#digimon world series

[dnofsunshine]

Digimon Secret Santa Exchange 2023: Don't blame me (you started it)

Kuga Yuuya never texted her first. Until he did.

Written for @hallowed-nebulae for the @digisecretsanta 2023 exchange! :3

a/n: i'm your secret santa and (like i said on ao3 lol) i'm not entirely familiar with the digimon world series, or i wasn't until recently, so i hope i did your two favorites, Rina & Yuuya, justice!! i've enjoyed the gameplay so far of Re:digitize Decode and i enjoyed writing these two. i hope you have a safe and merry Christmas, and happy holidays!! <333 :D

Oh, and here's my Digimon discord server if you wanna yell abt digimon with us!

Read on AO3! || Read below the cut:

Kuga Yuuya did not texted her first.

It wasn’t something subjective—it was a simple, known fact! She wasn’t sure Yuuya texted anyone first. Often, when Rina texted him, Yuuya left her (very cruelly) on read. Sometimes he left her on delivered. Which was like, extremely rude, thank you very much.

(Granted, none of those messages were because of actual emergencies, but still. Her memes were nonetheless very important and warranted a response. But Yuuya had ignored her. Because of course he did. The jerk.)

So, naturally, when Rina’s phone vibrated and pinged, and Yuuya’s contact lit up her screen, Rina gaped. She blinked, surprised, and it took several moments to register that oh yeah, she should read the message.

Hey, Yuuya had written plainly. Jeesh, and he called everyone else boring.

Yeah, the world had totally ended. Sometime in the last few minutes, the world had ended and Rina had died and gone to an afterlife where apparently Kuga Yuuya texted her first.

She debated on calling him to see what was up, but that ran the risk of scaring him off because he didn’t even text, let alone call; so Rina leaned back in her chair and did what she did best.

Rina: hey!!!! ┌( ＾◡＾ )┘whatcha up to???

Yuuya: Studying. You use a lot of exclamation points, Rina-san.

Rina: and u text like the heir of the gigo company lol

Yuuya: Is… that a good or a bad thing?

Rina blinked again, her lips curving into a frown. She narrowed her eyes at her screen suspiciously, and who could blame her? Since when did Yuuya care about her opinion of him?

Rina: not bad!!! was just kiddin lol (≧_≦)

Yuuya: Okay.

She sent him another text that mostly consisted of emotes and exclamation points (perhaps proving his point), and this time, it took a while for Yuuya to respond. At least a good ten minutes.

Yuuya: What about you? What’re you up to?

Okay. Wow. She peeked out her bedroom window—yep, still snowing. Which meant it was still mid-December and she was still in Japan. Maybe. Probably. If she wasn’t… did it snow in the afterlife? To what afterlife had she been sent, for Yuuya to not only respond but ask about her in return? Smug, snooty Yuuya? What the hell was even happening? She couldn’t even begin to know the answer to that. 

Instead, she answered Yuuya.

Rina: just chillin!!! not really doing much haha it’s boring w/o V.V. here tbh

Yuuya: I see.

Another pause followed. Rina stood from her chair and made her way to her bed to sprawl out, phone in hand, as she awaited the continuation of their conversation. She got bored waiting on minute three and decided she couldn’t handle the suspense anymore.

Rina: so whats up???

Yuuya: I’m studying.

Rina: well duh u said that already i meant why did u text me

Yuuya: You text me all the time.

Rina: yeah! but u like never answer soooooo

Yuuya: Sorry.

Oh good god, okay. Yuuya, apologizing? Prideful, arrogant Yuuya? Maybe she’d gone to some alternate dimension—somewhere that wasn’t the digital world—where everything was the same except for one fifteen-year-old Kuga Yuuya.

She frowned again, this time in contemplation. As she pondered how to respond, she kicked her feet idly against her bed, tapping the back of her phone case if only to keep her fingers moving.

She wondered absentmindedly if his dad scolded him or something. From what she knew, Kuga Kenzou was more insufferable than Yuuya—which, of course, made sense considering he was Yuuya’s father—so it wasn’t much of a stretch to say he wasn’t all that great of a parent.

