Act 4, The Digidestined
- News -
Janice looked rather grim about whatever she was looking at on her monitor. This was easily noticed, as things had been fairly stable for over two weeks now. The last big thing was the medical issue the HardWare team found. Which had been handled quickly and effectively with minimal input from the core team, and everyone was basically just relaxing as they managed day to day issues.
"Well then," the team lead said unhappily. "I have good news and bad news." She turned to look at Gazimon, who was sitting with his team at the modified Dark Network console puttering at improvements to the system.
"Bad news first," the digimon complained at the obvious hint that it was news for him. Quagsire and her own team looking minorly relieved to not be the target.
Janice seemed to take a moment to consider the request, frowning deeper as that time passed. "I think what part is good and what is bad depends on the order I say it," she said unhappily.
"Then tell it the way that makes it sound least bad," Kabutops suggested with some confusion.
"Well. First off, we've located your digital world," Janice said simply.
"Tyranomon would probably be happier about that than me, so the bad news is definitely pretty bad," the rabbit monster noted cautiously, while everyone tensed at what the bad side of this revelation could be.
"We've also found where Team Upload went," the team lead said gravely. The room went silent at the clear connection. "The whole story is that Giratina was willing to help when Charlie 13 asked about our efforts to search for both of those using the traces we had. From the remains of the Dark Network's arrival and the portal in the Hackware world, he was able to to determine that the targets had the same destination." She brought up two different complex patterns on one of the monitors, both clearly related to each other. "From there he had the idea to check the scan of the evolutionary Polyhedrons to try and see where they got their data, and Charlie 13 also suggested the scans Metagross was able to make of Floramon in my parents' world. That was all together enough for us to get a lock." An even more complex pattern, clearly identifiable as the core part of a transport program to those who had worked with them, replaced the two partial ones with clear components from both.
"Call Delta 2 for Tyra and get Tyranomon out," Shawn said firmly as soon as she finished speaking. "We need intel on how bad this could be."
"Bad, but maybe not for the reason you're thinking," Gazimon said next to him, shaking his head sadly. "Datamon wasn't just 'not the strongest' of the dark powers around last we knew, he was so weak that another was already using him as an unwilling piece of equipment. If Upload had to run from him, I don't want to think about what whoever is still there would do after they captured them." The digimon sounded like he had thought about the possibility before. "I was worried enough with just the chance that Datamon tried going back with them, and that would have at least given them someone who knew what the dark powers were."
Everyone frowned at this statement, with Quagsire moving over to the transport pad to send her digimon teammate to Box 201, where he would fit to join the conversation. They all then informed the medical Box of the conversation so far.
"How easy is it to get there and back?" A-0 asked darkly, focused on the pattern. "Or is that still being figured out?"
"Getting there is easy enough for us," Janice answered. "Getting back is a bigger issue. The, distance isn't the right word but its close enough, between here and there is too far to grab someone from over on the other side without some targeting. Which means that we would need to send both Metagross and you, or send Gazimon and have him setup a Dark Network Node for us to link to."
"If any of the original Dark Network remains we should be able to take that over," TyranoGazimon noted uncertainly. "Can you even scan for that from here, or are you saying we need Gazi looking for this world to get him back?"
"It is gone," Metagross noted. "All scans of target world show no Dark Network presence. However, a similar data system seems to be in place now. We cannot connect to it, and it does not seem safe to try intensive scans on it."
"Shawn and Serperior are our strongest combatants," Tyranomon rumbled. "Gazimon is on their team. They have the best chance of surviving any 'Dark Masters' that are active where they arrive." The dinosaur digimon looked thoughtfully at the ceiling. "Will they appear right on top of Team Upload, or will there need to be a search?"
"It is 'far' enough away that we can't even guarantee that anyone we send will get there after Upload arrives. Giratina says that time doesn't pass the same for universes this removed from each other without a solid link," Janice answered. "Which is another reason Gazimon setting up a Node we can connect to is the best option. Not to mention something to do as soon as possible."
