- Waterlogged -

"So Joe and Gomamon have managed to find out that Upload is trying to get some underwater bases up and running since nobody else can really go there right now," her older brother explained distractedly from a pile of either Digidestined reports or his homework, Kari was never sure which anymore. "Jane is apparently switching out with 'Quagsire'? Who's Quagsire?" he asked her.

"That's the salamander lady who rescued us the first time we fought Upload," Kari explained with a bit of embarrassment. "Her team usually handles foes in their digital worlds, so I guess Jane is going to be doing that for her instead?"

"It would be a lot easier to think we're working with other humans if some of them were actually human," Agumon grumbled from his own pile of digimon refugee paperwork. He had become even more upset with that complication after Tai's extremely short attempt to be a digimon, which lasted just long enough for Tai to realize that he could feel his tail.

"She'd actually agree with that from what I've seen her," Gatomon noted. "She used to have a human partner, but he turned into this bug monster that doesn't seem to be in the right century."

Kari sighed at how common that problem actually was lately. Yolei had taken to mostly using Flybeemon now, and the other girl had vocally complained about how she liked that shape better than even her new human-like Rinkmon form, Cody was rarely human at all anymore, and Davis now needed a wristband or he looked like a blue blob monster all the time. Not to mention her own experiments to try and explore the effects of her BlackGatomon form and the Dark energies that came with it.

She swiveled her ears towards the other end of the room as she heard her parents ask Wizardmon a question about his current attempt at cooking. "It really does turn out rather nicely in my opinion," the now pokemon replied holding a bottle. "Although I admit it was made to deal with limited supplies at the time."

"I'm not sure the kids are old enough for all of the ingredients," her mother noted uncertainly at what he had in his hands.

"Even Gatomon?" the Dark/Ghost typed former digimon questioned uneasily. "Because, well some days things were a bit tough..."

"After all we've heard about Gatomon going through, and that's probably not even all of it, I'd say she would be fine," her father responded to the unstated implication that Gatomon had already tried the dish, and that made Kari wonder if she could sneak some. There had to be an easy way to make her look like her older sister for at least a little while.

"You want what?" Gatomon asked harshly, drawing Kari's attention back to the other conversation.

"I want Wizardmon to go with you guys. Cody is already complaining about water messing with him, and without Jane that means we won't have either of those area covering attacks for these raids," Tai answered firmly. "I've actually seen those recordings of what he can do with his magic, and from what I can tell he can handle that sort of thing for you guys."

Kari's ears folded down at that request. She understood Tai's point, Wizardmon was currently experimenting with cooking to find something to do other than training, but she really doubted that it would be easy to convince her sister to let the former digimon go anywhere that even just could be dangerous. She would help her brother with this plan, as Wizardmon's lessons with Grim and Giratina shouldn't be the only thing he was able to leave the house for, but convincing Gatomon would be hard.


"So, the plan is we start with this staging base," Joe said as he pointed a finger at the monitor. "And take some of the Reliability things so that we can use the aquatic forms those should give them according to what the Hackware becomes. Then we hit a few of the actual ocean bases to find the location of the Digi-Egg, and finally we hit that place and grab the thing."

"And how much do you actually trust what Upload has told you about all of this?" Quagsire darkly asked. "I'm already going to be short two teammates just from a lack of being able to swim after all, our new Champion is too on fire to go along, and the last time Shawn helped with a problem in an ocean he stopped being a normal human."

"We've managed to verify the staging area and ocean bases ourselves," Gomamon complained. "I know some fish that were able to help with that job. The problem is that Upload only told us 'the ocean bases have the location', not actually where the damn Egg is. Probably because they know we'd just skip all this if they did."

"I say we do this as quickly as we can," Kabutops complained. "I have not practiced underwater combat all that much, and I'm the most oceangoing of our team." The thinner spiky bug then looked over at Grant. "And all of us would actually be weak to water if not for shared types in two of our cases."

"I lived in the ocean," the Armaldo shot back. "You know I did."

