Kazushi Shibue
Monodramon
(( I apologize for the length of this post. If you'd rather skip to the important bits, scroll down to the emboldened paragraph at the bottom. ))
In the back seat of a somewhat large dark blue sedan, with plenty of comfortable leather seats, Kazushi was staring into his DigiRouser as a 3D hologram floated above it with a detailed view of his surroundings, scanning for anomalous readings. For the past hour or so, nothing has been out of the ordinary. He and his "escorts" had been cruising around town, searching for activity, but so far have been unsuccessful. A heavy sigh escaped his lips as he leaned into the back of his seat, growing bored from the whole ordeal. Next to him, his partner, Monodramon, sat quietly in the opposite seat, peering out of the one-way windows and observing humanity with curiosity.
In between them, and in the two seats in front of them, sat diligent soldiers of a sort, complete with a uniform. In a crowd, they would stand out, but their gear could be described as light in protection, likely in an effort to prevent too much attention from being drawn to them. They wore black, well-fitted jackets covered with pockets, much like what you would expect from the military. A wire stretched from their collar to their left ears, connected to a two-way radio which was clipped to a kevlar vest worn underneath the jacket - another effort to avoid attention. Their pants were made of the same material, but attached to them were multiple pouches and compartments for various gear. Topping the uniform off was a pair of discreet knee pads worn on the outside of the pants, and black boots. As much as they attempted to keep eyes from prying at them, the uniform was a touch on the bold side, but so far it seems people have just assumed they were with the police or the military, going about their business. Kazushi sometimes would catch people staring, but before long they would dismiss their curiosity and suspicion and move on with their day like everyone else. It was rather shocking what people could get away with in broad daylight.
In this case, however, the sun was setting and there were no prying eyes from outside their tinted windows. Surely, they would panic if faced with a purple dragon with metal claws staring out at them. At the moment, Kazushi almost hoped they would; It would have provided a nice show to help alleviate the stale energy in the car. One would think four people and a creature never before seen on Earth would provide plenty of conversation, but alas, the soldiers were on duty and so was Kazushi.
"Oh!" Kazushi chirped, edging forward in his seat slightly as something changed on the hologram. Monodramon and the officer next to him glanced over in interest. "I'm getting some anomalous readings coming from..." he paused momentarily, waving his hand through the hologram to pan through the miniature 3D representation of the city.
"It's coming from the park nearby." The driver responded, taking one hand off the wheel to press a button on the radio underneath his jacket as he altered his trajectory.
"This is Escort 2," he declared with a firm tone. "He has a reading; We're heading for the park. Update your maps and rendezvous. Over."
Only a handful of times has a reading been false. The DigiRouser was meant to pick up readings off of potential wormholes, but not distinguish between which ones were about to open and which ones were merely weakened but still closed. Still, each event provides a rush of endorphins to prime the brain for potential threats. No encounter has been easy, although having a dozen soldiers at your side helps calm the nerves a bit. For a 17 year old, trifling with life and death isn't a light matter. Monodramon has proven efficient in battle, and a good match for Kazushi, rendering most threats inert without much difficulty. His boss, or just "Boss" as he's called, has been pleased with the data they've captured, although he still hasn't revealed what exactly they're doing with it. It was fairly irrelevant to Kazushi at present considering the intense feelings of power and control he felt while battling with Monodramon. Although the two were not exactly overwhelmingly personable toward each other, they worked together well so far, and Kazushi was enjoying himself. Monodramon seemed to be along for the ride, but when it came time to fight, he steeled himself and performed with calculation and precision, pleased to dispense fury to his opponents under Kazushi's command.
It took time to make it to the park. They had been wandering the city for over an hour before learning of the location the Boss spoke of. By the time they reached their destination, the sun had already disappeared beyond the horizon, making way for a lovely light show the likes of which Kazushi had never seen. He gazed up at the sky in wonder for minutes as he prepared himself, before suddenly realizing something he thought should have been obvious to him. Was it a mere coincidence that this shower and the readings he picked up were within such a tight time frame? Situations like these were in one of two categories for him: a result of random, unlikely chance, or cause and effect, and Kazushi was guessing the latter.
