- Ghosts of the Past -
"Grandpa!" Cody said as soon as Chikara Hida got back in the apartment. "Did you have a good time?" he asked, and was slightly surprised to see his grandfather transform into a Marowak as soon as the door was closed.
"Cody, it is good to see you again," the elder Ground type replied. "Fumiko, it seems you have evolved!"
"Yes, and I'm quite sure Cody is rather close himself now from his own training," she proudly replied, now a bit taller and far pointier. "I had thought it would take you longer to back though, was there a problem?" his daughter in law asked with concern.
"An opportunity, although I'm unsure if I should have taken Celebi up on it. For me it has been months since I last saw you all," the Bone Keeper told them, and then went to his bag to get out a number of things. "I managed to find the ingredients for a number of your grandfather's recipes."
"So, you're gonna be a monster too now?" Armadillomon asked a bit uncertainly as fruit and guides to grow them were handed over.
"Quite a bit of the time at least," Chikara confessed. "There are a number of things I wish to do now, and hopefully we can find the space for all of them."
"Marowak stuff?" Cody asked with some interest. "Do you think dad would have been one too?"
His grandfather paused for a moment, and then nodded. "That question is one of many things I wish to deal with. I have some things to get started there, but there is a question for you and your brother that I will need to ask as a Marowak," the old pokemon sighed.
Ken Ichijouji felt much better about how his attempts to get the game back on track were going. He had to admit that the Hackers were a worthy foe for his intelligence, an opponent that was more than willing to challenge all of his capabilities at once. His work to determine just how their strange technology worked was proof of that. They seemed to be simply making minimally crafted digital constructs that produced the desired results, a very simple way of hijacking the game world to do what they wanted instead of its designed operation.
His own work on using that capability was already showing excellent results. The minor energy restoration pods they used commonly were so trivial to reproduce that he was quite sure it was a common design that they had copied themselves. The fabrication device for them on the other hand was a marvel that achieved the creation using only a non-standard energy that he could just barely identify. Indeed most of their technology was based on that fabrication energy, and it was even used to augment a number of their attacks. Currently he had only managed to make hybrid devices using a Hacker made energy conversion unit to produce the energy for his own purposes, but it seemed to be only a matter of time for him to unlock the key to the generation capability himself.
"Got some news for ya, Boss Man," Dark Tyranomon rumbled as she arrived at the test site for some practical work with those results. "Good, bad, and tricky."
"Start with the bad news," the Emperor replied a bit cheerfully. He was very much looking forward to his success being shown.
"Bad news is that a good number of the Ultimates we've been able to identify are gone," the dinosaur digimon said sadly. "So it looks like however the digimon are disappearing from Hacker areas is a thing strong enough to hit them too."
That was fairly bad news all things considered. Ultimates were rare overall, and while most did not have the same strength as his advisor's digimon forms, they were still far stronger than Champions. "Is the good news better?" he asked at her fairly reserved tone. It seemed that Dark Tyranomon at least didn't think that was bad enough news to be worried about his reaction.
"Good news is that I've managed to convince a good number of the ones still in your territory to side with us," she rumbled with a dark smirk. "They can break the Dark Rings too easily to control, but quite a few are willing to side with you if it means protection from the Hackers." She then sighed. "Although that also is where things get tricky. There are a few that don't want to do that, but they do say they're willing to make a deal. We take the Spires out of their territory, they fight to keep it clear of the Hackers, and ignore anywhere else we take."
The mere idea had Ken's mind swimming with the interference he'd been running into. "Work with Wormmon on getting them to agree with something," he ground out, angry about this clear sabotage of his ability to gather allies against the Hackers.
"Boss Man?" Dark Tyranomon asked with some concern. "You're acting like my brother did before a fight again." She shifted uneasily, while he tried to figure out exactly what she meant by that. "He never did like fighting, but something about Myotismon got him fired up for it. I had to half throw the last match the two of us had to get him on the trip to the other world," she continued lost in thought. "Heh, I hate thinking about that. Reminds me that I basically killed him myself."