"Please don't bring up how you two were related in the distant past now, I can barely deal with that normally," Quagsire grumbled.

"Honestly, we haven't had much experience fighting in water ourselves," Joe admitted. "A few times on the surface of it, but never under it, and from these forms we've been told about that's what we're up against."

"It really isn't common, Dive is an HM for a reason," Janice said as she walked over. "We can cheat in our Boxes, but even then Shawn and Serperior have actually trained specifically for that kind of combat."

"I'm not fully up to date on these 'M's, what's so special about the 'H' ones again?" Gomamon asked a touch sarcastically.

"Hidden Machines are specialized versions of TMs for moves that provide a key use out of battle, typically by helping you move around or deal with obstructions," Grant explained. "Two notable examples are Fly and Surf, which cover the skills needed to carry your trainer through the air or across the water. In order to use them you typically need to complete a short certification along with at least one of your pokemon, and that is restricted behind a number of Gym Badges, although the exact amount varies from region to region."

"Dive is very rare, and a lot of regions don't even have standard classes on it," Janice added. "It is the skill to keep yourself and your trainer safe while going deep underwater, including producing the necessary air supply. Without that you will need special gear or skills to pull it off."

"You two probably don't need to worry about it overall, I can't think of many Water types that can't manage that on their own," Quagsire noted.

"Ah, wonderful, a reason to get in a real fight like that," Joe sighed and turned into a pokemon. "Come on Goma, I think we might need a bit of practice." The digimon glared at everyone in the room.


The Flamedramon blob hit the snake woman with a glancing blow that she clearly could take. Despite this the Hackware Hybrid fell back yet again, which sort of made sense given that Wyrms were better at attacking than defending, but still felt off given the serious battle they had encountered when they had tried to get the Digi-Egg.

Behind them he could hear a massive blast from one of Wizardmon's fireballs, and a short yipe from Kari that told him she might have been just a bit too close. That distracted him briefly, although mostly because he managed to slide one of his eyes across his mostly fluid head, and with a flash his target was gone.

"I really wish they would just stay still," Cody noted as he slammed his bone club through a Hackware whale-person that had emerged from the water. "It is annoying to chase them down." The Sandslash then threw his club in a swinging arc to take out another armored Hackware and caught it again.

"You wouldn't be complaining if you could just swamp this place with sand," Yolei's brother joked just before he slammed the head of his Allomon form into a HackHalsemon.

"I see the stuff!" Davey shouted from closer to the World Stone, which was already dissolving into the air.

Davis looked at the polygonal containers dubiously. Upload apparently was trying to take advantage of the lack of aquatic forces that the Digidestined had, and the fact that the Emperor had not really tried to conquer the digital oceans, but this still seemed off. The base they had just smashed was supposedly where they were using the Artificial Reliability to upgrade their Hackware at the water's edge. Quagsire's team was further offshore, and this attack had been intended to draw forces from that base too.

"Alright, make sure to grab them quickly," Davis told his brother. "Hey, T.K., are they clearing out?" he then asked the member of their group that was focused on flight.

"Sneasel, stop fidgeting," the Pegasusmon criticized his passenger before actually replying. The Dark/Ice type had unsuccessfully attempted a couple of attacks during the battle, and honestly it had been a safe enough fight for him to have to tried that. "They're definitely leaving, although I think a lot of them are just swimming away."

Davis looked over towards Gomamon and Joe in response to that information, and spotted the fish shaped collection of fish blasting things with water, the massive furry seal firing missiles, and an occasional orange streak of otter that was fighting more physically under the water. "I almost feel sorry for those ones," Davis mumbled as he recollected some splattered bits of himself.

They quickly cleared out the last of their polygonal enemies, and collected the remains of the base's gear that survived. "Does anyone else think that was too easy?" Yolei complained as they prepared to get the stuff back to base.

"Ah'd say so, they seemed like they were running from the start," Digmon agreed.

"Maybe they're panicking," Joe suggested dryly. "Besides, I think their real forces are with the Digi-Egg."

