Chapter 52: Digivolving Gets Weirder...!
There was a patching team in the water before they knew it, working on repairing the hole in the ship's hull. Tina looked over the edge of the boat's deck and thought to herself, Man! These people sure work fast, so long as we don't tell them to! And when we ask for information, they don't work fast because they don't work at all!
Tina vaguely heard her mother scream at her, "Get away from the side of that boat!!" Of course, she didn't listen. The only reason she did move away was that watching a repair crew isn't all that interesting, especially when they finish and are sitting next to you on deck in under thirty seconds. Tina sighed. Similar to the first trip, this trip was both dangerously boring and boringly dangerous. Although she had a taste for adventure, she didn't like this particular kind of adventure, where you have no clue what's going on and you're literally in the same boat with your fighters…and you're not a fighter.
Oh, well…the rest of the trip was a lot like that; with an occasional underwater explosion and then her not knowing anything about it. After a few hours, Mermon came back to boat #1 and regressed back to Tibemon and Youngdramon. Both rookie digimon were thoroughly bushed, and Tina soon joined June in the cabin.
"So…any warmer in here?" Tina asked.
"Yeah," June answered as she took another sip of coffee. "Anything interesting happening out there?"
"Hard to say. I mean, there are explosions and fights going on underwater, but we never hear anything about what's going on."
"Prbprbprbprbprbprbprbprb… Y'know, I wonder why we even go on these trips!"
"Uh…so we won't starve?"
"I'd prefer being a little hungry to this!"
"Not me. When I get hungry, you do not want to come between me and food."
"Speaking of," Youngdramon said, "When're they going to haul up the catch? I'm dying for a sushi!"
"Just…don't eat it right in front of my eyes again, okay?" Tina begged.
"But, if I do that, it'll keep you from getting hungry!"
"Ha-ha. Very funny."
June sighed and looked out the window. "How much longer do we have to have to put up with this kind of fight-and-wait, wait-and-fight?"
"I don't know; they don't tell me anything!" Tina shot back.
June rolled her eyes. "Hey, captain! Skipper?"
"Don't break my concentration."
"…Can anyone in this cockpit tell me when we're heading back?"
"We're heading back now…as far as our compasses tell us, anyways."
"…What do you that mean by that?"
Tina nudged her. "I think it means what you're afraid that it means."
June shuddered. "So we could end up lost at sea?"
"Hey, the USS T.R. made it to Japan easily enough the first time! If they can make it that far once, they can probably do it again."
"And if we can't now?"
"…Well, at least food and water aren't going to be a problem."
"What do you mean water won't be a problem?"
"When you're stranded at sea, you collect rainwater to drink, and it's raining outside, isn't it? And we're on a fishing boat; what could be better for catching food?"
"Oh, quit being so optimistic!"
"I'm…not being optimistic. I'm just stating facts. If I would say, 'I bet that shore is less than a kilometer away and right in front of our noses,' that would be optimism. …Don't look at me like that! I won't do something as uncalled-for as being optimistic!"
"Good." June sighed. The rain outside abruptly stopped, and June said, "I think I might be becoming optimistic---"
Youngdramon interrupted, "Don't say that! By saying that, you're becoming optimistic!"
"No, that was pessimism."
"…D'OH!! You're right."
The captain cut in, "Actually, the shore is a lot less than a kilometer away. I can see it from here."
June jumped up and stretched. "Finally! I was wondering if we'd ever get back!"
"Hey, being optimistic is uncalled-for, but being pessimistic won't help, either."
"Yeah, but pessimism is called-for," Tibemon observed.
"…True, but one question: if I were to say that we were going to be dragging this pessimism-optimism of optimistic pessimism joke out any longer, would that be pessimism or optimism?"
"Good question…probably pessimism."
"Yeah, you're probably right."
When she had gotten back to the nuke plant, Tina knocked at the door to her and Rika's room.
"Who is it?" Rika's voice answered.
"It's me!" Tina yelled through the door. "Hold your noses!" Tina slipped in, picked up her pajamas and a towel, and slipped out in record time. She failed to keep the smell of the fish from leaking into the rest of the room, though. It was a moment before the smell disappeared, much to Renamon's chagrin.
When Tina returned, Rika wasn't asleep. "So…how're things with you in guard duty?"
