Her finger moved rapidly through the air, drawing out lines of scrawling script that filled in the empty spaces of the ever expanding pattern, stopping only to swipe her hand across the entire span of the circle to add another wall to the prison.
The world was a vast place, filled with innumerable civilisations and cultures, each with their own languages and histories and philosophies. Their own magic. Every culture in history had developed their own forms of magecraft at one point or another and most of the time they did so almost independently of each other; there was some cross pollination of ideas of course, knowledge carried with traders and travelling scholars or simply stolen when one culture decided to take from another, but for the most part everyone found their own way through the arcane.
While academically these stumbling discoveries of magic from early civilisations were interesting, it led to a lot of useless repetition; the wheel reinvented a dozen times over. These were the commonalities, the same spells invented everywhere because everywhere had need of them; healing, scrying, the ability to do harm and the ability to protect against harm. And sealing. Every culture needed to be able to seal away the dark things that should be kept out of the light of day; those that couldn’t find a way to do so definitely didn’t survive. The differences in magic came from what each civilisation prioritised or found important enough to dedicate more time or effort too; sometimes influenced by the culture that they had sprung from, but sometimes out of necessity. Magic from Britain for example had become a subtle thing over the centuries, influenced by the increasingly hostile environment it found itself in; even after magic was revealed to the world at large that had remained the case.
Morgana finished another line of script with a flourish as she completed the first of three incantations; reverse. Then she cut her hand across the pattern again to draw a line, forming a triangle within the circle.
She chose Arabic, because mages from the Middle-East had always been particularly, unusually good and creating seals designed to leash, command or even control being more powerful than themselves. Why? Because of the Jinn. Spiritual entities, neither good nor evil, that for millennia had been invoked, conjured, sealed and commanded by various mages and rulers. While they weren’t the only culture to deal with creatures of that nature their presence in the region and their influence on Arabic culture had necessitated the creation of magics to deal with them.
Another line of script flew into place as it was completed, the second incantation of three; protect. Another two slashes of her hand in a ‘V’ shape added two more straight lines on top of the triangle.
Demons, angels, spirits, even lesser gods; all could and had been sealed before. Eldritch power was something unlike any of those things though. It was a world apart, a dimension apart, from anything any cultures ever had to deal with sealing away, rendering centuries or even millennia of knowledge obsolete. It had only been six years since the Abomination was destroyed, since they could truly begin to study it and begin to adapt new magic to its foreign nature; only six years to reinvent an entire branch of magic to deal with something incomprehensible.
The third incantation slid into position; seal. The drew the final line with her hand, definitively, as she drew the last line to form the second triangle on top of the first, pointing the opposite way so as to form a six pointed star. The Seal of Solomon, with her own touches to account for the fact that this wasn’t some genie she was putting back in its lamp.
Reverse. The flow of eldritch energies pouring from the knife the biker had embedded in his hand began to change direction, rushing back the way it came and heading back towards the artefact as it exited his body.
Protect. A ward of protection was placed between the artefact and the biker, preventing the flow of energies from starting up again once it had completed its journey. It wouldn’t hold forever, but it would prevent her work from being undone long enough for the third incantation to take effect.
Seal. The prison was placed around the knife, the walls closing down around it as the locks were put into place and the artefact was contained. This too was just a temporary measure, something to prevent the knife from being used a second time until a proper ritual could be put into place to lock the thing away forever.
Morgana kept her eyes open long enough to see her efforts take effect and then she collapsed.
The gunfire and screams coming from the street sounded muted from Morgana’s position; not because of distance, she had only retreated as far as the rear of the house when the bikers had returned after all, but because of the sound dampening effect she had placed over herself. It didn’t stop her from hearing the worst of the fighting, since it wouldn’t do to be taken by surprised because she’d completely deafened herself, but it did help to take the edge of a little.
How had she ended up in this position? That was a question she seemed to be asking herself a lot today; crawling around an abandoned warehouse was one thing and even interesting in its own way, a nice change or pace, but fighting? Defusing mines? She needed to have a nice long talk with whatever bastard had recommended her for this mission once this was all over and done with.
Assuming she didn’t get shot first that was.
Or blown up.
A tingling in her left arm alerted her to the presence of demonic magic in the area, the ward she had drawn into her clothing there activating automatically; hostile demonic magic specifically, since she had keyed the wards to ignore the non-hostile kind seeing as how a few of the researchers in her department were demons themselves. It was annoying to have her wards go off every time Lab 3 needed to run an experiment. Unusual for humans to be able to wield that kind of thing though; even more unusual for a biker gang to have their own mages, but she supposed if they were dealing with international arms smugglers they shouldn’t be surprised when they had some fire power.
