3915/When Paths Finally Cross

When Paths Finally Cross
Date of Scene:	15 March 2016
Location:	Urbania
Synopsis:	Octomon pirates plunder Telwark Mall... And Gaonoir gets an unexpected new partner.
Cast of Characters:	276, Gaonoir, 930

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Gaonoir has posed:
It had started as a typical day at the Terlawk Mall, the biggest shopping center in Urbania and likely most of the known Multiverse in general. Shops opened, entire social structures gathered, people paid for their overpriced coffee and then went looking for the latest deals regardless if they actually needed such things. Large mall shopping was, in itself, a culture all unto its own. People crowded the walkways.

And then security discovered that a somehow a cluster of octopods had gotten into one of the big fountains. (http://wikimon.net/Octmon) Attempting to get them to leave... did not go well. Fortunately it only involved getting shot with an ink gun and one mall cop getting his pants dropped when his belt was cut by a cutlass. Which resulted in plenty of "I ain't paid enough for this!" shouting.

Now the lead Octomon (you can tell because he has the patch over one eye-hole in his jar and a tentacle tipped with a pirate hook) had climbed to the top of the statue in the center of the fountain, hanging on with his other tentacles. "Ya filthy landlubbers can just shove off! This oasis of booty be mine now. Ararararar!"

The other three Octomon are picking through the fountain with their tentacles tipped with grabber claws, scooping up all the loose change people throw into these fountains and dumping it into... well they have sacks, but they've only scraped up enough pennies and nickles to fill one so far.

Most of the people have cleared out from around the fountain so far. Except for one young lady on the second floor walkway, who's leaning precariously over a railing to take pictures with her smartphone. Needless to say, a few snapshots and twitter upposts and the 'alien octopus pirates' is all over the media networks.

Alden (930) has posed:
Alden was in the area because... he saw the pictures about the digimon in teh fountain!, he was not roaming the mall and having some iced coffee... nope!. What is that mug and cream on his muzzle?... no time to explain!, pirate octopi need to be stopped!. He quickly runs to the fountain area, dripping the mug, and wipping his muzzle, making sure that the people left the area before engaging.

Kari Wolf (276) has posed:
    Kari and Harriet were shopping, actually. Harriet was dragged along because she is the bigger and stronger of the two shinki, so she has lifting/loading duty. Kari on the other hand, is remote controlling the scootery thing laden with various sundries that the shinki sisters can't get in Techno Urbania. Things like specialty spices, teas, preserved seafood, and food from their master's home world.
    They of course notice the digimon disturbance. The pair peer over the railing of the upper level at the fountain full of octmon.
    "... What are those?" Harriet asks calmly, knowing her smaller sister has seen a lot more of the multiverse than she has.
    "I dunno! Maybe they're the Octopus Liberation Front, protesting the use of their babies as food? We should go find out!" And before Harriet can object, the scooter thing is locked with a quiet *beep*beep*, Kari hopping down off the upper level as her armor shifts into her more intimidating Dire Wolf one. Harriet meanwhile, facepalms and decides to watch the proceedings for the moment.

Gaonoir has posed:
While they're not doing much worse than petty pilfering of pocket change, and possibly doing the mall a small service by digging that loose coin out of the fountain's waterworks, the head Octomon is making quite a spectacle of himself. Mostly by waving around his cutlass in one tentacle and taking potshots with his ink pistol in another until the people are backing up. This isn't the first time weird creatures have cropped up in the mall, but most of the people listen to Alden and keep their distance.

"Can't ya scoop any faster?" "Yer the one picking through every single coin!" And both flunky Octomon get their jug-covered heads smacked together by the third. "Stop ye babblin' and keep shiftin' that treasure, barnacle bait!"

A few more smartphone clicks from the other upper walkway and the head Octomon turns in the girl's direction. "Avast there lass. Be sure ye be gettin' my good side fer the wanted posters!"

"You have a good side cap'n?" "Aren't we pirat--" And again the two are slapped across the 'face' by the third. "Ye ain't in this crew to think, ye be here to loot!"

