"Meow? (Is it finally time, meow?)"
Watching Dark begin his experiment preparations, Meowth — perched on the little table carving a wooden figurine — lit up at once and started yowling.
Among all the Magic Guide Spirits present, none looked forward to "Greed III" more than it did.
After all, it was the very embodiment of "Greed," which meant "Greed III" was certain to carry it one step further along its evolution.
"Meow! (Once I evolve...)"
Meowth swept a quick glance over the handful of second-tier Magic Guide Spirits, howling inwardly. Was its day to rise finally at hand?
DemiDevimon, hanging upside down from the bird perch, looked remarkably calm by comparison.
"Greed III" wouldn't change anything fundamental for it. "Pride III" was all it needed.
Over on the other side, Gatomon was still drilling the Vampire Young Lady on her phonetics, though the Honedge floating beside her had broken into a spinning little dance.
Honedge did, after all, count as an embodiment of "Greed" too.
But its Forging had granted it only 3 points of "Greed," unlike Meowth, who had been Forged with the [Fruit of Greed].
"Greed III" might not necessarily push it any further.
Meanwhile the Trash Slime, romping around with Ditto, kept sneaking looks in Dark's direction — it was obviously one of the beneficiaries as well.
And Little Eevee, cradling a primer on astrology, kept lifting its head too.
It knew a new evolved form was coming its way. It was only a little puzzled about which one "Greed III" would choose.
What form corresponded to "Greed III"?
…
Feeling the anticipation radiating off his Magic Guide Spirits, Dark picked up the apple juice he'd set out and downed it in one go. His head cleared instantly.
Then he launched straight into the familiar steps of refining "Greed III."
The whole process went smoothly. In under an hour, a [Major Sin Card] holding 10 points of "Greed" lay quietly on the workbench.
The face of this "Greed III" was a deep blue-black, and if you looked closely you could catch a hint of purple in it — the "Greed" crest hidden within.
Stare at the card too long and covetousness welled up in you unbidden.
"It worked!"
Dark let out a breath.
Every time he refined a [Major Sin Card], his nerves were stretched taut.
Every single point of "Major Sin" was that precious.
"So. Who wants to go first?"
Picking up the "Greed III," Dark turned with a grin and let his gaze travel over the assembled Magic Guide Spirits.
"Papa?" The Vampire Young Lady pouted and peeked over — and promptly got smacked on the back of the hand by Big Sister Gatomon.
She let out a small "ugh" and hurriedly turned back to her book, though her long pointed ears tilted noticeably upward.
Not allowed to look, and not allowed to listen either? Hmph!ㅤ
At the same time, Meowth — who had been holding itself back far too long — thrust up its paw pads, its whole face begging. "Meow meow meow, meow meow meow!"
The other Magic Guide Spirits fidgeted. DemiDevimon went so far as to look away, clearly unwilling to be the first to test the waters.
Since it wasn't willing, and Dark was no monster, he simply beckoned to Meowth.
Delight surged through Meowth. Even its perpetually drooping eyelids opened a crack.
It dropped its carving knife and little wooden figure on the table, bounded across the room straight into Dark's lap, sat on his knee, tipped its head back, and rubbed hard against his palm.
Dark scratched its head, thinking how nice it was to have a cat that hooked itself on the line voluntarily.
He was, of course, extremely curious about Meowth's evolution as well.
"In the name of Dark Demon — Magic Guide Summon!"
…
As the Normal Summon completed, a deep, dark-blue radiance bloomed from the face of "Greed III."
Bathed in that dark blue light, the whole bedroom seemed draped in a hazy veil, tinted with the shade of unsatisfied longing.
The Magic Guide Spirits caught in the spillover of light all felt greed stir in them.
But they had expected as much, and one by one they focused and pressed the rising desire back down.
Only the Vampire Young Lady, still tender in temperament, was quickly blinded by covetousness.
"Wahh!"
She spun around and threw her arms around Gatomon, rubbing her soft cheek against Gatomon's cheek with everything she had — the dearest wish she'd nursed for days!ㅤ
Gatomon's face said she wanted no part of it, but she didn't dodge away. Instead she caught the girl in both arms and held her fast, pinning her in place so she couldn't run off and disrupt the experiment.
On Dark's knee, the "Greed" crest had already surfaced inside the gold coin on Meowth's forehead. The dark blue radiance was drawn in the way a whale swallows water, until that golden coin was forcibly stained a deep blue.
The next instant, Meowth was engulfed in evolution light.
Its body stretched rapidly within the glow, its frame swelling, and in the blink of an eye it had become a long, lithe great cat.
