Davis stood outside of the computer lab, sipping quietly from a plastic coffee cup. With visible bags under his eyes, he stared vacantly at the door, anticipating any sign of life inside of it. Sitting beside him in the hallway was Veemon, who stared at the doorway with a similarly groggy expression.
Veemon’s eyelids sagged from his position, beginning to nod off. He shook his head vigorously, snapping himself awake, before looking up at Davis. “Hey, do you think you could give me some of that?”
“What? No way, this is mine! You already had yours on the way here!”
“But I’m so tired...” Veemon groaned. “I need caffeine...” He reached up towards Davis, pulling on his pant leg pleadingly.
“Hey, let go of me! I already told you, this is mine!” Davis quickly yanked the coffee mug away, but Veemon stubbornly clung to the demin jeans, tugging desperately at the article of clothing. Davis yelped in surprise as the coffee cup slipped from his hands, spilling its contents in a puddle all over the ground.
“Veemon! Now look what you did!”
“Don’t worry, I got it!” Veemon suddenly rushed over towards the spill, kneeling atop the puddle with his hands and knees. Loud slurping noises echoed across the hallway as greedily licked the puddle.
“Ugh, Veemon! That’s disgusting!”
“Don’t care. Need caffeine.” Veemon’s reply came punctuated with loud slurps.
“Veemon, come on, what if someone sees you like that? Our friends could be here any moment!”
“Nah, it’s too early for that,” Veemon slurped. “They probably won’t be here for another...”
Veemon suddenly froze as a patch of shade fell over him. He looked up to see Cody and Armadillomon standing at the end of the hallway by the window, leaving a large shadow extending across the corridor as the early morning sun shone behind them. Standing beside the two was Rarity, who gaped at Veemon, her face frozen in an expression of shock and disgust.
“Umm..”
“You know what, forget it,” Cody sighed as he approached with the others. “I don’t want to know. What are you doing here anyway, Davis? I’m usually the first to arrive when we meet in the summer.” He looked towards the puddle in the ground that Veemon stood over, wiping off his tongue with his hand. “Wait, is that coffee?”
“Yeah,” said Davis, “Izzy sent me a message on my D-Terminal at two in the morning. He said he wanted me to bring Twilight early so they could discuss some things. We had to sneak out while my parents were asleep, and we got some coffee at the subway station to help us stay awake.”
“We’ve been waiting out here for hours,” Veemon whined. “Twilight and Izzy won’t even let us in to see what they’re doing!”
“Wait a minute, you snuck out without telling your parents?” Cody interrupted. “Davis, do you have any idea how irresponsible that is? And you’re way too young to be drinking coffee!”
“Relax, I left them a note on the fridge,” said Davis. “And I’m pretty sure Twilight’s an adult, so it’s not like I wasn’t supervised or anything.”
“It doesn’t matter! You can’t just go about breaking rules like that! It’s not right!”
“Well Cody, it ain’t like you’ve never broken any rules yourself when going to the Digital World,” said Armadillomon.
“You’re not helping!” Cody replied indignantly.
“Please, everyone, there’s no need to make a fuss,” said Rarity. “Irresponsible as they might have been, they can deal with the consequences later. We should focus our thoughts on the mission at hoof.” Rarity paused, taking a quick glance around the empty hallway. “We should wait for the others to arrive before we meet Twilight in the computer room.”
The wait for the other Digi-Destined and their compatriots was uneventful, save for the exchange of small talk as more arrived outside the lab. Tai and Kari arrived first, with Agumon, Gatomon, and Pinkie Pie, followed by Sora and Biyomon. Matt and Gabumon arrived soon afterward, followed by Joe and Gomamon. Yolei arrived some time afterward with Hawkmon and Rainbow Dash, and T.K. with Patamon and Applejack. Ken and Wormmon arrived last, though Ken’s expression suggested he had been in a hurry to get there.
“Hey Ken, glad to see you made it!” said Davis, “what took you so long?”
“I live more than an hour away,” Ken deadpanned. “Or were you expecting me to bend the laws of time and space to get here faster?”
