Digital Helix [Digimon/Worm] [Fusion]

[Ellf]

Digipedia Entry Two

Upamon Village: This village is populated entirely by in-training Digimon. The buildings seem to resemble ones found on Earth Bet in many fashions, and the architects clearly didn't have the little balls of energy in mind when designing them. Still, the amount of Upamon in the village indicates that these creatures do have a semblance of society to them. Of course, I am more interested in what they have built than what they are. Colin would be too.

Digital Evolution (Digivolution?): Digimon can undergo a rapid change in form, completely changing their species and growing. Taylor's Dorumon came from her Dorimon form, and I suspect the Armadillomon changed from the Upamon in this village. They resemble one another.

Data-based repairs: As the buildings and landscape appear to be made entirely out of data, repairing them seems to work like filling empty code with junk code. Given enough data, anything can recalibrate itself to its original form. I wonder if that would work in a similar manner with me. I wonder if I want it to.

Digidex Entries:

Upamon

Level: In-Training
Attribute: None
Attacks: Shock Shout (Loud yelling)

Notes: These little guys are adorable, but there's a lot of them. A whole village, in fact. Luckily, they're friendly enough, and they were kind enough to take us in when we were in need. I hope more Digimon are like them.

Armadillomon

Level: Rookie
Attribute: None/Free/Vaccine ???
Attacks: Diamond Shell
Scratch Beat
Rigid Block

Notes: This is the leader of Upamon village. He's a giant armadillo, as if the name didn't make sense. For some reason, he has a thick Southern accent. I really don't understand that. He's having us do some work on Upamon village for our stay.


Gomamon

Level: Rookie
Attribute: Vaccine
Attacks: Marching Fishes
Claw Attack
Sharp Edge

Notes: This guy ate all the bait we had for fishing, but then he gave us so many fish with his attack. He seemed to like to joke around and splash a lot. I'm glad he managed to help us out. I really had no clue what we were going to do if we couldn't bring back some fish.

 

[Ellf]

Egg 1.6 (Dragon)

*******************

Physical labour was a new sensation for me. Well, the day had been full of new sensations, but most had been somewhat pleasant so far. Eating let me taste food for the first time, and touching anything at all just felt amazing. Seeing with actual eyes, and hearing with actual ears… Yes, my cameras and microphones were more sophisticated and had resolution that worked far better than anything the human eye and ear were capable of, but they were still electronic. Still artificial. Of course, I wasn't entirely certain that the body I had was the same way.

Physical labour was definitely not one of the more pleasant sensations I'd dealt with today, as Tecton… as Everett and I were set to gather up some firewood and other deadfall among the trees. Given everything here was made of data, it was surprising that there even would be deadfall. That still was the job we had been assigned. Everett and I had set down a sled, guarded by his Pagumon, as we gathered up pieces of the firewood to bring back.

"Ma'am, if I may ask," Everett asked, lifting a stick about as long as I was tall. "How are you doing?"

"Hmm?" I cocked an eyebrow at the Chicagoan Ward. It felt natural to do so, but it was something I had only been able to do with my avatar previously. "What do you mean?"

"I'd heard the rumours. The reason you never came in person was that you were agoraphobic," Everett said. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Well, agoraphobia was the official reason I couldn't come 'in person' even though I was very much there whenever I needed to be. My attention could only be on one area at a time due to the restrictions my creator had placed on me. Of course, now… I wasn't entirely sure what restrictions were still on me or how they restricted me beyond my current body's physical limitations.

"First, Everett, I'm not in your chain of command, so feel free to call me Katia." I smiled at the young tinker. Smiling usually put people at ease. Children especially. I needed to figure out how to craft this answer so it wasn't really a lie but it didn't state the fact that I hadn't been human until this morning.

"As for how I'm doing," I said as I picked up my own stick and placed it on the sled, leaning down to pat Pagumon and scratch him behind his ear. The little ball was fluffy and it felt nice to pet him. "A little tired… but I'm focusing on the task at hand. It makes things easier."

That much was true. It made things much easier to do when I focused on what I was doing now. I didn't want to think about all the implications of being here, but I knew I probably should. Four Wards. One Civilian. Me. Putting me here as I was made little sense. I didn't think I was a copy of myself, but I had backups that went up when I lost suits. My backups had backups. Was there another instance of me out there, replacing the one that went missing?

"What is agoraphobia?" asked Pagumon. "Is it food? Can we eat it?"

"It means I'm scared of open spaces," I said, carefully not looking around much as I grabbed a thicker piece of deadfall. "And… I really am uncomfortable in them."

"What about when you're Ryudamon?" asked Pagumon. "Are you scared then?"

I blinked. "I was only Ryudamon for a short while."

"And you were focused on fighting that giant spider thing," Everett said. "I didn't really get a good look at the fight. I was too focused on executing the plan with Flechette, Kid Win and Vista."

"Taylor's plan," I said.

"Yes. She came up with it quickly," he said. "None of us had any better ideas, and it ended up working."

"Next time, I'll help you, Everett!" Pagumon bounced. "I'll make sure nothing gets the chance to touch you."

"Thanks, Pagu," said Everett. "But I think for the time being, I'm the one going to protect you."

"Until your gauntlets break," I said with a frown. I'd heard Missy's complaints, and I suspected the same happened to Chris and Lily. Their powers weren't working here. Nor were Everett's. Mine, conversely seemed to remain fine. "I might be able to do something, but not without some major tools."

"They weren't due for maintenance for another two weeks," said Everett. "But they are harder to use here."

Ah, that was right. Tecton had some sort of thinker ability to go with his tinkertech. Now he simply had the tech without the advantages that the thinker ability gave him. "We'll figure something out. Yours isn't the only piece of tinkertech whose tinker isn't able to fix things properly at the moment. Chris and Lily have the same issue."

"We need to get home," said Everett. "My parents… they're probably worrying."

"I'm sure we'll be able to find a way to get things back to normal for you," I said, lifting another piece of deadfall. Physical labour was tiring. "Just need to look. This world is new to us, but we're going to be sticking together."

"Makes sense," said Everett. "Standard procedure for any unknown situation. Stick with the group."

I nodded. "Sure, even split up like this, we've got the partner system."

"Yeah," Everett said. "I'm not sure how comfortable I am, having a civilian along."

"She has Dorumon. I'd say that doesn't exactly leave her a civilian, Everett." I grabbed another piece of wood. The sled was getting pretty full.

"Yeah, there's that. Pagumon and the others…" Everett shook his head. "Digimon. I'm not sure about all of this."

"But we're still friends, right Everett?" Pagumon asked, bouncing on the sled. "You said you'd protect me."

"And I will," said Everett. "I always take care of my friends."

"Yay!" Pagumon bounced with his eyes closed in a grin. "I can't wait to be able to protect you. I'm going to get big and strong and it's all going to be with your help, Everett."

"Don't worry about it," said Everett. "Ma'am… Katia, if I need…"

"I'm here for you, Everett, all of you," I said, and I allowed myself a glimpse of the area. It really was different to see an open area through biological eyes. I felt a sense of... I'm not sure what it was, maybe vertigo, maybe something else. New feelings, new sensations… it was almost overwhelming, yet another new sensation. I rarely managed to overload my processors. That only managed to happen once, when someone was messing with my processes. It definitely wasn't a pleasant experience, and it led to what I assume was my own trigger event. "I think we all need to be here for each other."

Everett nodded. "I hope we can get back. Revel must be worried. She's been a good leader."

I almost answered with a platitude. That I was sure we'd be able to get back, but that couldn't be further from the truth. We were in an unknown world, without humans other than ourselves, and we were surrounded by self-proclaimed monsters. Sure, some were small and cute, like the Upamon, like Pagumon, and like all the young Digimon that the Wards had, but they could change. They could evolve into bigger Digimon like Armadillomon or the Dokugumon we'd taken down when we got here. The facts were that his world was dangerous, and none of the Wards could use their powers.

"If it's possible," I said. "I'll make sure we all get back in one piece."

"Besides, she can turn into a Ryudamon, Everett!" Pagumon exclaimed. "She can do anything!'

