Jayr POV - Digimon Tamers Universe, Digital World, Lowest Layer - 2001

I quickly turn my head and see the being that appeared in front of us and can't help but exclaim out loud in surprise, "Shaka!? WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE!??"

At the same time, Nikita and Zandeer also jumped out in surprise and raised their guards clearly spooked, as they didn't sense his presence until he first spoke those words.

At the same time, I soon realize my mistake as the being in front of me, he doesn't look anything like my friend despite the fact that in my senses, he feels incredibly similar. 

I'm, of course, talking about the Virgo Gold Saint, Shaka, the Saint who is known as "The Closest Man to God" in respect to his incredible power which is second only to the actual Gods.

In the same instant, I realize that the newcomer, who is very likely some kind of Digimon, calmly says, "I'm not this Shaka you speak of. My name is Shakamon, the being closest to Yggdrasill in the Digital Multiverse, the one that has protected the entire Digital Multiverse since ancient times..."

Again, I notice just how similar his voice is compared to my friend, Shaka, which at the same time, makes me scream in my mind, 'Oh my Goddess!! Not only the voice and presence, but even their titles are almost the freaking same!!! Did some other version of Shaka actually choose to reincarnate in the freaking Digimon Universe!!? Are there more Shakas in the multiverse!?' 

While thinking that, I also quickly start to look at Digimon in front of us, he looks like a tall handsome dark-skinned man, with long straight silver hair wearing a yellow Kāsāya, which is the robe of a fully ordained Buddhist monks, a strange golden mask that covers the upper part of his face and ears, a golden armor mantle that covers the whole neck, part of the chest and the shoulders, a golden armor belt around his waist, and he has a golden sun-shaped circle floating behind his back.

(Image Here - Shakamon)

At the same time, the Digimon that introduced himself as Shakamon continues to calmly speak, "As for the reason behind my presence here is quite clear... One of Yggdrasill's subroutines, more specifically, the one instructed to watch over and ensure the continuation and safety of this Server of the Digital Multiverse, instantly noticed the presence of 3 unknown but very powerful variables that suddenly appeared in his domain and it has immediately calculated that the 3 unknown variables may be beings from the outside with enough power to threaten the whole Digital World, but deemed way too hasty sending the Royal Knights to eradicate the possible threat. And so that is the reason I have appeared in front of you, to gauge your intentions and decide the next course of action." 

Hearing that, I can't help but be surprised as I didn't expect our presence in this universe to be noticed so soon.

But quickly after that, I realized that the main reason for that is that we arrived directly in the Digital World, which is constantly watched over with great care and attention by the Yggdrasil, God of the Digital World, and all its subroutines.

If our destination would have been the Real World instead, I'm sure that we would all have gone unnoticed.

As I arrive at that conclusion, Shakamon then calmly says, "Now that I have explained who I am and the reason for my presence, would you kindly offer me the same courtesy and explain to me who you are and the reason for your presence here?"

Despite not showing any immediate hostility toward us as he says that, I can't help but notice that Shakamon is calmly projecting the same familiar aura of absolute confidence that tells me that if he deems me and my companion a threat to the Digital World he won't hesitate to act, the same one that my friend Shaka has, moreover, it is clear that the Digimon in front of me is actually very, very powerful, in fact, I can clearly sense the immense power hidden within his body, and it is easily comparable to that of Antispiral and even my own power, as expected from the "The Being Closest to Yggdrasill in the Digital World".

I maintain my calm and with a smile, I start to introduce myself and my companion, "Nice to meet you, Shakamon. I apologize for my previous outburst, but you remind me of a close friend of mine named Shaka. My name is Jayr and these two people behind me are my friends and companion, the female is named Nikita, while the male is named Zandeer. Just like Yggdrasil calculated, we are indeed from the "Outside" of the whole Digital Multiverse and all its connected realities, we are travelers who are able to explore the many different universes that exist out there. But first of all let me reassure you that we don't wish to harm the Digital Multiverse in any way or capacity, in fact, if deemed necessary I promise you that we will also offer a helping hand."