“Jeez, no need to get so defensive,” replied Davis. “Now that you’re here we can meet with Twilight and Izzy in the computer lab.” Davis walked over to the computer lab’s door and knocked loudly on the window. “Hey eggheads, open up! The gang’s all here!”
Silence.
“Come on, Twilight!” Davis banged on the door, “We’re all here, quit keeping us waiting!”
“Stand back, Davis!” Said Veemon, “Let me try!”
Veemon walked up to the door, and Davis quietly stepped aside to let him through. Taking a deep breath, Veemon stood in front of the door and stepped back, lowering his head slightly.
“Wait, he’s not going to...?” said T.K.
“Veemon, wait a second!” Davis cried out.
“Vee Headbutt!”
With a mighty yell, Veemon leapt headfirst at the door, intent on smashing it down. As he sailed towards it, the door became enveloped in a lavender glow, swinging outwards in a swift jerking motion.
Veemon let out a yelp as he was summarily flattened against the wall next to the door. Standing in the open doorway was Twilight Sparkle, who smiled warmly at the gathered crowd.
“Glad to see you all could make it. Come in and we’ll discuss what we’ve found.” Twilight paused momentarily as she noted the mass of shocked faces before her. She briefly glanced around the hallway in confusion, only to let out her own astonished gasp as she looked behind the doorway.
“Veemon!” Twilight gasped. “Are you alright? I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean it!”
Veemon let out a pained groan as he sat on the ground, rubbing his head. “I’m fine. Let’s just go in.”
Twilight soon led the others into the computer room, where she and Izzy had been working. A small moving table with a projector had been placed in the center of the room, connected to one of the nearby computers. A large pull-down projector screen was on the opposite wall, with plenty space cleared in front of it so that the others could watch.
As Twilight approached the projector, she took one last apologetic look at Veemon, who was nursing a bruise on his head.
“Veemon, are you sure you’re alright? I swear I didn’t mean to hurt you...”
“Hey, no worries Twilight,” said Veemon. “Trust me, I’ve had a lot worse.”
“If you say so...”
Nearby, Izzy sat in front of one of the computers, the monitor displaying what appeared to be some kind of slideshow program. Tentomon hovered next to him in midair, staring curiously at the screen.
“Alright everyone, here’s the deal.” said Izzy. “Twilight and I have set up a slideshow so we can properly explain the situation. We’ve got a lot to cover, so let’s not waste time. Someone get the lights and we’ll begin.”
The group soon gathered in the front of the room, in a space that had been cleared for the presentation. The group gathered before a large projector screen which hung on the fall wall opposite the projector, which Twilight stood proudly in front of. Izzy sat by one of the nearby computers, with a slideshow program visible on the screen, and the projector connected via cable to the monitor.
“Tentomon, could you light switch for me?” said Twilight. “I’ll get the projector.”
“You got it!”
With an eager buzzing of wings, Tentomon flew over to the doorway and flipped the switch, shutting off the overhead lights. Twilight then approached the projector and flipped another switch, causing the machine to hum to life. Displayed on the screen from the projector was the same image on Izzy’s computer monitor, which showed a slideshow program. With a simple click, the program disappeared, replaced with a blank white screen.
“This presentation will help us explain what’s going on to everyone,” said Twilight, walking in front of the screen to address the crowd. She stared at the blank screen for a moment before looking back nervously at the gathered crowd before. “Uh... Sorry we haven’t gotten a proper title ready. We were so busy working on everything else that it completely forgot. I hope you guys don’t mind too much...”
“I already told you, don’t worry about it,” said Izzy. “What’s most important is that we’re able to present our findings efficiently.”
“Are you sure?” said Twilight. “I could probably think of something really quick. How about ‘Digital World 101?’ Or maybe, ‘Digimon and you?’ Or how about—”
“Ugh, just play the slideshow!” said Rainbow.
“Alright, fine!” said Twilight. She muttered under “So impatient...”
With the click of a mouse, Izzy transitioned the slideshow into the next slide, a simple diagram with a picture of several digimon lined up in a chart. Each digimon was contained in a column with a different label: “Fresh”, “In-Training”, “Rookie”, “Champion”, “Ultimate”, and “Mega”, lined up from left to right. In the respective columns were the respective forms of Agumon, with his current form in the “Rookie” column.
