3977/Chasing Shadows

Chasing Shadows
Date of Scene:	03 April 2016
Location:	The Great Forest
Synopsis:	Gaonoir, Alden and their partners investigate a creature sighting, only to discover a danger from the past.
Cast of Characters:	Gaonoir, 930

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Gaonoir has posed:
It started in what was becoming the typical day. Erika had caught wind of another strange creature sighting on the internet. At first Gaonoir was disinterested, but after she insisted he look at the blurry image, something seemed... vagely familiar about it. For whatever reason he suggested seeing if Alden would come along... A little odd that he wasn't being all grumpy loner about it but Erika wasn't going to complain.

On the other hand, it made more sense once they got to the forest, and Gaonoir caught wind of a scent. A digimon's scent. If it was the creature in the picture or not was irrelivant. Now the shadowdog was tromping through the brush, nose to the ground and on the trail. Erika was following him, using her D-Port to keep track of Gaonoir's movements. For the most part. When she wasn't being all hyper excited about it. "After all this time, I'm actually getting to hunt down one of these strange sightings! Wouldn't that be something? If it turned out a bunch of cryptid sightings were actually from Digimon that somehow got lost in the human world."

"Could you please at least -try- to keep your mind on the matter at hand," Gaonoir grumbled as he stood up out of the bushes for a moment. "The scent's getting stronger..." Now if he could just remember why there was something offputtingly similar about it....

Alden (930) has posed:
The Gabumon was surprised to see how friendly Gao was... getting invitations like this?, it was odd. But if anything, he was happy that Gaonoir seemed less grumpy. "If you want I can help you track the digimon... I have a six... or is it seventh?... sense about digimon." he explains, "I can sense them in teh vicinity." he says, taking a deep breath as he tries to focus on it, been a while since he bothered!. He keeps near Erika, while Katze was casually perched on Erika's shoulder, holding Alden's D-Arc and touching buttons, "Hey, I found a radar!" she says excitedly.

     Alden is distraced by the human's talk. "Cryptid?" he asks weakly, not wanting to disturb the Gaomon, "Did you find anything else?" he asks.

Gaonoir has posed:
"The Loch Ness Monster. Jackelopes. That sort of thing," Erika replies. "The blog post image looked like it could be some version of Bigfoot. Somehow even with the tremendous variety of creatures in the Multiverse some still manage to remain secretive and unconfirmed as even being real." The girl pauses and looks up as there's a low rumble of thunder overhead. "Oh foo, I hope it doesn't rain on us."

Gaonoir stops, looking up as well. ".. That thunder wasn't natural..." A few dark clouds seem to be rolling overhead.

The D-Arc's radar bleeps, for a moment seeming to pick up something... but then when the thunder crackles it's distorted, and then gone.

"Guys," Gaonoir barks from farther ahead. "I think we have a problem..."

As the group pushes through the forest brush into a clearing they'd find one of the logging camps that are a big business in less dense parts of the forest.

Except for the place is thoroughly wrecked. Machinery tossed over, massive claw-like gouges in the sides of logger cabins, and the place seems to have a certain creepy feeling to it somehow.

".. I think whatever we're tracking has been here," Erika makes the obvious observation.

Alden (930) has posed:
Alden does not know what those things are, but he guesses it might be just a term for 'elusive creature people claims to have seen but has no proper image for it' or such. His attention remains torn between Gao and Erika. His eyes seem to grow catlike for half a second, body tensing, before he blinks a few times, "I... there is something here." he mumbles, wriggling his nose, and letting out a soft whine as he sees the sheer damage of that thing. "That is more than a problem..." he says softly. "That looks... huge... perhaps I should evolve just in case?" he says softly, realizing the other creature might detect that.

Gaonoir has posed:
"The trail ends... no..." Gaonoir narrows his eyes, ears slicking forward more. "... Something is distorting perseption here. Erika, Katze, you better stay back. Just in case."

Thunder rolls overhead again. The dark bank of clouds seems to be hanging over the location of the camp for whatever reason, making the area seem darker and more ominous... And then -something- darts through the murky shadows at the edges of the campsite.

