The plain plains

[Dante]

When the Trailmon finally came to a stop, Dante was the first one off. Not through enthusiasm, mind you, but rather by virtue of being closest to the door at the time. What greeted him was a wide open field. Seriously. In every direction, nothing but field. Not to say that he could see the whole area from where he stood, but rather what he saw looked very flat. He waited until the others had disembarked to comment.

"On the up side, it looks like we'll have plenty of warning if something decides to jump us, right?"

He looked around at the flatness around them and was thoroughly unimpressed.

"Something wrong, Dante?" the ever perceptive Nyaromon asked.

"Not particularly," Dante replied nonchalantly, "Flat places are just a bit depressing is all. No surprises, no great discoveries, just flat."

"Under the circumstances, do you really want to be surprised around here?"

"Point taken," Dante replied.

[Inori]

Inori was second off the train, chuckling lightly at Dante's commentary. Wizardmon scanned the horizon briefly before glancing up at his partner.

"Better?" He seemed like he would be raising an eyebrow if he had any.
"Much." Inori grinned, taking in the view. "It might not have any surprises, Dante...but the scenery is still pretty nice."



On the train, the digimon hiding in the shadows waited patiently for the final chosen human and his partners to exit the train. If he timed things right...which he most likely would, he figured he could get off the train and into a decent hiding place before anyone noticed him.

[shivdeeviant]

Shiv was last of the humans to disembark, by choice rather than virtue of placement. He allowed Inori to leave before him. Yang watched her disembark. Yin followed.

At the door, A chill shot up Yin's spine. He spun around, his eyes locking on the dark corner of the passenger car. Two eyes looked at him from the darkness.

"Yin!' Shouted Yang, "Come on! Trailmon waits for no one! Is something wrong?!"

Yin turns around again. That mon in the corner, whatever it was, carried about itself such a chill aura that it seemed the shadow it was in was a crypt. He shook the feeling, resolving to see if the last passenger would disembark with them.

"It's nothing," said Yin, "Just looking at one of the last opportunities to stay warm in a while."

No point in raising the alarm on just a hunch. Better to be sure. But at the same time, his hunches had proven wise in the past.

With the three sets of Humans and Digimon off the trailmon, the trailmon let loose a great gout of steam from its undercarriage. For several seconds, the stop was covered in steam. No one could see anything for a while. Not only that, but the noise of the Trailmon leaving was so loud, even Yang's voice was unable to be heard.

Yin thought he saw the steam shift in a way that wasn't the wind, but he soon convinced himself that it was a trick of the light.

Soon enough, the Trailmon was gone and the three groups were left alone on the platform. Shiv was the first to jump off of the raised dias. The grass came up to about knee height, and the ground below was soft and loamy. He gestured to Yin, who was still looking at the platform and tracks.

"So," said Shiv, looking at the other two humans, "What now?"

[Dante]

Dante wasn't prepared for the great cloud of smoke or the great noise of the Trailmon's departure, so he was left deafened and coughing by the passage of the great train. The smoke cloud kicked up, and he was breathing in at the time. Through his coughing, he tried to regain some visibility amidst the smoke. It would be only too ironic if something had been hiding nearby, only to surprise them the moment the smoke cover lifted. The Trailmon hadn't done anything to screw with them yet, but who was to say that it wasn't just biding its time? If that wasn't bad enough, the train kicked up a truly prodigious amount of noise leaving, so Dante's ears complained greatly of the overpowerful stimulus. The smoke cleared, and he had regained just enough of his ability to hear to understand Shiv's question.

"I'm in favor of waiting for my ears to stop ringing, but I'm good whenever..."

He continued to look around for any sign of ambush. He wasn't entirely convinced that the train digimon wasn't malicious in some way, given its departure. Either the train was helping to hide something, or it just plain didn't like them. That was Dante's assessment, anyway.

[Inori]

Inori...was blissfully oblivious to the group's stalker, more interested in what was before them then what was lurking in the grass behind them. The girl was either used to the sound of trains, or much quicker to adapt to the sound they made, as she seemed mostly unphased by the loud train.

Wizardmon was definitely frowning about it, holding onto his hat when the train started moving, and adjusting it when things calmed down.

"Pick a direction and walk?" Inori suggested, having waited a good moment for things to clear before speaking. "Once Dante's ears stop ringing of course."


