(A/N: FINALLY! I don't know what the problem was with me being unable to upload documents, but it seems like things are back in working order. Now things can get back to normal. So, lets get on with the next chapter.)

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 10: Primary Village

It seemed his little experiment was a success. The attack on Machine Tower had indeed paid off. Not only had his black gear bent Ballistamon to his will, it had also reverted him to his evil Champion level stage. Yes, his test had been most profitable.

There had been one minor set back though. Those human children and their Digimon friend had sabotaged things. They discovered it was his black gear that had been causing all the trouble and destroyed it, breaking his control over the machine Digimon.

It didn't really matter though. In the grand scheme of things, Machine Tower wasn't all that important. He could always go back and claim it later. The real prize was the results of his experiment. His black gears worked. True, he may have lost one, but he had several more left, and File Island had no shortage of them; he could always get more.

Now came the time to set his sights on his main goal. There was a spot on this island that was perhaps the most valuable in the entire Digital World. True, there were numerous valuable and important places, but this one was special. It was the starting point of all life, where Digimon were reborn after they died. As such, many considered it to be the "center" of the Digital World.

To him, it was his ticket to taking over. It still wouldn't be easy though. As strong as he was, it would be impossible for him alone to rule over all the Baby and In-Training Digimon; there were just too many. This was why he was using his black gears to take control of their guardians. With them under his control, he could enforce his will on the Baby and In-Training Digimon through them. And with his successful experiment on Machine Tower, he could now set his plan in motion.

He summoned forth another black gear. This one would be the first, the starting point in his master plan to rule. With a wave of his hand, he sent it out into the distance with a set target in mind.

"Now it begins."

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"Well, I'll be," Shoutmon awed. "It's been a long time since I was here."

Following close behind, the teens looked at what exactly here was. From the looks of it, they had stumbled across a massively large playpen or daycare center that stretched on for miles. They had no idea what it was, but after exploring Machine Tower, they didn't think much would surprise them.

It had been a real let down to discover that the machine Digimon were unable to return them home. They had been hoping that with as technologically advanced as Machine Tower was, they would have some way to send them home. Alas, it seemed that no form of technology could do that.

Datamon had claimed that only a rare select few extraordinarily powerful Digimon could perform inter-dimensional travel, and even then, the Real World was beyond their reach. Not only that, it was widely believed that, since they were made of data, that Digimon could not survive in the Real World, and so attempting to go there was not only considered blasphemy, but just plain crazy and suicidal.

That wasn't to say that it wasn't possible. It must be since the five of them had somehow come to the Digital World. And so they had resumed their journey to Cherubimon's home, and after a few days of traveling, they now found themselves here.

"What is this place?" TK asked. "It looks like a giant playpen."

"I think that's what it is," Tai remarked.

Kari glanced at Shoutmon. "Is it?"

He shrugged. "More or less. This is Primary Village. It's where all Digimon are born."

"Oh," said Davis, trying to understand, "so it's like one big paternity ward?"

The look Shoutmon gave him indicated that he had no idea what the boy was talking about. "If that's how things work in your world, I guess."

"I don't think we're on the same page," Takuya replied. "How about you explain things to us, and we'll explain our ways to you."

Shoutmon shrugged. "Fair enough. I told you before that Digimon never really die. When they do, their care data reconfigures into a Digi-Egg. This is where the eggs materialize. Look, here comes one now."

He pointed a few yards away. The spot he was pointing at began to distort. Glowing particles of data were appearing out of thin air and coming together. A large colorful egg the size of a football appeared, and the air around it became still once more.

"See," said Shoutmon. "That poor soul met their end somewhere in this world, so now they've ended up back here. Once it hatches, they'll be able to start over again to reach the same level they were at before, or higher, or maybe they'll even take a different Digivolutionary route."

"Oh, I get it," said Takato. "It's almost like having your game reset and staring back at the save point you were at last. But all the experience you gained since you last saved is lost."

Shoutmon gave him a bewildered look. "Yeah… sure, whatever."

"So you started out here too?" Kari asked.

The dragon Digimon nodded. "Yup, we all did. And let me tell you, dying is not fun, and it's annoying as heck." He gave them a curious look. "So how does birth work in your world?"

