Private/Closed Something Something Digimon RP

[Rex]

The building they were lead to reminded Kyle of a pagoda. The boy didn't really know what he expected Wire's city hall to look like, but the design still surprised him. The samurai dressed Digimon inside introduced himself as "Buraimon," and referred to the Tamers as Honored Guests. He bid them to introduce themselves, and have a seat. Kyle was quick to take himself up on the second bit, sitting down on the mat, legs out in front of him. It wasn't all that formal, but he was too tired to care, not to mention his feet ached from walking all day in his loafers.

While the others introduced themselves, Kyle looked around the room. It was very minimally decorated, shelving and scrolls, with a number of swords. Veemon was presently checking one of said blades out, reaching up to grab it off its stand. When it became his turn to introduce himself, Kyle looked towards Buraimon and smiled. "I'm Kyle, and that's Lloyd- er, Veemon. I just call him Lloyd."

Said Digimon quickly spun on his heel and put his hands behind his back, and gave a short smile of his own. "Nice ta meet'cha!"

 

[StellarWind Elsydeon]

Buraimon continued to sit in contemplation, listening to the tamers and their partners introduce themselves, nodding to each one in turn - and had he any thoughts about the curious elephant's antics, or the tadpole's rudeness, or the small dragon-beast's fascination with one of his prized swords, he kept them to himself.

At last, when all introduced themselves, he talked.

"It is a pleasure to meet you all. Tamers are few and far between in this world, and four at one place may be fortunate tidings for us all. Now, for the matter at hand. I have no doubt that the commander told you some of Wire's woes - of the bandits who have been raiding our town. The mountain paths have always been home to wild, dangerous Digimon - but they have always been disorganized. Individuals and small groups, more often than not feuding with each other. Attacks on Wire itself have been rare and were relatively easily fended off - hardly a threat requiring more attention than some border patrols. But recently, all that changed."

Buraimon paused.

"Something happened to the bandits - they became organized. Feint attacks, sabotage and subterfuge were added to their arsenal alongside stronger, armored Digimon with the strength of lesser Champions. Rumors began spreading of a powerful Champion who made their home in the old mountain ruins and shaped them into a great fortress - a leader figure that united the scattered bandits into a credible threat through recruitment, coercion and violent terror. Several of our best and brightest Hawkmon enforcers were sent into the mountains in the wake of bandit attacks to find their elusive hideout, but only few escaped the ordeal - The rest are imprisoned, or worse. Meanwhile, the attacks continued - they were watching us, learning our weaknesses - and disappearing into their mountain hideouts with our food, valuables and new knowledge. I fear now that all these attacks were merely casing Wire for the most efficient way to claim what they were truly after."

Motioning to the great moss-covered object just outside the still-open door, the avian continued.

"Have you seen the great lantern in the garden?" Buraimon replied "It is no mere decoration. It is the source of a great barrier which has protected Wire and its area from the spreading Corruption. Thanks to it, Wire was a safe haven in these chaotic times. Alas, the device is useless without its core - and it is this core that the bandits have made off with. Their leader, I believe, desired its protection for themselves and their lackeys alone. That gives them great power... and puts the rest of us in great peril. Without the barrier, we are at risk not only of being corrupted ourselves, but of attack by already-corrupted Digimon. Our strength is needed here, to protect our people - we cannot risk an attack on the mountain stronghold... but perhaps you, with the power given to you by The Digital, may be able to help us? Not right now, of course - you appear to have traveled long and night is soon upon us - but should you agree to help us, we would be happy to help you in return in any way we can."

 

[Psycho Monkey]

Herbert listened intently as Buraimon elaborated on the bandit attacks that terrorized Wire. They Mayor had surmised that the bandits were sizing up security and trying to find weaknesses in the city’s defenses to steal the lantern from the garden. As Herbert learned, that was no ordinary lantern; it was a barrier that protected Wire from the Corruption. Since the Hawkmon Patrol had to protect Wire, Buraimon requested that the Tamers go fight the bandits in exchange for whatever they asked for. Food and shelter sounded pretty good right about now.

“Whad’ya say Otamamon? Will you help me go after them bandits after we’ve rested?” the young boy asked his partner. Otamamon rolled his eyes.

“You’ve got to be kidding me! Just how dense are you? Beakface just said we’d be facing Champions out there. Fangmon was a Champion and it took everything all four of us had just to beat him! Nuh-uh. No way!” Otamamon said defiantly crossing his arms.

“But we got that Power Boost to make you stronger and you’ve got that Lullaby Bubble attack. Plus I’m sure we can do it if we work together with the others.” Herbert tried to persuade. “Right guys?” he asked turning towards the others.

 

[Tailon]

"I mean, I figured we were in some kind of Power Rangers/Animorphs kind of deal anyway and Phantmon seems eager enough," James said, "And, relatedly, I would actually kill a man for somewhere to sleep and some food, so this thing with the bandits seems pretty easy in comparison,"

James stood up to collect Phantmon from where he had taken an (adorable) seat near Buraimon, "And besides, 'The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing,' right? We should help out where we can, if we really are chosen or whatever..."

As he finished speaking, James instinctively checked his "phone" again, only to find his Digivice instead. He sighed, and began playing around with its various functions as he stepped away from Buraimon to roughly where he had been sitting before.

 

[Rex]

Veemon perked up upon hearing about this mysterious corruption-warding artifact. Leaving the sword collection behind, he moved over to take a seat next to Kyle, who was presently contemplating Buraimon's request.

On one hand, it seemed reasonable enough. Food, rest, and supplies in exchange for the restoration of an artifact that would protect the city from the spreading corruption? However, he remembered back to the fight with Fangmon. As rude as Otamamon was, Kyle had to agree with the tadpole's assessment of the situation. If Fangmon was only a Champion, and it had taken all four of them together to take it down, what would happen if they got attacked by multiple Champions at once?

He did make a promise to Veemon to help deal with the Corruption, though. This was related to that, wasn't it?

"I made a promise," he muttered, more to himself than anyone in the room. Then he turned to Veemon, "What do you think, Lloyd?"

"We're not in a position te say no," the Digimon observed, "We'll run inte these bandits crossin' the mountains anyway, more likely th'n not."

Kyle nodded. Veemon made a good point, "And if we say no, we're out a place to rest and supply. We can't keep walking through the night, and it's probably dangerous to try and make camp.

"Wouldn' surprise me if this was th' only friendly place around," Veemon added, "Slick of ye, bird-brain. Picked up th' one thin' we can' refuse."

