Maintenance and Questions

[Mephiles]

Sitting at a table watching a scientist whom was at the other end of the room was a young girl. At first appearance, this girl looked like any other girl, however upon closer inspection, one would realize that this was no ordinary girl. On the table was her right arm, her arm which was made up of circuits and metal wrapped underneath artificial flesh. This girl was an AI and the scientist in question was working on her, repairing damage that had been done during the girl's travels. The scientist returned to the table and placed the tools he had gotten on the table and began working on the girl's right arm, repairing the damaged circuits.
"Okay, how is that?" he asked.
The girl lifted her right arm and slowly began to move her own fingers, the movement was smooth, she smiled and replied.
"Better Master Malakai, much better. Thank you"
"You're welcome Retrace, I have to say you need to take better care of that body, do you seriously want to go through the transference process again?"
"Haha! No, once was enough thank you, and in my defense it wasn't my fault. I got attack, there wasn't much I could really do"
"Well then, perhaps you should avoid those situations" said Master Malakai, though his tone was more joking than lecturing.
Retrace laughed and said "I wish I could but these situations tend to find me, than me finding them, I am like a magnet for them"
Master Malakai chuckled at the statement but otherwise remained silent. He got up, and returned his tools, and retrieved another set of tools. These tools he was going to use to re-skin Retrace's right arm. He turned to the table, he set his tools out, along with a cylinder. Within the cylinder, contained the artificial skin that was going to be used on Retrace's right arm.
"Perhaps you can tell me the story as I am working" said Master Malakai.
"Fair enough, you deserve the truth the most" said Retrace "Well I was out with my partners in the Digital World, I was in the upper Western portion, exploring and attempting to try to find some of my old contacts to see what the state of both the Digital World and Human World was. I managed to come in to contact with a tamer, I found out that the Human World for the most part was fine but he and his partner didn't know what the state of the Digital World was. It turns out they were a lot like me, they tended to avoid contact with most people. We parted ways, and I continued onwards with my partners, it was during this time period that we were attacked by a group of digimon..."
"Reavers?" asked Master Malakai.
"No, not this time. This group was completely different, I don't know what they were, anyway we defended ourselves naturally. It was during that battle that I received the damage that you are now repairing. It was also during that battle that some thing strange happened. My partners reverted from the mega form to their champion form..."
"Reverted?" asked Master Malakai, a little confused.
Retrace nodded "Yes they reverted, due to the fact that they reverted, they couldn't hold their own in the battle and we were forced to retreat. It was after that battle that we discovered that they can't evolve pass their champion form. It was then that we agreed to come here, obviously to repair the damage that I have and to see if we can figure out what is wrong with my partners."
"Speaking of your partners where are they?" asked Master Malakai.
"They are out at the park, enjoying the good weather."
"Ah" said Master Malakai. "Well after I am done here, I will take a look at your partners and see if I can find anything wrong with them. How does that sound?"
Retrace chuckled and replied "Sounds good, thanks"
Master Malakai nodded and replied "You're welcome"
Silence fell over the two, Retrace watched as Master Malakai continued to re-skin her right arm. As he was doing this, her thoughts drifted back to her partners Lucemon and Kotemon. What had happened to them during that battle? Was it reversible? She hoped it was, because neither her nor her partners stood a chance in the Digital World or the Human World if it wasn't.

[Kiara Lycro]

Tori knew who she was looking for, it was just the matter of finding her. However, tori had been given some general directions from Genni when he asked her to find this person so it was only inevitable that she would end up, walking through the halls of a building in New Arcadia, the spirit tamer followed her escort quietly. It had been a long trip, most of it spent evading the Nightmare forces since her last raid. It had taken a long time but she was finally going to see Retrace again after the shift.

When they finally made it to a set of double doors, Tori's guide stopped, knocked, and entered, leaving the door closed in front of Tori. "Master Malachi, I apologize for the disruption, however there is a young lady searching for Retrace. She claims to have met her before but we have no real idea's about her origins and she carries no digimon partner with her," the young girl explained.

[Mephiles]

Master Malakai was in the process of applying the last piece of artificial flesh on Retrace's right arm when there came a knock at the door, then the door opened to reveal one of the guides.