Immediately, all the boy's faces dropped. They shared an uneasy look and began sweating nervously before glaring at Takuya for offering to tell Shoutmon how things worked.

Kari rolled her eyes. "What is it with boys and finding this subject so uneasy?" She shook her head. "I'll explain things. You see, Shoutmon, when two people love each other very, very much…"

She then proceeded to give the Digimon a thorough lesson on human reproduction. Knowing that he had no knowledge on how things worked in the human world, she tried to give him as much information as she could, finding no discomfort in the topic, viewing it as a natural and beautiful part of life.

She didn't skim over the details either, not even of the deed itself, and what happened to a woman's body each month when they didn't conceive. The boys continued to look increasingly uncomfortable, and Tai appeared to be utter appalled and the most shocked that his little sister actually knew so much on the subject.

By the time she finished, Shoutmon looked pale and disturbed. "Seriously? Babies actually come out of… there? But… but that's… that's disgusting!"

"You're preaching to the choir," Davis agreed.

Kari shook her head. "It's not disgusting, it's perfectly natural, and it's how things work in the Real World."

Shoutmon shivered and brushed his arms off as if he felt dirty. "That's so wrong. I can understand the part about taking mates, most species of Digimon do that too, but not for… breeding purposes. But the whole monthly bleeding thing, and the pregnancy, and labor, and childbirth stuff you mentioned, that's just so… blah!"

"Don't we know it," Tai grumbled.

Kari chuckled. "You boys are all alike, no matter what dimension."

"I guess it makes sense that Digimon don't reproduce," Tai noted. "Since they never really die, if they did reproduce more, there'd be overpopulation."

Shoutmon shook his finger at him. "There are some rare cases where, if the data of a very powerful Digimon is not absorbed, it will create a brand new Digimon instead of just disappearing, but that hardly ever happens. But overpopulation isn't really a problem either since Digimon tend to DNA Digivolve from time to time." He shook his head. "Well, come on, I'll show you how things work in the Digital World."

They followed him into the village. The further in they went, the less it seemed like a village and the more it seemed like a child's playpen. Not only that, but Digi-Eggs of all different colors and patterns were scattered all over the place. There were also strange cribs that contained Baby Digimon. Some were empty, the occupants playing a short distance away.

"Hey," said Takato, "um, shouldn't a big chicken be sitting on these?"

Shoutmon gave him a confused look. "Why would you sit on eggs? Are you trying to crush them?"

"Course not," Takuya replied. "That's just what birds do in our world. They sit on them to use their body heat to keep the eggs warm in order to make them hatch."

Shoutmon just shrugged. "I don't know about keeping them warm. Digi-Eggs hatch no matter what temperature. Rubbing them gently helps though." He picked up a random egg and began rubbing it. "This helps coax them out, and it also creates static they can use as energy to help them develop. Oh, look at that!"

The egg he held began to crack. Not in a bad way, but in the hatching sense. The eggshells fell away, and Shoutmon now held a newborn Baby Digimon.

"Aww," Kari cooed. "It's so cute."

Shoutmon scoffed. "Cute, right. For all you know, this could be the Baby form of the Ogremon, Kuwagamon, or Fangmon we faced." Kari jumped back, and he snickered. "Don't worry, it's not. Their eggs haven't had enough time to develop for them to hatch yet. Besides, the truly evil Digimon that are dead set on total domination are never allowed to reach their full potential again; we that fight for the light make sure of that. For other bad Digimon, well, we just hope that dying was punishment enough and they learned their lesson."

By his feet, the eggshells broke into data and reform into a new cradle. Smiling, Shoutmon set the Baby Digimon down in its new resting place.

"That was cool," said TK. "It's kind of like recycling."

"Of sorts," Shoutmon agreed. "They'll last until the Baby Digimon Digivolves, then break down into data again."

Davis looked at an egg curiously. "Hey, what happened if an egg gets smashed?"

Shoutmon raised an eyebrow. "What do you think? It reconfigures again, and the developing process starts all over again."

Davis cut his eyes at him. "Well, excuse me."

"Down Tornado!"

The attack came out of nowhere. By the time they turned to the angry voice, a tornado was whirling towards them. Within this tornado were numerous feathers, and the cold wind the spinning vortex caused sent them flying towards the teens.

