Remember to check the top of my profile page for a link to the Digital Hazard forum, made by Swords and Roses. Updates and background story info will be regularly posted there.
A/N: Thanks to UBA and the guest for your reviews. As said, I wasn't trying to ask for reviews, and I probably wouldn't have brought it up at all if all the reviewers hadn't seemed to disappear all at the same time. Also, for some reason I hadn't even considered school as a possible reason... then again, back when I was still in school I tended to be equally busy all year-round, so I tend to forget that other people have more shifting schedules and the like.
Anyway, I'm satisfied with that explanation, so I'm gonna just forget about that now and focus on the writing again. This chapter obviously came a bit later, so I'm gonna have to double up over the next few days to catch up and have another chapter ready by the end of this week...
Chapter 10: Armament
Information, the first principle of warfare, must form the foundation of all your efforts.
The days following the last mission were rife with activity. With Gatomon gaining the ability to fight at the level of the other children and joining the field team proper, Hikari immediately approached Masaharu about instituting the next level of training for the generation two children... active combat.
Neither the new children nor their partners were prepared, physically or mentally, to fight Nefertimon. Mentally, it was a completely new kind of challenge to be throwing all their attacks at a friend, knowing that actually landing a hit could be quite harmful. They hesitated time and again, and were only able to start slowly working it out of their system by the sheer force of the aggression that Hikari and Nefertimon demonstrated against them.
Physically, Nefertimon was at a completely different level than either of them. Though they were technically comparable in terms of actual strength, the skill with which she used that strength set her apart by leaps and bounds. The new children had all been using blunt, brute-force tactics until then, shooting rings, outrunning enemies, catching enemies off guard with ambushes... effective, but nothing like Gatomon had learned to do under Myotismon.
Shoot to the right, deliberately miss, hit the target when they instinctively dodge left. Make yourself an easy target, wait for the enemy to momentarily pause to make their attack, then strike in the instant they're exposed. Charge the enemy's attack, dodge at the last moment, attack in the moment of surprise...
She even resorted to outright tackling them and then shooting at point-blank range, despite not being as physically robust as some of the others. Who in their right mind would try to ram someone like Digmon? Well... apparently someone who knew they would never expect it.
There were limits to the training, of course. Hikari knew they couldn't risk seriously injuring any of their partners... considering they had no idea when they'd have to go back out into the field, she decided to be nice and let them rest as soon as they got tired. Just a little bit of training every day... it'd give them something to do during the waiting period, at any rate.
At the same time, Hikari talked to Masaharu about procuring certain materials for a personal mission of hers in the digital world. He didn't know why she'd need plaster, of all things, but he didn't ask either. He figured he'd find out soon enough, as soon as he needed to know.
Then once she returned to him with a mold of the platform where she found her digimental, he understood perfectly...
Two digimentals. One was hers, and the other... well, best not to make any predictions at this point, but ideas certainly came to mind. If nothing else, there was another digidestined active against the Kaiser, and it was possibly connected to the figure who had hacked their systems and sent those text messages, if not being the hacker themselves. It would explain part of how they managed to predict what was coming, anyway.
With regards to the idea of spies, Hikari spoke to Jou and Mimi about it first before jumping the gun and going straight to their superior. They more or less agreed with her assessment, though Mimi reminded them of all the insane shenanigans that took place during the war. Putting aside the fact that it was Takeru doing them, it proved that not everything had the most immediately apparent explanation. It was still worth looking into, but they needed to consider alternatives as well, just in case.
When she went to Maraharu about it he immediately took a few small steps to help, starting with isolating the SDZ activity from the rest of the network and ordering the tech teams to check the entire system and give a full review on network security. There wasn't any way to really hide the fact that they were searching for holes that someone might be able to use to spy on them, but in some ways that was a blessing. Masaharu had wanted to do a check on the system after the hacker was first discovered, but he had no way to justify it. The Kaiser was a known enemy, so everyone would assume that was who they were trying to secure the system from. Nobody even had to mention the hacker's existence... not yet.
On the personnel side, Masaharu had Koushiro to set up a series of programs within the network to observe all personnel activity within the system during the security check – wasn't that complicated compared to the other jobs he had, especially with Andromon there to help him. Then the man ordered a full review of all personnel records of anyone with any sort of access to the records of SDZ activity.
These orders all required approval from the brass, but fortunately Masaharu was able to intimidate them by the merit of his own history. He was the one who had been made temporary director after the previous one had been arrested for treason and his reputation had only grown since then. If they opposed his order, he could have them investigated for spying or treason. Even if it wasn't true, merely the suspicion could be a major blow to any of their political careers for years to come.
Of course, this came at the expense of revealing that the investigation was being done to root out spies, but that was what Koushiro's programs were for. If anyone's system activity showed a sudden, suspicious shift in behavior once the investigation started, they'd know who to investigate the most...
For once Hikari was actually feeling satisfied with the work the team was doing. They no longer felt as idle as they had been for so long... Sora and Jou were able to get more involved in the training as well, being the most ideal choices to instruct Miyako and Iori in combat tactics. Sora and Biyomon were the experts on airborne combat. On the other hand, Gomamon's evolved forms were both bulkier and and better armored than some, just like Digmon. The methods and techniques they used were the easiest to directly transfer to the new children, and with Hikari to train against they could finally start practicing them in safety, without having to pick a fight against the Kaiser's forces.
Hikari noticed that Momoe was also showing her face a bit around the base every so often. She couldn't be around all the time as she was often busy helping her family run their store, but she was able to make regular visits to observe the children's training and keep up to date on their general progress. Masaharu was already talking about offering her position as a team assistant in SDZ, but he was going to hold that off at least until the spy hunt was finished...
