The Seal Man, and Other Tales, with Barry and Cisco

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Jyou's located a short walk away -- a little way south-east, over a bridge to another one of the islands that make up Odaiba, past a construction site repairing some light damage from a Digimon battle, and to the southernmost tip of one of the islands.

But he's there, sat on a bench with a textbook in hand and a white, orange-mohawked sea lion slumped around his shoulders like a scarf.

"Hope we didn't keep you waiting," Yamato says, as Jyou looks up at them and flicks down his glasses.

Comments

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Don't worry, I promise not to tip you into the water," Taichi says cheerfully.

Once on the helmet, it's possible to notice that while MetalGreymon's metal parts are quite cool, even cold, Taichi himself is radiating heat the same way Yamato radiates cold when using his powers, giving off wave after wave of it.

MetalGreymon lifts his head again, carefully keeping it level, and sets off back towards the shore, flying close to the water with the very tips of his claws skimming it.


Yamato gives a faint chuckle at that noise, knocking one foot-claw against Barry's shoes in what might be meant as a wordless apology.

"I'll chalk that one up to him realising that you could just speed him away to a shelter quicker than he could react," he says, a little dryly.

[makes_the_toys]

"I trust you guys," Cisco says, "I'm more worried about dropping myself into the drink."

The ride isn't very bumpy at all though, and before too long Cisco finally relaxes to have a look around and enjoy it.

"Man, I wish I had my own giant/mech flying dino transport. That would be awesome."

[run_barry]

"Yeah, I was trying to avoid having to go that route," Barry replies with a bit of a chuckle.

"If you want to check in on him I can take you to where I left him," he offers.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Thanks. It took some work unlocking this form -- the first time I tried to access the powers of my Crest, all of Greymon's flesh melted off and he tried to kill Yamato instead," Taichi says cheerfully. "It wasn't until a few weeks later that I managed to do it properly and unlock this form instead."


"He'll be fine, probably," Yamato says wryly, and nudges a foot-claw against Barry's foot. "I'm more worried about you right now. Looks like you might've gotten hurt a little, not that it seems to have slowed you down any."

[makes_the_toys]

"Oh damn... " Cisco says, eyes widening and immediately rethinking the having a Digimon partner thing. "I didn't know the learning curve was that steep. I think maybe I'll just build myself a robot. Or finally get around to getting one of the Milliways Jaegars up and running."

[run_barry]

Barry bumps his shoulder against Yamato's and shakes his head.

"I'll be alright. I took some damage, but nothing speed healing won't fix up."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"I don't know what a Jaeger is, but everyone loves a giant robot," Taichi says. "We're lucky in that the flesh-melting evil skeleton thing only ever happened to me and Agumon, and Gennai sent us to train with Piccolomon to fix it right away."


"I'll spare you the ice bath and bandages for your leg, then," Yamato says wryly. He nods towards the sky, and specifically towards the distant, but getting closer, shape of MetalGreymon. "Look, Taichi and Cisco should be here soon."

[makes_the_toys]

"Giant robot that fights kaiju monsters," Cisco explains simply.

"I guess that's lucky," he replies. "Still, it must've sucked."

[run_barry]

"Well I appreciate the thought anyways," Barry says with a laugh.

Turning his head, Barry looks out and spots the trio en route.

"Yeah, you're world is definitely way weirder than mine," he notes, watching the approaching somehow flying dinosaur.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"I kind of didn't want to evolve Agumon at all for a while afterwards," Taichi says, with a slight laugh, rubbing the back of his neck. "-- Which annoyed Yamato more than the murder attempt."


Yamato snorts, shaking his head, and dismisses his hybrid form, claws and ears vanishing into data as his hair turns from white to ash blond. It leaves him barefoot -- evidently his shoes didn't survive the initial transformation -- but he doesn't seem too concerned.

"I don't know what you mean. It's just a flying cyborg dinosaur. Your world'll be full of them before long, probably."

[makes_the_toys]

"Dude, I don't blame you," Cisco says. "I know when I've had projects or experiments go bad I don't want to touch it with a stick for a while after."

[run_barry]

When the ears vanish Barry reaches over to ruffle Yamato's hair in the spot where they used to be.

"You're about as kind to footwear as I am," he notes, nodding down at Yamato's bare feet.

"Whatever you say, man," Barry says with an amused eye roll that shows just how not not-weird flying cyborg dinosaurs are.

As said flying cyborg dino gets closer, Barry raises his hand in greeting.

"What's up, guys?"

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Well, we were stuck in the Digital World at the time. Not like any of us had the option of staying out of fights."

MetalGreymon lands in the middle of the carpark, lowering his head to rest against the ground, although it's still a ten foot climb to get down. Taichi just slides down instead of climbing, letting friction do the work of slowing him down.

"We ready?" He asks Yamato.

Yamato, who had briefly nudged his head against Barry's hand at that hair ruffle, but probably wouldn't admit it, gives a quick nod, pulling his digivice from his belt.

