- Spider's Past -

Budmon glared at the sound of her 'teacher' arriving, then turned back to the task of actually using the Dark Network for her real future job. The Gazimon in charge of them barely knew more than she already did, and she was already better than him in a lot of the important tasks that he seemed to think they should just blow off.

"Alright everyone, who s still having trouble getting themselves logged in?" Gazimon asked dully, and Budmon huffed as at least a half dozen Pagumon reluctantly admitted they were. "Alright, this is the easy one. Which means you guys need to be able to do it or you are going to get in trouble." For a guy that mostly told them ways to get around rules he focused a lot on not being in trouble.

Of course this also meant that once again they started with half an hour of the idiots getting repeat lessons in how to do the most basic part of everything. This seemed to happen every day, and instead of being properly annoyed like all the other teachers by the repetition their Network teacher kept looking more and more worried each time. She had seen how the other Rookies worked with them and, other than the dull Agumon who was clearly forced to teach them combat, none of them thought twice about just kicking out anyone who couldn't keep up.

Instead of wasting time just waiting she got started. First thing was going to the file of everything they were supposed to learn here, which the teacher just left out in the open so they could look at it themselves. There was also a list of other stuff he was actually teaching them, but most of that was just tricky ways of lying that were worded funny. She wasn't very far on those stupid things, but she had almost finished with the other list already and the only other thing to work on was figuring out how to evolve.

"Budmon, do you need something else to do?" Gazimon suddenly asked her. The older digimon had apparently decided to stop midway through getting the others logged in again to talk to her.

"I can find stuff myself," she grumbled to get him to go away.

"Try and just say 'yes'," he advised her pointlessly. "That way it doesn't sound like you don't. It is always better to have work than to not. Myotismon eats digimon who aren't doing stuff for him." They didn't even work for Myotismon.

She huffed and got to work on actually using the Dark Network to accomplish her job.

Pagumon was cute. Not the species in general, the best fighter of their age group, who was one of the best looking digimon she'd ever seen. The Agumon was always at a loss on how to stop him from just overwhelming any of the other In-Training digimon in the one class she shared with him. Which just made her smug that he liked her more than any of the other digimon around.

It was her help that actually got him to do the basics on the Dark Network, although he apparently didn't have as many tests on that as she did. She was definitely going to be the brains of the two of them, but he had the power to keep her safe. Budmon knew for a fact that they both would hit Ultimate together and rule their own little corner of the digital world.

So she was a little disappointed with how she was still In-Training when she spotted him as a far more impressive looking Gazimon than her stupid Network teacher. "Budmon!" he happily cheered. "Look at me," he added strutting forward.

"You look awesome," she complimented him happily, and glared at a couple of older Gazimon that were hanging around the small patch of sand they took breaks in.

"Aw, I'm sure you'll look a lot cooler than I do," he said with a bit of embarrassment. "I'm sure you'll evolve soon too."

She smiled at his exuberance, but heard a huff from behind them. It turned out to be her Network teacher, looking at the pair of the darkly. Probably thinking that she should have gotten there first given how far ahead she was.

Shaking her body she put the old mon out of her mind to see if her friend could finally explain what having limbs was like.

Dokunemon was the first of her class to evolve, and so far she'd been smugly showing off her larger insect form to the others while they waited for the teacher to arrive. She had a large beak that could easily crush her food and so many legs to use to move and manipulate the computers.

"Oh, you evolved," the Gazimon said as he spotted her, and for the first time she heard someone sound disappointed by that idea that someone else had evolved. Nobody, not a single digimon she had ever met, had ever even hinted that it wasn't better to be evolved. "I. I'll get the bigger console out for you. That should work better for you now."

He was quiet for the rest of the class, which was unusual for their teacher, and she had found her new form let her concentrate on things a lot better to notice that. Their Network teacher had looked over each of them with a dismal expression that she just couldn't understand, and she thought she spotted him making notes on a talk on evolution she didn't look forward to given that reaction.

Her Gazimon met her right after classes ended, and he had nothing but compliments for her new shape. The two of them simply took some time to talk and compare the changes. He had been given some actual work guarding the place, and there were rumors that the more advanced Network classes were already having some of their evolved digimon start working on the system directly.

