Chapter 23: Zeroes and Ones, the Foundation of All Data
"What?! You're telling me Devimon's subordinates were hiding in the Village of Beginnings?"
After hearing the intelligence Mizuki brought back, Elecmon sucked in a sharp, disbelieving breath. A moment later, that disbelief curdled into pure rage, and his small eyes blazed with fury.
"Those bastards! How dare they pull a stunt like this!" His fur practically bristled with indignation. "Mizuki, where are they? Where are the fiends you mentioned? Take me to them, now!"
"Relax, Elecmon," Mizuki said, holding up a hand to placate the impatient Digimon before pointing a thumb over his shoulder. "No need to rush. Those guys have already been caught by Taichi. He's bringing them over as we speak."
"Huh? Taichi?"
At the mention of the name, all the resting children turned their heads in unison. Kari shot to her feet and ran straight to Mizuki, her voice tight with concern. "My brother… he isn't hurt, is he?"
"Not at all. If anything, Taichi gave those Phantomon a thorough thrashing." Mizuki's lips curved into a grin as he waved at a figure approaching in the distance. "Isn't that right, great hero?"
"Eh heh heh, I'm not as amazing as all that, Mizuki." Hearing the praise, Taichi rubbed the back of his neck, a bashful grin spreading across his face. A second later, he puffed out his chest, putting on his most "serious" expression as he yelled at the bound, spectral figures trailing behind him.
"Get a move on! And you better start talking! Confess everything, and we might go easy on you! Resist, and… well, you don't want to find out!"
"Woooo… woooo…"
Under Taichi's fierce glare, the captured Phantomon whimpered, their ghostly forms drifting reluctantly in the direction he pointed. A chorus of sorrowful wails echoed from their shrouded heads.
"Such misery… such despair…"
"So cruel… so cruel…"
"Why is our fate so bitter?"
"Why is our path so harsh?"
"We are mighty Champions… how could we lose to a mere Rookie Agumon and a human brat…?"
"Ying ying ying…"
Listening to their pathetic moaning, Taichi's eyebrow shot up. "Are you crying?" he demanded. "Hey! Crying's not going to get you anywhere faster!"
His sharp tone startled the Phantomon, and they quickly floated over to face Elecmon's interrogation.
While the guardian of the village dealt with the prisoners, Kari rushed to her brother's side, her worried eyes scanning him from head to toe. "Taichi, how could you do something so dangerous? Are you sure you're not hurt anywhere?"
As Kari gave him a thorough inspection, Taichi let out an awkward but proud laugh. "Of course not! Kari, didn't you hear what those ghosts were saying? I gave them a real beatdown!"
"Me too! Me too, you know!" Agumon chirped, bouncing happily on his feet.
Once she was certain that Taichi was indeed unharmed, the children's collective attention shifted to the more pressing question: how he had managed to defeat Champion-level Digimon in the first place.
"First Mizuki, and now Taichi…" Takeru's envious gaze darted back and forth between the two older boys. "How are you both suddenly able to fight Digimon?"
It was clear that the young boy was at an age where he yearned for nothing more than to be a hero himself.
"Could it be… did Mizuki-san secretly give you private lessons?"
"Nothing of the sort," Mizuki quickly denied, catching the scrutinizing look from Kari. "I absolutely did not give Taichi any private lessons. Besides," he added with a wry smile, "shouldn't you guys drop that old stereotype that everyone from my country is a secret martial arts master?"
However, just as Mizuki finished speaking, Taichi casually slung an arm over his shoulder.
"Aww, Mizuki, why are you being so modest? You're incredible, and you know it!" he declared loudly. "And while you didn't teach me kung fu or anything, the reason I'm so strong now is definitely thanks to you!"
"Eh!?"
A collective gasp of surprise rippled through the children.
Just as Mizuki was about to clarify, he noticed Kari's eyes fixed on him, her expression unreadable.
'Big Brother Mizuki… and my brother only just met, right?'she thought.'Why are they suddenly so close?'
For some reason, a strange, tight feeling coiled in Kari's chest. It was an uncomfortable sensation, but the well-behaved girl didn't say a word. Instead, she silently shuffled closer to Taichi, pressing against his side as if only his familiar presence could soothe the strange emotion welling up inside her.
Interestingly, Taichi seemed to sense the shift in her mood. Though he couldn't guess what she was thinking, he knew she wasn't happy. Without a word, his hand found hers, giving it a gentle, reassuring squeeze.
There were no unnecessary words, only that simple, grounding action. And because of that seemingly unintentional gesture, the tightness in Kari's chest began to ease. The deep, unspoken bond between the siblings was on full display in that silent exchange.
While the two were having their moment, Mizuki's explanation was drawing to a close.
"—and, that's what happened."
"Just from fighting Leomon and the others, he became like this?" Sora asked, skeptical.