Very likely sensing the truth behind my words, Shakamon simply nods, at the same time, I continue to speak with honesty, "Now the reason for our presence here is quite simple and direct. Since I have learned of the Digital World, I always wished to not only explore it and enjoy its sights but more than anything else, I also wished to forge a strong and lasting bond with one of the incredible creatures that call this place home. In simpler words, I desired a Digimon Partner, not only for the incredible power that we can unleash working together which will surely help me in my future journeys, but more than anything else for the strong bond of trust and friendship that I know the Digimons are able to form with their partners."

After a moment of silence, Shakamon smiles slightly and says, "I see, I sense no falsehood in your words. Your intentions, wishes, and desires are very clear to me now. I deem that you aren't a threat and for that I welcome you all to the Digital World, I hope that your presence will steer the course of this Server on a brighter path... Now, let me give you a present to celebrate your first step in this incredible world."

Soon after he finished saying that, Shakamon claps his hands producing a deep but pleasant bell-like sound, and quickly after that, he disappears with a bright flash of light as he teleports away leaving this universe and very likely returning back to the Yggdrasil Realm, the highest layer of the Digital World, to his duty of watching over the entire Digital Multiverse.

At the same time, Zandeer quickly comments, "Damn! You weren't kidding when you told us that the Digimon were very powerful! Even if he did nothing and didn't even have any malice toward us, I felt exactly the same sense of oppression that I felt when I met your father-in-law and your mother-in-law. Even with my recent upgrade, I'm not sure I'll be able to defeat him even if I go all out."

Following him, Nikita asks, "Hey Jayr, are you sure he isn't Shaka actually pulling a fast one on you? I admit that I'm not too familiar with the man but even I mistook Shakamon for him for a moment. Hell, even his name is quite suspicious! Shakamon and Shaka it is basically the same! Moreover, what do you think this present he spoke of could actually be?"

I look in the distance as I sense many small but very pure presence quickly approaching us and at the same time I reply, "I don't know if that was actually Shaka, one of his reincarnations, or even simply this universe version of him. After all, in the Omniverse there are infinite versions of Athena, Zeus, other gods, and also other important and legendary figures that can almost be described as constants, it isn't that much out of the possibility for someone like Shaka to make such an impact that other versions of him appear here and there in the Omniverse. However, regarding the present he spoke of it is very likely that we will find out soon..."

As soon as I finish saying that, Zandeer also notices the incoming creature and pointing in the same direction I'm looking at, he asks, "Hey, what are those? Are they dangerous?"

Nikita also looks at the shining creatures approaching us from the horizon and after taking a good look at them she exclaims, "Ah! How cute~!!"

I simply smile as I look at the countless small-sized creatures flying toward us, they have cute roundish bodies, cute small feet with three digits, long wing-like arms that are as long as their bodies, a roundish head with three triangular extensions to the sides that slightly reminds me of butterfly wings, and a long thin antenna on top of their heads, moreover, there are small purple marks on their bodies and an inverted triangle on their foreheads, and lets not forget about the deadly circular puppy eyes, those creatures are the DigiGnomes.

(Image Here - DigiGnome)

 

As they are quickly approaching us, I reply to Zandeer's question with an excited grin on my face as I have a good presentiment about their presence, "Those creatures are called DigiGnomes, and they are completely harmless. It is a life form that inhabits only the Digital World of the Digimon Tamers Universe. A different species from Digimon that has evolved on its own. They do not have the capacity to express themselves like most Digimon, but they want to communicate with people and Digimon, and they try to show that they are willing to do so by granting wishes and it is very likely that they are here to give us the present that Shakamon talked about. You can basically think of them as cute, little, sentient Dargon Balls." 