"Not so great…we seem to be getting fewer and fewer people coming in from seek patrols."
"Maybe the well's running dry," Tina thought aloud.
"What do you mean?"
"Maybe this is all of the people we can get out of this part of the city. Maybe we should find another nuke plant further away and set up another base of operations."
"Who would run it?"
"Good question. I'm not going to be able to move from here; there are too many children counting on me in the orphanage. I guess some of the original Digidestined will be able to go…we have, like (1), eight of them along with eight D-3 Digidestined. And then we have four pokémon trainers, you three tamers, and---what is it, five disc monsters?"
"About that."
"That's twenty-eight people fighting for us. And I'll bet that we can find a few civilian digimon strong enough to fight with us. So maybe some of us could move to another plant."
"I guess…hey, wasn't there something about an Admiral from the navy coming to this plant, or something?"
"I've seen him myself. He was heading off our little fishing expedition, but even with an aircraft carrier supporting our fishing boats, those menace machines will still attack us!"
"Hmm. Those things aren't too smart…"
"Well, you know that someone is controlling them."
"What?"
"It's true! They aren't just maverick monsters doing their own free will; they're pawns in a much bigger game!"
"Some of 'em seemed more like queens to me! I heard about those giantors that fought Imperialdramon. …So, did you…learn anything while you were…away?" Rika suddenly seemed to hesitate, as if thinking about something else.
"No. They didn't give us any information on that trip; we could see that there was fighting going on underwater, but the soldiers wouldn't tell us who was winning or losing!"
"No, not that away, the other away."
"Oh…you mean when they caught me?"
"Yeah, that one."
"Oh…actually, I learned a lot. Apparently, this whole thing---everything that's happening to Earth---is the result of some Empire from another world. I don't know which world---I mean, the Dark Ocean planet was destroyed about ten years ago…so where could it be that this 'Linonian Empire' is from?"
"Got me," Rika answered.
Joey stuck his head out of Tina's pocket. "Joey should've shown Tina their planet when he at computer agazriitato's computer."
"...So they're from outer space! Duh!" Tina slapped her forehead.
Rika swallowed hard. "Great...perfect," she said.
******
"♪Yoo-hoo! ♪"
"Wha---?" Golem, T.K. and Cody spun around, and there was The Cloaked Figure. They didn't know anything about him, just that he was working for the enemy and that he was dangerous.
"Looks to me like you're a little down-in-the-dumps…I think that I'll put you out of your misery! Murkrow, use peck attack!" A black bird jumped out of his cloak and flew towards T.K. and Cody.
"Hey, get away!" T.K. yelled as the bird began to peck at him relentlessly.
"Boom Bubble!" Patamon shouted, knocking the Murkrow to the ground.
T.K. snarled. "What do you think you're trying to pull, anyway?"
"Oh, I bet you'd be interested to know that, wouldn't you? Jaymon…show them your new-and-improved form, would you? Digi-modify! Digivolution, activate!"
"Jaymon, digivolve to…Nekhbetmon!"
"And now…digi-modify! Counter-crest digivolution, activate!"
"Nekhbetmon, digivolve to…Remon!"
The Figure called back Murkrow. He set Murkrow's pokéball in a socket in his gauntlet. "And now, for the most interesting part of all…digi-modify! Co-Op Digivolution, activate!"
"Remon, Co-Op digivolve to…Black Rook!" Black Rook was a strange creature. It looked like some strange cross between a bird and a stone tower. Its head was an onion-shaped top, and it was crowned with a flag with a strange, vaguely familiar purple insignia.
"Okay, not good…what was that, three digivolutions?" T.K. asked.
"Sounds like a mega, to me," Cody nodded.
"Looks like we'd better get rolling," Patamon mewed with a hint of despair. "Patamon, digivolve to…Angemon!"
"Armadillomon, digivolve to…Ankylomon!"
"Golem, module-evolve to…Moleg!"
"Ankylomon!"
"Angemon!"
"DNA digivolve to…Archaeopteryxmon!" Archaeopteryxmon flew up to face this huge bird. "I don't know what tricks you're pulling, but we'll gladly show you they won't work!" he shouted to this strange, androgynous creature that was neither digimon nor menace machine.