“This one’s for my fellow ponies, since the rest of you probably know this all already. Shown here are the six known evolutionary stages of digimon, ordered from least to most powerful.”
“Evolutionary stages?” said Applejack. “You mean like our harmonic evolutions?”
“Yes and no,” replied Twilight. “Our harmonic evolutions are slightly different, but we’ll get to that.” Several of the Digi-Destined began to voice their confusion, only for Twilight to cut them off. “Don’t worry, we’ll explain that in a moment.
“As I was saying before, these are the evolutionary stages of digimon. When digimon are born from recycled computer data, they hatch from a digi-egg into a “fresh” digimon. Think of them as foals, if you will. Over time, digimon will gradually grow stronger through competition with others of their kind. Through this process digimon will permanently transform into stronger forms through a process known as digital evolution, or ‘digivolution.’ This natural process take many years to complete, however, and the vast majority of digimon will never live to digivolve past champion. Those that manage to digivolve beyond ultimate are so rare that the mega level was not initially believed to even exist.”
Twilight nodded to Izzy, who transitioned to the next slide. The slide showed a picture of Tai standing next to Agumon, as well as the champion, ultimate, and mega forms that had been shown previously, and a series of arrows connecting them.
“However, Digimon can also temporarily access higher digivolution levels through the aid of outside forces. A digimon paired to a human partner, for example, is capable of temporarily digivolving by harnessing the deep bond they share with their partner. Digi-Destined are also capable of harnessing various artifacts and power sources to further digivolve, allowing for them to instantly digivolve up to the mega level, but only for a brief period of time. Afterwards, the partner digimon will regress to a lower level.”
“Wow! So you guys go through a lot of really super-duper sudden transformations, don’t you?” said Pinkie. “Kind of like baking a soufflé and watching the dough rise in the oven, only for it to collapse as soon as you take it out! Don’t you just hate it when that happens? Not digivolving, I mean, that’s super cool, but spending all that time making a yummy dessert only for it to be totally ruined? I hate that!”
“Uh...” said Kari, having trouble keeping up with Pinkie’s excited rambling.
“She’s feister than an entire litter on catnip, isn’t she?” said Gatomon.
“So y’all can do these digivolution things all the way up to the mega level?” said Applejack. “Well, shoot, and Ah thought just transforming once were impressive.”
“Actually, only Agumon and Gabumon are able to digivolve beyond ultimate,” said Twilight. “Veemon and Wormmon can too, but that’s a little bit different.”
“Huh?” said Pinkie. “Why not?”
“I must admit, it does sound rather unfair,” said Rarity. “If we’re all part of a team, I don’t see why anyone should be elevated beyond everyone else.”
Twilight flinched as though she were struck, a pained look briefly flashing across her muzzle. “Right... moving on... As I hinted at before, this is only one kind of digivolution. There are several others which require different conditions to unlock. The first is armor Digivolution, which I’m sure several of you have already seen.”
The presentation transitioned into a new slide. On the left-hand side was a picture of Veemon, with three arrows pointing to three other digimon in the top-left, center-left, and bottom-left of the image: Flamedramon, Raidramon, and Exveemon.
“Armor digivolution is a special type of digivolution that only certain digimon can access. Using special artifacts call armor digi-eggs, digimon can fuse with the digi-eggs to become armor-level digimon, which in most circumstances have the equivalent power of a champion. However, unlike other levels an armor digimon’s power is not strictly defined, so under some special circumstances they can become even more powerful. For example, Veemon can armor digivolve into Flamedramon with the Digi-Egg of Courage and Raidramon with the Digi-Egg of Friendship, both of which have the equivalent power of a champion. In the presence of a control spire, this is the only way digimon are capable of digivolving. Otherwise they can digivolve normally, such as Veemon becoming Exveemon.”
The slide transitioned again, showing a picture of ExVeemon and Stingmon on the left, with a large “plus” sign between them, and an arrow connecting to a picture of Paildramon.