"Worst case we get in and get Upload back out of that mess as quickly as possible?" Shawn asked uneasily. "Assuming that they are even there when we arrive."
"The timeframe can be narrowed down if you give me a couple of days to home in on the target," Giratina cut in, his long serpentine form slipping into Delta 2's Box. "That should also give you some time to prepare for such a trip yourself."
"I'm guessing that you cannot help us with getting there and back?" Janice asked clearly looking to confirm something she suspected.
"I can aid in finding the site, maybe take things myself, but quite honestly it isn't the intended use of my powers. Your setup is quite a bit better at doing such a thing than my own options," the Ghost/Dragon rumbled happily. "In fact I'd just end up asking you for help with doing such a thing at this point anyway, so really you're already pretty well set."
"Right, a couple of days gives us the time to get things setup, and prepare some supplies," Shawn said standing up. "Serp, let's go check our old travel gear and see what needs replacing."
"Don't worry too much about cost," Janice told him firmly. "I can easily swing this one, especially given we know that Ultimates are more common in this other world, and that at least one of those 'Dark Masters' has attempted an invasion of another world."
The first trip to the store ended up being to replace the bag and other camping equipment that Shawn had not used since his own League run. The once fairly advanced storage satchel was quite outdated by this point, and inspection had revealed that two of the six energy storage pouches inside had begun to leak in a way that would possibly damage items placed inside of them. Luckily the trainer had not been using the bag to store things most of the time, with a smaller day to day bag he had purchased for the shorter excursions to Boxes being enough for his work during the five years he had been at DSS. These containers were incredibly common, and even the cheapest new one they could find now had a 20% larger storage space per pouch than either of his older models.
His tent, along with its own storage case, was also in poor shape. It had ended up used in some of the Boxes as temporary housing for some unusual situations from time to time over his employment. Replacements for this went far less nicely, as it had been top of the line when he had gotten it and a number of the environmental comfort features that had made it worthwhile in the Boxes were still premium features that added considerably to the cost. "Gazi, how likely will we need to go straight from a glacier to a desert?" Shawn asked as they worked out this particular issue.
"We might," the digimon hedged, noting that neither Shawn nor the cashier found such a thing odd. "It isn't entirely likely, but the maps I've got might not be entirely accurate anymore."
"Ah, time travel," the worker said with a nod, having arrived at that conclusion without any hint of such a thing from them. "Giratina brought a request from his sibling that you two need to help with?" he asked fishing for details.
"Alternate universe that doesn't necessarily have the same time pass as it does here," Serperior corrected mildly annoyed. "We're hoping to fix that issue when we get there, but we need to prepare for a long time without any access to civilization."
"Hmm, how long can you guys wait for stuff?" the clerk asked thoughtfully at this clarification. "In a couple of days I might be able to arrange for some more dedicated exploration gear that isn't normally stocked. A larger, lighter bag than that one," he noted pointing to the one they had selected, but not yet purchased. "A multi-environment tent with some special storm proofing gear to deal with extreme weather, and some similar clothing options."
"And for those of us who don't typically wear clothing?" Serperior questioned.
"We already have plans to get that stuff, Serp. Not to mention the pokeballs," Shawn noted to his Starter. "Which reminds me. Gazimon, what kinds of creatures are the other digimon chosen ones you knew about?"
Gazimon blinked with some confusion at the shift in topic. "Uh, it was a mix of things. Biyomon obviously, along with Agumon, Gabumon, Tentomon, Palmon, Gomamon, and Patamon," he listed to start. "You've seen the first one, a bird digimon. The next two are both reptile digimon, but Gabumon wears this fur coat and turns into a wolf digimon. Tentomon is a big beetle digimon." Gazimon held his arms out to demonstrate the size.
"Uh, that's fairly normal sized for beetles," the clerk noted, making the digimon blink.