"Master Malakai, I apologize for the disruption, however there is a young lady searching for Retrace. She claims to have met her before but we have no real idea's about her origins and she carries no digimon partner with her"

Both Master Malakai and Retrace looked up at the guide, Master Malakai was more than a little irritated since he had requested not to be disturbed while he was working on Retrace. The maintenance process was a delicate process, if there was just one mistake, it could effect numerous additional systems within the A.I. model. For Retrace, she was just the opposite, she was highly amused if not slightly confused. Why would anyone be seeking her out, what could possibly be so important that some one would seek out the help of an A.I. like her? She racked her mind thinking on a non partner human that she might have encountered during her past travels, then it dawned on her whom it could be.

"Tori" she muttered.
Master Malakai looked at her with a bemused expression on his face and said "You know this person"
"Kind of" said Retrace "We only met once in Hunter's Den. We talked a bit about our pasts and goals and then I gave her a tour of the place and that was it. We never saw each other again after that, until now. Why she is seeking me out I don't know."
Master Malakai was silent for a moment pondering what guide had said and what Retrace had told him. "Well if they are seeking you out it must be important." Then he looked up at the guide and said "Send her in, they can talk here while I am finishing up"

[Kiara Lycro]

At first the guide cowered in front of master Malakai because she was afraid he would be angry but she was grateful when Retrace spoke. "Yes that would be her ma'am. I'll let her in," she finished and left the room. Outside she saw Tori waiting patiently. "They will see you know, please try not to touch any of the equipment." The guide said, noting Tori's clothes were a little less the pristine at this point in her journey.

"I promise I won't," Tori answered calmly and entered into the room. There she saw Retrace setting on a table with who she supposed was Master Malakai working on her. "Retrace, Lucemon, Kotemon, it's really good to see you again," she said warmly. "I don't want to impose too long, I didn't realize you were injured. I was sent my Gennai to explain what has happened in the digital world of late. He believes that since you were in Neo Arcadia when the major change came you...uh, I guess, missed the latest disaster." Tori said, not really sure where to begin.

[Mephiles]

Master Malakai and Retrace watched the guide left then Tori entered. Both of them listened as she explained her presences within Neo Arcadia. When she was finished Retrace remained silent for a moment, watching as Master Malakai was putting the finishing touches on her injured arm. Retrace looked back up at Tori and replied:

"It is just me at the moment, my partners are at the city park, trying to at the moment ignore the problems that have been plaguing them for the last couple of weeks. As for my injuries, no need to worry you are not imposing, Master Malakai is almost done with repairing my injuries. As for the current situation regarding both the human world and the digital world, I am not really aware of much that is going on. My awareness is pretty much the same as it was when we met in Hunter's Den. You see, during our travels we were attacked by a group of digimon, during that battle my partners inexplicably reverted to their champion form. Because of this we lost the battle and were forced to retreat. It was during that battle that I got this injury that Master Malakai is repairing. Our best choice at the time was to come here since Neo Arcadia has some of the best technology and I have good relations with the people here. So no I am not aware of what recent events of the worlds, as I have had a few major problems of my own. The problem of the world kind of got put to the side. Perhaps you can inform me of what has been happening. I know it is rude of me to ask but you are the first person digidestined/tamer I have encountered.

* * *
Meanwhile in the city park Retrace's partners Lucemon and Kotemon were sitting at a park bench. They had come here to escape the problem that had been plaguing them, however try as they might they were unable to put their mind at ease. The prospect of not being able to evolve beyond the Champion level trouble the both of them, especially considering the only thing that could be capable of doing that was a virus.

Virus.

The word itself sent chills down their spine, it brought back images of their times with the Reavers and how the plague spread among the Reavers. That was what bothered them the most, if it was indeed a virus, that meant, where ever they went they would be spreading the virus, the prospect of spreading the virus to other digimon, frightened them, especially if the virus spread were to spread to allies. The train of thoughts was broken with a sigh from Kotemon. He got off the bench and began to make his way back to the city.

"Where are you going?" asked Lucemon.
"Back to the lab, it has been an hour, Master Malakai should be done with Retrace" replied Kotemon.
"Oh!" said Lucemon "Well I guess we are both going"
Lucemon got off the bench and both of them proceeded to leave the park and make their way back to the lab.

