You are Marnie, a 16 year old girl living in a digital ark known as City 87-O. All your life, you've wanted to leave, and just recently, you've come close. Along with your Digimon partner, Phascomon, you climbed the Tower at the center of the City and came close to exiting through the spinning vortex that serves as the only way out.
Alas, your plan went awry, and the City's ultimate guardian thwarted your greatest dream. The shock and desperation pushed you to overexert your partner, triggering a Dark Digivolution that he only barely survived. With your partner wounded from the attempt, and your friendship frayed from the stress you put him through, you've only just began to set things right again.
Now, with your strength greatly diminished, you're continuing your journey with fresh eyes. This time, you'll climb the Tower and escape this stifling playpen. This time, you won't lose sight of what matters. This time, for sure, you and your partner will finally be free.
>Head out with Liza and Seadramon on a patrol. You need to hunt for a puppet Digimon, so that the right data markers within Porcupamon can be reactivated. Obtaining data stores also can't hurt.
Training is pointless for now. Phascomon just can't overcome heavy firepower without his subsequent Digivolutions. Instead, you start making plans to gather up more data.
Over the past few weeks, Doc has managed to set up a secure communication line that you can use to contact Squid. The two of them have independently concluded that Phascomon needs a good dose of puppet Digimon data, in order to rediscover the information pathways in his Digicore that are responsible for transforming him into Porcupamon. You haven't had much opportunity to sit down and text Squid back-and-forth apart from that.
Once you conclude your practice session, you and Phascomon head off in search of Liza. You find her in the dining room sorting through several vending machines and copying their assets into one another, so that she can make an all-in-one dispenser. You observe her tinkering for a moment, before Phascomon clears his throat and strides forward.
"Hey."
"Marnie! Phascomon!"
She grins at you and gives you a quick nod. She looks happy that you and your partner are on talking terms again.
"What's up?"
"We were wondering when your next patrol was."
"We need to hunt down a specific Digimon type." You add. "Can we tag along?"
"Sure. As long as Doc is okay with it."
"He is."
"Next patrol is tomorrow. I'll let Seadramon know."
She gets back to messing with the machine, and you head back to your room with Phascomon in tow.
”Do you think the Digimon around here are strong?”
“Probably. Seadramon might have to do some of the lifting if we meet a Champion Digimon.”
”All that training wasted. Argh! But we already did it once.”
“So we can do it again.”
He nods. The two of you settle in for the night. While you lie in bed, you spend some time theorizing on the network voyage you’ll be taking, before sleep claims you.
Before moving on with the patrol the next day, you make sure you have all your supplies with you. It's been quite a while since the both of you set foot in the outside world, so you end up fearing that you've gotten rusty. You obsessively check the pistol at your waist, and eventually end up requesting a refresher course from Doc. He's happy to provide one, lest you dare to use a weapon that you're not comfortable handling safely.
Phascomon, on the other hand, is wide awake and alert. He's gotten the Kokuwamon to volunteer as training dummies, and he's trying to use Evil Snore on them over and over. It seems to be working, they're falling asleep as expected, but he's not satisfied with his own performance either. The two of you keep practicing until Liza arrives to call you over.
"Hey. We need to go now. Come on, let's get everyone linked up."
She takes you to the entrance of the base. Doc has set up an impressive looking foyer, filled with loose wires and haphazard cabling. Most importantly, there are several floatinng Lifel1ne.app executable files. Liza notices your apprehension.
"Don't worry. Doc perfected them since. And Bella recovered, right?"
"She did. Fully."
"Who's Bella?" Seadramon asks.
"I'll tell you later." Liza says.
Her partner wriggles in mild annoyance, but says nothing else. Instead, she flattens herself out in front of the entrance terminal. Liza approaches with her building hotbar active, and places a ladder next to Seadramon. She offers a hand to you, and you gratefully take it. The three of you end up nestled on a spot behind Seadramon's head.
"Now use that arrow tool you have," she instructs.
You activate l1ne and match your physics to Seadramon, keeping you properly anchored to her back. Once you're ready, Doc opens up the Network entrance, and waits for you all to convert your avatars into those blue, textureless shapes. Seadramon pitches forward, and you feel as though you're being plunged into an ocean of static. Your group enters the Network, ready to patrol the surrounding area.
At first, the patrol goes off without a hitch. Liza sees a few weak Rookies. She just has Seadramon whirl around and scare them off. None of the little ones are foolish enough to challenge a Champion. Some are too terrified to flee, so you decide to approach with Phascomon instead. He takes the initiative to warn them that this area has been claimed, before sending them off into the wilderness. You hope that they'll spread the word, instead of daring to crawl back when they think Seadramon is gone.
Afterwards, Seadramon ends up clashing against an intimidating, devil-like Digimon.
"This guy again?!" Liza complains.
The fight is swift and brutal, with the enemy inflicting several wounds on Seadramon's hide with its wickedly sharp claws. However, Seadramon manages to lash out and whip it with her tail, instantly causing it to flee. You're surprised at how agile the big reptile is, all of a sudden. Even Phascomon is impressed by the way she can weave around and change direction as though she's submerged in liquid. If it weren't for the kinetic matching, you'd have been blown off by now.
