Queen of Puddles (Digimon) (Ranamon SI)
- Thread starter Flairina
- Start date
Takareer
Words and feathers
- Location
- Ontario, Canada
Great chapter! Good to see Ranamon building up allies.
A minute is a really short time... I don't see how it could be a "forest" (even a tiny one) and take a minute to get through, while also being impossible to see through. That just sounds like a wall.
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Flairina
Least Omnipotent Goddess
- Location
- The next infinity over
No! I am just slow, and imminently distractable by trivial things! >.<
Sometimes honesty — if not -complete- honesty — does pay off! Though yes, it helps that Ranamon!me has a perfect rejoinder should this counter rumor ever make it back to Cherubimon or the other evil warriors. Not that I expect it will. I mean, why would they even be paying attention to that sort of thing?
Cool Flairanamon Has Chill Day. Aww yeah.
In my books, if you can't see through the trees from one side, it's a forest, no matter how small. Mostly because I don't know any other word for it. As Ranamon!me mentioned, it's probably serving as the town's wind guard, so no, it's not particularly deep.
Ranamon!me heads north to the Mountains of Madness, where indescribable horrors await. Where the land pulses and throbs like a discordant heartbeat, as though the planet were itself heaving, seeking to expel some noxious blemish from its outermost being. Where macabre displays of ancient horrors lie long forgotten, and jagged monuments of twisted metal are raised in defiance of a logical reality, attended to by shambling, misshapen masses of tooth and claw... ah, one does weep to even think of it!
(No, Ranamon!me is probably not going to unleash some Lovecraftian horror from beneath the ice. That'd be a bit much, I think. ^^; )
Calling me Ranaflair, as though specifically to spite the silly pun this fic exists because of... truly my own "fans" are cruel.
Easier to get people to go along with you if you continue to make yourself look good throughout. Though as for being incredible... I mean, she kinda is! Speaking genuinely here: Ranamon is a villain with near global good publicity, which in Digimon I think might actually be almost completely unique? While the only fans of hers we ever see in canon are the Toucanmon and the Honeybeemon, we know from how she notes she had others search most of the planet for her beast spirit pre-canon that she has an entire legion of followers spread across it, which covers pretty much every land mass. If she'd made better use of this network in canon, she could have been -incredibly- difficult to deal with, because not only do those fans mean she has eyes almost everywhere, it also means she most likely has innumerable Digimon all too willing to fight on her behalf without questioning the cause too hard. Sure, if you live in or near an area she's actively deleted, you probably know or realize that she's working for Cherubimon to tear the world apart, but everyone else is more likely to just hear of/think of her as the Digital World's rising star, and potentially even a light to cling to in these troubled times. She's basically won the publicity war *and* the information war before anyone even knew there was a fight. It's genuinely impressive!
...now if only canon had actually done anything with that. :-/
Unrelated fun fact, one of Ranamon's trading cards explicitly calls her a "dancer", as though that's somehow inherent to her being. Weird, ne?
Hang on. Idol? Water? The ocean is Ranamon's bathwater, I'm getting a marketing idea.
Eheh, I was actually wondering if anyone would reference this all the way back in Chapter 1... especially given the Patreon gift in that AN. ^^;
Yeah, it's never actually stated, to my knowledge? Ranamon has fans, and merch, and the Toucanmon have an imagine spot of her on stage (singing completely tunelessly), but it's never once actually stated aloud that she is a literal idol — nor that she actually does such activities for real, and it's not just part of her aesthetic. When I first watched Digimon Frontier, I also didn't actually have the background to recognize what an "idol" even was in that sense, so... yeah, kinda slipped my notice.
(Also, crybaby? That's part of Ranamon official description, sure, but I can't remember a single instance of her actually "crying" in Frontier? Snooty, petty, prideful with an easily-bruised ego, and occasionally "acid-tongued", but prone to tears... no.)
Sirenmon has incredible range that Ranamon could never hope to reach, and a truly "miraculous" voice, said to be capable of bringing tranquility to battlefields!
...she is also more naturally inclined to use said voice to literally numb the free will of her listeners, or send them to their knees in pain, because her voice is an *attack* technique before it is an entertainment tool. Also the only time a Sirenmon showed up in the anime proper, she literally terrified everyone who heard her. The one referenced here is thus perhaps prone to certain hazards as a singer that Ranamon likely is not.
Imagine if every member of the evil warriors had a completely separate lair customized to their personal theming, and meanwhile Ranamon!me has been essentially doing laps around the world before returning to my little evil tube to sleep. "What do you mean you slept at 'the lab' last night? What do you mean you have a personal castle?!"
Ranamon!me gets called back to the lair by the other evil warriors, and we all march out to meet the kids as a concerted force — not to fight them directly, but so we can challenge them to a rock off. Even without our drummer (Grumblemon), we're not about to lose this! (*>▽<)φ─♪─♪─♪ε(┬﹏┬)3
Heh, Ranamon!me would be absolutely terrified... but, as you well know by now, I'm also quickly becoming an expert at ending up in situations I would rather not have. So we'll see.
Also, if this did somehow happen... well, there'd be a pretty perfect song to use:
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- Location
- Canada, probably
That's actually super interesting. Everyone gives her shit for not having found her Beast Spirit, and for losing fights. Ranamon's been busy, OK? Do you have a global media empire? No? How about the adoration of the common people allowing you massive latitude? Oh, also no? Maybe you should get back to your pushups, meathead.
- Location
- Painting, Peach's Castle
No, she finds something worse.
Far worse...An insurmountable foe, a corruption upon the entirety of the digital world, sealed away by the Ancients long before any of them.
But she wiggles her way past the blockades and discovers the Password...
And then...
She finds...
the porn sites.
And is immediately found by a Renamon.
She runs screaming.
- Location
- EXA_PICO
- Pronouns
- He/Him
It's entirely possible Ranamon is one of those celebrity personalities that refuses to have a personal social media account so she doesn't suffer net brainrot, and she hires PR lackeys to do it for her.
And on the note of Frontier not doing anything with it... well, they played it for a gag, so looking deep into it is absolutely going to result in a ridiculously funny logical conclusion.
But also, I think Ranamon may have not been all that... smart? She wasn't stupid, but she clearly just had very skewed priorities. Her being a massive celebrity was first and foremost to stoke her own ego and she probably didn't actually plan around taking advantage of it intelligently.
And on the note of Frontier not doing anything with it... well, they played it for a gag, so looking deep into it is absolutely going to result in a ridiculously funny logical conclusion.
But also, I think Ranamon may have not been all that... smart? She wasn't stupid, but she clearly just had very skewed priorities. Her being a massive celebrity was first and foremost to stoke her own ego and she probably didn't actually plan around taking advantage of it intelligently.
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It would be hilarious if flairmon somehow was better than og ranamon because of actual earnestness. Great as always
- Location
- EXA_PICO
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Oh, something extremely funny just came to mind since we're on the ice continent right now.
We want the kids to all do stuff that keeps them relevant and if we find a way to get Spirit Fusion available to them, I am going to feel mildly sad for Tomiki/Tommy.
The other known Spirit Fusions that exist officially outside of Frontier's canon mostly make sense. JetSilphymon is a bit odd with her design, and RhinoKabuterimon is significantly less plate armor machine-like than either of the Thunder spirits, but Daipenmon... Tommy I'm sorry. This we just can't explain.
We want the kids to all do stuff that keeps them relevant and if we find a way to get Spirit Fusion available to them, I am going to feel mildly sad for Tomiki/Tommy.
The other known Spirit Fusions that exist officially outside of Frontier's canon mostly make sense. JetSilphymon is a bit odd with her design, and RhinoKabuterimon is significantly less plate armor machine-like than either of the Thunder spirits, but Daipenmon... Tommy I'm sorry. This we just can't explain.
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Flairina
Least Omnipotent Goddess
- Location
- The next infinity over
Yes, I'm assuredly thinking about it more than was ever intended. Still, imagining a version of Frontier where Ranamon actually made better use of what she had to work with... just could have been interesting, ya know?
"Have ah ever mentioned how much ah hate the way the eye follows ya around?"
"Tis merely to allow thee easier entrance and egress, milady."
"Havin' a pupil the size of a house rotate to face me is unnervin' when ah don't know it's yours, tinhead."
I mean, there's not much room for interpretation with "Its emotions are erratic; when it is in good mood, it shows off how graceful and lady-like it is, but when it gets upset, it cries hysterically like a baby." But that's just a general species description, more describing a world where Ranamon isn't a wholly unique entity than this specific one. Characters in Digimon inevitably diverge from their species descriptions in the first place, otherwise they'd just be archetypes more than characters... though, that also doesn't mean said inherent traits don't affect the Digimon in question at all. Heh.
If by "monstrous" you mean a cartoon fish with legs (a reverse mermaid), I suppose so? ^^; That would be more fitting if Ranamon!me turned into like, Manbomon though.
While this is a hilarious concept to begin with, I'm more amused than anything simply by the idea of a Japanese idol and an Elvis impersonator having a musical feud. I'm sure there are more diametrically-opposed archetypes, but at the moment none are coming to mind. XD
Etemon is one of the puppet Digimon that evolves from Digimon who were raised/evolved "wrong" (Numemon, Sukamon, Raremon, etc), so for all we know he could be a deformed cat man under that suit — though it's hardly necessary, as a real version of that already exists. To our collective misfortune. `
I've already said that if the other kids get fusion forms, I'll probably just design them myself/use existing fan fusions instead, so don't worry, Tommy won't be turning into Daipenmon any time soon. Not that he could at the moment anyways, given he currently has the Beast Spirit of Earth, not Ice...
Truly, the greatest horror that the Digital World has ever known. (Ó﹏Ò｡)
- Location
- Elsewhere
The Fandom arc.
Every time the heroes enter a community they get mobbed by fans, or spied upon, or assassination attempts.
"We fought more than one world-destroying monster. Why are the fans still the most terrifying enemy we ever faced?"
Krazyfan1
Worrying for the future.
