[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

[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.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Yeah, maybe just don't stand in front of the invisible train. Nobody's ever really tried it before, but I doubt you'd enjoy pioneering that scientific discovery."

He crosses the tracks, sticking his hands in his pockets.

"It's -- complicated, but it mostly comes down to the four of them having more advanced digivices than we do -- the ones we use are the original designs left behind by the Crests, while the ones they use are modeled after Ken's corrupted version," he says. "It lets them open temporary gates between two points, whereas we have to use pre-existing ones."

[run_barry]

"Any chance your devices could be upgraded?" he suggests.

[makes_the_toys]

"I bet I could hook it up with an upgrade," Cisco says, abandoning his train dodge contemplating.

"If they're using tech there might also be a way to lock onto a signal or code from the device they're using and maybe at least track them by it."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"It's possible. An upgrade is essentially what happened to Ken's, after all -- he had the same model as ours, and when it was corrupted it was reassembled into a new form," Yamato says. "As far as tracking goes -- all our digivices can track everyone else's in a limited range, but they stopped working when our Crests did."

To demonstrate, he pulls his digivice -- a pale blue, cross-shaped object with three buttons and a small screen with an inscription around it -- from his belt, pressing a few of the buttons. The screen remains completely dark.

He keeps heading into the Village, where the landscape changes drastically as soon as they step into it. The grassy plains stop dead, to be replaced by a landscape of -- not quite hills so much as intersecting, slightly curved and slightly angled plains of some kind of hard felt-like material, lined with inscriptions.

Scattered across the Village are brightly coloured eggs the size of a person's head, and cribs that seem to be carved from rock, with tiny puffball Digimon within them.

As the three enter the village, a small procession of bright purple penguin like creatures start waddling through, stopping as they catch sight of them.

"Salutations," says the penguin at the lead of the group, in a voice that is far too deep and gravelly for his face. "If you are looking for Elecmon, he's left to get supplies."

[makes_the_toys]

Cisco holds out his hand, fingers curling in a 'gimme' gesture.

"Crest? What's that and how'd you break it?"

[run_barry]

The change in landscape is crazy and reminds Barry of the inlet in Milliways.

Hearing Cisco's questions, Barry nudges Cisco and nods at their new surroundings. "Dude, check it."

Barry's smile turns into an expression of 'AWWWWW' when he sees all the tiny puffballs, and then delight when the penguins waddle up to greet them.

"Hi!" he says, smiling wide at the creature.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Yamato somewhat pointedly puts his digivice back on his belt, with an expression that says fairly eloquently 'I only have one of these, and you will definitely break it.'

He also skips over Cisco's questions, except to mutter a quick: "I didn't break it."

The lead purple penguin presses a wing to his chest, bowing low.

"Greetings," he rumbles, gravely. "I am Penmon, supreme leader of the Penmons. These are my associates: Penmon, Penmon, Penmon, Penmon, Penmon, Penmon, Penmon, Penmon, and Penmon."

"Hi!" One of the Penmon says, in a very shrill voice.

[makes_the_toys]

"Rude," Cisco says when Yamato refuses to share.

He'd have more to say on it, but... penmons...

Cisco blinks at the crowd, then points out a random bird and says, "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name. What was it again?"

[run_barry]

Ignoring Cisco, Barry lays a hand on his chest.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Barry, this is Cisco. You maybe know Yamato already?" He's assuming, but maybe they don't?

[angry_friendship_wolf]

The Penmon Cisco points out flaps his wings furiously, managing to lift a whole two inches off the ground as he screams: "TRY ME, FUNNYMAN, I WILL EAT YOUR KNEECAPS."

"Please forgive Penmon," says the Penmon leader, gravely. "It's been a long day."

Yamato rubs his face slightly, just for a second. "We've actually never met," he says. "Not even before the Reboot. But I'm guessing you guys are from the tundra over on the west coast."

[makes_the_toys]

"OH!" Cisco startles, shuffling backwards and ducking behind Barry.

"Supreme leader, your guy there needs a chill pill."

[run_barry]

Barry stays where he's at, but lifts his hand and pumps it down in the air in a calming manner.

"Hey, it's alright. We're all cool here." Tilting his head at the leader, Barry asks, "Is something wrong?"

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Penmon's just kind of like that," chirps the shrill Penmon, gesturing with a wing at the angry Penmon, who flaps his wings furiously in response.

"We are on an important mission to unite the five warring Penmon tribes, so that I may reign as Emperor," the Penmon leader says, solemnly. "Long have we feuded."

"It's been two weeks!" The shrill Penmon chirps.

"It has indeed been two weeks," the Penmon leader agrees. "And many have fallen to needlessly harsh insults and aggressive shoving."

Yamato increasingly looks like he's getting a migraine.

[makes_the_toys]

"Oh, so Penmon's just a-- "

[run_barry]

It doesn't take quite superspeed, but Barry is still fast in reaching a hand back to clap over Cisco's mouth and cut off whatever the insult was that was about to be uttered.

"That... seems like a... noble endeavor," Barry notes, giving a solemn nod to the leader. "I'm sorry it's been rough."

Barry glances at Yamato, searching for signs of an exit strategy here.

"I'm sure you all can come together eventually, though... "

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"It is an arduous destiny, yet it is my burden to bear," the Penmon leader intones.

Yamato's gaze flicks over to Cisco for just a second, before he briefly meets gazes with Barry.

"Best of luck crushing your enemies," he says, flatly. "Hey, Cisco, didn't you want to do some science stuff? We should do that. Immediately. Right now. Over there."

He jabs a finger at the far side of the village.

[makes_the_toys]

Cisco shoves Barry's hand aside, on the verge of arguing and standing his ground before he thinks the better of it and relents.

"Yeah, I've got some equipment to set up and data readings to take." He glowers at the Penmon while making sure both Yamato and Barry are between him and the penguins.

[run_barry]

"It was nice to meet you all," Barry says, edging back while nodding at Yamato in thanks for creating an opening for them to go.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"I WILL PECK OUT YOUR TOES, HUMAN," the angry Penmon screams.

Yamato takes this as his cue to take Cisco by the arm and lead him -- or drag him, if he has to -- towards the other end of the Village.

[run_barry]

Barry takes up position on Cisco's other side, laying a hand on the man's over-large backpack and ushering him to move forward.

"Dude, why?" Barry asks, keeping his voice low as they walk away from the penmon.

[makes_the_toys]

"The Angry Birds started it!" Cisco replies defensively, tugging his arm to pull it out of Yamato's grasp as they walk away.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Yamato lets go, shaking his head.

"Congrats, I think you've made a world record for shortest amount of time it takes to nearly end up getting slapped in the face by a bird."