Several days passed before they finally got word from Koushiro that his team had finished filtering most of the data, though it would take a few more being spent analyzing the results before they could draw any solid conclusions about the nature of the rings.
Two days later, they were still waiting for word that they had finished the analysis when the call came. Koushiro personally made a mandatory call order to every member of SDZ, including command staff. Masaharu sent a special request to Miyako to bring Momoe along as well. If this was going to involve everyone, it'd have to include her as well. She'd be a member of SDZ eventually so it was quicker just to get her filled in on everything that was happening now to save them time later on.
One particular oddity of the meeting was that it wasn't being held in the SDZ command room like the others. Instead, they were using the general briefing room for the senior staff... though once they arrived it made sense as to why.
Hikari and Gatomon were some of the first to arrive, stepping in to find three people already present and waiting for her. Two, Hikari recognized – Masaharu and Ryo. One, she didn't... brown hair, dark blue eyes, and a rigid military posture that seemed an appropriate fit for his deep blue uniform... a commander's uniform.
"Commander Kaiba."
He turned to her with an expression that would have terrified most people. She recognized the type immediately... cold, hard, professional enough to cut someone down for bending the rules, but with enough of an edge to break them himself if given good enough reason.
She wasn't impressed, though. Respectful, yes, but impressed? No, this man clearly didn't have the same level of obsession of one who she had met in the war. He was still just a man... strong, military, professional, and as far as commanders went one of the best they had, but he wasn't superhuman. Not like some...
"Miss Yagami. Where is the Lieutenant?"
"On his way. And no, he never told me why he stepped down."
The commander narrowed his eyes slightly. Hikari raised a brow in response. Of course I know what you were gonna ask. Taichi never told me why, so he obviously never told you either. Do I really have to explain this?
Apparently the answer was no since the commander simply turned away without inquiring further. Glancing aside, Hikari could only assume that Masaharu and Ryo were surprised by her behavior somehow, based on their expressions. Well... Ryo was, anyway. Masaharu wasn't so much, though he did appear a bit wary. He understood her reasons, of course... she'd been trained by Takeru. This kind of behavior was normal. Still... if she decided to take her attitude any further there might be problems. Kaiba tended to be a bit more strict on the matter of insubordination than Takeru had been...
Hikari took a seat at roughly the center of one side of the long table, pulling Gatomon up onto her lap and waiting for the rest of the children to file in behind her, along with their partners. Of all people, Mimi was first, followed shortly by Miyako, Momoe and Iori. Then the gen-ones arrived, Taichi being one of the first, with Sora right at his side. When he stepped in, Kaiba said nothing about his absence during the week. No doubt they'd talk about that in private later...
"Commander,"
Hikari spoke up suddenly, eyes drifting across the children around her, though she wasn't really concentrating on them. She'd arrived about fifteen minutes early and had been sitting the entire time... she was getting bored, and besides that she had been thinking a lot and a question had just occurred to her... one she wanted to ask before Ken arrived.
"Were you an associate of Director Nakamoto during the war?"
She got a few confused glances at that, but her eyes fell on the commander and ignored the rest. They knew of the director, certainly, but they had no sense of why that might be significant to Hikari. Gatomon's slight shifting in her lap indicated that she knew what was going on, but she wasn't going to do anything to alert the others to it. After all, nobody else knew about their story time with Takeru that took place a year before. As for Masaharu... well, he was keeping his gaze deliberately averted, so she couldn't tell anything about what he was thinking.
Kaiba didn't give any visible reaction to that name, indicating that perhaps it didn't mean much to him. Then again, maybe he just had an excellent poker face.
"I knew Commander Nakamoto before the invasion, but I didn't transfer here until after the war."
"I personally recommended him as head of the military branch while I was still acting director."
Hikari raised a brow to Masaharu as he interjected. Interesting... that brought up two interesting things of note. First, Masaharu apparently knew of the commander before he arrived... and two, though it was subtle, she was pretty sure he was trying to divert the topic away from any mention of Nakamoto...
She pondered for a moment how Masaharu would have known of him. A contact through the commanders he already knew within the Hunters was most likely, though she had to wonder... that wasn't really good enough reason to earn a personal recommendation from Masaharu, so what convinced him to do that?
Regardless, Ken soon arrived and she ended the conversation there. She'd pursue that line of questioning later on, in private.
After Ken, Yamato was the last to step in, bringing Jou and Daisuke along with him. Daisuke's arm was still in a sling, but at least he was moving... and hey, he was apparently attentive as well. That indicated that he probably wasn't high on pain killers, so he might actually remember this meeting! When he sat down and winced it pretty much confirmed Hikari's suspicions. Good. He was recovering well, then.
Once nearly everyone was present, Masaharu picked up his phone and sent a text that he'd prepared in advance. Less than a minute later, Koushiro stepped into the room, holding his laptop in one hand while Tentomon carried in a thick folder full of papers. Hikari didn't have to guess what that was... research data. A whole freaking lot of it.
The commander stood up first, both to start the meeting and to give Koushiro time to set up his things.
"So that you are all aware, this meeting is being held here for the sake of security. As you've all heard, we're currently investigating the ranks of the Hunters for potential spies that might be assisting the Kaiser. Because the SDZ command room was not considered secure enough for this briefing, I authorized the meeting to be held here. There are no cameras, no listening devices, and every piece of technology is completely isolated from the rest of the facility in order to render hacking impossible. No records of this will be kept, and nobody outside of the room will know what is spoken here. Now, Mr. Izumi, the floor is yours. Proceed with the briefing."
Hikari sensed something off about Koushiro as he nodded and shifted his position over slightly to the head of the table. His mood was... not somber. Worried? No, not it either. She couldn't quite place it, but something had him off... more than she'd ever seen him before, in fact. Even right after his declaration of the digital emergency at the start of this whole conflict he wasn't this unsettled. Just what the hell had he discovered?