- Location
- Australia
he just goes to show how powerful you can get if you don't give up
The Exposition Dragon
I just want to take a moment to gush about that one moment, and how well it conveys just how powerful Etemon truly is. Up until this point, we've heard Etemon boast that he's the World's Strongest.…
www.tumblr.com
Imagine if Hatsune Miku was an evil digital intelligence secretly trying to destroy the continental United States- I'd fight for her, just saying.
- Location
- EXA_PICO
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I just watched a full retrospective on Frontier and it brought up a few things about the writing of the show that I never picked up on originally. Sure the obvious things like the slogging last third of the series and how tremendously unfair the show was to Izumi always stuck out to me, but the actual finer details of missed opportunities in character development totally eluded my notice this whole time.
First, JP didn't seem to get that much exploration as to the underlying motivations for his personal issues and loneliness. He was an outgoing guy who seemed to have lots of casual friends at school, but no truly close bonds with any of them, seemingly due to him not pushing forward more to reinforce any of those relationships. He ended up being that funny guy everyone likes, but nobody seemed to know that well, and they all just took him for granted. So, he came away with it feeling isolated even surrounded by other kids who liked him on a surface level. This appears to stem from a sort of deeper trust issue that prevents him from putting real effort into forming a deep friendship with anyone, keeping people at a distance in spite of it making him feel bad. We don't get any concrete insight into why he started out that way, and there is a lack of deeper introspection for his character that diminishes the effectiveness of his growth.
Koji's backstory also has some motivational holes that seem to be just vague stuff pushing him into the plot. We don't know what it is he really went to the Digital World for, and later on he just seems to be "following his destiny" in some nebulous sense, without Koji having any idea what that destiny was supposed to be. Later on when we learn about Koichi it sort of retroactively fills in the holes by implying his "destiny" was to find Koichi and learn about his family's secret, but none of that was motivated directly by anything Koji himself knew or wanted. Koji didn't clearly know his father was hiding something from him in the first place. If we got some indication from the beginning that Koji suspected his father had kept a huge secret from him, and his decision to go to the Digital World was motivated by a desire to find out the truth, with some hint that he could find it there, his whole character arc would have had a much stronger foundation to work from. On top of that the reason the family separated and the kids were split up was also never explained, nor was any reason given for why they lied to their kids about the other parent being dead.
That last bit may entirely be due to the situation being represented from their point of view, and neither of them know what the reason for the divorce was. That conclusion may have not happened for them until after the story of the show, thus being an off-screen development that only they know about. I guess if there was an anniversary movie for Frontier to explore how things went for the kids post-series, that would be something extremely dramatic to dive into for those two.
Takuya's motivations are lame. However, they do leverage that as the show goes on. His ebbing and flowing abilty to self-motivate is something of a sticking point for his arc, especially the Continent of Darkness segment. Rather than think about his relationship to his younger brother much, he deals with leadership and responsibility character problems, and when faced with the real gravity of what he's gotten himself into through his petty and lame reasons to follow Ophanimon's message, he has a massive imposter crisis and second guesses whether he truly believes in continuing. Maybe the core of Takuya's character development and the flaws he's meant to work through stem from him feeling a desire to run away from his real boring kid problems, replacing them with other, cooler problems. When he realizes those "cooler" problems have actual stakes and consequences for his friends, he totally fumbles and once again finds himself running away.
First, JP didn't seem to get that much exploration as to the underlying motivations for his personal issues and loneliness. He was an outgoing guy who seemed to have lots of casual friends at school, but no truly close bonds with any of them, seemingly due to him not pushing forward more to reinforce any of those relationships. He ended up being that funny guy everyone likes, but nobody seemed to know that well, and they all just took him for granted. So, he came away with it feeling isolated even surrounded by other kids who liked him on a surface level. This appears to stem from a sort of deeper trust issue that prevents him from putting real effort into forming a deep friendship with anyone, keeping people at a distance in spite of it making him feel bad. We don't get any concrete insight into why he started out that way, and there is a lack of deeper introspection for his character that diminishes the effectiveness of his growth.
Koji's backstory also has some motivational holes that seem to be just vague stuff pushing him into the plot. We don't know what it is he really went to the Digital World for, and later on he just seems to be "following his destiny" in some nebulous sense, without Koji having any idea what that destiny was supposed to be. Later on when we learn about Koichi it sort of retroactively fills in the holes by implying his "destiny" was to find Koichi and learn about his family's secret, but none of that was motivated directly by anything Koji himself knew or wanted. Koji didn't clearly know his father was hiding something from him in the first place. If we got some indication from the beginning that Koji suspected his father had kept a huge secret from him, and his decision to go to the Digital World was motivated by a desire to find out the truth, with some hint that he could find it there, his whole character arc would have had a much stronger foundation to work from. On top of that the reason the family separated and the kids were split up was also never explained, nor was any reason given for why they lied to their kids about the other parent being dead.
That last bit may entirely be due to the situation being represented from their point of view, and neither of them know what the reason for the divorce was. That conclusion may have not happened for them until after the story of the show, thus being an off-screen development that only they know about. I guess if there was an anniversary movie for Frontier to explore how things went for the kids post-series, that would be something extremely dramatic to dive into for those two.
Takuya's motivations are lame. However, they do leverage that as the show goes on. His ebbing and flowing abilty to self-motivate is something of a sticking point for his arc, especially the Continent of Darkness segment. Rather than think about his relationship to his younger brother much, he deals with leadership and responsibility character problems, and when faced with the real gravity of what he's gotten himself into through his petty and lame reasons to follow Ophanimon's message, he has a massive imposter crisis and second guesses whether he truly believes in continuing. Maybe the core of Takuya's character development and the flaws he's meant to work through stem from him feeling a desire to run away from his real boring kid problems, replacing them with other, cooler problems. When he realizes those "cooler" problems have actual stakes and consequences for his friends, he totally fumbles and once again finds himself running away.
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A thought that occurred to me: Ranamon's idol stuff? And presumably her house from before she joined up with the rest. Could have been destroyed... Why she decided 'join with the side that already attacked her' who knows.
Certainly would add a bit of tragedy to things. Though Im' not sure how Flairina!Ranamon would find out about that. Outside of a diary entry, or offhand comment by someone. A fan being 'nice' (when in reality it's a bit alarming) and giving Ranamon a recreated version of her house, after Cherubimon destroyed it.
Edit: Whoops, accidentally dropped a sentence. Fixed now.
Certainly would add a bit of tragedy to things. Though Im' not sure how Flairina!Ranamon would find out about that. Outside of a diary entry, or offhand comment by someone. A fan being 'nice' (when in reality it's a bit alarming) and giving Ranamon a recreated version of her house, after Cherubimon destroyed it.
Edit: Whoops, accidentally dropped a sentence. Fixed now.
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- Location
- My happy place
I surge up into the darkness, relaxing slightly as I propel myself out of the abyss. The water parts around me easily, far colder than that of the tropics... though strangely, its frigid temperature isn't truly that discomfiting. I suppose, like with water pressure, Ranamon must have a fairly high tolerance for this sort of thing, presumably so she can survive essentially anywhere in the ocean? Convenient, that.
My appreciation of this newly-discovered trait only grows as black slowly gradates back to blue, and the temperature actually somehow drops even further — so much so in fact that when I finally reach what should be the surface, I find myself staring up not at the sky, but at a solid sheet of blue-white ice.
Confused, I glance in all directions, though with the sky completely blocked out, the water is still too dark for me to see much of anything. This... was definitely not on the map. I'm still in the ocean, right? It should be nearly impossible for seawater to end up like this, digital or not... though clearly that didn't stop this from existing. Ugh, it could take forever to find a way up through this, which way is even the edge of-
No, better idea.
"Dark Vapor."
I press my acid-leaking palms up into the ice, and the frozen ceiling begins rapidly dissolving around them. It takes me almost a full minute of sustained effort, the ice multiple feet thicker than any I've ever encountered before, but eventually my technique successfully breaks through into open air, leaving behind a vertical tunnel nearly large enough to completely encapsulate me. Phew...
Pushing myself up on a tiny geyser, I slowly, carefully poke my head over the lip of the hole. Better to make sure I didn't just bore a giant hole into the floor of someone's house or something before fully committing-
Uh. Woah.
Caution all but forgotten, I pull more water into my geyser, and rise up out of the ice.
The frozen plain I just melted through is part of a roughly mile-wide ice shelf, joined almost seamlessly to the continent. From the snow-covered ground of the distant mainland, numerous strange, tentacular growths jut upwards, entwined together like spiraling tree trunks. Their top halves extend outward less like branches so much as pulled glass, bearing what appear to be hanging purple vines in place of more normal foliage. Beyond the strange polar forest stand two small but very steep mountains, so close that they're almost touching — perhaps they even would be, if not for the large, icy castle built into the V-shaped crevice at their base. From the view atop my geyser, I can just barely see over the glassy spirals and glimpse the small town at the foot of the castle, its buildings the same pure white as the surrounding landscape, as though the snow simply rose up and formed civilization of its own accord.
...all of which feels entirely superfluous compared to the magnificent aurora currently spread across the heavens, twisting and turning like the fabric of the universe made tangible.
My eyes remain fixed on the cosmic kaleidoscope for what seems like ages, utterly absorbed by the coruscating colors as they dance across the somehow still-dark sky. By the time I finally manage to tear my gaze away, shaking my head as if dispelling a trance, there's only one thing I can even think to say.
"Well, this ain't right."
My muttered words are swiftly blown away on the breeze, but despite all I've apparently forgotten, I'm pretty sure I'd remember a place like this if it was ever even briefly portrayed in the show, let alone given actual focus for an episode or two. The Autumn Leaf Fair didn't have anywhere near this many noticeable geographical features surrounding it, and the buildings were relatively normal, not what looks from here to be multi-story igloos.
...still, I'd rather stop in and ask for directions than try swimming along the entire continental coastline just hoping to spot the fair at some point. Not to mention, any given town is presumably going to have some form of food available, and if I'm lucky, maybe I can even ask around if there's anywhere nearby that... wouldn't be particularly missed if it happened to suddenly vanish. In as much as I can do that without sounding extremely suspicious, at least.
