Writefagging 10: Digimon Tamers

Jump 10: Digimon Tamers

Ashton:
+200CP Awakened Fury
Location: Shinjuku
Age: 9 (in Digi-years)
Digimon Partner (Free, Tsukaimon )
Dangerous Eyes (Free)
-200CP Data Absorption (Discount)
-200CP Last Straw (Discount)
-300CP Bio-Merge (Discount)
Scaling Belts and Jeans (Free)
-200CP Leviathan (Discount)
-100CP Glaring Sunglasses
-200CP Companion Import x2 (Kindred, Jeanne Alter)
Tamer Partner (Free, Hyledd)


Hyledd:
Building Bridges (Free)
-300CP Clarity (Discount)
-300CP Bio-Merge (Discount)
D-Ark (Free)
Hero Goggles (Free)


Kindred:
Drop-In (Free)
Certifiable Genius (Free, Medical Science)
Hardware (Free)
-300CP Binary God (Discount)
-300CP Digital Progenitor (Discount)

Jeanne Alter:
+100CP Say Hello
Drop-In (Free)
Certifiable Genius (Free, History)
Hardware (Free)
-100CP Certifiable Badass (Discount)
-200CP To Sleep, Perchance to Dream (Discount)
Glaring Sunglasses (Free)
-300CP Grani Blank (Discount)
-100CP Mobile Headquarters (Discount)

~

My name is Tsukaimon. No, it isn’t, it's Ashton. Well, technically it's both.

No need to figure out which world I’m in, I’ve got a whole life’s worth to figure that one out. Digimon, huh? It’s been a long while since I’ve done anything tech related. Granted, this stuff tended to approach fantasy more than anything else.

Aside from that, I’m a tiny blue and white hamster with wings coming out of my ears. Not the greatest thing to move around in really. Thankfully, after a short time spent working out my body, I found that my Shapeshifting still works just fine in getting me back to my human form, although I can feel the drain on my mana from the effort. Goes to show that you should never forget your roots. How long has it been since I’ve unleashed my stinger?

Regardless, I’m now a rookie level Digimon partnered up to my new girlfriend. Hyledd was a bit younger than I’ve seen her before, but I suppose that's a part of this whole scene. The horns are gone now though, I suppose that since we’re out of the Nasuverse she can hide them. As for the Kindred, they seem to be sprawled out on a nearby rooftop, either napping or just too lazy to move. As for Jeanne, she seems to be asleep at the wheel of perhaps one of the coolest looking vans ever. Not to mention...is that a Grani? I quickly moved it into the Warehouse, nothing to see here.

I found a pleasant surprise inside in the form of an oversized motorcycle and a pair of sunglasses. Hold on, isn't this supposed to be Beelzemon’s? A quick text showed to be operational, doing a quick loop around the open space inside before parking it again. Apparently, we now had methods of transportation. Call me weird, but most of the time I had ended up walking or using alternative methods of transport (dragon) in other worlds. It tended to be just as fast when not going to other countries. For that, I’d use public transport.

Where to begin? Seems that we’re a little late to the plot, as usual. Unlike most shonen protagonists, which I will hate myself if I’ve managed to become one, we don’t arrive fashionably. Just too late, most of the time. Not nearly as great as it sounds, considering that people tend to die because of that kind of thing. Thankfully this world shouldn’t be all that bad, at least for me.

“Speak for yourself, silly!~ Huahuahua!” That’s Jeanne, her face bright red as she manipulates a finger puppet that has a tiny version of her ‘normal self’ as a motif. Yeah, maybe it won’t be great for her. Not sure how Hyledd figured it out, but somehow Jeanne got cursed on the way to this world so that she can only communicate through the puppet or she can’t talk. Apparently, she can’t even escape it through writing, which we found out rather quickly. Hopefully, she can still pull off wielding a flag or activating a Noble Phantasm with a puppet on one hand. Can she even drive the van like that? Well, she can take it off so it shouldn’t be an issue.

While Hyledd and I seemed to have no relation with the main characters at the moment, that was an easy fix. Just a skip, hop and stalking session with the use of the navigator built into the D-Ark and we found ourselves a good hideout while Takato and co. fought against the Digimon of the week. What is that, a Coredramon? That’s Champion, I think.

“Say, Hyledd?” I questioned from her head, currently in my ‘standard’ form for this world. As much as I didn’t appreciate being small, staying human was a small cost of mana but would eventually put me in danger from overuse if I needed to call on the rest of my abilities in a hurry.

“Hmm? I’m ready when you are if that’s what you’re asking.” She pulled her D-Ark from her pocket.

“No, I know that. But did you get some cards when we ended up here? Because I didn’t and if I can’t digivolve…” She shook her head before coming up with a couple of unopened card packs. After going through a few, she held up a Digivolution card. “Did you steal those?”

“Do you care?” She questioned. I sighed. Just a card game, calm down. Ugh, it was done already so it’s not like I can do anything. This body isn’t built for dashing, but time to kick it into high gear. Off we go, it sees me.