"What was that?"
"Ice Devimon. One of those cold ones I told you about! He's always trying to hack his way into the partition."
After that, things seem like they're about to end without a hitch. Your partner is disappointed by the lack of Digimon he can beat. Just as Liza suggests going home, you all hear a commotion coming from an adjacent tunnel. Seadramon surges forth to investigate.
"Hey! I said we should return to base!" She complains.
"Without even taking a look? Come on!"
You see her shoulders tense up in front of you. You reach out to calm her down, and feel her breathing through your touch. Liza takes a deep breath and lets it go, remembering what you told her.
Up ahead, there's a platform where several Digimon are facing off against a singular large one. You scan them with your goggles, and your eyes light up.
"Got 'em?"
"Yeah."
PAWN CHESSMON (BLACK)- ROOKIE- PUPPET- VIRUS
"What're they fighting?"
KNIGHT CHESSMON (WHITE)- CHAMPION- PUPPET- VIRUS
You relay this information to the group. It looks like they're subspecies fighting against one another? You watch as the little black Rookies attempt to spear their larger adversary. It leaps backwards, galloping back and forth and avoiding each strike with ease. You see it jump into the air and slam down on a Pawn Chessmon, deleting it instantly. However, its allies on either side charge forward and manage to stab it in retaliation. The wounded Champion backs off.
"This is a good opportunity." Phascomon remarks.
"Yeah. They have puppet data, this is our lucky day."
"Fine, yeah. Let's get them."
"I'll take them out in one sweep!" Seadramon declares proudly.
She descends onto the platform. However, as soon as she makes contact, the surface turns red, and the air begins to fill with artifacts. The Chessmon turn around in anger.
"You're not part of this!"
"Stay out of our turf war!"
"Foul blackshields! You dare to seek outside aid?! Very well! Spring the ambush, squires!"
Several more Pawn Chessmon leap out from the underside of the platform. These ones are white instead. The reinforcements immediately begin stabbing everything in sight. Seadramon sweeps several aside with her long body, as promised. But before she can gloat, several explosions ring out. You and Liza duck instinctively, and your nose smashes against her spine in the process. You wince, and the two of you deactivate your l1ne.app so you can slide off Seadramon.
On the other side of the battlefield, the black team has brought out reinforcements of their own. A huge Digimon is aiming its guns at you, taking potshots and attempting to snipe you both off Seadramon. With enemy fire arriving from all directions, you and Phascomon end up grouping up, while Liza and Seadramon battle on their own. You're temporarily separated for a bit, forced to spread out and face off against the roving puppets.
"Ugh. This hurts." You complain, rubbing the spot on your face where you smashed into Liza. "Why does it still hurt if my nose isn't even textured anymore?"
"Beats me! Hey, give me a hand!"
Phascomon draws his claws across the face of a white pawn. They rip through the golden visor, but they don't harm the Digimon underneath. He hisses at them and retreats beyond the stabbing range of its spear, while you shoot at it with the malware gun. The bullets ping off its body, but leave painful-looking marks. It's being whittled down by them, but its viral nature is making the weapon less effective.
"CHEATER! FACE US IN MARTIAL COMBAT, OR PAY THE PRICE!" The white knight bellows.
You scream as a massive dart flies through the air and impales the earth in front of you, missing by inches. You and Phascomon scrabble back, surrounded.
"Argh! Okay, don't piss them off! We've got this."
"Back in the saddle, yeah." You reply, gritting your teeth.
It's been a while since the two of you have fought like this. You hold your arm up, feeling energy pass between you both. You can do this. Your bond is still powering him up, with your friendship rekindled. You just have to make the right moves.
>Have Phascomon attack the leftmost PawnChessmon. If you can eliminate it, you can get closer to Seadramon, who's currently struggling with a big mob of them. Regrouping seems like the most important move right now.
>Keep attacking the one straight ahead, that Phascomon has already wounded. You want to move forward and carve through their ranks. Plus, if you can delete one, absorbing the puppet data straight away will be helpful.
>Go for the black Pawn Chessmon on the right. The two factions are supposed to be infighting. They've put their differences aside to attack you for stepping on their board, but maybe if you can trigger an imbalance in ranks, they'll try to claim that opportunity and forget about you.
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AnonymousID:VbhJu5tZ02/19/26(Thu)13:49:15
>>6373445 If we want to cause infighting, we'd have to bait the big darts into pawns
>>6373445 >Have Phascomon attack the leftmost PawnChessmon. If you can eliminate it, you can get closer to Seadramon, who's currently struggling with a big mob of them. Regrouping seems like the most important move right now. take it slow, increase the surface area for friendly fire and decrease the area for us taking damage.