No pun intended.
Hopefully the others would be able to deal with them. She felt a little bad for leaving them all to deal with it themselves, but she wouldn’t be much use in a fight. It wasn’t her forte. If they needed someone to decipher something one of the six languages she spoke, or throw together a ritual, or create a ward to deal with some kind of cursed object, then she could help them.
Through the sound dampening effect she heard a particularly loud and harrowing scream from the other side of the building, before a shiver quite literally ran up her spine and multiple wards activated at once. Morgana stepped away from the building right as something crashed into it from the street-side and half of the mines inside erupted at once.
“Shit.”
She rushed around the building, hurrying back to where the fighting was taking place and already drawing lines and shapes in the air with a glowing finger as she ran. It seemed demonic magic and arms dealing weren’t the only kinds of dangerous things these bikers liked the dabble in; no, they had to play around with the corpse of the thing that broke the moon into pieces. Idiots.
“There’s nothing I hate more than mages that chase power over understanding; especially when so few of them understand what true power really is.”
By the time she made it back to the others they seemed, against all odds, to actually have the situation under control; the android, the shaman and the mercenary were hammering the abomination with everything they had and were managing to do some damage. She continued drawing her circles nonetheless, dragging her work through the air with her as she slowly added more and more complexity to the design; circles within circles within circles, creating a larger pattern out of smaller ones, each part building towards something greater, something bigger, something infinite.
She found herself standing behind one of the cars they had arrived in, with a less than stellar looking Faye at her feet and a constantly warping collection of stones and glass shards around her feet. Right, her sensitive magical senses were probably playing havoc with her right now. With her free hand Morgana removed the witch’s hat from her head and immediately felt the wave of eldritch magic wash over her, digging into her brain like a railroad spike even when she wasn’t looking at the transformed mage directly. She placed the hat down on Faye’s head. “Here. Pour some mana into the brim; it should block some of the effects.”
Out of the corner of her eye she saw something flash towards the beast, Amanda flying in to punch it in the head. She waved to get the android’s attention. “Amanda! Keep that thing busy for another minute or two and I should be able to seal it.”
The framework was already done, the shape that would become that things prison once she was done with it. All she had to do now was design the lock. “Now, which language should I use to put you back in your box?”
They chose to come here, because some part of them heard the call of the gods of this world and responded to them? A subconscious desire or seeking some kind of fulfilment. That description was aggravatingly vague and yet… it felt right. Pulsemon was still looking up at her, now having turned around in his chair entirely to stand in the seat and lean his arms on the backrest. He was smiling. “Hey, that’s right! I was sure I’d never met a human before but you were still familiar somehow. It’s because we met in a dream!”
Did they? Akeno had felt it too, that strange sense of familiarity at seeing Pulsemon for the first time, but she couldn’t recall even now. The only thing she could think of was that dream a week or two ago when she fell asleep in the car; she couldn’t remember anything about it, but the feeling of it had stuck with her nonetheless. It had felt like… loneliness. Desperation. Not her own, but someone else’s.
Akeno looked into Pulsemon’s eyes, but couldn’t see anything like that loneliness now; if anything the Digimon looked happy. And yet…
Letting out a sigh, Akeno reached out and placed a hand on top of Pulsemon’s head, resting it there and feeling the short fur against the palm of her hand. The Digimon looked surprised, unsure of what was going on, but didn’t move away or stop her from doing so. Green eyes. A beach. The ocean.
She wasn’t sure about any gods, but she felt confident about the fact that she’d responded to someone's call. She was certain of it.
Even so she pulled her hand back.
“This… it’s a lot. You’re asking for a lot.” People were disappearing, coming back catatonic and they had no idea what was going on. Yet they wanted them, random teenagers and young adults who weren’t even sure why they had been picked to help them, because humans were supposedly immune to whatever was affecting them? A few of the others around the fire surprised her by agreeing almost immediately; even the girl who had been most aggressive at first quickly came around, jumping over the back of the couch in front of her to show that she was set on staying. Akeno couldn’t bring herself to do the same, not when she was still adjusting to this crazy situation, not without knowing what they were really being asked to involve themselves in, what they were up against. She knew how to fight, how to defend herself, but Akeno didn’t think of herself as being all that strong; if anything knowing how to fight just let her understand her limits better than most people and she knew she wasn’t a hero.
“What is it you’re asking us to do exactly? Find out who or what is doing this? Then what?”
