- Revival -
"So, your plan is to put one Gazimon into a Monochromon, and to try and fix the other with parts of the other digimon?" Tyranomon asked looking around Box 113. The rest of Quagsire's team was cautiously moving along conjured rocks between the larger platforms, while Shawn's team was moving much more rapidly across a second path. They had waited a couple of days to allow the development teams and Porygon to look over the situation more clearly to try and find better options.
"That is the option I'm asking you and Gazi about," Charlie 13 replied floating next to the group. "We can't move the remains without likely destroying what is left of them, but we need to do something to repair them properly. If we can use the existing digimon data the result should be less unstable."
"So I can't setup the trap somewhere we can contain it until we get the rest of the remains out of it?" Gazimon asked looking at the distortions. "I hate to ask, but how many are dead in there?"
"Sadly, from what I can tell most of the digimon that were inside of this fragment of the Dark Network were completely spread across the whole fragment. A couple of dozen of them in total ended up in my Box when you did, and Tyranomon was the only digimon lucky enough to be entirely in the part we still have," the Administrator told them sounding depressed. "These other two are the only complete minds I have left."
"So Datamon is the only digimon we know was lucky enough to be entirely in Upload's fragment?" Shawn asked frowning.
"Well, I've actually found some parts of him in these, so no. They only got his entire mind and most of his body out," Charlie 13 clarified. "I'm fairly sure from the data analysis that a lot of them were spread over everything. Upload probably only had one or two other recoverable digimon beside Datamon in their part of things, and it is looking like they were somehow specifically grabbing his fragments."
"You don't seem to be too upset by the idea," Kabutops nervously told his digimon teammate. "Is this common where you guys are from or something?"
"Among the forces of darkness such actions are common. The Gazimon will probably be happy with this result," Tyranomon complained. "If the other digimon are so far gone as everyone is saying then we might as well save who we can. I'll admit that I might feel differently if we could reach our digital world to allow the data back into the proper cycle of reincarnation, but I doubt we will have that option anytime soon."
"The bigger problem is going to be putting one into a Monochromon," Gazimon added, sounding callous toward the other digimon's reaction. "The one's I've met seemed rather simple even without the Network taking over their bodies, so I'm not sure how well that would work."
"I doubt that will be a problem," Grant said confidently. "I mean we do have the whole mind to put into the body right? That should take care of the rest."
"I might have also found some motor skills from other Monochromon," Charlie 13 mumbled uneasily. "Just to be sure they don't need help with controlling the body."
"Even better then," the larger digimon said sounding reassuring. "The only thing I have to ask is if the other remains can be extracted from the part of the Dark Network we intend to restore?"
"No," the Administrator said grimly but firmly. "To be blunt I already damaged the two we are going to revive now when I brought you back. They are in worse shape, and the only thing left stable enough to survive their extraction is the Network's code itself."
"You can't get the rest out at the same time?" Gazimon asked sounding more sympathetic now.
"The other plans we have are just based on how we get these two back on their feet. I have half of a third mind I might have been able to save, but extracting these two will disrupt it too much and I can tell that most of its mind is simply not available," the Porygon replied as they reached the pillars again. "Are you ready with the digi-balls?"
She frowned at the two Goliath using her power to maintain that form. The sensation of giving energy to them in order to evolve was in one way familiar from Sora's memories, but Sora had a different sort of energy than she did now. Now the power in her body felt much smaller, and she could use it herself as well TO AID HER MASTER like the elemental powers of the local monsters.
"There is a degree of amplification present," Anderson said looking between her and the Hackware. "You are expending far less typed energy than they are getting in digital energy, that is allowing for evolution despite a mismatch in overall energy."
"Sora didn't even notice when she did this," HackBiyomon complained in a harsh tone almost as alien as her MASTER's CONTROL. Both her new Pokedex and Absol had said that Dark typed monsters were meaner than others, and it seemed from Sora's memories that she had lost some of the human's patience. "Biyomon was the one who ended up hungry afterward, not her."