"Okay, a beetle digimon then. Palmon is a plant monster, Gomamon is a seal/dog thing, and Patamon is this small wing eared hamster thing," the rabbit monster continued. "Or at least those are the animals from the Digidestined's world that I think look the closest to them."
"What is a hamster?" Shawn and Serperior both asked.
"About this big, fuzzy, not quite a mouse, somewhat chubby," Gazimon said with a sigh. "Your bugs are normally that size, but you don't have hamsters." The clerk then quietly noted he knew what a hamster was, making the digimon feel slightly better.
"The plant one is going to be easy enough, we can easily just pack some extra things," Serperior noted with a look at the shelf labeled to have such products.
"The hardest one to get care products for is probably that 'Gabumon', as I don't think fur coats are the kind of thing we plan on battle hardening," Shawn noted.
"I have a couple products for that kind of thing that are here for martial artists that go to Flameheart," the Clerk contributed. "Not sure if they are quite up for monster combat though. Maybe just canine products would work?"
"We'd probably get some for the seal too, so that should work," Serperior agreed. "Bug care stuff is a bit harder for us, I don't think that stuff works quite the same, and we've mostly had Administrators handle those for us."
"So, we're getting extra stuff for the kids' digimon?" Gazimon asked just to confirm, getting firm nods in response from his teammates. ""Let's go all out then. I know a bunch of digimon villages, and some basic trade goods could get us a long way, or help out a lot with any major threats that are around."
"We have confirmation from management that this is a major issue," Janice said to the remaining Troubleshooter team while Shawn's group was off shopping. She had been in the process of going over a number of documents recovered from the Dark Network. "More because of the threat of any of these Ultimate digimon with goals of conquest following Upload's route back to here than to deal with the thieves themselves."
"That's probably the right way of looking at things," Tyra complained. "I doubt that the Hackware is going to bother coming back here if they don't have someone else making them, even with the entire digital world for resources." She sounded slightly sarcastic.
"Records from their sites indicated that managing digital world activities was a massive drain on their mental resources," one of the HardWare-Lights said from another monitor, sounding sympathetic to those in the records. "It is a reason they limited the number of sites they setup inside of systems they did not raid, they felt keeping everything working was too much effort for not enough reward."
"I thought Gazimon gave you guys an entire list of games and reading material to keep thing interesting?" Quagsire asked with a smirk. "Do digital monsters go through that stuff faster?"
"326 doesn't like to use them," another of them shouted from off screen, earning a "Shut up Larry" in reply.
"Anyway," Janice cut in to get the group back on topic. "We are being allowed a lot of leeway here, depending on what we find in the digimon world. Anywhere from simply being allowed to investigate as much as we can in our free time, all the way to calling the League to request Champions to come and help us." Everyone quieted down at this clarification. At this point even the digimon had a fairly clear idea of how serious that kind of situation was.
"How many Ultimate digimon would that allow us to defeat?" Tyranomon questioned unhappily. "Because I know from Gazimon's records that those Tag and Crest items that Etemon was concerned with the Digidestined getting allowed all seven of them to reach that stage."
"I'd say each Champ we could get would likely be able to handle being in a one on one fight," the Team Lead answered. "We could probably in the worst case get six of them. If Basirablemon is any indication then that should be a good enough amount to at least evacuate survivors."
"I'd greatly prefer things if that word isn't needed," Tyra said unhappily. "Because I've had enough of being the closest we got to 'survivors', I don't want to be one of the last real digimon anywhere."
"I fully agree with that one," Tyranomon rumbled. "But we still need to be ready for it. Floramon was sure that the Dark Masters were winning, and the Digidestined had left for their own world."
"They managed to beat Etemon," the patchwork digimon argued without much belief.
"And it only took the loss of one of them," the dinosaur noted, although he sounded unsure. "Although, Floramon also said that she had heard the Greymon made it to the human world with the others."
