//------------------------------// // The Gazimon Village // Story: Digital Harmony // by Zennistrad //------------------------------// Twilight sat behind Davis on the back of Raidramon, who was running through the quarry at rapid speed, towards the control spire to the north. Twilight’s mind was buzzing with all manner of questions about the Digital World that she was now in, and the role that the Digi-Destined played in it. Had she not been in such a dire circumstance, the very idea of being in a new world would have excited her like nothing else, but with her friends still separated from her, she was merely curious. Nevertheless, it was an intense curiosity that gnawed at her mind, and she couldn’t help but try to indulge it. “So your world is called Earth?” said Twilight. “Yup,” said Davis. Not a very creative name, she silently added. “Uh-huh,” replied Davis, still focused on the path ahead. “And it connects to the Digital World through computers?” “Something like that,” replied Davis. Wow, Twilight thought, If computers are commonplace, then their technology must be decades ahead of our own! Maybe even centuries! I wonder what their world is like... Her thoughts soon went from wondering about Davis’s world to wondering about the “control spire” they were headed for. Davis had said that they were headed to destroy it, and as they continued to approach it, Twilight could tell that destroying it was a good idea, as they got closer she could feel evil radiating from it. “So what exactly is with this control spire we’re trying to destroy?” she asked, trying her best to keep herself from shuddering. “Hm?” said Davis, still focused on the path ahead. “Oh, they’re evil towers that control the dark rings, which brainwash and enslave digimon. They also prevent our partners from digivolving normally, so we have to armor digivolve instead.” Twilight blinked. “Wait... Dark rings? You mean the collars those digimon that attacked me were wearing?” “You mean the Gazimon?” replied Davis, “Yeah, they were wearing dark rings.” “And they were being brainwashed into attacking me?” “Uh-huh,” said Davis, “Dark rings are used to make digimon turn evil. We have to destroy the control spires to deactivate them.” Twilight’s ears flattened against her head, feeling extremely guilty for what she’d done. If the Gazimon that attacked her really were brainwashed, that meant they had never tried to hurt her of their own will. Had they not resisted Twilight’s magic, she would have killed an innocent being. “Are those Gazimon going to be okay?” she asked. “Of course,” replied Davis, “we’d never hurt an innocent digimon. Sure, they’ll be a bit sore in the morning, but they’ll be fine.” “Oh, good.” Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. She would never be able to forgive herself if she killed an innocent, even if it was technically in self-defense. For the first time in her life, she was actually glad that her magic had failed. Of course, that still raised the question of where the control spires came from. If they were being used to enslave digimon, then someone had to be building them for that specific purpose. “Do you know who’s behind the control spires?” asked Twilight. “Not yet,” replied Davis, “they stopped appearing some time ago, so we don’t know who could be building them again.” “I see,” said Twilight, thoughtfully. There was so much she didn’t know, so much that she needed to learn about this place. She had plenty more questions, but she felt that it would be best to save them for a better time. (That, and Davis didn’t exactly seem like the best person to be answering them.) “Heads up, we’re almost there!” said Raidramon. A small village appeared on the horizon as they rapidly approached the control spire. ———————— The three soon arrived near outskirts of the village, which appeared to be a mining settlement, with a large mineshaft near the edge going deep into the mineral-rich soil. The immense control spire was built in the village’s center, and they could see dozens of Gazimon patrolling the village in the distance, their bright red eyes visible even from far away, indicating that they were under control of the dark rings. “Looks like quite the welcome party,” said Raidramon. “There sure are a lot of them,” said Twilight, worriedly. “What do you think we should do?” “No need to worry!” replied Davis, “just go for it, Raidramon!” “Got it!” “Huh? W-wait!” Before Twilight could fully voice her objection, Raidramon immediately shot forth towards the village at a full sprint, much faster than he had been running on the way there. Twilight screamed in surprise