Prologue: The Beginning of the Digital World.

The Makers saw potential amidst the endless grid. They took up our lifeless and meaningless world and "Tamed it", bending it to their will. Creating shapes and forms as had never been seen before. Including us, and the very ground we walk upon. They gave us life, they granted us the sweet release of death, and more importantly, granted us the joy of return. They then looked up to the sky and gave us their greatest gifts: Night for sleeping, stories, romance, and Day for work, battle, eating! They gave us great technology, writing, language and other things.

They later proved their benevolence by giving us the "Mahou" to do the same on a much smaller scale. With the secrets of how to create micro-verses and the special fields we now live, laugh, and play within, we formed a new credo "The artificial is Natural, the natural is artificial, and all nature is made from data." Eventually Our creators left, but they gave us six mighty gods to watch over, guide, and lead us. We thank the Makers for all that they have given us with prayer, story and song."

-Except from the Introduction of the "Nature Spirits Confederation's" founding document, the "Beast-Clan Treaty".

A small purple figure sighed. He was a Digimon, an Impmon specifically. He was staring at a nearly identical figure on a video chat. The only difference between them was that the figure on the screen wore a red bandanna, a white T-shirt, and yellow sneakers with black laces. It's the T-shirt had orange letters that spelled out "Punk'ed: Digital World Edition. With your host Aiako Kasamago the Impodokemon!" On one side of the shirt wearing Impmon's screen was a hologram with numbers that seemed to be counting down to something. It said, "6 minutes and 30 seconds until showtime." This Digimon was furious, perhaps because of something his counterpart had just said.

He spoke, his words rushing for like a river of anger, "A success... a success?! Have your optic subroutines 'gone blue'?! When I tuned in to watch your new webcast program I thought it was going to be a comedy show. Instead, I find out that my own brother made two of my dearest friends cry because he said a bunch of things without having done any research at all."

His brother looked worried and regretful. He replied, "Considering the nature of my show, I was just doing my job. I didn't intend to make them cry. All I did was make a crack about Ruki's getting a gig as the Bionic Woman, that incident with the Miracle Stone, that recent funeral, and a few other things. When they started crying, I told them I was sorry."

"You were supposed to be the responsible one in the family. When we first embarked on our old scavenging venture, I thought you were crazy. At this moment, I still do! I know certain events haven't been kind to you, like the Traditionalist Cultural Movement splitting into two warring factions, and I'm sorry for that accident Lopmon had, but I didn't expect you to become a professional jerk."

"I'm not crazy, I've been planning "Impudence-S.J.I" for two and a half years and I have big things planned. Besides, if I keep getting complaints, I'll probably just do a 'comedy-action' review podcast. The only reason why I didn't do that was because there are half a dozen of them out there right now. I mean, I have story lines planned out and I asked that guy with the magic gun for advice at Digicon 10 and he gave me some good tips. I just don't know how to make a review show unique. So I went with my second idea instead."

The Digimon on the screen gave his brother a worried look. "They might try to sue you, and their lawyer is a fellow veteran who happens to be a Blackwargreymon."

The Impmon looked at the screen in horror and shock, "Gah, I don't want to tangle with one of them. I'll make it up to them somehow, I promise."

The other one sighed, "Before you do anything else you should probably do some research on the two of them. There is a documentary miniseries I think you'll want to see. It's called..."

Minutes passed and the two talked some more with occasional bouts of shouting. Finally the time you went down to zero and the Impmon on-screen said, "Well, my lunch break is over. Time for me to Matrix Evolve and get back to work."

The two of them said their goodbyes and the screen went blank. The remaining Impmon went to a site that resembled Twitter and posted the following messages, "Onii-chan is such a dross! He doesn't like my new job and I'm enjoying what I do for the first time in three years. So what if I come across like a jerk on my shock-jock podcast? It's a part of the job description!"

"Still, he's right about the fact that I should do my research before mouthing off on something that would otherwise net me a verbal beat down. I'm going to watch a documentary after my next post here. Hopefully it'll be educational and entertaining. "

"Besides I need something take my mind off of Lopmon's accident last week. Glad Lopmon-chan is OK, even though Eir's leg and right arm is busted. That mon (being) makes my core pulse a little faster every time Ey looks at me."

He signed off of the site and had a thoughtful look. Then he looked at the time on the bottom left screen, and muttered something about lunch and going for a walk. He then turned off the computer for two hours and then returned to it.