If Akeno expecting things to become clearer once she was outside, then she was going to be sorely disappointed. Upon exiting the hut she found herself almost immediately surrounded by more strange creatures; not green and spiky this time, though Pulsemon was quick to follow at her heels, but blue and squat with menacing beaks all pointed her direction. The… bird-things, almost a cross between a penguin and a seagull, didn’t seem bothered to have a stranger like her suddenly appear in their village; if anything they seemed excited to see her, murmuring to themselves and slowly closing in on her.
The word ‘saviour’ appeared more than once.
Before Akeno had a chance to feel truly threatened by the creatures, ‘Digimon’, an unseen voice called out from somewhere to get them to disperse. They did, grudgingly, and Akeno let herself relax a little. As the birds began to go back to whatever tasks they were doing, Akeno was directed to approach the fire; her and the other humans, who she could now see at various points around the village, each looking about at lost as she and each accompanied by what must be other Digimon. She stepped forward, towards the fire, and Pulsemon deciding to finally step out from behind her legs to jog in front of her and lead the way. “Y-yeah. Right this way! Gotsumon can explain everything.”
Akeno followed at her own pace, deciding to stand like one of the other girls had with her arms crossed even as Pulsemon hopped into an office chair by himself. His feet didn’t even come close to reaching the floor, so he swung them back and forth instead. She looked around the campfire, at the other people; none of them looked familiar, though Akeno wasn’t sure if she expected them to be, and none of them looked to have much in common with each other. A few girls, a few boys, a mix of ethnicities; the only common trait among them was the fact they all seemed to be within a few years of her own age. The Digimon that accompanied them were all different as well, unique; they were the only unique ones so far, with every other Digimon she had seen being one of those penguin-gull things.
Until the piles of rocks next to the fire rose up and started speaking to them at least.
She’d expected that the voice would belong to another Digimon, but Akeno still managed to be surprised by Gotsumon’s appearance. The shock wore off quickly, passing faster than it would have on any other day had she seen the same thing; the bar for what it would take to shock her now was steadily rising higher and higher. There was already a talking orange dinosaur and a ghost made of blue fire sitting in the circle with her, why not a pile of rocks? That said pile of rocks would appear disappointed in them however, judging them for the same youth that Akeno had noticed, was something she definitely hadn’t expected though. Why would their ages be surprising? Weren’t they the ones who brought them here?
Closing her eyes, Akeno pinched the bridge of her nose with one hand; despite Pulsemon’s claim that Gotsumon would be able to explain everything, so far he was only producing more questions.
Akeno mostly stayed quiet for the proceedings that followed; allowing the other people who were here to ask their questions while she thought things through. The conversation quickly turned towards the topic of their kidnapping and how they were brought here against their will, which was valid, but wasn’t going to give her the kind of answers she wanted. It was interesting to see that most of the Digimon that were paired with them were just as unaware as they were however; Pulsemon had mentioned that he’d been told about her arrival, but it seemed like these creatures were almost as clueless as they were at the moment.
Feeling eyes on her, Akeno looked down to see Pulsemon looking up at her uncertainly; he seemed to have questions, like the others did, but wasn’t sure if he should ask them. She shrugged in response, not sure what else to say other than to confirm what the others were saying; the last thing she remembered was coming home from school before being surrounded by fog and waking up here. That probably meant abduction, though how they had done it and where they had brought her were a mystery.
Raising her voice, Akeno spoke up into the mix of voices. “Maybe you should just explain everything from the start. Like, what you are, where we are, and how you brought us all here.”
Akeno stepped through the front door, another day of squandering her parents’ tuition money at the expensive private school they insisted she attend coming to an end as she dropped her bag to the floor carelessly. Taking off her shoes, she added them to the line-up of other footwear that occupied one side of the hall as she made a note of which other pairs were already present. The shoes her dad wore to work every day weren’t there, as expected, and her brother’s shoes were of course away at university along with him, meaning it was just Akeno and her mom in the house right now. “I’m home.”
“Welcome back.”
She called out a greeting in Japanese and heard a responding call from deeper within the house confirming her mother’s presence, something which provoked neither pleasure nor displeasure from her. The thought of being alone with her mother wasn’t exactly enticing, but it didn’t hold the same kind of dread that it once did a few years ago; without her father there to act as a mediator the two could sometimes get into some heated arguments, depending on how stubborn they both were feeling that day, but recently it had seemed like they weren’t butting heads as much as they used to. They hadn’t really had any big fights since the one back before she started high school and Akeno was starting to think that they had both just expended so much of their energy towards each other during that argument that they had now found some kind of equilibrium; one where her mother would just be subtly disapproving of her life instead of saying it out loud and Akeno would quietly judge her in return.