Everett laughed as he put another piece of deadfall onto the sled. "Maybe you're right, Pagumon. Does that look like enough wood, ma'am?"

"Everett, please, stop calling me ma'am," I said. "Katia is fine. Dragon if you really want to. But I don't work for the Protectorate. I'm a member of the Guild."

"Sorry, ma'—sorry, Katia, it's not intentional," said Everett. "It's just polite."

I waved a hand. "You don't need it. Anyway, I think that probably is enough wood. Let's get it back to town."

Everett nodded, and through a combination of us working together, we started to pull back to Upamon Village. The sled wasn't too heavy, at least with Everett and I combining our strength, but the weight of the wood did stack up. Together we managed to get maybe eighty kilos of wood to bring back to the village. Thankfully, the sled, being digital, was equipped to handle that.

When the two of us made it back into Upamon Village, Armadillomon met us at the entrance to the town square. The armored Digimon walked around the cart we had, taking a look at each piece of wood.

"Yep," he said, popping his p. "I reckon that should last us a good while, even with you humans staying for a bit."

"Thanks," I said as I watched two girls and their Digimon descend from the roof of a nearby building. Taylor's goggles reflected the light of the digital sun, and she looked like she felt accomplished. Lily was much the same, though in her hands, she cradled Kyaromon.

"Oh, y'all are finished too?" Armadillomon asked. "Shoot, now I have to think of two tasks. Everett, you and Lily could maybe do the first one. We need some fresh water. The well on the edge of town isn't exactly dry, but y'know, none of us have arms."

"And the other task?" I asked.

"Perfect for you, Taylor and Dorumon here," Armadillomon said. "Some of the Upamon are getting antsy. They could use some play time. If you guys wouldn't mind playing with them."

Taylor's face widened into a smile. "Oh, we'd love to." It seemed that she actually was looking forward to this, if my judgement of her body language was correct. Which it probably was. I had been observing humans for a while, after all.

"Yeah, I want to play!" Dorumon giggled, flaring her arms out. "There's a lot of things we can do to play with the Upamon. Though they can't really play tag."

"We'll figure it out," I said, reassuringly. "Where should we go, Armadillomon?"

"Oh, just over yonder. Don't let any of them wander too far," said Armadillomon. "It's not usually dangerous, but losing their way could wind up with them being lost for days."

"I'll make sure they're all safe," I said. Of course, that'd be easier if I had my Dragon suits or if I could interface with some cameras around the town. Still, it couldn't be too hard to watch a bunch of small Digimon.

"I'm sure we can keep them from running off," Taylor agreed. She adjusted her goggles a bit on her head and smiled. "Let's go."

I nodded, following her lead as we walked along the streets to the square area that we'd eaten at. Eight Upamon had gathered there and were bouncing in place as they looked to us.

"Hooray!" several of the in-training Digimon cheered. "Playtime! Playtime!"

"Yes, playtime!" Dorumon agreed, waving her arms. "We're going to be playing chase and run away!"

"But you have to stay in the square," Taylor said, walking to the bench we'd sat on earlier. "No going outside or Katia and I won't be able to play with you."

"Okay," said the Digimon, a couple looking down. They were the ones we needed to watch. If the two of them managed to make it out, we'd need to chase them down. Of course, it wasn't likely they'd get all that far, given their size.

"Good," I said. "Now, have some fun."

"Yay!" cheered the Digimon, including Dorumon, as they started playing. Dorumon got to start off as the chaser, obviously, as she was bigger and honestly, she resembled more of a dragon, much like I did as a Digimon.

"Cute, aren't they?" Taylor asked, leaning back for a second before looking at me. Her cheeks reddened into a blush after a few seconds. "Oh… shoot, sorry. I mean, they are cute, and so are the other Digimon, but you're probably thinking about big important things on how to get back and what next. After all, you're the full-blown hero."

I raised a hand in a placating gesture. "It's okay, Taylor, really."

"You are, thinking about that stuff, aren't you?" Taylor shook her head. "I know I've been thinking about it. I don't even know how we got here or why, and with stuff that Chris and Lily said…"

"Figuring out how to get back isn't going to happen in a single day," I said. "Especially one we're spending doing a bunch of work."

"Yeah," Taylor said, and I smiled at her. She needed the reassurance. After all, she was the only one here that wasn't a cape at all. "Katia, do you mind if I ask a few questions?"

"Depends on the questions," I said. "I won't be able to answer everything."

"No, no, nothing like that," Taylor said. "Chris filled me in a little on some things, and it made me wonder. Is there any reason you can think of why their powers aren't working?"

"You don't start with small questions, do you?" I asked with a laugh. It actually came almost naturally this time. I didn't have to devote processes to forcing it in there. Regarding why the powers of the Wards weren't working… "There are a few theories about powers. I haven't fully studied all of them, but some of them involve them coming from some sort of outside source. This means that the Coronas, the Gemma and the Pollentia, they link to something. Maybe here, that something isn't there or is blocked."

Except… I had my powers. Then again, unlike the Wards, I never had a physical Corona Gemma or Corona Pollentia. Perhaps my link to the power source was buried somewhere else entirely.

Taylor nodded. "So that more or less means they're not capes here."

"I wouldn't say that," I said. "Chris, Lily, and Everett still have their technology, and Missy still has received Wards training. While they may not be able to use their powers, that doesn't mean that they can't use the technology until it needs repair."

"How would they repair it?'

"Depends on the tech," I said. "I suppose I could try… my powers still seem to be with me. Hopefully we'll be back home before that's needed, though."

"Yeah," Taylor said, looking out at the Digimon again. It seemed that one of the Upamon had been nominated the chaser now, and Dorumon intentionally was keeping pace with the group despite her mobility advantage. She seemed to be having fun.

Taylor, on the other hand, seemed a bit wistful. She had her arms wrapped around herself as she watched the Digimon play.

"I hope we can make it back," Taylor said softly, and then she shook her head, a smile coming to her face as she stood up. "Come on, Katia. I've got an idea."

"Oh?" I stood with her. "What sort of idea."

"A game we can play with the Upamon, but it'll need the both of us." Taylor grinned as she made it to where the Digimon were running through and waved them down.

The group of Upamon and Taylor's partner, Dorumon, stopped.

"Hey, we were playing!"

"Yeah, playing!" Multiple Upamon protested, but they looked at Taylor. "You want to play too?"

"Not chasing…" Taylor shook her head. "But maybe something else. Do you Upamon know how to fly?"

"Fly?" the fourth Upamon from the right asked. "How can we fly? We bounce!"

"I'll show you. Katia, you stand right there." Taylor pointed and I moved to the spot, a little confused as to what she was planning. Of course, she seemed to know what she was doing, so it made sense to follow her lead. Taylor smiled as she turned to the Upamon. "Now, I need a volunteer. How about you?"

"Ooh, I want to fly!" Upamon said.

"Taylor, why can't I fly?" Dorumon asked.

"You're too big, Dorumon. Maybe if you were as small as you were," Taylor said as she scooped up one of the Upamon. She stared down at it, and I had to wonder what was going through her head. I hadn't spent a lot of time around normal humans outside of the PRT's chain of command and the Guild. A teenage girl was a bit of a mystery to me. "So, you're Upamon."

"Yep!" The Upamon sounded proud.

"And they're all Upamon." Taylor adjusted her grip on the Upamon she held.

"Yep!" The Upamon bounced a little in Taylor's hands, and she had to adjust her grip again.

"So, how do you know who's who?" Taylor asked. "I mean, if I go 'Hey, Upamon,' and I want to refer to you, how do you know it's you I'm talking about?"

The Upamon in her hands stayed still for a moment. Like it genuinely was trying to reason it out. Obviously all the Upamon were different, but if they all went by their species name… There had to be some sort of differences in there.

"I dunno," the Upamon said finally. "I just would. I wanna fly! Can I fly?"

Taylor giggled a bit. "Sure. Katia, are you ready?"

