Warring Parrellels

[Frisk E. Coyote]

Goro stopped momentarily as Kail dropped to the ground in fright.

"C'maaaaan, what's the holdup?" Haxx complained, turning around to look down at the human. "What? Are you sick after all?" he asked. He wasn't exactly familiar with organic ailments, though he could cure and remedy just about everything from a cold to a severed limb.

Frisk however, had toddled over and placed a paw on the human's head. "Hey- hey- are you scared of thunder?" He asked naively, smirking, only to curl up around Kail and rest his muzzle on his back. "Ish okay, me too." He chuckled, almost comfortingly.

"That's just it- he ain't no doctor!" Haxx told Drake, fuming. "Also- stay outta' my mind, damnit! My data is private!"

"I am TOO a Doctor!" Frisk stood back up and crossed his short arms, stomping a pink-padded foot childishly.

"You're a PHYSICIST."

"I am TECHNICALLY a doctor! I have a PhD!"

"-IN CARTOON PHYSICS!! You're not even the right kind of doctor!"

The Digimon and the Toon's argument was ended by Kole's screech, leaving Frisk with his jaw on the ground, and Haxx rubbing one of the blue appendages on his head gingerly. Perhaps they were ears and not just fleshy horns?

"Tch... just had to go there..." Haxx shook his head, placing a three-fingered hand on Drake's shoulder, which he used to herd Drake along a little more roughly, as if reprimanding him for being too nonchalant about being captured by slavers. If he had read a little deeper into their companion's mind, he would've known that it was not a memory he liked to be reminded about. He grabbed a card from one of his decks and swiped it through the strange device on his wrist, making a pack of wet naps appear in his hand.

The Digimon placed an arm around Drake's shoulder and wiped the smile Frisk had drawn on his face off. "I'd watch your tongue 'round us next time, human," Haxx whispered as he finished. "You're a handsome organism, I'll give ya that. Some lucky perv'll pay, how ya' say, 'top dollar' for ya. If you don't wanna end up as a fucktoy for some fat, rich lech, you'll behave yourself. Capiche?"

"I'm gonna go cheer Mr. Kole up." The little coyote said to no one in particular, producing a cartoon grappling hook from behind him, he fires the grapple up at the tree branches and yanks on it, only to have a massive branch flatten him. He wriggles out from underneath, stars and planets encircling his head. "Hold that thought." He slurred, and produced a pogo stick. With a couple of bounces, he disappeared up into the trees, catching up with the monkey. "Mr. Koooole!" He called, a bird flying into his muzzle, which he spat out and coughed feathers.

Goro looked up at the toon as he vanished into the canopy, and leaned down, grasping Kail's forearm, he pulled him up gently and dusted him off. "No one will hurt you while you are my prisoner, human. Not even lightning." He assured their captive with a cold drawl, though once more, he sounded like he was comforting him. Kinda. These boys, though slaves, were still boys to him. There was no need to be rough unless they gave him a reason to be.

[Damien]

((Ok, I just wanted to squeeze in another post before Idalia, but now we should wait for her, avoiding the risk of running off without her))

- - - - - - - - - - -

Kole's eyes narrowed at Frisk when he come to his level, unwavering as the toon choked on a bird. "I want to be alone Frisk. Please leave."



"I'd rather die," hissed Drake in response to Haxx's threat. "And that is the road I'd go down if that happened, I'd rip off his dick with my mind and shove it down his throat. I'd probably get shot in the end but it would be worth it," his lips stretched into a cruel smile as he glared at the digimon from the corner of his eyes.

"But, yes I'll play 'good little human' if that would please you. After all, humans are just swine am I right?" The hand that Haxx placed on his shoulder started tingling. "I used to be against the slavery of your people... but now..." He paused, "I suggest your don't touch my skin," one of the fingers had extended over the collar of his shirt and lay on the exposed flesh of his neck,"I rather dislike it."



It was then Kole swung down from the tree tops,"We've arrived..." he informed as he hung upside-down by his knees, pointing at a nearly invisible trapdoor hidden between two trees. Leaves covered the entrance, making it blend in with the forest floor.

"Perfect..." Drake's smile twitched slightly and his eyes gleamed, still staring into the digital being's own. "Lead the way, digimon."


But unknown to everyone in the small group except Drake, two pairs of eyes watched them from the shadows. Unseen and unheard. Waiting until they knew exactly where the entrance was.

