1679/Down On The Ranch

Down On The Ranch
Date of Scene:	27 February 2015
Location:	Pokemon Islands - Johto
Synopsis:	After run in with a nasty robotic bug on Cybertron, Duke went to the one place he knew that he could recover at safely... To Alexis' Ranch.
Cast of Characters:	Alexis, Duke

---

Duke has posed:
Duke was allowed to go off and explore on his own for a bit, but it seems as if life loves to teach him-- trouble will always find him. He managed to get up on a place called Cybertron, though he knew it as some dead metal world. There he ran into a woman who was very lost and then a giant insect robot attacked them both.
He protected her, but she still came out in poor shape, leaving her in the care of the machine who said he was a friend and she seemed to believe it. Even if he at the time was skeptical at best. He needed a place to recover though and rest.

He only knew of one safe place. Honestly safe place... or perhaps it was the first thing that came to the Digimon's mind. Alexis' ranch. When he arrived he was a six foot four Growlmon X, who managed to make it only so far, before passing out near the stables. Though by mornings light, he was back to the short little Guilmon X. Still out cold.
His body had some nasty 'burn' damage across his backside, along with a cut that was almost healed from his shoulder to neck. It may look odd to someone who was use to seeing flesh tissue and blood. As while the skin was indeed 'flesh', what lied at the edges of this damage was pixaled material trying to pull itself back together over a grid line system.

The Digimon didn't even seem at all ready to wake up either...

Alexis has posed:
Luckly for Duke, passing flat out on a farm full of monsters didn't present itself as much of an issue as it could of even with Growlmon's more dinosaur-esque size. Well once someone reigned in the cankerous old Tiger that nearly lightning torpedoed the digimon thinking it was a tresspasser. Can't really blame Stormpaw for taking 'guard dog' as a serious duty. An Aggron and a strong if almost effeminate (I'm not kidding here either) Nidoking made carrying Duke into the barn and setting him up in a stall with hay and a blanket to sleep it off an otherwise easy task. From there he was left to rest and recover, though not with a pair of eyes watching him occassionally from the rafters and the occasional sound of slithering as whatever it was moved around.

But now it was Alexis herself that came down the steps from the loft-turned-minicondo. And nudged the Nidoking dozing off at the bottom of the stairs with her elbow, sending him into a snorting fit as he woke up. "How's he doin'?"
Spikes murmured as he rubbed his eyes with the back of a forearm. <Slept the entire night. Devolved at some point. Still kinda weirded out seeing that.> Then adjusted the pink bow behind one of his large ears at it had started to fall off from his awkward position. <Doesn't seem to be healing very fast.>
"He's probably low on energy," Alexis replied, then hopped down the final steps to walk over to the stall.

Duke has posed:
Duke can hear the voices and it causes his ear fin to twitch gently. He curls up a bit tighter, but the pain of such a motion causes him to grit his sharp teeth together. He tries to move again, only to zinged by his pain which causes him to wince.

This uncomfortable and the sound of someone moving in closer is what causes him to open his eyes. Those gold, tired eyes, look out. A bit dull in color compared to normal. "...Alexis?" He asks out, before trying to actually get up, his claws scraping across the ground, as he then tries to get his eyes to focus on what was around him.
Though at the sight of the pokemon and who know what else, cause him to flatten back down to the ground as his ear fins droop back. It then takes him just a moment to remember what Alexis /is/ and just where he /went/ too. This is when those ear fins perk back up and he glances out once more to get a more solid idea of his own bearings. "I.. Don't remember fully how I got here.."

Alexis has posed:
"Easy there boy." But then he lays back down again. Though honestly Alexis was more worried about him hurting himself farther than hurting anyone else. Whew. "You were in pretty rough shape when the boys brought you in. What was that, your Adult form?" Because it wasn't the form he'd turned into last time she'd seen him evolve.

For a moment she turns to glance over her shoulder. "Go get him something to eat, Spikes. Digimon recover faster from eating. Doesn't really matter what." Then turns back as the Nidoking tromps up the stairs, kneeling down next to the stall. "Glad you remembered where you could go, though."

Duke has posed:
Duke looks up at Alexis as he lays there, but his gold eyes drift over to the Nidoking as he watches what the pokemon does for a moment. Yet those eyes return back to her once more. "I.. think so." His eye ridges furrow. "I.. digivolved suddenly when this woman was in danger. There was this giant machine insect.. and it came after both of us." Duke tries to explain, even with hand-paw gestures, though when he moves that shoulder, he winces a bit.

"I don't remember all the details.. but at the end of the fight she was really hurt. I hope she got the attention she needed." The Digimon then frowns. "I hope that giant machine did take her back... he looked a bit like.." Duke then goes to explain what the Cybertronian looked like, if Alexis knows her people in the Union, she may match it up with Blurr.

