[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]

Cisco glances over at Jyou, giving him a quick once over.

"Jyou seems reasonable and well-adjusted to me," Cisco says, matter of factly.

Looking over the data he's collected Cisco nods to himself and then raises an arm.

"Okay, that's cool, got it!" he shouts out to the dinosaur.

[run_barry]

"Having an idea and a plan is good," Barry nods.

To Jyou he gives a chuckle. "Yeah, they get pretty upset about that."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Screw you," Yamato grumbles to Cisco. "I am so well-adjusted."

Jyou sighs deeply. "She is definitely going to kill me anyway when I get back. I don't know how long she'll believe that I'm at a study camp with no phones allowed," he says. "I was going to tell her! But then instead of telling her, I accidentally paid Koushiro to falsify an entire website for a non-existent study camp."

"Could happen to anyone," Yamato says, mildly.

"I'm -- sure it'll be fine," Sora adds. "She'll probably understand."

The blue dinosaur stops breathing fire, giving Cisco a thumbs up and an enthusiastically toothy grin.

[run_barry]

"I feel you, man," Barry says, patting Jyou's shoulder. "It's not easy keeping a secret like that."

[makes_the_toys]

"I am if you are," he returns, willing to agree only if it means he can ride the lie, too.

"Thanks, bro!" Cisco calls up, returning that thumbs up.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Yamato considers this for a moment.

"... I can accept those terms," he says, eventually. They can both be the very models of well-adjusted emotional health.

The blue dinosaur, meanwhile, responds to Cisco's thumbs up by looking very much like he wants to cry with joy. "Your hands are so tiny, bro."

Jyou nods at Barry, very somberly. "You too, huh?"

[run_barry]

Barry rubs the back of his neck.

"Sort of. I don't have a girlfriend, but it's still hard keeping things from certain people."

Dropping his hand, he gives an expansive shrug and tries to reassure Jyou. "But really, I'm sure it'll be fine. You're not gonna die out here, and even if she does find out I'm sure she'll understand."

[makes_the_toys]

Cisco holds his hand up for a fistbump to seal those terms.

He has no problem being called tiny by a giant fire-breathing dinosaur, so he just smiles.

"Thanks. I guess. You guys are cool."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"I hope so. Maybe if I bring something back as a souvenir," Jyou says, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"It'll be fine, Jyou," Yamato says, absently fist-bumping Cisco. "Probably. And you can finally introduce us to her, and we'll all talk enthusiastically about how often you've saved us."

"You guys are cool, too!" The blue dinosaur says, raising his arms. "Is there anything else we can do for you, broski? Oh, oh, do you want some beer?"

He stomps into the undergrowth, returning with a bottle labeled 'BEER?' tentatively held between his claws.

[run_barry]

"That does sound like a pretty solid plan," Barry says, pointing at Yamato to indicate the idea tossed out.

Jyou having his friends talk him up could maybe help.

[makes_the_toys]

Cisco is leery of any more questionable beverages, but when a Dibro offers you a brewski you obviously accept.

"I think we're good, but a beer would be awesome."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"It's refreshing," the blue dinosaur says, removing the bottlecap with one claw and passing it down to Cisco very carefully.

(The beer actually does taste like beer, in what may be a surprising turn. Not good beer, but recognisably beer-y.)

"Thanks for the help," Yamato says. "And the beer."

He gives Sora a quick nod, then gestures to the others, heading south out of the clearing. It doesn't seem, if the glimpses of sand through the trees are anything go by, like the Gear Desert is very far away at all.

[makes_the_toys]

Hesitantly, Cisco takes a drink, then draws back the bottle to give it a surprised nod.

"That's... not terrible," he says, then takes another drink. "Thanks, bro."

[run_barry]

Barry throws Yamato a smile, nodding in approval at the appreciation Yamato gives to the dinosaurs.

It's good to be nice.

Giving the dinosaurs a wave, Barry walks with the group.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Yamato gives Barry a slightly wry look in response, as if to go 'there, I was diplomatic, happy now, you oversized Jiminy Cricket knock-off?' Which is, in fairness, a lot of information to try to convey in a single look.

"I was kinda hoping that would taste like beef too," Jyou admits, eyeing the beer? bottle. "... Yamato's going to want to stock it on the raft now."

"Beer doesn't go rancid as quickly as water," Yamato mutters.

"None of us are over the drinking age, Ishida!"