 

[StellarWind Elsydeon]

As the others conversed, Meital and Isomon ruminated over Buraimon's words. Meaningful looks were all it took between her and her partner to decide the next course of action - it's been a long day, and Buraimon's offer would certainly solve a lot of problems. Plus, it would help stabilize the area - and if The Digital has indeed summoned them as a last-resort solution to the chaos and corruption, it certainly couldn't hurt to start small as they got their bearings.

James seemed to agree, and so did Herbert. Otamamon seemed to have had objections which were sensible but seemed to be driven more by self-preservation than anything else, Kyle seemed to dither about for a bit but ultimately commit himself to the cause... and as for Veemon, Meital couldn't help but cock her head quizzically to the side. What was that mini-dragon doing, trying to test Buraimon's patience? The mayor's expression, however, continued to remain detached and fairly unreadable - it appeared to pay little attention, if at all, to the insult. The avian had the patience of a saint - which made her wonder what kind of terrible power he could unleash if he did lose his temper - and hope she would never need to find out.

"Honestly," she finally said when the others have all spoken "Even if options weren't thin on the ground, I think this still would have been the right thing to do. I'm in."
"Me too." Isomon chirped quietly, gazing up at Buraimon for a moment.

"Then it is settled." the bird man Digimon said with a nod. Then, he stood up and made a gesture. "Chief, kindly escort the tamers and their partners to the inn and inform Biyomon that they are guests of the Mayor and that they are to be given first class treatment. If they are to face dangers tomorrow, they should be well rested and fed."

As if by magic, the Hawkmon police chief appeared by the mayor's side, seemingly from no where.

"I will be honored, sir." the small avian nodded and motioned for the Tamers to follow "Come, it's not far from here."

~*~

Word got around fairly quickly - and life seemed to gradually return to the streets. Wire's population seemed to consist solely of various bird Digimon - Aside from other Hawkmon, the most common species Meital noticed had green-and-brown plumage and sharp teeth within their beaks and a certain difference to their build that suggested they were cut out more for land speed than for flight. The Hawkmon chief mentioned that usually, Wire was even more lively - but many of the citizens preferred to stay in until the barrier was put back in place. Having seen first-hand what the Corruption did to Digimon, Meital couldn't blame them.

Sure enough, the inn was not too far away - a three-story building that, from the outside, resembled a mix between what one would expect of a rustic inn and a birdhouse - a mesh of brick-textured stone, wood and thatched roofing with large, round windows clearly designed to fly through when opened. The foyer and the first floor had the look of a tavern - tables and benches carved of rock and wood, illuminated by what appeared to be small glass orbs filled with tiny, flickering lights that Meital could only assume were either sparks of electricity or a digital-world analogue of fireflies. Barrels of something lined a few of the walls and a cheery fire kept the interior nice and warm. A number of customers were present, perched at some of the tables, eating, drinking and chattering. Behind a counter stood the innkeeper - an individual covered in pink-and-blue feathers and singular crest that trailed into a spiral shape - who, upon noticing the new arrivals at the door, waved cheerfully, leaping over the counter and flying over towards the entrance, descending to the floor in a graceful spiral and taking a bow.

"Ahh, good evening, chief!" the innkeeper trilled in a voice that could not be classified as masculine or feminine but could probably be classified as fabulous. "Here for your usual?"

"Some other time perhaps, Biyomon, I'm on business." the Hawkmon replied, tilting his head to the side "These travelers are honored guests of the mayor, and they require food and rooms for the night."

"Ah, you must be the Tamers that agreed to assist our illustrious leader with our barrier problem!" the innkeeper chirped excitedly "Welcome, welcome! I am Biyomon, owner and proprietor of the Dovecote. You certainly look like you've had a long day. Have a seat, dinner will be served as soon as you're settled, and I'll see about having a room prepared for you as you eat. Come, come now, don't be shy!"

~*~

Dinner consisted primarily of small game and fish seasoned with herbs - or at least, something Meital assumed was small game and fish by the general looks and scent of the food. She couldn't recognize a specific species, and could only assume the food was harvested from a non-Digimon digital lifeforms. These were accompanied by some kind of rough-grained rolls of bread and some kind of steamed fruit - and while the food looked somewhat odd and some of the flavors were certainly new, they were not unpleasant - and actually quite delicious. Isomon appeared to be enjoying itself as well - the Crustacean Digimon, predictably, took a particular shining to the fish. There was little conversation over dinner, if at all - Meital chalked it down to hunger and situation processing. She couldn't help but occasionally notice the glances sent in their direction from nearby tables - some of the patrons appeared to regard the new arrivals with suspicion - perhaps disbelief that they were up for the task they undertook. Others appeared to regard them with curiosity - humans were apparently rare here after all - and perhaps hopefulness. She wasn't entirely certain - these Digimon may have acted human-like enough, but they were still alien creatures that resembled birds, and who knows if she wasn't misinterpreting their body language?

Finally, dinner was done. A little while later, Biyomon returned to lead the group to the room reserved for them. The room in question was more of a large round hall on the third floor, one of the larger round windows they've seen from the outside of the building providing a rather lovely view of the town. The floor was covered in a rug that appeared to be a patchwork of colourful feathers and seemed to emit its own warmth. The walls were lined with eight rock ledges, naturally projecting from the walls themselves - and upon each of these ledges was one of the light-orbs she saw on the ground floor tables and a rather large nest-like construct with a frame of branches and an interior padded with what looked like woven grass and straw. The pillows and blankets placed within these nests led her to believe that these were the Dovecote's equivalent of bunk beds - a view only reinforced by the fact that some of the taller ledges had makeshift ladders of branches and rope attached to them - which was a good thing, as neither she nor any of her companions could fly. Fairly bare bones room, overall, but probably homelike enough. If you were a bird, anyway.

"Facilities are on the right, through that door in the wall. If you want to turn the light-orbs on or off, just tap them. I hope you have a pleasant stay, and I will see you in the morning!" the innkeeper trilled again, and with another twirl and a flap of a wing, the Biyomon departed, flying downwards to the first floor to resume its other duties, leaving the Tamers and their partners to survey the room.

"I think I'll take the higher ledge by the window, unless anyone minds in particular." Meital said as she surveyed the room.
"And I'd like the one below it." Isomon replied "I'm not exactly good with heights. Over water, anyway."