"Alright... I'm going to get right to the point. The rings aren't what we thought at all. While they work as a means to control digimon, they aren't actually mind-control devices or... whatever. They have a very different function..."
Hikari's eyes snapped over to Sora suddenly. The girl noticed and offered a confused glance in return, unsure of why Hikari had eyed her as she did. Apparently she wasn't getting the same sense of deja vu that she had before, but Hikari certainly was. This was... familiar. She'd heard these words before, though she couldn't peg down exactly where. Something in the war... but she couldn't recall anything in Myotismon's arsenal that reminded her of this.
"Part of the reason we couldn't filter out the nonsense data at first was that we didn't realize what we were trying to filter. All told, the final process actually took maybe two days. The rest of the week was spent being confused over just what the hell we were looking at..."
Koushiro motioned to Ryo who then went to retrieve a cable that was coiled up under the table as Masaharu reached over to the wall and pushed a button. A few seconds later, several double-sided screens came down from the ceiling directly over the table.
"The data for the rings was actually mixed in with the data for the individual digimon. When we figured that out we initially assumed it was simply because the rings link themselves to the digimon to control them, but no... they actually alter part of the digimon's data. I presume that's the primary reason for the color change, but the alteration isn't actually physical. It's just a symptom of the real change."
Koushiro paused, taking a deep breath. Here we go... the part that he was dreading. The reason he had called this sudden meeting in the first place... pushing a button, an image appeared on the screens of one of the rings, complete with the digi-code around the outer-edge. A second later the ring moved to one side and a glowing sphere appeared next to it.
"These rings actually alter the function of the digimon's digi-core. Most of you know digi-cores simply from the fact that Myotismon was killed by having his destroyed. In essence, it's the soul of a digimon... and these rings operate by overriding the functionality of the digimon's core and changing it. How they actually do this is extremely complex and I don't even understand most of it yet, but I'll summarize what I do know..."
He switched the image again and both objects turned semi-transparent, with a series of tangled lines appearing on the surface of each. The lines detached from the objects in question and moved away from them, taking positions side-by-side near the bottom of the screen. The structure of the two metaphorical balls of string appeared somewhat similar, though the one from the glowing sphere was clearly far more complex.
"The core of the rings' code appears to be structured similar to that of an... artificial digi-core. When a ring takes control of a digimon, it appears to somehow infiltrate the creature's core, linking itself and its functions to the digimon's and overriding its will. How it does this is so far a mystery and, by all rational standards, ought to be impossible. It's exhibiting the behavior of a virus, but analysis shows that the rings' primary attribute is data. However... when I started doing an in-depth analysis I found something... worrying. The design of the rings actually closely resembles something we've encountered before."
Another switch and the sphere disappeared along with its string ball. In its place appeared something that the new children didn't recognize at all, but the first gen children most certainly did... a black gear. Another tangle of string emerged from it and moved down beside the one from the ring. This time they appeared much similar in structure and complexity... almost identical, in fact.
"These rings appear to be re-engineered versions of the black gears originally employed by Devimon to take over digimon on File Island. The original gears did possess a virus attribute, but the Kaiser apparently altered that trait. For what reason... I can't say. I'm still analyzing the structure of the rings to try to figure out exactly how they work, but it's difficult due to the area that they operate in. The complexity of a digi-core is... insane, frankly. I'd honestly say it's difficult for most people to fathom... it'll take me weeks before I can start to draw any clear conclusions about these things. However, I have found one fact of importance which may help us in our fight against the Kaiser."
The screen transitioned again and everything fell away except for the original ring. The device began to rotate and the digi-code symbols on the side appeared to peel off of it and move down to the bottom of the screen. Once they were all gone from its surface, the ring disappeared, leaving only the illuminated code.
"The Kaiser appears to be controlling these rings by transmitting orders to them by means of a powerful signal. I can't currently track the source of the signal, but I've been able to identify it without a doubt..."
The digi-code letters shifted, disassembling and folding together into a thin line at the bottom of the screen. A moment later a distorted sound came out of Koushiro's laptop and the line expanded out into what appeared to be an extremely chaotic audio signal.
"This is the signal that controls the rings, and this..."
A second signal appeared above the first, looking obviously very similar... likely identical.
"...is the signal of the interference that's been keeping some of us out of the digital world and preventing our partners from evolving."
Just to make the point perfectly clear, the two signals changed color, one to red and the other to green, then moved together to overlap. When they did, the entire signal turned yellow. Not a single tiny line of red or green deviated from the center... they were literally identical.
Koushiro took a step back from his computer and went silent, looking first to the commander and then to the rest of the team. That was it... everything he'd learned so far. He'd continue working on the rest, but this... he needed to get everyone briefed on this immediately. It was too important to wait until he was done with his analysis.
Silence hung over the entire room. The gen-one team was particularly somber, with all the memories of Takeru and Devimon coming back with a vengeance. The gen-two team was less upset, but they were equally tense... before they were just fighting some dude with mind-control powers, but this... this made them feel completely out of their league. Even if the technology was ripped off of Devimon, it was still insanely advanced, and this news seemed to pretty well extinguish their hopes of getting the gen-one children to come and help them in this war. If Koushiro couldn't even understand the signal, how the hell was he going to find a way to negate it?
Hikari, however, was the quietest of all. The rings... and the gears. Now she understood why both she and Sora had felt that sense of deja vu... for Sora, it had been the original fight that she'd been a part of back on File Island. Digimon being taken over by an unknown force and made to fight them. For Hikari it was something else... a conversation she'd held with a digimon atop Infinity Mountain. Even the words had been much the same... both were used for mind control, but that wasn't their true purpose.
