- Get the Band Back Together -
Mimi had mixed feelings as she looked at her fourth place ribbon. It had been a wonderful double match, with Palmon and Grimer working well together now that they could more easily understand each other, and the cute guy who got second place had even complimented her on their performance.
However the Digidestined had just suffered the biggest loss since their original adventure, and the only bright spot was they found a way that she might be able to help directly again. She just couldn't ignore that sort of problem, even if they had not yet found the gemstones Palmon could use to become an Ultimate again.
"Do you think we could help?" Ann asked quietly as they left the rather spooky old building that the contest had been held in. The generalist Coordinator had managed the second place win in her friend's higher tier Contest, just behind Amy's rushed but successful attempt to use her new Haunter's skills.
Mimi simply sighed at that, and was glad that her sister took on that issue for her. "We honestly need more friends that aren't in the same danger we are," Palmon told the two of them sadly. "I'm really tired of worrying if all of my friends are going to be okay."
"I'm more worried that we're going to have more friends that aren't okay anymore," Mimi added sorrowfully, then cringed at the unhappy looks that got her. "That's why we have to go back, so that we can make sure that doesn't happen again." She looked down at her pokemon, who looked worried by her mood, but she was fairly sure he wasn't quite old enough to really understand why she was sad.
"Then we'll be ready to travel with you again if you can," Amy said strongly. "Don't be afraid to write either." The Poison typed Coordinator had started making a lot more sense now that Mimi had become a Poison type herself, and she knew she was going to miss the insights into her new form that Amy could offer her.
"And if we can help somehow do not hesitate to ask us to," Ann agreed. "It has been great having someone along to teach, and I want to see you do well in your next Contest." The calmer girl had been patient as she explained some of the more unusual aspects of this world.
"Thank you," Mimi cried as she surged forward to hug the both of them.
Matt was not sure how he was going to do this. The Teen-Age Wolves had been one of the best things he had going right now, but the simple truth was that he was needed in the digimon world. "Hey guys," he said as he arrived at the band's usual practice spot.
"Matt," Takashi said seriously before he could start. "We want in." The keyboard player was glaring at him from behind his glasses.
"Yeah, we're tired of you just ditching us for this monster thing," Akira complained, to the dismay of the other two. Their bass player had been taking his absences the worst out of all of them.
"Dude, we don't even know if he's doing monster stuff or not," Yutaka lazily criticized. "He still might just be doing stuff for his dad." The drummer on the other hand had not seemed to care.
"His dad who I saw walking around with a monster bird thing?" Akira asked harshly. "It looked like a vulture that decided to wear a suit of armor."
Matt really wished that they had not given into his father's latest desire to help with their efforts to deal with the war. For one thing it would mean he could have at least attempted to sidestep this issue. With a sigh he took out his phone. "Hey, Tai, my band is asking about monsters," he started while the three of them simply stared at this reaction.
"They're hired," the leader of the Digidestined said with a dry sarcastic tone. "We're offering free housing and food if they're willing to help Izzy with his projects or learn otherworldly first aid from Joe," Tai continued turning the bad joke into an outright complaint. "I know that will cut into practice time, and the whole parent issue is still a mess, but those two are about ready to start posting help wanted ads."
"Tai, I wanted to know if I could tell them, not to get them a job," the Digidestined of Friendship grumbled only increasing the confusion on their faces. "I'm guessing that's a 'yes' for that much at least."
"Yeah, you can let them know," Tai replied with a sigh. "How about you bring them here and pick out a spot to set up for your practice, or at least bring them over for a tour? That might work better than just trying to explain." It was a good point even if it also felt like a terrible option.
"Uh, wait this isn't serious right?" Yutaka asked with surprise in response to Matt's side of the conversation. "I mean, that stuff four years ago wasn't really a movie monster attack, right?"
"Alright guys, looks like we're visiting my job," Matt told both Tai and his band with a sigh.
"Sorry, Hiroaki, but no luck this time either," Skarmory said as the door shut behind them. "I think the city is starting to get used to me though."
"That is at least going better than I expected," the father of two Digidestined sighed. After the latest escalation in the fight the stakes felt too high to the two of them, and they had insisted on being allowed to attempt these excursions. It honestly seemed better to risk exposure in order to try and find Myotismon's ghost before the vampire could return himself, instead of just hiding away all the time. "I'm still not sure what I'm going to tell anyone who outright asks what you are."
