The Grand Entrance

[digisolutions]

[ When you awaken, it's in a bed. But it's not your bed. Someone is hustling and bustling nearby--multiple someones. They seem to be working hard on something. When you awaken, it's in a very clean room, but you're inside. When you finally open your eyes, you're safe in a nice bedroom with five identical girls running around and keeping the place nice and cozy. Yes, that's right, five identical girls running around. For those familiar with it, they could be cosplayers. But they're not. Also, unlike their original design, they have obvious ball joints to make them more puppet-like. What do you guys do? ]

Comments

[yonosoymaria]

[Why did the reedy one with the complex about his face being seen have to say something like that? Eric was trying not to think that, and now -

Well, leave it to another nonhuman to just breeze on by that business, he supposes.]

If that's why we're here, why are we unarmed?

[digisolutions]

[ The many eyes blink in unison, as if he's caught off-guard. ]

I am NeoDevimon. I am a "devil" in some ways, yes, but only by birth. I assure you, were we not in need of anyone and everyone strong, I would be tending the local library instead. I'm sure many of the children miss storytime...

[ He is. At least making an effort? To seem smaller than he is? ]

You've got what you all arrived with. There were no weapons. But you won't be unarmed forever. You just won't be fighting the way you're used to.

[resolved]

[ Okay, soft devil. Cool. But like. That's not what he's interested in. ]

... In other words, you want us to fight your battles for you. We've been drafted.

[ He doesn't sound happy. ]

And I assume that we've no choice in the matter?

[yonosoymaria]

[Eric doesn't have any arguments to make against Tall Dark And Apparently Shy Or Something's questions, so he'll simply ask his own.]

What do you mean "no weapons", I do not wander after dark unarmed, and that is the last I can remember before waking here. And what do you mean we will not fight as we are used to?!

[lost_child_of_oriande]

[Lotor's looking between both of them and glancing back at the crowd...]

You need outsiders for some reason - something your people can't use themselves.

[He's actually less suspicious and hostile than the others, somehow.]

[digisolutions]

You think we want to rely on other people!? If we could handle this ourselves, we would! But all it's done has--

Turuiemon. I'm sure your brother is fine. Lady BelleStarmon wouldn't let him fall so easy.

[ The rabbit stops and nods. ]

Listen. Our Lady will explain it better than we ever could. She knows a lot more than me, but... If you want an idea of how bad it is, then ask why we have the local librarian playing palace guard?

[ He doesn't wait for them to answer and just starts inside. ]

[resolved]

[ Lelouch looks deathly serious. He's going to grab rabbit man by the hand-- ]

Nobody fights a war without knowing the war's details. We may help, we may not, but I think we deserve to know what it is we're dealing with and why you deemed to pull us away from our prior obligations.

[ Nunnally. He has to find some way to get back to his sister and clean up this awful, awful mess. ]

[yonosoymaria]

[If nothing else, these... creatures? have managed to find some very sharp people. Eric isn't sure if he can include himself alongside them, but he'll die before he admits that out loud.]

Beings that can pull anyone they choose from outside space and time are one thing, but this - but this does not have the same feel as - oh, never mind. If we are to face a losing war, we do have the right to know what it is and why it must be us, right?

[lost_child_of_oriande]

[He's following Tureimon with a nod to Eric, hoping that following along to meet the leader is understood.]

I think the only reason people would drag complete strangers in abruptly and throw their fates to them would be abject desperation.

[digisolutions]

Listen. You want answers, she'll explain. All right? I'm just a grunt and don't understand half of it. I'm more like... A teenager, I think you guys call it?

[ Digimon age weirdly. Once Turuiemon can free himself of Lulu (and even if not, because Lulu is small and scrawny and light), he's definitely leading them deeper in. Gotta get to what counts as a throne room. But he'll lead them there nonetheless. It's a beautiful room, like it's entirely crystalized in the middle of the tree. And a giant crystal is floating higher up, and there, floating at the other end of the room over what probably counts as a throne is... Well. She seems important at least. ]

[resolved]

[ He lets go pretty quickly, but he follows and then.

Stares.