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AnonymousID:oIZqMkaw02/19/26(Thu)15:28:37
>>6373457 +1 play it smart play it cool play it chess style
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AnonymousID:Kq33flsR02/19/26(Thu)15:34:36
>>6373445 If we can bait a battle, we can absorb all that Puppet data, Digivolve, and finish off the survivors... I hope. >Go for the black Pawn Chessmon on the right. The two factions are supposed to be infighting. They've put their differences aside to attack you for stepping on their board, but maybe if you can trigger an imbalance in ranks, they'll try to claim that opportunity and forget about you.
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AnonymousID:oIZqMkaw02/19/26(Thu)15:40:18
>>6373445 Wait hold on why are we even playing by their rules? Changing my vote from >>6373488 to >Go for the black Pawn Chessmon on the right. The two factions are supposed to be infighting. They've put their differences aside to attack you for stepping on their board, but maybe if you can trigger an imbalance in ranks, they'll try to claim that opportunity and forget about you. Greedy? Yes, but we need to be to recoup our losses and progression. I just hope this doesn't do anything stupid like cause one of the pawns to digivolve
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AnonymousID:VbhJu5tZ02/19/26(Thu)16:17:29
>>6373490 >>6373495 They seem rather offended at the idea of an unfair advantage
>>6373504 I think it'd only make them more united against us. Baiting them to hit each other would be the way to spark infighting, the darts are pretty big and there are more pawns than us.
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AnonymousID:oIZqMkaw02/19/26(Thu)16:21:09
>>6373506 Okay fair, thanks for explaining it clearly.
>>6373445 >Have Phascomon attack the leftmost PawnChessmon. If you can eliminate it, you can get closer to Seadramon, who's currently struggling with a big mob of them. Regrouping seems like the most important move right now.
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AnonymousID:jFSiO1yr02/19/26(Thu)23:01:04
>>6373445 >Have Phascomon attack the leftmost PawnChessmon. If you can eliminate it, you can get closer to Seadramon, who's currently struggling with a big mob of them. Regrouping seems like the most important move right now. If Phascomon can land a good Evil Snore on the mob, Seadramon clears.
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AnonymousID:h0xBFBTk02/20/26(Fri)05:21:15
>>6373445 >Have Phascomon attack the leftmost PawnChessmon. If you can eliminate it, you can get closer to Seadramon, who's currently struggling with a big mob of them. Regrouping seems like the most important move right now.
>Have Phascomon attack the leftmost Pawn Chessmon. If you can eliminate it, you can get closer to Seadramon, who's currently struggling with a big mob of them. Regrouping seems like the most important move right now.
"Get closer to Seadramon!" You order.
"Evil Snore!"
Phascomon puts the black Pawn Chessmon to sleep mid-thrust. The Digimon topples backwards and starts snoring. You follow close behind as Phascomon claws at the white one standing between him and Seadramon. It parries his claws with its spear, then tries to flick the blade into his chin. You blast the weapon out of its hands before it can shank your partner.
"Get him!"
"Eucalyptus- Hang on."
He reaches up and flips his enemy's visor open. Its yellow eyes blink in confusion.
"-CLAW!"
His slash tears across the Digimon's real face, deleting it in one smooth stroke. The two of you move into the spot formerly occupied by the Rookie, with your partner making sure to pass through the cloud of data left behind. Seadramon is up ahead, ready to help reinforce the two of you. However, as you step onto the squarish tile that makes up the battlefield, you and Phascomon feel a sudden sense of foreboding.
Heavy hooves clatter against the polygonal floor. For a moment, you fear that Assaultmon is back.
"JOUST! GALLOP WHOLE!"
Knight Chessmon leaps into the air. It moves in an L-shaped arc, perfectly positioned to stomp on the spot that you're currently occupying. His hooves come down on both you and Phascomon.
If he stomps on you in your current state, he could do irreparable damage to your body. The Lifel1ne.app may not be able to save you from going DMIA if his viral data makes contact with you. Phascomon isn't strong enough to push it away either. You both scramble for cover, and when that fails, try to push each other out of the way. It's a desperate scrabble that spans only two or three seconds. The shadow of the gleaming knight passes over you both, and you fear that your death will be in this indignifying, anticlimactic manner.
Seadramon surges forward and blocks the centaur with her own body. The meteoric force is enough to slam her entire head onto the board, and her sinuous form begins thrashing in agony. The Pawn Chessmon waste no time in running forward to stab at her. Both factions sink their spears into her flank, while the hulking one in the background moves ever closer.
"Marnie! We need to go!"
Liza seizes your wrist. You nod and raise your weapon with the other hand, firing off a few potshots at the Knight Chessmon's face. They don't deal any damage, but it jumps off Seadramon to come attack you. That's when Liza activates some kind of supercharged f0rce.app and flings you, herself, and Phascomon back onto her partner's back. Seadramon spins in a great arc, toppling several Pawns over, before sliding towards the edge of the chessboard, leaving a trail of blood the whole way.
The castle-like Digimon from the black team continues to fire at your group as you retreat. Fortunately, its accuracy seems to be lacking. It falls to one knee and raises its shoulder, like it's about to charge at you.