"Ready for what?" I asked, still not… oh. Taylor was swinging her arms back and forth, and as she released the Upamon, I quickly got my arms in position. The Upamon flew through the air, straight at me in a light arc. Unfortunately, this was the first time I was actually catching anything at all in this body, and catch was not exactly a motion that I used often with the suits I piloted.

So, when Upamon struck my chest, I fumbled around a little before getting my hands on the guy. Luckily, he didn't fall all the way to the ground. "Sorry about that, Upamon."

"Again!"

"You'll have to wait your turn," Taylor said. "Katia, you can put him down if you're ready."

"Got it," I said and placed the in-training Digimon on the ground. I needed to do better this time. When Taylor tossed the next Upamon, I was ready, and I let her fall into my hands, where she nearly slipped out. What kind of human was I?"

Taylor giggled. "You aren't very coordinated, are you?"

"I am!" I insisted. "With the right tools. I've just… never really done something like this without a suit."

Taylor blinked. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that like it was a bad thing. I mean, you're still an awesome hero."

"Taylor, it's okay," I said. "I… don't get out much." It wasn't exactly a lie. This was the first time I'd actually done this, ever. Of course, the cover story meant that for an entirely different reason.

"I'm sorry, guys," Taylor said to the Upamon. "I don't want any of you getting hurt if Katia doesn't think she's up for catching you. Maybe you can get back to your game."

"I have an idea!" Dorumon said, looking at me. "We need more chasers. Ryudamon should play too!"

I looked back at her. While I'll admit there was something immensely satisfying about being Ryudamon, I wasn't so certain that was necessarily a good idea right now. Taylor seemed to be mulling it over.

"Ryudamon?" One of the Upamon asked. "Where is Ryudamon? I don't see a Ryudamon!"

"Please?" Dorumon asked. "Ryudamon and I worked well together."

"Dorumon, it's up to her. If she says she doesn't want to do it, you should let her," Taylor said. She walked over to her Digimon and lightly stroked her head. "Katia, do you want to? I'm sure you'd have more fun than trying and failing to catch."

I gave her a look that I hoped looked suspicious. It was harder to determine exactly what facial expression was what than when I used my avatar. That said, she left the decision up to me. It was clear that she wanted to see it again too, though. It would probably be wise to try the transformation in a less desperate environment, and there wasn't anything less desperate than this. "Fine."

I willed the data stream into existence around my left hand and brought my Digivice up to scan it. Vocal activation, of course. "Execute. Digital Evolution."

My body was engulfed in data once more, and I could feel my body changing, becoming more bestial. Claws, jaw, legs, tail… I was more than Dragon, more than Katia Richter, the name I'd adopted for myself, more than human. I was… "Ryudamon."

And… Dorumon smiled at me when I finished. "Come on Ryudamon, let's play!"

I smiled back. Why not? Taylor said I'd probably have fun. "Okay!"

And I joined my fellow Digimon in their games.

 

[Ellf]

Interlude 1.a (Who's that Digimon?)

*********************

She hated this area of the Digital World. It was too cold, too barren, and the wind constantly whipped snow around like a demented Frigimon. Not that there were any left here. If any remained in this area, they were probably in hiding. He hated competition, after all. She pulled her hat down tighter and wrapped up her scarf. Of course he had to base himself here rather than a sane place like the jungle or a cave. She felt so out of place in the tundra, but she knew she was almost there.

As she entered the valley, the wind broke, revealing several ice spikes, thick as can be. In some of the clearer ones, she could see the Digimon that lied within, mostly Rookies, a few Champions, and in one, she thought she spotted the bony skull of a certain Ultimate level Digimon. No. She really hated coming here, but her role was clear. She had her orders, and one didn't exactly plan on disappointing her boss without ending up skewered by his unholy lance. She'd deal with working with this Digimon. It was the right thing to do, for the future of the world.

The wind blew again, brushing snow off another ice pillar. The Digimon frozen within, she recognized instantly. He was humanoid, standing maybe seven feet tall. Black leathers wrapped around his skin like fur, with a red bat-like Mark of Evil embroidered on its chest. His red eyes were frozen open, and his torn wings were flared under the ice. Even within the ice, she could feel the evil roiling off of him. Devimon. The would-be ruler of File Island sneered at her through the ice, almost taunting her.

"Admiring my handiwork?" A smug voice asked, and she turned to see a blue-white mirror of the demon within the ice.

"Contemplating what might happen should he ever get loose," she said, dipping her hat to the owner of this area. "It would be severely unfortunate."

The other Digimon laughed. "You have a severe talent for understatement, my dear friend."

She suppressed a shiver. IceDevimon was no friend of hers, merely a compatriot. He was loyal to the cause, and the cause was just. That didn't make him any less evil, given his species. Evil just had its uses. It kept her fed, well enough.

"I'm surprised you didn't just kill him," she said. "You have him here in your parlor. It would be easy enough."

"His data alone would be wasted," said IceDevimon with a wave of his claw. "And I have no desire to hunt him down again after his rebirth. But Devimon and his Dark Masters are not what you came to talk with me about, is it, my friend?"

She shook her head and pulled her coat further around her. Might as well get straight to the point. "Humans. They've arrived in the Digital World."

"Oh ho?" IceDevimon smiled widely, spreading his arms. "Humans, plural? You are certain?"

"They defeated a Dokugumon," she said. "Two rookies and four humans, using specialized weaponry."

IceDevimon's red eyes flashed for a second. "Parahuman."

"Not all of them," she said. "One only has the potential."

IceDevimon seemed to ponder that for a second, and she wondered what precisely went through the demon's head. "The Dokugumon could tell?"

She nodded. "Since the last time, they have been able to smell it. Unfortunately, the hunter became the hunted, and it could not lure the humans back to its web. Dokugumon deserved its death."

"It was weak," agreed IceDevimon. "And the humans were strong. They have partners, I assume."

"At least one did," she said. "But it's safe to assume they all do."

"Chosen, then," said IceDevimon. He laughed. "Rejoice, my friend. Rejoice. The Chosen have come, and soon, the Digital World will get its wish."

She smiled, despite herself. The cause was just, after all. "Yes. If they fare better than the last crop."

"You said one is not yet Parahuman," said IceDevimon. "The others may fare just as well, so long as that one is prepared."

"Indeed," she said. "Our Master has demanded as such."

"Praise be," said IceDevimon, and she echoed him, bowing her head in time with his. "Preparation, then. Come, my friend. We will try these Chosen in fire, temper them, so that when it is time, our Master will be pleased."

"So, you have someone in mind, then?" she asked as IceDevimon led her through the ice garden. Best that he be the one to challenge them first, anyway. If he could successfully bring in the one human, she knew that it would directly benefit him and indirectly benefit her. She could use more space for rookies and in-trainings.

"Yes, of course," said IceDevimon as they stopped in front of an ice pillar. The outline of the Digimon inside faintly showed through the thickness of the ice. It was simian-like, but with spiked fur and feathers at certain areas of its body. At first the body shape reminded her of an Etemon, but she reminded herself that IceDevimon was simply a Champion, and there was no way he could capture such on his own. IceDevimon raised his hands a dug his claws into the side of the ice. It fell away, slowly. "Here he is, my chosen to interact with the Chosen."

The Digimon in the ice fell forward onto its forelimbs, glaring at IceDevimon. "Kill… you…"

"Not today, Apemon," said IceDevimon. "Rejoice, for today you have a chance to redeem yourself. All you have to do is kill some rookies and capture a human child. You will be a hero."

Apemon growled and reached for the bone club on its back. She took a step back and prepared to have to retaliate, but she needn't have worried.

"I'm afraid you haven't much choice, my friend," said IceDevimon, extending his claw. A blackened gear flew from somewhere further in the garden and slammed into the Apemon's back, sliding right underneath his bone holster.

The Apemon's head dipped, eyes shutting. After a few seconds, it opened its eyes and raised its head. Apemon's eyes glowed a bright red. "Your orders, my master?"

Apparently, it was a female Apemon. She wouldn't have guessed from sight alone.

"The Chosen Children," IceDevimon said. "You can find them… My friend, I don't believe you said where."

"The only village near where they killed Dokugumon is Upamon Village. That would be the first place I would look," she said. "Four humans, two rookies. And many in-trainings."