Gaonoir clenches his gloved paws together. "It's here. Something moving... Left side!" Gaonoir spins to the side as something thuds down onto the ground from the shadows.

And stops dead in his tracks. The looming form, with it's dark brown and red colors and elongated arms, really could be mistaken for a sasquatch easily. That it looks like it's wearing a little dog-face cap on its head does nothing to alieviate the unsettling toothy smile it's lips are parted in. "Helloooo," it warbles in a distorted, growling voice.

"What the null?!" Gaonoir.. actually jumps back, away from the creature, which is unusual for him. But then again, for a moment there he saw just the digimon's shadow, in his mind shilouette against the wreckage of a village rather than just a busted up camp. "Glitch no, it can't be..."

Even poor Erika just looks confused at the sudden change in his demeanor. "Gao...?"

"JUST STAY BACK," is the only response she gets though. But it was strange to see Gaonoir... actually disturbed by something.

Alden (930) has posed:
Alden is no combat expert yet, but he is very aware Gao is, and if he says 'left side', he will automatically try to move to the other side to dodge anything. He can tell there is something bad going on, he literallyhas a sense devoted to feel digimon, and it is apparently not working right, blinking in and out even as he SEES the large digimon in front of him.

     "In Azulongmon's name... what is that thing." he says, looking as freaked out as Gao was. "Katze, toss me the D-Arc, stay with Erika." he mumbles. He grabs the D-Arc, sliding a card he grabbed blindly. "Digi Modify!" he growls, looking rather freaked out. Unfortunately, the card in question was not the one he was expecting, barely having enough time to toss the D-Arc away towards Erika, before his form is engulfed in light, and explodes, revealing a Garurumon. "Darn those cards." he says, fur on end as he growled at the scary 'biped'.

Gaonoir has posed:
"What?" Erika fumbles a moment, but manages to grab the D-Arc by it's strap before she drops it completely. She passes it back to Katze, then glances at her own device. ".. Wendimon?.. Like a wendigo?" She's starting to get the hang of the name references at least. "This says it's only an Adult stage, Gaonoir, why are you so worked up?"

Worked up might be an understatement. Every hair on the dog's body was on end as he stared down the taller creature, not even noticing Alden evolving. "This.. is one of the digimon that destroyed the village. *My* village." A pause, and then he shifts back into his usual ferocity, maybe even moreso than usual. "My village.. You hear that!" Then Gaonoir lunges at the Wendimon aiming one of his punches. "THAT WAS MY VILLAGE!"

Except Wendimon just whips around with one of it's own long limbs. "Clubbing Arm!" With enough force to intercept the smaller digimon and throw him back along the ground before he can even land his blow.

Alden (930) has posed:
Alden is freaked out just due to the bizarre nature of the digimon, it is very unnerving to him, perhaps like a ghost or such might be to other people. Hearing what happened to Gao's village... seems to make the Garurumon tense and begin snarling in a rather wild fashion... The moment Gaonoir is sent back by the club, the larger Digimon can't wait another second, "You monster." he says, before opening his jaws wide, a stream of bright blue flames sent towards the Wendimon�s body, aimed at the chest, "Fox Fire!".

Gaonoir has posed:
"Little puppy, lost alone," Wendimon practically singsongs with it's creepy voice as he steps closer, only to get blasted by the burst of flames from Alden's evolved form. The brief stream of fire is enough force to push it back from the group at least.

And give Erika a chance to kneel down and help Gaonoir back to his feet. "Why didn't you tell me you had an entire village destroyed?"
"Hoped it would never come back to haunt me," Gaonoir growls back. "Just stay out of the way."
"I want to help!"
"You can help by not getting hurt!" And with that Gaonoir darts back towards the fray.

Wendimon snarls as it finally shrugs off the lingering flames, flexing its arms at its side which causes several glowing gun-like muzzles to protrude out of it's body. "Howli--"

"ROLLING COUNTER!" Gaonoir's spinning form abruptly slams into Wendimon before it can finish launching the attack, and this time the big creep is the one that goes slamming into the side of the ruined cabin.

Gaonoir rolls back from the impact a bit before uncurling back onto his feet in a crouch.

