The Boss of the Village of Beginnings

"Uh, when you put it that way, that really is pretty impressive."

You're only a Rookie-level Digimon, Elecmon. Do you really need to exaggerate that much? That Candlemon you mentioned is a Rookie too. You're obviously just hyping each other up...

"All right, enough chatting. I still need to feed this little one." With that, Elecmon deftly began tending to SmokeMon, moving quickly yet gently.

A week later...

Eating the food Elecmon had brought back, Zhou Zhu looked at SmokeMon beside him and felt utterly helpless.

It's been so long already. If this were the main cast, their Digimon would probably have reached Champion by now, but mine hasn't shown the slightest sign of changing...

"Elecmon, why hasn't SmokeMon evolved yet? Does the Baby stage last a long time for you Digimon?" Looking at Elecmon, who was tending to a Botamon nearby, Zhou Zhu finally voiced his question.

"Not at all. Evolution beyond Rookie might depend on training and opportunities, but the Baby stage passes very quickly. SmokeMon should evolve soon too. A few of the little ones born around the same time have already reached the second Baby stage. By the way, Zhou Zhu, why are you so concerned about SmokeMon? You seem especially attached."

After spending all this time together, Elecmon had grown familiar with Zhou Zhu and answered his question without holding anything back.

"Well, SmokeMon was the first Digimon I met after coming here. It's only natural to feel a little attached, right?" Zhou Zhu had already made up his mind. He would keep the whole alternate-body business to himself and present SmokeMon to everyone else as his Digimon partner.

"Oh, is that it? That makes sense. I have a special attachment to the first little one I raised too." Hearing Zhou Zhu's words, Elecmon slipped into reminiscence again.

Shhh...

While the two were chatting, waves of data energy began radiating from SmokeMon nearby.

"Hm?"

"What's this?"

"Time to evolve!" ×2

Neither of them was surprised by this sort of thing anymore...

SmokeMon digivolved to... Flamemon!

(Profile) Flamemon:

Baby II Digimon

A Digimon that evolves from SmokeMon. Despite its small body, its DigiCore burns fiercely, giving its body a flaming appearance as well. This small Digimon has a rough temperament; the intense burning of its DigiCore makes its personality highly aggressive, but its attack power is still too low for direct combat. It is also poor at dealing with water- and ice-type Digimon and will flee immediately upon encountering them. Incidentally, its relationship with Meramon remains unknown.

As the light faded, a brand-new Digimon appeared beside the two of them.

"Whew... finally!"

Looking at the Flamemon before him, Zhou Zhu's excitement showed plainly on his face.

Just now, as SmokeMon evolved, the available branching evolution paths had appeared in Zhou Zhu's mind. Unlike other Digimon, who had to concentrate on evolving amid a haze to avoid failure, SmokeMon could evolve while Zhou Zhu independently directed his attention toward actively choosing the evolution path.

So, as long as I choose the right route, even if my Flamemon is just some background Digimon, reaching the strongest evolution line might still be possible. Plenty of powerful Digimon have interconnected evolution lines, after all. Like that certain Koromon that can turn into practically anything???

As he withdrew his awareness, Zhou Zhu also discovered that when SmokeMon evolved, the data energy within its body could flow back into him, strengthening his current physical body.

If this keeps strengthening me, maybe I'll get a chance to evolve into Marcus Damonmon too...

"Huh? Why isn't this little one saying anything? That doesn't make sense. Digimon at this stage should already be able to talk." Watching the perpetually silent Flamemon, Elecmon was thoroughly puzzled.

"I just don't feel like talking." Flamemon gave Elecmon a perfunctory answer, then got up and jumped into Zhou Zhu's arms.

"Hm? Looks like a rather introverted little one. But aren't Flamemon usually somewhat hotheaded? This one..." Seeing how unusually close Flamemon was to Zhou Zhu, Elecmon couldn't quite wrap that little head around it.

"Elecmon, have you heard any news about the surrounding area while you've been out hunting lately? For example, who's the strongest Digimon on this island?" After spending so many days together, Zhou Zhu had learned enough from Elecmon to figure out that he was probably in the world of the original Digimon series.

As for exactly when in the story he was, that was harder to tell. Elecmon was something of a homebody and hardly ever went out except to hunt for food.

Still, Zhou Zhu had learned from Elecmon that T.K. and Patamon weren't familiar names. It seemed he had arrived either before the story began or just as it was starting.

"The strongest? Here on File Island, that would definitely be Andromon in the Mechanical Factory. Andromon is a legendary Perfect-level Digimon, you know." At the mention of Andromon, a trace of longing and envy appeared in Elecmon's eyes.

"Andromon? The Mechanical Factory?"

Ugh, another useless piece of information. Whether the original story has started or not, Andromon has always stayed in the Mechanical Factory. Even when those kids were getting thrashed by Devimon, that Perfect-level Digimon never stepped in.

Come to think of it, I'm not really in a position to call Tai and the others kids anymore. After all, this body of mine... I guess I've become young again.

Looking at his hands, which appeared to belong to a boy of around twelve, Zhou Zhu didn't know whether to be happy or... happy. After all, gaining more than a decade of life for free was better than getting killed by a truck.

Maybe this is what the spacetime turbulence did to me? Still, I came here in my own body. If I return to the real world someday without even a legal identity, how am I supposed to live? Or should I just stay in the Digimon world forever?

"Elecmon, how long did it take you to evolve from the Baby stage into your current form?" Stroking Flamemon in his arms, whose body wasn't scorching hot, Zhou Zhu began calculating how long the next evolution might take.

"Hm? Flamemon only just evolved, and you're already thinking about that again? Let me tell you, evolution is dangerous. If something goes wrong, you might not even get the chance to turn back into a Digi-Egg. Just let it happen naturally. Don't get too hung up on it. But speaking of evolution, I only took five months to go from Baby to my current Rookie stage."

The pride on Elecmon's face while saying this was beyond words. Clearly, reaching this stage at that speed was considered fairly fast among Digimon.