The Forest Village

[digisolutions]

[ Now that the group is free, they can explore the forest village to gather info and supplies before heading out. Eric is going to be training in smithing with some local digimon.

The entire village is nestled beneath the trees, hidden in its boughs. A giant tree-turned-castle is in the center, with the smithing near the eastern river. An open-air market exists beneath the tree, around its base, where things both familiar and foreign are sold and traded. Clothes are scarce, although there's an Archnemon who works as a seamstress if they can find her.

Most shops are in the literal tree houses, though, especially the more specialized ones. There's cafes and an inn and the library that NeoDevimon works at. If it exists in a town, it's here somewhere, you just have to find it. Everyone largely seems to be chill, but there's definitely the sense that things are tense beneath the surface. ]

Comments

[lost_child_of_oriande]

[One of the first things Lotor is going to do is acquire (1) sword, all while Dorumon is giving him 'are you okay did you get hit in the head but why' looks, clearly Not Getting It. Honestly, Dorumon is probably not the only one.]

[Next, after attempting to ask Dorumon about the local history and what's important, he's going to be heading for the library, with Dorumon following behind happily keeping a ball in the air by bouncing it on his snout, foreclaws attached firmly to a small bag with a sweet bun.]

[digisolutions]

[ NeoDevimon is back at the library, his guard duty shift over. It makes sense why he works here, some of these shelves are amazingly tall. But he's here. There's a few obvious children reading in the corner. ]

Can I help you?

[lost_child_of_oriande]

[Lotor gives a small, respectful bow, which Dorumon blinks and half-mimics, hindered by their determination to keep the ball in the air.]

I don't mean to impose - I was just wanting to learn more about this world and your people. After all, I doubt I'd be that much help wandering in blind.

[Nope nope not completely curious about the new world, it's business, no he hasn't adjusted yet to the idea of what's "okay" here.]

[digisolutions]

I can tell you as much as I know. Where would you like to star?

[ This seems to be his area, as he seems much more relaxed talking about these kinds of things. While they talk, he seeks out a map, by the way. ]

[lost_child_of_oriande]

[Lotor is following along, Dorumon tagging behind. Honestly the impressive part is that the "keep ball in the air" game hasn't knocked anything over yet.]

[It is also taking Lotor a minute to ask as he's mostly covering the immediate urge to somehow ask everything at once.]

This realm - is it a planet or some sort of pocket dimension? How far back does your history go?

[digisolutions]

That's... Hard to explain. I suppose you could say we've existed as long as data has, but that's not quite true. As for if we're a planet, that is also... Complicated. The Cityscape has a far bigger library, and there's rumored to be somewhere that contains a volume for every age of rule. I've only been around in the Nine Lords era. It wasn't always the specific Nine that currently rule, of course, and Our Lady is the youngest of them, but they've ruled for thousands of cycles at this point.

[ Cycles, not years, because Digital World. ]

[lost_child_of_oriande]

[Listen, the universe he's from has a set of generic-ish time scales not tied to planetary solar/etc. cycles, he's not going to question the Digital World's time scale yet.]

The Nine Lords? How many ages of rule are recorded? [He's trying not to ask All The Things All At Once! Credit the people who actually raised him other than the cat]

[digisolutions]

Our Lady Mastemon is Lord of the Forest.

[ Ah. He's found a map (which I need to draw but well) which he will lay out on a table. It then changes into a 3D model. Various biomes are just. Side-by-side, some in nonsensical ways. ]

Ages of rule would be... More like the Nine Lords, then the system before them, and the system before that... I don't know much about that. It's a very long time ago. The Nine Lords have been very stable as a governing system, because to be a Lord one must care for their area and be willing to lead the charge to defend it. They must also be a Mega-level, the oldest among us.

[ Here, some circles with images in them will pop up over each area. ]

...I can give you basic information on all of them if you'd like?

[lost_child_of_oriande]

[Lotor is quietly taking note of the nonsensically placed biomes, and adding it to the list of Questions.] By all means!

psst mastemon

[resolved]

[ Everything else matters but for now he's going to talk to Mastemon. He asks his partner to wait outside--if there's delicate information he doesn't want her to be hurt by it or whatever.

She seems nervous, but he reassures her he believes in her. He's talked to her long enough right now that he has a pretty decent grasp on who she is. ... Soft. Kind. Perhaps closer to a real angel than he's ever seen outside his sister.

Powerful as she might (possibly?) be, though, emotional hurt is a worse damage factor and he needs his soldiers in their best shape. She still seems restless, so he asks her to go get him some clothes, giving specific instructions about it. Something light and airy. If he's traveling, he needs that. His other outfit will work for colder climates.