"In your dreams!" Black Rook answered, spreading its wings apart and revealing a group of cannons inside the courtyard of its keep. "Spike Cannon!" it shouted.
"Data siphon!" Archaeopteryxmon answered. He stretched out his hand, and what looked like a funnel of energy opened in front of it. The sharp bits of metal that Black Rook was firing at him were sucked in, and Archaeopteryxmon hurled the attack energy right back in Black Rook's face. "Still think you're so hot?" Archaeopteryxmon asked.
The Figure commanded, "Black Rook! Try Faint attack!"
"Right!" Black Rook seemed to fade out of existence, and Archaeopteryxmon felt several hard blows on his body. He staggered to the ground, as his wings were too damaged to help him fly.
"Archaeopteryxmon!" Cody shouted.
"You've got to admit that this doesn't look good," T.K. said.
"And Moleg isn't that much more powerful than Archaeopteryxmon," Cody added.
"You haven't seen my best attack!" Moleg answered. "Laser Drill Tornado!" Moleg hurled a tornado of purple energy out his hand at the Black Rook…but the attack fell on the thick, stone walls that seemed to make up Black Rook's wings, and Black Rook took no damage.
"There has to be a way to do this!"
"I'm getting an idea right now! We have to---?!?!" Cody looked at his digivice. A strange, yellow-green glow came from its screen…
"Archaeopteryxmon, mega digivolve to…Ironarchaeopteryxmon!"
"Wha---?!" T.K. stammered. "He's…a mega, now?"
"Looks like it," Cody answered. "Now, my idea was to attack that evil Digidestined, not to mega-digivolve Archaeopteryxmon. But I guess this'll work, too…"
Ironarchaeopteryxmon was much bigger than the human-size Archaeopteryxmon. He was definitely several stories tall, and had six golden wings and a view shield that reminded them of Magnaangemon. His skin was covered in gleaming metal.
Ironarchaeopteryxmon flew up to black rook. "Time you were captured, Black Rook! Cryo-Gate!" Ironarchaeopteryxmon waved his weapon arm in a circle the way Magnaangemon did for his Gate of Destiny attack, and a ring of icy energy flew at Black Rook. Black Rook staggered. "And now, for the big finish! Macro Blaster!" An orange and blue-white stream of energy flew out of his mouth and Black Rook toppled over, exposing is vulnerable insides. Ironarchaeopteryxmon and Moleg fired into the courtyard, and Black Rook was history. It became a pair of weak and worn-out creatures: Jaymon and Murkrow.
"You two are useless!" The Figure hissed. "Get them back," he commanded another pair of digimon. That pair was a scaly-looking, green creature that looked like Armadillomon's evil clone and Ewemon, Veemon's and Gabumon's evil clone. They ran out, picked up his fallen monsters, and ran back. "You'd better watch your back!" he hissed as he made his escape.
"Do we go after him?" Ironarchaeopteryxmon asked.
"He could be leading us straight into a trap," T.K. cautioned.
"And besides, once you go down to Patamon and Armadillomon and Moleg drops his armor, who'll fight if there's a battle? C'mon; we need to get back to base and tell Cleaver about this!"
"…Then let's move it," Ironarchaeopteryxmon answered, picking his two human friends and Golem up and carrying them back.
T.K. took off his hat and rubbed his aching head. "So many monsters, so many evolutions! And now, he's DNA-digivolving pokémon and digimon together?"
"That's what it looked like," Cody answered, shaking his head.
"I wonder if we could do the same thing?" T.K. thought aloud. "…But he did that from the ultimate level, so we would need to do that to digimon that are already DNA digivolved…would that work?"
******
"No, it would never work," Cleaver answered. T.K. and Cody were back at base, explaining what they had seen while holding a tired-out Patamon and Armadillomon in their arms.
"But why wouldn't it work?" Cody asked.
"It's simple: their subspace matrixes would be too big. Let me explain: when two digimon DNA digivolve, their matrixes fuse together. It's like two cells merging their membranes and all the organelles of those cells mingling. The two subspace vacuoles that store energy are both used, there are two energy processors, and other stuff like that. The bottom line with DNA digivolution is that your basic DNA digimon is a little stronger than other ultimates because its matrix is bigger. But my point is that the subspace matrix grows when you DNA digivolve. If three digimon were fused together, the subspace matrix would just be too big to hold together. That's why I don't think it's possible to DNA digivolve a pokémon with Paildramon, or Swampangemon, or other DNA digivolved digimon."