Luckily, it reconsiders after the Knight Chessmon throws another gigantic dart at one of its minions. The battle starts up again, while the four of you return to the nearest Network tunnel. All of you are breathing heavily, and Seadramon is moving swiftly in her panic.
"You okay?" Liza asks Seadramon, glancing at her injuries in concern.
"No! Ow! He really- Ah! Those hooves hurt!"
"More than bullets? I thought you got shot before."
"It's not the same! Ow, ow!"
"Trip's over, we're getting out of here." Liza declares.
You have no argument. Phascomon only got a little bit of data, but you were out of your depth there. The two of you can't rely on power anymore, and the Chessmon seemed to have some kind of gimmick that you weren't able to parse. The informational disadvantage was too much to overcome. You examine Seadramon's wound as she snakes through the tunnel.
The vicious hooves have broken the surface textures on her back. Static is leaking out in great volumes, coating her body and mixing with the blood leaking from the numerous spear wounds. Luckily, now that Liza has a Digivice, she can properly apply medicine code to the injuries.
"Was it enough?" You ask Phascomon hopefully.
He shakes his head.
"We'll have to go back sometime, then. Or find another puppet."
"That was too close. The sooner I can turn back into Porcupamon, the better."
A second disaster strikes while you're on the way home. You've retraced your steps atop Seadramon's back for a little while, and Liza is right in the middle of checking her map when the ambush is sprung.
"Just a bit longer. We just need to-"
"ATTACK!"
You spin around to look out for the source of the voice. Phascomon points straight upwards.
"Snow Gob Bolt!"
Several blue Goburimon are positioned near the top of the Network tunnel, standing on platforms of ice. They fling snowballs into the air and then strike them with their wooden bats, pelting your party with icy projectiles. Seadramon's bright yellow head is a prime target. Despite them being Rookies, she winces when the attacks make contact with her armored skull.
"They're harder than they look!" She grumbles.
"Damn it! Keep going straight!" Liza yells.
"Huh? We should fight them! We can take them!" Seadramon protests. She's already starting to slow down.
"You're racking up injuries! There's no point, just go!"
"I can beat them all before they whittle me down! Come on! You never let me go wild!"
"Us three up here can't get hit by those balls! Any stray shots will take us out!"
The two of them start to argue. You and Phascomon glance at each other, recalling the early days where you could never decide on a plan.
"Hey. You should make the call."
This is a structured attack. Goburimon aren't very bright, if they were wild Digimon on a hunt, they wouldn't be doing things like creating ice platforms on the ceiling to gain a terrain advantage. There are quite a lot of them too.
>Stop and fight like Seadramon wants. You're outnumbered, but these are a bunch of Rookie Digimon trying to organize a sneak attack. Seadramon can delete each one rather easily, and even Phascomon should have good odds. If they don't have Champions supporting them, your group stands a real chance of beating these guys, and then figuring out what they're up to.
>Run. Agree with Liza and get out of here. You don't know what these Digimon are planning, or if there's any more to their sneak attack plan than hitting you with snowballs. There might be something else going on, and you don't want to spring any kind of trap by slowing down to battle. Seadramon is already hurt, be conservative with your resources.
>Use your Lifel1ne.app to return to the base. You and Liza can return your partners to your Digivices, and it won't take much to activate the file and rocket straight home. That way, you can avoid any nasty surprises that might lie ahead, while also not needing to fight. Doc promised that there wouldn't be a repeat of what happened to Bella, but you don't have full confidence in Lifel1ne yet. There could be other unpredictable effects.
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AnonymousID:h0xBFBTk02/21/26(Sat)06:47:34
>>6374153 >Use your Lifel1ne.app to return to the base. You and Liza can return your partners to your Digivices, and it won't take much to activate the file and rocket straight home. That way, you can avoid any nasty surprises that might lie ahead, while also not needing to fight. Doc promised that there wouldn't be a repeat of what happened to Bella, but you don't have full confidence in Lifel1ne yet. There could be other unpredictable effects.
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AnonymousID:VbhJu5tZ02/21/26(Sat)08:42:54
>>6374150 lmao the whole map thing was for a chess move.
I'll never win these damn gimmicks, sorry guys.
Either there's a trap if you get up on the platform, or a trap for anyone passing under the platform. Do we still have assets to pull up as a shield/battering ram? I don't see much we can use that can destroy the platform.
>>6374193 Yeah that makes sense, Marnie would have refilled her .apps and assets during the downtime.
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AnonymousID:VbhJu5tZ02/21/26(Sat)09:19:30
>>6374153 >Pull up some assets to shield Seadramon, we can trade shots with the malware gun relatively safely to scope out any traps. Even if we had a column, we don't have a large humanoid to swing it.
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AnonymousID:4ZqkScrt02/21/26(Sat)10:36:07
>>6374153 >Run. Agree with Liza and get out of here. You don't know what these Digimon are planning, or if there's any more to their sneak attack plan than hitting you with snowballs. There might be something else going on, and you don't want to spring any kind of trap by slowing down to battle. Seadramon is already hurt, be conservative with your resources. Ice Devimon is with them.