[Kiara Lycro]

"Ah, my bad. You'll have to forgive me it's been a long trip. I'm not quite sure how it hit you but recently the entire digital world has been...well its a cross between a merge an a reset I suppose. A while ago I was knocked flat by something and woke up with no idea of what was going on. My beast spirit was gone a small android named Alice was taking care of me. Apparently everything that had been happening before is over as if it never happened. The Royal Knights don't exist, all major organizations have been disbanded, the hunters have become the most organized fighters besides digimon forces and digidestined are fighting along digimon to help either the Nightmare soldiers, run by Deamon, or the peaceful digimon, to have control of the world," Tori explained knowing this was a lot to take in.

"The shift in reality, I suppose you could say, has forced all digidestined back to champion level, I've only met a select few who could get beyond that level and most of them bonded when the digimon were at a higher level. I've been working with the resistance ever since, more so hoping to fall on my beast spirit since searching for it has proved...difficult," Tori said grimacing. "I've run into a few of the digi-destined I knew were around before the merge, this has happened to all of them. In some cases there have been complete personality changes," Tori finished. "I know this is a lot to take in and believe but for some reason Gennai thought it would be better coming from me so here I am."

[Mephiles]

Both Retrace and Master Malakai listened to Tori's narration of what had happened, as she listened, Retrace's mind began to process the information that had been given. Some of things that Tori explained in conjunction of what had happened to Retrace and her partners, things were starting to finally make sense, however some of the elements that had been explained, were still baffling.

"Well" began Retrace "Well that explains some things that happened. It might explain why my partners can't evolve pass the champion level"
"I would still have them check out, just to be safe." said Master Malakai, whom had just finished applying the last piece of artificial skin on Retrace's right arm.
"I agree" said Retrace examining what had just been done to her arm. She smiled satisfied with what had been done. "There could be more than this reality shift that could be effecting, though they won't admit it, they are absolutely terrified that they are infected with a virus. If that is the case, we wouldn't want to be spreading that around"
Master Malakai nodded, he got up out of his char and proceeded to the other end of the lab to return his tools. Retrace shifted her attention back to Tori.

"So let me get this straight we have just experienced a reality shift, most of everything that I have come to know as familiar in both worlds is gone. To make matters worse in this reality shift other players come and risen to powers. You mentioned Hunters, I am guessing Hunter's Den is the main location for this powerful group? You also mentioned Daemon, does that mean the Demon Lords have returned as well? I guess it doesn't really matter..."

Retrace tailed off for a moment, she got up out of the chair she had been sitting in. She paced slowly towards the front of the lab, she stopped after six paces and then spoke regarding the most compelling topic on her mind.

"I don't get it though, why me? Why did this Gennai character have you seek me out. I am a rogue tamer, I don't affiliated with any of the major groups that exist or once existed. The most notable thing I have done was cure the Reaver plague but beyond that I am not even known. I bet if you ask a dozen people, they wouldn't even know whom I am. So why me?"

* * *
Lucemon and Kotemon entered in to the building that was controlled by Master Malakai, since he was the head scientist of Neo Arcadia. Master's Malakai's lab was up on the top floor. So both digimon made their way to one of the four elevators that had been built in to the building. They stopped at the first one, Lucemon pressed the button, it caused the elevator to open up, both of them stepped in and then Lucemon pressed the button for floor 30, the top floor of the building. The elevator's door closed and it began to make it way to the top floor. Once the elevator arrived the doors opened up and both digimon began to make their way to Master's Malakai's lab. As they got closer they could hear the sounds of voices. This was confusing for them because Master Malakai had asked to not be disturbed. Once they arrived both digimon peered in and saw Tori, then they saw that Tori and Retrace were talking. The discussion it appeared to the both of them was very important, so the both of them entered the room quietly, hoping they wouldn't disturb the conversation at hand.

[Kiara Lycro]

Tori sighed and fell into an empty chair behind her, the whole thing confused her, she hadn't gotten to physics back home and it was unlikely she'd get to it anytime soon, so the whole dimensional thing confused her to no end. "Hunter's Den is the same place, but the atmosphere is completely different, more military then anything else. The Demon lords are most definitely back and having a lot more success then last time," Tori said sadly, thinking of some of the destruction she'd seen.