Shrinking my geyser, I step down onto the ice, flinching a little as I do so. While the frozen surface still isn't nearly as uncomfortable against my bare feet as I'd expect it to be, I'm not completely immune to the cold, and without any real traction to speak of, I already feel like I'm going to slip and fall at any moment.
Maybe if I…?
Beckoning to the hole I just made, I draw a portion of sea water up onto the ice, forming it into a tiny, semi-solid platform. Stepping onto it, I immediately find myself significantly more comfortable, but also rather unbalanced.
A little bigger then — or maybe a lot bigger.
I gesture again, drawing more water up into my construct, until it swells into a perpetually cresting wave, large enough that I can outright sit in its interior. Hopping into the curl of the water, I swing my arm down and point imperiously, forcing the wave into motion. It surges forward as though it were still in the ocean proper, a tiny tsunami heading towards the mainland at my will.
Grinning, I relax and lean back against my watery chariot. Now this is traveling in style.
With the aid of my unusually fluid transport, I speed across the ice shelf in no time at all, slowing only once I transition onto actual ground and snow, where the barricade of glassy trees proves a minor obstacle. Up close, I can now see the small, thorn-like protrusions jutting from their surfaces, which look like they'd be quite unpleasant to accidentally ram oneself into. What I thought were vines from afar are also more akin to crumbling mats of purplish-blue moss, hanging down in thick masses that make the tiny crystalline forest nigh-impossible to even see through.
I run my wave back and forth along the treeline, scanning for a clear path forward through the town's presumed wind guard, but find none — there surely must be one, but I guess I'm not in on the secret or something. Damn... I'd rather not accidentally impale myself blindly "driving" through here, especially if these things actually are made of glass. Guess I'll just have to go slow, or even on foot-
Hey, hang on. If I can ride on water, and can also control airborne water, can I maybe...?
Stepping out of my improvised transport, I reform my wave into a sort of large beanbag chair, forcing it to hover about a foot over the ground. Then, holding concentration, I turn, draw it forward, and oh-so-gently sit down.
-and fall right through, my construct collapsing as I in turn collapse into the snow.
Shaking my head, I brush myself off and stand, drawing the water back out of the snow to make another attempt. Sadly however, this proves futile. I can't seem to keep the water free floating, put it in motion, and reinforce its surface tension enough to hold my weight all at the same time. If it was still connected to a larger source, I could probably just brute force it by constantly pushing myself upwards with new water, but that would largely defeat the purpose... seems I won't be flying without Zephyrmon's assistance any time soon.
Pouting in minor disappointment, I discard the majority of my wave and settle for simply trudging through the trees the normal way, using multiple thin ribbons of water to part the sea of moss while carefully avoiding any protruding spikes. Thankfully, it only takes a minute or so for me to emerge from the tiny forest, and see the town beyond laid out before me proper.
As I suspected, Wintervel's buildings are indeed made of ice and snow, though there's a few colorful signposts and decorations scattered about that lend the area a little more color than I spotted from afar. The surrounding mountains sparkle in the shadow of the aurora, frozen waterfalls reflecting the canvas of the sky onto that of the buildings below. The carved visage of a giant bird Digimon stares down from the crown of the castle, stern but thankfully sightless. I can already see a few Digimon hanging around the outermost buildings, though none have spotted me just yet.
I start forward- then stop.
Should… I perhaps be slightly concerned about being recognized again?
I hastily reverse my last few steps, weighing my options.
I... could go in as Zephyrmon, I suppose. No chance I'd be identified like that, at least. I'm still not sure I trust how I might act while in that form though, even outside of an active combat scenario. At best, I'd be liable to lose all focus on why I'm even here, and based on how I acted yesterday, I'd be lucky not to break something or mouth off to someone I shouldn't, and get myself in massive trouble as a result.
Alternatively, I could roll the dice and just walk in exactly as I am. I came across plenty of aquatic Digimon yesterday, but the Gomamon were the only ones who realized who I was, and all but one needed active prompting for that. This world also ironically doesn't seem to have an internet equivalent — at least, I didn't find one whilst messing around on Ranamon's computer — so news should be limited to traveling by word of mouth, and as long as the Digimon who live here aren't highly amphibious ones that spend half their time underwater, they should be pretty unlikely to identify me as Cherubimon's lackey on sight.
I frown. I am right on the coast though, so that's hardly any guarantee. Maybe if I just took a few hours elsewhere to get a better handle on Zephyrmon, learned to better sieve out her instincts and keep tighter control of myself while I'm her, then came back-
My stomach growls again, louder than ever, and rather painfully this time.
...screw it, I'll risk it. At the very least I can probably grab a bowl of soup or something before the angry mob comes down on my head.
Hiding as much water beneath the loose parts of my swim cap as I can (just to have some on hand in case of emergency), I quietly walk into town.
I only have to turn a couple of corners to realize this town is actually surprisingly busy. Even on the outskirts, there are numerous Penguinmon strolling about, as well as several Frigimon, a Garurumon accompanied by a very tall Moosemon, and a tiny blue dragon Digimon I don't remember ever seeing before. It's not as much variety as I seem to recall some other towns having in the show, but it's by no means a single Digimon village like some of the ones from Adventure were. Guess that would explain why the buildings are such different sizes...
Somewhat oddly, while most of the road is just paths of more and less driven snow, there are also lanes of cleanly-cut ice that look almost like sidewalks, with Digimon choosing which they prefer to use as they please. I pass by what looks for all the world like a viking-themed surplus store, immediately followed by a rectangular ice field, where a number of Digimon seem to be playing some variant of ice hockey, minus the sticks.
Despite doing my best to give off the vibe of any average Digimon that just happened to stroll into town, my nerves spike with every other Digimon that gives me even a passing glance. Penguinmon may not be literally amphibious, but I'd bet they spend a lot of time in the water, and they seem to be the most populous Digimon species around these parts...
Unnerved, I let a thin sheet of water drop down from my swim cap to form a sort of watery veil — only to hastily shove it right back up where I had it when I realize that will probably just make me more conspicuous. It's not like covering my face would do much anyways, as it wouldn't exactly hide my many other imminently identifiable features.
Starting to think this was an even worse idea than I already knew it was, I hastily duck around a corner- only to nearly smack face-first into a Lekismon coming the other way. I pull back, but too far, as I suddenly find myself sliding on an ice path, arms waving wildly as I try to rebalance. WaAaAaAahhh-!!!
Balance utterly lost, I end up flailing backwards for a solid five seconds, tripping over a different curb of snow before finally managing to catch myself on the inside of a nearby building's doorway.
"Welcome to the Chilling Grill!"
I whirl around at the shouted words, fingers instantly at the ready to snap — and freeze, as I find myself staring at roughly twenty different Digimon, nearly every single one them currently staring back at me.
Eheh...
My eyes flicker around the space. Most of the Digimon in question are seated at one of the various booths or stools scattered around the room, padded by mats of the same technicolor moss draped atop the glasstrees outside. The walls are decorated with a combination of maritime paraphernalia and objects I imagine you might bring on an expedition to the arctic, interspersed with picture frames hanging off of pegs embedded in the thick, almost purple walls of ice. Standing behind the wide counter at the back of the room is a BlueMeramon of all Digimon, surrounded by a variety of kitchen equipment, including a fridge made of thick carved ice, a rock slate "stove" and chopping board, and an industrial-sized sink.
…did I actually just stumble back-first into a restaurant?
"Come on stranger, don't just stand there." the Meramon palette swap calls from behind the bar, beckoning me over with one hand. "Grab a seat!"
I flinch at his volume, hurrying forward and sitting down on a moss-covered stool as unobtrusively as possible. Not that it really matters when my arrival was just announced to the entire room.
"Haven't seen you in town before." the Meramon greets me with a friendly smile, or at least as friendly as a smile can get when your mouth is sewn half-shut. "Sticking around, or just passing through?"
"Passing through." I reply after a moment, relaxing slightly when no cries of recognition sound out from any of the other patrons, who already seem to have lost interest. "I was... hoping to get some food?"
The Meramon laughs, sending little cerulean embers flittering into the air around him. "Well, you've come to the right place. What'll ya have?"
He gestures to his right at a tall sideboard attached to the wall, numerous options scrawled upon its surface.
Written in Japanese.
I stare at the foreign symbols in dawning consternation. Is that... the menu? Damn it, looks like the Toucanmon's exterior sign was the exception, not the rule. This could be a problem.
I cast my gaze around the rest of the restaurant, hoping I can maybe just ask to have what someone else is having. That plate over there looks like... some sort of vegetarian dish? Never seen such geometric plants though. And that crispy thing on a bone is... weirdly yellow meat? No, hang on, that's not meat, what is that made of?
I slowly turn back to the apparent proprietor/chef.
"I..." can neither read the menu nor identify anything I'm seeing, "...don't really know what's best here. What would you recommend?"
"Phantom Beast Bowl." the Meramon instantly replies. "Best in town. If you're in the mood for something lighter, we've also got an Az and Essence Salad many of our regulars quite enjoy."
...great, thank you, I definitely know what those are. Three for three on helpfulness.
"Ah-"
The Lekismon I just nearly ran into walks in before I can say more, prompting the Meramon to repeat his greeting over my shoulder as a sudden draft hits me from behind. It feels more akin to the breeze of a cool autumn day than the undoubtedly frigid gusts of the ice land we're actually in, but it's still enough to make me shiver and rub at my upper arms.
"-actually, I don't suppose you have anything that could warm me up a bit?"
The burning man grins knowingly.
"Traveler's Special, coming right up. Also, I'd recommend moving a couple seats to your right."
I nod as he turns away, then promptly do as suggested — and quickly discover that the air two seats over is considerably warmer than the rest of the restaurant. I hadn't even noticed, but the ambient temperature felt no different while I was sitting right in front of the Meramon, despite the other Digimon being living flame, yet sitting here it's like I've just walked into a heated cabin. Did he somehow isolate his-
"Here you are."
A smooth, wonderfully warm wooden bowl is deposited in front of me, steam wafting up from its contents.
