"For that, we've gotta thank the dearly departed Datamon~"
The Spiral Mountain Program was itself a product of Datamon's research, created under duress from the Dark Masters.
Datamon was clearly displeased at being used by the Dark Masters, so after escaping their control, it had poured its energy into figuring out a way to counteract the program.
But due to Machinedramon's existence, the Dark Masters had access to much of the Metal Empire's black technology, making it impossible for Datamon to secretly embed a backdoor in the program.
If Datamon had tried anything like that, it would've been exposed immediately and annihilated on the spot. It wouldn't make such an obvious mistake.
Thus, the only way to counter the program was to face it head-on. Although Datamon had personally coded the initial framework, the Spiral Mountain's completion clearly depended on the Dark Masters' vast resources.
This program required tremendous resources to complete. Datamon only provided the base coding; the full execution depended entirely on the Dark Masters.
Even with the resources the Dark Masters currently controlled, they'd spent an incalculable amount of time, energy, and resources to finalize Spiral Mountain.
Trying to counteract it head-on—even with equivalent coding—was utterly impossible for Zero, given their current limitations in resources and time.
Thankfully, even though confronting it directly was a no-go, they still had a shot at taking a more indirect defensive route.
Spiral Mountain was designed to breach the Reality Barrier and project the entire Digital World into the Real World, requiring it to break through the barrier between two worlds.
"So, we just need to do the exact opposite. Here, I have a defensive program specifically developed by Datamon. We just have to embed it into the Reality Barrier as a firewall, reinforcing the defense!"
If Spiral Mountain was analogous to a destructive virus program, then what they needed to do wasn't to completely destroy the virus itself, but merely strengthen the firewall so the virus couldn't break through.
This was naturally simpler than eradicating the virus outright. The Reality Barrier itself was already an exceptionally powerful natural defense; Zero merely needed to strengthen it, not create an entirely new barrier from scratch.
"How exactly do we do that?" Rina asked immediately, intrigued.
Zero reached out his claw, gently tapping Rina's Digivice. With a quiet beep, a new app appeared on its screen.
"I've copied Datamon's defensive program, but activating it… requires massive amounts of… massive amounts of… massive amounts of data."
Repeating it three times emphasized the sheer enormity required. But where could they even obtain such a vast volume of data?
Human cyberspace held billions upon billions of data fragments. Collecting all of these scattered bits of data, filtering them accurately to avoid mistakes, and integrating only useful information was a colossal undertaking.
They'd need to set up multiple relay stations worldwide, each capable of complex computations, sophisticated data filtering, and the ability to handle massive instantaneous data inputs and outputs.
Organizations capable of building such infrastructure quickly were incredibly rare globally. The sheer manpower and material cost made it impossible for smaller companies.
Thankfully, Zero had an ace up his sleeve.
"We can leave something like that to Kamishiro, right?"
Rina instantly thought of the Kamishiro Group. As the world's largest network provider, they met these criteria perfectly.
More importantly… Kamishiro would definitely have a keen interest in something like this.
Without delay, Rina immediately pulled out her phone, ready to contact Kamishiro about cooperating. Meanwhile, Zero turned his attention toward Taichi and Hikari.
"Taichi, Hikari~"
"Huh? Yeah, what's up?"
Taichi jolted slightly, finally snapping back to reality. He clearly wasn't comfortable in Rina's "room," although Hikari seemed perfectly at ease. Taichi had been sitting awkwardly upright the entire time, looking quite uncomfortable.
He hadn't fully understood the complicated discussion between Zero and Rina, so he'd stayed quiet. Now, with Zero actively addressing him, he finally spoke up.
"Should you guys head back home first and let your parents know you're safe? After this, we'll definitely still need your help."
"Oh, absolutely! No problem!" Taichi replied immediately, perking up at the mention of combat.
Even if he hadn't understood all the technical details earlier, he was always eager for battle.
"You helped us out a lot back in the Digital World, and I really like that place. Besides, this time it's affecting our Real World… so we can't just sit back and do nothing!"
If it were only a crisis in the Digital World, it might be one thing, but the Dark Masters planned to invade the human world directly—trouble had landed right at their doorstep.