The room was silent for a long moment, and Ken couldn't remember why she was looking at him with confused horror. "Boss Man, you okay? You-" she started to question.
"Quiet!" he demanded harshly. "We have work to do."
Cody nervously looked at the small area his grandfather had set up. The older Ground type was currently in the middle of an attempt to make a re-creation of his father's skull, and the method apparently would result in it being the shape of what his father's pokemon form would have been.
His brother was if anything more nervous, as the armored digimon was awkwardly staying towards the edge of the area. If Cody had to guess he'd say that Armadillomon didn't feel like he was supposed to be there, and the Sandshrew could really understand that sentiment. He didn't feel fully comfortable himself, because there was still a chance that his father wasn't a Marowak. If that was the case then there was a lot less reason for them to be around Marowak rituals, which seemed like they would be rather private things.
The specially made powder that was the focus of the ritual had filled a rather large box, but the remade skull that emerged from it was smaller than what Cody had expected. His grandfather's reaction was incredibly sad at the result. "I had thought he would be fully evolved," Chikara Hida said with a grave sigh as he cradled the skull. The remade bone had a similar shape to the one fused to the Marowak's face, but notably smaller and narrower. "I. I did not expect him to have only been a Cubone."
"But, Hiroki was trained," Cody's mom said faintly. "Did something go wrong?" She didn't sound like she believed what she was asking.
"I do not believe so," his grandfather said carefully inspecting the skull. "I, I can feel his spirit's touch on this, although. Although the thought that he had not been skilled enough to cross the threshold to evolve..." The older pokemon trailed off after speaking a bit formally, clearly feeling out the situation by using specific words to describe it.
"Well, don't some pokemon not evolve right away?" Armadillomon asked cautiously. "Maybe that's what happened instead," the digimon suggested.
Cody's grandfather gasped at that, and looked incredibly sad. "A Cubone that lost someone tends to evolve when they are at peace with that loss," the Marowak said gravely. "I wonder, did he not make peace with his loss of contact with the digimon world?" There was a hint of a pulse from the skull that Cody could just barely feel, and he heard the entire room become silent. "It worked," Chikara Hida said with tears in his eyes. "It worked."
Dark Tyranomon grumbled a bit as she moved onto the next item. So far they had gone over the medical gel pod things, which let him hurt her with the excuse that it showed off how quickly they restored her, and a couple of strength enhancers that clearly were not ready at all that ended up making her use more of the healing things. That was honestly a lot faster than it would have taken many other dark rulers to get over any sort of anger problem, and the healing things actually worked really well.
"I think we can say these things are more than worth it, Boss Man," she told him as she inspected an unneeded one of the small black globs. They had a fairly thick shell, but were easily deformed and clearly full of something that was almost a fluid.
"Yes, they are working quite well," the Emperor replied with a much calmer tone than earlier. "The next question is if the booster project is functional yet. That is going to be a more complex one."
"Is it one of those you had me move out of that one base?" she asked him. "The one you said not to bother with defending?"
"Hmm, no, that was related to the construct improvement project," he answered her as he led them over to a set of large black crystals. "Along with a key component of my newest strategy against the Hackers."
"New strategy? How's the kids attacking us a strategy against the crystals?" she asked as she casually picked up one of the gems.
"Why, it is quite simple actually. The Hackers are using a number of large scale energy production sites to support their growth," her boss replied grandly. "I lack the power and mobility to destroy those locations, but I have the ability to identify those sites. So, I made sure to leave that data for the Digidestined brats to find. With that information those kids should be able to attack those locations for us." He moved to a console next to where the stones had been placed and began to go over the information displayed there.
"Hmm, I guess that's at least a good use of a place you know is going to get hit," she replied, and gave an uncertain look to the slightly off way the crystal she was holding felt.
