[IC] Digimon: Tamer's Bureau

[Pyromania99]

Tinkermon fell flat off of Yumeko's shoulder and smacked into the ground with a light thwump. She got up after a few seconds and swiftly ascended up to her partner's head. "Yuummmeeeekkkkooooooo." The little fairy bawled with small tears in her eyes. "That mean slug just knocked me down for no reason!"

It was cute and Yumeko felt a little bad for the fairy but... "I mean, to be fair, you did have it coming at some point." The Japanese girl joked a bit. Tinkermon's face feigned shock.

"Oh! How my dear love, Yumeko, betrays me so!" She adds before standing on Yumeko's shoulders and spinning slightly before falling off again forward into Yumeko's hands that rushed to catch her. That bit was a little theatric of course, but she just had to.

The Gabumon finally spoke up. "Well, you better hurry up. It's a bit of a walk. Not horrible of course, but still something." It walked to the door and opened it for the Bureau agents. I hope you all find what you are looking for. It said as the group left...

---

It was a bit of a trek up the mountain side. It had a nice Japanese ambiance to it with those Shinto shrine gates guiding the path. There was little out of the ordinary... They met a couple of strong looking Digimon on the way up that were leaving which wasn't amazingly odd. The only thing other than that were two little catapiller like digimon running off into the woods off the path.



Soon enough though, they found themselves at the front of a large building. The biggest visable difference though were the, what looked like, perpetually blooming Cherry Blossom Trees with small blossoms fallings to give a beautiful and serene feel to the place. "Did they just stereo-type Japan when they made this place?" Yumeko commented as she eyed the entire place. It really felt like they did.

"Ehh? They did? I think it looks pretty."

"I mean, it does, but that's not really what I--" The Japanese girl was saying before being interrupted by the sliding door entrance to the building opened and a Gabumon dressed in a kimono of sort exited. "Ehh? Really?" She added as the little digimon walked over.

"Hello! Are you visitors? Welcome to the Gabu-Springs! Would you all like to bath in our hot-springs? We have different temperatures for those that prefer different heats, though most guests find the normal bath to be nice." Yumeko... She didn't want to say anything unless she let something slip that shouldn't really. She looked Rachel, Kameo and their partners in the eyes wanting them to comtinue.

[Rune_Alchemist]

"OOh, this place looks fancy!" Kameo giggled brightly a the oriental themed nature of the place. "Noooot as swanky as Hawaii but still. This place is neat. I should visit Japan at some point." Kameo grinned in her usual bright manner.

"One thing at a time, Kameo..." Swimmon replied with a sigh. "And please don't suggest swimming across the entire ocean."

"Pfft, I wouldn't suggest something like that. Probably." Kameo and Swimmon continued to chatter idly as they walked. Rachel had as usual, kept quiet, though had taken to carrying Impmon in her arms halfway up the path. She didn't seem very impressed with the scenery, and had instead focused more on if there were any digimon in the area. Impmon for the most part kept quiet as well, at least until they reached their destination.

"...someone needs to get the snakes outta their britches." Impmon chuckled, wiggling out of Rachel's arms. "Oi, fancy pants, we're not here for a-mmmf!?" Rahchel had silenced Impmon by placing a hand over his mouth. She gave the Gabumon her usual deadpan and sleepy stare before speaking.

"Hmm...Smelly. He hasn't taken a bath in weeks."

"B-bwuh!? H-hey what's that supposed to mean partner?! We just got done with the lake! I'm squeaky clean yes I am!"

"...I-I bet she just wants to take a spa vacation..." Swimmon would have face-palmed if she had been able too.

"Heh, actually that sounds kinda nice." Kameo Replied with a bright grin. "Never been in a hot spring before!" Really though, Rachel wanted to get a good look at the place before starting any trouble. It'd be much harder to get in if they blabbed about why they were really here and if there was a problem then they might try something fishy. They might actually try something fishy anyways, buuuut...that was just her not so professional opinion. "What'd you guys wanna do?" She looked over to Yumeko and Tinkermon.

[Pyromania99]

Yumeko face plammed for Swimmon. They had a job to do didn't they? "Let's save that for after we investigate some more. Though, we should ask around a bit." She sighed a bit but looked to the Gabumon, "We're with the Tamer's Bureau, we've been tasked into looking into the grieviances between the Gomamon and Gabumon. It seems the Gomamon think you Gabumon have been purposely weakening the lake water."