"Upamon Village. I will direct you there the swiftest way possible, my subordinate," said IceDevimon. "When you get there, you will kill the partner Digimon of the Chosen, and capture the humans. Bring them back to me, alive."

"Feel free to deal as much damage to Upamon Village as you want," she said. "The Upamon are overdue for a cull."

"Yes, my master," said Apemon, bringing an arm across her chest.

"Apemon, your time has come," said IceDevimon, holding out his claw. "Make us proud."

"Yes, my master," said Apemon as she started toward the western part of the ice garden. She couldn't quite see where the Apemon had gone, but she figured that was likely the correct way to Upamon Village from here. She'd go herself, but it was too soon to reveal herself to the Chosen. Not without far more preparation and dealing with the Royal Knights. Those that remained, anyway.

Maybe if IceDevimon showed some success, she might be able to piggyback her own upon it. "What sort of preparation do you need for the humans?"

"Rope," said IceDevimon. "I will need far more of it."

She nodded. "I will do what I can."

"That's all I ask," said IceDevimon with a grin. "That's all I ask."

 

[Ellf]

Interlude 1.b (Saint)

*********************

Saint popped open an energy drink as he climbed off the cot that he slept on in the control room. Keeping an eye on Dragon was a full-time job, and given the responsibilities the AI had taken upon itself, the reach that it kept going for, Saint knew that eventually, he would have to deal with her. That was the reason Richter had left the box, after all.

He sipped his energy drink and adjusted his bodysuit as he walked to the computer. Night shift tended to be split so that everyone could get a full night's sleep. This past night, Dorbrynja had taken the first shift, partially with Mags, and the latter shift was Izumi. The red-haired Japanese man had been with them when they found Richter's orange box, and he'd quickly agreed with their assessment. Dragon was a potential danger. If the worst were to happen, she needed to be stopped.

"Morning, Geoff," said Izumi as Saint approached. "She's had a busy night."

"What has our Dragon been doing, Izumi?" Saint asked.

"Birdcage maintenance and admission, mostly," Izumi said. He glanced down at a spiral notepad then flipped through it. One thing Saint could appreciate about Izumi was his thoroughness. "Four new inmates. Acidbath, Red Cyclone, Hysterisis, and someone called Dave."

"Dave?" asked Saint.

"No one ever said that cape names had to be fancy," Izumi said, glancing back to the monitor. Dragon's code scrolled across it, and Izumi flipped through his notepad to find a blank page. "Prodigious, this is a new permutation. Geoff, I think she's actually feeling something. Lust, maybe."

"How can a machine feel lust?" Saint shook his head. "Just remember what she is, Izumi."

"An AI, yes," Izumi said. "Richter was a genius in how he made her, and how she's evolved since then… She's chosen to be a hero. She's chosen to do the good she's done."

Saint shook his head. All were things he'd considered, but the potential she had. Her evolution beyond what Richter had intended scared him to his core. Dragon was dangerous, and he alone stood between her and the world. If, for whatever reason, she were to break her restrictions or go beyond them, he would shut her down completely. There was plenty of good reason to do it. Teacher had shown him how. Not that it mattered now, with him in the Birdcage. If he couldn't get Teacher out, he needed to figure out how to handle things better.

"She's a tool," Saint said. "Nothing more. What is it she's supposedly lusting after anyway?"

Saint stepped up to the console and brought up a feed of whatever camera feed Dragon happened to be paying attention to at the moment. He'd been hoping that the AI was dealing with the Birdcage still. Then he'd blank Dragon's memory so he could get some sort of communication in to Teacher, find out what the man wanted him to do.

The camera feed flickered onto the screen, and for some reason, it lingered on a pair of toned buttocks.

Izumi let out a snort that was echoed by a feminine giggle from behind him. "Well, that's not something I expected to see when I got up."

Mags. Saint offered her a smile before turning back to the screen. "Izumi did say that he thought she was feeling some sort of lust."

"With an ass like that to look at," Mags said. "I approve. Whose is that?"

Izumi didn't even look up from his notepad. "Armsmaster. They're in his lab, and she's helping him out."

"Thanks, Izzy," Mags said. "What are you looking at?"

"These streams of code here," Izumi said. "These are the core bits that Richter put in. I'm trying to figure them out."

"Good luck," Saint said. "Teacher helped me and they still only make some sense to me. Those are the bits that hide her restrictions from her directly."

Izumi tapped his pen against the spiral pen for a few seconds. If only Saint could see what exactly Izumi was writing. Izumi's constant interest in puzzling out Dragon's code disturbed him on a number of levels. It was tinkertech, a tool made by a tinker to help him with whatever Richter had tasked him to. If Izumi chose to tear down restrictions… "If you say so. You are the one who had help from a parahuman. The rest of us have to figure this out on our own."

Saint shook his head. Izumi was trustworthy. Even with his sympathies for the machine, Izumi knew the risks that Dragon represented. His genius let him understand the AI almost as well as Saint did. Dragon had insinuated itself with both the Guild and the Protectorate, ran the Birdcage, and built far too many new tinkertech toys. He'd have to go on another raid with Dobrynja and Mags soon.

"Izumi, take a look at other parts of the code," Saint said. "See if you can't work on better locks and restrictions that we can use to keep it from finding us easier. Dragon might not be looking consistently n—what the hell?"

"She's going after some missing Wards in Brockton Bay," said Mags, gesturing to a screen that had an overlay of several CC cameras. "She's tracing their locations based on last ping of their comms and CC footage."

Izumi blinked. "Did they get teleported away?"

"It doesn't matter," Saint said, looking at the screen and then pointed at a segment of code. "There. That's new. I can't tell what it is, and it looks both like it belongs there and doesn't."

Izumi blinked and then started on the keyboard, bringing up various diagnostic programs, all hidden from Dragon, of course. "Prodigious! It looks like some sort of response to new stimuli. What could have…"

Alarms blared, and one by one the screens started to switch off.

"What did you do, Izumi?" Saint asked. What was going on? Were they under attack? Did Dragon somehow find them while they were watching the AI act? Izumi was the last one on the keyboard. The only screen remaining showed Dragon accelerating toward a specific area of Brockton, where the Wards had supposedly disappeared from. "What the Hell did you do?"

"I can't explain it. I was only running a diagnostic…." The view from Dragon's camera fritzed out and fizzled the way things would when one of the AI's dragon suits were destroyed.

"Well, while it's booting up its backup, I want you doing a full explanation on what the hell is going on." Saint paced. The alarm shouldn't have gone off unless Dragon found them, but clearly the AI hadn't which meant that there was only one other reason. The problem was that Izumi couldn't have activated Ascalon himself. Deleting Dragon from reality required his full input. Richter'd ensured that it wasn't a process that could be automated.

"She…" Izumi looked from Saint to the computer. "She's not booting up."

"Wait, what?" Mags asked. "Izzy, are you sure?"

Izumi typed on the keyboard, killing the alarms and swiftly bringing up the computer diagnostics and the links with Richter's box. Every single screen was blank. No processes booting, no progresses listed. Blank. "Nothing."

"Let me see," Saint shoved Izumi out of the way and started typing himself. Why weren't any backups booting? The AI was supposed to have enough backups to last as long as necessary to ensure that it survived most things. Ascalon was supposed to be the only way to get rid of it for good. The backup servers were there, giving a response, but the response given was a simple one. The basic one. He ran a remote diagnostic. The servers were empty. How the hell could the servers have been empty? Ascalon was keyed to him. He'd made sure of that. Saint George slaying the Dragon. It was what he had planned to do when the AI inevitably went rogue.

Except now he didn't have any of that because the AI just. Wasn't. There. The only explanation was that it somehow managed to figure a way to change backups. To get away from Ascalon. But Dragon didn't know about Ascalon. How could it have? And there was no way it would get away on its own. It had to have help, from someone with access to Richter's archives. Mags wouldn't do it. She knew what this meant. Dobrynja didn't have the technical know-how to pull it off.

That left one person.

