Review Responses
The Keeper of Worlds) Of course, there's a bit of Fridge Horror there; if all Gumdramon does is act according to his species-description, how much free will has he really got?
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You! Yeah, you there, fourth seat, third row: Are you trying to get killed, dumbass?! Still, I appreciate the commentary. Secondly, to clarify on the time-skips, there would be no real reason to cover all the day-to-day stuff.
DATS HQ, command center
At Miki's workstation, Kristy sat leaned back, attired in a purple variation of Yoshino's uniform, while Gumdramon stood beside her, both watching Thomas with interest as he examined their D-Arc, with a cable plugged into it, though why he was even doing it eluded them both.
Thomas, on the other hand, was nothing short of astounded by the sheer complexity of the device, as its contents unfolded on the screen in front of him, causing mild latency with the enormity of it.
Seemingly, it was loaded with countless Gigabyte, nearly a Terabyte, of Digimon data, including several that DATS' databases made no mention of, mostly Mega-levels, though some of the Ultimates and Champions had no matches in the databases either.
Indeed, he wasn't sure what to make of some of the entries, as Digmon was listed as being neither at the Rookie, Champion, Ultimate or Mega levels, but what the D-Arc's database referred to as 'Armor', whatever that referred to, along with several others.
Right now, Thomas really wished that Suzie was around, to give some answers about this new level of Digivolution. Gaomon blinked when he saw the term, 'Armor' in relation to Digmon.
Thomas noted his partner's surprised expression, asking whether he recognized the term, the canine responding in the positive.
"It's supposedly a level outside the standard progression, sir," Gaomon spoke. Thomas gave him an interested look, as he'd never heard anything about Digivolution-levels like that. "According to a legend in the Digital World, a number of artifacts called, 'Digimentals', would allow a suitable Digimon to tap into its power, causing it to exceed the Champion-level, or even exceed Ultimate."
Behind the two, Gumdramon smirked to Kristy, who smirked back, wordlessly agreeing that come morning, they were going Digimental-hunting. With power like that, Gumdramon thought, they could find Kristy's and Marcus' father in no time.
Outside, on the roof-top, Suzie sat in a legged position, her arms folded, while Lopmon stood beside her. The two sat quietly, Suzie's hair swaying in the faintly chilly winds, watching the city below, both deep in thought.
She hadn't noticed it at the time, but Agumon, Gaomon and Lalamon hadn't been surprised by her mentioning the Sovereign and Deva, the Demon Lords, Megidramon and the Great Angels.
Rather, they had been skeptical, leading her to wonder how they could possibly know of those Digimon, considering that what little she remembered of Data Squad establishing that they had been brought into the this world as eggs.
Had the DATS databases told them all that? She decided that that likely wasn't the explanation, as Agumon wasn't the type, and Marcus, Thomas and Yoshino would've learned of it if they had.
Next, she wondered whether they had somehow spontaneously, 'learned', all that when they Digivolved to Rookie. That would also explain how Gumdramon had learned fluent japanese when he Digivolved to Rookie. She decided that it likely wasn't the answer either, as it made little sense to her.
Perhaps, she mused, it was another side-effect of her and Lopmon entering this timeline. Everything she'd learned about time, over the years with the others and Hypnos, indicated that time was akin to a river, and anything, the smallest changest, could cause that river to branch off in a new direction, or even multiple ones.
After all, if they had influenced the future in both subtle and overt ways simply by arriving here, as evidenced by Gumdramon hatching here, that was to say, making ripples down-stream, who was to say that ripples up-stream were impossible?
She shuddered at the implications when she finished the thought; if it was true, how many times had their universe been re-written, by people from alternate timelines and universes, and by nearly godlike Digimon? A hundred? A thousand? A hundred thousand?
In the corner of the rabbit's eye, Lopmon watched a faint smile form on Suzie's face. "It doesn't matter, does it, Lopmon?" She asked softly.
"I suppose not, Suzie," Lopmon whispered back, wondering briefly how her Tamer had known that she was in the mood for a pizza or twelve, which she really would've liked; they were just so tasty.
Suddenly, Suzie spotted a car driving out from the DATS parking lot, looking to be in a hurry, while in her pocket, they heard the familiar noise, a noise between a beep and a click, from her D-Arc.
"Whattaya think, Lopmon? Champion or Ultimate?" Suzie smirked at the rabbit, looking at the D-Arc, which pointed to the north-west. The bunny briefly considered the question, deeming her Ultimate form best, as the enormous power of her Mega-form wouldn't do much, and the Turuiemon form would be weighed down too much by the girl.