[Idalia]

"It's not the thunder..." Kail blushed and rose to his feet with Goro's assistance. "I just thought it was.." he wiped his eyes on the back of his free hand, refusing to let them see how close he had come to tears. "Another bomb." he finished once he knew his legs would support him again. He actually found that he was more comfortable with these people than he had been with his own despite his current state of captivity. He would still try to escape eventually, but more out of a basic instinct to be free than any real fear of his captors.

As they descended into the underground, he could feel something watching him, not through any power, or even a true sense, but though he couldn't see anything, he knew it was there.

[Frisk E. Coyote]

"Aww..." Frisk sighed, putting away the bunch of bananas he was going to present the monkey with behind his back.

The reptile returned an equally cruel smile that suggested he knew something the human did not. "Damn shame... you might wanna get used to people touchin' your skin, kid. Y'know. Just in case." He took his arm off Drake's shoulders and laughed. He couldn't wait to get one of those collars around him, the ones that they used on psychics to mess with their brainwaves so using their powers became really, really hard to do. "I like your spark though. Very nice. Some slavers like that, but a lot of 'em don't."

"That is enough, Haxx." Goro said firmly. "Either you stop baiting the captives or I will make it so you physically can not."

"Tch..." Haxx tutted, crossing his arms as he slinked ahead of the captives. "C'maaaan... you're such a buzzkill sometimes."

"The use of explosives earlier was a mistake." Goro explained, "The explosion itself was not lethal, but it does cause a lot of property damage and fire. The fire, on the other hand, was lethal. It is very hard to explain why as our companion often does these... unexplainable things. Nevertheless, you will be kept safe. Please continue."

The blue dragon raised the his arm up to fiddle with the device on his wrist. It was just a precaution, but he took his job seriously. A cloaking device he had set up in camp earlier engulfed them, making it look like they disappeared where they stood. "It's safe to open the hatch now, Kole."

"Souvenirs?" The toon offered, standing behind a stall that was not there a moment ago, selling very cheap, plush imitations of handcuffs, whips, and the entire group, including the humans.

"Does- not- compute-" Haxx grit his fangs and rubbed his head. The toon made his head hurt sometimes.

[Damien]

Drake hissed softly looking away from the digimon before him. Once the cloaking device was set Kole jumped down from the tree and walked over to the trap door, pulling it open with a grunt. Drake merely smiled at the souvenir stand, pacing over to it and taking a plush version of himself into his hands. He smirked at Haxx's annoyance with the toon's,"impossible", physics.

Although he said he wouldn't mess around inside the group's minds, the instinct was to much. It was similar to if someone shoved a sentence written in your native language in your face, you would automatically read it.

Goro, so that was the swordman's name. Oddly Drake couldn't read much more than basic instincts and facts about the reptile. Anything regarding his emotions and current thoughts on the current situation was inaccessible to the psychic. He'd have to look in on why later.

His min wandered of to Frisk's- wait, bad idea, another laughing fit was not ideal. Kail it was then... Well that wasn't good, he was... starting to trust them? No, never trust strangers, even if you had access to their thoughts, you can never see everything... "You know they could sell you as a fuck toy right?" he said out loud humming. "Never readily trust someone, they can stab you in their back... and I believe slave traders are the last people to trust."

With a silent hum he moved onto the prime ape. Guilt. Guilt was all he could read off of the other. He was drowning in it. No wait, there was a small glimmer of anger, and sorrow. Great, and now he felt bad for dragging that awful memory to the surface...

Silently, with only a slight frown, he moved onto the kidnapper he hated most. Drake skimmed across the digiomn's thoughts.

And froze.

"Collar?" he asked, his voice was completely hollow. His thumbnail dug into the neck of his plush replica. The head popped off and bounced along the surface of the stand, spilling stuffing as it went. "What-" his other hand wrapped around the arm of the plush,"-collar?" his voice dropped dangerously low. Small tearing sounds could be heard from the seams of the object in his hands.

Panic. That was that damned emotion again! It was cutting him off from his abilities. No. Don't show it. Don't show you have no power at the moment.

His body didn't turn away from the stand Frisk was running, his shoulders were hunched forward, yet his posture was ram-rod straight, his arms shook slightly.