 

[Tailon]

Dinner was a pleasant affair, rustic but tasty, and befitting his appearance, Phantmon seemed to greatly enjoy the selection of fruit.

While James found the whole inn quite charming and the food good, he nearly shed a tear of joy upon seeing the beds.

Meital and Isomon claimed their beds first to which James replied, "I genuinely don't care," though he was grinning wide, not sarcastic, "I'll take a top bunk, since I doubt my partner here can climb ladders."

James climbed up as Phantmon hopped into the lower bed, and was out cold almost immediately upon lying down.

 

[Rex]

So that was it, then. The four of them would be staying the night in town, then heading out to find this artifact tomorrow. Kyle wondered if he should ask about more reasonable footwear, his feet were killing him and he didn't like the idea of taking on mountain climbing with them on. He was very grateful for dinner, however it seemed like nearly a day since he'd eaten last. He ate a little bit of everything, while Veemon mostly stuck to the meats.

The room they were taken to left a little to be desired. Four sets of two alcoves in the wall, the higher of each pair having a ladder up to it. The beds were more like nests, which, made sense, bird village and all. Still, Kyle couldn't help but be a little disappointed, he didn't think he'd be sleeping well tonight. He took a seat on one of the lower beds, and pulled off his loafers. He was fairly certain he'd be developing blisters sooner, rather than later.

Veemon climbed the ladder into the top bunk, and went out of Kyle's sight. James immediately went to bed. He seemed to be taking their being in a strange world better than he had been earlier that day. Kyle was happy for him. This situation they were in wasn't going away anytime soon, and it was for the best that they all keep level heads.

"So, do you have a plan for tomorrow?" he asked Meital, seeing as she was the closest thing the group had to a leader.

 

[Psycho Monkey]

With mostly everyone in agreement, Buraimon requested that Chief Hawkmon escort them to the local inn for food and rest. After seeing most of the locals around Wire, it was no surprise to Herbert that the inn resembled a giant birdhouse. The interior on the other hand resembled a tavern with wooden and stone benches and tables, soft lights, and a warm fire going. It was a very welcoming sight. The innkeeper was a pink bird Digimon introducing itself as Biyomon who seemed absolutely delighted to be of service to the Tamers and their Digimon partners.

Dinner came out almost immediately much to Herbert’s delight. He had barely anything to eat at all the entire day so he wasn’t sure if the banquet presented before him tasted delicious from hunger or if the food was normally that delectable. Herbert went to town on the food trying a bit of everything until his stomach was so full he couldn’t eat another bite if he wanted to. Otamamon however stuck mostly to the fish.

“Whaddaya think yer lookin’ at?” the tadpole barked at some of the other patrons he caught staring at them.

“Otamamon, we’re guests here. Try to be nice.” scolded Herbert even though he was certain Otamamon would ignore him like always.

Once the eight of them had finished their meal, Biyomon returned to escort them to their room for the night. The room was fairly large but had modest decorations with only a few lamps and a rug on the floor. The “beds” were more like nests sitting on top of eight rock ledges on the walls. Meital requested the ledge by the window which was fine with Herbert. After spending all day being chased through the woods by a hungry wolf, fighting said wolf, and then walking to Wire, he felt like he could sleep on anything so he was grateful for this much. James and Kyle chose their beds leaving Herbert to sleep in the remaining one.

“I guess I’ll take top bunk?” he asked Otamamon. Much like Isomon and Phantmon, he doubted the amphibian was much of a climber.

“You do whatever you want.” Otamamon replied curtly as he crawled into the remaining bottom bunk. Herbert in turn climbed the ladder to his chosen bed which was surprisingly comfy. Again, Herbert wasn’t sure if it was supposed to be that way of if it was the fatigue talking.

“G’night everyone.” he said as he laid his head down quickly dozing off. In the last throws of consciousness he could have sworn he heard Kyle ask about a plan. He would just have to get the highlights in the morning.

 

[StellarWind Elsydeon]

"So, do you have a plan for tomorrow?"

"Hmm. Well, I'm not exactly an expert on tactics," Meital tilted her head as she gazed down from her perch at Kyle "But let's recap what we know. Pack of disorganized every-mon-for-themselves mountain ruffians. New leader shows up, ruffians suddenly organized. It's probable that if we take the fight to their leader and defeat the brains behind this operation, the whole thing is going to collapse just enough for us to get out with what we came for. The tricky bit will be to get to that leader."

"If we can find out who they are." Isomon chimed in, "I don't think anyone was clear on that."

"Yeah. And that's another problem - from what Buraimon and the Chief told us, these bandits are pretty well entrenched in there - and they'd definitely have numbers on their side, not to mention higher levels than we have. Now, if I were a group of bandits - which I try not to be - I would keep an eye out on the mountain roads. They'd probably know we're coming - or at least be on the lookout for a bunch of Digimon traveling with humans. A frontal assault is going to be suicide, and finding a sneaky way in is going to be difficult, at best. So. I think that before we go, we're going to need to have as much information about the mountain roads as we can get."

She held out her Digivice for a moment.

"Now, we have these, which is pretty awesome in terms of having a map." she grinned "But it would be useful to get some information about the roads and the fort from someone who's been there. I think that tomorrow morning I'll talk to the Hawkmon Chief and ask if we could, maybe, talk to some of the Hawkmon who made it out of the previous mission. See if they can give us any pointers."

"Maybe-" Isomon started, but grew quiet immediately after, as though reconsidering what it had to say.

"Yes, Isomon? Go on." Meital turned her attention to her partner, leaning over the edge of her perch and looking down at the crustacean Digimon, upside down. Isomon twitched its antennae, shuffling nervously.

"I just thought... Maybe if some of the Hawkmon that got captured are still alive, and we break them out... But... You know." it chirped out, then curled up "That's assuming a lot. We can't plan around this."

"Let's consider this an optional objective, then." Meital smiled "If the bandits have prisoners that we can free and convince to help us, it would certainly improve our chances. At the very least, we could try to get them home. Good thinking, Isomon - if we're supposed to do this 'hero' thing, then every little helps, I guess. Not sure how we'll find these prisoners, though. Did you have something in mind?"

"Well, If we make it to the fortress, I could try to analyze it and find the prisons." the biomechanical crustacean twitched its antennae, more confidence in its voice "I can't guarantee it'll work, but I can try."

"That's all I can ask for - Just keep yourself in one piece, and be ready to knock 'em down like we know you can." Meital grinned and the crustacean chirped in response. Then, the girl turned her head back to Kyle - and a good thing she did, because hanging upside down like that for that long was already making the blood rush to her head.