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AnonymousID:CVMxv+AM02/21/26(Sat)14:22:31
>>6374153 >Goburis.png Oh no, they're T-posing to assert dominance!
>>6374153 Backing >>6374200 I want to MURDER damnit We should have got the easy puppet data QM was throwing at us but we're too retarded or the narration wasn't clear with the chess gimmick or I don't even fucking know man, everything around me is souring me and I hate it
>>6374553 They’re up ahead in the tunnel leading back to base. A whole bunch of platforms attached to the top of it. Running back to base would require passing under it, yeah.
To reiterate again, I’ll make it clear in updates if there’s room to do a completely new write-in based course of action. Otherwise, I’ll just take the vote as being one of the existing options. Leaning towards interpreting it as fighting.
>Stop and fight like Seadramon wants. You're outnumbered, but these are a bunch of Rookie Digimon trying to organize a sneak attack. Seadramon can delete each one rather easily, and even Phascomon should have good odds. If they don't have Champions supporting them, your group stands a real chance of beating these guys, and then figuring out what they're up to.
The snowballs cascade down in large volumes. With so many falling projectiles, you, Liza, and Phascomon are sure to get hit if you stay out in the open. It's like an unending rain of hail, meant to take out the riders instead of the more durable Champion. Nonetheless...
"Liza! We can take them!"
"You serious?! But-"
"Seadramon can handle it. Trust her."
"No! What if she..."
You quickly pick up on why she's so unwilling to stay. Seadramon is strong, but this is probably one of the first times she's gotten hurt like that. Without a doubt, Liza is being reminded of her first partner. That fear is clouding her judgement. Running wouldn't be a stupid choice either, but you don't want to take the risk of springing another trap. This is definitely a structured ambush.
"I can do it! Just watch!"
Seadramon rears up and blasts one of the platforms. The blue Goburimon scatter, but one is immediately obliterated by the pressurized beam of water. Liquid cascades back down despite the lack of gravity. It's rather disorienting to see physics applying so selectively.
"Liza. Help me out."
You pull out a folder packed with l1ne.app files.
"We've got plenty of building assets. If you're worried about her getting hurt, we can create shields for her."
She nods apprehensively. Even though she's in charge of this patrol, she defers to you when it comes to fighting. You have way more experience by now, and it doesn't take long for you to put your plan into place.
Snowballs continue to fall. One of them smashes the metal plate that you positioned over your head, denting it severely. Your eyes fly open as you watch it burrow through the material, stretching out the wireframe as it bursts into flecks of ice. Seadramon wasn't kidding, there's an immense amount of force packed into each one. You quickly replace your own shield.
Liza is focusing on protecting her partner's body and neck. The surface area you can produce is far less than the total span of Seadramon's body, so plenty of projectiles still strike her, but you manage to limit the damage with this technique. The ambush gets less effective over time, as you and Seadramon gradually shoot them off their prepared positions. Your malware gun hisses viciously as you unload its chamber over and over. You score a direct hit on one Snow Goburimon, causing it to fall off the icy platform. You're then forced to cling on tight as Seadramon lunges upwards to snap it in half.
DELETED
"Woah! Don't do that!" You scold her, as snowballs rain down once more.
That reckless move has pulled you all out of cover. A single .app isn't enough to hold back the force of such a large Digimon either, and the stray thrashing of her tail smashes a few assets that she was meant to hide under. Liza starts building the shield again. Seadramon very badly wants to swim up there and take them out in one swoop, but you're not willing to go close. They can do less damage if they're just trading ranged attacks.
"SNOW GOB KONBOU!"
As though they realized that fact at the same instant as you, one of the Snow Goburimon leaps down in an attempt to bash your head in.
"EUCALYPTUS CLAW!"
Phascomon springs off your head, forcing your neck downwards. You let out a choking noise as he pounces onto the Digimon and rips it to shreds.
"Dude!"
"Sorry!"
You can't really fault him for that, he just saved you. You shake it off and continue shooting.
Seadramon manages to stay put for long enough. The snowballs slowly peter out, as more and more Snow Goburimon are blasted apart by water jets or shot down by your packet pistol. You and Liza take a breather to admire your handiwork. You've stitched together an impressive wall of junk. Shelves, desks, vending machines, and random metal frames all stick together to create a barrier of debris. The Rookies aren't accurate enough to get through the gaps in the shield, and Seadramon can easily pop her head out to fire. Their ambush has lost its effectiveness.
Three more Snow Goburimon leap down to fight. They land heavily on the shield and begin smashing it with their clubs. You detach yourself from Seadramon's coordinates and prepare to engage them.
"Marnie! How long are we gonna stay here?" Liza asks. She raises her hand, showing you the slight fizzling motion of her skinless avatar.
You look down and notice the same happening to your limbs. Battling was a good move, and your barricade strategy has worked out wonderfully. But you have to get a move on at some point.