Shoutmon reacted quickly. This involved head-butting Davis in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him, and him out of the path of the feathers, which pierced the ground where he was standing as if they were knives.

The mini-tornado died down, and behind it came a Digimon rushing forward to meet them. It was a large majestic swan, truly beautiful, but it wore a scowl on its face. And behind it was a group of In-Training Digimon, bouncing to keep up.

"Get away from my babies!" the swan Digimon seethed. She moved in front of the Baby Digimon that had just hatched, holding her wings out protectively. "If you hurt any of them, I'll end you."

Davis stood up, whipping out his Digivice. "Oh, yeah!"

Tai held up his hand out in front of his lookalike and shook his head, not taking his eyes off the swan Digimon. "We're not here to hurt anyone. We're just passing through."

The swan Digimon glared at him. "I heard that one," she motioned to Davis, "talk about smashing my eggs."

Shoutmon waved his arms wildly. "No, no, no! He asked what would happen if one was smashed, not that he was going to do it. See, these folks are from another world. They're humans, and things work differently in their world, so they were only curious. This one, though," he motioned at Davis, "is a bit of an idiot, and doesn't always think before he talks."

"Hey!"

In the newly formed cradle, the Baby Digimon addressed the swan Digimon. "It's true. They helped me hatch, and the dumb one just asked a simple question."

Visibly relaxing, the swan Digimon lowered her wings. "Well, that's a relief. I'm sorry I was suspicious. I can be a little overprotective of my babies and eggs."

"Wait, your babies and eggs?" TK repeated. He glanced a Shoutmon. "I thought you said that-"

"It's just a term of endearment," the dragon Digimon interrupted.

The swan Digimon placed her wigs over her heart. "Yes, until these little ones go off on their own, I think of them as my babies. My name is Swanmon. I'm the acting mother for all the Digi-Eggs, Babies, and In-Trainings."

Kari looked around at the large playpen that could easily be its own city. "So it's just you taking care of all these little guys on your own?"

Swanmon shook her head. "Oh, no. Elecmon is around here somewhere. He's the acting guardian and father figure. Also," she motioned to the In-Training Digimon, "the In-Trainings that stay here help with the younger ones."

Takato crouched down to look at the In-Trainings. "So these guys act like big siblings to the little guys."

Swanmon nodded. "Yes, until they reach the Rookie level, at which point I'm forced to send them on their way in order to make room for the newcomers." She wiped away a tear. "It's always so hard to see them go. Of course, they can leave at any time after their initial hatching, but I prefer that they at least wait until they reach the In-Training level."

Kari sighed. "All birds must leave the nest eventually. "At the confused looks she received from the Digimon she said, "It's just an expression we humans use."

"Oh, yes, I see," Swanmon replied. "That is a very good analogy."

One of the In-Trainings hopped up to Swanmon. "Hey, can we play with the funny looking creatures."

This was met with cheers from the others. Swanmon tried to shush them, but they refused to settle, and she gave the humans a hopeful pleading look.

Tai shook his head. "Sorry, we don't have time. We've got to get back to our-"

"Oh, come on, Tai," Kari begged, having already fallen in love with the little Digimon and their cuteness. "We've been walking all day; we could use a break."

"Since when has playing with a bunch of little kids been break?"

"Oh, please. Just for a little while."

Looking at him like that, he just couldn't bring himself to say no. "Oh, alright, but just for a while."

"Yay!" the Digimon cried.

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Tag was apparently a favorite game amongst the Baby and In-Training Digimon. With most of them only being a head, their game options were rather limited. All the same, Kari enjoyed herself immensely. Whether human or Digimon, it seemed that kids would be kids. And she really loved children; it was one of the reasons she wanted to be a teacher when she grew up.

At the moment, they were playing a variation of Tag where whoever was 'it' had to jump on the others' shadow, Shadow Tag it was commonly called. Being very good hoppers, the Digimon held a great advantage, though Kari's speed was able to keep her ahead of them.

That is, until she turned a corner behind several giant toy blocks piled on top of each other and came to a halt. The laughing Digimon quickly caught up, but the fun soon ended as they saw what made her stop.