Though she understood a little something about the rings now... and by extension, apparently about the gears as well. Of course, the rings were redesigned from the original gears, so they weren't exactly the same, but she imagined that they were at least similar in the fact that they affected the digimon's digi-core. That brought a terrifying new light to everything that Devimon had been doing in the first place.
The gears didn't work... that's what Ogremon had said. Broken, or flawed... if that's the case, just what the hell was Devimon trying to create in the first place?
That wasn't the biggest concern though... Devimon's scheming was a long-term problem, but the more immediate issue was in the here and now, with the Kaiser. The fact that he or she was using copies of the gears to do their work... it put them in more or less the same category as Devimon, and who in the world hated Devimon more than the one who had lost everything to him?
Takeru.
The missing digimental next to her own... someone had taken it, but hadn't contacted them. Why were the digivices sent from that sector? It wasn't a choice... that's where the digimental was. Why hadn't they been contacted? Because that was the Kaiser's territory... and without backup, whoever took it could have been easily surrounded and captured.
Who else could it be? They hadn't heard from Takeru at all since all this mess started, and if he was the one who took the digimental, then now she had a good idea as to why... he couldn't contact them. He was a prisoner in the fortress of the Kaiser, trapped behind enemy lines without the means to free himself, having been given no time to prepare or implement any of his insane plots.
Of course, there were still holes in her theory... the biggest being the question of how he got into the digital world where the rest of them couldn't. It also left the question of the hacker completely in the open since there was no way that could be Takeru if he was locked away...
"So the signal's everything, then."
Momoe was the first one to speak up, likely due to the fact that her general unfamiliarity of the situation made it easier for her to cope with the worries that came with this new information.
"If you can find a way to block, or even just interfere with the signal, then you can stop the rings and regain the ability for everyone to evolve again."
That was... well, actually, that was surprisingly comforting. Granted, it seemed like a nearly insurmountable goal given the difficulty and complexity of the task at hand, but it also meant that if somehow they could succeed then they could effectively win the entire war in an instant.
"So what's our priority, then?"
Next was Ryo. The core team was still quiet, each one still adjusting to the news and the implications of everything they had learned. Still, they knew that had work to do. It was just a question of what... Koushiro finding a way to block the signal would be fantastic, but until that happened they had to keep dealing with the Kaiser on the ground. His armies, his bases... the team had to start doing some real damage and build up some momentum, otherwise they'd never make any progress.
"The spires."
Finally one of the team spoke and, of all people, it was Taichi. When Hikari glanced up to look his way, she was surprised to find he was actually looking back at her. She wasn't really sure why... hell, her insane tactics were what pissed him off so much before.
"We need more intel. The rings were just the first step... we need to start pushing back, and we can't do that until we understand everything we can about the Kaiser's arsenal. The enemy has a spire in every sector they control... we need to figure out why."
"Given how fortified the spires are, trying to attack one would be suicide."
It seemed suitable that Yamato would be the first to reply. Even with everything that had happened since then, they never failed to function as a perfect balance to the other. Still, it seemed a little strange that Taichi chose to step down as team leader and yet he was still commanding...
"That used to be true... but before we had only three main fighters, all of which hadn't been at this for more than a week."
Taichi gave Hikari another knowing glance and suddenly she understood why he had been looking at her before. Of course... her obtaining a digimental was a game changer, both because of her personal behavior and because of the training she was now giving to the rest of the gen-two children.
Hikari was going to reply, but before she had the chance Taichi stood. What... what was he doing? He looked like he was about to make an announcement. Wait, was this about...
"By now everyone knows that I've stepped down as the team leader of SDZ, and almost nobody knows why... I'm going to make this simple; starting today, I will be joining the field team in all future operations. The reason I stepped down was so that if I got injured in the field we wouldn't be left without a team leader."
"Taichi, that's insane."
Most of the team was surprised to hear Jou be the one to counter Taichi's idea and not Yamato... Taichi knew why though, as did Sora. In a way, Yamato had actually suggested this idea. Perhaps not in so many words, but he made it clear that Taichi's lack of involvement with the fighting was his own fault and no mere product of circumstance. If he wanted to fight... well, then he had to fight. No excuses.
"It wasn't insane for Hikari. It wasn't insane for all the resistance members who helped in the last mission. It's dangerous, but that never stopped me before... I can't lead from the back. Never could... you all know that. So either I join the field team or I leave SDZ."
Sora promptly stood next as Biyomon flitted up to the back of the chair behind her.
"I'm going too. I'll be able to help better in the field where I can actually see what's going on... besides, Taichi needs someone around to keep him from doing anything stupid."
Jou was dumbstruck. Now there were two of them? Damn it, had the whole team lost their minds?
"Commander?"
Jou turned to Kaiba then, hoping against hope that he might be able to say something to deter those two from going through with this, but no luck... on the contrary, he actually seemed to be in favor of the idea.
"Lieutenant Yagami already requested my permission, and Captain Ishida reported Ms. Takenouchi's intention to follow. They're both experienced field combatants, so I approved their requests. I have nothing further to say about it."
Jou groaned and leaned his face forward into his hands. Worse and worse... was there nobody in the team who was using sense anymore? Daisuke's stupidity had been bad enough, and he actually had a partner that could evolve. What was going to happen to these two if they got into a major fight?
"This is completely insane... you're going to get yourselves killed out there."
"Maybe not."
Koushiro interjected, drawing the attention of everyone in the room as he so often did whenever he interrupted a conversation that he had no part in. He was known for pulling a few miracles out of his hat every now and then, and times like these were when such things were most common...