Her chest ached inexplicably at the thought and her frown deepened.

Rina: is ur dad being a bitch

Yuuya: Huh?

Rina: ya know ur dad is he being a bitch lol

Yuuya: I don’t see what he has to do with the conversation.

Then, after about a minute:

Yuuya: Father is always being a bitch.

Rina: lol!! i believe it honestly

And because Rina was a gremlin with no sense of self-control: 

Rina: his ass must really hurt from the stick shoved in it

Yuuya: Lol.

Rina blinked once more in surprise and then grinned at her screen because this was another new thing—Yuuya laughing at a joke? A joke she made? She didn’t even know Yuuya could laugh, much less over text. She didn’t know he even had a sense of humor.

They spent the next hour or so texting, with Rina sending memes (the normal amount) and emotes (also the normal amount) and Yuuya telling her that it was, in fact, not the normal amount. Eventually, the time between Yuuya’s responses grew longer and longer, and Rina assumed that he’d averted his full attention back to studying.

Rina: ur a fun texter lol

Rina: not as fun as me obviously but still fun just sayin

She sent it without really expecting a response right away, but she was surprised yet again when the reply came in only a few minutes.

Yuuya: Wow. One person approves of my texting habits.

Rina laughed out loud. This was a fun side of Yuuya to see.

(And no, it wasn’t because she felt a little warm inside that he seemed to trust her enough to make jokes with her.)

(She didn’t feel warm inside at all.)

(Yuuya was simply growing on her.)

(Like a fungus.)

Yuuya: Is this supposed to be an honor or a shame, since the person is Rina-san?

Her laugh quickly turned into a scandalized gasp as she stared down at her phone in offense. No, she changed her mind. Yuuya wasn’t growing on her.

“Rude,” she said aloud as if he could hear her, without any hint of fondness in her voice. None at all. "Yer such a punk."

Oh, who was she kidding—she sent him memes, shitposts, and festive, holiday-themed selfies every day after that for the rest of the month. If he was pissed about it, well, he texted her first.

[posthumanwanderings]

Digimon World 4 (B.B. Studio / Bandai - PS2 / GC / XBOX - 2005)

[asteraws]

started watching digimon :•)

[alltheoutsinfreeeee]

inspired by/blatantly stolen from this post

little bits of thoughts and details, as well as spoilers, about each below

Favorite Game of All Time: Final Fantasy IX! From characters to themes to soundtrack, while each parts on their own might be inferior to other games, in its full package nothing will ever beat out FFIX for me. I love this game with all my heart.

Favorite Series: The Tales series~ Their stories always manage to capture me, the character designs are iconic... They might be trope-heavy and sometimes predictable, but its MY trope-heavy and sometimes predictable game series.

Best Soundtrack: Ar tonelico II. This was actually very hard and AT2 does still have several contenders. TWEWY, Terraria Calamity Mod, Pokémon... In the end AT2 won out for now because. Well. It's not often a soundtrack is a huge deal in-universe, songs have their own conlang(s) with grammar and everything, and the soundtrack was specifically designed to sound like it was produced on in-universe instruments as opposed to real life ones. Why did I pick AT2 instead of 1 or 3? It's my favorite and I'm biased.

Favorite Protagonist: Niko OneShot and Kirby! Feel good characters that always make me smile. I would die for them. (hey who's that hiding in there, where did he come from--)

Favorite Villain: Magolor, Kuja, Ardyn. My boys, my chew toys. I would die for them, but for entirely different reasons that for Niko or Kirby, and if I hear anything bad about them in my presence I will throw hands. (in my head anyways, everyone is entitled to their own opinion and i shy away from online confrontation. just hope i will never meet you offline because in that case WILL argue in their favor with you for hours.)

Best Story: Finding Paradise. I adore the characters, the game makes me cry everytime I play it, it left even more of an emotional impact than To The Moon did, I have never felt more personally attacked or seen by a video game, let's move on.

