Digimon Deresolution, Chapter 1: Starts With Nine?

[Agent_0042]

OoC THREAD (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=301584)

<Early Afternoon, Date Unknown, Location Unknown>

The sun is high. The water shimmers with a hazardous sheen. Waves lap lazily at the base of a few sun-scorched rocks, the only feature an eye could see for miles around. Such an eye is mostly hypothetical; nothing has called this realm home for quite some time.

However, deep below the lifeless surface, strange fishlihke figures (http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130107090116/digimon/images/a/ab/Divermon_b.jpg) comb the bottoms, stirring up sediment long left undisturbed. After a while, one pauses, and a series of clicks issue forth, in a frequency nigh-inaudible to the human ear. Other figures join the first and assist it with its excavation. Wreckage of something almost like a ship, but not quite, begins to emerge, heavily damaged and corroded.

Once enough of the wreck is exposed, a couple figures dart inside; one soon emerges with a small device triumphantly in hand, the device strangely untouched by the depths. The creature taps the transmitter on its mask. In a bubbly drawl, it speaks, "Master, we've found it. The last one."

In response, a low vibration pulses through the ocean.

GOOD.

**********

<9 P.M. GMT, 11 October 2012, Various Locations>

Eight colored meteors streak down, forever altering the lives of unsuspecting individuals. Whether this is for better or worse remains to be seen.

[ThreadOfFate]

Tap.

“Zee, not now, I'm workin'.” Alexis Hammersly, genius inventor and electrical engineer extraordinaire (in her mind, anyway), was almost elbow-deep in her latest project. A bipedal humanoid walking machine was quite a bit out of the realm of exploration for the girl (and really most people), but dammit, she was going to try. Even if she failed, she'd learn. Also, robots were cool.

Tap tap.

The small metallic spider poked at her back a few more times, demanding to be heard. Or, seen. Noticed, really.

With a slight sigh, Alexis withdrew her right arm from the robot’s chassis, setting down her screwdriver and turning to face the mechanical pet that she’d created, kneeling down to get at eye level with it. “Okay, Zero, you’ve got my attention. What is it? Did Dad fall down a well?” She grinned at her own joke, however lame it was. Zero showed no signs of appreciating her humor, and in fact was completely motionless, as if giving her a blank stare.

Alexis shook her head. “Okay, it isn’t that. What is it?”

The spider turned and scuttled away, out of Alexis’ room and down the hall of her house. She followed with a grin on her face, packing up her toolkit and fastening it to her belt as she leapt up. A new adventure. Or maybe he’d just found another dollar in the yard. Or wanted her to bother the neighbor’s dog. Either way, she would do it. Not like this project couldn’t wait a little longer.

Zero moved fast, hopping onto the bannister and sliding down it to the bottom floor. Alexis did the same, sliding down on her rear and sticking the landing impressively. She did a small pose for the non-existent audience, then headed towards the front door, close behind Zero. “Hey Dad, I’m goin’ out for a bit to do a thing! Not sure what yet, I'll find out when I get there! I’ll see ya later!”

“Be back before dinner, sweetheart!” Her dad hollered back from the kitchen, where he was vigorously assaulting last night's dishes with some steel wool.

Alexis threw open the front door and cleared the front steps with a jump, following the telltale grass trail that Zero had left. He was guiding her towards...a small fire? No, but something was smoking where he was headed. There was something in the middle of the street in front of her house, one of the many in her subdivision. A faint red trail of mist rose in the air above it. Okay, that was weird. She did remember hearing a loud noise not too long ago, but she'd written it off as a car backfiring or her father dropping a large pan.

As the girl approached, she glanced around her street, looking for somewhere it could’ve come from before finally turning her gaze skyward. A meteor? Wasn’t a common occurrence, but considering the small crater in the pavement, something had to have hit the ground with a hell of a lot of force. She knelt down to examine the thing.

It had a screen. That made her reach out and grab it, despite the red smoke. It was cool enough to hold.

It was a small device with red decoration, maybe like a sweet-looking handheld calculator, only less buttons and a screen on it. Maybe an old model cell phone, or some kid’s toy? She tilted her head at it, turning it over in her hands as she felt some metal pads start on her leg, then move up her back. Zero soon took residence on her shoulder, looking at the thing as she did.

“What d’ya think, Zee? Wanna crack it open?” She grinned at the prospect, glancing at her companion. Spare parts were always good.

The screen lit up with a small beep, drawing Alexis’ attention away from her pet. “Hey, still works! Good sign. What’s that say?”

Digisign Accepted: Joy

“Joy? Digisign? The hell does that mean? Hey, Zee, d’ya got any cl-”

There was a flash of light, and both girl and spider were gone, leaving the street as peacefully undisturbed as it had been just moments before.

[Spacewolf]

Laura was in the middle of a Hockey game when she noticed the orange flash of the digivice hitting the ground, however she had to put it out of her mind as a member of the other team pushed forward with the ball trying to get around her. With only a few minutes left her team was up by more than enough points for her not to bother trying to stop the girl, after all it had just finished pouring down which had postponed the game until the teachers decided it was fine to play in the wet and the dark rather than just the rain so it was unlikely anyone would care.

Still it didn’t feel right just to let the other team chip away at some of her teams hard work just because she was tired. So Laura runs foward to intercept the other player, knocks the ball off their stick, through their legs before picking it up again at the other side and belting it up the field before giving the now balless attacker a sorry smile as she moved back to her position.

A few minutes later the match ended with her team comfortably up and a few minutes after that she was wishing her friends good night before heading off, there had been talk of getting a few drinks after the game but the late finish and abysmal weather had damped most peoples enthusiasm for the idea. Walking back to hers she found herself patting her pockets looking for her keys, her wallet MP3 player and phone where all easy to find but her keys seemed to be missing, at least until she found them in the front of her hoodie. Breathing a sigh of relief as she counted off both of the keys on the ring.
Looking for her keys however had led her to be standing infront of a small back street long enough for her to notice a flashing orange light coming from something behind one of the bins. Deciding that it wouldn’t exactly be dangerous to have a quick look and since she wasn’t in any rush because the weather while dreary wasn’t currently raining she makes her way around the side of the bin to see what was flashing.

Whatever it was wasn’t exactly to impressive to Laura it just looked like some sort of bizarre digital clock someone had thrown away, yet she still felt the need to drop her duffle bag pick it up and for some reason ends up turning it over in her hands a few times looking for the off switch of the flash. The thing had admittedly had stopped flashing when she picked it up so perhaps it was some sort of annoying toy, either way she was about to toss it inside the bin when she turned it over one last time to show the screen again. This time however it lit up projecting a 3d image up into the air.

“Virtue, loyalty detected. Beginning digitalization.”

“Huh?”

Laura wasn’t exactly sure what happened after all she knew was that everything suddenly went black.

Sorry if it was abit boring I thought it would be a nice counter point to Alexis' human robot research and metal spider.

[Gar]

<6:00 A.M. JST, 12 October 2012, Tokyo, Japan>

It was to early in the day for being awake Mayonaka Toturi had decided as she looked out her window at the compound she lived at. The sky was barely even blue yet as the lingering sun rose up from the ocean and rudely inserted itself in front of the stars and banished the night. She didn’t even see the grey light that jetted across the sky as the rising sun obscured it from her vision. Mayonaka herself was a mess, she hadn’t gotten home till late last night, after her father was required to pick her up from the police station. He had not been happy about receiving another call from the chief of police that his girl had been picked up and now she was forbade from leaving the compound until she learned proper respect.

The memories came back to her through the haze of morning. Her father hadn’t shouted when he picked her up. Indeed the chief and her father joked about this, like it was something minor that children do just to get attention. But the moment they were outside of the station and in a car heading back home he had cracked down on her and now she was not allowed to even go to her school and be with her friends this weekend. Mayonaka's protests were rebuffed, cast aside, and her father would hear no argument from her.

Mayonaka slid open her closet door and pushed past her school uniform, such a thing would not be needed today. Instead she reached for a pair of designer shorts and a grey shirt that showed the smallest hint of her mid-rift. She finished the ensemble with her favorite brown jacket and running shoes in hopes of being able to slip past her father’s guards tonight. A little more morning ritual and her hair was set up and falling neatly down her shoulders, rather than the splayed mess she’d woken with. Dark circles gone, glasses set, and a smile on to disarm anyone suspicious of her motives.

She sensed more than felt the presence that came to the door of her room. “Good morning mother,” she said with a smile without turning around. “How are you feeling today?”



“I am well, Mayonaka. I had a vision last night,” the thin, dark haired woman said as she walked into her daughter’s room. Mayonaka’s mother had a serious medical condition that needed care and attention, but the woman clung to the outdated idea that she was actually a seer and her attacks were actually visions of the future or past that needed to be shared. Mayonaka wasn’t sure which was worse, her mother believing such things still, or her father encouraging it. “You’ll have a good adventure today, despite your father’s intentions. He does not yet realize how much of a strong, grown woman you’ve become.” She came up behind her daughter and taking a simple black bow from her accessory case, tied it into her hair. “You should look your best for any new friends you make today.”



“Thank you mother, but I’m not going anywhere today or making any new friends I think,” Mayonaka replied as she turned to walk past her mother with a soft smile on her gentle face. “Unless you mean during a quick jog around the compound before breakfast.” She paused and gave her mother a hug before she left completely though. “I’ll be there in a few minutes, promise.”

A good jog later around the estate, past the koi pond and long hanging trees, the october air filled the young girl’s lungs with chill and fire at the same time. She was lost in her own world for a moment, the looks of the guards patrolling the ground inside the walls were non-existent as were the sounds of people and cars just beyond. She almost missed the small hole that was in the ground she was jogging on, or the small device that was in it. Her first instinct was that it was a bomb... but why would a bomb leave a hole in the ground ‘before’ it detonated? Her second thought made a bit more sense. “Why would a child throw a toy over the wall?” she asked herself before going over to the device and kneeling to picking it up. “What is this? A walkie talkie?” the runner asked herself as her thumb pressed a button and grey lights flashed on the device. The small screen flickered to life in her hands.

“Grace Detected, Welcome!”

“Welcome? To wha-” Mayonaka’s voice was cut off as a grey light enveloped her. Shouts echoed beyond her as men began running towards the light that surrounded her. But by the time they reached the hole in the ground, the light... and Mayonaka... had faded away.


[DrakeRaids]

Maybe life is like a ride on freeway

An alarm went off, buzzing loudly as a girl turned in her small, slightly cramped bed. A colorful string of curses flew out from the twisted covers as a hand reached out and knocked the clock off the bed stand. It went tumbling, tumbling down and only went silent after it hit the ground with a thud. The dents on the side of the thing suggested that perhaps this was a morning ritual.

The room was small, and honestly pretty dirty. Clothes where thrown haphazardly around the place, and it had a bit of a, well, lets be diplomatic and call it a 'funk,' instead of a stench. A few posters clung to peeling wallpaper, an old computer sat in the far corner, and a few books lay on the desk nearby, mostly school stuff.

Can't lie in bed looking around forever though. We've got places to be.

The girl, Cassie, slowly pushed herself up with a yawn, and stumbled into the bathroom. Cleaned herself up some, got presentable. She wasn't much for makeup, so not much of that. She just got dressed, slipped a pair of retro style headphones over her ears, and stepped out into the hall.

Time to face the day.

Dodging bullets while trying to find your way

She walked quietly. She didn't want to get noticed. Pops was laying in the chair, surrounded by cheep beers, the sound of the TV blaring through the living room. He was probably out of it, and it was always better to let sleeping dogs lie. Ma' hopefully wouldn't even be home. She rarely was, but lights in the kitchen suggest that... yup.

Cassie's mom was a tired looking thing. Lines on her face had aged her before her time, and she had a lean, hungry look to her though, like some kind of predator. Cassie didn't like it. Of course, Cassie didn't like her.

"Hey sweetie." Her mom smiled, and Cassie shrugged, "Sorry I wasn't home last night, I got caught up in some things." Of course she did "You have a good dinner though?"

"Course." Came the one word answer. Which was also a lie. They didn't have much food in the house, and Cassie hadn't eaten yesterday. She could generally go a day or two without food without breaking down. It wouldn't kill her. Immedately, she thought with a wry smile.

Her mother, taking the smile as one meant for her, smiled back, patted the girl, and walked off. One more thing dealt with. Cassie grabbed her backpack and turned up the music, and then she was out of that house, as fast as her feet could carry her.

Everyone's around but no does a damn thing

She headed to an alley at the end of the street next, pausing before looking around and stepping inside. Almost as soon as she did so, she was flocked by little cats, rubbing themselves against her leg, purring, and mewling plaintively.

"There there." Cassie cooed to the cats, bending down and pulling a few cans of catfood out of her pack, breaking them open and spreading them out, so every cat would get some. "Don't you little ones worry, I've got you." She smiled again, this one not a broken, cynical grin, but a genuine warm one.

At least someone in this town cared about her, even if they where on four legs and smelled like crap half the time. While they ate, she slowly got off, and made her way along the sidewalk to school. She was going to be late at this rate.

It brings me down, but I won't let them!

"Hey loser-"

And thats when she saw them.

A group of kids from school where pushing a smaller kid, what was his name? Jacob maybe? Against a wall, grinning as they prepared to beat the kids face in. Like she was going to let that happen. Cassie wasn't really a formal fighter, she went to a dojo a few times when she was a kid, but most of what she'd learned was simply from picking things up as she went along. Going with what works.

Which was why her opening move in this little scuffle, was to run up, and without warning kick the guy holding Jacob against the wall in the crotch as hard as she could.

If I seem bleak, well you'd be correct

"Stay away from the pipsqueak you *******s." Cassie growled, as the first of the three punks fell to the ground, writhing as he held himself. The others turned in suprise, then in understanding. She'd kinda made a name for herself around the area, and seeing Cassie interfere with these things wasn't super surprising.

Honestly, they just had bad luck.

"Back off Cass' this ain't none of your business."

No response from the would be heroine, she just lifted her hand and made an age old obscene gesture at them, as Jacob took the chance to get up, and run the hell off. Figures. One of them lunged at her and she sidestepped, and kneed him firmly in the stomach, her stumbled back as the next one came at her, and it didn't go much better for him, catching a first to the face as he ran at her.

Idiots where to stupid to try and dogpile her. Jacob was gone, and the idiot she'd kicked earlier was starting to get back up, time to jet.

And if I don't speak, its cause I get disconnected

She turned, about to back off, when someone came from behind, slamming against her and pinning her to the ground.

The one she'd kneed had come back with a vengence, and the one she'd nailed in the face was shaking it off quickly too, and coming back, she ducked under his punch, which caught his friend in the shoulder, but she was running out of time like this. She struggled for a few seconds, as the other bully got up and scowled.

He didn't talk, just ran up and punched her in the ribs as hard as he could.

It hurt.

A lot.

She could take it though, and it didn't feel like he broke anything. Another punch came then. And another, as she was pinned down and beaten brutally, she went limp at that, trying to get something in her pocket.

But I won't be

There it was. A switchknife slipped into her hand, which she jammed into the one holding her, a flesh wound, but it hurt enough for him to loosen his grip. She went into the punch, taking it full on as she curled her hands around the other ones throat, and knocked him to the ground, lifting his head up and slamming it into the ground with a solid thunk. He was out like a light. As she rose the last one was already running. He didn't, and the one she'd shanked was backing off too.