"I have a... project that may be able to help everyone. I started it back in the first war, then I recovered it from my old archives after Daisuke got hurt... I've been busy with the information on the rings, but I can put that aside for a few days to focus on this."
Then Kaiba stood once more, signaling for Koushiro to start grabbing his things and taking them away.
"We're done here. Anything directly relating to projects and operations can be handled in the SDZ command room. Now, until further notice Yamato Ishida is the sole active team leader. Additionally, Ken Ichijouji is being transferred to the civilian branch and Ryo Akiyama is being promoted to act as military oversight for the division, answering directly to me."
Most of the children didn't quite catch all the unspoken implications of his words, though few did... Ken being one of them, which became evident when he replied.
"By whose request was I transferred, sir... officially?"
"Your own."
Ken nodded and a few of the children around the table offered confused looks. Fortunately, they all understood the big picture... politics. More damned politics. Most of them could scarcely figure out this crap with all the mind games these people played and they didn't care to... they just focused on the war.
However, Hikari was one of the relatively small number that understood it all perfectly.
With the removal of Taichi and Ken from the military branch, it made SDZ an almost exclusively civilian-run division. The act of giving Ryo oversight of the division appeared to be a futile attempt to keep some military control of things, though that was only to anyone who didn't know that Kaiba himself had actually ordered Ken's transfer to the civilian division.
It was deception, plain and simple. A giant act, staged by the commander... the one really in charge of the team was Masaharu, and only because the children trusted him. They were neither civilian nor military... they were digidestined, loyal to their own, and uninvolved in politics. Though they may have all been officially under the command of the civilian branch, they were under nobody's command except their own. Making it look like the civvies were in charge simply served to placate them... make them feel more in control.
"That's all. Dismissed."
Once the details of the project had been laid out, there were only two complaints raised about it, both by Daisuke. First, Koushiro didn't give it any special project name, and all cool projects should have equally cool names to go with them, at least in his opinion.
Second, why the heck didn't he tell them about this thing sooner? Like, before his arm got torn up, sooner.
"In short, the project is only a few steps better than worthless. While my production methods for data-based materials have improved, the design of said materials still lags far behind. I had theorized the concept of trying to produce armor in the same way as I produced clothing back during Etemon's initial invasion, but I could never find a way to make the armor effective enough to be worth it. Honestly... I still haven't."
Koushiro scrolled through a number of theoretical designs on the screen, all clearly untouched by Mimi's fashion sense as they were much more utilitarian than pretty. Though honestly the designs weren't that bad... based on what Hikari could tell at a glance, they probably would have made pretty good suits of armor to be worn in the field... if they were actually strong enough to stop anything more than spitballs.
While the majority of the team looked over the basic designs as Koushiro explained his various concepts on how to make them useful in the field, Miyako sat apart from the rest, reviewing all the data that Koushiro wasn't showing. In the archive he mentioned before, he had recorded each step of the project thus far and the evolution of his methods, and now all that data was laid out cleanly for her to study.
Matter structure, coding processes, adaptive algorithms... she had learned about this project before and the process of producing data-based matter but she hadn't really taken the time to look into it in any detail. Koushiro said it was a dead-end and she assumed it was true... after all, he was the genius in the group. If he couldn't figure it out then there was no way she could either, right? Right...
Well, maybe not.
There was something about all this... something she couldn't place, but it seemed so familiar. It reminded her of Takeru's projects, of all the bizarre insanity he'd been researching during the war... most of what she read went completely over her head, but she was able to pick out a few intelligible things, and of them pointed to the same thing. Simply put, Takeru tended to think and work in completely the opposite way that everyone else did.
She couldn't do what he did, but for the first time she could see a glimpse of that genius and how she might be able to imitate it in some small way. Thus far, all of Koushiro's work on this project had been completely linear. Start with creating data-based energy, then matter, then improve on that matter step by step... eventually reaching the point where he could, in theory, start to produce living digital matter.
But what if... it were to go in reverse? What if, rather than trying to create more advanced versions of what they had or reach forward to the next level, they stepped forward to the next level and then reached back? Don't take the basic matter they had and produce living matter out of it... instead, take living materials and downgrade them to something more basic. Simplify instead of complicate...
"Miyako?"
By now Momoe had noticed her sister's odd behavior. Usually whenever Koushiro gave his long explanations about projects and the like Miyako would be the most attentive, but this time she was sitting alone, away from the rest and deeply immersed in whatever it was she was studying on the screen...
Momoe had to say her name a few more times to actually catch her attention, and even then she was distracted. It was like she was in a trance... Momoe had never seen her like that before, and it was somewhat disturbing. It was like she'd taken a step out of her body and was operating inside a world that was completely within her own mind. Her one-track mind taken to the extreme, it seemed...
"What is it? What are you looking at?"
"I can fix this."
Ken and Hikari both noticed the conversation taking place and drifted over in the direction of the Inoue sisters. The rest of the team was still oblivious to what was going on, though not for much longer...
"Fix it? What do you mean?"
"I can... fix it! I can... do the thing, make it work! I can... I can complete this. This whole project! I know how to make what we need with this..."
"Do it."
Though they had no sense of context, the whole team had overheard Miyako's less-than-coherent rant and was interested in some kind of further explanation. Taichi, however, didn't much care for that. Explanations were for people who could help, but Miyako apparently didn't need any help, so it didn't matter if they understood what she was talking about. All he needed to know was whether or not she could make good on her claim.
"What do you need to make it happen?"
Yamato followed up, taking several steps away from the others and over toward Miyako's terminal. He figured he should be the one leading this since... well, he was technically the leader now.
Miyako went silent, running backward through all of her ideas and trying to figure out how to make this into reality. She had the coding processes all here, but she needed the other piece. She needed... data. Living data. Something that would be suitable for... for armor?
