Digimon A Digital Fantasy
- Thread starter NeverwhereCM
- Start date
Do romanization rules really cover when to use f instead of ph for an 'f' sound? Well, whatever. I bowed to the will of the forum and changed it, and while I was at it I went back and changed the Calumon/Culumon thing above, too.
This is shorter than I usually like before I post, but it's the end of Ruki's prologue, so I suppose it has to stop here.
---
"A few more things."
Ruki spun at the voice, and paused a hairsbreadth away from nailing Ofanimon's bared midriff. "Don't do that."
"Hmm." She sounded amused, but continued. "You left before I could finish. Firstly," she held out her hand, "Your digivice. I assumed you would want it."
Ruki turned the blonde a glare, but took the card reader. "Hey! The card slot's gone!" Crap.
Ofanimon nodded. "Of course. You didn't choose Tamer as your class. Should you select it for your second class when the time comes, it will re-open. For now it will act with any number of functions you would normally find in the game's menus and HUD."
Ruki ignored the angel for a moment or two, cycling though some menus and bringing up a map. It would be a short walk to Kerot.
"And lastly," the ultimate continued, "a gift."
Ruki looked at her. "A gift?"
"Indeed. You will need some kind of edge over your competition, and this should replace your lost card slot nicely." She held up a hand and a bright blue ball flashed into being. "This," she said quietly as the ball seemed to morph, becoming faceted like a gem one moment before bursting into flames the next, never stopping its random, chaotic changes, "is an unstable digicore. When digimon are deleted, here in the digital world, they revert back to eggs, unless their opponent loads the data before that happens. In this fashion they survive, and loose all conscious memory û but that does not mean the data is not there. As they go through life anew, they may venture down different evolution paths than before. It occasionally happens that it occurs so many times and down so many different paths that the core becomes too unstable to return to an egg. In its place is formed one of these."
Ruki eyed the thing skeptically, seeing it throw off sparks of electricity. "And what does it do?"
"We, the three angels, make it a point to collect these when they happen. Digimon who attempt to load the digicore are simply absorbed into it. But D-Humans... D-Humans are left with great power. Any digimon that your partner loads the data of is at your disposal. When you have learned to control it properly, you may unleash their attacks as if they were your own ability û provided your mind can withstand the strain."
Ruki grinned. "Awesome."
"I thought you might like it," she smiled. "A warning though."
"Here it comes," Ruki sighed. "What's the catch?"
Ofanimon shook her head. "Only that like your origins, it would be best not to mention the ability, or use it where others can see û those that you do not intend to delete, in any case. All those who have acquired these cores before became conquerors in their own right. Another reason use of the cores is restricted. Be careful with it."
"Sure, sure." Ruki's mind was already awash with the possibilities as the core was gently placed into her chest. Instantly, that was driven out of her head. It started as an icy wave spreading form the point of contact as the nerves were overloaded before they lit up in agony. She screamed, but remembered what Ofanimon said about her mind withstanding the strain held on.
After what seemed an eternity, the pain stopped, and she collapsed, exhausted and numb. She opened her eyes to find herself alone. "Renamon...?"
The fox digimon appeared and helped her partner into a more comfortable position. "She left once she placed the core inside you." Renamon paused, then resumed. "I do not think it wise to stay here any longer than we must. The... noise may have attracted attention."
Vaguely appreciative that Renamon wasn't calling direct attention her pain, Ruki struggled to her feet. She stumbled once, needing to steady herself against a tree. Then she nodded, straightening. She looked at Renamon, paused, then turned back to the tree.
Ruki closed her eyes and dug inside herself, mostly because that was the only idea she could come up with on short notice. Feeling... something, Ruki concentrated on an image of Renamon her self. Holding it there, she backed half a pace from the tree, then swung.