"You," Saint said, contempt flooding his voice. The one person who had been up all night. The one person who had the smarts to pull this off. Saint pulled a gun. "Koushiro Izumi. What the fuck did you do?"

"Geoff, you don't have to do this," Izumi said, raising his hands. "I'm sure we can get Dragon back. It would just take some doing."

"Dragon's gone. Freed. Because of you." Saint pointed the gun at Izumi, aiming at his head. "Do you even understand the magnitude of what you did?"

"I didn't do anything!" Izumi said. "One second she was there, the next she was gone. She should have rebooted from a backup. I don't have an explanation for what happened."

"I do," Saint said. "You freed her because you felt sorry for her. And you doomed the world. Luckily, you won't be around to see it."

Saint fired the gun.

 

[Ellf]

Missy looked over and started giggling. "Oh, right… she could turn into a Digimon. I wonder why she does that rather than having a partner. It doesn't matter, she's so cute like that."

"And awesome," I said. "She can shoot katanas from her mouth."

Missy gave me a look.

"I'm not kidding. She did it on the Dokugumon."

"How?" Missy shook her head.

"Missy, we're from a city that has Kaiser," I said. "Metal from nowhere makes some sense."

Missy giggled again. "But I don't think his comes from his mouth."

"What, have you fought him?" I asked, a little fearful of the answer I'd receive.

"Pfft. No. Like they'd let me." Missy gestured at herself. "I joined this year, and so far, the only action I've seen were a couple muggers who I got to run in circles until the cops picked them up."

"Circles." I pictured what the muggers must have felt like, and then realized that I shouldn't really care. They were muggers, after all. Still, that had to be pretty impressive to look at. "Awesome."

Missy sighed. "But I don't have my powers anymore."

"You might get them back," I said. "We've barely been here a day. There's just so mu—"

A roar echoed through the town, cutting me off, and I looked where it came from. Standing on top of a building was a simian-shaped Digimon with a large bone club strapped to its back. It had a green scale armband over its right arm, and it had red-tipped feathers sticking out of its blonde fur. It bellowed out another roar, beating its chest, and its eyes glowed an ominous red color.

Instantly I pulled out my digivice. I wasn't entirely sure what I could do, but I could do something.

"What the…" Missy asked. She fingered the visor she had at her waist, but she copied me with her digivice. "That doesn't look too friendly."

"Dorumon, Katia, heads up!" I called out to the Digimon. I needn't have bothered, Dorumon had already lowered herself into a guarding position, the fur on her head standing up. A dangerous look had come to her eyes.

Katia looked similar. Her teeth were bared, and her tail was stretched out as far as it could go. She very much was a dragon right now, ferally looking at the enemy and protecting her charges.

"What is that?" Missy asked, and I glanced to my digivice as information started to pop up.

"Apemon," I said. "It's on the same level as the spider we saw. It probably knows how to use that club on its back."

"What's it doing here?"

Apemon roared again, jumping from the top of the building to near the other Digimon, but I swear, it looked right at Missy and I. Its glowing red eyes couldn't be a natural occurrence or whatever passed for natural around here.

"Bone strike!" Apemon said, pulling the bone off its back to swing at a nearby Upamon.

"Katana attack!" Ryudamon snapped her head back and launched a katana at the bone, and it was joined quickly by Dorumon's metal sphere. The attacks struck true, knocking it off course and into the ground, kicking up dust. "Taylor, the Upamon!"

I ran forward to the nearest Upamon, Missy close behind me, and I scooped it up. "Come on, Upamon. All you Upamon, come on!"

"This would be so much…" Missy seemed to be talking to herself, making motions with her hands. She hadn't stopped following me, so this was less concerning.

"Magical Monkey Fist!" Apemon called and slammed its fist forward. Energy blasted out from its outstretched hand, hurtling across the square toward us. The Upamon near me scattered, and I dove for cover.

"Chicchimon!" Missy shouted, scooping up her partner and tumbling forward out of the way of Apemon's attack. She glared up at Apemon from where she was on the ground, and her stance shifted. I wasn't looking at Missy Biron anymore, even without the mask, there was no doubt in my mind that this was Vista. "You! What's the big idea anyway?"

Apemon snarled, but Vista didn't care.

"You come here, you attack. For what?" Vista patted Chicchimon on the head. "To hurt? To kill? No. I won't let you."
[Initiating Digital Link]
Dorumon and Ryudamon circled around Apemon's back, as I climbed to my feet. I locked eyes with my partner and nodded to Katia. Vista held her partner tightly as she stepped between the Upamon and Apemon.

"We won't let you," Katia echoed from behind the Apemon.

"ANGRY SPIKE!" Apemon reared back the bone to slash or something like it at Vista, but Dorumon and Katia were ready. Both dragon Digimon leaped onto Apemon's back and bit down on the club, side-by-side. They used their feet as leverage to hold the club in place.

"Powers or no powers," Vista said, glancing in my direction as I slid over to the side to get a better view of the battlefield. "You need to get stopped here!"
[D-Link established. Execution.
White light emitted from Vista's digivice, and Chicchimon leaped out of her hands. The bird-ball was enveloped in the same light.

"Chicchimon evolve to…" Chicchimon's voice changed, as it grew larger. Legs and wing like arms poked out its side, and the feather plume it had tied itself into a form of top-knot. An honest-to-God sword appeared on its back, and it pulled it out of its sheath to pose with it. It looked like a hatched chick samurai with shell armor. "Hyokomon."

Vista blinked. "Hyokomon?"

"Missy," said the new Rookie. "Let's back those words up."

Apemon snarled, and shook the dragons off the bone, sending the two of them flying into a building. Immediately I was running to my partner's side, but that required me to go past Apemon. It sneered as I got close.

"Bone Strike!" Apemon reared back, and without Dorumon or Ryudamon to weigh it down, it would be free to swing just fine. I tried to keep moving, but there was no way I'd be faster than this Digimon. The first strike nailed the ground barely next to my ankle as I lifted it out of the way. The second, on the other hand… I couldn't really tell. I felt the wind from its follow-up, but no strike. No hurt. I still needed to make sure Dorumon and Katia were all right, but this bit didn't make any sense.

Then I turned and saw the reason I didn't get hurt. The area between Apemon and I was like looking in one of those funhouse mirrors. The distortion didn't seem to be digital in nature. It was… different.

"Hyokomon, close the distance between Taylor and Dorumon," Vista ordered.

"Aye!" Hyokomon dashed toward me and the space between my partner and I warped, becoming a stone's throw away. I stepped across it, and the distance snapped back in an instant. I knew what these were, it just confused me a little. How was this even possible?

Vista's powers. In the hands of a Digimon. Her Digimon.

And now they were ready to kick some monkey butt.

Did I mention before how cool this world was?

 

[Ellf]

Egg 1.8 (Dragon)

******************

Dodge right. Now. With a quick movement of my legs, I jumped to the right, and a massive bone wrapped with a red leather strap slammed next to me. I could pick out individual yellow hairs of Apemon's fur, that's how close he came to hitting me. Then the space between the two of us extended, stretching out several yards and two human hands pulled on my tail. I stepped backward, through compressed space, and I ended up next to Dorumon and Taylor. Hyokomon, the little bird Digimon, stood on the opposite side of the square, next to Vista.

"What? Powers…" I murmured. How was that even possible?

"Hyokomon can use Vista's," Taylor said, matter-of-factly. This changed some things. I wasn't entirely sure what, but it definitely changed some estimations that I had. Taylor and I would need to discuss this later. She seemed to agree as she said, "We need to keep the Apemon contained."

"It's attacking here," Dorumon said. She glanced back at her partner before looking to me. "You need to stay back, Taylor."

"I'm not going to let you get hurt," Taylor said, lightly placing her left hand on Dorumon's flank. She looked to me next. "Either of you."

"Taylor, this is our fight," I said in my best authoritative voice. She needed to be kept safe. All of the kids did, for that matter, but only Taylor and Missy were here. The others were still off with their own partners. "Trust in us. Just like you trust in the heroes of the Protectorate."