Alexis has posed:
Alexis shifts a little to lean against the post of the stall while she listens. Machine insects gives her a general idea of possibilities, and mentioning 'giant machine' pretty much sinches it. She doesn't know that specific version of Blurr, but she's been around long enough and dealt with Transformers in several ways to get the general gist. "I'm sure she will be fine. Blurr is an Autobot, and they're the good guys." She reachs over to put a hand on a non-damaged shoulder or equivilent safe spot. "But if I notice him on the faction lines I'll ask about her for you."

Duke has posed:
Duke's tail tip taps the ground from time to time, but he does smile faintly. "Good... she seemed kind, like you." His gold eyes trail back over to the Nidoking, then back to Alexis. "...who is your friend?"

Alexis has posed:
"That's Spikes, one of my other pokemon. He mainly watchs after the place when I'm not around." Somewhere just above and behind Alexis's head, for a moment those eyes can be seen gleaming from the rafters briefly. "And if you hear anything slithering around above you it's just Vipera guarding the barn." That gets the Seviper to actually lower her head far enough into view and flip her tongue in a manner more like blowing a raspberry for ruining her 'ominous' lurking. Alexis just smirks a bit. "I told you there's a lot of monsters living here."

Duke has posed:
Duke gives a nod to the introduction of Spikes, though when the snake pokemon comes down the 'raspberries' him. The Digimon wrinkles his nose and replies back with his own sticking out his tongue. Though he blinks, looks at Alexis, and then gets a sheepish grin over his muzzle.

Yet the Guilmon X refuses to stay down and attempts to get back up again. "How.. How many do you have here? I mean.. that live here, with you?"

Alexis has posed:
"A lot," Alexis replies with a bit of a snicker. But then wrinkles her nose a little. "But keeping them active here on the ranch is better than the virtual storage facility some trainers use. Besides, it helps having some extra hands--" Vipera emits an almost "hrph" like hiss "--or tails to help around the place when I'm not here." Then she goes ticking down her fingers. "Of course there's also the herd of Mareep that are raised for their wool, the Golem, a couple of various Slimes live out in the back woods" Because what Dragon Warrior Monsters trainer doesn't have at least -one- franchise mascot? That's like Ash without Pikachu for some unimaginable reason. "The barn is just empty right now because most of them are out doing stuff in the field or training or whatnot."

<Did somebody ask for breakfast?~> Spikes chirrups cheerfully as he tromps back down the steps, and offers Duke the large bowl of cereal in his paws. <With fresh Moomoo Milk, even. It'll help you heal up with the additional nutrients.>

Alexis cocks her head a little. "I dunno if nutrients really matter for Digimon physiology, but the healing factor should still apply."

Duke has posed:
Duke listens to what Alexis has to say and nods his head. Though he gets a very confused look and mrhs in an equally confused fashion when she brings up, 'data storage'. "But your monsters are not Digimon-- so how do they sit in a data storage?" Guilmon X is a very confused Guilmon X about this. Though confusion does not last long as Spikes comes back down the steps.
Those gold eyes lock onto the bowl and his ear finds go straight up, "Food!" this is where perhaps no matter how much his data comes back together, doesn't seem to change the fact he is a hungry little rascal.

Once the bowl is offered, he starts to chow down. Big smile on his muzzle and looks up mid way, before rubbing the back of his head. "Um, Thank you. Its really good!" Then with some kind words said, he goes right back to it.
It will most likely not last long.

Alexis has posed:
Alexis huffs softly into her bangs as he askes that, then gives it a dismissive. "It's a long and complicated explaination that isn't really important." She can't help but snicker a bit as he more or less gourges himself on the food. "Told ya he probably needed to eat."

Spikes leans back a little to keep from getting splattered, but after feeding a lot of strange creatures he doesn't flinch too much. <Good thing I used the big bowl.>

Duke has posed:
Duke keeps on eating away until the last drop really. His licks his chops, sniffs at the bowl, hold it upside down. Yep. Empty. His claws tap against it, as if wanting to really say 'more please', but some part of him is going, 'that be rude'. However his stomach growls and he winces a little, which causes a very sheepish look over his face.
On the bright side, the pixel damage is starting to move in a bit more, as those green grid lines gently pulse and flicker a bit as it pulls in energy to start the repair process. Though it still may take a day or two. His gold eyes also seem to have a bit more light to them.

The Guilmon X then looks over to Alexis, but his attention for a moment goes to Spikes. "Your a very good cook!" He then bows his head. "Um..." May as well bite the bullet, "I'd like some more... please?" Once he says this and raises up his head slowly, he looks over to Alexis. "Maybe once get done eating, can help out too? To repay for help."