“The last form of digivolution that we know of is called DNA digivolution. It’s an especially rare form of digivolution that’s powered by the bonds of trust and friendship between two digi-destined. When two humans achieve total harmony with one another, both of their hearts are crossed, allowing for their digimon partners to digivolve together into a single being that’s more powerful than the sum of its parts.” A worried frown suddenly crossed Twilight’s face as she stared back at the projector. “Unfortunately, Gatomon’s tail ring was what made DNA digivolution possible to begin with. Now that it’s been destroyed by Vespimon, one of our most powerful tools of fighting evil has been completely erased.”
“Wait, Gatomon’s tail ring was destroyed?” said Tai.
“Yeah, you didn’t notice I didn’t have it with me?” said Gatomon.
“I thought you’d just taken it off!” Tai blurted out. “Now you’re telling me it’s gone for good? What are we supposed to do now that it’s gone?”
“We’ll simply have to make do with what we have,” replied Twilight. “Our harmonic evolutions should be more than enough to combat this latest evil.”
The humans and digimon not already familiar with the phrase all stared at Twilight in confusion.
“Uh... I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but what’s that?” asked Joe.
“I’m glad you asked!” said Twilight. “See, back on our world, each of us are the bearers of a powerful artifact, known collectively as the Elements of Harmony. These artifacts represent each of the virtues that bring ponies together and establish total harmony: Honesty, Laughter, Kindness, Loyalty, Generosity, and Magic. By channeling the spirits of these virtues within us, my friends and I can harness the most powerful known magic in existence to defend our lands from the forces of evil. Unfortunately, upon arriving at the Digital World to rescue Fluttershy, our Elements appeared to have lost their power... Or so I’d thought.”
Twilight raised her foreleg, showing off the small device that was strapped to her front ankle.
“What’s that?” asked Sora. “It looks like some kind of wristwatch.”
“This, my friends, is a D-Harmony digivice.” replied Twilight.
“Huh?” A chorus of astonished gasps from the older Digi-Destined and their partners echoed throughout the room.
“That’s right,” said Twilight, grinning brightly. “Upon arriving in the Digital World, the Elements of Harmony each transformed into these electronic devices. Izzy and I were able to briefly study the Element of Magic before you arrived, and what we’d found was that its physical form had somehow been converted into computer data. We concluded that they were actually an entirely new type of digivice with properties that made them completely unique. These properties allow us to use the elements to remove our own weaknesses. I’m sure you all have noticed by now that our inherent magic doesn’t seem as strong as it used to be?”
“Now that you mention it,” said Rarity, “I have been having some difficulties with my spells. Even the most basic of levitation magic is quite strenuous.”
“And mah connection to the earth don’t seem anywhere near as strong as it used to be,” said Applejack.
“Yeah, and my Pinkie sense it totally gone!” Pinkie added.
The other ponies looked at Rainbow Dash expectantly.
“What?”
“Ain’t you gonna say something about your flying? Ah’d think that you of all ponies would be the first to complain about losing your pegasus magic.”
“Eh, I wasn’t really paying attention,” Rainbow admitted, prompting an exasperated glare from Twilight. “But now that you mention it, I have been having trouble flying lately. Are you saying that something bad’s happened to me?”
“I am, actually,” said Twilight. “For whatever reason, it seems that upon traveling to the Digital World, a large portion of our magic was lost. Because of this, not only does spellcasting become more difficult, but earth pony strength is greatly diminished, and pegasus flight is severely restricted.”
“So where did the magic go?” asked Pinkie.
“Huh?”
“Well, magic doesn’t just disappear into thin air, does it?” said Pinkie. “It had to go somewhere, right?”
“Uhm, w-well...” Twilight awkwardly stumbled over her words, having been caught completely off-guard by Pinkie’s question. “Truth be told, I hadn’t really thought about that. If I had to guess, I’d say that the teleport spell we used simply wasn’t meant to cross entire dimensions, so it ended up burning out most of our power. But we can’t say for sure since we have no way of knowing what really happened. What matters is that with our magic gone, we’ll be forced to rely on the Elements, or more accurately, the D-Harmony digivices.”
Twilight gestured to Izzy, who transitioned over to the next slide. The slide showed a picture of Twilight on the left, with a large arrow connecting her to an image of Espermon on the right. Many of the faces in the gathered audience simply gaped at the image in bewilderment.