Burned by the reflection

"Thought so." She croaked, flipping them off again, as she began to limp away. They'd be problems later, but that was for another time. She kept one eye on the ones behind her as she backed off, not running, hell, she wasn't sure she was in any shape too, but getting out regardless. She stopped in a nearby ally, close to the school, and just collapsed there for a second to catch her breath. Thats when she saw it.

Of the fire in your eyes as you're staring at the sun

It didn't look like much, just a little golden watch maybe? It was flickering as she reached through the trash to pick it up, holding it closely in her hand as she leaned in to look at it. She wasn't sure what it was about it that compelled her to examine it closer. Some part of her wanted to just through it away, she was late for school, but there was something about it that she just had to figure out...

She flicked one of the buttons, curiously. Then a message came up, a greeting, and a warning.

VALOR FOUND. PREPARE FOR DIGITALIZATION.

She didn't even have time to comment on this, when a flash of golden light enveloped her, and then, everything was gone.

As your staring at the sun

[Jehanna]

Cass's upper torso hung over the edge of the railing, suspended only by his feet, the tops of which were held tightly against the opposite side of the picnic table's nearest bench. The view of the city was rather different upside down, but even the peculiar sight couldn't shake Cass's concerns over other issues. The pain of his lower back digging into the railing, for example. Or the sensation of nauseousness, nervousness, and vertigo one feels hanging off a fairly tall building. The blood pounding in his temples was also deserving of credit for its throbbing sensation, which is unlike any other, and for being very uncomfortable.

What most concerned Cass, however, was the slight suspicion that either the landlord or another tenant or, even worse, one of his parents was going to catch him up here. Technically he wasn't breaking any rules (he had double checked this) by being on the roof, but that wouldn't stop anyone from finding something wrong with what he was doing, he was sure. Heck, there was even a picnic table. Obviously someone was intended to be up here, and why couldn't it be Cass?

Then, very unexpectedly, he sneezed, the byproducts of which came back to land squarely on his face. Cass instinctively jerked forward, lifting his torso up. The sudden weightlessness of being slightly off the railing caused immediate terror, and Cass thrust one arm backwards to grasp the rail while taking one foot down from its no longer secure position against the bench and firmly planting it on the ground, the other following shortly thereafter. He pushed himself forward as he did this, and found himself standing relatively stably before the picnic table. His heart pounding and mouth agape, Cass turned back towards the edge of the building, first glancing timidly off the edge, down towards the street. Then up, towards the fresher air and more calming sight of the sky. But as he looked up, his mouth slowly turning into a relieved smile, a sudden sight caused his expression to veer sharply into a frown. Across the street, something had flashed. Something blue. A blue flash? There was something compelling about it.

But then the door slams open, and Cass turned back towards it. The landlord. He looked angry. Cass moved forward at a brisk pace, nodding several times towards the man. When he attempted to pass by, the landlord barked an admonishment. Cass waved it off, and is down the stairs and back into the safer confines of the apartment building, taking them two at a time. He had always bemoaned the rather thin stairways and hallways of the place, and he was to be proved right in his concerns as he passed by the door of his own apartment. The door flew open, nearly bloodying his nose. His mother stood on the other side, looking frustrated. This was a perpetual look, when it came to Cass. "Where are you going?", she asked rather sharply.

"Out, I'll only be a little while. There's just something I gotta check out." And he passed her too, leaving only a sigh and a less unrestrained closing of the door in his wake.

Out onto the street, across the crosswalk and past the corner store, down the alley and over the fence into the construction site. This is where Cass could have sworn he saw the blue flash. A rather unfortunate coincidence, that. The place, formerly a parking lot, had been recently torn up over some sewage leak or something. The putrid smell coming from it was tremendous. Cass held his sleeve to his nose as he ventured farther into the smelly place. It was from a bit of set aside rubble that he noticed the light smoke rising.

The cause of the smoke, Cass found, is some strange handheld device, blue in coloration. He picked it up, turned it once over, and then took to examining the screen. His face was scrunched in confusion.

Inquiry Digisign Detected. Digitilization Imminent.

An odd thing for it to say, though Cass supposed that it fit, considering the odd nature of the machine itself. But where did it come from?

And then Cass is gone, spirited away by a burst of light.

[Assurau]

Renji Mikage looked out the window in his hotel room. Sighing deeply, his mind flew back to earlier that week. The Ogame Ryujin School of martial arts was a creation of Gentaro, his grandfather. The stubborn old man lived and breathed the arts, having spent most of his youth bouncing from one style to another. He somehow engineered a cohesive style out of the mish mash of techniques he picked up.

The tournament had been the ideal way of establishing the style on the world stage. However it had come far to early in Renji's opinion. Two months to prepare a team to compete on the international stage. What had Gentaro been thinking! Still the Ogame Ryujin gave everything they had so that they would be ready. The lad allowed himself to smirk as he remembered how the others reacted to Gentaro's training camp. Despite his jovial expression, his grandfather was a stern taskmaster. His little training camps were some of the most grueling experiences Renji had. Seeing others going through what he had for the eight years was a good measuring stick for his own progress as a martial artist.

Despite it all, Renji was glad to have gone through them. By the time, the tournament came around, they were a lean, mean machine. They took the tournament by storm, placing second or third in most categories. Not bad for school out of nowhere. Still they had a shot at first place in the demonstration round with him. He was going with the Katana variant of the black belt kata. That was until Gentaro forced him to do the Sai variant. It was his weakest form. Why would Gentaro do? Did he intend to test him then and there? Then again, the old man had a knack for judging people and situations. Still, not having the time to engage in a verbal sparring match, Renji relented.

The performance had been going perfectly. He felt in tune with the flow of the kata, dancing through each step. Then the unexpected happened. He slipped on a patch of sweat left by the previous participant. Renji raged a bit internally at that thought. Still he was good enough to get third place. So it was a good run. The Ogame Ryujin Style had left its mark on the world stage, and he would keep it going long after Gentaro had left. Still Gentaro dropped a bombshell on him soon after.

His parents were arriving in New York tomorrow. It was not a meeting he looked forward to that. While he loved his folks, but he was still irked about their decision to leave him behind. Great, now he needed to cool off.

"Hey Gentaro, I'm heading out to cool off." said the boy as he grabbed his backpack.

"Sure, Renji, just remember to be back before it's night fall."said the old man, already knowing where his grandson was of too.

With that, the lad headed towards Central Park to do some practice. Having found a decent spot, he placed his bag on the floor and got to work. Slowly and methodically, Renji work his way through his routine. All of the sudden, a bright indigo light zoomed through the sky and crash landed over a nearby hill. He rushed over, hoping no one got hit by whatever it was that crashed.

As he arrived at the crash site, he thanked the kami that know one got hurt. At the center of the small crater, the young man spotted some sort of indigo colored device. As he approached the device, he noticed it wasn't even warm. Picking it up, he accidentally pushed one of the buttons.

Discipline digisign detected. Digitalization initiated.

"What the ....."

That was all the boy got to say before he was enveloped by indigo light.

[Regalus]

Eduardo released a content as he released the imbibed drink from his lips; more than welcoming it's cool refreshment after a long afternoon's practice. His body was still a bit sore in places, and the effects of his shower at the field had been partially undone by the long walk back home under the hot sun already; the young boy looked at his watch an side, it'd still be another 15 minutes before he got back home.

The young athlete had already split ways with the last of his comrades, and now found himself alone walking down the empty late afternoon streets home; the trees lining the side walk were a far too short reprieve from the heat wave that had settled on their town. The boy mused that he'd likely have to drink his body weight is water by the time he got home with the way the tyrant sun bore down on them. He already dreaded the ensuing down pour which would no doubt harass their lands the moment it ended. For now however, the lad would focus on getting back home in time for dinner; and praise the fact that he only had to fear the setting sun's rays as it was.

So it is understandable that his heat addled mind thought it had gone quite insane when it laid eyes on the seemingly pink meteor streaking through the sky; where it not for the fact that he was conscious he would've sworn the ensuing quake caused by its collision was actually the beginning of an epileptic fit.

After a brief moment of confusion, serenaded by the sounds of a dozen or so car alarms going off before being mysteriously silenced, the boy shoves his water bottle back into his backpack and sprints over the hedges lining the sidewalk; through the grassy fields in search of the impact creator out of both curiosity and fear that someone could have been injured by its fall. In time he finds the offending object embedded neatly into a surprisingly small creator given the speed of its descent, and by whatever luck had landed straight through the gaps in a jungle gym and into its heart. Thankful no one was harmed.

Had it not been for the fact that the area was not even steaming he would have left the matter as it was and called an adult; yet upon spotting the violet device, he could not fight the overwhelming force of curiosity that bubbled up within him. Eddie looked the device over, and unable to find any distinctive markings opted to press the buttons in hopes of eliciting some reaction. Sadly for him, he did.

Digisign Accepted: Perseverance. Initiating digitalization.

The middle schooler had barely enough time to raise an eye brow questioningly before he vanished in a flash of violet light.

[Wahrheit]

Nathan dropped the tailgate of his beat-up old pickup, set his gun aside, and started digging in his ice chest for some water. His quest successful, he pulled off his airsoft mask and tossed it next to his gun before sitting on the tailgate and pouring some of the water over himself before concentrating on getting the rest of it inside him.

"Holy crap, that was a good game..." Nathan muttered to himself as he waved goodbye to several of his buddies piling into their own vehicles, ready to head home and get out of the oppressive south Texas heat.

"Got another in there? You'd better, since I helped pack it." Nathan's twin brother Nash approached, his long brown hair kept out of his eyes in a loose ponytail. Really, the Shepherd brothers took the stereotype that identical twins needed to synchronize their appearance and personality and set fire to it.

Nathan dug for another water bottle and lobbed it at Nash with no warning. "Think fast."

His brother caught it in one hand, gave Nathan a 'did-you-really-just-go-there' look, and pulled off his mask to begin to drink. "Thanks for putting all this together on short notice, bro. I don't know what it was, but today my Sociology class was really messing with my Zen thing. It's stupid I have to take it. Why does a programmer need sociology? It's not like I'm going to be spawning any bleeding-heart Social Justice Warrior AIs or anything."

"Because if it wasn't mandatory, nobody in real fields would take it." Nathan cracked a grin and leaned against the ice chest, still catching his breath. He was in great physical shape, but that could only shield him so much from the exertion of running around in the woods with an airsoft gun engaging in mock combat beneath the blazing Texas sun. "Hell, I think-"

A sudden hissing crash banged through the woods with a massive green flash.

"What the hell was that?!" Nathan jumped from the back of his truck and started running in the direction of the flash. "C'mon, let's check it out!"

"Oh yes, because mysterious green explosions are the world's signs announcing safe places to be," Nash snarked but followed.

They hurdled fallen tree trunks and snaked around prickly bushes that just half an hour before had served as sandbag fortifications and bunker walls, dashed through the clearing that was the perfect killzone if you could claim it early in a match, and quickly came upon a still-sizzling crater a good three feet across. The blackened interior of it had a strange greenish sheen to it, especially around... hello. What was this?

Nathan flicked open his pocketknife and poked at the metallic object in the middle of the crater.

"Don't touch it, man!" Nash hissed with very messed-up Zen.

"It ain't a bomb. At least, it's no bomb I've ever seen. Looks like a clock or a watch or somethin'." Nathan hooked the wrist strap on the strange device with his knife and brought it closer to examine, carefully touching it with one fingertip. "It's cool, too. Ambient temperature. Light." He bounced it in his hand. "Check it out."

He handed the digivice to Nash, accidentally brushing a control on its side. The screen lit up a bright viridian.

DIGISOUL: CONVICTION DISCOVERED. INITIALIZING TRANSPORT.

"Okay, you know what? I don't want to be holding the weird thing we don't understand." Nash was in the middle of handing the digivice back to Nathan when the woods flooded with a second burst of green light.

A moment later, both brothers were gone.

[Agent_0042]

It's an interesting process, being digitalized. It doesn't hurt, exactly, but it's decidedly unpleasant. You feel cells, molecules, atoms be pulled apart, analyzed, and after a moment of oblivion be reassembled. It's mercifully brief, though, and you find yourself unconscious at the end of it.

**********

<Time Unknown, Date Unknown, Location Unknown>

The environment is unlike anything seen naturally on Earth. True, the terrain comfortably mirrors that of Earth - plains, hills, valleys, and the like. Where there would be ground, though, there are only crisscrossing beams of light, which are nonetheless solid enough to support weight. The sky is dark, devoid even of stars.

In quick succession, planes of colored light pass over the landscape, much like a scanner, each leaving a human (and one leaving two) in its wake. When all is done, nine humans stir in close proximity to one another on a wireframe plateau. A quick look notices that, while mountains are all about, a noticeably taller set lay in one direction; about sixty degrees clockwise stands a pillar or pedestal of some sort. The distance to and height of each are pretty hard to estimate.

http://www.insaneunity.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/StaticWireframe1-491x262.png
{image evocative, not representative}

[ThreadOfFate]

Poke.

Poke poke.

Poke poke poke SMACK!

"Ow! I'm up! I'm up, Zee! Cripes." After the initial prodding failed to get the desired result of consciousness, the mechanical spider had thwacked Alexis' face with his abdomen. He sits now on the girl's chest, his photoreceptors looking right into her eyes, the lenses focusing rapidly. Concern, if she could recalls correctly. That's how he shows concern.

She gives him a wry grin and leans up, rubbing her head. He moves to his familiar perch on her shoulder. She pats him affectionately on the head, smiling as she looks out over the landscape. Lots of lines, like some kind of 3D modeling program showing just wireframe. It stretched on forever, as far as she could tell. The Grid?

"Thanks for wakin' me. Well, that was one hell of a trip. Where are we? Any idea?" She glances over. The spider shakes his cephalothorax, mystified. She shrugs, then looks back out at the wireframe hills and horizon. "See, normally I'd say the Grid, but it ain't blue enough for that, and I don't recall the Grid havin' somethin' so tall and...pillar-y."

It's right about then she catches sight of the others, lying in various close proximities. Oh, this just got really interesting. She jumps to her feet, taking a moment to steady herself, and runs over to the nearest other person - a boy a bit taller than she, with shaggy brown hair and a bit of a babyface. She slides down next to him on her knees and gently shakes him up, staring right into his face. "Hey, Babyface, wake up!" She turns to her mechanical friend. "I got this guy, Zee, go wake up someone else!"

The spider immediately scuttles down Alexis' back to the ground and heads over to the next nearest person - a girl wearing a tanktop, with dark skin and even darker hair. He moves over quickly and starts prodding her in the shoulder.

[Spacewolf]

Laura regains consciousness almost as soon as she’s dropped off thanks to the sensation of falling followed quickly by hitting the ground, fortunately she had only been a few feet up, unfortunately however her duffle bag had apparently materialised a few feet above her leading it to land on top of her before she even gets a chance to open her eyes.

Letting out a short pained groan from under her bag Laura takes a moment to just lie there before rolling the bag off her so she could stand up and take a look around.

As soon as her brain actually manages to accept the wire mesh landscape that is surrounding her Laura slumps back down onto her bag, at least that actually seemed to be real. But what was going on? Had the flashing thing been a bomb meaning she was dead and in purgatory, had she had some kind of massive psychotic break, if she had had a psychotic episode would she be able to think this lucidly about it? As she was thinking all these things over she patted down her pockets to see if she could find her phone and once she found it checks to see if she has signal. Once she’s done that she looks around for the weird orange thing to see if it had followed her here, maybe that would tell her what was going on.