Hearing that, both Nikita and Zandeer nod as we all wait for the DigiGnomes to reach us, and after a few moments, they are finally here and start to cheerfully fly around us as I greet them with a big smile on my face while scratching the head of a DigiGnome who landed on my shoulder, "Hello there, little guy. You are all very cute." 

Meanwhile, I also hear Nikita giggle, and turning my gaze away from the DigiGnome on my shoulder, I see her patting the head of a DigiGnome that flew into her arms and hugging it close to her body, while Zandeer also seems to smile as a DigiGnome landed on his head and uses his long arms to cover his eyes. 

At the same time, I also sense that the DigiGnomes are actually studying us and very thoroughly at that.

Still, I let them be and do not obstruct them as I sense no malicious intent behind them, especially since, they aren't actually recording any of the data they gathered nor they are sending it to a third party, after all, if they did such thing I could have easily sensed it, more now than ever, since I am not holding back my senses and Cosmic Awareness.

Thanks to that nothing happening in this whole multiverse can escape my senses if I focus on it, I'm even able to sense the presence of Yggdrasil itself in his realm. 

Soon the DigiGnomes touching our bodies join back to the swarm flying around us, and at the same time, a flow of shining motes something that I can only call Data starts to gather in front of each one of us generating a bright white light and I can see that two object quickly start to take form within that light.

Soon the light fades away and the two object fully reveal their forms as they hover in front of us for a few seconds before they slowly land in our arms.

One of the objects is quite easy and distinctive, it is a relatively bulky, hand-sized device, its shell is fully white, while the decoration and the buttons are of a metallic grey that slightly reminds me of silver, moreover, engraved on the rim around the screen, there are the words "Digimon Tamer" written in the writing system that is used in the Digital World, the Digimoji, this is the D-Ark, the Digivice used in the Digimon Tamers Universe, and with immense surprise, I realize that it is already synchronized with my biometrical data and even my Spiral Cosmo and reacting to it.

(Image Here - Jayr D-Ark)

The other object can't be more recognizable and just looking at it, I can't help but feel a strong excitement and anticipation growing in me, it is an egg, a watermelon-sized egg, funnily enough, the egg itself also slightly reminds me of a watermelon with its pattern, if the watermelon was dark blue with pure white stripes that's it.

Of course, this second object is a Digitama, eggs from which Digimon are born, they are the beginning and the end of all Digimon.

(Image Here - Jayr Digitama)

They usually come in a variety of colors, shapes, and sizes and typically hatch into Baby I Digimon, but will sometimes hatch directly into a higher form, even an Adult Digimon like Numemon, moreover in rare instances, it is possible for a single Digitama to produce twins like it happened for that character of the Digimon 02 Movie that hatched a Cocomon and a Zerimon.

After checking what is clearly my D-Ark and the Digitama holding my future Partner Digimon, I take a quick look at my companion, Zandeer, and Nikita, and see that they both are holding their own D-Arks and Digitamas in their hands, the only difference is that Zandeer's D-Ark has black colored ornament and he holds a plain white Digitama, while Nikita's D-Ark has dark purple ornament and she holds a light cyan Digitama.

(Image Here - Zandeer and Nikita D-Arks and Digitamas)

I turn my gaze away from my companions, who are still curiously looking at their D-Arks and Digitamas, and focus back on the DigiGnomes swarming around us, and then I say, "Thank you for this wonderful gift. I promise you that I'll do everything in my power to ensure the safety of this wonderful world."

Soon after I gave them my sincere thanks, the DigiGnomes dispersed and flew away in all directions leaving us alone with their gifts.

At this point, Zandeer steps forward and says, "Well, that was a lot easier than I thought... What are going to be our next steps?"

In response to his question, I put my D-Ark into my pocked and gently holding my Digitama, I reply, "Well, for now, we will wait here for our Digitamas to hatch, something that it should take an hour or so from what I can sense, then we will feed our Digimons and spend some time with them until they evolve to their next and more stable stage, after that we can head toward the Real Word and ensure that everything goes well and that both the Real World and the Digital World don't get deleted while at the same time forging a stronger bond and training our Partner Digimon."