"Eh? Weakening the water? We wouldn't do that. We don't want those aquatic digimon to get sick... Actually, I think our water has been affected too." The Gabumon mentioned scratching his head. "It's hard to tell though. If you want to go in an ask around you can." It added, while motioning them inside. Once inside, they'd notice it had a notably Japanese feel about it, just like the outside. Yumeko just ignored it and looked at the guests. A Gatomon, Agumon, a large... Yeti? "I've got work to do, just ask if you need help."

As the Gabumon left, a familiar voice filled the gap. "If it ain't my bureau buddies! I didn't expect you all here!" A girl appeared with a Japanese style bathrobe on along with a blue fish-like girl.

"But you were the one that got us a boat, Lana..."

"Pfft, details. Anyhow, do I have some news for you. The kind me decided to ask around while we were taking a soak. For the small price of a small favor in the future, I think I know where you should check next!" She put her hands on her hips, waiting for the others to figure out their plan... "Scratch that, I'll just tell you so you can owe me that favor anyhow. She leaned in to the group and spoke softly. "Well, I've heard that in the Bamboo Forest near here, there's been an irregularly high amount of Dokunemon... You might have seen some already. The Gabumon don't pay much attention so they probably haven't thought of it as much of anything... Well, I think you should check there. I also heard there's a waterfall far in the back, so it might be worth checking out one way or the other." She stood there, looking proud of herself.

[Rune_Alchemist]

Rachel pouted just slightly as it seemed they weren't going to be doing anything. Tsk, well, if that's what they wanted to do fine then. Wasn't like she could say or do anything to probably convince them. All this walking had made her tired though. If only she had a nice pillow to lay on. Too bad Impmon didn't have anything. Ah, why couldn't she get the mischievous little pixie. Though, said Pixie was flat as a board.

"..." Rachel turned her head to Tinkermon at the thought, but mostly would say nothing unless prodded about her thoughts as they walked into the hot springs, only to meet Lana as soon as the Gabumon left them alone.

"Oi, I don't owe you no favors." Impmon said grumpily to Lana. "Where'd you get this information anyways? I thought you didn't want to help the Bureau? How'd you get here 'fore us anyways?" Impmon asked, a little more than suspicious of the other girl for now. Going from not wanting to owing her a favor in the future was a bit of a big change. Still, it was the only thing they had to go on for now. Not to mention that she'd probably try to pry a favor from them anyways now that she told them.

"Woaw, someone's a bit suspicious Impy." Kameo chuckled lightly. "It's not like we have much more to go on, and besides! Someone as adorable as Lana isn't suspicious at all."

"Y-you can ignore the three of them, Lana." Swimmon sighed, feeling like they were the only even halfway competent ones present. "That information is quite helpful, thank you. We should hurry and see if there's anything we can find before things get worse."

"Hmm..." Rachel pat Impmon on the head. "Waterfall sounds good." Impmon glanced up at his partner, giving her a rather unimpressed look.

"Don't you ever think about anything other than sleeping?"

She glanced over to Tinkermon.

"...occasionally."

"You know, forget I asked."

[Pyromania99]

"Geez 'Impy' you're so suspicious. Since you guys brought up the Hot Springs I figured they'd be nice to use. So we flew over here. I'm the Spirit of Wind, remember? It's not all too weird that I'm able to fly." Lana said, pouting a little bit though it was fakely.

Yumeko claped her hands together, Guess we're finding this waterfall then. This'll be interesting." She scratched her head for a second. "What's a Dokunemon anyway?" The girl asked her fairy friend.

Tinkermon just looked at her and motioned into the air as if pointing at a picture. "Remember that small insect Digimon we saw on the way up here? That thing."

"Those don't look tough, we'll probably be fine then." Yumeko noted.

Lana giggled, "Sure, sure. Fine you'll be. Just be careful of what else might be hiding in that forest. Well, with the three of you I'm sure you can handle anything under Ultimate level. And the only ones of those that show up in this server are the ones that came to rest in the lake and the spring. Her hand rested on Ranamon's head and rubbed it. "Either way, you guys have a location and I have my owed favor in the future. Back to the water Ranamon!" The girl exclaimed before practically running off.

Ranamon looked worried, "W-wait! Lana! I'm sorry about her!" The Digimon mentioned to the group before chasing her partner.

Tinkermon snickered a bit, "I'm glad that's not my partner."

"Oh my, looks like we need to check out that waterfall!" Yumeko said, quickly walking off with her hands in her pocket.

"H-hey! Yumeko! How dare you!" Tinkermon said, holding on to her partner as she briskly walked off.

---

Soon enough, when everyone decided to show up at the forest entrance, they stared at the entrance.



Yumeko spoke up, "This reminds me of a game... Hope we don't get lost in here." She mentioned. "Or maybe just one of those dungeons in an RPG or something?" She muttered to herself.