"Uh.. okay?" The gal is all too happy to ablidge with taking pics.
Up until a certain black canine emerges from the shadows and lands on the railing. "I think they've had enough media exposure," Gaonoir retorts as he grabs her phone in one paw.
"Hey that's mi--" she stops, blinking. "Hey!" And shoves her face right up to Gaonoir's as he's standing on the rail. "You're that black dog that's always showing up in!"
"So what?" Gaonoir snarls back, holding the phone to the other side so she can't grab it back. "This is dangerous business. I'm just gonna delete these before they draw more attention." Unfortunately, boxing gloves don't really work well for delicate touch controls.

"Let me..." The girl grabs the smartphone and turns and runs off. "I need those pictures for my observation board!"

"... Get back here!" Gaonoir hops off the railing and takes off after her.

Alden (930) has posed:
Alden watches the interaction of the three octomon, finding it surprisingly funny!. After everyone eventually follows his suggestions he approaches!. He does not look particularly threatening, so he hopes he won't get attacked, "Hello!" he tries, tail wagging, "Please be careful with those guns, while I don't think the people here might mind too much if you take your loot, causing damage or hurting someone might get you in big trouble.". Honestly, so far the mall can claim they did the octopus pirate thing as some mid day entertainment!. He is unaware of Kari so far, perhaps he was coming from a different side. Still, Alden is not being completely dumb, he has one of his hands by his card box, ready to do something if the 4 octopi get aggressive.

Kari Wolf (276) has posed:
    Kari peers at the octopi from behind her visor. And she waves at the not-very-menacing shellfish. "Hi! Whatcha doing?" This of course, makes Harriet facepalm even harder, since Kari was being incautious.

Gaonoir has posed:
"Come back here you crazy human!"
"My name is Erika!"
"Why would *I* care?!"

Erika shuffles to a awkward turn as she reaches some stairs and scrambles down them. Gaonoir tries to go down the other side to follow her, only to find the 'stairs' are an escalator and as he steps on the Up side instead of the Down side the movement whips his feet out from under him, and he ends up following by tumbling down the moving steps instead.

The three Octomon turn to peer at Kari like she just asked the dumbest possible question. "Ain't it obvious?" The other holds up the sack. "We be lootin' this booty for ourselves!" The third gestures his cutlass in Kari's direction. "And ye won't try to stop us if ye know what's good for... uh..." He scoots a bit closer, using his back tentacles to tip himself forward so he can squint at Kari "... Whatever ye are. Ye be tinier than the tiniest digimon me ever seen."

The Octomon 'captain' on the other hand catchs sight of Alden and his box and jumps down from his perch to scuttle towards the Gabumon. "I see ye wee treasure box there."

"Excuse me!" Erika briefly runs between the two of them.

"Don't be rude to a pirate doin' his plundering!" Cap'n Octomon shouts at her, then turns back to thrust his sword towards Alden. "Just be handin' it over and--Awk!"
He gets interrupted by Gaomon jumping on top of him, shoving the jar down over his body farther. "Hey, leave Alden alone, sushi breath. I'm a little busy here to help him!"

"THAT'S IT!" Cap'n Octomon grabs Gaonoir with his hook tendril and yanks the yowling digi-dog off. "I'm gonna keelhaul the lotta ya fer interruptin' my privateerin'!"

Gaonoir's yalp is echoed by a smaller "Oof" as the throw knocks him into Erika's back, and sends them both tumbling over.

Alden (930) has posed:
Alden did miss most of the show of Gaonoir and the human!. His attention was on the captain!. The mention of his 'treasure chest' makes him growl, about to say something like 'try to get it and I'm going to turn you into sushi' not that he was going to destroy im, but intimidation!. Gaonoir's appearance makes him blink, "Gaonoir?" he asks, before seeing the poor Gaonoir getting sent over... and hit a poor innocent girl! (gaonoir might argue that description later).

     "Hey! don't hit my friends." he snarls, and deciding to show off (and avoid making a too prolonged fight), by using one of his cards!. A swipe (and an attempt at a cool pose) afterwards, he bursts into voxels, to emerge in his Perfect form, the Weregarurumon growling, "Now, are you going to come peacefully?" he asks, and cracks his knuckles. (seems he is trying to learn how to look intimidating at least).

