Dedicated to a good friend of mine, who's no longer with us.

Story 47

Datacenters and Digimon - Nidhoggmon

Nidhoggmon stared about the sky outside his cave. Was it really time for the next session? It didn't feel like it had been that long since the last game, but the eye dragon digimon knew otherwise. Time was one of those concepts that always slipped by. They hoped the same couldn't be said about their partner - Penny. She had a lot on her plate the last time they had seen her. She didn't need them adding additional problems that needed to be solved.

Looking about their cave, Nidhoggmon searched for their case. For as large of an area that he used as a home, that didn't make it any easier to find where he had put it. Regular paper and pencils passed right through his body and don't get them started on dice. Just finding a set that would work had been quite a challenge. Much like the pencils and paper, they too passed right through their hands. At first, they just had someone else roll for them. While that worked, it did make the eye dragon digimon jealous of their ability to roll. Setting out on a journey to find a set they could roll, the answer ironically was frustratingly simple. Just create a set of eyesmon and then mold them into all the dice that they would ever need. Once they did that, creating a character sheet from an additional eyesmon was a cinch. Just one small problem with this plan. The eyesmon thought it was incredibly funny to just hide. Made getting them all back into the cargo container they had been using in order to transport everything. Quite a deal Nidhoggmon had gotten from a strangely dressed Agumon. Bit of a pain to carry, but they could just wrap part of their body around it and fly it to their destination. Simple as that. In actuality, it didn't come anywhere close to that ideal.

Letting out a roar, Nidhoggmon waited a moment for their many eyes to observe their surroundings. For as clever as the eyesmon thought they were, they had nothing on them. None of them came close. Whether that be power, wit or even cunning, they were the top drake in this situation. Outside maybe a different story, but the eye dragon digimon could look past it. Especially with the sounds of scurrying eyesmon flooding mind. Lashing out in the direction of the nearest one, they took care in scooping the shade digimon up and making it return back to the desired shape - a six sided die. Not the most useful one in their collection, but that didn't mean they didn't get some use out of it. Setting that particular die back into the cargo container, care was taken to make sure that the eyesmon retained that form. Wouldn't want any of them falling out mid-transport after all. That had happened a couple times and it made for one heck of a mess to clean. Nor were the villagers screeching in terror over seeing what they claimed was an eldritch entity attacking their home. Digimon like Dagomon were in fact eldritch entities. Not very well-behaved eldritch entities at that. Why else would they be kidnapping a singular brunette? Them, on the other hand, was a hive mind of well-behaved eyesmon that liked dragons. Mostly because dragons were awesome and so diverse among many other things. But that was beyond the point. Especially as his gaze came upon his eight-sided die. Scooping them up, he was met with the numbers staring right at him. Letting out a series of squeaks, that didn't stop the eye dragon digimon from holding them close and setting them in the cargo container. The nerves of that eyesmon. They should be glad that they were remembering to actually grab them. Last time they had forgotten. Made for quite an interesting session when it turned out they needed that particular die for a variety of checks. Leave it to UlforceVeedramon to make things interesting. They liked that part of the royal knight quite a bit. Not that they would say they were jealous. Far from it, in fact. They all had their part to play. Theirs was acting as a lookout whenever major disasters occurred. The last thing most digimon families wanted was their little ones to be swept away and being unable to get them back. Beyond the point.