"I'm sorry to say it doesn't mean we have them on hand right now, but in an emergency we have a line to them," Janice said to clarify. "The time issue is another problem. Until Gazi gets a Node up and running we can't be sure how much time has passed for them."
"I'm preparing custom medical supplies and digimon compatible, police style pokeballs with them," Delta 2 added tiredly. "Things that will help them if they run into any digimon issues that they need to deal with without me."
Six days felt far too long to get everything ready, even though it had taken well over a month just to find where Upload had gone and they were still going to possibly arrive before the criminals. Gazimon and the other digimon were still intimidated by how the massive pile of equipment both came out of the new bag for inspection, and then went back into the container small enough to easily carry on the move. In the end they decided on a larger professional hiking pack, with places to strap smaller bags and items that could not be safely stored, along with two smaller bags that were safe for pokemon to carry inside of their pokeballs.
"I'm still mad we couldn't get everything pokeball safe," Shawn complained as he hefted the main pack. "I'd feel much better if I could use my ball too without possibly losing stuff."
"Quality environmental control systems and sleeping bags both don't store well," Janice noted jokingly. "Although I admit that was another reason I never went on a League run."
"As a Starter or a Trainer?" Quagsire asked with a sigh. "Because having gone from the first to the second I have to say finding out that is an issue is worse when you are already used to using your pokeball."
"Actually mostly as a Starter. I am a person and have stuff that's mine, I wasn't about to just have my trainer carry it all," the Team Lead said.
They laughed nervously at the joke, all of them looking at the modifications made to the transport pad to help with this plan. Giratina was on standby to try and assist in the process, and Janice's family had helped with using attempts to target their home universe as practice. Four Dark Network Nodes, all determined to be perfectly safe to store, were distributed among the packs. Two in Shawn's possession, one in the main pack, and another in a smaller pokeball safe bag he had emergency supplies stored inside, along with one each in the others' bags.
"Right, are we all ready?" Shawn asked calmly.
"We are," A-0 confirmed seriously. The Porygon-2 looked a bit more complex that was usual for it, apparently in order to allow for more programs and functions to be active at once. "I will be able to handle the Dark Network until Gazimon is in contact with us again."
"We can't really prepare any more than this," Janice noted unhappily. "The Boxes and digital worlds just aren't strong enough for you to really cut loose in your Ultimate form right now, and getting any of them up to that point would delay this months."
"The local Officer Jenny will kill all of us if we even think about trying to practice somewhere that normal people can see us, which covers this entire planet and probably Janice's homeworld too," Quagsire agreed. "So maybe you can spend some time in the digimon world doing that when you get there."
"Are we going inside pokeballs, or ready for a fight?" Gazimon asked, the difference having been a debate over the preparation period.
"Energy requirements for sending three individuals without targeting data or a stable connection is too high," Metagross sadly noted. "Arrival destination cannot be made singular if done separately."
"So in the balls to keep from having to find each other when we land, got it," Serperior joked with a sigh, before he returned himself. Soon after Gazimon joined him and Shawn stepped onto the pad.
"Ready," the red eyed trainer said with a nod to all of them.
"Good luck," the rest of the team replied seriously, and then watched as he disappeared with a flash of light.
"Huh, looks a lot more normal than I expected," Shawn commented looking out over the forested area under the hill they had appeared on top of. "Sure this is the right place?"
"Just because your digital worlds are so primitive doesn't mean all of them have to look blocky," Gazimon complained, and turned the pair of binoculars he had retrieved from his own pack to look at the small village they could just make out in a nearby clearing. "But yeah, this is my homeworld."
"The architecture is interesting," Serperior noted uncertainly, his arm pointed at a large black obelisk standing just outside the boundary of the town. The dark tower looked fairly new with the clear remains of its construction littering the ground around it.
"Never seen anything like that before," the rabbit monster nervously admitted. "Hopefully it isn't a bad sign."