"They are definitely exerting more energy like this," Alice replied deliberately not noticing the angry way the digimon had spoken. "It is actually worse than if they had simply evolved normally to this form, I think it takes some of their existing digital energy as well to keep the change going. They can't convert their limited amount of typed energy, which makes sense as it is a bit off compared to a pokemon's."
"No, conversion between the two is simply not possible most of the time," Absol corrected the tech. "When I run out of the digital energy that allows me to preform data manipulation I am left only with my types. Even my added Ghost type can't help me do more than my pool of digital energy allows."
"Added type?" the bird digimon asked turning with surprise to look at the other hybrid. The idea that becoming a hybrid always included having your 'types' changed seemed far better than it being another indication that she had been simply made into an evil digimon.
"The Ghost type," he replied actually sounding uneasy, and given the implications of that name she could not blame him. "I'm not dead, but I'm also a lot more 'playful' than before. Jokes and pranks, which thanks to me being a Dark type as well tend to be rather harmful."
"Given it was the fusion or a permanent crippling I'd say you dropping things on us last minute and saying things overly cryptically are worth actually knowing what's coming," Bob reassured the pokemon. "Yeah, that's why we wanted him talking to you about the Dark type instead of Murkrow, he has experience."
"I've been told that shorter term transformations have less of a mental effect," the white furred canine complained. "But our energies are our selves, changing them shouldn't be done lightly."
HER MASTER KNEW WHAT WAS BEST FOR HER, she was forced to think as they clearly disapproved of what happened to her without saying it outright. "So types cannot change normally?" she asked trying to outmaneuver her MASTER's overly zealous control program.
"It can happen when you evolve, but that has mental changes of its own," Bob contributed. "For example you are adding the Steel type to these guys when you do this, which gives them a big defensive boost that is almost worth more than just the increase in power given our biggest threats seem to be Grass and Dragon typed."
Even Charlie 13 was shuddering a bit at the way the distortions had sputtered during the repeat of his resurrection process. The damaging sparks had happened before, but the previous time had been just a few fragments so it was hard to tell apart from simply separating out the smokey remains. This time he had tapped the broken areas of space rapidly and in multiple locations while looking increasingly worried until he finished collecting two dark balls of gas with a sigh of relief. From there it was a repeat of Tyranomon's resurrection for each of the two spheres.
"Okay, this right here, this is why I'm terrified of what you have done to him," the digital dinosaur said pointing to Gazimon. "That was a fairly blatant ritual to restore the data of the dead that I would only expect something like a god of the dead to manage."
"I'm fairly sure that being able to do this isn't just because I'm shaped like one of those," Charlie 13 cautiously replied. "The one on the left is in her original body, and the right one is now a Monochromon. I'll warn you that I used your species to repair quite a bit of the first one's body."
"Let her out first then, I'm sure you'll understand my feelings on this after speaking to her," the red scaled monster said smiling darkly. Gazimon huffed a bit of purple flame, then walked up to tap the sphere to the left.
The digimon that emerged was mostly the same as the Gazimon they were familiar with, her fur was more of a dull brownish red color instead of his purple. However, clear patches of Tyranomon were visible on her body, most notably her entire right arm was instead a mirror of his scaly claw. Spots of scales were present on her legs and torso, along with a single tiny green spine in the center of her back. She spent the moment they took to look over her body blinking and seemingly waking up, ending this instant by rubbing her face with her new reptilian appendage.
"Oh shit, Etemon's gonna kill me," she said in a rush looking at the limb. "I finally did it, I went crazy and tore apart one of the damn monkey's pets and now he's going to kill me."
"Huh, I didn't expect to regret being able to say 'I told you so' this much," Tyranomon said in response, causing her to look at the assembled group with some confusion. "The good news is that you don't need to worry about that fate."
