Alright... I understand this could end up a base breaker for some of my watchers, but I want to remind I had spoken at length with Syrus about this, and they themself are onboard, as well as granted me permission to go forwards with this. Consider this my fanfiction alternate take on events, given the creator's own blessing to do.
It all began with a simple question; at the end of Eternal Horizons, the Destroyer, T.E.C., is officially dead. Nedamire, DEAD. With the greatest enemy of the multiverse finally gone, once and for all, souls could finally be allowed to mend and heal. In the case of Samantha and Samuel, I took them in and after many, MANY years of effort, purged them of the fragments of the Destroyer's soul that infected them before their births. It wasn't easy, for me or them. It was an uphill struggle to slowly undo the hate they gathered because they were forced to be pawns for a force that sought to erase everything, and their actions guided by that fear.
So then I asked Syrus; "If the Destroyer is dead, in all multiverses and timelines, how would Samantha and her brother turn out?"
By Syrus's own word, Inverted Horizons answers that. This is our take on what the timeline would have been like if none of the Chosen Ones were never infected by TEC. Samantha is still big on mind control, for starters; however, without a great fear driving her, she's more into it as a hobby, fetish and genuine means of therapy to help others through their heavy baggage. She is the founder and owner of Blush Co., the mega corporation that produces thousands of ways to brainwash and hypnotize folks; if they want it. Otherwise, if someone snaps out of they hypnosis and is angry or spiteful about it, she instantly apologizes and ensures the unhappy customer is given a full refund, and will do what she can to compensate them for their discomfort and displeasure. She wants to take over the world with hypnosis, but folks need to WANT to be hypnotized, because she's no maniac who's going to slaughter those who won't submit. That's bad for business, makes you hated by millions, is sick enough to make her hurl at the very suggestion, and only a demon would do something like that. Besides, if that's not your cup of tea, Blush Co. still makes products that make your life better without hypnosis, such as her 'Kid's Kitchen' line of meals.
One thing that had not changed, however, was Merlin was still a sheer, wild and uncontrolled powerhouse; without being motivated by TEC to unleash that power on others, the poor guy was suffering, every single day, that he couldn't interact with anything without instantly destroying it, or badly hurting someone. Their vast power forced them to isolate themself, lest they one day kill somebody by mistake. Much like the original Horizons series, Samantha found him, and keeping her distance, heard the poor guy's story. Sine she herself was never tainted, Samantha was the very first to honestly cry for Merlin, who just wanted to have friends, but feared they would kill them. What differs in this inverted timeline is Samantha offered Merlin to be hypnotized. To try and use hypnotic therapy to help them learn to restrict the power they had no control over. If he was unhappy with it at any point, they would stop on the spot, so his boundaries were respected.
Fast forward a few years to this image, where Syrus had heard of a hypnotic kitten stirring up trouble in Care-A-Lot. He had come expecting some kind of evil mastermind... And was met by a friendly Gatomon and her maid. The last thing Syrus expected, when he asked she stop making trouble for Care-A-Lot, was a cute little pout followed by a "Yes, Miss Syrus. I'll pack up right away." It was the tone of a child being told playtime was over because it was bedtime; disappointed, but still going to listen to the parent telling them what. She then put her paw on her cheek, and just said "I had a lot of fun while it lasted! I hope I didn't make anyone upset or fall behind in their work... Melina, please make sure to get a survey from everyone before we leave so I know who needs to be compensated. I was very nice to meet you, Miss Syrus!"
The Agumon of course just blushes over how easy this mess was to fix and mutters "But I'm a boy..."