Unfortunately the scratching of claws on wood and metal hissing horridly through the camp, as several more of the Wendimon climb up over the cabin. "Dammit... be careful Alden. They aren't just tough, they were soldiers for the Demon Lord Army."

Alden (930) has posed:
Alden continues to growl, turning to check on Gaonoir, ears swiveling nervously as he tries to make sure he was ok, but also make sure the spooky thing did not try to charge closer. He jumps back and tenses up as the Wendimon prepares the attack, snarling loudly, and moving to jump in front of Erika, while Gao launches to the attack, trying to protect the girl. He seems glad when the darn thing is pushed back like that, and seems to be calming... at least until he sees the rest of the group.

     "Darn it!" he whines, pawing at the ground in frustration, and rushing to approach Erika and Katze, "Quick, reach to my neck, my belt is there, grab the box and search for a card with a big blue chip in it, red background around it... says Warp digivolve." he says. "It should be near the top, slide it through the card reader on the D-arc.". He does hope that Erika can read the language of the card.

Gaonoir has posed:
Gaonoir tries to dig through the fur around Alden's neck, or at least move enough of it for Katze to see while she glances at Gaonoir for a moment. "Maybe you should evolve too."

"I... don't know if I can." Just admitting that almost hurts as he slinks next to the girl's legs. "It's too jarring, I can't focus without seeing -those- shadows... these monsters are why I sided with the Royal Knights in the first place!"

"I think this is... oh?" Erika tugs a card out of the box, but only gets a brief look at it before Gaonoir catchs her attention again. "No wonder you're a little furball of anger and bitterness." She gives the card to Katze to use. That's suppose to be the shinki's job after all.

She turns, and puts a hand back on Gaonoir's shoulder. "Don't think about what happened. Think about how you're going to make a difference. You're stronger now. Smarter." She squeezes her hand softly. "And you're not alone.. huh?" She glances at her own digivice as it beeps and the screen lights up, the readings briefly fluxating like they do when--

One of the Wendimon snarls and leaps off the roof of the cabin at them!

-- And goes eyes wide in choked surprise as a huge metal fist slams right -through- it's chest. It only gets a moment to stare awkwardly at the now BlackMachgaogamon before dissolving into voxels and shadows, except for the glowing orb still clenched in Ganoir's hand. He just literally PUNCHED the Digicore out of it!

Though Gaonoir looks just as surprised. "I... what did you do Erika? I've never been able to digivolve -that- fast."

Alden (930) has posed:
Lets out snarl as the enemies approach, but he does give Gao a rather friendly smile, "Thanks." he mumbles. The card works quickly, as awkward as it was for Katze to use the card (needing Erika to assist!). Still, his form glows brightly, not unlike Gaonoir, a rather swift change as he howls loudly, voxels flying away, leaving a Metal Garurumon standing, panting lightly for air. He does not have much time to process what Gaonoir and Erika just did, focusing more on trying to prevent everyone (himself included) from being beaten to a pulp!. He mumbles something like 'get close to me.'.

     The Metal garurumon's eyes start glowing brightly, several clicking noises coming fromhis armored frame, several ports opening, revealing a rather impressive ammount of hidden missile ports. Alden looks around quickly, legs shifting for better support as he growls loudly, "Giga cross freezer!". A swarm of missiles come flying from his frame, the projectiles apparently guided, the metalwolf aiming them the best he can, slaming the ordinance into as many of the Wendimon as he can!.

     The missiles are special, rather than exploding in fire, instead they somehow explode in ice, leaving the area engulfed with each blast as a solid chunk of ice, trapping the Wendimon that get impacted!. It IS rather damaging, but seems also rather good at simply capturing the digimon under the ice. He keeps the attack for a few moments, leaving most of the camp covered in ice (of course, wendimon under shelter are mostly safe), except for a small area around him, Gao and the rest.

     Inmediatly after the attack ends, the Metal garurumon ends up collapsing on the ground, panting for air, clearly drained by the attack, but refusing to devolve, "Darn it." he mumbles, "Need a moment..."