[Idalia]

"Would selling me as one be any less honest than trying to use me as one for free?" Kail asked, tilting his head at Drake. "I'd much rather trust someone who has sworn I'd be safe, and can back it up, than someone who mucks about in other people's heads and can't control himself." he added, remaining close by the swordsman as they moved onward. At least here no one is beating me up or anything.. No one will hurt me at least as long as I am with this group.. That's what matters. he thought, knowing full well that Drake might pick it up, but not really caring about that. He also knew that, assuming he couldn't escape right away, he was more likely to at least get a kinder master by going along without a fuss.

[Frisk E. Coyote]

The Digimon smirked as he felt Drake access the information he was processing- or what organics called 'thinking', looking back at the human out of the corner of his eye. It amused him the way most psychics had the urge to follow their instincts, making them somewhat predictable. Once he felt the nibble on his bait, he started putting together a huge lump of informative data just outside what would be considered his 'mind', that way, it wouldn't be read before it was ready. He was, after all, a being of pure data, and being data, he could easily manipulate the data he had on him. The lump of data he put together held information on their worlds; Digital, Toon and Physical. It would tell the psychic about all the denizens who had 'special' characteristics, like powers, or unnatural abilities, or even the Toons' physics, and it would tell him how these denizens were punished or incarcerated, as well as prevented from auto-expiring before their sentences were served. There were methods to counteract and even nullify many, many individual abilities- but Haxx focused on Psychics.

There was information on how an electronic collar, how it was built, how it functioned, and how it worked. Thoughts, memories, cognition... it was all just minute, electric currents sent from the brain and through the synapses. When activated, the collars disturbed these electric currents, making it very hard to focus or concentrate on using heir willpower, thus, making the use of telekinetic or telepathic powers almost impossible to use. It was not completely impossible, but it sure was darn hard. When the compilation of data was done, Haxx uploaded it to his 'thoughts', where Drake could easily pick it up as a tiny memory- that would basically unpack all this information into his brain when he received it. Haxx had a twisted sense of humor, and considered crushing the hopes and wills of 'feisty' people- organic, data, toon- human or otherwise- to be pretty darn funny. He folded his arms behind his head and whistled Whistle While You Work as he descended.

Frisk watched as Drake squeezed the plush version of himself until it broke, and immediately started considering what was funnier to say. You break it you bought it, or no refunds? He scratched his chin, but when he saw the human's expression, he pouted cutely. It was in his nature as a Toon to dislike it when people were sad, or frightened. Toons preferred it when everyone was happy. Heck- he preferred it if they were angry or annoyed rather than sad or frightened. The coyote cleared his throat and put on a grass hat with a cartoonish skull and feathers on it, and raised a plush doll of Haxx, waving it around and making ghostly noises, before he produced a rather shiny pin, the pointy tip twinkling audibly. He turned the plushy Haxx over so it's rump was up, and grinned, shoving the pin into it's butt.

There was a very loud "YEEEOW!!", in what was unmistakably Haxx's voice, that came from the trap door, followed by the sound of a lithe body crashing down (after letting go of a ladder, no doubt), and a pained groan.

Goro had entered Musou, 'The Art of Nothingness'. Literally translated as 'a state of blank mind', Musou was learned by disciples of the school of the Wargod Splitter style of swordsmanship as a base prerequisite to put themselves in a state of thoughtlessness and absence of emotion. Without unnecessary thoughts, they can focus more, increasing their senses dramatically and improving their awareness. The absence of emotions allowed them to make their moves more rationally, rather than emotionally, making for precise and calculated actions that are never wasted. Their faces are also made blank, making it hard to predict their moves, and though it was never intended to, the state of Musou seems to prevent psychics from reading their minds properly.

Right now, the raptor was alert. His warrior instincts told him they was not alone. An added effect of not having any emotions was being hypersensitive to others, from malice and killing intent, to joy and sorrow. From these emotions, Goro could predict what his enemies would do next, but it also made him vulnerable to Kail's helplessness and Drake's fear.