Suddenly, Nikita, who is tenderly hugging the cyan Digitama, steps forward and asks, "Talking about "Real World", "Digital World", "Digital Multiverse" and "Servers". Just what is going on here!? I admit that I'm fully confused by the structure of this universe. You said that we are in the Digital World, but Shakamon called this place a Server, then he said that he watches over the Digital Multiverse... so I kinda got lost."

Hearing that, I nod and say, "Well, since we have an hour or so to waste, I think that it isn't a problem if I explain the cosmology and structure of the Digimon Multiverse to you. They can be rather complex to understand for some, but to make it somewhat simpler to understand I'll also show you a simple projection. All the various Digimon Universe have a well-defined hierarchy and clear division that is very similar to one other."

I use my Spiral Cosmo to project the image of the bottom layer of a cylindrical tower, fill it with images of many universes as we usually know them, and continue to explain, "In general it is like this, at the bottom, you find the Physical World, also called the Physical/Material Universe, it is the Platonic term for referring to the world of space, time and matter in which the humans exist. The term most commonly used to refer to this layer is "Human World", or more ambiguously Real World. The Physical World is composed of the universes where humans exist, these exist through the dimensions of time and space. The worlds exist infinitely and in parallel, following the infinite possibilities described by quantum mechanics, where each action can generate infinite different worlds where something has occurred or has not occurred."

I create another layer above the bottom one, divide it into six colored parts, and continue, "After that, there is the "Dimensional Wall", the name given to the barrier that exists between the Digital World and the Real World. The wall exists to keep the worlds apart, in case the barrier fails the worlds begin to merge, which could lead to the total destruction of all worlds. In some parallel universes, the Dimensional Wall is also referred to as the Network on which humans work, ie it would be the computer network itself. In these conditions, one of the functions of the network would be the means by which information flows from the Real World to the Digital World and vice versa, in fact, we have one such example just above our heads. Just after the level of the Real World is this "Dimensional Wall" that is divided into six layers, after crossing these 6 layers it is possible to reach the lowest layer of the Digital World, referred to as "Physical Layer". The Network is the main means of transport within this universe, making it practically impossible to travel between the Real World or the Digital World in case the Network is disconnected." 

I added a third layer, filling this one with all kinds of random images, planets, universes, dimensions, and so on which makes it look like a slightly more varied multiverse, but different from the bottom layers, I also added some lines to indicate that they are all somewhat connected, "Above the level of the Network, there is the Digital World. This world exists above the Network and the Physical World, existing on a higher structural level so that the very existence of the lower worlds would be unable to support the existence of the Digital World. Like the Dimensional Wall, the Digital World consists of several layers, an unknown number of them. The worlds that exist between the layers of the Digital World are separated from each other, in fact, there are beings in these worlds who do not even know that there are other worlds like the one in which they live. These worlds are known as "Servers" in the same way as the Servers that were created by humans through the Dimensional Wall. The truth is that the events seen in the animes, games, manga, and other media occur in Servers of the Digital World, and are only a small world compared to the true nature of the Digital World. Still, those scenarios we saw contain planets, stars, galaxies, and more that are colossal and literally infinite in size." 

Projecting a fourth layer on my tower, filling it with a single big realm with the drawing of a tiger, a vermilion bird, an eastern dragon, and a turtle, I continue with my lesson, "Beyond the various layers of the Digital Worlds there is the Domain of the Four Holy Beasts, a realm created by them that exists beyond the various worlds of the Digital World. While residing at this top of the hierarchy, they maintain the balance of the Digital World preventing it from being consumed by darkness sometimes through direct intervention and other times through avatars. Despite all this, this world is only "close" to the true God's Kingdom and usually, there is a single Domain of the Four Holy Beasts for a single Digimon Universe."