The area was torn apart. Everything was destroyed, and there were scorch marks everywhere, as if lightning had struck in several places.

"W-What happened here?" she wondered out loud as the Digimon cowered behind her.

"Look, over there," one of them cried.

Lacking hands, it pointed with its ears. Kari looked to see a beat up, seemingly unconscious In-Training Digimon stuck beneath what appeared to be a giant teddy bear.

"Oh, no!" She hurried over to the trapped Digimon. "Are you ok? Who did this toy you?"

The little Digimon groaned. "E-Elec…mon… he went… he went…"

"Hold on, I'm going to try to get you out." She grabbed the giant stuffed arm, glancing quickly at the other Digimon. "You guys, hurry and go tell the others."

"Yes, Miss Kari!" they chorused, and hopped off.

"Just try and keep still," she told the trapped Digimon, and began lifting. Apparently, giant stuffed animals were very heavy.

"Elecmon…" the Digimon moaned again.

"Don't worry," Kari told it, "we'll find Elecmon. Swanmon said he's around here somewhere."

"No!" the Digimon squealed. "Elecmon, he went bad."

This gave Kari pause. "What?"

The weight of the stuffed animal suddenly became too heavy, and she dropped it. Looking up, she saw a large paw pressing down on it, having been the extra weight she felt. There was a vicious snarl, and the claw swiped at her.

She jumped back, nearly getting slashed, and fell over. The Digimon that had attacked her resembled a giant purple rabbit with yellow stripes, and it possessed a peacock-like tail of fur rather than feathers.

Kari scooted back. "Elecmon?"

Was this really the fatherly figure of Primary Village? Had he thought she was attacking his babies like Swanmon did and was trying to defend them?

'But wait, what did that Digimon say? Elecmon went bad?'

Taking out her Digivice, she did a quick analysis. "You're not Elecmon, you're ViElecmon, a dark, virus version of Elecmon."

ViElecmon growled as electricity flowed over his body. A bolt shout out, and Kari rolled aside, allowing the bolt to singe the ground.

"I guess that explains the scorch marks," she muttered.

Snarling, ViElecmon leapt off the bear, the movement freeing the trapped Digimon. He paid it no mind though as he focused on the human girl before him. He towered over her by several feet, his fur standing on end like an aggravated cat.

"Please, don't hurt me," she begged. "I didn't do anything." But she only received a snarl in response. Desperately, she looked to her Digivice. "If I'm going to Spirit Evolve, now would be a good time."

"Assassin Bolt!" ViElecmon roared, firing three darts of electricity.

Kari scrambled out of the way and got to her feet. Holding up her Digivice, she screamed, "Go, Spirit Evolution!"

Nothing happened. She remained human, and ViElecmon rose to his hind legs, towering over her like a bear as electricity ran across his body. Her eyes drifted lower and widened at what she saw. Sticking out of ViElecmon's stomach was a familiar looking black gear, the same kind that had turned Ballistamon into DarkVolumon.

"Is that…?" she whispered.

"Jamming Thunder!" ViElecmon cried, firing bolts of electricity from his tail.

Kari covered her head as the electricity came. From behind her, a fireball flew by, crossing paths with the electricity, causing an explosion. Shoutmon hopped in front of her, wielding his microphone.

"You ok, Kari?" he asked.

She nodded. "Y-Yes, but he's crazy. I think it's because of that gear."

"Gear?" Shoutmon repeated. Then he too spotted it. "Hey, that's just like the one from Machine Tower."

"One of the Digimon told me that Elecmon went bad."

Shoutmon chuckled humorlessly. "That's an understatement. ViElecmon is as nasty as Elecmon is nice. But why's he so big? Both Elecmon and ViElecmon are only about my size. Hey, what's up with you, big guy?"

ViElecmon snarled at him and charged. Shoutmon rushed to meet him, swinging his mic. "Rock and Roller!"

"Dark Tail!"

Whirling around, the mammal Digimon slapped him with his electrically charged tail. Shoutmon crashed into the pile of blocks and the whole structure collapsed on him.

"Shoutmon!" Kari shouted.

ViElecmon turned back to her, growling. Kari backed away as the overgrown Digimon stalked towards her, his fur sparking with electricity.