"There aren't enough of them left to make another avalanche." Phascomon remarks. "It's safer now."
"We'll take these three out, then go. Seadramon, how're you holding up?"
"Good! Hurry up with it!"
She's itching to take their data. Countless packets of valuable information are floating high above, courtesy of all your ranged attacks. Phascomon needs some of that too, and he's about to get it. The trio of Snow Goburimon crush the wooden shelves land on Seadramon's back, then immediately charge forward.
Liza swiftly gets out of the way. One enemy attempts to blow cold air at her, but her untextured silhouette hops backwards, maintaining her balance even upon Seadramon's smooth back. The cold temperature forms a thin layer of ice on her partner's glistening back, that the Snow Goburimon steps on as it tries to rush her again.
That brief moment of imbalance is all it takes for her to fling a heavy-looking ball at it. It flails with its arms out, unable to lift the bat on time. The Sportsball ball smacks it in the head, sending it tumbling off Seadramon.
Meanwhile, you and Phascomon face off against the two Goburimon. They take turns swinging their weapons, pounding against Seadramon's scales each time they fail to hammer your partner. He lunges at the first to try and headbutt it, but it raises its wooden club to bunt him to the ground. Before they can capitalize on it, you raise your Linker.
"PHASCOMON!"
The familiar surge of power flows between the two of you. It's been a while since you fought like this, but the sensation is the same: A blazing heat, pulsating in duplicated, yet synchronized beats. It feels comforting despite the burning feeling it elicits, for it confirms that your bond is still intact.
"EUCALYPTUS CLAW!"
He slashes hard enough to tear the club into three segments. The Snow Goburimon stands there, dumbfounded, as his weapon disintegrates in his arms. Phascomon's other claw rips through his head and chest a moment later, deleting the Digimon in a single stroke.
DELETED
The second attacker is momentarily as well. You take the chance to shoot it in the head. Its hat falls off as the malware packet makes contact, revealing a white mohawk, flattened against its head by the tiny cap. Phascomon bowls him over with a second headbutt, then carves him apart in a flurry of crimson claws.
Your partner stands up straight, the data steadily flowing into his body. It's not the puppet data you needed, but it's still strengthening him and repairing that residual damage. For a moment, you wonder if he could unlock any kind of different form. However, Doc's reminder echoes in your mind. Messing with his core like that could lead to permanent corruption, more than even his incomplete Mega-stage caused. It's too unsafe to experiment.
You let him soak in the Snow Goburimon data, then buckle the two of you back in. Liza slaps her palm against Seadramon's back.
"Okay! You can go now!"
The last of the snowballs ping off the barricade, smashing the more fragile parts of your shield. By then, the piled-up junk has become obsolete. Seadramon ascends to the roof of the ping tunnel and tears several Snow Goburimon apart in her jaws. The rest pack up and flee. You watch in bemusement as a pair of them reverse their grip on their bats. They stick them off the sides of the icy platform and paddle desperately, causing the whole block to sail through open air.
Seadramon heads up to the top of the tunnel to gather up the data. She idly shoots down one of the frozen canoes, leaving the two Rookies stranded. They flail in a panic, then continue to propel themselves through the Network environment.
"That wasn't too bad." Liza admits.
"See? You just need to have some faith in me!" Seadramon beams. You feel as though her toothy smile is a little insincere, like she's forcing herself into a good mood.
You look around, wary of whatever else the Rookies had in store.
There don’t seem to be any more enemies. Huge amount of debris has been left behind by the battle. Your assets are floating around in the void, and with no sewer for them to be teleported to, they’re doomed to stay here until a wild Digimon eats them. Or maybe the currents will carry them far.
Chunks of ice have also been left all over the place. Some of Seadramon’s attacks have created new glaciers, but there are plenty of abandoned platforms created by the Snow Goburimon. You stare at your arms, which are now fizzling rapidly. The electric interference is traveling up to your shoulders now.
You’re on a time limit. This one is more severe than the type you’re used to dealing with. If you don’t go back soon, your data could erode. You’ve already seen the kind of permanent consequences such a thing can cause.
>Leave the normal way. Keep an eye out for anything ahead, while you ride on Seadramon’s back. Try not to make any further commotions, just prioritize returning to base.
>Stay and clean up a little. The junk left behind might be noticeable to City patrols. You don’t have to remove everything, just the largest pieces that will likely stick around instead of being eroded by data flow. It’ll be relatively easy to put them back in your inventory.
>Activate Lifel1ne.app. You don’t have to be in an emergency to use it. Make use of this tool and jettison yourself back to base. It’ll get you home without factoring in the time limit, but it’ll have unknown additional effects.
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AnonymousID:VbhJu5tZ02/22/26(Sun)16:23:06
>>6374744 would the lifeline ping the City? Hmm. Or we just slam 2 humans into IceDevimon, injuring us all.