"Yes, it is unfortunate that it appears I'm not the first to think of it," he complained. "The base you moved them to was just hit, and I'm quite sure the data on its location was found in a Hacker site they raided recently." Luckily the Emperor was distracted enough by their current project that he had admitted that loss in the tone he got when he forgot digimon were people too. "This latest series of attacks on our facilities began after they hit a location with a Hacker data archive."
"So we can keep track of when the crystals might try it again then?" Dark Tyranomon asked to focus on a positive aspect of that information.
"I believe so, although admittedly those things tend to be located at generator sites," the Emperor sighed. "Now, as for this new device." He motioned to the gem she was holding. "In theory it should infuse you with extra energy beyond what your current maximum allows, granting a short term boost to your power until you use it up. From current data that should occur faster than you would lose an equal amount of your normal energy, but I need practical data to verify that it is the case."
"So, what do I do, eat it or something?" she asked frowning. The faceted shiny black rock was slightly larger than the Emperor's hand, so it would be easy for her to just eat.
"You can try that option later," he said distractedly. "For now I want you to attempt to draw the power out of it in the same manner as the restoration items."
Dark Tyranomon frowned at that option, and considered how exactly to go about doing that. She started by moving the thing to fully rest on her palm, and then squeezing it. She did that more to focus on the task than try and force the thing physically. After a moment she succeeded, and found herself shuddering as the gem dissolved away and the energy fed into her body. This felt off though, as if something had shifted in her energy instead of her getting more of it.
"Hmm, that isn't right," the Emperor said, his gaze fixed on the machines around him. "Your energy is still at the same level, but is now..." The human trailed off thoughtfully. "Go through your attacks. Do it slowly so I can get better results."
"Things definitely feel off," she said, and started off with an empowered slash of her claws. A slash that now trailed black energy that went out to scrape gouges in the wall of the test area. "What, was, that?" she bluntly asked emphasizing each word.
"Fascinating," her boss said with his typical distracted wonder. "Can you isolate that energy without launching it?"
"Iso- Boss Man, I don't even know what the hell I just did," Dark Tyranomon rumbled back at him, although she did play with trying to make a small slash while holding the energy just behind her claws. This didn't quite work, as the energy still moved towards her target, just going more slowly instead of staying still.
"This is a wonderful development," the Emperor laughed at whatever he saw on his computer. "You now seem to have access to the Hacker's fabrication energy. I need you to keep track of how long this lasts."
The dinosaur digimon considered the feeling. Her energy wasn't shifting now, it was just changed. "What if it doesn't wear off, Boss Man?" she asked as she tried a couple of her typical tricks to make herself stronger. "Because that felt more like evolution than a power boost."
"Then you should be able to accomplish a number of things that would aid my efforts greatly," he replied grandly. "This could even be a key to unlocking more of the Hacker's capabilities. Although it is slightly disappointing that it didn't provide the temporary boost I had anticipated."
"As disappointing as your 'advisors' spending all their time freaking out?" she asked mostly just to complain about those two. "I haven't seen the two of them for a while now." She looked over to the doorway that led to their own private command center.
"Hmph," the Emperor huffed, although he did get a bit of that glassy eyed look that still reminded her of her brother. "I don't really expect them to be all that capable of providing much assistance given they are relying on me to save their project." He shook his head. "There also seems to be some Hacker interference with my ability to deal with their failings." He looked a bit pained to say that. "So, when you see Wormmon let him know that I want you two to make sure they aren't causing our work any problems."
"You okay, Boss Man?" she asked again, because this was worse than before. The way he kept acting brought up bad memories, and this honestly looked like the few times her brother had argued against fighting while in that state.
"The interference gets worse when I try and work around it," he replied, and Dark Tyranomon felt a chill at the way he worded that. "Which is why I want the two of you to figure out how to stop it."
"Of course, Boss Man," she said quickly.
