angry_friendship_wolf | [tri OOM] Barry, Cisco, and File Island

[tri OOM] Barry, Cisco, and File Island

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."

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"You guys are ridiculous," Barry says with a laugh.

Bidding goodbye to the Pyokomon, Barry walks with the group towards Mount Panorama.

As they walk, Sora wanders back into the group, now with several less cans of delicious mango? drink.

Once they reach the foot of the mountain -- which up close looks even smaller than it did when they were approaching through the desert -- Sora and Jyou stop.

"We should finish off trading here," Sora says. "And then get the supplies back to camp."

"Right," Yamato says, giving a quick nod. "I'll leave getting water to you, Sora. Jyou, I want those medical supplies separated out, stored in waterproofed containers, and packed up to be moved to the new camp by the time I get back. Make sure Koushiro logs it all, too."

Jyou stands a little stiffer and straighter, adjusting his glasses. "Right, will do," he says, and gives Barry and Cisco a nod. "It was nice meeting you both, Barry, Cisco!"

"You're welcome any time," Sora adds.

Small mountains are totally fine with Cisco. The pack on his back hasn't gotten any lighter and he wouldn't want to lug it up Everest.

"See ya!" Cisco calls, giving them each a fingergun shot.

"It was nice meeting you, too," Barry returns.

After the pair are gone Barry throws Yamato a smile.

"You're pretty good at that."

"At what?" Yamato asks absently, starting up the mountain path.

He may be keeping a weather eye on Cisco, just in case he collapses under that backpack and gets crushed by it.

"Taking charge, knowing what needs to get done," he replies. "They really listen to you."

Cisco is starting to flag and lags behind a bit.

He uses the opportunity to dig out a couple of sample jars from the side pouches on his bag, looking to pick up things on the trail to stick in them.

"Dang, I should've kept some of that Grape?, would've been interesting to experiment with it."

Yamato turns a little pink, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "-- I guess so. T-thanks," he says, ducking his head and looking at the ground as he walks. "I just kind of fell into it. Taichi's great at figuring out the big picture, and he kind of inspires everyone and drags them along by sheer charisma, but having a second-in-command who can handle the details and the little, day-to-day tasks was, er ... necessary for him."

Beat.

"And it helps that the others are all good at their stuff too. Sora handles reconnaissance, morale, and trade a whole lot better than I ever could, and Jyou's the best medic we could ask for. So there's that."

As he walks, he turns to peer at Cisco, squinting. "Tell you what, I'll grab you a can of somethin' sometime and leave it at the Bar for you. Can't promise it'll be Grape?, though."

As it is, the trail they're walking up is surrounded on all side by grass, leaves, and flowers.

"Sometimes that's how it happens," he replies with a shrug that turns into a bump against Yamato's shoulder.

Whether by prophecies or lightning strikes.

"Having done the 'thrust into forming a team overnight' thing, too, I know it's not easy." And truth told Team Flash is still kind of finding their stride.

"You've got it down, though. I wish I had more of that sometimes," he admits, concentrating on the ground now, too. "I mean, I'm working on it, and learning, but they definitely follow me more because I'm the guy with the superpowers than because I know what I'm doing."

Cisco stops along the trail to pick leaves and flowers, leaving Barry and Yamato to talk until Yamato turns to make his offer of Grape?.

"Sweet," Cisco says, throwing a thumbs up. "Would it be wrong to also ask for a Penmon for testing?"

HE KIDS!

Probably.

"I'm not convinced," Yamato says, mildly. "You actually remind me a lot of Taichi, if Taichi hadn't eaten so many paint chips growing up -- and all the things that make him a good leader, those were all there before he had a team to lead, and a dinosaur, and before he knew he had a Crest. So I can't help but think you're selling yourself short: You got a team because you have superpowers, sure, but I don't think that's why they follow you."

He throws Cisco a quick look, raising an eyebrow.

"You can't get a Penmon for testing. It would destroy you," he says. "And then someone, probably Barry, would have to keep a straight face at your funeral as they tell mourners 'oh, Cisco Man-Man Ramon, he died as he lived, yelling about penguins.'"

Laughing at the way Yamato talks about Taichi, Barry is reassured. He gives Yamato an appreciative nod and smile even as he teases, "Who's snuggly again?"

Cisco is obviously kidding, but it still feels important to dissuade him, so Barry turns to add his own veto.

"Yeah, no, Cisco. Besides, would you really want one of those guys running around the lab or your workshop?"

"I love how my friends aren't confident I could take a bird," Cisco grouses.

They make good points, though, so he decides to stick to flower and mystery soda samples.

"Still you," Yamato growls, giving Barry a quick, light shove. "I'm not snuggly at all. I'm the opposite of snuggly."

He gives a quick chuckle at Cisco's response, shaking his head.

"It's not that. Penmon might be small, but they're still Child-level Digimon, which means they're almost invulnerable to anything that's not another Digimon's attack, and they almost certainly have some kind of destructive breath weapon," he says. After a moment: "I mean, I do also think you'd lose against an actual penguin, but that's not immediately relevant here."

He flashes a quick grin to indicate that he is, at least, joking about that last part.

Barry just laughs again, shoving his hands into his pockets and continuing on up the mountain in a smug stroll.

"Cisco I'm sure there are birds out there who would fear you. Like... " Barry tilts his head up, clearly trying to think of one. "I was gonna say a duck, but ducks can be pretty mean... "

"You guys just wait. I am officially committed now to training GP to kick both your asses," Cisco vows, pointing at the two.

"Maybe a baby sparrow or something. One that can't fly yet," Yamato suggests, reasonably. "-- GP doesn't count. He's not a bird, he's just -- a cataclysmic event in bird form."

Yamato fully believes GP can and will topple civilisations.

As they walk, they reach the top of the first of the three donut shapes that make up the mountain, and the air seems to shift around them. The remaining two donut shapes they still have to climb don't look any bigger, but the one they're on is now huge, making them a lot higher up than they were just a few moments ago -- high enough to see almost all of the Gear Desert.

"I know for a fact you could definitely take down some chicken nuggets," he offers to Cisco as one last rib.

Noticing where they are, Barry steps closer to the edge to take in the view.

"This place is so weird," he chuckles, looking up at the remaining rings, and then down at the height that can't possibly match the distance they've traveled so far.

"Ha. Ha. I'll chicken nugget the both of you." No, he doesn't know what that means.

Pulling out his phone, Cisco steps closer to the edge to snap a few pictures.

Throwing an arm around Barry's shoulder, Cisco gestures at Yamato to bring it in.

"Yams get over here, gotta get our selfie on."

Yamato looks a little awkward and embarrassed at the idea of joining them for a selfie, but he shuffles in closer anyway, stuffing his hands in his pockets and looking off to the side somewhere.

While Cisco holds the phone out to take the pic, Barry leans in to pose with a smile.

Cisco snaps the pic and checks it.

"Oh, oh! Let's be stoic like Yamato," he says, holding the phone out again and putting on his 'SRS' face.

"Stoic and aloof in one...two...three."

Yamato gives a quick, wordless grumble at that, jabbing Cisco in the side lightly with his elbow.

He's still a little reluctant to look directly at the camera, though, so he fixes his gaze on some flowers nearby.

As it turns out, Barry's serious face is hardly stoic, and he can barely hold it long enough for the picture before he's laughing and grinning again.

Cisco checks the picture and practically cackles, finally releasing Barry and letting Yamato step away.

"Wow, man, I'd love to see your Instagram account. You're a 'my many moods' meme waiting to happen," he teases.

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