Letting out another roar, Nidhoggmon scanned the cave for his remaining dice and character sheet. By no means in a hurry, they just wanted to get there as soon as possible. That way, the game could start and they could all play for as long as possible before some sort of complication reared its ugly head to pull them away. Something life and other forces were more than keen on doing as of late. They had heard whispers of digimon just disappearing without a word, supposedly whisked back to the human world for an unknown reason. Businesses that had once been staples of a digimon's shopping trip now sat all abandoned, their owners elsewhere without any way to communicate that they were unable to run things and that their customers should go elsewhere. The few times that they needed something that wasn't sustenance, they found themselves unable to find the things they wanted to get. Much as they wished to ask their fellow shoppers, they were likely unable to understand the words that escaped their mouth. Even if they were, the things Nidhoggmon desired weren't the easiest things in the world to get their hands on - rare tomes and 'gamebooks' (according to UlforceVeedramon). But this was already a niche hobby. One that they had only heard by chance. Quite a bles-

Cutting themselves off, Nidhoggmon scooped up an eyesmon. Staring at it with all their eyes, the eyesmon returned to the desired shape - a ten-sided die. Bringing it back over to the cargo container, Nidhoggmon deposited it. Letting out a sigh, they returned to scanning the cave. They were getting closer, but there were still a couple things that they needed to grab before they could head off to the game. For starters, they still hadn't found their d20. That was the most important die out of all of them. None of the other dice quite measured up when it came to the number of rolls they needed to make with that one. Which made it all the more frustrating when that particular decided to act like even more of a spoiled brat than the rest of their companions. In turn, that made it all the harder for Nidhoggmon to track them down and put them in the cargo container. Though, there was always a chance that it and their other dice had decided that this was the perfect hiding place. They would still need to grab their character sheet, but it would definitely make this process a heck of a lot easi-

"Squeak." a voice announced and Nidhoggmon spun around. Eyes catching sight of their target for the briefest of moments, it was a cinch to scoop up whatever eyesmon had been dumb enough to open their 'mouth' up. Staring down, they were met with a group of dice - the d20 and their smaller but still useful companions. Letting out a happy roar, Nidhoggmon made their way back over to the cargo container. Setting them within, the eye dragon digimon returned to scanning the cave for their character sheet. The largest of their eyesmon, that factor somehow made it even easier for them to hide in the various nooks and crannies of their abode. Part of Nidhoggmon had debated moving in the past, but it never worked out. This cave was their home for the foreseeable future. Or at least until something happened that prevented them from actually getting back to this place. But the odds of that happening were well out of the realm of possibility. That was what Nidhoggmon told himself as they continued looking. Good as their character sheet was at hiding, they couldn't hide forever. Their vision made certain of that. All it would take was a single movement. Once they saw that, it was over for that eyesmon. Did make for one heck of a boring waiting game. Not that Nidhoggmon really minded doing that. It was actually kind of serene. Not that it would last long enough to savor. Someone or something would make sure to break it. Ironic, considering that their character was a gnome bard named Ivette Silvertongue.

Before Nidhoggmon could get a chance to recount their character's backstory to themself, they caught a glimpse of movement. Striking at the first opportunity, they scooped the offending eyesmon up and gave them a glare. Turning back into their character sheet, they took care in rolling it up. Once that was done, they headed over to their cargo container and deposited the character sheet within. Closing the cargo container up, they took care in making sure the lid was on secure. Don't want anyone falling out mid-flight. Hard enough just grabbing them in this cave, they didn't want to even think about gathering them up in an empty space. Probably just use that as an excuse to run as far as their bodies could take them and never be seen again. But the eye dragon digimon pushed that thought away. Cradling the cargo container under their stomach, they began flapping their wings. Getting off the ground, it was smooth sailing out of his cave and into the sky. Off in the distance, Nidhoggmon could make out their destination - the tree formerly housing Yggdrasil. Now serving as the permanent home for the Royal Knights, they would need to be on their guard for any stray projectiles. Royal Knights or not, there was always someone intent in shooting them down for one reason or another. Not a problem on a normal day, but the cargo container brought with it an additional target to aim for. Especially now that they decided on what Ivar's backstory was. A former miner, they had turned to the musical arts in order to mend his broken heart and bring some kind of peace to other dwarves. Whether or not he would accomplish that remained to be seen. Especially in the face of the challenges that UlforceVeedramon might throw at them and their fellow players. That was half the fun of this game, after all. Diving head first into weird situations and working out how exactly to get through… while dealing with the consequences of said actions when things didn't go to plan. Kind of like all the stray energy pellets floating up his way. Odd. They couldn't think of a reason for those to be heading their way. Perhaps someone was fighting down below and they had missed? Wouldn't be the first time something like that had occurred while the eye dragon digimon was flying. Annoying, they could easily dodge those whole heading for the destination. What they couldn't as easily dodge, was the large boulders that were being launched up into the sky, only to come back down mere seconds later. What purpose could one have for doing such a dangerous stunt like that? Had the digimon responsible made sure that there weren't any flying digimon up above that might accidentally get clipped? Better yet, were they making sure to grab the boulders they were throwing and not letting them fall upon small defenseless digimon? They would prefer the former over the latter here. Even if it would've been better to not be throwing around boulders in the first place. But the eye dragon digimon managed to get through without so much as a pebble hitting them or their cargo container. While a part of them wanted to let out a roar of happiness, they refrained from doing so. It would work better once they had reached their destination rather than right now. That, and it would keep the things possibly hurled at them and/or the cargo container to a minimum.