Tinkermon looked visibly confused. "Are Pee Gee?" She continued to scratched her head. "Sounds weird."

As the two talked, something crossed their vision... A Dokunemon! "Hey! You!" The creature looked shocked and quickly turned to them before making a weird screeching noise and running off into the forest. "Damn, that thing's fast."

[Rune_Alchemist]

"Still don't trust her." Impmon replied with a humph as Lana and Ranamon dashed off. "And I ain't doin her no favors either." Rachel remained passive as usual, stretching and picking up Impmon again and patting him on the head.

"Hey, it don't matter." Kameo replied with her usual cheerfulness. "Anyways, were wastin' time! Off to the forest!" Kameo slapped Rachel on the back which earned the redhead a small glare from her as she dashed off, following quickly behind Yumeko. Swimmon followed behind, zipping through the air like some sort of flying fish. Rachel of course, followed at her own relaxed pace. Whew, she could go for something to drink about now.

Soon enough though, they found themselves at the forest, a wild Dokunemon wiggled its way past them, before hissing and scurrying off into the brush.

"...well Ain't that suspicious?" Impmon said from where Rachel was carrying him. Rachel was inclined to agree...though she supposed it could also be in a hurry. Still suspicious though.

"Not as fast as me! I may be a water-type but I'm just as fast on land!" Kameo bounced energetically before bolting after the Dokunemon.

"Ack! K-kameo don't run off!" The redhead was followed swiftly by Swimmon who was understandably concerned that this wasn't going to end well.

[Pyromania99]

Kameo would find soon enough that she both lost sight of the Dokunemon in the foliage and got stuck trying to move forward in the bamboo. Tinkermon soon fluttered over to the girl and landed on her shoulder. "It's no use, you got that useless set of things on your chest that are just getting in the way." Tinkermon commented before quickly making her escape before Kameo could do anything.

"Let's just go along the path." Yumeko suggested, pointing down the actual path through the forest. Obviously it was made for travel, though it felt like that it wasn't used that much. After helping Kameo back onto the path, the group made their way up the stairs deeper into the forest. A gentle breeze blew through the vertical rods as they proceeded, lightly moving their hair and other loose articles.

Somehow, as the followed the path deeper, they would easily notice that the bamboo stopped being as densely populated, but rather were thicker themselves. About double the size of the other bamboo. Around the time of this bamboo, a fork appeared in the road. To one side, they saw plenty more bamboo leading deeper into the woods, on the other a clearing and what looked to be a building. "Hmm, which way to go? I don't hear water, so that house probably isn't the waterfall." Yumeko said, scratching her head.

"Oh come on, we might find something there." Tinkermon said before taking a peek further down that way. "It looks like that rest house... Though I don't think that's it. Looks like a garden. Wanna go take a peek?"

[Rune_Alchemist]

It seemed instead of chasing after the digimon, she instead ended up getting stuck. The thick bamboo made it difficult for her to follow, at least. It took a bit of help from Yumeko and Impmon, but she finally managed to pull herself out of the bamboo.

"Waah? Useless things?" Kameo pouted a bit before grinning. "I'll have you know these things make for really great pillows for some people." She didn't say much else though and hopped back to the others, getting onto the path without much more of a hassle and followed Yumeko with a grin with Swimmon following right behind her at a surprisingly relaxed pace.

"...this place is awfully relaxin'" Impmon yawned, following alongside Rachel. "Would be a nice place for a nap if we weren't so busy savin' the world and whatnot." Rachel nodded in agreement as they came upon the fork in the road. Yumeko voiced her concerns about it not being the waterfall, and Tinkermon expressed her interest in exploring. For once, Rachel agreed with the little pest.

"Hmm, might as well take a look." Impmon replied, echoing Rachel's thoughts. "If someone's there they might have some information. Could at least point us in the direction of the waterfall, too."

"I'd agree," Swimmon began. "But isn't a little hut out here in the middle of nowhere...sort of creepy? In fact, this entire forest is sorta creepy..." She frowned a bit before yelping lightly as Kameo picked up the fish looking digimon with a grin.

"Pfft, it's the middle of the day Swimmon. Everyone knows ghosts don't come out at least until nighttime." Kameo chuckled.

[Pyromania99]

"But this is the Digital World, Kameo. Digital Ghosts might come out in the daytime instead." Yumeko teased. She walked ahead towards the hut. "Guess the consensus is to go this way." She added. Looking around, she noticed that there was a nice open clearing, enough room for quite the nice sized garden of fruits and vegetables. "This place definitely has someone living here."

