Well...this is it...the moment of truth... I have no idea if I should feel relieved or sad...QAQ
The silence in the area was so thick you could cut it with a steak knife. The nations looked like they were about to cry while the seven Digitalia were on the verge of a mental breakdown. This was too weird! Seeing themselves in those pods…what the hell was even going on? What did this mean?
"That memory…" Alfamon had said it as softly as possible, but the other Digitalia heard it loud and clear. The memory they had all simultaneously experienced flashed through their minds once more. Watching themselves being eaten by those monsters, calling each other weird names.
'It…it can't be them; they're too similar, all of them."
"Japamon and Kiku are almost exactly alike; I raised him long enough to know that."
"Is it really trying to make me think that Itamon is really Feli?"
"Alfred and Amerimon are so alike…it's like my little colony is back with me again…"
"No…" Everyone turned to Felimon who was holding his head and shaking. "It can't be true…we weren't absorbed! We're right here! We're alive!"
Lizamon quickly grasped Felimon's shoulders, "Calm down Felimon!" she said, thought the shakiness in her voice proved that she was far from calm herself.
"What the hell is going on?!" Gilbamon demanded. "How can we be here and over there?!" He gestured wildly to the pods. "Is this place trying to make us go insane?!"
"That memory…it couldn't have real! It can't be!" Alfamon exclaimed, looking towards the others as if they had some kind of explanation, even though a part of him knew that was not the case.
"Wait, what memory?" Britain asked, finally snapping out of his daze. "What are you talking about?"
"I thought we were the only ones who got memory loss here!" Romano said, catching on. He faced Felimon. "What are not telling us?" he demanded.
Felimon shook his head, tears pricking at his eyes. "It's not real…it's not true! We're right here! We're real; we're alive!"
"I'm afraid that memory was all too real, young one." A familiar wise voice echoed around them.
"O…Oramon?" China asked. Everyone began scanning the area for the Digital wizard, but he was nowhere to be found.
"Dude, Oramon, where are you?" Alfamon called.
"My eyes allow me to see many things; I have been watching you ever since you entered the Digital Core." He answered.
"You were watching us the whole time and didn't even think of trying to help us?" Austria asked skeptically.
"I'm afraid it was not that simple," Oramon said. "What transpired needed to be done."
"Wait, are you saying that we had to get eaten?" China demanded.
Gilbamon made a face, "Man that is messed up!"
"We were scared to death!" Lizamon added furiously. "We thought we lost them!"
Oramon let out a low chuckle, "If your friends hadn't been taken, then you wouldn't have known where to find your answer." He said.
Alfamon opened his mouth to say something but stopped himself. He had a point, he had to admit. Thanks to that memory, the Digitalia all knew exactly where to go to find the nations before it was too late.
"I know that vision you received was confusing," Oramon continued as if reading their thoughts.
"Ya think?" Mattamon retorted sharply, taking everyone by surprise.
"But it was more than just a vision, it was a memory; the last memory of those sleeping in the Digital Core."
Everyone looked towards the pods, their eyes falling on the comatose inhabitants. "Who are they?" Natamon asked slowly.
"They are you."
The silence that came next swallowed everything in its path. "What…?" Kikumon rasped out.
"They are you, and you are them; they cannot function without you and you cannot exist without them."
"Enough with the cryptic talk!" Romano finally exploded. "That's my fucking brother in there," He pointed madly to the pod holding the Felimon look-alike. "And you're going to tell me what the hell happened to him!"
Oramon was silent, and everyone thought for a split second that he had left. But luckily… "Very well; you have all made it through many trials, so it's time you know the truth." He said. "The Digital World is made up entirely of data. Every object you see, living or inanimate, is really just a series of numbers and coding."
"We know." Russia said nodding. "And this place is the source."
"Yes." Oramon confirmed. "The Digital World takes all its data from your world, the Human world. Normally the Digital Core receives the data automatically when original data is updated or new data is discovered and put into a computer or technological device. The Digital Core opens a small portal to allow the data to flow into its system to be used to create new Digitalia or parts of the world."
"However, sometimes that portal can get too large and pull ordinary objects into the Digital World. Since the Digital Core is the source and protector of this world, anything that does not belong is deemed a threat, and is eliminated when it comes near the Digital Core."
"So that's why those gooey things…" Gilbamon trailed off.
"The Digital World is one large entity with the Digital Core keeping everything functioning. Those 'gooey things' as you called them are antibodies with the sole purpose of eliminating anything that is not of this world. They absorb the threat, neutralizing it, before transferring it to the Digital Core."
"Transferring it to the Core?" Britain asked.
"Yes. The Digital Core is like a living entity itself, separate from the Digital World; it has a desire to protect and learn. When the antibodies absorb a threat, it is brought to the Digital Core to be 'studied'."
" After so many years, the Digital Core has learned that non-Digital beings have traces of data inside them. It recognizes data as a benefit to the Digital World, so it extracts it to be used, leaving the carcass of the threat frozen in those pods that you see everywhere."
Germany looked at the ground, the new information reeling in his head. The Core absorbs anything non-Digital, it extracts data from them to be used for the Digital used to create Digitalia...And it leaves the non-Digital object in a pod. Germany looked at their own Digitalia and then at the frozen nations in the pods.
