[tri OOM] Barry, Cisco, and File Island

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Yamato brings Barry and Cisco out through the same hilltop telephone booth he used to bring Autor through a few weeks back, out onto a cliff with a pretty good view of the island.

The island's central point is a mountain that looks more like a sheer spike of rock, and radiating outwards from it are a lot of very different places: Closest to the mountain, there's a pastel-coloured village of some kind that looks like it might be made of cushions; a tropical jungle with a ruined temple of black and brown stone jutting out of it; and a desert with gear markings carved into the ground and a single, leafy mountain in the centre.

Spreading out further than that, there are forests; some kind of icy tundra; a large town with a glittering white castle; a small village covered by a dark cloud; some kind of factory belching smoke into the air; and a plain covered in railroad tracks and ruined trains. Just down from the cliff, there's a lake with a camp set up next to it.

"All right, File Island," Yamato says, shutting the door. "Oldest part of the Digital World."

Comments

[run_barry]

Stepping through the door, Barry has a look around and smiles.

"It's something, alright. Is the whole world like this?" he asks, indicating the random phone booth and the strange structures in the distance.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Yeah, but the phone doesn't work. All you can get through to is a weather forecast line," Yamato says, a little wryly.

He sets Tsunomon down, meandering to the edge of the cliff.

"More or less. File Island is weirder than the rest of the world, but there are things like conveyor belts of sand, cruise ships, and upside down pyramids in the Server Desert, and abandoned amusement parks and hollow mountains in the Great Lake Area," he says. "Dream logic is basically the undercurrent of this world wherever you go."

[makes_the_toys]

"Trippy," Cisco notes as he starts snapping pics of everything.

"Hey, Tsunomon, give me a pose," he says, aiming the phone at the Digimon.

[run_barry]

"That's pretty weird. It's cool, though," he says. "Has anyone studied the phenomenon of this place? I'm mean, it sounds like the standard rules of physics and nature don't strictly apply. Does anyone know why, or have they tested their limits?"

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Tsunomon gives Cisco a very dry 'how can I pose with no limbs' look, but he does at least hold still for the camera.

"A few people've tried studying it, from various angles. Koushiro, Hikari, and Ken Ichijouji are probably the only people who completely understand how it works, though," Yamato says, a little wryly. "It helps to remember that nothing in this world developed naturally -- it's generated based on whatever information it can get."

He cocks his head.

"When I took someone else here, I explained it as being like an AI trying to write a book. The words are all familiar, and some sentences or paragraphs might scan, but it doesn't all make sense together."

[run_barry]

"That's so interesting," Barry says, nodding to Yamato's explanation.

[makes_the_toys]

"It's like the Matrix, but not," Cisco muses, taking a couple of pictures of Tsunomon, then turning to snap a selfie with the mon in the background.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Wryly: "I'm pretty sure The Matrix came out a few months before our first visit here, actually."

He pauses, shaking his head.

"Anyway, you guys have the pick of where you want to go. Over near Mount Infinity there's the Village of Beginnings, where Digimon are born and reincarnated, and the Temple, where a bunch of prophecies are carved into the walls. That desert place is the Gear Desert, and there are hot springs and fridges next to it. There's Andromon's factory which just kind of builds and takes things apart endlessly, and Toy Town where Monzaemon lives. We can even visit the Bakemon village, if you really want."

[makes_the_toys]

"Boom, life imitating film, imitating life, creating mad weird dreamscapes," Cisco declares.

"My vote is for the Village of Beginnings," he says after hearing their options. "Collecting data from where these dudes start could be useful for what you need."

[run_barry]

Barry shrugs, then nods.

"That's good with me."

He gestures Yamato to lead, taking a moment to ask, "What's a Bakemon?"

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"All right, follow me. Tsunomon, if you head back to camp, tell the others that if they need me they can check the Village of Beginnings," Yamato says.

As Tsunomon bounces off, he gestures the other two along and starts heading down the hill.

"A Bakemon is, er -- hang on," he says, and fiddles about with his wrist computer as he walks, eventually projecting an image of what looks very much like a white blanket with holes for eyes cut in it, save that it also has a fleshy mouth lined with sharp teeth. "Ghost Digimon. They're pretty hostile, but they're also easily the weakest things on the island."

