"Mastermon, could you use that thing from before to cheer Izzy Izumi up?" T.K. Takaishi shook Mastermon's arm and asked in his little childish voice.
"Hehe, little one, did Sora or Mimi teach you to do that?" Mastermon neither agreed nor refused. A power that touched the heart was not something to use so casually.
T.K. Takaishi was too young to know better, while Mastermon had nothing to hide. Everyone present heard their conversation. Izzy Izumi gave Mimi Tachikawa a grateful look, the tear tracks still clearly visible around his eyes. Under his gaze, Mimi Tachikawa's face flushed bright red.
No one was more devastated by Cardmaster Twister's death than Izzy Izumi and T.K. Takaishi. But T.K. Takaishi was a child, after all, and soon accepted the idea of reincarnation. He even excitedly insisted on going to the Village of Beginnings to find Cardmaster Twister again. No amount of persuasion could stop him. In the end, Izzy Izumi told him, "T.K. Takaishi, Mr. Trist needs to rest. Let's not disturb him." After hearing that, T.K. Takaishi finally accepted it.
"Izzy Izumi, what's on your mind?" Zheng Fan asked, patting his shoulder.
"Zheng Fan, is the power of darkness really that terrifying?" Izzy Izumi asked. "While we were separated, I took part in a war between Digimon. We fought Digimon controlled by darkness. But before they were controlled, weren't those Digimon just like Tentomon?" His voice was heavy.
"Izzy Izumi, what made you think of that? You already have an answer in your heart, don't you?" Zheng Fan did not answer directly.
"T.K. Takaishi and I played with the Digimon and fought alongside them. They're just like us humans. They feel happiness, anger, sorrow, and joy too. Why can darkness control them so easily? Why?" Izzy Izumi's words were filled with grief and anger.
"Digimon are born of heaven and earth, with the potential to evolve and grow stronger from birth. In the human world, that would make them children of destiny. But in the Digimon World, they have to rely on themselves instead," Zheng Fan began explaining. "The world is perfectly fair. Those born with power surpass others in one respect, but are weakened in others. That applies to humans and Digimon alike. Digimon are far less resistant to negative emotions than humans."
"Negative emotions? Does what Mastermon does keep every Digimon passing through the Graveyard Mound from developing negative emotions? But what does that have to do with dark power?" Izzy Izumi asked.
"What controls Digimon isn't actually dark power, but negative emotions. The essence of darkness is acceptance-acceptance of everything." What Zheng Fan described was the doctrine of the Dark Domain.
Izzy Izumi listened and nodded. "Zheng Fan, do you mean darkness has been polluted by negative emotions?" His question struck at the heart of the matter. Zheng Fan, however, seemed unable to answer.
Zheng Fan struggled for a moment, then glanced over and beckoned Joe Kido over, since he did not understand the subject very well himself.
"Joe Kido, you've studied chemistry, haven't you?"
"Huh? Why are you asking me that?" Joe Kido looked puzzled, then obediently replied, "I've read some chemistry books."
"Right. There's a concept about substances combining and separating. I think it's called extraction, or osmosis, or something." Zheng Fan blushed a little as he said it. Why hadn't he studied properly back then?
Then again, if Zheng Fan had ever listened in class or opened a textbook at Xiangyang High School, it had been during those few chemistry lessons. As a logistics worker, he had dealt with the four great Heavenly Daos fairly often. Chemistry seemed to overlap somewhat with the knowledge of the Alchemy Heavenly Dao and the Artifact Heavenly Dao, and it always caught the attention of someone like Zheng Fan, who had one foot through the door.
Joe Kido was much more diligent about studying than Zheng Fan. After hearing only his description, he explained an entire chemical purification process. Whether any of it was useful or not, that dedication was worth learning from.
"I think it must work like this." After listening to Joe Kido's lecture on chemistry, Izzy Izumi roughly understood what Zheng Fan wanted to convey. "If there's garbage in water, the water becomes polluted. It turns black and starts to stink. Humans hurry away when they see it, but flies and mosquitoes like that polluted water." He paused. "But even though dirty water disgusts us, we humans still need to drink water, and most polluted water is created by us humans."
"Zheng Fan, are you saying darkness isn't at fault, and that everything comes from negative emotions, or even from us Digimon ourselves?" Mastermon asked excitedly. Fortunately, Mastermon knew there were no humans in the Digimon World and had automatically adjusted the comparison.
"Mastermon, what I'm describing is only a concept." Besides, perhaps the human world caused every disaster happening now. Zheng Fan did not voice that last sentence. Izzy Izumi's explanation had reminded him of something else: whoever caused a problem had to be the one to solve it. Why did disasters in the Digimon World require human help?