"Taking care of an injured bird from another country sounded fine to me. Nobody has to have actually told you what the bird is or what country it s from," the metal coated pokemon said as he flapped over to his perch. "Although it is kind of hard to feel injured when I'm worried about hurting people. This world really is too fragile for this."
"You seemed to be doing fine at the studio," Hiroaki said as he checked the fridge to see what they actually had to eat, and paused for a moment to consider the brand new model that DSS had got most of the families to help keep more food. That way they could more easily handle the addition of monsters to households. It was bigger inside than outside, and he still was not quite sure how that worked even if it was apparently common enough that the workers that helped replace their old one seemed more perplexed by a fridge that wasn't.
"You mean while I'm just sitting in one spot around people who know what I actually am," Skarmory said a touch jokingly. "It isn't the same as having to keep my wings high enough that kids can't try and steal my feathers."
"It would help if the first aid kits we're getting worked on normal people," the human sighed in agreement at that particular risk. "It really is odd to hear a patchwork rabbit-lizard tell you that it isn't the best idea to even use the bandages on people."
"The energy issue is going to matter eventually. Unless all of you that have it move off this world that is going to cause it to build up more and more," the bird noted. "The apartment is safe enough after our deliberate work, but I think we will need to keep an eye on what keeping that other world inside the studio is doing to the place."
"So another thing to deal with," Hiroaki sighed. "Well, at least it's something to do."
"Uh, dude, when did you become a secret agent?" Yutaka asked very nervously as soon as they arrived, while the other two simply freaked out over the fact that they actually just teleported.
"I'm not a secret agent, I'm just part of a group of people fighting evil that keeps itself... secret," Matt attempted to explain. "When did I become a secret agent?" he then asked the universe.
"So, I heard something about a job?" Takashi said thoughtfully at that statement. "Because it is kind of looking like my dad might kick me out, and this looks like it might pay enough that I don't have to crash at Akira's." The keyboard player appeared to have nearly recovered.
"I already told Matt you guys are already hired," Tai unfortunately joked as he walked over. "You up for giving a tour? Mimi is about to head back and I want to make sure she's doing alright."
"Tai, I've barely been here. I think I still need a tour," Matt sighed. "Bottom floor is the pool right?"
"First floor is Joe's pool, but the team's training there right now so that isn't a safe place to go," the leader cringed as he realized that midway through explaining it. "Second is our medical area so far. Joe has some stuff setup there but he definitely wants more."
"We have a medical center?" the Digidestined of Friendship questioned with a bit of disbelief.
"Matt, why does your rival sound like he's your boss?" Akira asked as the final band member finally got things together enough to properly respond to discussion.
"Ugh, I really hate that I can say I kind of am both those things," Tai responded. "And yeah we have one, although it is mostly for monsters right now. The whole place really needs work, and Izzy says that the big part of the job is just dealing with setting stuff up." The leader then shook his head. "Anyway, this is the fourth floor: teleporter, cafeteria, and the lounge. Not sure if you guys would want to practice on this one or find somewhere on one of the upper floors we aren't using yet, but it is where Digidestined are going to be hanging out if we have the time for that."
Akira had an amused expression on his face from that statement. "Digi-destined? Isn't that a bit full of yourselves?" he asked mockingly.
"Trust me I wouldn't have picked it," Tai dryly replied. "We just got stuck with it from the guys that forced us to join." Matt cringed at the tone the Digidestined of Courage used, and he wondered with a bit of worry how another meeting with Gennai would go now that so many things had changed. "Which reminds me, this is not a 'well time to join up' thing. We could use the help, and you guys already work with Matt, so I'm willing to offer a job if you really want one to you guys since you're going to be told about all this anyway, but I'm not trying to pressure you guys into signing up."
That seemed to be the thing to finally clue in the band that this was a serious thing. "Whoa, wait a second," Akira said far more seriously. "What exactly are we getting into here?"
"Given that they are actively training for something, I'm guessing whatever secret war they're fighting," Takashi responded promptly. "So, how much of that fighting will we see if we sign up?" he asked sounding half eager for the chance.
"None," Tai said at the same time Matt argued the same thing. "Right now our biggest problem is that we need all of our team either fighting or doing what they do best," the leader continued. "Which means we need help with all the little things that should be done but we can't spare anyone to do them. You three aren't the best option for that, since you have school like the rest of us, but we have enough of that stuff that you'll work." He then looked over at a clock on the wall. "Listen, I need to get ready for Mimi. How about you four check out floors six and seven. We're probably turning those into places to stay or something, like apartments just for us, but they're pretty much empty right now so it is free space."