as she tightly held on to Raidramon’s sides, trying her best not to fall off from Raidramon’s sheer speed. In the span of seconds, Raidramon had already made its way to the edge of the village. The Gazimon, startled by Raidramon’s sudden appearance, turned towards him with their eyes wide with surprise as he ran past them. “Thunder Blast!” Without breaking stride, the spines on Raidramon’s front shoulders emitted a burst of high-voltage electricity, striking several of the Gazimon and shattering their dark rings, causing them to collapse to the ground, unconscious. The rest of the Gazimon gave chase to Raidramon as he ran towards the control spire. “Electric Stun Blast!” The Gazimon, unable to keep up with Raidramon’s speed, launched their attacks, breathing clouds of thick black gas from their mouths. Raidramon dodged the attacks easily, weaving through the clouds of toxic gas with surprising ease. He briefly turned around and countered with his own attack, sending the remaining Gazimon sprawling onto the ground, unconscious. “Davis, stop!” cried Twilight, “This is crazy!” “Too late to turn back now,” he replied, looking back at Twilight as Raidramon swiftly approached the control spire. As he did, he could plainly see the look of panic and worry on Twilight’s face. “Don’t worry,” he said, reaching back with his hand to reassure her, “everything’s going to be fine.” “You’d better be right about that!” she yelled, exasperated. The three quickly found themselves at the base of the control spire, which towered over the village with an immensely powerful dark presence. 'Immense' was also the perfect word to describe its size; the tower was easily seventy-five feet tall, maybe even a hundred. Raidramon brought himself to a stop by the control spire, taking a moment to catch his breath. Davis climbed down, helping Twilight back onto the ground. Her heart was beating so fast that it felt like it would burst out of her chest, and she looked up at Davis and frowned angrily. “Never do that again!” she yelled. “Alright, alright, geez,” replied Davis, throwing his arms into the air. “No need to get upset.” “There’s every need to get upset!” exclaimed Twilight, pointing a hoof accusedly. “I can’t believe you’d be so reckless! You could’ve gotten us killed!” Twilight’s ears flattened against her head, and eyes started to moisten, becoming wet with what Davis could only assume to be tears. “I’d never know what happened to my friends if I died here,” she said, “I’d never get a chance to see them again.” Davis looked at Twilight sympathetically. Kneeling down, he placed his hand on her head and looked her in the eye. “Hey, look,” he said, “I’m sorry if I frightened you back there. I know it must be scary for you, but Raidramon and I have done this sort of thing many times before. I promise I’d never let anything happen to you, alright?” “I know,” she replied, “I just wish you’d be more careful about it.” “Well, I suppose I can try,” said Davis, grinning. Twilight couldn’t help but smile at this; despite his apparent lack of common sense, she could tell Davis meant what he said. Suddenly, Twilight’s ears swiveled as she heard another group approaching. She turned towards the source of the noise, and saw a handful of Gazimon approaching, their eyes glowing with malevolence. “Uh, guys?” she said, pointing towards the group. She wasn’t nearly as worried now, since Raidramon had proven more than capable of taking them on, but she still felt it necessary to give a warning. “On it!” replied Davis, pulling his goggles over his eyes, “Now, Raidramon!” “Thunder Blast!” Raidramon launched his attack at the control spire, striking side they were facing with a powerful blast of lightning, causing a large chunk of the base to disintegrate. “Wait, don’t!” shouted Twilight, “It’ll collapse on us!” Much to Twilight's bewilderment, however, the control spire didn’t topple over, but began to break into pieces, with cracks crawling up the sides as it collapsed inward on itself and disintegrated. The implosion of the control spire kicked up a massive cloud of dust, sending Twilight into a coughing fit, but otherwise leaving her unharmed. As the dust settled, Twilight wiped the dust out of her eyes and took a look at her surroundings. The Gazimon were looking around in confusion, the red glow having faded from their eyes, giving them a much more normal appearance. Twilight looked up at Davis and considered his goggles. “Huh,” she said, “I was wondering why you wear those.” ———————— Soon thereafter, Davis, Twilight, and Veemon met with the Chief of the Gazimon village (distinguishable from