You can’t go find her yourself since you’re flagged, and you haven’t charted out the paths leading to the Chessmon enclave from other points of the Network. You’ll need to wait for Doc to get back to work out the details. It’s the best you can do at the moment, though. “Okay. I’ll let you know if I can secure a route.” “She needs some training with Gazimon too. Make sure she gets back without a scratch.” Squid finally takes the chance to chime in. “And… Tell Liza to take care.” “But don’t give her any hope of coming back.” Wind adds. Your lip twitches in irritation when he says that. It's not like she'd ever want to. You just nod and hold your hand over the disconnect button. “Goodnight, you three.” “Night!””Bye bye!”“G’night.” With that, you hang up, leaving you and Phascomon to sit silently in the room for several moments. While you stay in a chair, deep in thought, he crawls over to the bed to curl up in a nest of sheets.“Hopefully Doc and Liza get back soon. Tomorrow, maybe we can do some pathing for Bella and figure out how we can pick her up.” ”Clock’s ticking again, huh? If they close that hole…” “We’ll just have to be faster. Together this time, yeah?” He gives you a determined nod. ”Together. No matter what. You promised.”==
The next morning, you’re woken up by a message from Doc. He has a quick update that you and Phascomon slowly pore over. “Turf war…?””Cutemon did say he was trying to take over.” Doc and Liza have been dragged into a battle for territory that Cutemon is leading. He lets you know that he’ll be gone for a day more, at least. The bunny demanded a greater price for bringing a second customer without prior communication. ”What do you think they’re fighting?” “I don’t know. Hopefully not something too strong. Do you think Pulsemon is with them?” ”Probably. He'll be fine. He’s fast enough to get away from almost anything." You’re stuck without a chaperone for another day. With Liza out of the picture thanks to the injury, it’s even harder to make arrangements to attack the chessboard. You spent the morning in a state of utter unease, flicking through the news for any mention of the Portal closing. Your actions have already left the news cycle, and it’s back to the same old boring reports."I guess all we can do is plan."
With a lack of actions you can actually pursue, you're left to just keep yourself busy with research and conversation. You join Doc's two Digimon in the main hall, where you watch them eat a strange variety of food. Solarmon is chewing on something that looks like a compressed ingot of ore, while Kokuwamon is eating vending machine food. The little metal bug rips open several packets of snacks, making sure to compress all the waste into a neat little cube."What do we need to finish up today?" Phascomon asks, between bites of his meat haunch. He's started eating these recently. Maybe he needs more protein. He tears into it with relish, ripping the shreds of digital meat up with his incisors.>Plan your attack on the chessboard further, by looking into routes that someone could use to get here. With the help of Doc's assistants, and access to his admin controls, you can examine the map. You can't finish this step without him, but you think it could be wise to finish as much as you can.>Figure out how you're going to approach The Tower a second time. There are some new paths you may be able to think of, and if you work on an approach early, you'll be able to gather up your resources in a more efficient and focused manner.>Spend the day with Phascomon instead. You've only just mended things between the two of you, but you haven't had proper quality time with your partner. Relax, wait for Doc and Liza to come back, and just talk to him. You can discuss your next steps in the Digital World as an actual team now, instead of having your partnership end the moment you pass through the gate.
>>6378275>Spend the day with Phascomon instead. You've only just mended things between the two of you, but you haven't had proper quality time with your partner. Relax, wait for Doc and Liza to come back, and just talk to him. You can discuss your next steps in the Digital World as an actual team now, instead of having your partnership end the moment you pass through the gate.This timeslot doesn't seem efficient for the grindset. We're obligated to be ready for any intruders or prepare extra defenses because of Hi-C, but if those aren't options chilling is fine.
>>6378278+1We need Marnie to prove she can come back from her mistakes and learn from them. Phascobro MATTERS damnit
>>6378275>Spend the day with Phascomon instead. You've only just mended things between the two of you, but you haven't had proper quality time with your partner. Relax, wait for Doc and Liza to come back, and just talk to him. You can discuss your next steps in the Digital World as an actual team now, instead of having your partnership end the moment you pass through the gate.It would be nice to listen to his plans about forming a gang, specially since he probably won't be able to evolve to Mega. He might want to rethink his strategy.>He's started eating these recently. Maybe he needs more protein. He tears into it with relish, ripping the shreds of digital meat up with his incisors.This is the zombie influence.
>>6378275>Spend the day with Phascomon instead. You've only just mended things between the two of you, but you haven't had proper quality time with your partner. Relax, wait for Doc and Liza to come back, and just talk to him. You can discuss your next steps in the Digital World as an actual team now, instead of having your partnership end the moment you pass through the gate.Also, maybe we can watch his show that he likes so much? The gangster one?
Guys what if, offscreen on his enforced turf war mission from Cutemon, Doc has his own moment with one of his Digimon like Marnie did with Phascomon and he unlocks new potential and a Digivolution all on his own like a real tamer?
>>6378443I mean for those kokuwamon, chamption to ultimate jogress is fairly possible.
>>6378270>You and Phascomon have to leave together, and then wherever you go, you’ll be happy as long as it’s not 87-O.What if it's the fucking Dark Area huh? It's not nice there for a human like Marnie. Even though technically Porcupamon as Astamon or whatever dark virus Mega or other Demon Man he becomes could fit right in along with everybody else there, the kind of individual he is would be dead set against being in such a place much less Marnie being stuck there with him.
>>6378275>Spend the day with Phascomon instead. You've only just mended things between the two of you, but you haven't had proper quality time with your partner. Relax, wait for Doc and Liza to come back, and just talk to him. You can discuss your next steps in the Digital World as an actual team now, instead of having your partnership end the moment you pass through the gate.
>>6378450Then we keep moving. Simple as.
>>6378278>>6378291>>6378364>>6378441>>6378450>>6378596Writing!>>6378450>Portal leads to the blender realm
>Spend the day with Phascomon instead. You've only just mended things between the two of you, but you haven't had proper quality time with your partner. Relax, wait for Doc and Liza to come back, and just talk to him. You can discuss your next steps in the Digital World as an actual team now, instead of having your partnership end the moment you pass through the gate.“Let’s just take it easy. We can’t finish the work without Doc anyway.” ”I could use a break. Hey, you’ve got admin access. Let’s go pull something up on the TV.” The two of you head to one of Doc’s lesser workstations. You remember the television screen being hooked up to a bunch of cables that are transmitting information from the outside. With your override perms, you place down a big couch and settle onto it, with Phascomon clambering up and joining you. Since it’s his idea, you hand him the remote. He quickly sifts through several video archive sites. You see an infinity symbol in the upper right of the screen, marking out how many credits Doc has to spare on recordings of old shows. “Your usual? The Falsettos?””A movie came out while I was stuck in bed. I want to finish the series before we leave!” “Is it complete?” He sighs. ”No, a few months away from the finale. I don’t think it’ll be possible. But maybe this movie is an alternate route, see? Another ending!” He pays for it with the hacked credits, and settles in to watch. It’s still early in the morning, and you’re not that interested in it, so your eyelids start to droop. Halfway through, you're woken by Phascomon swearing in frustration."What? What's up?" "It's a prequel!"You can't recognize any of the characters on the screen, but the main guy is missing. "Where's the dude with the big nose who you like?" "Tommy Falsetto? Yeah, that's him. It's a different actor. This is a couple of decades before the main season!" "So there's no ending after all."
"Hey. How does the City make movies like this anyway? These guys spend all their time acting?" You tap your fingers on the coffee table. "... I don't know." "What do you mean you don't know?""I never actually asked any of the bots. I don't know how they make new shows. There are people who want to be famous, like Sportsball athletes, but..." "No interest in what they put out at all. Yeah. I get it." For a long time, you've lacked a sense of curiosity about this world, because of your desire for the one beyond its walls. But everything is new to Phascomon. He cares about what happens behind the scenes, he finds things to be interested in, and he even has a show that he loves this much. "We can ask Doc when he's back. He'll know." Phascomon reaches out to pause the movie. "I can finish it later. I got to see Tommy gun down his first goon, no way they top that for the rest of the runtime.""Maybe Squid can finish up that tool now. The pager. Then once we're out of here, she can send us the rest of the episodes." "I'd like that."Phascomon falls silent. You glance down at him and see him picking at his claws with the other paw, ripping out stray chunks of dirt and concentrated data. "What's up?" "I was just wondering what we'd do once we got into the Digital World." He was never able to bring this up before, for it'd raise the painful topic of you two parting ways. But with your newfound resolution, you find yourself able to continue. You finally feel like you can stop avoiding the subject."First thing we should do is get our bearings, right?" "That's right." He nods, slowly gaining enthusiasm. "Find out what the area is like. And then look for somewhere to rest.""You'll be tired from climbing, one way or another. We'll need to take a break as soon as we can." "Then once that's done, we can start exploring for real." You keep talking to him, making a step-by-step plan. The more you discuss it, the more real it all seems. It took a lot, but you've managed to overcome that final hurdle creating distance between you and Phascomon. Your goals are properly aligned now. "-and a house. I want some kind of place to actually stay. There won't be bots chasing us out there. We can have a proper home of our own." "You'll have to work out how to build things, then. No assets out in the Digital World to copy and paste.""We don't know that." "Fair enough. There's a lot we don't know."As the morning goes on, you and your partner share your excitement for the road ahead, until you run dry of ideas that don't rely on pure speculation. You'll have to wait and see, once you make it out and claim your dream at last.==
The rest of your day passes peacefully. Despite receiving news about the Tower's intention to seal up the portal, you find yourself surprisingly calm. You have several key goals left: Restoring Phascomon's Digivolutions, creating a plan to climb, and then putting it into practice. The fact that you only have one last chance is sobering. You have to make this one count. But today is for your partner. You're glad that you're talking on good terms again, and you don't want to ruin it with work.Kokuwamon and Solarmon eventually join the two of you after lunch, and you smile as Phascomon finishes the movie with them. He starts explaining the various plotlines with glee, and while Kokuwamon looks bored, Solarmon seems like he's interested in starting on the full series. "It seems as though this movie resonates heavily with you.""It does. I was real hyped up to get an OOPART that reminded me of it. Living the dream as Astamon.""Hey. Solarmon. Did Doc brief you on any of Phascomon's Digicore issues? I'm wondering what happened to the OOPART that he absorbed."Your partner shifts his full attention to the floating gear."Yes, I've filed that data for him. The data from that package has been deeply integrated into you, Phascomon. Its pathways shouldn't be locked off.""Oh! That's good!" It would be a nightmare if you had to hunt it down again. "But not for Porcupamon.""Unfortunately not. You attained that Digivolution naturally. As such, the paths carved into your core have to be rediscovered. So long as you have sufficient data, you should be able to Digivolve into Astamon again one day."That's good news for you. You account for that in your planning."What about you, Solarmon? Have you managed to Digivolve?" He floats back and forth idly, thinking for a moment."I would like that to be confidential.""Sure. No pressure."
When evening hits, you all slowly congregate in front of the entry gateway. Doc has sealed it up tight, but you're all waiting eagerly for his return. By the time midnight arrives, he still hasn't returned. You send him a message, but you only get a brief reply. It seems like he and Liza are really busy with an entire journey of their own. "I'm tired from all that rest. I'll head to bed ahead of you.""I'll put you in the Digivice so the code can work. Hololize."Once Phascomon gets a full night's sleep, he'll be healed up and ready to fight as a Rookie again. The medicinal code will have restored him back to peak health. You, on the other hand, have other things on your mind.You've gotten a whole day of rest, and finally had the opportunity to enjoy time with Phascomon. You feel a lot more relaxed. However, Doc's absence is causing you a bit of anxiety. You stare at the gateway, deep in thought.>Stay up with Kokuwamon to watch over the entrance. If Doc needs any help, or sends out a distress call, you want to be here to receive it. Things go wrong pretty often on your own missions, you want to be there to support him if there's a crisis.>Survey the defenses with Solarmon. He's been a little paranoid that Hi-Commandramon will be back with City forces, now that he knows of this partition's existence. You might as well use that admin access to help touch up the base's turrets and security features, so you can learn more about this structure.>Sort through your .apps and tools, so you can figure out what you can use in the Digital World. Your earlier conversation with Phascomon really got you thinking. Once you're through the Portal, you'll need to be self-sufficient. No more Cracker to give you programs. You want to audit your equipment and plan for the future, since this is something that Phascomon can't help with.
Sorry for the constant gaps between posts. Having a rough time finding hours to update, and if I do anything after work, it becomes impossible to write. NEETdom truly is the most important quest factor. May have to take multiple days for longer posts. I don't want to drag out pacing, so I may need to write at longer intervals to move to more impactful choices and avoid padding.
>>6379132>Survey the defenses with Solarmon. He's been a little paranoid that Hi-Commandramon will be back with City forces, now that he knows of this partition's existence. You might as well use that admin access to help touch up the base's turrets and security features, so you can learn more about this structure.maybe we can learn more about the City's turrets too.
>>6379132>Sort through your .apps and tools, so you can figure out what you can use in the Digital World. Your earlier conversation with Phascomon really got you thinking. Once you're through the Portal, you'll need to be self-sufficient. No more Cracker to give you programs. You want to audit your equipment and plan for the future, since this is something that Phascomon can't help with.Never EVER giving up the packet pistol or jetpack. The smuggling partition is going to be a big help collecting items for survival too. Marnie definitely needs more than just all this though. No such luck to get an infinite freeze code or infinite optic camo cheat item, huh? Maybe she could end up getting a weapon in the Digital World that Digimon use but a human like her can also use? Surely there's gotta be mons into blacksmithing or gear crafting out there?
>>6379132>Stay up with Kokuwamon to watch over the entrance. If Doc needs any help, or sends out a distress call, you want to be here to receive it. Things go wrong pretty often on your own missions, you want to be there to support him if there's a crisis.We can do the audit with Doc when he's back.
>>6379133It happens, QM. IRL comes first.
>>6379132>Survey the defenses with Solarmon. He's been a little paranoid that Hi-Commandramon will be back with City forces, now that he knows of this partition's existence. You might as well use that admin access to help touch up the base's turrets and security features, so you can learn more about this structure.Better safe than sorry. I also don't understand why Kokuwamon can't just notice tell Marnie if Doc needs help.
>>6379132>Survey the defenses with Solarmon. He's been a little paranoid that Hi-Commandramon will be back with City forces, now that he knows of this partition's existence. You might as well use that admin access to help touch up the base's turrets and security features, so you can learn more about this structure.
>>6379143>>6379192>>6379424>>6379162>>6379183Writing!
>Survey the defenses with Solarmon. He's been a little paranoid that Hi-Commandramon will be back with City forces, now that he knows of this partition's existence. You might as well use that admin access to help touch up the base's turrets and security features, so you can learn more about this structure.You decide to help Solarmon out. You've already messed up your sleep schedule plenty, thanks to your time in here, so staying up late doesn't bother you."You really think he'll be back?" You ask, as you help him tighten a bolt.On the other side of the room, the gear-shaped Digimon is placing the teeth of his jagged body against two nodes that are built into the wall. When he rotates, he forces the entire device to spin and power up. He grunts in exertion for a moment before answering."Better safe than sorry. It's just us four for now, we can't hold off an attack." You recognize one of the turrets. Doc had this in his old place, but the Tower did too. These were the freeze lasers that they tried to use on Astamon. You thought they looked familiar, but you had no time to examine it during your climb."Hey. Are these turrets standardized?" "They are. Same model, same blueprint, same amount of metal data needed." You push your ladder underneath the mounted weapon, then clamber up to get a closer look. You feel a little nervous when approaching, but since you have admin access, the turret doesn't even turn on. "So Doc should have access to the code that makes it up." "He definitely does. Why?" "I'm just wondering why he never gave me any tech to hack the turrets." "Did you ever need to?""Well, yeah. During the climb." "I see."The mechanical Digimon floats over to you and spins out a single line of code. You hold your hand out to receive it, then apply the executable line to your own windows. A box appears, confirming that you intend to utilize admin access. "What's this?""View mode."
When you accept the prompt and slide your goggles on, your vision is overcome with blinding streaks of light. You wince as you try to get used to it, and your lenses automatically darken themselves to spare your eyes. Once you've regained your sight, you marvel at the sheet density of data threading its way through this partition. "The turret is-" "Enslaved directly to the central computing software of this partition. It has no remote access points. The exception is a node. See?"Solarmon points somewhere in the distance, through several walls. You recall the node, you helped him set it up during one of your errand days. It's a core piece of tech that oversees the turrets in this sector. "If I hack that node, I can control the turrets remotely.""Correct. But only then. Follow the wires with your eyes, what do you see?"You notice that the turret's data flow takes the form of a single line, stretching from the machine itself to the distant node, and then continuing onwards. "Every turret functions individually."You get why hacking them is a hassle. You definitely have the means to inject code into one and claim it, as it's a simple piece of tech. Tower encryption is secure, but surely they don't invest the very best into a mere turret. The problem comes from the fact that there's never just one. You'd have to either find and overtake the node, which you never had time for, or spend numerous instances of hacking programs to claim turrets one by one. It's not very economical. "Still," you continue, "I'd have liked the option. Hopefully he has some .apps to spare. I don't want to keep taking without giving, but..." "You have helped a good amount already, Marnie. I do not think a request like that would be unreasonable. And I am glad that I've gained the opportunity to work with you. Here are the statistics for your work contributions this past month." He emits a pie chart onto the nearby wall. Your portrait is there, along with little pixel depictions of the various Digimon that have lived in here. Hi-Commandramon, surprisingly, is at 7%. "He was helping?" "Low-risk work that would not compromise security. Doc was adamant about not letting him scout out our home, but on several days, I... enlisted his aid for small tasks. He never complained. He said that it was payment for the food we provided.""I wish he could have been convinced." "I do as well. And still, I prepare, because those hopes cannot substitute action."