Armor. All their digimon partners... they originally called the process armor digivolution. What better to base their armor on than what was being worn by their own partners? But for that...
"Sensors. All of them. Set them up around the platform and link them together."
Yamato nodded and called Ryo over to go get everything approved. It seemed like an odd request though... those sensors had been made to be used in the digital world, and Miyako wanted to use them here? Not just in the human world, but inside the base? Well, she must have had some good reason for it... or he hoped so, at least. In either case, at least there wasn't much risk of the equipment getting wrecked if they were using inside their own base, so even if this idea didn't amount to anything it wouldn't cost them anything except time.
While the Hunter techs got to work linking up the sensor net, Miyako lassoed Ken and Koushiro over into helping her link up all the terminals throughout the room as well. If this was going to work then she was going to need a lot of processing power to make it happen...
Once everything was set up, she started by walking all the resistance members through the middle of the sensor net in order to get her initial readings. As suspected, the sensors needed to be calibrated. They were focused on the wrong kind of data... attributes and overall strength. She needed raw material data. She wasn't trying to create a digimon, just take bits and pieces off their bodies...
...okay, that sounded creepy even in her head.
At any rate, it took a few runs and a bit of help from her fellow geeks before she was finally able to get the sensors calibrated to where she needed them. Then she went through and stood every digimon they had in every form they had in the middle of the grid for a few minutes to gather as much data as she could from them. Gen-one, gen-two, pre-evolution, post-evolution, and every single member of the resistance to boot...
She got even more data than she expected. Enough to keep her busy with this project for weeks. She wasn't enough of an expert to be able to understand it all at a glance... she'd need some time to study it first, but she was still able to draw a few immediate conclusions.
First, Wizardmon's data was weird... and useless. Useless to the project, anyway. She'd likely have to scrap all of it before the end... he was different than the others in ways she couldn't make sense of. Maybe it had something to do with his odd abilities, but either way it didn't much matter. Wizardmon had no natural armor like Andromon or any of their partners, so she wasn't going to be basing anything off of him anyway.
Second, it was impossible to copy anything from the digimon directly due to their attributes. Data, virus, vaccine... everybody understood the general principles of their existence, but nobody had really taken a hard look at them before. Now, after all this talk about digi-cores, she recognized something she hadn't seen before. While all of the digimon's bodies had the qualities of a given attribute, the attribute wasn't coded into the matter directly. Instead, it was derivative of the data contained within their digi-core.
This essentially meant that by altering the traits of the digi-core – their mind and personality – one could completely change the form of the creature's body. That explained why the appearances of evil and good digimon reflected their personalities in such a direct, and she would dare say cliche, manner. However, it also meant that would have to work that much more to reverse-engineer the data into something they could use. It was impossible for her to produce matter that had any of those attributes without creating a digi-core to go with it, and there were no way in hell that was happening.
Finally, third... she still needed more data. A lot more, but not from the digimon. She needed scans from the digital world itself. Information on the hard structure of matter there... the rocks, the trees... buildings would be good, if they could find some to use. Metal structures would be the best option since that material would most closely resemble the kind of armor she was going to try to produce, but she wasn't wasn't going to be picky. For now she'd take what she could get.
It took a bit longer to get approved to transport every single available sensor to the digital world, but with a little help from the commander they got it through. At least they weren't taking them into the Kaiser's territory. The brass should have been grateful for that...
The data recovery operations in the digital world wouldn't be handled by Miyako. Instead, she appointed the Yagami siblings to handle that. They were to go to the digital world, set up the sensors at various locations, and record all the data they could on every type of structure and material available. Mountains, rivers, forests, towns... the process took days, and all the while Miyako continued with her work, reading and processing the data in search of a means to properly duplicate it.
She got some help from Koushiro and Ken, though surprisingly, neither of them was able to easily keep up with her. Not that they were in any way lacking for skill, but the kind of work she was doing was outside the norm for them... heck, they didn't even know if what she was trying to do was even possible. It was all theoretical, along the same vein as the work that Takeru did back when he was head of SDZ.
Nevertheless, after several days of gathering and reviewing data, she managed to hit the breakthrough she was looking for. It emerged after a full day of study, comparing the traits of Andromon's armor plates with the walls of the factory he once guarded. They were similar enough that she could easily draw some direct connections between the two. Between the similarities and differences, she was able to develop a rough data map which she could apply to other materials to help her translate them from living data to a non-living form that she could mass produce.
It wasn't everything she needed, but it should be enough to base her work on. However... first she had to test it, and for that task she employed the entire field team to help her. Flamedramon, Digmon and Nefertimon would handle the testing while Miyako herself judged the results. Finding a random, deserted spot outside of the Kaiser's territory, she created a series of metal 'target' walls. Koushiro suggested they take the sensors along, but she didn't need them for this. They could tell all they needed to know with their own eyes.
Each partner was given two targets, one made of the same material as the factory walls and the other was her new, synthesized armor material. The task was simple: Attack each one with equal force until one of them breaks, then compare their condition at the end.
The results were... somewhat mixed. Heat tolerance was roughly the same as both walls more or less melted into puddles at nearly the same time. The stress tolerance of her new material was slightly better... Digmon's drills cut through them both around the same time, but her material didn't crack and crumble like the other one did.
Impact resistance was the greatest difference though... Nefertimon blasted the factory wall to pieces in a couple quick shots, but Miyako's armor wall survived in surprisingly good condition. It showed marks of the damage, of course, but at least it hadn't broken. Out of simple curiosity, Hikari decided to shoot the wall a few more times to see how long it lasted. One, two... three more shots and it was still standing. Granted, it was so riddled with holes by that point as to be useless, but it somehow it remained intact regardless. For whatever reason, the damn thing just would not crumble.
