(In an excavation site, somewhere on the world of Pokemon...)
Eve cautiously placed the stethoscope next to the body of the sleeping creature, being careful not to disturb it. Even though it had been asleep for several months now, it was still a precaution she was willing to take. The thought of the gigantic Gengar reawakening like it did during the initial excavation of Pokemonopolis was enough to make her want to bury the whole thing and leave. But the urge to study such a magnificent being from an ancient civilization was too much to control, especially for such a curious doctor such as her.
"How's the patient, Eve?" said a young man that worked on Eve's archaeological team. The young woman turned and smiled as she stepped down the ladder that was propped next to the humogous Alakazam.
"It's in such a deep sleep that I don't think an atomic bomb could wake it up." she joked. Jumping off the last step of the ladder, Eve packed her tools into her bag and returned to the camp with the young miner.
"So what do you think they'll do with the big guys?" he said, referring to the nearby Gengar and his equally massive opponent Alakazam.
Eve sighed. "The other members of the board want to try and relocate them to a secure location for careful study and eventually find a place where the two can roam free without endangering the rest of the world. But since the pokeballs explode whenever we try to use them on these two, they'll have to try cranes and helicopters."
"A helicopter to move those guys?! That'll cost a fortune!"
"Exactly. So until we can find funding for such a massive operation, the two will have to stay here."
"Well...at least they're asleep. As long as they stay that way, I can live with them."
Eve chuckled. "Me too."
****
A quick flash of light, and Seth appeared on a nearby tree limb, dressed in his standard black garb and trenchcoat. Looking down at the camp, Seth smiled when he saw the two partially-covered pokemon that were found in Pokemonopolis.
"So...these are the strongest this world has to offer? Judging by their size, I'd say that they may even be stronger than the Mega Digimon." Seth sighed. "Well, at least I'll find out soon enough." Seth grabbed one of the black pokeballs that Mewtwo had constructed so long ago, but kept stored away in his laboratory for special needs. Smiling, Seth chucked the ball at the sleeping Gengar. "Pokeball, Go!"
The ball sailed through the air, but started to shake halfway there. Seth clenched his fists, as if doing so would help keep the ball intact.
"Come on...come on..." Seth repeated. The pokeball hit the sleeping pokemon, which dematerialized and entered the device. The ball closed, and began to shake as it secured the lock on it.
"Wow...even though it is asleep, it can still resist capture. Impressive. These guys are strong..." Seth said. When the ball finally stopped moving and hummed as the lock was secured, he added, "...But not strong enough." With the lock secured, the ball flew back to his hand, and was returned to his belt.
"Now, for the other one." he said. However, halfway there, a young woman ran up to him and started to yell at him.
"Hey! What are you doing! How'd you do that! Wait a second!"
Seth groaned, not wanting to waste time trying to talk to her. "Get out of the way please. I have to do this. It's for an important cause." Seth tried to continue on pass her, but she stepped into his way again. Seth growled, "Get out of my way!", gave her a light shove and continued on his way.
Eve shouted to the people in the camp, "Stop him! He's got Gengar!"
"What?! Get him!" shouted the man Eve talked to earlier. Half a dozen other men ran with him to where Seth stood.
Seth held up the black pokeball he had just used to capture Gengar, and shouted to the approaching men. "Don't make me use this! I didn't want to hurt any of you, but if you try to stop me, I'll have to defend myself."
The men stopped, except for Eve's friend, who stepped up to Seth and held out his hand. "Hand me the ball son. You don't wanna cause any trouble, do you? You'll already be famous for capturing that thing, when everyone else has failed."
"He's right." Eve said, stepping closer as well. "You'll be on every TV station, and become the most famous Pokemon master in the world, for capturing the most powerful Pokemon alive."
Seth pressed a button on his wristwatch, and he floated into the air. The people gasped in awe, and Seth added in a silent voice. "I don't want to be some 'master' of Pokemon. And besides, I'll already be famous for solving the big mystery of which is better. So I suggest you get your asses to where the portal opened, and wait for the big event." Seth said, pointing to the easily visible portal high in the air. Before they could say anything in response, Seth pushed another button on his wristwatch, and disappeared in a flash of blue light of the same color as the portal.
"...the big event? What could he mean?" Eve muttered to herself.
****
The digidestined ran to where the other people were gathering - the streets outside the TV station tower where the original team had battled Myotismon several years ago. This made the others wonder if this new portal had something to do with the Digital World, but whether it did or not could not be answered yet.
"Look at that thing! It's gigantic!" Tai said in wonder.
"It must have a diameter of several miles!" Izzy chimed in.
"What could be making it?!" Mimi asked.