Renamon, watching, felt a tingling sensation along her spine as her partner lit up with an aura normally associated with Programmers, one of ones and zeros, and dozens of arcane symbols. But it didn't simply swirl, coalesce into a spell the way she was familiar with. Instead it washed out behind the girl, taking shape for a brief moment. It was... The only comparison to make was something along the lines of three dimensional ASCII art, before it suddenly rushed forward, taking on the patterns of programming that Renamon knew.
Ruki's fist glowed with purple light as it impacted the tree. "Touhakken!" The blow smashed right through the tree, cleaving it in two, Ruki sidestepping the falling trunk. It hadn't been the thickest trunk, to be certain, but then, Renamon was only a child level, after all. She stood there, smirking at her fist for a moment, before turning and walking towards Kerot, checking her map along the way.
Renamon stood there a lot longer, eying the tree, and contemplating Ofanimon and her gift, before turning to catch up, fading out of sight as she did so.
---
Ruki, illegal Blue Mage.
This is shorter than I usually like before I post, but it's the end of Ruki's prologue, so I suppose it has to stop here.
---
"A few more things."
Ruki spun at the voice, and paused a hairsbreadth away from nailing Ofanimon's bared midriff. "Don't do that."
"Hmm." She sounded amused, but continued. "You left before I could finish. Firstly," she held out her hand, "Your digivice. I assumed you would want it."
Ruki turned the blonde a glare, but took the card reader. "Hey! The card slot's gone!" Crap.
Ofanimon nodded. "Of course. You didn't choose Tamer as your class. Should you select it for your second class when the time comes, it will re-open. For now it will act with any number of functions you would normally find in the game's menus and HUD."
Ruki ignored the angel for a moment or two, cycling though some menus and bringing up a map. It would be a short walk to Kerot.
"And lastly," the ultimate continued, "a gift."
Ruki looked at her. "A gift?"
"Indeed. You will need some kind of edge over your competition, and this should replace your lost card slot nicely." She held up a hand and a bright blue ball flashed into being. "This," she said quietly as the ball seemed to morph, becoming faceted like a gem one moment before bursting into flames the next, never stopping its random, chaotic changes, "is an unstable digicore. When digimon are deleted, here in the digital world, they revert back to eggs, unless their opponent loads the data before that happens. In this fashion they survive, and loose all conscious memory û but that does not mean the data is not there. As they go through life anew, they may venture down different evolution paths than before. It occasionally happens that it occurs so many times and down so many different paths that the core becomes too unstable to return to an egg. In its place is formed one of these."
Ruki eyed the thing skeptically, seeing it throw off sparks of electricity. "And what does it do?"
"We, the three angels, make it a point to collect these when they happen. Digimon who attempt to load the digicore are simply absorbed into it. But D-Humans... D-Humans are left with great power. Any digimon that your partner loads the data of is at your disposal. When you have learned to control it properly, you may unleash their attacks as if they were your own ability û provided your mind can withstand the strain."
Ruki grinned. "Awesome."
"I thought you might like it," she smiled. "A warning though."
"Here it comes," Ruki sighed. "What's the catch?"
Ofanimon shook her head. "Only that like your origins, it would be best not to mention the ability, or use it where others can see û those that you do not intend to delete, in any case. All those who have acquired these cores before became conquerors in their own right. Another reason use of the cores is restricted. Be careful with it."
"Sure, sure." Ruki's mind was already awash with the possibilities as the core was gently placed into her chest. Instantly, that was driven out of her head. It started as an icy wave spreading form the point of contact as the nerves were overloaded before they lit up in agony. She screamed, but remembered what Ofanimon said about her mind withstanding the strain held on.
After what seemed an eternity, the pain stopped, and she collapsed, exhausted and numb. She opened her eyes to find herself alone. "Renamon...?"
The fox digimon appeared and helped her partner into a more comfortable position. "She left once she placed the core inside you." Renamon paused, then resumed. "I do not think it wise to stay here any longer than we must. The... noise may have attracted attention."
Vaguely appreciative that Renamon wasn't calling direct attention her pain, Ruki struggled to her feet. She stumbled once, needing to steady herself against a tree. Then she nodded, straightening. She looked at Renamon, paused, then turned back to the tree.
