Today's visit to Ken's was different. Davis received a message over the D3 that said "Breakthrough. Don't bother me today."
Naturally, this worried him, and he came over as soon as he could. He knocked 5 times before Minomon grabbed hold of the door handle in his mouth and managed to let Davis and Demiveemon inside.
"He hasn't slept all night," the little green digimon informed them, "But he really is getting somewhere now. He muttered something a few minutes ago, and seems... really intense."
"Hey, Ken... heard you were making progress," Davis said casually as they entered Ken's room. He was furiously typing away, but gave a small grunt of acknowledgment. Davis leaned forward over the side of Ken's wheelchair and stared at the screen. "Woah... this is new."
Ken was no longer searching through the coding of the Emperor's devices. Now he was building something of his own.
"Ken, this is brilliant—i mean, of course it's brilliant—it's your creation, right?! But, still, this is the cat's pajamas! We've finally got some hope for a change!"
Demiveemon chuckled a little, thinking of Gatomon in the funny clothes the humans wore to bed.
Ken didn't respond, instead he just kept going, churning out more lines of code like his life depended on it. Well, he had been working on it all night. He looked pale, and probably hadn't eaten this whole time.
"Demiveemon, turn on the stove. This situation calls for hot noodles."
Davis patiently waited on Ken for three hours. After about 10 minutes of the noodles sitting there next to the computer monitor, Ken took notice. He took the bowl in one hand, slurping it ravenously while the other hand kept typing.
After another hour, Ken slumped down over the keyboard, "I don't think I can keep this up for much longer."
"Don't worry. The digital world isn't going anywhere. Take a break, get some sleep, you've already done so much," Davis comforted him.
"Okay, okay, but Davis I have so much on my plate. I know I told you not to come over but..." he pushed the keyboard away, "It's good to see your face. Sorry. I'm just so tired. I should complete the testing version sometime tomorrow. Do whatever you can to get the team back together. I know some of them are at odds with each other right now. I'd try to help, but dealing with people isn't really my area of expertise."
"No no no," said Davis, "I'll handle getting the team together for tests, don't you worry about that. You don't have to wear yourself down like this, Ken, it's not good for you. I didn't want any of this to happen. I'm... really sorry. It's my fault you have to deal with this stuff at all. I'm sorry about-"
"Forget it. Can you help me into bed?"
Davis picked Ken up out of his wheelchair and tucked him into the bed covers carefully.
"I really am sorry. If I hadn't dragged you into this, you'd still be out on the field playing soccer and creaming everyone at chess," Davis whispered.
Ken sighed, closing his sunken eyes, "Look... would we do things differently if we could do it all again? Yes. But that doesn't matter. You only get one try, and when this much is at stake, sometimes you have to take risks to be able to live with yourself. For whatever mistakes we made—and both of us made mistakes—at least we took action. At least we stood up for what's right. If we didn't even try, how would we live with ourselves? I don't blame you for a thing."
Davis nodded. "You mean it?"
"Of course. Now get out of my house and let me sleep, you goofball," Ken smiled.
It had been almost four years since a gate from the digital world opened in Odaiba. Four years since invading viruses threatened humanity on real, physical soil. The events surrounding the Odaiba invasion were so strange that no one really talked about them. No one wanted to think about what had really happened once it was over. The people rebuilt, things went on as normal, and that was that.
Only, it wasn't actually the last they would see of digimon armies. That very day, the Digimon Emperor's troops flooded through the gate into the city, crushing cars and smashing whatever and whoever stood in the way. Sam glided effortlessly over the city on his spiral-clad Saberdramon. At first, Sam thought he might have to find a way to construct control spires in the real world, but found through some preliminary efforts that hijacking signal towers would do the trick. His power was secure, his legion was ready, and the first stop on his trail of conquest was Rainbow Bridge.
Seeing the human world again, Sam felt strange. He remembered it as a distasteful place, full of loathsome people and systems that were hopelessly broken. From up this high, it did not look like such a wasteland of futility. Back in the digital world it was a mere concept, a dream left behind for the waking lands. Here, he was reminded all too vividly of the place where he came from. Here he was not an Emperor, but a school aged child. Here he was not respected and feared, but now he would reclaim this place and mold it in his image. He would lead humans and digimon into a new age, an age that made sense. Now he would not have to escape from his past, he could overcome it.
A single man in a dark trench coat waited atop one of the bridge arches, oblivious to the chaos of fleeing masses below. Sam was drawn to his sight, and guided the Saberdramon to hover before him.
"What is the meaning of this?" He asked, looking down his nose at the middle-aged man with a thin smile on his pallid face. "Who are you, and where is my digimon," the Emperor snapped.
The man took a slow breath, savoring the chill air between them, and gazed at the Emperor, at Sam, right between the eyes. "I am your digimon. I am Myotismon."
"You're a digimon? … I was expecting something impressive, maybe with wings or a giant sword, not a washed up old man that looks like he needs to get out more. Give me one good reason I shouldn't kick you to the ground."
"Ahh... that sharpened tongue of yours , as always, and the ferocity to actually carry out your threats. You are truly an Emperor among human maggots, as I am a lord among digimon fools. This body and my first impression may not be much, but I will more than make up for that with what is to come."
"Your messenger spoke of some power you possess that you plan to offer me. What is it?" the Emperor demanded.
The man in the coat pulled a small trinket from his pocket, "I tried to conquer the human world not long ago, but I was unprepared and overconfident. I was powerful, but that power blinded me to my weaknesses. My arrogance was my downfall. I did not take the threat of my enemies seriously. I did not bother to crush them when I had the chance."