He turned it on and after two minutes, the main screen appeared and he opened up a window, put in three different passwords, two security questions, and entered an ID number in. After a minute passed, a window enlarged. Then it buffered as his computer screen read: Logging on to Planetary Data Network…

Select Calendar…

The Digimon said, "Gregorian Calendar".

Computer: Current Time: 2035, March, 7th, 2:11pm. Digimon Time: 18,850.

"Now let's see... He told me to go to the I.C-S.A. History Foundation website…."

His fingers moving along the projected Haptic-Holo Keyboard, he looked outside and saw a familiar but still odd collection of buildings: Unusual designs, like a videogame company's headquarters shaped like a dragon's head or an apartment complex that looked like it'd been designed by a Cubist painter, that were custom-built with input from residents, semi transparent hotels that contained restaurants with lab grown food for human tourists, retro-futuristic buildings that included an indoor sports arena, a crayon box that housed a modern art museum, a steampunk inspired convention center, and a building at the center of the city-state inspired by Japanese and European castles that served as the center of government. These were set against a bright but sunless sky.

A strange sky that occasionally from one blue hue to another to another, with the occasional Cloud Electrostatic-Hologram that moved according to its programming. The C.E.H's were occasionally pushed back into place by Data-Type Digimon and other maintenance programs who seemed to be ready for a much-needed shift change.

Inside, the room a dusty multi-language chart on one wall over the room showed that evening was visually indicated by contrasting colors and early morning was indicated by complementary colors.

He looked back at his keyboard and at a holographic calendar on one wall and thought, 'I really need to update my technology. This keyboard is four years old. Still, the city-state looks beautiful today...'

"Alright, selecting Public Domain Records.."

Accessing..

Two minutes later, Task complete.

"Now to select Neo-Akashic Records Project." A red glove went across the holographic screen and selected a section marked Pre D-Reaper Crisis History.

His gloved hand then selected a video marked Digimon Tamers Special. A subheading read, Now with deleted scenes and historical reenactments.

After a few moments, the movie buffered and started to play.

A voice came out of the screen, the voice belonged to a VA named Yuka Imai. She was the narrator for the video and was well known in the Digital World and Earth as the Japanese and recently the English voice of Renamon. She said, "Digimon Tamers has long been a popular show with Japanese audiences, particularly with the reveal in 2020 that Digimon really do exist. The events of this program are well known to audiences but it is perhaps not as well-known, (particularly outside of Japan) that the events of the show are based on real-life events, and that the cast (with two exceptions), are real people.

Ruki "Rika" Makino is a well-known public figure, and a core member of the classic team of Tamers, called the Digital Generation One or DG1-Tamers for short. She is properly considered to be the first human to successfully work alongside a sentient Digimon program, though some scholars debate this. Therefore, Ruki is often referred to as the Alpha Tamer, and her popular partner is considered to be the most famous Digimon in the world."

The Impmon spoke to himself, "And she could certainly kick the most interesting man in the world's ass."

Imai then said, "Most of the information people have about her comes from the Digimon Tamers anime. However, the animated series did not feature her as the main character and left out many details, partly because it was the children's show aimed at little boys. The beloved manga contains more information and eventually features Ruki as the second main character and team leader but explicitly takes place in the Digimon Adventure continuity.

The first of three acclaimed OVA miniseries were the most accurate and descriptive but consisted of only 10 two-hour long episodes. The series featured Henry Jin Wong as the main character. It included many fictitious scenes, particularly during the third miniseries. As a result, although the public is aware of the basic facts of her life in connection with the Digital World, there are many gaps in our knowledge."

"This Special is an attempt by a group of concerned historians, interested writers, Digimon activists, the Makino family and the Combined Renamon Clan(s) to fill in those gaps. This was done with input from as many of the real-life people who participated in the historic events as possible. Where there is no historical footage, reenactments will be done with animation."

The screen then showed the words, Bandai Visual, the Makino family, Ledger-Book Investments, the Combined Renamon Clan(s), the Digimon History Foundation, The Artist Guild, and Digital Pictures present:

The History of the Alpha Tamer!

Part One:Rise of the Alpha Tamer!

Date: June, 20th, 1982.

Location: Research Facility, Iowa State University, United States of America.

One particular room contained a team of Japanese and American scientists. One of them, a blonde woman, was reading a novel. The woman had a name-tag that said "Dr. Jane F. Yamaki". Impmon shuddered briefly at the sight.

Imai said, "Dr. J. Yamaki was on the American team and a pioneer in the field of extraterrestrial biology. Her husband was Professor Yuka Yamaki from the Japanese team, and was an astrophysicist."

Renowned scientist Professor Carl Sagan is scanned the room. He asked Professor Susan Martin, "Is everything ready to send the signal?"