Mimi slopped onto the floor of the Digidestined base. She was a little uneasy with using her pokemon form to arrive at the place for the first time, but the closest transport system that could link directly was the Pokemon Center's pokemon transport system. Izzy had actually seemed a little upset with how his new stuff couldn't manage better than that when they set this all up.
"Oh wow," Tai said from next to her holding his nose. "You smell like someone knocked over an entire isle of cleaning supplies."
"Sorry," she noted unhappily. Her fumes were quite dangerous and she really did need to keep them from spreading more effectively.
"Not that big a deal," he said as he cautiously removed his hand once the gasses dispersed a bit. "I, uh, was reading about Muk, and, well, might have been expecting worse."
"Humph, at least those Muk know to properly smell toxic," Mimi complained. "I heard a story about some trainers who only fed theirs those nice smelling cleaning products and chemicals, and that just meant they were poisoning their trainers with good smells instead," she huffed. "We can make nice smells that are safe if we know what we're doing, but toxic ones are so much easier it isn't really worth it."
"It is really odd to see you talking about something other than clothes like that," Tai replied sounding a bit shaken. "What is that like?"
She considered that question. The Coordinators had basically just accepted that she could think about chemicals more easily like this. A big part of it was instinct, Muk were living chemical spills and part of that included the ability to control the chemicals they were made of. "Um, it is really hard to keep track of what I wanted to do like this when I turn back human," she said uncertainly. "I kind of wish I could take chemistry tests like this, but that really would not be safe. I have a lot of reactions that are rather dangerous right now, and this is the best mix of chemicals I've found yet."
"Are you going to be safe around people without energy?" Tai asked and looked towards a stairwell. "Matt's band is here."
"No," Mimi said firmly and turned back into a human immediately at that risk. About half of what she was about to explain left her head as it stopped being an active example of the eldritch chemistry she was considering. "You're probably more used to how that makes you lose your thoughts more than I am," she complained, but did not notice the unhappy face he made that would have told her he wasn't too sure about that. "But anyway, it really isn't safe to be anywhere near a Muk, or even a Grimer, if you couldn't resist pokemon poisons at least a little bit."
"Alright, so, what's the plan for while you're at home then?" the leader of the Digidestined asked tiredly as he motioned for her to follow him to a different stairwell a bit farther away.
"Joe and Izzy said they were staying here quite a bit," Mimi said with a bit of unease. This was the part she wasn't entirely sure about, as while Joe had been staying at the place constantly, he had also been doing that as a Water type with a pool. Izzy had actually sounded more like he was only staying up too late while he was there rather than moving to the base. "I figured that instead of trying to travel back and forth from another continent I'd just live here until it was all over. I've already spoken with my parents about it and everything."
Tai was silent for a long moment after she told him that while they went up a floor. "Can you help me set up a place for Acid Armor users then?" he asked with a tone that said he had given up on something. "Davis probably needs a place to relax like that, and he is sort of like your pokemon form."
"Wait we can get one of those?" Mimi questioned excitedly. "Amy was telling me about this place called 'Muk Majesty' that works just with Poison types, and they apparently have this really nice setup that her Muk loved when they visited."
"They are really slapped together things," Gazimon said as they moved on to the robot minions that had stolen the Digi-Egg. "Definitely not made by the same person who made those Ultimate constructs, which isn't necessarily a good thing."
Izzy had lots of other things to think about, so he was a bit distracted from the conversation. Kari had been fundamentally changed, Mimi was now asking questions about chemistry that even he didn't fully understand, the Emperor had lots of new gear, and to top it all off Upload had practically been giving them hundreds of evolution aids that totally changed the power situation.
"I would think that not getting help would result in a poor quality result given the power of the other constructs," he told the digimon. So far it was quite clear that the most powerful examples were also the ones made by the unknown that had started helping the Emperor.
"It would have been a worse result if he was just copying the other method. Also I meant that 'slapped together' part a bit literally. They're modular equipment on a central power core," the Dark typed digimon clarified, and sent a breakdown image he had apparently already had time to create of the general models. "Specifically a Steel typed energy core that grants them the type. Which means that in practice they were harder to take out for the girls than normal In-Training would have been."