Dark felt the weight on his knee sink. "Meowth" had successfully evolved into "Persian"!
The fur was still the same pale gray as before, but its quality had clearly risen — softer to the touch than the finest velvet.
The evolved Persian looked more like a lioness now. The coin on its head had become a deep blue jewel, its face and ears had gone extremely round, and its eyes were half-lidded over very small pupils — much as they'd been when it was still a Meowth.
This Persian looked a little different from the ordinary Persian Dark remembered so vividly, but of course he wasn't about to think less of it over a pancake face.
Look at that pancake face long enough and it actually developed a certain ugly-cute charm.
Newly evolved, the Persian couldn't rein in its greed. Even as it sprawled across Dark's knee, its paw shot out toward the workbench drawer.
Dark hauled the paw back, pressed the pads a few times, and with his other hand poured magic power into "Meowth's" Magic Guide Card. Information came flowing back.
[Card Name: Persian]
[Type: Spirit Card]
[Level: ★★★★★]
[Race: Animal species]
[Attribute: Dark-type]
[Magic: 2500]
[Attack: 2200]
[Defense: 2500]
[Ultimate Moves: Fur Coat, Taunt, [Protect], Foul Play]
"Hsss—"
Dark skimmed it quickly, getting a rough grasp of the Persian's race, attribute, and three stats.
Persian was five-star, the same as Drifblim — that much he'd expected.
The stat distribution, though, was a surprise.
"If I remember right, Persian isn't a defense-specialized Magic Guide Spirit at all. It's speed-specialized…
Back when it was a Meowth it only had 900 Defense. How does evolving turn it into this kind of meat shield?"
Dark ran a hand over the Persian's fur, softer than velvet.
"Maxed-out five-star Magic and Defense, slightly weaker Attack — that makes this Persian a textbook five-star meat shield. Add in these four Ultimate Moves…"
Dark looked first at what had to be a passive skill converted from its Ability — "Fur Coat."
[Fur Coat: Persian's thick, sleek fur blunts damage. Damage taken from attacks in battle is halved.]
"So instead of 'Technician' it gets 'Fur Coat'? This 'Fur Coat' is obviously a god-tier defensive skill, same as 'Defense Curl.' Let me take a closer look."
"'Defense Curl' multiplies Defense, 'Fur Coat' halves damage. Different mechanisms, each with its own strengths."
"With 'Fur Coat,' Persian's main-tank capability at least doubles!"
"A passive like that, paired with the next Ultimate Move, 'Taunt'…"
[Taunt: Taunts the opponent into a rage. For thirty seconds the opponent may only use damage-dealing Ultimate Moves, and will only attack Persian.]
"Thirty seconds — one turn, in other words."
"Only damage-dealing Ultimate Moves, meaning no status-type moves."
"Shame that this Taunt seems to be single-target. Mass taunt would have been even better."
Dark caught himself getting greedy.
He smiled wryly and moved on to the next Ultimate Move — [Protect].
[[Protect]: For thirty seconds, enters a protected state, completely blocking the opponent's attacks and remaining unaffected by most Ultimate Moves. If used consecutively within 1 hour, the success rate of each use drops to half that of the previous use.]
"It's actually [Protect]!"
"'Taunt' plus [Protect] is a full thirty seconds of hard single-target lockdown."
"Good grief!"
Dark yanked the Persian upright, pinched its pancake face in both hands and pulled outward, stretching it wider and flatter — ridiculous, and utterly resigned.
If "Fur Coat" was a god-tier defensive skill, then [Protect] was the god among god-tier skills.
And [Protect] was a standard god-tier skill that nearly every Pokémon-type Magic Guide Spirit could learn.
If he could use an Ultimate Move Card to extract [Protect] out of the Persian…
Then a single [Ultimate Move: Protect] would keep a Pokémon alive for thirty seconds, guaranteed.
Of course, [Protect] wasn't invincible. Plenty of Ultimate Move types worked around it.
Environmental changes brought about by a Field Card, for instance, couldn't be blocked by [Protect].
That came down to the form [Protect] took: it wasn't a 360-degree omnidirectional guard, but a frontal barrier-type skill, which was why it couldn't stop a Field Card effect that acted from every direction.
Beyond that, Ultimate Moves like "Whirlwind" were proven answers to [Protect].
None of which changed the fact that [Protect] was a supreme god-tier defensive skill.
"The question is how high its damage threshold goes."
In the real world, a barrier-type Ultimate Move without an upper limit was impossible. The only question was where that limit sat.
[Protect]'s ceiling might be very high indeed, but he wouldn't know until he tested it.