“What is that?” asked Matt.
“That, my fellow Digi-Destined, is my harmonic evolution, Espermon.” replied Twilight. “By channeling the spirits of the Elements within us, our D-Harmony digivices can convert our remaining magic into raw computer data, allowing us to transform into special digimon known as hybrid digimon.”
“Whaaaat?!” Another series of astonished gasps came from the older Digi-Destined.
Twilight gave a self-satisfied grin, as though she had anticipated her audience’s reaction in advance. “It is quite the monumental discovery, isn’t it? By allowing us to become digimon ourselves, these harmonic evolutions prove that there’s a common link between biological and digital life-forms.”
“So does this mean you guys are Digi-Destined now?” asked Tai.
“How can they be Digi-Destined? they don’t have any partners!” Joe moaned. “I mean, turning into digimon? That’s insane!”
“Aw, don’t be so harsh on them, Joe!” said Gomamon, “Just because something’s a little different doesn’t mean it’s bad. You just gotta give it a chance!”
“Digi-Destined or not, harmonic evolutions are a lot more different than you think,” said Twilight. “Hybrid digimon have a property that makes them entirely unique: while their base power level is equivalent to a champion, there is no strict upper limit to how powerful they can become, meaning it’s entirely possible for a hybrid digimon to be equivalent to ultimate or even mega digimon. Hybrid digimon are also unaffected by the anti-digivolution radiation emitted by control spires.”
“Awesome!” said Davis. “So that basically means we’re unstoppable now! Now we’ll be able to beat that jerk who built the control spires in no time at all!”
“Yeah!” said Veemon. “Let’s show that wannabe villain who’s boss!”
Twilight frowned. “It won’t be that simple, I’m afraid. I don’t think you understand just how powerful the enemy we’re dealing with is.”
“Huh?” said Davis, “what do you mean? We just go in there and kick his butt, right? How difficult can it be?”
Twilight gave Davis a solemn look, and then gestured to Izzy, who switched the slideshow off. With a glow of her horn, Twilight turned off the projector, and subsequently turned on the light switch. The overhead lights briefly flickered on, causing the gathered crowd to wince at the sudden light.
“I’m sorry for startling you all,” said Twilight, “but this is something that I feel can’t be explained in a slideshow. I’ve been discussing this with Izzy, and I feel that the only way for us to truly understand the scope of this new threat is to explain what happened to our friend, Fluttershy.”
“Fluttershy... Pinkie mentioned her before.” Kari mused. “She ended up getting kidnapped, right? That’s how you ended up in the Digital World.”
“That’s right,” said Twilight. “But there’s more to the story than just that. In the months leading up to Fluttershy’s abduction, I was working on a project: the Electronic Numerical Evaluator for Integration, General Horsery, And Computation, or ENEIGHAC. As the first computer in the world of Ungula, its raw processing power would allow for complex calculations to be performed almost instantly, advancing the study of theoretical magics in ways that were never before possible!” Unable to contain herself, Twilight let out a miniature squeal of excitement as she finished.
A pink flush appeared on Twilight’s muzzle as she noticed the awkwards glances from across the room. “Oh, uh... Sorry about that. I get carried away sometimes. But as I was saying, ENEIGHAC was the first computer on Ungula, and based on my understanding of the Digital World, that was where it all began. While testing it for the first time, a strange malfunction occurred that caused the machine to fail. I’d spent the next several months trying to figure out just what exactly the problem was, but I wasn’t able to find anything. I’d decided one day to take a break from the computer to have a picnic with my friends.”
“Decided?” said Rainbow Dash. “We’d been trying to get you to stop obsessing over that dumb machine for months!”
“Yeah... You’re right,” Twilight said glumly. “I’d been focusing so hard on perfecting my greatest work that I’d forgotten all about the friends that made me what I am today. I tried to reconcile it during the picnic, but then I heard a horrible noise coming from the library. I rushed over to see what it was, and saw Fluttershy caught in an electrical storm generated by ENEIGHAC. Then a portal opened, and...” Twilight’s words died in her throat mid-sentence as she vividly recalled the grisly scene she had witnessed that day. “An evil force appeared and dragged her through the portal. And I couldn’t save her. If only I’d acted sooner...”