Staring down, Nidhoggmon found themselves treated to the magma fields. Likely burning hot as they usually were, he searched for any sign of Meramon. He was likely to have come through already, owing to his legs and not needing to carry a cargo container. Probably had everything in their boxpack too. He was always good about that. A far cry from them and their wild eyesmon. Effort had been made in an attempt to domesticate the eyesmon, but that had been more of a fool's errand than anything substantial. Something to think about for the future. But Nidhoggmon pushed that thought away as they descended slightly. Tempted as they were to just skip the gate, the eye dragon digimon knew better. Piximon would just fly up and then promptly kick their ass. No, they would just introduce themselves and get the instructions on where they should go for the game proper. After that, they would head over to the table and get themselves set up. Hopefully UlforceVeedramon remembered they were coming and had provided an appropriate area from them to sit and roll their dice. If not, then it would just be a matter of asking them for a place to do just that. Nicely, of course. The last thing they needed was having to face down multiple Royal Knights while needing to keep a cargo container. The odds of something like that happening were slim to none. Instead, it would be better to focus on things that had a slightly better chance of occurring. Things like the eyesmon attempting to cheat and only show certain faces or suddenly spin. There always seemed to be at least one incident of that occurring every game. Or perhaps one of them would run off and take someone else's dice. While that didn't happen as frequently, it still happened. Only with the d6 exhibited that behavior. They weren't completely sure what their fixation with other people's dice were, but the eye dragon digimon knew they would need to keep watch on them to be safe. Or at least warn their fellow players to keep an eye on their own dice sets.

"Sir, I trust that you're here for the game?" Piximon announced and Nidhoggmon came to a stop. Doing their best to focus on the fairy digimon as they landed, that didn't stop them from pointing a spear at them for good measure. Nidhoggmon couldn't think of any particular reason that Piximon would need to point his weapon at them. Especially after asking a simple question like that. Nonetheless, they let out a roar in agreement. Waiting a moment for Piximon to respond, Nidhoggmon took a moment to look about the area. Relatively quiet for what was supposedly the headquarters for the Royal Knights, had something occurred to leave them short a couple members? There had been rumors that Homeostasis was in the Human World… doing something. No one could really agree on what exactly they were trying to accomplish. Probably a task that was related to the balance between both worlds. "Okay. Do have a nice game."

