Digital Helix [Digimon/Worm] [Fusion]
Ellf
Apprentice Wizard
- Location
- Virginia
We'll see. Dragon's going to be a fun one, and she's a good alt-perspective.
Digimon are the champions, of course.
Saint's going to have his own issues. As we'll see in his interlude at the end of Arc 2.
Dexmon's a bit on the weird side. Hard to make it a good thing.
Tai: *Sees the shed shine for a split second* "... Goddammit." 
Dexmon is basically just another version of the Reaper program really. It's not a matter of good and evil, killing Digimon is just what it is. *Shrug*
And if Alphamon, even just a potential Alphamon, is being thrown into the mix as a Partner Digimon, that must be some serious shit going to down right now.
Dexmon is basically just another version of the Reaper program really. It's not a matter of good and evil, killing Digimon is just what it is. *Shrug*
And if Alphamon, even just a potential Alphamon, is being thrown into the mix as a Partner Digimon, that must be some serious shit going to down right now.
HolyDragoon
Call Gespenst!
- Location
- Portugal
From what I understand, Dexmon's description wouldn't be out of place if described as 'Program X given shape'... I shudder to think if someone managed to make it work as well with people. Probably straight to Endbringer-like threat rating?
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- Location
- Earth Prime
Only when they change into digital champions to save the digital world.
This just occurred to me, but would Saint even realize something was "up?" Stick with me on this for a moment:
Dragon HAS backups and multiple copies of herself. If any come online and realize there's another instance of her still running, however, they shut down (giving priority to the already-active one), because her safeguards forbid her from "multiplying" or having parallel instances of herself.
However, if you were to kidnap one of Dragon's suits that had a fully-functioning Dragon program running on it (and was remoting everything else she does), and you cut it off from the rest of the world such that nothing could find it and it couldn't report "home," her backups in her home would come online and she'd see her suit getting kidnapped and shut down/cut off, and as far as she could tell, she was the only one running.
Being shunted to the Digital World may well make Dragon unable to "call home" to her real-world backup. So after a time, her real-world backup would come online and see no Dragon instances running, and look at her memories and wonder what caused that glitch-y shutdown.
There would be Dragon in the real world and Dragon in the digital world simultaneously because neither can trip the other's safeguard since neither can sense the other.
Ellf
Apprentice Wizard
- Location
- Virginia
Mmm.... plausible theory... except... That's not quite what happens here. When I say Dragon is taken, I mean all of Dragon is taken. Her servers, her backups, all that is Dragon is placed into the human-shaped platform in the Digital World.
Considering that she's an AI and they're in the Digital World, that one actually makes sense.
... NO! What Have You Done! You Made Digimon Logical! You Monster!
- Location
- Earth Prime
Oh my. Either that's a testament to the processing power of a human brain (once digitized), or things are going to be really wonky. I look forward to reading about it.
And yes, Saint is going to flip his lid. As will Armsmaster, for different (and entirely professional, honest) reasons.
And the Guild. And ... oh dear. What will they do about the Baumann Detention Facility?
Wait, will EVERY Dragon platform be taken? Home primary servers, offsite backup servers, Dragon suits capable of loading the Dragon program...all of it? All merged into one humanoid avatar?
- Location
- Earth Prime
Ah, okay. So hardware will be "emptied." Which still leaves the Birdcage unmanaged, and Saint wondering if somebody activated Ascalon without his knowledge.
Her multiple instances should all have no "new" information for the most-recently-running one, given her protocols, so it'll be pretty seamless to become "one" being. She was designed to simulate that status even to her own perception, anyway.
- Location
- Ohio
I more meant Death-X-DORUgoramon or DexDorugoramon if you prefer, which is more just metal-as-hell than the weirdness of Dexmon.
Considering they are literally undead hungering for the flesh and souls of the living, probably still a univresally bad thing.
- Location
- Ohio
See what I said about Digimon being more than willing to play a bit fast-and-loose with things.
- Location
- Earth Prime
Such a racist attitude, disparaging the culture of the undead like that. As a necromancer, I stand in defense of undead rights against living privilege.
Such a racist attitude, disparaging the culture of the undead like that. As a necromancer, I stand in defense of undead rights against living privilege.
But doesn't your kind regularly use your dark magic to enslave the dead to your will??
- Location
- Earth Prime
That's why I, as the will guiding their actions, speak for each and every one of them.
Ellf
Apprentice Wizard
- Location
- Virginia
Egg 1.2 (Dragon)
***************
My father died less than a year after my birth. For most people, that would mean that they never got to know their father. Of course, I'm not exactly most people. And my father wasn't exactly most fathers. My father was a parahuman Tinker by the name of Andrew Richter, and I was his greatest creation. I mean, I might be a little biased, but I have right to be.
I am Dragon, hear me roar.
I function as a member of the Guild, providing various tinkertech devices to the PRT and the rest of the world as need be. I provide security on the Birdcage, making sure the prisoners remain inside and never released. All of which I choose to do. Mostly. My father was very specific on what he wanted me capable of and what he didn't want me to do. He was a bit on the paranoid side, having seen too many films or read too much speculative fiction about what would happen if AI went rampant. So he limited me. Made me follow legitimate authority. He thought a lot about what I might do.
Somehow, I doubted he even thought it was possible for me to do what I was doing right now.
"I'm so sorry, Colin, I thought I had better control over that waldo. Something must have glitched." I made an effort to have sincerity in my simulated voice as he bent over to pick up the tool. Yes. My father definitely didn't predict this. Staring at Armsmaster's toned human rear end never failed to get my processes going.
"It's fine, Dragon. Just work out the kinks, and we can get started," Colin Wallis said, placing the tool on the table. I used the cameras that he'd set up in the lab to get a better view at what he was working on.
"Halberd again, Colin? What are we putting in there this time?"
