//------------------------------// // Pirates of Port Digital // Story: Digital Harmony // by Zennistrad //------------------------------// “Do you see anything yet, Rainbow?” Yolei called up to the blue pegasus as she soared above the empty docks, dutifully scanning the horizon for any signs of activity on the waters. The fatigue in Rainbow’s body was apparent as she seemed to be struggling to keep to the air, but the determination in her eyes made it clear she would fly as long as she had to. “What!?” “I said, do you see anything yet?” “You’ll have to speak up,” said Rainbow, “I can’t hear you!” “I said, do you see anything yet?!” “What?!” Hawkmon let out a groan. “Oh, for the love of Azulongmon...” ——————— “Whoa, your name’s Petermon?” said Davis, eying the elf-like Digimon with wide-eyed curiosity. “Yup, that’s me!” “And that’s led us here is Tinkermon?” Davis replied, pointing to the light floating beside Petermon’s head. “Uh-huh!” “Wow, so you’re just like Peter Pan and Tinkerbell!” Davis exclaimed. “Can you two show us how to fly?” Petermon stared at Davis incredulously. “How would I do that? Humans can’t fly.” “Awww, no flying?” Davis whined. “We can talk about fairytales later, Davis,” said Ken. “Right now we need to figure out what’s going on. Petermon, what can you tell us about this town? Where did all the digimon go?” “That’s actually why I came to see you,” said Petermon. “Tinkermon’s been surveilling the town and she told me that someone had come through the digiport. Obviously, that could only have meant the Digi-Destined were here in Port Digital. So now that I’ve found you, would you mind helping me out? I have a problem on my hands and it’s a tad too big to deal with on my own.” “Ah reckon this has something to do with the fact this town is totally abandoned?" said Applejack. “Last time Ah checked folks don’t just right up and vanish into thin air.” “Yup, that’s exactly it,” said Petermon. “Not too long ago Port Digital was quite the lively place. Not just a thriving town of commerce, but home to the greatest pirates in the Digital World.” “Pirates?” Twilight interjected, “Aren’t they supposed to be vicious criminals?” “Vicious? Nah, most of them are all pretty friendly, as long as you don’t forget to seed.” “Seed?” said Twilight, “what do you mean?” “Seed...” Ken repeated out loud. After a moment’s contemplation, the answer suddenly came to him. “He’s talking about seeding torrent files! These aren’t just pirates, they’re internet pirates!” “Bingo!” said Petermon. “You catch on pretty quick. Port Digital is located right next to the BitTorrent Gulf. The Gulf’s waters carry stray file pieces from the Earth’s peer-to-peer file sharing networks. Pirates of Port Digital make a living collecting these file pieces, copying them, and then selling the copies on the black market. Seeding means dumping the original copy back into the gulf so it can return to the human networks. Don’t want to steal anything from them, after all.” Tinkermon let out a tiny sigh. “Well, okay,” said Petermon, “technically the files are all illegal in the human world to begin with....” “But what does this have to do with everyone disappearing?” said Ken. “I was getting to that,” said Petermon. “This is all how it used to be, back when things were peaceful. But as you can tell, things aren’t like that anymore. Take a look out there.” The others’ eyes followed to where Petermon pointed out the bedroom window, which opened into a view of the cobblestone streets and the concrete buildings of Port Digital, and the harbor where the town met the waters of the gulf. Just above the harbor they could barely make out a blue figure flittering above the docks. “Hey, I can see Rainbow Dash out there!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Hi Dashie!” “Yes, your friends are already at the harbor,” said Petermon. “But that’s not what I mean. If you look at the harbor itself, you’ll notice that there are no ships.” “Hey, you’re right,” said Davis. “If this is supposed to be some kind of pirate town, then shouldn’t there be pirate ships, too?” “Good question,” said Petermon. “That brings me to the problem I mentioned before. See, all of the ships are gone because they’ve all been used to evacuate Port Digital. That’s why the town is also empty. There’s only one ship you’ll ever see around these parts now, and it’s bad news.” Wormmon gulped. “I don’t like the sound of this, Ken...” ——————— The continuing strain on Rainbow’s wing muscles had made itself painfully clear to her, both literally and figuratively. Her continued flight above the docks placed a strain on her body that she’d never before experienced for such a simple exercise; and yet despite the added difficulty in staying airborne she still eagerly pressed herself onward, searching for that one vital clue. Despite her fatigue, she knew she couldn’t let her friends down. She had to keep looking. Finally, after what seemed like ages, her efforts were rewarded. “Hey! I think I see something!” “What was that, Rainbow?” Yolei called up. “I said, I think I see something!” “What?” Rainbow let out an exasperated sigh. “Ugh, nevermind, I’m coming down now. Just give me a second.” Rainbow Dash brought herself lower to the ground and landed rather clumsily, breathing heavily from the exertion. “Gosh, Rainbow, are you okay?” asked Kari. “You look downright exhausted.” “Pshaw , it’s nothing”, Rainbow answered. “The important part is that I found the control spire! I saw something on the horizon that was thin and black and evil-looking!” She pointed outwards towards the location in the gulf where she’d spotted the spire. “It should be somewhere over there.” “Great work Rainbow!” Yolei cheered. “Let’s all armor digivolve so we can head over there and check it out!” “You know, we could have just done that to look for the spire in the first place,” said Hawkmon. “It probably would have saved Rainbow the trouble of tiring herself out like this.” “Hey!” Rainbow protested. “I did my job just fine!” “Regardless of that, we should investigate,” said T.K. “The sooner we destroy the control spire the better. Who knows? Maybe it’ll help us find whatever it is Izzy said we’re supposed to be looking for.” “Hold on a second,” said Cody. “Do you guys see that out there?” He pointed outwards towards the gulf, in a different direction from where Rainbow had pointed. In that direction was another distant, wooden-brown object on the gulf water. As they observed the object, its appearance became more and more defined: the wood-brown coloration made up the object’s lower body, with splashes white adorning the top. More importantly, however, the object appeared to be rapidly getting larger. Getting closer. “Eeek, it’s headed towards us!” Rarity exclaimed. “What in Equestria is that thing?” “Whoa, check it out guys,” said Rainbow Dash, “it’s a real-life pirate ship!” Soon the shape of the object on the horizon was fully visible to everyone, a massive galleon with gleaming white sails and a pristine body, armed to the brim with cannons. The ship approached the harbor at a frightening speed, and before anyone knew it, it was well within reach of the town. As it approached the harbor, a rough and gravelly voice shouted across the waters at full volume. “Ahoy there, Digi-Destined! Prepare yourselves, for I, CaptainHookmon, shall bring ye to your doom!” ========== Digimon Analyzer: CaptainHookmon Type: Sailor Attribute: Vaccine Level: Ultimate Special Attacks: Rage Giga Anchor, Pirate’s Punisher ==========