This woman seems like a cosplayer who couldn't commit to one or the other. But Lelouch isn't one to be intimidated by anything. He's fucking Zero, damn it! ]

... We were told you have answers about our situation. What is it that made you so desperate as to pull in complete strangers? I'm not a fighter, if you're looking for someone to wage your war for you.

It's clear to me your choices have been... somewhat chaotic. Random. Why?

[yonosoymaria]

With one exception, his words are as mine would have been. I can fight, but what level of desperate must you be to bring us here without even asking?

[The devil is a librarian. This, then, can not be some sort of demon, can not be a monster. And this is a place of such beauty that he can't believe anything evil could inhabit it without beginning to burn up... he can panic later. For now, the high-society manners have to come out.]

[lost_child_of_oriande]

I don't know that I have much else to add to the questions, aside from what you're up against and what we would be able to do that your people haven't.

[He's...pretty sure that's one of those beings that's a bit Bigger than "normal mortal entity", albeit way less threatening than the ones he's used to, even if he's sure she COULD be dangerous if she chose to be.]

[digisolutions]

We are Mastemon. We do not choose who comes to us as our saviors. That is simply the will of the world and a decree of Fate. The four of you... We lay our hopes on you. As for that which you battle...

[ A projection covers the room. Like they're suddenly in the middle of a town. ]

You are in what is known as the Digital World. We have been invaded by a virus. You have a concept similar. It infects us, from its source. None have seen the source and been able to tell the tale. But it takes over, and while they seem normal at first, one day...

[ A random mon just suddenly stops their shopping, then walks to the center of town and stops in their tracks and explodes into light. When the light clears, the entire town is glass. Frozen and pristine, beautiful and reflective. ]

...This has covered a good portion of our world by now. We have sent soldiers to the stronghold of this threat, but... None have returned. Our people are cut off from the other Lords of the Land, our sister and brother. And meanwhile, many have been turned to glass. What scans we have managed have determined that the glass is safe once it has come into existence, but... We will eventually run out of places to hide. Even now, our power dwindles. We cannot shield this place forever. ...We do not wish to see our people suffer. That is why we need you.

Non-Digimon have a unique power when partnered with our kind, through predestined bonds. They can, together, become stronger than anything. There are many legends about this, and they all end favorably. We have tried to fight this war ourselves, but... We no longer can. It is taking all we have to keep the lands not glass safe, and the people therein free.

[resolved]

[ He doesn't mean to be cold, he understands. It's not that it doesn't tug at his heartstrings. Truly, it does.

However... he's got shit to do back home. It's frustrating; looking at her, he sees no eyes. No way for his Geass to penetrate. How can he use his power on something that he can't assess properly? ]

... While I find your situation tragic, yours is not the only country at war. I realize I may seem as though I am not very busy, being a high school student, but that is simply not the case.

I must return at once.

[yonosoymaria]

I -

[It is glass. It isn't salt. It is glass, it is not salt, but the comparison has drawn itself and how closely did God look to see if there were ten among that city, how closely did He look, were Lot and his family only nine?

Outwardly, Eric only looks pale. He is proud that he isn't shaking.]

I -

If it is to stop the death of innocents, I am bound by honor and my family's duty to stay....

[lost_child_of_oriande]

[It isn't the same effect as what he's used to seeing - light and crystal where the Komar would be leaving crumbling ash and blackened waste, but...]

[Prior experience with mass destruction doesn't make it any more pleasant.]

Will we have some way to ensure that - affairs in our own worlds will not fall apart in our absence?

[He does trust the people he's been staying with to take care of things in his absence, but if some upstart warlord or his father notices that he's not there overseeing...]

[digisolutions]

When you play a game, does the time in the game not move differently? You can accomplish weeks of tasks in a game within only an hour. That is how it is here. Minutes may only pass while you are gone, while you may be here for a year or more.

[ She waves her hand and the crystal overhead changes color, darkening, pulsing, and they can see it. The code that swims through everything like lifeblood. Even the people. Lines of data and code and it's all everything is. ]

We are data, but we are nonetheless alive, Digidestined. And we need your help. Nay, we beg for it.

[resolved]

[ He is quiet for a moment. He observes this, looks at those around him, and then...

he laughs.