"Anyway, that's what comes to mind." Meital nodded "Any thoughts?"

 

[Rex]

Herbert and his Otamamon quickly went to bed as well, leaving only Kyle, Meital, and Isomon - and perhaps Veemon, Kyle couldn't tell - awake to discuss the next day. Still, Kyle thought it was important that someone discuss what they would do tomorrow, and Meital seemed happy to oblige him. And though she mentioned that she was no expert on tactics, many of her points seemed sound to him. Bandits tended to respect strength in the stories, the leader of this motley crew would be the strongest of the bandits, and should that leader fall, the other bandits would hopefully lose their nerve. Or engage in a power struggle, which would be even more helpful to the party. This all assuming the bandit leader wasn't the sort to inspire personal loyalty and desires for vengeance upon their defeat.

The bandits had a rather large tactical advantage, as Meital pointed out. They probably had most of the roads on lockdown, and not to mention had a literal fortress for a base. Kyle also didn't like the idea of coming at them from downhill, which is likely the direction they'd be expecting. Meital seemed to agree with his feelings there. The fact that they had such perfect maps in the Digivices would help them immensely. They could find ways to get the the fortress that weren't simply following the mountain roads. As Isomon was quick to mention, they also had a survivor from an attempted raid on the fort who might be able to give them some pointers as well.

Getting to the prison and releasing any surviving Hawkmon captives sounded nice on paper, but Kyle had a few concerns with this optional objective. It didn't make sense to him that the bandits would keep prisoners. What would they do with them, force them to work, sell them? And assuming there were living Hawkmon captives, could they even assume they'd be strong enough to escape on their own, or even provide a distraction? Even if they were willing to try, such a thing might well result in their deaths. It might be better to wait until the bandits were cleared out before trying to free any captives they might have.

After a quick conversation with Isomon where there small Digimon let Meital know there was a possibility that he could find the prisons, the girl turned to Kyle, asking for his opinion!

"Well, uh," Kyle stuttered, quickly getting his thoughts in order, "With our Digivices, we can probably find a way to the fort that doesn't involve the roads. It might be more treacherous, but hopefully they won't see us coming. I'd also like to come at the fort from uphill, just in case we get spotted on the way, it's always better to have the high ground in a fight, even if it's a fighting retreat. Talking to the escaped Hawkmon is definitely a good idea. I just hope the experience wasn't so traumatic he can't talk about it." He'd read about PTSD in some of his mother's books. It was a terrible thing, and could do terrible things.

"I'm worried about what the state of these captives might be, if we try to find them," he continued, "the bandits have little reason to keep them that I can figure, and even if they do still have them, they're not likely at full strength because of abuse, or starvation. I'd like to save them too, but that means, you know, saving them. It might be better to wait until after we've taken care of the bandits to release the prisoners. Instead, in the stories, there's often someone with ambition and ego that goes beyond what they're capable of achieving, someone who wants to kill and replace the leader, but isn't powerful enough. Maybe if we can find one of those here, we can get them to attack the leader? They won't defeat them, but they might weaken them, and it might provide a decent distraction?"

 

[StellarWind Elsydeon]

Meital listened intently. The fact that she did not consider the prisoners would probably be in no condition to fight - or that the survivors might experience something to the line of post-traumatic stress disorder for that matter - made her feel silly for a moment. But then, she had no frame of reference regarding the actual robustness of Digimon compared to humans

"All great points." Meital nodded "Especially about the prisoners. If they're in no shape to help, we could be doing more harm than good. Guess we'll see when we have more information. Higher ground could definitely be an advantage... assuming they haven't already thought of that and have some scouts in position... We're going to have to do some route planning tomorrow after we've gotten whatever information we can out of the survivors... assuming they can talk about it, that is."

She paused for a moment, gathering her thoughts. There was always some backseat driver type who would have totally done a better job at running the show if given a chance, wasn't there? It was a common fictional trope for sure, but even in real life, she's seen the type among enough backstabbing high-school idiots to know there was something to it beyond fiction. There's a chance it would have extended here. Stirring up internal conflicts and power struggles between the bandits would also be definitely helpful for their cause... if they could find someone like that. Of course, they'd have to tread carefully around the ambitious - especially if they did manage to somehow overpower the leader and realized what they were actually after.

"As for the other thing, it might work if we can find someone like that. Something tells me that one might find us once we've dented these bandits enough, though. Mind you, considering our primary objective is to recover the most valuable thing in their hold - even if we do find support from the inside, things can still deteriorate pretty quick if they realize we are. We've seen what the corruption can do first hand. I don't think they'd be particularly inclined to let us go with the one thing that would prevent it from happening to them."

She felt a yawn coming up and stifled it.

"Sorry, guess I'm getting a bit tired after all." she nodded sheepishly "We'll probably need to have a proper strategy meeting tomorrow when everyone else is awake... It's definitely been a long day. Here's hoping we can get some decent sleep."

And with that, she nodded and tapped her light orb - its radiance dimming and fading out. She removed her earrings and her necklace, placed them in one of her sleeveless vest's pockets, then removed that and curled up in her nest under the blanket, cuddling the vest as one would a stuffed animal. Moments later, the light-orb in the lower bunk turned itself off as Isomon brushed an antenna against it, then relaxed, curled into a ball.

"G'night, guys. G'night, Isomon." Meital mumbled sleepily as she closed her eyes. Her body was tired, but her mind was still troubled - she thought of the events of the day, this new adventure that she and her new companions - it was a bit too early to call them friends considering she knew barely anything about them except their names - were thrust into. She thought of her first actual battle, and how they stumbled through it. Were it not for the corruption rendering Fangmon erratic, they had little chance of actually surviving this. They might have ended up in the real world again - like the potential fifth tamer did, she hoped - but their partners would have been gone, and the Digital World itself would probably follow afterwards. And if what Flaremon said was right, that would have some dire effects on the communication networks of the real world - and that could lead to global chaos. The villain of this particular story, she decided, could not have had a more appropriate name.

Thoughts of the real world made her wonder how the passage of time aligned between the worlds, if her family was wondering where she was, if there was some way to send a message back at least. Even if she did send a message, though, would anyone even believe it?

"Bech'iyyat Zumzum, Meital, Le'hi Li'shon Kvar." she grumbled at herself inwardly "Do what you can, accept what you can't, worrying about it won't solve anything."