The snake-like stalker digimon kept himself low to the ground and remained perfectly still. Lurking was one of his specialties after all. It would be hard for him to move without giving away his location due to all the grass. He was fairly certain he was faster then at least two of the humans...and most of their partners. It wasn't worth the risk of being noticed yet. He needed more information before he could put his plans into action.

[shivdeeviant]

Shiv looked out across the endless grassland, feeling the breeze shuffle the blades of grass. He noticed Yin looking around with purpose and caught the probable meaning from it. Something was out there, or at least Yin suspected as much. His gaurd went up almost imperceptibly. He thought he heard a light tinkling of music on the breeze. He looked in that direction.

Yang looks at Dante, his mouth forming a wide grin and starts to mouth quite exuberantly, as if he's trying to tell him something important.

[Dante]

Dante gave Yang a flat stare, fully cognizant of the fact that the little digimon was trying to screw with him. So distracted was he by the blatant smartarsery that he didn't notice the fact that the other two were staring out at the grassland with purpose.

"Nyaromon," Dante said quietly, knowing he would probably be overheard anyway, "What do you suppose would happen if I drop kicked him?"

"Shiv wouldn't be too happy, and Yin might tear you a new whatsit."

"See, that was the part where you weren't supposed to harsh my buzz with the truth."

"Oh," Nyaromon said with a small yawn, not deigning to acknowledge the very idea any further than that.

Dante shook his head and looked over at Inori.

"We can go now. I think I've hit my required dosage of train station."

[Inori]

"Onwards!" Inori pointed ahead, then began marching off in said direction. Very dramatic. It would have only been better if she added the words 'for great victory' at the end...which of course she did not...though she might have been thinking it.

Wizardmon laughed at his partner's childish antics, hesitating a moment before following. The grass being knee high to the humans was closer to waist high for him...so hovering along instead of walking seemed like a preferable idea. The extra height would give him a slightly better vantage point. If he suspected another was following them, he was very good at hiding it.

"Well, I'll be....you really can levitate!" Inori grinned, glancing back to her partner after she realized he was not next to her.

"I told you I could. You doubted me?" He asked, amusement masking the sadness at her disbelief.

"Well, maybe a little." She admitted honestly. "But you can't really blame me. You don't look like you should be able to hover!"

"I..." Wizardmon started, but cut himself off from continuing. He settled for a shrug while Inori's attention flickered back to the other two and their partners.

[shivdeeviant]

Shiv chuckled at the antics, and cuffed Yang playfully over the head. Things seemed to be going quite well, they might just be a team yet. But he sensed that the drama was only resting calmly below the surface. He sighed to himself.

Yang rested happily on Shivs shoulder, this was a very good resting place. Too bad he had to stay in his In-training form to do it. Ah well, the sacrifices that must be made for a good perch!

Yin continued to float after the others as they walked into the grassland, staying close to Shiv and Yang. At the same time, though, he thought he should probably alert Wizardmon to the possible danger. As casually as he could, Yin floated along until he was nest to Wizardmon's head where Inori would be most unlikely to hear.

"I think that we are being watched," whispered Yin softly into Wizardmon's ear, "Keep your guard up."

"Yiiiiiiin!" shouted Yang, "Stop hanging out with Wiz-Wiz-kun and play with me! I just thought up a reeeeeealy cool game!"

Yin sighs and floats to Shiv and Yang.

"And what, pray tell, is this new game?" asked Yin.

"It's really cool! I jump into the grass and try to hide, and you try to find me!"

With that and before anyone else to comment on how bad an idea this is, Yang hops off of Shiv's shoulder and into the knee high grass. Soon, Yang's running full tilt through the prairie, completely hidden from view save for a shake of grass every now and again.

"Yang!" shouted Shiv and Yin in unison, as they both start after him in the direction that he ran.

[Dante]

Dante chuckled as he followed his...teammates?...out into the grass. Wizardmon levitated himself, much to the interest and slight amusement of Nyaromon, who very quietly expressed her envy of that capacity of his. This brought a wider smile to Dante's face, even if it looked a bit like a smug smirk by this point.