Picking up her bag by the straps with one hand, Akeno walked towards the kitchen and poked her head around the doorway to make sure that her mom was there before retreating upstairs to her bedroom. As she entered the room she tossed her bag onto a chair in the corner before flopping back onto her bed to stare at the ceiling, allowing herself a few moments to relax and decompress before she started to think about everything she still needed to do today.
Dinner probably wouldn’t be for another couple of hours yet, prepared for around the time her dad would be arriving home from work, so she had time to kill before then. Her next lesson at the dojo was tomorrow, not tonight, so there was no need to worry about getting her stuff ready. She still needed to work out today, but that could wait until she was feeling less lethargic. Then there was the ever present spectre of unfinished homework; turning her head to the side she could see the open textbook on her desk from last night, still open to the page with the math assignment that was due… tomorrow? The day after?
Akeno stared in the direction of her desk for a few moments longer before coming to a decision about what to do. The temptation to just keep laying there was strong but she sat up before she could put things off any longer and stood from her bed. She stood on her toes and reached her hands above her head, stretching her body out like she was trying to touch the ceiling before letting the tension drop. Walking over to her desk she saw that things were still exactly as she had left them last night; her textbook still open to the same page and the paper she had torn from her notebook still half filled with equations she only half understood. Akeno let out a sigh as she took it all in before reaching over and grabbing her controller.
She dropped into the seat in front of her desk and hit the buttons to turn on her console and monitor; as things began to start up she settled into her chair with one leg tucked under herself and made herself comfortable. A few matches online would pass the time and it had been some time before she had last played anyone seriously.
Before she could open a lobby or start a match, her phone began to ring. Reaching into her pocket she retrieved the device and swiped a thumb across the screen to accept the call and pressed it against her ear without checking to see who was calling; only a few people had her number anyway and if it turned out to a scam caller she could just hang up. “Hello?”
There was nothing but silence on the other end of the line as Akeno joined a match and was taken to the character selected screen. She moved the phone to her shoulder and tilted her head to pin it in place as she used both hands on the controller and let a few more seconds pass; when there was still no response she paused with her cursor hovering over a character before pulling the phone away from her ear to check the caller.
Unknown.
A jolt passed through her fingers and Akeno dropped the phone in shock as it suddenly started to spark and crackle with electricity; it continued to emit short sparkles of static as it hit the carpet and Akeno kicked it across the room to get it away from her. Standing from her chair, she placed the controller on her desk just before it too began to spark and the image on her monitor began to distort and warp and turn to static fuzz. “Dammit.”
Was this some kind of power surge or maybe an electrical storm? Nothing like this had even happened before, not even when a hurricane hit, and Akeno didn’t know what to do. Even less so when a white fog seemed to rise up out of nowhere to obscure her vision and the last thing she saw before everything went blank was the static distortion on her monitor twist itself into a shape that looked strangely familiar. Spiky hair. Big head.
Green eyes.
----
When the fog cleared, Akeno found herself in a… hut.
It was the only word she could think of to describe the small, shoddy construction of wooden boards, nails and bits of rope that she found herself in. There were gaps in the walls that let the sunlight in, at least letting her know that it was daytime, and the ‘door’ was nothing more than a tarp hung from the top of the entryway for privacy. It was also cramped; the ceiling was barely taller than the top of her head and between the bed of roughly nailed wooden frames with a straw mattress, a few miscellaneous boxes and herself there was hardly any room to move.
However, none of that was as important as where she was or why she was here in the first place.
She took a deep breath and ran a hand through her hair.
Okay.
Okay, fine. The last thing she remembered was that weird electrical surge, her phone spitting sparks at her, her monitor turning to static and then… she passed out? Everything went white and the next thing she remembered was being here so… she passed out.
And now she was either dreaming or she had been brought here. A tiny wooden hut with a sand floor and, she looked closer at a blackened patch on the wall next to the door, burn marks all over the place.
Akeno collapsed onto the bed behind her, landing heavily on the wooden frame and threatening to collapse the whole thing. As she did so she felt her back hit something solid and heard what sounded like a pained gasp coming from underneath the pile of straw. She spun around, kneeling on the ground next to the bed as she quickly brushed aside the mound of straw to reveal something strange and yellow and furry that looked like an oversized plush toy of some kind. She stared at it and large green eyes stared back at her.
They blinked.
“Eh, hi?”
Her back hit the wall of the hut as she sprang back from the creature, letting out a curse as her head hit the wooden boards before regaining her composure and reflexively falling into a basic karate stance. The… thing stood up within the bed, stray straw falling off of its frame as it raised its hands and held them up as if to placate her or ward her off. “Hey, hey, hey! Th-there’s no need for violence here or… whatever it is you’re planning on doing. We’re all friends here. I hope.”