Kari Wolf (276) has posed:
    Kari ooohs... "Hey well! You could plunder that!" She points to one of the /many/ ATMs in the mall. "Or that!" She points to a soda/snack machine. Yeah, Kari is /not/ helping the situation? Maybe. For a given value of 'helping'.
    "And then you could all get hired by movie makers to star as big nasty monsters who rampage through the local mall..." Kari says, gesturing with her oversized arms.
    Harriet on the other hand realizes that Kari is probably just making things worse. She hops up onto the railing, joined by her robo-hare familiar, materializes her rapid fire assault laser in her hands and opens fire upon the octmon waving the cutlass at Kari like a tiny feminine Rambo. The air sizzles as the bolts of weaponized coherent light pepper the space between.

Gaonoir has posed:
The three Octomon stooges stop and look at each other for a moment. "I know we're not suppose to do the thinking." "But I think she has a point." "Ye lubbers might be right for once." As the two others scuttle off the third continues leering at Kari.. until several lasers ping off the jar covering his body, leaving burn marks in it. "Another of the wee scurvy dogs!" He picks up his own ink gun and shoots back at Harriet!

One Octomon hops up on the ATM. "This be the weirdest treasure chest me be ever seein'." He slaps a few keys with a tentacle, but it just bleeps irritably at him for the incorrect PIN. "Silence, mechanical wench! Give up your booty!" And starts smacking the screen with his other tendrils.
The other Octomon gets to the vending machine and stares up at it, eyes doing that sparkly effect. "Blimey! There be a galley within this metal box!" He shoves a tentacle in the slot, but can't reach up to the snacks. Shoves another tentacle in, with no better luck. Then tries to pull both back out.. only to hang there, stuck. "Arrr! It be eaten me alive! Unhand my not-hands, foul contraption!"

"That is not how a meant to catch her," Gaonoir growls to no one in particular as he rolls over... And spots the smartphone on the floor where the collision made Erika drop it again. "But thanks for the help." He shuffles over and grabs the device.

And then Erika grabs onto it as well as she was also getting up. "Why do you want this so badly?"
"Because you'll draw trouble if you keep snooping!" Gaonoir snaps back as the two tug-a-war with the smartphone.

"I'm not snooping!" Erika retorts with a sudden sharpness that hints at the accusation coming up more than once before. "I'm -investigating-."

"Same differe--Agh!" Gaonoir lets go of the device to grab his arm where the Octo-hook grabbed him after pulling hurt it more. "Nevermind!" Gaonoir shoves the human back out of his way and scampers after one of the Octomon.

And smeared some of that dark digital materail that permutates his body on the smartphone when he shoves her back. Erika makes a bit of a face, and tries to find something to wipe it off. Eventually she just grabs the hem of her sweater, but by then the glob of Dark Digiton is.. soaking into the device? Is it suppose to do that?

"Now where was I..." And the Cap'n turns back to Alden, only to find him having gotten bigger and meaner looking. "... Now that just ain't fair, there's only four of us!" But all the same he pushes himself up on several tentacles so he can swing his cutlass at the Weregarurumon. "But now ye just have more haul for me to keel!"

Alden (930) has posed:
Alden tilts his head a bit at the... craziness going on, "Why did I come here for icecream." he mumbles, letting out a soft chuckle, and facing the octomon in charge. He stands taller as well, growling a bit more, "If you give up we *gets hit by the cutlass, but a combination of being a perfect digimon, and his rather tough hide makes it not really a slashing hit as much as just... a blunt hit* Ow... you can go away now... *bump* Ow... screw this." he mumbles. He will thank the Shinki for the distraction, and decides the darn cutlass is getting annoying!. He slashes at the blade, "Kaiser Nail!", and breaks it!. "Now will you give up or I need to smash all your heads together and dump you in a fish tank?".

