Reduce. Reuse. Reformat (Iko and Luke, Spirit Hunt)

Isaac blinked as he was put back in control. He didn't expect Iko and SkullSatamon to relinquish it that easily, but it really was his hunt, wasn't it? Maybe it was only fair that they did so. He closed his eyes, doing his best to smile despite being little more than a skull right now. "Thanks, guys," he said, newfound purpose and determination flashing in them as he stepped towards the door.

He thought about everything that had brought him here. He thought about the D-Reaper incident all those months ago, and how he felt like the world would be better off if he just went away. Then there was his determination to both break this curse and keep doing as much good as he could in the process, a pair of goals that came to a head when his reckless heroism lead to Mitsuko at his own hands. If before he wanted to hide, after that he almost wondered if he was better off dead. All of his fears about himself had been vindicated, and just remembering what he had done was making him sick to his stomach.

Yet, people were still there for him, weren't they? Luke and Iko took him back in, made sure he was nursed back to health, and not only accompanied him on this spirit hunt but also continued offering to be his donors for DNA Digivolution. Dr. Mikemon treated him, even while reminding him about how much of an idiot he was. Alicia not only didn't blame him, but even put all of the stress and blame on her own poor shoulders. And Maia, his beloved Maia . . .

With them having his back, maybe everything would be okay.

Isaac reared back, then pried the door open with a single twist of his hook-tipped staff. From there, he could see that the door lead to . . . another door. This one was made of glass, and judging by all of the steam being vented outside of the room Isaac could see that there must have been some serious heat and pressure in there. A steel sphere sat in the center of the room, completely sealed off bar a pipe attached to the bottom of it. The piping lead outside of the pressure chamber, at which point it deposited pale grey liquid into a large holding chamber. Judging by the syringes that were next to the chamber, this was where the fluid was created.

"Alright, Luke, you're the physics guy," Isaac said, looking into the pressure chamber. "How likely is it I'm going to pop into a cloud of bones the second I walk in there?"

It seemed that Isaac and Iko were left with two options. Either puncture the glass for the direct yet possibly more dangerous method, or slice out the pipe to at least release all of the heat and pressure in a more expected way. For the time being, Isaac figured the pipe would be the most safe and sane bet. He gave his staff another twirl, trying to line up the best angle for slicing the pipe without causing many other problems. "We should both probably steer clear, huh?" he asked. If the whole setup was likely to explode in case of depressurization, it probably wouldn't be smart to stand directly in front of the depressurized pipe.

Isaac made sure to tiptoe away from the pipe, making sure he was as far away from it as possible. Then he cleanly sliced through it with the hooked end of the staff, darting away afterwards to avoid being in range of whatever explosion was sure to occur.

However, much to Isaac's surprise, there wasn't any explosion. He had sealed the outer part of the pipe cleanly away, but this left a sealed door built right into the glass wall. Presumably the pipe had some sort of valve control in order to avoid leaking excess product all over the floor, only opening up to the high-pressure room when absolutely necessary. So long as the door was sealed, it didn't seem like Isaac and Iko would be making much progress.

It was likely a blessing in disguise. "Is it better or worse for us if we're able to pry this thing open bit by bit?" Isaac asked. "This might be our chance to get in without the whole room exploding on us. I think. Honestly, I've got no clue how this pipe works." It sure was a good thing Luke studied his craft diligently, or Isaac would be either lost in the factory bowels or exploded by now.

Isaac nodded in approval at Luke's suggestion. "I was kind of hoping you'd say that," Isaac admitted. "I was totally going to ask about that myself, but I didn't want to be making a dumb mistake if I was wrong." When Isaac was this close to getting his new spirit, it was understandable he'd start to be a little self-conscious. A dumb mistake here would just look bad, especially when he had mostly been the muscle compared to Luke's brains.

Nevertheless, now that they had a plan, Isaac was all too ready to enact it. He took a look at the pipe that Luke offered him, then pried it into the gap at which the pressure chamber's door sealed. It wasn't too hard of a feat. Ultimate-level Digimon were fearsomely strong, and just because SkullSatamon wasn't a huge dragon like Devidramon didn't mean that he didn't have enough force to bring to muster. It only took a second for him to wrench the doors open, an audible hiss coming through the air as heat and pressure started coming out through the crack.

With the pry made, Isaac started eyeing the inside of the room. If this was working, there should have been condensation forming on the glass walls. However, there wasn't any. In fact, it was this room that was starting to feel a little bit hotter! Isaac wiped his bony brow with the back of his hand, swiveling his skull to face Luke while the rest of his body kept putting work in. "And what happens if there's so much heat and pressure in the other room that this room overheats before that one cools?" he asked, occasionally taking worried glances at the pressure chamber.