He looked over at Shiv as his two partners spoke of a game Yang had just come up with. Dante was observing cautiously, knowing the crazier one's potential for mischief. He got a distinct feeling of "This won't end well" as Yang elaborated on his idea. In the moment between when he finished speaking and when he moved, Dante stood dumbfounded.

No way he's stupid enough to-

With that, and before anyone got a chance to react, Yang was off like a shot. Dante facepalmed.

I stand corrected...

Shiv and Yin were the first to move as Dante considered for one half of one moment if it was really worth it to go after the little troublemaker. After that half moment's consideration, he came to a grudging consensus.

I might as well...

So off he went in pursuit of a little digimon who apparently didn't know any better than to go rocketing off randomly into unknown territory. All the while, he was going over tactics in his head for possibly ending this irritatingly comical chase scene any faster. Short of lobbing Nyaromon at him, which his partner would definitely not appreciate, nothing came to mind. As if sensing this particular thought, Nyaromon glared his direction.

"Don't even think about it," she said, clearly perturbed by the subtle shift that had given him away.

[Inori]

Wizardmon nodded slightly in response to Yin, making a vague sort of gesture to try and imply he was fairly aware of the situation.

Inori...was blissfully oblivious to all of it. A situation the watcher was most grateful for.

When Yang took off, Inori changed her direction to follow (after Wizardmon's brief yelling of 'Do not call me Wiz-Wiz-Kun!'). She may have been irritated with Shiv, but not enough to want to keep going in a different direction then the rest.

The serpentine shadow digimon followed slowly at a distance, doing his best to not disturb the grass around him in a way that would draw attention to himself...not that it would be too hard at the moment given everyone's attention being on Yang.

[Usachan]

A digimon turned and frowned at the figures in the distance. "Young whippersnappers are making too much noise." he turned and started towards them then stopped as he saw a bouncing ball of energy running from the others. He levitated it with his ESP. "Now see here. I am trying to plant crops and y'alls noise is distracting me." he frowned menacingly at the little digimon, the crow on his shoulder squawking.

[shivdeeviant]

"Hi!" Shouted Yang to the newcomer, waving his arms frantically, "I'm Yang! The Motimon! How are you doing this?! It's sooo cool! Are you psychic!? What's your name!? Look at me! It's like I can fly! What's your range on this!? Wheeeeeee! I'm flying!"

Yang stuck his arms out like he was an airplane.

"Nyeeeeeeeer! Ack-ack-ack-ack-ack-ack-ack! NyeeeeEEEEEEeeeeerrrrrrrrrr! Bwssssssssshhhhh!"


(Newcomer can post after this, as Shiv has not caught up yet. And he is leading the group.)

[Usachan]

The digimon quirked his eyebrow and dropped the pink blob from his power. "Youre very energetic for one so small. as to my name, I am Nohemon." The crow squawked.

[shivdeeviant]

Yang bounced up and down on the ground. He suddenly stopped, looking confused.

"But," he said curiously, "Why are you called that?! You have lots of hay all over you!"

Shiv saw the jumping pink blob first, glad to be in sight. He also saw the little one's new companion. A quick plan to diffuse the situation came to his mind. Putting on a burst of speed that made him famous in his high school, Shiv tackles Yang.

"Got you!" Shiv cried as he faux-wrestled Yang to the ground, saying quietly to Yang, "Just follow my lead."

Yang gave a slight nod to show that this was serious.

Shiv stood up again, Yang on his shoulder.

"Hey Shiv! This is my new friend! His name is No Hay Mon! It's such an odd name, too! See? He's got hay everywhere!"

Shiv took the opportunity to look this new mon over quickly, there was something odd about him. His face looked to be made of symbols, and there was no life in his eyes. The only thing about this mon that seemed to be alive was the crow. This being looked at Shiv with what seemed to be great annoyance. Shiv bowed low, nearly unseating Yang.

"Thank you for stopping him, Sir!" Shiv put extra emphasis on being polite, "We'd have never caught him in time otherwise!"

"Otherwise! Otherwise!" Parroted Yang.

Yin had stopped when he saw Nohemon. This newcomer had power, probably a Champion, or a very weak Ultimate. He looked around for the possibility of others, his "someone is watching"-dar going off. Yin motioned to Wizardmon, signalling that this one was not the same presence that he felt earlier, and settled down to watch. He was still ready to leap to Yang's defence at a moments notice.