“Twilight, dear, you mustn’t be so hard on yourself,” said Rarity. “It’s not your fault. None of us could have known what would happen.”
“I know,” Twilight sighed. “We just need to focus now on what we know now and what we can do. We can reasonably conclude from what happened that ENEIGHAC’s malfunction was the result of a connection to the Digital World. It was from this connection that the evil force was able to abduct Fluttershy. And shortly after we arrived, we’d learned of the control spires and the threat they represented to the Digital World.”
“So, wait, you’re saying that they’re related?” said T.K.
“Undoubtedly so,” said Twilight. “In fact, I think I may have a possible explanation for it. Ken, you once held an artifact known as the Crest of Kindness, correct?”
“Huh?” said Ken. “How do you know about that?”
“Davis told me about it on the way to the digiport... among other things. But this artifact you possessed represented the exact same trait as Fluttershy’s Element of Harmony: the Element of Kindness. And something about our circumstance tells me that this isn’t a coincidence.” Twilight approached Ken, looking at him with imploring eyes. “Ken, I need you to tell my friends what happened with you a year ago. The fate of one of our dearest friends is at stake here, and from what I know about your history, there’s no doubt in my mind that you’re connected to it all.”
“Huh?” said Ken, “You don’t mean...”
“You need to tell them, Ken” said Twilight. “If we want to help Fluttershy, then it’s absolutely vital that we make sure we can trust each other. You’re the only one who can make sure of that.”
Ken shifted uncomfortably, avoiding eye contact with Twilight. The others turned to look at Ken expectantly, leaving a brief yet awkward lull in the conversation.
“What? You’re not gonna say anything about who you really are?” Rainbow angrily accused. “You wanna just go out and lie to everypony else, too?”
“Rainbow, dear, don’t be rude to him!” said Rarity. “We are guests in his world, after all.”
“No, she’s right,” said Ken. “She has every reason to be mistrustful of me. I was the one who originally created the control spires.”
Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie each let out a gasp of shock.
“A little more than a year ago, I tried to conquer the Digital World,” Ken solemnly admitted. “Seduced by the powers of darkness and blinded by my ignorance, I built the control spires in an effort to bring every digimon in existence under my control. I thought the Digital World to be nothing more than a game, one where I could do whatever I wanted without consequence. Had my friends not been there to stop me, I would have never understood the error of my ways.”
“You called yourself the Digimon Emperor,” said Twilight. “Davis told me everything about it. I understand what happened to you, and I don’t hold anything against you for it. But I’m afraid I can’t speak for the rest of my friends.”
The other ponies looked at Ken pitiably, noting the regret that was apparent in his expression.
“Well... Ah know Ah ain’t known him for very long,” said Applejack, “but if Twilight trusts him, so do Ah.”
“I don’t like seeing any of my friends this sad,” said Pinkie. “If you’re really sorry about what you did, then I’ll always be willing to be there for a friend.”
“I don’t hold anything against you for succumbing to the forces of darkness,” said Rarity. “If anything, I’d say that I empathize with your situation.”
Rainbow Dash snorted. “Yeah, sure. I guess I don’t really have a problem with him,” she begrudgingly admitted.
Ken turned and glanced at the other ponies that had shown him sympathy, silently thanking them with the grateful expression in his eyes. He then turned back towards Twilight, staring at her somberly.
“I can appreciate the sympathy, Twilight, but I don’t think you understand how deeply I’m responsible for all of this.”
“Huh?” said Twilight. “What do you mean?”
“When Yolei and I found Rainbow Dash, we encountered an evil Digimon named Vespimon. She claimed not only to be the one behind the new control spires, but also the one responsible for kidnapping Fluttershy.”
“Yeah!” said Rainbow Dash, “And I totally kicked her butt, too! You should have seen me, I was awesome!”
Ken shook his head. “Only barely. Vespimon was so strong that she could have easily beaten us all without even a scratch on her. We only managed to win because Rainbow’s harmonic evolution caught her off guard. We weren’t even fighting the real Vespimon either, we were only fighting a shadow of her brought to life through her power. The real Vespimon is undoubtedly much stronger, and I don’t even know if we’d be able to survive a direct encounter with the real her.”