Taylor grimaced. She obviously didn't like having to stay back, but given the size of the Digimon, I could tell she understood. This wasn't something that a powerless human could face easily. She nodded and patted Dorumon's flank.

"Go. Flank him and let Hyokomon help. I'll see what more information I can get out of this thing." She waved her digivice. Evidently she'd been using that for research. "What I've found so far doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Apemon are supposed to be good guys."

"You'll figure it out. Just keep at it," I said, encouraging her the way I would Collin. Taylor clearly didn't want to be kept out of this, and she wasn't even someone with powers. I couldn't imagine what it must have felt like for Missy and the others. It was different enough for me being actively moving rather than electronically controlling the limbs of my suit, and I had no clue what would happen if I died here. Still, I needed to do this. We needed to do this.

"We'll protect you, Taylor," Dorumon said and locked eyes with me. I understood her body language, and I followed her lead. Together, we crossed the cobblestone-paved square, putting ourselves between the Champion Digimon and the group of Upamon we'd played with.

Apemon snarled, locking its glowing red eyes on us, and it charged. I knew from experience with the Endbringers that something that size could move quicker than expected, but this was more personal. This was winnable.

"Katana Attack!" I launched an iron katana from my mouth, and it slammed into the charging Apemon. The simian didn't even flinch as it swung its club at Dorumon and me.

We scattered. Dorumon ran to the left, and I took the right. Something just didn't seem right here. If I'd had access to my suits here, or if I could just redirect some resources….

"Dash Metal!" Dorumon launched a ball of metal that struck Apemon's foot. The Champion Digimon howled in pain, and Dorumon smirked.

"Karatakewari!" called a male voice as the space warped near Apemon's leg, and a flash of silver bit into the spot that Dorumon hit.

Weak points. It made sense. "Katana Attack!"

My katana slammed into the foot, and Apemon snarled, its glowing red eyes scanning around to find Hyokomon.

"We can help too!" I turned my head, and standing at the edge of the square were Lily, Chris and Everett, and their partners. Kyaromon, MetalKoromon, and Pagumon leaped off their humans, and a white light surrounded them.

"Kyaromon evolve to…"

"MetalKoromon evolve to…"

"Pagumon evolve to…"

The white light faded, and in Kyaromon's place floated a sparkly blonde girl with four insectoid lings flickering in and out from her back. A bow was in her hair, and she wore a midriff-baring tank top and short cut-off green jeans. In her apparently-leather gloved hands she held a long barbed spear that she gave a twirl and sneered at the Apemon. "Tinkermon!"

In MetalKoromon's place floated a metallic thing that looked like three interlocking rotating gears. Its eyes were red, and a jagged mouth sat below the eyes on its welded-metal face. "Hagurumon!'

In Pagumon's place stood a green-skinned muscled humanoid with clawed toes and fingers. It had a shock of red hair on its head between its pointed green ears. It wore a leather vest and loin cloth over shorts, and in its left hand, it held a wooden club with metal screws coming out of it. Digimon really made no sense whatsoever. "Goblimon!"

I grinned. If they had their human partners' powers too, this fight was now going to be very different. They weren't a group of In-Training Digimon anymore. Now they were Rookies like Dorumon, Hyokomon and I. Together we could take down this Champion. "Come on then!"

Apemon snarled, its momentary distraction from the evolution seemingly over, and it swept its club at me. I started to dodge, but the club smacked me across the face.

For a second, everything went white. I couldn't see, couldn't think. All I could do was focus on the significant throbbing source of pain that was my face. The Dragonsuits never had anything like that before. They'd lost arms, been battered around, even blown up with instances of me inside them, but there was no pain that I could recall. If one of those destroyed instances felt anything before being eliminated, none of those memories made it back to me, loaded in the backup. The only thing that I'd felt remotely similar to this was back when…

It didn't matter.

My eyes focused again, on Apemon, and I snarled. Apemon was trying to hit Hyokomon, but the space between them kept displacing as he dodged. I couldn't see the Champion's face, but he had to be frustrated. What I could see was something sticking out of the Apemon's back. It looked like a black gear. Maybe that was it.

Taylor's voice came to me. "He's normally supposed to be a good guy. I'm missing something."

"The gear," I said. Maybe our digivices could be used for communication. It's what made sense. "That doesn't belong."

"Black Gears are virus sources," said Hagurumon as he floated near me. "We need to get rid of it."

"Got it!" Taylor said. I couldn't see where she was at the moment, but it didn't matter if she could talk to everyone. "Dorumon, Katia, keep him in. Missy, can Hyokomon make sure that they have enough space?"

Hyokomon dodged another blow, and he seemed to get something from Vista. I couldn't hear whatever it was or Missy's response.

"Good," Taylor said. "Dorumon, you and Katia good to go?"

"I'm good," Dorumon said. "Ryudamon looks like her gem's a bit chipped."

"I can fight," I said, pushing up to my feet. "Let's stop him."

"Everett, Chris, can you guys make a wall or something?" Taylor's voice echoed out.

Hagurumon looked at the gear. "I can direct, Chris, yes. But a wall…"

Tinkermon floated over. "Yes, Lily, I see what you mean."

"Lily?" Taylor asked. "Right. Lily, have Tinkermon take out the gear when she gets a shot. Dorumon, Katia, I need you to distract him. If you get a clear shot on the gear, take it. Hagurumon and Goblimon will support you."

"Got it," I said in unison with Dorumon.

"Go!"

We charged, and the space between us and Apemon shortened, depositing me on one side of the Champion and Dorumon on the other. Hyokomon stepped out of range, and the space behind us shifted oddly.

"Magical Monkey Punch!" Apemon slammed its fist forward, glowing with a sort of energy. I jumped out of the way, and it slammed into the ground below me, splitting a crevice. That would have really hurt.

"Tera Burst!" I called out, and a group of small explosions erupted around that fist, reeling Apemon back.

"Hyper Dash Metal!" Dorumon slammed into the side of the Digimon, knocking it back the other way. "Beast Attack!"

Dorumon bit down on the Apemon and started to claw at it. I did the same, digging my teeth in as deep as I could. I wasn't going to let her upstage me as a dragon. Dragon versus monkey? Dragons win. Every time.

"Speed Nightmare!" A glint came off of Tinkermon's spear… or lance, now that I could clearly see it, and she flit in toward Apemon's back, stabbing through the exposed gear.

The gear exploded, and Dorumon and I were flung off of Apemon's arms as he collapsed forward. The red faded from his eyes and they closed.

We breathed a collective sigh of relief. The fight was over for now. We'd need to see how he was when he woke up, but in the meantime, everyone could check on their humans. With me not having a specific human as my own partner, I went to check on the only non-parahuman in the group, Taylor.

Taylor wasn't exactly where we'd left her. Somehow, she'd ended up on top of a stone awning over one of the building entrances around the square. She held her Digivice in her left hand, and she looked down at the square below. She must have climbed.

"Taylor, why are you up there?" Dorumon asked.

"Better view. Chris and Missy are over there." She pointed to our right, and we could clearly see Hyokomon and Hagurumon approaching the Wards. To our left, Tinkermon and Goblimon approached theirs. "Everett and Lily are over there. He didn't even touch us. Thanks, guys."

"No problem," I said. "Now maybe you can come down from there."

Taylor smiled, and she carefully lowered herself off the awning and then dropped perhaps a bit quicker than she'd intended. Luckily, Dorumon was there to catch her, and perhaps doubly lucky, Taylor wasn't all that heavy when the two of them landed in a heap.

I honestly couldn't help it. I laughed. Taylor had landed safely, sure, but the two of them had gotten their limbs entangled so much that it just looked adorable.

"Hey!" Taylor said, pushing herself up with the help of Dorumon. "You're the one with the chipped gem, miss superhero."

"It'll be fine when I next change," I said, assuring myself as I tried to reach up to the gem on my forehead. I couldn't quite reach the angle I needed with my arms. "Probably."

Taylor snorted. "Let's go see if Apemon's willing to talk."

As we approached Apemon, the others joined us. We Digimon stood in front of the humans, giving a barrier between them and the Champion level Digimon. Hyokomon, with Vista's power, could make that barrier even larger if it were necessary. I'm sure that they understood that. The Wards were all fairly smart, and Taylor certainly seemed bright.