Kari Wolf (276) has posed:
    The robo-hare leaps into the way of the inky blast, becoming a black rabbit of... nevermind, that's a completely different universe. Still, Harriet is caught by some of the spatter. "Ew." She says, trying to wipe off the black inky mess off her chassis. The familiar, however, shakes it off onto a bystander who was silly enough to get close with her camera phone to take pictures of the augmented shinki, eliciting a shriek of dismay from the young woman.
    "Hey! That's my sister!" Kari says, objecting to the octmon who shot Harriet by opening up her micro-grenade ports and unleashing a barrage of the tiny explosives. She combines it with the pop-up laser turrets as well for an alpha strike of sorts. She doesn't notice that her 'help' has actually effectively made two of the octmon indisposed, what with one becoming frustrated with the ATM and the other becoming stuck in the vending machine.

Gaonoir has posed:
As the manifested code is absorbed into it the smartphone's display blips on and off a few times, and the entire casing seems to distort briefly as it gains colors matching Gaonoir's. Then the screen flashes back to life, bringing up a display of the Black Gaomon and several strings of statistical text.

"That's... new..." Erika straightens out her glasses with one hand to make sure she's not seeing things. Then holds the device up as if to snap a picture of the Octomon struggling with the vending machine. It flashes and clicks as usual, but instead of just a picture she gets a similar image and statistical block. As if one snapshot somehow scanned the creature. Her expression immeadiately brightens. "Oh this is going to make gathering information -so- much easier!"

One blow from a higher level digimon is all it takes to slice through the cutlass, leaving Cap'n Octomon staring in astonishment at the hilt as the blade falls apart in several pieces. "Ah.. arrarrarr..." And turns to scramble as fast as his tentacles can go in the other direction. "Abandon ship!"

"But we ain't on no shi--eep!" His harassing of the ATM is interrupted as Gaonoir jumps over the Octomon and puts his back to the machine, braces his feet against the horns sticking out of the Octomon's jar, and pushes! Despite the mollusk's best efforts with his sticking tentacles he can't keep a grip versus the canoid's stout strength, and goes flying off!

"Augh! Augh! They be broadsidin' us!" Is the Octomon's response to Kari pelting him with grenades and lasers! He scuttles in a little circle that does nothing to get out of the range of fire.

Until the Cap'n crashes into him. And then the third that Gaonoir yanked off the ATM plows into them both and sends the trio careening across the lobby.... And crashing into one of the public bathrooms.

The fourth... is still stuck in the vending machine.

Alden (930) has posed:
Gaonoir is lucky Alden is missing the whole shennanigans with the phone and the human!. He is focused on making sure the octopi are taking care of. He waves to Kari, and Gaonoirwhen he appears, and quickly moves to the poor Octomon being 'attacked' by the vending machine, "Let me help you." he says in a low voice, reaching down, yanking the tentacles free, and sends the poor digimon careening to meet with the rest of teh crew, before heading to the bathrooms, "Are you ok?" he asks the others.

Gaonoir has posed:
It's bowling for Octomon! If this was a cartoon there would even be that *STRIKE* sound as the fourth goes crashing into the bathroom.

Inside the three goons are lying in a heap, toilet paper from the stall they crashed into unfurled all over them. The Cap'n is stuck halfway in the bowel, constantly shoving the handle with his hook tendril. "Blasted contraption, eject already!"

Erika squeezes in past Alden's side. "Oh that's definately one for the scrapbook." She snaps a picture of the foiled foursome.

Cap'n used another tendril to slap the three mooks at once. "Don't just lollygag there, stall 'em while I make me escape!"
The three Octomon look at each other, get up... and then turn to slap Cap'n one by one, and in unison proclaim "WE QUIT" before turning and scuttling off. They pick off the toilet paper as they go, though one manages to miss the length stuck to one of his back tentacles as they squirm past Alden. "Good, I was tired of that stupid pirate talk he insisted on." "So now what do we do?" "Get honest jobs? Surely someone can make used of three sets of eight arms."

Erika takes a few steps back as they squiggle past, then holds her device up towards Alden. "Say cheese!" *click* And then a new display comes up. ".. Huh. Weregarurumon." Erika looks at the name, up at Alden, then down again. ".... Oh, I get it. Because you look like a werewolf!"