"Antylamon sounds best," Lopmon answered. Suzie nodded, sliding the Blue Card through her D-Arc, followed by the Hyper Wings, and soon, the citizens of Tokyo, at least, those who looked up, were treated to the highly unusual sight of a colossal flying rabbit.
All agreed that society was becoming a strange place, and stranger still, by the minute. Shrugging that it hardly mattered as long as people weren't getting mowed down, they returned to go about their business.
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Outside the Manju bakery, Connor watched with his father as what appeared to be a five-meters tall orange T-rex and a two-meters tall purple dragon duked it out with a tall yellow fox. Somehow, neither parent or child were greatly surprised at seeing Marcus join the fray.
Kristy looked frantically at the cards, trying to pick one, before Renamon appeared a distance in the air, smirking, as his target was completely open.
"KRISTY!" Gumdramon, GeoGreymon and Marcus screamed, while the girl yelped, frozen with panic, as the shards flew at her, instinctively closing her eyes, preparing for her early death.
A few seconds later, she was surprised when the attack didn't hit her, and she heard Gumdramon whether she was okay, referring to her as 'kid'. Apprehensively, she opened an eye. The world seemed to fade away when she saw Gumdramon wincing in pain, with several of the shards protruding from his back.
"GUMDRAMON!" Kristy cried at the sight of her partner in agony. Marcus and GeoGreymon turned to Renamon, scowling, hellbent on revenge, when suddenly, a large soft-brown hand appeared, grabbing firm hold of the fox, ending the battle, while Suzie ran down the street towards the group.
Lopmon, no matter what form she took, didn't appreciate anyone, human or Digimon, picking on someone smaller or less powerful than themselves, she informed the squirming Renamon and the group, continuing to say that right now, the fox had done so, and sealed his own fate.
Marcus and GeoGreymon watched in shock as Renamon's body was shattered under Antylamon's grip, and reformed into an egg.
"Are you okay, kid?" Gumdramon worriedly asked, wincing. She incredulously shouted that he should worry about himself, and hugged the dragon. He winced when she did, both from the pain of the attack, and something else.
Suddenly, he felt some warmth, some incredible power surging through him, almost to the point of overwhelming him.
Kristy was a bit confused when he asked her to stand back a little, but complied regardless. Everyone present blinked when the familiar energy-ring signaling a Digivolution appeared around him, passing over him from the feet up.
However, the new creature in Gumdramon's place was radically different from what had just been there.
This dragon had tripled in height, standing at almost seven meters, his body covered in armor composed of a rubberlike material, the red vest having grown to cover more of his torso, as well as his wings, which now jutted outwards from his back.
Unlike Gumdramon, this dragon had curved white claws protruding from its feet, which were covered in orange boots, cut to expose his toes that were somehow segmented into three portions.
It sported large orange gloves on its three-fingered hands, with three silvery platings on the back of the gauntlets.
The tail had lengthened greatly, and wielded a trident.
Suzie blinked, as this Arresterdramon lacked the black garments that the species normally had.
Kristy reached for her D-Arc, wanting to know exactly what her Gumdramon had just become. The familiar display formed almost immediately. "Arresterdramon. Level: Champion. Attribute: Data. Type: Dragon. Attacks include Mach Flicker, Eraser Frog Shot, and Prism Gallet."
"Whatta ya think of this body, Kristy?" Arresterdramon grinned at the girl, who smirked back, saying that he looked awesome, while Marcus and Agumon shared a worried look, knowing that she'll likely insist on going to the Digital World now Gumdramon could Digivolve to the Champion-level.
Within the bakery, Connor and his father watched in bewilderment at what had just happened. How in the world had that dragon become several times larger, Connor wondered.
Elsewhere, within the DATS building, in a moderately well-lit room that used to be the research area of Akihiro Kurata, two people, a young man and a woman, were studying the contents of a computer screen, smirking wildly at the thought of what was about to occur.
"A thousand Gizumon," The woman laughed heartily. "Five-hundred Gizumon AT, one-hundred Gizumon XT, the Belphemon project. Kurata truly was a genius!"
"How long until completion?" The man asked.
"At the current rate, thirteen days and seven hours," The woman answered.
"Soon, we'll avenge Kurata!" The man declared loudly.
Geez, maybe killing off Kurata wasn't a good move; no Kurata means no Mega-level Bio-Hybrids, no dimensionally-transplanted Eldradimon, no royally ticked off King (Ygg)Drasil, and countless other entertaining stuff...
Meh, it's better in the long run.
1) If you disagree with Arresterdramon's Level/Attribute, that's too bad, I'm not changing it.