"I assure you, neither of you will be sold in the sex slave industry." Goro said quietly, addressing both the humans. "Like humans, there are those among my people who detest slave trading. They find it vile, and savage, and as you are both quite young, there is a higher probability that you will be purchased by one of these people, to be set free. I am not saying or promising that you will, so do not raise your hopes, for I do not want to give you false faith. I am simply stating may, or may not happen." The raptor said, rather coolly. He was currently a slave-captor, that much was true, but he wasn't one by choice. He detested every moment he spent collecting slaves, and he detested the idea of carnal lust and greed spawning the need for humans, especially ones not even in their prime, to be sold for sex. "Now please, enter the bunker so I can keep you both safe. Watch your step. Haxx seems to have fallen."

Meanwhile, underground, the blue and white lizard grumbled to himself as he rubbed his rump. Somehow, he knew the Toon had done something, but he was no longer in a foul mood. Instead, he decided to go check on their furry companion, genuinely concerned about the monkey as, well, as far as Carbon Based Lifeforms went, Kole was much easier to talk to than Goro, who was old fashioned, did not like guns, or technology, and was kind of a bossy prick. He wasn't even the leader! They had agreed that the team did not need a leader, as everyone was perfectly capable of doing their own thing. -Except maybe Frisk, who had to be supervised, but even the Toon did his parts when they needed him to. Kole was the better choice. He was the 'normal' one.

"Kole, dude..." The tall, lean, blue and white-scaled dragon gently placed a three-fingered hand on the monkey's shoulder. "How're ya holdin' up?"

OOC: MONDO apologies for the length, guy and gal! X3

[Damien]

Drake eyed Kail with a sideways glance at his words. "No.... I can't control myself," he hissed slightly,"I'm scared I will destroy myself if I let my emotions run away with me. Ether mentally by erasing my own personality with the thoughts of another or physically by letting my mind tear my body apart," he turned his head fully to look at the other human,"telepathy and telekinesis aren't supernatural, like spells or magic, but rooted within a person's willpower and their ability to manipulate their brainwaves. No imagine if I lose control of that manipulation. Just think about it, then lecture me on not controlling my abilities." He turned away from the other, smirking as he heard the digital creature's fall, only vaguely listening to Goro's speech, at least he now felt somewhat calmer.

Kole looked over his shoulder at Haxx as he walked down the underground tunnel, a flashlight held within his hands. "I'm..." he hesitated looking back ahead of him, not moving to move the other's hand away. "I'm fine... I just... forgot how much that memory... hurt..." a long shaking breath left him, the light from the flashlight wavering as his hands shook. "Burying the body... his eyes, never closed... and I could still see the pain on his face... like he was screaming. I still have nightmares about his screams..." His small tongue licking at his lips. Why was his mouth dry? "I'm glad father is dead...."

Drake was about to climb underground, until his mind picked up on the digimon's 'thoughts' again. No.... "You monster!" the effect of the information had the opposite effect on Drake than Haxx intended. Instead of crushing his hope or will, it filled him with a surge of rage. His hands gripped the edge of the entrance, small cracks forming in the soil where his fingertips made contact. His mind felt like it was on fire, each pore felt like there was a needle digging into his skin. Losing control. He was losing control, aware of the fact, but unable to stop it. His mind was tearing his body apart, just how he explained it to Kail. Small scratches began appearing on his body, even cutting into his clothes, staining both skin and cloth with streaks of crimson.

"How dare you create this fake of a mind, loaded with such horrible thoughts!!" he wasn't fooled, he knew he wasn't accessing the digimon's actual mind, no-one's mind was that detailed in everyday thoughts, usually he only received blurbs of information. "Are you trying to cause me to panic!? Are trying to crush my will!?" the scratches to his body were getting deeper and more frequent and similar scars were appearing in the ground, as if someone was slicing it up with a sword. "I'm going to tear you apa-" the human broke off mind sentence, his eyes glazed over and he collapsed to the ground, his breathing faint, apparently expending so much energy in the throws of rage, attacking his own body and the small surrounding area, was to much and caused him to pass out.

Kole glanced back at Haxx, an expression of disapproval on his features. "You had to do that..." he said, completely calm despite the human's outburst, Goro was there after all. Shaking his head lightly he shrugged his shoulder so that the other's hand slipped away and quickened his pace.

[Frisk E. Coyote]

Haxx watched as Drake almost tore himself apart before he went down, his expression was one of annoyance rather than shock. Tutting and shaking his head, he drew a card from his electronic deck-holder and slid it against a slot on his wrist-mounted device. "Card slash, Rejuvenate." He murmured, squatting right next to the psychic's body. The wounds on Drake's being glowed bright green, before they faded away into little green pluses, not even leaving any scars. This was why he considered himself the real team medic, though he only had a limited number of these cards with him, the team was pretty good, and he rarely ever needed to use them. The card had no effect on Drake's clothes however, and though his blood had been replenished, the blood on his skin and clothes was still there.

