MPC 73A Next Gen Technology [Complete]

”Ohh! I have heard of these kinds of farms before, but this is the first time I have seen them!” Solar and wind farms really were a far cry from the barley farm she had grown up on. Shielding her eyes from the glare of a thousand solar panels Zoya chuckled to herself. “Well, maybe seeing them from the ground would be better, yes? The windmills are something else, though; so huge!”

“They’re alright,” countered Kapitan in a bored tone, still unenthused about this trip. “The Eastern Timberlands have trees bigger than these machines.” Carrying Zoya with his four arms as he flew over the Hardware Den’s surface the kokabuterimon lazily navigated around and between the large sweeping blades of the windmills.

“That is true, but I cannot use sticks to help you fight other digimon, Kap. The advertisement we saw in Terminus said this new device could humans defend themselves. It has to be worth it to at least see for ourselves, yes?” The human grinned, her expression showing no doubt in her mind that they would at least get to see something cool today.

“Okay, okay. The advertisement also didn’t say what the price was, though; I’m running out of bits unless we start doing jobs soon,” sighed Kap as he lowered them towards the entrance of the Hardware Den.

“Mm, but you can tough it out a little more if the price is right. Yes, big guy?” Zoya clapped her hands together with a pleading expression. The woman burst out into warm laughter though when her partner mumbled a threat to drop her the remaining twenty feet to the ground. “Cheapskate!” she teased before being set down on her feet.

The two of them followed cable lined caverns to the undercity shortly after. The Hardware Den lived up to its name. Circuitry, gears, and all other sorts of metalwork were openly incorporated into the architecture of buildings. The residents themselves were almost all completely robotic in nature as well.

“That just doesn’t seem natural,” grumbled Kap as they watched a pair of kokuwamon fly by overhead. “You’d never see anything like them in the Tyrant’s Labyrinth.”

“Life comes in all forms, though.” Stopping to glance at her partner Zoya tilted her head slightly. “I have seen humans with robotic prosthetic limbs in Terminus City. Would you be against it if I had done the same after being hurt?”

“Hey, now that’s different and you know it,” commented the kokabuterimon with an audible smirk. “Besides, like you’d ever get that badly hurt with me around! Nah, I just don’t like the idea of a beetle that doesn’t eat plants, y’know?”

“Hmmm,” hummed the woman as she studied Kapitan while holding her chin. “Kap, but what if you digivolve into something like that?”

“Pfft! I don’t need robotics to be stronger!” Kap shook his head with an incredulous scoff. To his mild annoyance Zoya only laughed at him for his reaction.

“Well, whatever you digivolve to, you will still be my partner, yes! And I will always have your back, robot arms or not,” assured the human as they continued their search for the right store. It took some asking and wandering around, but after a while they managed to find it. The neon sign spelled out ‘Calibrated Solutions’ with the s at the end looking like an electrical cord and plug. As they approached the large metal double doors at the front of the store a heavy tremor shook the ground as a muffled explosion came from within the building.

“What the-?! C’mon, that sounded bad!” Rushing over to the doors the pair braced themselves to meet with heavy resistance as they tried to shoulder the doors open, but to their surprise the doors easily pushed inward. Stumbling over themselves Zoya and Kap nearly tripped as they stepped into the store. A chime sounded as they entered, reminding the human of something she might hear in a grocery store. Shelves and display stands made most of the furnishing, all filled with pieces of technology she was unfamiliar with. Nothing looked like it had been through an explosion, though.

“Ah! Customers!” came the delighted voice from back of the store. A datamon stood on a back counter raising itself up on its four telescoping legs. “Well come on in, come on in! What can I get-... Oh? Oh! A human! One has finally come! It is so good to be able to proceed to the final stage now that you are here!”

“But we heard-! Uhm..” Unsure of what to think of the situation Zoya glanced to Kap. The kokabuterimon made a whistling sound while pointing a claw to his own head and drawing circles, indicating his doubts about the other mon’s sanity. The woman sighed at her companion, but by the time she looked back to the other digimon it was already hurrying over. Clearing her throat Zoya tried to regain her composure. “Sorry to barge in like that, but we heard an explosion? We did come about this store’s advertisement, though; the one that was posted in Terminus City, I mean.”

“No cause for alarm I assure you! In fact, that was the sound of PROGRESS!” cackled the datamon as it stopped in front of the pair. “That was my ad, yes. My name is Doctor Byte, this way, this way!”

“..alright then,” replied Zoya hesitantly as she and Kap followed the datamon to the back of the shop. “My name is Zoya, and this is my partner Kapitan. You said you would be able to help humans fight? How is that?”

“By utilizing your data of course! Our two worlds can exist separately, and even meld at times. However! There will always be a line that divides the two; oil and water can be liquids together, but they are still individual components. When that line is forcefully crossed, destabilization occurs in a fantastic breakdown of matter and data! I have recorded my thesis and findings in audio logs if you would like to listen to them? It would only take three thousand and six hundred hours or so to go through.” Doctor Byte prattled on as he opened a door to a back room and ushered his guests inside. It was a spacious chamber, built to look like an indoor shooting range. A guardromon was passed out on the floor in front of the shooting range with black soot covering its body and the surrounding floor.

“Doctor Byte, are they okay?” asked Zoya as she looked at the guardromon with a wince.

“Just unconscious, I think,” answered the datamon absent mindedly as it scuttled over to the guardromon. Doctor Byte unclipped a thick metal bracelet from the fainted test subject, but paused as the prone mon groaned. “Still alive!” exclaimed the datamon before returning to Zoya. “Here, put this on.”

“What’s it do, Doc?” intervened Kap as he moved between the two. “No funny business or you’ll end up just as alive as your buddy there.”

“It's a weapon,” huffed the datamon impatiently. “Much like the light batons humans like to use as far as construction, but for ranged attacks. It requires a human’s data to make it work though, or, well…” Doctor Byte gestured haphazardly to the guardromon. “It is safe! I am ninety-nine percent sure that there will be an above seventy percent success rate!”

“Doc,” growled Kap, but he was silenced as Zoya put a hand on his shoulder.

“Kap, it is alright. We are in this together, yeah? I cannot let you face all the danger alone.” Taking the bracelet Zoya secured it onto her wrist. Immediately it began to hum softly. She was unsure of what to do next, but as she made a fist a construct of orange light formed around her wrist and hand in the shape of a large tube. Her fingers closed around what felt like a handle. “Whoa,” was all she could say as she looked to Doctor Byte for instructions.

“Go on! Point at a target and squeeze,” coaxed the datamon as it gestured to the shooting range.

“Okay, here goes nothing?” Zoya pointed at a target and squeezed. The oblong ball of light that blasted from her hand cannon reminded her of a lemon, but it exploded on contact with the metal target. The reaction surprised her, but she couldn’t deny that she wanted to try that again. So she did. Again and again until the targets were left crumpled and blackened. “...wow,” she breathed out finally.

“Hah! Success!” cried Doctor Byte.

“What do you think, Kap?” asked Zoya as she glanced at her partner.

“It’s alright,” muttered the insect digimon, trying to downplay his own surprise. “I guess this means I don’t have to break my back carrying this team anymore.”