"Everyone," he says, tapping his earpiece, "get ready to open the Gate again."

He and Taichi hold up their digivices, and there's a faint glow of blue and orange from their screens. Up in the sky, symbols start appearing one by one: Taichi's eight-pointed sun first, then Yamato's two-pronged moon, then a heart, two circles, a teardrop, a cross, a half sun over a mountain, and finally an eight-pointed star. The sky splits open between them, opening wider and wider, until the edges of the Gate can't be seen at all and there's just the Digital World floating above them, hanging in the sky.

MadLeomon vanishes into a streak of light, racing up towards the floating planet, and before long there are more streaks of light flying towards it. When the last one lands somewhere around a large desert, the Gate shuts again, the normal blue sky folding over it before everything settles back to normal once again.

[run_barry]

Barry looks up and watches as the sky lights up and the portal opens. He glances down at MadLeomon and watches him dissolve and then fly skyward as a beam of light, followed by others from around the city.

"Woah," he says, astonished and impressed as the sky returns to normal.

[makes_the_toys]

Cisco watches the light show from atop MetalGreymon, raising his phone up above his head to capture pictures of the open portal in the sky.

When it's over he takes a picture of Yamato, Barry and Taichi below, then shouts out, "Hey! A little help?"

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"We still haven't figured out how Gennai can open Gates so deftly," Taichi admits, with a wry smile. "So we just have to open them with brute force. Without Ken and his dark digivice here, it takes all eight of us just to prise open the Odaiba Gate."

Yamato glances up at Cisco, cocking his head. "Wait there!"

He climbs up the side of MetalGreymon's helmet like some kind of monkey or spider to join Cisco up there, tilting his head to the side again. "So, do I carry you down or just push you off?"

[run_barry]

"I guess it's better that it's hard to do, otherwise more people might try it," Barry says, looking around at the destruction in the city.

"What's gonna happen now?" he asks.

[makes_the_toys]

"You push me I'll shrink ray you," Cisco threatens.

Leaning forward carefully, Cisco looks down over the edge of MetalGreymon's helmet.

"Why am I always just luggage to my friends?" he sighs. "Yeah, carry me. If I jump I'm definitely breaking both of my ankles."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Mr. Nishijima and the Bureau will come, any injured will be taken to hospital, and once the Bureau's taken stock of the damage, they'll organise a rebuilding effort," Taichi says. "It won't take long. They're good at cutting through red tape, at least."

He angles his head towards the sky, and adds: "But we can't let the Ironworks Company do this again. I'll go and try to negotiate a deal, see if we can't get them to agree to back off. If they won't budge, I'll send Yamato in."

Up on MetalGreymon's helmet, Yamato plucks Cisco up, then skids down the entirely vertical side of the helmet on his heels, neatly jumping and landing on his feet just before he would crash into the ground.

"Here you go."

[run_barry]

Barry doesn't quite pull a face at the mention of the Bureau, but it's a very near thing.

"The Bureau, right," he says with a nod.

Barry looks up at the sky where the portal was, then glances at Yamato before looking back at Taichi.

"Anything I can do to help?"

[makes_the_toys]

Swept off his feet, Cisco grabs onto Yamato and holds on tight as Yamato takes them down from MetalGreymon.

On the ground, Cisco plants his feet and hangs onto Yamato a moment to make sure he's steady.

"Geez, how does anyone get used to that?"

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Not unless you want to join me on a diplomatic trip," Taichi says wryly. "But it'll probably devolve into hours of discussions on labour costs, ore rights, and territory boundaries. Assuming things go well."

"Well, this is why we usually use Birdramon if we want to fly anywhere," Yamato says easily, as MetalGreymon flickers orange and shrinks, until he's a child-sized, orange dinosaur instead of a cyborg behemoth.

[run_barry]

"Probably best if I leave that to you guys," Barry replies with a bit of a chuckle. "I'm not really up to speed on Digimon politics."

[makes_the_toys]

Cisco watches MetalGreymon shrink down and grins.

"Regardless, that is cool," he says, then gives a nod to Agumon. "Thanks for the lift, bud."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"I figured," Taichi laughs. He slaps the back of his hand against Barry's shoulder, adding: "Thanks for helping out today, though. Yama'll probably balance it on whatever running spreadsheet of debts and favours he keeps in his head, but if there's anything you want from me, I'll see what I can do. But, er, I'm a poor student, so unless it's coffee, tips on beating up Yama, or a dinosaur I might struggle."

Agumon flashes a brief grin at Cisco, while Yamato ducks his head and angles a companionable headbutt against Cisco's shoulder.

More Chosen are arriving now, one by one, at the edge of the square. Takeru arrives first, on a golden pegasus that quickly shrinks down to Patamon, then Mimi riding a giant cactus' boxing glove, grass erupting from between the concrete as she hops down.