Tinkermon zipped around the place, looking at just about everything. It was interesting to her. She'd never seen anything like this before, though to be fair the only places she had been were the Bureau, the Fractal Forest and this lake area... So it wasn't too much a surprise. As she moved closer to the house, the front door quickly opened and a fox-like digimon showed itself. It was a humanoid, and just about human-sized.



"Who shows themself here?" It's voice was feminine to be sure. "Not Dokunemon. Humans and Digimon? Would you happen to be from the Bureau?"

Yumeko was still sizing the digimon up when she? asked the question. "Oh! Umm, yes. We are. Did you mention Dokunemon?" That was what Lana mentioned earlier wasn't it?

"Yes, those fools come into my garden and steal my food. If you are with Bureau, you will take care of them for me. One second." The Digimon said, before turning back into the house and retrieving two pieces of paper and returning to the group, handing the papers to Yumeko and Kameo. "Deeper in is a confusing mess and if you don't go exactly the path you need, you'll find that you've returned to the start. A puzzle. It also changes every day. Once there, there's an old looking monument of sorts that gives you the current path, though only in an old script. This will denote the script to what is called "English". Hopefully one of you know it?"

The paper she received had this information on it. It showed about Twenty Six different letters, the ones used in English, and then a weird set of script next to it.



"Rachel, I think this would be better for you." Yumeko said as she handed it over to the girl.

The Fox Digimon continued, [b]"The other paper is my request to the Bureau. Turn that into your supervisor when you return."[/color]

[Rune_Alchemist]

"W-wah??? D-daytime ghosts?" Swimmon shivered lightly where she floated, wiggling out of Kameo's hands. "N-no of course not. T-that'd be silly. G-ghosts don't exist to begin with."

"Hehe, right. Well, lets head to the house guys." Kameo quickly followed Yumeko and the others into the area, taking just about as much interest in the garden as the small Fairy digimon did. Rachel, Impmon, and Swimmon for the most part stayed on the path without raising too much of a fuss over anything. As soon as they approached the house though, they were greeted by a fox like digimon. The digimon didn't bother to introduce herself, instead insisting that they take care of the Dokunemon that were plaguing her garden.

"Hmm...?" Rachel took the cipher, carefully looking it over. Apparently the maze-like bamboo forest changed everyday and you needed to decode the path or something. Well, she couldn't exactly argue that this was right in her field of expertise.

"E-erm, I don't exactly disagree that Rachel seems good at this sort of thing, but..." Swimmon gave the lazy girl an unsure look as Rachel studied the paper. "Is she actually going to do it?" Rachel gave Swimmon a seemingly hurt look before stretching and walking away from the area, towards the other path that had been shown to them. Impmon shrugged, followed after Rachel without a word to the new digimon.

No way was she delivering something for more work, nope.

[Pyromania99]

"Alright, let's just get on our way. I'm trusting Rachel." Yumeko said, nodding at the typically lazy girl. After the studying she put into the note, the Japanese girl couldn't help but feel that Rachel was going to do fine. As they arrived back at the fork in the road, she looked towards the path leading futher into the forest. "At least we can do a two for one on this Dokunemon request." With a shrug, she led on. The forest path was changing again. Instead of the thicker bamboo stalks they saw earlier, the bamboo became very thin but densely populated. So thick, one couldn't even think about pushing through.

Soon, they came to what looked like a cross-road. A giant stone stood in the center of it. As the group approached, symbols appeared on it.



"Oh! Lookie here. A STONE! Never before have I seen a stone so grand as this one! It is quite possibly... The greatest stone in existence!" Tinkermon said, obviously sarcastic. She flew up to it and tapped it a few times, looking rather bored. "So, this is Digicode.... I think. It's old. I guess it's laz-butt's time to shine?" The fairy said, moving over to Yumeko's shoulder.

[Rune_Alchemist]

Ah, she was tired.

Rachel led the group with her usual slow, lackadaisical pace, impmon trailing behind her. She held the cipher in front of her, studying it easily. It was a simple one, if it was just replacing the letters of the English alphabet with symbols. What was it called again? eh, didn't matter. Point is it'd be simple. At least this little puzzle could prove to be a little entertaining. As they reached the second fork in the road, a giant stone stood in the center of the path with the same symbols as was marked on the cipher sheet.

"Hmmm...tsk," She had been hoping for something a bit more difficult, but oh well. This was fine too. A nice little brain exercise. "Left." She said simply, and began walking stopping barely for even a second. She had half a mind to tell them right for giggles but while funny, that would be a little annoying to deal with later.

"E-eh? That quickly?" Swimmon seemed to have her doubts.