At this point Laura also realises that since she had sat down on the bag she has been humming to herself.

“Great, a girl in the middle of nowhere sitting on a bag, messing with her phone and humming to herself, I must look totally insane.”

And at this point Laura realises that talking to herself doesn’t exactly make her look any saner and was infact only adding to the mounting evidence of a psychotic break. Especially considering the quiet, panicked tone she was using. So she goes back to humming, finding it to be rather comforting.

Eventually realising that she could hear someone talking Laura slings her bag over her shoulder and climbs up to the top of the ditch she had rolled down into when she had landed. Once at the top she’s greeted by the sight of a Girl and some sort of spider thing hovering around some unconscious people. Unzipping her bag and getting a hold of her hockey stick within Laura tries shouting out to the other girl, she didn’t want to grab the wrong end of the metaphorical stick and whack someone who was just trying to help after all.

“Hey what are you doing over there? Are those people ok?”

Laura did try to sound confident but in the end her voice ended up wavering just from the weirdness of the situation.

[DrakeRaids]

Cassie didn't move at first, only coming to as the spider gradually poked against her. She was tense though, like a wire, her hand clutching that golden yellow digivice so hard one might be worried she'd break it. Slowly though, she began to rouse under the mechanical creatures 'attention'. One arm pressed against the ground as she began to slowly push herself up, brushing one hand through her hair as she stumbled for a moment, trying to get her bearings.

She paused then, as she looked around the area. Well, wherever she was, it wasn't home, and she was wondering if it was even earth. She had never really bought into the whole aliens or monsters or supernatural scene, but after today she'd really need to rethink that. What the hell had happened?

Still, Cassie was not one to panic easily. She took a few deep breaths and closed her eyes, taking her hands up to her headphones (Which where still playing music merrily, she noted with a slight upturn of her lips) and pulled them down as she nodded at the other two girls who where already up.

"Sup." Cassie said, turning to look around, "Don't suppose either of you know where the hell we are?"

[Jehanna]

Cass stirs at the gentle shaking, groaning and waving off the shaking hands. His eyes open, expecting to see his bedroom ceiling, but insteads get an eyeful of a girl kneeling directly over him. Cass meets her stare, his expression somewhere between surprised, horrified, and wary. His body tenses, and it's apparent a fight or flight struggle is going on inside his mind. Things begins to click. He's not at home. Instead, he's being awoken by a rude girl. On the ground. Somewhere unbeknownst to him. What had happened? Where was he? Who was this girl to call him a babyface? Cass calms himself, taking into account the fact that if she was dangerous or crazy, she probably wouldn't have stirred him as gently as she did.

Cass's expression fades in emotion to an admonishing frown. He decides to say something. "Most people don't appreciate being woken up with insults, you know." Not very clever or smooth, but it would have to do. He sits up and looks around after he says this, and is nearly as shocked by the landscape as by the conditions of his awakening. This was most definitely not New York. Cass tries to think back, but all he can remember is the construction site across from his house and a strange light... he scratches his head as he continues looking about. After a moment he gives up, shrugs, and turns back to the girl. "Where is this place? How did I get here?" The look he gives the girl is almost accusatory. But then Cass blinks and his eyes go a little wide. "And, uh, who are you?" This last question seems directed at both the girl who had awoken him, and the two approaching. Their presence doesn't seem to perturb him any further, his daily dispensation of surprise having been long met.

His hands occupy themselves with the rest of him, making sure he has retained all limbs and other bits. When he begins to question the girl, he runs them distractedly along the ground. When Cass realizes that there isn't any familiar sensation of concrete or grass, he sets his hands embarrassedly in his windbreaker's pockets.

[Spacewolf]

Laura cautiously approaches the people who are up and about resting her stick over one shoulder and her bag slung over the other.
"Well I'm Laura and no I have no idea whats going on or where we are either, sorry."

[Gar]

”Oh Gods,” came the first thoughts in Mayonaka’s mind as she was digitized and reconstructed. She tried to flail for help, but there was nothing or no one to help her out of this madness that had invaded her reality. “This is it, I’m having my first attack... I thought it would be worse for some reason,” she found her mind wondering before the merciful darkness of unconsciousness consumed her. The girl was deposited with a very ungraceful thump onto the ground of the wireframe plateau along with the other humans.

Slowly Mayonaka woke up, undisturbed by the others. Her eyes flittered open for a second and she took in the dark world around her. Off in the distance she spotted others, the girl standing over a boy stood out the most. Her outfit was beyond peculiar, her hair an affront to good style everywhere. “Obviously a gang member... and I’m being kept in a dark place... was I kidnapped after my attack?” she looked around for something, anything to defend herself. “Nothing at all?! She reached down in her pockets for her cellphone and... ”No Signal?!” No one seemed to have noticed her having woken up just yet though. Maybe she could still get away on her own. Slowly she began to edge her way to away from the main group.

[ThreadOfFate]

”Hey, what are you doing over there? Those people okay?”

Somewhat concerned with waking up the boy, Alexis unintentionally ignores the call of one of the other girls.

The boy opens his eyes to meet Alexis’, to which she responds with a wide grin. He tenses for a moment, his expression a mixture of plenty of bad ones, but he calms just as fast and responds. Guess he did hear her.

”Most people don’t appreciate being woken up with insults, you know.”

Alexis frowns just slightly and shakes her head. ”It ain’t an insult, I just didn’t know your real name, had to go with somethin’. Take it as a compliment, you’ll look great in about 20 years.” She takes a few steps back and crosses her arms, her stance far from threatening and certainly curious. “Where is this place? How did I get here? And, uh, who are you?”

Alexis’ forthcoming answer was interrupted by another person, this one the girl that she had sent Zero to wake up. Good, she seemed alert and unharmed. ”Sup. Don’t suppose either of you know where the hell we are?”

Again, Alexis prepared to speak, but was cut off one more time - this one from behind, where a girl with a hockey stick and a backpack was approaching, somewhat more guarded. Made sense. Buncha random people in the middle of a Maya scene made for some caution. ”Well, I’m Laura, and I have no idea what’s going on or where we are, sorry.”

Alexis chuckled, then chimed in after Laura had finished. “And I’m Alexis. Alexis Hammersly, if you prefer. As for where we are, if I had to guess, we’re in the Grid. You know, from the movies and stuff. Certainly seems computer-y, with all the lines and wireframes and stuff.” She shrugs, but extends a hand to the boy she’d just awoken, a sincere smile going along with it. ”C’mon, you. Up on your feet. Make sure everythin’s still workin’ right.”

She spares an inquisitive glance over to the rest of those awake, then focuses back on the boy. “And if we can’t figure where we are, where we’re from is good enough. Me, I’m from Virginia, in the US. What about the rest of you?”

Meanwhile, Zero had given a small bow to Cass and had moved on to prodding the boy in the martial arts tunic awake.

[Jehanna]

At Alexis' response to his first comment, Cass opens his mouth to respond, and then shuts it again. What does one say to a compliment like that? Cass certainly doesn't know. He spends a moment looking up at her as she steps back, fumbling for a response but finding none. He settles for sitting up and looking around, but finds his embarrassment fading as his surroundings register. Still, when Alexis becomes distracted by the greetings of the other girls, Cass offers up a silent prayer to no one in particular.

This reprieve isn't to last long, however. He accepts the hand offered to him, and even manages to return the smile. It's a little strained, but what can one do? When Cass is on his feet, he gives himself a perfunctory once-over. "Seems everything is in order. I hope, anyway."

"I'm from New York City. Brooklyn, to be specific." Cass is somewhat distracted as he says this, as a small mechanical spider has just bowed to him. He returns the bow confusedly, unsure of why exactly it had bowed to him.

Cass blinks as he realizes he has yet to introduce himself. So to the group at large, he says; "My name's Cass. Uh, or you could call me Cassidy, or John, I guess, but I prefer Cass."

[DrakeRaids]

"And me? I'm Cassie. Which won't get confused with Cass at any point, with likely hilarious results." The girl dead panned. Inside a computer? Well, it made as much sense as anything she was gonna guess. Honestly Cassie was prepared to go with aliens. But honestly where they where was moot.

"Anyway, I'm frm Seattle, I was on my way to school when I found this freaking thing," she held up the digivice with a grimace, "and next thing I knew I was hells knows where."

Most of the group seemed to be about her age. Coincidence? Probably not.

Opening up her backpack she began taking stock of her supplies, pencils and paper mostly, a packed lunch she had made, a soda. "How many of you have any food on you? This will be important later, if this place keeps looking like it does."

[Agent_0042]

First reaction: ****. Nathan!

Nash pulls to his feet almost immediately upon regaining consciousness, not completely steady or able but also not caring. He crouches beside his brother, who's laying on his back with an arm outstretched and still clutching the device, and checks Nathan's vitals. Pulse, okay. Breathing, regular. Color, normal. Limbs, where they should be. Being unconscious is of course super-bad for you, not to mention the possibility of a spinal injury, but at least Nathan's alive.

Second reaction: Zen thing.

That concern abated, Nash brushes the hair out of his eyes and tries to analyze what just happened. That experience was incredibly disconcerting, and he is quite un-zoned. He murmurs to himself, "Find your center, man. That was freaky as all hell, but don't let it freak you out. Especially not with Nathan in his current condition. Breathe deep. Focus on the lights..."

Third reaction: Wait, what?

Nash instantly recognizes the landscape as artificial; he's dabbled in plenty of 3D modelling programs, and these are pretty obviously supposed to be wireframe constructs. Okay, so they were clearly knocked unconscious, kidnapped, and taken to... a large movie set? By someone with a computer motif? For reasons? This doesn't even begin to make sense to Nash. Keeping a watchful eye on his brother, he joins the steadily reviving group of people to compare notes.

"Nash Shephard. Any idea how we ended up here?"

[ThreadOfFate]

Alexis grins at the spider's attempt to apologize for his constructor's brashness and unintended insult. Zero always did seem to be more clued into that than she did. Made it kinda funny, really, given her status as creator and coder.

"My name's Cass. Uh, or you could call me Cassidy, or John, I guess, but I prefer Cass."

"Cass," she repeated, smiling wide. "Pleasure to meet you."

"How many of you have any food on you? This will be important later, if this place keeps looking like it does."

Alexis pats her pockets, giving a sheepish grin to Cassie "Sorry, Cassie. I came a bit unprepared. All I got's my small toolkit, but nothin' in there's edible. Unless you eat metal." She shrugged in apology, taking another glance out over the landscape, and she spotted some girl working to scoot her way away from the group. Grinning, she called out and waved to the girl, who was holding her cell phone. "Hey there! Come on over! We ain't mean! Well, I ain't, at least."

A voice piped up from behind her, another male, and she looked back at the source. "Nash Shepard. Any idea how we ended up here?"

She raised her hand in a greeting gesture. "Hey, Nash. I'm Alexis. That's Cass, Cassie, and Laura." She points around the group to each person as she says their name. "As for how...oh, right!" It was about then that Alexis remembered she had found one of her own weird phone things, and she scrambled over to where it lay on the ground, picking it up and looking it over before refocusing her attention on Nash. "Well, if I had to venture an educated guess, I'd say Cassie's right about these weird phone things. I found one of 'em - red, it was - and next thing I knew, here I am. Or, here we are. Wherever here is."

[Gar]

Upon the call from Alexis, Mayonaka froze in place, as if she believed she would be passed over by her assumed captors if she did not move. A second later a greater logic inserted itself in her brain. “If they are my captors... they’re being to casual about it. Also, I don’t think I can get out of this... whatever I’m in or on. Perhaps this is what mother calls a vision? No, that’s crazy, there are no visions...” Mayonaka scolded herself before looking around again, the landscape making her question ‘crazy’ in the back of her mind. The brown haired girl dusted off her clothes and noticed in her other hand, she still had that strange device she had picked up earlier. “Not working?” she asked herself before standing up. “One- One moment!” she called over to the group that was gathering around Alexis.

Mayonaka made her way over to the group. Her eyes still darted around, wary of wherever they were. Her muscles tensed, like a doe that might bolt at the slightest surprise. But she heard Alexis’ explanation of the strange device she had, the red counterpart to the grey one in Mayonaka’s hand, her eyes widened a bit in surprise. “Good morning,” she bowed to the group slightly. “I am Mayonaka Toturi. And I too was taken from my home by these strange devices,” she shows her grey digivice to the group as she felt a shiver of fear go down her spine.

“How many of us were abducted?” she asks, looking around the group of strangers. This was starting to feel like the start of a bad horror movie to her. A group of strangers, thrown into a weird world. All that needed to show up was some foul ghoul or goblin and that would cement it.

[Wahrheit]

Nathan's return to consciousness was not the expected slow, gradual swim back to the land of thought. Instead, his eyes snapped open and he simply continued reacting to the last thing he remembered: a flash of light and a distinctly uncomfortable feeling.

"Nash! Get down!" Nathan shouted half-intelligibly as he twisted on the ground, throwing himself atop his digivice and squeezing his eyes shut. A few moments passed before Nathan fully comprehended that the strange device was not, in fact, exploding and harmful. Thus, it probably wasn't a grenade. Oh.

Nathan opened his eyes and slowly climbed to his feet, looking a bit sheepish until he tried to take stock of where he was. His grip on the digivice, seemingly forgotten in his hand, turned white-knuckled.

"Nash? What the hell are we lookin' at?" He glanced around, looking for his brother, and spotted Nash amongst a rather ragtag group. He tensed at first, but none of them looked like psycho kidnappers, terrorists, cartel enforcers, or vory v zakone.

"Anybody? 'Cause it looks like we're inside AutoCAD or something, which is so crazy when I say it out loud that... I dunno. Lost control of that train of thought."

[Spacewolf]

“And if we can’t figure where we are, where we’re from is good enough. Me, I’m from Virginia, in the US. What about the rest of you?”

Laura Fumbled about in her pocket until she manages to pull out the Orange device that had fallen near her.
"Well I'm from Reeth in the UK so doesn't sound like it's limited by Geography and yea I've got an orange one of those things as well. Can any of you tell if they have a return setting on them?"

[DrakeRaids]

While the others talked Cassie refocused on the digivice. If the others had them, then maybe there was something to the little things. She began fiddling with hers, pressing all the buttons and trying to incite some reaction from the thing, doing everything short of tossing it against the ground repeatedly.

"Once everyones up we should probably get moving right? Sticking around here isn't going to help us any after all." If they wanted to find a way home, and given how little food they had on them, finding a way home was something that needed to happen very soon, it wasn't going to become apparent by just standing here. "Any landmarks around we can make a beeline towards. Maybe go up that mountain and get a better vantage point of this place."

[Regalus]

As the others planned out what to do Eduardo slept the sleep of gods; all too hesitant to stir from the sudden hustle and bustle filling the plain after obtaining much vaunted rest from his evenings training. Never mind the sanctuary from the oppressive heat that had befallen him prior to his trans-location. The boy in his half-dreaming state grumbles an admonishing to his younger siblings before rolling unto his back; scrambling back unto his side and then upright upon feeling his arm and a quarter of his back float over the edge, his eyes widening in horror and confusion at the sight of the black abyss he'd almost rolled himself into.