That caught the Digidestined of Knowledge's attention enough to drive the scattered thoughts away. "Those were In-Training?" he asked harshly. From how Kari and Yolei had described them he figured strong Rookie or fragile Armor digimon. "The Steel type makes that much of a difference? How did he even do that?"
"Kinda, it is hard to qualify them because of the modular stuff throwing that system off, and types are powerful. Not to mention that Steel is the defensive one," Gazimon confirmed. "As for how, well that's actually exactly why it isn't a good thing. Whoever made this is willing to use new stuff, in this case captured Upload gear." The digimon highlighted the core module, and in particular the large black gemstone at the center of it. "That right there converts regular digital energy to typed energy. It was made out of one of those energy restoration things Upload makes everywhere, and my guess is that the Emperor captured one of the things that make those to get enough."
"So they know how to convert between those two?" Izzy asked grimly. Dark Tyranomon being able to go toe to toe with an Ultimate was bad enough without more pokemon based problems.
"Nope. They know they have a thing that does it for them, and how to get more of them," the digimon quipped. "It is a dangerous way to try and make stuff, but a fast one that can give really strong results really quickly."
"So we need to find those production devices and take them out," the Digidestined technical expert sighed. "Great, another target. I don't suppose it is hard for him to replace those?"
"When Upload has the parts for a new one lying around everywhere? We're better off taking out the rest of the line instead," Gazimon replied sharply. "The tooling for these modular parts would be a lot harder to replace."
"Uh, Matt, you aren't an actual werewolf, are you?" Yutaka asked still sounding really nervous about everything as they reached the fifth floor. "Because it is still an awesome band name, but I don't know if I actually want to be a wolf." He then muttered something else that Matt didn't catch.
This time the question about what he was actually did cover a topic Matt had been considering. "I have not turned into a wolf yet," he hedged uneasily. "And really when my digimon is shaped like one he is really just shaped like one." He was quite aware that if they found a way to reach Ultimate, which they apparently had, then he might need to turn into a second WereGarurumon just to give the team that much more firepower.
"That was not a 'no'," Akira dryly replied to his uncertain response. "At least outright say it isn't contagious."
"I really hope it isn't contagious," Izzy suddenly cut in from a nearby room. "Hey Matt, are these my new help with building this place?" The genius looked tired and was sitting at a desk covered in paperwork. Gazimon was on one of the monitors in front of him, and looked faintly amused. "The crews from the pokemon world are getting busy now with building stuff there, and honestly it looks like we've been lucky to get them as much as we have already."
"It's just a tour so far," Matt said unhappily. "They decided to confront me about things and then Tai made it into a bigger deal."
"I'm definitely interested in a free place to stay in exchange for a bit of physical labor," Takashi interrupted before he could continue. "Although I am curious about just what sort of conflict I would be joining?" Everyone looked at the keyboard player with concern over that statement.
"Well, the team is training," Izzy replied uncertainly. "I can pull up the feed." Before Matt could tell him that probably wasn't the best idea a second monitor that had been showing some technical drawing now started to display a battle. "Uh," the other Digidestined said at the sight of Zudomon in the middle of fighting the entire new team, including all the transformed humans.
"You guys aren't going to be fighting an Ultimate that's all alone out there!" they heard Joe yell from the display as the otter-like Digidestined kicked T.K.'s currently flying Pegasusmon form in the face. Then there was a massive blast of water that led to the appearance of a shark shaped monster that almost looked to be made out of fish.
The monitor cut back to what it had been showing before quickly, and Izzy at least looked sorry for having changed it in the first place.
"That was a giant monster battle," Akira said a bit faintly. "An actual giant monster battle that is apparently happening downstairs."
"I'm going to need to check your base's reinforcing again," Gazimon said, and his band seemed too shocked from the brief image of the fight to react to the talking rabbit. "I didn't expect you guys to be trying that level of combat yet."
"Come on, let's go," Matt said at that and half drug his band up the stairs.
"Secret bases, secret wars, Floatzels fighting flying horses," Yutaka said as soon as they found an open room on the sixth floor with some office chairs to sit in. "None of that's supposed to be real!"
Matt wasn't sure why the other kid thought 'float seal' described Joe given the other Digidestined's form was more otter like, but he could understand the unease. "Sorry," he grumbled. "I honestly just wanted to explain what's happening."