"I don't know, but we'd better get in touch with the digimon before something bad happens." Tai replied.
Cody pulled out his D3. "I've got it. I'll send an e-mail to all the digimon. What should I say?"
"Tell them about the portal, and find out if they can see it from where they are." Tai said.
Cody complied, and was met with a reply from each digimon in about a minute. "They can't see it."
"They can't?! Then that means..."
"...That this portal doesn't go to the Digital World." Joe finished.
"Where else could it go?" Yolei asked.
Suddenly, blue balls of light shot out from the portal from miles up. People screamed and pointed it out to those who hadn't seen it yet, while news cameras panned to get a good view of the fast moving "meteors" that zoomed across the sky faster than a jet plane.
"What are those things?! They're all over the place!" Davis said. "One..two.."
"There are eleven." Kari said, being a faster counter (and smarter student) than Davis.
As sudden as they appeared, the flashes of light zoomed to the earth, colliding with the ground where the digidestined stood. Each responded in their own way, with some diving onto those they felt a need to protect, while all of them screamed as they thought they were going to die.
"Wha....what's going on?!" TK yelled, feeling himself floating through the air at high speed. Nearby he could see the others being flund upwards with him. All of them screamed as they saw that they were zooming straight into the blue light that made up the massive portal in the sky. As they zipped through the blue light, they felt some slight resistance, as if they had dived into a pool of water, but didn't get wet. The trip through the blue portal ended as quickly as it started, with them landing with a THUD on a hard marble surface.
Groans could be heard from the pile of kids that had accumulated. The digidestined carefully stood up and untangled themselves, while those on the bottom of the pile (Matt, Davis, and Sora) gasped for air. They were helped onto their feet, and the group took in their surroundings.
"Where are we?" Sora asked, walking to a nearby picture of a stone carving with a little cat depicted on it.
"I don't know, but I don't think this is good." Tai responded. "Can you guys reach the digimon still?"
"That won't be necessary."
"Who said that?" Matt asked, turning left and right to try and identify the speaker.
From high above the floor, a single humanoid descended slowly, without any apparent means of flight. The creature had a long, purple tail, and was shaped like a cross between a man and a cat. The purple being had glowing blue eyes, which sent chills of fear through the spines of the younger digidestined.
"I'd move if I were you." the creature said into the minds of the children, much to their shock.
"Oh yeah! What if we don't?!" shouted Davis.
A quick flash of blue light appeared above the kids, and most of the digi-destined managed to dive out of the way of the falling kids that followed. THUD! Another group of children appeared from nowhere, landing on the gathered digi-destined (TK, Mimi, Yolei, and Davis). The kids all fell under the weight of the four arrivals (well, the three kids and their practically weightless yellow mouse), clumping into one large pile yet again.
"That's why." Mewtwo answered, landing lightly before the gathering of children.
"Ooh...I hate this place." whined Yolei.
"Somebody's hand is somewhere it shouldn't be." Mimi said.
"Uh...I think it's me." TK said from the bottom of the pile. "I'd move it...but something with red hair is smothering me."
"Hey! That 'thing' has a name you know!" Misty barked, standing up as quickly as possible.
"Heh heh. Good job T.A!" Davis joked.
"You're one to talk. At least he knows your name, and your hand's where it shouldn't be either!" Yolei said, smacking Davis with the back of her hand after removing his palm from her chest.
Ash dusted himself off as he stood. "Sorry about that, but we didn't really have much of a choice on where we landed."
"No problem." TK said when he finally could stand. Looking at the three kids, he realized he didn't recognize them. "Who are you?"
"I'm Ash. This is Misty. That's Brock." Ash said simply.
"Hello everyone." Misty said.
Brock nodded to them, then caught a good glimpse of Mimi, and suddenly went googly-eyed. Dashing at her, he quickly grabbed her hand and shook it wildly. "Hi-my-name's-Brock-and-I-think-you're-the-most-beautiful-woman-I've-ever-seen-in-my-whole-life!"
Mimi wasn't sure how to answer that, but gave him a smile and said, "Eh heh heh...Thank you very much, er...Brock. I'm flattered."
"Alright Romeo, let's go." Misty said, dragging Brock by the ear to their place behind Ash a few feet away. Brock pleaded for Misty to let go, but soon she had him under control and back where he belonged.
Pointing down to his little companion, Ash finished the introduction. "That's Pikachu."
"Pi-ka!" Pikachu said, waving. Kari, Yolei, Sora and Mimi instantly went wide-eyed, screamed and practically dived at Pikachu, sweeping the little guy into their arms.