Akeno continued to stare as the thing reached up to brush as the back of its head in an embarrassed gesture. “A-and I wasn’t hiding under that straw, just so you know. I was just, urm… sleeping. Yeah! You caught me in the middle of my nap. Seeing as how this is where I live and all.”
Slowly, Akeno let her arms drop to her sides and her body relax as it became evident that the thing in front of her wasn’t going to attack her. She stood up straight before slumping back against the wall behind her to lean against it. Her hand brushed through her hair again and she scratched at her scalp as she tried to process everything that had just in the last few seconds. “Where am I?”
The creature, too, lowered its arms; apparently satisfied that Akeno wasn’t going to attack it either. It seemed to ponder her question for a few moments as it scratched it chin with one long claw before answering. “Where? Oh, err, well, this is KingWhamon’s village.”
Right, that answer wasn’t very useful. Maybe she should have been more, or perhaps less, specific. “Okay… and where is that?”
She received only a perplexed look in return, as if she was asking something as obvious as what colour the sky was. “On KingWhamon’s back?”
Letting her head fall back against the boards, Akeno bit down on her frustration and tried a different approach. “What are you?”
This question seemed to have been the one the plush toy was waiting for, as its face lit up with excitement and it answered eagerly. “I’m a Digimon.”
The Digimon ignored the blank look on Akeno’s face and continued to speak with a fervour that seemed to have replaced its earlier hesitation. “You’re a human aren’t you? I’ve never seen one in person, at least I don’t think I have, but you have to be one because they said you’d be coming soon and you just appeared in the middle of my room like that so I figured you were one of them. I’m Pulsemon by the way; what’s your name? H-hey, where are you going?”
Akeno pushed herself away from the wall and brushed aside the tarp as she stepped out of the hut and into the bright light beyond as Pulsemon scrambling over the bed frame to follow close on her heels. Somebody around here had to be able to explain things in a way that made sense.
Hey everyone; I'll be joining this RP as well. I've been working on a character over PMs and I just posted her in the other tab, so I'll be working on getting a post out soon so we can get things moving.
Tall and thin; at 5’ 11” and 138lbs, Akeno has a slender, athletic build which is emphasised by her height as well as her long arms and legs, with toned muscles that are easily noticeable. Her skin is naturally pale, which contrasts with her dark hair and eyes, but she has a tan on her arms and legs from the type of clothing she wears such as tank tops and shorts, and has facial features that make her Japanese heritage obvious.
Her medium length hair is black in colour and naturally straight; Akeno usually keeps it tied up in a high ponytail at the back of her head, but if she were to leave it loose it would fall to around armpit level. She had a fringe that covers her forehead down to about a half-inch above her dark brown eyes, which she keeps cut to be perfectly level. Her facial features are sharp, with a narrow face, thin nose and high cheekbones, and a mouth held in a thin line that altogether gives her a somewhat intimidating appearance. Her eyes are similarly sharp and her eyebrows are thin. She tends not to be very emotive in her face, which can make her emotions a little hard to read, and instead shows her feelings through actions with other parts of her body instead; for example, if agitated or nervous she will pace or tap her foot or if angry she will clench her fist, giving away her feelings even if her face does not show it.
Akeno doesn’t generally dress in a very feminine manner but still pays attention to her appearance. Because of how active she is, Akeno is more inclined to wear sportswear or athletic hear than casual clothing like jeans or t-shirts; shorts, tank tops, tracksuits or running shoes are more her kind of thing. She does have some nicer clothing, including some skirts and blouses for formal occasions or if she needs to dress up, but these are rarely used. She is also not one for make-up or jewellery.
On the day that she was pulled into the digital world, Akeno was wearing olive knee-length shorts, a black tank top under a navy bomber jacket and white running shoes.
Digivolution/Form-Change Method(s)
Partner/Biomerge Digivolution – Digivolution is brought on by strong emotion felt by both the tamer and the Digimon and can often come about as a result of a difficult situation. However, in order to digivolve to their most powerful form tamer and Digimon must fuse together in a process that is only possible in the digital world where both human and Digimon are made of data.
Personality:
+ Hard-working/Dedicated – When Akeno has something that she is passionate about, she is willing to put a lot of work into it.
+ Level-headed – Not one to let her emotions get the better of her or to let herself get stressed. Even in difficult situations she is able to keep calm and make considered decisions.
+ Decisive/Pro-Active – Akeno is not one to hesitate or overthink a situation and is instead likely to respond quickly.
