"Vamdemon has been sealed."
From afar, Homeostasis—the overseer of the Digital World—witnessed Moss sealing Vamdemon into a jelly pouch.
Good!
Even emotionless Homeostasis couldn't help but cheer inwardly.
Vamdemon had been ambitious, practically the fifth member of the Dark Masters. Now that he was sealed, it was as if the dark forces had lost a major general.
As its name suggests, Homeostasis upheld dynamic balance.
But now, darkness had grown too strong—so strong that it summoned that thing, leading to temporal distortions.
A minute in the human world was now equivalent to a day in the Digital World. This abnormal flow of time was a result of the distortion.
If left unchecked, this would prevent Digimon from evolving, leaving the Digital World stagnant and ultimately leading to its demise.
This was unacceptable to Homeostasis. It valued dynamic balance to promote evolution—of both Digimon and the world itself.
To avoid destruction through distortion and protect the concept of evolution, Homeostasis launched the Holy Plan to support the forces of light.
Unfortunately—
Even with the Holy Plan, batches of Digidestined had failed, one after another. The current generation showed the most promise.
"If I could get help from this alternate-dimension Angewomon, things would surely go more smoothly! Next step... destroy the Dark Castle."
So thought Homeostasis.
While this castle wasn't essential to the dark forces, its loss would be a significant gain for the light.
However, what happened next was unexpected.
Instead of destroying the castle, Moss used Vamdemon's sealed form to command Impmon, thus taking control of the Dark Castle.
"She's not repulsed by darkness?" Homeostasis was shocked.
Angels born of light were supposed to reject darkness by nature. Embracing darkness was the first step to corruption…
Then again—
"She can turn into LadyDevimon... perhaps her nature truly doesn't reject darkness. In that case, things may not go as well as I hoped."
A Digimon possessing both holy and dark power? A true oddity.
But maybe… just maybe… that too was a kind of dynamic balance?
Homeostasis pondered this.
—
Though Impmon wasn't particularly powerful, it knew the Dark Castle like the back of its claw.
In less than half an hour, it had summoned Devidramon (for security), Soulmon (for patrol), and Phantomon (their commander).
"Where is Lord Vamdemon?" asked Phantomon sternly, representing the group.
Impmon hesitated.
Moss stepped forward with a smile. "I'm the one who asked Impmon to gather you all."
Phantomon saw the angel and immediately tensed. He glared at Impmon and barked, "You dare betray our Lord?!"
"I'm not! I'm doing all this for the good of our Lord!" Impmon quickly defended itself.
Moss clapped lightly, drawing everyone's attention. "No need to get agitated. Everyone return to your posts—those on patrol, continue patrolling; those in security, stay on guard. Business as usual."
"Hmph! You're just an angel—go to hell!"
Phantomon raised his scythe and lunged at Moss.
Boom!
Moss didn't even move herself. With just a flick of her wing, she unleashed her "Eight-Winged Fist."
What looked like a delicate wing struck with the force of a steel hammer. Phantomon was obliterated on impact—his body shattered into countless data fragments and scattered into the air.
Impmon was dumbstruck.
Phantomon was just… gone?
Sure, Impmon had seen Moss swat away Vamdemon's shadow-hand before, but that wasn't his full form.
Now, watching her instantly destroy a powerful Ultimate-level Digimon like Phantomon with a single wing strike—that was something else.
"Roar!"
Despite this, the Devidramon and Soulmon charged at Moss without hesitation, claws and ghost hands outstretched.
"Brave," Moss commented calmly.
Eight-Winged Fist!
The eight wings extended like golden serpents, each feather as sharp as a blade. In a matter of seconds, the charging dark Digimon were cut down into pieces—two, sometimes three—and dissolved into data.
Only a few slow or cowardly Soulmon remained, trembling in fear.
"What a shame. I didn't want to destroy them."
Moss sighed as she looked out at the now-empty hall, then turned to Impmon.
Impmon, pale and sweating, was visibly panicking.
Moss said solemnly, "They were loyal, yes—but foolish. You, Impmon, you're the true hero."
Impmon blinked, then grinned sheepishly. "Really?"
Moss nodded firmly. "Of course! Who is truly working to rescue Vamdemon? Tell me, soldier!"
Without hesitation, Impmon replied, "Me!"
Moss gave a thumbs-up. "Even villains have saviors—and you, Impmon, are Vamdemon's."
"Hehehe…"
Impmon beamed proudly, wings positioned on its head like hands on hips—quite the silly pose.
"…," Gatomon (Lucy), Wizardmon, and the others exchanged glances.
