[color=#85c885][u][h3]Dustin[/h3][/u][/color]
Dustin mostly absorbed the gist of things through osmosis as the... [i]digimon[/i] began giving their... [i]partners[/i] the rundown, but the purple one certainly helped clarify... well, closer to nothing than he would have liked, but- ah...!?

Something had pulled his hair, and given its briefness and lack of follow-through, he didn't judge it to be a genuine threat. It was giving him elementary school tomfoolery vibes, and he had to stop and muster the patience to deal with this in this situation in a sensible manner. When he actually turned around to look at the culprit, he found that Klara had already caught the creature... and was now making it uncomfortable with her affections, it seemed. He sent the scaly purple creature a disappointed glare like a father might after their child professes their undying love and fiscally irresponsible financial support for the Insane Clown Posse. In any case, he said nothing as he turned back to refocus on the other, fuzzier purple creature and began to fit the sparse details into place to match what he was seeing in front of his eyes.

If this is a completely digital world, then they've literally entered the matrix, though unless the... well, [i]cutscene[/i] they just witnessed was fabricated, their entry and the fuzzy purple digimon's characterization of this place as pseudo-extradimensional implies that they are here bodily, not just mentally or even 'spiritually,' if astral projection is even a thing. Who can say when digital magic is apparently real? The symbols that are on the car and were involved in their arrival here had to be some type of magical programming language, in the sense of sufficiently advanced technology being magical, and given its usage thus far, the implication is that understanding of it would give one the power to reshape reality itself.

How terrifying. Reality was uncertain enough without literal cheat codes. He couldn't even be sure that all of this is real. The human mind is woefully fallible and is constantly lying to itself. If entering the digital world 'digitizes' them, then aren't all of them subject to that digital code? Aspirations, memories, personality, everything that makes a person who they are could be rewritten just by changing a few variables.

Dustin's brow furrowed as he thought of the ramifications and their likelihood. If the ambiguously Lucifer-themed digimon, judging by the name, was the ruler of this world, then he would likely have an understanding of the digital world's code near the peak of what was possible, and if his goal is to manipulate the humans to his side, then he should have the means to do so by force, if it is possible. The fact that they all remain here and relatively cooperative with the fuzzy purple one implies that, at minimum, there's some sort of distance limitation. They had to know something of digital programming given their only enemy is someone who apparently knows enough to bring nearly a dozen humans into the digital world. Either that or the digital world's programming is disappointingly useless.

In any case, he'd have to study it when he could. As with any kind of new, ad-hoc programming pseudo-language with no god damn documentation, the first step was going to have to be trial and error experimentation, and the only thing he possibly could do it with was the car.

That'd have to wait though, because no matter how his thoughts wander, it's hard to miss the feeling of being watched when the culprit is hiding in plain sight. And by plain sight, of course, he means the googly-eyed sphere with a giant rectangle above its head hiding behind the fuzzy purple thing.

He cocks a brow at it and the purple... porcine-wolf-looking creature. The latter catches his look and decides it's high time to shoo the sentient exclamation point towards him, and with a casual push the floating digimon seems to... stumble? In mid-air? While it's floating? And then crash land just in front of him, still leaning against the hood of the car, arms still crossed, not having moved anything other than his head to watch the trainwreck unfold.

Nonetheless, the little thing seems to make a valiant effort of picking itself up and shaking itself off. It opens its mouth and then absolutely fumbles a couple of greetings - [color=#F8F80E]"I am you Cardmon! Er... Partner, your- uh, How are is- I mean, am, is- are. You- uh..."[/color] until Dustin can't bear to see this go on any longer.

[color=#85c885]"So, you would be my assigned partner, then?[/color]

It nods vigorously, its spinning rectangular appendage (?) flopping about as it does so in a way that makes its spherical body wobble even after it stops nodding before returning to a neutral floating position.

[color=#F8F80E]"Hewwo! I'm Cardmon!"[/color] It introduced, earlier nerves seemingly gone completely.

At that, Dustin inhaled deeply, blinked a few times as if he couldn't believe his eyes, much less that this was going to be his life, before slowly enunciating the word, [color=#85c885]"[i]H e l l o."[/i][/color]

Cardmon tilted its head, then tilted slightly in the other direction, back and forth, floating in place, less and less, not unlike a living pendulum, as it apparently failed to counteract the momentum of returning its own head to a neutral position.