You move on to the most dangerous part of security work: checking the mines. Wherever sections of buildable walls have been placed, Doc has planted explosives in the spaces inbetween them. Through that method, he's ensured that enemies will be wary of simply busting through walls instead of going the long way around. Digimon who clip through surfaces will still trigger it, and he's mixed in packets of chaff data that could interfere with even their intangibility. To top it off, there are small sections of wall in every room that do not have mines on the other end. He called those nightingale walls, and placed them there so that you defenders would have a way to no-clip without blowing up. "Can't the enemy just follow us through the same spot?" "He thought of that too. Once you go through, you immediately get a window prompt to slide a mine into place."You feel like that's an inelegant solution that could blow up the next person to cross. What if you use that method, only for Liza to try and use the nightingale wall a few minutes later? When you pitch this idea, Solarmon spins on the spot in displeasure. "... You're right. I really have to raise that problem to him.""Good thing I'm here to workshop it, huh?" You let out a small laugh, which quickly turns into a yawn. "Well, things look as secure as we can get them. I think I'm done for the night." "We've checked everything vital. I don't think I'll ever feel at ease knowing he's out there, but this is as close as we'll get."The two of you return to the couch by the portal, where you lay down and head to sleep.==
"WAKE UP, MARNIE." Kokuwamon tugs at your sleeve, stirring you awake."Huh? Wuh- Hololize." You mumble, instinctively sending Phascomon out. He snaps awake while you're rubbing the sleep out of your eyes. The portal has been unlocked, and there's an incoming transfer. You place your hand on your packet pistol and clamber over the couch, using it as partial cover from whatever is approaching. You're half expecting a threat of some kind.Fortunately, it's a routine arrival. Doc and Liza emerge from the portal, looking like they've freshened up significantly. Despite being gone for two days and having been in a fight of their own, they've found the time to rest and reset their avatars. Liza's shoulder is completely healed, and you sigh in relief when you see her stretching both arms over her head. Doc, however..."Doc! Welcome back." "Ah! A present!" He calls, spreading his arms out to behold the couch. He collapses onto it and throws his head across the backrest, letting out a long sigh of exhaustion. "How'd it go?" You ask, directing your attention to Liza now. She gives you a small smile and a thumbs up. "Good.""Then what about-" You point at Doc's face as subtly as you can. Half of the metal covering his face has been removed and replaced with regular skin. It's as weathered as the rest of his complexion, and doesn't look out of the ordinary at all. However, his right eye is still a metallic lens, with a vivid red glow to it. The prosthetic, once meant to integrate neatly into the malware-scarred face, has been replaced with a smaller version of itself. But it's still a permanent scar. "Doc? Did Cutemon have a problem with healing it?" "Not at all." He sighs. "I just had a bit of an epiphany." It seems like they've had a whole other adventure of their own over the last two days, with plenty of time for reflection, development as people, and unique encounters with brand new enemies. Even the Digimon look changed. The two Kokuwamon are standing with confidence, and once Liza releases Seadramon from the Digivice, she looks a bit more pleased to be there. "Long two days." Liza mumbles. "You can tell us all about it over breakfast." ==
Before anything else, you return Doc's admin codes. He seems very pleased with the thoughtful gesture. You're well aware of how important it is to him, so you were planning to do this the whole time. All of you assemble in the dining hall to have a good meal together, synthesized from the countless vending machines that Doc has jailbroken. Some of them provide really good breakfast food. Phascomon is enjoying the mushrooms and roasted tomatoes, while Seadramon repeatedly empties out trays of bacon. "How'd the hospital trip go?" You finally ask. "Ha. Like I said, there was a complication. The little pink punk wasn't happy that I brought a tagalong." "Wasn't happy? He sounded like he wanted to call for the guards." Liza scoffs."Of course. He's the boss. The don. Doc, you must have worked with dumbass customers who tried to pull the same thing on you.""I have, I have. That's why I have the referral system in place." You and Liza both look at your Digivices at the same time. Your authentication codes are in the Linkers, but you remember when he would assign you random furniture objects that were encoded with single-use passwords. "Anyway!" Liza continues. "Doc here insisted on getting my arm fixed first. To get his face repaired, Cutemon wanted help with something." It's a long tale that they regale you with. The hospital has been embroiled in a civil war, that has threatened to leak out of the partition itself. Several other competitors were making plays for power while Cutemon was in Vademon's clutches. Even after he returned, with his Champion-level manpower destroyed, he was struggling to recruit strong allies again. Their main foes ended up being Digimon who wanted nothing more than to eat the partition data indiscriminately. Doing so would bring heat down on the Hospital, and if they pissed the bots off too much, the whole place might have gotten purged. "Some of them were from DarkTyrannomon's old pack." Doc comments.You sit up straight. "Doesn't mean that he's alive or anything, right?" "No. We made sure to check. No chance of that, just the same remnants that leaked out into the Network. And none were warlords either, just big muscle."Now that Doc has briefly explained what they went through, he changes the topic to what you've been doing over the past few days. You pitch your various projects to him, tell him about the Portal closure, and summarize what you need to do. He nods thoughtfully.
"Tell you what. I need a nap. Non-negotiable. After that, Liza and Seadramon have a debriefing I need to give them. But tonight, I'll make room to help you with something." You also want some time to talk to him about his own adventure. He hasn't headed out of his home in a long time, and he's returned with only a partially healed face. You can tell that Phascomon is curious too. You'll question him while asking for his help with something. >Ask Doc about the routes that other humans can take to reach the Chessmon board. You want to get this done fast, and that means enlisting Bella's help. This will let you work towards powering Phascomon back up and regaining the ability to fight on even terms.>Get Doc's advice on your next Tower climb. Since the time pressure is on again, you want to get a basic plan strategized as early as possible. Doc will be able to help with that, to the full extent of his abilities.>Polish up your inventory in the long term. You were left without optical camo the other day. You have to negotiate some more with Doc, ask him for hacking tools, and make sure you ALWAYS have the same stock of tools when you leave the partition. This is especially important for the near future, when you head into the Digital World for real. You don't want to run out of .apps too quickly.
>>6379938>Get Doc's advice on your next Tower climb. Since the time pressure is on again, you want to get a basic plan strategized as early as possible. Doc will be able to help with that, to the full extent of his abilities.am I crazy for wanting to do another seadramon driveby?
>>6379938>Get Doc's advice on your next Tower climb. Since the time pressure is on again, you want to get a basic plan strategized as early as possible. Doc will be able to help with that, to the full extent of his abilities.
>>6379938>Ask Doc about the routes that other humans can take to reach the Chessmon board. You want to get this done fast, and that means enlisting Bella's help. This will let you work towards powering Phascomon back up and regaining the ability to fight on even terms.The faster she fixes Phascomon the better. I don't want them to be forced to do a emergency failed Digievolution.
>>6379938>Polish up your inventory in the long term. You were left without optical camo the other day. You have to negotiate some more with Doc, ask him for hacking tools, and make sure you ALWAYS have the same stock of tools when you leave the partition. This is especially important for the near future, when you head into the Digital World for real. You don't want to run out of .apps too quickly.Long term planning.
>>6379987+1Marnie can make do without .apps in the Digital World. We CANNOT make it there without Phascomon back to full power
>>6379945>>6379952>>6379990>>6380045>>6379990Will count the next tiebreak, or roll a dice in 12 hours
>>6380258I'm >>6379990, and I'll change to >Get Doc's advice on your next Tower climb
>>6380259Gotcha! Writing
>Get Doc's advice on your next Tower climb. Since the time pressure is on again, you want to get a basic plan strategized as early as possible. Doc will be able to help with that, to the full extent of his abilities.“In that case, could you help us with our climbing plan? We’re stumped now. We sorta blew the whole element of surprise, I’m worried about how we’re going to scale the Tower again.””I don’t like the idea of climbing on the outside, even once I can Digivolve. Especially since we have to distract Brigadramon again. That’s going to be too hard.” “I’ll give you my two credits later. In the meantime, go brainstorm a plan. We’ll link up at, let’s say… Eight thirty in the evening.” “That’ll do. Thanks, Doc.” He gives you a sharp nod, then shuffles off to get his own rest. You wheel yourself over to the research terminal that he’s been allowing you to borrow. “Let’s get started.”Phascomon hops onto the chair next to you, and you begin looking through your options. "Firstly... I know you said you don't want to do it. But we should at least consider it. Since we know it's one of the possibilities."You note down: 'External climb' on the document that you're drafting your plan on. Phascomon nods reluctantly. It's a low-priority option, but after giving it some thought, maybe you can use the two other methods that you had once planned. "It'll be harder to approach since you're flagged.""Makes it even less likely that we'll do this one." You then think of some other routes. The Tower probably has informational highways leading to numerous places, all around the city, so that it can direct them. You remember the very first data center that the Dogs of War blew up. Damaging those led to chaos across an entire district. If you could ride the pipeline that a data center uses to communicate with The Tower, maybe you could enter it. Phascomon doesn't seem very fond of this plan."You're adding a whole new layer of security that you'll have to break through. A plan should have as few unknowns as possible, right?" "I guess so. Maybe we avoid the Network. But in terms of entering the Tower itself, and climbing from the inside... do you think that's possible?" "I don't think it's an awful idea. We damaged a lot of their manpower.""We'll ask Doc about how realistic it is."He nods in agreement."Either the inside or the outside. It can't be much worse than what we already did."It probably could, but neither of you are keen on the alternative.==
Once Doc is done with his tasks for the day, he finally stops by the console and settles into a cushy-looking armchair. Phascomon chews on a stalk of eucalyptus while watching him. Without wasting a moment, the Code Cracker pulls up the document that you've slowly been building up over the day. His glowing red optic scans it thoroughly, and you spy a prime opportunity to ask."Doc. That eye is still a prosthetic, right?" "Mhm." "Why'd you keep it? Cutemon couldn't fix that? No, right?""He could." Doc sighs. "But I've spent a good fifty years without half my face, boy, and most of that left me sliding around in the shadows. The idea of getting that all just... fixed? I don't know. It felt too easy." You can't wrap your head around this conundrum."I don't understand. What do you mean 'too easy'? Getting your face blinded like that is super inconvenient, isn't it?" "Marnie got her leg fixed as soon as she could. You telling me you don't miss having real eyes?""Maybe it's pride. I made this myself, you know?" He says, touching the red eye. "A bio-cracker gave me a quick tip, that's all the help I got. Then I studied up, made my own tech, really learnt how to code and create, all so I could close up that gaping wound and make something out of it." His hand shifts to the replaced flesh on the other half of his face, gingerly feeling it. "Started to appreciate it at some point. Plenty of my tech is built with direct interfacing in mind.""So it's like, your mark as a Code Cracker?" "Makes more sense when you say it like that." "But the whole point was to allow you to walk around on the street again!" You protest. "Ah, what good does that do? I've spent years not needing to. Now that I have a partition of my own, I won't need to again. Since the rest of my face is fine now, I reckon I could cover it up far easier anyway." He applies a quick retexture, and you watch as the optic melts away into a fake eye. Seeing Doc with his face completely unmarred is a little disturbing. It feels like such a strong part of his look that he almost incomplete now that he's lacking it. It's like he's been shaved, or peeled in some way. You suppose that's part of what he felt too. He's lived with it far longer than you did.You don't think you'll ever feel the same in the end. You don't want to get stuck with something like that. But he's made peace with it as an old man, and there's no point in backseating his decisions anyway. In fact, he's here to do the opposite: backseat yours! "Let's move on to the plan. Anything stands out?"
"You two have laid your options out quite nicely. You're right that this is a binary choice. You can either go inside, or go outside.""What would you suggest?""Outside, obviously!" Doc scoffs. "But before I go naysaying, what's your reasoning for wanting to rip apart the inside of the Tower?""Well..." "The outer route is too unpredictable. I've flown it. It was rough. Brigadramon could come by any time for a strike, and Marnie will have a hard time getting us to a new launch site. She's wanted, ain't she?""So your solution to unpredictability is to go somewhere that NOBODY has gone before? It can't be more unpredictable than that." You suppose it doesn't sound very wise when you think about it. However, there's another part of you, small and arrogant, that's curious about doing such a thing. Nobody else has accomplished it, that's both a good and a bad thing."We'd be the first people to, sure. But it can't be completely hostile to human life, can it? If they have Digimon in there, it must mean they can survive. In fact, they have barracks! So we know for a fact that there are living conditions." "Security will be high. Higher than anywhere else in the City." "I don't know about that. We've seen a consistent pattern when it comes to these things. They never actually expect humans to try and break things down, to the level Marnie has done."Doc rubs his chin in thought. "I still think it's a bad choice. But you make a good point about Brigadramon eliminating the other option. Let me run some numbers..." Doc opens up a few new windows and observes a set of statistics about the City Digimon. It's a blinding array of details. He pulls up district maps, observes patrols, reads charts of electromagnetic feedback, and then zooms in on footage of the City's guardian. Finally, he whistles, sounding distinctly impressed."What?" "It does seem like patrols and checks are down City-wide. Bot presence has tripled, they're sending them out instead of Digimon. In fact, there haven't been Digimon deployed to respond to garden emergence events in a while. A strong Rookie showed up last week, they just sent bot after bot to take it down. Took about a hundred to physically wrestle it into submission, when some Commandramon could have done the trick.""So they really are short on resources?""They'll regenerate them over time. But for now, maybe you won't be mobbed completely while climbing. The main problem is that you don't know the inside. You know of the phrase 'between the devil and the sea'?""No.""Nope." "It's about choosing the evil you know, versus the evil you don't. Why would you pick the latter?""But we know the first choice sucks, the second is a mystery!"Doc shrugs."I can't say to pursue it in good conscience. If you're insistent, how about this?" He highlights the Sewers.
"Sewers? What, get the Dogs of War to help?" "That may be an option. What I'm suggesting is this route." Doc displays a rather substantial map of the sewers. A good amount has actually been mapped by you! However, your scans are out of date, and Doc has marked them out with orange highlights. Several areas are bright green, and as you follow the various details on the screen, you see Liza and Seadramon mentioned on the page. Other customers have been redacted for their own privacy, in various shades ranging from green to black. A distinct path stretches onwards, until it reaches a gaping void in the center of the map."What's that?" You ask."The recycling facility. It's where all the sewer junk flows to."Right, you heard about this back when you first discovered the sewers. It's a well-known fact."That beats overland travel.""And sure as hell beats Network travel." Doc proceeds to explain the sewer route to you. There are countless ways to get where you need to go, since it's right in the middle of the City. The direction you approach it from actually doesn't matter. Once you're inside the junk recycling facility, you can find the data streams that are being siphoned up into the Tower. These streams are then requisitioned into the lines of data that stretch across the entire sky, or get refurbished into usable data. The greatest issue will be that of security. Once a person gets closer to the center, they're more likely to face sanctioned City Digimon, along with territorial threats in the sewer network itself. If they can make it through, they should be able to theoretically ride the flow upstream, or find some kind of maintenance access that puts them squarely within the Tower.From there, it could be possible to scale the structure from within and truly see its mysteries.
"I'm only seeing a few options that aren't absolutely terrible. No Network infiltration, capisce?""Ya, my girl, that's the worst way you could go about it. You don't want to be made fragile." You nod. It has to be a physical approach, then. You look through your catalog of options once again. Unlike the last time, you now have a few more choices for your final journey. There may be another chance to change tactics later, as you research your chosen path more and discover deal-breakers. However, you want to start forming a specific plan early and begin looking into it. You no longer have infinite time.>Try to launch yourself into the Tower again and perform an external climb. This will be more complicated than the last time to actually execute, but once you're properly on the Tower, you'll have a better idea of what to do. It's familiar, but sure as hell not safe. The main issue will be figuring out a way to ward off Brigadramon, which could take a huge amount of time and energy. It could be possible to enter the Tower in the midst of this course, through the many deployment ports, but you'll be less prepared since your planning will be centered around the launch.>Attempt to cross the fenced off zone overland and load yourself into the Tower. The exclusion field might be traversable after all, if you don't care about being spotted. You could cut across it, and rather than trying to climb the exterior, you'd load yourself into the base and travel upwards. That way, you don't have to deal with a constant stream of aerial flying threats from every direction. Instead, you'd be moving upwards within a partition, just like your first mission.>Use the sewers to get close to the Tower, then load yourself into the recycling machine. You'll end up belowground, and you'll need to deal with the hassle of whatever basement sub-area the Tower has. The actual process of breaking in seems like it might be a bit easier. The enemy has trouble deploying into the Sewers, as you've seen, so you'll only need to deal with a finite amount of security before entering.
>>6380581>Use the sewers to get close to the Tower, then load yourself into the recycling machine. You'll end up belowground, and you'll need to deal with the hassle of whatever basement sub-area the Tower has. The actual process of breaking in seems like it might be a bit easier. The enemy has trouble deploying into the Sewers, as you've seen, so you'll only need to deal with a finite amount of security before entering.This also allows us to properly link up with the DoW one more time before we (hopefully) leave for good.
>>6380581>Use the sewers to get close to the Tower, then load yourself into the recycling machine. You'll end up belowground, and you'll need to deal with the hassle of whatever basement sub-area the Tower has. The actual process of breaking in seems like it might be a bit easier. The enemy has trouble deploying into the Sewers, as you've seen, so you'll only need to deal with a finite amount of security before entering.This sounds like the safest and funnier option. It will allow Marnie to analyze the tower in its entirety.
>>6380581>Use the sewers to get close to the Tower, then load yourself into the recycling machine. You'll end up belowground, and you'll need to deal with the hassle of whatever basement sub-area the Tower has. The actual process of breaking in seems like it might be a bit easier. The enemy has trouble deploying into the Sewers, as you've seen, so you'll only need to deal with a finite amount of security before entering.
>>6380586>>6380633>>6380649>>6380848Sewers! I’ll provide one final opportunity to change in a future vote, and will work on sewer plans in the meantime. Writing.
Still writing, will post today. For the sake of pacing I may have to do a mild timeskip through some future stuff. Anything you guys are particularly interested in following up? stuff that’s feasible to pursue in a short span.
>>6381553What digimon communities form now that patrols are restricted, and how the humans interact with them. At some point there's going to be humans who get hurt, so how Cutemon handles the situation at the hospital should be interesting.
>>6381553Putting our chess skills to work against those damn Chessmon!
>>6381553Liza and Seadramon relationship.
>Use the sewers to get close to the Tower, then load yourself into the recycling machine. You'll end up belowground, and you'll need to deal with the hassle of whatever basement sub-area the Tower has. The actual process of breaking in seems like it might be a bit easier. The enemy has trouble deploying into the Sewers, as you've seen, so you'll only need to deal with a finite amount of security before entering.“I think the sewers sound like an alright bet. We can use the recycling facility.””I think so too. Beats climbing the outside. At least I won’t have to fly all the time.” “I don’t think it’ll be as peachy as you’re making it out be.” Doc says with a shake of his head. “But it’s an option. Since you’re going to be entering the Tower itself, I’ve got a deal to offer.” You listen eagerly. “You go ahead and make an effort to chart the inside. Send the archive somewhere as you’re exiting. I’ll find a way to get that black box as long as you drop it. In exchange, you get all my support, whatever I can give.””The mapdata on the inside is that priceless, huh?” “It is.” He says matter-of-factly. “That data is going to be top secret for sure. If we gather up material, won’t they crack down on it super hard? I’m sure they’ll swarm it, no matter how we try to send you the packet. Do we just fling it off the side of the Tower or something?” “That’s for me to worry about. I’m taking a gamble. It’s always a gamble with you.” He grimaces. “All I want is a sincere effort to map the interior. Nobody in 87-O’s history has seen in there. That data will be worth a thousand times its filesize in favors, .apps, and untapped potential.” “Deal.” “Good. When you’ve got a moment, tell me what you need. I’ll compile the list for you and restock your .apps. For now, let’s go through your sewer plan.” Doc points to the 3D map. There are countless highlighted sections leading to the central pillar located underneath the Tower itself. A projection of a Shellmon spins idly in the upper right corner. ”Sewer Digimon aren’t that strong, are they?” “Compared to Astamon? No. But they tend to be big and aquatic. You might end up moving through a den if you’re not careful, so we’re going to find you a clear path.” “What about the recycling facility? Has anyone been in there before?” You ask.“Yes, actually. Old client of mine got Podded, but before that, he sent a dead drop down into the sewers. Second customer had to go follow the flow and pick it up.” ”How long ago was this?” “Long. But don’t you worry your little head. The cleanup center has no reason to change over the years.”Doc activates an algorithm to chart your route through the sewers, then pushes the display window aside so he can focus on the facility. You stare at the images before you.