‘DIGIVOLUTION.’ Oh wait, this feels weird. Real weird.

“Tsukaimon digivolve to…” I’m humanoid again, that’s a relief. What’s up with the robe though? A broom too? My hands are getting kind of huge, but kind of cool in the claws sort of way. Hold on, why does my chest feel sort of heavy?

“Witchmon!” Oh. Well, I’m just going to go into that corner over there and cry about what I have left of my pride as a man. Already I’m the shortest in the group, now this. I suppose it wasn’t meant to be, considering the gender diversity of my motley crew. I swear, it wasn’t on purpose.

“Aquary Pressure!” Funny thing about Digimon, they tend to downplay the strength of attacks. So when you have a Champion level Digimon whose main attack can punch through steel with ease and aim it at something like a head, or other soft bits? They tend to break. Pop goes the Coredramon. His data was kind of meh, but I downloaded anyway. Every bit counts.

Ignoring the fact that Takato was seemingly upset about my downloading of another Digimon (which was attempting to kill them earlier) I’d think that our original introduction went pretty well. Jeanne and Kindred kept hidden due to the fact that they're not being Tamers would likely confuse them, and as such life continued as normal.

Well, almost. Apparently, Lamb and Wolf had developed a code for about a month to secure a constant connection into the HYPNOS network and proceeded to give the whole organization the world’s biggest headache after replacing all of their backgrounds with their masks, half each. When did they get so snarky? Well, better than them all dying. We’ll need them later, anyways.

Aside from that, the local bio emergence population was finding itself swiftly cut down due to intervention from the five of us. Sure, things like the Devas still happened, but they were brought down pretty quickly aside from that. Jeanne gave the kids a nasty shock though after dropping from the sky and impaling Vikaralamon through the head. I would feel traumatized too if that same person turned around and did the world’s most morbid Jeri impression after while maintaining a nasty smile the entire time. Seems she still needs to work that one out of her system.

Still, all of this is really stressing. It’s hard to manage this sort of operation on a daily basis, with no funds whatsoever. Sure, we get free lodging at Kindred’s places along with food and transportation, but it's hard to operate without money. Combine financial woes with the constant stress of everyday battle and well, eventually I found myself in Hyledd’s lap again venting about how everything was unfair and the world should just go screw itself. I think that statement might not have been taken so seriously due to the fact that I was a rodent at the time.

‘DIGIVOLUTION.’ Oh, look, its happening again. When did Calumon show up? I hadn’t seen the little guy...ever actually. Good on him for being a helpful little bugger.

 Witchmon digivolve too...’ Nice, I have claws still. That’s a lot of bling though, wouldn’t you agree? A veil on my face? What am I, a dancer?

“Bastemon!” I take it all back Calumon. Go back to your hole and choke on a cream puff. I can already hear the distant yell of ‘furfag’ somewhere in the distance. On the bright side, I’m stronger now? Yeah, let’s go with that. Cat people with weird vampire claws are always good. Um, Takato? You can stop looking at me right now. You’re making me feel uncomfortable. Well, more so than I am already. Ugh, just add another tick to my stress meter.

If I’m honest? I let Calumon get captured. It's cruel, I know, but otherwise there would be no reason for the Tamers to go to the Digital World. They don’t do that and we’d end up even more screwed than otherwise when the D-Reaper awakes with nobody to stop it. I’ll have to take care of that one later, most likely.

Playing babysitter is not fun, especially when you could probably just jet to the end of the plot and end it all. At the same time though, I had to make sure the plot remained on a smooth course. One of the issues about interfering with a plot? You might save some people, but others won’t absolutely come out stronger from it. Without the conflict that came from facing off against so many Digimon back in the human world the Tamers were decidedly underdeveloped in my eyes. While I tried to avoid hand holding, a lot of behind the scenes work had to be done regardless.

Want to know what isn’t behind the scene? Avoiding Leomon’s death and Megidramon. Yeah, I am NOT dealing with that. No death dragons or a crying child who’s so depressed she can power the digital equivalent of Satan for me. I remember he laughed when I challenged him in Leomon’s stead after blocking the blow meant to kill him. Yeah, try getting in between a grapple which is supposed to be defending someone else on a moment’s notice. Not as easy as one would expect, even with all of the training I had. “Ha! You’ve got to be kidding me! More small fry!” Famous last words.

“More like deep fried.” At that moment Hyledd unleashed the first Noble Phantasm ever on that planet and made us some crispy demon. Okay, I made sure we left him alive but considering what he was about to do I felt more than justified in turning him to half charcoal before stopping. He'd get his redemption later, whenever he decides to return home.