Ruki closed her eyes and dug inside herself, mostly because that was the only idea she could come up with on short notice. Feeling... something, Ruki concentrated on an image of Renamon her self. Holding it there, she backed half a pace from the tree, then swung.
Renamon, watching, felt a tingling sensation along her spine as her partner lit up with an aura normally associated with Programmers, one of ones and zeros, and dozens of arcane symbols. But it didn't simply swirl, coalesce into a spell the way she was familiar with. Instead it washed out behind the girl, taking shape for a brief moment. It was... The only comparison to make was something along the lines of three dimensional ASCII art, before it suddenly rushed forward, taking on the patterns of programming that Renamon knew.
Ruki's fist glowed with purple light as it impacted the tree. "Touhakken!" The blow smashed right through the tree, cleaving it in two, Ruki sidestepping the falling trunk. It hadn't been the thickest trunk, to be certain, but then, Renamon was only a child level, after all. She stood there, smirking at her fist for a moment, before turning and walking towards Kerot, checking her map along the way.
Renamon stood there a lot longer, eying the tree, and contemplating Ofanimon and her gift, before turning to catch up, fading out of sight as she did so.
---
Ruki, illegal Blue Mage.
As the school bell rang, Li Jianliang quietly collected his books, nodding back those classmates wishing him a good day. As he made to stand, though, his eyes were covered by hands, and a warm voice whispered in his ears. "Guess who?"
Smiling, the half chinese boy rolled his eyes under the hands. "Hey Juri." Rising up and turning around, he noticed the brunette rocking back and forth on her feet, smiling. "What's got you so excited?"
"Oh, nothing," she lied through her teeth, "just happy to be almost out for summer break. Are.. you doing anything?" She paused here, then corrected herself in a rush. "With your family, I mean."
"Unfortunately no," the black haired boy replied glumly. "Xaochung was picking on another girl in her class and got grounded. And with dad at work and Mom... gone, someone needs to be there to watch her."
Juri winced. Li Mayumi had passed suddenly due to heart problems the year before, and it had nearly torn Jenrya's family apart. As it was, his two older siblings had moved out, and his little sister had started lashing out. There was a bitterish bright side from Juri's point of view, though, as that was when she and Jenrya had met.
Jen sighed, "Look, Juri, I gotta head over and pick up Xou to make sure she doesn't just take off somewhere after her school lets out. I'll... talk to you later, okay?"
---
"And stay in there!" Jianliang slammed the door to his little sister's room, and was tempted to find a chair to wedge under the handle, but resisted the urge as he rubbed the developing bruise on his chin. Xouchung hadn't hit him herself, but apparently the other girl she tormented had finally had enough, and involved her own big brother. Despite being a couple of years Jian's junior, the guy had a hell of a right hook. Jenrya's half remembered Tai Chi lessons from his youth hadn't really cut it. Even then it had been more for exercise than self defense. He'd always been more of a thinker than a fighter.
Sighing, Jen stalked into his own room and slumped into a chair. He eyed his book bag and its waiting homework, but he was too worn out to care at the moment, and that would make the quaility suffer for certain. Instead he turned to his computer, and opened up his favorite game.
He was, thus, a little confused, when an older game, A Digital Fantasy opened up instead. Odd, but probably just the mother of all glitches. He moved the mouse, and clicked on the exit button. Rather than exit the program, the button chose to disappear.
Closing his eyes and counting to ten, Jianliang feared the worst, but despite himself, was intruiged. Had someone actually hacked the game's servers and spread a virus through a known program? No stranger to the art himself, he couldn't help but be impressed, though worried. He hit ctrl+alt+delete and prepared for a long hard slog through his anti-virus suite.
Nothing happened. Hitting the power button on the computer's tower proved fruitless as well. Finally, he went for the fail safe. Backing his chair out, he climbed underneath his desk, and pulled the power. And when he came back up, the screen was still on.