”Oh no…” There are several yellow Digimon captured on the screen, watching the cameraperson from atop pipes and within alcoves. They look like mounds of slime that have sprouted skeletal limbs. Some have blurry pink shapes attached to them, indistinct from this angle. “What’s up?” ”Sukamon! Ugh, nobody likes these guys!” "Are they like the Numemon you mentioned?"He blanches in disgust.“The recycling center is full of these. They either emerge from junk or feed on it while it’s on the way through the pipes. City Digimon patrol the inside to make sure they don’t dare to chop up the facilities.” Doc explains.He clicks on a button and moves on to the next screen, where a vast cistern stretches over an abyss. You see a Guardromon blocking the path, with its arm raised towards the camera. The next screen shows a bunch of Troopmon walking through a production floor, with conveyor belts that are transporting scrap cubes around. Tanks and vats bubble in the backdrop.“They have a handful of sentries. Troopmon, mostly, but the occasional other species. They’ll be blocking the path to the central chamber, which my little explorer never made it to.” “Did he make it out?” “He did. Now, your main hazards will be tumbling into particularly corrosive areas. They also have grinders that break junk down, those will make short work of almost any Digimon. You’ll have to fight near all that garbage, so you’d best count your lucky stars that your Champion form has a gas mask.” Phascomon gives you a deep look of appreciation. Good thing the two of you ended up cultivating that option.“Lastly, you’ll be facing some kind of security head. It’s their M.O. They’ll have some big monster or another positioned right beneath the entrance. Once you find it, I’ll give you some tools to hack through the maintenance tunnels and enter the Tower. And you’ll be in.” “Our map of the inside isn’t very good.” “No. But it’s the best you can get. Good news is, you can take your time. No need for a VPN anymore, see?” “Not much of a silver lining…” Neither you nor Doc discuss the inside of the Tower. You can’t even begin to theorize on what you’ll find. As long as he gives you plenty of hacking software, you’ll be as equipped as you possibly could be."But before we can even go to the sewers, I'll need all the puppet data I can get. Unless there's a good chance of finding that data down there instead.""Not impossible." Doc says."Any records from Digimon in the recycling center?"Doc shakes his head. "Data from there is sparse. My contact only found the most obvious Digimon. He and his partner didn't have enough time to fully explore.""Who was his partner, anyway?""Confidential.""Is he even here anymore? In the City?""No, suppose not. But it's the principle" "Yeah, yeah, I get it. Man's gotta stick to his word."
You think about your plan for a bit more. Puppet data is a must-have. You can't start the actual Tower climb without it. However, maybe there's an easier way to get it than challenging the Chessmon.On the other hand, screw them, they did a number on all of you. You'd like to go wreck their board as one last piece of vengeance before leaving forever. "Here. It's done."Doc snatches a printout from the map generator. There are several highlighted routes that will take you through the sewers, as well as potential entry points. On the day itself, you'll just have to pick a path that you can access from the surface. It'll depend on how well you can evade the sentries on the surface, now that you're flagged. "Thanks. Ah, about the Chessmon-" "Not today. I'm behind on a lot of work. That's all the time I have tonight, Marnie. I still need to get your gear in order too." You nod reluctantly. He's out of time. As he gets up and prepares to head off, you turn to Phascomon, who's reading through the freshly printed maps."What's up?""Just thinking. We don't have much time before the Portal closes, right? They're working on it every day.""Yeah. So we have to do this fast. Time's ticking again.""Maybe we need to rush things then. First thing's first. Porcupamon. How are we gonna get that puppet data?"You need direct data, not a Digi-DNA sample, so absorbing an enemy is compulsory. Obtaining it is something you can't pass up on. However, you also don't know how much time you have left. You need to start balancing your choices again.>Commit to hunting down the Chessmon. You'll need to wait for Doc's next free period, then come up with a way to get Bella on board. This will take a while, and the time expenditure will leave you unable to do certain things, but a success is all you need to get Porcupamon back. (Move forward to the Chessmon hunt).>Spend some time searching in the surrounding network by volunteering for patrol duty. You'll need to borrow Kokuwamon 3 and convince Doc to let you go on your own, since Seadramon is still out of commission. You might find a Puppet, but this could be a waste of time.>Don't spend effort looking for Puppet data in the network. Instead, push this forward into the future. You have a feeling that you could run into that kind of data in the sewers later on, worry about it later on instead of eating up a substantial chunk of your prep time or compromising your safety. This could cause issues down the line.
>>6381594>>6381610>>6381688Will work towards these!
>>6381753>Commit to hunting down the Chessmon. You'll need to wait for Doc's next free period, then come up with a way to get Bella on board. This will take a while, and the time expenditure will leave you unable to do certain things, but a success is all you need to get Porcupamon back. (Move forward to the Chessmon hunt).I'm sticking to my plan to restore Porcupamon above all else.I do like option 2, but I don't know if whatever Kokuwamon 3 evolves to is useful or not. Might be worth YOLOing that one.
>>6381753>Commit to hunting down the Chessmon. You'll need to wait for Doc's next free period, then come up with a way to get Bella on board. This will take a while, and the time expenditure will leave you unable to do certain things, but a success is all you need to get Porcupamon back. (Move forward to the Chessmon hunt).I'm sure Seadramon will be excited to win battles and gather data, and Liz probably wouldn't mind a stronger partner. Megadramon and Gigadramon aren't puppets, but absorbing data from armored monsters could possibly help reach one of those?
>>6381753>Commit to hunting down the Chessmon. You'll need to wait for Doc's next free period, then come up with a way to get Bella on board. This will take a while, and the time expenditure will leave you unable to do certain things, but a success is all you need to get Porcupamon back. (Move forward to the Chessmon hunt).
>>6381871DigiQM doesn't want you to know this but machines are just puppets made of metal.
>>6381847Kokuwamon 3 is Mekanorimon! Sorry, I must have backspaced it while editing.
>>6381847>>6381871>>6381880Writing!
>Commit to hunting down the Chessmon. You'll need to wait for Doc's next free period, then come up with a way to get Bella on board. This will take a while, and the time expenditure will leave you unable to do certain things, but a success is all you need to get Porcupamon back. (Move forward to the Chessmon hunt)."From the only source that we can guarantee. As long as we reach them, we'll be able to defeat a few and take their data. We just have to organize that trip as fast as we can."It'll take you a while, but you don't want to take any other risks. Every injury your partner receives will put you even further behind, and if you keep delaying, the entire Portal might just shut down and strand you here forever. This is really, truly, your last chance. You decide to stick to known guarantees."So, we bug Doc tomorrow.""Yes. I feel bad asking so much from him, but...""Look. You know I like the geezer, yeah?""Mhm?""So you know that it's not like I want to scam him or anything.""... Okay? Where are you going with this?""Jeez! Didn't you hear what he said? He'd give you all his support. He's not expecting anything back. He just wants us to succeed. It's not some mutual back scratching, you know.""But he said he wanted the Tower data!" "Come on, Marnie." Phascomon sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. "He's not going to outright say that he'll do everything for free. Just think about it, alright? He's not going above and beyond for a reward. He was hamming it up, talking about how it would be priceless, so that we wouldn't feel bad about accepting charity." "When you put it that way, I don't feel so bad about bugging him anymore.""Yeah! it'll be fine. So go do it bright and early, capisce?"==The next morning, when you disturb Doc while he's in the middle of a project, Phascomon's theory turns out to be correct. He quietly ceases his work and begins charting out a path for you. There are far more moving parts than the sewer map, which was just a rough estimation, and he spends quite a bit of time accounting for sightlines and patrols while charting the route. He's unable to help with anything else in the meantime, and you decide to go bother Liza instead.
You find her scrubbing Seadramon's scales with a large brush, right smack in the middle of the partition floor. She dismisses a cloud of sweat particles and wipes her forehead with the back of her hand."Phew. There, that should be it.""Nothing left? You sure?" Seadramon whines.The big serpent is still hurt from their expedition. When you get closer, you see several sets of circular injuries, looking shallow but painful. The area around the wounds is turning purple, and the edges are fraying off into static. "You okay? What happened?" "She's fine. We got attacked by a Dokugumon. Bug Digimon, uses poison." "Sneaky jerk! He almost ate Cutemon whole!""Did you manage to delete him?""Of course!" Seadramon lifts her head off the concrete floor to stare at you. Her partner sets the long-handled brush down and collapses into a chair. "I've been purging the malware data manually since yesterday. It needs to all come out before the Digivice can apply heal code." "Poison sucks.""Isn't Eucalyptus Claw a poison attack?" You ask."Sucks for them, not me." Phascomon cackles, sticking his tongue out. While you and your partner banter, you notice that Liza and Seadramon aren't doing the same. However, they aren't bickering anymore. She's cleaning her partner up without complaint, and the aquatic Digimon is sitting still to receive it. Things seem a lot more respectful and calm between them. "How was it like, going on an adventure with Doc?" You ask, feeling a little envious. Your last journey with him was hellish, and it wasn't one you could enjoy together. "Pretty great. He always knew what to do." "He yelled at us bad, though..."You've never seen Doc properly mad before, so that statement surprises you. "Why? What happened?" "We were getting carried away. Wrong time to argue, nearly caused a pileup." You can imagine him getting frustrated with their lack of teamwork. Especially when his own partners are out there in the field with them, ready to get dragged into any fresh messes. You're not sure when Doc is going to call you back, and as much as you'd like to hear the entirety of their adventure, you don't have time to listen to the full story. Phascomon seems eager to ask, though.
"So, turf war. Cutemon won by the end of it, right?""He did. We had to shift that power balance quite a bit..."As she starts explaining the basics of their two-day quest, you prepare to jump in with questions.>Find out more about what Doc and the Kokuwamon were like. You've only seen him commanding them once, and he doesn't seem like the type suited for field work. You're very curious about how he got through the last few days.>Ask for details about the Hospital Digimon. You haven't seen Cutemon and Pulsemon in a long time now. You did free the place from the clutches of Vademon, you feel a vague sense of responsibility to find out about how they're doing.>Focus on hearing what exactly Doc chewed them out for. It seems like they've learnt from it, you want to know that your advice regarding Seadramon has helped Liza out in some way.
>>6382218>Focus on hearing what exactly Doc chewed them out for. It seems like they've learnt from it, you want to know that your advice regarding Seadramon has helped Liza out in some way.I asked for this so I pick this one.
>>6382218>Ask for details about the Hospital Digimon. You haven't seen Cutemon and Pulsemon in a long time now. You did free the place from the clutches of Vademon, you feel a vague sense of responsibility to find out about how they're doing.
>>6382218>Focus on hearing what exactly Doc chewed them out for. It seems like they've learnt from it, you want to know that your advice regarding Seadramon has helped Liza out in some way.
>>6382218>Ask for details about the Hospital Digimon. You haven't seen Cutemon and Pulsemon in a long time now. You did free the place from the clutches of Vademon, you feel a vague sense of responsibility to find out about how they're doing.Phascomon will want this
Rolled 2 (1d2)>>6382283>>6382287>>6382286>>6382327Rolling tiebreak and writing
>Ask for details about the Hospital Digimon. You haven't seen Cutemon and Pulsemon in a long time now. You did free the place from the clutches of Vademon, you feel a vague sense of responsibility to find out about how they're doing.“The last time we talked to Cutemon, he said that all his hired muscle got deleted. Did he get any back?” ”Yeah! And how’s Pulsemon doing?” “He had a few Digimon allies. Some Champions too. There was a Kamemon and a Patamon, this insanely weird purple Digimon-““Purple Digimon?””It was this little thing with green eyes and really sharp claws. It kept trying to eat everything it could. But Pulsemon had it on a short leash. Kind of scary in combat.”“Why? You recognise it?” Liza asks.“It sounds like one of Vademon’s minions. I guess it survived.” Liza opens up a window to display the scans she took of the Digimon. You recognise most of them! “Yep, those are the guys we saved.” ”I didn’t get that good a look, I was busy with that freak. That one looks like an orange Tsukaimon.” “Yeah. Patamon. Doc noticed he looked familiar too. The turtle is Kamemon, and that one seemed to be pretty good friends with Pulsemon.” ”I’ve seen one or two of their kind in the sewers before, back when I was a Rookie. They’re not very common. Ah! I completely forgot to ask Kamemon how they ended up in the hospital!” Liza pulls up a projection of a gross spider Digimon next, with a vaguely humanoid face. You don’t like looking at it, it creeps you out. “That one was leading a bunch of insect Digimon. Some of them were already in the hospital, but a huge swarm followed Dokugomon into the partition. He actually lost quite a lot to the bosses in the other wings, before he decided to stick to his own kingdom.” ”He expanded outwards to try and fight Cutemon because he thought he was a pushover, and wanted to reclaim the space they denied him. But we sure showed him!” “He messed you up just as much. Those injuries look bad.” “Doc says the worst of it is over.” “Why didn’t Cutemon heal her?” You ask.“He did Doc’s face last, and had a lot of other Digimon in line after. We agreed that Seadramon could do without it.” ”That sounds right. Healing random Digimon in the hospital would help him strengthen his position. If those Digimon you fought were trying to delete him, then they definitely forgot why he was so important in the first place.” “Either that, or they wandered in from the outside.” ”He’s good at it! He must have healed thousands of humans before!” Seadramon remarks, prompting all three of you to stare at her. ”What?”
“Nothing, I just forgot that you wouldn’t be familiar with this. Cutemon doesn’t heal humans often. He just does Digimon, regular people go into the physicl hospital to be repaired by the bots.” ”What?! Then why did we have to go on that whole quest?” Seadramon exclaims, looking indignant all of a sudden.“Think about it.” Liza explains. “If I just walked into the hospital and said my arm got cut open, what would they do?” Seadramon shakes her head, not getting it. ”They’d want to investigate the cause. They take safety seriously, so they’d look through all her records, scan her metadata, and try to confirm what caused the injury.” “And for people like us, who have something to hide? That’s walking right into their jaws.” You finish. ”This is so complicated. You all really have to think about this all the time?” “Yeah. Part of trying to eke out our own lives here.” ”Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it if you stick around.”"I guess I will." You notice that wording immediately. Things do sound like they're getting better, she sounds satisfied with the idea of sticking to Liza.
Liza and Seadramon manage to elaborate a bit more on the Digimon who they faced. “There were three big ones. An Ogremon, Allomon, and the Dokugumon that poisoned Seadramon. Ogremon was the only one who actually knew Cutemon. Apparently, he was trying to grow and gain power when he was missing. That was during your whole kidnapping situation.” “Did Doc do much fighting?” ”He did! You should’ve seen him! Those two Kokuwamon can both Digivolve!” “Mekanorimon and Blade Kuwagamon. I’ve never seen that form before. Doc just used it to slice through whatever came at them.” “Woah. What?” You have a hard time imagining him doing that. You expected him to throw out some kind of instantly-disabling tech grenade, or hack the enemy’s systems, or drop them down an elevator shaft. Something like that. ”Really? You’re not messing with us, are you?” “No, really! He took out Allomon! But Ogremon was our job. That guy really, really hated me for some reason.” ”He kept talking about fate, and smelling something.” “Ogremon is a Digivolution of Goburimon, right?” You ask, gently taking the controls for the display window. You flick through it and manage to find the file.“Yeah. Doc was telling me about how certain Digimon have a tendency to form packs. He’s one of those.” ”He’s got that look. So anyway, the situation is completely stable now?”“All defeated. Civil war settled. But he’s still taking data samples from the Dogs of War.” She remarks, clenching her fist. Luckily, you’re spared from having to talk about them. Before you have to say anything else, Solarmon floats over to call for you. ”We gotta go. Tell us more another time, yeah?” ==
As soon as Doc generates the map, you send it to Bella. There are several prospective rendezvous points for her to use, and from those, you’ll be entering the network and riding the tunnels to the chessboard. In order to reach her in the first place, you’ll need to cross the surface while flagged, avoiding unnecessary DMIA risks, but chancing an encounter with bots or cameras. She’s ready to go in the evening, so you have a bit of time left to prepare. You decide to spend that time getting your inventory sorted out. Firstly, you make sure you have everything that you regularly use. The freeze code rations are low, since Squid is the one handing them out, but Bella is passing you multiple copies later. And as promised, Doc fills up your stock of optical camo. All your classic .apps like f1oat, f0rce, and l1ne have been replenished. “We’ve got everything. I think we’ll have to get more right before we climb.” ”When we head to the Digital World, you’ll run out eventually, right? You said Doc could make antifungal versions that lasted forever, so go ask for those.”“Non-fungible. It’s the opposite, those are the ones we’re using. Thanks for the reminder..” In order to make your life easier, you really want several permanent copies of your various .apps and tools. Code Crackers never give those out, since a customer being captured with one will almost certainly allow the Tower to track the creator down. But he said he’d do anything, and if you succeed, you’ll be taking them out of the City’s reach. Normally, you can't use a large number of programs together or it'll alert bots. But since you're already flagged, you no longer have that limitation. You wonder if that kind of thing exists in the Digital World. Of course, you may not even have the right user permissions to run those .apps when you’re there, but you'll cross that bridge when you get to it. ”What kind of things do you want to ask for?” “Might be a bit greedy… but I want everything we currently have. And maybe something that lets us create assets?” ”You can already store and place them, right? With your smuggling software.”“Yes, but I can’t create new ones. It seems like a weird choice to clog my inventory with furniture and walls.” You decide to think about it later. For now, you need to think of your route. You finish packing up your tools and get to planning. You have several potential places to meet Bella.
"Why not just pick the safest route? That one has the highest numbers, they're all green.""This is probably our last time walking on the surface. I want to take the chance to do a little detour. Sorry... You okay with that?""That's dumb. But I getcha. You gotta say goodbye. No complaints here.""Thanks, Phascomon.">Take an overland route through the punk-filled district that Doc was once set up in. You've wanted to visit for a while. It was where you fought that Hyemon and saved those random guys, so you're wondering how little sub-communities like those have fared. You'll be going out of your way a little bit, but you're considering just checking it out as one of the last few errands you can do on the surface.>Pick a spot as remote as possible, so that there's a lesser chance of being spotted by an unnoticed camera. Low risk, but it'll be uninteresting>Meet her in a Job District. This spot is conspicuous and dangerous, but you'll end up closer to your endpoint, according to Doc's calculations. Bella might be hesitant to do Network travel, so this is an option that will shorten the journey for her. You'll also get to observe the people moving around, and see if they're reacting differently in the wake of the Tower incident you caused.
>>6383314>Meet her in a Job District. This spot is conspicuous and dangerous, but you'll end up closer to your endpoint, according to Doc's calculations. Bella might be hesitant to do Network travel, so this is an option that will shorten the journey for her. You'll also get to observe the people moving around, and see if they're reacting differently in the wake of the Tower incident you caused.Let's see if we shook things up.
>>6383313>“Might be a bit greedy… but I want everything we currently have. And maybe something that lets us create assets?”>”You can already store and place them, right? With your smuggling software.”>“Yes, but I can’t create new ones. It seems like a weird choice to clog my inventory with furniture and walls.”Marnie turning the Digital World into the real Digimon Survive we never got. Minecraft Creative Mode except instead of a Pokemon mod it's Digimon
>>6383346Oh right, +1
>>6383314>Take an overland route through the punk-filled district that Doc was once set up in. You've wanted to visit for a while. It was where you fought that Hyemon and saved those random guys, so you're wondering how little sub-communities like those have fared. You'll be going out of your way a little bit, but you're considering just checking it out as one of the last few errands you can do on the surface.I suppose being interested in some aspects of the City will help Marnie to reduce her spite points. This one doesn't seem too risky.
>>6383314Changing vote from >>6383400 to backing >>6383469Marnie becoming the LEGEND
>>6383314>Take an overland route through the punk-filled district that Doc was once set up in. You've wanted to visit for a while. It was where you fought that Hyemon and saved those random guys, so you're wondering how little sub-communities like those have fared. You'll be going out of your way a little bit, but you're considering just checking it out as one of the last few errands you can do on the surface.I think the job district is too predictable, and although Phascomon might have to contend with surprise champions, he can still 2cool4u fight them as a rookie.
>>6383346>>6383469>>6383487>>6383570Writing!