There was a loud roar, and Greymon came charging in, tackling ViElecmon. "Get away from my sister!"

"Greymon!" Kari exclaimed.

From up above, ExVeemon landed in front of her. "Stay back, Kari, we'll handle this."

He flew towards the mammal Digimon as ViElecmon threw Greymon aside. He fired a Vee-Laser, and ViElecmon snarled as it blasted against him. He turned his attention to the dragon Digimon and pounced, tackling ExVeemon to the ground.

Pinning down his prey, the mammal Digimon growled in ExVeemon's face. Making a fist, ExVeemon punched him in the jaw, and ViElecmon toppled over. Greymon then grabbed him from behind and threw him into a wall that appeared to have been used by the Baby and In-Training Digimon to color on.

"Nova Blast!"

"Vee-Laser!"

The two of them fired continuous attacks at the mammal Digimon, and the wall crumbled on top of him.

"You guys, stop!" Kari shouted, gaining their attention. "He's got a black gear inside him, just like Ballistamon did!"

"What's that?" Greymon asked. "He's got a gear?"

The pile of rubble burst apart as ViElecmon merged.

"Yeah, look," said ExVeemon. "Right there, it's stuck in his gut. That's gotta hurt."

ViElecmon roared. Electricity began flying off his body in different directions, and the other two Digimon recoiled.

"Geez, what's up with this guy?" ExVeemon grumbled. "What level is he anyway?"

Kari recalled her reading. "My Digimon Analyzer said he's only a Rookie."

A bolt struck Greymon's shoulder, and he snarled. "He's stronger than a Rookie. That gear must be making him stronger."

"Shoutmon did say he was a lot bigger than he should be," his sister replied, glancing worriedly at the giant blocks the dragon Digimon was buried under.

"Well," said ExVeemon, "I guess that supports your theory. I'm taking out that gear."

He flew in, his target the black gear in ViElecmon's gut. The mammal Digimon glared at him as he came in and jumped up to meet him. ExVeemon threw a punch, aiming for the gear, but ViElecmon hit him with his Dark Tail attack, knocking him back.

"What is going on here!?" an angry voice demanded.

Kari and Greymon turned to see Swanmon, TK, Takato, Takuya, and several low level Digimon rushing over.

"Fighting is prohibited in this village!" the swan Digimon snapped. "Cease this fighting at once!"

Greymon was about to point out that it was ViElecmon who was attacking them when he noticed something black flying through the air. Whatever it was, it was coming in fast, heading straight for the group.

"Swanmon, look out!" he called.

But he was too late. The second black gear dropped down and slammed into the swan Digimon from behind, burying into her back. A look of shock and pain crossed her face, and she dropped down, seemingly unconscious.

"Swanmon!" Takato cried.

He dropped down by her side, wary of the black gear sticking out of her back. TK knelt down beside him. The two exchanged a look before the blonde reached to try and remove the gear, only to have his hand shocked when he touched it.

Swanmon's eyes suddenly snapped open, but there was something different about them. All compassion had vanished from their depths, as had, seemingly, all signs of awareness. With a vicious squawk, she lashed out at the two humans, jumping to her feet.

Spreading her wings, she took to the air and landed beside ViElecmon. The two exchanged a look, an unspoken form of communication seeming to pass between them. They turned their blank gazes on the others, looking ready for a fight.

(A/N: We've entered Primary Village. I used the guardians of both Season 1 and Season 4. Only this time, one of them has gone bad. I always tried to come up with a reason as to why You Know Who targeted File Island, and I realized that they probably chose it due to it being the location of Primary Village. With the black gears, they could have taken over and influenced the baby Digimon when they were still young to turn them into their servants. It made sense to me, so I incorporated that in my story. And poor Elecmon was the first victim. Lets see where it goes from here. Is someone new going to Spirit Evolve, or are Greymon and ExVeemon going to be the ones to save the day again? Find out next time.)

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New Digimon that appear. Replace the DOT in the link(s) with actual periods.

digimonDOTwikiaDOTcom/wiki/Swanmon

digimonDOTwikiaDOTcom/wiki/Elecmon

digimonDOTwikiaDOTcom/wiki/Elecmon#Vi-Elecmon