"Okay," he mumbled, "Now you've really got my attention." First, he confirmed that, yes, he had taken out the right plug. Just to be safe, he undid the whole power strip. No change to the fact that his computer was still running without power. He knew at this point that he was being targeted specifically, but couldn't figure out how it was being done. The only thing he could think of to explain how his computer was getting power was an induction device, but the sheer logistics of such a thing rendered it impossible.
Finally exhausting all his options, he just stared at the game screen, which other than the exit button being up and gone, still seemed to be inviting him to play. "No was out but through, I guess."
Jenrya clicked 'Log In'.
---
A Digital Fantasy
Prologue Round 3
Install/March
---
He ignored the look alike avatar for the moment as he considered his class. He got the feeling that this would be extremely important, if only by the nature of the dozen impossibilities that had led up to this point, so he considered carefully.
The divine tree was his first thought. Deriving power from the gods or the crests, they could make a very strong character in a hurry. Clerical was divinely influenced spell casting, Champion divinely driven physical skills. Bearers used watered down versions of the crests, and Defenders gained high defense through diminished versions of the digimentals, though admittedly they'd been pumped up in power and usefulness for the sake of balancing the game.
He dismissed the dark tree out of hand as well. While Acolyte and Possession were like dark reflections of Clerical and Bearer respectively, Augmentation involved ripping parts off of digimon to graft onto the human's body, and Cultists had increased firepower û at the cost of life arround them. None of it was something he felt comfortable with dealing with in the present circumstances.
The human tree was as good as the rest. Mechanics could build armor, weapons and vehicles, and really benefited from machine or cyborg type partners. Chi users could fight well and had some mid to long range special abilities, and aura users were said to have a sort of supernatural charisma, able to project their moods to provide bonuses to anyone around them. Programmers were simple spell casters, untied to either the divine or demonic sides.
The natural tree's abilities could be useful, though. Not Hybrid, the lack of control was bad, but the others weren't too bad. Tamer would be ideal, but Xou had appropriated all of his cards when he'd lost interest in the game û getting them back wasn't happening at the moment. Alchemists could make all sorts of concoctions for battle or otherwise, but... he'd need time to gather materials. With no way to tell what would happen or how much time he'd get to prepare, that wasn't going to happen. Connection was a really good one. Tapping into the flow of data around them, a character could 'sense' when attacks were going to happen, and how the opponent was planning to move. In practical terms it meant an increased dodge and hit ratio, and the highest levels had a few other useful things. But in the end it was a support class.
A support class was great if you were going to focus on physical combat, but it left you a little short on variety. Conventional wisdom for the game was to pick a utility class (which was many abilities, but hard to master) first, and then a support class (few abilities, letting you power them up quickly, or dump a bunch into physical abilities) second.
With no way of knowing anything, Jianliang picked the programmer class. It had a wide variety available and was immediately useful.
Hitting the okay button, his world exploded in green.
---
"Greetings."
The Li boy stared. He wasn't sure of anything at the moment. His grip on reality seemed to be slipping away, but he held on. "Hey yourself."
Seraphimon floated in front of him, wings flapping. "I have need of your help, young one."
"Oookay. Why me?" Jen's mind raced. Had that guy at Xou's school actually put him in the hospital? Was he on the really good stuff? Whether it was that or it was real, he might as well go with the flow and see where the current took him.
"Because the Digimon Kaiser must be stopped before he enslaves the entire Digital World," the armored angel explained patiently. "Destiny has been... derailed."
"The Kaiser?" Jen frowned. "You mean like from the second season? How?"
"This game as you know it is essentially a copy of the digital world from a time just after what you would call the 'first season'."
Jenrya nodded. "Yes. Several of the quests in the game involve helping the Chosen stop the Kaiser. Honestly, that part of the game felt a little weak."