Stunned at how quickly that was prepared, I stare down at my meal, which contrast to everyone else's both looks and smells fairly normal. Going solely by appearances, I would typically assume it to be a hot, cheese-based pasta dish, with... chunks of fish stirred through? Huh, maybe they do have normal fish here.
...and also dairy products, somehow?
I squint, a little confused as to how that's even possible — but then again, this might not really even be cheese or fish for all I know. This is the same season of Digimon with apples that can taste like every imaginable variety of meat, after all; who's to say they aren't just unerringly good substitutes, or won't taste like something else entirely?
I shake my head, pick up the accompanying spoon, and tuck in, deciding not to spend time questioning it over filling my too-empty stomach.
To my very pleasant surprise, the food tastes exactly as I'd hoped it would, if not truly expected it to. The pasta is creamy and rich, with nicely flaked meat, flavored with some sort of warming spice I can't identify. My too-sharp teeth pierce the flesh of the fish with relish, warmth filling me as the noodles slide down my throat. Ahh~
I'm already halfway through the bowl before I think to slow down and look back up at the BlueMeramon, who's currently side-eyeing me with an amused smile.
"Hey, you wouldn't happen to know where the Autumn Leaf Fair is, would you?"
The Meramon shifts to face me again. "What was that?"
"The Autumn Leaf Fair?" I repeat. "It's like... a bazaar? Or maybe a trade marketplace?"
"Shopping district's just a few streets over."
"No, no." I clarify, waving my free hand. "I'm looking for a specific place. I'm pretty sure it's on this continent, and it's... probably pretty well known?"
The Meramon shakes his head. "Sorry little miss, nothing's coming to mind. We don't have a lot of contact with other towns out here, and I've lived here since I hatched, so I'm probably not the best Digimon to ask."
I grimace, both at his answer and chosen appellation for me. "Ah, alright... thanks anyways."
Damn. Maybe someone else in here might know...? Or maybe this is the equivalent of walking into a bar in New York City and asking a passerby for directions to a shopping center in Los Angeles, which I'm expecting them to somehow know just because they're technically on the same continent. Assuming this even is the right continent. I know for sure that the fair was located somewhere with snow, but maybe it was further from Toucanmon Paradise than I thought? Distance is pretty malleable in this world, as I quite well know by now. Maybe it'd be easier to just ask if anyone's seen any-
"Finished already?"
I blink, looking up first at the Meramon, then down at my bowl, only to belatedly realize there's nothing left in it. Evidently I was even hungrier than I thought.
"Yes, it was wonderful." I reply. "Thank you so much for the meal."
The Meramon grins genially as he takes the dish away. "Glad you enjoyed it."
I smile back, though it fades quickly.
"I... don't have anything to pay with, I'm afraid." I admit, knowing full well I might have to bolt in a moment for admitting that. Unless he offers me the chance to wash dishes or something to make up the price, I suppose.
The Meramon... chuckles?
"Well, I'm certainly flattered you liked it so much you'd offer."
I blink.
"I'm serious."
"So am I." The Meramon raises a flaming eyebrow at me. "I'm not running a luxury hostel here. Who'd charge for food?"
...is. He saying this place doesn't take money? Like, at all? In fact, he seems to be implying that food in general is typically just. Free. That can't be right though, surely-
"I swear it's her."
The quiet snippet of conversation worms its way into my ear fins from somewhere off to my left, derailing my train of thought.
"She doesn't usually sound like that though, does she?"
I turn fractionally in my seat, letting my eyes roam around the restaurant until they settle on a trio of Orcamon in the back corner. The three of them are giving me covert glances every couple seconds, and speaking to each other in hushed — though not quite hushed enough — whispers.
"Maybe it's just part of her public persona."
"Should we just go up and ask?"
"Are you crazy- wait, is she looking at us?"
...damn, I've been had. Better get while the getting's good.
I stand as quickly as I dare, readying my emergency water in case this turns ugly. "Well, I'd better get going then. Thanks again for the food."
"Sure thing." the Meramon replies, ignorant to my sudden haste. "Need any other directions?"
"No, I think-"
"Excuse me?"
I curse internally and round on the trio of Orcamon, already out of their seats, and now standing barely a few feet away from me. Though mostly identical, the one on the right has larger patches of white around the back of their eyes, shaped in such a way that they look almost like flaming eyelashes, while the one on the left has a noticeable groove in their crown fin, as though something took a chunk out of it at some point. The one nearest me is physically average, but has a particularly decorated life jacket, covered with enough colorful patches that you could almost miss the little red cross at the bottom.
"Are you... Ranamon?" the central one asks, almost reverently.
I flinch- then pause.
That's... not the kind of tone I was expecting. Are these three...?
"Who wants to know?"
I watch as three separate sets of eyes widen at the slight lilt I added to my words.
"It is you!" the Orcamon with the eyelashes exclaims in a voice akin to an ecstatic teenage girl's, flippers waving about almost too fast to be seen. "I told you two it was!"
"Woah..." the one with the groove remarks, tone lower and smoother than either of her companions, though no less awed. "We never imagined we'd get to meet you in person."
"Much less here!" the jacketed one — screw it, you three are Lashes, Groove, and Jacket now, no one has real names here anyways — finishes.
I flash the trio a pleasant smile. Ah, these three are like the Toucanmon then. That's a relief... still a bit unnerving, especially since I still have no idea why I'm apparently a celebrity to certain groups of Digimon while others rightfully hate me on sight, but it's certainly more manageable than the alternative.
"Well, ah wasn't really expectin' to be recognized," I say, dropping fully into Ranamon's accent, "but it's a pleasure to meet ya'll."
"I mean, of course we recognized you." Groove says like it's the most obvious thing in the world.
"Yeah, you're a huge inspiration!" Lashes almost shouts, still practically vibrating. "We caught your latest Net show, and it was incredible!"
I keep the smile on my face, though internally that statement leaves me slightly concerned. Net? Does that mean this world actually does have an analogue for the-
Hang on. Run that back.
"My show?" I repeat.
"Mmhmm!" Lashes confirms. "We caught one of Sirenmon's the day after too, so we even got the chance to directly compare you two!"
"And we definitely preferred yours." Groove adds, nudging her companion with a flipper. "Sirenmon's voice was just as incredible as everyone says it is, but her songs left us feeling kinda... numb?"
"While yours just left us feeling happy." Jacket finishes with a nod. "That pretty much settled it for us. You're our favorite idol for sure!"
…wait a second.
Ranamon, in her spare time, is an idol?
As in singing, dancing, performing on stage in front of countless watching fans judging her each and every move, IDOL?!
"That's... quite kind of ya'll to say..." I all but squeak, barely managing to work the words out of my throat.
"Oh my gosh, are you here for a stealth street performance?" Lashes squeals. "Please say yes!"
"We'd love to see that!"
Dread so strong it's almost paradoxically thrilling races through my body. No, no, no!!! More than anything involving Cherubimon or Lucemon, this might be my actual worst nightmare! I enjoy singing enough, but not in front of other people, and I don't even try to dance when I'm alone! The mere concept of a poor performance, of potentially looking stupid or foolish in front of others, gets me so anxious that I've never been able to even bring myself to learn the simplest of steps, let alone the kind of choreography an idol would presumably use! If this is truly something that Ranamon did, does on the regular, then- well, she doesn't anymore! Unless- no, what am I thinking, there's no unless, I can't fill that role, I can't-
"Excuse me," the Meramon abruptly breaks in, "but whatever you're asking the little miss here, could you kindly do it outside? You're getting rather loud, and my restaurant's not the place for this."
The Orcamon briefly glance around to realize that they've drawn the attention of most of the other diners, causing them to look down at the floor in collective embarrassment. This thankfully gives me a moment to get my wits back, which I take full advantage of.
"No worries, it's not happening anyways." I quickly apologize to the chef, before turning back to my 'fans'. "Sorry, but ah ain't feeling up to an off-the-cuff... performance... right now. Ah didn't come here for anything like that, and ah wouldn't... uh, wouldn't want to give ya a substandard show."
Or any type of show. Ever. Ugh, they can't even actually force me to do anything, but I can just see myself tripping over my own tongue trying to sing a song I don't know, voice cracking on half the notes, knees shaking-
"Oooooh..."
I blink as I notice the Orcamon are now looking around me more than at me, only to realize why a moment later as a tiny jet of liquid whizzes past my face, my frantic thoughts having whipped my emergency water out from under my swim cap and into equally frantic tiny streams. They flit and dart around me like little dancing serpents, spilling glimmering droplets into the air around them as they go.
I take a deep breath and freeze them in midair, drawing the water back to me and settling it back in place.
"...well, it was nice meetin' ya'll, but ah'm afraid ah've gotta get goin'." I say, hurriedly making my way to the entrance. "Be seein' ya."
"Uh- wait-!"
I'm already out the door, power walking away from the building as fast as I can without slipping on the ice again, fully ready to leave town just to get away from this conversation. I think I'd have even almost preferred if those three had thought that I was-
"Wait, Miss Ranamon! Is it true? About Cherubimon?"
I freeze mid-stride, eyes darting wildly around the street. A couple of heads turn our way, but thankfully no more than that as I round on the trio that just followed me out of the restaurant.
A silent moment passes, before I spin and duck into the narrow alley behind the building, beckoning for the Orcamon to follow, which they do so all too eagerly. Once we're out of sight of the rest of the street, I let out a breath and look at them with newly narrowed eyes.
"What did ya mean by that, exactly?" I ask, voice taut as a wire.
"I- ah." Jacket rubs the back of her head, suddenly looking sheepish. "We've... kind of heard a few rumors that you're supporting Cherubimon...?"
"We don't really believe them!" Lashes rushes to elaborate. "We're just not exactly sure where they're coming from? Or what to think of them?"
"Or if there's any truth to them." Groove notes with slightly more steel, crossing her flippers over her chest. "We don't mean to offend, but it's... kind of been on our minds lately."
...so I was right to be wary after all. No surprise that there's rumors going around when they're true, I suppose.
I inhale, fully ready to deny all affiliation with Cherubimon- except that's not what comes out, an idea springing to mind in the same moment it leaves my mouth.
"Technically, ah am."
