Night raid

Holding Patamon, T.K. looked at Zhou Zhu, who was likewise holding Candlemon, and finally felt a little less depressed. After all, everything looked different when you had someone to compare yourself to.

"Beast King Fist!"

Even outnumbered, Leomon, who had lost his sense of self, still took the initiative to attack.

Was this... why Devimon had specifically sent Leomon to test the DigiDestined's strength from the shadows?

Devimon really was cautious. In the original story, after sending Leomon and Ogremon to probe them during the day, he even used illusions to conjure up fake food at night, leaving the protagonists starving. Only then did he dare step in and launch his final attack.

There was no denying that Devimon's cunning scheme had covered practically every angle.

Unfortunately, he had run into the protagonists-the sort who could switch on cheats and unleash a sudden power-up at a critical moment.

That unusual light Tai's Digivice emitted in a crisis contained an enormous amount of data, enough to let Leomon digivolve to Ultimate. Was old Gennai pulling strings?

Wait, not necessarily. In the original story, Tai had wanted Agumon to digivolve, but after digivolving twice in battle that day, and with an empty stomach on top of that, Agumon couldn't manage it.

So... was that data, originally meant to help Agumon digivolve, activated by Tai's mental strength in that desperate moment and used to purify Leomon instead?

But if it was data meant for Agumon's digivolution, it should only have been enough to turn Agumon into Greymon. How could it let Leomon digivolve all the way to Ultimate? That made no sense!

My head hurts. What exactly connects all of this?

Rumble!

"Watch out! Get out of the way!"

While Zhou Zhu was daydreaming and slacking off, Devimon, hidden at the summit, saw Leomon and Ogremon struggling in battle and shattered the cliff above the group, sending huge boulders tumbling toward them.

"Mega Blaster!"

"Meteor Wing!"

"Super Flame!"

"Harpoon Torpedo!"

Rumble, rumble!

Under the Champion Digimon's barrage, the boulders falling from the summit were smashed to pieces one after another.

"Is everyone all right?" Brushing off his hair, Tai immediately looked toward T.K. and Zhou Zhu, the two with little fighting ability.

"We're fine!"

Seeing Tai show concern for him, T.K. felt as though his own brother Matt might as well have been picked up off the street.

"Ogremon and Leomon are gone."

Joe suddenly noticed that Ogremon and Leomon, who had been attacking them just moments earlier, had vanished.

"Could they have fallen off?"

Sora looked at the cliff beside them, hundreds of meters high, and ventured the guess with a trace of fear.

"Probably. I can't think of any other explanation."

Seeing that T.K. was unharmed, Matt secretly breathed a sigh of relief too. His concern for T.K. tended to come out as restraint and supervision, though; he would not speak his mind openly like Tai did.

"Let's hurry and get out of here. It'd be bad if we ran into another dangerous Digimon." Biyomon, who had digivolved twice that day, sounded a little tired as she made the suggestion.

"All right. We should get down the mountain before nightfall anyway, or the trail will be hard to navigate."

Izzy could also see how exhausted their Digimon partners were. Their fighting strength was at its lowest right now. If another enemy appeared, they would really be in trouble.

Unlike the journey up, the trek down the mountain was grueling. They had just fought two battles, after all, and on the way up, their Champion Digimon partners had carried them along.

Now, they could only inch forward cautiously, one step at a time.

"Look! There's a castle up ahead!"

Just as exhaustion was setting in, the sharp-eyed Mimi suddenly spotted a tall building ahead.

"There really is! Come on, everyone. We'll spend the night there." Tai looked in the direction Mimi was pointing, and his tired eyes instantly lit up with excitement.

They finally had somewhere to stay. It would be even better if there was food inside the castle.

"Yay!"

The sight of the castle instantly revived everyone's spirits, and they hurried toward it.

"Devimon's illusions? Come to think of it, lots of unusual Digimon have special abilities beyond their own signature moves. What's that all about?" Looking at the distant castle, Zhou Zhu acted excited too, but inwardly he was growing very nervous.

After all, the curtain had already risen, yet he was just a small fry coasting along. Even little T.K. had Patamon, who could unleash a sudden power-up when it mattered.

As for him... when it mattered, he might suddenly explode-and die...

Anyone would be nervous about taking a Rookie Candlemon into a battle against Devimon, especially knowing beforehand that they would lose...

Night fell.

Inside the mountain castle...

Although Zhou Zhu knew that Devimon had created this castle through illusions, he still pretended to know nothing and went along with the others, eating fake food and soaking in... a fake bath...

At midnight, all was quiet.

Zhou Zhu chose a bed close to Tai's and went to sleep...

The fragment of his consciousness lodged in Candlemon, however, remained constantly alert. Candlemon's strength would not be much use against Devimon, but blocking a blow or two should still be possible.

"The children really are asleep."

"They fell straight into my trap."

While everyone slept soundly, whispers suddenly came from the angel painting in the center of the castle's great hall.

Then Devimon slowly emerged from the painting.

"Let's defeat these children together!"

"I'm going to take the children down!"

In the center of the hall, Ogremon and the already-controlled Leomon had assembled in advance. They spoke with malice as they watched Devimon appear.

"Ha ha ha..."

"I can go to the bathroom by myself!"

"???"

Just as Devimon was about to let out a villainous laugh, a second-floor door suddenly opened, and Tai's voice came from inside.

"I know you're afraid to go to the bathroom alone at night!" As the words rang out, Agumon and Tai slowly walked out of the room.

Devimon and the other two had already slipped into the shadows...

"That's not true! I'm already in fifth grade!"

Faced with Agumon accusing him of the very thing Agumon was guilty of, Tai immediately protested!

Agumon's the one who's afraid to go to the bathroom alone at night, yet he's claiming I'm the scared one! Hmph. Who would've thought such an honest-looking guy had this side to him?

Watching Agumon walk ahead, Tai understood what was going on, but did not call him out.