The new digimon took a moment to look at all of the monsters present in the Box. "I died and ended up in some kind of nightmare afterlife didn't I?" she asked when she spotted the local Administrator.
"That seems to be the general thought of the digimon I've met," Shawn agreed nodding.
"My Box is not an afterlife," Charlie 13 complained. "Just because I'm in charge of a place meant for Ghost type pokemon doesn't make it an afterlife," he continued making it clear this was an old argument. "Not all of them died before, some were born Ghosts."
"I should have figured you'd end up being one of the two," their Gazimon said tiredly. "I mentioned you, so of course you show up." The new one turned to face him, and then started to giggle.
"The digger? Scaredy digger who spends all his free time reading on the computer instead of anything worthwhile?" she asked getting a flat look. "Wow, how lucky did you have to be to get brought back first?"
"Well, when the Dark Network started eating everyone I dug a hole and hid inside it," he shot back smartly. "That's why I made it here alive." He then turned and started walking over to the other pokeball. "I'm getting the other guy out so we only have to explain this once."
From the second ball emerged a large white scaled four legged lizard monster with metallic plates along its back and a large horn. "Its just an oversized Lairon," Quagsire commented a touch confused while it got its own bearings and looked with some shock at its current form.
"You!" it then rumbled on spotting the other newly revived digimon and shot forward in a charge. The red furred rabbit-lizard let out a cry of fear and tried to jump out of the way. Before it could make it close, however, there was the sound of flesh striking metal and a bit of crackling from the floor as Gazimon stopped the digimon with one arm. "Wha, what?" the new monster said stumbling back.
"Ah, that was a mistake," the purple digimon-pokemon hybrid said shaking the limb out. "Should have used both, damn."
"The digger just stopped a Champion," the other Gazimon said faintly from the floor. "What in the world are they doing here that let you stop a Champion one handed?"
"Good point," he responded absentmindedly opening a pair of panes. "We have to worry that he's in bad shape from being put back together from at least two digimon."
"I don't think this is a Gazimon," the new Monochromon rumbled to her in a male voice. "Wait, am I a guy now too?"
"I think I have the data to fix that problem," Gazimon replied looking between his two black panes. "Huh, you got a name change, TyranoGazimon."
"Hey, Gazi, she is the one you said was working on modifying digimon right?" Serperior asked moving forward to look over the two new digimon.
"Given that you are asking I definitely was attacking the wrong person," the metal armored digimon said shaking their body off. "So maybe you can all explain what is actually happening here?"
A cracking sound interrupted the quiet atmosphere of the Troubleshooter Lab while the Investigators waited for the others to return with news on the revival attempts. Vibration was the most surprised of all of them as the layers of bark began stripping off his body to reveal pale green scales underneath. "Uh, I thought I still had a day or two before turning back?" he asked the assembled group nervously, the machine at the center of the room informing the humans present of his worry.
"Reports from Professor Larch indicate that enjoyment or dislike of alteration to typing can have an effect on duration for longer term methods of change," Metagross replied managing a reassuring tone. This brief moment of relief was quickly overtaken by the removal of the thin layer from the edges of the Flygon's wings, showing that the normally red band at the edge was now a nearly white purple color.
"Smile, how long should it be before Trick-Or-Treat wears off now?" the still triple typed pokemon asked uneasily hovering without flapping his wings.
"At any point now," the Gourgeist replied failing to keep a touch of fear out of his voice. "We should give it a half hour or so."
"I hope that is the case," Janice said dryly. "Short of Delta 2 getting a breakthrough on removing types from people that is our only real option on that front."
"What would that mean though?" Strangle asked with a deliberately controlled tone. "That the move just got stuck or?" She let the question hang incomplete, unable to finish even attempting to say what other possibility came to her mind.
"Hey, I'm still here!" Vibration complained. "Even if it did kill me it didn't manage to get rid of me. So why worry about something that might not even be true."