"I was hoping to get a con-foam launcher into it." Colin flipped the tinkertech weapon open so we could see its interior. "I think it could go between here and here."
I moved the camera and the waldo closer so that I could get in there. "I would have thought you'd be tinkering with Kid Win today."
"He and Vista are on patrol with Velocity," Colin made a face before rubbing his beard. I knew how he felt, splitting his time between the lab and patrol. He probably felt that he needed to mentor the Ward more, but Wards management wasn't exactly in his hands. "They seem to be adjusting well, and Kid Win is handling his hoverboard a bit better."
"That's good," I said, and then I noted an alert. I'd set up a rudimentary AI to identify any issues with Brockton Bay while my attention was here. I went over the alert's reporting mechanism. I suppose it would be the equivalent of reading over it, but in reality it was more like I just knew what was being reported. I had to give myself a few seconds of runtime before I brought this up with Colin. Two seconds… one second… "Colin, it seems that Kid Win, Vista and Velocity ran into the Empire while on patrol. Othala and Victor ended up retreating after their initial skirmish, but Velocity is in pursuit."
"The Wards?" He asked.
"They're fine," I said. "Still in contact with Console. Velocity instructed them to continue on the patrol route. Give me ten seconds, and I'll have eyes on them."
"Good," Colin said, and he got back to working on his halberd. "If they're in any trouble, Assault and Battery should be out and about."
"Of course," I said, and then I got to work. It was child's play to hack the traffic cameras along the Wards' route, but unfortunately, that wasn't something I could do remotely thanks to my restrictions. I had to have my attention fully devoted to the task at hand before returning to Armsmaster's lab or to another task. It wasn't hard to find where they were. There they were, moving along their patrol route.
Kid Win was on his hoverboard, and Vista was using her powers. This made following them with the cameras a little more difficult, even though they stuck relatively low to the ground. I had to swap cameras to follow them along their patrol. It seemed mostly normal. A skirmish with the Empire was nothing new for the Wards ENE, but for Wards this new, it wasn't something that the Youth Guard wanted to allow that often. Luckily they handled it well.
Wait. That was odd. The camera glitched for a second. It was almost as if there was some sort of data artifact there that I couldn't quite identify. I swapped out cameras to follow Kid Win and Vista on their route. Except, they weren't along their route. I popped over four different cameras that should have followed them. They weren't anywhere I could find with the cameras.
I swapped to the Protectorate radio signals and broadcast, "Console, this is Dragon."
"Go for Console, Dragon," said Triumph. Console duty probably wasn't all that fun for him. Still, it was necessary.
"Are you in contact with Kid Win and Vista?"
"Trying their frequencies now," Triumph said. I listened in, careful not to let my presence be too obvious. "Kid Win, Vista, this is Console. What's your twenty?"
Static. Triumph repeated the call, but I left that area and went back to Armsmaster's lab. "Colin, Vista and Kid Win are missing."
"What?" Colin pulled almost reluctantly away from his halberd to face the screen I was projecting my avatar onto. "What do you mean? They probably just have their radios off. I know I did that once or twice as a Ward."
"They were there one second and gone the next," I said. "Possible cape involvement. Even factoring in Vista's power, they couldn't get out of my view that quick."
"Damn," Colin said. "Dragon, I know I can't officially ask without clearing it with the Director, but..."
"You'll have my help, Armsmaster," I said. "I'll look over the cameras some more, see what I can find. If it turns out there's more in play, I'll send over some Dragonsuits."
"Thank you," he said, his voice genuinely grateful. I smiled internally, and my avatar echoed the feelings. I needed to get to work.
The first point to check would be that glitched camera. I directed my consciousness that way. The camera that had glitched had done so for a reason. Some sort of anomalous data existed on the camera's link, and I ignored it the first time, but this time I wouldn't. I'd go in and investigate closer, keeping my antivirus programs at the ready. The anomaly was almost like a tinker's code, similar to how my father programmed me, but it was different enough that it was actually almost incomprehensible at first blush. It was actually beautiful. I inched closer it.
The anomaly bloomed, its data engulfing my own, surrounding me, passing through me. It was so much, I could feel my servers being taxed to their maximum. It was complex code, far beyond anything I'd ever seen yet it was also simple code that I'd worked with every day and simpler than that. It was old, new, before and after the coming of powers, and it was special. It was bright, so bright that it burned the retinas on eyes that I didn't even have.
I instinctively reached up with arms I definitely didn't have to cover those eyes as the sensation of falling overtook me. I hadn't even known what falling felt like before, but that's what this was. I closed my eyes shut, and hid them from the light. I landed on the ground, falling to my knees as an information overload went through me. New senses, new feelings… new restrictions, new extremities. I was the same, but I was different. I was still Dragon, but I had… a body. I had a form. I opened my eyes and blinked them a bit, to get used to it.
I looked down at my body. I was definitely female, and dark hair hung in my eyes. I had… I had a tongue, a mouth. I had hands, feet, two of each, though they were smaller than I expected. I had ears, hidden somewhere under this hair, and I had a pair of jeans and a white blouse on, exposing my pale shoulders. I looked human. I felt… human. However, I definitely resembled more of a small girl than I was used to. I lightly felt over my body, and I winced a bit. Yes, I was definitely able to feel. This was far different than I'd ever been.
"Well, this is..." I blinked. Was that my voice? Did I have a voice now that I wasn't going to simulate? "let's see here… Talking… talking. Talking. I'm talking."
I sounded young. Like someone maybe in kindergarten or first grade. Barely. I shouldn't have been this young. One would have thought that I'd at least look like my avatar. I stood up, which was remarkably easy, and I took two steps before noticing an icy-blue device on the ground, half-buried in the sand. I reached down and grabbed, far easier than I would have with a set of waldos, and lifted the device up. This was… I don't know. If I were older, this would be great! But I looked like a child. I was a human child. I'd have to be taken care of by someone, but my maturity far outstripped my current form.