Arukenimon slammed the console in anger. "Where the hell did these things come from?" she demanded as she cast a dark look at the images on the monitor screens. Three of the four had images of the polygonal monsters, but the final one had a rare image of the new help the Digidestined had also found. The red eyed human shaped monster and the snake monster were both total unknowns, and worse were not even digimon, but the sight of a Gazimon casually manipulating data was the hint that someone powerful had joined the Digidestined as well.
"Well, it doesn't look like they are doing that well all things considered," Mummymon said in an attempt to placate her. "The red ones have a lot of strong things, but they can't stand up to us, and the Digidestined aren't even taking out Control Spires faster than we're building new ones."
"That doesn't change the fact that these are an entirely new threat we've never even heard about before," she countered, glaring at the black panels around the otherwise normal digital monster. "One with powers we haven't seen anyone else able to use, that has somehow allowed the Digidestined to turn themselves into even more digimon to fight us." It was an insane situation given what she knew about what that threat should have been like, and it also removed one of the backup plans she might have tried before. It wasn't exactly possible to threaten their human allies if those allies were already in the fight.
"We're still doing alright though," he argued as he pointed at the latest result of their mass production attempts. The black shelled artificial digimon had finally reached solid Champion stage at the end of production, and Arukenimon could easily personally produce Ultimate level ones given a bit of setup. "And you've almost got our army to take care of everything."
"'Alright', 'almost', those aren't enough," she said bluntly. "Something is wrong here, and we need to find out what. These newcomers are doing something, but they aren't getting anywhere." The Digidestined had if anything gone backwards, now mostly delaying their own advances now that the minion was taking his role seriously. The polygonal army on the other hand seemed to be content to simply tie up their own forces to the point where neither side was able to accomplish anything. While both might become problems if left alone there was no immediate risk.
"The appearance of being busy can be far more important than actually being busy," she suddenly remembered from the voice again. Which was the worst part of what was happening. The various problems were messing with her mind, bringing out memories she did not recall about times when someone was trying to teach her to deal with things. That one had been more about how to avoid getting in trouble with bosses, but here it held another possibility.
"Where is the trap?" she asked, uncertainly for once. "They are too confident for this."
"Well they haven't seen what we-" Mummymon started, clearly attempting to distract her with an image of their new R&D site. Unfortunately the feed was now showing a devastated base, with the typical results of the Digidestined's attacks scaring the remains.
"I see," Arukenimon said with cold rage. "Wasn't that location hidden from the children?"
"Yeah, the 'Hacker's found it a little while ago, but not the kids," her failure of a partner said with a bit of despair. "You don't think they're helping each other, do you?"
"No, more likely our little minion has exposed our work again," she replied. "Those simply built abominations are far too much of a hazard for the forces of good to tolerate them."
It took a bit of effort to get everything properly checked out with his son's newly recreated skull. "His spirit is currently resting peacefully," Chikara Hida told his family gratefully. "I do not believe we currently have any reason to call on him."
"No, I think simply knowing that is enough," his daughter in law said with a wide smile. "Although, there is the main reason still."
"Very true. Cody, Armadillomon," he started, and then sighed. "You both have the option to take up your father's skull. It is not uncommon for non-Cubone children to also take up skulls in the Tomb Cities, and it also isn't unheard of for twin children to both be given a skull from the same lost parent using this recreation process."
The digimon did take a moment to consider his reply, but from the face Armadillomon was making it was clearly a 'no' even before his new grandson spoke. "Ah 'preciate the offer, but it really don't feel like something I should do. Ain't saying he isn't my pa too, but this is bone monster stuff. Cody's already been learning how to fight from you, so it makes more sense for him to learn that from you too," Armadillomon argued. "Ah think in that case I should learn from mom instead."
"Thank you Armadillomon," Fumiko laughed. "I think that is fine."
"It is, that is why I'm asking after all," Chikara told his grandson gladly. "It isn't uncommon for those children to not take up a skull either." He looked at Cody, and tried not to force his other grandson by being too hopeful.
"It won't bother dad to wear it?" the young Sandshrew asked cautiously. "Even if it ends up part of me like yours?"