"As far as why you, well it could be partly my part..." Tori said hesitantly. "I mentioned you when Alice was explaining everything to me. That was part of the reason I met with Gennai eventually, sorry Retrace, it goes back to you having Lucemon as a partner. They asked me to fill you in and try to convince you join us. I know that's a stupid idea, since you'll only do what you want, but at the least they asked that I see if you would possibly turn over to the Nightmare Soldiers. If yes...well." Tori fell off looking at Retrace fearfully. She didn't want to say what some of the good digidestined had said they would do. It was understandable, they were already fighting a losing war and they didn't need to fight two Lucemon, but they'd never met Retrace before.

"I know you'd never attack us or join with the Demon lords but they needed some sort of reassurance and I offered because I thought it'd be better coming from someone you kind of knew," Tori said quickly, clearly anxious.

[Mephiles]

Retrace and her partners listened to what Tori said. As she explained the situation further. The prospect of Hunter's Den being more militaristic in nature than what it use to be caused some sadness within both Retrace and her partners. All of them remembered how carefree and kind the place use to be.

I guess I will avoid Hunter's Den when ever I can thought Retrace to her partners.
Silence greeted her on the statement, although through studying the facial expressions on her partners face, she could tell that they agreed with her.

On the prospect of the Demon Lords being back, sent waves of frustration through both the tamer and her partners. It wasn't that long ago that the Demon had been defeated through a combination effort of tamers and digidestined working together. Now all of a sudden they were back. That is where this whole visit tied together, it all came back to Retrace being the tamer of a Lucemon. All three of them were aware that one of the members of the Demon Lords was a Lucemon, albeit though this form of Lucemon was known as Lucemon Falldown Mode, and was an ultimate on the evolution stage. The Lucemon that was Retrace's partner was a rookie. Although most people tend to forget this little fact, whenever the name "Lucemon" was spoken, it sent waves of fear though humans and digimon alike, and like any "decently rational" person or digimon they reacted on that fear and attacked. More than once Retrace and her partners were on the opposing ends of stand offs and or attacks because of partner Lucemon. It seemed that, this mistrust had arisen again, much to the annoyance of Retrace and her partners. Retrace turned to address the issue but before she could speak, Lucemon decided to voice his opinion on the matter.

"Again?" he asked annoyed and angry. "Again, how many time do we have to go through with this, with...with these people! I am NOT a member of the Demon Lords, and I will never be. The prospect of such an idea, affiliating me with those...with those scum of the Digital World is...is...is infuriating! Look at me do I look like the Demon Lord Lucemon? If I was the Demon Lord why would I ally myself with a human? If I was the Demon Lord Lucemon....muffle...muffle...muffle"

To avoid having Lucemon completely snap at the topic, Retrace and proceeded to cover Lucemon's mouth. She looked at Tori while struggling with Lucemon and said:

"My apologies, Lucemon is just a little sensitive on that topic nowadays, I can't say I really blame him. I can assure you, we would never, ever ally ourselves with such a group. We maybe rogue and our actions can be questionable, however we are not evil and we never will be. We would rather die than be corrupted. You can take those very words I said and Lucemon said to that Alice and Gennai fellow."

Retrace then shifted her focus to the struggling Lucemon "Easy buddy, please take it easy okay?"
Lucemon glared at her, though he wasn't angry at her, but rather the topic that had been brought up. "I am going to take my hand away, can you please calm down?" Lucemon groaned but nodded his head, Retrace took her hand away and let go of her partner. Lucemon looked over at Tori and said "I'm sorry" then he floated back to where Kotemon was standing.

[Kiara Lycro]

Tori nodded sympathetically towards Lucemon, she understood where he was coming from but she couldn't say anything until he calmed down. "If it makes you feel any better they realize that you aren't the actual demon lord Lucemon, but because you're a Lucemon they're afraid you'll go over to the nightmare Soldiers and then they'll have to fight two Lucemon. Again, they just haven't met you, that's all," Tori said trying to comfort him.