"You ever read the mind of a Digimon before, human?" Haxx said in a deadly calm tone, not caring whether he was still unconscious or not, as he was basically leaving him a data playback for when he was capable of registering it again.

Unlike Goro and Kole, Haxx was more... aggressive... and cruel toward humans. He was a rather speciesist individual to begin with, having been raised and programmed with the mindset that digital beings were superior to 'orgas' (organics), it wasn't until a few years ago that the war between them and the humans had him unite with the others of his kind (from their dimension) to go against them. He did not accept Kole, Frisk, or Goro at first, but he had learned a lot from them (being the youngest at the time), and learned to respect organics. He held a special hatred toward humans though... he does not exactly remember why, because he had deleted the memory from his data because it had been too... could he say 'painful'? Digimon had a different spectrum of emotions to organics. Similar, but different.

"We're data, man. Like those old school computers you humans have, we can share our data if you can access us, and we can choose what data to show you, and what not to show you... but we can't falsify data. What sucks about being a Digimon? Well, we're great and all, but we can't tell a lie if our lives depended on it." He hissed, the last sentence dripped with poison. Why did that sentence make Haxx seethe with hatred all of a sudden? It wasn't like Drake had taken advantage of that or anything. He couldn't remember.

Goro entered last, after Kail and Frisk, making sure he protected their backs. He was not pleased at the slightest at the sight of Drake's bloodied body and clothes. "What have you done?" He glared at Haxx, who was the closest and the one with the most motive to harm a human.

Haxx shrugged his shoulders. "Nuttin'. Fed him some information. He freaked out like any rookie psychic an-" He was cut off by a sudden pain on his exposed torso, which he clutched with both arms. His flesh had been wounded, his green, digital grid exposed, he bared his fangs at his fellow reptile. Goro's hand was on the hilt of Force of Nature, but as usual, the Digimon had not been able to track his movements at all. Goro was also too far to have attacked him! It didn't make sense!

"I warned you." The raptor growled, letting out a reptilian, rattling hiss. "You know I do not bluff. The next time this happens, I will lop something off." He growled, picked Drake up, and jerked his head to get Kail to follow. He was going to have to clean Drake up now and give him some army fatigues to wear, and maybe something for Kail too, who seemed pretty dirtied by smoke from the fires and debris. He was trembling a little though. The sight of Drake bloodied and on the ground with Haxx crouched over him had brought back memories he did not wish would resurface. He had promised that he could protect them from anything, but he could not protect them from themselves. All the strength, the training, the skill- all the hardships, and he was still inadequate enough to protect people.

Haxx did not feel pain like organics did, but he had been surprised. He was already standing upright and examining the gaping slash on his chest. He did not have internal organs, or blood, so instead, there was a black void with a green grid taking the shape of his body underneath, like a frame.

Frisk sighed and put his voodoo hat away, putting on a doctor's head reflector and stethoscope.

"No- don't you dare- I can do it myself-" The digimon grunted, not wanting to be treated by a Toon, he fumbled with his deck-holder, but Frisk had zipped around him and practically mummified him in bandages, making him lay splayed on the ground in a full body cast. He no longer felt injured- and it DID NOT COMPUTE- but he shut his eyes and sighed, looking up at Kole with a pitiful expression that said "I totally deserved it, didn't I?"

[Idalia]

Kail followed quickly, not wanting to anger Goro further by falling behind, he felt as though he should do something to try to calm him down, but he could think of nothing that would help. He couldn't bring himself to feel sorry for the other human in the group, as he was the one that freaked out, instead of seeing how the collar they suggested could be used to help him, the way it inhibited mental abilities would be an easy way to weaken him to the point where he could learn better control by learning how to overcome the collar, but of course, he wouldn't point that out to him, even if he had been awake to hear it.

Instead he stared up at Goro, studying his movements, even at a walk there was much he could learn there. Every tiny muscle contraction as precisely controlled as his blade had been moments before, he knew without a doubt that if he were ever to try to make an escape, Goro would be his biggest obstacle.