The Orcamon gasp as one, looking utterly betrayed-
"...but it's a ruse." I smoothly continue. "Ah'm in Cherubimon 'employ' for the moment, but only so ah can make sure he ultimately fails."
The Orcamon calm, their awestruck expressions returning in force.
"So you're like, a double agent...?"
I nod. "Ah can't take Cherubimon down on my own though. No matter what ah do, ah'll never be able to overpower him. Ah'm gonna need help from Digimon like you three-"
"Absolutely!" Jacket exclaims before I can even finish.
"We'll do anything we can to help you!"
I smile. Excellent. If I can get this counter rumor to spread, not only should it potentially help curb the real rumors that might otherwise get me lynched, it might actually net me some assistance with my assorted objectives from Ranamon's preexisting fanbase. In fact, I could probably do that regardless, assuming I can get in contact with more of its members... maybe I could send some Digimon in to help the kids directly? Have them carry in extra provisions? Or, hell, just act as intermediaries for me, which I'm probably going to need if I still want to steer the kids away from their remaining canon losses, not to mention plant that seed in their minds about using Mercurymon's spirit. Though, I'd first need to figure out where they even are right now.
"In that case, ah don't suppose you've seen or heard about any human kids comin' around here?" I ask, just on the off chance. "Probably would've stopped by either today, or earlier this morning?"
The Orcamon exchange glances.
"Humans...?"
"Those are real?"
I blink, a bit taken aback. "Er- yes, they are."
Groove shrugs. "If you say so. Can't say we've encountered any ourselves though, no."
"Espimon should be coming by soon though!" Lashes suddenly pipes up. "He always has the latest gossip. If you're still around tomorrow, he might know something!"
Well, I wasn't really planning to be, so that's not actually helpful, but...
"Thanks, ah'll keep that in mind." I lie as graciously as I can manage. "If ya do happen to come across those kids, be sure to help them in whatever way ya can, and let other Digimon ya trust know to do the same. They're aimin' to take down Cherubimon as well, so they need all the help they can get."
The Orcamon nod vigorously. Groove stops first, something seeming to occur to her.
"Hey, we kind of overheard you asking about the Autumn Leaf Fair earlier too?"
My eyes brighten.
"Ah was. Do you know where it is?"
"Sure do." she confirms. "It's a bit of a trip from here, but if you just keep heading south, you should find it at the tip of the continent. It's right around where the water ends, so you can't miss it."
"Perfect!" I clap my hands together. "Ah really appreciate that."
Tip of the continent... that's about what I would have suspected, since it makes sense the kids wouldn't have made it that far up the coast in canon, but I'm still glad to have it confirmed. Wintervel is closer to the middle of the continent though, so I'm a ways away right now. I should probably head out immediately if I want to-
No, hold on. Better milk this information resource for all it's worth.
"One last thing. Do ya'll know if there's anywhere around here where no one lives, or ever really goes?"
Jacket tilts her head. "What for?"
...uh.
"Ah... need to practice something for my next show." I improvise. "Ah want it to be a surprise though, so ah need somewhere I can do it in secret, where ah won't be seen or overheard."
"Oooooh..." Lashes' eyes sparkle. "I can't wait to see what it is then!"
I laugh, not a little nervously.
"Hmmm, I don't- oh! What about that empty cave network just to the north?" Jacket asks aloud.
"Yeah, that'd probably fit the bill." Groove agrees, flipper moving beneath her chin. "I'd be careful though, that place is no mon's land."
I frown. "Why's that?"
Groove shrugs. "Not sure? No one really talks about it. It's long abandoned though, everyone's pretty clear on that part."
"And the outside is really big and pretty! You can't miss it!"
I consider that for a moment, then nod. That sounds a bit suspect if I'm honest, but with this world closing ever inward, it's not like I could reasonably expect to find a piece of land that's completely empty without some sort of reason. So long as whatever happened there isn't still happening there, I'll take what I can get.
"Thanks, you three." I say, genuinely grateful. "Ah'll remember ya'll."
I flash a wink at the trio, who giggle into their flippers in delight, then turn and quickly make my way back out of town. No one else on the street gives me a second glance, allowing me to stop as soon as I'm once again safely hidden in the midst of the glasstrees.
Well, that went surprisingly well! I got more out of it than I honestly expected to, even. Now that I've got a direction, it should be easy enough to find the Autumn Leaf Fair. It'll just take a while to get there... though first, I suppose I should go and... well. "Terraform" the place those Orcamon mentioned. Gotta get that out of the way at some point, and I'm already in the area, so it might as well be now.
And, seeing as I still need the practice...
Lines of code reach up and envelop me, changing me down to the bone. Spreading my wings, I leap from the forest and take to the skies, heading north.
I've said it before, but I absolutely love the fact that Ranamon is heavily implied to be a pop idol, complete with all the fans, merchandise, and (presumably) performances that would entail. Not just for the aesthetic or humor value, but from what you can potentially extrapolate from it — because if you take this to its logical conclusion, it kind of implies that there is an entire information war going on in the background of Frontier. I mean, think about it. You've got a bunch of Digimon who have apparently heard of and know Ranamon solely by her idol persona, whilst the portion of the Digi-population that have actually seen her sucking up massive swathes of the ocean are stuck trying to convince everyone else that she is in fact EVIL. Which of course just sounds absurd, because it's like trying to convince someone that the latest diva to chart on the Billboard Top 100 secretly moonlights as a supervillain. Hell, do the other evil warriors also have public personas? Is it possible that if things had gone different, the kids could have popped down to the local Burgermon joint and seen Grumblemon working the counter? Does Mercurymon have a day job at a beauty parlor? Arbormon the lumberjack?!
...I mean yeah, it's probably just Ranamon, but that still makes her miles more interesting than canon ever bothered to explore in detail. So let's see what we can do with that, shall we?
A huge thanks to @Pheonix14, @Warclam, @ScorpioBot, @CCBubba, @Captain Skipjack, Leaf, Bertucchi, Jordan Juengel, Alxariam, kleinerToaster, and my seven other Patrons not named here, as well as an extra special thanks to a certain generous patron who wishes to remain unnamed. Each of them receives their choice of meal from any of Wintervel's well-lauded restaurants. Granted, I'm not exactly giving you anything that at least the one seen here wouldn't give you freely anyways, but I am providing the convenience of transporting it directly to your door. That's right, today's thank-you gift is a DoorDash order! Yes, I am slightly worried that I'm running out of ideas! 🥘🥗🍲
I feel like you go way too hard on the "Things going wrong" It drags the story down. I don't know anything about Digimon. but dear lord does things feel helpless. And your SI looks like a clueless moron flailing and failing all over the place. Makes it hard to root for her. She just comes across as stupid and pitiful. She needs to Win at something at least sometime. It really shows when you read all the chapters up to this point in a row like this, and it feels kind of nasty the way you are beating down your main character. Like, she barely manages to win ONE fight, and thing Majorly fails everything else. And we are in at 11 chapters and 45K words here. She needs a lead or a hope of something, or else what is the point?
I wouldn't say it goes too far, but it would be helpful to have some positive payoff relatively soon to show flairmon making some progress. Love the story flairina!
You know I just thought of something that I only really thought of after rewatching Digimon Fusion/Xros Wars. What if RanamonSi trys to make something so that she can be both Ranamon and Shutumon at the same time but she accidentally makes a DigiMemory of Shutumon and a Fusion Loader.
Chapter 12: In Thick Ice
Flairina
Least Omnipotent Goddess
- Location
- The next infinity over
Well, I can see why no one lives here.
Squinting through the heavy veil of blustering snow, I survey the uneven slopes of rock rising out of the small, icy mountain below. Numerous peaks of coal-dark stone jut from its side, an army of jagged spears being thrust towards the heavens. The majority are lit from beneath by a strange, intense blue glow, bright enough that I can see it even through this truly awful weather. A deep-set crack winds through the structure's foundation, curling around the frozen monument and disappearing into the distance, making it seem as though the entire thing could fall into the abyss at any moment.
...yeah, this must be the place. I think Lashes and I might have slightly different definitions of "pretty", since the Orcamon didn't exactly specify that it would look like nuclear warning architecture, but it fits the bill otherwise, especially in how I can't really imagine anyone posting up here long term. Obviously I'll still check first, but certainly no one should mind if this place suddenly vanishes off the face of the planet; I've been here less than a minute and it already feels actively hostile to life.
Damned sudden snowstorms...
Scarf lashing about in the wind, I dive towards the mountain's only obvious entrance — a towering torii gate set about halfway up its side. The rigid red archway stands nearly fifty feet high, framing the only slightly smaller mouth of the yawning cavern entrance beyond it. Maybe this is what Lashes was talking about? I'd agree that it's pretty impossible to miss given just how much it stands out against its surroundings, but I think I'd call it "imposing" more than-
I glide through the opening, and a soft thrum of energy audibly runs through the structure. In an instant, intricate characters not dissimilar to the one from the bottom of my pool have spread over most of the gate's surface, the geometric symbols shining like stars.
-ah.
I look back for a moment, giving the script now covering the gate a brief once over, but ultimately find the chaotic digital glyphs just as unintelligible as everything else I've tried to read around here of late. No surprise there, I suppose.
Shrugging, I turn away and set down in front of the opening in the mountain, protected from the weather just slightly by a high, rocky overhang. Beyond the now framed entrance, a wide, sculpted stairway of ice slopes down into the mountain. It's surprisingly well lit, owing to the glowing lines of energy embedded in the similarly icy walls, presumably fed by the same mysterious source as the rock spires. They branch through the frozen floor like roots, casting the cavern's interior in a vivid azure glow.
I raise an eyebrow. Almost feels like I'm being invited in... and I am going to have to go in. I don't have the brute force necessary to just wail on the outside of the mountain until it crumbles, leaving me little choice but to enter, find its weakest internal point, and excise its most critical fractal code from there, which should cause the rest to unwind along with it. Quite the task for someone so new to this "job". Though, at this point I'll be glad just to get inside, if only to get away from the howling gales of-
A particularly large gust funnels through the gate behind me before I can even finish the thought, pummeling my exposed back and sending a violent shiver through my already frost-covered feathers. Turns out Zephyrmon is equipped for the atmosphere, not the cryosphere, and metal armor in freezing temperatures is not a great combo, especially not with a blizzard battering me from all-
Another gust hits, even stronger than the last, and I hastily collapse back down into Ranamon, my perception of the cold switching from bitter and biting to merely annoying in an instant.