With his panic charged heart beating repeatedly within him, the boy swiveled his head around taking in his surroundings; growing more confused with each glance until his eyes settled on the rag tag group gathering some distance away. Once he was certain that, yes the insanity he was experiencing was real, the boy forced himself back unto his feet uneasily; securing his backpack as he checked himself over to ensure he was all there. Upon spotting the violet device most likely responsible for the insanity he now found himself in laying by the surface next to him; Eduardo hesitantly picked it up. Once he was sure he wasn't going to up in a flash of neon lights he made his way over to the group who'd just gone up to a little over a dozen similarly disoriented people.

"Uhm..wouldn't it be best to head over there?" interjected the boy upon finding his voice once more, pointing in the direction of the strange structure just of to the side of the tallest 'mountain'. "It's different from everything else 'round here, so if we're gonna find something it'll probably be there," he commented as his eyes scanned the group, noting the presence of the strange devices being held by those gathered.

"Yeah, hi. The name's Eduardo, but you folks can call me Eddie if ya like," he stated with an amiable, if still slightly disoriented smile, in response to any questioning gazes in the group, "I'm a bit further down the globe though; I'm from Puerto Rico. Also, show of hands! Who hear saw one of these babies crash and thought it'd be a neat idea to grab it?"he inquired raising the offending device in the air.

[Gar]

Soon her tempered wariness began to fall to curiosity as she heard similar story after similar story. “I found mine during my morning run in Tokyo, just outside of home,” Mayonaka informed Eddie, quietly surprised by how fluent his words were, or everyone else’s given how far across the Earth they had been pulled from. She then turned her attention to Cassie. “And I agree with you, we shouldn’t leave until we’ve gathered everyone. Someone may have been hurt when we were... ‘deposited’ here by these things,” she looks down to her own device. It seemed as if it were broken, or at least it refused to respond to her button pressing and take her back home like she wanted.

[ThreadOfFate]

"How many of us were abducted?"

Alexis' eyebrows rise at the choice of the word, but she had to admit, it was somewhat fitting. They were brought here with no warning and no choice in the matter, if all of their stories about getting here were the same as hers was. "Lookin' around, looks like nine," says the girl, doing a quick headcount. Zero was still working on getting the kid in the tunic awake. "And pleased to meet you, Mayonaka." She gives a slight grin to the other girl, easy-going. Someone had to be if this was a real thing that was happening.

"Nash! Get down!" The shout from the now awake man, also with a crew cut, gets Alexis' attention. He looks kinda like Nash. Brothers? Or maybe just friends. Either way, the guy's dive onto the weird phone thing was enough to make Alexis' eyebrows raise once more. The moment of silence as he curls around it passes without interruption, and she can't help but grin as he stands up sheepishly. His expression hardens fast, though.

"Nash? What the hell we lookin' at? Anybody? Cause it looks [...] control of that train of thought."

Alexis chuckles and crosses her arms, looking at him. "I think that train of thought derailed at the station. As for where we are, still workin' on that particular detail, but AutoCAD seems better'n my guess of the Grid."

"Well, I'm from Reeth in the UK, so [...] return setting?

Alexis hadn't examined it much since she'd awoken, so she takes a second or two to do so now. She turns it over, studying the thing, looking for other functions, and she pushes a few buttons experimentally. It doesn't respond. She shrugs at Laura.

"Once everyone's up we should probably [...] better vantage point of this place."

A good idea. Alexis turns on the spot, looking around and surveying the landscape. A new voice chimes in, coming from a boy that looked about Alexis' age who's heading towards them. He looks active, maybe a bit worn out, but certainly fit. Must be on some kinda sports team. "Uhm...wouldn't it be best to [...] though it'd be a neat idea to grab it?"

Alexis raises her hand immediately, indicating the thing that she'd clipped to her belt. "I did. And hey there, Eddie. I'm Alexis, pleased to meet you. This is Cass, Cassie, Laura, Mayonaka, Nash, and..." She trails off as she realized that she didn't actually know everyone's names. "And I just realized I don't know the new guy's name," she says with an indication of Nash's friend-brother-buddy-whatever.

"I found mine during my morning run in Tokyo [...] here by these things."

"The only one left out like a light is this guy," says Alexis as she takes a step towards the only one of their party still unconscious. "Zero's tryin' to get him up, but I don't know if that'll be enough. As for where to go, the mountains're a good idea, but there's also that weird pillar-y thing." She indicates the pedestal with a hand, then turns back towards the kid and heads over to him. Zero looks up and gives a slight shrug. Alexis nods, then bends down and starts to gently shake the boy. "Hey, Ryu, wake up. Time's a wastin' and we ain't sure how much of it we got!"

[Jehanna]

"Pleasure to meet you, too." Cass smiles back at Alexis, and this one seems more comfortable than his last. This is the last thing Cass gets out before the new folks converge on the group. He does raise a hand in greeting towards each when introduced, but mostly keeps his eyes down on the machine he's retrieved from his prior spot on the ground.

The lack of response from the thing is bemusing. No amount of button pressing will get it to react, and there doesn't appear to be anywhere he can crack it open from. Even if he could, cracking open his only link to home seems a very foolish idea. Soon enough Cass has pocketed it, and alternates his attentions between the group and the surrounding landscape.

At Eddie's question, Cass raises his hand rather tentatively, and no farther upwards than his shoulder. "I saw it crash from my rooftop." He retrieves it from his pocket and holds it up. "I wonder why they aren't all uniform in color... if they were intended to abduct us, I don't see why they would have bothered with making them look nice."

Cass doesn't spare much of a glance for the last of them left sprawled on the ground. If they were all relatively unharmed, why should he be any different? "I think that "pillar-y" thing is our best bet. It's the only thing out here that looks any different."

[Assurau]

Renji's mind was in the process of rebooting itself, for lack of a better term. It was a rather unique experience,it felt like being disassembled and reassembled. While nowhere near what Gentaro had put him through during training, it wasn't an experience that he was in any hurry to repeat. Slowly but surely his senses returned to him and with them came the shaking.

"You can stop now. Quick questions: Who are you? Where are we? What happend?", said the lad as he pried himself free from the grip of the green eyed girl.

[ThreadOfFate]

"I think that "pillar-y" thing is our best bet. It's the only thing out here that looks any different."

At his words, Alexis turns and gives him a wink and a grin. "Gettin' a hang of the lingo already, I see."

"You can stop now. Quick questions: Who are you? Where are we? What happened?"

The sudden burst of words and movement from beneath her prompted Alexis to stand up and dust off her knees before offering a hand to the boy to help him up. "Hey, you're here! First, call me Alexis. Second, we don't know. The general consensus is somewhere weird and kinda computer-like. Third, I'm guessing you found something like this," and she points to the weird phone thing on her hip, "and that's the last thing you remember, right? Same thing happened to all of us.

"Now, my question for you: What's your name, and where're you from?"

[Gar]

She paused as she caught the words of the last of them to awaken. Her mind dared not think it possible in this strange land filled with strange people from all over the world. Mayonaka stared at the boy Alexis had in her grip, her amber eyes widening behind her rimed glasses before she found herself in a mad dash and tackle hugged the street fighter wannabe who just now escaped from Alexis. “Renji?!” she proclaimed loudly and with a jubilant joy that had been absent in her earlier words.

“Renji!” she shouted for joy again as she held onto him, like a shard of reality that could float in this sea of madness. “Thank goodness you’re awake! I can’t believe you’re here! Did you find one of the strange devices too?!”

[Assurau]

Renji was surprised to suddenly be huggled by Mayonaka, not that his face showed any indication of it. Still having a familiar face around would help act as a starting point.

""Well as Mayonaka has just proclaimed, my name is Renji. I'm obviously Japanese, though i was in New York's Central Park , when I witnessed this device crash.", said the young martial artist as he showed those gathered there his own indigo colored device.


"Has everyone swapped introductions and circumstances or have I awoken on a timely fashion? "

[Wahrheit]

"Nathan Shepherd, San Antonio," Nathan offered as he looked around, still trying and failing to get his bearings. Now that he wasn't in a disoriented tangle, it was clear that aside from their hair and clothes, he and Nash were nearly identical. "Nash an' me found this thing in the woods." He fiddled a bit with his green digivice before giving up on the buttons. After a quick test with the wrist strap to make sure it would open after closing, he gave Nash a look.

"If this thing like, locks on or somethin', uh... let's make cuttin' my hand off a last resort, alright?" With that, he snapped it onto his wrist. It came off again easily, to Nathan's relief, so he put it back on. "Easier than carryin' the damn thing."

He listened to the others debating a course of action before making his own entry. "I'm for the pillar thing. More artificial-lookin' than the rest. Better to take any chance at findin' architects or whatever than just wander a wireframe waste. Heh. Alliteration. Whatever we do, though, we gotta pull our heads together an' act calm. Stratagem 32: The Empty Fort Strategy. We don't know what's goin' on, but we should act like we do in case anyone's watchin' an' countin' on us freakin' out."

[Spacewolf]

Laura hooks her device onto her belt giving her easy access if needed and making easy to get of if like Nathan said it did lock on.
"Well if everyone else is going to the pillary thing I guess I don't have much choice but to follow, better to keep together and all that."

[Assurau]

"Seems like heading there is a good idea,then. Though is someone going to introduce to the rest of our fellows?"

[ThreadOfFate]

Reiji's introduction of himself was cut off as Mayonaka glomped him, to which Alexis responds with a wide smile. Good, at least two of them are friends. That'll make this whole ordeal a bit easier.

"Has everyone swapped introductions and circumstances or have I awoken on a timely fashion? "

She flashed him a thumbs up. "You're up in enough time, just gotta do it yourself, Reiji. Good to have you with us."

Nathan's introduction caused her to turn and face him. He seemed to be at least somewhat on top of the situation, if a bit scatterbrained. Then again, after what had happened to them, who wouldn't be? Alexis was keeping it together because the adrenaline of an adventure hadn't yet worn off.

She grinned as he finished talking. "Texas? Born an' raised there m'self. Lost some of the accent over time, but I kept enough of it with me." Her accent, which was certainly noticeable before, took a nosedive right into pure, unfiltered Texan.

"Well if everyone else is going to the pillary thing I guess I don't have much choice but to follow, better to keep together and all that."

"Seems like heading there is a good idea,then. Though is someone going to introduce to the rest of our fellows?"

Alexis adjusted her goggles and grinned, then started pointing people out. "Well, we've got Cass, Cassie, Nash, Nathan, Laura, Eddie, and it appears you already know Mayonaka. And as before, I'm Alexis. Pleased to meet you." She started off towards the pillar at a pretty good pace, waving everyone else to follow. "Everybody awake and able to walk? Good to know, cause we've got some walkin' ahead of us. Also, that pillar-y thing. Let's find out what it is and why we're here."

She made sure everyone else was still with her before she moved on. Zero meanwhile skittered up to her shoulder. "I really hope this thing is significant," she said to herself.

[Agent_0042]

A short while after the group sets out towards the pillar, wireframe "trees" manifest in the distance ahead of them. When one backs away from them, they vanish. While the terrain had initially seemed featureless, it now seems there is a forest in between the group and the pillar, only visible from sufficiently close by. With some guesstimation via pace lengths, "sufficiently close" would appear to be slightly over a kilometer and a half, and the trees roughly the same size as typical earth trees. While the pillar is taller than most of them, as the approach continues it soon is lost among the trees.

[Gar]

Mayonaka found herself testing the trees that would appear and disappear as they crossed the odd ‘draw distance’ for them. But she would only allow the group to get a few meters ahead of her before she sprinted back in their lose formation. She was beginning to agree with the others that they had indeed be dropped into The Grid or in some sort of AutoCAD system program, or maybe even an old style arcade game. If this wasn’t the case, someone had gone to an extreme effort to put up the illusion that it was at least plausible and it would be rude to dismiss it after so much hard work had been put into the ruse.

The area was dead to her ears, was there any sound... any wind... any animals? It was a haunting and deafening silence that was only broken by the sound of their footfalls and the idle thoughts that she should have had breakfast before running this morning. The others sounded like they had at least time this day to eat something so they could perhaps last longer than her. Mayonaka forced herself to stop thinking about food, it would only make the inevitable hunger worse...

She glanced down at her transporter, her captor, her... broken toy? It still refused any meaningful response as she tested it time and time again. Finally she had refused to grant it any more satisfaction in frustrating her and she instead left it alone, hanging from her belt for now. She instead kept close to Renji as they came through the forest. “Do you think we should leave a trail marker?” she asked the group curiously as they lost sight of the pillar they were approaching. “Just in case we end up doubling back on ourselves?”

[Jehanna]

Even walking this far had dampened Cass's spirits. There are no clues, no indications of where they might have been taken to. No point of reference, no facts or basic assumptions Cass can latch onto to explain their presence here. The basic patterns of the ground and scenery, combined with the inky blackness of what he presumes to be the sky, suggest an infinite quality to the place. It is very different from Cass's very finite world. The place is an elsewhere, and it's unnerving.

Sighing exasperatedly, Cass nods towards Mayonaka. "A trail might be useful... walking in circles in this weird forest wouldn't be on top of my list of things I'd like to do today. Problem is, do we have anything we could drop behind us? I'm guessing a ball of string or bread crumbs isn't an option."

Even standing on his tiptoes and straining his neck, Cass can't catch a glance of the pillar over the trees. "You think if we just brave our way through it, we'll come out the other side?" Increasingly unsure, Cass turns back the way they came, searching for any alternative to this. Finding none, he groans and turns back towards the forest.

"Doesn't seem like we have much of a choice. I'm afraid I don't have much experience in woods, aside from Prospect Park. Which doesn't count. I guess regular rules probably don't apply here, though."

[DrakeRaids]

"Best way over is through." Cassie said with a curt nod. "A little bit of tree's aren't going to stop us are they? Hell, I'm honestly glad to see something that looks like its from home in this crazy place." The girl admitted.

It was a little comforting. If it had trees, who knew what else it had? Shelter, food, some way to survive this nightmare? She had to hope. Right now she was just focused on putting one foot in front of the other though, and wasn't really operating on any real logic. Just keep moving on. Thats all that mattered for the moment, because if they stopped, then they might as well be dead.

They -had- to find a way out of this place, and soon, or starvation would get them before whatever local nasty did.

[Assurau]

It had been a quiet walk for renji as he observed Mayonaka fiddle with her device. Still much like his own, her device refused to interact with her in any meaningful fashion. His thoughts turned to the motley crew that he now formed part of.

They were from all walks it seemed. It was still too early to early to say but aside from the devices they all had, he couldn't think of a common trait they shared. They couldn't have been taken at random, at least he hoped they weren't. The thought that they had been chosen meant that someone wanted them there and thus would provide support for them as well a way home. However, that could also mean that they were brought in to solve someone's else problem. That part of this train of thought bothered him, since it meant that they could have enemies, of whom they had no knowledge of.

He was brought out of his thoughts by the conversation Mayonka, Cass and Cassy were having.


“Do you think we should leave a trail marker?” she asked the group curiously as they lost sight of the pillar they were approaching. “Just in case we end up doubling back on ourselves?”


"That seems like a prudent choice, Mayonaka-san. Having a stable point of reference is paramount when in the wilderness. A lesson Gramps drilled into me with his extreme campaing trips."



"Doesn't seem like we have much of a choice. I'm afraid I don't have much experience in woods, aside from Prospect Park. Which doesn't count. I guess regular rules probably don't apply here, though."

