The Digimon Emperor sat in the near-darkness of his throne room and fought back the urge to laugh. It was all coming true, all his plans, all his schemes, they were all coming to fruition. No more would the Real-World live their idealistic life, submersed in their own stupidity, very soon now his domination over the Digi-World would be complete. After that, the Real World would feel his wrath and he would be Lord over all. The thought pleased him. With the birth of his newest -- and greatest -- minion, he would at last be able to destroy those Digi-Destined who had stood in his way for so long. Kimeramon would be his crowning achievement. His ultimate warrior, his true partner.

He smirked, imagining the glory of that day. When he would reign supreme, when both worlds bowed to him, their rightful master. Suddenly, his thoughts were cut off, there was something behind him. He could feel it, a creeping darkness, a sensation of absolute despair. he turned slowly, berating himself for such primitive superstitions. Of course there would be no one behind him, he knew better than most

Something stood behind him. The Digimon Emperor had to fight the urge to leap back, cold sweat broke out along his back and he had to force himself to hold his ground. It wasn't that this particular creature was frightening, it was that, well, the thing exuded a sense of...despair.

The Digimon ( what else could it be?) Took the form of a humanoid figure, but there was no distinction and it seemed to be made of energy rather than matter. It was dark as the night, ripples seemed to spread through it, changing and dancing across the surface. The eyes were white, pale spirals moved slowly in its pupils even as the Digimon observed him. There was no expression on its face.

" Who are you?" Snarled Ken, in no mood for games, he raised his hand, clutching the handle of the whip. If this foolish creature thought it would be able top beat him it was far from right! With a single word, he could have guards rush in and delete the intruder on the spot, but no, he would much rather take care of it himself.

The whip cracked before the intruder had the chance to answer, Ken had aimed for a blow to the back, painful as possible but without doing any major damage. The whip bit down upon the darkened mass of energy that was the things body, but the creature didn't react in the slightest. Ken realized why he was getting such a weird feeling from the it -- any normal human, or Digimon, for that matter, used body language far more than they realized. Micro expressions passed over their faces, twitches of the arms and legs, tightening of muscles. All could be used to extrapolate just what they were thinking. It was an art form that Ken had often used himself and it never failed to leave someone speechless. The reason that this creature seemed to eerie was that it did use body language at all. No twitches, no movements beyond what it specifically meant to do, and no facial expression. It was like... it was like talking to a corpse.

The thing smiled, " Do you really want to challenge us?"

Ken growled, swinging his whip around for a blow to the neck, but it burst into flame as it made contact with the Digimon! The creature continued to look at him, and that annoying smile continued, at last it said, " We would have thought you'd have more kindness for someone come a very long way to aid you."

"Oh, and what can you do for me?"

" I am not human, as you have doubtless realized. Nor am I one of those insults against reality, ''Digimon''. "

Suddenly, a vision swam before Ken's eyes, and he saw a planet -- like Earth but not. The people there were mighty and powerful, he knew with an instinct, he recognised equals in every single one of them! Impossible! He was a genus! How could so many of them be equal to him? The thing's voice narrated the vision.

" There once was a people, much like humanity is now."

The vision was zooming in, through the cloud cover, a searing emerald light flashed from every building, massive energy build-ups that would be enough to fry any Digimon, and these people walked through them like they were nothing?

" And these people, the Spirals, were the greatest species ever to walk the multiverse, harnessing a power unique to them and their descendants, they were able to alter the laws of reality on whim, becoming, very much like Gods to a mere human such as yourself."

Ken saw one of them now, a tall man, blonde hair spilled down his face and he exuded an aura of power, the city rose around him buildings made to look like Spirals! It was madness, and yet.. he felt such power coming from this place. He had to know more about it! He could control it, and it would allow him to finally destroy the Digi-Destined.

" They constructed for themselves, fleets of war machines, giant mecha, some bigger than planets, some bigger than entire galaxies to wage battle in their name. For you see, the power of Spiral is not a property taken from any place, it is not mined or created by machines. It is a commodity of the soul, and only those who truly believe they can do the impossible, only the hot-blooded and the fearless can access it. It did, of course, have side-effects."

Suddenly, he saw two giant mecha grappling, missiles exploding around them, buildings were crushed under them but they didn't seem to care. The green energy seemed to be being generated by them. The scene changed, now two fleets of ships were duelling in space, trading enough fire-power to destroy whole worlds as they battled.

" Hot-blooded by nature, the Spirals fractured into multiple factions and warring empires. And since every one of them had the power to alter reality, the outcome of any battle was truly devastating for the universe at large."

Now, two mech were racing at each other, their size... Ken just couldn't understand -- they looked as big as galaxies, but surely that was impossible, right?

" As the war dragged on, the power level rose, more and more hot-blooded individuals were born and raised to do battle. But you see, the original Spiral race vanished... Simply gone in a flash. No one knows how or why, beings that powerful shouldn't be able to vanish as they did. Most of the warring factions didn't notice, but one did. The direct descendants of the Spirals, and the most advanced of all of them. These new Spirals made a horrifying discovery. That the use of Spiral Power would eventually doom the universe, that every time it was called upon, the great destruction got a little bit closer. They called this the ''Spiral Nemesis'' and it was the one thing that the Spirals could not escape from. So the Spirals thought, for many years and slowly, a grim plan formed."

A new image, this time it was of a Spiral, dark haired, he was watching a world burn, great sadness in his eyes, his own home world! Realized Ken with shock, he'd destroyed his own planet!

" Every planet they controlled they killed, save for one. Their capital. There, they gathered in their billions, the power that was Spiral had to be contained, at all costs. A new type of mecha were created, specifically to defeat Spiral mechs. And the Spirals themselves went into sleep, billions of them sleeping so that their hidden power could never again threaten the universe. But the other factions still fought on, like petulant children, refusing to see the real threat. Something had to be done."

Now, he saw war, as dark, misshapen mechs fought and won against what he now knew where Spiral mechs.

" The Traitor Spirals, as they became known, elected for an elite few to remain in the world of the living, these being were hooked up to machines, their bodies dissected so they could project their minds anywhere, using high technology in place of Spiral energy. It was at this time, that they took their true name. The Anti-Spirals. One by one, they fought and destroyed the Spiral Factions. Until only one remained. Earth."

Ken jolted, but the being continued, " Not your Earth, boy, but another one, a mirror universe, if you will. The Spirals of Earth were particularly tough and managed to wage war for many years before their eventually defeat. In the end, they were betrayed be a Spiral Warrior of their own, a man called Lord Genome, he made a pact with the Anti-Spirals -- he would aid them to conquer the planet and in return they would not destroy it, but allow him to rule. This they did, for Genome kept down the number of Spirals and all was well.... that is until we found this place."

The thing's emotionless voice grew colder, if at all possible, " Digimon, change, evolution, these things are at the very core of what it means to be a Spiral. It cannot be allowed to continue."

" Oh, and what are you going to do about it?" Demanded Ken, angrily.

" Me? Nothing, but you are going to do something."

" Oh yeah? Make me."

" Very well, I am an Anti-Spiral, and I have come to offer you a deal."

" I'm listening."

" We will give you the power to conquer this world -- the human one too, in return, you will help us in ensuring there is no more of this Digivolution nonsense. "

" And if I don't?"

" Then I will kill you and do it myself."

Ken, after seeing what he had, had no doubt that the Anti-Spiral could make good on his threat and besides, it wouldn't hurt his plans?

" Fine, I'll work with you, but there's some things I need to know. Like why you need me?"

" All in due time," the Anti-Spiral said, " all in due time."