Phew... probably makes more sense to go down like this anyways, given I'm essentially heading underground. My feet are going to be popsicles, but-
Wait, I already solved this issue.
"Draining Rain."
The miniature cloud quickly condenses over my hand — emphasis on 'mini'. Strange... maybe it's just because the air around here is so frigid and dry? In the sense that all the water in it is currently snow at least. Does Draining Rain even work that way though? I kind of assumed I was creating the water ex nihilo...
Regardless, the cloud still functions as intended, dispensing its reserves over the ground directly in front of me. I have the resultant puddle swirl up over my feet, forming little watery booties to protect my bare feet from the icy floor. Heh, I can make myself shoes! Wonder if that means I could also-
The wind slams into me again, wailing like some world-eating beast, and I wince despite my current form. Right, I can mess around with my hydrokinesis later. Preferably whilst no longer standing out here in this horrid weather.
Here goes!
Hurrying to the stairs, I gratefully descend into the chambers below.
...okay. So. It's possible that in my haste to get out of that snowstorm, I may have failed to pick up on some, in hindsight, rather obvious context clues.
Specifically ones that could have tipped me off to what I was doing before I merrily strolled my way down onto the set of a horror movie.
My neck remains on a nervous swivel as I make my way forward, or perhaps more accurately "inward" through the enormous, frigid maze I now find myself in. I wasn't exactly expecting this place to be tiny, but it feels less like a cave network so much as a straight-up labyrinth. The ceiling still reaches more than thirty feet high at its lowest, while the lighting, so good near the entrance, has become much sparser higher up on the walls, leaving said ceiling in constant half-shadow at best. The sound of wind battering the outside of the mountain remains my ever-present companion, reverberating through its interior as a thumping, omnipresent drone.
I shiver as I push off the floor, using my watery footwear to slide along like I'm wearing ice skates. I suppose the sheer size of this place is at least keeping this impromptu spelunking trip from feeling too claustrophobic? However, that's ultimately just making it unsettling in a different way.
The only logical reason to make tunnels this size is if something that large was regularly using them, after all.
My gaze drifts towards the walls. Whatever that something was, it also seems to have put up a few sparse decorations, which are honestly only adding to the eerie atmosphere. Here, a pair of tall, empty alcoves that look like they were simply gouged straight out of the ice. There, what looks almost like a carving of a fake window- or maybe a painting? I can't really tell, it's too high up to make out. I've even passed a few fancy-looking columns carved out of the walls, stretching all the way up into the darkness... except, being part of the walls to begin with, I don't think any of them were actually doing anything to improve the cavern's stability.
I frown. It's strange... all these accents are solely form without function. Just ice pretending to be things it isn't, which doesn't make any real sense. It's as though someone wanted this place to look fancy — maybe even regal? — but they didn't have the means to actually make something like that, nor the awareness to realize constructing it inside a giant network of ice caves ~maybe~ wasn't the right way to go. So instead of stately halls, we've got endless ominous tunnels, and instead of plush carpets, we've got weird glowing energy conduits that I swear are actually pulsing now, as if to make me feel even more like I'm walking through the veins of some titanic frost monster-
*!-CRAK-TH-KTHUMP-!*
I jump and slide to a stop as a sharp, exceedingly loud noise suddenly echoes through the tunnels, the ice trembling slightly beneath my feet.
That was... probably just more wind on the outside of the mountain, right?
My fingers clench over my gauntlets. I imagine I'd be a lot less on edge right now if I could manipulate ice the same way I can water, which would make perfectly logical sense in most other worlds. However, since the two are considered entirely separate elements in this one — presumably even "coded" as such — I can't do literally anything with the actual gigatons of frozen liquid surrounding me right now. Not without melting it first at least, which I imagine would be rather difficult to do inside of this mountain-sized freezer. Stupid digital semantics.
Sighing, I continue on... and promptly hit a dead end.
Or. Almost a dead end?
Tilting my head, I cautiously move a little closer to the mysterious hole in the wall. While more than twice my height, it doesn't even reach half way to the ceiling, and its walls are strangely curved, smoother than the ones I've been walking through up until now. There aren't any energy streams running down its sides either — at least not complete ones, as the few intersecting it appear to have been somehow cut through by the tunnel itself, leaving its interior even darker than the rest of this place.
...well, this isn't giving me a great feeling. However, it's also the only real feature of note I've seen in a fair while.
Do I backtrack, or see where it leads?
Reminding myself not to bite my lip, I tiptoe into the tunnel. It winds and curves more sharply than the halls I've been walking through until now, with a particularly slippery floor that seems oddly raised in places. Drips of bright blue something have pooled on it where the conduits were cut, lining the sides of the tunnel with little bio-luminescent puddles of ice.
Eventually, the walls widen again, and...
I stop.
The dim, relatively small space I've just entered is stuffed to the gills with mechanical debris of all shapes and sizes. Snapped circuit boards sit astride wrecked motorcycles and dented parking meters. Cracked monitors have been thrown haphazardly atop doorless fridges and empty vending machines. There's a broken trolley car in one corner sticking halfway out of a wall, next to the remains of some huge industrial machine that I honestly can't even identify, and I can see even more junk frozen further into the ice, so deeply embedded that it looks as though it somehow grew there. A jagged pit that looks like nothing so much as the result of a small bomb sits in the center of the chamber, an assortment of ragged-looking tarp scraps and metal sheets strewn about the bottom, while the rest of the junk pile teeters on the edge, threatening to overflow and fall in at any moment.
I just stand there blinking at the various refuse, utterly bewildered.
I'm... not exactly sure what I expected to find here, but it certainly wasn't this. Digital World or not, discovering what appears to be a miniature junkyard buried deep in the bowels of an ice cavern still feels incredibly out of place. I'd expect that more of the Digital World from the first season to be honest, where there was just a bunch of random dysfunctional technology scattered around the planet. Sure, Frontier has fairly complex technology too, as plainly evidenced by Ranamon's computer, not to mention the Toucanmons' whole modern outdoor kitchen, but that stuff is more... usable? Purposeful? Whereas this stuff is clearly not, and honestly kind of looks like it never was.
In which case. Why's it here?
Completely unclear what to make of this visual non sequitur, but not seeing any way forward, I'm forced to turn around and head right back the way I came, returning to the tunnels proper.
That was... weird. And honestly just made this place feel even creepier than it already did. I could be working myself up over nothing, but the longer I spend down here, the more it feels like I'm going to get jumped by something from behind, and the worse this idea is starting to feel just in general. While I do still need the code, I don't even know if I'm getting close to anything important, or just burrowing ever deeper into a giant icy tomb.
I grimace. Much as I hate the idea of leaving empty-handed, if I don't find something else of note within the next five minutes, I think I might need to just cut my losses and get out of here.
-Three minutes later-
...well, there goes that excuse.
I crane my neck upward, just trying to fully take in the massive pair of rust red stone doors set into the wall in front of me. They're roughly made, but grand in scale, to the point I can't imagine how they even got down here. It looks as though there may have once been carvings of some sort engraved into their surface, but they're heavily faded, too worn down for me to even guess at what those might have once been.
They're also almost completely frozen over, immense creeping fingers of ice growing over them from both the floor and ceiling.
I sigh. I suppose I can hardly turn back now, but while these doors certainly look important, I don't think I'm going to be opening them any time soon.
Maybe there's another way 'inside'?
Glancing at the tunnels to my left and right, I flip a mental coin and head right. The hallway curves so gradually that I almost don't notice it at first, leaving me slowly circling what I assume to be the chamber beyond-
Hang on. Is that...?
I pause suspiciously in front of the second large, conspicuous hole in the wall I've come across in the past ten minutes, uncertain if I should bless my fortune or curse the contrivance. There's hardly even a tunnel this time, just a smooth-bored passage that looks barely 20 feet long, but- seriously, who or what even made these? It can't have been what constructed the rest of this place, the passage is too small, and circular, and... oddly slick? Huh?
Confused and warier than ever, but refusing to give up at what could be the final juncture, I carefully step through the tiny tunnel.
My eyes go wide.
The cavern I've just entered is both larger and better lit than any I've seen before now. Roughly the size of a sports pitch, the energy veins pulse strong and numerous enough within its walls that I can even see the slightly domed ceiling, despite it being at least twice as high as that of the surrounding halls. On one side of the room stands the towering doors, just as frozen over on the inside as they are on the outside, while at the back of the room there's instead a wide semi-circle of stairs, leading up to a raised plateau. Upon it, an immense, icy throne sized for a giant sits, framed from behind by a fan of jagged black spikes. They're smaller than the ones sprouting from the outside of the mountain, but glowing just as intensely, giving the overall construct an impressive backlit effect.
...and yet, all of that might as well be an afterthought compared to the enormous, incredibly thick icicles sprouting out of every spare surface of the room, each one containing at its center the unmoving corpse of a Digimon.
I take an involuntary step backwards, nearly tripping over my own feet as my eyes rake over the room in horror. There's hundreds of the things. Growing from the floor, jutting from the walls, hanging from the ceiling. They're literally everywhere, completely impossible not to look at.
Countless moments of frozen agony, caught like flies in amber.
My throat feels dry. This... this is-! I mean, icicle "graves" like these are a pretty unforgettable visual, pointing to exactly one Digimon, which means this can only be-
Confusion trickles through my horror. Wait, but... he was from Tamers, wasn't he? Not Frontier, so that wouldn't make any- no, that's right, there was one in this season too. But he was imprisoned long before the series even started, trapped under Cherubimon's castle on the Dark Continent, and didn't get free until the kids got involved.
Meaning, even if this is IceDevimon's handiwork — and whose else even could it be — he should be half a world away right now.