Making a mental note to schedule that test, Dark turned to the last Ultimate Move.
[Foul Play: Turns the opponent's own strength against them, attacking with their power. The higher the opponent's Attack, the greater the force!]
Still Foul Play!
Having that Dark-type Ultimate Move meant the Persian wasn't a pure meat shield. It also had a potent way to put an enemy down.
…
"Not bad at all."
Dark went on squishing and rolling the Persian's pancake face over and over, finding that plump round face more agreeable by the minute.
"Meow…"
The "Greed" surging through the Persian had been kneaded clean out of it.
In any case, Dark gave it no room whatsoever to act out. He tucked it under one arm and started recording his results.
Fifteen minutes later, when the Persian was forced back down into a Meowth, all four limbs went slack and it hung over Dark's knee with the look of a creature that had lost all will to live.
Dark glanced up at the clock — roughly nine forty-five. He decided to wait for "Greed III's" cooldown to finish before running the next experiment.
Estimating an hour per cooldown, he'd need at least four more hours to complete the required number of trials. DemiDevimon, Honedge, Eevee, and Trash Slime were all queued up and waiting.
…
But an hour was more than enough to wear down the Magic Guide Spirits' enthusiasm.
By the time that hour of cooldown had run out — right around ten thirty — the Magic Guide Spirits had all scattered, absorbed in their own business.
So when Dark asked again for a volunteer, only a hard-done-by Meowth lifted an eyelid to look at him.
He rubbed his nose, a little embarrassed, and simply designated the next test subject by force — DemiDevimon!
"Coming, coming."
DemiDevimon flapped over lazily, showing no particular fear.
Meowth had gone first and set the example, which gave it the instinctive sense that "Greed III" was far more reliable than any "Pride III" or "Lust III" — unlikely to make a fool of it.
And if it wasn't going to be humiliated, there was nothing to be afraid of.
Last time, testing "Greed II," all it had done was shriek and stretch a sinful hand toward the little red flowers in the drawer. Presumably this time would be no worse.
So, buoyed by inexplicable confidence, DemiDevimon landed on Dark's knee.
Whereupon Dark immediately scooped it up and set it down on the floor.
"Eh?"
DemiDevimon cocked its head, thoroughly puzzled.
Dark gave an awkward smile.
It wasn't that he didn't want to hold it — he was afraid he wouldn't be able to once it evolved!
Digimon evolved forms came in every shape imaginable, with no fixed pattern. He had no idea what DemiDevimon would turn into, so keeping it on his lap was out of the question.
Dark didn't bother explaining further. He picked up the "Greed III" and performed the Normal Summon.
"In the name of Dark Demon — swipe the card, evolve!"
An instant later, the dark blue radiance of "Greed" lit up the entire bedroom.
The Magic Guide Spirits had braced themselves in advance, so the effect on them was slight.
At the convergence point of the light, bathed as if in a stage spotlight, the skull pattern on DemiDevimon's forehead had already become the crest of "Greed."
As every last thread of light was swallowed by that "Greed" crest, DemiDevimon's body began to glow, brightening until it was nothing but a body of light.
Then that body stretched taller, longer.
Judging by the degree of elongation and the outline gradually taking shape, it looked much the same as when it had evolved into Devimon.
"Don't tell me the 'Greed III' evolution is Devimon too?"
Dark frowned slightly. He had nothing against Devimon, but he'd been hoping to see a few more varieties of Digimon.
As the evolution light drew inward, the form settled unmistakably into Devimon's silhouette.
Just as Dark was resigning himself to it, a thread of icy blue bled through the light.
"This is…"
The glow vanished all at once, and DemiDevimon's new evolved form stood revealed.
In almost the same moment, a wave of bitter cold rolled outward.
Frost formed on the corner of the nearby table.
"Ah… achoo!"
Caught in the cold front, the Vampire Young Lady sneezed.
Gatomon hugged her close at once, snatched up a coat from beside her, and bundled her in it.
The Vampire Young Lady was the seven-star Magic Guide Spirit with the highest stats in the room, yet she always gave off the impression of someone who needed looking after.
Gatomon treated her exactly like a baby.
The rest of the Magic Guide Spirits felt the chill too. Several of them burrowed straight into the warm bedding, leaving only their small heads poking out.
Under the gaze of every Magic Guide Spirit present, the Champion-level Digimon that DemiDevimon had become —
"Ice Devimon" — snapped both wings open, sweeping the room with a gaze full of greed.
"It's Ice Devimon!"
Something clicked for Dark. He poured magic power into the Magic Guide Card at once, and feedback came quickly.