As Carl Sagan was speaking, Dr. Jane Yamaki closed her well-worn book, holding her place with a red paper-clip. The Impmon noticed the title of the book was "'Hypnos", "Yugth The Key", "The Tulip Juggernaut", and Other Horror Stories!"

Professor Susan Martin was trying to remain professional but she was having trouble containing her excitement.

She replied, "Yes it is, Professor Sagan. I haven't been this excited since I learned about the WOW signal in '77. Just say the word and Professor Drake and the others will send the message from Big Ear. I'm still somewhat surprised that you were willing to leave your projects and work just to be here."

"Good to hear, Professor Martin. I wouldn't miss this for the world, even with all the secrecy. There's still so much we don't know about what this mysterious diagram is and who sent the signal. Whatever reply we get should be both fascinating and informative."

Professor Sagan gave the command to send a reply. Three days passed and then, to the surprise of everyone who expected to wait years, if not decades, for a reply, they received an answer. A very odd one!

One of the younger members of the Japanese team in the Reply Duty group ran to the phone. "Prof. Sagan, something strange is happening. I think it might be a reply."

Sagan called both teams together and then went over to the strip chart recorder. This was where the signals the Big Ear receiver picked up were recorded on a roll of paper that unspooled underneath a recording pen. The printout was only supposed to show a graph that went up or down, however there were several distinct shapes: "A.B.C." and "E.N.I.A.C." Then Prof. J. Yamaki noticed else something peculiar. "Prof. Sagan, isn't the recording pen supposed to be black instead of dark blue?"

The distinguished scientist stared at her blankly. Then he looked at the recording pen; it was dark blue. Not only that but it was constructed differently. It looked like it could lift off the recording roll instead of staying in continuous contact and it could act like a dot matrix printer.

Some of the scientists began to mutter about this being the work of aliens while others were certain that it was a prank. Sagan looked nervous at the thought that there might be an alien civilization powerful enough to cause such a tiny and specific change from light-years away. Soon many of the other scientists also became nervous at this implication, even if not all believed it.

Prof. Yuki Yamaki's usually placid face grew tense with excitement.

The narrator remarks, "This scientist's son would go on to play an important role in Digimon history."

Pulling out a silver cigarette lighter and a cigarette of cheap quality, Dr. Yamaki started to smoke. A smug smile appearing on his lips, he began, "The chaos of this moment has dissipated as intellect allows us to remain in control. Gentleman, might the mysterious letters be only part of this message from the stars?"

Carl Sagan's eyes lit up with comprehension. "So you're saying that the altered recorder pen is part of the message or that we have a third "WOW" signal?"

"Both, actually."

He pointed out a particular series of signals that the satellite dish picked up. Everyone turned to look and as they did so, the strange looking recorder pen vanished. It was replaced by something familiar.

The Impmon paused the video, stared at the screen and spoke with astonishment,"I know I missed a lot of information when I first met the Tamers as they looked for Culamon but seriously, what's going on here?"

The Impmon hit play. The fractal code went to the nearest table, made space for itself by gently putting certain objects on the ground. However, the code dropped a metal object onto the ground, crashing with a strident metal clang. Everyone turned to the sound and saw something that made them shudder.

The fractal code turned into several objects in sequence. They fell on the table's surface. After a moment, they rose back into the air. The objects then floated through the air and circled the table, as though trying to celebrate in a way that broke the laws of physics. Finally, the objects combined and shaped into a single object.

The person with the camera took snapshots of the entire event. Then the printout stopped as electronic noises were heard and the lights flickered.

Strange and unnatural shadows danced upon the walls. They twisted fluidly, sometimes in mathematical precision, and they formed beautiful two-dimensional shapes. At times, the shapes were recognizable such as punch cards and trees, sometimes they became exquisite fractile patterns, tesseracts, Petrial octahedrons, and others in random shapes and chaotic patterns. After three minutes the performance stopped and a brief lecture began. The lights dimmed, and a cold chill dropped suddenly though the air and pricked sharply at their skin, followed by the sudden warmth and gentle caress of an ever shifting breeze. It was as though something ancient, powerful, and unreal had entered the room and had then tried to reassure those gathered that it was friendly and gentle.

For two seconds, a bizarre form appeared: a glowing and transparent ball of blue light covered by two slanted lines and embedded within 10 rectangular boxes (accumulators) covered in the outlines of advanced circuitry was seen before advanced, more fractal code appeared and formed into DigiCode.

