[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]

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... "

[makes_the_toys]

"'Always be prepared' does that mean nothing to you?" Cisco replies in defense of his packed items.

"Just wait, my go-bag is definitely going to save one of you."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"-- You brought rattlesnake antivenom to a world with neither rattlesnakes nor animals at all," Yamato says, shaking his head.

"Except fish!" Jyou chirps.

"Except fish," Yamato says.

"I think it's better to be over-prepared than under-prepared," Sora says, warmly, patting Cisco on the shoulder. "You never know, there might be a ... Rattlesnakemon. Somewhere."

[makes_the_toys]

"Thank you! That's what I told him about the bearmon!" Cisco exclaims, so glad that at least one person is bright enough to understand.

[run_barry]

Barry throws a shrug, not really sure which side to take in all of this.

"Hey, time will prove someone right, I guess."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"We're not going to meet a Rattlesnakemon. Rattlesnakemon don't exist," Yamato mutters.

The mountain is getting closer now, and so is the small village at its foot: A collection of sandstone domes, each only about waist-height, clustered around a well. It's teeming with Digimon, all of them identical pink blobs with blue flowers sprouting from their tops.

[makes_the_toys]

"If I discover the Digital World's first Rattlesnakemon I totally have rights to name it," Cisco declares.

[run_barry]

Skipping the debate on the existence of Rattlesnakemon, Barry focuses on their surroundings.

As they near the village he grins and lets out an, "Aww, look at all the Pyocomon."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"If you discover the world's first Rattlesnakemon, its name will be Rattlesnakemon. Digimon don't go in for individual names," Yamato says, shaking his head. "Except Bluebell. Who is a special case, I suppose."

Probably. If Yamato comes back and finds that all the Pyokomon have named themselves, he'll revise that assessment.

"Although," Jyou says, thoughtfully. "Meiko named Meicoomon, right? Because Meicoomon was actually -- I guess, like, a Tailmon all along."

"Also a special case."

Sora peers around the village. "Doesn't look like my Pyokomon's here," she says. "I guess she might've headed back to camp or something. We should be able to find someone to trade all this mango? to, though."

[makes_the_toys]

"Special cases, or is your strict system of naming things their own names falling down around your ears?" Cisco counters. "The revolution has begun, man."

[run_barry]

Barry is carefully to watch where he steps, not wanting to squish any Digimon or Godzilla somebody's house.

"We saw one evolve earlier. That's Bluebell, that those two are talking about," Barry says, nodding towards Cisco and Yamato.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"It's not my system, asshole, I didn't come up with it, they were doing this before I even came here," Yamato says. "It's their system. Or possibly Gennai's. Or maybe the Crests'. But not ours."

"It'd be cool if they did all have names, though! Slightly more confusing, but that's true in our world, too. It'd be great to just call people 'human,'" Jyou says.

"Tsunomon mentioned something about you going to Primary Village," Sora says to Barry. "It's always a good chance to see Digimon get born and evolve, although Elecmon likes putting people to work when he can."

The Pyokomon carefully mill about their feet, going in and out of the tiny buildings, but don't seem to mind so much having humans around. Sora casts around for someone to trade with, and locates a Pyokomon near the well. She grabs the mango? cans from Jyou's bag and peels off from the group to go and talk to it.

[makes_the_toys]

"So it's supposedly not your system, but you still adhere to it. Or do we have to get back into Boxbot and Man-Man?" Cisco replies, giving Yamato a pointed look.

[run_barry]

"Yeah, he had us do some egg rubbing and bottle feeding," Barry says with a chuckle about Elecmon, watching the Pyokomon go about their business.

"They seem pretty at ease," he notes. "How many people come here?"

He figures it must be either enough for them to be used to it, or few enough for them not to be afraid.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Man-Man and Boxbot are great names, I will fight you on this," Yamato grumbles. "They are straightforward and demonstrative and practical."

Jyou hums a little, glancing around. "This is the best source of clean water on the island, so trade around here is always booming. They must get visitors every day, more or less."

[makes_the_toys]

"Come at me bro," Cisco challenges. "I'll have Barry supersonic punch you in the face."