Taichi had clearly seen how powerful Digimon could be. If the Dark Army launched a full-scale invasion, it would be catastrophic for ordinary people who lived in peace.
In the Digital World, it was just him and Hikari. But here, he had parents, friends, and many other precious people. He couldn't possibly let harm come to them.
Given that he and Hikari had the power to confront this crisis, they naturally felt a strong sense of duty.
Besides, what young man didn't dream of being a hero? This wasn't just some idle fantasy—the very real responsibility of saving the world lay right in front of him. The adventurous blood in Taichi's veins naturally started boiling.
"Mmm, I'll help too—with Gatomon!" Hikari chimed in.
At Hikari's words, Gatomon smiled elegantly, bowing slightly. "Of course. Hikari's wishes are my very reason to exist, and I must atone for my past mistakes. So please, count me in."
Truthfully, after seeing how close Zero was with Rina and Hajime—his old partners—the new companions had indeed worried slightly that Zero might abandon them to save the world with his old friends.
It wasn't about participating in the heroic act itself, but rather, the sense of sadness at potentially being cast aside by trusted comrades.
Rina was naturally an important partner for Zero, but Taichi and Hikari were already irreplaceable comrades as well. Zero would never abandon them.
Besides, the two siblings themselves were destined saviors, and their responsibilities couldn't be cast aside even if they wanted to.
"OK~" came Rina's cheerful voice; apparently, she'd already settled matters over the phone.
"Director Suedou at Kamishiro is extremely interested in our plan and strongly requests that they be involved. Kamishiro will cover all expenses, including our operating costs~"
If this plan moved forward, it would be a multi-million-dollar project, so covering their activity expenses was just pocket change. Although Rina wasn't lacking money, who wouldn't enjoy getting funded by someone else?
Kamishiro had always pursued their utopian EDEN System, but it had stalled due to numerous complications. Now, with a chance for a real breakthrough, money wasn't even the issue anymore.
Without this "opportunity," no amount of money would suffice. After all, that wondrous world couldn't be accessed simply by throwing money around; if it were that simple, Kamishiro would've smashed the gates wide open ages ago with their nearly limitless funding.
Thus, this was effectively a mutually beneficial agreement. Meanwhile, Taichi and Hikari decided to head home first, arranging everything properly before returning to help with the plan.
For now, Zero parted ways with the siblings. He'd stick close to Rina, while Taichi and Hikari went home, accompanied by Gatomon.
They also carried home an invitation arranged by the Shinomiya Family for a "social practice activity."
This invitation ensured that the siblings could freely leave home without causing suspicion. With backing from the Shinomiya Family—this powerful local authority—a potentially huge headache was immediately resolved.
Had it been only Taichi and Hikari, reasonably convincing their parents to allow extended absences would've been nearly impossible.
Returning home after months away (though only half a month in the Real World), the siblings spent a long time happily catching up with their parents, while Gatomon discreetly hid on the rooftop.
With her agility, avoiding ordinary human eyes was easy enough. She quietly guarded the siblings from the shadows, always ready to evolve instantly and fight if danger arose.
With a bodyguard like Gatomon around, there was practically no danger in the Real World for them.
After sharing some made-up "camp stories" with their parents and mentioning they'd made several new friends, their parents happily promised to invite these new friends over sometime.
Taichi could only laugh awkwardly and dodge the subject—after all, he couldn't exactly admit his new friends weren't even human.
Later, Hikari went out to see her friends, while Taichi locked himself in his room, finally connecting online with a good friend he hadn't spoken to in months.
Though in reality, only half a month had passed.
"Taichi? Where've you been the past two weeks?"
"Haha, you probably won't believe it—I went on an adventure, experienced tons of unbelievable stuff, and I even got to play hero for a bit~"
Around his close friend, Taichi spoke far more freely, blurting out truths he couldn't even tell his parents.
"Oh? You mean like in some new game? So you've been gaming all this time?"
The boy clearly misunderstood Taichi's words, but Taichi wasn't expecting him to actually understand anyway—the reality was too strange to accept.
"Anyway, enough about me. What have you been up to these past two weeks, Koushiro~?"
At that moment, Taichi typed those words into the chat window…