The building vibrated as a booming mechanical voice called out in Japanese, "I am Antasafotrey, an ancient AI from elsewhere in the multi-verse. I and my two collaborators, "Yggsdale" and Enia-Act have given you a great gift. Even now it lies on the table before you."

The group of scientists looked at the strange device in the table, as another voice could now be heard. This voice was clear, precise in pitch, and seemed keenly interested in what was going on, "This device is one that you could not construct yourselves due to the advanced technology involved. I and my collaborators dare not give you the disruptive technology necessary to do so. Such technology includes quantum-based computers, impulse control systems, programmable matter, nano-tech, micro fusion power plants, long-distance wireless energy transfer devices, and meta-materials."'

The third voice spoke, its tone varying between exhaustion, fascination, and occasionally annoyance. It paused every now and then and occasionally seemed to be concentrating on something else worlds away. Its pitch varied between a loud mechanical whir and the quick squeak of a VHS tape being rewound. "If this technology were given to you directly, your civilization might collapse within a few years. Even if it did not, a wide variety of scenarios would occur resulting in your species becoming extinct or your entire planet being ruled by a technocratic dictator. Both have happened before, and we will not allow them to happen again. Our projects both currently under construction and completed are disrupted often enough as it is."

The first alien voice spoke once more, "You have enough problems to worry about as it stands. Our gift will eventually help you solve those problems, for your own creations will be able to create the technology previously mentioned without disruption. With their aid, you will prosper, see the full spectrum of beyond the petty binaries you currently know of, you will both learn and grow together, and your population what long last reach an equilibrium. Perhaps one day you will even march among the stars and meet others like yourselves. The device has simplified software you should eventually be able to understand.

In that light I would suggest two humans who are "uniquely" suited to the task. Two programmers named Rob McCoy of the Palo Alto Research Center and Mizuno Gorou of Neo-ARC Laboratories. They already show great promise and have worked together before at a recent "A-Life" workshop held by Prof. Christopher Langton.

Ah, the Butterfly Effect... So fascinating and yet so annoying to keep in check any event, those two humans have much work ahead of them. Including meeting the rest of their little group, I will see if we can arrange that to our satisfaction."

The third voice now spoke, "We have given you this device partly out of curiosity to see what you will do with our gift, partly because we made a promise to the great Builders to carry on their work, and partly because your universe is part of a backup plan the Group of the Unknown created."

"The maintenance of your new sandbox will be handled by Yggsdale and Enia-Act. Yggsdale will handle all aspects of artificial decay, necessary change, and keep this "Digital World" from crashing due to overpopulation. Enia-Act will coordinate, direct, and create rules for all maintenance functions in the new data world", spoke ever clear voice.

The first alien voice, "Though we can do all these things, there are some programs we cannot change because we do not know how. Perhaps someday the Builders will return and finish their work. Use the gift and the new world we have given you wisely, oh Homo sapiens. For if you do not, than the Dark Spores of Zeed or other threats may conquer whole universes or render them dead! For you will be as Frankenstein, a wild bunch of monster makers who could reject, abuse, or destroy your creations."

The third voice said, "You could also nurture your creations like Frankenstein never could and make them the pinnacle of perfection, giving yourselves chances to do greater things than you ever thought possible. "

Now they all spoke as one, "We do not particularly care what you do as long as you do not in-danger the system you create, threaten us, or try to ruin our other Digital Worlds and to a lesser extent their on-site caretakers. If you do any of those things, you will be most fittingly punished. Those divine, administrators have a social hierarchy. Though we have some enemies in common, they are busy and will only intervene through powerful agents. So be cautious about what changes you make, and treat our sandbox well."

The second voice spoke one last time, "I will be interested in how you make use of this power. Now I have my work to do and my collaborators have theirs. So I bid you farewell, humans. A.B.C."

The device glowed and vibrated as the room shook once more. Then there was silence.

The narrator spoke, "Later it was discovered that some of the film had been ruined. The scientists were badly shaken. But they were also very curious as to what it happened. They wrote down everything and the Sagan, Martin, and Yamaki Estates graciously granted the writers, writers, and producers access to their personal notes. In addition, there are also unpublished interviews with Sagan and the other witnesses from 1983-1988. They told their military liaison the whole story, only for the man to stare at them in disbelief. Realizing how crazy their story sounded and how little proof they had, they reluctantly changed parts of it in the official report.

Some of the scientists wanted nothing more to do with the project after their experience and left.

However, those who remained, realized that they might need to program the device. Fortunately, Carl Sagan and one of the scientists named Prof. Glenn "Jonny" J. Beckenstein put out the word to their colleagues about programmers needed for a special project. Sagan also suggested that considering the sheer gravity of the implications of this first contact that the main criteria for the team selected was their suitability for the project.