"Well, back to square one with that idea," Cody muttered.
"Hey, don't sweat it out yet," Cleaver answered. "I know that Matt still has his crest."
"How did he get it?"
"Time getting torn to pieces not only turned him into a kid, but it gave him back his crest, too. Maybe Weregarurumon would be able to pull it off…? But first, I'd have to get a better idea how Co-Op digivolving is done."
"That means we'd have to get our hands on his D-Gauntlet?" Cody asked.
"Exactly."
"Great. But…how do you think Archaeopteryxmon mega-digivolved?"
"I don't know, but I wouldn't complain...maybe Azulungmon's vacuole is in him, too..."
******
"Well?"
"I got the Co-Op digivolution process to work and field-tested it like you asked. This form didn't make a kill."
The sub-major waved his hand in disgust.
"Hey, don't terminate your science teams yet. There are still six other forms to test. And the process worked, didn't it? Even if it didn't go the right way this time, we have a lot more information now than before."
"Such as…?"
"They have the ability to make their DNA-digivolved digimon mega digivolve."
"We were aware of that before."
"…I wasn't informed of that!"
The sub major grunted. "Protocol demands that someone be terminated in the event of a mission failure!"
"What was my mission, anyway?"
"Field-test the process!"
"That was a success!"
"…I see…I shall have to mandate less lenient mission objectives in the future."
(1) It's true: Americans do say the word "like" all the time. I'm a Yank, myself, so I should know. Being raised in Minnesota, Tina has been fully indoctrinated into this tradition.
There's kind of a story behind why her family moved to America. When Tina was two and a half and still didn't know much Japanese at all (so little that she doesn't remember any of it), Ken had already made a big name for himself as one of Tokyo's best investigators. He was that huge because he had busted Mr. Oswell, one of the worst crimelords in Tokyo. Now, Mr. Oswell had a brother, and this brother was kind of Oswell's heir, and took Oswell's office. He wasn't quite as good as Oswell had been, but he made this startling move: he tried to kidnap Tina at gunpoint from the Ichichochi's apartment. A pair of his thugs brought Tina into his limousine, where he was waiting for her. He happened to have a very decorated, monographed pistol sitting on his lap at the time, and he had it out to impress his wife, who was sitting next to him.
As the limo drove off, his wife took one look at Tina and said, "Hmm. Adorable little brat."
Oswell's brother grinned. "You know, young lady, I'm a good friend of your father's. I got to know him through my brother."
Tina looked up at him with the same big, sunny smile she always has.
The crimelord chuckled at Tina's naïveté. "Your father…he's going to have to give himself up and fork over a lot of cash before---"
His sentence trailed off as he saw Tina grab his ornate gun and aim it straight at his head. He swallowed hard.
"Oh, don't be ridiculous, sweetheart," his wife insisted. "She's just playing around. There's no way that she knows how to use that thing!"
"Hey, Ichichochi is smart. If that rubbed off at all on his kid---"
"Ohhhhh…" his wife rolled her eyes. "She's probably not even strong enough to pull the trigger. I'll get it out of her hands." She reached over for the gun, and Tina aimed the weapon at her head. She shrieked and pulled away from Tina. While the limo was still moving, she opened the door and jumped out. The driver promptly stopped the car.
Her husband looked out the door and shouted, "Honey, are you all right?" Then it occurred to him that he might be next. He looked back at Tina---and she was gone! She had slipped out of the limo herself and was lost in a crowd.
They hadn't gone far from the Ichichochi's home at all, so Tina knew the way back. Neither of her parents were home, and neither Hawkmon nor Wormmon had seen Tina leave. But the door wasn't locked, so Tina walked in and, sick of carrying the heavy gun, left the weapon on the kitchen counter. She forgot about the gun after that, but her horrified parents came home to see the gun on the counter with the word "Oswell" written in small caps on the handle. They had assumed that the weapon was left there to scare them, and they were definitely scared. That same night, they were on a plane, bound for America.
...All this for a footnote for the word "like"! Aren't I a concise writer?