“So we know who our enemy is,” said Twilight. “And from the looks of it, she’s an exceptionally powerful foe. But what did you mean when you said you’re responsible for this?”
“I think... I think I might have created her,” Ken admitted. “We didn’t see her true form, but her shadow was a near-exact duplicate of Stingmon’s silhouette. She’s seeking to rebuild the control spires and enslave the Digital World, much like I did as the Digimon Emperor. She kidnapped Fluttershy, who holds an item that embodies kindness, much like I once did. She and I are one and the same.”
Twilight gave Ken a look of incredulity. “Those are some very close parallels. But what exactly do you mean when you said you created her? You don’t mean that literally, do you?”
Ken nodded in affirmation. “Last winter we fought an evil digimon named MaloMyotismon, who took us into a dream world where our very thoughts could become reality. This not only allowed ourselves to harness our innermost dreams to defeat him, it also gave us a closer look at ourselves and our true minds. More than anything else, I wanted to be rid of the mistakes that I’d made, so that I’d no longer have to bear the weight of my own transgressions. I... I think that this desire is what created her. Vespimon’s the part of me that I abandoned when I stopped calling myself the Digimon Emperor.”
“You... You really think that?” said Twilight. “It seems a bit outlandish, doesn’t it?”
“It’s the only explanation I can think of that makes sense. There are so many parallels between us that there’s no way there isn’t a connection of some kind.”
“So if she’s your evil inner self, then why is she a girl?” asked Davis, sporting a mischievous grin. “Wouldn’t that make you a girl, too?” Next to him, Veemon silently snickered at the question.
Ken’s face suddenly turned bright pink. “What? No! Of course not!”
“That’s actually a very fascinating observation!” Izzy chimed in. “There are some theories that certain aspects of the unconscious mind are represented by the opposite gender. According to the Jungian school of analytical psychology—”
“Ugh, who cares about that?” Rainbow interrupted. “The important question is, why would Ken’s evil inner self or whatever kidnap Fluttershy?”
“Because she needed her,” replied Ken. “When I was the Digimon Emperor, I’d converted the Crest of Kindness into a power source for my operations. By harnessing its energy, I could override the security measures in the Digital World to manually allocate its memory for my own purposes. This allowed me to program data structures that I would use to build my own resources, including the dark rings and my own personal fortress. But the Crest of Kindness was destroyed shortly after my final confrontation with the Digi-Destined, after I’d renounced my Digimon Emperor persona. Vespimon needed something else to replace it.”
“So she came after the Element of Kindness,” Twilight finished. “Of course! It all makes sense now! When ENEIGHAC connected to the Digital World, it provided the perfect opportunity for Vespimon to take what she needed!”
“But then why kidnap Fluttershy?” said Rarity. “If this ruffian Vespimon only needed her Element, then why would she get Fluttershy involved in this whole mess?”
“The Elements are powerless without their bearers,” Twilight replied. “Vespimon needs Fluttershy, and she needs her alive. We know Vespimon is holding her somewhere, and thanks to Izzy, we have a good idea of where that is. Izzy, why don’t you show us what we’ve found so far?”
“You got it,” said Izzy. With a click of the mouse, Izzy brought up another screen on the computer, moving aside to give a clear view. “Everyone, come take a look at this.” The others got up and huddled closer to the computer, which displayed a regional map of the Digital World. Spread across the screen were dozens of red dots.
“As you can plainly see, the control spires have been multiplying rapidly since they first started appearing. Yesterday there were only twenty-six control spires, but now there’s more than four hundred of them. At this rate it won’t be long until the entire Server Continent is covered in them.”
Ken stared wide-eyed at the screen in an expression of pure horror. “I don’t believe it...”
“I don’t understand, how could they possibly be built that fast?” said Yolei. “There’s no way we can take those control spires down faster than they appear!”
“Not individually, no,” said Izzy. “But it doesn’t take a genius to figure out how they spread. They seem to be spreading outward from a single location, which we can easily find at the center of the control spires.”