"If it looks like they know what you're doing they probably do," her Network teacher dully said after Etemon walked out of earshot. She glared disbelievingly at the old Gazimon, wondering why the hell he thought that their idiot boss would actually care enough to check if the other Dokunemon had actually been the one to break into the test scores. "Despite how he acts, you should never forget that Etemon is one of the most powerful Dark rulers in the digital world," the Gazimon continued quietly at her defiance. "If he really was as stupid as the average Gazimon here he never would have reached that point."

She didn't say anything in response, nobody actually had any proof that she had done it.

"Please, be careful. He's going to hold that over you for the rest of your life," the old digimon said and turned away sharply.

"Why don't we just leave?" her Gazimon suggested when she quietly told him about it.

"Because he will catch us," she dryly informed her best, really only, friend.

"The boss monkey doesn't care if Rookies leave," he replied. "Unless you have an important job he couldn't care less about losing a couple."

She was nearly done with her training. Any day now she could get a key position working on the Dark Network.

If she had that kind of position she'd never be able to leave.

Dokunemon had not been prepared for the outside world. It was free, open, and had almost no use for digimon that knew how to operate electronics and manipulate data. Cybernetics weren't uncommon, and machines were everywhere, but most digimon didn't actually need any help with those things. So she was left to just finding ways to use her own skills that did work without the support of the Dark Network, while Gazimon took jobs guarding places to keep them fed and supplied.

"Are they working?" he asked her as she picked over the defensive barrier attempt she had been working on.

"No," she sadly declared. The device was supposed to let her project energy walls to block attacks. "It takes too much equipment to pull off. You'd have to be a Champion to carry one, and I can't see how useful it would be for a Champion that's any good at fighting."

"That still might be useful," Gazimon said with a wide smile. "I'm sure we're close to evolving again, and then we can use them to stop people from using ranged attacks on us."

She smiled at his excitement, and agreed with him to at least keep building it. She did have more time to work on her physical skills, and there were enough computers around to keep her other skills sharp. Surely rounding out her skills would lead to evolution.

Her Partner had been the only one that actually cared when Dokugumon evolved to Champion. Devidramon had reached there first of course, again beating her speed but his easy power was what had attracted her to begin with. Still that was somehow worse than her old teacher's disappointment, as even he had at least reacted to it happening.

She badly missed being a part of something bigger than just the two of them, but on some of her darker days she would think about how many of those digimon she had known as an In-Training had simply disappeared never to be seen again. The only real groups around were the Dark powers, which grew stronger every day. Anyone else was just another target for them to strike against to prove their might.

"We can try the preservation society, they are looking for guards," Devidramon suggested.

She looked at him dully for that one. "Hun, they would kill the both of just for being Viral," she told him unhappily. "We're lucky they don't already have guards to attack us."

He cringed at that response, but apparently not for the obvious reason. "I think they're more desperate than you know," he said sadly. "They actually asked me if I could overlook that to get them out of the region."

"Myotismon is advancing again?" she asked sharply, unhappily aware that her Partner had a bad habit of giving her specific options instead of bad news. He nodded grimly in response, all of his red eyes dimming slightly. "We probably will need to pick one of them some day," she warned him, but started to plan for getting some goody digimon out before the bat noticed.

They were out of good options. Etemon would definitely take them out if they tried, and that was without them being deserters. Her old Gazimon teacher's reaction to evolution made a lot more sense when you knew that the only Champions in the monkey's forces were mind controlled slaves or even bigger idiots than the average Gazimon. That older digimon had given them a long list of the terrible things that every other Dark digimon ruler did after her evolution, and in hindsight that now looked like a list of options for them to use if they ever did decide to ditch the monkey.

Myotismon wasn't the strongest choice, but Piedmon didn't have minions, only toys. He wasn't the most technical digimon, but the Machine Empire's leader dismembered those that even looked like they failed. He wasn't even the most lenient Dark ruler of digimon, but those better options were all past the territory of either him or other bad options.

