Subject: zeroes and ones [o] 337 views

[espionage]

AN ORCHESTRA OF STRINGS

[TAG] - open. [NOTE] - come one and all 8)

The boy kept staring at that brightly colored arrow on the ground in front of him. To anyone watching, it would look like Espio was staring at the ground and nothing else. They couldn't see the mark that pointed him in the correct direction to reach his Digimon. Had he lost the Digimon already? He'd only been in the game for half an hour. No way! That prick of a Digimon had insulted him and run off. Was the Impmon programmed this way? It had told its own tamer that he needed someone better. Did the Impmon really think that Espio wasn't good enough for him?

The kid kicked at the arrow, his boot making contact with concrete, which brought a loud yelp from him. Espio dropped to his knees, wincing as he grabbed his throbbing foot and muttered, "Whatever. I'll find a new, higher leveled Digimon." As if that were even possible and Espio knew it too. But the Impmon would learn soon that he couldn't beat this game alone. He needed a tamer if he wanted someone to buy him techniques and evolutions.

Ha! Take that, puny Imp. That would sure teach him. Being able to use gloved claws and a few tiny teeth wouldn't bring him any closer to victory against any Digimon at all. To anyone in the area watching, they'd find a tall, but skinny boy, hunched over in the middle of the walkway. He just might get in their way, but Espio didn't move for anyone. Especially not when the game he'd waited months for had began with an awful start.

[grimm]

"na, shoutmon."

grimm leaned back against the bench, licking one of the sundaes that the staff had been giving out to commemorate some sort of event. it tasted oddly like pumpkin, but he wasn't sure if it was the flavor or his senses playing tricks on himself. "ya'think we gun' meet lupo-tachi again?"

the shoutmon had a sundae of its own that it licked contemplatively before it shook its head. "the digital world is huge da yo! no way we're gunna see them again unless ..."

"unless?"

"iunno."

grimm had to resist the urge to smash shoutmon's face in the ice-cream. "oi! don'say stuff like dat if you don've an answer," he said, huffing and turning his gaze elsewhere --

-- he spotted a skinny boy hunched in the middle of the street, and raised an eyebrow. a beggar? even in the game? that was surprising ... or not. a grin cut across grimm's face as he rose from his seat.

"le'go see wha's gon' on there, na, shoutmon."

he closed the distance fairly easily, and stopped a step or two behind espionage. "yaa, you hurt?" he asked, just as his own partner digimon stopped by his side.

"yo," greeted shoutmon.

[espionage]

AN ORCHESTRA OF STRINGS

[TAG] - open. [NOTE] - come one and all 8)

The mop of green hair lifted to stare wide eyed at the complete stranger- and his Digimon. How come they were getting along and he couldn't even get his own Digimon to acknowledge him and give him a chance? And they had ice cream. Where did they even get there? Would Impmon like ice cream? Would that be a decent enough peace offering for the little runt?

"I'm just thinking," Espio snapped at them, rather rudely, despite the fact that they were showing concern for them. He didn't need to tell them what was wrong. He didn't want their pity or their help. He'd find his Digimon on his own! And tame it without the help of a probably much more experienced member than himself. Espio had only joined the game today, but he'd already put countless hours into researching how to play, where to go and what to fight. He hadn't thought up the chance that his Digimon wouldn't obey him in the first place.

Bolting upright, back onto his feet, he dusted his jeans and snapped his gaze away to stare down the path that his arrow was pointing. The Impmon would come back. Espio knew it had to happen when the imp realized he'd get killed alone. His head turned a fraction, eyeing this Grimm character with minor curiosity. "... Tell me, little red thing, if you ran away from your tamer, where would you go?" The question was directed toward the Shoutmon and might have seemed spontaneous. But if Espio could figure out Impmon's destination, he could beat him there.

[grimm]

"haa?" said grimm, frowning and raising one of his eyebrows out of sheer habit. "alright, fine, let's go, shoutmon." he raised a hand to gesture for his digimon to leave, but the red digimon was already spoken to.

grimm slipped his hands into the pockets of his red pea jacket. troublesome.

"eh? me?" shoutmon expressed surprise at being addressed. rarely was it addressed in any of grimm's conversations, save by its tamer on different occasions. however, it was always its tamer and no one else; espionage clearly caught it off-guard.

"... nn ... i'd go somewhere fun. somewhere i can fight, i guess. yea, somewhere i can fight da yo!"

[espionage]

AN ORCHESTRA OF STRINGS

[TAG] - open. [NOTE] - come one and all 8)

Fighting. Of course. Impmon must have gone somewhere to fight and hone his skills, right? Maybe to the nearby park or the beach. He couldn't get across the ocean without his tamer though, could he? Espio punched his fist against his open palm, giving a firm and understanding nod of his head. "You must be right!" Espio agreed, a little smirk tugging at the corner of his lips as he stared at the arrow. But it looked like it just pointed deeper into the city rather than toward the park at all.

"Have you seen an Impmon around causing havoc? He's an indigo color with a dumb red scarf. About two feet high?" Espio started describing, his hands motioning toward his neck when he said scarf and to his knee when he explained the height.

Wait, one minute. "What am I going on about? He looks like a friggen' Impmon waltzing around without a tamer. Sound familiar?" He hadn't seen another Impmon in the game yet, but they were bound to be out there. Probably as enemy Digimon too. Impmon were part of the virus attribute, after all.

[grimm]

"nope, sorry," shoutmon said in a heartbeat. neither it nor grimm had seen an impmon since they arrived in the city. "we could help look."

what? what. help look? grimm shot a glance at shoutmon, but took care to keep his gaze vaguely devoid of emotion. he did not sign up for this game to play helpful police officer.

"let's check out the sewers. full of seedy people willing to have an illegal pvp," said grimm after a brief moment of silence. he spoke up before it was awkward; he didn't want to look disagreeable, despite his feelings.

[espionage]

AN ORCHESTRA OF STRINGS

[TAG] - open. [NOTE] - come one and all 8)

Espio's pride told him that he could do this by himself and that, with a few directions, he could find his way to these sewers and hopefully locate the damned Impmon. But his brain told him otherwise. His brain pointed out that, if he were attacked, he would have no Digimon to defend him and would easily have the shit beaten right out of him. He just really hoped that these guys wouldn't ditch him in a tough situation- or worse- be the ones to throw him into a complicated problem.

"Well, come on then! If even your human has no complaints, then we better get started. Show me the way! Who knows what trouble he might be getting into," the tamer addressed the Shoutmon, who seemed far more easy to talk to. Espio had never been a people person. All his time was spent on a computer. He'd rather talk to a little dinosaur of data than some guy called Grimm on any occasion.

[grimm]

your human? grimm's gaze settled on espionage, and held back the urge to say something rash. he bit his tongue, turned away, and walked on, hands in his pockets. the tamer was soon joined by shoutmon at his side, a finger tapping on its chin as it led the way.

the sewers were easily reachable from a route that led to some kind of card maniacs' hideout, and it wasn't hard for grimm to recall its exact location. (despite this, he took his own time to get to the inn before leading them towards the door. shoutmon hadn't the best sense of direction, it seemed.)

"you think your digimon is willing to get into an illegal match?" grimm's voice sounded in the empty, quiet corridor as he walked along the white brick path. before them, a ladder stretched downwards into the sewers and darkness.

a distinct stench, noticeable but in no way uncomfortable wafted from the depths of the sewer. it registered in grimm's mind as some kind of sewage, yet somehow bearable. shoutmon seemed to take the smell with gusto, leaping from the top of the platform and descending the ladder with ease and agility.

"whatcha guys waiting for? let's go da yo!"