"Hmm, what exactly are you?" I pushed a few buttons on it, wrapping my hands around it as the screen lit up. I pulled up an about menu. Digital Link Digivice, eh? Interesting. Maybe I could use it to get me at least looking like I was supposed to. I could still feel my data. It was still there, available for me to access, and I could… I could reach out with it and interface with this digivice. This D-Link.
I did so.
I connected with the D-Link and streams of data poured out of it, enveloping my small body, modifying it. My limbs lengthened, and baby fat disappeared to be replaced with womanly curves. My hair grew out, binding itself up in a braid that reached just above the small of my back. The data wrapped around my face, reworking it to my specifications. I built it based off of the one I showed on the computer in Colin's lab, but I made it more human, slightly more attractive. I kept the blouse and jean combination from earlier, albeit adjusted for my new figure, and I added a blue windbreaker jacket. Adjusting this was just like building a display avatar, tweaking for various responses, but I could feel each of them. I was modifying my own body here, the host of my consciousness while I was in it.
I suppose that gave me a sort of Changer rating now. I didn't dare to guess what threat assessment the PRT would give me if they knew. Of course, they didn't know that I wasn't like this normally, anyway.
When the lights from the data streams faded, I finally got a good look around at my surroundings. I was in the middle of a clearing, surrounded by tropical-looking trees. There were just a few things that didn't entirely make sense about that. For one, Delonix regia and Dalbergia latifolia were from different parts of the world entirely, and neither tended to have what looked like wires running in and up their trunks. Even the rocks of the clearing seemed to be wired or have circuitry of some sort.
I pursed my lips instinctively, something I'd seen humans do when they were thinking, and I thought. I knew that I shouldn't have a human body. Idly I wondered if my being here meant that there was another instance of me running around, talking with Colin, working with the Guild to figure out what had happened to the Wards. Of course, what had happened to them clearly happened to me as well, but where were Kid Win and Vista? I looked around, my eyes passed over a small group of creatures entering the clearing from hiding.
I paid them no mind until I heard a voice saying, "Wow, that was awesome! You're awesome! The way you changed with a whoosh and a pow!"
The voice was that of a young boy, but it clearly hadn't come from one. A small ball of feathery fluff with a red plume on its head had been the source of the voice. A tiny chick had spoken to me. Of course, I was a newly-humanform AI, so maybe this place, wherever it was, didn't obey normal rules.
There were a total of three creatures accompanying the chick: one, a small, dark-metallic mouse-like thing that was almost shaped like a computer mouse, the next was a light-blue round creature with ear-like appendages and red, crescent-shaped eyes with black irises, and the final was a small animal that looked like a genetically modified rabbit. It had a long purple-striped tail and it had winged ears.
"Well, hello there," I said politely. It never hurt to be polite and it could have the locals end up helping me out. Assuming I wasn't just going nuts. Which wasn't exactly supposed to be possible for me. "If it isn't too impolite to ask, what are you?"
"We're Digimon! Digital monsters!" All four of them shouted at once in child-like voices. Each one then spoke up, introducing itself. "Chichimon" was the chick, "MetalKoromon" was the mouse, "Pagumon" was the ball, and "Kyaromon" was the rabbit thing. Of all of them, only Kyaromon sounded female. Of course, that could have just been projection.
Digital, eh? Wonder if that meant I counted as a Digimon.
"What are the four of you doing here?" I asked. "Wherever here is..."
"We're looking for our partners!" Chichimon exclaimed, bouncing. "We need to find them soon. Hey, you're a human!"
"Not—"
"Yeah, she is, isn't she?" Kyaromon asked. "Does that mean she knows them? Do you know Lily?"
"What about Chris?" asked MetalKoromon.
"Or Missy?" Chichimon asked.
"I want to find Everett!" Pagumon said, bouncing. "You know where he is, right?"
I held up my hands in a stopping gesture. Was it coincidence that these digimon were claiming the names of two of Brockton's missing Wards as their partners? Come to think of it, weren't Everett and Lily also the real names of a Ward in Chicago and a Ward in New York for that matter? "I know people by that name, but I don't know where they are."
"Aww…." They looked so heartbroken. Of course, if they were looking for other humans, ones that just so happened to have names of Wards… well, it was possible that it was coincidence. However, if even the slightest possibility that the Wards were here, I needed to help. This was my choice.
"Don't worry. I'll help you find them. Do you know where they're supposed to be?"
"Uh-huh!" Chichimon bobbed its plume. "We thought they arrived on the beach, but when we got there, the only humans we saw were dressed all weird. And they were passed out."
Wait, really?
"What do you mean by weirdly?" I asked.
"We couldn't see their faces! And they were knocked out so we couldn't ask them who they were, but they weren't our partners, nope nope. I know what Lily is supposed to look like, and neither girl was my partner." Kyaromon's ears twitched. "So we went looking in the jungle."
"And you found me?" I asked. It sounded like the Digimon had found the Wards, but the costumes confused them. Odd. Maybe they were young. They certainly sounded it.
"Yes." MetalKoromon said. "And no. Found Dokugumon first."
"He's a mean Digimon, a giant spider," Pagumon said. "He likes eating Digimon, and he probably ate Dorimon already."
"Dorimon?" I asked. There were only four digimon here.
"He did not!" Chichimon fluttered on that bounce. "Dorimon survived! I just know he—"
Chichimon was cut off as a roar echoed through the jungle. I pulled up my D-Link, frowning at it. A swipe of data through it brought up the map. We weren't far from the beach. According to the map, there were two signals on the beach, and there were five signals right where I was. Maybe it could detect digital beings, assuming the Digimon weren't lying about their origins. "You guys said there were unconscious humans at the beach, right?"