At this point, I create the last layer and fill it with the images of a big imponent tree whose roots touch all the layers below, moreover, these roots also connect to other similar universes and say, "The true God's Realm is the Kernel, the core of the Digital Multiverse. Just as Yggdrasil is the Digital World system, its core, its true existence, is the Kernel itself. The Kernel exists beyond the Digital World itself, in a way that the content of the Digital World does not occupy the space of the Kernel. Yggdrasil, the Angel Digimon, Celestial or Divine Digimon, and the Royal Knights inhabit the Kernel. The Kernel has several names, Paradise, Eden, Holy Kingdom, System World, and also Heaven. Like the Four Holy Beast realm, the Kernel exists above the normal levels of the "Digital World" with this being referred to as a "Lower World ". The existence of this world overlaps all the textures/appearance, which guarantees to this world the characteristic of being able to easily have any form that explains the diverse appearances that this world can have."

At this point, Nikita exclaims, "Wait! Wait! Wait! Are you saying that the Digimon Multiverse is basically a Multiverse within a Multiverse within a Multiverse or something like this!?" followed by Zandeer who mutters, "I'm starting to get a headache only thinking about it..."

Hearing that I nod in agreement, and then I create a small ball of light above the tower and conclude, "There is just another theoretical layer, what can be called the Great Intent, something we can also call the "Work of the Gods", the system of existence from which everything we have seen so far is only a "part", the domain of the creator of everything, but what is curious and somewhat worrying is that despite the fact that I know that such realm should exist as Yggdrasil itself declared that it has a creator in some media, I cannot sense it in any way, which makes me somewhat scared of the being that stands at the top of this universe..."

Suddenly I hear the familiar voice of Culture as it chuckles and says, [Heh... It is impossible for you to sense it, after all, the "Work of the Gods" as you call it is the realm where I, Evolution, Freedom, Technology, and many other Concepts started to create this whole Omniverse, not even Yggdrasil has access to it despite knowing of its existence, only the Concepts and the winner of this Battle Across the Omniverse can sense it and access to it.]

Hearing that, I can't help but smile wryly as I mutter, "I admit, I didn't actually expect that... but from a certain point of view, it is logical that the highest layer of this universe and of many others is the personal space of the Concepts... Interesting, this is the first time that I find a trace that clearly hints at your existence."

Culture once again chuckles as it adds, [Heh... This is because we all were quite proud of the work we did here and the final result, even if at first it started to create this multiverse out of spite for what the Concept of Slavery pulled off in the inception of the Pokemon Universe we all created before this one, he did those wonderful creatures dirty by blurring the lines between slavery and companionship so much and making it so easy for them to be enslaved or "captured" against their will, luckily we were able to patch things up in time and fix it before it became too dark as the principal theme and atmosphere behind that universe were supposed to be mostly cheerful and light-hearted... After that, the Concept of Evolution was especially pissed off since it was mainly his idea to create those wonderful creatures and their world, and so he gathered us all together to once again create a new, bigger, stronger universe with similar themes but with infinite possibilities where the true genuine bonds between the creatures and their partner would always prevail and bring forth immensurable power... and so the Digimon Multiverse came to be...]

That certainly wasn't what I expected to be the story behind the creation of this universe. It seems that my companions think the same as their mouths and eyes are also opened wide clearly showing their surprise and shock about that revelation.

Still, I admit that I don't find the idea that the Pokemon Universe is much darker than first intended that much farfetched, after all, even in the first games there were quite a few hidden dark themes that passed over the minds of the child playing it, like the playing protagonist actually killing his rival's Raticate, the fact that Kadabra is actually a boy with powers who one morning turned into a Pokemon which also implies that someone "breed" him with other Pokemon to create more of his species, or that Drowzee is actually the Pokemon version of Freddy Kruger.

After all, before the anime Pokémon was a game about hunting unsuspecting wild animals, beating them to within an inch of their life, capturing them in a tiny, uncomfortable round prison, and then training them to fight other animals to further their own personal status.