I release a shaky breath, calming slightly. Well, I guess at least that answers why these caves are and remain "No Mon's Land"... disturbing as it is, I suppose I should be thankful all that's left of this place's former "owner" is the evidence of why he's no longer around. Not that, seeing all this, it really makes me feel any less like at any moment he could just come stalking around the-
*!-CRUNCH-!*
I whip my neck around, just in time to see a large, clawed hand with a single red finger curl around the corner of the tunnel's entrance, ice cracking beneath its grip.
Stifling the scream that rises to my lips, I sprint into the cavern proper and scramble behind the nearest icy coffin, the stalagmite thankfully thick enough to be largely opaque from the other side. Not possible, shouldn't be possible, but I knew this place was practically a horror movie waiting to happen, why didn't I bail sooner?! I should've just trusted my gut and-
My self-chastisement is cut off by the low, guttural growl that issues from the opening in the wall. Slowly, almost leisurely, the hand's owner steps fully into view, and my heart nearly leaps into my throat as I duck back behind my hiding spot.
That is not IceDevimon, but- what the hell?! A Kimeramon? How is that even possible?! Those don't come into existence naturally, they have to be deliberately created by someone, and the Digital World of this season is almost totally isolated from humanity, there shouldn't be any way or reason for someone to have-!
Something metallic clangs to the floor as another growl cuts through the air, accompanied by the sound of flaring nostrils. I hold as still and silent as I can manage, barely daring to breathe.
...I need. To get out of here. Now. Kimeramon are literal living weapons, and even if this one is smaller than the multi-story monster I remember from Adventure 02, I don't imagine that makes it much less dangerous. Hell, if this thing is somehow genuinely wild, it might even consider me food. This place was supposed to be easy code, and I am not fighting that thing for the right to it... though, I've no idea how I'm going to escape it if it just stands there squatting in the entrance-
The growling abruptly intensifies, joined shortly after by the sound of thundering, rapidly approaching feet. I frantically break from my hiding spot, just a scant instant before the Kimeramon rams into it like the world's largest and most carnivorous battering ram. Never mind that then!
I sprint for the hole in the wall, nearly losing control of what little water I have in my haste. Ice audibly shatters behind me, and I something goes hurtling through the air-
I throw myself to the floor as the stalagmite I was hiding behind spears through the space most of my upper body just occupied. It slams into the wall above the tunnel, hard enough to shake the floor beneath me — as well as open a giant vertical crack in the wall, which immediately spreads to several of the other enormous icy monuments sticking out of it. I scramble back to my feet, but don't manage even a single step before the icicles' own weight dislodges them, and a small avalanche of frozen rock comes tumbling down around the mouth of the tunnel, burying the only way out of the room in a giant pile of rubble.
No...
I slowly turn away from the Kimeramon's improvised, seemingly intentional blockade, forced to meet its hungry, awaiting gaze dead on.
Mouth gaping wide in a savage grin, it lets out an ear-splitting roar.
Squinting through the heavy veil of blustering snow, I survey the uneven slopes of rock rising out of the small, icy mountain below. Numerous peaks of coal-dark stone jut from its side, an army of jagged spears being thrust towards the heavens. The majority are lit from beneath by a strange, intense blue glow, bright enough that I can see it even through this truly awful weather. A deep-set crack winds through the structure's foundation, curling around the frozen monument and disappearing into the distance, making it seem as though the entire thing could fall into the abyss at any moment.
...yeah, this must be the place. I think Lashes and I might have slightly different definitions of "pretty", since the Orcamon didn't exactly specify that it would look like nuclear warning architecture, but it fits the bill otherwise, especially in how I can't really imagine anyone posting up here long term. Obviously I'll still check first, but certainly no one should mind if this place suddenly vanishes off the face of the planet; I've been here less than a minute and it already feels actively hostile to life.
Damned sudden snowstorms...
Scarf lashing about in the wind, I dive towards the mountain's only obvious entrance — a towering torii gate set about halfway up its side. The rigid red archway stands nearly fifty feet high, framing the only slightly smaller mouth of the yawning cavern entrance beyond it. Maybe this is what Lashes was talking about? I'd agree that it's pretty impossible to miss given just how much it stands out against its surroundings, but I think I'd call it "imposing" more than-
I glide through the opening, and a soft thrum of energy audibly runs through the structure. In an instant, intricate characters not dissimilar to the one from the bottom of my pool have spread over most of the gate's surface, the geometric symbols shining like stars.
-ah.
I look back for a moment, giving the script now covering the gate a brief once over, but ultimately find the chaotic digital glyphs just as unintelligible as everything else I've tried to read around here of late. No surprise there, I suppose.
Shrugging, I turn away and set down in front of the opening in the mountain, protected from the weather just slightly by a high, rocky overhang. Beyond the now framed entrance, a wide, sculpted stairway of ice slopes down into the mountain. It's surprisingly well lit, owing to the glowing lines of energy embedded in the similarly icy walls, presumably fed by the same mysterious source as the rock spires. They branch through the frozen floor like roots, casting the cavern's interior in a vivid azure glow.
I raise an eyebrow. Almost feels like I'm being invited in... and I am going to have to go in. I don't have the brute force necessary to just wail on the outside of the mountain until it crumbles, leaving me little choice but to enter, find its weakest internal point, and excise its most critical fractal code from there, which should cause the rest to unwind along with it. Quite the task for someone so new to this "job". Though, at this point I'll be glad just to get inside, if only to get away from the howling gales of-
A particularly large gust funnels through the gate behind me before I can even finish the thought, pummeling my exposed back and sending a violent shiver through my already frost-covered feathers. Turns out Zephyrmon is equipped for the atmosphere, not the cryosphere, and metal armor in freezing temperatures is not a great combo, especially not with a blizzard battering me from all-
Another gust hits, even stronger than the last, and I hastily collapse back down into Ranamon, my perception of the cold switching from bitter and biting to merely annoying in an instant.
Phew... probably makes more sense to go down like this anyways, given I'm essentially heading underground. My feet are going to be popsicles, but-
Wait, I already solved this issue.
"Draining Rain."
The miniature cloud quickly condenses over my hand — emphasis on 'mini'. Strange... maybe it's just because the air around here is so frigid and dry? In the sense that all the water in it is currently snow at least. Does Draining Rain even work that way though? I kind of assumed I was creating the water ex nihilo...
Regardless, the cloud still functions as intended, dispensing its reserves over the ground directly in front of me. I have the resultant puddle swirl up over my feet, forming little watery booties to protect my bare feet from the icy floor. Heh, I can make myself shoes! Wonder if that means I could also-
The wind slams into me again, wailing like some world-eating beast, and I wince despite my current form. Right, I can mess around with my hydrokinesis later. Preferably whilst no longer standing out here in this horrid weather.
Here goes!
Hurrying to the stairs, I gratefully descend into the chambers below.
~ ꕀ ꔛ ꕀ ~
~ ꕀ ꔛ ꕀ ~
~ ꕀ ꔛ ꕀ ~
...okay. So. It's possible that in my haste to get out of that snowstorm, I may have failed to pick up on some, in hindsight, rather obvious context clues.
Specifically ones that could have tipped me off to what I was doing before I merrily strolled my way down onto the set of a horror movie.
My neck remains on a nervous swivel as I make my way forward, or perhaps more accurately "inward" through the enormous, frigid maze I now find myself in. I wasn't exactly expecting this place to be tiny, but it feels less like a cave network so much as a straight-up labyrinth. The ceiling still reaches more than thirty feet high at its lowest, while the lighting, so good near the entrance, has become much sparser higher up on the walls, leaving said ceiling in constant half-shadow at best. The sound of wind battering the outside of the mountain remains my ever-present companion, reverberating through its interior as a thumping, omnipresent drone.
I shiver as I push off the floor, using my watery footwear to slide along like I'm wearing ice skates. I suppose the sheer size of this place is at least keeping this impromptu spelunking trip from feeling too claustrophobic? However, that's ultimately just making it unsettling in a different way.
The only logical reason to make tunnels this size is if something that large was regularly using them, after all.
My gaze drifts towards the walls. Whatever that something was, it also seems to have put up a few sparse decorations, which are honestly only adding to the eerie atmosphere. Here, a pair of tall, empty alcoves that look like they were simply gouged straight out of the ice. There, what looks almost like a carving of a fake window- or maybe a painting? I can't really tell, it's too high up to make out. I've even passed a few fancy-looking columns carved out of the walls, stretching all the way up into the darkness... except, being part of the walls to begin with, I don't think any of them were actually doing anything to improve the cavern's stability.
I frown. It's strange... all these accents are solely form without function. Just ice pretending to be things it isn't, which doesn't make any real sense. It's as though someone wanted this place to look fancy — maybe even regal? — but they didn't have the means to actually make something like that, nor the awareness to realize constructing it inside a giant network of ice caves ~maybe~ wasn't the right way to go. So instead of stately halls, we've got endless ominous tunnels, and instead of plush carpets, we've got weird glowing energy conduits that I swear are actually pulsing now, as if to make me feel even more like I'm walking through the veins of some titanic frost monster-
*!-CRAK-TH-KTHUMP-!*
I jump and slide to a stop as a sharp, exceedingly loud noise suddenly echoes through the tunnels, the ice trembling slightly beneath my feet.
That was... probably just more wind on the outside of the mountain, right?
My fingers clench over my gauntlets. I imagine I'd be a lot less on edge right now if I could manipulate ice the same way I can water, which would make perfectly logical sense in most other worlds. However, since the two are considered entirely separate elements in this one — presumably even "coded" as such — I can't do literally anything with the actual gigatons of frozen liquid surrounding me right now. Not without melting it first at least, which I imagine would be rather difficult to do inside of this mountain-sized freezer. Stupid digital semantics.
Sighing, I continue on... and promptly hit a dead end.
Or. Almost a dead end?
Tilting my head, I cautiously move a little closer to the mysterious hole in the wall. While more than twice my height, it doesn't even reach half way to the ceiling, and its walls are strangely curved, smoother than the ones I've been walking through up until now. There aren't any energy streams running down its sides either — at least not complete ones, as the few intersecting it appear to have been somehow cut through by the tunnel itself, leaving its interior even darker than the rest of this place.