The DigiDestined seemed to be a bit saddened that we had to use violence on the guy (I’m pretty sure they thought we killed them), but who am I kidding. I’d rather have them mad at us for a short while then one of them dead and another permanently scarred. I’ll just have to set up another moment for Takato and Guilmon to strengthen their bonding for Bio-Merging. Speaking of Guilmon, now he’s looking up to Hyledd as a sort of big sister. Wait, what are you whispering into his ear? Guilmon and Takato don’t need that kind of bond! Oh, the people I live with.

Zhuqiaomon did not like me. It could be that as a sovereign he could sense the levels of Divinity I had through my lineage, or perhaps the Holy Swords mark. It could also be that he could just sense that I’d been holding back until this point. Regardless, it was much easier to take the back seat and let the events play themselves out, Takato and Henry bio-merging in one shot. Nice job you two.

Now, just one thing left to do. Normally, beating something like a program takes a bit more finesse than powering it up and just beating it until it dies. The evidence speaks for itself in the way the world was supposed to go originally. But, after speaking with the Sovereigns and getting the DigiDestined together? I’ve got the firepower I need. Now to just knock that accursed thing to something we can manage.

“I will be the judge. Weight of the World.” Here we are, in a world where finesse isn’t needed. All that there is and ever will be is karma unto the evil. Looking at the D-Reaper was an experience in itself. The thing was mad, that was for certain. I’ve never seen something covered in so many locks. I turned to my left and then to my right, making sure that everyone was ready. Even those who might be considered weaker were to participate, that was how vital this was. “Everyone ready?” Nods all around. “Tamers, Digivolve and Bio-merge.” A flash of lights around me signaled the start of a transformation sequence. Anime.

“Jeanne?” The sound of a flag slamming into the ground stated enough. The Kindred...well, they needed no instruction. To tell Death itself to behave a certain way when performing its job is rather laughable. “Hyledd, Noble Phantasm. Hit your Digivice.” She huffed at the rather gruff treatment before her body was consumed in flames, a serpent taking its place.

“Bio-Merge Activate! Tsukai-”

“Ashton, Digivolve to!” I interrupted her. I am not being called that. Well, would you look at that, we’re bustier. What a surprise. I seem to have lost a claw though, although my one remaining looks rather dangerous looking. What’s up with the wings though? I’m rather pale too.

“Lillithmon!” Not too bad. Sure, the Sovereigns were looking at me now considering I had just digivolved into one of the Seven Great Demon Lords, but I’d say that’s pretty good. As much as I’d stand and admire this form, we have a job to do. Excalibur still felt warm to the touch but didn’t burn at or consume me whole as I thought it might have due to now being an ‘unholy’ creature. I suppose it knew its master, after all. “Hmm, this almost feels like it’s becoming a routine.” I remarked as I raised the sword into the air, the world brightening as it began to consume a ridiculous amount of mana. Soon the light before to glow blue and black from the interference of the other two energies, although it seemed to be helping instead of hindering. I really shouldn’t be surprised, considering that there were variants in the first place.

“Well, let's hope it doesn’t. Now!” A wave of vibrant color, then a loud ringing as the world went white. When my vision finally cleared, there was no D-Reaper. Whew. Sustaining a Reality Marble with all of those attacks inside of it is an exercise in itself. Just to double check...no hostility or signs of anything relating to the bugger for at least a mile. Yeah, we’re done.

After all was said and done, we didn’t stick around long. With the retrieval from the Hypnos squad, we soon arrived back in the Human World and made ourselves scarce once one of the on site technicians recognized the masks on the side of each of the Kindred’s face. Nice job, you two. Aside from that, shortly after a certain DigiGnome lover woke up from a coma. I don’t have a hand in that, I have no idea what you’re talking about.

Aside from that? Well, with the plot over, we had to get back to normal life. The Kindred eventually scored a job with Hypnos after applying under a fake registration before revealing themselves a half decade later. I wish I had been there for the unveiling, it must have been a grand old surprise. Jeanne was currently working as an assistant there as well, although if the rumors were true it was more for muscle than anything. I can’t confirm anything, however, for fear of retribution in form of a flag in a place where it does not belong. She isn’t called Avenger for no reason.

As for myself? Well, Hyledd was still in the body and life of a teenager, she had school to attend. Spending time as a tag along wasn’t so bad, really. Some may call it boring, and it admittedly was at certain points, but you’ve got to appreciate the simpler points in life. By the end of high school, she was planning on going into Botany, which was understandable considering her heritage. I should probably stick around for that as well, considering that half the time I’m fifty percent plant. Won’t get the degree though, shame.

Oh, wait, I’m glowing. Well, looks like college will have to wait. Adventure Ho!

“...Jeanne?”

“Yes?” She seemed to be able to speak freely now that she lacked a puppet to use.

“You have permission to stab me if I do that ever again.

“With pleasure.”

I’m not sure if I should feel assured by that last statement.

“No, I’ll kill him first! He’s mine!” Hyledd shouted enthusiastically, her torso disappearing into golden light.

“The final strike shall always be ours.” Lamb intoned, only her mask visible.

I’m surrounded by psychopaths. Send help.