the others by his red vest), who expressed his gratitude for destroying the control spire. He had offered the three of them food, and Davis and Veemon happily agreed, though Twilight was somewhat suspicious of what they might eat. Fortunately, the noodles the Gazimon offered didn’t seem to be incompatible with her herbivorous diet. As they sat down at the table in the Chief’s larger cottage, Davis and Veemon slurped down on the noodles eagerly. Twilight, meanwhile, had put off eating to ask the Chief questions about what had happened. “So you don’t know who’s behind the new control spires?” she asked. “Not entirely,” replied the Chief, “but I did learn a few things about her under the influence of the dark rings. I could hear a voice speaking to me the entire time, and she was not nice, let me tell you.” “She? So it’s a female, then? What did she say to you?” “I don’t remember exactly what, but I think she was trying to cause chaos and destruction for the fun of it. She saw our lives as nothing more than a game.” He shivered slightly as he spoke, clearly spooked by the thought of being nothing more than a toy for someone else’s amusement. “I see,” said Twilight, “well, whoever it is, we’ll put a stop to her.” With a loud slurp, Davis finished the last of his noodles, and finished with a loud belch. Veemon finished immediately afterward, and did the same. “That’s disgusting!” said Twilight. “Actually,” said the Chief, “in our village, a belch is a compliment to the cook.” “Really?” replied Davis, “If I’d known that I’d have done it after every meal!” Twilight rolled her eyes. “Let’s not go that far,” she said. ———————— After a satisfying lunch, Davis, Twilight, and Veemon began preparing to head out. Davis had sent a message to the other Digi-Destined informing them that’s he’d destroyed the control spire, and was heading back to their initial meeting place. Davis was eager to show Twilight what Earth was like. “Oh man, you should see it, it’s great!” said Veemon enthusiastically. “There’s TV, internet, cell phones, vending machines, air conditioning...” Twilight nodded as Veemon explained everything that he liked about Earth, replying to each thing he listed with some variation of “Uh-huh” or “That’s great.” It’s not that she wasn’t interested in seeing Earth, she was very much so, she just didn’t know what any of the things being listed were without an explanation. Veemon’s rambling was eventually interrupted by a loud beeping sound coming from Davis’s jacket. He went silent as Davis reached into his pocket and pulled out his D-Terminal, reading the message. “Hey, that’s great!” “What’s it say, Davis?” asked Veemon. “I just got messages from the others! They’ve each found one of Twilight’s friends!” Twilight’s ears perked up instantly, and she turned looked at Davis hopefully. “Really?” she said, “Who did they find?” “Ken and Yolei found some rainbow-colored pegasus named Rainbow Dash. T.J. found some cowpony named Applejack, and Cody found a white unicorn named Rarity. I think the one Kari found was named after the color Pink.” “Pinkie Pie,” replied Twilight, smiling softly. Tears of joy had started to flow from her eyes, as she smiled softly. Never in her life had she felt more relieved, nothing could have made happier at that moment. “So is that everyone that came with you to rescue Fluttershy?” asked Davis. “Yes,” replied Twilight, “that’s all of them.” “Great!” said Davis, “Now we can focus on rescuing Fluttershy!” As the three finished their preparations, they turned back towards the Gazimon and said their farewells. “Come back anytime, you hear?” said the Chief. “Sure thing!” replied Davis, “We’ll be happy to stop by when we have some free time later!” “Especially if you have more noodles!” added Veemon. As soon as they exchanged their goodbyes, Davis turned towards Veemon and held out his digivice. “Digi-Armor Ener-” Before he could finish the sentence, he was interrupted by a deafening roar, causing him to nearly drop his digivice in shock. “What’s going on!?” shouted Twilight, trying to keep herself from panicking. “Oh no!” said one of the Gazimon, “He’s back! What do we do?” “What?” said another Gazimon, “But that’s impossible! It’s eight years too early!” “What do you mean?” said Davis, “Who’s back?” The Gazimon Chief looked worriedly in the direction of the mineshaft, and then back to Davis and Twilight. “He’s an especially powerful champion-level digimon that lives in the mines. Every ten years, he emerges to claim our supply of precious gemstones.” “Does he have a name?” asked Veemon. “Yes,” replied the chief, “his name is Spikedramon.”