The Dark Castle was about to get a new ruler—Moss.
The few remaining Soulmon continued their patrols and cleaning duties.
Because of his loyalty and his typing, Impmon had earned Vamdemon's trust—and thus knew many of his secrets.
Now that Moss had him as a guide, all of the Dark Castle's secrets were laid bare.
For instance, under Vamdemon's coffin pillow was the Crest of Light and its evolution key.
The Digidestined needed to collect their Crests and embed them into these keys for their partner Digimon to evolve to Ultimate level.
The Crest of Light was what let Gatomon evolve into Angewomon—at least, in the original series.
They also found a box of replica Crests of Light.
Gatomon scoffed. "That Vamdemon sure went all-out searching for Kari."
Wizardmon added, "Digimon evolved with the Crest of Light are likely to become angels, Vamdemon's natural enemies. No wonder he was cautious."
Gatomon nodded.
Thankfully, with Vamdemon sealed, Kari would be safe.
With that thought, Gatomon looked gratefully at Moss.
Moss handed her the authentic Crest of Light. "Even though you can already evolve on your own, you should keep this—just in case."
Gatomon accepted it and wore it around her neck.
Moss turned to the box of replicas and asked, "How did Vamdemon make these?"
She wanted to know how to mass-produce Crests and keys. Even if they were fake for now, mastering the technique might eventually allow for true duplicates.
That would unlock the achievement of "Infinite Crest Production."
Though seemingly useless now, it might come in handy someday.
Impmon explained, "Vamdemon made a deal with Datamon to mass-produce them."
"…," Moss was a little let down. She had hoped for some cool hand-crafted technique, but nope—just outsourced to Datamon.
And the Datamon in this first-generation world was said to be the smartest Digimon of all—rumored to have even designed Dark Tornado Mountain later on.
"Where is Datamon now?" Moss asked.
"I heard he got too extreme, and Apemon captured him. Now he's a memory-less cripple."
Moss already knew about the Datamon vs. Apemon event, so that part didn't surprise her. That likely put the timeline at or just before the Apemon arc.
But what Impmon said earlier caught her attention.
She asked, "What do you mean by extreme?"
Impmon replied, "That guy wanted to destroy the world!"
"What!?" Gatomon, Wizardmon, and the others gasped.
Vamdemon, who doled out death for mere disobedience, only wanted to rule the world. But Datamon wanted to destroy it?
For what?
"Why would Datamon want that?" Gatomon asked.
Impmon shrugged. "Dunno."
"…"
Moss mused aloud, "So… he's transcended petty desires and seeks a kind of self-fulfillment we can't understand."
To a genius like Datamon, ruling might be boring. Unleashing his brilliance to its fullest—that was the goal.
"!" The other Digimon looked at Moss in shock.
Moss added, "Still, that's a little too extreme."
A truly evil genius!
With that, Moss gave up on meeting Datamon and asked, "Where's the Digital Gate?"
Besides the Crest, the only other treasure in the castle was the gate connecting the Digital and Human Worlds.
"You know about that too?!" Impmon was stunned.
He quickly fluttered off to open a secret passage in the library, revealing a staircase.
They descended into the basement of the castle, where a massive stone gate stood. In front of it was a stone pedestal with a 3x3 grid.
Nine cards must be inserted to open the gate between the two worlds.
Moss asked, "Where are the cards?"
"I'll get them!" Impmon, shocked that Moss even knew the card mechanism, flew off and soon returned with the full set.
Moss took the cards and smiled. "Good. You're one step closer to saving Vamdemon. He'd be proud."
Impmon was beaming with joy.
"…," Gatomon, Wizardmon, and the others awkwardly looked away.
Moss studied the cards and pedestal.
The pedestal had nine slots arranged by vaccine/data/virus across, and champion/ultimate/rookie down. One slot—vaccine/rookie—had two possible cards: Agumon and Gomamon.
In the original series, Taichi chose the Gomamon card in a panic when the castle was collapsing.
But in the second series, Oikawa (possessed by Vamdemon) used the Agumon card.
"Seems either card works," Moss thought.
The real problem is—how to return from the Human World.
That world hadn't yet developed a way to send Digimon back. The Digital Gate was the only way in and out.
Moss turned to Impmon. "Do you know how to return from the Human World?"
"Yes," Impmon nodded.
Oh? Really?
Moss was impressed.
Then again, it made sense. Oikawa had opened a gate while in the Human World—Vamdemon must've given him the knowledge.
Which meant: Vamdemon knew how to open the Digital Gate from the Human World.
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Each 25 Powerstones? (1 Bonus Chapters)
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