Gaonoir has posed:
"I don't know, but it was pretty awesome!" Erika replies, her ethusiasm quickly returning. Even as Gaonoir grabs her and moves her closer to him and Alden as the icy wrath is rained down upon the logging camp. Granted, the place was already ravaged, but it does a good job of trapping most of the Wendimon around them. The ones still up on the rooftop manage to duck down behind it and avoid most of the barrage, though it still gives them a few chills.

"Here, hold onto this." Gaonoir drops the Digicore in Erika's hands. He'll figure out what to do with it later. He launchs up into the air just as the other Wendimon are climbing back onto the roof, then bounding off to use their frozen packmates as stepping stones. "Clubbing Arm!" the lead howls as he swings his arm, stretching like it was made of rubber, towards Gaonoir.

Who's ready for it this time, grabbing the fist in his own hand, grabbing the rest of the arm with the other, and spinning around to swing the Wendimon and fling him back into the others.

Erika looks down at the glowing orb in her hand. "What -is- this?"

"It's a Digicore." A new voice chimes in as what looks like the window of a computer program blips into existance over Erika's digivice. The screen displaying what looks like an adult Veemon's head, except with a angular golden helmet over it. That and a more husky female sounding voice. "That is essentially the heart and soul of a Digimon."

"Oh..." Erika squints at the screen. "Are you a digimon too?"

"Magnamon." Replies the image. "I'm... an aquaintence of Gaonoir's from the Digital World."

"Aquaintence?", Gaonoir snorts slightly amused as he lands next to them again. "No need to be modest, Magnamon."

"There's no time to not be modest." Magnamon is as unflappable as usual. "I've been monitoring your location, but it took a while to find the right signal for your human friend's device. You need to get out of there."

"Pff. We can handle a bunch of these Wendimon now." Gaonoir glances aside. "Once Alden gets back up."

"It's not the Wendimon," Magnamon replies without missing a beat. Thunder happens to crack through the dark clouds above again.

"I'm more concerned if their -master- shows up."

Alden (930) has posed:
Alden seems surprised at first, but recalls Erika's device was built from a phone so... receiving calls is not really that odd. He tries to peek at the screen, and then at the Digicore, he is rather surprised, he does not recall ever... seeing one, he knows what they are but well... In any case, he slowly gets up, "Are you all ok?" he asks, shaking himself and moving near the MachGaogamon, jumping on one of hte large ice formations to help clear the rest of the wendimon. "Magnamon." he muses, "He sounds important, very important." he says softly. He decides against further mass area attacks, instead trying to blast approaching Wendimons with larger, explosive missiles. "Garuru Tomahawk!" he barks each time, his chest apparently opening, to allow a large missile to shoot out. Amusingly, the missile has angry eyes and a smiling mouth with sharp looking teeth painted on it, sorta like a bullet bill. They explode nicely on impact, so he targets the ones farther away.

Gaonoir has posed:
Lightning flashes through the clowds overhead. Except it has a foul red color to it. The thunder that rolls after almost sounds like some deep monsterous laugh.

Gaonoir scowls behind his visor, and leans down just enough to scoop Erika up with one arm. "As much as I hate to run from a fight, if Magnamon says it's serious, it's -serious." Heat ripples can be seen behind him as he pushes off into the air.

The tomahawks, wicked smiles and all, intercept the Wendimon nicely and send them crashing into the trees at the edge of the camp. It's arguable if they will even get back up from that. The others are still trapped in the ice.

"Alden, Katze." Gaonoir pulls up next to the metallic wolf. "If we're going to go we better before the others thaw out." He glances up again as a flash of red lightning reflects off his visor. "I have a feeling this is only the calm before the storm."

The projection blips off, but Magnamon is still visible on the device's own screen. "I can explain more once you're not in immeadiate harm... Fortunately I detected no other human signals."

"They probably ran off as soon as they caught sight of the 'bigfoots'," Erika contributes. "Considering this place is a mess."

"We'll have to come back with a few more friends," Gaonoir mutters.

Alden (930) has posed:
Alden seems more calmed, with Gaonoir and the others still fine, and the inmediate threath taken care of. He is rather drained, but he hopes he can manage a quick flight following Gaonoir. He takes to the air, the small 'wings' on his back spreading and glowing brightly as he takes to the air following after Gao, Katze holding tight to his ears, "Lead the way." he mumbles, rushing quickly. "I hope they won't cause more damage before you can get such a group." he says softly.