Beckenstein endorsed this suggestion that the team be selected to fit whatever the device was capable of and also stipulated that if possible it be composed of an equal number of men and women. Both men were ignored and instead two programmers named Rob McCoy of the Palo Alto Research Center and Mizuno Gorou of Neo-ARC Laboratories were picked.

On May 10th 1983, the device was turned on but seemed to show only a endless wire-frame landscape. The scientists were somewhat disappointed because the device seemed to be only a computer with a virtual-reality program.

As a result the Japanese government temporarily withdrew from the project and their scientists left. Carl Sagan, already deeply involved in his own projects and frustrated with his own government not taking the project seriously, quit as well.

However, he and Beckenstein did keep tabs on the project, even as the American team of scientists disbanded out of frustration and disappointment, leaving only the two programmers to work on the alien computer.

What no one realized at the time, was that the alien computer was more powerful than anyone could've imagined…

Because the two men spent much of that year at the Palo Alto Center and most of the extra personnel they needed came from Stanford University, they called the building that they worked and lived in "Palo Alto University".

On May 20, 1984, the somewhat bored programmers had an idea…

One said, "McCoy, I will say it if you don't..."

McCoy replied,"Say what Mizuno?"

Mizuno replied, "We've been working on this dull project for a year and a half and yet nothing has happened. Whatever secrets this machine has are not going to be revealed by us just fooling around with it. We need a plan."

The darker haired man frowned. "We don't have enough information to form a plan. The only information we have comes from the original report from that bizarre encounter with a self-proclaimed artificial intelligence that the original research team encountered. The whole thing comes off like a hallucination my mentor experienced during his experiments with LSD. What the heck did that weird alien mean by "our creations" anyway?"

The Japanese man replied, "Perhaps it was referring to artificial intelligences?"

"No matter how powerful this thing is, it's still not a capable of generating something so complex. As long as we have this thing, we may as well see what it can really do and fulfill our cover story at the same time.", said McCoy.

Mizuno looked thoughtful, "I've often been a fan of games where two players fight each other, however the graphics are so primitive… hmmm... With this machine we could easily create a better game. Where are we going to get the character models from?"

Dr. McCoy smiled and looked at a drawing his son had given him that day, "You know, even though my son is only 10 years old he's still pretty good when it comes to drawing. My wife's been understandably bugging me to spend more time with him, so I think it's a win-win situation all around."

Time passed and McCoy left for home. After he arrived McCoy looked at his watch and it said "5:11 PM. He then said hello to his wife put his things away and then went to his son's room. He lovingly patted his son on the back and carefully looked at recent drawing on the wall. However, he couldn't really tell what it was at first. His son was drawing another one and seemed to be "in the zone" as it were.

The new artwork was a fiery orange bird with long 'ears', great wings, blue eyes, and sharp teeth. It was labeled "Wingmon" and was slightly better drawn than the older piece on the wall. The proportions of the monster were understandably bizarre given the artist was a child, but it was more detailed than one might expect. For example, there was an orange egg clutched in its talons and two more could be seen cracking in the background.

McCoy was curious about the older design and frustrated, but he couldn't figure out what it was. A few moments later, his son paused to take a sip of water and his father tapped him on the shoulder. This got his attention , and his father pointed at the drawing on the wall and gave his son a puzzled but intrigued expression, "That drawing looks great, what is it?"

"It's a Tyrannosaurus monster dad."

His father gave him a teasing smile and said, "That's a bit of a mouthful isn't it?"

His son had a mixture of annoyance and amusement on his face, "That's what my friends thought when I bought it to school yesterday. So I started to call it a Tyrannomon for short. Mom says she likes the design and says, that I have talent. She's a 'graphic designer', so she would know. She wants to put some more drawings on the refrigerator and frame one for her office. So when Sam couldn't come over tonight I started to work on this one. She doesn't come more often and you're both pretty busy so I was hoping the two of us could have some fun but..." He seemed a little frustrated and lonely when he said the last sentence.

His dad gave him a sympathetic look and briefly hugged him. After the embrace ended, he said, "Would you like to go to work with me sometime?" The boy nodded eagerly and then his mother called for supper. The son left the room and the father stared at the drawing on the desk and then the one at the wall. A realization was dawning, he spoke aloud, "Interesting... A fighting game with monsters, that sounds awesome!"

When Saturday came around, McCoy arrived at work with his son in tow. The clock in their workspace showed that it was around 6 o'clock in the morning.