So the two of them had trained and supplied themselves enough to be some of the strongest unaffiliated Champions around, and joined the bat willingly instead of getting pressed into his service. "Divide and conquer," she told Devidramon as they faced off against two Dark Tyranomon that were supposed to fight them as an 'introduction'. The digital dinosaurs had been rather roughly kicking each other s asses just a minute ago, and her Partner smiled widely at the prospect.

Only instead of two digimon just as likely to fight each other as the two of them, they found themselves up against a pair that didn't even need to look to know where the other one was. Both of the Dark Tyranomon knew how to fight in ways she had never seen a digimon pull off, blows that were far too hard and skin that hardened to become impenetrable. Dokugumon was surprised to find that she and Devidramon were still alive after the battle.

"I was sure you two would never join forces," Dokugumon grumbled at the loss.

"He's my brother," the female Dark Tyranomon scoffed. "Of course I'm on his side." Then the pair simply left them to head back to the castle.

It reminded her of one of countless pieces of advice that Gazimon had told her class, one she had actually yelled at him about. Dokugumon found herself wishing she had listened to that digimon more as an In-Training and a Rookie.

Dokugumon tried to not stare at the decaying yet still living blob that was all that remained of one of their fellow dark minions. The poor fool had been the target of another minion's attempt to pass blame onto someone else, and his cybernetics had been allowed to simply fester without treatment as punishment.

The most horrible part in her opinion was how Myotismon didn't actually look like he was fooled. The vampire had simply smiled darkly at his Vaccine attribute enforcer as he made the proclamation that he would just go along with the lie.

She barely wanted to think about it too loudly, but Etemon had been better at that particular trick. The monkey could easily mistaken for actually believing you, she knew that firsthand, while the vampire simply could not typically be fooled by such things.

"Is there really nothing we can do about this?" her partner asked quietly, and then after a moment of thought added, "The smell is quite terrible."

It wasn't the best cover, and it definitely wouldn't work. "That's just the way things work here," she replied, and wished that they had just kept running.

They should have run farther. They should have hidden better. Maybe even tried to stick with some of the rare groups they had guarded before picking a side.

Then maybe they wouldn't be stuck in another world, working desperately to construct the portal to take any survivors home once Myotismon finished killing off the Digidestined.

Then they wouldn't have to face Dark Tyranomon without her brother behind them, without any clue how it happened other than a suddenly dead transponder.

"Dokugumon," Devidramon said seriously as they worked openly with just the cover of deep mist around them. "Do you know why I said we should leave Etemon when I did?"

"I would have had a job if we didn't leave then, and then I'd be too important to let go," she replied tiredly, considering if he meant they should just finish this and ditch anyone who was still alive here in this fragile, overcrowded world.

"The Gazimon that was teaching you had been there when Datamon rebelled," the demonic digimon, her beloved Partner, replied sadly. "Everyone knew you were his best student. Everyone knew that no matter how good you were, you were going to- To fail in front of Etemon." His breath hitched as he finished, and suddenly she felt cold as she realized her closest companion couldn't even say that she had definitely been about to die.

"We should focus on the present," she said with her own sorrow. "If Myotismon catches us goofing off."

"'Myotismon eats people who aren't doing stuff for him. ," Devidramon quoted at her. "The only thing he needs me for is to keep you in line, and the only thing you can do that he can't is build this portal."

She had seen documentation while learning so long ago, files from the creators of the Digidestined that her Network teacher would read when he ran out of things to say to the class. It had given her insight into how to reach other worlds from the digital world, and that had led to her being here to help the Ultimate digimon.

"I know. I'm sure I have other things to-" she cut off at the sound of wings. "No. We're not quite done yet," she said as she turned to the sudden swarm of bats approaching them.

She began to spit threat at them when it was clear they weren't stopping. Devidramon dropped a large section with a paralyzing gaze.

But in the end there were too many feral, hungry bats, and the last thing Dokugumon ever heard was their squeaking as they tore her apart.

Arukenimon stared at the impossible digimon, her memories fully restored at his appearance. "Let me guess," she said emotionlessly as she processed what she had been before her resurrection. "You taught me everything I know?"