+ Independent – Willing and able to act on her own or under her own initiative. She is not reliant on others to make decisions or to make the first move.
– Impatient/Brash – The downside of being pro-active is that Akeno will sometimes act rashly and without fully considering the situation. She abhors inaction and waiting for things to happen, instead preferring to take an active role in things even if this is not the smartest choice.
– Has Difficulties Working with Others – Akeno is used to doing things for herself and is unused to being on a team in any capacity. As such, she will find it difficult to collaborate with others or put herself into situations where she must rely on others and other are relying on her.
– Prone to Ignoring her own Issues – When dealing with a difficult situation Akeno is the type to focus on what can be done and push everything else to the wayside; this can be useful at times, but can also lead to her not addressing important things until too late.
– Risk Adverse – It might be closer to say that Akeno knows her own limits and it very unwilling to push them. If faced with a danger that is beyond what she thinks she can handle, Akeno is likely to avoid it even if doing so has consequences for others.
Dream(s):
While she has a few plans for the future, Akeno doesn’t really have anything that she would consider to be her ‘dream’. She wants to go to college, any college, and move out of her parents’ house as soon as she is able to; as such she had already applied to a few places and has said that she wants to study English, however she doesn’t really know what it is she wants to do and is mostly planning on using college as a way to figure out what she wants to do while appeasing her parents by studying something. English was just the subject she chose at the time, but she has also considered studying Japanese, history or anthropology.
Akeno has been studying karate for seven years at this point and recently earned her black belt; she would like to continue training for her second dan and has also thought about learning other styles of martial arts, but this too is something she is unsure about. While she is passionate about it and has even briefly considered becoming an instructor, something she already has some experience with since teaching was a requirement for her black belt, Akeno is not sure if this hobby is something she wants to make a career or a future out of.
The closest thing she has to a dream is a desire to travel; Akeno has given much thought to visiting other countries, experiencing and learning other cultures and particularly learning the different martial arts of those cultures. She has not had the opportunity to pursue this desire yet, mostly due to her age, but would like to do so once she leaves home. In a way her dream is then to have the freedom to pursue the things that she is passionate about.
Nightmare(s):
For most of her life Akeno has had to deal with being compared unfavourably to her older brother. She was never as smart as he was, never as well behaved, never as perfect, never as *wanted*; growing up there was a marked difference in how her parents, her mother especially, would threat her compared to her brother, a difference that Akeno became increasingly aware of as she grew older. As a child she would look up to her older brother anyway and the two would often spend their time together, but over time the difference in the way they were treated caused a rift began to form between the two that led Akeno to begin to resent her brother as well as her parents; especially as her brother continually failed to stand up for her. For years Akeno would try and meet her parents’ expectations, thinking that her parents’ favouritism could be overcome if she was just able to match her brother whether academically or otherwise; this was never the case however, as even when she was able to achieve the same grades as him her parents, particularly her mother, would simply find other reasons to fault her and compare the two.
It was an impossible goal, one that Akeno gave up on reaching years ago. She has since learned not to worry about pleasing others and instead to focus on only achieving what she wants to, accepting any condemnations that she might receive, and is much happier as a result; however, the experience irrevocably damaged her relationship with both her parents and her brother and also affected the way she responds to criticism and failure, among other things. It has taken Akeno a long time to learn how to cope with losses or failure in a healthy way and not let either send her into spirals of self-flagellation. She also has trouble sitting still and doing nothing and is always striving to something with her time; even sitting down to watch a movie is difficult for her to do, which might have something to do with the fact her parents would rarely let her sit around as a child and would find something for her to do, like chores or more studying, if she wasn’t obviously doing something else. This was especially vexing as their definition of “doing nothing” included watching TV or reading a book. Akeno now feels anxious if she is not actively doing something productive or distracting with her time.
While Akeno currently feels like she is in a good place in her life, there is still a level of uncertainty that comes with having her parents and brother in her life. She knows that they do not approve of her hobbies and interest, particularly karate, and although they have so far continued to support them she is constantly waiting for the moment when they decide to take the things she likes away from her. Until she moves away from home they still have a degree of control over her life and she will not feel entirely confortable until this is no longer the case.
Waves lapped against the shore of an unfamiliar beach. She didn’t remember arriving there and didn’t remember where she was before, she just suddenly was and the beach was too and the waves lapped against the shore.