"Oh my god!, he's soooo cute!!" Yolei shouted. They played with Pikachu's little face, and went so far as to tickle him a little just to see him smile and giggle, which practically melted their hearts. The guys from the digi-destined just stared in utter amazement at the attention Pikachu got from them.
"You've got to be kidding me." Davis said, watching them with a sickened expression. "What's so cute about a little yellow rat?"
Ash groaned. "Don't ask me. I'm just his chauffer."
Mewtwo impatiently folded his arms. Speaking into their minds, the pokemon spoke. "Are you finished?"
All of the kids looked at the frightening creature, not sure what or who he was. Ash managed to speak first. "Who are you?"
Mewtwo smiled inwardly, wondering just how this would play out compared to their last encounter, of which Ash and his friends had no memory of thanks to his psychic powers. "I am called Mewtwo. I have summoned you to my island because I have need of your skills. All of you." The kids looked at each other with suspicion, but decided to not say anything yet.
"What do want with us?" Tai asked.
"...It's difficult to explain, but I will try to keep it simple." Mewtwo said, lifting an arm towards his massive computer system. Activating it with a thought, a holographic image of the original digi-destined kids appeared, in which they were battling Piedmon. On another part of the floor, a holographic projection of Ash and his friends 'battling' the three legendary birds Articuno, Zapados, and Moltres appeared.
"Several weeks ago, a seventeen-year-old boy by the name of Seth Turtle somehow entered my island without triggering any alarms, or activating my psychic senses. Rather than try to fight me, he offered me a proposition. "Help him find out which is the superior species. Pokemon or Digimon.". He believed that with his technology and limited knowledge of the two worlds, coupled with my powers and my natural intelligence, we could solve the mystery. Although you don't know about the other species, you all will learn soon enough about each other. As you can see, they share quite a bit in terms of general appearance and use as it pertains to humans." The kids looked at the holograms, carefully examining the creatures in each. Mewtwo activated the second hologram with a thought. The new display showed the battle between Agumon and Charizard.
"Agumon?!" Tai shouted.
"Charizard?!" Ash shouted.
"What did you do to him?!"
"Yeah!" Ash said. "What did you do with them?!"
Mewtwo smiled at the similarities they shared, although none of them could tell he was smiling. "Do not worry. They are unharmed, and don't have any recollection of these events."
"How is that possible?" Izzy asked, obviously overwhelmed at the technology this mysterious being commanded, and aching to look at them in more detail.
"Well, 'Izzy'..." Mewtwo said, eyeing him as they realized that this guy knew their names without them mentioning them. "...as you can tell from my manner of speaking, I possess psychic powers that allow me to do lots of things. Anything from telekinetically manipulating my surroundings to mentally erasing days of memory from dozens of minds is possible for me."
"Whoa..." Davis said in awe.
"Wait a minute, if you have all this power, why do you need our help? And you still haven't answered why you need us!" Yolei said.
"If you'll stop pestering me with these questions, I can finish." Mewtwo said, raising his voice. When the girl cringed, Mewtwo's head sagged and he calmed himself. "...I appologize young lady. Forgive me, but time is against us." Yolei nodded slowly, but the fear in her eyes didn't leave. Mewtwo slowly walked to the hologram projection and switched it to the next display...a picture of the massive blue portal that appeared in both worlds.
"That's the portal in the sky!" Misty said.
"Tha!...what she said." TK said. Misty smiled and TK laughed a little, while Mewtwo nodded in affirmation.
"Yes, this is in both your worlds."
"Both? You mean we don't come from the same world?" Sora asked.
"Precisely. The world we are on at the moment is a world co-populated by a species called Pokemon...like myself and your little Pikachu there." Mewtwo said, pointing at the yellow mouse.
"You're a Pokemon?" Ash asked. Mewtwo nodded again, and returned to his explanation.
"I won't show up on your PokeDex there Ash Ketchum, because I'm the only one of my kind as far as I know." A sad expression crossed his eyes, and a pang of sympathy shot through Sora (being the child of the Crest of Love, she understood his lonliness...). "Anyway, the world that you 'digi-destined' hail from doesn't have these creatures, due to your timeline taking a different path in the evolution of your planet."
"Then I guess Digimon don't exist on our world?" Brock added, thinking he may be understanding this.
"Yes, that is correct. Digimon exist because of extra databytes created by the Internet on their world. Whereas our world possesses an 'Internet' for communications and pokeball transfer, we don't have a computer-based web like theres, and thus cannot support the necessary conditions for their Digimon and their Digital World to exist."
"Okay. So we have two different worlds." Matt said bluntly. "Why are they connected by this big blue wormhole? And what do you and this Seth guy have to do with it, since you took Agumon?"