Isaac looked confused as Luke pulled out a book. "Huh, that a field guide?" he asked. "Or did you swipe some of this place's schematics on the way out? I mean, hell, if you've got an alternate way of getting in there, I'm all ea-"

He was shut himself up when Luke conjured up a freaking blizzard in the middle of the factory. In fact, Isaac was in so much shock that he dropped his staff, which rolled awkwardly from one end of the room to the other as the wind started blowing in full force. "What," he said as he watched snow start to gather in the corners of the room, MetalKoromon letting out worried squeaks as they started zipping away. "What," he said again, as the heat from the pried-open glass entryway left small piles of slush start to condense down from the sky, the transfer of heat seemingly going at an even more rapid pace. He could see what remained of the fluid containment pipe start to collapse in on itself from the changes in pressure. He could even see condensation start to form on the glass of the room, a sign that the temperature change was now in full force. "Seriously? How the hell did you even do that?" he asked, dumbfounded.

There was no time to question for long, though. Isaac shook off his surprised state and lunged for his staff, quickly cutting a more him-sized hole into the glass room. This caused a small rush of burning-hot air to belch out, but the blizzard quickly silenced it. That was Isaac's cue to dive right in, curving his wing over himself for protection. He wasn't going to go entirely into the room, especially when the constant flashes of heat and cold were making him a little dizzy, but he was certainly going to put SkullSatamon's crooked staff to use. He ducked into the room with as much distance kept as he possibly could, swooping with the staff to try and snag the beast spirit of progress.

It took a few attempts, during which the rapidly changing pressure conditions were starting to rattle his bones, but soon Isaac had seized it. He pumped a fist victoriously as he pulled the spirit in close to himself, holding it tight. Then he turned to Luke, already prepared to make his way out of the room. "Alright, let's go before this place falls on us," he said, occasionally casting nervous looks over his shoulder towards the still-intensifying blizzard.

"Great. You get a badass magic book and a shadow-sword, and I get to stab a friend right through the stomach," Isaac said. "Although if we're counting all my spirits, I've got like three times the priceless artifacts that you do. So I guess I can't complain." Or, due to the D-Reaper, he could complain like crazy. It really sucked having to be saddled with that, even if he was finally approaching the end stages of dealing with his condition.

He sighed in relief as Luke dispelled the wind just as quickly as it had come. "Or we could do that," he added. "Nice thinking there. If you've got time, I'd love to see what else that book can do." Judging by the name, it sounded like a weather tome. Was it really just an especially kickass farmer's almanac?

For once, every member of the SkullSatamon fusion was on the same page. It was time to quite literally blow this popsicle stand. "Oh, you don't need to tell me twice," he said, walking back towards the original point that they had fallen from. There was still some residual ice from where the blizzard had come roaring through the factory, the MetalKoromon headbutting at it to try and get to the sweet, sweet outlets underneath.

Once Luke arrived with him, Isaac scooped him up with one arm and clutched his staff in the other. Then he took off towards the sky, swirling his staff for leverage as he went from basement to ground floor to . . . roof? Isaac seemed less interested in opening up a window and more interested in making his own. He gave his staff another swirl, then fired a yellow blast of energy at a weaker looking part of the ceiling. It started to shudder and crumble, making it feeble enough to fall with one last hefty slash from his staff. Soon he and Luke would be soaring through the open air, or at least as open as the air in the Hardware Den could get.

"Your window has arrived," Isaac said, an all too satisfied grin on his face.

Isaac rolled his eyes at Iko's internal sighing. "Hey, we're sharing a head. I could feel that," he said. "I mean, I'm joking around. Mostly. Not, like, ha-ha joking. But cope joking. Sometimes that's all you can do, you know?" Was he jealous of Luke and Iko over this? Oh, definitely. The book kicked ass, and the sword was one heck of an upgrade for Iko. However, he was more guilty than anything, and the easiest way to take his mind off of it was stupid comments like that. Otherwise, they tended to fester, and with what was going on inside of his head festering never ended well.

"Still two damn cool uses," Isaac said. "Does it have a list of weathers it can call up? Or is the sky the limit for you?" Isaac asked. It could've been anything from regular human weather to crazy Digital World weathers. Could Iko summon a Dark Area styled nightmare fog?

Oh well. They could probably talk this more after escape. "You've got that right. SkullSatamon, thanks for the help. Iko, brace yourself and get ready for impact," Isaac said, letting out a sigh as he began releasing his hold on the fusion. SkullSatamon disappeared into a soft white light, splitting apart into whichever form Iko chose to degenerate into and NeoDevimon.

As soon as NeoDevimon landed, he looked down at the spirit totem that they had liberated. It was a stout, purple statuette, with a three-horned grey helmet and large navy wings coming from the back. His arm not currently cradling the totem went slack, and all six of his eyes widened in absolute shock. He looked left, looked right, then held the spirit as if it was a football before charging off into the distance. It was time for another round of Iko's favorite game: catch that devil!