...well, this isn't giving me a great feeling. However, it's also the only real feature of note I've seen in a fair while.
Do I backtrack, or see where it leads?
Reminding myself not to bite my lip, I tiptoe into the tunnel. It winds and curves more sharply than the halls I've been walking through until now, with a particularly slippery floor that seems oddly raised in places. Drips of bright blue something have pooled on it where the conduits were cut, lining the sides of the tunnel with little bio-luminescent puddles of ice.
Eventually, the walls widen again, and...
I stop.
The dim, relatively small space I've just entered is stuffed to the gills with mechanical debris of all shapes and sizes. Snapped circuit boards sit astride wrecked motorcycles and dented parking meters. Cracked monitors have been thrown haphazardly atop doorless fridges and empty vending machines. There's a broken trolley car in one corner sticking halfway out of a wall, next to the remains of some huge industrial machine that I honestly can't even identify, and I can see even more junk frozen further into the ice, so deeply embedded that it looks as though it somehow grew there. A jagged pit that looks like nothing so much as the result of a small bomb sits in the center of the chamber, an assortment of ragged-looking tarp scraps and metal sheets strewn about the bottom, while the rest of the junk pile teeters on the edge, threatening to overflow and fall in at any moment.
I just stand there blinking at the various refuse, utterly bewildered.
I'm... not exactly sure what I expected to find here, but it certainly wasn't this. Digital World or not, discovering what appears to be a miniature junkyard buried deep in the bowels of an ice cavern still feels incredibly out of place. I'd expect that more of the Digital World from the first season to be honest, where there was just a bunch of random dysfunctional technology scattered around the planet. Sure, Frontier has fairly complex technology too, as plainly evidenced by Ranamon's computer, not to mention the Toucanmons' whole modern outdoor kitchen, but that stuff is more... usable? Purposeful? Whereas this stuff is clearly not, and honestly kind of looks like it never was.
In which case. Why's it here?
Completely unclear what to make of this visual non sequitur, but not seeing any way forward, I'm forced to turn around and head right back the way I came, returning to the tunnels proper.
That was... weird. And honestly just made this place feel even creepier than it already did. I could be working myself up over nothing, but the longer I spend down here, the more it feels like I'm going to get jumped by something from behind, and the worse this idea is starting to feel just in general. While I do still need the code, I don't even know if I'm getting close to anything important, or just burrowing ever deeper into a giant icy tomb.
I grimace. Much as I hate the idea of leaving empty-handed, if I don't find something else of note within the next five minutes, I think I might need to just cut my losses and get out of here.
-Three minutes later-
...well, there goes that excuse.
I crane my neck upward, just trying to fully take in the massive pair of rust red stone doors set into the wall in front of me. They're roughly made, but grand in scale, to the point I can't imagine how they even got down here. It looks as though there may have once been carvings of some sort engraved into their surface, but they're heavily faded, too worn down for me to even guess at what those might have once been.
They're also almost completely frozen over, immense creeping fingers of ice growing over them from both the floor and ceiling.
I sigh. I suppose I can hardly turn back now, but while these doors certainly look important, I don't think I'm going to be opening them any time soon.
Maybe there's another way 'inside'?
Glancing at the tunnels to my left and right, I flip a mental coin and head right. The hallway curves so gradually that I almost don't notice it at first, leaving me slowly circling what I assume to be the chamber beyond-
Hang on. Is that...?
I pause suspiciously in front of the second large, conspicuous hole in the wall I've come across in the past ten minutes, uncertain if I should bless my fortune or curse the contrivance. There's hardly even a tunnel this time, just a smooth-bored passage that looks barely 20 feet long, but- seriously, who or what even made these? It can't have been what constructed the rest of this place, the passage is too small, and circular, and... oddly slick? Huh?
Confused and warier than ever, but refusing to give up at what could be the final juncture, I carefully step through the tiny tunnel.
My eyes go wide.
The cavern I've just entered is both larger and better lit than any I've seen before now. Roughly the size of a sports pitch, the energy veins pulse strong and numerous enough within its walls that I can even see the slightly domed ceiling, despite it being at least twice as high as that of the surrounding halls. On one side of the room stands the towering doors, just as frozen over on the inside as they are on the outside, while at the back of the room there's instead a wide semi-circle of stairs, leading up to a raised plateau. Upon it, an immense, icy throne sized for a giant sits, framed from behind by a fan of jagged black spikes. They're smaller than the ones sprouting from the outside of the mountain, but glowing just as intensely, giving the overall construct an impressive backlit effect.
...and yet, all of that might as well be an afterthought compared to the enormous, incredibly thick icicles sprouting out of every spare surface of the room, each one containing at its center the unmoving corpse of a Digimon.
I take an involuntary step backwards, nearly tripping over my own feet as my eyes rake over the room in horror. There's hundreds of the things. Growing from the floor, jutting from the walls, hanging from the ceiling. They're literally everywhere, completely impossible not to look at.
Countless moments of frozen agony, caught like flies in amber.
My throat feels dry. This... this is-! I mean, icicle "graves" like these are a pretty unforgettable visual, pointing to exactly one Digimon, which means this can only be-
Confusion trickles through my horror. Wait, but... he was from Tamers, wasn't he? Not Frontier, so that wouldn't make any- no, that's right, there was one in this season too. But he was imprisoned long before the series even started, trapped under Cherubimon's castle on the Dark Continent, and didn't get free until the kids got involved.
Meaning, even if this is IceDevimon's handiwork — and whose else even could it be — he should be half a world away right now.
I release a shaky breath, calming slightly. Well, I guess at least that answers why these caves are and remain "No Mon's Land"... disturbing as it is, I suppose I should be thankful all that's left of this place's former "owner" is the evidence of why he's no longer around. Not that, seeing all this, it really makes me feel any less like at any moment he could just come stalking around the-
*!-CRUNCH-!*
I whip my neck around, just in time to see a large, clawed hand with a single red finger curl around the corner of the tunnel's entrance, ice cracking beneath its grip.
Stifling the scream that rises to my lips, I sprint into the cavern proper and scramble behind the nearest icy coffin, the stalagmite thankfully thick enough to be largely opaque from the other side. Not possible, shouldn't be possible, but I knew this place was practically a horror movie waiting to happen, why didn't I bail sooner?! I should've just trusted my gut and-
My self-chastisement is cut off by the low, guttural growl that issues from the opening in the wall. Slowly, almost leisurely, the hand's owner steps fully into view, and my heart nearly leaps into my throat as I duck back behind my hiding spot.
That is not IceDevimon, but- what the hell?! A Kimeramon? How is that even possible?! Those don't come into existence naturally, they have to be deliberately created by someone, and the Digital World of this season is almost totally isolated from humanity, there shouldn't be any way or reason for someone to have-!
Something metallic clangs to the floor as another growl cuts through the air, accompanied by the sound of flaring nostrils. I hold as still and silent as I can manage, barely daring to breathe.
...I need. To get out of here. Now. Kimeramon are literal living weapons, and even if this one is smaller than the multi-story monster I remember from Adventure 02, I don't imagine that makes it much less dangerous. Hell, if this thing is somehow genuinely wild, it might even consider me food. This place was supposed to be easy code, and I am not fighting that thing for the right to it... though, I've no idea how I'm going to escape it if it just stands there squatting in the entrance-
The growling abruptly intensifies, joined shortly after by the sound of thundering, rapidly approaching feet. I frantically break from my hiding spot, just a scant instant before the Kimeramon rams into it like the world's largest and most carnivorous battering ram. Never mind that then!
I sprint for the hole in the wall, nearly losing control of what little water I have in my haste. Ice audibly shatters behind me, and I something goes hurtling through the air-
I throw myself to the floor as the stalagmite I was hiding behind spears through the space most of my upper body just occupied. It slams into the wall above the tunnel, hard enough to shake the floor beneath me — as well as open a giant vertical crack in the wall, which immediately spreads to several of the other enormous icy monuments sticking out of it. I scramble back to my feet, but don't manage even a single step before the icicles' own weight dislodges them, and a small avalanche of frozen rock comes tumbling down around the mouth of the tunnel, burying the only way out of the room in a giant pile of rubble.
No...
I slowly turn away from the Kimeramon's improvised, seemingly intentional blockade, forced to meet its hungry, awaiting gaze dead on.
Mouth gaping wide in a savage grin, it lets out an ear-splitting roar.
AN: I don't like it I really don't like it but it's not worth spending any more time on it so let's MOVE IT ALONG ALREADY-
A huge thanks to @Pheonix14, @Warclam, @ScorpioBot, @Captain Skipjack, Leaf, Bertucchi, Jordan Juengel, kleinerToaster, and my seven other Patrons not named here, as well as an extra special thanks to a certain generous patron who wishes to remain unnamed. Each of them receives their pick of item from that odd junk cavern, which- sorry, hang on, are we really doing this? We're hawking literal scrap now? How is this supposed to incentivize anything other than- you know what, fine! Here, take your pick of this trash, and hold onto it, so you can throw it like a particularly sharp, hefty tomato the next time the author tries to pull something like this. (╯‵□′)╯︵ 🔩🚋🛵
A huge thanks to @Pheonix14, @Warclam, @ScorpioBot, @Captain Skipjack, Leaf, Bertucchi, Jordan Juengel, kleinerToaster, and my seven other Patrons not named here, as well as an extra special thanks to a certain generous patron who wishes to remain unnamed. Each of them receives their pick of item from that odd junk cavern, which- sorry, hang on, are we really doing this? We're hawking literal scrap now? How is this supposed to incentivize anything other than- you know what, fine! Here, take your pick of this trash, and hold onto it, so you can throw it like a particularly sharp, hefty tomato the next time the author tries to pull something like this. (╯‵□′)╯︵ 🔩🚋🛵
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Lepidoptera
Mother of Monsters, Unverified Impuritas Civitatis
- Location
- Indeterminate Unknown
Nice and spooky, right on time for Halloween!
- Location
- Wayland, Massachusetts
Onl
Only a matter of time before she's SI'd into a pmmm meguca for extra suffering.
Only a matter of time before she's SI'd into a pmmm meguca for extra suffering.