When he enters, his demeanor is stiffer. His voice a bit sharper. He dumps the books he's found in front of Mastemon. ]

If you want this situation to change, then I need to know everything there is to be told.

[digisolutions]

[ Uh. Fun news, it's not Mastemon waiting in her chambers at the moment, but two women. Seems you guys are really seeing her pushed to their limits. Angewomon is sleeping in LadyDevimon's arms. They... Needed a rest. The barrier, it seems, is still up though. They aren't depleted, just exhausted. ]

...Ask, and I'll tell you all I can. But I need to know where you want to start.

[resolved]

[ He looks at them, narrowing his eyes. ]

Fine. I'll ask the basic question: these children you've assigned us to take care of, how do you expect them to fight?

I'm not going to complain about their age in a war.

But I want to know.

Not all of us are physically capable and it would seem this world interferes with any sort of outside power inside it. No matter how skilled any among us might be, a handful of people cannot fight a war without weapons. Or knowledge.

[digisolutions]

...Digimon is short for Digital Monsters. We are born with the capabilities to fight--from the moment we hatch from our eggs, to the moment we die. They all have powers. You will see them, in time. None of your partners would need weapons, they would just be an added measure of protection. Especially yours. She has the potential to grow into a very powerful partner, if guided right.

[ She'll use the crystal to bring up a projection, though. Many, many past groups of DigiDestined. At most, a group would see nine. ]

...Many children before you have done similar feats. I won't lie. I won't say it's easy. It won't be. This is a fight for survival against a foe we know little about. But the lot of you have more power together with your partners than any Mega might ever hope to have, if you play your cards right. That is an undeniable truth about partnered Digimon.

[resolved]

Tch. Sending children to fight your battles...

[ A bit of it almost disgusts him, really. But he gets it. This place is... how it is. ]

These devices. What is their purpose? There's too many locked categories.

[digisolutions]

...I'm unsure. We don't create them. They simply come into existence. It's how we knew you would have to be summoned. ...I fought with her about it. That delaying would only cause problems. But she's right. Bringing children into a battle not theirs...

[ She'll draw her claws through the blonde angel's hair affectionately. ]

...Their eggs were found. Each in a different area. Dorumon in the mountains, Hackmon in the desert, BlackAgumon in the Lavaplains, Gabumon in the Snowfields and Lucemon here, in the Forest. They appeared as eggs, with the Cret emblazoned upon them. And when they hatched... They all arrived with the Digivices. Their primary use is in Digivolving--our aging process. Partnered Digimon can skip the aging part and grow in power through personal growth and dire circumstances alongside their partnered humans. As for other functions... I don't know. Each Digivice has been historically different.

[resolved]

... In other words, it would be best not to rely on that as our only option.

[ Right, then. ]

Is there a means of transportation here to the other regions? ... I imagine we're going to stick out no matter what we do. If we must, I would like to get the other leaders on our side. This threat is a problem for all of them and if they do not act upon it, then they're either aiding and abetting it, or too foolish to find worth caring for.

[digisolutions]

...Normally, there would be Trailmon between the regions, but the tracks have been turned to glass in many areas to cut us off. However...

[ ...Hm... She'll snap her fingers. A hole will open and out of it will rise a platform with a hovercycle on it. It's uh. ...If he paid attention to BelleStarmon, it looks a lot like hers. ]

My sister gave this to me. It was designed for the desert, but has little trouble with any solid terrain because it hovers. Water and lava will hold you back, but otherwise it should be able to hold a few of you.

[ Given she's like. Way taller than you. ]

Meat...farm? / Digivice Investigation

[lost_child_of_oriande]

[Where's the Beef/1]
[While exploring the village, Lotor's come to the fence of what almost looks like a normal farm... and he's standing by the gate, staring off into space, while both the Palmon who tends the farm and Dorumon are staring at him in confusion.]

...Where you ... grow ... meat.

[The increasingly confused Palmon nods slowly and responds even more slowly - after all this is the third time they've been through this.] "Yes. This is where we grow meat."

[This does not seem to have helped Lotor's bluescreen moment any.]

You grow meat on plants.

[Palmon looks like it could use a stiff drink or twelve. Dorumon's just got one ear flopped over, tilting their head around, before replying:] "Where else would we get it?"


[Digivice Research/Prompt 2]
[Lotor has a blanket spread out on a patch of grass somewhere toward the middle of town. There's a couple of cleaned bones from unknown haunches of meat on the ground nearby; Dorumon's on their back, lazily rolling a ball in the air with their feet.]

[Lotor, meanwhile, has several computer light-screens open in the air around him, text mostly in Galran glyphs, and is focused on his Digivice, poking at it and putting notes into various programs on the screens occasionally.]