>Stay and clean up a little. The junk left behind might be noticeable to City patrols. You don’t have to remove everything, just the largest pieces that will likely stick around instead of being eroded by data flow. It’ll be relatively easy to put them back in your inventory. Hand Lize the gun to shoot stuff into smaller pieces, while we pocket the biggest ones. Not sure which ones the digimon should target.
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AnonymousID:h0xBFBTk02/22/26(Sun)16:25:54
>>6374744 >Stay and clean up a little. The junk left behind might be noticeable to City patrols. You don’t have to remove everything, just the largest pieces that will likely stick around instead of being eroded by data flow. It’ll be relatively easy to put them back in your inventory.
>>6374762 Marnie currently has no info on it, apart from Doc promising it won't explode her skin like Bella.
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AnonymousID:oIZqMkaw02/22/26(Sun)16:53:26
>>6374152 Is it even possible for us to go back to the Chessmon and, once we find out how the gimmick works, beat them at their own game so to speak? >another puppet Like who?
>>6374740 >You quickly pick up on why she's so unwilling to stay. Seadramon is strong, but this is probably one of the first times she's gotten hurt like that. Without a doubt, Liza is being reminded of her first partner. That fear is clouding her judgement. I wonder if us voting to stop and fight is, unknowingly to Marnie, helping Liza get over this fear and trust Seadramon more?
>>6374741 >Liza is focusing on protecting her partner's body and neck. The surface area you can produce is far less than the total span of Seadramon's body, so plenty of projectiles still strike her, but you manage to limit the damage with this technique. >You and Liza take a breather to admire your handiwork. You've stitched together an impressive wall of junk. Shelves, desks, vending machines, and random metal frames all stick together to create a barrier of debris. The Rookies aren't accurate enough to get through the gaps in the shield And in this way, Marnie is indirectly passing on her knowledge of ASSET COMBAT to Liza and by extension to Seadramon
>>6374743 >You watch in bemusement as a pair of them reverse their grip on their bats. They stick them off the sides of the icy platform and paddle desperately, causing the whole block to sail through open air. Love this cartoon as fuck moment. Definitely something that wouldn't be out of place in an actual Digimon anime episode or a 4koma
>>6374744 >Stay and clean up a little. The junk left behind might be noticeable to City patrols. You don’t have to remove everything, just the largest pieces that will likely stick around instead of being eroded by data flow. It’ll be relatively easy to put them back in your inventory. Please don't punish us for this. Please don't show up, IceDevimon
>Stay and clean up a little. The junk left behind might be noticeable to City patrols. You don’t have to remove everything, just the largest pieces that will likely stick around instead of being eroded by data flow. It’ll be relatively easy to put them back in your inventory. Better safe than sorry
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AnonymousID:CVMxv+AM02/22/26(Sun)19:01:31
>>6374744 >Leave the normal way. Keep an eye out for anything ahead, while you ride on Seadramon’s back. Try not to make any further commotions, just prioritize returning to base. There's nothing to connect this to us rather than just some random ice and machine mons in the area.
>Stay and clean up a little. The junk left behind might be noticeable to City patrols. You don’t have to remove everything, just the largest pieces that will likely stick around instead of being eroded by data flow. It’ll be relatively easy to put them back in your inventory.
Despite the impending timer, you decide that you should spare a few minutes to clean up. Virtual debris isn’t a rare occurrence, but this route was pristine before you got here. Object metadata could be used to trace you in some way, and you want to take any precautions you can.
“Let’s go. We should get back right now.” Liza says.
“Actually,“ You interject, “I think we need to spend some more time here.”
”Huh? But you’re fizzling!”
”Aren’t you worried about the DMIA risk? Come on. You’ve forgotten the ghost girl already?”
Thinking about her sends a chill down your spine. But you can’t just leave all this stuff lying around. Once you explain your rationale to them, the rest of the group reluctantly agrees that it’s necessary.
”You didn’t need to build all this stuff anyway!” Seadramon complains. ”I would’ve still won!”
”And what about us? Your partner doesn’t have that kind of endurance. One hit would have deleted her.”
Seadramon clams up, a look of distinct guilt on her scaly face.
“It’s not just about you. You’re traveling with Liza now. Keep each other’s capabilities in mind.”
She nods, going back to quietly dragging the largest chunks of debris closer to you two humans. You both occupy yourself with sucking the objects back into your inventory, to be trashed later.
“Sorting through this sucks.”
“Don’t worry too much. The damaged parts will probably completely erode after a while. We just can’t make it too obvious that something happened.”
You both keep working, going as fast as you can, while the static tingle spreads further and further up your limbs the whole time.
Finally, you’re confident that the evidence has been cleared up. It only took a few minutes, way less than the encounter with the Rookies. You whistle at your crew, and they all hop onto Seadramon without further delay.
Before she starts paddling, Seadramon whirls about and smacks the last bits of debris, sending them flying off into the infinite span of the Network. They vanish beyond the thin rings that mark out the ping tunnel.
The tunnel itself is starting to erode. It was never really a physical construct, just a space carved out by a packet of info that was sent to some random endpoint. You need to get out of here before it dissolves, or you’ll be stuck slowly wading through cyberspace.
