Preface - Sources of Power

"Where the hell did Willis get his hands on that!"

"Ow…"

It was somehow disturbing that Vahn could still burst my eardrums even though we were both dead.

"Shut it, moron boy. Explain to me just how Willis, who could barely get his Digimon to champion, got his hands on a flying battle fotress digimon rated at super mega!"

"You told me to skip it. I wanted talk about Willis before we started on Henry, but you told me to skip it."

"That's because I knew who Willis was… but this… this, needs explaining."

"Okay… Alright, the short story is that it's because Willis carries the Crest of Fate."

"Ordinarily, I'd say fine, and we'd move on, but we both know that no crest has the power to keep a digimon there. Ascend to and fight a battle in that state, yes. Hours upon hours in that state, no."

I paused for a moment.

"Courage, Friendship, Intelligence, Love, Sincerity, Reliabiliy, Hope, Light, Darkness, Kindness, Miracles, and Fate. Which two don't fit?"

"Wha…?"

"Which two don't fit? There are four sources of true power in the digital world. The gods (sovereigns), the land (catalysts), the people (spirits), and the virtues (crests). If the crests are virtues, which two aren't virtues?"

He thought for a moment and I let it come to him.

"…I suppose Light and Darkness can be virtues from a certain point of view, so it has to be Miracles and Fate."

"Exactly. Fate and Miracles aren't crests at all. Light and Darkness are types of over-crests. They've got a little more power than the others, and can even exert a little control over them. Fate and Miracles are primal forces in the digital world, and like Light and Darkness are always in opposition. Heh. It's a minor miracle in and of itself that Davis and Willis Get along so well."

"Where does the Hazard fit in?"

"Let's… save that for another time."

"…Fine. What about the digi-eggs then? Where do they fit in on your little chart above?"

"They don't. They're a failed experiment."

"Eh?"

"Uhg. This goes a bit deeper into the theory. Okay. Let's start simple. What is a miracle?"

"Pulling off the impossible."

"Right. A miracle is to defy the odds. Defy fate. Davis was using the power of the Crest of Miracles from almost the beginning. He wanted to be like Tai, so he got it. How many times has Davis almost been dog chow, and made it when he shouldn't have?"

"You could say that about all of them."

"Fair enough, but what about the weird dimension they were trapped in while fighting MaloMyotismon? Somehow Davis, right when he needs it, managed to do the impossible. Heck, look at what he's done more recently. His C-Ark is the only one not connected to a catalyst."

"Right to the crest of Miracles?

"Exactly. Okay, as far as power goes, Fate and Miracles are the top of the food chain. Just below them are what I think of as 'transmitter' powers, the gods and the land.

"A transmitter power has a heck of a lot of power at its command, but can only use a smaller portion of it. The rest though, they can transmit to others to use."

"Digi-cores and the crystal matrix."

"Right again. But there are also the 'receiver' powers. These get a far more significant power boost. The people, or spirits, rose from the land, and the virtues, or crests, descended from the gods."

"But why would the sovereigns create the crest of Darkness?"

"Who says they did?"

"Huh? Oh. Ohh… Wait, how do the digi-eggs fit in?"

"Oh. Right. The digi-eggs were an experiment, as I said. The sovereigns wanted to see if they could turns receivers into transmitters, and extend their influence, establishing a chain of command. It worked almost flawlessly, except…"

"The armor level is incredibly weak… except for Fate and Miracles, which were obviously much stronger."

"Yep. The only thing I never figured out was why there are armor level digimon without coming from digi-eggs."

Vahn snorted. "You didn't figure that out? Even after everything else you know? Armor level has been around since the beginning. The digi-eggs make a more powerful armor digimon but like you said, the increase isn't much. It's just an alternate to champion. Wait, none of this tells me how Willis got that digimon."

I shrugged, even if he couldn't see it.

"We got sidetracked. It's still a bit of a story though. Okay, it started in suburbs of Denver Colorado, The United States of America, Eastern Quadrant. It started about when Henry entered the digital world looking for Jeri…"