<div class="floatleft">(http://data.whicdn.com/images/17088347/large.jpg)<br/>(http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/digimonat/images/f/fd/Pagumon_t.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140820145802&amp;path-prefix=pt)</div><strong>Name:</strong>Elias Wright<br/><strong>Time:</strong>? ? ?<br/><strong>Location:</strong>The Deepwood<br/><strong>Tagging:</strong>Pagumon (NPC), Open.<br/><strong>Warnings:</strong>None.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>It didn't take long for Elias to regret asking Pagumon to come with him; as much as Elias attempted to maintain a nice, peaceful atmosphere of silence between the two of them - lest he<em>actually</em>decide to give Pagumon a hefty kick - Pagumon seemed intent on preventing it, judging by the way he just<em>wouldn't shut up</em>all the way through the forest. Elias had tried increasing his pace, but Pagumon just switched to bouncing along the tree branches instead of the ground in order to use their spring to give him extra bounce, and Elias was getting fed up. He did his best to ignore him - everything he said was met by a snarky or dismissive comment on Pagumons part - but it was growing increasingly difficult to tune him out just because of the sheer amount of<em>shit</em>he was spewing. You would have thought that it would get easier as he got used to it, but no, it was quite the opposite. They'd only been walking for something like ten minutes, and already Elias wanted to<em>kill</em>something...preferably Pagumon, if he was honest, but he couldn't quite justify it in his head. The little "Digimon" was only talking, after all, and apparently Elias needed him to get to The Skyrock in good time. The little ball of snark and frustration-inducing chatter claimed to know several shortcuts that would get them there faster, and how to avoid the major obstacles like rivers and caves that went nowhere and larger Digimons hunting grounds...it was true that they hadn't encountered anything as of yet and they'd already made a couple of sudden turnings to take certain routes, but...well, Elias had no way of knowing whether these were necessary, or if Pagumon was just making it up as he went along. That kind of bothered him, but...well, there wasn't really anything he could do about it, now was there?<br/><br/>"-I mean, the forests in any place 'r pretty dangerous if y' just go stumblin' off on y'r own, y'know? But Paradise Basin, well, it attracts all diff'rent kinds'a Digimon on account of its wide variety'a habitats, so a'course it's gonna attract pretty dangerous Digimon as well as fluffy types like me, y'know? 'S why you gotta be careful, gotta have s'mbody who knows his way aroun' like me! Gotta keep y'self outta trouble if y're gonna go find y' "Girlfriend," whatever that is." It paused, as if waiting for Elias to say something. He did that occasionally, though Elias didn't really think it mattered what he said; whatever he said, he got what Pagumon likely<em>thought</em>was a witty comment in return, and then he went off on another of his long spiels...honestly, Elias was beginning to believe that those pauses were just to make sure that Elias was still half-paying attention, and he really had no desire to keep playing the game. If he pretended to switch off - which was what he was trying to do anyway - perhaps Pagumon would get bored and<em>stop talking.</em>So....Elias said nothing. "Hey! Hoomon! You payin' attention?"<br/>"No."<br/><br/>Pagumon huffed. "Some people, I tell ya! Y'do 'em a solid, y' go out of y' way to help 'em out, y' take time out of your day to stop 'em getting eaten, and this is the thanks y' get! Really, I don' know why I bother tryin' to explain all this t'y'!"<br/>"Neither do I." Elias stated simply, not even looking at Pagumon. Hopefully this would shut him up...he had indeed largely not been paying attention past "Stop talking or I will hurt you." Well, he<em>had</em>picked up the important points; the world they were in at that moment was apparently called the Digital World, where all matter was Digital in nature - even him, now that he was in it - and wildlife worked in very different ways to in the "Real World." There was little physical differentiation between members of the same species, and every species - due to being made up of similar data - had certain traits that most members of that "Species" possessed. There were also apparently different "levels" of Digimon, but at that point, Pagumon had gone off on a tangent about the "Un-earned arrogance of Champions" and Elias had switched off.<br/>"Y'know, y' should really be nicer t' people who're tryin' to help ya, y'know? I mean, what've I done t' deserve such treatment? Y' need t' take a long hard look at y'self and really work on your attitude. By that, I mean y' should really try to stop being such an asshole."<br/><br/>Elias's eye twitched. He was starting to<em>really</em>hate Pagumon and his non-stop talking and his self-righteous, snarky attempts to bait him into a rise...it was obvious that Pagumon was doing it to try and provoke a reaction from him - nobody would snipe at him as much as Pagumon was if they weren't doing it deliberately - and damnit, it was starting to work. He wanted to give Pagumon a good kick, then storm off in the other direction even though he knew he needed him to reach Mei safely...at least, he knew that was what Pagumon claimed, and he couldn't take the risk that he was telling the truth. Honestly, the thought of getting back to His Mei was all that kept him in check; he'd never been the best at keeping his emotions in line, and ever since he and Mei had been split up when they were younger, his temper had grown out of control. She'd always been the more mellow, more calm, more passive of the two of them and always served as a leash of sorts to keep him in check, but when she was removed, his intense emotional responses and his temper in particular had gotten out of hand - he could recognise that much about himself, at least - and now he was....rather quick to anger, especially where Mei was involved. But likewise, if Mei was the reason he was keeping his temper under control...well, she was still acting as a leash for him, and he appreciated that. But unfortunately, Pagumon was beginning to try even his Mei-Reinforced patience more than a little.