"Yep."

"Woooow, you're actually pretty smart aren't ya Rachel?" Kameo grinned, following after her. Rachel gave a small smug smirk at the compliment. Heh, wasn't every day someone recognized her genius.

"Well let's get goin' Impmon spoke up. "Lets get this over with so I can go back to doin' nothin."

[Pyromania99]

"Well done then." Yumeko commented. See? She was right! Rachel could figure it out. With that, group took a left. As they walked forward, they'd notice a slight pulse of sorts around them. Something akin to a ripple in the water. Soon enough, they came to something very familiar. Another giant rock. In fact, the area looked like it did around the first rock. "Wait, what? Did we... Take a wrong turn?"

Tinkermon cut in, confused as well. "Nononononono. We just walked straight, there's no way." She commented, looking behind. For a distance it just looked like a corridor of bamboo with a fog in the distance. "Hey, uhh, when did that fog get here? I don't remember that?"

In the meantime, Yumeko stepped towards the rock.



"I'm not sure about the code, but... There are more of them this time right?" The Japanese girl asked the others. "Rachel?" She said questioningly, hoping the girl would illuminate on the word.

[Rune_Alchemist]

Well, that ripple was odd, though she largely dismissed it until they found themselves standing at a nearly identical rock with more runes on it. Rachel frowned. Some sort of localized space-time anomaly? A looping space pattern? Wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff? Well, since they were in a computer she doubted either of those. Still, this was...interesting. They hadn't taken any turns, or at least she hadn't. This fog was new, too.

"...ah-ah, uhm, y-you don't think this place is seriously haunted do you?" Swimmon spoke up. This fog wasn't making her feel at ease at all.

"hehe, don't worry Swimmon. I'm sure nothing bad will happen."

"W-whenever people say that bad stuff always happens, Kameo."

"Tsk."

"Oi, you two stop blabbering before Rachel takes it out on me."

"Sorry, sorry." Kameo giggled.

Rachel went back to studying the cipher. Him, it was longer in total but the cipher itself was still rather simple. 'Forward' then? They just had to keep walking forwards. Hm. Rachel took a look around the immediate area, not noticing anything else to far out of the ordinary. So she walked around the rock, and started moving forwards.

"I think she means 'Forwards'" Impmon said, following after Rachel.

[Pyromania99]

"Then forward it is." Yumeko said as she led the others forward and around the stone. As they made their way through the pathway, the same thing as before happened though now... The fog was ahead now. As the walked forward, the fog became thicker. Soon, there was a ripple in the air and the path behind them became foggier than ahead and they found themselves at another stone. "This is really foggy out here. Why the heck is it so foggy now?"



The text was different sized. It could mean a few things... Well, Rachel was the one with the Cipher. She just really needed to wait for the American girl to figure it out.

"What the heck is going on with this one?" Tinkermon asked around, inspecting the stone quite closely. It looked the same aside the text. In fact, the crossroad they were at looked exactly like the last two... Just a bit foggier. "I really don't like this place." The fairy noted, though no one would probably care.

[Rune_Alchemist]

Again with the ripples. Now that was odd. Now the fog was ahead of them, and the fog behind them was much thicker now. They were making progress at least, but it was certainly puzzling. So far the stones had been rather straight forward, so that was good. Less work for her, but this was starting to become a little tiresome. Still, things were happening so that meant they were making progress of some sort.

"Hmm..." She took a look at the stone. Same cipher - she had practically memorized all the characters by now, so swapping out the letters for the English alphabet was easy enough, but this one was being a little trickier.

"back...forward...back?" Rachel mused quietly to herself. It could mean a number of things. It seemed the 'Forward' was on the same stone as it was last time, the only new additions being the two new phrases that spelt 'back'. Was the large 'Forward' supposed to be ignored? Perhaps it was giving a series of instructions of 'Back, then forwards, then back'. Of course, that could also be her overthinking it.

Well.

They roughly knew the path now, so long as it didn't change too much, and even a changing system like this (if it indeed, running on some sort of computer code) Could only have so many pattern layouts. Certainly it might be random, but even randomly generated things followed a patter set on based probabilities.

Tsk, if only she could get a look at the code directly then this would be easy. Well, she'd go with option A then.

"Hmm." She turned and started walking back the way they came.

"E-eh? Backwards? Really?" Rachel nodded, but didn't voice her other thoughts. "A-are you sure?..."

"No."

"B-buwh?"

"Hey, hey, don't worry I'm sure it'll be fine." Kameo grabbed Swimmon under her arm.

"Ugh, I just don't like this place."

Impmon just rolled his eyes, following after Rachel.