With a click of the mouse, a new window opened up in the display, showing a scene of the Digital World. Pictured in it was a massive, imposing fortress of blackened stone, sitting atop an immense plateau.
“No way!” said T.K. “Is that what I think it is?”
Gatomon’s eyes widened at the sight. “Myotismon’s castle!”
“That’s right,” said Izzy. “It seems our new villain is taking up residence within our old foe’s fortress. This is the source of all our problems, and if we can take out Vespimon, then we might be able to stop the new control spires from appearing. It’s also the most likely place you’ll find your friend Fluttershy.”
“Well, what are we waiting for?” said Rainbow Dash. “Let’s go in there and rescue her!”
Izzy shook his head. “It won’t be that simple, I’m afraid. There are no digiports anywhere close to the fortress. It’s likely that Vespimon destroyed them all in order to prevent us from reaching her. Even if you could make it there, the castle itself is wrapped in a spacial distortion that would make it impossible to approach.”
“So what are we going to do then?” said Cody. “There has to be some way we can get there, right?”
“We can’t just give up on them yet! Fluttershy is counting on us!” Davis exclaimed.
“There is still hope,” said Izzy. “My scans of the Digital World have detected a signal coming from Server. Whatever it is, it’s extremely powerful, more than enough to remove the distortion. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to get a good hold on its exact location. Every time I think I’ve found it, the signal jumps to another part of the continent, like it’s disappearing and reappearing somewhere else. It’s almost as if it doesn’t want to be found.”
“So there’s only one thing that can save us, but we don’t know what it is or even where it is?” said Kari. “I’m not sure I like those odds.”
“I wouldn't give up yet,” said Izzy. “If we can send you to its location before the signal disappears, we might be able to catch it before it goes away. If I can can just get a clear reading...” Izzy’s fingers rapidly clicked across the keyboard, entering a rapid sequence of commands that none of the others present could follow.
“There! The signal’s coming from a coastal town on the southeast edge of the continent!” Izzy declared triumphantly. “There’s a digiport right next to it, so you should be able to find the source easily enough. Unfortunately, it’s also near a control spire, so you might have to deal with some trouble.”
“Hey, no problem!” said Davis, “we’ll just take out the spire, find whatever it is we need, and head back! Piece of cake!”
“Just keep an eye out for anything suspicious,” said Izzy. “I’ll keep you updated in case the signal disappears. In the meantime, I’ll hold the fort back here with the older Digi-Destined. You’d better hurry though if you want a chance at finding the source of the signal.”
“Well then, let’s get going already!” said Rainbow Dash. “I don’t wanna miss our chance at this!”
“Agreed!” said Yolei. “Is everybody ready?” A chorus of affirmations came from the others. “Good! Then let’s get going! Digiport open!”
Yolei held out her digivice, and suddenly the screen began to glow intensely, opening the gate to the digital world. The older Digi-Destined stood away from the computer, allowing the others and their pony companions to step closer. There was a bright flash of light, and the six humans, ponies, and digimon were gone.
Izzy stared back at the digiport as it closed, and an awkward silence feel over the room.
“Do you ever get the feeling that we’re losing our relevance?” said Joe.
————————
With another flash of light, the group emerged from the other side of the digiport, through the screen of another television. As their senses adjusted to the sudden change in location, they took notice of the new surroundings.
All around them was a small alley between two buildings made from wood and stone. The air was thick with the smell of the brine, and beyond the alley they could see the cobblestone street of a large town.
As they stepped out of the alleyway, more of the town became visible. In one direction the street opened into a large harbor where numerous wooden docks overlooked the vast ocean of the Digital World. In the other direction the street continued further inland, surrounded by numerous shops, inns, taverns, and services, and intersecting with numerous other cobbled roads that led in different directions. Palm trees sparsely dotted the street corners and intersections, and in the distance were a series of mountains covered in sheer cliff faces and tropical vegetation.
But most noticeable of all was the fact that the town appeared completely empty. Stranger still, even though there was not a digimon to be seen, the streets and buildings of the town were kept reasonably well-maintained, as though they had still been inhabited.
“It’s a port town,” said Twilight. “But where is everyone?”