>Take an overland route through the punk-filled district that Doc was once set up in. You've wanted to visit for a while. It was where you fought that Hyemon and saved those random guys, so you're wondering how little sub-communities like those have fared. You'll be going out of your way a little bit, but you're considering just checking it out as one of the last few errands you can do on the surface."I want to go check the district out again." You spent so much of your youth wandering through places like those, wishing for the chance to seize something you thought was forever out of your reach. And even once you got that chance, you nearly squandered it. Before you can leave this place, you feel like you have to visit one of these punk-filled districts one more time. You feel like you've grown, in many ways. You want to put it all into perspective."Watch your back, capisce?" "I'll have you watch it for me." You flip your goggles over so that the strap is around your neck, with the lenses facing behind you. Phascomon bobs his head in acknowledgement, then loads himself into your Digivice. You sketch out the path, and once you're ready, you leap into the Network. ==
It’s a stroke of good fortune that your journey is uneventful. You move through the ping tunnels with Phascomon taking the lead, but don’t encounter anything dangerous. Your patrol from the other day has cleared the way. “Keep an eye out for those ice Digimon.” You find your exit soon enough, and plant your feet firmly on the electronic platform. Once you cross the event horizon where you no longer need to be data, you convert yourself back into a regular avatar. ”I wish we had something that let us see the other side.” Doc briefed you about this very topic at some point, while Phascomon was healing.“It’s actually not possible. Technical limitation that even Doc can’t solve.” You explain. When he starts scratching his head, you decide to elaborate further. “Well, that’s not fully accurate. It works on SOME machines. In order to look outside, the device needs a camera already mounted on it, right?” ”Yeah. But cameras are a no-go because they feed data directly to security lines, right? Why can’t we just send a probe out? A camera on a wire?”“It doesn’t work that way. The machine has functions coded into it. The outer side takes input, and the output is on the partition end. It’s like how if you drill a hole in the wall, it’s there on both sides.””Right.” “We can’t feed a camera through because the machine is the barrier between the outside world and the partition. The camera would have to be part of its functions to start sending input into it.””What if he had some piece of tech that built a camera on the machine?” “… I guess? But that’s a big modification.” You know perfectly well what the root of his discomfort is. Back when you were escaping DarkTyrannomon’s district, he was the one who got spotted. And today, while you’re putting yourself at risk to walk the City, he’s still trying to rationalize it and come up with some other way things could have gone. This whole camera idea is a mere extension of that lingering thought—and you don’t want to let it bug him forever. “It just can’t be done in a practical setting. Nobody is going to be modding every device they plan to exit out of. Doc said it doesn’t work like that, so you’re just going to have to live with it.” You load yourself out into the street, hoping that you don’t get caught right after giving this whole spiel.
A quiet street greets you on the other end. The object you’ve exited is a heavily vandalized recycling station, with rude words sprayed across its surface. Gum and smoke-sticks coat the shiny metal, and as though flung there in spite, dozens of cans and glass bottles are anchored next to it. You almost trip on a bottle that’s locked to the floor, made unmovable by some .app.”What’s this?” “Recycler. They put this here as some kind of moral lesson. I dunno, they want to encourage people to throw their trash away properly.” ”They don’t need to, right? It just teleports into the sewers.”“Nope. The machine just tracks some type of good-boy points. That’s why it’s linked to the Network. Otherwise it would just be a blank box that teleports things down.”The machine has been counterproductive. The unique brand of spite that you cultivated in the underworld is on display here. They’ve taken more effort to litter than it would’ve cost to recycle every item in the area. “It’s a bit livelier.” You remark. When you passed by this district on your way to Doc’s, the people were living in fear. A heavy crackdown had seen many arrested or Podded, and immediately after, wild Digimon started running amok. You wonder how these little communities have fared without interference. ”That’s always a good sign.” A sudden explosion wallops your ears. “That’s not.” You don’t sprint for the source of the explosion. Instead, you clamber onto a building and prepare to leap across the rooftops like you’re used to.
“GET HIM!” A strange scene awaits you. Several teens are raising makeshift weapons as they face down a Digimon. Their leader seems to have a partner of their own. You flip the goggles back around, but before you can equip them, Phascomon carries out the scan from his end. ”DemiDevimon and- Shoemon! A puppet!” That statement alerts you. Your first instinct is to try and get its data. However, that thought completely fades when you see who the Tamer is. The kid who you’ve come to know as the trash-can guy is commanding Shoemon. The little yellow Digimon leaps into the air and kicks the flapping demon to the curb. ”Wonder Stomp!” As soon as the DemiDevimon is grounded, the other teens sprint over to restrain it. They jump on the Digimon and pin its wings down, while one stands over it with a bat. Breathing heavily, lid boy walks over to his subdued foe. His partner hops proudly behind him. “Now. You get two options. You either give the data back, then come with us, or I’ll delete you here and now.” ”W-what he said!” Shoemon stutters. ”GYEAAAGH! IT WAS JUST A PRANK! OKAY! I GIVE UP!” A shape begins materializing from its data. The boy with the bat twitches as a large syringe forms, clearly not trusting the creature one bit. Lid guy places the item in his inventory, then sighs in relief. “Move it. Let’s-“ ”Let’s go see what their deal is.” Phascomon requests, sounding intrigued. You share his interest. Against your better judgment, you leap down and land nearby.
“Who’s there?! Shoemon, get ready!” While his friends grapple with the Digimon and attempt to tie it up, the leader focuses his attention on you. His expression transforms into one of awe as he recognizes you. Today, you’ve done away with the static veil. There’s no point when you’re flagged. You slowly approach.“I keep running into you. You really get into a lot of trouble.”“Dude, who’s this?” One guy you don’t recognize asks. “It’s her! The one who climbed the Tower!” “What?!” “Huh? You guys didn’t tell me you knew her face.” His friends explode into animated conversation. You instinctively glance around to see if anyone is being drawn by the commotion.“She made us promise not to. And we didn’t see her face.” The lead guy says. "Not till now."“You can talk about me more when I’m gone. I don’t have much time. I just want to know what’s going on here.” ”Saw the fight! Good kick!” Phascomon chirps, his voice emitting from your wrist. The teens start looking around for the source of the voice. Before they can bombard you with questions, the lead kid holds out a hand. “Sorry. I should have introduced myself before. Daniel.” “… Marnie. My partner is Phascomon.” You accept his shake, finally noting his name on your third encounter. “As you can see, things are pretty busy around here. The bots don’t come often anymore, but they completely stopped after the Tower incident. I’m sorry, I really have to ask-“ “Fine. Answer my questions first.” “I’d love to stay and chat. Seriously. You’ve got everyone talking. But we’re in a rush. Five minutes tops.” He proposes, sounding genuinely regretful. You’re in a rush too. You’re obviously going to ask him about this situation with the Digimon. Then after that, you’ll have to answer something of his. You have room for one more thing before you both need to mutually bail. Half of his friends, meanwhile, are staring at you blatantly, wide-eyed in shock. You notice a few of them from last time, including the guy whose arm was mauled by Hyemon.
You’re going to get the basic rundown of this situation. What else do you ask the street punks about, before you leave and rendezvous with Bella?>Ask them for details about the wild Digimon presence. It seems like plenty are showing up. First Hyemon, now this one. You want to figure out the gaps in the bots’ ability to respond to Garden Portal incidents. You're also curious what happened to it, these guys seem like they're used to dealing with Digimon by now.>Ask them about the servitor and City Digimon presence. You’ve been hearing that patrols have gone down due to your stunt, you’d like to confirm how badly impacted their numbers are. They seem to have taken focus off this district, even with legitimate threats showing up. >Ask Daniel about how he’s personally been doing. It’s clear he’s started on a path of his own. He has a partner now, things must have gotten crazy since you last saw him. Maybe he’s with some other group? Maybe he’s been in contact with the Dogs of War? Ground-level experience from a punk might shed some light on the situation here.
>>6383787I kinda like how Phascomon is secretly still hung up about the lack of looking ahead via the network portals. His desire to have a camera on a pole or something would absolutely work in any other setting except a digital one specifically due to the way this digital one functions. Even IRL it's known that cameras on poles or wires like go-pros or endoscope cameras or similar things are used here and there especially by police
>>6383793>Ask Daniel about how he’s personally been doing. It’s clear he’s started on a path of his own. He has a partner now, things must have gotten crazy since you last saw him. Maybe he’s with some other group? Maybe he’s been in contact with the Dogs of War? Ground-level experience from a punk might shed some light on the situation here.The seeds of the future. The spiteful and oppressed youth becoming their own Digidestined without some book or Demon Lord manipulating them or marking them as a chosen
>>6383793>Ask them about the servitor and City Digimon presence. You’ve been hearing that patrols have gone down due to your stunt, you’d like to confirm how badly impacted their numbers are. They seem to have taken focus off this district, even with legitimate threats showing up. This might give her some info about her main problem, the city's forces. It even could shed some light about how Hi-Commandramon might be doing.
>>6383793>Ask Daniel about how he’s personally been doing. It’s clear he’s started on a path of his own. He has a partner now, things must have gotten crazy since you last saw him. Maybe he’s with some other group? Maybe he’s been in contact with the Dogs of War? Ground-level experience from a punk might shed some light on the situation here.Less practical, but mroe in keeping with Marnie's face turn.
>>6383799>>6383847>>6383816Writing!
>>6383793>Ask Daniel about how he’s personally been doing. It’s clear he’s started on a path of his own. He has a partner now, things must have gotten crazy since you last saw him. Maybe he’s with some other group? Maybe he’s been in contact with the Dogs of War? Ground-level experience from a punk might shed some light on the situation here.Other stuff might be useful, but these guys arent info brokers
>Ask Daniel about how he’s personally been doing. It’s clear he’s started on a path of his own. He has a partner now, things must have gotten crazy since you last saw him. Maybe he’s with some other group? Maybe he’s been in contact with the Dogs of War? Ground-level experience from a punk might shed some light on how this place is doing.You want to know how this guy is faring. He’s one of the more proactive locals, and he’s been slowly getting involved with Digimon. You resolve to ask him about that in a short while. The DemiDevimon situation comes first. You jab a finger at the restrained Digimon curiously.“So what’s up with…” “That little guy attacked someone yesterday. Stabbed him with a dart.” ”Malware injection?” “Worse.” He replies, still looking around for Phascomon. “He extracted the data. Neighbor’s been catatonic ever since, and we can’t seem to fix whatever’s wrong with him.” ”Don’t delete me! Please! I wasn’t trying to do that, I thought it would just…”The Digimon sounds distressed. You feel a pang of empathy, and Shoemon apparently does too. ”You’ll b-be fine!” The Rookie stammers. ”We just can’t- c-can’t let you wander!” “What’s your plan for him, then?” “We’re making sure the data return process goes smoothly. Then we’re gonna see if anyone is willing to take this guy in. You know, show him how to act around other people.” You raise an eyebrow, pleasantly surprised by that. “You’re in charge of all this?” “I try to be. Neighborhood watch has gotta step up. We’ve only had City Digimon show up a couple times to help. I’ve got Shoemon, so it’s my job now.” “You’ve come a long way since taking part in Digimon fight clubs.” You say, recalling the incident with Pulsemon. Daniel’s face flushes red. Shoemon shoots him a curious look, but he doesn’t look back at his partner. “That was… Yeah. I figured I should do better. You helped me out against Hyemon. Then this orange Digimon showed up to defeat it for real."Orange Digimon. Solarmon did say he'd handle it, you recall. Daniel continues on."And I realized that if I’m going to stick around, I needed a partner of my own. I can’t be-“”Can’t be treating them like you did. Good on you, kiddo.”
“What about you? How’d you get up the Tower? And why are you still here? I thought you-“ “This is too much for me.” One of the new guys comments, his eyes wide with disbelief. “We failed.” You say plainly. You begin explaining what happened to him. The group listens, mesmerized, as you describe how you launched yourself off the Pop Tower. They’ve heard of that incident too, but never linked to together. Even DemiDevimon is listening attentively. ”And we landed about halfway up. Then we had to deal with guns!” Phascomon continues, causing everyone to stare at your wrist. You’ve still got the watch texture over it, hiding the true shape of the Digivice. He starts embellishing, but you’re forced to rush him. You need to go meet Bella, you can’t stay here forever and have a conversation with them, even if he loves basking in the attention. “You did all that, but you still failed?! It was Brigadramon, right?” A random punk asks.“And what was that Red Alert about?” Daniel asks. “That…” No. That’s off limits. You’re not discussing Phascomon’s Digivolution. You'll just talk about the leadup.“Oblivimon sounded the alarm after we beat him. That’s supposed to be for invaders from inside the portal-“ “WHAT?”“What the hell is a portal invader?!””Things crawl out of that?” “Point is, it was a false alarm! But it called Brigadramon back. My allies helped me out, we wouldn’t have escaped without them. In the end, we made it to safety, but the climb didn’t work out.””So we’re trying again.” You see the looks on their faces. Some little part of you feels a little good to be getting this recognition, but unlike your partner, you don’t like bathing in it. It’s just nice to have, that’s all. You decide to move on to your actual questions before they start asking follow-ups. “Hey. Daniel. Have you been in contact with any other groups with Digimon? It seems like you’ve got a lot going on here, I want to hear more.” “Right. Yeah. So…”
His meeting with Shoemon was by chance. He was nearby when the Garden Portal opened. Knowing that the Dogs of War might use it as a recruitment ticket, or the bots would show up, albeit slower than usual, he decided to go speak to it. “Glad I found such an agreeable one.” ”He’s a bit soft.” ”H-hey!” “He kicks hard. Doesn’t matter how nervous he is.” ”Fair enough. So, you never joined up?” “No. I mean… I thought about it. But I live here, in the end. And they’re promising to take over this City, put it back in human hands or whatever, but that’s not going to stop Digimon from showing up. This district isn’t observed often, they’re not cracking down on us, so we need to step up. Dogs of War can’t do that for us.” “Yeah. I guess that’s true. No Digimon show up at all?” “There was one, actually.” A guy restraining DemiDevimon says. “Right, right! This Hi-Commandramon has been coming through. He only has a small squad, but-“ ”Psst. Marnie. Do you think it’s him?” You don’t know. It could be any Hi-Commandramon. “-he tries to capture the Digimon without deleting them. He’s always late though… He asked one of my pals for directions and follow the leads, like some detective. Doesn’t seem like they can just scan for them anymore.” It could be him. It’s been a few days since he escaped. Maybe he’s right back to business. “Well…” You decide to think of some closing words for him. “I think what you’re doing is pretty great.”“Really?”His eyes light up. “You’re doing something productive. Something real, that has an effect on both humans and Digimon.” “Y-you too! You said not to tell anyone. So we didn’t. But we were all excited to see you escape. See how the City would flip out. You’re really going to try again?” “We are. This time we won’t fail.” "No way."
“If you need anything, maybe…” “No, you’re not really in a position to help, don’t make empty offers.””Hey. I think he could use a Digivice.” You think about it for a moment. “Okay. Here, take this.” You slide him some secure codes. “Put those somewhere super safe. Somewhere undetectable, because the bots will probably come interrogate you for talking to me. You can probably lie, but you can’t have contraband when they come.” “Huh?!” One guy looks up in shock. “She’s flagged, obviously, why wouldn’t she be after that stunt?” His buddy scoffs. “What’s this for?” “Contact for one of the best Code Crackers I know. Message him, see if you can strike a deal. Business isn’t open yet, but maybe he can help you when his doors are open.” “Thanks. Seriously. This means a lot.” You nod, then glance at the street corner ahead. “I really have to go.”“Us too. That was NOT five minutes. Get a move on. And hey- Take this.”He offers you a program in return. You snatch it up and place it in the smuggling partition, where you conduct a quick scan for safety. It turns up clean, so you nod and briskly walk towards the corner."I hope we don't meet again.""Me too. Good luck, Marnie." And then he's out of sight. You're not going to stay long enough to really see how these people react to you, but you know for a fact that the way you've behaved has touched them. This guy is making something out of his life instead of being another poser. It warms your heart a bit. You were never the leader type, but maybe this is what Wind and Phascomon see in it.==
"Hey!" You spy Bella up ahead. She doesn't bother checking for sentries once she sees you. Instead, she just jogs forward to embrace you."You're alive!""Yeah... Hi." You pat her on the back gently."We really thought you bit it after what happened...""I'm sorry. We couldn't hold him there at all. Wind tried, but-""What do you take us for?" "Huh?" She blinks in confusion. "He means: Why would we get mad at you guys for not being able to fight a Mega Digimon? Wind already launched plenty of missiles at him to save us, it's fine." "We just thought...""Things went belly-up. But that's because of a coglione we knew. Nothing to do with you. That guy had it out for us.""Is that why you came here? You felt bad?" "Of course not! It's a chance to get stronger, chance to work with you two-" "Chance to drag out that goodbye a bit longer." Bella says, with a small smile. "Then let's get started. We're running a bit late. My bad. I'll take you to the access point."
As you walk with her, you think back to the last time you all went on an actual job together. She got badly injured from lifel1ne.app. This time, you've brought a renewed copy that you and Liza have used without worry. You glance at her as the two of you search for the entry terminal. Up ahead, a Pteramon passes by, prompting you both to duck into an alleyway."Gah! Can't wait to blast those guys someday.""Did you ever pick a Digivolution, Gazimon?""She sure did! We'll show you later." You have a few minutes to spare while waiting for the patrol to pass. Sharp-nosed Digimon spear through the air in a v-shaped formation, heading off to parts unknown."They've been going North-West really often recently." Bella remarks. This is probably the last chance you'll have to chat with her too. After this, it's all business, where you get the Chessmon data. Then you'll get your tools from Doc and start the climb proper. The pace of your journey will have to speed up from here, all the way to the end. For now, you decide to make the most out of this final period of bonding.>Tell her about Liza. The two of them were friends. You want to reassure her that she's doing well back at base, and has gotten closer to a new partner.>Bring up the Network travel plan. You have copies of lifel1ne.app, and you want to make sure Bella is fine with using it. The last thing you want is her panicking while in a dangerous position, it could put you both in danger.>Ask her about what she sees in the immediate future for the Dogs of War. They're moving, the City is in turmoil, maybe she can envision their future path a lot clearer now.
Sorry for all the late updates recently. I don't like there being so many two-day gaps, especially since I want to pick up the pace. Wagie life sure is draining.
>>6384587>Tell her about Liza. The two of them were friends. You want to reassure her that she's doing well back at base, and has gotten closer to a new partner.
Seems like Hi-Commandramon is doing fine.>>6384587>Bring up the Network travel plan. You have copies of lifel1ne.app, and you want to make sure Bella is fine with using it. The last thing you want is her panicking while in a dangerous position, it could put you both in danger.Going full pussy. I don't want anything bad getting between Phascomon and the puppet data. It always goes south but we need to try anyways.>>6384588You're doing good, OP. Wageslaving does drain your energy. It's pretty unrealistic to ask for daily updates under those circumstances.
>>6384587>Bring up the Network travel plan. You have copies of lifel1ne.app, and you want to make sure Bella is fine with using it. The last thing you want is her panicking while in a dangerous position, it could put you both in danger.I wish we could talk about Liza, but if we can only pick one, I'm with >>6384647>>6384588I feel ya, QM. Don't sweat the delays -- it happens.