Akeno looked left and the shore extended forever in that direction until it disappeared into mist. She looked right and that too was infinite. Looking down at the sand beneath her trainers Akeno swept her foot across the ground, watching as it left a groove in the very real feeling beach. It all felt real; the sand, the water, the tang of salt in the air. It was all familiar to her experiences back home, visiting the Miami beaches with her family or her friends. But at the same time it all felt unreal, the experience lacking certain qualities; the air touching her exposed skin was neither hot nor cold, it wasn’t even damp despite the ocean being right there, and although there was a distinct salt water smell there was no breeze to carry it to her.
She’d never been aware that she was dreaming before. That had to be what this was, right; a dream? No other way to explain this strange, unreal place.
So, what now?
As if on cue, Akeno heard a noise behind her. She turned to face the source and found herself staring at a set of bushes at the edge of a treeline that she didn’t know existed until that moment; the beach was on the edge of a forest or jungle it seemed. A few moments passed where nothing happened and then Akeno heard it again, a rustling, and saw some of the bushes move in response.
“Who’s there?”
The rustling stopped and the bushes went still. A few more seconds passed with no other sign of anything happening. “Is there someone there?”
Still nothing. Akeno took a step forward, then another, before the bush suddenly erupted again in another burst of movement. She saw something scrambled out of it, out the back, before it disappeared further into the forest/jungle and into the shadows. “W-wait! Don’t come any closer.”
She stopped. That had sounded like a child’s voice, high pitched and unsure of itself, but why would a child be here? Akeno peered into the shadows cast by the trees and branches above; trying to spot the silhouette she had briefly glimpsed leaving the bush. Eventually she saw something; an outline at the base of a tree, behind the tree actually, half hidden and obscured by leaves and peeking out at her. It was short, with spiky hair, but beyond that she couldn’t see much with how dark it was; the silhouette was strangely shaped as well, with a large, disproportionately sized head, like they were wearing a helmet or a mask. The most obvious feature she saw though was the eyes; the sharp, glaring eyes. Inhuman eyes.
Raising her hands up in a placating gesture, Akeno took a step back to show she didn’t mean any harm. “Okay, I won’t come any closer.”
The eyes softened, slightly, but the figure chose not to move any closer. Even with the edge gone from the, the eyes still held Akeno’s attention; they were large, too large, and seemed to glow in the gloom. Green. So incredibly green.
“Who are you?”
The sudden question caught her off guard and it took Akeno a moment to pull herself together enough to answer. “I’m Akeno. Who are you?”
“…where did you come from?” Rather than answer, the hidden figure responded with another question instead. That was fair enough; if they really were a child they were probably scared, or at least wary around strangers. That was fine. Akeno could indulge them a little more before trying to get her own answers. It was a tough one to answer though; hard to say where she had come from, when she didn’t even know where she was.
“Miami? I’m not really sure where… this is, so…”
There was a longer pause this time, the silence stretching for long seconds as Akeno waited for some kind of response. She let her hands drop to her side. Maybe now was when she should start asking questions of her own? The silhouette wasn’t saying anything else so… she opened her mouth to speak and was cut off by another question. “Are you strong?”
“…what?”
“Are you strong? If… if someone was attacking you, could you fight them?”
That wasn’t the kind of question that she had expected to hear and it left her kind of stunned as to how to answer. If this really was her dream, then what on earth had caused her to dream this kind of scenario of all things? “Am I strong? I guess… stronger than most probably. If someone was attacking me I’d run though. Easiest way to avoid being hurt is to just run, if you can.”
“…what if you can’t run. Or what if it’s not you being attacked?”
Akeno brought a hand up to her head and run her fingers through her hair and kept them there, brushing her fringe back from her forehead. “Then you fight until you get a chance to run, or until the person being attack can run. The important thing is keeping yourself or the other person safe; you don’t win by beating the other person, you win be making sure no one gets hurt.”
“…yeah.” Another long pause. The green eyes in the gloom seemed dimmer now somehow, or maybe just cast down at the ground. “I want to be strong like that.”
There was a story there. A sad one. Akeno wanted to hear it, if she could. She wanted to hear it more than she wanted to figure out where or what this place was right now. “Can you answer my questions now? What’s your name?”
Those green eyes looked up again; they looked straight at her. “…I’m Pu-“
----
Akeno opened her eyes to see lights blurring past her vision on the other side of a pane of glass. The soft hum of a car engine and the subtle rumbling of the seat under her let her know that she was in a moving vehicle. Turning half-lidded eyes to the side she saw her father’s hands on the steering wheel; she tilted her head slightly further to be able to see his face as well.
She sat up in her seat, opening her eyes fully as she used both hands to lift herself out of her slouch; the trophy shifted in her lap and threatened to fall, but she was able to grab it before it went anywhere. Trophy? Right, the karate tournament. They were on their way back from a tournament and she must have fallen asleep in the car; now that she was paying attention to her own body, she could feel the tell-tale ache and pains she always had after a night of fighting other people.
