A massive surge of dark energy welled up from the foot of Dark Tornado Mountain, staining the entire range pitch black.
Suddenly, a gaping hole opened beneath the children and swallowed them whole.
"Ah—ah—!" They screamed as they fell.
"What happened?" Leomon and the others rushed over, but the ground had already returned to normal.
The shaft they'd plunged through was saturated with darkness and warped light, like a bottomless pit.
"Tai!"
"Matt!"
"Sora!"
"Joe!"
"Izzy!"
"Mimi!"
"T.K.!"
"Kari!"
Their partner Digimon dove after them, trying to catch them—but the children abruptly stopped, suspended in midair. All around them stretched a space like the depths of the cosmos.
"Tai, Matt—are you alright?" Omnimon descended and asked with concern. The other Digimon landed one after another.
"Yeah," Tai answered, scanning their strange surroundings.
"What even is this place?" Izzy said, peering about.
Beep—beep—beep— Izzy's laptop chimed.
He swung it off his back and flipped it open—Gennai's face appeared; a live call was coming through.
"This darkness… it may have no end," Gennai's image flickered as he spoke.
"Gennai, what's going on?" Izzy blurted, desperate for an explanation.
"Didn't you say we just needed to defeat the Dark Masters?" Matt protested. They'd barely had time to celebrate Piedmon's fall before getting dumped here—no wonder he was testy.
"Because the root that spawned all this evil hasn't been defeated," Gennai explained. "Your mission isn't finished."
"What?" the kids exclaimed.
"It's the dark source that came from beyond the Firewall."
"The Firewall?" Joe echoed, not quite getting the term.
"In ancient times, the root of evil was sealed in an extradimensional space outside the Digital World. The Firewall is the Digital World's defense, keeping that root at bay. But later, another malign intelligence arose—an amalgam that gathered the grudges of Digimon who vanished during evolution, merged with the negative thoughts of humans, and data from the Dark Ocean. It became a terrifying composite we call Apocalymon. It sought to control the entire Digital World. Because it also absorbed humanity's negativity, Digimon alone weren't enough to end the crisis—so we chose children from the human world ahead of time to help."
"So there were other kids before us?" Joe said, startled.
"Correct. But back then the Digivice hadn't been completed. Even with the Four Sovereigns aiding the DigiDestined of that era, they could only defeat Apocalymon, not eradicate it. In the end, they sealed it in the extradimensional space beyond the Firewall, hoping that when the Digivice was finished, it could finally be destroyed."
"So we were chosen to deal with the Apocalymon that broke past the Firewall? He's the true final enemy?" Sora pressed.
"Just remember this, children: he has a body, but you must fight him with your hearts." As Gennai finished, his image vanished from Izzy's screen, leaving the group wide-eyed, trying to digest what they'd heard.
Tai didn't crowd around the laptop. Gennai's words were just to calm them. He had more important business now.
Slipping away from the knot of kids, Tai tapped his Digi-Goggles to contact Datamon. With a press of the side button, Datamon's image blinked onto the lens. "Status—are we done?"
"Lord Tai, the nine Formatters have all been placed. Once we bring in the Digital World's source core, 'Genesis' can begin."
"How's the Ark Project?"
"All preparations are complete—ready to execute at any time."
"Good. Execute the Ark Project."
At Tai's word, the nine Formatters deployed across the Digital World unleashed torrents of data strings made of ones and zeroes, sweeping the world. Countless Digimon struck by the streams dissolved within them—Champion or Ultimate, it didn't matter; their bodies scattered into raw data. In moments, the whole Digital World fell eerily silent. Where the streams passed a certain site, a massive barrier rose, shielding a vast city. The flood of data split and flowed around the shielded metropolis, then pressed on.
Through the towering barrier, one could see machine Digimon keeping order in the streets; inside skyscrapers lay innumerable Digi-Eggs—and as the data stream spread, their number swelled.
Back with the children, Gennai had gone, leaving behind a heap of half-understood words.
"He wasn't exactly clear," someone muttered.
"What does this even mean? After all that, the Digimon we've been fighting aren't our real enemy?" Joe was near frantic.
Izzy shut his computer. "Maybe Gennai meant they're fundamentally different at the root."
"We can win," Matt said flatly. "Kids like us beat him once before—and they didn't even have the Digivice."
"But they had help from the Four Sovereigns," Mimi fretted. "We only have ourselves."
"We're not alone—we have our Digimon," Tai said, walking back. "We've beaten so many foes. We can win this time, too."
"Yeah, Mimi—you've got me," Lillymon said, fluttering to her partner.
Mimi hugged Lillymon tight, rubbing her cheek against her partner's. "You're still the cutest." The worry on her face instantly melted into bliss.
"…"
"Urgh—ah—" A sickening sound rose from every direction.
"What is that? It sounds awful," Mimi whispered, clutching Lillymon. The kids scanned the darkness for the source.
"It's coming from there—and there," Angewomon warned, tense.
"He's… saying something," Matt said, listening hard.
"That's right. I am the conglomerate of grievances that had no place to be heard," came a chilling voice.
"You… have grievances?" Sora asked, puzzled.
"Who are you?" Joe called, looking for the speaker.
Before them appeared an irregular polyhedron, a heartbeat thudding from within.
Izzy swallowed. "Is that the Digimon that came from the other side of the Firewall?"
Several faces of the polyhedron elongated. The tips opened, and talons connected by double-helix joints unfurled. The topmost face stretched farther, revealing a black-robed figure; the robe fell back to show the shape beneath. Its lower body was tethered to the polyhedron by cords, the whole form jet-black. A cloak—crimson inside, black outside—hung behind it as its lower half merged seamlessly into the shape below.
"What even is that?" Matt whispered, shaken by the sight.
Meanwhile, in the human world's sky, people could see the spreading darkness—and Apocalymon's silhouette—hanging overhead.
"What is that?!" Humans on the ground cried out in shock.
At that moment, the children and their Digimon appeared before Apocalymon.
"Sora!"
"Mimi!" Their families recognized them from below.
"Ha, ha, ha… You think I'm hideous, don't you?"
"…?" Apocalymon's words threw the kids off-balance.
"That's right. That's what you're thinking," Apocalymon went on, ignoring their silence. "Because our evolution was interfered with by forces outside ourselves."
"You mean… the process of evolution?" Izzy asked.
Apocalymon ignored him, raising both hands. "All Digimon must evolve over long cycles, again and again. Did you know some Digimon disappear during that process?"
"They weren't strong enough," Izzy countered. "If they vanish while evolving, there's nothing we can do. Their adaptability was too poor."
"Shut up." The words struck a nerve; Apocalymon's voice rose and his eyes turned vicious. " 'Nothing we can do'? You think saying that makes it fine? We just wanted to live—why were we dragged into a war we never needed? They fight for power—why must we be the ones to pay?"
"That only means you weren't strong enough," Tai stepped forward. "If you had the power of the Four Sovereigns, war wouldn't touch you. In the end, it's your own problem—you can't blame others. Survival of the fittest is the Digital World's law, isn't it? Haven't you killed other Digimon?"
"What did you say? Are you saying the Sovereigns are justified in starting wars? Their disputes are their own—why drag us into them?" Apocalymon's eyes went wild.
"What are you even getting at?" Matt snapped, fed up.
Apocalymon thrust out a finger at the children. "You hold the power of life and death. You decide whether we get to exist."
"No—I never—" Izzy began to protest.
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