"I've read the information the Professor had on this kind of thing," Jack said sounding less uneasy than his starter. "There is this stuff his work mentions called 'Wisp's Breath', which sorta works like the move. If you spend too much time under its effects you can't turn back." He looked at his Ground/Dragon/Ghost pokemon. "There is a whole page of notes here on why it isn't killing the pokemon when this happens, including a bit about how Froslass are another case of that kind of change happening to a pokemon."
"Uh, I think I know about that stuff," Smile nervously said looking regretfully at his still ghostly teammate. "And if it is what I think you mean, it does work a lot like Trick-Or-Treat."
"Well hearing about it was making me feel better about the idea, but then Jack said they needed to give an entire page of notes about how it somehow doesn't mean that I died," the Flygon said shaking his head. "Seriously though, even if I did get myself killed I am still here now. Not like Smile isn't a part of a team just because he died before."
"Can we not talk about that? I'm not really comfortable with talking about how you are still a Ghost, let alone how I became one," the Gourgeist complained looking towards his pokeball as if he was considering escaping the conversation entirely.
"I agree, I'm mad enough that I wasn't there to stop this without thinking about other pokemon dying," Strangle said quiet enough that it took a moment for the translator to identify the statement and repeat it for the humans.
"Yes, yes I was definitely a pokemon," Smile said now clearly moving to get his ball. The rest of his team deliberately did not look at him after he said this.
"Of course," Jack agreed returning the pokemon. "I really hope he didn't actually mean what that sounded like," he then told the room once the Ghost/Grass type was technically out of earshot.
"There have only been three recorded instances of a Yamask that wasn't either human before or descended from former humans," Janice cut in. "It actually is rather odd to see a pokemon's face as one of their masks. We had one of the three staying with Charlie 13 a while back, a former Lucario. Even if he did mean he used to be human that isn't entirely unusual for Ghost types."
"Troubleshooters also seem to commonly be former humans," Metagross joked, looking around the room clearly trying to gauge how its attempt at humor went. Their trainer smiled at the statement, but nobody really found it funny enough to laugh.
"Given what is happening right now I guess thinking about what happens when we die is a thing," Roberts said looking over information on one of the systems setup for research. "Considering one of them is even going to be a different species it is even topical."
"Well, that's just wonderful," the new Monochromon rumbled, now in a feminine tone. "I guess we should feel lucky that you took the time to make sure we survived to help you kick Datamon back to storage?"
"We weren't going to do anything with this stuff before at least trying to save anyone we could," Gazimon replied a touch harshly now focusing on the data for TyranoGazimon. "You two are the lucky ones who weren't totally shredded and then split apart."
"You couldn't have put me into a Tyranomon?" the reptile countered with a huff. "At least those are something Gazimon actually evolve into."
"Honestly? The largest surviving part of a Tyranomon we had left is now TyranoGazimon's arm," Charlie 13 admitted. "It was already really bad in the fragment, I mean, so bad that some of those scale patches are from two different Tyranomon."
"Not to mention that given what these people can do to digital worlds and life you are probably perfectly fine at this point," the living Tyranomon noted, then turned to his trainer. "Quagsire, do you think they're calm enough to let LAS out to give them the full checkup?"
"I could use the help," Gazimon agreed frowning at the data in front of him. "A-0 is still setting up the new place for the fragment, and I'm still not the best at understanding this."
There was a pop as the amphibian pokemon released the jellyfish shaped digital life form with a sigh. "Alright, LAS, we have two new digimon here, and probably should have them checked out before we try and transport them," she told the maybe-digimon.
"Gazimon, is the red Gazi monster as bad off as she appears?" the LAS asked first while looking at the two newly revived digimon, her surface shifting to data readouts of each along with images of the body parts she was scanning.
"I was kinda hoping you'd say she wasn't," he admitted walking closer to inspect the patches of scales. Inspecting them closely he turned thoughtfully to the Box Administrator. "Hey, can you make us a mirror real quick? Maybe she knows how to help with her new set of issues."