"Now, who s up for joining us in the water next time?" Gomamon asked, and Davis shuddered a bit at how that sounded with the massive fish monster floating behind the digimon with an evil grin on its face. "We should have some time to practice beforehand."


"You said you wanted to see me, Ken?" Wormmon asked as he arrived in the testing area.

"Yes, Wormmon," the Emperor said grandly. "Dark Tyranomon had great success with following up the latest Digidestined strike on the Hackers, and recovered another new form of their upgrade artifacts." He held up a Purple gemstone with a cross shaped symbol on it. "I've been researching how these improve those kids, and I believe that I have discovered the nature of these devices."

The insect digimon paused in response to this, and then sighed before replying. "You aren't going to give me that strange energy too, are you?" the minion asked resigned to a positive answer.

"No, I want to know a lot more about these 'types' before I risk you with them," Ken replied to the digimon's surprise. "These items on the other hand appear to be reproductions of the Digi-Eggs. The crystal constructs can take on the same forms that the Digidestined get from those artifacts using them, and I believe those kids are now using captured versions to augment their forces in addition to resorting to those types."

"And you think they will work on me?" Wormmon asked cautiously.

"I wish to test the possibility. The level of combat now seen across this world is too high for me to risk you staying as weak as you are," the Dark Digidestined noted, and Wormmon's harsh glare softened at the sentiment.

"Alright, if you think it will keep me safer," the insect replied kindly getting only a huff in reply.


After their latest attack Gatomon had to admit her old friend was again able to handle himself on the battlefield. If anything being a pokemon meant you got stronger, with examples including his impressive performance today, Dark Tyranomon's clear boost in power, and the casual strength that Gazimon didn't seem to realize he showed.

None of that changed the fact that she wanted him as far from anything that could possibly hurt him as she could manage. So this day had already started rather badly. "I'm supposed to eat fish, not be one," she complained loudly as they gathered by Joe's 'pool'.

The otter monster glared at her from the shallow end of his artificial lake they were pretending was just an indoor pool. It took up almost an entire floor of their eldritch office building, and also showed off how large each floor actually was. "Well, I could give you some normal swimming lessons instead," the Floatzel quipped. "I'm sure you can hold your breath long enough in a battle."

"He's just grumpy that he has to share this place," Gomamon commented idly. "Also a bit worried that Mimi is going to try her new pokemon form in it, and we're going to have to find a way to clean this thing after that."

"Why would you need to clean up from Mimi's pokemon form?" T.K. asked with justifiable disbelief. "What could she have possibly turned into that was anything close to dirty?"

"It is called a 'Muk'," Joe dryly replied. "She literally becomes a living toxic spill, so like Davis right now but with more poison."

"You're kidding," Gatomon had to say about that insane statement as her blob monster teammate complained about it. "You cannot be serious, because we'd need to be more worried about her killing us all because of that instead of just messing up your lake." The beauty conscious girl had just the mean streak to actually do that.

"She adopted a little one," Gomamon giggled. "And from her complaints she can't stand to disappoint the little blob."

"It even calls her 'mom'," Joe said seriously in a way that just had to be a joke.

"Well I'm ready to be a fish in order to get out of this conversation," Kari grumbled from the back of the group. "So let's see what we end up." Gatomon's partner then firmly walked over to the box filled with Artificial Reliabilities and took one.

"I'd recommend going from human just in case," Joe told the BlackGatomon. "That way you avoid either being a wet cat or a beached whale." Gatomon shuddered at those options, and nervously wondered if she should do the same as Kari returned to humanity.

The Digidestined of Light, like the rest of the human members of the team, was wearing the kinds of clothes humans were fine with getting wet. While Gatomon could admit she didn't actually understand all of that idea, she did get that most clothes were worse than fur when covered in water. Her sister then proceeded to activate the trinket, and transform into a large black and purple shark. The new armor digimon's body was mostly purple scales, with black stripes that matched her spiky metal helmet, and a dorsal fin that was simply a metal blade. It was quite clear that this new digimon would not in fact have a fun time out of the water.