<br/><br/>He turned his head to snap at Pagumon, opening his mouth to give him a piece of his mind...and a guttural, bestial snarl echoed across small beaten track they were following. He froze, and he could see that Pagumon did too, his usual shit-eating grin frozen in place. They turned to look behind them, towards the source of the sound...Elias was actually a bit too scared to actually<em>want</em>to look - Pagumon had said something about bigger, more dangerous creatures, and that snarl had sounded<em>decidedly</em>unfriendly - but he did anyway, forcing his head to turn as Pagumon rotated on the spot. What he saw there was...not the worst it could have been, he supposed, but it was still not particularly encouraging. Standing behind them on the track, staring at both of them with deep, crimson eyes, crouched what looked to be a large, slender dog...but not like any dog Elias had ever see, that's for certain. Its frame was similar to that of a greyhound - a narrow stomach and waist, long, powerful legs and an elongated, unimpressed looking muzzle - but its muscles rippled as it crouched leaning backwards with the unmistakable power of a dangerous, practised predator. It snarled again, revealing lines of sharp canine teeth, its black fur bristling as its brown paws clawed at the earth beneath it slowly. Its spiked collar gleamed in the sunlight, but somehow, Elias doubted that it belonged to<em>anybody.</em>Small red gem-like protrusions pulsed softly from inside each of its legs, but it was the sharp, long, wicked looking claws and the razor-sharp blades sprouting off from the back of its haunches that caught Elias's eye. Those...did not look pleasant.<br/><br/>"W-what's a<em>Dobermon</em>doing<em>here?!</em>" whispered Pagumon frantically as it glanced about, looking for an escape route.<br/>"You're asking<em>me?!</em>I got here less than half an hour ago! I don't even know what that thing is!"<br/>Pagumon glanced at him, but another snarl pulled his attention back towards the d- Um, Dobermon, he supposed. "I'll give you the full encyclopedia entry later, but for now, we just need to<em>not die.</em>It's going to pounce as soon as we move. So..." Pagumon took a deep breath...and then did something that Elias could not have guessed in a million years, and something that surprised him far more that the appearance of a glowing red dog. It opened its mouth, cried out the single most inappropriate word in the world - "BUBBLES!" - and out fired a stream of rapidly-moving bubbles, straight at Dobermon. The first few hit the new Digimon and exploded, causing a surprised yelp to sound from the creature, and for a precious few moments, Elias dared to hope that this extremely unexpected, almost adorable and surely ineffective attack - really, how could<em>bubbles</em>hurt<em>anybody?</em>- actually might startle the creature into fleeing...but alas, the yelp turned into a snarl, and a moment later the Dobermon was sailing through the air in a growling pounce of fur and teeth and claws, straight towards where Pagumon was perched on his branch.<br/><br/>Apparently, however, Pagumon had been anticipating this - so apparently it was his plan all along, since as Elias had initially expected, the bubbles did less than nothing - and had bounced off of the branch as soon as the bubbles had left his mouth, leaving an empty branch for Dobermon to crash into. Pagumon landed in Elias's arms as the Dobermon crunched through the branch, the splintering crashing sound echoing through the forest around them as Dobermon landed in a tangle of leaves, limbs and shattered wood. "What are you waiting for, a Digi-Damned invitation?!<em>Run, you moron!</em>" Elias shook his head sharply; right! He didn't even consider dropping Pagumon before he set off - he was too focused on<em>actually running</em>to consider possibly lightening his load, and besides; as much as he wanted to give Pagumon, the shit-eating little fucker, a good kick, leaving him to be savaged by a demonic hound was too cruel, even for Elias. He had a short temper, yes, but he was<em>not</em>a heartless psychopath. Even as he heard the Dobermon shoving the branches off of it and the rustling of the bushes as it started to get to its feet, Elias was off, tearing off at as fast a sprint as he could, taking off through the trees in an attempt to put as much distance between him and Pagumon, and Dobermon.<br/><br/><div class="floatright">(http://wikimon.net/images/c/cf/Dobermon.jpg)</div>He didn't even really pay much attention to where he was going other than "this was the general direction we were going in the first place," just the distance. He had to find a way to lose this "Dobermon," and soon...he didn't feel like getting savaged by this thing, and he couldn't rightly lead it to Mei, now could he? But if it was anything like a Greyhound back home in more than just appearance...that was going to be difficult. He looked down as he ran. "One of the dangerous Digimon that you said you could avoid?" He panted as he got into his rhythm. He was fit, yes, but sprinting took a lot out of you, very quickly. He just needed to push through to his second wind, and he'd be fine...it was just his first wind that was flagging already. To be fair, he had had to vault more than a few low branches and high roots already, only ten seconds into his flight.<br/><br/>"Dobermons roam around the Plains! They're not even supposed to even<em>be</em>in the forest!"<br/>"Well apparently this one wanted some shade!"<br/>"If you've got breath for snark, you've got breath for speed, now<em>run faster!</em>"<br/>"How about<em>you</em>carry<em>me,</em>pipsqueak?"<br/>"And how about<em>you</em>stop being a prissy little bitch and save your breath for<em>running?!</em>"<br/>Elias growled a little, but Pagumon was right...he had to save his breath for running, not arguing. Every word he said slowed him down, and that was not something he could afford right now...not with the sounds of distance pursuit and snarling behind him...and certainly not when they were gradually getting louder. He glanced down to see - despite the worry on Pagumons face - a small, self-satisfied shit-eating grin on his face again. Oh, Elias hated this thing...<em>now</em>he wished he'd just thrown him to Dobermon as a distraction. Well, that was a lie...but it was a thought that briefly crossed his mind. But fantasise later; run now. He could kick Pagumon once they were both not-dead...for now, he needed a plan to get rid of this mutt...and<em>quickly.</em>