"Seth and I originally thought it would be best to try and test the two species out in combat, so Seth provided technology that allowed my computer to target beings in your world as well as mine, thanks to previously arranged satellites that Seth had access to. I know for a fact that they were put there by Seth's "superiors" as a way to monitor both worlds for their own purposes. We simply used them to target the chosen test subject, and then I would use my psychic powers to teleport them onto my island."
Mewtwo deactivated the holographic projector and continued. "We then used my technology to provide battle conditions and Seth's Evolution technology to give the appropriate energy needed for your digimon to digivolve." he said, looking at Tai. "We tested his power at the Rookie and Champion levels, but he fell to Charizard. However, testing him at Ultimate and Mega would be overkill." Tai nodded slowly, wondering at the kind of power these Pokemon held if one of them could stand up to Greymon.
"We were going to continue with the rest of your digimon, and the other Pokemon that Ash, Misty and Brock use, but there was a problem. Seth started to wonder if his masters were willing to accept such data. Battling is conclusive evidence for some people, but to Seth and I, it was merely a show of strength. True superiority comes from the heart and the mind. The one who cares more for his brother...who fights for them. They are the superior species. So we thought that a test of psychological merits and mental prowess would be a better way to prove the superiority of one species over another. We hoped to show that both species are equal, and as similar and different as the human species is itself. That way the ongoing war between Anti-Pokemon and Anti-Digimon would stop."
"How would they know about them? If Pokemon and Digimon don't exist on the same world, then how do Seth and his...his 'masters', know about them?" Kari asked.
"Seth belongs to a world of humans where technology permits them to look into other worlds and gather data from them. Seth tried to hide these thoughts from me, but I was able to uncover that hundreds of worlds have been examined and entered in this way. Worlds where aliens fought for magical balls to summon an 'Eternal Dragon'...worlds where giant robot machines battled in an ongoing war. All these worlds were studied and entered by Seth's kind."
"So they're fighting over whose better...and they don't even live in these worlds?" Cody asked.
"Exactly. I suppose if you put it that way, Seth and his kind are somewhat like 'gods'. Their technology lets them step in and out of our dimension with the touch of a button, and they can even take others with them if they wished. They possess the necessary knowledge to do this on a global scale if they wished as well."
"Hence, the giant blue portal in the sky." Izzy said. "That's Seth's idea?"
Mewtwo nodded. "And that's why I must stop him. He's become convinced that his masters will accept nothing but an all-out brawl between both worlds, because he thinks that nobody will accept his idea of the equality of Digimons and Pokemons. When I tried to help him, he lashed out and left for his own laboratory, where I cannot follow without a device like his."
"Poor guy..." Yolei said.
"Yeah, poor guy with his finger on the button for Armageddon!" Davis said. "If we don't stop him, then both our worlds will be toast."
"So that's what you want us for? To stop this guy Seth?" Ash asked.
"Yes. I wouldn't want to endanger you all, but if I try to fight him on my own, I will lose. Seth knows that I cannot be in two places at once, and he will fight with the most powerful members of both species. Thanks to his Chrono and Evolution technology, Seth can find even the most well hidden creatures if he has a sample of their DNA, and he can manipulate their evolutionary stage to make them easier to control."
"So that means this guy will have an army of loyal Pokemon...and Digimon, that have the power of their maximum evolution stage?" Brock asked.
"An army of Mega-Digimon? No thanks, I had that fun with the Dark Masters. I don't need to go through that again." Joe said.
"Joe!" Tai yelled. "Don't back down before we even start! If Mewtwo needs our help, then let's help!"
"Yeah! I'm ready to teach this Seth a lesson!" Ash yelled, caught up in the fervor.
"Me too!" Davis agreed. Ash and Davis smiled and high-fived each other.
Misty groaned and whacked them both in the back of the head. "Both of you chill out!" Misty shouted. Davis and Ash cringed and shut up. Kari giggled, and Misty smiled in embarassment.
"Whoa, your girlfriend is a real - AHH!!" Davis shouted as TK tugged on his collar and pulled him away before he said something he'd regret later.
Mewtwo sighed in annoyance. "Okay. For the time being, you will all have to remain together, so that I can outfit you with some special equipment that you will need if you're willing to help me."
"What about our digimon?" Joe asked. "We can't do much against an army of monsters without them."
"Don't worry Joe. I will transport them there soon. For now, I insist you all take the time to get to know each other." Mewtwo said, floating over to the computer terminal to target the teleporter.
For a little while, nobody knew what to say.
"Man, this is crazy!" Davis said. "Other worlds, alien monsters, and some guy with Chrome-o technology..."
