One Step Forward, Several Back (Valus)

[shizubaya]

Kurogane was not in a good mood - while that tended to be a given due to his natural dislike of competition and the very nature of his profession, a profession that had been chosen for him without regard to what he may have wanted or thought about it, it was highly unusual for him in the digital world. While he never went there without an objective of some kind in mind, almost always centered around ways to merely increase Arkadimon's strength as per their bargain, the man still saw it as something akin to an escape, a break in the everyday routine he had dealt with and tolerated since his late teenage years. Unfortunately, that was the root of the problem - this was becoming little more than an addition to the very routine he had sought to escape from.

It had been days, weeks, months since he and the creature had formed their pact, and still they were no closer to their goal.... or at least Kurogane saw no change. While it may have simply been that digimon did not grow stronger until they digivolved, a fact that Arkadimon vehemantly disagreed with and one of the few things he actually debated, Kurogane saw no change. Arkadimon said he could feel his strength increasing with each "kill", and while that may have been so the human wasn't so sure - he didn't know whether or not to simply attribute it to Arkadimon becoming used to his relatively new form, an increase in general skill through experience, or if it was indeed as Arkadimon thought, a concept that was supported by the fact that the hunger that usually controlled him seemed to be slowly disappearing. For all Kurogane knew it could've been all three, but that in itself presented a new problem - how the hell did they get to Arkadimon's next digivolution? The creature seemed full of answers, and while Kurogane could tell it was hiding some things and misleading him on a few choice subjects, even it seemed to have no clear answer beyond the fact that digivolution was merely a process where a digimon expanded upon its original data, adding new information to the old. It had seemed simple enough..... they'd just keep absorbing data until they advanced, and continue to do so from there, but apparently "simple" and "easy" were two completely different things - a concept that Kurogane had acknowledged before but never truly understood until this point.

Dressed in his usual black attire, Kurogane exited from the trees to stand on the shore of a large lake - the first time he had ever been there, but it was not unknown to him. At the very least there had to be some other digimon here, something for his partner to absorb. Turning to his left, Kurogane began to walk down the shore of the beach, Arkadimon emerging from the trees behind him and following the human's lead.

[thal]

- ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

An orange fin broke the calm on the lake surface, weaving from side to side as Modoki snaked through the dark waters. It was a clear night with the exception of a few black clouds on the horizon, and the surface of the lake was akin to a giant mirror, catching the faint glimmer of the occasional star.

It was a beautiful sight to behold, really, if you were into that sort of thing.

Stuffing his hands into his pockets for warmth, Valus stood looking out on the forest from a small island mass located in the center of the lake, connected to the shore by a rickety wooden bridge that looked as if it had been built only as an afterthought. The hour was later than he had intended for it to be - and he was beginning to grow bored of the novelty of staying out so long.

Coming into the Digital World after dark had been... well, thrilling the first couple of times. Now, the only real purpose it served was exploration, and the chance to let Modoki splash around to her heart's content for a while - after much repeated pestering on the matter. It gave him a lot of time to think though, which was something he couldn't fault.

Khai... BlackGabumon... Yagami... over and again, those names crossed his mind. How could they not, being here?

"Five more minutes, Modoki." he called, although his partner gave no indication of hearing. "I don't want to be up until midnight again."

This time, his eyes saw the fin waggle, and then dive. Submerging until all he could see of it was a dark blot. Shivering as a gust of wind chilled him, Valus turned his head and cast his gaze towards the bridge behind him, already aching to be back at his new house, where there was a warm bed guaranteed to be waiting for him upon his return.

... was that patch of shadow moving? And there was something pink following behind it. The more he stared at it, the more certain he was.

Another human, another Digimon, another potential enemy.

"Modoki!" he hissed urgently. The stranger wasn't quite at the bridge yet - but standing out here in the open, there was no question about being spotted. Closing his fingers around his Digivice, he turned around with his front side now facing the only route onto the island... or off it, for that matter.

Frowning intensely, he waited to see what the stranger would do.

[/size]

~ - ~ - ~ - ~ -

[shizubaya]

Despite the fact that it was well after dark, Kurogane quickly noticed a handful of things as he moved down the beach - first and foremost was the island out towards the center of the lake, on top of it an almost artificially shaped object, which upon further inspection turned out to be a tram car of all things. Kurogane wasn't surprised - in the time he'd been in the digital world he'd been finding man made objects in the strangest of places, some working and some not, with many of them seemingly operating without any external source of power. All in all he didn't question it - from the few files he'd been able to steal from the AIR mainframes before being locked out, their scientists had tried to understand the objects before simply giving up, attributing them to simply be "natural" phenomena - or at least as close to natural as anything in this world got. A paradox of sorts, really.