TyranoGazimon blinked in shock as a silvery block appeared out of the ground in front of her, then frowned with annoyance at what she could see in the reflection. "You guys just put the data into spots where mine was missing, didn't you?" she asked scratching at the edge of a patch of scales that was oriented in two different directions. "I'm not sure how you could have pulled that off, but there are ways to make stuff fit together better with just a bit of equipment." She then looked around the area, spotting the pillars and etchings, but clearly trying to find mechanical devices.
"Added data fragments still have references to their original owners," the digital jellyfish said uneasily, one of her surface panels changing to a display of the digimon with a variety of colors to indicate the issue. "Locations noted, can you receive files?" she asked Gazimon, who nodded opening another black pane. "Other digimon is relatively stable, only minor references remain comparatively."
"I think I can handle some of this too," Charlie 13 said with a laugh. "Although it is good to see you're more comfortable with the changes we had to make to you Gazi."
"I can make my own furniture now," the purple furred rabbit said closing one pane and causing a black flash of light around TyranoGazimon. The patches of scales then shifted slightly so that their orientation and color better fit with her fur. "Plus this stuff, this stuff is cool too."
"Okay, who went crazy and decided to make the digger here into a digital god?" TyranoGazimon asked stretching out, clearly moving much more easily. "Because that right there was something even Datamon would need an entire room full of gear to pull off."
"It was the same kind of accident that resulted in myself being less human," Shawn contributed looking over the pair thoughtfully.
"I think maybe this time we should actually ask them if they even want to fight," Kabutops added looking towards the two digimon. "We forgot that step with Tyranomon."
"Hmph, might as well," Monochromon told the group pawing at the ground while the local Administrator fixed the minor issues with her body. "Not much else I can do like this really, and it sounds nice to be somebody giving out the beatings instead of just taking them."
"I'm still a Rookie as far as I can tell," the other new revival noted cautiously. "But if you guys can do this kind of thing they maybe I can help in other ways? I was the closest thing my team had to a field medic."
"You are currently around level 34, as a pure digimon that is better than what Gazimon would be at around 18. He possesses typed energy as well that is currently contributing to an overall level in the high 30s or low 40s," the LAS informed her calmly. "Monochromon is at approximately 60, with possible improvement from repairs to her overall structure and conditioning. Given information available on digimon development I can give a tentative maximum of 40 for yourself and 70 for her. If additional materials are available Tyranomon might also reach 70 with repairs done using this same method."
The two new digimon looked blankly at the digital life form. "That's some sort of standard combat rating scale, isn't it?" TyranoGazimon asked dully, getting an embarrassed nod from the jellyfish creature. "Oh boy, we're stuck in the kind of place where they think to track that."
"There are places without one?" Grant asked uncertainly. "I mean, I guess we didn't have one back in my previous life, but that was before there was really civilization. Well, at least I didn't bother with civilization much."
"You had a system for telling how dangerous you food would end up being that you set up in a corner of your cave," Quagsire corrected her pokemon/trainer. "That probably counted back then."
"Wait, did the red eyed guy say 'less human'? As in he was human before?" Monochromon noted turning to face Shawn directly. "You can give humans digimon parts too?"
"Most of us are pokemon, not digimon," the amphibian replied. "In our world at least humans are just monsters that can't really use moves. Not to mention odd cases like him and Grant here," she continued tapping the Armaldo.
"That's a giant bug monster," the red fur and scale coated digimon said pointing at the fossil pokemon. "No part of his body looks remotely human, and I'm fairly sure it is harder to change humans into monsters than even fixing the two of us like this."
"Oh no, I evolved fairly naturally all things considered. Shawn was the one who switched bodies," the Rock/Bug said happily.
"Ah, so I'm normal among this group then?" Monochromon asked getting a general agreement from the Troubleshooters.