A few more steps, and they emerge out of the rainforest, and into a landscape that could very easily pass as post-apocalyptic. It's a desert, swelteringly hot, with yellowish-brown sands -- save for numerous large, gear-shaped markings of glittering black sand. Perhaps stranger is that there are thousands upon thousands of telephone poles embedded in the sand, charred black and bent at angles, with cables dangling loosely.

Not too far off, though, is Mount Panorama, a structure of three concentric donut shapes stacked on top of each other and covered with trees and greenery. From here, it doesn't look that large, despite the fact that when viewed from the cliffs earlier in the trip, it must have been four or five times bigger.

[run_barry]

Barry is happy about the display of manners, and continues to smile about it unapologetic.

"Did you know that's actually why pirates and sailors stocked rum and alcohol on board their ships? It's shelf-life made it the safest thing they could drink on long voyages," he pipes in behind Yamato. "In fact, beer can actually be given credit for saving lives in places where there were cholera epidemics, because the brewing process killed off bacteria in the water that was spreading the disease."

A beat, and then he adds, "Of course, if you guys aren't old enough to drink you really probably shouldn't."

[makes_the_toys]

"Only you would have a nerd spiel about booze," Cisco notes, grinning while he drinks his beer.

When they get to the treeline and Cisco sees the desert he immediately stops.

"Okay, so what is this now? Mad Max?"

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"See? Barry agrees with me," Yamato says.

"Barry does not agree with you," Jyou replies.

"Barry thinks that as team medic, you should support us not getting cholera and dying painfully at sea," Yamato says, firmly, putting a hand on Barry's shoulder. "Right, Barry?"

"You don't even need my support, supplies falls under your authority anyway," Jyou mutters.

"I know. I still want to make you agree to it, though."

Sora stops to glance back at Cisco, then at the desert.

"-- Just a desert," she says, mildly, giving Cisco a quick smile. "With telephone poles. The heat eases up as soon as you reach the Pyokomon village and Mount Panorama, too."

Beat.

"Don't worry," she adds, "the telephone poles were always like this."

[run_barry]

"I mean, I wasn't exactly agreeing with you. I just-- I was explaining why... " he says, backpedaling quickly from being the guy condoning underage drinking.

"I definitely wasn't saying you should." Totally not.

"But," he adds, realization striking, "You could totally use the bottles. With the twist off caps, if you make sure you clean them well and sterilize the water first, you could use the beer bottles for storage and you should be able to keep drinkable water with you that way."

[makes_the_toys]

Leaning in, Cisco nudges Yamato, grinning.

"You know his faster dad is a cop, right? He was never gonna back you on that one." But it's pretty hilarious that Yamato tried, and Barry met him with an alternative.

Less hilarious, though, is the desert.

"I so better not get sand in my shoes, because that is the worst."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"What can I say, I'm an optimist," Yamato replies, elbowing Cisco lightly in the ribs. To Barry, a little wryly: "That could work. I'll take it under consideration. In all seriousness, though, we do have a plan for keeping the water safe -- the Bakemon village has silver containers and coins, enough to keep a supply of clean water clean for the entire trip, so long as we ration it out. It's a little old-fashioned, but it'll do the job."

He throws Cisco a quick, raised-eyebrow look, knocking one foot against Cisco's shoe.

"Just don't expect me to carry you and protect your precious feet from the sand, kiddo," he says gruffly, shaking his head. "You'll be fine, the village isn't far at all."

[run_barry]

Barry nods. "I figured you'd have a plan."

But... he also wasn't entirely sure Yamato wasn't serious about the beer.

Glancing at Cisco, Barry shrugs then steps off into the desert.

"Hey, at least it's a dry heat?" Which will be a relief after their jaunt through the rain forest.

[makes_the_toys]

"Always looking on the sunnyside, right?" Cisco says to Yamato with a scoff and smirk.

Obviously he's going to be forced into braving this desert so, resigned, he shoulders his backpack and starts to trudge across the sand.

"If this is the same way we're going back then someone is definitely carrying me." He's looking at you, Barry.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"That's me, a real glass-half-full sorta guy," Yamato agrees, smirking back at Cisco.

He gives a nod to Barry at the mention of dry heat. "Dry heat, no dense foliage to pick through, and a cooler area not far off. This could definitely be a lot worse."

"And it's at least a small desert," Sora adds. "It doesn't take months to get through like the Server Desert."

[run_barry]

"Cisco you're fine," Barry assures. "I know for a fact you have plenty of water in your bag, protein bars and-- rattlesnake antivenom, for some reason... "