Huh. That's interesting.

[digisolutions]

[ You poking at buttons, Lotor? Because if you are, you've accessed the menu! It's in Digi Runes! Because it hasn't learned your language yet. ]

[lost_child_of_oriande]

[Of course it is.]

Dorumon? This is your language, yes? I may need some aid for my computer to have enough information to learn to translate this.

[He is trying to figure out if he can get the Digivice to interface with his computer on another screen, but that's slow going without tools he's used to.]

[digisolutions]

[ Well, if he keeps at it, he does eventually get it up and... It garbles a bit at first. Then actively seems to be translating itself for him. But also because you interfaced this together, you have an app from it that's just the screen of your digivice and its functionalities on your computer. You have a few choices to pick from, now that you have this up in your own language. ]

> Map
> Messages
> Notes
> Clock
> Calendar
> Status
> Encyclopedia

[lost_child_of_oriande]

[Dorumon looks over as it's starting to turn to Galra glyphs; there's a beat where Dorumon gives Lotor a questioning look and Lotor just shrugs. Dorumon yawns, rolling over and letting the ball drop to the blanket, and curls up, sleepily gnawing on one of the bones.]

[Lotor, meanwhile, is going through each and every one of those menu options, seeing how much he can get to from them.]

[digisolutions]

[ Congrats. The very first thing you click on is a map. It glitches at first, taking a moment to come up. But then it does, and for a moment, he gets a vibrant, clear map of the entire huge island this place is on. But then the screen glitches and he can watch as splotches of gray take over chunks of it. And finally, he's left with a mostly grayed out map. It would seem, given the reactions of some gathered mons who are now watching his screen, that this is indicative of how far the glass has spread. ]

[lost_child_of_oriande]

[Lotor studies that, half glaring at the screen with a thoughtful frown.]

Well, it seems we're not going to the swamplands until we find a way to push that back.

[As much as he isn't fond of the Galra side of his heritage, he knows a "Victory or Death" scenario when he sees one, and this is definitely only those options.]

[It also means a vanishingly small window to move in - but rushing too hastily won't get anyone anywhere.]

Once I've seen what else I can make sense of here, we need to prepare and leave - hopefully we can find some clues to work with along the way. [Skirt the south edge of the glass just enough to maybe see about samples to test, then head for the snowfield capitol to see what else can be gathered...]

[Well, a map is a start for planning; he's going to move on to the Messages prompt, turning over resources weighed against what little they know so far.]

[digisolutions]

[ He's about to maybe wish he'd done this somewhere a little less public in about three seconds. Because the screen glitches... And then projects a larger screen above him, to give a clear view. In it, he can see a woman all in red with a crown on her head. In the background, one can see what is clearly former knights infected by the glass doing battle with random civilians. It's a grim sight. ]

We are not sure how to word this. First, we hope that this message reaches our Allies. Or better yet, we hope it reaches the ones we had planned to call forth to save us as our own efforts have failed. We are Rafflesimon. We rule the marshes, home to many a digimon who was once shunned elsewhere. And it is with a saddened heart we must report that the Swamp Citadel has been breached.

[ The screen shakes and there are screams as something in the background explodes. She looks behind her for a moment, grimly, before turning back to whatever is recording. ]

...Please. Save us. Our people... They deserve not this. We can only beg of you to find a solution--any solution to the problem. And we... We are sorry. We tried to stave it off once it took the mountains. But it claimed one of our knights. And then he spread it to the others and now... A coup.

[ Another, much closer explosion, and she looks back again. The screams are eerily beginning to die out, as is the motions of anything moving in the background. She turns back to the screen again. ]

...We are out of time. The video is set to be sent adrift in the digital river, so anyone may eventually stumble upon i--

[ She lets out a screech as something attacks from behind, obscured by smoke from the explosions mere moments ago. She glows brightly and then splits into two different women--a rose-themed one, and a lotus-themed one. They both are on the ground, reaching for each other. The camera they'd been using is also on the ground no, so the view of them is from largely beneath. The background is almost entirely glassed over. ]

Rosemon! I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry! I was too stubborn, I should have asked for help, I--

It's all right, Lotosmon. It's all right. Help will come. You'll see.

[ Their fingers barely touch as their own forms freeze in glass, fingertips just barely touching one another. The eerie stillness takes over and the feed sits there for a minute. Most would click away and stop by now, because there's plenty of time left on the video, but doesn't seem to be anything happening. Lotor, however, notices very slight movement to the camera. As if it's being gently poked. Suddenly, though, a hand comes from behind and grabs it. And Lotor, who rolled a fucking 20 on this, will notice, in the seconds before the video ends....

The hand looks human. ]