Gaonoir has posed:
"There's something here they want, or they would of already moved on. No idea -what-, though," Gaonoir replies.

The digimon flies off until he spots another clearing in the forest away from the area the storm is looming over. He figures Alden's not going to be able to hold his evolution for much longer after expending energy on two huge attacks so sets down there.

Then again, seems like he doesn't have as much left in himself, as Gaonoir devolves as soon as he's set Erika down and flops on his tail on the ground. Punchs one gloved paw into the ground next to him. "I should of known some of those bastards managed to survive."

Alden (930) has posed:
Alden manages to land besides Gao, and as soon as he touches the ground, his form shatters and reveals his Gabumon form, which flops on the ground face first, "I will remain like this for a moment." he mumbles, while Katze jumps down and tries to get him to at least turn a bit so his face is not against the ground, "I don't have a clue either... wish I would offer more help." he says softly.

Gaonoir has posed:
"Miss Erika, if you would set your device where everyone can see it, please?" Erika places the D-Port on the ground and takes a step back as Magnamon's projection returns. "Thank you. It is easier to broadcast through a terminal point than send a projection directly from the digital side."

Ganoir just stares at the golden helmet, scowling more. "Please tell me you didn't tell the other Royal Knights."

"Even if I did, they would not care. They are only concerned with the Digital World. If the Demon Army is trying to reform in the human world, it's one less problem for them to worry about. For now. With Omegamon off on his... obsession, the ranks have been drifting off on their own... things."

But that reply just gets Gaonoir to scrutinize the gold-clad projection more. "Then why are -you- telling us?"

"Because I realize this is a problem that will eventually come back to haunt both worlds if not dealt with." There's a pause. Magnamon's tone lightens a bit. "And I was concerned about your current state of affairs."

"Oh sure, now you care," Gaonoir snarks back, though it's with a faint hint of amusement.

"Oh, we're doing just fine." Erika makes a off-hand waving jesture. "At least until today. That was a lot bigger of a problem than expected."

Alden (930) has posed:
The gabumon does turn enough to look at the screen, and slowly picks himself up, groaning a bit. He remains silent, curious about all that is being mentioned, but feeling some empathy about Gaonoir's reaction to the 'don't care, it's not our digital world' situation. "Reminds me what some of the sovereigns in my place feel." he mumbles softly, tail giving a few flicks. He turns to Erika and back to the digimon with the golden helmet. "It looked really bad back there, we need to take care of it before it gets worse." he says softly. Then he smiles, "I'd like to learn more about the Royal knights, and your version of the digital world sometime."

Gaonoir has posed:
Gaonoir snorts softly. "They're not all they're cracked up to be.... Semi-present company excluded."

"I can hardly blame you for being.. sour, Gaonoir." There's a movement just off-screen from Magnamon, likely her adjusting another display. "As for the Wendimon."

"Yeah," Erika sat down and crossed her legs. "You were saying something about them having a master."

"Yes," Magnamon shifted her attention back to the group around the projection. "They are the soldiers of Cherubimon."

That gets a yowl of surprise out of Gaonoir. "What?! Cherubimon is one of Yggdrassil's three top Angel digimon!"

"The -Virtue- Cherubimon is," Magnamon corrects, like she was expecting that confusion to come up. "But he has a brother, who was spiteful and petty. When he wasn't the one Yggdrassil chose of the three to replace Lucemon, he sided with the Demon Army, and became a Virus time. The Vice Cherubimon."

"But he's not one of the Demon Lords, right."

"No, he is not," Magnamon replies.

"That's a small relief," Gaonoir snorts, folding his arms. "But even part of the Demon Army regaining a footing is a problem. We'll have to see about getting some outside help before he recovers those Wendimon and attacks somewhere else."

Alden (930) has posed:
Alden tilts his head, listening curiously. He does not know about the demon lords, at least not much, but even he can guess that it is not a good thing, shuddering. "Gaonoir is right... we have to do this soon, before he can build an army and do more damage." he says softly. "I hope to be able to help you, Gaonoir." he says softly.