Absorbed by the monsters; data extracted; creating Digitalia; and leaving the useless parts behind…
"They're data…" Germany said quietly.
"What?" Austria turned to him.
"The Digitalia…they're the data from Italy, America and the others." Germany said in a shaky voice.
"Wh-What?" Felimon squeaked.
"Is this true?" Natamon demanded.
"It is true." Oramon answered. "When small beings from the Human world such as animals enter the Digital World there's not much data to be found; the data is usually stored for future use. But humans entering the Digital World are another situation all together."
"The human mind is crawling with different data; emotion, personality, knowledge, abilities, too many to count. When your friends were absorbed, the Digital Core had so much data at its disposal that it created new life, seven new lives to be exact."
The nations were silent and the Digitalia looked stunned.
"That is why your Digitalia have such a strong bond with you, why they look and act so similar to the ones you know so well. Because they are your friends. You came to this world to search for them, but because of Azelmon, you didn't realize that you had found them the moment your journey began. They have been with you, protecting you, guiding you all this time. They are one and the same, two sides of the same coin."
Britain felt like he was going to explode. This was just too much, too insane! And yet, after everything they had been through and seen, it was completely believable. He glanced at his Digitalia; there was no denying the similarities, he had said so himself. Alfamon was America…yet he wasn't.
Alfamon was still his own separate being. Sure he and America shared tons of similar traits and quirks, but there were still a few differences that drastically set them apart. The same went for all the other Digitalia.
Felimon was braver than he had ever seen Italy be, Gilbamon showed concern for his friends way more than Prussia, and even Natamon wasn't as terrifying as Belarus, she could actually be somewhat caring and nice.
Thinking about it now, Britain was seeing the Digitalia in a whole new light. It was like he was looking at seven completely different creatures.
"Oramon." Alfamon's voice snapped Britain out of his reverie. "Is there any way to wake those guys up?" he gestured to the pods. The other Digitalia nodded.
"It has never been done before," Oramon answered. "But there is a way."
The Digitalia looked a bit uneasy, as if they suspected they already knew the answer.
"You are all made of data from the nation's minds, without it they cannot function, they cannot live. You were all configured inside the Digital Core, like all Digitalia, turning from data to living beings. If you were to jump back into the Digital Core, it may reverse the process."
"You mean change us back into data." Mattamon said quietly.
"And that will wake them up?" Gilbamon asked.
"If your data successfully makes it back into the nations, then yes, they would awaken."
"Wait just a bloody minute!" Britain exclaimed. "Turn yourselves back into data? Are you mad?"
"Ve?" Felimon asked.
"You're basically talking about committing suicide you bastards!" Romano said, clarifying the problem.
"He's right," Germany said stepping towards them. "You're all living things; we can't just ask you to throw your lives away like this."
"But it's the only way to wake them up." Alfamon retorted. "Wasn't that the whole reason you came here?"
"Well, yes…" France answered nervously. "But there has to be another way-"
"There is no other way; Oramon said so." Mattamon said firmly.
"Do you really just want to leave your friends frozen in this place?" Lizamon asked.
Felimon nodded, "We're made from their data and that's what's keeping them here! They don't deserve to stay sleeping forever!"
"But you're our friends too!" Russia protested, his calm demeanor breaking. "We've been through so much…we can't just let you die!"
The Digitalia looked ready to argue, but a shockwave rippled through the air. The group felt a vacuuming sensation as something big and round opened in midair.
"Wh-what is that?" China yelled over the wind.
"A portal?" Britain yelled. The portal grew larger, making the vacuum intensify. Rocks and small bits of debris began to get sucked into the vortex. By now everyone had their arms up, trying to block the wind that was still getting stronger.
Alfamon, Gilbamon, and Lizamon had their wings firmly folded so as not to get caught in the draft. It was almost as if the portal was willing to suck in the entire Digital Core if it meant taking them along for the ride.
It wasn't long before France felt his feet come out from under him. "No!" He closed his eyes as he began to fly through the air when something grabbed his arm. He opened his eyes. "Mattamon!" The bear Digitalia was gritting his teeth as he held onto the nation with both hands, his feet positioned so he wouldn't be taken by the wind as well.
The other Digitalia glanced at each other and grabbed onto the arm of their respective partner just as their legs gave way to the wind. "Hang on!"
The nations tried to grab onto their Digitalia with their free arm, but the wind wouldn't allow it. "What do we do?" Romano wailed, voicing the thoughts of everyone.
The Digitalia didn't say a word. They looked at each other, at the portal, and at each other again.
"Alfamon!" Britain called. Alfamon looked at his Digital companions again before facing the nation.
"Britain…" he said solemnly. Britain watched in confusion as a sad smile came to Alfamon's face as he glanced behind him for a moment and Britain felt his heart skip a beat; he was looking at the Digital Core.
"See ya later." With those words, Britain felt Alfamon's hand vanish from his arm.
"NO!" he screamed as he flew towards the portal. The other nations yelled and reached for their Digitalia as the seven creatures turned around, facing away from them.
The last thing they saw before everything went white, was their Digitalia, their friends, their partners, running against the wind and leaping into the Digital Core.