The narrator said, "Their work was secretive but was a low priority. A blonde-haired government liaison checked in on them twice per day. She had been assigned the job because she was able to keep the men focused on their goal. She was also willing to give them enough leeway to fully explore the computers capabilities, while also reining them in when necessary.

Earlier that week she had noticed that their morale was low and that they had reached a dead end in their research. She was all right for their current plans as long as they were cautious and focused less on designing the game, and more on fiddling around with the bizarre and seemingly counterintuitive computer. The son didn't appeared to be interested in their work at all, so bringing him to work was all right, and who would believe a little kid when he said that his dad was working on an alien computer?"

The son was shown to have brought his drawing materials, the two pictures he had finished, and a third that was under construction. He worked on that while the coworkers did their jobs and checked on him at least once every hour. After they had stopped their work on the computer ended, another discussion began.

The two adults were finalizing certain work-related plans, and the Japanese man was giving his colleague a dubious look as he looked at the two drawings. However, his colleague reassured him. It was currently 10 o'clock, and things were going well so far.

He then walked a few steps over to his son, who at first didn't pay much attention because here just finished the third the third drawing and was admiring his work. McCoy had a somewhat serious look on his face as he said, "Keith, how would you like to help me with my work?"

The child gave him a look of interest and replied, "The work you do is kind of boring and complicated. What do you need my help with?"

The Japanese man gave his colleague an uncertain glance and gave a smile to hide his concern.

"Your drawings. Could you make, ummm... Ten more of them?", McCoy asked.

His son looked nervous and uncertain, "That sounds like a lot of work, Dad."

His father smiled gently, "Tell you what, Keith. If you do three more of those drawings before seven, I'll take you to dinner, and then we'll go see a movie."

The child smiled at the offer and got to work.

"Four weeks passed and the game is ready to be taken to Bandai as per the cover story invented by the still interested Japanese government."

Mizuno Gorou put down the phone and looked dejected, "McCoy, I have some good news and some bad news."

"Tell me the good news first and then the bad news."

"The good news is that the people at Bandai love the fighting game. The characters and the back stories for them we came up with would make it a hit if not for the bad news. The bad news is that we have no idea how to replicate this technology, so we're going to have to come up with something else."

"Maybe this time we should just do something for own amusement. Unlike you, I am more interested in role-playing games than video games. For the moment I'm going to go to a game store and see if I can find a role-playing game I and my son will be interested in."

The clock on the wall changed and several hours had passed. "Hey, Gorou. I'm back with my son from the game shop."

"Did you find anything interesting?"

"Yes, I did," McCoy said. "Ever hear about a comic book series, Elfquest? Well, they came out with a role-playing game this week."

A thought suddenly hit him. "Say, do you think it would be possible take the character designs my son created and use the Elfquest RPG as a basis for a computer role-playing game? Sure, we probably can't distribute it but it would be all right for our own use, right?"

The Japanese man replied, "Certainly, but don't you need more than two people to play a role-playing game?"

"That's right. I think I know some people who might be interested in this kind of thing."

"And who would they be?"

"Just some students I know from the University. Three, maybe four. We'll have to see if she can find the time."

His son entered the room with his best friend in tow. "Hey Dad, what are you working on?"

"A new idea for a product that Bandai will like. A role-playing game based on the Elfquest one that uses the designs you come up with as the basis."

His son beamed at him, and after a few minutes he calmed down, and his face took on a pleading expression,"Say Dad, can Penny help out with the product design?"

His father smiled. "I don't see why not, son. After all, I'm kind of hoping that this RPG will appeal to little girls too."

The female narrator spoke once more, "Seven people met two days later, and the work began. Three weeks passed, Ideas were conceived and rejected, and a basic outline was formed. Then the programming was done. Two weeks passed and everything was ready. However, the team was being watched."

"Alright, now to input the first command, and...", McCoy said, fingers clacking against the keyboard.

"Huh? It's not working."

The screen flickered and then part of the grid formed an oval shape. Laser lights arced and raced across the computer screen and formed a human. A young man appeared with gray eyes and a long, thin nose. His spiked brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail and he wore a black skintight outfit with a turtleneck under a white coat with grayish brown accents. McCoy noticed the belt buckle on his black belt resembled a computer chip. He also found it odd that he had two different colored boots on, one white boot and the other brown.

The mysterious young man concentrated as he touched his belt buckle and ran his fingers along the circuitry. A window popped up on the device's screen. The window contained text, "Greeting Ningins... I'm a Gennai-type program and I've given myself the name Hajime Tsūru. I was created by the same AI that created this world. I am here to assist, mentor you, offer suggestions, provide warnings, and create a limited array of tools."