"Then maybe you should get started," Akira grumbled. "What the hell did we just see?"
"The part of the team that's actually been fighting 'training'" Matt complained himself. "It's apparently gotten a lot more dangerous looking than I had thought." He then sighed heavily. "The thing that's really changed since I was doing stuff is that everyone is turning into the monsters to fight now. We just saw T.K. get kicked in the face by Joe Kido."
"Joe, the medical student you said you were friends with, was one of those monsters," Takashi said more than asked. "The otter thing?" Matt nodded. "And the winged horse was your little brother."
"Being a monster," Yutaka groaned loudly. "That's a real thing too?" All three of them looked at him for that comment, but their drummer was apparently too upset to actually pay attention anymore.
Matt continued nervously, and could only watch as Akira got less confident, Yutaka looked less and less like he was listening, and Takashi was far too interested.
Mimi looked at the pile of paperwork on the desk that Tai had setup for her. Technically he had said there was one for each of the Digidestined here on the fifth floor, but the idea that this one was for her was a harsh reality. "My chemistry notes are here," she said to Palmon as her digimon and pokemon teammates took in the small office she had been given and worked to put up their tent.
"That's a good thing, right?" Palmon questioned while checking out their attempt to use their travel gear to make a place to stay for the night. "It means you and Grimer can keep working on that right?" The young pokemon gurgled excitedly at the mention of his name, and given he looked at the papers he at least partially followed the conversation.
"I guess reading stuff is the last thing I expected to have to do when we came back to be Digidestined again," she complained as she picked up the report Tai had said was the most important. A quick leaf through of the document showed it had over twenty pages, but it looked like there were a lot of pictures. "This is worse than those forms I had to fill out for the stuff I actually like."
Palmon's vine-fingers snatched the pages out of her hands, and she was rather glad for the excuse not to read them herself first. "So, do you think that the others are going to go over this stuff later, or do they really want us to read all this?" the digimon asked with a frown as she looked at the pages.
"Tai did say that he wanted to get everyone together to go over everything we knew," Mimi admitted hopefully. "And that would give us a chance to see what's happened with everyone too." She then looked at the chemical analysis documents that were still on her desk. "I really hope Matt's band leaves soon. This stuff is just going to look too complicated until I can be a pokemon again."
Grimer looked uneasy about that statement, and Mimi realized she might not want the pokemon out either if that was a concern. She turned to her new communicator, and quickly sent a message to ask Tai to let her know as soon as those other kids were gone. "Mimi," Tai responded as he called her immediately. "They're leaving now. Izzy apparently spooked them a little while ago by showing what Joe has apparently decided works for training with the team."
She considered the options the Digidestined of Reliability had for that given her experience with how pokemon and their trainers seemed to think. "So, they're fighting Zudomon?" she asked, and the loud groan from Tai confirmed it.
"If you can, I'd like to read a report on what the pokemon world is like from someone who isn't from there," the leader of the Digidestined grumbled. "I'm not sure that just telling everyone will be enough, and I kind of want to hear it without someone who 'knows' what that world is like around to give their side."
Mimi cringed at the idea of even more work to do, and sighed about how that would also make her little vacation into work for the Digidestined, but it admittedly was something she had considered while traveling. "I guess I can try and do that," she admitted.
"Keep it in mind for our team discussion, but anything major can wait a bit," Tai said regretfully. "Hopefully we'll need it more because we have to deal with them peacefully than to get more help with this whole war problem."
"I can't take this dude," Yutaka said as soon as they were back in the human world. "Monsters and secrets and all this stuff." Their drummer then left rather quickly.
"You're actually fighting monsters," Akira said quietly. "This, this is actually a serious thing." He paused for a long moment. "I need to think about this." He then also left, although much more calmly.
Matt had already expected this to be the end of the band, but honestly he was going to yell at Izzy later for just how badly this had gone. Probably Joe too, but that was more for the flying kick into his little brother's face. "I'm sorry about-" he started to say to the remaining member of his now likely former band.
"My dad really is about to kick me out, and I'm willing to help giant monsters move around their furniture if it means I have a place to stay," Takashi cut him off strongly. "I'm even willing to put up with maybe being a werewolf if I stick around."
"You're fine with turning into a monster?" Matt had to ask, and he was a little unnerved by how little reaction that question got.
"Well, I was fine with the band name wasn't I?" the other kid asked a bit ominously.