Alexis has posed:
Alexis opens her mouth a moment, then stops and decides to not ruin the moment by pointing out you don't really need to 'cook' cereal. The gleeful little squeal Spikes makes (how does anything that looks that rough and tough SQUEE??) is amusing, anyways. <Of course!> And back up the stairs he practically runs.

"Hey now, I don't expect you to pay me back for a bit of kindness." Alexis hmms as she leans back against the post and folds her arms. "... Though if you really want to, I'm sure we can find something. It would probably be good excersize to help get you back into shape." She unfolds one arm just far enough to point a finger at him, or more so, the bit of grid damage still visible. "But not until you're properly healed. Don't want you inadvertantly hurting yourself farther, as much as I can understand the eagerness to not just sit around and be a burden."

Duke has posed:
Duke blinks at the Squee and then laughs softly, though he does look over to Alexis as she says her peace. His eye ridges furrow, his ear fins drop, but at the end... even as his eyes look at his own damage... he gives a nod in understanding. "I also need to find away to make money. Kari suggested being a Protector, but until I can be sure I wont hurt anyone."
The Digimon looks down at his clawed 'hands'. "Better to train, hunt, and try to not get in trouble." Then causes him to let out a soft sigh. "...Also not had the courage to tell Doran about my nightmare... its always so confusing and its been the same thing over and over again."

Duke snorts, his nostrils flares. "Ends with so much pain and a name... a name that hurts. Not in... an angry way but... betrayed? Hmm. Maybe. Sorrow? Kind of.." He shakes his head. "At least with Beelzebumon its easy."

Alexis has posed:
Alexis wrinkles her nose a little... though the shinki seemed to have some actual concern for the digimon. Rather than the manipulations Lute pulled. While she doesn't want to make the same mistake, she has to remind herself that she shouldn't base all her future judgments on that one mistake either. There are people on the other side that don't always have wrong intentions, just their actions. So s long as she didn't do anything to cross certain lines...

Spikes comes back down with another bowl of milk and cereal and passes it over to Duke, barbed ears splaying back a little at catching the end of the conversation. <Here you go... tch, no wonder you tossed about a few times last night.>

Alexis cants her head up thoughtfully, her pigtails flopping down to match. Unlike some 'anime hair' they weren't completely defiant of gravity. "I wonder if it has anything to do with the Yddrasil business Beelzebumon was going on about on the broadband."

Duke has posed:
Duke eats some of the cereal with a cheerful smile, but he slows down for a moment as Yggdrasil is brought up. His eyes seem to stare off just for a moment before he continues to eat. Yet he is eating at a much slower pace for some reason.
Then he just stops. "Yggdrasil." He says softly, before closing his eyes. "..It didn't mean anything to me at first, but that name now.." he shakes his head, then goes back to eating. "I will remember one day." He says between bites in noticeable frustration that crosses his features.

Alexis has posed:
Alexis just hmms a bit. Then smiles apologetically. "Sorry, I didn't mean to disrupt your breakfast."

<Y'know,> Spikes offers offhandedly as he sits on the bottom step, and smooths out the apron he's wearing over his lap. <You do have a couple of pokemon that can read dreams and stuff.>

"Yeah... but I ain't sure if it's a good idea yet due to the differences in digimon... make-up. Glitch almost literally blue-screened the one time we visited one of the other Digital Worlds. Trying to psychically poke at them might have similar effects."

Duke has posed:
The digimon 'child' shrugs his shoulders. "Its ok. I'm not even sure why.. the name bugs me." He then continues to eat a bit more as he listens to Spike and Alexis talk a bit. His head tilts to the side, as he licks his chops. The bowl is almost empty again. "Glitch?" He tilts his head the other way and hrms softly.
He goes back to eating a bit more before he speaks up, "If the dreams hold answers. Then maybe Doran would know something too, but if your friends can look at dreams. Maybe they can also figure out some parts of my past."

Duke licks what remains in the bowl and once more. It is empty. He uses the back of his 'hand' to wipe off his muzzle a bit. "If-- if maybe I can solve some of it, maybe it will help me remember who I was! Or-- even maybe help me be able to get enough grip over my evolutionary forms."
"Or.." He frowns at this. "..it wont help at all and only be more frustrating." He huffs a bit, "But," Eye ridges narrow. "I rather try then, not try at all!"

Alexis has posed:
Alexis puts fingers to her chin with a thoughtful sound. "If you're actually interested ... Well, tell you what. Lemme do a little researching, just to make sure we're not gonna break anything important. Besides, Mushuana's specialty is specifically dreams, so it would have to be while you're sleeping again, anyways."

Duke has posed:
Duke nods his head a few times to her. "OK!" He then holds the bowl up to Spikes, "Thanks again for Foods!" The Digimon then looks around the barn and sighs softly. Maybe they'll get some answers, he thinks to himself, or maybe they wont get any. Though as his eyes drift back to the outdoors he rumbles softly. "..I hope Doran is ok.."