As he got closer, though, Kurogane noted with mild surprise that the "island" was, in fact, not an island - from a little further down the shoreline than he was Kurogane saw a break in the water, a path of dry land leading out towards the spit of land and the tram car. Again, it normally would not have drawn Kurogane's attention save for one detail - behind him Arkadimon had stopped cold in his tracks, slightly stiff as his gaze locked onto the area by the tram car. Kurogane, not really in the mood for games, merely turned halfway around to face the digimon and waited for a handful of moments for it to explain what had its interest before speaking out himself.

"What, eat something that didn't agree with you? What is it?" Kurogane asked, a small but almost untracable hint of sarcasm in his voice as he merely watched the digimon remain still, Arkadimon refusing to answer him as it continued to stare out at the tram car. Kurogane, more annoyed than anything else, waited for another few moments before simply giving Arkadimon an irritated look before turning his own attention out towards the piece of land. It wasn't until several moments later that he saw what Arkadimon was looking at - a subtle shift, slight movement out on the island. Another human?

Kurogane briefly considered his options. If it was another human, it could very well be an AIR member - what they were doing out here so late at night, he had no idea. There was always the chance that it could have been another digidestined like himself, a concept that he had quickly grasped after Arkadimon reluctantly explained it to him, but the fact remained that he was simply not ready to expose himself to either group - not yet anyways. The graveyard incident had been a product of bad luck and timing - had Arkadimon been at full strength he would not have hesitated to eliminate the girl then and there to keep himself a secret, but if they had attacked her in such a weakened state they would have risked losing it all. As for if they were from AIR..... all the better. He had a bone to pick with them, and while he'd pretend to be their best friend in his world if it meant avoiding trouble, no one would question a single person going missing out here - there was no law enforcement, no civilization, nothing to point a finger at him. It would simply be yet another of many casualties that they'd incured over the years. In all honesty, though, Kurogane didn't care much either way - the person had clearly seen them, and as such was now a liability.

"Looks like you get to eat tonight after all."

Arkadimon didn't need any more encouragement - suddenly snapping out of his apparent trance as if he'd been listening all along, the digimon moved with almost supernatural speed and silence as he broke into a dead run towards the land bridge, turning the corner and darting across it right towards the human who was still in the process of standing up. As he rapidly closed the distance Arkadimon kept his eyes on his target, wary for any kind of attempt to escape or counter attack as he brought his scythe like arms up and into an "X" like formation in front of him.

"Erase Sickle."

[thal]

- ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

In retrospect, he didn't really have to wait at all. The other human turned his head to look his way, and almost immediately his Digimon sprang into action, attacking practically on sight alone. As the pink blur streaked towards him, the ground around Valus' feet started to crack.

"Modoki..." he grumbled, "Hurry up... I'm not joking now..." right on cue, there was a loud roar as water surged up beneath Valus like a geyser, throwing him up into the air and to the left at a slight angle - his body sent flying by the sudden manifestation of a tower of raging water.

"I gotcher! Sheesh, Valoo! Ye don' half make such a fuss!"

As Valus' limp body fell towards the surface of the lake, something jumped out and caught him by the scruff of his hood, snatching him out of the air like a fly and dragging him into the depths in one quick motion.

Now... how long was it that Valus could hold his breath, again? She'd never thought to ask! The thought of Valus in the water seemed out of place, and somewhat silly. After all, the water was HER home, and not his! The chip inside her head was still hurting... if it hadn't gone off at the first sign of trouble, she probably never would have reacted in time.

Still, it was preposterous! How long had she left Valus alone for? A minute? For finding a way to place himself in danger in such a record-breaking length of time, she had to give him credit. He seemed to have a natural quality of some kind that made him a prime target in the eyes of almost everyone!

Ah, he was tugging on her leg. He probably needed to breathe. And it would seem rather urgently.

Darting upwards rapidly, there was an immediate gasp from Valus, whose hair was soaking wet and streaked down his face now, the sight almost enough to make her chortle! By the shore now, away from the island, she crawled out onto dry land while her partner lazed around in the shallows.

She could see the other human nearby now... a tall man dressed in black. He looked very slick indeed. But right now she only had eyes for her fuchsia-skinned fellow Digimon. He looked rather lonely now, all alone in the middle of the island. A bit on the skinny side, too... like a mewling baby rat.

"Yoou-hooo~" she trilled, "Hey, pretty fella! Wha's got itself stuck up yer bum, like? Ain't ye got any manners?" smiling amicably, she lifted up her tail and smacked it against the ground playfully. "Don' worry if yer shy or anythin'! I can play nice! Jus' tell me wha' the hell ye think you're playin' at!?"

From somewhere around behind her, there was a groan that could only have come from Valus. He probably would have preferred her to take things more seriously... a tragic pity, given that she preferred otherwise!

[/size]

~ - ~ - ~ - ~ -