These two pieces of equipment were like charcoal delivered amidst snow for Zero and Hajime. Setting aside the future possibility of reactivating the factory's modification equipment 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 Metal 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 equipment from the Metal Empire was stuff that normal Digimon couldn't even handle.
The sheer size made portability a serious headache.
Zero and Hajime in their evolved states could use the gear without trouble, but normally Zero was a Koromon, and Hajime was Gabumon.
These two huge weapons were truly making things difficult now.
"Isn't there some way around this?" Hajime 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 Hajime's DigiCores were only at Champion-level strength right now, with nowhere near enough storage for something that large…
If it were smaller, it'd be no issue… but something 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 Hajime 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 immediately 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 immediately shot from the Digivice and inscribed themselves onto the two pieces of equipment.
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, Hajime—I figured out how to carry these two pieces of equipment around~"
While saying this, she aimed her Digivice toward the Fractal Codes on the equipment, swiftly scanning them like barcodes.
Immediately, the barcode-like patterns of light streamed 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 equipment, 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 moment, Zero finally understood.
…Using Frontier'sFractalCodes to store equipment in compressed data packets, and then saving them in Tamers-style cards?
In theory, these methods 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 cumbersome weapons became 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 outcome of a direct fight was still uncertain. Moreover, Devimon had numerous subordinates—mostly Champions, with some 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 immediately brought something 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 mentioned that all its information about the Unmanned Factory had come from a certain Leomon.
That Leomon had intended to defeat Devimon and had specifically come to Andromon to propose cooperation.
But at that time, Andromon had already been under the control of a Black Gear, meaning Leomon's situation was probably dire.
As Zero had guessed, when Leomon came seeking an alliance, Andromon—already controlled by a Black Gear—had immediately 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 some kind of cosmic malice?
Anyway, since Leomon had become 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 come seeking shelter, so…
"…Could I ask you to rescue Leomon from Devimon's control?"
Zero exchanged a glance with his companions and immediately 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 timed.
"Well then, we'll say goodbye here for now. Hopefully, when we meet 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 Mechanical 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 mentioned 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…