"I'll be sure to tell Gennai, but there was one more reason I volunteered to come here and I wanted to let someone know who wouldn't stop me," Tori said carefully, almost nervously. "If I'm going to fight this I won't be able to use the crests that the new digidestined are entitled so I want to reclaim my beast spirit. However, when I follow the signals from my digivice they always point to one place...Graveyard Castle. We're pretty sure at least one Demon Lords is there at anytime so I know going there is a really bad idea, but if I'm going to be any good in this war I need to go there." Tori explained, trying to rationalize this as best she could, however she couldn't explain what it felt like to lose a spirit, like you'd lost a part of yourself or that something was missing so she didn't try.

"I wanted to let you know because I know you can travel into the human world. I've checked and my parents still live on the reservation in Montana, the geography in the human world is the same just not the names. If I don't get in contact with you in about 3 weeks, I was hoping you could take something back to my family for me. I know it's a lot to ask of someone who doesn't know you very well, but I do know I can trust you and...and...well please just say you'll do this for me." Tori said rambling on to cover her embarrassment and fear about the whole situation.

[Mephiles]

The trio continued to listen to Tori as she continued to explain the current situation. Lucemon was still irritated on the subject of the possibility of becoming a Demon Lord just because he was a Lucemon. This time however he remained silent, though both Retrace and Kotemon could see the anger that was simmering beneath the surface of Lucemon. Neither one could blame him in regards to his anger. When Tori went on the subject of her lost Beast Spirit, Retrace couldn't help but feel sympathy for her, she couldn't imagine what it was like to lose a spirit, on the subject of spirits, Retrace always considered a spirit similar to a digimon partner. To lose one was like to lose a part of yourself. She couldn't imagine what would happen to her if she were to lose either of her partners. She couldn't imagine what the other would feel like if they lost each other. The closest that ever came to happen was when Retrace herself died, thankfully the experiment procedure of the A.I. body managed to prevent that from becoming a total reality, though it came a steep price.

When Tori mentioned the Graveyard Castle, Retrace's curiosity peaked. She and Lucemon had been to the Castle itself twice, once to find some missing Digitama and the other to investigate the mysterious plague that would be known as the Reaver Plague. Even though reality itself had warped, she highly doubted that the place itself had changed much. It was a dark place, how much darker could it get?

Then Tori spoke the human world, for Retrace and her partners, it had been a long time since they had visited the human world. In reality the main reason she had avoided the human world for so long, was the prospect of her own A.I. body. She didn't know how the rest of the world would react to the fact she was an A.I. and her family, that scared her even more. How would her own family react? Would they accept her or would she be treated as an abomination? Honestly Retrace didn't really want to know, thus she avoided the human world. However things right now were different, she was being asked by a friend to take something back to the human world to the friends family, Retrace prided herself on keeping promises, being loyal. How could she say no, even being what she was?

"Of course I will do it" she began "However I have some thing I want to ask myself. You mentioned the Graveyard Castle, Lucemon and I have been there twice, Kotemon hasn't since it was before his time as my partner. The two adventures one to locate missing Digitama from nearby villages, and the other was to investigate a mysterious plague that would later be known as the Reaver Plague. What I am trying to say is we can help there since we have been there, granted we can evolve pass champion we are willing to help..."

Retrace looked over towards her partners, both of them were nodding their heads in agreement.

"The question is, are you willing to accept my help?"

[Kiara Lycro]

Tori was at first relieved that Retrace agreed to take the letter, but quickly grew concerned with her over to come with her. This would be putting more people in danger and she wasn't entirely sure she could live with herself if they got hurt trying to help her. She took rubbed her finger against the screen of her D-Tector and looked at all of them.

"I'm sure the layout of the castle has remained the same, what I'm concerned with is that we know that the Demon Lords come and go from the area. If we run into any of them, even one of their higher soldiers we'd be lucky to get out alive. It'd be worse for you guys because then they'd know who you are and I can guarantee that they'll come for you. You wouldn't be able to stay out of the the war, or if you did, you might have to spend it all under a rock somewhere," Tori said, trying to think of anything that would make them take back their offer.

"I'd like the help but I can't ask anyone to take that sort of risk for me. Especially since the last time I got my spirit I nearly killed the guy helping me because I couldn't control it..." she said fearfully. She'd go and soon, but at this point if Retrace and her partner's came it had to be knowing that everything could go wrong in a moments notice.