"What are you babbling about now?" And cue Gaonoir rejoining them as well, only to once again snatch the device from her hand. Though once he looks at it he stops, peering. "And why does this look like one of Magnamon's analysis screens?"

Alden (930) has posed:
Alden watches the group cautiously, about to react when he sees the group disband!. He carefully lets the trio move out, "Should i chase them?"he mumbles. Any thoughts get derailed when the girl from earlier squeezes past him and uses a digivice to take pictures of the octomon, and then one of himself!. He stares at the thing for a few moments, leaning closer, "Can I... look at your... device for a moment?" he asks politely, a bit nervous, only to see Gaonoir snatch it!. He leans to peek at the screen and blinks a few times, "It's a Digivice!" he yips, his weregarurumon form exploding in a burst of voxels, leaving a far cuter thing, a bit shorter than gaonoir. "I mean... I think it is one... it's really similar to my own." he chirrs.

     Alden reaches for the device in his belt, touches a few buttons, and shows the screen to Gaonoir, it shows scan info on himself, which seems eerily similar to the info that Gao might be seeing right now, except it has vital statistics like... strenght and such. "Try pressing these buttons." he commands, trying to figure out if they can 'check' the status screen of the digimon connected to the device.

Gaonoir has posed:
"I don't think they'll be a problem now." Erika muses. Then leans down to look over Gaonoir's other shoulder. "You still didn't say -why- you wanted my mobile so badly."

Then Alden tries to explain and they both look at him and "What?" at the same time, though Erika is the only one that sounds amazed. Gaonoir's is much more like a flat 'what' of disbelief. Different shape since it kept the smartphone's design, different colors, but device has a similar athsetic to it, with a frame around the screen that is purple like Gaonoir's headband and a darker grey color for the body.

"Yeah." Erika grabs the device while Gaonoir is too busy disbelieving to stop her. It still works as a touch screen, and after she flicks a finger across it the previous 'Status' screen for the Black Gaomon comes up. "It started up with that after you.. bled? On it." She leans over a little to look down at Gaonoir again, though by now his arm has already retextured over the wound. "Do you guys bleed? It was more like a dark sticky... stickiness."

".. A bit of Dark Digitron got into your..." Gaonoir stops, slapping a gloved paw to his face. "Oh this is just wonderful..."

Alden (930) has posed:
Alden looks between the two, seeming surprised too, rubbing the back of his head a bit, and noticing the status picture, assuming Erika lets him see. "I'm Alden." he tells her, carefully pulling his D-Ark back in his belt, tail twitching. The question about bleeding makes him rub his chin, "I dunno.. I don't think so." he begins, before Gaonoir mentions the digitron, "Dark... digitron?" he asks softly.

     Still, he figures he should try to explain a bit, "I don't know how much you know about digimon..." he tells the girl, "But, basically... a digivice means you are now connected to... Gaonoir... with some luck, you might be able to make him stronger, track him, and I don't know if your device has that power, but mine can track other digimon." he says, "I am nto sure how to explain the connection... but for myself, and other digimon... it usually means you two will become friends, or at least get along enough to cooperate."

Gaonoir has posed:
"Are you kidding?!" By this point Erika is absolutely estatic, even if she doesn't entirely understand everything he's saying yet. "I've been following all the sightings ever since this guy toasted half the internet cafe I had a summer job at."

"That was an accident," Gaonoir snorts. "My realization did not agree with so many computers in one place." Then huffs a bit in Alden's direction. "I have an .. unique augmentation to my digicode, you could say. Haven't you ever wondered why I'm so.. no, wait." He waves it off. "You didn't even know what a Gaomon was before. Nevermind, you wouldn't get it. It's not import-aaack!" Gaonoir gets cut off as Erika kneels down to grab both digimon into a big hug. "Would you stop that?!"

"But this great! Now I can really -really- get into this investigation. Besides, you two are pretty cute."

"I am not!" Gaonoir protests loudly. Then shoots a dour sidelong glance at Alden. "Is this how 'Tamers' as you call them are suppose to act?"