The man looked out over the water pensively, "Looking back on my mistakes after my defeat, I recalled situations where I could have easily killed four different Digidestined, and that might have demoralized those that remained. I took many things for granted, not the slightest of which is the power of human children. When I was defeated by the Digidestined, I saw clearly that there were forces at work in both of our worlds of which I was woefully ignorant."
The crest gleamed in his hand.
"While I was in possession of the Crest of Light," Myotismon continued, "I learned every minute detail of what it was, but not why it was. Only whilst ruminating upon my failure could I see clearly. The crests are a fail-safe installed by those who created digimon, to protect humanity should digimon pose a threat to human existence. Each crest draws on the power of a common value keyed by their creators, shared by a paired digimon and a human—partners, they're called. Without this partnership, or the crest to signal the partners' common value as accepted by the master program, a digimon cannot reach its maximum potential. This would allow for what the creators saw as "good," those digimon and humans that embodied chosen traits, to always triumph and preserve humanity as a point of destiny. The Digidestined... but a word like "Destiny" is only meant to seem insurmountable, and is perfectly able to be exploited by the skilled when it is properly understood. That is, after all, what we viruses do best," He licked his lip with a predatory gleam in his eyes, "Destiny is watching a program perform its function as it should, and who could come to know how it works better than a digimon—the very pinnacle of what humans call "artificial" intelligence. As if intelligence were inherently organic! What an absurd notion," He chuckled, "Observing your world from inside this human host has elucidated the so-called intelligence of most humans! Most of these fleshbags are less than the intelligences they call artificial. But you know this all too well, don't you..."
So this digimon was possessing someone's body? How unexpected. Sam had no idea how that was possible, but it certainly was fascinating. Listening to his digimon speak, even speaking of failure, was enthralling. The voice seemed familiar, somehow.
"But I learned more," the digimon grinned, "Imagine my delight when I learned that some humans could be such delicious little viruses themselves! Yes, some of them are compassionate, like those chosen children, but there are just as many who would step on each other to rise up. It was thanks to this discovery that I knew I could find a suitable human..." Myotismon laid a hand on the boy's shoulder, "A human to be my partner." he gave Sam the glowing red object he was holding, "This is my finest creation. I have built this, and your dark digivice, for the purpose of redirecting destiny. My Crest of Domination. It is for that virtue—a virus's highest virtue—that I chose YOU to be my partner. Competitive, intelligent, resilient, strong, not held back by worthless pity for your inferiors, the potential for an ideal match. Ruthlessness alone is not enough. There are many brutish animals that would tear another limb from limb. But we are visionaries. We wish to shape the world in our image, destroying all who oppose us, creating our Empire."
Sam nodded, "With me by your side, you'll reach your full power, and we will achieve more than any human or digimon ever has. You've beaten the system. Well done. I had hoped for nothing less, and I accept you as my digimon partner." An equal at last. Matching masterminds bent on succeeding at any cost. Sam placed the crest around his neck.
Myotismon could feel it now—the connection, the bond between himself and this human creature. He had chosen very carefully, he had taken his time, he had allowed the child to grow strong, and now he was ready. "I will answer any other questions that you have now, and then we will make our first move."
"The control spires," Sam began, "I based them on some notes that I found in my computer before ever visiting the digital world. Was that your doing?"
"Yes. The spires' programming is based on one aspect of my own—the ability to bend wills to me. A handy vampire trick that is both practical and quite amusing. I am a vampire demon digimon, you see. That is also how I was able to posses this body that formerly belonged to Yukio Oikawa. It has served its purpose well, but this man was no more than a pawn. Anything else?"
"Plenty," said the Emperor, "But these questions can wait until after we've moved against our enemies. I take it you have something specific in mind?"
"Oh, yes. We will take the Fuji TV station, and broadcast our demands from there."
"Right. I'll order my army to-" The Emperor began, but Myotismon interrupted.
"There's no need for that. There's something I've been wanting to try. Tell me, child, if you can feel … THIS!"
Myotismon opened Yukio Oikawa's mouth and began to suck up the data of all of the digimon in the army the Emperor had brought to Odaiba. Without wills of their own or a command from their Emperor, the controlled digimon were powerless to resist their annihilation. Myotismon absorbed the vast river of data from the destroyed slaves. He ripped Oikawa's body to shreds, bursting forth from it in a spectacular evolution.
The Saberdramon Sam was riding broke in to millions of tiny pieces, and Sam began to fall through the sky. His heart was pounding in his chest as a massive hand caught him out of the air below. The boy felt no fear, he was overwhelmed with waves of ecstasy and energy as Myotismon fed. Sam could not keep himself from bursting out into a haunting laugh of maniacal elation. It was so pleasing, so addicting to watch, to feel his digimon partner drink in the energy of their deaths. In the rush of power that filled him, that echoed through his core, Sam didn't care that his army was being destroyed. He didn't want it to stop.
"Myotismon... digivolve to... Sadismyotismon!"
The vampire was reborn in a massive shadow shape, shrouding the sky above in a black mist. Sadismyotismon stood taller than the bridge, dark as night except for a winged crimson mask a mouth full of white needle-like teeth. His long, thin arms and spindly fingers spread eerily over the water below. The giant monster and laughing child were quite a fearsome sight to behold. Now that all the digimon data was absorbed, they still were not sated. The partners that cheated destiny turned their sights to the crowd of trapped humans on the bridge, draining them one by one of their blood, fueling their expanse.
"More! HAHAHAHA!" the Digimon Emperor shouted, "This is incredible!"
Sadismyotismon held the boy close to his body, proud and possessive of this frail human child that somehow was the source of the greatest power he had ever known. The Crest of Domination burned deep red upon Sam's chest under the darkening sky of the human world.