"Perhaps, Cass, but until otherwise shown normal is all we have right now. Though you do bring up a good point."

"Does anyone else have any orienteering or survival skills?"asked Renji to his fellow travelers.

[Spacewolf]

"I'm not sure we want to drop anything that could come in useful, after all the trees only showed up when we were close to them so whats to stop our trail from disappearing once we move away from it?

Perhaps we should just climb a tree every so often to make sure the pillar is still infront of us, then we could pick a landmark behind us to make sure we're heading in a straight line. That would mean we can get back to the place we all woke up at as well."

[ThreadOfFate]

As Laura is speaking, Alexis is already scampering up one of the digital trees. She's not super great at it, but it is clear she's done this at least a couple of times in her life.

"Well, we're on the right track. Probably about a click away, so long as we keep walkin' in the best direction. As for a landmark," and she turns around to glance back where they came from, "I can kinda see the clearin' we came from, but I dunno for how much longer. As long as we get a higher vantage point every now and then, we should be fine."

She jumped out of the tree and rolled to her feet, unharmed, before moving back to the front and heading towards the pillar. "We'll make it outta this yet," she said with a grin to Cass. "A little bit of randomly-appearing woods can't stop us."

[Agent_0042]

Indeed, the devices refuse to respond to any of the curious and prodding humans. They're out of juice, and there doesn't seem to be a convenient way to recharge them.

The group makes steady progress through the newfound forest and, with periodic climb checks by the more adventurous members, manages to not stray too far off course. After about twenty minutes of trekking, they're not far off from the pillar, though it's still not visible to them from the ground.

At that point, a column of intense white light, visible through gaps in the meshlike canopy, manifests from the sky in the presumed direction of the pillar. It pulses slightly, steadily, and silently for approximately twenty seconds, at which point something streaks rapidly down within it. That something apparently strikes the ground with great force, as evidenced by a booming and a brief tremor; the glow disappears seconds after.

Nash stumbles, but barely manages to retain his footing. "The fu... Nathan, let's move." He hastily presses onward, until he reaches the edge of what (on earth) would probably be called a glade. The pillar reaches monolithically towards the sky in the middle of it; off to the side of it stands a large stony figure (http://cdn.staticneo.com/w/digimon/5/59/Golemon.jpg), easily two stories tall. It sways gently back and forth, revealing it to not be an inanimate statue, but otherwise takes no action.

[ThreadOfFate]

Alexis is only a step behind the Shepherds when they emerge at the edge of the glade. She takes a moment to gape at the giant statue rock thing, giving a low whistle, clearly impressed. "Would you look at the size of that thing! Maybe he knows where we are. Or maybe she. Don't wanna offend him. Her."

She gives a grin, the kind of grin people get before they're about to do something that may in some cases be regarded as rather stupid, and she takes a few steps away from the rest of the group, heading towards the giant golem while waving her hand in greeting. "Hey there! I'm Alexis. Pleased to meet you. Can you tell us where we are and maybe why we're here?"

[Spacewolf]

When the beam lights up the sky Laura shades her eyes to try and see it clearly.

"Do you think that's what brought us here?"

Without much option but to carry onward towards the pillar Laura arrives at the edge of the forest along with the rest of the group. Seeing the gargantuan rock infront of them.

"What in the world is that?"

As Alexis moves towards the thing in front of them Laura reaches out like she's planning to grab Alexis and pull her back into the forest but apparently decides better of it letting her hand drop back to her side. Instead she hangs back with the rest of the group to see what was going to happen, after all Alexis might have the right idea.

[Gar]

As Alexis approached the massive stone that invoked the image of the animated golem of folklore, Mayonaka was taken back. Surely madness had taken her, but then she remembered they were in some sort of computer like wireframe forest with defined rendering distances for non-background objects. Madness had no doubt taken her when she first reached for her grey device. “Obviously, a large stone person, don’t be rude,” she whispered to Laura.

Mayonaka moved forward as Alexis introduced herself, taking care to provide enough distance between them that if the golem would to attack them, he’d need more than a simple swat to take them both out. “Good morning friend!” she offers up to the stone person with a smile. “Apologies if we’re troubling you, but we are lost. Do you by chance know where we might find a village or city? We would be ever so grateful if you could tell us.”

[Jehanna]

Cass watches on as the white light streaks down, and starts at the boom. He's on the heels of the brothers and Alexis as they reach the clearing. At first, his attention is taken solely by the towering pillar, but as his vision finds it way downwards, he forgets it completely at the sight of the figure. Cass thought his day couldn't get any stranger, but this managed even that lofty feat.

Frowning heavily, his attention taken, Cass barely notices as Alexis moves forward. But then it registers. Cass does a double take and his eyes nearly bug out of his head. They only grow wider as Mayonaka pursues Alexis.

Mouth slightly agape, Cass watches on as the two girls approach the stone... thing. When he hears their greetings, he nearly winces. Kindness is all well and good, but this was insanity. While they were certainly lost, this thing didn't really seem like the type of local you asked for directions. He almost calls out for them to come back, but fears what effects any further provocation may have on the thing. At the same time, his curiosity is piqued. What would that thing say, if anything? If it could tell them what this place was, maybe even how they got here... it might be worth the risk of getting smashed. Cass regrets this thought even as it occurs to him. He wasn't the one in range, after all. So he waits, silent and torn.

[Agent_0042]

Now that Alexis and Mayonaka are closer to the pillar, they can see that it is not entirely featureless. Approximately five feet up from the base are small rectangular indentions, each a few inches deep.


"Hey there! I'm Alexis. Pleased to meet you. Can you tell us where we are and maybe why we're here?"

The golem stares through Alexis rather than at her, as if scrutinizing something just behind the girl. It speaks in a rough baritone, not really responding to her. "Joy. Ceaseless, relentless, unwarranted cheer. Acceptable."


“Good morning friend!” she offers up to the stone person with a smile. “Apologies if we’re troubling you, but we are lost. Do you by chance know where we might find a village or city? We would be ever so grateful if you could tell us.”The golem shifts to face Mayonaka in turn. "Grace, elegance, civility. As for the rest..." It stands straighter and calls to the humans it knows must be lurking somewhere in the trees. "You may come out and be safe. I cannot harm you."

[Assurau]

Renji eyed the rock creature cautiously. It looked like a boss character from a video game, and the fact that he? appeared just as they arrived at the pillar seemed to resonate to well with the first stage narrative some of the games he's played start with. It had made no motion after it landed, so Renji's mind shifted to tactical mode.

OK, let's work with what we've got.
Base assumption 1: The creature is some variety of golem. That would mean it's here under orders to guard this area.
Base assumption 2: It's natural creature of this environment. That would mean we have entered its territory and diplomacy could be possible.
Base assumption 3: It's passing by. That could mean that it's here by accident.

Possiblity for agressive response: Unknown
Course of action in the event : Given the rock-like substance its body seems to be made out of, only the eyes seem as viable targets. With no reliable ranged options, the only course of action is to escape.


Any futher analysis was settled by the rock creature's overture.



Golemon: "You may come out and be safe. I cannot harm you."


Stepping out of the forest, Renji replied to the creature,"Prudence is a necessity when one finds themselves in foreign soil, against their will."

With that said, the lad stood next to Alexis and Mayonaka, in relaxed but ready stance.

[Wahrheit]

Nathan remained in the trees, rolling his eyes as his companions moved into the open. "I ain't goin' out until I know more of what's goin' on," he muttered to Nash, crouching behind a wireframe. "This is way too convenient."

He scanned his surroundings for anything that could be used as a weapon and came up dry. Maybe he could try to break a branch off the tree for a makeshift staff, but that would do jack diddly against a golem, even if he found a weak point. Probably wouldn't have enough flexural strength to make a difference before it snapped. Stupid physics.

So Nathan waited and watched, carefully lurking in the strange forest and moving very, very slowly to begin circling around the creature.

[Regalus]

Whelp, screw it, he thought to himself with a sigh before stepping forward alongside Renji, positioning himself behind the girls as well; more then close enough to pull one of them out of harms way should their worst possible scenario come to pass.

"Yo!" he called out to the golem with a friendly half grin, flashing a quick V-sign in greeting, "Hmm, if ya don't mind me askin'; why do ya say you can't hurt us, rather then saying that ya won't?" he inquired innocently, seemingly taking the talking rock man in stride; which given his day thus far was not too hard to understand.

[ThreadOfFate]

"Joy. Ceaseless, relentless, unwarranted cheer. Acceptable. Grace, elegance, civility. As for the rest...you may come out and be safe. I cannot harm you."

With a grin, Alexis puffed out her chest slightly, chuffed with the recognition (and the pride that comes from her having a what could be considered good idea). "All right, that's a good start! Y'all might as well come on out," she said as she glanced back towards the others in the forest, "I'm fair sure he could smash down the forest if he felt so inclined, but I'm hopin' he won't."

"Hmm, if ya don't mind me askin'; why do ya say you can't hurt us, rather then saying that ya won't?"

Alexis shrugged as Renji came up behind her. "Maybe he's peaceful. You know, gentle giant, all that. Oh, and speakin' of that," and she looked back to the giant golem rock monster thing, "what's your name? I told you mine, fair trade to know yours."

[Jehanna]

Out of all possible outcomes, random attribute naming and being unable to injure them was not what Cass expected. He moves forward slightly when Alexis calls back to them. He hesitates a moment, glancing between the Shephard brothers and the less cautious bunch standing around the golem.

Shaking his head and groaning, he scrambles after the others to join them near the golem. Despite the lack of direct contact he'd prefer to be having with the thing, he nods at Eddie's query. Alexis' conclusion he finds a little less satisfactory, however.

He speaks up, hesitantly looking around at the assembled group and then up at the golem.

"I don't know if that's what's going on here... Even the BFG could choose to harm someone. Are you kept from harming us? And if you are... well, you're kind of big. Who bosses around a stony giant?"

[Spacewolf]

Laura moves forward with the rest of the group when the giant calls them out, waving when she gets close enough. She still looks ready to bolt if the Giant tries to attack them though.
"Pleasure to meet you sir."

[Agent_0042]

"Nathan, we've no idea where we are. Until we do, we're at the mercy of whate'er the hell brought us here, an' this is our first chance t'get some answers." He joins the rest in the clearing, and the golem becomes more animated as they gather.

"So there are eight." it proclaims, a small note of satisfaction present in its voice."I welcome you to the Digital World, despite the circumstances." It's movements seem approximate, halting, as if it was crudely imitating normal human gestures.


"Prudence is a necessity when one finds themselves in foreign soil, against their will."
"A wise sentiment, but did you not answer the call? You have the digivice on your person," It extends a slablike finger towards the dark blue device on Renji's belt. "How else would you arrive here?"


"Hmm, if ya don't mind me askin'; why do ya say you can't hurt us, rather then saying that ya won't?"To this, it simply replies, "Such is against my nature."


"I don't know if that's what's going on here... Even the BFG could choose to harm someone. Are you kept from harming us? And if you are... well, you're kind of big. Who bosses around a stony giant?""Nothing commands me except the Digital World itself."


"Oh, and speakin' of that, what's your name? I told you mine, fair trade to know yours."
It's hard to read body language from a rock, but it seems... confused? It responds after several seconds of silence, "I do not know. What would you call me?"

[ThreadOfFate]

"I do not know. What would you call me?"

With a grin, Alexis quickly replies "Stony! Cause, you know, made of rocks and all that. Or maybe Rocky. Igneous. Meta?" She glanced back at the others, particularly Cass. "I dunno. What do you think?

"And as for the other stuff you said, I'm guessin' that these things we all found are digivices, and that means this place is the Digital World. So we are inside a computer? And I don't remember answerin' a call so much as pickin' up a meteor phone thing, but I guess that's what you mean by answerin'." She shrugged nonchalantly. She had many, many more questions, but she decided to pause and let it answer. Or let others ask.

[Gar]

Her eyes opened with a spark of light as the oversized golem gave the strange devices at the center of their mystery a proper name. Mayonaka took a look at her own device before she unlatched it from her belt to hold it closer to herself. And then she pauses as the creature speaks of having no name. “Well, a name should be unique, or memorable of ones self. I am called Mayonaka, for that was the moment of my birth, between the passing of one day to another.” she pauses as Alexis goes through a list of names all related to earthen elements, pondering herself before responding. “You, you strike me as a Kyojin, if you would accept that name,” she offered to the titan of rock with a warm smile.

“You call this a ‘digivice’?” she holds up her own grey device, “I’ve never seen a digivice before today. And when I picked it up the device said it detected ‘Grace’ and then I appeared here. Also just now, you mentioned ‘Grace’ when you looked to me,” her amber eyes were staring a bit intently at the large stone creature as she spoke to it. “Why are these qualities needed here, qualities such as ‘Grace’ and ‘Joy’?”

[Wahrheit]

"Damnit, Nash! Hold on!" Nathan gritted his teeth as his brother joined the growing crowd around the... rock thing.

If this turns out to be an ambush I'm going to beat you up in the afterlife.

With a heavy sigh, Nathan stood, straightened himself up a bit (his dad had always said that first impressions were important; showing up for a negotiation looking weak or disorderly put you at a disadvantage), and strode into the clearing looking a lot more confident than he actually was.

"Make it nine," he drawled as he closed the distance, reaching the group just as Mayonaka asked her question, "An' I'm sure we all want to know what the hell's goin' on here. Who brought us here, why, all that s***."

[Spacewolf]

Since the others seemed to have the whole question asking thing dealt with Laura slips around the side of the Golem to see what the indents on the side of the pillar where as they seemed important.

[Jehanna]

Cass meets Alexis' glance with a smile. "Personally, I think Meta's a pretty solid name. Though it should probably be up to him to come up with his own name." He turns to the giant. "Have you never been called anything? You just live here, alone?"

After Nathan joins them, Cass nods in agreement with his rather crudely put question. "Nathan hit the nail on the head. We were brought, not asked to come. You say it was a call that we answered, but we weren't given any choice in the matter. For me, at least, once I laid hands on the thing... well, I was just gone. Seems if we were answering a call, we'd've had some sort of idea what we were getting into beforehand."

[Regalus]

Eddie kept his peace for the moment, the other's having already voiced his own thoughts for the most part; yet somehow he had a feeling the Thing's answers were only to make things far stranger then they already were.

[Agent_0042]

With a grin, Alexis quickly replies [color=red]"Stony! Cause, you know, made of rocks and all that. Or maybe Rocky. Igneous. Meta?" She glanced back at the others, particularly Cass. "I dunno. What do you think?"

Cass meets Alexis' glance with a smile. "Personally, I think Meta's a pretty solid name. Though it should probably be up to him to come up with his own name."

“Well, a name should be unique, or memorable of ones self. I am called Mayonaka, for that was the moment of my birth, between the passing of one day to another.” she pauses as Alexis goes through a list of names all related to earthen elements, pondering herself before responding. “You, you strike me as a Kyojin, if you would accept that name,” she offered to the titan of rock with a warm smile.
"Kyojin it shall be. I graciously accept your naming." If boulders could grin, this one probably would.


"Have you never been called anything? You just live here, alone?"
"I have never needed a name before. I am merely a Golemon, one of many who serve this world when required."


"And as for the other stuff you said, I'm guessin' that these things we all found are digivices, and that means this place is the Digital World. So we are inside a computer?"
"Not precisely, though the two are related. It is more accurate to state that our worlds overlap, such that changes to one affect the other."