She turned around in her bed, still holding her jacket, and started doing what she usually did when she couldn't sleep. Breathe in and out slowly, attempt to clear her mind and count jumping spiders - because sheep were for the weak. The spiders weren't cooperative in jumping over the fence, of course - but then, getting even imaginary spiders to do what you want was a bit like herding cats. With eight legs.

With a tiny smile, Meital Klein finally fell asleep, longing for a laser pointer.

OOC: The random Hebrew at the end here means something loosely to the line of "Good grief, Meital, go to sleep already."

 

[Rex]

Kyle swung his legs up and onto the nest, laying down on his back while Meital laid out her points. She seemed largely in agreement with him, but did point out that it was possible the bandits expected an uphill assault. This was very true, just because bandits tended to be dumb in the stories didn't mean they had to be in, well, 'real life,' in as much a sense as the digital world could be considered 'real.' It was a strange concept for him to think about. The world clearly existed, the Digimon themselves were real, the food they had eaten for dinner was clearly food, but everything had a strange, electronic element. Everything was mechanical, computerized, but also natural, living.

"We created computers by shooting rocks with lightning and tricking them into thinking," the boy muttered to himself, smiling. It was an odd thing someone had told him once. It completely understated what actually went into making a computer, even with his limited knowledge on how the technology actually worked, Kyle understood that. At the same time, it had a point, computers didn't come out of thin air, their component parts came from the natural world, this made them natural as well. Meital excused herself, saying that the eight of them would have to have a proper strategy meeting once they were all awake. Now, however, was the time for sleep.

Kyle's body was exhausted, but his mind was still far too active to attempt sleep. The nest bed didn't help matters much, it felt like, well, what Kyle expected sleeping on a bed of hay would feel like. Everything was strangely itchy, and poked at him, better than sleeping on the ground, but not the most comfortable experience, either. Kyle pushed himself further into the nest, wondering what new troubles tomorrow would bring. Hopefully the Hawkmon survivor would have some good information for them. He'd have to ask Meital if they could see the fortress on their maps. They really needed some kind of idea of what they were walking into.

They'd have to fight again tomorrow. They wouldn't be like that corrupt Digimon they already fought. These ones could think, work together, plan. And there would be more of them. It wouldn't be four on one like it was last time. This time, it would be the Tamers who were outnumbered. They could so easily fail, and end up like the boy that had been with Herbert. And their failure here would have very real consequences on the human world and the Digital world both. These were the thoughts on Kyle's mind as he finally drifted into a restless sleep.

 

[StellarWind Elsydeon]

It was fairly early in the morning - late stages of sunrise, or whatever equivalent it had here - that Meital Klein found herself opening her eyes. She was confused, for a moment, at her whereabouts - but reality, and the events she was now caught up in - set in fairly quickly as she recalled the events of the previous day.

Ah. Olam Digitali. Nachon.*

The room was quite still - it seemed that she was the first to rise, and her DTD Digivice - which she promptly extracted from the pocket of her now bunched-up jacket - had the digits "05:00" softly glowing on its screen guard's small display. "Ma la'azazel ani osa era be'sha'ah kazot?**" she murmured quietly to herself, setting the device down, stretching out on her back and gazing up at the ceiling of the room in the low light. To her surprise, her eyes seemed to adjust rather quickly.

What was she doing awake at this sort of hour was a good question - for she was not, by nature, a morning person - and yet here she was, awake and feeling quite refreshed - none of the bleary-eyed grogginess that usually took her a large cup of coffee to clear off back home. Maybe it was something about her internal clock not quite synchronized with the Digital World's, like some kind of reverse jet-lag. Or maybe it was something to do with the nature of the world itself and her body in it - did being 'uploaded' mean that this body she was in now was a digital facsimile created in the image of her real body to house her mind while she was in the Digital World, and thus was subject to the physics of this world rather than the real world's?

But then again, given the fact she was the only one awake at that particular moment - and had no reference for comparison - it honestly could have been just her being weird. Honestly, it probably was. What was the time even when they went to sleep yesterday? Maybe her body just slept enough. Either way, she had no intention to wake the others up this early - she had a feeling they would need all their energy for the events of the day ahead - but she had no intention of being idle while the others sleep, either. Pulling up the Location Monitor screen of her DTD, she began looking up the mountains near Wire and whatever information she could get about the paths that went through them - at least to have some preliminary information to go on. Someone might as well do something to advance the plot.

* "Ah. Digital World. Right."
** "What the hell am I doing awake at this sort of hour?"

 

[Psycho Monkey]

Otamamon stirred awake letting out a loud, obnoxious sounding mix of a yawn and growl as he stretched his legs forward. The tadpole grumbled to himself at how itchy sleeping in a nest was. He much preferred to snooze someplace cool and damp. Otamamon looked around to see if anyone else was awake yet but he could only see the Digimon on the bottom bunks who all seemed to still be asleep.

“Bunch of slackers.” he chided quietly. For a moment he considered ditching them to avoid the suicide mission they were being sent on. No one could stop him if they weren’t awake. Sure the people of this town fed him a hearty dinner and gave him a place to sleep for the night but why should he risk his life to save them from the Corruption? Defeating one Champion was hard enough but that Buraimon wanted them to fight an army? The lazy old bird should go face them himself. Of course now with Fangmon gone, Otamamon could go back to the forest and live in peace. But that was so far away now…

He jumped out of the bed and started waddling to the door. That goody-goody Herbert could find another partner. Surely one of the Hawkmon or Biyomon would love to help them.

“Where ya goin’ Otamamon?” he heard Herbert’s voice whisper down to him. The amphibian stopped in his tacks and let out a silent sigh of defeat. Looks like I missed my chance to flee.

“So you’re awake twerp?” said Otamamon curtly avoiding the question.

“Well of course. I’m shocked the others could sleep through all that noise you were making just now.” Herbert looked over to one of the other beds where he saw Meital gazing intensely at her DTD. “G’morning Meital. I guess you were already awake. Whacha lookin’ at?” he asked her trying to be as quiet as possible so as not wake everyone else. Otamamon however was not feeling as generous.

“WAKE UP YOU LAZY BUMS!” he shouted at the top of his lungs. If today was going to be his last day in the Digital World he wanted to get it over with as soon as possible.

“Otamamon!” Herbert reprimanded even though the damage was already most likely done. The tadpole simply sat himself done with a self-congratulating smirk as he crossed his arms.