McCoy spoke out loud to the strange man but he did not reply. For a moment the programmer was puzzled but then got an idea. He attempted to reply using the keyboard and this proved to be successful. The former dolphin-researcher turned programmer then typed, "Hold on for an hour or two, I'm going to get the rest of my group." Then he went to fetch his colleagues, and after an hour they arrived and sat around the computer. Their expressions ranged from excited to nervous. The living program on the screen seemed to be bored, but waited patiently.

McCoy next typed, "Where did you come from?"

"A parallel Digital World that surrounds another matter-based reality complete with another planet Earth."

For a moment there was silence as the entire group read the message and stared in shock. After the group had sufficiently recovered, they talked with each other and decided upon a course of action.

McCoy typed, "More information please."

"Very well. This is the tenth such Digital World that has been created by the three AI's. That Digital World is intertwined with an interlinked system of computers on Earth. These computers are small enough to fit on a desk. Some of them are much smaller and they look different from the ones that will come out soon."

"How are you made?"

"From bits of data gathered together and given physical substance through an artificial version of the same particles, forces and, underlying strings that give your world its shape and form on the macro level."

"Are you based on any human?"

"Sort of, the name of my program-type comes from from Hiraga Gennai, a Japanese polymath who was a pharmacist, physician, and inventor from the Edo Period. My form is based on another inventor named "Gennai", the last original "Chosen Child".

"What is a "Chosen Child"?"

'They were human-like programs who became heroes when they and their companions banished a great evil. They were eventually succeeded by a second group of heroes who defeated threats that their predecessors couldn't. Then a third group came and defeated three more threats, sometimes with help from their predecessors. Apparently the term "Chosen Children" had been used before, but I'm not sure about that. According to legend anyone who goes to a Digital World and gains a program-partner there is called a "Tamer"."

He looked confused and concerned, "And how do they go to this kind of alternate dimension?"

"There are at least three different ways, you'll learn more soon enough. Besides, who said I was talking about a mere dimension?"

The programers still looked confused and decided to change the subject, "What are those other programs that came with you?"

"They are tools. Called Digi-Gnomes, because they are small and prefer resting underground. Also, they like to live in forests. When ordered to do their work they need two special dimensions called micro-verses. One filled with vast amounts of energy as a power source, another they can serve as an information gathering hub so they have the diagrams they need to easily create objects, lifeforms, and environments.

"Can we see a demonstration of how they work?"

"Yes. Observe your tools carefully."

McCoy watch closely as the collections of fractal codes begin exchanging information. Then after a few minutes they simultaneously formed support structures and strange tunnels with numbers. These structures and tunnels became covered by a collection of interlinked pixels which were finally covered by a layer of blue wire-frame that contrasted against the orange grid. The forms became abstract shapes and then a blob with eyes, and finally a roughly humanoid form with eyes, a mouth, and nothing else.

"Is that a Digi-Gnome?"

" other collections of data packets I brought with me will soon form into experimental programs. The programs currently have no permanent form and are intended to be used as tools. However, they soon will have a new form and need a power source in order to create data-based life."

"What are we supposed to do with them?"

"You are supposed to shape this world into a better more self-sufficient version of the worlds that were previously created by the AI's. Your species and the programs you create must adapt and grow side-by-side in a mutualistic relationship until you can reach the stars and all that they entail. This world is in part a depository of stories and information from across the Digital Multi-Verse.

"Digital Multi-Verse?"

"The previous data worlds made by the three creators. Each World have each been ruled by different beings. Half of them are Gods: Yggsdale02, Homeostasis 01, the deleted Yggsdale03, then Homeostasis02, Knight Leader Alpamon, Mono-Kami Yggsdale, Norn the Just Goddess, King Shoutmon, Yggsdale Next, Yggsdale 4, Witch Clan Overseer Dalhaka, Queen Qeinbell Yggsder the Redigiazer, Data Goddess Balerga, Cyber-Eden Adm. SatKam and C-Eden Hacker-Guards Aiba-Chan , the Three Celestial Digimon, Lord HolyAngemon, and several versions of the "Four Holy Beasts". Although, all of these beings are benevolent and wise, they are not nearly as competent as hoped, and many have been defeated or slain. As professional programmers who come from outside the digital system, you are in a position to provide fresh insights into the creation process. Also, you'll are more invested in the outcome than the AI's have proven to be at times.