Gazimon barked out a laugh. "Fuck no. You didn't learn shit from me. If you ever figured out the stuff I actually tried to teach you then you did it on your own, like everything else you did," he harshly replied. The 'human' and snake simply loomed behind him, completely unafraid of the prospect of fighting what was basically four Ultimates. "You know, you can just surrender," he suggested, and only the recovered memories told her that was hesitation instead of smugness in his tone.

She couldn't say she had never heard this Gazimon talk like that before, but that had only been to the older digimon. He had never used that tone with them as kids, and she realized dully that even discounting the memories being fresh she had not been an adult around him. "We can't do that," she said simply. "At a minimum we owe our boss our new lives."

The rabbit monster deflated a bit at some part of that statement. "None of you then," he grumbled dully. "Shawn, I want them alive." The cold look in both pairs of slit eyes was not reassuring, and somehow the act of taking out water bottles of a foul looking liquid was unnerving.

Arukenimon had not fully lost track of the situation here, under her orders the Megadramon construct had moved close enough that they should be able to ride it out in their human forms, and the other construct was between them and their three foes. Despite that the human and snake both becoming a twin set of slightly different looking snakes was not what she expected, although she could guess what came next. "Mummymon, time to leave!" she shouted and grabbed her dazed looking partner.

The serpentine dramon had barely gotten them into the air when the twin snakes became a massive root monster, and Arukenimon could only hold on for dear life as they surged away before the coils of that monstrous two headed serpent caught them. Her other construct was barely a distraction, apparently held in place by large cables that looked uneasily familiar. She caught Gazimon's eye, and found herself wondering if the look he was giving her meant that the digimon had let them escape.

"Would catching them have worked?" Shawn asked idly, and Gazimon wondered if his trainer really was as laid back as he acted.

"Probably, but I'm guessing you couldn't do that and not kill them," he replied dully. He had hoped she had simply survived, her boy toy had been good enough to get them out of Etemon's service in time.

"A pair of Ultimate stage digimon?" Serperior asked him with a huff that probably had too much toxic gas given it resulted in a small purple cloud. "We haven't had any time to work with others at this level yet. We can be nonlethal, but we can't stop anyone from escaping from us if we are."

"Do we need to warn Tyra that she has an evil sister too?" Shawn asked half jokingly, which both meant that his trainer was going to stand up for this decision, and also that they were totally out of danger now.

Gazimon sighed at that. "Student kind of kid, not the kid kind of kid," he explained tiredly. "And the one that never respected me at all. Honestly, I have no idea where that 'taught you everything' crack came from." Which didn't mean he wasn't worried about what the Ultimate really meant when she said it. He had told her a lot of things when she was a kid that he had been sure she would never remember given how she had acted back then.

"He shouldn't still be a Rookie," Mummymon said a bit franticly as they finally slowed down a good distance away. "He can't be a Rookie. Is there some Champion or Ultimate that looks just like a Gazimon?"

"How much do you remember?" Arukenimon asked tiredly. She had mostly recovered, enough to realize that she had been getting them back slowly for the entire time and just had not had anything that forced her to process them before.

"Everything," he huffed. "From being a little Pagumon to what it was like having wings. I kind of wish I still had those."

She was quiet for a moment after hearing that. Now that she had some time to consider them she had to face the reality that Dokugumon had loved Devidramon. With that knowledge, those clear and present memories, she could easily say that she wasn't currently able to love anyone. It felt as if a part of her had been stripped out during her recreation as a human digimon hybrid, and now that she was aware of it the hole left behind was grating on her. Mummymon's sudden change in temperament had been a bit of a return to his old self, and if they ever had time for it she would find a way to get whatever it was back all the way for the both of them.

"That did make escape easier a couple of times. Like this one," she agreed after a moment tapping on her construct beneath them. "I think I remember how to build a shield like what the Hackers use, only I know they can do better somehow."

"Do you remember anything that can help us get in or out of the digital world?" Mummymon asked quietly. "Or do we still only have punching a hole with some really big construct?"

"There is one site I know of that has more than enough Control Spires left," she said instead. "I'm going to try and use as many as I can."