"This is nice," Kari said darkly as the new shark swam in tight circles. "DarkTylomon, a fast predator." Gatomon cringed at the hungry way her partner said it, and she could see the rest of her team tense at that statement, but the light giggle that followed it up made her sigh. "Your faces," Kari then laughed lightheartedly. "That was just too funny."

"Now I'm worried what we become," Patamon grumbled. "Reliable Light looks pretty dangerous."

"Well, the ocean is a fairly harsh place," Gomamon said with a touch of pride. "Maybe that means harsh forms?" The seal digimon gave a nervous look to the Dark shark now swimming in his pool.

"I'm next," Yolei declared harshly. "I want to see what I end up with for claws this time." She quickly grabbed her own and got into the water herself. The result of her transformation was clearly one that the Stone's new form was based on, but in this case there had been far more context lost. Yolei's body had remained mostly humanoid, although all of her limbs were just oddly shaped fins, with the shape and colors of an orca. She was wearing an outfit, which was a bit unusual, a life vest and life preserver that both looked a little silly alongside the sharp metal blades that covered her arm/fins. "Orcamon," Yolei grumbled. "Great another form without fingers."

"Not like we're going to be picking up much underwater," Kari commented, suddenly appearing right next to the whale digimon with a waggle of her own new fins.

"Very funny," Yolei dryly responded instead of spooking from the sudden appearance of the fish monster. "Just because I look like I'm afraid of swimming doesn't mean I am." Gatomon giggled at the disappointed face her partner made at the failed joke.

Gatomon then looked at the others now to gauge their reactions, and decided she'd wait until after they knew what all the forms were before trying out being a shark herself. At the back of the room Wizardmon and Sneasel were both clearly deep in a discussion of some sort. Near the front Davis and Davey were both clearly figuring out who should go first, and Cody and Armadillomon were clearly trying to figure out who could go last. T.K. and Patamon on the other hand were both moving to pick up the small purple gems with purpose.

"I think I like the idea of not needing you two to save us again," Patamon told Joe as the two of them got into the water. They then transformed together into a pair of massive flat fish that were mostly fin, and matched what they had spotted as the Worm Hackware's form that was able to cloak itself from detection.

"Mantaraymon," T.K. said thoughtfully. "I guess we're going to be the scouts when we're underwater." The two of them were the first to move into the slightly deeper waters a bit off from the edge.

Gatomon then spotted Davey heading for the box, and decided things were going a bit too slowly. "Not up for finding out how to swim like that?" she asked Davis as the blue mostly-blob did not head forward.

"There's these pokemon called 'Vaporeon' that look like they're fish-cat things, but when they go in the water they just melt into it," the young leader confessed. "I'm worried that this is going to be like that, and I don't know how I'll keep from losing myself." This context knocked the wind out of Gatomon's attempts to make fun of the kid.

"Well given they are an 'eon' I'm guessing those evolve from Eevee," Sneasel noted. "Which are entirely solid Normal types, so I'd say that shouldn't be a problem. That is the kind of skill that you should just know, right?"

"Acid Armor isn't even a skill I should actually know," Davis grumbled, but nodded. "Although everything else has been fairly natural so far."

"Why do they get actual arms?" Yolei then asked loudly, and Gatomon looked back over to see what Davey had become. The result was a half person, half fish or possibly dolphin digimon wearing an armored diving suit.

"Because Depthmon have them?" the new merperson questioned awkwardly as he investigated the resulting armor with the clawed gauntlets that were on his hands. "Honestly I was sort of looking forward to finding out what flippers or fins were like," Dave added disappointedly.

"We're will'n to go first if y'all want to hold off a bit longer," Armadillomon suggested to the others who had not tried yet. Cody didn't seem entirely up for that as far as Gatomon could see, but the two of them didn't wait before starting towards the box of trinkets.