Mastermon shook his head, trying to appear more relaxed. Even Izzy Izumi and the others could see through that forced composure, though no one said anything. After everything they had been through, they had to grow up eventually.
"Zheng Fan, is there a way to keep humans and Digimon from developing negative emotions?" Izzy Izumi asked.
"Hehe, that's impossible." Zheng Fan had not expected that question, but he answered anyway.
"Why? If everyone stayed in the best frame of mind, wouldn't there be no negative emotions?" Izzy Izumi challenged.
"It's not as though no one can maintain a good mindset all the time. But ordinary people can't manage that. Never mind ordinary people-even I, or people stronger than me, or Immortal Realm experts, can't truly go forever without anger, fear, or sadness," Zheng Fan said with a smile.
Although Izzy Izumi did not understand what an Immortal Realm expert was, he realized he had been a little too naive.
"I think emotions can neutralize one another too." Seeing the disappointment in Izzy Izumi's eyes, Zheng Fan could only continue with his own understanding. "I've heard my elders say that if there are always more happy people in the world than sad people, then the world is a happy place. I think that's what it means for emotions to neutralize each other."
"But Zheng Fan, I don't think that's right," Sora Takenouchi interjected. "People need a lot of things to be happy. Take our soccer team—we have to win for everyone to be happy. But whenever we lose, everyone is unhappy."
"That does seem true. I'm scared every time I take exams, because I worry I won't do well in one subject. If I do badly on an exam, my parents and teachers will all be angry." Joe Kido's words left Tai and Matt silently weeping. The world of top students was beyond their understanding.
"I didn't know you played soccer too, Sora Takenouchi." All Zheng Fan could do was offer that compliment.
Lacking experience in dealing with people, Zheng Fan found he could no longer keep up with the two of them. Instead, he concluded that the power of emotions was unfathomable, something his current level could not touch.
Mastermon and the others had no idea what dead end Zheng Fan had wandered into. Even if they had known, these innocent humans and Digimon probably could not have cleared up his confusion. So Zheng Fan stayed to one side, thinking hard, while the others shared what they had gained during their days apart.
Before they knew it, they had reached the foot of Infinite Mountain.
At the foot of Infinite Mountain, a large number of Digimon had formed patrol squads, made up primarily of Guardromon.
"Mastermon, it's Andromon! That Digimon over there is Andromon!" Tai lowered his binoculars, waving his arms excitedly. Zheng Fan lowered his hand and said, "No, that won't work. Tai is human, after all. He can't transmit data."
"Then let me do it," Mastermon said, snatching Tai's binoculars with a wave of his hand and looking toward the distant foot of the mountain.
"But Mastermon, you're stronger than I am. I'm not confident I can receive your data," Zheng Fan immediately replied.
Mastermon smiled. "Zheng Fan, even a human like you, who isn't a Digimon, can do it. I'm a full-fledged Ultimate Digimon. How could I fail?" Mastermon chuckled, secretly pleased. At last, he had gotten the better of this human youngster.
Zheng Fan hesitated, then placed one hand on Mastermon's shoulder and the other on Izzy Izumi's laptop. That was right: Zheng Fan was working as a data cable.
Of course, this was terribly rude to Mastermon and extremely taxing for Zheng Fan. But Mastermon himself did not mind, and Zheng Fan had no better option.
Izzy Izumi's fingers clattered over the keyboard, and a clear image appeared on the screen. Everything in Mastermon's field of vision was displayed there.
"Look. This area is covered by five Digimon squads' patrol routes, but there's a gap of more than twenty minutes. This point up ahead only has two patrol squads, but their timing is very regular. If we make a move, we'll be discovered within five minutes."
Izzy Izumi pointed at the screen, laying out his strategy. It was a pity his family knew nothing about it.
"Izzy Izumi, let's take a different route." Mastermon felt Izzy Izumi's route was too troublesome and pointed out several other locations.
"But if we take this route without fighting, we can only get this far. If we fight and get discovered, more than ten patrol squads will reach this location within three minutes," Izzy Izumi said, demonstrating on the laptop.
"Izzy Izumi, that may be true, but shouldn't you ask how strong Elderlymon and Zheng Fan are?" Sora Takenouchi reminded him.
"Oh, right. The patrol squads only have Champion Digimon. Mastermon, Zheng Fan, how many Champion Digimon can you fight at once?" After asking, Izzy Izumi shook his head again and muttered to himself, "No, that won't work. Numemon would hold us back too much. And should Tentomon and the others evolve when we fight?" Mastermon and Zheng Fan did not know whether to laugh or be annoyed.
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