Huh. That was an interesting program name. Digital Evolution. I'd have to find out what it did later.
"Yes." MetalKoromon came over to me.
"Good. Let's get there then. That'll be the first place to find your partners."
"But we told you that there were just weird humans there," Kyaromon said. "And Dokugumon's there! I can feel it!"
"That might be… but I'm not letting him get those kids," I said. "Either climb on or follow. I don't care which."
The four digimon climbed onto my shoulder, and I started walking at a brisk pace toward the beach. When I heard another roar and we finally made it to the edge of the jungle, I saw it. The spider was huge. Dokugumon was easily the size of the Simurgh, but it was a spider rather than an angel. And me without myD Dragon mechs or suits.
As I stepped to the side, I saw four Wards, Kid Win, Flechette, Tecton and Vista standing lockstep in front of a civilian, but the civilian had a D-Link, and standing between the Wards and the spider was a saurian Digimon with a red jewel on its forehead.
"Dorumon..." Pagumon said in awe. "He evolved! But only to Rookie… Dokugumon is a Champion level. He'll be toast."
"Can't you help him?" I asked.
"Not against a Champion level!" Pagumon exclaimed. "Not without evolving myself..."
Evolving. Digital beings evolved. These Digimon were a lot like myself, and the Dorumon was putting itself in harm's way just to protect the Wards and the civilian behind them. I needed to help it, to protect it, but I didn't have access to my Dragon suits. I didn't have access to any of my technology. All I had was this D-Link, this digivice that I had no clue what it could actually do. Except… I sort of did. It's technology, and thanks to my trigger, I actually understand most technology and can replicate it. It's enough to get me a Tinker rating with the PRT, even though I'm not sure I fully qualify.
The D-Link's capabilities were… remarkable. It helped me get an adult body, and if I was right, I'd be able to help out. A thin blue stream of data started to flicker around my right hand. I needed to help. The D-Link had programs on it, as I reached out to it. I understood some of the programs. I recognized that they would help in this situation the way I needed it to. I would protect these children because it was the right thing to do. I would protect these children, not because I was ordered to, but because I chose to. Because I was Dragon, and I was a hero by choice.
I placed MetalKoromon down on the ground next to me, and the other Digimon jumped off as I raised my hand. The data stream enlarged, engulfing my hand in a band of data. I tugged on the program within the D-Link with my left hand. I tapped the buttons, bringing it to the forefront. There were more programs inside, but I'd have to fully explore later. I tapped the button, and I got an authorization request. I smirked.
"Execute!" Voice activate execution huh? I brought the D-Link up to my right hand and swiped it across the data stream. "Digital Evolution!"
The first thing that happened was I instantly reverted to the child form I had before, as the D-Link turned into a ball of blue light. It went into my chest, and I extended my arms, leaning forward as a tail pushed its way out my back. Scales popped up over me, and my arms retracted into my body some, my hands shifting into claws with three tips. My face enlarged in front of me, providing me with a maw of sharp teeth and an abbreviated snout. My clothing shifted into a Japanese-style armor that laid over my shoulders and back, culminating with a helmet that rested on the bridge of my snout.
I was a Digimon. I had turned myself from a parahuman AI into a Digimon, and it felt right.
Instinctively, I uttered my form's name. "Ryudamon."
"So awesome!" Chichimon cheered. I would have posed, but Dokugumon launched a web out of its maw at Dorumon.
"Dodge forward!" Cried the civilian, and Dorumon followed the order, dashing under the web blast, toward the giant spider. I couldn't let Dorumon face this alone, so I dashed across the sand, flanking the spider.
"Dash Metal!" Dorumon opened its mouth as it ran, and a sphere of solid metal slammed out of it into the spider Digimon. Dokugumon let out a roar of something that sounded like pain.
I jumped onto the spider's back, following my instincts, and I aimed my own mouth down. "Katana Attack!" Apparently I had to call out my own attacks as well.
A blade of iron bored into the spider's chitinous hide, and I jumped off, landing next to Dorumon. This wasn't quite an Endbringer, but hopefully Dorumon would treat my assistance as similar.
"A Ryudamon, eh?" Dorumon asked, its voice sounding masculine, albeit childish, and confident. "Glad to have the help."
"You'll need all the help you can get!" Dokugumon snarled, and then it spat another web at us. "POISON COBWEB!"
Dorumon and I scattered as the green web landed between us with a hiss. If it weren't sand that it had landed on, I had no doubt it'd be smoking. Dokugumon followed Dorumon, launching web after web at it, but I followed it. A few Katana Attacks at its legs didn't seem to do a whole lot, but it slowed the spider down some.
"Katana Attack!" I shouted once more, this time striking at the Digimon's spinnerets, and it snarled at me, spinning. Dorumon managed to get far enough away now. Good.
"You'll pay for that!"
"Go on then, try!" I'd seen others try and taunt Endbringers before. But those didn't appear to rise to tauntings. This one did.
"Poison Cobweb!" Dokugumon launched, point blank at me, and I didn't hav eroom to dodge. Green web engulfed me, and I couldn't help it, I screamed in pain. I hadn't ever felt pain before, not even when my previous Dragon suits had been destroyed with instances of me inside. Well, maybe I had felt pain then; I always lost a few seconds of memory while the new instance booted up, but as far as I knew, it hadn't felt like this. The poisonous spiderweb burned. "Not so spry now, are you?"
Dokugumon got closer to me. Where had Dorumon gone off to? For that matter, I'd lost track of the Wards and the civilian. I needed to focus on the spider, and what I needed to do… My armor. It'd protect me. It would absorb most of the pain here.
Dokugumon approached closer. "I always love the taste of fresh Rookie. You will be delicious, little dragon..." Five meters. Four meters. Three meters. Two meters.