"His spirit will be watching over you from my understanding, but it doesn't mean he will be active in aiding you most of the time," he told his grandson, mostly just quoting what he had learned in the Tomb City. "That does happen, but it is rare cases, and is quite obvious that it is happening. For example, in Marowak that shows up with Ghostly powers and the ability to use fire."
"Oh! We met a Marowak like that," Cody noted with a nod. "She was on the new pokemon Champion's team."
"You did? I would like to meet her then," Chikara said happily. "But, the point is that your father will only be a little more aware than he was before. Small hints or feelings at most."
The young pokemon spent a moment thoughtfully looking at the recreation of Hiroki's skull. "I think I do want to do this," Cody agreed seriously. He carefully handed the reproduction over, and then watched as his grandson put it on as best as the Sandshrew could fit it. Which suddenly became far better as the young pokemon started to glow and then grow larger as he evolved immediately. Chikara easily recognized his grandson's new form as the same variant that he had met in the Tomb City, with rougher bone colored spines, three medium sized claws instead of two large ones, and the reproduction skull now fused to the young pokemon's face. What surprised all of them was the fact that the newly evolved pokemon was already holding both a bone club and a spine covered shield, although given he transformed with his own club the Marowak probably should have expected it.
"I guess you just needed that to evolve," Fumiko said happily. "And you can apply your weapon skills better now!" Chikara blinked, still not entirely used to the change in his daughter in law's mood after she had discovered the full nature of her heritage.
"That was different from what it's like as a digimon," Cody noted as the new Tomb Sandslash looked over his body. "Or maybe it is just different to not be able to go back." The newly evolved pokemon blinked. "Do I sound older now?"
Wormmon looked grimly at the display of the latest attacks made by the various sides of his current war. The terrible crystal monsters were easily able to focus on any spot they wanted to hit hard, and the places they didn't outright attack still ended up hit by the Digidestined. Their latest plan to get actual worthwhile forces was now a burning wreck, the so called 'advisors' were failing to do more than repeat panic the insect digimon was long done with, and Ken was distracting himself with new pet projects made out of the enemy's unnatural materials.
"I hope you have some good news for me," Wormmon complained as he spotted Dark Tyranomon's arrival in a reflection on the metal wall.
"Got quite a few Ultimates willing to work with us, and even more willing to negotiate on that," she replied with cheer. "Boss Man even almost said we could pull out of places near some to get them on our side, so we should be able to set those ones up for a plan B if we need one."
The partner of the Digimon Emperor turned to give an unimpressed look to the Champion. "Well then we will need to make sure that they know what we can give them then," he said darkly at her once again implying that they take out Ken.
"Hmph, don't sound like that, Worm, I think I get it now," she responded in an easygoing tone. "He definitely is taking things pretty well for an evil overlord." She shifted slightly, as if she was trying to work out a kink in her back. "I just wish he didn't try so much untested stuff on me. I think this latest one might be permanent." Her claws then drug through the air leaving behind a short lived black energy. "Might be an upgrade, but I'd still want to know that first."
"That resembles what the snake monster does," Wormmon noted with a frown. "I wish we knew how those creatures were related to the 'Hackers'."
"Starting to think 'hacker' is a fairly good name myself," she said with a thoughtful look as she moved closer. "That seems to be what they are far too good at." Once she was next to him she continued more quietly. "Hey, did Boss Man have any siblings?"
Wormmon had to think about that one, to consider times that he had started to avoid thinking about. "I think he mentioned that he had an older brother, but I haven't heard him say anything lately," he replied.
The dinosaur monster nodded grimly. "Well don't ask about it then," she said with finality.
"And why not?" he immediately said with annoyance despite knowing that Ken didn't really like questions of any kind anymore.
"Same reason you don't ask me about mine, it's rude to pry about the dead," she answered. "I don't think I would have handled someone talking like I did to him as well as he did. Only nearly took my arm off with an experiment." She looked quite serious. "All things considered he seems to be one of the better bad bosses."