Have not played but want to: Digimon Survive I own and have started, but lost motivation a few hours in. I still wanna finish it one day because I keep hearing only good things about it and I'm a sucker for character development and insect Digimon. OMORI I also own and also have finished one route, but I haven't gotten to the hikkikomori route yet. One day. Kirby Squeak Squad/Mouse Attack I genuinely have never played and wish to change that one day. Sassy mouse phantom thief with cane and ice magic? That's entirely my aesthetic.

You Love Everyone Hates: Final Fantasy XV and Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World. In both cases I think the hate has mostly subsided by now, but I vividly remember many people disliking both games to an unfair degree. Neither are as bad as people made them out to be.

You Hate Everyone Loves: No :3

Best Art Style: CrossCode, The Murder of Sonic The Hedgehog and The World Ends With You. I like anime artystyle and I'm proud. CrossCode is beautiful pixel art, TMoSTH is so unbelievably cozy, and TWEWY is just *chef's kiss*

Favorite Ending: After careful deliberating I went with Ar tonelico 3. The culmination of an overarching story of three games, connecting with the Planet, making up for sins and ultimately taking the first steps towards salvation. With Ec Tisia sounding in a new age as the credits roll. Beautiful.

Favorite Boss Fight: Sister Friede in Dark Souls 3. * disclaimer that I have never actually played DS3, but I love everything about this fight. Setting, atmosphere, dialogue, music, surprises... Truly peak, even if maybe a stereotypical answer to this question.

Childhood Game: Ocarina of Time, Final Fantasy VII and IX. Most N64 Mario games as well as Pokémon Crystal could be put on here, but I feel like those three are the ones that stuck with me the most.

Relaxing Game: OoT and Kirby again, but also Pokémon Platinum. OoT might sound weird at first, but with the soundtrack, the fishing pond as well as the ranch there really are a lot of cozy spots in the game. Kirby doesn't need an explanation, cozy and relaxing are a core part of the series. Platinum is here because of the soundtrack and nostalgia. It's my for now unrivaled favorite Pokémon game.

Stressful Game: Bloodborne and In Stars and Time. Bloodborne is self-explanatory, but also it's my favorite out of the Soulsborne games. In Stars and Time isn't stressful in the same way a Soulsborne game is, ISAT is emotionally stressful (positive and complimentory). My favorite video game party in several years.

Game you always come back to: FFIX, Majora's Mask, Twilight Princess and Platinum. Kingdom Hearts and TWEWY can also be on here, but the space is a too small.

Guilty Pleasure: The Ar tonelico trilogy. Not because the gameplay, story, music or characters are bad, but because there are some. Let's say outdated anime tropes in it. If you can live with some unnecessary fanservice and also less than stellar localizations in favor for genuinely amazing worldbuilding, and fantastic characters and songs, I am lovingly putting the games in your hands.

Tons of Hours Played: TWEWY, Platinum and Tales of Vesperia. You guys don't know how obsessed teenage me was with TWEWY. Platinum is, again, my favorite Pokémon game. And I wouldn't ever have gotten started on tumblr if it wasn't for Vesperia~ I keep gushing over Symphonia and the Abyss, but Vesperia's my go-to Tales game. Not one character I dislike in the whole party. They are all my children. Yes, even the 35 year old.

[sonicasura]

Ok fun idea, imagine Division 3 main rookies and maybe the Vice Captain ending up in the digital world by accident in the DigiDad crossover. Just imagine the chaos that would bring

The group ends up in Next Order's Nigh Plains, not too far from Floatia.

All of them would be so confused and concerned at where they are. There are strange creatures everywhere that feel way too close to the ones they've seen joining in on their missions. Hoshina is the only person keeping everyone calm despite also being overwhelmed by this new environment.

Although he notices that Reno seems more calm about the situation. Like he seen it before. The group ends up looking for a town or some place to figure out to at least gather their thoughts. All the Digimon they come across are curious but don't interact upon recognizing their uniform.

The stranded 3rd Division manage to safely make it to Floatia without any trouble. All of them are met with a very ridiculous sight. Kafka Hibino eating ramen alongside four very familiar creatures while he nonchalantly chats to a giant cactus person wearing boxing gloves and a small blue lizard.