"You call this a ‘digivice’?” she holds up her own grey device, “I’ve never seen a digivice before today. And when I picked it up the device said it detected ‘Grace’ and then I appeared here. Also just now, you mentioned ‘Grace’ when you looked to me,” her amber eyes were staring a bit intently at the large stone creature as she spoke to it. “Why are these qualities needed here, qualities such as ‘Grace’ and ‘Joy’?”

"The digivices draw their energy not just from conventional sources, but from the emotional state of the wielder. Part of this process involves identifying and synching to the strongest trait you or the others possess."


"Make it nine," he drawled as he closed the distance, reaching the group just as Mayonaka asked her question, "An' I'm sure we all want to know what the hell's goin' on here. Who brought us here, why, all that s***."
Just as when asked it's name, Kyojin visibly reacts to Nathan's arrival with what is now clearly confusion. "There are nine, yet I only sense eight digivices. How is it that you arrived here without one?"


"Nathan hit the nail on the head. We were brought, not asked to come. You say it was a call that we answered, but we weren't given any choice in the matter. For me, at least, once I laid hands on the thing... well, I was just gone. Seems if we were answering a call, we'd've had some sort of idea what we were getting into beforehand."
That doesn't make Kyojin happy. "That is extremely troubling. The digivices serve as distress beacons, calls-to-arms from our world to yours, which the receiver may choose to answer or not. For one to forcibly pull an individual here..." It trails off, lost in thought and implication, before resuming a few seconds later. "I am deeply sorry. I fear that we have less time together than I had hoped."

Meanwhile, Laura runs her hand along the inside of one of the indentations, her fingers tingling when she makes contact. The pillar is definitely energized in some fashion. It feels perfectly smooth, much like glass, but with no accompanying sensation of temperature.

[Spacewolf]

Laura unhooks the "Digivice" of her belt and starts to measure it up against the indents in the pillar to see if it would fit, although she does hold off putting it in. Mainly she was just doing busy work to avoid having to be the one who would push the conversation towards the pillar.

[Regalus]

"Wait, what?!" Eduardo started as a sinking feeling wormed its way into his gut, "What do you mean 'a call to arms'?! Just what the hell is going on?" he inquired not at all likely what he'd heard nor where his suspicions where leading him.

[ThreadOfFate]

Alexis crossed her arms and got closer to Kyojin, less confrontational and more curious and somewhat excited. "So you got people with strong personalities, sent 'em a digivice thing, and it pulled 'em - and by them, I mean us - over into this Digital World, which overlaps the real world."

She scratched her head, then decided to get right to the chase. "Well, we're here, and I'm guessin' that our ticket home is gonna involve helpin' you and this world. If we've got little time, let's skip the apologies and get to the important bits, y'know? You said they were distress beacons, and a call to arms, right? Well, what happened here that needs callin' to arms, and how can we help you out?"

[Gar]

Mayonaka glances to Alexis, wondering why the girl was crossing her arms. "Is she expecting an attack of some sort? Or Is she simply bored?" It perhaps mattered not as the girl spoke the thoughts on Mayonaka’s mind for her, leaving her with her own thoughts for the moment.

“They, this digital world needs us? What can a world, where the likes of ‘Kyojin’ here were available, need with nine human children?” she gazed down at her own digivice and thought back to the Golemon’s words.


“The digivices draw their energy not just from conventional sources, but from the emotional state of the wielder.”

“If the Golemon’s words are true, then we wield a power beyond what the inhabitants of the Digital World can produce through the strength of our emotions. Are they emotionless automatons? Are we to be fighting a war against something with the power of our emotions now? On the other hand, if his words are false, they are poorly chosen and constructed to gain a cowed resource, and I am still left trapped in this Digital World with no point of contact save for this potentially lying Golemon. It is to soon to begin dissension in that case, no options for getting home are present yet.” Mayonaka gazed over to her friend, Renji. “We are still left trapped here,” she corrected herself mentally.

“Kyojin,” she looks back to the Golemon with a slight smile still upon her face, “We can assist you and your world in your struggle, but Alexis is right. We will need more information if we are to help the Digital World, as well as a guarantee that we can return to our home world upon the conclusion of your world’s distress. What threatens your home, and how can we use the digivices we’ve been granted to fight against it?”

[Wahrheit]

"There are nine, yet I only sense eight digivices. How is it that you arrived here without one?"

"Same way Nash did: we found this." Nathan held up his left arm to show the green digivice on his wrist. "It went off or somethin' an' both of us ended up here." He paused. "Lemme guess. That ain't supposed to happen."


"That is extremely troubling. The digivices serve as distress beacons, calls-to-arms from our world to yours, which the receiver may choose to answer or not. For one to forcibly pull an individual here..." It trails off, lost in thought and implication, before resuming a few seconds later. "I am deeply sorry. I fear that we have less time together than I had hoped."

"Oh, so that's great. We didn't just get kidnapped, we got kidnapped to fight. Things are just gettin' better an' better, 'cause God knows I just love the idea of bein' dragged into a war or somethin'."


“Kyojin,” she looks back to the Golemon with a slight smile still upon her face, “We can assist you and your world in your struggle, but Alexis is right. We will need more information if we are to help the Digital World, as well as a guarantee that we can return to our home world upon the conclusion of your world’s distress. What threatens your home, and how can we use the digivices we’ve been granted to fight against it?”

"Don't make any promises yet," Nathan warned, looking rather disgruntled. "We don't have nearly enough info to make a sound strategic decision."

[DrakeRaids]

Cassie looked a little lost at all of this, but at least the gist of it was getting through. "So, we fight for you, and then what, we go home? Simple as that?" She repeated slowly, trying to make sure what was going on was as clear as possible. She wasn't excited about the possibility of getting into some weird war, but it couldn't be worse then home. That was a battle every day.

[Assurau]

Cassie: "So, we fight for you, and then what, we go home? Simple as that?"


"War aren't that simple, Cassie. Though our course of action does seem to be a straight forward one. We have responded to a call for aid, whether we like it or not."


Turning to Kyojin, Renji spoke "Honorable Kyojin, aside from you and your kin, are there others who will aid us, arms us and fight alongside us? And what is the threat that plagues your home?"

[Agent_0042]

"So you got people with strong personalities, sent 'em a digivice thing, and it pulled 'em - and by them, I mean us - over into this Digital World, which overlaps the real world."

Kyojin offers a small nod. "Essentially, Though I add that it was not I who summoned you here.

"Indeed, let us be quick." Kyojin begins pacing in front of the group, apparently prepared for a long talk. "You stand upon the Prototype Layer, the oldest of the Digital World. Approximately 4 kilocycles ago, it was evacuated and largely destroyed when four beings called the Great Demon Beasts arose from their dormancy. Ancient and powerful beyond all measure, for many hundreds of cycles they brought ruin to the majority of the Digital World, and it was with much sacrifice that they were eventually and narrowly defeated."

"From the ashes and bits, the inhabitants set about to rebuild their world, to forge civilization anew, but it was not to happen. From the shadow of the Beasts came eight powerful warlords who seized upon the fractured state of the Digital World to enact their own dark designs. While they lack the raw power of the Beasts, they make up for it with forethought and armies. At this time, they have subjugated an estimated three-quarters of the known Digital World."

It is for this reason, it appears, that you were brought here - to spark a resistance and eventually halt their designs. However," and at this it stops pacing, "I have come to conclude that there is more going on. Why did the call go out now, instead of kilocycles earlier? Why did the digivices to communicate to you? These questions I cannot answer."

"If you truly were brought here against your desire, you are not forced into service. Your digivices should contain the power to return you to your homes. They must only be recharged, as she is preparing to do." At that, Kyojin extends an arm in Laura's direction as she contemplates inserting the digivice into the indentation.

Nash pulls Nathan a short distance from th rest of the group. "Nathan, it can't be that easy. If something dragged us here, it can't let us go w'thout a fight. I can't tell if he's lyin', because rock, or if he's missin' information, but something about this sitch gives me bad vibes."

[Spacewolf]

Laura stops what she was doing when the Golem gestures over to her, turning around and running her hand through her hair.

“Sorry, I was just looking around.”

Once she’s had time to think over what had just been said Laura speaks up again starting off in her usual quiet voice but by the end has raised it to an almost accusing shout before she trails off again.

“But we’re just people, what are we supposed to do against demons that someone as big as you can’t beat? This isn't a story good doesn't win just because it’s good, bad stuff happens all the time and there’s never anything you can do about it. So why would we be able to do anything to help your world?”

"And that’s if you’re even telling the truth."

By the end Laura looks more tired than upset, although she is also blushing at showing so much emotion infront of some people she’d only met a few hours earlier.

[Gar]

Mayonaka raises her hand as Laura utters the whisper that all them feared to be the truth, hoping the communicate to the girl the need for tact on that subject. “Why wouldn’t we be able to help? Consider the idea that on this world we are the aliens if you will, the abnormal creatures with ability and thought beyond the norm of the inhabitants. We are, in essence, wild cards. The digivices choose us, whatever guides them thinks that we are the best answer for problem they are crafted to solve. And if we can return home at any time we want then after we recharge our digivices then it doesn’t hurt us to at least try to help.”

The girl looked up to the golemon, her soft face hiding sharp eyes of amber that gazed to the titan. “I understand you do not have all the answers Kyojin, and I thank you for those you’ve provided. But, how are we to spark resistance when we are aliens to your kind? When we know so little of the land and the people of the digital world? We do not even know where the kingdoms of these warlords are located.”

[Jehanna]

Still battling with the foreign concepts that Kyojin has just laid out for them, Cass simply watches, quietly impressed, as Laura builds up to a near explosive response. Mayonaka's response causes a frown and collision of eyebrows.

"Beyond the norm? Kyojin here seems fully sentient and far beyond our physical ability. I mean, look at the size of him!"

He indicates Laura with a wave of his hand.

"She's right. What would we be able to do? We're just kids!" He looks around, glancing at the (seemingly) older members of the group. "Uh, at least I think we are... most of us, anyway. I'm not sure how we're supposed to deal with the problems of a world I'm still not quite convinced exists. If these warlords are so powerful, do you think we're the ones best suited to challenge them? Is there no one in the Digital World who could put up a better fight?"

Cass pauses. He looks to be struggling internally for a moment, before exhaling violently. "I want to be vehemently against this. I want to take my "digivice" and place it right there in that pillar and go home. But at the same time... well, I also want to know why I was brought here. If we were picked for this, I can't just leave without any doubts coming back to plague me."

He looks around at the rest, mostly towards Alexis. "Er, but that's just my two cents."

[ThreadOfFate]

The words were flying fast now, but Alexis was listening well to all of them. If Kyojin was to be believed (and since no one else had literally any clue what was going on now, he was their best bet), then going home simply wasn't an option.

They were pulled here for a reason, and this was the call. They'd all answered it, even if they didn't know it, and this problem wasn't going to go away just because they left.

She pulled the Digivice from her belt and flipped it around in her hands, thinking hard. This wasn't just some minor thing, this was a major crisis featuring beings far beyond their imaginations and in a world of a power level vastly different than the one that everyone had come from.

Awesome.

Catching Cass' glance, she gave a small nod and a comforting smile to him as she made up her mind.

"It doesn't matter why we were picked. These devices didn't just land and we were randomly taken, they were sent with a purpose. They all landed near us, right, so clearly they were searchin' for us in the first place. We all found 'em 'cause I think we were meant to. You know, destiny and all that cool stuff! I believe him, simply 'cause what he says makes more sense than anythin' else we've come up with, and we can only go on disbelievin' what we see for so long. No, it ain't totally logical, but it's the best option we got now, I'm thinkin'." She was grinning wide as she was pacing around slightly, talking part to herself and partly to the others.

She turned to face Golemon. "Now look, I can't speak for all of my new friends here, but you can bet I'm in to help you save your world. Whatever it is I can do, I'll do it. I dunno if I'm much of a fighter, but I'm pretty handy at buildin' and codin'. Just ask Zero here. Right Zee?"

The spider on her shoulder enthusiastically raised his front two legs and waved them about.

She grinned and turned back to the group, still playing dexterously with the digivice. "You're all here 'cause the world knows you can fix it. I can't make any of you stay here, and I won't get in your way if you wanna leave, but I wanna know, really know if you can turn your back knowin' what's goin' on here. This place is in trouble, and we're the cavalry. It doesn't matter that we're not all soldiers or fighters or warriors, 'cause every army needs thinkers and builders and leaders. I'm of the fine opinion that we can save this world, and doin' so will be one hell of a story. How many of you can say you've never wanted to be a hero?

"If you feel like you can abandon this place and let it go, if you feel like you can turn your back on the people and places that called for you to save 'em, then I guess that's your prerogative, but...I'm not that kinda girl." She grinned, gave the digivice one final toss, and caught it with a smack against her palm, enclosing it in a fist.

"I'm in for the long haul, Kyojin. This'll be the most fun I've had since building Zee. Tell me what I can do, and let's get to winnin' this thing."

[Wahrheit]

Nash pulls Nathan a short distance from th rest of the group. "Nathan, it can't be that easy. If something dragged us here, it can't let us go w'thout a fight. I can't tell if he's lyin', because rock, or if he's missin' information, but something about this sitch gives me bad vibes."

"No s***. There's not nearly enough intel," Nathan muttered back before raising his voice to Kyojin. "Lemme get this straight... somehow, the nine of us are supposed to save this orld from super-badass warlords who've already taken three-quarters of your territory. We don't got armies, we don't got weapons, hell, lookin' at most of us, we don't even got combat trainin'. So what the everlovin' hell are we supposed to be able to do? If you've got one hell of a force multiplier, tell us 'cause otherwise the only thing you'll be getting out of us if we stay is unhealthy amounts of our blood an' guts."

In the back of his mind, a tiny seed of guilt nestled. These people needed help. There was a war going on, and they wanted to end it. People were suffering and Kyojin thought Nathan could help stop that. But still... they didn't have enough information, or enough force. For all he knew, getting involved would just drag the war out and make it worse. With the force imbalance, the only halfway-viable option was fourth-gen warfare, which had its own problems.

Sure, Nathan knew the basics of guerrilla tactics, but they weren't good for actually defeating a superior force, just pissing them off enough to sway popular opinion. That probably wasn't a viable option to depend on here.


She grinned and turned back to the group, still playing dexterously with the digivice. "You're all here 'cause the world knows you can fix it. I can't make any of you stay here, and I won't get in your way if you wanna leave, but I wanna know, really know if you can turn your back knowin' what's goin' on here. This place is in trouble, and we're the cavalry. It doesn't matter that we're not all soldiers or fighters or warriors, 'cause every army needs thinkers and builders and leaders. I'm of the fine opinion that we can save this world, and doin' so will be one hell of a story. How many of you can say you've never wanted to be a hero?"

Nathan clenched his fists, his brief weighing of tactical options suddenly swept away by the memory of a triangle-folded flag. "One hell of a story? Fun? Is that what this is to ya? A f***in' game?! They're askin' us to get involved in a war. They're not glorious, they're not heroic, they're brutal an' bloody an' at best a necessary evil! You know what happens in wars, even for th' best of causes? People die. I've been workin' towards bein' prepared for that for years. You guys?" Nathan swept his hand to indicate the assembled humans. "I'd f***in' love to see if you can still spout this kind of idealistic crap when you're watchin' one of us lyin' on the ground with his guts hangin' out, chokin' on his own blood!"