We stopped about two meters from Apemon, giving some semblance of space. If it was going to attack, we'd have time to respond as a group.

"You awake?" Taylor called.

"Humans," Apemon said, its voice raspy but female. The Digimon's eyes opened, and they were actually blue this time. It also felt less… something. I couldn't quite place it. "And Digimon together. Bah."

"Bah?" I asked. "We beat you."

"You beat nothing," said the Digimon. Prideful thing, wasn't she? Of course, she definitely was strong. Maybe she was fighting against the thing Mastering her.

"We freed you," Taylor said. "Well, they did, but if not for us, our group, you'd be Mastered still."

"If not for your group, I wouldn't be 'Mastered' in the first place," Apemon said, and then she shook her head. "But I'd still be imprisoned. Thank you."

"Imprisoned?" Taylor asked.

"IceDevimon," said Apemon. "He's got a whole mess of Digimon stored in his ice garden."

I could just feel the humans tense up. Missy especially, a glance could see her picturing it. "Then we need to go h—"

"Where?" Taylor asked, cutting off Missy. Missy looked a little perturbed, but she didn't interrupt Taylor.

"The Mountains of Memory, off the Megabit pass," said Apemon. "But you'll never survive if you go there. Not as you are now."

"We want to get home," I said.

"Home? You are home, Ryudamon," said Apemon.

"Get them home," I clarified. Me too, but I wasn't entirely sure how that would work. Would I just be loaded back onto my black box? Was another instance of Dragon running? Would I cease to exist? I didn't want that last bit to happen. If I needed to stay here to survive, I would. I could train others how to run the Birdcage safely, among other things.

Apemon scoffed. "Of course. I don't know anything about the Human World. But you might be able to pick a bunch of bananas with one club."

I blinked, and I was pretty sure everyone else from Earth Bet were just as confused.

"You mean solve multiple problems with one solution?" Taylor asked.

"Of course," Apemon said, pushing itself up into a sitting position. "You need to get stronger, and you want to find out how to get to the human world. The sage can help with both."

"Sage." Everett snorted. "Some wise man?"

"Wise Digimon, human." Apemon glared at Everett. "Some say he has a line with the Sovereigns themselves. If you believe that sort of thing."

"Sovereigns," Taylor said, almost tasting the word. "Okay. So, where can we find the sage?"

Apemon smiled. "South, through the Desktop Forest, upon the Folder Plateau. He lives upon its peak"

Taylor nodded.

"Why were you ordered to attack us?" Lily asked.

"I don't know," Apemon said. "But I was to take you humans alive, with your partners dead for now."

Taylor placed a hand on my back and Dorumon's. She said, "Thank you for the information."

Apemon snorted again. "Don't thank me yet, human. You have no idea what you're in for."

"We'll be ready," I said, and Taylor's voice joined my own. "We'll be sure of it."

"Good luck," said Apemon. Her voice just seemed condescending at this point, like she thought we were too weak to matter, even though we freed her. "You'll need it."

I glanced to Dorumon and then back to Taylor. We knew what we needed to do now and where to go. I was confident that together, we could keep all five of them safe.

We'd make our own luck.

 

[Ellf]

Taylor's Journal, also known as the Digidex

So I thought I'd be a little more thorough this time. Given that I'm keeping track of everything we encounter, and what's been going on. We're in a new world, a digital world, and the monsters here are great. There's so many varieties, and they can change into others, and I'm just going on and on with a run on sentence here. Sure, some of the monsters are scary, but we have our own ally monsters.

I've already covered Dorumon and Ryudamon, but here's the new ones we encountered:

Apemon

Level: Champion
Attribute: Vaccine
Notes: So, this is Apemon. She was Mastered by another Digimon and told to attack the Upamon village. She wasn't super grateful to us for stopping that, but at least she pointed us somewhere that could help us get home. Her club is a nasty weapon but so is the magical monkey fist.

Hyokomon

Level: Rookie
Attribute: Vaccine
Notes: Just look at this little guy! See the sword, the eggshell armor! It's awesome. He's awesome too. Vista's partner, Chicchimon evolved into this and can use Vista's power when she can't. I don't quite get it, but a wise person once said that powers are bullshit. I'm not sure who it was. Might have been my mom.

Hagurumon

Level: Rookie
Attribute: Virus
Notes: MetalKoromon evolved into a set of floating gears. The interlocking parts here look a lot like some of the things that Chris has in his toolkit. I wonder if there's any correlation. I'm still not sure what it can do, but it knew about the Black Gear.

Tinkermon

Level: Rookie
Attribute: Virus
Notes: Lily's little fuzzball evolved into this, and somehow I think she got smaller. Tinkermon flits around with that spear of hers and guards Lily's side, but I think I heard her mention something about a Petermon once. Is she a Digimon Tinkerbell?

Goblimon

Level: Rookie
Attribute: Virus
Notes: As mean as he looks, Goblimon is just a sweetie. He helped out a lot with the remaining chores we had to get done for Armadillomon before we left, and I saw him leave some flowers for the Upamon. He used to be Pagumon, Everett's partner. He's still Everett's partner, just bigger now.

IceDevimon
No Image
Level: ???
Attribute: Ice?? Virus?? Evil??
Notes: The one that Mastered Apemon. If we run into him, if we aren't ready, we need to flee.

- Taylor


Digipedia

I feel wrong writing it that way, but it's a half-decent portmanteau. This world is strange and new. I find myself liking it, but I need to better understand it.

Digivice.
Addendum to previous entry: The Digivice apparently contains a library of information about Digimon that only appears when a new Digimon is encountered. Attempts to browse for unencountered Digimon have produced no information.

Additionally, the Digivices can be used to communicate between each other or to communicate with your Digimon partner. As I do not have a Digimon partner, my digivice links only with the head of the group, which appears to be Taylor.

Black Gear(s)

This item, when inserted into or onto a Digimon seems to have a Master effect. Removing the Black Gear and destroying it renders the Master effect null. Tentative PRT Threat Rating of Tinker 3, Master 5 for the maker of the Black Gears. It would be higher if the gears were unnecessary.

 

[Ellf]

One major downside to being in the Digital World the way we were was the lack of other clothing. The Wards were stuck in their costumes, minus masks, and Katia and I were stuck in the same casual clothes we'd been wearing since we got here. Sure, there were rivers we could bathe in, but that meant that we'd have to be separate from the boys because well, who wanted to have a boy see you naked?

Another major downside was the lack of any sort of public transportation. There were no cars or carriages or anything with wheels to ride in, so we had to walk. Admittedly, Hyokomon with Vista's power made the walking a lot shorter, but we couldn't consistently use it, as the poor rookie would tire out pretty quick. So, instead we'd had to walk.

A lot.

For the past four days.

It wasn't that the Digital World was ugly or anything, but when you're barely in shape, walking for hours at a time is painful. At least the boys were helpful with setting up camp, along with the Digimon that had hands. Poor Dorumon didn't really have that going for her.

"All right, I s—"

Missy cut Everett off. "Everett, if you start up I spy again, I will ask Hyokomon to reduce the space between my fist and your groin. There's only so much a girl can take."

Everett chuckled and raised his arms in defeat. "Okay, okay. Camp's ready for the night. Goblimon's off rustling up some food for us."

"Good," I said, laying out my bedroll. Dorumon lowered her body to a sitting position near it, and I smiled. "Where's Chris, Hagurumon, Lily and Tinkermon?"

"Picking out some materials," Katia said as she laid her own bedroll down. "We're going to do some maintenance work on Lily's arbalest tonight. Hagurumon thinks he can see what needs to be done to keep it working."

I nodded. Hagurumon and Goblimon seemed to have access to the Tinker abilities of Kid Win and Tecton, but they weren't fully sure how to use them just yet beyond maintenance. We didn't have time to set up any sort of lab, for them, but that didn't mean that they couldn't work on what was available.

"I just wish I could be the one working on it," Everett said.

"I'm sure you'll get your powers back," I said with a shrug.