>>6384647+1>>6384588What they said, but don't forget wagie life gets MONEY. NEET life is "comfy" until you lose all your utilities and face eviction
>>6384592>>6384647>>6384708>>6384736Writing! Thank you fellas, will keep working away at it o7
>Bring up the Network travel plan. You have copies of lifel1ne.app, and you want to make sure Bella is fine with using it. The last thing you want is her panicking while in a dangerous position, it could put you both in danger.You don't want any distractions. This is an important job for you and Phascomon. You really wish you had more time, but it's just not possible. Reluctantly, you push aside any irrelevant chatter and focus solely on the plan. She's been sent a brief draft, but you want to elaborate on it in person."Let's get our route sorted out.""Righty.""Before anything else... We're going to need to memorize our entry point." "Why?""I've got us a few copies of Lifel1ne again." You see her expression change in an instant. Bella bites her lip, going pale and flicking her eyes from side to side. "I'm not using it. Set it up without me.""But-""It nearly killed me the last time." "That wasn't Doc's fault!" "I'm not saying it is! But it happened, I just don't want it to happen again, okay?" "Marnie's tested it herself."Bella glances at you carefully, examining you from head to toe. "Nothing went wrong?""I won't lie to you, signorina. That thing paralyzes you for a couple seconds after you're put back together.""But data integrity isn't an issue anymore. The last time, it was because that train Digimon churned your code up."Seeing that she's still clearly hesitant, you push a little further."This thing was made to keep humans safe. I know it messed up when you used the prototype. It was terrifying, I know that. But Doc has been working on it ever since. He knows how serious this is, he was beating himself up just the other day when we-"Phascomon doesn't let you talk yourself into a corner."When the paralysis effect happened. He wants it to be perfect. It isn't, yet, but anything is better than going DMIA, right?""Going DMIA might not be as bad as having that happen again. Your leg got messed up, but it was my whole body, Marnie. The INSIDES of my eyes!"You and Phascomon both wince."Come on... Be brave. It won't put you at risk unless something goes wrong. And with me here, nothing like that will happen. You got that?""Yeah. Okay. Fine... Hook it up to me." She exhales breathily, trying to rush into it before she can change her own mind."We're not there yet. Keep going."The trek to your target terminal is tense, but at least Bella is on board now. You explain the rest of your plan along the way, making sure she knows your escape routes and what to do in an emergency.==
"Ready?" "Just make it quick. It won't hurt, right?""No. It didn't last time, did it?" "... I guess not."The two of you float within a digital void, with your partners both deployed next to you. Your textures have already been stripped away, revealing a wireframe that's colored a pale purple by this area's lighting. You activate the .app and connect both you and Bella to the mouth of the portal. If you activate it, it'll slingshot you all the way back out, into physical space. The other end is secure enough that no bots or curious neighbors should be able to show up."Done." "Let's go, then. You can cling on!" "Cling on to?""GAZIMON! DIGIVOLVE!" <D I G I V O L U T I O N><進化>"GAZIMON, DIGIVOLVE TO..."You watch in amazement as Gazimon's silhouette grows larger and larger. Her stubby limbs become long and gangly, and those strong burrowing claws turn into lithe and swift talons instead. She's large enough for you both to ride on now, though nowhere as big as Ebidramon or Seadramon. When the light fades, you're standing before a massive red wolf Digimon."FANGMON!"Phascomon claps enthusiastically."You look strong!""And fast! And sneaky! Come on, get on board already."You're relieved that your journey will be much faster. You didn't expect to have a Digimon's back to ride on. If only all your surprises were this pleasant."This is good!" You exclaim in relief, as Bella offers her hand and tugs you onto the back half of her partner. Phascomon clings on to your head, careful not to dig his sharp claws into your vulnerable data. He keeps an eye out while Fangmon begins to run through the ping tunnel, picking up speed and taking you closer and closer to your projected destination. She moves with a loping gait, carrying her great distances at a time. The ones and zeroes all around you turn into stringy blurs as she accelerates.
"How'd you end up making this decision?""We just knew it!" Bella says, leaning to the right as her partner makes a sharp turn."When all the samples were in front of us, we just felt like this one was the best call. And it was! I feel so... Strong! So at home in my own skin! Like I can do anything!""I've felt that too. But hey. Word of advice from me. Don't get drunk on it, you hear?""Yeah, yeah... Hey, check this out!" Fangmon leaps out of the tunnel boundaries, exposing you and Bella to the data-dense Network environment. You're hit with a sudden burst of packet resistance, shocking you awake. The Digimon whoops as she comes back down and continues to air-sprint through cyberspace."OI! I mean it! At one point, you're going to run into a fight you can't really take. And you'll feel like you can do anything with your Champion form. That's a trap.""We both fell for that before." You add, a little frazzled from the sudden burst of info. Bella is sitting upright, stiff as a board. That clearly bothered her too. "Don't make the same mistake. You still have limits.""I think it's something baked into us. Virus-type Beast DIgimon. So don't let it get you deleted. Capisce?""Alright, alright! I get it.""And don't jump out like that again! It's not funny!" Bella scolds. ==You get a little self conscious from how well Fangmon is doing. The last time you were out with Ryan, you were acting as a sort of mentor to him. Bella is in the same position. By all measures, you should be the one training her and giving her advice. But since you don't have access to Porcupamon, she's doing the bulk of the work instead. You feel like you're not doing enough for her. The most you can do is try to keep her safe.After a shorter-than-expected period of travel, the tunnel opens up to a winding network of paths. You recognize this nexus point from your last patrol. You dutifully point out the way to the Chessmon enclave, and Fangmon sprints full-tilt towards it. "Is that it?" Bella asks, pointing to the square platform that you saw the last time."Yeah. It's empty." Red paws tap lightly against the smooth tiles, surprising you with how weightless the landing felt. Fangmon sniffs the air, while you put your goggles on. She locates the clue before you can even do a scan."There. That way.""How do you know what a Chessmon smells like? Have you met them?""No, but it's layers and layers of the same scent. Maybe a bit different sometimes. Could only be them, right?""Sounds right to me." Bella says. You nod in agreement, and Fangmon takes off once again.
Having to track them down was also within your expectations. You didn't think they would just stay on the same board forever. However, once you start examining the trails, you're stunned by the sheer amount of Chessmon traces. Fangmon keeps running until the tunnels converge on a wide open space that's halfway between a partition and Network platform. You didn't manage to map this area, so you begin recording for Doc. "What in the-"Fangmon skids to a halt, and you all stare in awe at the sight before you. A massive board stretches as far as the eye can see, its edges blending into the darkness of virtual space. This area is monochromatic, with floating lines of white coding text on a black backdrop. HUNDREDS of Chessmon are running across the fields, attacking each other in a frenzy. The scene before you is comparable to what you saw in DarkTyrannomon's finance district."There's... So many." Bella mumbles in shock. She's never seen this kind of Digimon density before, and she's stunned."... We're not here to fight them all, right?""Just enough to unlock my Champion stage, then we go. Actually... Maybe this is better.""Better? That's a whole army!" Bella protests."No, he's right. They may be too busy to focus on us, with this kind of scale. Not like last time."You see two specimens of the colossal, wall-like Digimon that shot at you last time. They white one is grappling the black one, trying to smash it into the ground. Black knights respond by flinging numerous darts at its legs, slowly wearing it down. Its knee collapses, and they converge on its softer joints while the other behemoth prepares to pound it from above. "This is crazy. They're at war!" You look across the field. On either end sits a massive castle, but both look unfinished. The battlements are stubby, and both are lacking roofs over huge portions. You can't even begin to guess what this conflict is all about. Maybe it's some kind of territorial conflict? They both look well-entrenched, and if they had issues finding food, they wouldn't be this numerous. "Whatcha thinking about?""Wondering about them. But nevermind, we can ask Doc later. Let's move."
You have to land and wade into the fray, while still stuck in your digital wireframes. This is going to be dangerous, so you have to take care not to get hit at all.>Go for the white Chessmon. They look like they're responding to their heavy fighter being hassled. You see some Champion knights mobilizing to deal with it, and those very ones might end up intercepting you if you attack foot soldiers.>Go for the black Chessmon. Their knights are busy, but doing so will likely attract the attention of their huge warrior. If you get unlucky while taking out the pawns, you may get fired on.>Don't pick a side. Instead, try to appear at the fringes of the conflict and attack a mixed group that's skirmishing. Both your Digimon are stealth specialists, and you have camo, so maybe this will be fast.
I think the trick is for us to pick a side and stick to it. Back then both sides attacked us plus we didn't understand the chess gimmick
>>6385392>>6385478 makes a lot of sense..of the two sides, I think this is the play:>Go for the white Chessmon. They look like they're responding to their heavy fighter being hassled. You see some Champion knights mobilizing to deal with it, and those very ones might end up intercepting you if you attack foot soldiers.
>>6385509+1Marnie and Phascomon's aesthetic, even ignoring Bella's here, screams "black" chess pieces. I think just by appearance alone the Black Chessmon will accept and support her in this all-out war
>>6385392>Go for the black Chessmon. Their knights are busy, but doing so will likely attract the attention of their huge warrior. If you get unlucky while taking out the pawns, you may get fired on.Ok, the strategy here for Marnie should be ensure that both sides keep killing each other, maintaining the balance so she can act with enough space. If one takes advantage over the other, killing the losers being targeted or the winners that feel strong and confident will be just equally risky.If Marnie helps the losing ones, they can keep the winning team at bay. That means that the big black dude will be open to the big white dude if he tries to save some shitty pawns.The blacks don't need help so they might chase off Marnie and keeping neutrality will cause everything to end up just like before, with everyone going against her team.If the whites are epic, they will help Marnie in her future mission.Do I know what I'm doing? No, I never have. But this sounds coherent in my mind.
>>6385509>>6385514>>6385535Writing!
>Go for the white Chessmon. They look like they're responding to their heavy fighter being hassled. You see some Champion knights mobilizing to deal with it, and those very ones might end up intercepting you if you attack foot soldiers.The white knight was the one that badly injured Seadramon last time. You have a bit of a grudge against that faction. Plus, white was never really your color. You glance down at your avatar, sorely missing your usual outfit already."We go for the white ones. They're in bigger trouble." "Bella?""Yup, just follow her lead on this. So do we just... jump down and start attacking soldiers?""Sounds like a plan to me!"You and Bella dismount Fangmon first, so that you won't be thrown directly into the fray. You're on an inclined polygon at the moment, giving you enough room to make a clear shot. You check your ammunition, a little worried about it losing potency with distance. Once everyone is ready, you give them the signal to begin, and Fangmon leaps towards the white Pawn Chessmon. Phascomon clings on to her head, ready to spring off when he's close enough."BLAST COFFIN!"You watch as the big bad wolf releases a beam of energy from her narrow jaws. It incinerates the front-most soldiers, and then she sweeps it across their ranks to burn several more. Phascomon plummets through the air, flapping his vestigial wings uselessly. He lands smoothly on the still-sizzling spot where a Pawn Chessmon got deleted and seizes the packet of puppet data."Woah." You remark, impressed by the blast. "It's cool, isn't it?" Bella replies, a satisfied smirk on her typically gloomy face.The Pawn Chessmon begin mobilizing to deal with the intrusion. However, this time, the black ones don't attempt to jump you. Some even cheer as they watch their enemies get crumpled by random invaders. You're not quite sure what's different now, but it's working!
"Eucalyptus Claw!"Phascomon tears through the armor of one and deletes it. He's gotten back a bit of his strength from the constant data transfusions, you recall him needing more effort to break through the last time. Fangmon, of course, is faring way better. She's able to lunge forward from blind spots and seize Chessmon in her jaws, all while nimbly evading spear thrusts. A few end up jabbing her in the flank, and she whirls around to obliterate the attackers with another Blast Coffin.After a bit of this, the Knight Chessmon take notice. A few peel off from their gigantic ally and start moving towards you. Your goggles highlight a particular one, and you clench your fist."Hey. That guy's the same one who we met the last time.""You got a grudge?" Bella asks."Of course. PHASCOMON!"You point him out. Your partner glances up at you and follows the path of your finger, then smirks and vanishes between the legs of several sparring Chessmon.The Knight Chessmon gallop in formation, several rearing back to throw their darts at Fangmon. However, the wolf bounds high over the heads of the pawns, bowling over Rookies of either color as she pre-emptively avoids the blow. The heavy projectiles come sailing down moments later, pummeling the tile that she was standing on."What's this?"She drools in excitement, suddnely standing behind one of the Champions. It whirls around to try and fling the dart, but she's faster."Snipe Steal!"You lose sight of her completely. When you manage to lay eyes on her again, she's many paces away, with the dart gripped in her jaws. The weapon is rapidly compressed into a digital file, which she then swallows for safekeeping."She can do that?" You muse out loud, looking towards Bella."I don't know, that's new to me too. She's never done that before." While all their attention is on Fangmon, Phascomon has managed to sneak up on his target.
"Evil Snore!"Months ago, the two of you trained him to use his Rookie form, so that you wouldn't fall behind even without Porcupamon. You spent many long days having him practice the accuracy of his sleep-inducing attack. It seems like that training, even now, is still bearing fruit. He manages to land the waves directly between the Digimon's eyes. Unlike many other victims, the Knight Chessmon doesn't flop over. It seems to be standing upright even when unconscious.Its fellow warriors take off across the field in pursuit of Fangmon, leaving Phascomon to think about how best to handle the enemy."Hey!"He waves at a group of black Pawn Chessmon. Plenty of them have taken note of the fact that he's only attacking their enemies, so a particularly receptive battalion ends up marching over to see what's going on."He's all yours."==The Knight Chessmon who injured Seadramon is abruptly woken up by a malware packet to the head. He looks upwards at you and your smoking pistol, then reaches for his dart.He never gets the chance. Eight Pawn Chessmon have already surrounded him from every direction, with Phascomon cackling from the backlines."PAWN SPEAR! PAWN SPEAR! PAWN SPEAR! PAWN SPEAR! PAWN SPEAR! PAWN SPEAR! PAWN SPEAR! PAWN SPEAR!"It doesn't stand a chance. They split the data evenly among themselves as the Champion dissipates, leaving none for a disappointed Phascomon. He shrugs and heads back to the nearest white one. You check your Digivice. His data stores are doing good. You think he just needs to take down a few more Rookies. In the meantime, you and Bella keep an eye out for enemies that might be trying to climb up to your relatively hidden position, while your partners continue to wreak havoc.
While Fangmon has been running around and drawing fire, the other half of the Knight Chessmon brigade has managed to rescue their behemoth. The black one is far away now, rampaging through the amassed pawns. The whole time, you were wondering how the Rookies even managed to stay alive when an Ultimate-level Digimon was on the field. You get your answer once it attempts to barrel through a group of white Pawns."READY! PYRAMID FORMATION!"The front most Pawn Chessmon are smashed, as expected. However, the rest of the formation glows with golden light as the tiny Digimon raise their bucklers in sync. One living wall collides with another, and although the towering beast manages to tear through two, three, four ranks, the amount of Chessmon in each layer only increases. It finally meets its match, and it's forced to halt from the combined shielding force of the Rookies.Then its white counterpart seizes it from behind and performs a suplex, shattering parts of it against the board and sending a rain of debris down on the pawns. You're both impressed and intimidated by the display. Turns out they're not just helpless in the face of a far stronger foe. You need to get out of here soon. Things are getting crazy. You've almost gotten what you came for. Just before you can turn to Bella and ask her to recall Fangmon, your partner contacts you through your link."Marnie!""What's wrong? Where are you?" "Nothing, I'm fine. Hey! Some of these Chessmon stopped to chat! Tune in! You got anything you want me to ask them?"
You immediately focus on the audio feed that he's broadcasting to you. You place your ear close to your Linker, so that you won't miss a word." -every few months! This is my first match!""Very interesting... So your castles are just opposite each other the rest of the time? And you just tolerate each other?""Yeah! If there isn't a battle, we spend all our time defending it! We can't let them reach our castle!" "What's going on?" Bella asks."It's Phascomon. He got a bunch of Pawn Chessmon talking to him!" "Oh! That's good, what are they saying?""They're telling him about why they're fighting. We need to leave soon, but give me a few minutes please... This seems like a rare chance.""Sure. I'll get Fangmon ready." You have an opportunity to speak to these little guys through Phascomon, and see what kind of information they can give him. What sort of question would you like to ask the Black Pawn Chessmon, who the two of you have allied with?>Ask them who's in charge. There has to be some kind of Digimon who's directing these guys. You haven't seen the bishop, queen, or king piece yet, and you recognize those from your chess practice. You want to understand Chessmon hierarchy, and how their society works.>Ask them about their enemies. What exactly is it about the White Castle that's placing them on opposite sides? You want to know what they're fighting for, and why they're so confidently marching to their deaths.>Ask them about their lives outside the warzone. The one you heard was implying that they have downtime. How do they spend it? How do they fit in within their castles? Where do they even come from, if they're not being spat out of Garden Portals? These Digimon seem to be a biological anomaly.
Based that it worked desu.>>6386139>Ask them who's in charge. There has to be some kind of Digimon who's directing these guys. You haven't seen the bishop, queen, or king piece yet, and you recognize those from your chess practice. You want to understand Chessmon hierarchy, and how their society works.If Marnie gets to talk to their leader, maybe she can form an alliance to beat the City. Or find a way to kill a KingChessmon.The last option is good too. Maybe there's a way to go and recruit/kill them directly from a certain place. Also that place would be a source of data that the City doesn't control.
>>6386171+1If Marnie can't use the info before she leaves, we can always pass it all onto Wind and Doc
>>6386139>Ask them who's in charge. There has to be some kind of Digimon who's directing these guys. You haven't seen the bishop, queen, or king piece yet, and you recognize those from your chess practice. You want to understand Chessmon hierarchy, and how their society works.understanding how different societies work is ultimately what our MC duo need to envision a better future.
>>6386139>Ask them who's in charge. There has to be some kind of Digimon who's directing these guys. You haven't seen the bishop, queen, or king piece yet, and you recognize those from your chess practice. You want to understand Chessmon hierarchy, and how their society works.
>>6386139>Ask them about their lives outside the warzone. The one you heard was implying that they have downtime. How do they spend it? How do they fit in within their castles? Where do they even come from, if they're not being spat out of Garden Portals? These Digimon seem to be a biological anomaly.Could be good to learn more about Digimon and the wider Digital World for when we get there.
>>6386171>>6386172>>6386300>>6386484>>6386948Writing!
>Ask them who's in charge. There has to be some kind of Digimon who's directing these guys. You haven't seen the bishop, queen, or king piece yet, and you recognize those from your chess practice. You want to understand Chessmon hierarchy, and how their society works.“Phascomon! Ask them who’s in charge!” ”Yeah, I was wondering that! Huh? Nothing, just talking to my partner- No, she’s somewhere else.”You increase the sensitivity of your audio channels. While you’re doing that, Bella tugs on your shoulder. A white Pawn Chessmon has shambled up the hill, and is staring at you two in alarm. You raise your pistol and fire a warning shot, causing it to scramble off. “Should we move?” “Yeah.” You try and look for a better spot, but you're a little distracted by the conversation. While Bella scours the area, you focus on Phascomon’s situation."The boss! The head honcho! You're all fighting for someone, right?""Not quite, young chap!""It would be more accurate to say that our battle is to crown a lord! One worthy to lead us all!""How's that work?"Bella points out a different hill. You nod and begin activating your .app files. This area has gravity, so you need to use your leaping tools. The jet thruster sits snugly on your back, and you prepare to slap optical camo onto both you and Bella. You then link arms with her. "Get some freeze code ready." You command.While she arms herself, you glance in Phascomon's direction."We have superiors, of course— Our Bishop Chessmon command us freely! Yet not even they would dare to claim the mantle of ruler. Our Rook Chessmon are much the same, though leading is of little interest.""Their strength lies in showing those hoity-toity white knights what for!""He did just get put through the floor... But I'll assume he puts up a better showing the rest of the time."Once Bella is ready, you activate all the necessary .apps. Countless windows open and close in your vision as the executable files load themselves in sequence. F1oat first, then the optical camo, and then your jetpack third. You rocket through space confident that your path will be clear. Luckily, the air is free of sailing projectiles, unlike the last warzone you were in. The ranged attacks are all clustered around the massive titans and the knights. As you fly, you suddenly see a beam of light emerge from the battlements of the white castle, shearing through a horde of pawns. You land lightly on the hill and duck for cover. Bella keeps her hand ready to cast her code, but finds no target. You both breathe a sigh of relief, but that sensation is ruined by the complete lack of input from your simplified bodies. You can't wait to get out of this form.