As Seadramon swims past several bends in the tunnel, you see a shape up ahead. It looks like a gangly, winged Digimon, with claws outstretched. It’s flying in your direction, yet is visible enough that you're not caught off guard.
“Hey!”
Liza points it out. That’s the Ice Devimon that she faced earlier. Was it lying in wait? It seems like delaying caused it to lose patience and come after you directly. It quickly prepares an attack.
”ICY SHOWER!”
Numerous spinning icicles fly towards Seadramon. You do your part to shoot at them, but the serpent performs a spinning roll instead, throwing your aim off as she avoids the majority of the projectiles. The remaining ones get her in the tail, sending up more streaks of blood. She winces.
Ice Devimon hovers out of reach, constantly flapping its wings and launching new attacks. The tornadoes are the worst ones, threatening to erode your data with a mere touch. Seadramon ends up having to dive out of the entire tunnel to dodge those.
”Get out of the way! You won’t get another chance!” She threatens.
The devil cackles wildly.
”I’m not the one short on time! Your humans can’t last forever!”
It didn’t manage to ambush you, which is an ideal outcome. However, the fact that it’s blocking the way is bad news. You really have to get a move on. It somehow knows about humans, and how your minutes are numbered. It’s trying to stall you out till something bad happens.
”Damn it. If only I could…”
Porcupamon would stand a good chance against it. You didn’t manage to secure his Champion stage this trip, so you’re short on one option for dealing with this Digimon.
>Fight him. He’s wounded from the earlier encounter, but this will still take a while at the bare minimum. You’re out of time, if you risk this and fail, there’ll be consequences for your group.
>Try to slip past him and flee. Seadramon will have to bear the brunt of the damage, and it’ll put her out of commission for a while, leaving her unavailable for future use. However, this is the safest way to get back before your simplified avatars lose coherence and you go DMIA.
>Digivolve your partner into Porcupamon. With your newfound puppet data, you may be able to restore your partner’s Champion form. That’ll allow him to tank the hits with ease, while Seadramon does whatever she needs. [LOCKED]
>Activate Lifel1ne.app. If at any point you feel like the situation is hopeless, you have this quick route to force yourself back to base. Unknown effects will follow.
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AnonymousID:4ZqkScrt02/23/26(Mon)20:35:50
>>6375314 >Fight him. He’s wounded from the earlier encounter, but this will still take a while at the bare minimum. You’re out of time, if you risk this and fail, there’ll be consequences for your group. Does Marnie has CAMO? She can turn invisible and have Phasco use evil snore on this guy.
I wonder if reducing the distance we have to travel will also reduce the strain of the app.
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AnonymousID:nb7eF4cH02/23/26(Mon)22:28:41
>>6375312 I love Seadramon getting these lessons now rather than later when it's too late
>>6375313 >That’s the Ice Devimon that she faced earlier. Was it lying in wait? It seems like delaying caused it to lose patience and come after you directly. On one hand, cleaning up caused us to lose time. On the other hand, no debris to be traced back to Marnie AND we unknowingly denied Ice Devimon his ambush and forced him to play his hand. He would still be there to block our way even if we had ran from the SnowGoburimon attack. I think this was still the best outcome we could have
>>6375314 Backing >>6375397 We need to go for broke or we're doomed regardless
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AnonymousID:TQCEIGuU02/23/26(Mon)22:42:42
>>6375314 >Activate Lifel1ne.app. If at any point you feel like the situation is hopeless, you have this quick route to force yourself back to base. Unknown effects will follow. Time to put our trust in Doc's technology.
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AnonymousID:oIZqMkaw02/24/26(Tue)04:24:48
>>6375447 What if IceDevimon can follow the Lifel1ne.app? Or even cut it off midway and screw us over? Maybe using it before could have helped us bypass his ambush, but now that he's here he can take advantage of it. I refuse to risk it. This shitter MUST die here
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AnonymousID:CVMxv+AM02/24/26(Tue)04:27:21
>>6375593 We have Hi-Commandramon and three more rookies back at base for back-up.
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AnonymousID:nWisd7Zr02/24/26(Tue)05:44:58
>>6375593 >>6375594 That would be a rather interesting way for hi commandramon to earn more time alive.
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AnonymousID:6NdEohZ502/24/26(Tue)05:56:03
Does she have camo though?
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AnonymousID:aDJshbQs02/24/26(Tue)10:14:09
Marnie could try to make Liza empower Seadramon with bond.
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AnonymousID:0JgUwxJd02/24/26(Tue)12:21:20
It would be interesting to try to digievolve. At best we'd get a MadLeomon but if his core tries to make a "bear" with ice data, Phascomon would turn into Yukidarumon
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AnonymousID:VbhJu5tZ02/24/26(Tue)12:29:57
>>6375729 no they just explained. Trying to force a digivolution now would be a terrible idea. It could horrifically mangle phascomon even if it succeeded, and attempting to change the evo is highly invasive surgery in an unknown field.