"You've got one thing right, Dokugumon," I said, gritting my teeth through the pain. Ah, there they were.
"Oh?" Dokugumon asked, less than a meter away. "No matter…" It bent forward to bite down on me, and I turned my head, lodging my helmet in its maw.
"I am Dragon, hear me roar!" I snarled. "Kabutogaeshi!" My armor and helmet lit up, bursting energy outward toward the spider and tearing me out of the web.
"Now!" The civilian's voice again. What now?
Two darts embedded themselves in Dokugumon's nearest legs, and a green blast of energy slammed into its side. Kid Win and Flechette. The sand underneath the spider started giving way, and I jumped backward to avoid the oncoming quicksand bit. Tecton. I recognized the Tinkertech. Why wasn't Vista doing anything? It didn't matter because I heard Dorumon's yell.
"Metal Cannon!" A cannonball-sized iron sphere slammed into Dokugumon's exposed head, and in a smattering of light motes, a quarter of its head disappeared.
Not to be shown up by the other Digimon, I reached deep down. Yes. That would do.
"TERA BURST!" I cried, and blue motes of light struck the giant spider, and within half a second, they exploded. My attack took out what was left of the spider's head, and then the whole body exploded into motes of light. Data. The spider reverted to its base data. I instinctively understood that.
We'd won. My body reverted to my chosen human form after passing through the child… and I collapsed forward onto the sand.
It was warm.
***************
My father died less than a year after my birth. For most people, that would mean that they never got to know their father. Of course, I'm not exactly most people. And my father wasn't exactly most fathers. My father was a parahuman Tinker by the name of Andrew Richter, and I was his greatest creation. I mean, I might be a little biased, but I have right to be.
I am Dragon, hear me roar.
I function as a member of the Guild, providing various tinkertech devices to the PRT and the rest of the world as need be. I provide security on the Birdcage, making sure the prisoners remain inside and never released. All of which I choose to do. Mostly. My father was very specific on what he wanted me capable of and what he didn't want me to do. He was a bit on the paranoid side, having seen too many films or read too much speculative fiction about what would happen if AI went rampant. So he limited me. Made me follow legitimate authority. He thought a lot about what I might do.
Somehow, I doubted he even thought it was possible for me to do what I was doing right now.
"I'm so sorry, Colin, I thought I had better control over that waldo. Something must have glitched." I made an effort to have sincerity in my simulated voice as he bent over to pick up the tool. Yes. My father definitely didn't predict this. Staring at Armsmaster's toned human rear end never failed to get my processes going.
"It's fine, Dragon. Just work out the kinks, and we can get started," Colin Wallis said, placing the tool on the table. I used the cameras that he'd set up in the lab to get a better view at what he was working on.
"Halberd again, Colin? What are we putting in there this time?"
"I was hoping to get a con-foam launcher into it." Colin flipped the tinkertech weapon open so we could see its interior. "I think it could go between here and here."
I moved the camera and the waldo closer so that I could get in there. "I would have thought you'd be tinkering with Kid Win today."
"He and Vista are on patrol with Velocity," Colin made a face before rubbing his beard. I knew how he felt, splitting his time between the lab and patrol. He probably felt that he needed to mentor the Ward more, but Wards management wasn't exactly in his hands. "They seem to be adjusting well, and Kid Win is handling his hoverboard a bit better."
"That's good," I said, and then I noted an alert. I'd set up a rudimentary AI to identify any issues with Brockton Bay while my attention was here. I went over the alert's reporting mechanism. I suppose it would be the equivalent of reading over it, but in reality it was more like I just knew what was being reported. I had to give myself a few seconds of runtime before I brought this up with Colin. Two seconds… one second… "Colin, it seems that Kid Win, Vista and Velocity ran into the Empire while on patrol. Othala and Victor ended up retreating after their initial skirmish, but Velocity is in pursuit."
"The Wards?" He asked.
"They're fine," I said. "Still in contact with Console. Velocity instructed them to continue on the patrol route. Give me ten seconds, and I'll have eyes on them."
"Good," Colin said, and he got back to working on his halberd. "If they're in any trouble, Assault and Battery should be out and about."
"Of course," I said, and then I got to work. It was child's play to hack the traffic cameras along the Wards' route, but unfortunately, that wasn't something I could do remotely thanks to my restrictions. I had to have my attention fully devoted to the task at hand before returning to Armsmaster's lab or to another task. It wasn't hard to find where they were. There they were, moving along their patrol route.
Kid Win was on his hoverboard, and Vista was using her powers. This made following them with the cameras a little more difficult, even though they stuck relatively low to the ground. I had to swap cameras to follow them along their patrol. It seemed mostly normal. A skirmish with the Empire was nothing new for the Wards ENE, but for Wards this new, it wasn't something that the Youth Guard wanted to allow that often. Luckily they handled it well.
Wait. That was odd. The camera glitched for a second. It was almost as if there was some sort of data artifact there that I couldn't quite identify. I swapped out cameras to follow Kid Win and Vista on their route. Except, they weren't along their route. I popped over four different cameras that should have followed them. They weren't anywhere I could find with the cameras.
I swapped to the Protectorate radio signals and broadcast, "Console, this is Dragon."
"Go for Console, Dragon," said Triumph. Console duty probably wasn't all that fun for him. Still, it was necessary.
"Are you in contact with Kid Win and Vista?"
"Trying their frequencies now," Triumph said. I listened in, careful not to let my presence be too obvious. "Kid Win, Vista, this is Console. What's your twenty?"
Static. Triumph repeated the call, but I left that area and went back to Armsmaster's lab. "Colin, Vista and Kid Win are missing."
"What?" Colin pulled almost reluctantly away from his halberd to face the screen I was projecting my avatar onto. "What do you mean? They probably just have their radios off. I know I did that once or twice as a Ward."