You can see Phascomon from this end of the battlefield, and the group that he's speaking to. He's not too far away now, and is staunchly in territory claimed by the black pawns, far from the front lines."Nay, nay. We have no lord. Yet, it is a known truth to each of us, that a simple pawn may become ruler by ascending into the depths of our enemy's lair! Paradoxically, within their throne room, lies the key to our ascension! While our own sits empty!""Why not just sneak into their castle instead of going to war? I'm sure a single Pawn Chessmon can make it there far easier."A round of laughter echoes through the link."Oh, surely you jest, furry one!""Just sneak in, he says!""Were it so simple, we would each have a king by now! Or a queen!"You hear a mild crackle through the connection, and can tell that he's seething a little bit at being laughed at. Before he can bite back, one of the Pawn Chessmon continues with a sincere answer."Truthfully, my friend, we do try. And therein lies our cycle. Pawn Chessmon E9 informed you that we spend our time defending our castles. That is because there is a constant stream of lone soldiers who seek to infiltrate the grounds. And thus, our inner guard must uphold their roles temariously."Fangmon is gradually making her way towards Phascomon. She's dispatched a single Knight Chessmon, and the others have grown tired of chasing her. Instead, many have returned to rejoin their comrades in attacking the downed Rook Chessmon. Bella's partner bowls over numerous enemies as she crosses the chessboard with one great stride at a time."But as the seasons pass, the attempts of the youths grow bolder and bolder. One sneaking scoundrel turns to two, then to five, then to ten. Once our foes are emboldened enough to come in great number, we must do the same. And at last, things spiral into full-blown war!" "... Huh. So you say you're leaderless. You really don't consider the Bishop Chessmon to be in charge?""We maintain the utmost respect for them. They speak their sermons and advise us. Yet, even they know they cannot be king without earning it.""Then how do you guys know to do this? All this sneaking, this whole chase to touch the throne and Digivolve. Who told you all that? Is it the Bishop Chessmon saying this is real in the first place?""Nay, nay! This one questions our ways!""Oh, pay him no mind. He is a traveler from a strange land, he only seeks to learn.""Alack, those white Chessmon would take this as a grave insult! You are fortunate to be sharing these thoughts with us instead, for others would have your tongue."
"Noble Sir Phascomon, you said your name was? Surely you feel a call, of some sort, deep within your core. A drive to do something, somebody you want to be.""Uh... Yeah. I do." He answers. You're a bit taken aback by this creature getting introspective. Something about the way they moved and acted made you think the pawns were all carbon copies. Yet this one is wordy and intelligent, while others in their squad seem like they're only good for little quips."Then you will understand that there are things you know to be true. You know it in your heart, and you do not question it. That is our truth. Each Pawn Chessmon arrives with the knowledge that these are our ways. There is no need for a sermon to convince us. It is simply how we grow.""You seem like a wise fella. Hey, when you're king one day, don't forget the day your buddy Phascomon saved you from a white squad, capisce?""Me! King! Well, I would like nothing more, truthfully. I shall surely not forget."You feel as though you've learnt a lot, and very little at the same time. No king! No queen! That makes sense in a way. You'd expect those to be Mega-level Digimon, considering that they have an Ultimate-stage serving as their heavy artillery. Despite having a kingdom, they seem to be directionless, merely deleting and absorbing each other while they wait for actual leadership to arrive. You're not sure how things will change if they actually manage to obtain a leader. Maybe you shouldn't be messing with this stalemate. While you did want to spite that white knight, your job is done. You suddenly realize that you should not be completely upheaving the delicate balance between two warring groups just because one is aligned with your fashion sense. That epiphany is met with a quick shrug. "Phascomon. Wrap it up, please."
"One sec- Yeah?""The stranger doth speak to air often.""A sure sign of being a touch moon-addled. But speak not of this loudly!""I think we should get out of here. Come on.""Okay. Meet up with you? I need one last group. I feel it!""Get on!" Fangmon says, muscling past a group of terrified black pawns. None of them are eager to fight her after seeing what she's been doing to the enemy, but they're still wary."Egads! The stranger hath a demon-wolf for a steed!""What might...""Hey, keep calling her my steed and she might not let me on board after all. She's a friend."He clambers onto Fangmon, who leers at the Chessmon. You see them cower from afar."Well, so long! Good luck with your quest, B4!"By now, you can vaguely recognize who's speaking from afar. You see the talkative one curtsy to your partner."It has been a pleasure, Sir Phascomon. May your aspirations remain within grasp. I see a kindred spirit in you, for you seek to ascend too!""You too. Go get that checkmate or whatever. En passant. Go fish."With that, he and Fangmon take off, returning to your humble hillside.==
You return to the front lines as a group this time, wary of the stray shots being flung around. While you'd be safer up on the hill, you want to be able to board Fangmon and sprint away the instant Phascomon gets his data. You're running out of time, and while your bodies are losing cohesion much slower in this hybrid area, you're still at a DMIA risk. You have a feeling that turning into some cyber-ghost will be infinitely more boring if your data is spread across a chessboard."Over there!" Bella calls.A pair of white Pawn Chessmon have just defeated their black enemies, and are absorbing their data. They look ripe for the harvest. Just as you run forward to clash with them, a salvo of well-aimed darts almost spear both you and Bella. Fangmon saves you both by pitching herself sideways. You're both vector-matched to her, but she forcefully terminates the connection with her personal firewall, sending you sliding across the smooth ground. The heavy hooves of the Knight Chessmon slam down next to her, trying to stomp her while she's downed. One lands on her tail, and she yelps in pain as the tip is flattened."Fangmon!" "SLAY THEM! AT LAST, I SPY THE CHANCE!"Phascomon's gaze flicks between the three problems at once. Fangmon is being jumped by the two Knight Chessmon, and she's been caught off guard. You raise your weapon, and Bella is about to fling freeze code, but your aid will be limited. Then there's a group of pawns who are responding to the knight pair's orders. This group is rather big. Phascomon has gotten better at fighting them, but their numbers are intimidating. And lastly, there's the pair that you spied earlier. You could have him run to the right and focus on deleting them, hoping to get that last bit of puppet data you need. What does Phascomon do?>Go left. Fangmon needs support right now. Phascomon could charge ahead and attack one of the knights, leaving Fangmon free to tackle the other one. This may be risky, as he still only has Rookie-level durability. >Run straight. There's a big group of Pawn Chessmon approaching. It's inevitable that some will jab him, but Phascomon can prevent them from collapsing on Fangmon and overwhelming her with numbers. If he takes out the whole group, he'll get his data for sure.>Head to the right and attack the pair. Phascomon should be able to take them out fast. Maybe that will give him that last portion of data, and you can immediately flee.
>>6387295>Go left. Fangmon needs support right now. Phascomon could charge ahead and attack one of the knights, leaving Fangmon free to tackle the other one. This may be risky, as he still only has Rookie-level durability. I think that if they go forward, the knight can just jump them like last time. The front WChessmon seem to be quite far.
>>6387295>Go left. Fangmon needs support right now. Phascomon could charge ahead and attack one of the knights, leaving Fangmon free to tackle the other one. This may be risky, as he still only has Rookie-level durability.We can Hololize Phascomon out of the knight's path, combined with prior study and chess experience of how the knights move their L paths. I think we have enough on our side to be able to handle this and save Fangmon. We need Fangmon alive to get us out.The mob of pawns are all away ahead, and we'll lose time trying to close distance. Going right towards the pair will put us further from Fangmon and we'll be seriously out of position then. That's to be avoided at all costs with chess the name of the game.>>6387357I agree. Phascomon needs to get the data from one of these knights and reach Porcupamon, then we need to GTFO before we DMIA
>>6387381+1, it's time to put those chess lessons to work!
>>6387295>Run straight. There's a big group of Pawn Chessmon approaching. It's inevitable that some will jab him, but Phascomon can prevent them from collapsing on Fangmon and overwhelming her with numbers. If he takes out the whole group, he'll get his data for sure.I am extremely confused you guys. So obviously going right is bad because we get hit by both the right knight AND the rook.Going left puts us in range of the knight on the left.>>6387357>>6387381>>6387436So why would going straight put us in danger!? If we get into that position, we're on a straight line to the knights. If we get pushed back and stay where we are, we're diagonal to the right knight and completely far away from the left one. And if we punch through the pawns it's the same.
>>6387448From the way I see it, the right knight could move 3 spaces up and one right. That's the black square where Phascomon will end up if he clashes with the pawns by going forward.Letting Phascomon go clash with the pawns in front of him is viable if you believe that Bella with the freeze code, Fangmon and the two black pawns will take care of the two white knights. That's a perfectly coherent outcome but I don't know if Bella can pull it off. I don't know if she can. Can she? I'm seriously asking.Going right to kill those two pawns is surely the worse since the knight and the pawns will get together to make their co-op attack and if the black pawns score some hits, Phascomon will need to share the XP with them.
>>6387295I change from >>6387357To>Run straight. There's a big group of Pawn Chessmon approaching. It's inevitable that some will jab him, but Phascomon can prevent them from collapsing on Fangmon and overwhelming her with numbers. If he takes out the whole group, he'll get his data for sure.I don't know anymore.
>>6387505>3 space up and 1 rightthat would require us moving 4 spaces up, which is WAY overshooting compared to 1 or 2 spaces up and we just hit the knight from the back to help Fangmon.We could do the same by going left, but that would allow the left knight to hit us and we don't get pawn kills.
>>6387530wait, it should be 3 spaces up now that I'm parsing that. Point is we don't need to go that far up, there aren't even any pawns there
>>6387538Yeah, Phascomon can land on the white square that's diagonal to the knight.
>>6387295Changing vote from >>6387381 to>Run straight. There's a big group of Pawn Chessmon approaching. It's inevitable that some will jab him, but Phascomon can prevent them from collapsing on Fangmon and overwhelming her with numbers. If he takes out the whole group, he'll get his data for sure.Going off of what these guys said >>6387505 >>6387538 >>6387742This should be doable, I mean we didn't pick the "study chess briefly" option for nothing
>>6387436>>6387448>>6387524>>6387825Writing!
Updating when I’m home later, sorry for the particularly long delay
>Go left. Fangmon needs support right now. Phascomon could charge ahead and attack one of the knights, leaving Fangmon free to tackle the other one. This may be risky, as he still only has Rookie-level durability. You glance at the pawns on the right. Phascomon could take them down, and that last bit of data could be what he needs to Digivolve. However, doing so will leave Fangmon unattended. You watch as the knights attempt to corner her, stomping their hooves with abandon and cracking the black and white tiles beneath them. While the wolf Digimon has been fighting with speed and precision so far, the single injury looks like it's slowing her down substantially. She keeps flicking her flattened tail, and her snarls are interspersed with low whines."Phascomon! Give her support!" Your partner turns towards them to observe the situation. One of the Knight Chessmon grunts in displeasure as Fangmon seizes his dart with another Snipe Steal. It's left with no weapon, and is forced to back away. You notice that it’s unwilling to swing at its foe with its upper limbs. Meanwhile, the other one tilts the dart and charges at the red wolf. You wait for your partner expectantly. ”Can’t! I’m boxed in!” With that, he charges for the large group ahead of him instead of following your call. A small squad of black Pawn Chessmon accompany him, yelling out a battle cry as they go for the pair that’s off to the side. You watch in alarm as Fangmon is left to fend for herself. “Phascomon!” “What are you doing?!” Bella shouts. The Knight Chessmon on the far end leaps into the sky. It comes down on the empty spot that Phascomon would have occupied to if he was helping Fangmon. The hefty hooves crush the smooth ground in an instant, and your eyes go wide. It’s a good thing he didn’t listen, or he would have been flattened. He doesn’t have time to brag about being better at chess than you, but you feel a brief pang of annoyance regardless. Far in the distance, the gargantuan form of the white Rook Chessmon lowers its foot. A whole section of pawns are crushed into specks. It raises its cannon and fires wildly, tearing the landscape apart with a roiling line of destruction.The carnage reaches you, then sweeps past your group narrowly, obliterating the squad of Pawn Chessmon to the right instead. The ground is churned up and smoking. Every tile, reaching from the Ultimate Digimon to the mountains behind you, has been devastated by the attack. That was the wrong move too, and luckily, neither of you considered it.
>Run straight. There's a big group of Pawn Chessmon approaching. It's inevitable that some will jab him, but Phascomon can prevent them from collapsing on Fangmon and overwhelming her with numbers. If he takes out the whole group, he'll get his data for sure.Phascomon, meanwhile, has spied his own path. He tears at the Pawn Chessmon in front of him, downing two in an instant and absorbing their data.”EVIL SNORE!” He puts one more to sleep, but its friend slips forward with unerring grace and sinks its spear into his side. As blood leaks from his lips, he grimaces at his attacker and raises his claws. ”Too late!” Two was enough. You feel the link between you opening up again. As Phascomon claws hungrily at the energy you can give, a dull ache passes through your wrist. The rusty path is being retrodden by the desperate heels. You flood the connection with energy, and Phascomon glows with brilliant light for the first time in a while.“PHASCOMON! DIGIVOLVE!”https://youtu.be/bjO_MIVLQcE?si=caTVlYBv5mROSaCu <D I G I V O L U T I O N><進化>
"PHASCOMON, DIGIVOLVE TO..."[/b]The spear slides out of his body. Before the Pawn Chessmon can fully retract it, bladed claws sever the haft. A second swipe severs its head from its body."PORCUPAMON!"“You got it!” You breathe a sigh of relief.While the pawns scramble for cover, Porcupamon wastes no time at all. He immediately comes to Fangmon's aid now that he can fight on equal terms. The Knight Chessmon without the dart finds itself being grappled from behind. Spikes sink deep into its body as your partner spins around, dragging it far from the red wolf. He tumbles over, pinning it beneath his weight and impaling it further.Now that she's no longer outnumbered, Fangmon finds her confidence again. She snaps at the puppet Champion repeatedly, scoring several nasty bites against its limbs. It manages to shake her off and leap away, bounding across the tiles several times to find the right angle of attack. She doesn't give it that chance."BLAST COFFIN!"Her beam of energy strikes it in the chest, piercing right through and emerging from the other end. Blue light leaks from its armor as it topples over and disintegrates. She sags with exertion in the aftermath. Porcupamon, meanwhile, is still going strong."SLAP AND RIP!"He absolutely mutilates the last surviving Knight Chessmon, gouging huge chunks out of its white body with his nasty-looking blades. Once the Digimon is deleted, he stands up and stretches, enjoying his full height. "I've still got it." He declares.
With your partner's Champion form regained, escaping the warzone becomes a simpler matter. He wades forward, scattering the Rookies like bowling pins as Fangmon follows close behind. Once you're all far enough away, you turn around to watch the fight. Although you deleted plenty of Champions, and took out a good amount of white pawns, the scale of the battle has been too huge for you to to tip. You suppose that it's for the best. Slowly, the battle lines reach an equilibrium, with both factions pushing against each other for dominance once again. The white Rook Chessmon gets struck by some kind of distant laser, ending up trudging back to the castle, while the black one is already nowhere to be seen."How long are they gonna keep going?" Fangmon asks."Till they can't keep it up. Look. They've bled their biggest guys dry. The small ones will get tired of it soon enough."You're sure that he's correct in the long term, but right now, the Pawn Chessmon still seem to have endless numbers. "We got what we came for. Let's go. Congrats, Porcupamon." Bella cheers.The four of you push your way back into the Network, leaving the Pawn Chessmon to continue their war. You wonder if anyone else will ever find these guys. Even a kingdom of this scale is like a drop in an ocean, when it comes to the data capacity of the City. You may be the first and last humans to discover the enclave. It's a bit of a sobering thought.==
"Oh! I almost forgot!" Bella exclaims, right as the two of you find her exit point. "Hm?" You load yourself out of the Network before hearing her out. The lifel1ne shatters once you exit from a different opening, turning into specks of harmless particles that fade into the perpetual night. You find yourself standing on a rooftop, having emerged from a viewfinder. Bella pushes her way out as well, already rifling through her inventory.While she searches for whatever file she wants to give you, you glance at the mounted binoculars. This is a great exit. The device is connected to the network so that it can share the viewpoints of several others like it, scattered all around 87-O. It's meant to give people a view of different districts without having to travel there. You almost put a handful of credits into it, before you realise that it might scan your user ID. Your hand drops to your side forlornly. "Got it. Squid would have killed me if I forgot this.""Really? Haven't seen her mad often.""Me neither, but messing this up would have done the trick."She places a strange rectangle in your hand. You hold the object up to the light, trying to make out its finer details. "What's this?""She said it was a beeper. Some kind of super-encrypted tracer signal that only she has the key to." "Why would I need-" You suddenly recall what you asked her for, back when you were in the sewer base. A smile spreads across your face as you examine the slab closely."What is it, exactly?""Hope. Something that might let her find me in the future."It's nothing definitive, but simply having this is a blessing. Maybe some day, far far away, once you've exited this place and struck out on your own, you'll get to see your friends again. It's a single unbreakable thread that you can take with you. You resolve to cherish it well. "The future, huh?" "Yeah." The both of you stand there to watch the night for a little while. You know it's not wise to be out here when you've been flagged, but you're still struggling to put your words together. Finally, you decide to just wing it.
"Thanks for the help today, Bella. And Gazimon, sorry about-" "Well, I ain't sorry! You had that covered! I know you're not that durable, but you HAD that, you just ended up caving in the moment you were outnumbered!"Gazimon blows a raspberry through Bella's Digivice. She smiles softly and rubs at the dark circles under her eyes."It's fine, no harm done. We have a lot to learn. And I think we did learn a bit from watching you two." "Like Phascomon said, I think you need to work on confidence. Ryan was the same.""Just don't mix it up with arrogance. Capisce? I know you'll find the chance to in the future, it's important you resist." He lectures Gazimon, sounding more serious than usual."... Fine. I get it. Take care, you two. Been a blast.""I can get back to the sewer from here. I guess this is goodbye." Bella shuffles her feet awkwardly, not knowing whether to start walking. You take a step forward to hug her lightly. "Bye. Hopefully for real this time." Without her help, it would have been hard to get Phascomon's strength back. You owe her for that, and it's not something you can pay back anymore. All you can do is wish her the best. While she heads to the building's stairwell, you head back into the viewfinder and anchor your lifel1ne tightly. Display windows drift past you lazily, depicting countless different points of view.You send out a ping to Doc's workshop, then you compress your data down into its simpler state and begin following the tunnel back to base.==
"Well, well, well. Look who's back." As soon as you return, you find Doc sitting on the same couch that you and Liza dragged out by the entrance. "Did you get it?""We did.""Hololize." You send Phascomon out. He slashes at the empty air in exhilaration. "Bit rusty. Spikes feel a little tight coming out. But everything else is just like it should be. Hey, how do I get back up to Astamon?""For that, you're going to have to absorb more data. Plain and simple. That building-block hodgepodge I've got in my lab won't do the trick no more." Phascomon clambers onto the couch next to Doc, and you join him. You have a little bit of trouble looking at the Code Cracker's face. His disfigurement has been reversed, but you're just not used to seeing him so... intact."We're kinda tired from the trip." You comment."Hmm. I'll hand you your files in the morning, then. I think it's time, Marnie. I'm getting word that the Portal is fluctuating." "How badly?""Mild. Still got a couple days. But you need to get moving."You clench your fist nervously. The three of you sit there in silence for a bit, slowly decompressing on the couch. While Phascomon starts to drift off, your mind races with thoughts. You're exhausted, but you need to spend tomorrow planning already.>Review your plan to traverse the sewers and climb through the recycling facility. This will also involve doing some physical training with Porcupamon to shake that rust off. You'll be doing a lot of fighting anyway, since all the data he'll need to Digivolve to Astamon is going to be gathered in the early stages of your climb. And if you discover any dealbreakers, this planning will give you one chance to change approach.>Write-in: Ask for any specific, practical tool you can think of. You could make multiple suggestions, and if the mechanisms make sense, he'll most likely be able to create something for you. You don't have to waste time thinking about permanent versions of your current .app files, Doc is already working on those, and will hand them to you before you embark.>Write-in: Start making requests for specific bits of tech that will be useful in the Digital World. Assuming you survive your next climb, you'll want some means of thriving in wherever place you end up. These requests will probably not have any actual impact on your adventure, and you may not even see the fruits of having them. However, planning ahead will help you move on with peace of mind.