 

[Rex]

"Oi big mouth, ye talk too loud," the reply came from the bunk above where Kyle slept. Veemon poked his head out, propping himself up on his elbows and letting his hands drape down over the side. "Sun's barely even up! Ye got any space in tha' head fer a brain or are ye all teeth?"

The Digimon swung himself around and dropped onto the floor, brushing loose bits of hay off his scales, grumbling something about the sun barely being up. It was only then that Kyle, who'd somehow slept through Otamamon's morning greeting, started to stir. Veemon practically jumped, then immediately straightened as the boy sat up.

"Mornin' Kyle," Veemon said, cheerily.

"Hey Lloyd," came the reply, "We're all still here, so I guess this means I wasn't dreaming after all."

"'Fraid not," the Digimon almost sounded conciliatory, "Yer stuck wit' me fer the foreseeable future."

Kyle blinked, then turned to sit on the side of the nest, feet touching the floor, "Sorry, I didn't mean to imply..."

Veemon simply shrugged, seemed like he was taking it in stride at least. Kyle took a moment to look around the room. Meital, Herbert, and Otamamon all seemed to be awake already, while James, Phantmon, and Isomon were out of sight, likely still sleeping. Meital was doing something on her Digivice, Kyle took a moment to feel around his pocket to make sure his was still there. It seemed like Herbert was trying to talk to her, he hoped his being awake didn't interrupt anything. It would be better if they all got along.

 

[Tailon]

James snapped awake, but he did not move. He'd had some sort of nightmare or...episode. It took a few moments for his senses to refocus, he heard voices...that wasn't right. Allowing his eyes to open, he saw the straw...hay? Regardless, upon seeing it, he started, jumping back instinctively.

Being as he was on a round bed designed for small-ish bird people, this caused him to tip over the edge, dropping to the floor below with a cut off curse and a thud, followed shortly by the smaller thud of a tiny elephant landing on his chest.

"Ah, well, shit, ok, we're real here," he said, then raised a hand from the floor, "Mornin', I thought you guys were either a weird pizza nightmare or I had finally cracked so option c of 'this is just my life now' is either a pleasant surprise or pretty frightening I'm not sure which yet."

James sat up, rubbing his now rather sore back as Phantmon slid into his lap.

 

[StellarWind Elsydeon]

Before Meital got a chance to reply to Herbert's query, a terribly silly sequence of events took place, beginning with the Otamamon being, well, Otamamon (i.e., obnoxious), continuing with the Veemon grumbling and culminating in James apparently forgetting he's on a bunk-bed of a nest and crashing to the floor with a loud thud - followed by a second thud as his partner pounced him like an excitable puppy.

Then something beeped - followed by a series of chirps, flashing lights and a faint whirr like an electronic device being turned on as Isomon uncurled from its spherical resting position, twitched its antennae, briefly surveyed the room.

"Analysis inconclusive. Marching Fishes may or may not be green on Tuesday." It chirped - and promptly, curled into a sphere again - as though it wasn't sure what substrate to bury itself in.

There were a few seconds of silence, before Meital spoke.

"'Morning, guys." she said in the most matter-of-fact manner she could while attempting to conceal her amusement "Yup. Still in the Digital World. Which means that we should probably wake up properly and get breakfast, because by the looks of things, we're in for one hell of a day."

~*~

It was not too long before the four humans and their partners gathered again around a table in the Dovecote's main floor after completing whatever morning preparations they may have had to make. Biyomon was already busily fluttering (sometimes literally) between tables, taking orders and serving breakfasts, and soon enough, the pink avianoid proprietor reached their table with a serving cart and greeted them merrily as they unloaded plates, silverware, cups and assorted food items onto their table - various breads, fruit, milk and cheeses (or at least, something that sufficiently resembled such), some form of puffed-seed based cereal and (to Meital's pleasant surprise) coffee - among other things, some familiar and some unfamiliar. There was a little something for everyone.

"Good morning! I hope you've had a pleasant stay." the Biyomon trilled as they worked "I've heard from the Chief earlier. They mentioned coming in a bit later with one of the survivors of the assault on the bandit fortress. Apparently, injuries or not, the poor soul was quite inflamed about providing whatever information they can to make sure you succeed where they and their unit failed. Something about 'giving those egg-suckers the payback they rightly deserve.' Well, those were not their exact words, of course." the Biyomon's eyes twinkled as a conspiratory tone creeped into their voice "But a proper innkeeper would never dream of repeating that sort of scandalous language in polite company! Oh, but I've taken up quite enough of your time with my ramblings - Do enjoy your breakfast, fine fellows, and if you need me for any reason, feel free to give a little shout."

And with this, the Biyomon fluttered off, dragging the now-empty serving cart in tow.

"I suppose we should probably wait with the strategy meeting until they join us?" Meital tilted her head to the side as she started picking out some food items. Suited her just fine, personally - getting some caffeine into her system, or whatever digital equivalent thereof this was, was probably going to do her a world of good.

 

[Rex]

James didn't seem to be doing so well. Better than yesterday at least, but he still seemed to be adjusting slowest between the four of them. It was sad, he'd been so bright at first. Kyle thought back to the other boy that had been with them only momentarily, and the Digimon that had died defending him. It felt so unreal, thinking back to it. Had it really only been yesterday that they all met? Meital and Herbert seemed to be keeping it together so far. Kyle had to try to do the same.

Before too long, the group had assembled for breakfast on the main floor. Kyle still had James' bag, he'd forgotten in the chaos that he was holding onto it. For now, he sat it next to his seat at the table. It did have his clothes in it, after all. The Biyomon host, or was it hostess? Either way, they provided them with a fairly wide range of breakfast foods, while they talked about the injured Digimon the group would be meeting with later. Sounded like this Hawkmon was only too happy to give them whatever help they could. That was good, at least. If these bandits were really as strong as they'd been made to sound, the small group of Tamers would likely need all the help they could get.

For now, though, they ate. Kyle didn't realize just how hungry he'd been. He did force himself to drink a cup of coffee - he'd need the energy - and followed the bitter drink with some milk. He did his very best not to wonder where a bunch of birds would have gotten milk and cheese from. The fruit, at least, was good, and healthy to boot. He didn't know how long he'd be trapped here, so it was important that Kyle ate well. Veemon, by comparison, picked listlessly at the food. Judging by his and Otamamon's teeth, Kyle guessed they'd both typically be eating meat. Or, maybe he just wasn't hungry? Kyle probably couldn't expect Digimon to work exactly like real animals.