That was a major plus. It was being made into armor, after all. If it was too brittle then there was a risk of it splintering under a heavy impact, in which case it would actually cause more damage to the children than it was blocking...
There were countless refinements that could be made, but this was enough to start with. Miyako immediately moved on to applying her process to the data she had taken from each of the children's partners. Her new materials were then combined it with Koushiro's designs to create the base template from which she'd start production.
It was a long and exhausting project, and in truth it wasn't even finished yet... she'd have to continue doing research and making improvements in the weeks and even months to come, but none of that mattered once she finally rolled out her first copy of the field armor. All that mattered is that she had done it, and more than that she had done it on her own. Not as a helper, not in the shadow of Koushiro and Ken and the gen-one children... this was her project, and she had made it work.
Miyako couldn't stop smiling as each of the digidestined filed into the SDZ command room, usually with identical reactions. They just stopped and stared for several seconds at the large clothing rack that stood in the center of the room, on which hung several of Miyako's first generation field suits.
This was a triumph. Miyako had even made a note on the official Hunter project report.
Project Status: HUGE SUCCESS
It was hard to overstate her satisfaction. She finally proved herself an equal to her peers and had done what nobody else could... well, nobody except maybe Takeru, but he wasn't here so she chose to say he didn't count. She was still the one who did the work and helped the team. Forget about the hypothetical, this was reality.
She had finally done something to earn the respect of the geniuses. Not to say they hadn't necessarily respected her before, but she'd always felt that part of that was simply a matter of team spirit. They respected her and the others for the fact that they were digidestined, not for anything they'd done... well, not anymore.
The fact of the children's initial confusion only made it better. When they first saw the armor they didn't realize what it was, and why would they? Admittedly, most of it didn't look at all like normal armor. Iori's was the closest because she had taken liberties with his style, but the rest appeared to be the same as normal clothing... at least until one looked closer.
Like all clothing Koushiro coded, each suit had been fitted to a specific wearer. Though they were initially going to be all of the same design, Momoe had been there to remind her of the differences between the children and their fighting styles. Not everyone had the same needs... two fliers, two ground fighters, and two gen-one children whose partners couldn't evolve. Some diversity made sense.
Rather than divide them up into different general designs, Miyako decided to go all out and simply make every suit completely unique. In addition to the differences in the armor structure, this also applied to their overall appearance. Every child had their own style, and their armor would be made to match it.
Miyako waited until everyone arrived, then she stepped out from behind her console to approach Taichi who was standing at the clothing rack, looking everything over.
"So... this is the armor?"
Miyako was still grinning, and the grin only seemed to grow as he spoke. He had no idea why yet, but he was about to find out. Oh, how she was going to enjoy showing all this off...
"Not exactly. There's a lot you don't see. Here... take a look."
Motioning to Andromon to move the rack over to the briefing table, she tapped a button on a console to bring down the projection screen and prepare her presentation. Momoe joined at her request, as much for appearance's sake as anything. It made her look more professional to have an assistant. Linking the screen up to her smart phone also helped. It was a bit more of a hassle to use, but she didn't have to sit at one of the consoles to run everything... plus, it looked cooler this way.
"Okay... first, every suit is fitted to a specific digidestined. No two are exactly the same, so if anyone needs something changed to make it more comfortable or defend better, you don't have to worry about it causing anyone else trouble. Now, since Daisuke's the one that almost lost an arm we'll start with his..."
Daisuke grimaced, more out of annoyance than pain. His arm was still in a sling, but he was recovering amazingly quickly. Momoe said that it had something to do with the tech at the Hunter base... something or other that Jou had apparently been telling her about during her time at the base, but Miyako had been too distracted with her project to remember any of the specifics.
Momoe started by grabbing Daisuke's armor off the rack and laying it out on display across the table as Miyako shot up the armor blueprint onto the screen, highlighting each section as required. Style-wise, it looked like a black leather jacket and pants with an orange and red fire pattern across the back and down the arms of the jacket, as well as coming up from the bottom of the pants.
Well, at least Daisuke wouldn't have to complain about it not being badass enough.
"The base material is similar to leather. I copied it from Nefertimon's skin. She's the only digimon we have whose armor form doesn't have a lot of actual armor, just a really tough hide."
"But her skin's white..."
Daisuke muttered, glancing to Gatomon and then back to the suit a couple times.
"Doesn't matter. Color is the easiest thing to re-code."
"Not sure how I feel about people wearing my skin..."
Gatomon muttered in turn, curling up slightly on Hikari's shoulder. Granted, it wasn't her actual skin, but it was still slightly unnerving to think about.
"Anyway...!"
Miyako cleared her throat. Enough distractions. They were taking away from her moment of triumph and she wasn't putting up with that... she was going to get this briefing done, distractions be damned.
"The 'leather' is double-layered and the armor plates are set between them to guard key areas. Forearm and shin guards so digimon can't bite your arms and legs off, shoulder guards for extra protection around your torso and neck, and armored boots in case you decide to soccer-ball anymore digimon in the future."
Daisuke narrowed his eyes, giving Miyako a brief glare. She was clearly making fun of him, taking advantage of the fact he'd injured himself to make a few jokes at his expense. However, based on what the blueprint was showing it was a pretty impressive suit all the same so... he let it slide.
"The plates in the chest and back are smaller and installed in multiple pieces for added flexibility, but we haven't actually tested this yet, so we may have to tweak the design a bit. The best part of all this is that these plates are all based on Flamedramon's armor, so the heat resistance is high. This will reduce the chance of getting hurt by any fire by being close to him."
"Any gloves?"