>>6388801>Write-in: Ask for any specific, practical tool you can think of. You could make multiple suggestions, and if the mechanisms make sense, he'll most likely be able to create something for you. You don't have to waste time thinking about permanent versions of your current .app files, Doc is already working on those, and will hand them to you before you embark.https://helpx.adobe.com/substance-3d-modeler/create-with-clay/tools/warp-tool.htmlA warp tool. While the drill "pushes" assets into a hole, this one "pulls". While finer details might be handy in the digital world, I'm thinking rectangles and triangles to make platforms and slopes.It might make repeated uses fragile, but perhaps using the Tower's own walls will cause their weapons to deal less damage from permissions. We're too exposed to Brigadramon with just the jetpack. Also would confuse those turrets quite a bit more.I'm not totally sold on the idea yet though, its utility for getting to the portal itself is questionable, although there's few methods for getting through plain airspace. Maybe an automated version of the propsurf could do something, but that's insanely risky.A modified version of the mall holograms would of course be extremely handy in the climb up, with some planning we could exploit their command structure to give them the runaround while baiting out Hi-Commandramon.Rollerskates. I don't think Marnie has time to learn a skateboard, but some non-app mobility could get her places.Reconfiguring the malware gun to fire small assets that anchor to the floor/feet, tripping up digimon with some good timing.We could also check if storing Solarmon's attacks in the smuggling partition is possible even for just a short duration. It would allow masking as a different digimon infiltrating. Same with some icicles.A bot-shaped disguise for Marnie. Absolutely useless for several applications, but maybe there's something? Heck, just being able to place bot corpses might be handy I guess. I guess a Guardromon replica might be more practical, if Marnie could walk in it?Getting to the wilder ideas. A portable Network Terminal. Stupidly easy to detect, but we plonk it down on top of the tower, jump in and get out somewhere further down to take a break and let the City forces split themselves up again to look for us, then climb back up to rack up more xp.We should also be considering what sorts of tools would be handy to use against whatever the Book brings back through the portal. I'm guessing even bots have enough security to resist a Kill command, but do zombies?Some diagnostic tools for Phascomon might come in handy too. Between the trash corruption from oblivimon and the book stuff, being able to wisely direct the partner bond to prevent horrific digivolution mishaps could go a long way.If we go seriously high collateral, we could carry a junk bomb just before the top of the Tower, setting it off to block reinforcements from loading in.
>>6388810These are all interesting ideas. I love the idea of junk bombing the Tower as an echo of Marnie's first mission but on such short notice? Diagnostic tools can be huge especially in helping other Digimon in the Digital World later. Portable network terminal might be the spiciest idea yet
>>6388810I think I'll sit back and let this clever anon take the lead for now. +1!>>6388801
>>6388801>Write-in: Ask for any specific, practical tool you can think of. You could make multiple suggestions, and if the mechanisms make sense, he'll most likely be able to create something for you. You don't have to waste time thinking about permanent versions of your current .app files, Doc is already working on those, and will hand them to you before you embark.I want whatever this guy >>6388810 is having plus the grappling hook and some device to detect invisible enemies and a dinosaur.
>>6388801>>6388810 +1>Maybe include some shield as well, it won't do anything against powerful attacks but any defense we can get is better than nothing
>>6388810>>6388817>>6388876>>6388970>>6389095Writing!
>Write-in: Ask for any specific, practical tool you can think of. You could make multiple suggestions, and if the mechanisms make sense, he'll most likely be able to create something for you. You don't have to waste time thinking about permanent versions of your current .app files, Doc is already working on those, and will hand them to you before you embark.You head to your room after a few minutes. Despite Liza’s attempt to decorate it, you haven’t added any personal touches of your own. You don’t want to get attached to this place again. Phascomon jumps straight into bed, fully intending on crashing for the night. Fighting as Porcupamon has tired him out. But after watching you pore over a desk display window for fifteen minutes, he raises his head to check on you. ”Not sleeping?” “No. I want to get this list ready for Doc, first thing tomorrow. The sooner I can finish it, the sooner he can start.” You’re just spitballing ideas onto a page now. Instead of worrying about technical details, you've decided to list out what you want Doc's tech to accomplish. Phascomon gets up to see what you've come up with so far."Hey, this is handy!" "You think so?""Plenty of things we can use. I think this one is the most important."He points to the line where you've requested a shield."I guess I've gotten sick of having to cower all the time. I need a safety net. That'll take a lot of weight off you, right?""It will. Hey, grappling hook! He definitely has that."You wonder if Doc is going to be worse off if you keep taking so many permanent tools. They can't be cheap to recreate. Even though you made a deal, you can't help but continue to feel that he's tipped this deal incredibly far in your favor. Eventually, you get tired of brainstorming. You reset your avatar, take a shower, and crash into bed, hoping that the Portal will still be open when you wake up.==
"You stayed up all night writing this down?" Doc asks as he sips on his morning coffee.You nod and dispense your own cup, taking the opportunity to sit back and rest quietly. Phascomon is off somewhere by himself, leaving you all alone to discuss your list of requests with Doc. He strikes off several items with a red highlighter, and you feel your heart sink a little. Fortunately, he marks out a handful in green as well. "Solarmon.""Yes, Doc?""Fetch me the contents from these folders, please." "Certainly."He floats away to do his errand, his gears ticking softly as he hovers through the air. Doc flips the panel back around and sorts the items by color, beginning to walk you through what's possible and not."First. What I can't do for you." At the top of the list is the request for a terminal."It can't be done? We don't need any subtlety, just a-" "It's not about hiding it. It's just not so simple a piece of technology. Where do you think a randomly placed terminal will take you?""The Network, right? Just to the nearest point on the other side." "These terminals are entrances. They have to go into something that already exists. It takes a great amount of effort to carve into a network environment. A drag-and-drop system won't do what you want it to. Every time you run in and out, you'll be digitizing yourself over and over, then searching for an exit you might not even be able to identify." "If it was to work, what would it need?""It would need me to stand there for a week and code it into a recognizable entry point."That's out of the question, then."Nevermind. What did you send Solarmon to get?""These green ones. You're in luck."You peek at the list hopefully. The shield, grappling hook, mobility tool, holographic projectors, and diagnostic tools have all been highlighted. "And the rest?" "Some red, some orange. I'll have to get back to you on the latter. Next one up is this-"He points to your request for a junk bomb."I don't have these. You'll have to ask Squid." It does seem like something too high-profile for Doc to be making. It's one of Squid's signatures too, and there's never been a case where he's sold weapons of mass destruction to customers.
"Now, this one! You're really looking to work these old bones, eh?" He says with a grin. You look at the orange spot where his finger is pointing."Yeah... I was thinking about our past missions. I missed the drill that Squid used. I was wondering if you had anything like it." "I think it's physically possible. You'll need to explain every single detail you can remember about the one you used." You stay seated for the next twenty minutes while he presses you about countless details. He wants to know how much sound it made, how much material was displaced, what it physically looked like, what its metadata tags were, all kinds of things a Code Cracker needs. And you can't even answer a quarter of his questions. You're exhausted by the end of his interrogation, and you're starting to slightly regret bringing this up. He doesn't sound pleased with the lack of info either, but he gives you a reluctant nod."I think I might be able to do something. As for the rest..." A bot disguise won't work. He can't recreate the tokens that bots use for identification. Purely visual inspection has never been enough to fool them. You recall how the servitors have always used those light lattices to scan for things. Even if you look exactly like one, you won't have an authentication code, and you'll fail any kind of passive data exchange they carry out.However, he relents when you suggest that it could trick a Digimon for a brief moment. He suggests that you carry it out using the holographic tech that's on the way.Storing attacks isn't a thing, and neither is modifying the malware gun. He does have something else he can offer, though. "I can do a restraint tool. This one won't be very strong, I can't create electromagnetic wave items without limit. It shouldn't be hard to get something that launches chains at a Digimon's feet.""Can it restrain Brigadramon?"He laughs."No, absolutely not. A twitch from that one would snap it apart."
He looks through everything one more time, and settles on the last item."Radar.""Radar. I want to be able to spot invisible enemies." "I can create something for you, but I think you might be disappointed.""Why's that?" "Electronic warfare is an arms race. Your optical camo has been useful, yes? Almost the entire time you've had it?"You nod. It's been a key part of many escape plans, and it hasn't let you down often, apart from..."Except for when we climbed the Tower?" "That's right. It's because the Tower itself has better detection tech than the bots." "So it's just outright better? How do we define better here?""There are plenty of methods a Digimon can use to get past scanners. Some have sleeker bodies, some coat themselves with Chrome Digizoid varieties that have jamming properties. Others fill the air with chaff so that they can't be detected among all the interference. But if the mess is cleared out, you'll spy them clear as day. There are a bunch of different methods for getting past these measures. The best radars do it all." "What does that mean for our radar?""I'll build you one. But you need to know that its success is completely arbitrary. Maybe it'll pick up a Commandramon, but an Oblivimon will just slip by because of some behind-the-scenes nonsense that neither of us can identify in the moment. Use it reactively, don't leave it on and hope it informs you where every single threat is." You take note of that. If you know there's an invisible foe, you can just turn the radar on, then put it away if it fails to pick up on anything. You'll just be distracted by it otherwise."Okay. Sounds good enough to me."
"And here." He lifts up a black folder, which he tucked under his chair when you came by with the list earlier. You have a good feeling about what's inside. As you open it, it sends you an inventory integration request. You hesitate to click the button, as you always should when faced with mystery popup boxes. "Are these the .apps?" "They are."He pulls the request aside and activates preview mode instead. You see almost everything you've used before! There are dotted lines around each file, but the icons are the same. F1oat.app, l1ne.tool, all of the classic programs. These are the permanent versions of them. Any punk in the underworld would kill for a repository like this. The value of this folder is astronomical. You look over them in wonder, understanding the significance of it."For you. It just comes with a catch.""Get footage from inside the Tower for you. I know. Thanks, Doc, I won't forget.""Not just that, girl. Don't take this as a lack of faith, but-" He points to the integration window. "These files have to sit in your inventory, outside the smuggling partition. They're set to self-destruct if you ever get suspended again."Ah. He needs some way of securing them after all. It's one of the primary reasons Code Crackers make all their work single-use and non-fungible—keeping their signatures out of the City's hands. By just making these and handing them out, he's taking an enormous risk. He still has to protect himself and mitigate it somehow."Don't worry, Doc. I won't get podded. I'll take these all the way out into the Digital World with me." "Very good."You see Solarmon returning with the second box of items. Doc takes a deep breath and gets ready to start explaining everything to you again.==
After a long briefing, you finally find Phascomon in a training hall, speaking to Seadramon and Kokuwamon 1 animatedly. He turns to stare at you once you walk through the doorway."Hey. Did you gain weight?""What?" You ask, your brow furrowing. "What's that supposed to mean?""You just feel different. Like you're packing bigger filesize. I didn't know humans could change like that."Baffled by the comment, you look up at Seadramon to get her opinion."It's true. I just wouldn't put it like that jerk!" She lightly flicks the back of Phascomon's head with her tail. "Ow!""Doc did give me a lot of stuff. Here, I'll show you."Phascomon marvels over the sheer amount of .apps and tools you now have access to. You feel like a walking arsenal, even though very little of it is actually lethal. Apart from your most common executable files, you now have a minor shielding device, the wireless hook that you passed up several times in the past, holographic assets, frictionless skates, and an upgrade to your Digivice."What does that do?""He gave me a whole manual. I'll be able to run more detailed diagnostics on you and your data in the future. He said we had to get our own first aid under control, medicinal code is finite.""But he could make everything else permanent!""Not this, since it has to go into your actual Digicore. That's a problem for the future, though." You feel extremely well-equipped now. Apart from the things he either rejected, or has to work on, you have everything you need. You have almost too many options now, with three different types of handheld tools, multiple mobility options, and a protective device. "Humans have so many special moves! You really know how to use all of that?""Uh... I guess not.""Then it's your turn to practice. Chop chop! Get on the Holodeck!""Now? But I-""I've been busting my ass all morning!" He exclaims indignantly. He's taking training completely seriously, and there's no trace of his usual lazy self now that you two are at such a critical juncture. You steel your resolve and step forward.
You've obtained a massive amount of new tech. You don't need to worry about anything that you've already practiced with, but you can't keep swapping between shiny new toys, or the choice paralysis might screw you over in the moment. You have an opportunity to lock in a category of tools that you can use confidently. Phascomon hops over to the Holodeck's controls."What are you doing?""Choosing a map for you."He briefly explains his logic. Your upcoming climb will start from the depths, all the way down in the sewers. Afterwards, you'll be heading through the recycling facility and up into a partition. You should adapt your training to the kind of obstacles you can imagine facing. You've lost your opportunity to change plans by now, and you'll only have time to further your current approach.Which new devices do you practice with, so that you can eliminate the risk of fumbling later on?>Your new combat-oriented tech. You want to understand how your shield works so that you can create expectations for what it protects you from. That chain launcher is also important to practice with. You can't just hope for the best with it. You'll need to learn a slightly different approach from just shooting the softest-looking parts with your malware gun. >Aerial mobility. You have that grappling hook now, which will let you traverse gaps easier. This works very well in conjunction with the jetpack that you got last time. If the inside of the Tower is full of voids, like the data center instead of the radar station, this will come in handy. It'll also be useful if you end up on the outside ever again.>Ground speed. Those friction-free shoes should allow you to slide and move with greater speed, but as you've realized on the way here, braking and inertia is a big problem. You do need actual practice before you can confidently try to dodge attacks with them. Moving in a straight line is simple enough, but anything complex will require effort.
>>6389890>Ground speed. Those friction-free shoes should allow you to slide and move with greater speed, but as you've realized on the way here, braking and inertia is a big problem. You do need actual practice before you can confidently try to dodge attacks with them. Moving in a straight line is simple enough, but anything complex will require effort.Using these in tandem with the grappling hook and jetpack will reach some absurd mobility, but more importantly we need to be able to hololize on the move.The most difficult thing will be the top of the tower, where there's few features to grapple. Floor grappling is quite a bit trickier and with Brigadramon there the odds aren't good.
>>6389890>Ground speed. Those friction-free shoes should allow you to slide and move with greater speed, but as you've realized on the way here, braking and inertia is a big problem. You do need actual practice before you can confidently try to dodge attacks with them. Moving in a straight line is simple enough, but anything complex will require effort.>>6389894 makes a good case.
>>6389881Can't he ask Squid for the drill data?
>>6389890>Your new combat-oriented tech. You want to understand how your shield works so that you can create expectations for what it protects you from. That chain launcher is also important to practice with. You can't just hope for the best with it. You'll need to learn a slightly different approach from just shooting the softest-looking parts with your malware gun. Battle is more necessary, I think. Supporting Phascomon in fights so he can get easier data and climb all the way might be more important than mobility. Specially since she's got a shield.
>>6389894>>6389899>>6389920Writing!>>6389916Yeah he can
>Ground speed. Those friction-free shoes should allow you to slide and move with greater speed, but as you've realized on the way here, braking and inertia is a big problem. You do need actual practice before you can confidently try to dodge attacks with them. Moving in a straight line is simple enough, but anything complex will require effort.You decide to focus on your shoes. How hard can grappling be? And how different can it be to shoot at a Digimon's feet or wings instead of their head? No, you can afford to wing those, but it would be embarrassing as hell to slip and fall into a trap because you didn't know how to use your new shoes."Get me some kind of long hallway, please." You say to Phascomon."You betcha!" He selects a Holodeck map of a regular street. The lights in the room dim, and translucent holographic walls come up around you to simulate the rest of the scenery. You pull out the tool that Doc has procured for you. "What are those?"Your tool takes the form of a pair of shoes with flat discs anchored beneath them, parallel to the ground. When you put them on, you feel like your position is incredibly precarious all of a sudden. "P-phascomon! Railings!" He spawns in a rail for you to cling on to. You sigh in relief as you pull yourself upright with it. "Those are the skates, right?""Huh! Rings a bell."You slowly push yourself away from the metal bannister, with your feet still planted to the ground. Just as intended, very little friction ends up applying to you. The strange discs cause you to roll down the street, your back straight and your hands held out ahead of you."Woah! It's working, it's working!" You exclaim in excitement."That's fast! You're a natural!"The street automatically scrolls forward, ensuring that you don't just fly out of the Holodeck. Phascomon has programmed the road to be straight line, so you end up skating on and on and on, until you begin to slow down. You need to apply fresh force to overcome the natural physics engine of the City that's grinding you to a halt. "Friction-free, huh? Guess that's just advertising." You plant your right foot on the ground and try to push it backwards. Instead of adding momentum to your left, your frictionless right leg slips out from under you, and you fall flat onto your face. You yelp as you get dragged across the road.