[Mephiles]

Retrace placed Tori's letter in a pocket that was inside her backpack, then she turned to Tori and said:
"You know that is what friends do, they look out for each other, help them and take risk together. Besides having my partners and I along for the search not only gives you a little extra strength if we do encounter a higher solider and or demon lord, it also gives you extra sets of eyes, more ground can be cover, you see what I am saying? As for any other major problem that you mentioned, given what my partners and I have gone through before this reality shift, you don't need to worry about us, we can take care of ourselves quite fine."

"However before we go, we should have ourselves checked out to make sure your de-evolution was indeed caused by the reality shift and not a virus" said Kotemon.
"Indeed, I actually completely forgot about that in the course of the conversation" said Retrace.
"Don't worry I would have reminded you" said Master Malakai. "If you wish to do it now, we can go to the Digital Testing Lab"
"Aye that will be good, thank you Master Malakai" said Retrace.
Master Malakai smiled and replied "You're welcome"
Retrace turned to Tori and said "If you want you can come, or you can stay here. I can assure you either way it won't take long"

Retrace turned towards her partners and motioned them to follow Master Malakai. Both of them left with the Master, Retrace stayed behind a bit longer, to shift the cables on her back, then she proceeded to leave the room to follow both the Neo Arcadian Master and her partners.

[Kiara Lycro]

Tori could only look at Retrace and her partners fearfully if gratefully. She was lucky they thought of her as a friend and she wasn't about to abuse that privilege. She would just have to watch their backs very carefully when they went in. "Thanks guys," she said weakly before getting up to follow them. "I guess we'd better make sure you're in good shape before we go," she said with a weak smile as she rose to follow them into the testing room.

"So just how are you going to check if their clean, Master Malakai?" Tori asked as they walked.

[Mephiles]

"Well" began Master Malakai "It is a bit difficult to explain, but basically Digimon are a lot like computer data, and like computer data they can be scanned like an Anti-virus program scanning a computer. Basically I constructed a device that can scan the Digital DNA of a digimon to check for any corruption that could be in their data. If any corruption is detected then a vaccine program can be injected, thus deleting the corruption. The system isn't without it flaws, the system itself can only detect virus that it knows and not all viruses have a cure. So as you can guess we are hoping that if there is a virus, that the system can detect it and cure it, but we can hoping for the best, and that there is no virus, that their de-evolution was the result of the reality shift. I hope that I answered your question sufficiently."

When group arrived at the Digital Testing Lab, Master Malakai pulled out a scanner card and swiped it through scanner, then another scanner appeared in the wall, it was retina scanner. It scanned Master Malakai's eye and confirmed that it was indeed the Neo Arcadian Master. The doors opened and revealed a rather barren lab, the only things in there was a computer system and platform. Master Malakai walked over computer console and turned it on, the room lit up along with the platform.

"Alright whom will go first?" asked the Neo Arcadian Master.
"I will" said Lucemon.

Lucemon walked up and stepped on to the platform, when the platformed registered him as being on it, a barrier formed around him, electronic pulses began to shoot up from the platform.

"Scan in progress" said Master Malakai.
For fifteen minutes the system scanned Lucemon's data, for Retrace and Kotemon, it was an agonizing fifteen minutes. When the console alerted that the scan was done. Master Malakai scanned through the data.

"Well, the system doesn't detect any corruption within Lucemon's data."
"That can either be a good thing or a bad thing" said Kotemon.
"Let's hope that it is good" said Retrace.
Master Malakai nodded in agreement then said "Kotemon your up"
"Okay" said Kotemon, then he proceeded to walk over to the platform, while Lucemon was stepping off. When Kotemon stepped on, the process repeated itself. After another fifteen minutes, Master Malakai reported.

"The system doesn't detect any corruption, it appears both digimon are clean"
"Thank you Master Malakai" said Retrace.
"You're welcome" replied Master Malakai as he was shutting the system down, Kotemon was walking towards them, relief was in his eyes along with Lucemon. Retrace turned to Tori and asked "So...when do you want to leave to search for your Beast Spirit?"