"Anderson, what is your opinion on adding some of the Hackware's data manipulation capacity to HackBiyomon?" Datamon asked cautiously, attempting to keep his tone concerned for his new assistant rather than his actual goal. "The transport methods of your Stones and the counter used by DSS seem to be very useful options to have at hand." They were in the process of setting up additional structural elements around his lab to extend the size and provide more security to the entrance to their world.
"Her Hackware components are currently a more stable variant on a Vir trio's collective set, which can easily be developed into a more specialized set at her level of complexity," the developer responded with a smile. "There should be fairly minor changes as she learns the specific methods, but I can understand your concern about going down a less desirable path on accident." He turned to set more of the strangely advanced modular power/data conduit into the wall. "You should take some time to watch the other kinds preform their training directives, Vir in particular tend to experiment with all available options until they find the one that works best with the small manufacturing differences they possess."
The digimon considered that methodology. It would allow for much greater practical skill from the resulting evolutions, but at the cost of increasing the time for development of the final product. Creating a clone of an existing creature was very energy and processing intensive, and if he had not been so greatly mistaken about the function of the Digivice then he would not have even attempted it with the girl. "How big of a difference does being suitable for these capabilities create?" he asked aloud.
"Most typically a longer execution time, and less effective results. The energy expended isn't notably different when fully trained in the action, but those considerations never reach the same potential," Anderson replied nodding. "We can tell which evolution they would have been better suited to mainly by inspecting which properties don't atrophy as greatly as a typical example. In the past we've had a few that were made into Crabs who would be better off as the others, resulting in a notable amount of manipulation ability being retained despite their form."
"From your tone I would guess they are not among our survivors?" Datamon asked trying for sympathy, but doubtful that he succeeded at that tone. He had never been that good at faking it.
The distraction of another lost memory nearly cost him hearing his answer. "Thomas was actually quite happy with them," the human said with what seemed to be genuine remorse. "They worked well for minimizing Hackware usage on operations, and he hated using more than he absolutely needed to. Only a few cases in total occurred, all lost before our first attempt against DSS to moderately advanced security systems."
The digimon was not sure how to respond to this. He simply could not tell what part was the upsetting thing, as he could understand the reaction of their former leader, but there almost seemed to be a dislike of the idea alongside the statements. Perhaps he was thinking of the missed potential, but the machine monster did not know what sort of response would earn the distrust of this overly intelligent human.
"While I'm quite sure you have your own requirements for an assistant, and no doubt a truly intelligent individual will have greater flexibility, it might be better if you allowed myself and Alice to try and teach her the application of our own methods to see which variations and subsystems she works best with," Anderson offered after a moment. "We will keep deliberate modifications to a minimum, as those can throw off existing abilities noticeably and are not guaranteed to help."
It was about being able to use skills one was good at effectively, Datamon realized. A key factor in longer term effectiveness, and why it was so good to see HackBiyomon was able to evolve others. "That would be appreciated, Anderson. I'm sure the two of your would be quite able to find her skill set given your past experience," he agreed genuinely happy. "Do you think she might be capable of using the world generation capacity?" he asked suddenly hopeful that a more easily controlled asset could have that previously unimaginable power.
"Perhaps with an evolution of her own, or an external power source of some kind. It would be far easier for her to simply evolve a Stone and have it execute a stored copy of the program for her," the developer said nodding. "Carrying the code within internal storage should be more than possible."
"Internal data storage?" the digimon asked to clarify, thoughts going rapidly at the possibility. There were a number of targets where the Dark Network was simply not trustworthy enough for his purposes. The Gazimon had some basic access to check what he used the system to look for, and Etemon's changes to limit his capabilities also prevented him from easily removing the access. So far it was just a rush job to try and find their location, including looking up reference files to see what the data meant, along with a pitiful attempt to hide his actions.