"When 'er they gonna bring out th' real food?" Veemon grumbled. Well, Kyle might not know Otamamon, but he definitely had Veemon figured out.

The Tamer smiled, "Eat up, Lloyd, or there won't be any left for you!"

"Yeah, yeah..."

 

[Psycho Monkey]

Veemon didn’t seem to take too kindly to Otamamon’s rude awakening but as far as Herbert could tell he was the only one. Kyle got up next making a groggy comment about yesterday’s events not being a dream. James then woke up fairly abruptly before ungracefully falling out of bed with Phantmon landing on top of him. Herbert wasn’t sure if the Digimon weighed as much as a real-world elephant that size would but if it did James would probably have a few broken or bruised ribs from that.

“Yeah… we’re screwed.” Otamamon grumbled under his breath.

Once everyone was out of bed- or nests rather- they headed back downstairs where Biyomon passed on that one of the surviving Hawkmon wanted to meet with them to tell them everything they knew about the bandits. Herbert’s imagination ran wild wondering what shortcuts or secret passages they could tell them to hopefully lessen the number of fights they need to be in.

Biyomon then served them a variety of food for breakfast. Herbert found the fruit to be the most appetizing but he thought the cereal was a little dry for his taste. Nothing washing it down with a glass of milk couldn’t fix. The one thing offered that he refused to touch was the coffee. He just didn’t like the taste or smell of coffee in general. Meital was the opposite seeming to be enjoying her cup as if it were the best thing she ever tasted. Kyle, while not as enthusiastic, still managed to drink his down.

While Herbert made sure to try a bit of everything, he noticed Otamamon and Veemon were less enthusiastic about their breakfast selections with the latter openly voicing his disappointment with the food.

“For once we agree on something.” the amphibian said snarkily as if surprised that he and Veemon would have anything in common. He then started banging one of his forelimbs in the table. “Hey beakface! This bird food ain’t gonna cut it! Ya got any fish or at last some kind of meat?” he demanded. Herbert slowly covered his face which was turning a bright shade of red at his partner’s outburst.

“Otamamon…” he groaned exasperatedly. “Just. Eat. What’s in front of you! It’s probably all yer gettin’ so eat it or you’ll go hungry.”

“Make me!” Otamamon sassed crossing his arms defiantly. The young Tamer stared at the tadpole getting real tired of the attitude. Challenge accepted. Herbert grabbed a piece of fruit and shoved it in Otamamon’s mouth causing his eyes to grow wide with shock at his Tamer’s sudden action.

“Am I gonna have to keep feedin’ you like this or can you do it yerself?” he inquired sternly. Otamamon swallowed what was in his mouth then after staring Herbert in the eyes for a few seconds with a scowl grabbed a piece of cheese and grudgingly ate it in defeat. “That’s better.” the boy said before offering an apology to everyone else at the table for their behavior.

 

[Tailon]

As with the previous night's dinner, breakfast was largely fruit based, along with simple bread and some dairy from who could guess where. Still, James and Phantmon ate ravenously, with the boy seeming to finallly lift out of the odd haze that had overtaken him after the incident with Fangmon.

James spoke as he ate, which was probably rather rude but really, they were among digital bird people.

"So the way i figure this whole place is some kind of self editing fully autonomous digital environment, but at the same time, there's no network on Earth that could support something this complex without even getting into the question of how we ended up inside it Matrix style," he continued to ramble as he bit into a red-pink apple, "So unless the last things each of us remembers is a false memory and we're all floating in vats with wires plugged into our spines in the green future, I have to figure we're basically in another dimension, like, not quite part of our computers but not quite not either, right?"

James looked around briefly for assent, quickly recieving a full-mouthed "Right!" from Phantmon for probably no other reason that he had ended the sentence on a question.

"Anyway, if this place is really made of data, then why is the Corruption spreading like the miasma theory or somethin' and not just exponentially destroying all data it comes in contact with instantly," James continued, swallowing his bite of apple "And what does that make us? Antibodies, or culling force?"

James tapped his fingers on the table rhythmically, seeming to really stop and think for the first time. He bit off a hunk of bread. This ragtag little group had been brought together seemingly by pure chance not a day ago and now held the responsibility to save an alternate world from certain doom, and one of them had fallen at the first hurdle already. They couldn't just be some kids and Digimon.

James sat up straighter then, looking serious, and spoke, "I think we need to reintroduce ourselves," he said, swallowing his hunk of bread, "My name is Jaime Alvarez, most people call me James. Until yesterday, I thought I was a pretty normal guy, now I'm not so sure. I'm from Los Angeles, California, in the United States. Last night I was working in the garage when I started hearing sounds and seeing lights from that bag," he pointed, indicating the bag next to Kyle," and when I checked it out I found the DTD, then I woke up on the beach with Phantmon. I'm willing to bet you all have pretty similar stories."

 

[StellarWind Elsydeon]

With their group all rested up, breakfast was far livelier than dinner was the night before. James appeared to be in full on output mode that morning, almost-rambling speculations about the nature of the world they found themselves in while eating - as though he was letting words out of his system in order to make room for the food. Veemon appeared to be somewhat disgruntled at the lack of meat on the breakfast menu - but hardly to the same extent as Otamamon, who was being a straight-up petulant child about it, until Herbert literally shoved a piece of fruit into his mouth in the most cartoonish manner Meital has ever seen in person. That seemed to shut the tadpole up, as Herbert apologized profusely for his reluctant partner's behaviour.

Meital, for her part, just shot a look to Isomon, head tilted a little to the side - and the crustacean Digimon returned her gaze, twitching its antennae with a passing imitation of a shrug before resuming a thorough demolition process of a fruit. Isomon, clearly, was not the most discerning of eaters - unsurprising, considering the giant isopods that her partner reminded her of were generalist scavengers of the deep sea. An old meme flickered to her mind and briefly made her wonder how her partner would react to a bag of tortilla chips - before James seemed to decide that another introduction was in order.

"Alrighty then. Introductions round... three? four? is it four now? Eh, whatever. Anyway, Hi." she started "Meital Klein, friendly neighbourhood weird bug girl, at your service. I'm from Israel - somewhere in the centre, I won't bore you with the details - and I was out in my garden, trying to take a photo of a really gorgeous spider for my arthropod blog, and just then, in a brilliant stroke of timing, someone decided to beam down a DTD and spook the precious baby away. So I picked it up - the DTD, not the spider - then some message about an upload pops up, and the next thing I know I'm on a beach in an alien world, Isomon is there.... and then I find out that this world is full of bugs and not in the good way. Well, not just. If the other Digimon from the card game are hanging around, there are bound to be some pretty snazzy bugs in the good way too. But I suppose we're here to do something about the glitchy type of bugs. Which makes us the QA team, I guess. But I'mma stop digging in your brains - so, who's next?"