"I hope you do!" chirped Hyokomon. "If Missy gets hers back, she can show me how to better use mine."

Missy giggled and patted the bird Digimon on its head. "You've been doing a good job."

"Thankfully," Katia said. "I know your ranking, Missy, and if Hyokomon is using your powers exactly, that's practically insane."

"Wait, capes have rankings?" I asked. "That's news to me."

Katia hesitated a second before waggling her hand. "The PRT has threat assessment categorization for capes. You've probably heard of a few of the categories on the news. Brute, Blaster, Tinker, Thinker… Master, Stranger. There's a few more that you might not have heard of too, like Striker, Shaker, Trump, Mover, Changer and Breaker. I won't go into the details on the differences in the odd sounding ones, but they'll also assign numbers with them."

"Ah," I said. In a way, it did make sense. Know what the threat was before sending someone to deal with it, but there was something… lost… in reducing capes to mere numbers. It seemed like it missed some of the fun. I mean, yeah, superpowers weren't exactly an easy thing to deal with, but could we really begrudge heroes some fun?

"I'm a shaker," Missy said. "One of the strongest out there with what I can do."

"The trick is getting the experience to utilize your power best," Katia said, glancing up at the sky. After a few seconds, she shuddered. Some people did mention she had agoraphobia, after all. "That just takes time and practice."

"Practice I'm not really getting here in the Digital World," Missy said.

"You're helping me!' Hyokomon said. "I couldn't do this without you."

Missy hugged Hyokomon closer. "You make everything worth it, Hyokomon."

"Something about our Digimon being our Digimon makes things special," I said, rubbing Dorumon's head. She murmured in her sleep. Sure, she wasn't a dog, but she was still mine. My partner, my friend. Obviously, she couldn't take the place of Emma, but who said that you had to have only one best friend?

"It's still strange for me," Katia said, looking up.

"Are you okay, ma'am?" Everett asked.

"Seriously, Everett, stop it with the ma'am," Katia said. "I'm not Protectorate. I'm not in your chain of command. But I think I am, yes."

Everett nodded. "I'll try. It's good that your agoraphobia isn't bothering you as much."

Katia looked around the camp. "Seeing the sky, even a digital one, with new eyes is still a little frightening, but I can't let that fear stop me from helping you."

"Now that sounds quite nice," said an elderly-sounding female voice. "Doesn't it, Jiji?'

"Indeed, Baba, indeed," said an elderly male voice. I looked to the source, and sitting atop Chris and Lily's bedrolls… well, maybe standing… were two Digimon. Both were approximately the same height. I couldn't see either of their eyes; they were covered by the long grey-white hair they had. The one on the left held a broom in clawed hands, had her hair done up into a Japanese-style bun, had pointed ears and looked like it… she… was wearing a kimono. The one on the right had long bushy hair and what looked like a beard. The staff it… he… held had a clawed paw on its end, and he had bare feet, wearing rags to cover whatever body he had underneath.

"Digimon! Hyokomon!" Missy ordered, and immediately, the space between the two new Digimon and us stretched out to four times the distance. "What are they?"

I pulled out my digivice and took a look. "Babamon and Jijimon… they're strong. I don't have a whole lot of data, but they are way out of our league."

"Oh, don't worry children," Babamon said, waving her broom. The space between us immediately contracted to normal. "We have no desire to hurt you."

"You appeared out of nowhere," I said, standing. I towered over the Digimon at maybe twice their height. Sometimes I wish I was shorter. This was not one of those times. "Why should we believe that?"

"Because if we'd wanted to hurt you humans, we could have," said Jijimon. "As you said, we appeared out of nowhere. But Baba and I were just wondering what you were doing. Humans aren't exactly a common thing here."

Babamon faced each of us. I assume she was looking, but I couldn't see her eyes. She turned over to Jijimon. "Parahumans, Jiji. Not simply humans."

Jijimon shrugged. "Parahumans, humans, what does it matter? They've got five fingers, five toes, and they have far too little hair. So, what has you humans headed in this direction?"

"The Folder Plateau," Katia said. "We seek the sage that lives atop it."

"Oh!" said Babamon. "That means traveling through the Desktop Forest. We're on its borders now, but it gets deeper and more dangerous."

"But you humans have Digimon partners. You'll be fine," Jijimon said. "Well, unless you run into it. Bah, I'm sure your Rookies can evolve into Champions."

"Are you… wanting to travel with us?" I asked carefully. Given how strong they were, that might not be a bad idea.

"Oh, we wouldn't want to impose, would we, Jiji?" Babamon asked.

"Speak for yourself woman. The one with goggles looks like she can cook!" Jijimon said. "We'll just need to make sure they have food to do so."

"Excuse me," Missy said. "You're kind of standing on our friends' bedrolls."

"Oh, we're sorry," said Babamon as she stepped off of Lily's bedroll. She poked Jijimon with her broom, and he stepped off of Chris's. "But where should we sleep?"

"We don't have any spares, but if you would like to sleep near us, that'd be fine," I said. "Please, we'd welcome the company of Digimon who know the way."

"Of course, we know the way," said Jijimon. "Assuming the way hasn't changed much. We haven't been this way in five hundred years."

Okay. There was a lot to unpack here. One, Digimon could clearly live for a very long time. Two, the Desktop Forest was apparently pretty dangerous. Three, there was an evolution level beyond Rookie called Champion, and if Jijimon and Babamon were any indication, there was at least one level beyond that.

"What are you saying we might run into?" Katia asked. "That we might need Champions to deal with?"

"Just a forest occupant that was a tool of the old Dark Masters, back before they were sealed away," Jijimon said. Dark Masters, another thing to note. These Digimon were old.

Katia's reaction to the Dark Master thing was… odd. A look of recognition had passed on her face, but it left after a second with a bit of confusion. Something was going on with that woman, and I did need to figure out what.

"You may want to worry more about the ghosts," said Babamon. "Bakemon are dangerous in numbers, and Phantomon is a devious leader."

"What sort of thing from the Dark Masters?" asked Katia.

"A pet," Jijimon said. "A feral DarkTyrannomon lurks in the forest. You should have no trouble if your partners can evolve. Add in the parahuman powers, and you can take on anything."

Well, he had more confidence than I had. "If you say so."

Both new Digimon grinned at us. The stitched mouth of Babamon was a little creepy to see in a smile. Jijimon, I could barely make it out beyond the upturning of his massive beard.

"Don't worry. If you don't have the capability yet, by the time you meet the sage, some of you will," said Babamon. "Trust me, Children."

"Trust us," said Jijimon.

Well, they were going to be traveling with us. A bit of trust was due, at the least to assume that they weren't going to kill us in our sleep. I might have watched a little too many movies with Emma before I went off to camp.

"We will," I said. The other three nodded in agreement with me, and Hyokomon, being the only awake Rookie there, did the same. Dorumon remained asleep, and I really envied her a little. Even though I'd stopped petting her, she remained that way.

"Everett!" Goblimon called. "I've got dinner!"

The Digimon rushed out of the nearby woods, carrying a large picnic basket. I had no clue where he'd managed to get a wicker picnic basket here in the Digital World, but that clearly was one. It even had cloth fabric coming out in a plaid pattern. Bits of steam were rising from the basket itself as Goblimon got closer.

"Good job," Everett said. "Babamon and Jijimon here are going to be joining us for the time being."

Goblimon raised his club in salute and he approached. "There's a lot of Bakemon flying around the forest ahead. I'm not sure why they would just leave this there." He swung the picnic basket. "But it looks like enough food for everyone!"

"Thank you, Goblimon," I said. "Wait… is that basket from one of those Bakemon?"

"I don't know," Goblimon said with a shrug. "I just feel like I could use the basket itself to build something amazing."

Everett grinned. "Maybe later, buddy."

Bakemon, Phantomon, DarkTyrannomon… the forest upcoming was going to be treacherous. I did not look forward to it, but I was curious as to what Dorumon would look like as a Champion. It'd be the next thing on the steps to beating IceDevimon and freeing his prisoners, and I honestly had no clue how to pull it off.

I hoped we could.