Nidhoggmon nodded and carefully trudged their way past Piximon. Entering the courtyard, the eye dragon digimon couldn't help but shake the feeling that he was not the first to arrive here. The scent of fire hung over one of the chairs, bringing with it a reminder of Meramon. Where exactly could he have gone? Even if he was the first, had something happened to him? Just thinking about it put them on ed-

"Morning Nidhoggmon! Make yourself comfortable while I'm grabbing stuff!" UlforceVeedramon announced and Nidhoggmon nodded. Looking around the table for somewhere that they could take a seat, the eye dragon digimon eventually found a spot where they could set their cargo container down. Not opening it up yet, they looked up to the massive chairs that had been placed down for the other players to sit at. If one of the Royal Knights actually built one that would fit them, it would be far too lar-

Nidhoggmon didn't get to complete that thought, a massive portal deciding now of all times and places was perfect for scooping them up. Taking the cargo container along with them, they found their eyes forced shut as darkness took hold.

.

On the other side, Nidhoggmon found himself falling through the sky and down to the ground below. Forcing his wings to begin flapping, it was pretty easy to start gliding. But to where exactly? Staring down to the ground below, he was met with houses and streets. While the latter was perfect for putting the cargo container down, that still left the matter of figuring out what house in particular that their beloved Penny was in. If they couldn't find her, then maybe they could find Meramon. Even from up high, they easily stuck out like a sore appendage. Or however that saying went in their context. Scanning the area below one more time, the eye dragon digimon did their best to find Meramon. But everywhere they looked only seemed to bring with it areas that Meramon wasn't. He was made of fire after all. Just the heat and light alone should be more than enough to track them do-

In what felt like a pattern today, Nidhoggmon found their thoughts cut-off by way of a giant armored hand grabbing hold of their giant body. Pulling them over, the figure's other hand took the time to pull their cargo container away and set it down on the lawn. For now, Nidhoggmon did their best to find the figure's face. Covered in gray metal, a set of pink lenses stared back. An odd sense of kindness hung over their body, a far cry from their scary appearance.

"Hi there!" the figure announced and was met with a roar. Looking away for a couple seconds, they carefully hand back the cargo container and let go of Nidhoggmon's body. "If you're looking for the game, it's over there."

Pointing to the right, Nidhoggmon gave a nod. This was it. He was finally going to get to see Penny after all this time. Carefully flapping upwards, the eye dragon digimon made sure to not disturb the area this strange armored figure stood. If they were capable of picking them up with relative ease, they were more than able to destroy them in a single attack. All the more reason to remain on their good side. Which was exactly what Nidhoggmon did. Flying out of the backyard, they made their way towards the neighborhood. Which was of course the moment that the eyesmon in the cargo container began moving. Because of course they did. It wasn't much longer from their destination. Once they could set them down, things should be easier. At least, that was what Nidhoggmon hoped to be the case.

"Oh. Hi Nidhoggmon. How are you?" Meramon greeted as Nidhoggmon slowly placed the cargo container down. Letting out a happy roar to their friend, they focus their eyes on the house. From this position, a duo looked to be moving about the home. Searching for something, but the eye dragon digimon couldn't discern who or what they were looking for. Probably something important. "Penny, Nidhoggmon is out here!"

The sound of footsteps heading for the front door echoed across Nidhoggmon's body, the temptation to move slightly forward was hard to resist here. But for now, they remained in their position. One wrong move could easily tear this whole neighborhood apart and bring that weird armored figure from before over. None of them wanted that. So Nidhoggmon remained in place as the front door opened up. There, a short woman dressed in a pink dress stood. Brunette hair done up in a bun was framed proudly by purple contacts and a set of hot pink lips. A heart-shaped hung at the woman's side, with what appeared to be a small plush within. Finishing off her look was a set of purple leggings decorated with hearts leading right into a pair of pink shoes with a small heel.

"How's my favorite giant dragon doing?" Penny announced and ran at Nidhoggmon. Not even seeing the eye dragon digimon lower their head down, that didn't stop Penny from wrapping her arms around their body. "By any chance, do you know where the sourcebooks went?"

Nidhoggmon shook their head, feeling a slight chin pat right after. Felt quite good, even if they still wanted to play Dungeons and Dragons. Perhaps they could once everyone else was here. Probably third edition, of course.