 

[Rex]

This Otamamon really wasn’t all that enthusiastic about this whole thing. In fact, he seemed to almost relish in the fact that he was being difficult. His mother would probably call such a person a brat, if she’d seen him, and while Kyle generally didn’t like to pass judgment like that, he did feel a little bad for Herbert, having to put up with it. What happened next was actually pretty surprising, though. Herbert, apparently having had enough of the tadpole Digimon’s outbursts, quite literally force fed the Digimon a piece of fruit. Kyle’s jaw dropped, almost disbelieving what he was seeing. Veemon, however, burst out laughing.

“Tha’s the funniest thing ah’ve seen all week!” The little blue dragon smirked, “Didn’t think ah’d be gettin’ breakfast an’ a show!”

Clearly, Veemon hadn’t forgotten Otamamon’s little wake up stunt, and was relishing seeing the tadpole suffer some form of consequences. The Digimon picked up a bit of fruit and tossed it into his own mouth. At least he wasn’t complaining about the food anymore, even if it wasn’t quite what he was hoping for. Kyle was soon distracted, however, by James launching into a long explanation of his current thought process. Kyle wasn’t quite sure he got everything the other boy was saying, and some of it was the kind of stuff he didn’t really want to think about, to be honest.

“Yer overthinkin’ things,” Veemon cut in, turning his attention to the other boy as well, “The Digital World ain’t Earth, so don’t ya worry yer head about it overloadin’ yer vacuum tubes er whatever ya use these days.”

“It does seem more like its own world, and not a simulation or anything like that,” Kyle nodded, “Corruption seems to be something like a cancer, almost. So I guess, rather than antibodies, we’re more like surgeons, cutting it out before it can spread too far.”

Before he could take that line of thought too far though, James wanted everyone to go through introductions again. Things had been a bit spotty the first two times, what with the whole thing about the Pharos, and then Fangmon. Kyle briefly remembered the other boy they had only briefly seen, who’d gotten away at the cost of his Digimon’s life. Best not to think about that now.

James and Meital introduced themselves first. They also went into where they were from, and how they came across their digivices. They both had quite the story to it, both similar and not to Kyle’s own story. Meital, after finishing her own explanation, opened the floor to the rest of the group. Kyle figured now was as good a time as any to speak up himself.

“I’m Kyle Douglas, I’m from New York City. I found the DTD sitting out on the balcony of my parent’s penthouse, I didn’t notice it appearing or anything like that. It was just there when I found it. I hit a button on the side, and then I got the same message about uploading as Meital. The next thing I remember, Lloyd – that is, Veemon – was waking me up on the beach.”

“Found ‘im layin’ there, soaked to the knees by the surf, dressed up all fancy like,” the Digimon confirmed, “I’m Veemon, by the way. Ya can call me Lloyd if ya want. Ah was travelin’ north, ta get away from the corruption, headin’ along the beach since it was safer than the woods. Guess ah was real lucky ta run inta ya all.”

 

[Psycho Monkey]

Veemon seemed to take great pleasure in Otamamon’s humiliation, something the Amphibian Digimon did not take too kindly to. Normally he’d retort with some sort of snide remark, but at the risk of getting more food shoved in his face, the tadpole settled for giving Veemon the stink-eye instead.

Meanwhile James was much livelier than he had been the previous night going off on a tangent about the nature of the Digital World, what it could be, and what their role in all of this is. He then declared that another round of introductions was in order, this time offering up more about himself such as where he was from and how he came into possession of his Digivice, or DTD as everyone else was now calling it. Well those were the letters written on it so it wasn’t completely out of nowhere. As everyone reintroduced themselves, Otamamon broke out into uproarious laughter at Veemon calling himself Lloyd.

“What’s with that stupid nickname? Are you that Humon’s pet now, loser?” he mocked before slapping the table in another fit of laughter. Figuring that scolding Otamamon would just lead to another scene, Herbert decided to ignore him instead and just get on with his own introduction.

“My name is Herbert Zane, I’m from Conway, South Carolina. I was in my backyard doin’ my homework when I saw what I thought was a meteorite land in the woods behind my house. I went to investigate it, but it turned out to be this thing.” he explained holding up his own DTD. “Next thing I know I’m wakin’ up in the middle of an unfamiliar forest talkin’ to an oversized tadpole.”

“You forgot the part where you THREW the DTD at me!” Otamamon interrupted indignantly crossing his arms.

“Well yeah, but I said I was sorry for that. Anyway, after that was our first encounter with Fangmon. Luckily Otamamon was able to put him to sleep long enough for us to skedaddle outta there. That’s when we met Wyatt and Ginghamon.” Herbert went silent for a moment thinking about what happened to them in their last battle. It wasn’t like he forgot about them or anything, but with everything that happened since, their fate had just been pushed to the back of his mind. “Unfortunately I don’t know anything else about them other than their names. We only had a few moments to talk before Fangmon was hot on our heels again. I don’t even know if Wyatt had a DTD. I assume he did since we all have one and something would have needed to transport him here and then outta here again. And then y’all showed up and help us put that mangy wolf down for good.”

Herbert then noticed a similarity their stories shared compared to his and Wyatt’s situations. It might even explain why his new allies seemed so much better informed about what was going on than he was. “And come to think of it, all y’all said something about waking up on a beach but there wasn’t one anywhere near where I woke up. How did y’all find us anyway?”

 

[StellarWind Elsydeon]

"How did y’all find us anyway?”

"We had a guiding light, literally." Meital nodded, taking another sip of her coffee. "Shortly after we all found each other, we found a lighthouse - one that looked like the Pharos of Alexandria, of all things - and Flaremon, the Digimon that ran the place, essentially gave us a quick briefing on What A Hell's Going On. Apparently the lighthouse was some kind of a data hub and we must have been drawn to it when we were 'uploaded'. I can only assume an equivalent of GPS drift explaining why you ended up a bit further away - but Flaremon could detect the signal from your DTDs and sent out a light beam for us to follow. And that's how we found you, and a lucky thing we did. That was one angry mutt."