Hoshina may have sent that ramen flying outta his hands like Reno did to the bento in episode 2.

[mel0deon]

im just rewatching a lot of stuff so hear me out

with the adventure 99 kids, the only way they know how to interact with digimon is if the world is at stake. there is a definite Divide of the human and digital world. the hikarigaoka and odaiba fog incident seals the deal with them. next time theyre called, diaboromon is rampaging the internet, and they can finally see their friends again. they had to part ways, and deal with growing without them first.

with the 02 cast, the worlds intertwine. they deal with enemies that interact with them in both worlds and have influence in both. by episode 50, the digimon being at home is a pretty open secret. they do everything together and in the 02 cast were a part of the incidents.

thats why kizuna was so jarring for them. at least taichi, yamato and sora. with the digimon now being more known, they could take them to class. they could have lunch out with them. however, there is definitely a cloud of 'I have only seen them in a life-threatening situation, what can I do with them' thoughts that's blocking them from having fun with them.

jou's arc in adventure especially speaks out to me. his issues are especially why he and gomamon are still together. its because of the issues at home. in the digital world, he learns the value of reliability in his own way. his own choice, as both a Chosen Child and as a person.

dealing with problems that relate to human social issues is hard for the 99 digidestined because all they know dealing with problems is to fight their way through it. it doesn't pass their thoughts that the digimon themselves are related to their own personal issues.

[reticent-fate]

i Need you to understand that i am just a simple little digimon redemption machine

the squeaky lil gazimon that serve etemon on the server continent? get those critters some beef jerky and cat toys

devimon from adventure? that's a friend waiting to happen

i see milleniummon and i go "that's a friend right there, get the lads some fruit salad"

kurata can suffer in digihell but i'll take his gizmon, they're cute

i just think they're neat

-sky

[talesofsonicasura]

Spiritualist

Despite the obscurity, Digimon Frontier introduced a very interesting mechanic into the series: Spirit Evolution. Humans being able to become Digimon through the usage of artifacts. Something that's sadly never fully explored again.

No, I ain't counting Data Squad since that's more scientific than mystical. Then Digimon Next Order came out and one particular set of items got my attention: Digivolution Crystals. If you don't know, these are items that digivolve your partners.

Each crystal correlates to one Digimon whose a Champion stage or higher. What makes it more interesting is the options don't have to be related to your partners' respective lines. Then the idea hit me. A new class for humans whose lives become intertwined with the Digital World: Spiritualist.

Similar to the Digimon Frontier protagonists, they use items from the Digital World to Spirit Digivolve. However Spiritualist aren't restricted to the Warrior Spirits. They can use Armor Digieggs and other Digivolution items to become any possible species.

Spiritualists do need a strong spirit in order to properly control their Digimon form or risk losing themselves. Mental training and spiritual exercises are very common practices amongst this class. A Digimon can lend their strength to make transformations of their family easier to control. Ex: Agumon improves success with the Dragon Family.

Highly skilled Spiritualists can transform into certain Digimon without usage of an item. This requires complete understanding and mastery over said form. Some individuals can even use one Digivolution item to access an entire line if skilled enough.

Strangely, most Spiritualists don't take on a Digimon partner despite the benefits they provide. This has led to rumors and controversy involving the class amongst others. 'Do they believe Digimon are replaceable?' Something that only began to increase when new Spiritualists have a high chance of going on a rampage. Every class chosen by humans tends to have their issues or controversies.

If anyone wants to try their hand at this then go ahead! I'm quite curious at what people can come up with if given a nice push.

@foolmariofest

[analyzingadventure]

To be fair I haven't paid the best attention to the promo info for the new movie (if I do watch it I would like to go in knowing little-ish), but I did kind of get the impression that the First Chosen was meant to like. Not a retcon of Daigo's group but to be like, a plot twist chosen who somehow predated Daigo's group by having been chosen To Do A Thing before them? But hey I might be just behind on the info there

(It would be kind of funny though if Toei did lowkey retcon tri., after all the Zero Two retconning the fandom went on and on about pre-tri.)