He gritted his teeth and took a deep breath, trembling. The astute might notice it wasn't entirely from anger.

"You really think any of y'all are ready for that? Goin' to war with no trainin', no prep, an damn little backup if any? Fightin' with whatever you can find, knowin' that if you f*** up you're dead, or one of your friends is never goin' home again? Can you handle knowin' that even if you survive, you're gonna have to track down the families of whoever didn't an' tell 'em their kid is never comin' home?"

He forced himself to unclench his fists. "So if you still think you're ready, be my guest. Just don't you f***in' dare try to guilt everyone else into followin' with your hero crap."

[Gar]

He forced himself to unclench his fists. "So if you still think you're ready, be my guest. Just don't you f***in' dare try to guilt everyone else into followin' with your hero crap."

"I don't think this is a game...", She hears a pain in Nathan’s voice, someone who had lost something dear. It is a pain she knows as well, a terrible bond that grasped still a fresh wounds still in her heart. In the back of her mind though, beyond the pain that she quickly pushed aside save for the water she’ll let it bring to her eyes, she thought. “He’s angry, he doesn’t want to risk more pain... I can’t blame the boy, no, man. But he has training, he could be useful. We’d be at a disadvantage if he left us... Unacceptable.”

“It hurts, doesn’t it Nathan, when people die in the fighting? Maybe because they had to for their honor, or maybe because we were to weak to help them?” she asked Nathan as she brought her amber eyes up to is as she let the words flow. “Nobody wants to die, at least I don’t want to. But I don’t want other people to suffer. I’ve seen to many suffer when good people do nothing, thinking that ‘the police will help’ or ‘the army is coming’ or ‘my neighbor won’t forget about me’ and then nothing answers, no one comes. It hurts beyond all words when you’re left alone and no one is coming for you,” she let the words drift from her mouth with all the elegance and grace she cold muster, trying to calm his rage and pull him to her way of thinking, bit by bit.

And they continued still, going on, trying to sink into his scared and proud and angry and brilliant head. “These people are desperate Nathan, they have no one else to turn to. No one in this world is willing or able to help them. They have asked us to help, to provide these devices with power,” she holds up her own digivice to him, gazing at him with still eyes that would dare to invade the windows of his soul. “To use our own abilities, abilities like your training, to save them from something that they can’t save themselves from. If you want to leave these people in need behind, then you’re free to. But I’m going, and so is Alexis, and everyone who knows the terror of being the downtrodden and oppressed and would fight to stop that from happening to someone else. But you, you can leave if you want. You can go back home if you want to just let someone else handle this problem. Maybe you can send back help even, convince troops from Earth to come here somehow. Maybe we won’t be heroes Nathan, maybe we’ll just be lost here while you go home. And if that’s the case... will you tell my father what happened Nathan?” she looks at him.

[Wahrheit]

" And if that’s the case... will you tell my father what happened Nathan?” she looks at him.

Nathan met her eyes, still plainly furious, but just as plainly determined. He was silent for a few long moments before speaking. "...If you die, I'll tell your father myself. But I ain't leavin'." He looked at the others, carefully avoiding his brother. He hated letting Nash see this side of himself, hated showing weakness.

And in the heart of it, that tiny bit of guilt still nested.

"You're right, Mayonaka. This world needs us. If they didn't, we couldn't have gotten here if Kyojin is tellin' the truth. If we can come here... it's only a matter of time 'fore somethin' from here gets home. We're the front line."

He sat, heavily, and looked at the green digivice on his wrist. "No one gets left behind. That's how Dad raised me. I'm gonna do what I can, as long as I can..." He raised his eyes, harder than steel. "But any of y'all who stay need to know this is f***in' serious. It ain't a game. It ain't a movie. We're gonna hurt. We're gonna see bad s***. Deludin' yourself is only gonna make it worse."

He turned his gaze to Kyojin. "I'm in for as long as I think we have a chance. After that... well, 'Stratagem 36: If All Else Fails, Retreat.' If I have to, I'm goin' back to meatspace an' seein' what I can do to get things ready there. So whaddya got for us?"

[Spacewolf]

While the argument was going on between Nathan and Mayonaka, Laura was biting down on her thumbnail and listening to the different viewpoints everyone had before making up her mind.

“Fine. Alexis is right I can’t leave here knowing someone might need my help and live with myself after. So I’ll go, see what’s going on and if they do need us then I guess I’ll have to find a way to help them.”

[ThreadOfFate]

The intensity with which Nathan’s words were delivered was enough to put Alexis into a mild shock, and the smile faltered from her face as he spoke. She’d clearly hit some kind of target that she didn’t even know she’d been aiming at.

She did listen, though, and she listened well. Mayonaka did little to calm the man down, but whatever she did worked, and Alexis didn’t look away when Nathan was looking around at the others.

She let the silence sit for a moment before speaking up.

”What do you want me to do?”

She put the digivice on her belt and looked right Nathan.

”Suddenly stop tryin’ to keep a positive attitude? Stop bein’ me? Nathan, I can’t do that. I’m not deluding myself, I’m just tryin’ to stay as I always am durin’ this. I know that it’s gonna hurt and that if this really is a war like Kyojin says, then things aren’t gonna always end up well, but so what? I can hope as much as I want, and I’m tellin’ you right now, I’m gonna keep hopin’.”

She took a breath and looked out over the rest of the group. ”No one said this was gonna be easy, and I never said it wouldn’t be serious. But I’m aimin’ to have as much fun here as I can, and I’m aimin’ that this’ll be a story worth tellin’. I’ll be spoutin’ this, as you put it, idealistic crap until the sun explodes, because someone has to, and that someone is usually me anyway.”

She went silent, looking to Kyojin, waiting for him to go.

[Regalus]

Eddie tensed and Nathan's words; his fears all but confirmed through Kyojin's own words. They'd all just been drafted into a war against who knew what, with no way of even knowing if their host's words were true.

This was bad. So bad beyond his minds ability to properly express as fresh wounds began to ache once more. He couldn't do this; not to himself, not to his family. He knew this situation was insane. Part of him as yelling at him to plug the damn device in, port home and never look back; he had family that needed him, he couldn't do this to them not after...

Yet a smaller voice stood amid the panic in his mind and spoke against him, a voice not unlike his fathers, which grew in strength as Mayonaka and the others said their peace; simply asking that the boy stop, shut up, and think for one blasted moment. And so he did. What he pieced together made his heart sink, and gut knot itself into a pretzel.

If Kyojin was telling the the truth. They -were- the fall back plan; the top picks as a matter of fact. Everything else had already gone to pot, and to make matters worse they were late. Moreover, it sounded like these were the only devices they had; if so much as one of them went back...well, the odds weren't in their favor to begin with.

That said, they were lucky; so very damn lucky from what he'd seen. From what he'd seen there all seemed healthy; relatively speaking. He couldn't think of how nightmarishly bad it could have been if the digivices in their search for their desired virtue, (and seriously why did he get stuck with the pink one!), had picked up a diabetic or a hospital patient of some sort. The results might not have been pretty.

Eddie closed his eyes, biting his inner lip softly as thoughts and emotions warred; before setting it all aside and sighing. The boy strode towards Alexis' side, placing a hand on her shoulder and giving her a supportive smile, "That makes two of us then!" he quipped with a toothy grin before glancing at the group, "Our friend her said himself; we were picked for who we are. For whatever reason who we are is literally the best chance these folks have. Everyone here needs to know exactly what they're signing up for here; but you better be sure your hearts in it. Don't pick to stay or go 'cause you feel pressured. Just do what you gotta do, give it your all either way, and be sure you ain't gonna regret it afterwards," he elaborated earnestly, his tone not betraying bias towards either choice before reaching for the violet digivice.

"Any way, I'm gonna charge this puppy up before something else decides to drop in and catches all of us with our pants down," the latino chipperly before casually heading over by Laura and placing his digivice into its dock.

"By~ the way, how are these babies supposed to help us out any way?" he inquired to the stone giant, half-turned and doing his damndest to resist the urge to lean on the powerful relic besides him.

[Agent_0042]

Nash stands heavily, partly in awe at how easily Nathan was guilt-tripped, and partly because Mayonaka's words had scarcely less of an impact on him than they did on his brother. He knows very well what he wants to say, even though it's stupid and not rational of him. Finally he speaks.

"Look, we may not want to be here, but it doesn't matter. We are here, so the only question's what to do next. I'm not fixin' to let us be swindled, but I'm damned if I'll take the easy way out. So, for what's worth, I'm in."

Kyojin waits patiently for the group to reach a consensus. "This is not a choice to make lightly, and the road ahead will be hard, though not hopeless. Know this: while the opposition great, you have three things in your favor. First, you carry with you the Digital Interface Devices. These are among the most powerful creations of our world; with them, all manner of things are possible."

As soon as Eduardo places his Digivice in the receptacle, energy arcs leap out and "catch" it, suspending it away from the edges like a steady pair of tweezers in Operation. The devices whirrs to life, and the pillar shines a brilliant fuchsia. After about fifteen seconds, the pillar returns to its normal color and the Digivice drifts back to Eduardo's possession.

[Gar]

“When someone else is in danger... there is no choice,” Mayonaka replies cooly to Kyojin and she takes her own digivice up to the pillar for recharging. “All manner of things are possible? That is... reassuring but vague,” she states about the description of the digivice. “But what are the other two things in our favor Kyojin?” the limber runner asks as she turns back to the titan of stone.

[Spacewolf]

Laura sighs at the situation before putting her digivice into the indent.

"Lightly isn't exactly the term I would use."

[Agent_0042]

"All manner of things are possible? That is... reassuring but vague," she states about the description of the digivice.

"Literally, this is true. With sufficient knowledge, one can use a Digivice to manipulate the underlying fabric of our world."

Kyojin continues as the humans recharge their Digivices, though it now looks somewhat distracted. "Second, you will not be alone. Allies will come and go, but you will have another remain by your side throughout. The call that brought you here was merely the first of two. The second, you can initiate once your Digivice is functional."

[ThreadOfFate]

Upon seeing that Eduardo’s device was recharged by inserting it into the pillar, Alexis decided you know, why the hell not. She turned it over in her hand and slotted it into the stone pillar - or, she would have, had the energy arcs not caught onto it and held it away. The pillar shone a vibrant red, the digivice coming back to life as it did so, filling the device with the energy that it lost transporting the girl here. After a short while, the digivice was released, and it fell into her open palm.

She examined it closely, studying the screen and turning it over and over in her hands as the others came up one by one and recharged their own digivices.

”The second, you can initiate once your Digivice is functional.”

Alexis glanced up at the giant figure, eyebrow arched in confusion, and she can began to fiddle with the buttons. ”Whaddya mean, another call? How do we manage to get this thing t-”

She was cut off as her digivice once again began to glow, the screen shining quite bright as it appeared to scan the girl, lines sweeping over her face and body. She held it still as it did so, figuring that this was kind of important thing to do. Maybe it had to gather information or make a little digital version of her or do some other world-saving things.

After a few seconds, the lines vanished and the screen started to produce words. Alexis brought it closer to her, reading it:


Scan Completed!
Digisign Verified: Joy
Searching for partner…
Found!
Summoning Digimon: Puroromon

”Puroromon? Hey, Kyojin, what the hell’s that? Some kinda Pok-”

The digivice apparently enjoyed interrupting her to do things, because there was another bright flash and the digivice leapt from her hand. Floating in the air, lines were once again emitted from the screen - this time, though, they appeared to be drawing something in mid-air, like a really fast 3D printer, only without ink or plastic or guidelines or really anything. Whatever it was drawing, it was a complete, pure white.

In seconds, it was done, and the shape dimmed and assumed colors. When it was all over, it stirred, unfolding the wings from around it. What greeted Alexis was quite possibly one of the cutest things she’d ever seen in her life.

It was a small bug, possibly some kind of bee. (http://images.wikia.com/digimon/images/3/30/Puroromon_b.jpg) A yellow body and entirely-too-large-for-it-head held three pairs of insect wings, four small appendages, two eyes, and a pair of purple antennae. When it finished unfolding the wings, it yawned, shook itself, and blinked a few times before finally focusing on Alexis.

”Ah,” it said, speaking with a suspiciously cute yet almost somber voice, like if a bee was a corporate executive. ”I have arrived. You must be Alexis. My name is Puroromon, but I prefer to be called Eden, and I am your partner Digimon.”

There was a brief moment as Alexis was a bit overwhelmed and confused to speak, but she managed to get her composure quickly enough. She blinked a few times, shook her head, and was sure that it wasn’t a dream.

”OH MY GOD YOU ARE SO F***KING CUTE YOU GUYS LOOK AT HIM LOOK AT HOW CUTE HE IS!”

She ran up and grabbed Eden, pulling him into a tight hug. Eden, to his credit, seemed to expect this sort of thing and thus put up with it for a bit. Eventually, he spoke up from his spot in her chest as she babbled occasional nonsense about how adorable Eden was.

”Alexis, please let me go, I believe you are going to crush my wings.”

With a somewhat abashed expression, she let Eden go, keeping her eyes fixed on him as he flew up and around her head. She could hardly believe her luck in this regard. He was adorable. He was (hopefully) deadly. He spoke calmly.

They were gonna be best friends.

She grinned as he flew around her head. ”Right, so, Eden. Pleased to meet you, Eden. As you know, my name’s Alexis. You’re gonna be my partner, eh?”

He nodded before landing on her shoulder. ”That’s correct, Alexis. The others should be arriving as well, as soon as they are called as I was.”

They both quieted down as flashes indicated the arrival of the other Digimon.

[Spacewolf]

As she was watching Alexis play around with the new arrival Lauras’ digivice begins to glow as well, scanning the girl. Having already seen the scan wasn’t dangerous Laura closes her eyes until the scan has finished.

Scan Completed.
Digisign Verified: Loyalty
Searching for partner…
Found.
Summoning Digimon: BlackAgumon

The Orange digivice then joins Alexis’ in taking to the air and projecting a 3d web in front of it. However this one seems to be somewhat bigger, almost the same size as Laura in fact and a lot bulkier. After a few seconds a black dinosaur is standing in front of the group where it sways from side to side for a few seconds before it manages to raise its eyes up to see what has happened.

“Dammit I had them on the ropes.”

Almost instantly after saying the words the Dinosaur falls forward due to something strange happening which causes it to lose bits and pieces of it until all that’s left is a small head with ears that Laura manages to catch before it hits the ground. Cradling the football sized object her arms for a few seconds until it regains its bearings and starts speaking with a groan.

“Uhhh, thanks for the catch, I take it you must be my partner then?”

Laura lifts the thing in her arms up to head height so they can have a proper conversation easily enough but still takes a moment to reply to the statement, her reply coming in a fast stream of questions.

“….What? Are you ok? What the hell happened? What do you mean by partner?”

“Slower ,Slower please I’ve got a killer headache you know, well a whole body ache now I suppose. But anyway there were just some digimon trying to take my territory away from me I showed them who was boss though, although I guess I was hurt badly enough to degenerate… As for partner well, what does it sound like, means we’ll be working together from now on.”

Apparently the football finds the last sentence funny as he starts and ends it with a giggle. Which Laura finds quite suspicious, maybe the football didn’t really know and was just pretending to but ‘Eden’ apparently knew something about what was going on so maybe the football was just easily amused. Either way it gives her the next question.