"Indeed it should have. It was one of the only pieces of the story crafted entirely by human hands. The truth, as it stands is far more difficult. Without help, the new Chosen have been repulsed by the Kaiser's forces. The older Chosen's followers-"
"Yes," Jian interrupted, "I know this. The followers are collectively called the Loyalists, and are made up of the gamers that have the Bearer and Defender classes. You help the Chosen fight off the huge numbers, and eventually the five of them defeat and convert the Kaiser, like in the show, only lacking a real world."
"Yes," Seraphimon agreed, "but in this case, that is impossible. While the Loyalist D-Humans can and have certainly held the Kaiser back, they are slowly loosing the battle to attrition."
"How," the black haired boy asked, even as he considered the problem himself, "With the armies holding his forces back, the Chosen should be able to strike. Why can't they?"
Seraphimon's answer was grave. "Because the Child of Hope is missing. And the Child of Light... is dead."
Smiling, the half chinese boy rolled his eyes under the hands. "Hey Juri." Rising up and turning around, he noticed the brunette rocking back and forth on her feet, smiling. "What's got you so excited?"
"Oh, nothing," she lied through her teeth, "just happy to be almost out for summer break. Are.. you doing anything?" She paused here, then corrected herself in a rush. "With your family, I mean."
"Unfortunately no," the black haired boy replied glumly. "Xaochung was picking on another girl in her class and got grounded. And with dad at work and Mom... gone, someone needs to be there to watch her."
Juri winced. Li Mayumi had passed suddenly due to heart problems the year before, and it had nearly torn Jenrya's family apart. As it was, his two older siblings had moved out, and his little sister had started lashing out. There was a bitterish bright side from Juri's point of view, though, as that was when she and Jenrya had met.
Jen sighed, "Look, Juri, I gotta head over and pick up Xou to make sure she doesn't just take off somewhere after her school lets out. I'll... talk to you later, okay?"
---
"And stay in there!" Jianliang slammed the door to his little sister's room, and was tempted to find a chair to wedge under the handle, but resisted the urge as he rubbed the developing bruise on his chin. Xouchung hadn't hit him herself, but apparently the other girl she tormented had finally had enough, and involved her own big brother. Despite being a couple of years Jian's junior, the guy had a hell of a right hook. Jenrya's half remembered Tai Chi lessons from his youth hadn't really cut it. Even then it had been more for exercise than self defense. He'd always been more of a thinker than a fighter.
Sighing, Jen stalked into his own room and slumped into a chair. He eyed his book bag and its waiting homework, but he was too worn out to care at the moment, and that would make the quaility suffer for certain. Instead he turned to his computer, and opened up his favorite game.
He was, thus, a little confused, when an older game, A Digital Fantasy opened up instead. Odd, but probably just the mother of all glitches. He moved the mouse, and clicked on the exit button. Rather than exit the program, the button chose to disappear.
Closing his eyes and counting to ten, Jianliang feared the worst, but despite himself, was intruiged. Had someone actually hacked the game's servers and spread a virus through a known program? No stranger to the art himself, he couldn't help but be impressed, though worried. He hit ctrl+alt+delete and prepared for a long hard slog through his anti-virus suite.
Nothing happened. Hitting the power button on the computer's tower proved fruitless as well. Finally, he went for the fail safe. Backing his chair out, he climbed underneath his desk, and pulled the power. And when he came back up, the screen was still on.
"Okay," he mumbled, "Now you've really got my attention." First, he confirmed that, yes, he had taken out the right plug. Just to be safe, he undid the whole power strip. No change to the fact that his computer was still running without power. He knew at this point that he was being targeted specifically, but couldn't figure out how it was being done. The only thing he could think of to explain how his computer was getting power was an induction device, but the sheer logistics of such a thing rendered it impossible.
Finally exhausting all his options, he just stared at the game screen, which other than the exit button being up and gone, still seemed to be inviting him to play. "No was out but through, I guess."
Jenrya clicked 'Log In'.
---
A Digital Fantasy
Prologue Round 3
Install/March
---
He ignored the look alike avatar for the moment as he considered his class. He got the feeling that this would be extremely important, if only by the nature of the dozen impossibilities that had led up to this point, so he considered carefully.