"Yes, among other kinds. Stones can also store some small items digitally, and so far it appears Shrines will have a much larger containment area," Anderson informed him easily. "I am less sure if that can be adapted to her use, as Absol is currently incapable of the feat."
TyranoGazimon looked on the new world they had transferred into after getting a basic fix with a mixture of awe and horror. It was a fully stocked and equipped medical facility with literally every machine she could have hoped for to use with her past goal of improving her abilities without technically violating Etemon's warning regarding evolution, and then a few more devices on top of that. Which terrified her because she could not imagine anyone having both the access and will to create such a place being any less of a threat than she had planned on becoming.
"So, here they are. My sibling is arriving soon, it finally got the new world stable enough to leave be for now," the pink egg-like polygonal god said looking over her and the new Monochromon. "You two look a lot worse than Tyranomon had, especially you." The 'Administrator' pointed right at her.
"Yeah, I can feel how bad I look," TyranoGazimon commented, a bit of a growl creeping into her tone. It was almost like when she had evolved before, with new sensations and instincts, but not quite to the extent that had been. "Not to mention that I'm still not fond of the connection at my shoulder here, although given it isn't literally stitched on it is better than what I'd be able to do myself."
"Better in theory or practice?" the monster asked suddenly far more serious.
"I've only done that kind of work once," she confessed uncertainly. "The guy didn't get full movement back in the leg though, so not that much of a success."
"Right, I'm taking this one," Delta 2 said to the human looking monster. "Because that is already more experience than any other options I have for possible assistants."
"I just got here and my sister is already poaching one of them," a new voice said from an edge of the room. At first glance this appeared to be another polygonal monster, this one pink, blue, and vaguely bird.
"Why are you faking polygons like that?" she asked the newcomer before her brain finished going over the shape in more detail. The entire room now shifted to look at the creature, particularly the owner of the world.
"Because this is my preferred form," was the harsh response, accompanied by an evil glare.
"A-0, what does she mean by that," the sister asked coldly.
"Wait, you didn't know?" Shawn asked genuinely confused. "I thought you were in on this."
"You knew?" A-0 asked the human with some surprise.
"Can someone explain for the rest of us?" the digger asked looking a bit uneasy. "Because I was switched with him just a little while ago, and if this has anything to do with that I want to know."
"How long have you been evolved?" Delta 2 asked with a tone that had gone beyond simply cold straight to glacial ice.
"A year or two," A-0 confessed quietly. "It hasn't been that big of a change."
"Are you telling me that you have been hiding the fact that you evolved into a Porygon-2 for years now? I've been trying to figure out why none of the standard upgrade patterns were looking like they would work for you!" the medic complained in a tone that was more familiar to TyranoGazimon. The sound of a medical professional that had been tricked into ignoring an attempt at dealing with a problem yourself. "You are lucky we are custom work, or I would have probably crippled you trying to fix some issues that now seem like they might simply be that you are a more advanced-" The pink creature cut off suddenly. "This is about you being different from us, isn't it? About how we can't evolve because of our connections to the Boxes."
"Connection?" the part Tyranomon said to herself looking at the polygonal structure of the world itself they were inside of thoughtfully. The new digimon, or whatever it was, used a lot of polygons to look like very few polygons, but there were also a whole lot of them making up the world around her.
"A bit more processing power, just enough to keep up with what the Charlies were doing, and the ability to change what I look like. All it actually did was make me feel less like I was too old to keep operating," the pink and blue one said tiredly.
"What sort of connection?" TyranoGazimon asked half shouting to get everyone's attention. "Because if you're saying that you are actually this whole place then he probably still has less complexity than you do."
"What? That," Delta 2 said quietly before turning towards a particularly advanced sensor system and practically throwing herself inside. "Damn, she's right. We knew it takes longer for Charlies and Deltas to get setup into their Boxes properly, and that it takes something special for an Alpha or Beta to catch up with them, but I think my new apprentice just figured out what it is. Most of us are actually really spread out Porygon-2, instead of just really advanced standard Porygon."