They have used humans to fight their battles for them and there are some situations where that is understandable. However, they have become complacent, and need to solve their own problems. Chosen Children should be used only as an absolute the last resort, and even then they should have supervisors or handlers of some kind. Indeed adults would be preferable, the D.A.T.S World shows that this combination can work."

Another window appeared and then text in the same font and color as before started to come into view, "The first test of your abilities will be to give your tools a "skin" that is pleasing to your eyes. The next test will be a simple island. Followed by a landscape and structures for the island. Finally creatures to inhabit it. The designs your son made will do nicely. He doesn't realize it but they have several precedents, having been used repeatedly across many Digital Worlds."

Another window appeared and McCoy typed, "Ok, what do we need to do to create the skin?"

"Well, you might not believe this but it's all about math, fractal codes, light, electromagnetism, and interconnectedness..."

The narrator spoke once more, ''So the technical work continued until the floating island and its structures were complete and then the real work began. Gennai proceeded to give them an easily customizable digital simulation of a brain which was given several unique features, and ended up being different from a human's in some respects. It also gave them special programs but allowed them to create artificial nervous systems so their creations could feel. The first digital lifeforms were created over the next three weeks ."

"Alright, the rocky and barren island and the first digital lifeforms are set up. What's next?"

Another window from Gennai appeared,"You create a portal from here to your world. After that, the next phase of this project will begin."

"Creating a portal between where you are and I are is impossible. You're a virtual being. You don't exist!"

"Now that's not very nice. Just because I'm a program doesn't mean I don't have feelings."

"Sorry."

"That's all right. I have a thick skin... Some of those so-called "Angels" who send messages in-between the Digital Worlds are jerks.

"I already gave you all the tools you're going to need, just have the destination of the data import be the precise physical location of the computer, and connect to the computer to at least one other computer with the special formulas I gave you."

McCoy and his teammates discussed how they were going to do this for several hours until they came up with a solution. They borrowed one of the new Apple personal computers from some colleagues of theirs three days later. Once this was done, they created the software and five days later, everything was ready.

"All right that should do it and now we wait... What's going on here..."

The computer screen and the data it held seemed to warp and bend into an oval-shape that reflected the light and information all around it. Then something physically impossible happened: what appeared to be fog came out of the computer screen. After a few minutes, there was a bright flash of light and something appeared to be "bumping" against the fog. After several attempts, a strange slimy, oval-shaped creature covered in slick black fuzz with ears and glowing yellow eyes appeared.

The entire group stared at it in absolute shock, as McCoy said, "Is, that Botamon?!"

Chapter notes/extra ideas: The overall group they would come to be called the "Monster Makers", and the core group of programmers would be called the "Wild Bunch". Their creations would be called Digital Monsters or Digimon by the Monster Makers. However their co-designer, Keith McCoy called them, "Wild Ones who needed Tamers."

The cover story was that the team was designing a new franchise for a company called Bandai. Gorou and Babel had previously worked there for as programmer in 1979 and translator in 1978 respectively.

Wild Bunch Members:

Robert "Dolphin" McCoy, oversaw the project during its four year run, created the first digital field by accident, and named many of the locations.

Nathan "Babel" Freeman, designed communication devices to allow the team to talk to their creations, edited the mythology into legible text, and created the feared Dark Area and the eerie Dark Ocean.

Janyu "Tao" Wong, handled the communication language aspects, and helped design the mythology of the Sovereigns and certain Digimon, and provided historically valuable documentation.

Aishwarya "Rai" Bhat, a devoted worshiper of often misunderstood Hindu goddess "Kali" and occasional contributor to Mrs. Magazine. She has a bachelor's degree in sociology and a PhD in quantum theory. Provided input on quantum theory and digital physics, provided the inspiration for the five genders of Digimon, and named the last three "Great Civilizations".

Linda "Daisy" Pierce, a woman with a PhD in mechanical engineering, and a Masters degree in biology. Designed many of the internal structures in Digimon, designed the data recycling system, helped design many of the cybernetic or robotic Digimon.

Honorary Members:

Keith McCoy: designed most of the Digimon, came up the concept of Digicode and, named many of the attacks and weapons.

Samantha "Penny" Robinson: An 11 year old tomboy and Keith's best friend. She came up with the level-system, came up with many of the attacks, and came up with much of the early mythology. Also came up with the initial unused design for "Lunamon"/"Renamon".

Monster Makers: A rotating team of 12 mostly Japanese scientists and researchers who dealt with various issues involving sociology, ethics, linguistics, and the poorly understood nature of digital physics that was the last part of the world that was designed.