[color=#85c885]"Repeat after me. Hello."[/color]

[color=#F8F80E]"...Helwo?[/color]

[color=#85c885]"[i]H e l l o."[/i][/color]

[color=#F8F80E]"...Hewwwlloh?[/color] Cardmon said, clearly struggling somehow but still looking happy. He was being trained by a human already, after all.

Dustin let out a long-suffering sigh. [color=#85c885]"We'll work on it I guess."[/color] He regarded Cardmon for a moment, eyeing its unusual bodily form. The card wasn't spinning enough to keep it afloat like a helicopter, but it certainly seemed capable of flight anyway.

[color=#85c885]"So, you're Cardmon."[/color] He turned his eyes up towards the giant floating card above Cardmon. [color=#85c885]"...And that would be your card, I take it?"[/color]

[color=#F8F80E]"Uh-huh! Oh, and I made you a pwesent!"[/color]

Dustin twitched at the pronunciation but otherwise said nothing as Cardmon flew away, up and over the vertical vehicles until it reached one at the far edge of the clearing. Using its own card like a broom, it sweeped something off the top of the vehicle and onto its spherical head, then miraculously managed to float back without tripping on literally nothing and falling face-first onto the ground.

[color=#F8F80E]"Here you go! I made it mysewlf!"[/color]

Dustin had to wonder if Cardmon was putting his impromptu lesson to good use already or if it was just a coincidence. In any case, Cardmon's home-made present seemed to be... a pack of cards. Looking between Cardmon's football-length card and the standard-sized booster pack in his hands, he had to wonder how Cardmon actually made this, especially considering Cardmon didn't have hands. Or arms. Just a cardboard spatula, kinda.

Seeing him dally, Cardmon rushed him; [color=#F8F80E]"Go! Open it! Maybe there's somethin' good inside!"[/color]

Dustin had to wonder why Cardmon seemed to be more excited for the pack opening than he was when Cardmon was the one who made the card pack to begin with. In any case, it shouldn't hurt to open it.

[hider=Pack 1b Opening][img]https://i.imgur.com/wd4wJhV.png[/img][/hider]
Renamon, Hawkmon, Betamon, Toy Agumon, Crabmon, and Kunemon. Six cards per pack, it seems.

While the illustrations lean somewhat on the interpretive side, they at least seem well-made. Still, the cards themselves only have a name, a rank (rookie for all of them) and a pair of numbers, presumably representing offense and either health or defense. It was useful to get a sample of some of the digimon he had no other way of seeing, but in terms of game balance, he can't imagine why anyone would bother with the cards with lower stats. Perhaps the colors have something to do with it? He'd have to figure out how these cards were actually used.

[color=#85c885]"So, is this your power?"[/color] the purple fuzzy one had mentioned that they grow in power with emotional energy, implying they would be doing the fighting directly, and that could only mean these digimon - digital monsters, if he had to guess, were made to fight.

[color=#F8F80E]"Yup! I can make you more packs whenever! It makes me tired though, so not too many, okay?"[/color]

[color=#85c885]"Of course. And, as for these cards, what do they..."[/color] There's no subtle way to ask this, is there? [color=#85c885]"What do they do?"[/color]

Cardmon just laughed. [color=#F8F80E]"They're cards, silwy! You play with them! I can show you wlater, yeah?"[/color]

Thinking Cardmon's words to be non-literal, he asked for further clarification. [color=#85c885]"Could you describe the way you play with them, Cardmon?"[/color]

Cardmon tilted its head again. [color=#F8F80E]"I thought humons had games too?"[/color] This time Cardmon began wobbling around his center axis like a bobblehead while trying to reset to a neutral position. Maybe he was trying something new.

Still not a straight answer. [color=#85c885]"Do they have... combat applications?"[/color] Please say yes.

[color=#F8F80E]"Fun games raise... what was it cawlled? Mowale?"[/color]

[i]Oh.[/i] [color=#85c885]"...Morale."[/color]

[color=#F8F80E]"That's it!"[/color]