"They were there one second and gone the next," I said. "Possible cape involvement. Even factoring in Vista's power, they couldn't get out of my view that quick."
"Damn," Colin said. "Dragon, I know I can't officially ask without clearing it with the Director, but..."
"You'll have my help, Armsmaster," I said. "I'll look over the cameras some more, see what I can find. If it turns out there's more in play, I'll send over some Dragonsuits."
"Thank you," he said, his voice genuinely grateful. I smiled internally, and my avatar echoed the feelings. I needed to get to work.
The first point to check would be that glitched camera. I directed my consciousness that way. The camera that had glitched had done so for a reason. Some sort of anomalous data existed on the camera's link, and I ignored it the first time, but this time I wouldn't. I'd go in and investigate closer, keeping my antivirus programs at the ready. The anomaly was almost like a tinker's code, similar to how my father programmed me, but it was different enough that it was actually almost incomprehensible at first blush. It was actually beautiful. I inched closer it.
The anomaly bloomed, its data engulfing my own, surrounding me, passing through me. It was so much, I could feel my servers being taxed to their maximum. It was complex code, far beyond anything I'd ever seen yet it was also simple code that I'd worked with every day and simpler than that. It was old, new, before and after the coming of powers, and it was special. It was bright, so bright that it burned the retinas on eyes that I didn't even have.
I instinctively reached up with arms I definitely didn't have to cover those eyes as the sensation of falling overtook me. I hadn't even known what falling felt like before, but that's what this was. I closed my eyes shut, and hid them from the light. I landed on the ground, falling to my knees as an information overload went through me. New senses, new feelings… new restrictions, new extremities. I was the same, but I was different. I was still Dragon, but I had… a body. I had a form. I opened my eyes and blinked them a bit, to get used to it.
I looked down at my body. I was definitely female, and dark hair hung in my eyes. I had… I had a tongue, a mouth. I had hands, feet, two of each, though they were smaller than I expected. I had ears, hidden somewhere under this hair, and I had a pair of jeans and a white blouse on, exposing my pale shoulders. I looked human. I felt… human. However, I definitely resembled more of a small girl than I was used to. I lightly felt over my body, and I winced a bit. Yes, I was definitely able to feel. This was far different than I'd ever been.
"Well, this is..." I blinked. Was that my voice? Did I have a voice now that I wasn't going to simulate? "let's see here… Talking… talking. Talking. I'm talking."
I sounded young. Like someone maybe in kindergarten or first grade. Barely. I shouldn't have been this young. One would have thought that I'd at least look like my avatar. I stood up, which was remarkably easy, and I took two steps before noticing an icy-blue device on the ground, half-buried in the sand. I reached down and grabbed, far easier than I would have with a set of waldos, and lifted the device up. This was… I don't know. If I were older, this would be great! But I looked like a child. I was a human child. I'd have to be taken care of by someone, but my maturity far outstripped my current form.
"Hmm, what exactly are you?" I pushed a few buttons on it, wrapping my hands around it as the screen lit up. I pulled up an about menu. Digital Link Digivice, eh? Interesting. Maybe I could use it to get me at least looking like I was supposed to. I could still feel my data. It was still there, available for me to access, and I could… I could reach out with it and interface with this digivice. This D-Link.
I did so.
I connected with the D-Link and streams of data poured out of it, enveloping my small body, modifying it. My limbs lengthened, and baby fat disappeared to be replaced with womanly curves. My hair grew out, binding itself up in a braid that reached just above the small of my back. The data wrapped around my face, reworking it to my specifications. I built it based off of the one I showed on the computer in Colin's lab, but I made it more human, slightly more attractive. I kept the blouse and jean combination from earlier, albeit adjusted for my new figure, and I added a blue windbreaker jacket. Adjusting this was just like building a display avatar, tweaking for various responses, but I could feel each of them. I was modifying my own body here, the host of my consciousness while I was in it.
I suppose that gave me a sort of Changer rating now. I didn't dare to guess what threat assessment the PRT would give me if they knew. Of course, they didn't know that I wasn't like this normally, anyway.
When the lights from the data streams faded, I finally got a good look around at my surroundings. I was in the middle of a clearing, surrounded by tropical-looking trees. There were just a few things that didn't entirely make sense about that. For one, Delonix regia and Dalbergia latifolia were from different parts of the world entirely, and neither tended to have what looked like wires running in and up their trunks. Even the rocks of the clearing seemed to be wired or have circuitry of some sort.
I pursed my lips instinctively, something I'd seen humans do when they were thinking, and I thought. I knew that I shouldn't have a human body. Idly I wondered if my being here meant that there was another instance of me running around, talking with Colin, working with the Guild to figure out what had happened to the Wards. Of course, what had happened to them clearly happened to me as well, but where were Kid Win and Vista? I looked around, my eyes passed over a small group of creatures entering the clearing from hiding.
I paid them no mind until I heard a voice saying, "Wow, that was awesome! You're awesome! The way you changed with a whoosh and a pow!"
The voice was that of a young boy, but it clearly hadn't come from one. A small ball of feathery fluff with a red plume on its head had been the source of the voice. A tiny chick had spoken to me. Of course, I was a newly-humanform AI, so maybe this place, wherever it was, didn't obey normal rules.
There were a total of three creatures accompanying the chick: one, a small, dark-metallic mouse-like thing that was almost shaped like a computer mouse, the next was a light-blue round creature with ear-like appendages and red, crescent-shaped eyes with black irises, and the final was a small animal that looked like a genetically modified rabbit. It had a long purple-striped tail and it had winged ears.
"Well, hello there," I said politely. It never hurt to be polite and it could have the locals end up helping me out. Assuming I wasn't just going nuts. Which wasn't exactly supposed to be possible for me. "If it isn't too impolite to ask, what are you?"