These people are strangers. From other worlds. They have no idea who he is. His identity could hardly be compromised, and if it is, he'll erase their memories. Easy enough. Fine. Is it a war they want? Then they've a tactician.

... But he's not like to give up his secrets so easily. ]

... I see. So our time here is inconsequential.

[ A beat. ]

And what, pray tell, do you expect an unarmed high school student to do for you in a situation like this?

[yonosoymaria]

I don't understand half of this.

[More than half, if he's honest. Most of it. And he doesn't want the parts he thinks he does understand to be real.]

The only comparison that comes to mind is of being spirited away to a fairy court, but time operates the opposite way there....

[This is something John would throw himself into with the sort of enthusiasm only an American could. It's that knowledge and a photograph-sharp memory of the way John would smile, grim and stubborn, before flinging himself into a fight for someone else's sake, God, why was he like that which drags Eric's voice into trailing off - that, and a sudden fierce stab of what he can only call homesickness, lacking any better word; a longing and a wish like a knife to the chest that he was here, too.

But - and this is a vitally important "but" - John isn't here. This is his work to take up.

And yet - ]

Is there truly no way of bringing another from... [home] from where we came from?

[lost_child_of_oriande]

[The whole idea is fascinating - moreso that this apparently exists independently of any intentional creation by a programmer or individual; a reality unto itself.]

[He nods to the other two - and the common thread in the question.] I believe the main question is, how have you chosen who was brought?

[digisolutions]

There are ancient artifacts called Crests. Once they were physical, their forms are long destroyed. But they are still strong, and flow through all. We called upon those who might exemplify the Crests in their paths.

[ The crystal changes with a wave again, and four symbols appear over the four Digidestined. ]

Hope.

[ The Crest over Lelouch pulses with golden light a moment. ]

Courage.

[ Over Eric, the symbol pulses with a warm, orange light. ]

Love.

[ Over Sylvain, who scoffs a bit, the symbol gives a pulse of red light. ]

...And Kindness.

[ And over Lotor, a pink-purple symbol pulses with lavender light. ]

You have potential to grow into these symbols, and as you do, so will you and your partners strengthen. You were the ones who shone brightest with this potential at this time. But come. You still have yet to meet your partners.

[ She floats up as the projections from the crystal fade, toward another hallway. ]

Follow us. We would introduce you ourselves.

[resolved]

[ ... Well, then they're not alone?

But.

"Hope". Well, what was Zero, if not the hope of all Japan? No, the hope of all numbered. It had, perhaps, gone beyond simply Japan at this point. In a certain sense, he can understand the association. He brings hope to people. That is his job. To rekindle the people's faith.

... Haaah. Funny. Someone had really done their homework. But he'll go wherever he's led he... supposes? ]

... Partners. I assume this is the reason you refuse to give us actual weapons?

[yonosoymaria]

Courage...

[Eric is most definitely not aware he repeated that out loud - and most definitely not speaking whatever language it might've been overheard in, "el Valor" simply doesn't look like "courage" when spoken.

For the second time, the reed-thin stranger asks a question he would have, if he'd figured out a way to state it that wouldn't sound too much like a frightened child was doing the asking. He can be brave, indeed he'd insist he is as a default state of being, but he knows there's a difference between seeking fights as he has fallen into the habit of doing and being willing to help in a situation without much hope of victory. In that - well, she said "potential", true, but - she said potential, as if he hadn't proven himself even once!

His face feels like it's on fire, and the knowledge that he's blushing only makes it deepen, and in turn that makes him scowl.]

This is a cruel joke. It is even his favorite color, this can't be - you would surely be better served by someone who has more than potential!

[lost_child_of_oriande]

[Lotor actually isn't sure why "partners" would mean "not getting weapons" and does look a little confused at Lelouch making that connection there.]

Perhaps whatever the - powers that guide these work on has more to do with the future and who will best act in that manner in this situation as it develops than those who display it in their current context now.

[He's very much avoiding commenting on his own. He tries, really, is trying, but he's well aware that the only way it won't get read as "weakness" is if he can prove there's practical, concrete results before the ideological tirade starts.]