"That doesn't really make any sense, does it?"
The children exchanged glances, unsure of what to make of it all. Takeru, however, was practically vibrating with excitement. If Yamato hadn't been holding him back, he likely would have already charged off to challenge Leomon to a sparring match.
"Actually, it might not be entirely nonsensical—"
Suddenly, Koushiro, who had been silent until now, spoke up, immediately drawing everyone's attention.
"Koushiro, did you figure something out?" Mizuki asked, his interest piqued. He held a high regard for the intelligence of the boy often called "Taichi's external brain."
Koushiro didn't disappoint. After a moment of organizing his thoughts, he began to explain. "Mizuki, you once said that this world is composed of data, correct?"
"I was thinking, since Digimon can grow stronger by absorbing the data of other Digimon, is it possible that we humans can do the same?"
"But we're different from Digimon," Mimi voiced her confusion. "They're made of data, but we aren't."
"About that—" Koushiro glanced at Mimi, then shifted his gaze to Mizuki's right leg. "My hypothesis is actually somewhat related to Mizuki."
"Do you all remember his leg? It was healed by Angewomon."
The children followed his line of sight, looking from Mizuki to LadyDevimon, who stood ever-present at his side.
"If a Digimon's technique can repair a human body," Koushiro continued, his voice gaining confidence, "doesn't that suggest that after arriving here, our own bodies underwent a certain degree of digitalization? It could be one of the fundamental operating laws of this world."
"Thinking about it that way, it does seem reasonable," Sora mused, nodding in agreement with Koushiro's speculation. "But how did Taichi get that data?"
"It was the Phantomon…" Just as Sora finished, Kari took over, her voice clear and certain. "It was the Phantomon."
Her gaze never left her brother. "Taichi and Agumon defeated a lot of them when they fought together. His strength must have increased then."
"Exactly," Koushiro affirmed with a decisive nod. "Even if the data provided by a single Phantomon isn't much, when you accumulate enough, it's not surprising that a qualitative change would occur."
He paused, pushing his glasses up his nose. "After all, all network data is composed of binary arrangements of '0'and'1'."
"—!"
Hearing Koushiro's final words, Mizuki's world came to a dead stop. His eyes widened, not in surprise, but in sudden, blinding clarity. The concept of zeroes and ones was common knowledge, something so fundamental that he had completely overlooked it.
Now, hearing it spoken aloud, the implications crashed down on him with the force of a tidal wave. He couldn't help but turn and look at LadyDevimon, his mind racing.
"LadyDevimon… zero and one…"
"Mizu, what's wrong?" she asked, tilting her head.
"Zero and one…" he repeated, a slow, thoughtful nod accompanying his words. "That's right. All data is composed of the fundamental 0 and 1. Whether it's Light or Darkness, neither can escape that law."
Thinking of this, Mizuki's hand shot out and grasped LadyDevimon's. His grip was tight, filled with the electric thrill of discovery.
"I think… I think we've been going about this all wrong," he said, his voice low and intense. "Trying to balance the powers of Light and Darkness by just increasing data volume is a clumsy, roundabout solution."
He looked into her crimson eyes, his own shining with newfound understanding. "Ultimately, both Light and Dark data are just different binary arrangements of 0 and 1. That means we don't have to just balance them. We can go deeper. We can analyze the arrangements of both data types, understand their core structure."
"When we do that," he continued, his voice rising with excitement, "we can achieve perfect conversion just by changing the data's arrangement. It won't matter if it's Darkness or Light. At that point, you'll never have to worry about your internal power balance being broken and causing data corruption ever again."
Listening to Mizuki's rapid-fire explanation, LadyDevimon was a little lost, but she instinctively felt she had grasped something of monumental importance. She nodded, her expression a mixture of confusion and admiration.
"As expected of you, Mizu!"
"No…" Mizuki waved his hand, a hint of embarrassment on his face. "It's actually shameful to admit, but I was completely missing what was right under my nose."
He turned and gave Koushiro a genuinely grateful nod. "If you hadn't said that just now, I don't know how much longer it would have taken me to realize all of this. Thanks, Koushiro."
"No, I didn't do anything…" Koushiro scratched his head shyly, flustered by the praise. "Mizuki, you already knew the concept. I just provided a minor reminder."
"And yet," Mizuki said with a small smile, "sometimes that reminder is the one thing you're missing, isn't it?"
"..."
Watching Mizuki and Koushiro converse, the other children could only exchange utterly baffled glances.
Was this really a conversation kids were supposed to be having?
Why couldn't they understand a single word of it?
'Did the humans secretly Evolve without telling us?' they all wondered.
In the end, unable to make sense of the intellectual leap they had just witnessed, they could only let out a collective, internal sigh.
Geniuses were truly on another level.
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