These two pieces of equipnt were like charcoal delivered amidst snow for Zero and Haji. Setting aside the future possibility of reactivating the factory's modification equipnt once they obtained the appropriate templates—providing a stable path toward evolving to Ultimate level—even just receiving these two items alone made the whole trip worthwhile.
But now, a certain problem presented itself…
…These two pieces of gear thoroughly inherited the classic characteristics of early tal Empire creations: oversized, brutal, bulky, and crude—not one trait missing.
After all, as the saying goes: caliber is justice, firepower is truth, fairness and morality only exist within firing range!
As faithful followers of the Church of High-Caliber Cannons and the Multi-Turret Cult, all early equipnt from the tal Empire was stuff that normal Digimon couldn't even handle.
The sheer size made portability a serious headache.
Zero and Haji in their evolved states could use the gear without trouble, but normally Zero was a Koromon, and Haji was Gabumon.
These two huge weapons were truly making things difficult now.
"Isn't there so way around this?" Haji asked.
Everything in the Digital World was data. In theory, powerful Digimon could compress their gear into data packets and store them within their DigiCores, conveniently carrying them around.
But damn, Zero and Haji's DigiCores were only at Champion-level strength right now, with nowhere near enough storage for sothing that large…
If it were smaller, it'd be no issue… but sothing this huge just couldn't fit inside!
As the old military joke goes… if the calibers don't match, you just can't shove it in…
Here they were, staring at divine gear—but there wasn't enough backpack inventory space! Their weight limit was already maxed out, and now they couldn't take it away. Such a ridiculous scenario left them totally speechless.
As Zero and Haji stared helplessly at each other, considering how on earth they could pack these huge things up, Rina suddenly walked around the two weapons, inspecting them closely—and noticed her Digivice softly glowing at her waist.
"?"
She imdiately pulled out the Digivice, quickly tapping the screen and calling up an app icon.
"Card Slash Manifestation?"
As she said that, she tapped the icon. Two beams of light imdiately shot from the Digivice and inscribed themselves onto the two pieces of equipnt.
Instantly, ring-shaped barcodes of light appeared on the weapons.
"Ah, Fractal Codes?" Zero stared blankly, but Rina had already finished reading the app's instructions and happily declared:
"Oh, I get it now! Zero, Haji—I figured out how to carry these two pieces of equipnt around~"
While saying this, she aid her Digivice toward the Fractal Codes on the equipnt, swiftly scanning them like barcodes.
Imdiately, the barcode-like patterns of light stread into the Digivice, and the two massive weapons quickly disintegrated into data packets, stored neatly inside the device.
When the light faded away, two thin cards appeared in Rina's hand, each displaying images of the respective equipnt, complete with barcode-like identification codes along their edges.
Then, Zero saw that the side of Rina's Digivice had a card-reader slot designed to scan such codes. At that mont, Zero finally understood.
…Using Frontier's Fractal Codes to store equipnt in compressed data packets, and then saving them in Tars-style cards?
In theory, these thods could indeed coexist—but Rina's Digivice was ridiculously multi-functional. It could channel DigiSoul, purify Black Gears, scan Fractal Codes, and even read identification cards.
But at least now, thanks to this Card Slash function, these two cumberso weapons beca easily portable. With that settled, their business here was finally complete.
As for what to do next, Zero hadn't quite figured it out yet. The ultimate goal on File Island was clearly dealing with Devimon.
But although they'd obtained these two weapons, Zero still didn't dare get careless. The outco of a direct fight was still uncertain. Moreover, Devimon had nurous subordinates—mostly Champions, with so Rookie-level padding, but their sheer numbers still made them difficult to handle.
So Zero concluded it was best to gather more allies first. File Island certainly had plenty of Digimon unhappy with Devimon's tyranny. Uniting them could form a considerable fighting force.
As he thought about this, Andromon imdiately brought sothing up:
"Regarding that, there's actually another favor I wish to ask of you."
Before Andromon spoke, Zero already had a pretty good idea.
After all, the Tsunomon they'd rescued earlier had explicitly ntioned that all its information about the Unmanned Factory had co from a certain Leomon.
That Leomon had intended to defeat Devimon and had specifically co to Andromon to propose cooperation.
But at that ti, Andromon had already been under the control of a Black Gear, aning Leomon's situation was probably dire.
As Zero had guessed, when Leomon ca seeking an alliance, Andromon—already controlled by a Black Gear—had imdiately fought him.
Leomon was defeated, implanted with a Black Gear, and now Devimon had summoned him to serve as his tool of conquest.
"…Ah. Well, that's unfortunate."
Dammit, as expected, Leomon really couldn't escape his tragic fate—was this so kind of cosmic malice?
Anyway, since Leomon had beco Devimon's subordinate entirely because of Andromon, naturally Andromon felt responsible.
But Andromon couldn't leave the factory—he had to guard the facility and protect the Digimon who'd co seeking shelter, so…
"…Could I ask you to rescue Leomon from Devimon's control?"
Zero exchanged a glance with his companions and imdiately answered:
"Of course. That was our plan all along anyway…"
To defeat Devimon, they needed more allies, and Leomon was an excellent candidate. Zero was already troubled about their next step, so this was perfectly tid.
"Well then, we'll say goodbye here for now. Hopefully, when we et next, peace will have returned to File Island."
Having left behind what sounded suspiciously like a flag, Zero's group waved goodbye to everyone at the Unmanned chanical Factory: Andromon, the Hagurumon, and the Baby-level Digimon who'd traveled with them.
Though they didn't yet know Leomon's precise location, they only needed to head toward Devimon's castle, freeing controlled Digimon along the way.
Watching Zero and his friends depart, Andromon turned his head, gazing toward the desolate mountain at the center of File Island…
"…A human partner and Digimon companions. Could they possibly be the chosen heroes ntioned in the prophecy? But…the numbers don't match."
Clearly, the intended plot trajectory had started to veer onto an unexpected path. And deep within the Digital World, a vast storm had already begun to stir its first ripples…
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