[makes_the_toys]

"Nope!" Cisco declares loudly. "I have a solid rule against ghosts and bees, ain't nobody got time for either."

Seriously, Cisco don't do bees, and he certainly don't do ghosts.

[run_barry]

Barry laughs at Cisco, then cants his head towards Yamato.

"But... if Digimon reincarnate, how can you have ghosts?"

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Giving Cisco a sidelong glance: "Would it help if I said that there are bee Digimon on this island, and they're the size of trucks?"

Yamato feels this might help!

"Bakemon are Ghost Digimon, but not Digimon ghosts," he says, flicking off the display. "They're based off data about ghosts, but they're not actually the spirits of anything. They're just angry blankets with teeth."

As they reach the bottom of the hill, Yamato leads them into a forest -- composed around seventy percent of dense, deciduous trees, and about thirty percent of battered, bent out of shape road signs.

[makes_the_toys]

"Oh yeah, definitely helps," Cisco confirms. "If we run into a truck-sized bee I am peacing the hell out."

With literally no hesitation or shame.

[run_barry]

"That is a pretty big bee," Barry notes, amused.

"And all this data is coming from where, your world?" he asks, tilting his head at the road signs mixed in among the trees.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Relax, all the giant bees are sapient and friendly," Yamato laughs, shaking his head.

He gives a quick nod. "Yeah, it's all drawn from my world."

As they walk, a few bright green slug things the size of cats pause to watch them from deeper in the forest, then continue cheerfully on their way.

[makes_the_toys]

"Oh, well that's great, they can literally plot our demise," Cisco responds, wishing he'd thought to bring a can of Raid along with the rest of the things he's packing.

There's no immediate threat though, so he settles down and enjoys the scenery, odd as it all may be.

[run_barry]

Deciding to err on the side of most things in this world being some kind of aware, and politeness, Barry raises a hand and waves at the slug things as they pass.

"So where will you and your friends go from here?"

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"They're not plotting your demise, Cisco. Probably. For now."

It doesn't take too long to emerge from the other end of the forest, onto a grassy plain with a single train track stretching across it. Yamato ambles forward, stopping at the train track.

"Once we've checked the last few places on this island, we'll build a raft and make the week or so's journey over to Server Continent. Make landfall in the Server Desert and work our way from town to town, heading north."

As he talks, a train bell starts ringing, followed by the sound of a train fast approaching. The train itself never actually comes, though: There's the noise of it rushing by them, but if there's anything there, it can't be seen.

[run_barry]

"Need any help with looking?" Barry offers, stopping when Yamato does.

When the bells sound he glances up and down the track, looking for the train, then draws back a step when the rush goes by with no vehicle.

"Huh."

[makes_the_toys]

"What was that, Casey Jones?" Cisco says, leaning forward to look down the track after the wind and noise have passed.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Nah, there's only a couple more places to check, and it doesn't seem like anyone on the island has heard anything about them. It makes sense they're not here -- the eight of us are always pulled back towards File Island by our Crests, but Daisuke's group has always been able to land anywhere in the world they wanted."

Once the train has passed, the scenery beyond it starts to change, slowly, as if a mirage is clearing, revealing the Village of Beginnings. From this distance, it looks like some kind of strange playpen-town, built from towering stacks of pastel coloured, cushiony blocks with stars, hearts, or cartoon animals on them.

"Who's Casey Jones?" Yamato asks. "That's just the invisible train-thing. It runs in a circle twenty-four hours a day, enclosing Mount Infinity, the Village of Beginnings, the Temple, and some of the Gear Desert. I don't think anyone actually rides it or anything."

[makes_the_toys]

"Heroic train conductor killed in a tragic accident, turned scary ghost," Cisco replies, cautiously stepping out onto the track.

"What happens if I stand in front of it? Do I get invincibly mowed down?"

[run_barry]

"Let's not find out," Barry says, nodding Cisco to keep up as he walks on with Yamato.

"How do they get here?" he asks Yamato, going back to Daisuke's group.

The town is... weird, like the rest of this world, but the colors and appearance of everything still make Barry smile.