Alden (930) has posed:
Alden looks at Erika curious, "So, what's your name?" he asks to the girl, she seems nice!. Even the hug is not a big issue with him, but he is a rather odd digimon himself, "Nope, never saw one before." he says smiling, "I thought it was common." he mumbles. The hug coaxes a soft rumble, "Thanks I guess... glad you think so." he says, lizard tail wagging, "do you like wolves?" he asks curiously.

     Alden grins to Gaonoir when he hears that question, "Well, there is not really any... standard, that is like asking if all gabumons are supposed to act like me." he says. "But from experience... yes." he says quietly.

Gaonoir has posed:
At least she's a nice girl? A little on the overly energetic side, maybe, but wouldn't you be? "My name is Erika. Erika Whitfield."

Gaonoir just huffs softly and sort of slumps in her arm. At the moment he looks more like a grumpy cat than a dog. "This is not how this mission was suppose to turn out."

Erika cants her head a little to one side so look at him. "Mission? Is that why you kept trying to grab my phone.... or whatever it is now."

"Yes. I -was- going to delete it, before your media blogging or whatever it is called drew worse attention. But..." Relenting sigh. "I guess I'll just have to protect you, instead. And." Instead of grabbing the device yet again, he just grabs her arm and tugs it so he can see. "The script on the case says 'D - PORT ' in DigiCode."

"Oh... Oh!" Erika holds the device up again, flicks her thumb on the screen and the status screen comes back up. Another flick and it shows Octomon. Then Weregarurumon. "Because it's like a web PORTAL. And it's PORTable."

Alden (930) has posed:
Alden hates seeing his friends sad, and he'd try to cheer Gaonoir more, but he'd likely end up making it worse. He just leans to whisper on his ear, "Try to avoid showing her your gaogamon form... it's even cuter." he says quietly, really hoping Erika does not hear it. At the introduction, he bows a bit, letting a sigh of his own as he remembers his own Tamer, "It's nice to meet you Erika, really hope you two get along well." he says softly, smiling, if a bit sadder. He peeks at the case, "Mine is D-Arc, not sure why." he says, and shows it to Erika. She can see it has a weird card reading slot!. "You need to be careful, I know some digimon don't really like the idea of Tamers." he says softly.

Gaonoir has posed:
Gaonoir reachs over to Alden a playful abiet half-hearted swat. "You sure you don't want her for a replacement for your missing human?" He's got an appearance for attitude to keep up, after all. Not like there's a choice at this point. He squirms out of Erika's arm for a moment, and trots back into the bathroom.

A loud *WHUNK* follows, and Gaonoir comes back out, dragging the 'Captain' with him, who now has a big cracked spot in his jar. "Does that thing still work as a phone?" Erika thumb-flicks the screen and nods after getting the normal dialer to come up. "Call maintenance. Smashing his jarhead against the toilet to knock him out busted the tank."

Erika does so to report the damage. Not at all surprised that the Terlawk is so big it has it's own area code. Then looks to Gaonoir again. "So what are we going to do with him?"

There's almost a 'We?' from Gaonoir but he stops himself, and just slings the unconcious 'mon over his shoulder... which is still pretty much dragging him considering Gaonoir's not much taller. "Eh, I'll toss him back in the ocean. Maybe he'll learn to behave without his flunkies to yell at."

"Oh! I know, we can use my scooter!" Erika grabs Gaonoir before he can object and heads for the main exit. "You might as well get use to riding on it! Besides, I don't have a driver's license for a car. Some nonsense about distracted driving. See you later Alden!"

Alden (930) has posed:
Alden smiles nad returns to soft swat, "Oh no, she is your problem now." he teases, smiling as he looks back to Erika, and gives her a hug, "Take care of him." she says softly, while the blackgaomon slips out of range. He pulls back and lets them sort it out, smiling, "Seems you two got everything covered, I do hope to see you two soon." he says, letting them go and stretching his arms. "I should finish what I was doing." he says, moving out of the bathroom to get away before he gets blamed for the damage.