[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

[makes_the_toys]

Nothing would make Cisco prouder if it did.

"The desert, huh? Will she need sunscreen? I packed some."

[run_barry]

"I'm sure she'll be okay," Barry assures Cisco with a chuckle even as he casts a glance at Yamato looking for confirmation that she will in fact be alright.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Digimon don't get sunburn, she'll be fine," Yamato says, with a quick smile. "It's a pretty nice place. Dozens of other Pyokomon, a well that connects directly to Mount Panorama's spring, an upturned cruise liner in a crater. The works."

[run_barry]

"See, she's fine," he says, gesturing at Yamato while smiling in relief himself.

[makes_the_toys]

"Alright. But if she ever wants to hang with a porg she's welcome to my place," Cisco says, accepting their reassurances.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"You really turn into a mother hen at the slightest provocation, don't you," Yamato remarks, dryly.

He shakes his head, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"If you've got all the readings you need from here, then the two of you may as well take your pick of where to go next. The Gear Desert and the Temple are both nearby, and a little further afield there's Toy Town, the tundra, the Bakemon village, the Railroad Plains, a few other places."

[makes_the_toys]

"Do not," he denies, taking up his scanner again and switching gears back into tech-mode, because obviously he is a mechanical engineering professional.

"Toy town," he answers promptly after hearing the listed options.

[run_barry]

Barry laughs at the exchange and destination choice, shrugging his shoulders.

"Sure, that's fine with me."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"All right. We can circle around the base of Mount Infinity and head north, that should take us up there," Yamato says, wryly. "Good luck with the kids, Elecmon."

Elecmon gives a quick nod in response.

Yamato starts walking, but pauses to toss back over his shoulder. "By the way, if we're going to Toy Town, that means we'll be seeing Monzaemon. Try not to piss him off. He's pretty chilled out, but he's also indisputably the most powerful person on this island."

[makes_the_toys]

"Who are you talking to?" Cisco asks, before acting wounded. "Me? Why would I even?"

The answer is; he would never.

[run_barry]

Barry walks alongside Yamato, giving a wave to Elecmon as they go.

"I'm sure we'll all be fine," he says diplomatically to both Yamato and Cisco.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Of course I'm talking to you, why would I be talking to Barry? Barry hasn't made himself an enemy of some penguins."

Barry is an angel sent from heaven, clearly.

As they circle the edge of Mount Infinity -- which, up close, really does appear to just be a massive spike of rock wedged into the ground -- there is the distant but unmistakable sound of trains, seemingly coming from within the mountain itself, reverberating under their feet every so often.

[makes_the_toys]

"That penguin was a jerk!" he exclaims.

[run_barry]

Barry chooses no comment as his best course, and so he cheerfully sticks his hands in his pockets and has a look around as they walk.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"You're a jerk!" Yamato snaps back, as they approach a misty forest.

Rather than a slow change in landscape, though, it looks like the plain they're walking on just stops as the forest starts, like someone drew a line across the ground and put 'grassy plains' on one side and 'fog and trees' on the other.

[makes_the_toys]

"I'm a basket of sunshine and delight!"

The misty forest makes him stop talking and walking, and Cisco eyes the trees warily.

"We're going through there?" Between the fog and the rumbling it all seems just a little too ominous for Cisco's taste.

[run_barry]

Barry's ready to just walk right in, but pauses when Cisco does.

"Dude it's fine."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Aw, it's okay, I'll protect you from the scary fog, Cisco-chan."

Well.

Actually if it comes down to people protecting any of them, Yamato supposes that'll have to be Barry's job.

Still.

"I promise there's nothing dangerous in the Misty Woods," he says, stepping just barely into it. "Trust me on this."

[makes_the_toys]

"Boy, I could name you a dozen movies off of the top of my head where shit goes down in a shady forest like this," Cisco replies, pointing at Yamato.

That said, Cisco is totally not scared and proves it by giving a sort of hop to readjust the straps on his backpack, and then marching into the trees.

He of course only goes a few steps before slowing to let Barry or Yamato take the lead.

[run_barry]

Barry just rolls his eyes and starts walking again.

"The scenery and climate changes are pretty sudden around here," he notes to Yamato while checking out the mist. "How does weather even work here?"

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Yamato moves a few steps ahead of Cisco, just to show that see, it's fine.

"Weather tends to be, er -- appropriate for whatever the climate is, but it'll stop at the edge of whatever area it's in, usually," he says, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Everything's localised, and there's not really any overlap. The weather changes pretty suddenly, too -- there's no atmospheric pressure change or anything to do a weather forecast with, it'll just switch over from sun to rain and back again."

[makes_the_toys]

Barry starts to step up to walk alongside Yamato again and Cisco reaches out a hand to grab Barry's shoulder and slow him.

"Wait, can you just-- walk right there, okay?" Cisco shoves on Barry's arm and points to a spot that will mean Yamato is in front and Barry will be just behind Cisco.

No way is he going to be the one in the back who gets snatched up while the others are all unawares.

[run_barry]

"That's really-- " Barry turns his head as he's shoved around by Cisco, giving the man a 'for real?' look, before continuing the conversation with Yamato, albeit a few steps behind now.

"It's crazy how that works. But then, considering how and what this place is made of, I guess it does kind of make sense."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

As they walk, something comes into view through the fog -- neon lights at first, then the boxy shape of a vending machine, with the word 'GRAPE?' written across the top in purple neon lighting.

It seems to be stocked exclusively with purple cans, all with the word 'GRAPE?!' written on them in beautiful cursive.

"Areas on File Island are all pretty small -- and the island's odd in that it's got mechanisms for splitting up all the areas and sending them sailing away from Mount Infinity and the Village of Beginnings anyway -- so it's more noticeable, but elsewhere, where individual areas can be huge, it's a lot less obvious."

[makes_the_toys]

With his entourage strategically placed, Cisco settles down and goes back to his research and scoping out the place.

At the vending machine he stops, looking it over uncertainly.

"Why is grape a question?"