Taichi inquired almost off-handedly. He couldn't well complain if there weren't since this was still a massive leap ahead of what they had before, but it was still worth knowing. If Daisuke was ever going to try running through fire, they'd want to cover as much of his skin as possible.
"Koushiro didn't have a template for gloves that we could use. I can make some, but we'd have to design them from scratch."
Taichi nodded and motioned for her to continue. Removing the first suit of armor, Momoe set it aside and grabbed the next. It was a gold and gray suit that actually looked like proper armor, though it was also smaller than the others. The inspiration for the design wasn't hard to figure out, but Miyako decided to state it anyway, just for the sake of presentation.
"Iori, you're the little samurai. Full body protection and, like Daisuke, I took your partner's armor to make it, so you have the heaviest protection of the group. Since it's so heavy you'll be a little slower than the others, but you won't need to be as fast to keep up with Digmon anyway."
"Does it come with a helmet?"
Yamato inquired, much like Taichi had before. It wasn't likely to be especially necessary, but it was good to know what their options were, just in case.
"Like the gloves, we didn't have a template. If Iori wants one, we can make it later. However... I do have something else that might make up for it, just in case he gets into any real trouble."
She reached down into the neck of the armor and unclipped something before drawing out a long shape that nobody immediately recognized save Iori himself... he knew in an instant what it was, while the others didn't catch on until Miyako unsheathed it.
"Combat sword. Traditional katana style, same size as your training sword and about as heavy. I had to make it out of a different material though, since Digmon's armor was too heavy, but it shouldn't be a problem. I figure if you're relying on the sword more than your digimon then you're doing something wrong."
"At least we can fight together now, dagyaa!"
Well, at least Armadillomon seemed fairly happy... nodding, Iori took the blade and inspected it for a moment. Hm... not bad. Wouldn't be too hard to wield, even at his size. Still, he felt compelled to have his grandfather inspect it later, just to make sure it met his approval. He didn't want to go into battle with any equipment that his sensei didn't approve of.
The second set of armor was set aside and the third was drawn out. Mostly red with a light gray vest and boots... no big question whose this was, though oddly it seemed to be quite a bit lighter than the others.
"My suit isn't much. Nothing heavy on the arms or legs, but I'm riding on Halsemon most of the time so mobility makes more sense. The vest protects my organs and the boots are made to absorb some shock when I land so I can jump off quicker if I have to. The biggest thing for me is this..."
She muttered and picked up a helmet that matched the appearance of the rest of her suit. Red with silver highlights, and apparently made in the fashion of a air force pilot's helmet.
"Keeps the wind out of my face and has room inside to install the headset, so I can hear everyone easier while in flight. Like everyone else, it uses my partner's armor. Pretty light weight, but it should be all I need in the air..."
Moving on quickly, Momoe pulled that suit aside and grabbed two others that had the appearance of officer uniforms, minus a few visible changes that were clearly made to make room for the armor that was included under the surface. Aside from size the only clear difference between them was color. One was blue with gray highlights at the edges, the other yellow with white highlights.
"Taichi and Sora, you have matching suits. The design is a Hunter uniform with armor plates roughly matching Daisuke's. The material is based on Halsemon's armor though, so it'll be lighter, but it'll also be less resistant to heat. Keep that in mind. Taichi, I don't think you'll be jumping in front of Agumon's fire breath much, but just in case you decide it's a good idea, let me know first so I can switch your armor to Flamedramon-style."
Yamato snickered and Taichi frowned. Seems Daisuke wasn't the only target for jokes here... Sora's sigh indicated that it may not have been simply a joke, but that would be a conversation for another day, if at all. Hopefully Taichi would take slightly saner risks now that he wasn't the main fighter of the team, but they could never be sure.
Setting those aside, Momoe pulled out the final uniform. Its appearance was the most stark of any of them for a number of reasons, which made sense considering who it was for. It was bright pink with white trim, made in the same style as the Hunter uniforms. However, unlike Taichi's and Sora's, there were no clear changes in the design to make room for the extra armor. Apparently she didn't have any extra armor...?
"Okay, Hikari... I'll be honest. I had no idea what to design for yours. Chances of you getting on Nefertimon's back hit are basically zero, but just in case you needed armor I wanted to give you something useful, so I made... this."
Beside the first suit, Momoe set out another, though it was less of an actual suit of armor as a wire frame that had pieces of armor attached to it. They were all stark, solid white and there were pieces made to cover every single part of the body. Vest, arms, legs, shoulders, boots and helmet all. They were all separate as well, so each piece could be taken or left behind as desired.
"You're always talking about options, so I figured... might as well give you some. Full body armor, take as much or as little as you want. The plates can be put on over or under the main suit and they're Halsemon-type, so they're pretty light."
Hikari stepped forward to inspect the suit and armor pieces. From the looks of them, they weren't too hard to strap on... the extra preparation time from having the armor separate from the main suit wasn't likely to be too much, especially after she had a few chances to practice getting suited up. Plus, given all the extra versatility she would have in being able to outfit herself exactly how she wanted for every mission she undertook...
"It's perfect."
High praise. Doubly so since it came from Hikari. There wasn't much for anyone else to say after that... not about the project, at any rate. Nobody could complain about the results they had seen during the last test, and the final product was impressive, to say the least. All that remained was to test them all in the field...
...and as they say, no time like the present.
"Alright everyone, suit up. Surprise training time. Let's find out just how good these things actually are..."
Hikari wasn't stupid enough to take these suits straight into a battle with the Kaiser without making sure they worked as well as advertised. First and foremost, they had to make sure they could actually move around as well as they needed to. No doubt they'd have some problems at the start... after Miyako fixed those, they could double up on their combat training and scouting missions in hopes of finding an opening in the Kaiser's defenses.
Then they could set their sights on their next real target... the silver spires.