The weather was brutal and wild; storms had spread over the entire Tokyo area. The rain came down relentlessly and thunder clapped amongst the clouds. In the Quantum Accelerator Facility, in Odaiba, Japan, five researchers were preparing to activate their newly installed Particle Accelerator. With all systems set up: back-up power source, fail safe shut down, etc. the men turned on their Linear Particle Accelerator. As the accelerator was running a large bang could be heard outside. A lightning bolt had hit the side of the facility, cutting off all power. The back-up generator quickly snapped on, too quickly. The surge of energy was too much for the particle accelerator and smoke sprouted out from the contraption. The physicists watched as the fail safe mechanisms did not activate; therefore they were forced to cut off the accelerator manually. The five men arrived at the accelerator, and it suddenly exploded, sending quanta everywhere. The men were barraged with the subatomic particles and vanished in thin air.
They appeared on a large, precarious cliff that overlooked miles of grassland. The men panicked and searched for any hint of their location. As they shouted and scurried like scared rodents, four gargantuan shadows appeared. The first, with a humanoid body and six thin, wing-like protrusions on each side of its back, appeared and brought an immense brightness and heat. This creature also had a long tail with a spiked, circular object on the end. The second creature was also large and humanoid like the first. This creature had a large cape bellowing behind it and a massive snout-like protrusion coming out of its torso. Most notably, this creature had two clawed, shield-like gloves on each hand. The next was a manly figure with three horns at the very top of its head. This figure had claws similar to the second creature but smaller. The last figure was more bestial, standing on all fours. It had a wolf's mouth with two large, blade-like wings protruding from its back.
"I am the Dragon Knight of Raging Flames, Shine Greymon," said the first creature.
"Mirage Gaogamon, Wolf Knight of Phantom Winds," said the second.
"I am Gaia's Harbinger of Earth, War Greymon," the third manly figure spoke with passion.
A cold voice rang out from the last creature, "Poseidon's Frozen Hunter, Metal Garurumon."
War Greymon looked at two of the physicist and the weight of his body's energy crashed down on them. An invisible force seemed to crush them as they were forced to the ground and seconds later, fell over in death. In a fit of rage one of the humans attacked the enormous Metal Garurumon; he punched one of the creature's toes, which was about the same size as the man. Metal Garurumon stomped on the man without even looking down. Mirage Gaogamon pointed his left index finger at the two remaining scientist. Suddenly, the two were engulfed in a flame-like red energy. The both fell to their knees in pain, but one of them seemed to be burned alive as dark burns formed up his arms and singed his cloths. He succumbed to his burns and died within seconds. The other stood up even through the burns and pain.
"Earth man, what is your name," asked Shine Greymon.
"Kaname…ah! H-Higuchi, Kaname Higuchi. AAAHHH!"
With a wave of his hand, Shine Greymon caused the energy to calm down. It still raged like flames around Kaname, but it no longer burned him nor caused him pain.
"Thank you, Shine Greymon…Please, may I go home?"
"No, not yet. You have now proved that you are worthy of the great mission ahead. You must find the four Zodiac Children and bring them to this world…the Digital World. Upon doing so you will save the Digital World from total destruction."
Mirage Gaogamon sighed at the lack of explanation by Shine Greymon.
"Let me explain the problem, the Royal Knights are a group of Digimon, us, who have taken over the Digital World. With their vast armies, the only ones who can stop them are the 'Zodiac Digimon' who are powerful enough when together."
Kaname looked confused as Mirage Gaogamon spoke. He did piece a few things together. This Digital World was some sort of alternate Earth or a different planet entirely. These Digimon that they spoke of were native to this world and were creatures that, as seen with these four, come in all shapes and sizes.
"Each one of us, the Great Four, oversees three of the Zodiac Digimon."
"Now go home," said War Greymon, "And begin your mission or we will bring you back here and destroy you."
"Um," Kaname said nervously, "How do I get home?"
"Focus that energy around you, called Digisoul, into your hand. And punch the air."
Kaname grabbed his right wrist with his left hand and focus. Suddenly, the energy swirled around him and then transferred to his hand. With one shot, Kaname's punch hit the air and it cracked like glass. The Digisoul then spiraled out from the crack and a portal was opened.
"We will be in contact with you," said Metal Garurumon, "Oh, and you'll need to get the best and brightest in the world to help you find these children."
"As you wish, sir," said Kaname with a nod, "Thank you for showing me mercy."
With that Kaname walked through the portal; it sealed up right after he walked through it. He appeared back in the ruined laboratory and fell to his knees thinking about his co-workers; they were his friends and close companions. Now they were gone and he had a mission to complete. Kaname walked to the telephone and called the police.
"There's been an emergency," he said with little passion, "Please come to the Quantum Accelerator Facility as soon as possible."
Within days, news of the Digital World spread like a wildfire. Kaname had been interviewed by newscasters and reporters, even demonstrating his Digisoul on camera. Many criticized him as "a crazy scientist who murdered his co-workers," until the Great Four allowed members of the United Nations to enter the Digital World and see for themselves. The Great Four also showed them the destruction caused by the Royal Knights. Kaname was brought into the United Nations as a representative of the Digital World and a liaison between the United Nations and the Great Four. With the increased awareness of the "other world," the Great Four decided that only Kaname or the four Zodiac Children would be allowed into the Digital World because humans were getting too destructive in their own world and might bring their destruction to the Digital World.
Over a fifteen year period since the discovery of the Digital World, the "Human World" had fallen into utter chaos. Wars had erupted and engulfed the modern world. These wars began because the Third World countries formed power blocs and started attacking the First World in a fight for power. The first war began when the Amazon Republic and the Fascist South American States, made of all of South America except South Georgia, Argentina, Columbia, French Guiana, and the Falkland Islands, attacked the United States of America. Unfortunately for them, the United States unleashed a fury of nuclear weapons and eradicated said countries. Next India and most of the Middle East, except Jordan, Morocco, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, waged war on the European Union and planned to attack the USA next. These plots were foiled when the EU won, though it had lost most of its western states. Since these wars ended the world is in the worst condition it's been in ever. Since most of the suppliers of fossil fuels waged war on the USA and EU, the supplies have been cut off. The transition to an economy completely powered by reusable energy has been very rough.
During these wars the research about Digimon had stopped due to funding the wars, but now that the world was in shambles the UN is looking into the Digital World as their solution. Kaname Higuchi had proposed moving the remaining states to the Digital World, after saving it from the Royal Knights. The United Nations organizes the Digital World Committee with Kaname, now known as Commander Higuchi, as the head. With this committee, plans for the Digital World Reconnaissance Squad were formulated. Testing on humans for Digisouls began and after about a year it was reasoned that only adolescents could manifest the raw energy. The search began for "digitally compatible" children; children whose atoms were stable enough that if broken apart and transferred to the Digital World, the atoms would realign themselves perfectly. This process was tested first with the teleportation of small simple objects like grains of salt; next complex objects like diamonds and cars, and finally apes were tested before humans. The perfect four humans had been found; they were four Japanese teenagers named Mamoru Sousei, Setsuna Hibiki, Isane Yamato, and Kairi Kimura