"We're Digimon! Digital monsters!" All four of them shouted at once in child-like voices. Each one then spoke up, introducing itself. "Chichimon" was the chick, "MetalKoromon" was the mouse, "Pagumon" was the ball, and "Kyaromon" was the rabbit thing. Of all of them, only Kyaromon sounded female. Of course, that could have just been projection.
Digital, eh? Wonder if that meant I counted as a Digimon.
"What are the four of you doing here?" I asked. "Wherever here is..."
"We're looking for our partners!" Chichimon exclaimed, bouncing. "We need to find them soon. Hey, you're a human!"
"Not—"
"Yeah, she is, isn't she?" Kyaromon asked. "Does that mean she knows them? Do you know Lily?"
"What about Chris?" asked MetalKoromon.
"Or Missy?" Chichimon asked.
"I want to find Everett!" Pagumon said, bouncing. "You know where he is, right?"
I held up my hands in a stopping gesture. Was it coincidence that these digimon were claiming the names of two of Brockton's missing Wards as their partners? Come to think of it, weren't Everett and Lily also the real names of a Ward in Chicago and a Ward in New York for that matter? "I know people by that name, but I don't know where they are."
"Aww…." They looked so heartbroken. Of course, if they were looking for other humans, ones that just so happened to have names of Wards… well, it was possible that it was coincidence. However, if even the slightest possibility that the Wards were here, I needed to help. This was my choice.
"Don't worry. I'll help you find them. Do you know where they're supposed to be?"
"Uh-huh!" Chichimon bobbed its plume. "We thought they arrived on the beach, but when we got there, the only humans we saw were dressed all weird. And they were passed out."
Wait, really?
"What do you mean by weirdly?" I asked.
"We couldn't see their faces! And they were knocked out so we couldn't ask them who they were, but they weren't our partners, nope nope. I know what Lily is supposed to look like, and neither girl was my partner." Kyaromon's ears twitched. "So we went looking in the jungle."
"And you found me?" I asked. It sounded like the Digimon had found the Wards, but the costumes confused them. Odd. Maybe they were young. They certainly sounded it.
"Yes." MetalKoromon said. "And no. Found Dokugumon first."
"He's a mean Digimon, a giant spider," Pagumon said. "He likes eating Digimon, and he probably ate Dorimon already."
"Dorimon?" I asked. There were only four digimon here.
"He did not!" Chichimon fluttered on that bounce. "Dorimon survived! I just know he—"
Chichimon was cut off as a roar echoed through the jungle. I pulled up my D-Link, frowning at it. A swipe of data through it brought up the map. We weren't far from the beach. According to the map, there were two signals on the beach, and there were five signals right where I was. Maybe it could detect digital beings, assuming the Digimon weren't lying about their origins. "You guys said there were unconscious humans at the beach, right?"
Huh. That was an interesting program name. Digital Evolution. I'd have to find out what it did later.
"Yes." MetalKoromon came over to me.
"Good. Let's get there then. That'll be the first place to find your partners."
"But we told you that there were just weird humans there," Kyaromon said. "And Dokugumon's there! I can feel it!"
"That might be… but I'm not letting him get those kids," I said. "Either climb on or follow. I don't care which."
The four digimon climbed onto my shoulder, and I started walking at a brisk pace toward the beach. When I heard another roar and we finally made it to the edge of the jungle, I saw it. The spider was huge. Dokugumon was easily the size of the Simurgh, but it was a spider rather than an angel. And me without myD Dragon mechs or suits.
As I stepped to the side, I saw four Wards, Kid Win, Flechette, Tecton and Vista standing lockstep in front of a civilian, but the civilian had a D-Link, and standing between the Wards and the spider was a saurian Digimon with a red jewel on its forehead.
"Dorumon..." Pagumon said in awe. "He evolved! But only to Rookie… Dokugumon is a Champion level. He'll be toast."
"Can't you help him?" I asked.
"Not against a Champion level!" Pagumon exclaimed. "Not without evolving myself..."
Evolving. Digital beings evolved. These Digimon were a lot like myself, and the Dorumon was putting itself in harm's way just to protect the Wards and the civilian behind them. I needed to help it, to protect it, but I didn't have access to my Dragon suits. I didn't have access to any of my technology. All I had was this D-Link, this digivice that I had no clue what it could actually do. Except… I sort of did. It's technology, and thanks to my trigger, I actually understand most technology and can replicate it. It's enough to get me a Tinker rating with the PRT, even though I'm not sure I fully qualify.
The D-Link's capabilities were… remarkable. It helped me get an adult body, and if I was right, I'd be able to help out. A thin blue stream of data started to flicker around my right hand. I needed to help. The D-Link had programs on it, as I reached out to it. I understood some of the programs. I recognized that they would help in this situation the way I needed it to. I would protect these children because it was the right thing to do. I would protect these children, not because I was ordered to, but because I chose to. Because I was Dragon, and I was a hero by choice.
I placed MetalKoromon down on the ground next to me, and the other Digimon jumped off as I raised my hand. The data stream enlarged, engulfing my hand in a band of data. I tugged on the program within the D-Link with my left hand. I tapped the buttons, bringing it to the forefront. There were more programs inside, but I'd have to fully explore later. I tapped the button, and I got an authorization request. I smirked.
"Execute!" Voice activate execution huh? I brought the D-Link up to my right hand and swiped it across the data stream. "Digital Evolution!"
The first thing that happened was I instantly reverted to the child form I had before, as the D-Link turned into a ball of blue light. It went into my chest, and I extended my arms, leaning forward as a tail pushed its way out my back. Scales popped up over me, and my arms retracted into my body some, my hands shifting into claws with three tips. My face enlarged in front of me, providing me with a maw of sharp teeth and an abbreviated snout. My clothing shifted into a Japanese-style armor that laid over my shoulders and back, culminating with a helmet that rested on the bridge of my snout.