"He's not a car mechanic, Davis." Kari said. "It's 'Chrono'. It means time."
"Whatever he is, I won't let him hurt any Pokemon. Or Digimon." Ash said.
"Heh heh. You're all right Ash." Tai said, holding out his hand. Ash hesitantly shook it, and soon Ash was shaking hands with Davis and Matt as well.
TK and Davis came over and shook hands as well, after a quick and formal introduction.
"So are you guys Digimon trainers?" Ash asked.
"Um...heh heh, I wouldn't call us 'trainers'. We help our digimon whenever we can, but they seem to already know how to fight. We give them back-up." Tai said.
"And we help them digi-volve, so they can kick some serious bad-guy butt!" Davis said.
"Digi-volve? Is that anything like a pokemon evolving?"
"I don't know, what is a pokemon like when it evolves?" TK asked.
"When they get enough skill, they grow and become stronger and tougher." Ash answered.
"Yeah, digi-volving is kinda like that." Matt said. "But it doesn't go by skill. With our digi-vices, crests, and digi-eggs, we help them become stronger when they fight."
"When they fight? Don't they stay strong after they 'digi-volve'?" Ash said.
"Uh...no. Why, do pokemon stay strong when they 'evolve'?" Davis asked.
"Well, yeah. Once they evolve, they don't go back. They become a new pokemon, physically and mentally...sort of. When my Charmander evolved into Charmeleon, and then Charizard, he got meaner and meaner, and eventually he stopped listening to me."
"Whoa! That must have stunk!" Davis said, obviously intrigued. "What'd you do?"
"Eventually I regained Charizard's trust, and we became pals again...well, at least he doesn't burn me anymore."
"Your pokemon burn you?" Tai asked. "And you're still alive?"
Ash smiled and struck a manly pose. "Well, I am a real tough guy."
Misty rolled her eyes and left the group of boys to go talk with some people more at her level of intelligence. Misty walked over to Sora, Mimi, Kari and Yolei, who were still playing with Pikachu. "I forgot to introduce you to someone, girls." Misty said, removing her backpack from her shoulder. Pulling out what looked like a large, white egg doll, they were astonished to see a little face pop up. It squinted and yawned like a little, helpless baby, which melted the hearts of the other three.
"Awww......" Mimi said. Carefully taking the little one, Mimi slowly swung him back and forth, trying to help it go back to sleep. Slowly, the little pokemon drifted back to dreamland, but Mimi didn't stop cradling him.
"What's its name?" Sora asked, softly touching the back of the little pokemon's flipper-like hand.
"His name is Togepi." Misty said quietly. "Isn't he cute?" Misty smiled when the others agreed.
"Is he a baby pokemon?" Kari whispered.
"Yeah, but I don't know what he'll grow up into yet." Misty said, carefully taking Togepi away from Mimi, who frowned but complied. Misty cradled Togepi carefully and hummed a little lullaby.
"Whatever he grows up into, I hope he's as sweet as he is now." Mimi cooed.
"Oh look, he's starting to cry. I think he's having a bad dream. Aww...come here. Don't cry..." Yolei said, carefully holding the sleeping Togepi when Misty handed him to her.
As the four girls enjoyed the company of little Togepi, Pikachu decided to move on over to where Izzy, Joe, Cody and Brock were hanging out. Pikachu hopped on Brock's shoulder, hoping to get in on the conversation (figuratively, anyway...)
"So, you're a Pokemon 'breeder'? What duties does that entail?" Izzy asked.
"Well, I make the food for the pokemon, and I carefully monitor their behavior so that I can help them grow and live better. It's a tough job, but very interesting."
"No kidding." Joe said, obviously intrigued. "I've been working on becoming a doctor someday, so maybe we can talk about how you take care of the pokemon, and what kind of diet you give them. It should be helpful in the long run, if we're going to be working together."
"I agree. It would help if we know how your pokemon fight and act." Cody said. "If they're anything like digimon, then they can be very complex when it comes to their behavior.
"Good idea." Brock said. "In fact, how about I give you a quick summary of Pokemon with the help of Pikachu here." Pikachu smiled from Brock's shoulder.
"Prodigious."
"Alright, sounds great." Joe added. Cody nodded in agreement, and Brock began his explanation of pokemon.
From the computer terminal on the other side of the room, Mewtwo smiled to himself. Hearing the sound of the children talk and interact was a good sign. "Well..." he whispered inwardly. "...they seem to be good and kind children. I guess they're still tied in that department.". Mewtwo, arguably the most powerful pokemon alive, chuckled silently and worked on gathering the digimon from the Digital World.