Butter-Fly Effect

"...Maybe we could use Birdramon or Kabuterimon?" You think that might work. At least, you don't have any better ideas. Actually, checking your Digivice... "And if they don't have enough energy to do it right now, Matt and TK are pretty close to here."

"That shouldn't be a problem," Izzy replies, tapping away at his computer. And suddenly, Tentomon is Kabuterimon.

Haruka groans. "We're going to need to have that talk about tact and subtlety sometime... Okay, get things set up for Maki, we might as well..."

For a moment, you're glad that it took Izzy so many years to get his Digivice. You have no idea what the world would have looked like otherwise, but the idea of it scares you.

"R-right. Coming right up. Kabuterimon, if you could help with..." You're not entirely sure how Izzy and his partner arrange the keychain, but you assume that they know what they're doing. As much as any of you can, when you're turning a keychain back into a person in the city she helped to found. They don't exactly give instruction manuals for that sort of thing.

...On second thought, though, they really should. It's not like there can only be one Piedmon in existence, after all.

Haruka's fingers fly across the keyboard, the same as they always do. And then Maki's there, not a keychain, probably holding onto Kabuterimon out of instinct more than anything, as she seems just as unconscious as her two Digimon. Getting the Agumon and Tapirmon on Kabuterimon's back is a fair bit more difficult, but he says he can carry the weight, and none of you have any reason to act like he can't.

So at least you're not stuck in one place anymore. Which is good, because the others seem to all be meeting up near the meat farm for some reason. You aren't sure why, but you think Kazuya might have something to do with it. Maybe. He's the one most likely to have an interest in growable meats, after all.

Even if you think he'd be more likely to enjoy growing seafood. If he did at all. He doesn't seem like a gardener.

"I wonder what they're doing..." Haruka stands up, folding away her laptop for the time being. "It hasn't been that long since they left..."

"I think that's where the meat farm is," Izzy comments, which does a lot to work towards confirming your suspicions.

"...Oh, right, that grows here." And suddenly, you're reminded just how long it's been since Haruka was in the Digital World. Even her early preparations for entrance exams are written in so much Digicode that it's easy to forget. Because that's apparently something that happens when your incredible destiny has its own language attached.

Or maybe that's just what happens when an aspiring young scientist gets the power to hack reality.

"Do you think we should go see what they're doing?" You ask. It's not like you have any real reason to stay in one place. Haruka turns to Kabuterimon with an unreadable expression on her face.

"It would be nice to show them what's been accomplished..." Suddenly, you wish you hadn't said that, because this is going to turn into one of those things that she does just to show off, now that the most stressful part of getting it to work without accidentally deleting anyone is over with.

And before you can do anything to try and talk her out of this, she's gone, along with Izzy, and Kabuterimon lumbering after them.

"Is it strange, to sort of want to see something, but also not?" Biyomon asks you. You shake your head.

"No, I feel it too."


[ ] Follow Izzy and Haruka.

[ ] Stick around, and try to ask nearby Digimon about...
-[ ] Why there's so few of them around.
-[ ] What's up with the sky?
-[ ] So, what is File Island like without the constant threat of Black Gears?

...Well, you probably shouldn't just go off on your own, even if you can all track each other down using your Digivices. Also, with how... enthusiastic... Haruka's being about this whole thing, you're honestly curious to see how it turns out.

"We should... still go after them, though." Biyomon looks disappointed when you say that, but you can't really blame her. It's really sort of terrifying, when you're not fully used to her. A little bit even if you are.

Still. You don't have any real reason to be sticking around here, so you set off after them, relying mostly on memory and the fact that, while this is a fairly large city, you can at least keep track of the few landmarks you've visited before, the meat fields being the first of them.

Though the reality of farming meat is still something that gets you to pause for a moment.

There's not a lot of things that do that, anymore, so that probably says something.

---

No matter how massive the fields of meat are, the fact remains that they grow at the edge of File City. You know this, have accepted this as fact. Given that you were faced with 'so meat is technically a vegetable here' just about the second you crossed over that bridge, you've known about it for almost the entirety of your time in the Digital World.

Another thing you've noticed, though it's a bit newer, is the fact that the skies over the city seem to be... blurred over. There's no recognizable color that's covering it up, that's just the impression that you get. And you're pretty sure that wasn't there last time.

Here, once you step away from the shadows of the buildings, all that starts to come together.

You don't know what it is. But as whatever oddity effects the sky comes down to earth, it seems to solidify into something that occasionally flashes silver, but that has no other sort of detail to it.

You do sort of know what it means.

Nothing can get in. You aren't entirely sure you can get out, either, but that's really a secondary concern. It's not like you were planning on leaving anytime soon.

...Admittedly, that implies you had any sort of plan to begin with, but that's a minor detail, really.

This is probably why, as you approach the others, Haruka's not boasting about her accomplishment, or celebrating finally having her friend back, or... anything, really.

You don't think you've ever seen her stunned speechless before. That's probably not a good thing.

"You know, you could have waited for us," You speak up, not sure what else you can say. She doesn't even acknowledge you.

Joe, sitting on a nearby fence, glances in your direction. "Oh, Sora. So, none of the others seem to know what that is... do you have any idea what it could be?"

"I think it's there to keep something out," Biyomon says. "But then, you can tell just from looking at it, can't you?"

Nobody seems to disagree with that. You have to give credit to whoever came up with this, if their goal was for people to know its purpose. If they were trying for subtlety, though... well, it works so long as it's not at eye level. Mostly.

Okay, so it's always going to be pretty obvious that it's there, but at least you don't have to look up all the time. Which might be why the farm is more-or-less deserted, other than a Vegiemon who is trying to tend to the meats. With three watering cans hanging from each tentacle.

You're not a gardener, but somehow you doubt that's a particularly efficient method of watering your crops.

Then again, that's still one more Digimon than you saw on your way here.


[ ] Approach the Vegiemon.
-[ ] Ask about the barrier.
-[ ] Ask why there's nobody else around.
-[ ] ...But, seriously, how do meat farms work?

[ ] Stay with the others.
-[ ] Bring up just how empty the streets seem to be.
-[ ] Ask if anyone knows where the barrier might have come from.
-[ ] So, where did Wizardmon and the other Digimon go off to?
-[ ] Does anyone know what to do with Maki and her Digimon right now?