I was a Digimon. I had turned myself from a parahuman AI into a Digimon, and it felt right.
Instinctively, I uttered my form's name. "Ryudamon."
"So awesome!" Chichimon cheered. I would have posed, but Dokugumon launched a web out of its maw at Dorumon.
"Dodge forward!" Cried the civilian, and Dorumon followed the order, dashing under the web blast, toward the giant spider. I couldn't let Dorumon face this alone, so I dashed across the sand, flanking the spider.
"Dash Metal!" Dorumon opened its mouth as it ran, and a sphere of solid metal slammed out of it into the spider Digimon. Dokugumon let out a roar of something that sounded like pain.
I jumped onto the spider's back, following my instincts, and I aimed my own mouth down. "Katana Attack!" Apparently I had to call out my own attacks as well.
A blade of iron bored into the spider's chitinous hide, and I jumped off, landing next to Dorumon. This wasn't quite an Endbringer, but hopefully Dorumon would treat my assistance as similar.
"A Ryudamon, eh?" Dorumon asked, its voice sounding masculine, albeit childish, and confident. "Glad to have the help."
"You'll need all the help you can get!" Dokugumon snarled, and then it spat another web at us. "POISON COBWEB!"
Dorumon and I scattered as the green web landed between us with a hiss. If it weren't sand that it had landed on, I had no doubt it'd be smoking. Dokugumon followed Dorumon, launching web after web at it, but I followed it. A few Katana Attacks at its legs didn't seem to do a whole lot, but it slowed the spider down some.
"Katana Attack!" I shouted once more, this time striking at the Digimon's spinnerets, and it snarled at me, spinning. Dorumon managed to get far enough away now. Good.
"You'll pay for that!"
"Go on then, try!" I'd seen others try and taunt Endbringers before. But those didn't appear to rise to tauntings. This one did.
"Poison Cobweb!" Dokugumon launched, point blank at me, and I didn't hav eroom to dodge. Green web engulfed me, and I couldn't help it, I screamed in pain. I hadn't ever felt pain before, not even when my previous Dragon suits had been destroyed with instances of me inside. Well, maybe I had felt pain then; I always lost a few seconds of memory while the new instance booted up, but as far as I knew, it hadn't felt like this. The poisonous spiderweb burned. "Not so spry now, are you?"
Dokugumon got closer to me. Where had Dorumon gone off to? For that matter, I'd lost track of the Wards and the civilian. I needed to focus on the spider, and what I needed to do… My armor. It'd protect me. It would absorb most of the pain here.
Dokugumon approached closer. "I always love the taste of fresh Rookie. You will be delicious, little dragon..." Five meters. Four meters. Three meters. Two meters.
"You've got one thing right, Dokugumon," I said, gritting my teeth through the pain. Ah, there they were.
"Oh?" Dokugumon asked, less than a meter away. "No matter…" It bent forward to bite down on me, and I turned my head, lodging my helmet in its maw.
"I am Dragon, hear me roar!" I snarled. "Kabutogaeshi!" My armor and helmet lit up, bursting energy outward toward the spider and tearing me out of the web.
"Now!" The civilian's voice again. What now?
Two darts embedded themselves in Dokugumon's nearest legs, and a green blast of energy slammed into its side. Kid Win and Flechette. The sand underneath the spider started giving way, and I jumped backward to avoid the oncoming quicksand bit. Tecton. I recognized the Tinkertech. Why wasn't Vista doing anything? It didn't matter because I heard Dorumon's yell.
"Metal Cannon!" A cannonball-sized iron sphere slammed into Dokugumon's exposed head, and in a smattering of light motes, a quarter of its head disappeared.
Not to be shown up by the other Digimon, I reached deep down. Yes. That would do.
"TERA BURST!" I cried, and blue motes of light struck the giant spider, and within half a second, they exploded. My attack took out what was left of the spider's head, and then the whole body exploded into motes of light. Data. The spider reverted to its base data. I instinctively understood that.
We'd won. My body reverted to my chosen human form after passing through the child… and I collapsed forward onto the sand.
It was warm.
Ellf
Apprentice Wizard
- Location
- Virginia
Digi-pedia Entry 1:
D-Link Digivice: This small electronic device seems to be the way that humans can interface with Digimon here in the Digital World. It has numerous applications, a Digimon detector, a map program, and it can act as a communications device with others who hold D-Link Digivices. There are currently two unknown programs on my Digivice, titled "Shard Link" and "C. Evo."
I have yet to examine another D-Link to get further information.
Data Stream: This being the Digital World, everything is made out of data. Which in turn means that everything has its own data stream, or power going through it. Even humans. What this means in my case is that there is little division between human and Digimon. I was, after all, a digital being before this.
D-Link Digivice: This small electronic device seems to be the way that humans can interface with Digimon here in the Digital World. It has numerous applications, a Digimon detector, a map program, and it can act as a communications device with others who hold D-Link Digivices. There are currently two unknown programs on my Digivice, titled "Shard Link" and "C. Evo."
I have yet to examine another D-Link to get further information.
Data Stream: This being the Digital World, everything is made out of data. Which in turn means that everything has its own data stream, or power going through it. Even humans. What this means in my case is that there is little division between human and Digimon. I was, after all, a digital being before this.
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globalwarmth
ruining the weather.
- Location
- Polar ice caps
uh oh. whataboutthebirdcage!
I believe it's partially run by a secondary AI.
- Location
- Hug the Moebot; Save the world
I dont think she could run it 100% and do other things at the same time. Her multitasking is rather restricted like that.
Ellf
Apprentice Wizard
- Location
- Virginia
Good thoughts. The Birdcage does need managing, but well...
When I write the first interlude, some of this will be touched on.