Outside the park, the car slid up next to the sidewalk, and the soldiers sprang to life. The doors popped open and Kazushi, along with all three of his fellow officers emerged, while Monodramon stayed inside to avoid the risk of bystanders panicking at the sight of him. Next to the out-of-place officers with him, Kazushi seemed even more out of place as a 17 year old boy in the company of hardened professionals between the ages of 25 and 40. Onlookers might guess that Kazushi was a person of some importance, and they'd be right to some degree, although probably not for the reason they imagine. As the sky was lit only by moonlight and the dazzling light show captured the attention of almost everyone in the vicinity, risk of suspicion or interference was very low. Kazushi himself looked upward, analyzing the streaks of light moving across the sky for some sign of a presence from the digital world, but he didn't have to wait long. Two more escorts were just arriving when Kazushi noticed three meteors breaking off from the others in quick succession, and began to behave unexpectedly. It, in fact, seemed as though they were becoming larger and aimed directly at them.
"Monodramon, get out of the car," he ordered his purple comrade with some authority and urgency. Monodramon could tell that he was a little uneasy, but said nothing of it as he quickly exited the vehicle and came to his side, prepared for an ensuing fight. The other officers themselves seemed to pick up on correlation, quickly and quietly gearing themselves from the trunks of their cars with strange looking weaponry, as well as chattering over their radios. For such an unusual job, they were trained well, and although they were there to protect Kazushi and follow his direction to an extent, they were very much self-sufficient.
Within moments, the streaks of light grew from tiny specs to roughly the size of golf balls at their distance, and fell faster and faster until finally blasting into the ground on the far end of the park. Kazushi protected his face with his arms from the bright flash and an expected wave of... well, something. However, aside from the sound and the bright light, things were rather calm. Kazushi's heart rate was still beating quickly, horrified by what he saw. "Two of them?!" he exclaimed, seeming somewhat overwhelmed by the idea of facing multiple opponents. Although they weren't exactly outnumbered with a dozen or so officers nearby, armed to aid Kazushi where necessary, the prospect of warding off two opponents at once was daunting to think about with their experience. Not to mention, he had never seen them arrive in this manner before; it had always been something more subtle before they emerged, instead of giant white lights falling down from the sky where everyone could see. The whole scenario set him off balance, but alas, they had a job to do.
"s**t, they're at the far side of the park!" Kazushi exclaimed again, this time to the officers. They had already just begun to make their way over, gripping their weapons and moving in coordination with each other across the park. It was far enough to warrant consideration for simply getting back into their vehicles and driving closer, but with the bulky weapons they were now carrying, it would have been impractical. Kazushi, too, rushed along with them and Monodramon close beside. It was only, perhaps, a minute of running over to where the two meteors landed, but with such uncertainty before them, it felt much longer. Along the way, it crossed Kazushi's mind that he thought he saw a third one as well, but as it wasn't anywhere to be found, he pocketed the thought to make way for current matters.
By the time they finally made it to where the meteorites touched down, the lights had vanished and all that remained were some astonished and confused bystanders from afar, as well as the ones before them. Kazushi, however, recognized the pink hair and grimaced. "What's she doing here already?" he cursed, although he was somewhat relieved in case the situation became dire. They weren't exactly sheer enemies, but at the same time, their conflicting goals made encountering them at sites like these troublesome and uneasy. He couldn't help but notice, however, that there were no large monsters to be found, and no panic. His rivals appeared to have certain abilities he did not with his man-made DigiRouser, able to shield areas of land and isolate their opponents in a way that escaped his understanding. He only knew that when the dome vanished, all that was left was the DigiRouser user and her partner, with the area that was trapped inside remaining as pristine as it was before being erected. But he saw no dome here, just the two smaller balls of white fire that were now gone. The light from overhead was just enough so that he could make out two black circles spaced far apart from each other in the park, both empty but one with Hiyori and someone he hadn't seen before close by.
Kazushi, Monodramon, and the dozen officers with large and unnatural looking weaponry at the ready finally came to a stop just outside the impact zone, surrounding Hiyori and Shogo as well as their respective partners in a rapidly closing circle. A perplexed and annoyed Kazushi stepped forward within the circle to approach the four of them, Monodramon right up beside him with a hardened expression, backed up by 12 officers with threatening postures poised for a fight. He was convinced that they must have had something to do with this lack of any dangerous monsters lurking about following the meteorite crash.
"What the hell is this?" Kazushi hissed with furrowed brows and a tight frown, just realizing that the unknown individual seemed to have a partner of his own. Despite his lack of authority over the two DigiRouser users, he still expected an answer from them.
(( I know James hasn't made a post about Shogo's partner yet but, under the assumption that his will emerge in the same manner as the rest, he can reflect in his post that Kazushi and the other Joker personnel arrived shortly
after Shogo's partner emerged. ))
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