"Hey! You okay?"That hurts! You groan and curl up into a ball, letting yourself lie there for a little bit. Your thick attire has saved you from experiencing worse pain, but striking the road at that speed has still been agonizing. Luckily, it doesn't come anywhere close to the sensory cap, and the discomfort very quickly fades away."Yeah. I'm good. Just... surprised.""What happened with the shoes? It looked like it was going so well!""I tried to kick off. Slipped and fell." You slowly pull yourself back up. Phascomon has already created a new railing next to you, and you give him an appreciative nod. You begin moving as soon as you feel ready. This time, you deactivate the skate on your right leg. This allows you to pull your weight across the road with the inactive foot, while the other one serves as the main contact point. You reach the speed you were previously at, and manage to maintain it for a bit. "Now for braking and turning.""Huh?! Wait, let me come to a stop first!" Phascomon hits the button, causing the street to bend ahead of you. Your eyes go wide as you try to puzzle out how you have to move. Braking! Turning! You have to slow down, then you have to apply a directional force. You try to plant your right into the asphalt. The sudden inertia causes your body to get wrenched to the side. Your left foot provides no resistance or bracing at all, and you end up flying through the air.You end up passing through the intangible walls of the Holodeck and crashing into the floor of the training room."OW!"Phascomon and Seadramon scurry over to check on you. "Hey! You okay? Nothing broken, right?""No... Nothing can break like this, it'll be- argh!" You try to get up, but your shoe is still active. Your foot slips out from under you again, and your chin strikes the smooth tile. ==
The next few hours are painful, but effective. You slowly learn how to use the skates one crash at a time. You go from skidding uncontrollably to being able to slow down and cruise. Turning is still a great challenge, and you can't figure out how to have both shoes working at the same time. You end up convinced that you're doing something wrong, there's no way you need to keep one inactive just to push yourself around. "Hey, you're looking all banged up. Maybe it's time to take a break."You reset your avatar."Look fine now? Run it again, do the double curve."Phascomon shrugs and fires up the deck once more. Before you begin rolling down the road, you take the shoes off and examine the metadata. You want to figure out if it has options you can toggle. "... It says this is for Sportsball use. 12,000 credits?" "That's a price tag. You mean Doc didn't make these?""I bet they can't be used outside stadiums. He probably jailbroke it? That's why he has it.""Sounds right. Put them back on and-""Ohhh! Sportsball!"You both look up at Seadramon, who's been watching you crash for the last two and a half hours. She looks like a light bulb has just gone off in her head."Yeah?" "I knew these looked familiar! Liza used these before! Maybe you could ask her for help?"Phascomon turns to look at your blankly. You feel your eyelid twitching uncontrollably, and you scornfully peel the shoes off. You lob them off the Holodeck and exit the platform in search of Liza. It's time to get some actual guidance, instead of just flailing around on your own.==
Once Liza joins in on your training, things go way faster. She corrects some basic technique issues that you were having, and teaches you how to customize the field size of each foot. Doing so allows you to maintain friction on the front of the device, letting you flick your heel backwards to properly skate and gain speed. It takes several more hours before you can feel confident in braking, turning and even making small hops."You learn fast." Liza compliments, once you manage to slowly weave around a handful of cones."I have to. No choice." You hiss from between clenched teeth as you pass by the final obstacle. You turn back to look at your progress. All of them are still standing. Your fine control is improving by a bit. "There's only so much you can do with one day of training, though. It takes months of practice. Weeks if you do it daily. Don't try your luck, okay?" "Testing our luck is what she does best." You deactivate the skates and step off the Holodeck to take a break."One last thing for today. I have some old friction pads. You can have them, they should work even outside of the stadium." She hands you a feel plain-looking outfit pieces. Once you equip them, they adapt to the shape of your joints. "What are these?" "If you crash, you're most likely to fall on your arms and knees, right? These absorb all the force. And they're high-friction, so if you touch them to a surface, you can turn around far easier.""Oh! Thank you, this will help out a ton." You finally finish your training for the day and head back to your room. Phascomon is normally the one running around and practicing fighting. He seems a little happy about it being your turn for once, but once he sees how tired you are, he resists the urge to crack jokes about it. "Good work today.""Thanks... Do you think it'll be enough?""Are you really asking me? You know what you're thinking already."You know that it's not. You'll want to keep practicing with the skates until you're confident. As you chew on a haunch of Digivice meat, Phascomon pipes up again."Hey. Do you think we can get through the climb all by ourselves?""It's what we've always done, right? And I didn't think you'd want to get help." "If we're reconsidering everything, maybe that's something we should think about too." "I guess so."There's not much more energy you can spare for conversation. Before bed, you access a few live feeds of the City through public viewfinders, trying to get a good glimpse of the Tower up above. You can't tell if the Portal looks any different, but you've taken Doc's word for it. Your time is running short.==
You've finished up as much prep as you can manage in this small span of time. You don't feel 100% ready, but you suppose you never will. You've got your plan, you've got your equipment, you've got a overhanging deadline. The next time Doc steps in with a warning about the portal fluctuating, you decide that you need to finish up one final thing and then start the climb again.Prior to your last experience, Phascomon would have hated the idea of getting help. It was part of his own sense of pride, and he wanted to prove he could handle things as Astamon. Maybe reaching Mega level, despite the trauma of it, has gotten rid of that hang-up. You think back to your previous adventures. You've met a LOT of people and Digimon, and you can think of quite a few who you may be able to call in a favor with. At the same time, you also need to consider their competence and strength. After some discussion with Phascomon, you come up with a list. This is it. After you secure help, you'll say goodbye to Doc, to this City, and try one final time to escape.Which two choices do you make?>Solarmon and Kokuwamon 3. The two of them are Doc's partners, and you really don't want to risk taking any more from him. However, those two are adamant that they'll help if you ask for it. They each have Champion forms that you could access. You'll have to part with them halfway so they can leave safely.>Doc Cracker. [LOCKED. You refuse to ask such a thing of him, after how much he's already helped you. You cannot ask him to lay down his life. You won't.]>Pulsemon. Liza mentioned at some point that he was looking for stronger opponents and an opportunity to train. You're on decent terms with the little guy, he might just answer an invitation. He'll be a fast and effective companion. It's also a little callous to say, but... he doesn't mean THAT much to you. It's not going to be emotionally devastating if something happens.>Liza and Seadramon. While discussing your plan with her, she mentioned wanting to see the inside of the Tower. You and a bewildered Phascomon questioned her heavily, and she admitted that she wants to see how they create Digimon. She thinks there's a clue to bringing Leomon back. You don't know how to feel about this, but she's willing to go, as long as you cut her loose to pursue her own goals.>Hi-Commandramon. [LOCKED. You do not know his whereabouts.]>Wind and Kaus Gammamon. In order to fight against the Tower in the future, he believes it'll be crucial for them to understand what's inside. He's willing to go with you. However, you sense he has some ulterior motive, and he'll be limited by his VPN. Picking him will mean receiving some benefits from the Dogs of War, but you're worried that your constantly conflicting personalities will slow things down.>???. A true mystery option. Apart from your first choice, you decided not to ask for a second, or were faced with some kind of rejection. Not as useful as an ally, but it's something.
Each anon can vote for 2 different characters! I'll take the ones with the highest votes, and Marnie will ask those for help with climbing. I've looked through the previous threads to try and find the characters who Marnie has befriended. If I'm missing anyone that seems obvious, feel free to ask about them too. I think this covers the major NPCs.Ryan and Bella are out because Marnie doesn't feel they can handle it. Squid too, since she's a non-combatant.
Solarmon and Kokuwamon 3 have the downside of taking more from DocPulsemon has the downside of losing Cutemon his right hand man and the lack of emotional charge that could enable Marnie and Phascomon to get to Mega during this finaleLiza and Seadramon have the downside of fighting Hi-Commandramon to the death on sight as revenge for Leomon unless we stop her, and you KNOW he'll be somewhere in the Tower and you KNOW he'll go straight for Marnie when he knows she's going for the top againWind and KausGammamon will cause some untold disaster if we let them come, not to mention deprive the Dogs of their leader if he falls during this missionMystery box... now that's intriguing that we still have one at this point
>>6390426>Pulsemon. Liza mentioned at some point that he was looking for stronger opponents and an opportunity to train. You're on decent terms with the little guy, he might just answer an invitation. He'll be a fast and effective companion. It's also a little callous to say, but... he doesn't mean THAT much to you. It's not going to be emotionally devastating if something happens.>???. A true mystery option. Apart from your first choice, you decided not to ask for a second, or were faced with some kind of rejection. Not as useful as an ally, but it's something.
I feel like Solar/Kokuwa is the only viable option to pair with Liza. On the other hand, pushing the Leomon sidequest smells like death flags for Hi Commandramon AND Seadramon.ngl, I wouldn't be surprised if Wind throws the Books into somewhere he knows they'll wreck havoc.I'll sit on this for a few hours
>>6390426>Wind and Kaus Gammamon. In order to fight against the Tower in the future, he believes it'll be crucial for them to understand what's inside. He's willing to go with you. However, you sense he has some ulterior motive, and he'll be limited by his VPN. Picking him will mean receiving some benefits from the Dogs of War, but you're worried that your constantly conflicting personalities will slow things down.We're leaving, and he's staying, so it's less about the favor and more about setting him and the DoW up for success befroe we leave.
>>6390426>>Solarmon and Kokuwamon 3. The two of them are Doc's partners, and you really don't want to risk taking any more from him. However, those two are adamant that they'll help if you ask for it. They each have Champion forms that you could access. You'll have to part with them halfway so they can leave safely.>>Liza and Seadramon. While discussing your plan with her, she mentioned wanting to see the inside of the Tower. You and a bewildered Phascomon questioned her heavily, and she admitted that she wants to see how they create Digimon. She thinks there's a clue to bringing Leomon back. You don't know how to feel about this, but she's willing to go, as long as you cut her loose to pursue her own goals.But forget halfway, I'm thinking we split up at the very base of the Tower. We climb while they search. They're going to have a much harder time allocating forces once Astamon is online, and it's gonna be pretty obvious who Hi-Commandramon will prioritize.
>>6390426>Liza and Seadramon. While discussing your plan with her, she mentioned wanting to see the inside of the Tower. You and a bewildered Phascomon questioned her heavily, and she admitted that she wants to see how they create Digimon. She thinks there's a clue to bringing Leomon back. You don't know how to feel about this, but she's willing to go, as long as you cut her loose to pursue her own goals.>Pulsemon. Liza mentioned at some point that he was looking for stronger opponents and an opportunity to train. You're on decent terms with the little guy, he might just answer an invitation. He'll be a fast and effective companion. It's also a little callous to say, but... he doesn't mean THAT much to you. It's not going to be emotionally devastating if something happens.I really want Liza in so I can't choose Wind even if he's the strongest. I wouldn't want to take any more from Doc so Kokuwamon and Solarmon are out too. Mystery option is supposedly less useful than any ally so I'll go with Pulsemon even if I don't like how the choice depicts him as disposable. I suppose he already got a champion form and Liza can take care of him.Damn, I really wanted to befriend those Chessmon.
>>6390426I'm >>6390447Supporting >>6390736 but keeping in mind what >>6390719 said
>>6390426Oh! I (>>6390568) just saw we need two.>Liza and Seadramon. While discussing your plan with her, she mentioned wanting to see the inside of the Tower. You and a bewildered Phascomon questioned her heavily, and she admitted that she wants to see how they create Digimon. She thinks there's a clue to bringing Leomon back. You don't know how to feel about this, but she's willing to go, as long as you cut her loose to pursue her own goals.This will be my second pick.
>>6390417>You pull out the tool that Doc has procured for you.>"What are those?"I see you QM
Liza & Seadramon: 4Pulsemon: 3Wind & Kaus Gammamon: 1Solarmon & Kokuwamon: 1Mystery box: 1Liza and Pulsemon! Writing! This will be the last update before the Tower climb. >>6390736It’s not exactly that he’s disposable or will be treated as such. Just that he’s the one who Marnie is the least close to, and thus she’s okay with him weighing out his own risks, while she’d be perpetually concerned for Liza.
>Liza and Seadramon. While discussing your plan with her, she mentioned wanting to see the inside of the Tower. You and a bewildered Phascomon questioned her heavily, and she admitted that she wants to see how they create Digimon. She thinks there's a clue to bringing Leomon back. You don't know how to feel about this, but she's willing to go, as long as you cut her loose to pursue her own goals.>Pulsemon. Liza mentioned at some point that he was looking for stronger opponents and an opportunity to train. You're on decent terms with the little guy, he might just answer an invitation. He'll be a fast and effective companion. It's also a little callous to say, but... he doesn't mean THAT much to you. It's not going to be emotionally devastating if something happens.You've decided on two safe options in the end. You trust Liza to hold her own, and she seems highly motivated to get in there anyway. You appreciate having more firepower. And during your long conversations with her, you've heard word of a certain yellow friend of yours who's looking to train himself up. You manage to settle the issue of companionship for the road ahead.The next few days are a blur. Every morning, you wake up fearing that it's too late, despite knowing full well that Doc will alert you if anything at all happens. You practice with your skates, try some basic practice with the rest of your tools, and throughout it all, you make sure you don't neglect Phascomon this time. He seems a lot more at ease despite the hell that you're about to plunge into— because you're doing it together."Taking a break." You pant heavily, as you crawl off the Holodeck. Phascomon steps forward to hand you a platter of snacks and water. You crunch on them and fill your stomach. It's a nice way to relax immediately after heavy exercise. "You know what they say. Second time's the charm. We'll get this done.""If we make it on time... I don't know, Phascomon. I don't feel ready. But we should start sooner rather than later.""Tomorrow, then.""Tomorrow?"
"Yeah. We go tell Liza to fetch Pulsemon right now. Then we say our goodbyes to Doc and get ready to go. Let's get it over with."You stare at your knees, rocking back and forth gently. The friction pads gently rub against your arms, making it uncomfortable to curl up like this. You pry your limbs away from each other and place your palms on the cold floor instead. "... Okay." "We're gonna see the other side. I promise.""Let's not make promises anymore." You decide."Huh?" "The last time, we said something like this too. All it did when it all went wrong was hold us back. So no promises. I don't want to break them again." "What do you want us to do, then?" Phascomon asks."We just do it. And if we mess up, so what? We still have each other. I don't want you to feel like you have to do something at all costs, just for me." "That's dumb." You don't really have a response to that."Fine, you ain't gonna promise anything. But I am! And you can't stop that. Plus, I didn't say I'd get us outta there on that day itself, right? Promise is still valid. There's no expiry date, capisce?" Your head is a mess, maybe you're saying something stupid after all. A small smile crosses your face and you hold our your fist. He bumps it without hesitation. "Okay. To the very end, then." ==
Liza has left to fetch Pulsemon, and Phascomon is off taking his turn in the Holodeck. You end up sitting by yourself in Doc's workshop, watching him fiddle with a handheld coding companion. He places the finishing touches on the W4rp.tool with it, then plugs it into a screen for his diagnostics test. "Mail came for you. One of the Dogs of War couriers did a dead drop." He holds out an encrypted folder. When you look inside, you see more freeze code than you can use in a singular mission. There's also multiple copies of the electromagnetic breaching tool, along with a large icon in the shape of an orange gauntlet."Is this...?""She agreed to give you a permanent version, as long as I hooked it up to the same system used to secure mine. Ah- Squid won't give you a junk bomb, though." You don't get greedy. This is enough from her. The pager is the most important thing she could have come through with, and it's already safely in your hands. "I'll send her a message to thank her later." "You'd better, this is a big amount for a give."Doc places the W4rp.tool in front of you. It takes the form of a primitive-looking dome on the end of a stick. Before you can try it out for yourself, he snatches it away to demonstrate it on one of the prefab walls. He places it against the material and pulls, slowly warping the wireframe and causing it to turn into a mound. "I don't know if this is what you were imagining, but this is what I coded. I can't create anything else in this time. It's not the fastest, and don't think you can make it go faster by pulling harder. Depends on the security in the area, and the material you're warping. Okay?""I get it. Thanks, Doc."You don't know how else to approach him. You already said your sincere goodbyes once, and you feel like it'll be awkward to spring into the same conversation again. All you can think of is to ask about something you've been wondering for a while."Is this really okay, Doc?""Yes, diagnostics came up clean." "No, I mean- giving me all this.""You're helping me get data from the Tower, yes? This ain't no freebie, I-""You know that's not equivalent!"
He puts down the hammer that he was using on a piece of software, leaving the final note to echo across the room. When he turns back to you, you find yourself startled by his human eye staring at you again. You're still not used to his face being repaired."... The last time, when you went up there and everything went to hell in a handbasket, I thought I ended up sending you to die.""Huh? You didn't do anything like that! You were taking good care of us, you gave us all this gear, everything!" "Yes, but you didn't make it through, did you? And I didn't do all I could to push you forward. I know that. Maybe a part of me felt... I don't know, girl, maybe I felt like it wasn't the time. That shouldn't have made me hold back, but it did.""Doc... Come on. You've done more than enough. I could never repay this, you don't have to force yourself to do even more.""Maybe so. But you're not just a customer, to have favors weighed and sorted. You're a dear friend. High time I stop pinching credits. I think you deserve that much, now that your resolve is clear." You do feel like you're starting this climb with a greater sense of clarity this time. You know what's right, you're no longer blinded by the influence of your book, and you're going to be with your best buddy no matter what. "Either way, thank you, Doc. I won't waste it. Any of it. And- and if one day, we have a chance-" "Yeah. Let's see each other again." You reach forward to hug him one more time, your reservations about sappiness fading away. You'll never forget this old man, that's for sure.==
That night, you eat with everyone. Liza and Seadramon have returned, bringing news that Pulsemon will meet you all in the sewers once he finishes up some business. All three of Doc's Kokuwamon are happily chewing on batteries, leaving an empty seat between them for their fallen companion, as they always have. Solarmon is chatting with Phascomon about something casual, and the two are laughing like old chums. However, Doc and Liza are both quiet. You three humans are nervous about the journey to come. Whether you succeed or not, things will be changed forevermore. Doc speaks first."So. The Dogs of War. They ever say anything about what they're going to be doing?""No. Wind just wished me good luck. He said they had plans, but it was too early to be interfering with Brigadramon again. We couldn't coordinate this time.""They can stay out of it. Don't need them." Liza mumbles, as she jabs at a chunk of meat with her fork. "You've got your plan?" "Preserve my strength, regain Astamon on the way, then use all my power to push through when we reach the top. We don't gotta fight. We just gotta slip past." "As good a plan as is possible. And- If you can't make it... if they close the portal..." You nod. "I know." He wants you to know that giving up is an option. That if you come back with your head hanging low in shame, there's still a place for you. But you don't want that. You know you'll be taken care of, but the dream that you and your partner share is right up ahead. You can't sit back anymore. You're grappling with both resolve and responsibility. After what happened, you don't want to force your way through at any cost. And yet, you feel like it would spit on everything you've done so far to ever back down. You eat your food quietly, as the clamor around you builds and builds.
Once you're done, you retire to your room early. Phascomon sits nearby, watching the last episode of his favorite show that he'll be able to catch."It's not finished, huh?""No. Lotta unfinished business left behind. But there's no choice now. I guess I'll always be wondering how it ends. Y'know, I think The Falsettos is the magnum opus of this whole City. No really, I mean it!"As the two of you sit there, you work up the energy to do one final thing. Tomorrow is the big day. You'll be getting back onto your chosen path. You have one last night to do as you please.>Write-in: Something that makes sense for this timeframe. Contact someone, have some conversation, squeeze in some practice, ask about something you may never have the chance to do again, just wrap up unfinished business, with the full knowledge that you'll never be able to tie off every thread now that you're leaving.
>>6391485>Shooting practice. You and Phascomon never got to compare how you shoot things. Did using Oro Salmon feel different for the two of you? Can Phascomon use a malware gun in rookie form?That's what I got for a bonding moment. Otherwise, using Warp to make objects you can grapple onto on flat planes.Or making a bundle of food that we can drop as a trail as we go through the sewers, leading a train of digimon to the base of the tower and clog it up when we start climbing.
>>6391489+1We did all we could. Also Marnie learning how to better shoot Oro Salmon could be interesting in a climax if Marnie needs to do that again, echoing what she had to do during the Dogs base raid
>>6391481>Doc places the W4rp.tool in front of you. It takes the form of a primitive-looking dome on the end of a stick. Kek, a plunger?>>6391485>Ask Phascomon what Mega it is he wants to become, when we're out in the Digital World>Wonder what you'll become, out there...
>>6391498This is also good
>>6391457Ok, ok. I'm still on guard in case a PsychoMarnie option appears. >>6391482Doc has come a long way.>Write-in:I can't think about anything right now. I'll let anons decide.
Rolled 1 (1d2)>>6391489>>6391490>>6391498>>6391500Writing!
