The ability to protect himself

Although all these signs seemed to suggest that data volume was king, it was not actually that simple. Data was only one part of the equation; true strength lay in absorbing it and converting it into attack power. Otherwise, Digimon like Whamon and Gold Sukamon, who possessed vast amounts of data but could not put it to use, were little more than ornaments.

Ultimate evolved forms like the Thirteen Royal Knights and the Seven Great Demon Lords, on the other hand, could make perfect use of their data volume. So long as they had enough data, these Ultimate Digimon could reliably defeat opponents of the same level with equal amounts of data.

The Ultimate tier was so controversial precisely because, with the same amount of data, some burned firewood, some powered steam engines, and some powered internal combustion engines, while the shameless bunch at the very top powered nuclear reactors...

Comparing Jijimon and Babamon's almost playful special moves to Alphamon's nearly rule-rewriting ones was practically like comparing a dog to AlphaGo...

Yet they were all Ultimates. Clearly, Jijimon and Babamon were burning firewood with an Ultimate's data volume, while Alphamon was powering a nuclear reactor...

Zhou Zhu's current state, however, was that of someone with a Champion's data volume who was not burning anything at all. He was worse off than even those Digimon who chose weak special moves and burned firewood, because he had the physique but no special moves to choose from.

"A Champion Digimon's physique... I probably couldn't even beat a Rookie Digimon right now, could I?"

He clenched his fists. Zhou Zhu felt that if he fought Matt again, one punch would probably send the brat straight to meet his ancestors. But if he fought Devimon, a Champion of the same tier, a single punch from his opponent might make it his turn to meet his ancestors...

"Can I only use my fists? Do I have to learn from Marcus Damon, punching Ultimates and kicking Yggdrasill?"

As he felt the surging power within him, Zhou Zhu agonized over how to put it to use.

Forget it. I should get familiar with Wizardmon's skills and fighting style first. This is Devimon's territory, after all. I have to get Wizardmon used to his own strength as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, in the palace at the highest point of File Island!

"Hahahahaha!"

"Although these children were all chosen, I believe that as long as I separate them, I can wipe them out completely."

As Devimon finished speaking, a great mass of Black Gears began flying off in every direction.

Below him, beside Ogremon, Leomon's blank, whitened eyes showed that this champion of justice had once again become a pawn of evil.

Elsewhere, Tai, whose drifting island fragment had collided with an iceberg, was struggling to survive in the wilderness with Agumon.

"Agumon, do you think Candlemon can find Zhou Zhu? He doesn't look like he can swim."

Shivering from the cold, Tai could not help starting to miss Candlemon.

"Uh, Candlemon are Digimon that are really afraid of water. I think he's more likely to have drowned..." Considering that Candlemon did not even seem to have legs, let alone the ability to swim, and was afraid of water on top of that, Agumon really struggled to imagine what had become of him.

"Damn it! If I'd known, I would've grabbed him in time!" Thinking of how Candlemon had ended up like this because he had come to help him, Tai could not help feeling a pang of anguish.

First Leomon, then Candlemon, and now he did not even know how everyone else was doing.

Looking out over the endless snowy landscape before him, Tai felt utterly lost.

"Tai, this isn't your fault. It's all that rotten Devimon's fault! We have to pull ourselves together. Everyone's still waiting for us."

Seeing Tai's distress, Agumon hurried over to encourage him.

"Everyone...

"Right, everyone's still waiting for us. And Kari's waiting for me to come home, too." Remembering his little sister, who still had a fever, Tai put aside his sorrow and continued onward with Agumon.

Time flew by, and the adventure continued~

A few days later~

In a secluded forest on File Island's main island!

"Thunder Cloud!"

Boom!

As Wizardmon unleashed his skill, Zhou Zhu sidestepped the powerful attack at a speed far beyond human limits.

"Tackle!"

Whoosh-bam!

With the strength of a Champion Digimon's physique behind him, Zhou Zhu sent Wizardmon flying with a direct body slam.

Still, Zhou Zhu's Tackle did not seem to have inflicted much damage on Wizardmon.

That made sense. This so-called Tackle skill was merely something Zhou Zhu had developed by imitating Candlemon's physical skill, "Tackle." Although his Champion physique gave it somewhat more force than when Candlemon used it, it also lacked the burn effect that accompanied Candlemon's version.

Besides, "Tackle" only ranked in the lower-middle range among the skills of Rookie Digimon of the same tier. In other words, it was about equivalent to powering a steam engine.

A skill like "Tackle" was fine for crushing weaklings, but it probably would not be much use against opponents of the same level. The only thing worth celebrating was that, although his offensive options were limited, his speed and strength were no different from Wizardmon's.

After all, his physical attributes had been shared from Wizardmon. Although Wizardmon was a magic-oriented Digimon who was not known for physical strength, Wizardmon would evolve eventually.

The Village of Beginnings~

"Hey, kid! What are you doing? Put that baby down right now!"

After a busy day, good old Elecmon happily dragged a large net full of fish back to the Village of Beginnings, only to return and find T.K. holding a baby that had just hatched from a Digi-Egg and lifting the little one high into the air.

Faced with a stranger who had suddenly appeared and was handling a baby, Elecmon had wanted to attack. But then he remembered Zhou Zhu's request to ask around about human children, and barely managed to restrain himself.

"Huh? Who are you?"

As he looked at the Digimon who had suddenly appeared to question him, T.K.'s face was filled with innocent cluelessness.

"Hmph. I'm Elecmon, the chief of the Village of Beginnings and these children's guardian. Put that baby down right now." Seeing that T.K. did not seem hostile, Elecmon softened his tone a little.

"Oh. Ohhh, their guardian? I thought no one was looking after these babies, so I wanted to help take care of them. Sorry." As he spoke, T.K. even gave a very formal bow.

Although the red-skinned Digimon before him did not look particularly strong, T.K. did not look down on him because of it~

Mainly because his own Patamon looked... even weaker~