Regardless, I do kind of prefer to look at Adventure's lore in a bubble and borrow as little as possible from the other franchise entries anyways because. Man. The lore can get really messy and hard to keep up with, and sometimes you simply might not even like a particular lore addition some entry might make

Like I was literally just reminded by a friend that the villians did get revived in the Wonderswan games and while there may be some cloning and/or timetravel shenannigans in some cases, in theory the revived villians should be the exact same ones from Adventure (including Vamdemon, which makes no sense since he was supposed to be hanging out with Oikawa). Which (as far as my original post goes) would probably mean that unless we could pin down the villians being naughty boys even when revived on Milleniummon (as in, he was infecting them when reviving them with his malice), then they would be just inherently evil Digimon, doomed to do evil things forever because that's just what they are

But in the end it kind of doesn't matter what which lore bit from what entry could imply, because all of this stuff is like. Things Toei is never going to explore in a story. Like it's understandable why, but in the end Toei is exclusively interested in making new entries to the Adventure-franchise if they're centered around the kids one way or another (even if they aren't kids anymore). And what I want to know more about is the potential stories about some of these Digimon, and not just the villains (what might happen with them if they were to be reborn and/or how they ended up the way they did to begin with). I would love to have a story about Wizarmon and His Whole Deal. I would love to see Leomon and Orgemon get married finally. I'd love to see what all the minor Digimon characters are up to and how they're doing. But we're not going to ever see that. And it makes me sad. Because there's so many interesting stories you could tell with/about these characters, but unless you can make it about the kids with a big epic showdown, it's not gonna happen.

[tumblmon]

My OTHER biggest complaint about Cyber Sleuth is that it's arcade is covered in Tekken 2 posters I cannot play Tekken 2 as a mini game.

[windfighter]

Kouichi proposes. He feels like he has to, it's expected of him. Study, get a good job, get rich, get a wife, two kids, divorce, escape into alcohol, die. He has seen enough livers destroyed by alcohol that he figures the faster he gets to that stage the bigger his chance of recovery is. Maybe he'll even have time for a second wife and two more kids.

He should be able to afford all of that on a doctor's salary.

So he proposes. Nothing big, just dinner at a restaurant. A band is playing, Izumu is wearing a very pretty dress. Kouichi's wearing a black and gold suit. He misses being Löwemon, life was simpler back then.

But Izumi is looking beautiful and Kouichi's future is looking bleak. He plays with the box in his pocket, turns it over in his hand. Smiles, because Izumi is beautiful. But his smile feels stiff. Izumi talks and her voice is like a summer's breeze. Soft, soothing. She's Kouichi's future. Part of it. Until she gets tired of him.

Maybe she'll poison him instead of a divorce. It'd be kind of poetic, Kouichi thinks. He puts the box on the table, pushes it to Izumi.

"Do you want to marry me?" he asks.

Doesn't go down on one knee because marriage is a contract and not something to make a fool of himself for. Izumi looks at the box, at Kouichi, at the box. Hesitates.

"No", she says.

Kouichi nods, grabs the box again. Puts it back into his pocket. Doesn't argue.

If he can't get a wife, does he skip directly to the alcohol? He's not sure.

"Ask me again when it's what you want", Izumi continues.

Kouichi nods, takes a sip of the wine. When it's something he wants. He's not sure what that means.

Marriage is expected of him. Soon. But Izumi has never been predictable. He smiles at her.

"I love you", he says.

Because it's expected of him. And he does. She smiles back.

"I love you too."

[skydigiblogs]

Okay, we're like

actually finally reading Seekers

(and by "reading" I mean listening to the Lost in Translationmon fan audiobook version at work)

We've finished the first chapter and I am tentative about most of it aside from the fact that Loogamon is a little shit and we love that for them.

[posthumanwanderings]

Digimon World 4 (B.B. Studio / Bandai - PS2 / GC / XBOX - 2005)

[sweetdreamscafe]

Sorry to ask ak’o but are you a Digimon? If so then how did you keep your Wizardmon form with such low data around you?

[darewolfcreates]

My digimon :]

[wispexists]

On a digimon kick rn going crazy