"I think so," Hawkmon agreed. "I'm still preparing myself to actually look like my sister for once." That was an odd point that Gatomon had already basically gotten over with herself as the darker colorations of Kari's forms were not that different from her own versions. "It is going to be the first time since she turned into another Hawkmon with the pendent actually."

Cody seemed to find getting into the water actively unpleasant, and as a result wasted no time at all with transforming. The end result this time was undoubtedly a submarine instead of a creature, complete with a large empty area for a pilot or other crew member to lie down. "Um. Okay being like this is kind of odd," Cody noted uncertainly as he pulled away from the now a bit too shallow water.

"Ah'm thinking one of us was supposed to be riding the other fer this one," his brother added uneasily. "Moving on my own actually feels a bit odd."

"Well that's not creepy at all," Gatomon had to note sarcastically. "Right, let's just get this over with," she told the others, grabbing a pawful of feathers and another of goo.

"Alright, alright I'm coming, you don't need to steal my arm," Davis complained as his body simply flowed out of her grip.

Soon after Gatomon was unfortunately getting her fur soaked so she didn't have to flop around instead. The change itself was a bit of a relief, although going straight from uncomfortable wet fur to scales that felt wonderful in water was a bit much. "Oh wow, I think that this kind of shark is just as bad as a cat for messing with people," she commented with a harsh smile.

"How much of me is visible?" Davis asked, and it was a good question as currently-

"A bit of your tail, one of your arms, and your head," Kari noted happily. "Also some discoloration in the water, but I don't know if everyone can see that."

"Alright everyone!" Joe shouted at the group of now aquatic digimon. "Who is ready for some practice?" he asked, and then suddenly there was an angry mass of mostly pokemon fish trying to kick their tails, soon followed by a pair of otters.


It had taken two false starts for the Emperor and his partner to work out how to activate Armor Evolution. The end result of their first use was to turn the insect digimon into a large spiked turtle monster, with blades in the place of his front flippers and a clearly carnivorous mouth. "Ken, this is one of the new sea monsters the Hackers are using," the new Archelomon noted.

"They are already using your forms," the evil genius realized unhappily. "This is either some kind of common change, or they have enough data from you to accomplish this." He then returned to his sensor data from their tests. "This form is even the most common of their sea forces. I need to capture this Digi-Egg to compare to this result."

"What do you plan on using these for?" Archelomon asked critically. "While being safer is nice, I kind of have too much other stuff to do already without needing to fight.

"Knowledge is important, Wormmon," Ken replied with a frown. "Especially knowledge of where my enemies are getting their power from. You can see how much stronger Dark Tyranomon is."

"With that new strange energy you gave her," the digimon agreed uncertainly.

"Just concern yourself with dealing with your projects," the Emperor harshly replied, then paused for a moment. "And make sure that you are looking-" he cut off with a grunt. "That you are looking for a solution to this problem with my mind."

"I am, Ken, as quickly as I can," Archelomon said firmly at that display.


Joe considered that perhaps his pool was built a bit too tough. Some of the 'training' should probably have left some craters and cracks that he'd need help to fix, but apparently having DSS build it for a pokemon's personal use meant that fighting was assumed.

"So, were you trying and failing to put us through walls, or just having fun showing off how much you've been practicing?" Gatomon's shark form asked tiredly from where the group was listlessly floating.

"A bit of both," he answered cheerfully. "What do you think Quagsire?"

"You had too much fun with attacking people who've never fought in the water before," the amphibian suddenly said over an intercom system that the Digidestined had not actually known their base had. "Still, I have a couple of exercises that should help out before we start hitting those sea bases."

This produced a loud groan from the collection of exhausted fish digimon. "Can we please start with taking a break to figure out how to move?" Yolei complained. "Because I'm dealing with being able to try and more like before, and being able to swim like a fish, at the same time."

"I'm planning on an extra training session with a certain pair of Floatzels because they didn't start with that," the DSS trainer told the group angrily. "You do not go straight into combat with new shapes, and honestly I want all of you to have at least a day for real practice moving before we even attempt a raid underwater."