“So do you have a name?”

“Course I do it’s Pitch cause I’m so explosive, yourself?”

Pitch punctuated the sentence with a massive smile and a wink, the smile looking particularly weird considering it meant he was literally grinning from ear to ear.

“Obviously, and it’s Laura, because well that’s what I was named.”

“Nice to meet you then Laura. How ‘bout we shake on a nice long partnership then see who else is arriving.”

Somehow Laura then manages to free a hand while still holding up the Pagumon to shake one of its ears that also seemed to function as hands before shifting it back to a cradling position with Pitchs’ face looking outwards this time.

"You know you'll have to explain what degenerate means at some point right, you carn't just dodge the question"

Responding to the wispered question Pitch moves it's ear infront of it's mouth
"Shhh, maybe later. As if I'd dodge a question, not my fault you don't know basic terms afterall."

[Gar]

”OH MY GOD YOU ARE SO F***KING CUTE YOU GUYS LOOK AT HIM LOOK AT HOW CUTE HE IS!”


Mayonaka’s eyes narrow in annoyance at the continuous use of profanity that was being demonstrated by her group. But she soon shunts the annoyance back to the part of her mind that was relegated to minor problems. All the well as grey colored energy coursed through her digivice and her mind happened upon a new annoyance. “Why is my color so drab... I wish I had something livelier than grey, everyone else has bright primary and secondary colors.”

As with Alexis before her, beams of light coming out of Mayonaka’s device and roaming up and down her body as it gathered data from her.

Scan Completed!
Digisign Verified: Grace
Searching for partner…
Searching…
Searching…
Found!
Summoning Digimon: Kyokyomon

A burst of grey light flashed, data was drawn from across the digital world and collated, block by block, bit by bit as the digivice reassembled the data to it’s natural form. Grey energy fell to normal(ish) light for this wireframe world they traversed, and where the energy once glowed now floated in the air a little curled... snake? (http://images.wikia.com/digimon/images/8/85/Kyokyomon_b.jpg) of orange body and a series of spikes tipped with purple and red around it’s head. It uncurled slowly and rose it’s head, the serpent revealing emerald green eyes to Mayonaka. Mayonaka was torn between cuteness and worrying if those spikes on the head were poisonous.


“Mayonaka Toturi,” the creature addressed her and lowered it’s head back down as it floated in the air before her. “I am Musashi, a humble Kyokyomon, and your partner in your quest to save the Digital World.”

“Aren’t you... a little small, to help save this world?” she asked in confusion as she compared Kyojin’s size to her own, and then her own to Musashi’s and tries not to imagine herself in Kyojin’s hand with Musashi in her own. And did his green eyes just flash bright red for a moment? Nah, that would be crazy... as crazy as being kidnapped to the savior of an alien world.

“Our size does not reflect our true strength, Princess,” the small digimon replies cooly as he brought his head up to look at her, floating gently in the air still. “Especially when paired with our partner.”

“Then, Musashi, we will have to put that true strength to the test against these Digital Warlords that have overtaken your homeland,” Mayonaka offered the digimon and it bowed again to her.

[Jehanna]

Stepping up after letting a couple of the others go first, Cass watches, mildly trepidatious, as his digivice is held and recharged by the pillar. The blue that shines from it is not surprising, though he might have chosen a rather more muted color were he in charge of this whacked-out world. When he retrieves it from its suspended state, Cass examines it thoroughly, hoping for some indication of the previously mentioned fabric-manipulating power, though if the function does exist it does not make itself immediately obvious.

He looks up as Alexis' device begins to shine, tensed, but calms slightly when it becomes obvious that the lines were not of the dismembering laser variety. At this point, he figures it's really better to wait and see what might happen before having a panic attack about it. It certainly seems they'll be here for a while, so keeping his heart from bursting is only prudent. Still, when the digivice flashes again and begins to float, he can't help but be slightly wary.

Cass watches on as the creature forms, and he only nods dumbly at Alexis' shouted (and most probably rhetorical) question. The emergence of Laura and Mayonaka's own partners causes a frown. Yes, they were rather cute. Were they all this small? They didn't seem to be the sort of constant companions Cass would bring to war with him.

His musings were interrupted by his own device, clutched in hand, beginning its own scan of him. As with the others, lines crisscrossed Cass's body. He blinked a few times as one of the bright lights moved across his eyes, but the procedure was over nearly as quickly as it had begun.

Scan Completed.
Digisign Verified: Inquiry
Searching for partner...
Searching for partner...
Searching for partner...
Searching for partner...
Searching for partner...

Please hold.

Bemused, Cass raises an eyebrow. Did it break? He shakes it lightly, and then harder. It takes a moment before it responds, emitting a series of beeps.

Found.
Summoning Digimon: Pagumon

At last, it takes to the air and begins its own forming process. Cass waits expectantly to see what small, cute thing might come from his own device. Slowly, it begins to take form. While indistinct, the shape it takes appeared to be similar to the thing now held in Laura's hands. He leans forward to get a better look, hands held out to catch whatever it is.

This turns out to be a bad idea.

It seems the summoning retains some of the previous velocity of its subject, for the creature that takes shape flies forward towards Cass at a dangerous speed. They make first contact forehead-to-forehead, and Cass reels backward as the surprisingly rubbery thing bounces off his face and lands squarely in his outstretched palms.

Ow. Before he can respond to the sudden assault, a surprisingly gravelly voice shouts up at him.

"Oi! Watch where you're standing, you-"
The creature stops itself as it sees its surroundings and who exactly is holding it. It looks about. "Oh." It looks upwards, meeting Kyojin's eye. "Oh."

It turns back to Cass, its expression much less impertinent and much more inquisitive.

"So you're Happy, huh?"

This brings the numerous things Cass would like to say to a screeching halt on his tongue. Nonplussed, he looks back at it for a moment, before protesting vehemently, hoping to divert conversation away from this introduction.

"No, I'm not happy! After having a fluffy thing like yourself ricochet off my forehead, who would be?"

He leans in whispering vehemently in the creatures ear. "Call me Cass!"

It's the creatures turn to look nonplussed. It's a weird thing, to witness what is essentially just a head frowning. Thankfully, it catches on after a moment, chuckling. "Heh, makes sense... I guess. Sorry about that, was fleeing for my life from mad and dangerous horrors, monstrous beyond all comprehension. You understand."

Cass didn't, but he nodded along anyway. At least the thing was trying to cover for him. "So... we're partners?"

"Seems so... name's Faust. Nice to meet you... Cass."

Faust's downturned mouth briefly lifts upward in a half-smile. He did look very similar to Laura's Pitch, but with a gloomier face and pointier ear-things that hung slightly in front of his face.

Cass smiles back. Sure, he was definitely strange... but there was something comforting in having an ally that would stick with him.

"Nice to meet you too, Faust."

[Agent_0042]

As the humans are introduced to the digimon teleporting in, Kyojin completes his spiel. "And finally, do not underestimate you own abilities. For you to accept the charges placed upon you, knowing the danger and despite being offered another option, speaks greatly of your inner dtrength. Your emotions are literally power here, power that few others possess."

The golem gazes towards the sky, though nothing can be seen in a blank expanse. "Our time together is coming to a close. Ask whatever you may."

[Wahrheit]

"C'mon, Nash. This thing didn't turn on 'til we grabbed it, so we may as well charge it th' same way." Nathan pulled the digivice from his wrist as the brothers approached the pillar, waiting for Cass to finish. Nathan gave the arriving digimon a considering look.

"Don't look like much. If this is the best they've got, no wonder they're losin'," he muttered to Nash.

Nash shrugged. "Maybe it's like Pokemon or somethin'? Cute little critters with crazy powers?"

Nathan didn't see fit to dignify that with a response as he and Nash pushed their digivice into one of the pillar's indentations. Energy flared, the pillar blazed green, and a newly-recharged digivice floated back to them. Nathan held it out to Nash, who obligingly put his hand atop it as it started to glow, commencing the scan.

Scan Completed.
Digisign Verified: Conviction
Searching for partner…
Searching...
Searching...
Found.
Summoning Digimon: Gummymon (http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090128050117/digimon/images/6/68/Gummymon_b.jpg)

"What," the brothers said flatly, in unison. The digivice floated into the air and projected beams of emerald light, rapidly constructing a glowing wireframe.

"Gummymon? Like a gummi bear or somethin'? God, this place just keeps gettin' better an' better..." Nathan grumbled. He was about to say something more when an adorable blob of jelly hit the ground in front of him. It was wearing a tiny Army helmet with a sergeant's rank insignia and a hole cut out to let a small horn, apparently the only completely solid part of the digimon's body, poke out.

"QUIT YER BELLYACHIN'!" It barked. Despite its tiny, cute appearance, it sounded exactly like a higher-pitched R. Lee Ermy. "So one of you maggots is Conviction, huh? SHAPE UP AND ACT LIKE IT! I'm Sarge an' I'm here to whip you sorry excuses for partners into shape!"

Nash attempted to stifle his laughter at the stricken expression on his brother's face and failed miserably.

"This... this is actually happening." Nathan managed. "I mean... if there's warlords in this world, there's gotta be soldiers, but... I wasn't expectin'... well, this."

"Aw, you don't like the resources you've been given to fight? WELL RUN HOME TO MOMMA!"

"You see me runnin'?" Nathan snatched the floating digivice out of the air and slapped it onto his wrist. "I don't know enough to start fightin' yet, but I know if I run, people here die. That ain't kosher."

"An' without me around, Nathan'll get in way over his head," Nash offered. "Someone's gotta balance ya out, man. I got my Zen thing back, so I got yer back."

"Peachy! Now that this very special episode of brotherly love is done, we've got a war to win!" Sarge paused for a moment, showing confusion for the first time. "So... which of you two am I serving under?"

Nash held his hands up in a who-knows gesture. "Don't look at me. Nathan an' I still aren't sure which of us was supposed to be here. Maybe both of us? We both showed up when that thing did its teleporty thingy."

"I'm Nathan, this is Nash, an' if you're what we've got to start with, well, I can work with that. I think. Stratagem 12: Take the Opportunity to Pilfer a Goat." He looked around at the other humans and their rapidly-arriving partners. "At least we've got somethin' now. Sarge, when we get a chance, I'll need any info you can give that'll be relevant to gettin' started. Terrain, enemy forces, whatever. I need all the intel I can get if these guys are gonna survive."

[Regalus]

"Oh my God... they're adorable!" Eduardo commented as he witness their slowly gathering army, which could best be described as if one had reached into a toy bin and pulled out the first few plushies they grabbed a hold of. This was no where near what the boy had expected to come to their aid, having hoped to come upon creatures of at least Kyojin's own scale; though they were at least spirited of the digimon the twins were dealing with was anything to go by.

Scratching his head, the boy turned back to see his own digivice performing its own duty.

Scan Completed.
Digisign Verified: Perseverance
Searching for partner…
Searching...
Searching...
Found.
Summoning Digimon: Bukamon (http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090128045036/digimon/images/4/41/Bukamon_b.jpg)

The boy looked on interest as the wire-frame lines come together before him; weaving together the form not unlike a seal or a demure prehistoric sea creature, its mocking expression leading one to consider its vigorously upturned fin as mildly insulting.

Once the dancing lights had settled the figure quivered; scanning its surroundings sharply as a wide toothy grin forming on its face. "YES! WOOOHOO!" exclaimed the seal like creature as it did a small aerial dance in glee.

"Heh, well it's nice to meet you too; the name's Eddie," quipped Eddie a bit taken back by the exuberant reaction.

The bukamon stopped his dance and turned to face, "Oh you marvelous bastard, YES!" he exclaimed as he swooped unto Eddie's face, and gabbled hold of it smiling wildly, "Boy, I could almost kiss ya! Ya have a grrrreat sense of timing you know?" he chimed before floating unto the confused boys shoulders sighing happily despite Eddie's quizzical stare. "They're gonna be soooo pissed it when they find out!" it admitted with a chuckle.

"Uh, who are you talking about?"

"Nobody ya need to worry about, for now," it replied with dismissive wave of its fin, before suddenly blinking. "RIGHT! Da name's Cyrus, call me Cy; it'll be a pleasue to try and save the world with ya. Let's try not to die, k?" Cyrus requested with a toothy smile as he extended a friendly flipper for a shake.

The boy chuckled awkwardly,"I think I can roll with that," admitted Eddie as he shook Cy's flipper. All things considered, it turned out better than expected; who knows, maybe they'd actually be able to survive this.

[ThreadOfFate]

"And finally, do not underestimate you own abilities. For you to accept the charges placed upon you, knowing the danger and despite being offered another option, speaks greatly of your inner strength. Your emotions are literally power here, power that few others possess."

"Our time together is coming to a close. Ask whatever you may."

Alexis took her eyes from Eden and grinned wide, flexing right arm and clasping her bicep, mimicking the classic Rosie the Riveter pose. "You can believe in me, Kyojee! Me and Eden, we got this, whatever we gotta do!"

Eden uttered a small, put-upon sigh. "Boastful claims are not to be made without forethought and caution, Alexis, though your enthusiasm is appreciated."

Shrugging slightly, Alexis nodded. "As for other questions, I suppose I've got another one or two. First off, if we're in the digital world, can we talk to the real world somehow, or maybe get to communicatin' with someone on that side, get some more help? And second, how can we use our emotions? If we can make weapons or somethin' by just believin' we can, that'd be pretty awesome!"

[Assurau]

Renji place his digivice on the pedestal's opening, following the example set by the others. Curiosity took the better of him, as he wondered what sort of creature would be provided for him. He watched intently as the device scanned him.

Scan Complete.
Digisign Verified: Discipline
Searching for partner...
Searching...
Searching..
Partner Identified.
Summoning Digimon: Moonmon



"Moonmon?" said Renji out loud. On the one side, the little creature materializing could have lunar iconography. On the other, the other digimon showed no definitive pattern to their names related to their appearance. As the wire frame filled in, the teen took stock of his partner.

"A tadpole? Well that is an interesting choice."

"I'm not a tadpole, sir."said the little moonmon so low that Renji almost missed it.

"Then I apologize. I am Renji, and i will be your partner if you'll have me.", said the boy with an air of solemnity.

"I'm Tsuki, and I was always meant for you.", said the little creature with a bit more conviction than she meant.

Picking up his new partner, Renji waited for Kyojin's reply to Alexis's question.

[Agent_0042]

"Unfortunately, such communication is not possible from here. The Prototype Layer is too far removed from your world, though there are others such as the Source Layer where that is not an obstacle. It is from the Source Layer that you would return home as well."

Kyojin indicates the pillar. "This is a Relay, one of many that dot this world. They serve as hubs between the different layers, some to many while others are fixed or even unilateral links. This Relay connects to the Simulation Layer, one of the few mostly unscathed by war. Your digivice, among its other functions, will allow you to interface with them as we can. Should you use this, you will be taken to a place of safety where you can learn more and decide how to proceed. I cannot guide you further, for my time here is up."

All the while, Kyojin has been gazing occasionally skyward, and now the phenomenon he was waiting for manifests. Another column of white light descends towards him, and he flickers like a Star Wars hologram.

"The power that allows me to speak with you is fading. I am honored by your naming, and that I was the one chosen to make contact with you. Should you reach the Source Layer, we may meet again."

And with that the giant is gone, though maybe he wasn't truly there, leaving the humans alone with their newfound companions.