"Charlie 13 has been attempting extra-dimensional calculations," Shawn cut in worried. "How do we tell if he's accidentally made himself into a Z?"
"I'm already planning out how to do a full checkup on pokemon I can't go and meet," the Administrator said thoughtfully. "Given things have been stable this long I might just wait until TyranoGazimon here knows enough to help me more directly."
"You do know that I planned on doing this kind of thing before right?" she asked pointing with her still fuzzy left arm at her scaly right. "I was genuinely considering ripping apart another digimon just to get stronger."
"I have just gotten done discussing the morality of a rather malicious Slowpoke that despite being an already fast thinking member of his species was going out of his way to find Shellder to stick on his head as a brain enhancing poison crown," the Porygon told her as if she knew what any of that meant. "We are still working with a dragon that literally was begging us to use untested digital corruption to give her new abilities that after the fact it is clear she did not quite understand. As long as you don't actually tear apart anyone we don't want you to you should be okay."
"Given the Parasect I met a couple days ago said his family regularly uploads themselves into mushrooms I'm kinda afraid of how close other pokemon get to doing what you're talking about," Gazimon added looking nervously at the others, as if dreading getting confirmation.
"I don't know of anything like that," the snake monster said cautiously. "But if some Parasect are uploading themselves instead of just being taken over, then maybe some Beldum are less into asking before they use another to become a Metang."
"Still, we have a checkup to complete here," Delta 2 said refocusing the group. "Then it is probably best for all of you to spend at least some time back in the physical world getting the full briefing on our current issues."
They returned to the pokemon world to find a morose group trying not to think to hard about the Flygon's possible death. "Wow, who died while we were being brought back to life?" TyranoGazimon asked a touch harshly while looking with some unease at the humans present.
"Uh, well I probably did it a while before that, but me," Vibration said uncertainly.
"Well, at least you aren't wooden anymore," Grant contributed scratching at his neck plates. "You seemed more upset with not being a Dragon type than not being alive before."
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean it isn't still a problem," the three typed pokemon said looking at the fossil in confusion.
"These are our two new digimon?" Janice asked trying to change topics. "I didn't realize that Monochromon were basically just Lairon." She tapped at her console to bring up a picture of the mentioned Steel/Rock type.
"That's the second time someone has brought those up," the new Monochromon said dully, then blinked at the image. "Although I guess I see why. I had thought we were going to the human world."
"Whatever happened to Shelly anyway?" Strangle asked her trainer. "She was a nice rock for our team to keep safe behind."
"She wanted to go with a Steel type focused trainer I met at the League, and I wasn't really doing that great at keeping her in shape at that point," Jack admitted regretfully.
"If you've worked with one before maybe we should have her stick with you," Investigator Roberts suggested. "My team is fairly well equipped at this point, and it would be a familiar stopgap while Strangle is getting back into shape."
"I'd say that was quick, but the pink medical monster barely let me say anything before she claimed me," TyranoGazimon said sighing. "Now, how exactly is a Lairon different?"
"Steel type is probably the biggest one," Gazimon said looking thoughtful. "So, we know that Tyranomon doesn't want to fight, which means there isn't much reason to give him a type, but you two don't have that same thought."
"Given how 'battle mad' he says it drove you, and I have to admit your a lot more into fighting now, that probably is something to take some time to consider," Serperior cautioned.
"Ha, I didn't even get any network access because I was too fight happy," Monochromon laughed. "Bring it on."
"Access to additional Dark Network accounts was one benefit we were expecting from resurrecting the two of you," Metagross told the metal plated reptile a touch unhappily.
"Then you had bad luck, I got mine stripped for misuse a week before it all went down," TyranoGazimon added with a frown. "I know the codes for a couple of other Gazimon, but I doubt they will work that great without those guys within scanning distance of the Dark Network."