The divine tree was his first thought. Deriving power from the gods or the crests, they could make a very strong character in a hurry. Clerical was divinely influenced spell casting, Champion divinely driven physical skills. Bearers used watered down versions of the crests, and Defenders gained high defense through diminished versions of the digimentals, though admittedly they'd been pumped up in power and usefulness for the sake of balancing the game.
He dismissed the dark tree out of hand as well. While Acolyte and Possession were like dark reflections of Clerical and Bearer respectively, Augmentation involved ripping parts off of digimon to graft onto the human's body, and Cultists had increased firepower û at the cost of life arround them. None of it was something he felt comfortable with dealing with in the present circumstances.
The human tree was as good as the rest. Mechanics could build armor, weapons and vehicles, and really benefited from machine or cyborg type partners. Chi users could fight well and had some mid to long range special abilities, and aura users were said to have a sort of supernatural charisma, able to project their moods to provide bonuses to anyone around them. Programmers were simple spell casters, untied to either the divine or demonic sides.
The natural tree's abilities could be useful, though. Not Hybrid, the lack of control was bad, but the others weren't too bad. Tamer would be ideal, but Xou had appropriated all of his cards when he'd lost interest in the game û getting them back wasn't happening at the moment. Alchemists could make all sorts of concoctions for battle or otherwise, but... he'd need time to gather materials. With no way to tell what would happen or how much time he'd get to prepare, that wasn't going to happen. Connection was a really good one. Tapping into the flow of data around them, a character could 'sense' when attacks were going to happen, and how the opponent was planning to move. In practical terms it meant an increased dodge and hit ratio, and the highest levels had a few other useful things. But in the end it was a support class.
A support class was great if you were going to focus on physical combat, but it left you a little short on variety. Conventional wisdom for the game was to pick a utility class (which was many abilities, but hard to master) first, and then a support class (few abilities, letting you power them up quickly, or dump a bunch into physical abilities) second.
With no way of knowing anything, Jianliang picked the programmer class. It had a wide variety available and was immediately useful.
Hitting the okay button, his world exploded in green.
---
"Greetings."
The Li boy stared. He wasn't sure of anything at the moment. His grip on reality seemed to be slipping away, but he held on. "Hey yourself."
Seraphimon floated in front of him, wings flapping. "I have need of your help, young one."
"Oookay. Why me?" Jen's mind raced. Had that guy at Xou's school actually put him in the hospital? Was he on the really good stuff? Whether it was that or it was real, he might as well go with the flow and see where the current took him.
"Because the Digimon Kaiser must be stopped before he enslaves the entire Digital World," the armored angel explained patiently. "Destiny has been... derailed."
"The Kaiser?" Jen frowned. "You mean like from the second season? How?"
"This game as you know it is essentially a copy of the digital world from a time just after what you would call the 'first season'."
Jenrya nodded. "Yes. Several of the quests in the game involve helping the Chosen stop the Kaiser. Honestly, that part of the game felt a little weak."
"Indeed it should have. It was one of the only pieces of the story crafted entirely by human hands. The truth, as it stands is far more difficult. Without help, the new Chosen have been repulsed by the Kaiser's forces. The older Chosen's followers-"
"Yes," Jian interrupted, "I know this. The followers are collectively called the Loyalists, and are made up of the gamers that have the Bearer and Defender classes. You help the Chosen fight off the huge numbers, and eventually the five of them defeat and convert the Kaiser, like in the show, only lacking a real world."
"Yes," Seraphimon agreed, "but in this case, that is impossible. While the Loyalist D-Humans can and have certainly held the Kaiser back, they are slowly loosing the battle to attrition."
"How," the black haired boy asked, even as he considered the problem himself, "With the armies holding his forces back, the Chosen should be able to strike. Why can't they?"
Seraphimon's answer was grave. "Because the Child of Hope is missing. And the Child of Light... is dead."