#Like noseless sea monster Mummymon did inspire this entire trainwreck but only vaguely

[analyzingadventure]

Okay so I had a weird Ghost Game related dream last night and, well this post has nothing to do with that dream but that dream gave me A Thought and I’ve been overthinking it severely and losing my got damn mind and I need to get it out of my system so let’s go

Do Digimon Breathe???

And, apologies in advance, this is not a well-constructed post, it’s just a series of bizarre questions with no real answers because I am just 100% overthinking this and it’s really not that deep

Also, this is not based on any specific franchise entry, I’m overthinking this from the POV of like, null lore/the general concept of Digimon

Is there "air" in the Digital World, or is "air" just empty space?

As we all know (I hope), the empty space that surrounds us in our beloved really real human world isn’t truly empty, it’s filled with various gasses that we interact with (along with some other things). But in a Digital World, where everything is constructed out of data, is there anything “there” in the empty space? Is there like, data that’s programmed to behave like air in our world, or is that space no different from the void of space??

   A Digital World is meant to exist on a computer server (usually Yggdrasil’s but not always), and computers only have so much data they can store, so like. One could wonder if it’d make sense for there to be “air data”, taking up valuable resources on the computer... (That said, the deeper you go into the logistics of this, the more video game-y this discussion will get, which might not be ideal)

If there isn't "air"-data that's similar to oxygen, should the DW be a lethal place for humans?

Like?? Does a human converted into data still require oxygen?? How does the human body react to being converted into data, do you continue functioning just the same as before or does shit get weird??

Honestly that’s its own separate discussion of its own and if go into that now we’ll be here forever (like does a data human’s heart still beat? Do they still grow new cells and do their old cells continue to die? Can you grow older in the Digital World or will you stay in an unchanging statis? If you get wounded, will your wound heal? Like, Rei from V-Tamer was able to walk in the Digital World despite being disabled (her disability didn’t get “cured”, just being in the DW somehow bypassed it)--- if a human dies in the Digital World, will their body decay???), but still. If there is “oxygen data” in the DW, sure, humans could probably breathe it in and it’d probably function in their data-fied lungs just like molecule oxygen would in their atom-based lungs. But if there’s no oxygen data?? Would you just suffocate?? Should you just suffocate?? Or, once you’re data, would you become immune to suffocation?? And if you did, would you also be immune to like, drowning??

Are Digimon required to breathe in "air"? Like, can Digimon suffocate?

Like. Why would you be programmed to need “air”. Also, the DW existed before Digimon did, so before the first Digimon was born, there was a world for it to exist in (be it DW Proper or just the Net Ocean). If my memory doesn’t fail me, all we know about The First Digimon is that it was a Virus, which doesn’t really tell us much, and it’s likely that Digimon is extinct. But whatever it was, either it was a Digimon that didn’t require “air data” to survive and thus lived in a Digital World where there didn’t have to be air. Or. If it DID need air, then the DW must’ve had air from the very begining, otherwise, it would suffocate. This observation does not help answer my question in any direction at all, it’s just a thought.

If Digimon overall do need air, are there exceptions?

Like could robotic/undead/ghost/etc Digimon not need air at all? Because they’re not “alive” the same way “flesh” Digimon are? Or would they need air too because regardless of how their bodies are constructed, that construction is just how the DigiCore has decided to dress itself up like and won’t reflect the Digimon’s actual physical needs? (Also answering such age old questions like “how does a robot Digimon poop”)    And on the opposite side of the spectrum, could there be like, certain Digimon that require air at all times, like a Meramon for example? Like if you yeeted a Meramon into a true airless void, would its flames die out? And if that did happen, would it kill the Meramon?

If Digimon do breathe, how do they do it?

Digimon can see even if they have no eyes/their eyes are covered. Digimon can speak even if they have no mouths, or even if they don't move their mouths. Digimon can fly even without wings, or without flapping them. Digimon can smell things even if they don't have (visible) noses. So if a Digimon doesn't have a nose, does it need to breathe?    Like I’m saying that because many Digimon really don't have noses (at least not visible/easily recognizabe ones). Do they require a specific "organ" to absorb/ingest "air", or like. Can they just absorb it all through their skin? By just having most of their body surrounded by air? Is there like a universal rule there or is it a case-by-case thing? If they could absorb air through anywhere on their skin, is there a limit there? Like if you put an Angemon in water, would it need to have its head above water to not "drown", or could it still breathe through its hands or feet if it kept just one above the surface?     Okay so in the past I’ve joked about Tamers’ take on the DW (in good spirit), and how when Adventure is like “water is real and water is wet”, while Tamers is like “water isn’t real and so it’s not wet if you believe so”, when the Big Brain way to interpret water is “water applies the Status Effect ‘Wet’ to whatever touches it“    So could drowning maybe follow that kind of logic? Maybe it doesn't matter if a Digimon can breathe or not, maybe water just has the effect of "takes damage/dies if submerged for longer than X minutes" on Digimon, unless a one has a passive ability of "breathing underwater" (or like "immune to drowning" or something)? (The same logic applying to like, an empty void, or a pool of lava)

If Digimon don't breathe, can they become out-of-breath?

Or would "out-of-breath" be essentially the same as "tired", but visualized slightly differently? (Remember the comment about the questionable applicability of of video game logic I made earlier? Well here we again)    Are Digimon "animated" the same way a video game character might be? Would they have idle animations, movement animations, attack animations etc etc? And if they do, are they animated to breathe regardless of if they actually need to do so?

Do Digimon understand humans need to breathe?

If a Digimon observes a human breathing, would it understand what that was? That it’s crucial for a human to survive? Do Digimon know what a heartbeat is?