Ice Devimon could be described as a mutated form of Devimon. They typically possessed hearts as cold as ice — not merely cruel, but skilled at deceiving enemies with words.
Apart from skin gone snow white all over, as though frozen solid, Ice Devimon was essentially identical to Devimon.
Even the stat distribution was nearly the same.
[Card Name: Ice Devimon]
[Type: Spirit Card]
[Level: ★★★★]
[Race: Demon Species]
[Attribute: Ice-type]
[Magic: 2000]
[Attack: 2000]
[Defense: 2000]
[Ultimate Moves: Frozen Claw, Icy Shower, Zero Freeze, Cold Breath.]
"Extremely similar to Devimon, just as I thought."
"Apart from the attribute switching from Shadow-type to Ice-type, the race is the same, Magic, Attack, and Defense are all maxed at 2000, and even the Ultimate Moves look like parallels of a sort."
[Frozen Claw: Thrusts the wrist forward like a sword; the frigid air on the talons freezes the enemy.]
[Icy Shower: Spreads vast wings of ice and fires arrows of ice from between them.]
"Clearly, 'Frozen Claw' and 'Icy Shower' correspond to Death Claw and Razor Wing. I'd guess the power and damage are about the same, with the added freezing effect as a bonus."
"The disappointing part is there's no equivalent to 'Teleport.'"
"Without 'Teleport,' Ice Devimon loses out on mobility and tactical value — though the remaining two Ultimate Moves might make up for some of that."
Dark read on.
[Zero Freeze: Fires cold blue light from the wrists, freezing the enemy.]
[Cold Breath: Uses a freezing breath to lure the enemy into a land of cold.]
"'Zero Freeze' is unquestionably a status-type Ultimate Move that doesn't emphasize damage. Its freezing effect should be considerably stronger than 'Frozen Claw' or 'Icy Shower.'"
"And 'Cold Breath' should be a mind-control Ultimate Move along the lines of 'Charm' and 'Attract,' capable of luring an opponent into a land of cold."
"By their effects, both of those are control-type status moves."
"No doubt about it — compared to Devimon, who has no control tools whatsoever, Ice Devimon has advantages all its own. And with one being Shadow-type and the other Ice-type, I can pick the evolution route in battle based on the opponent."
All told, Ice Devimon was outstanding.
Dark had no complaints.
He glanced up at the Ice Devimon fidgeting with the urge to do something, and issued a compulsory order. "Crouch down."
And so the towering Devimon crouched, perfectly obedient.
Its heart might have been unwilling, but its body wasn't its own to command.
Dark patted it twice on the head and said, exactly as he would to DemiDevimon, "Keep it quiet."
So while he turned away to take notes, the cruel, frigid, cunning Ice Devimon squatted there like a rabbit — for a solid fifteen minutes.
Fifteen minutes later, the de-evolved DemiDevimon flung its wings open and fled to its own little bed, yanking the covers over itself until only two small claws showed.
From under the blanket came a faint, muffled "aaaaah."
…
Dark wasn't trying to torment DemiDevimon. The thing was, Demon Species personalities really were mostly foul, and [Major Sin Cards] had a way of drawing out their wicked side — especially on first use. That demanded particular caution.
After enough repetitions and acclimation, DemiDevimon would be able to hold its excess desire in check through reason alone, without any order from Dark.
He was quite sure of it.
"Three more trials required."
With his notes finished, Dark checked the time, took a shower during the "Greed III" cooldown, set the notebook on the nightstand, then crawled under the covers to read while he waited.
Tonight he intended to hold out until two in the morning, until every necessary experiment was done.
Seeing their master already in bed, the Magic Guide Spirits who hadn't turned in yet followed suit, each climbing into its own little bed.
Tonight was one of the rare nights Dark hadn't recalled the "Watchers' Alliance" Magic Guide Spirits into their cards before getting into bed. Meowth and Drifloon both had beds of their own, and even the Vampire Young Lady had a slightly larger one — which left Leomon, the only one without a bed, looking rather lonely.
"Big cat! Tum!"
Once Gatomon had helped her up onto the bed, the Vampire Young Lady scooted toward the edge, cleared half the space, and waved at Leomon.
Leomon looked at the half-bed that could barely hold one of its arms and smiled gently.
It walked over and sat down at the edge of the little bed, opened a children's reader marked with phonetic notation, and began a bedtime story.
The Vampire Young Lady shuffled closer, shared half her blanket with it, and listened, perfectly happy.
The bedroom gradually went quiet.
Only Leomon's voice went on, reading its story.
____
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