Akeno resettled the second place trophy in her lap, she never won first, and let her head fall back against the headrest. What a strange dream that was. At least, she thought it might have been strange; the details were already alluding her. She was on a beach? The ocean was nearby, that much she remembered. Was she alone? No, there was someone else there.
Wasn’t there?
All she knew for sure was that it was strange, but she couldn’t quite remember why it was strange and the only details she could recall seemed fairly mundane.
There was once a village where many Digimon lived. It was a peaceful place, nestled away in the mountains where not many outsiders visited, almost hidden from the rest of the world so that the inhabitants never knew danger. It was a place where the old could rest, the young could work hard, and the youngest could play; Pulsemon was one of the youngest Digimon living there and he was happy, having fun with his friends and looking forward to the day when he could work towards making the village a better place.
One day Pulsemon woke up and the village was on fire. At first Pulsemon didn’t know what was happening; he woke up to the sound of shouting in the middle of the night and could see orange lights outside his window. He went to the door and looked aside and all he could see were flames and smoke. Unsure what else to do, he ran back to his bed and hid underneath it, listening to the sounds from outside and slowly piecing together what was happening.
They were being attacked. The peace couldn’t last forever, sooner or later someone was going to find them and that’s exactly what happened; Digimon from outside the village had shown up and decided to raid their peaceful existence. From under his bed Pulsemon could hear the sounds of fighting; he continued to hide. He could hear shouting, voices both familiar and unfamiliar, he thought he even heard his name being called once or twice; he continued to hide. Eventually, the sounds died down until the only thing he could hear was the roaring of fires larger than any he had ever seen; he continued to hide. Soon enough even those noises died down to nothing and Pulsemon fell into a restless, nightmare-filled sleep.
It was morning when he woke up and he was the only Digimon left in the village. It took him a while to find the courage to finally leave his hut, but when he did he saw that the village he had called home had been destroyed; most of the building had been burnt or knocked down during the attack and he saw signs of fighting here and there. What he didn’t find where other Digimon; both the villagers and the attackers had left and he was the only one still there.
He had no choice but to leave the ruined village behind, so he left and began to wander. Eventually they found themselves in a new village, with new Digimon, and were given a new home. It was no replacement for the home he had lost, but at least he wasn’t alone anymore; he wasn’t even the only new arrival to this village, as there were several other Digimon who had also recently come to live there.
Personality
+ Friendly – Despite everything that has happened, Pulsemon is still friendly to those that he meets. Wherever he goes, he is always willing to try and make new friends.
+ Loyal – Pulsemon has experienced loss before and will not let it happen again. He will stick by those who are important to him, no matter what; because who knows what might happen in the future.
+ Energetic – It is in Pulsemon’s nature to always want to be active and to always be full of energy. He has an infectious enthusiasm for everything that he does.
– Easily Scared – As a result of the trauma he has experienced, Pulsemon is easily intimidated when faced with aggression or violence from others; fire is especially terrifying for him. He is likely to freeze or run in the face of danger, even though he knows he should try to be brave.
– Bravado – In an attempt to hide his uncertainty and fear Pulsemon likes to pretend to be braver and stronger than he really is. He tends to be loud and brass around people he is meeting for the first time, or people that do not intimidate him, to make himself seem tougher; this bravado is fragile however and easily abandoned should anyone stand up to him.
Despite claiming to be prepared, it seemed no body was ready for when the dragon actually attacked. Or maybe it was just that none of them were expecting the creature to swoop down as suddenly as it did and snatch the celebrity from amongst their number like a piece of cattle; one moment they were catching a glimpse of movement high up above, the next they were chasing after their prey while the blue armoured Medium dangled from its claws.
Candice lingered behind the others for a moment, taking the time before the battle truly began to cast a spell and get herself into shape. She held out a hand in front of herself with her palm facing the ground and a small magic circle appeared in the dirt beneath it; there was no incantation or fancy speech like Red had uttered, she simply stepped on the sigils and felt the effect wash over her. Instantly Candice could feel her body grow heavier, a little slower, but also stronger. She felt a connection to the ground beneath her feet, nourishing her and vitalising her.
She started running after the others, charging after the dragon that was even now crashing to the ground after Rika had managed to free herself.
Due to her late start she arrived to the fight after Ink, but before Angela, and rushed towards the downed creature to strike at it before it had a chance to take off again. She threw herself at the dragon’s flank with a shout, launching a fist at its tough hide alongside Ink’s own attacks.
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