Gaonoir has posed:
Gaonoir gets back onto his feet. "Well, neither of us are with the Union, but the Hikari fleet does have connections to the faction. I might be able to get a message out that way for help. If things aren't.. too rough. They haven't had the best weekend either." He shrugs his shoulders a little and doesn't go into details.

"Speaking of which, we should probably head back if we're going to do that." Erika leans forward a bit to pick up her digivice. "Thanks for the information, Magnamon."

"Wait," Gaonoir puts a paw on her arm to stop her for a moment. Scowls at the projection again. "Yggdrassil didn't see this message too did it?"

Magnamon shook her head. "Yggdrassil... When you were bound to Miss Erika's device, you went blank on his digital network. That's why it took -me- this long to get through to you properly."

"Okay then." Gaonoir lets go so Erika can pick the digivice up. "I would rather not he decide he needs to ... try extreme measures just for a small uprising."

"Agreed. This is not a matter that requires... such efforts. This is why you were stationed there for us, after all. I will be in touch."

"You bet you will," Erika giggled after poking at the screen. "I just added you to the Contacts app."

"The... what?"

Gaonoir... can't help but chuckle a bit. It wasn't often he got to see Magnamon look confused. "Her digivice use to be a phone. Seems it still has a lot of the functions remaining."

Alden (930) has posed:
Alden smiles softly and pets Katze, "I hope they are ok." he says, when Gaonoir talks about the Hikari fleet. "I promise to try my best to help you at least." he says, carefully standing up, "It was a pleasure meeting you Magnamon, I'm Alden by the way." he offers, just to offer his name to the apparently important digimon.

     Katze gets up and moves to check on Gaonoir, "Are you ok?" she asks softly. Alden at least waits until Magnamon is out of the line before asking more, "That sounds familiar..." he mumbles, about the extreme measures and... the leaders being a bit... hasty on such things. He grins a bit, "I should get a proper phone, that device of yours keeps looking better and better Erika."

Gaonoir has posed:
"Yeah, I'll be fine. That was just... past shadows I hadn't been expecting. I'll be okay now." Hopefully. Gaonoir quirks a brow slightly at Alden's muttering, but doesn't press. He's had enough bad memories for one day, and doesn't need them getting in the way of preparing to finish this up. "Maybe we do need to talk more about how our worlds are different. Or not so different."

Once the communication is done Erika tucks the D-Port back into her pocket as she gets up. "Think you can evolve to fly us home, Gao? I still don't know what I did to make you evolve back there. If I even did it."

And that thought they both turn to look at Alden.

Alden (930) has posed:
Katze nods, and Alden does as well, he is curious, eager to talk, but he has his own fears, perhaps not as bad as Gaonoir's, but he is not wanting to share them and make the situation worse right now. "I'd like that, I am extremely curious." he says, smiling. He slowly shakes himself again and reaches to pick Katze, "Good work." he tells the Shinki.

     He blinks as the dark mutt and Erika turn to look at him, gulping once, before he smiles, "I am not an expert... I do know that the digivice links a person and a digimon, a deep bond, friendship, caring..." he says, "It can lend a digimon more power... in my world, sometimes it worked as... special cards, to unlock the potential of their partner." he begins. "In your case... I saw it... when Erika reached for you, reminding you that she was there for you and helping... I guess that might have triggered that connection." he says, "It kind of reminds me how it worked for me the first time."

Gaonoir has posed:
Gaonoir and Erika look at each other while Alden is explaining. Erika doesn't take the digivice out again but she does pat her hand to the pocket its in.

Then Gaonoir shrugs and turns to take a few steps away, drifting back to his usual impassiveness. Mostly. It doesn't seem to be quite so stiff as before. "Guess you're useful after all, kid."

By this point Erika's gotten use to his not being open about things. Not that it ever seemed to dampen her ethusiasm in the first place. "Yep. Now you're -definately- stuck with me~"

Energy briefly crackles about as Gaonoir shifts back into his higher evolution. With how easy that looked he probably wasn't kidding earlier when he said he was too shook up to focus on his own. He scoops Erika up with one arm again, and gives Alden and his Shinki a brief salute/wave with the other. "We'll let you know when we're coming back to finish this up."