Heading to Infinity Mountain

"Huh? No Digimon partner? So you're just some passerby who lucked into this place?" Looking at Wizardmon beside Zhou Zhu, then at the Digivice in his own hand and Gabumon at his side, Matt felt an inexplicable sense of superiority well up inside him.

"Matt, that's way too rude! Zhou Zhu and Wizardmon just saved us!"

Tai immediately grew angry at Matt's blunt words. They had just helped them, after all. If Wizardmon hadn't held off the enemy, he and Matt probably wouldn't even have lasted until Izzy and Mimi arrived.

"Hmph. To be precise, Wizardmon saved us. Zhou Zhu had nothing to do with it. They aren't Digimon partners, after all." Matt disagreed with Tai, dismissively drawing a clear distinction between the two.

"Hmph, what a rude brat. Even T.K. has better manners than you." Unhappy with Matt's attitude, Elecmon made the comparison.

"Heh, what right does a Rookie Digimon like you have to criticize me?" A babysitter who couldn't even take one swipe from Garurumon, defending Zhou Zhu like that? Looks like this Digimon is on his side. I need to keep T.K. away from him.

"Watch it, you! I'll have Wizardmon beat you up!" Having seen Matt's Champion-level Garurumon, Elecmon had no intention of fighting him personally. Instead, he generously volunteered Wizardmon's services.

After all, he had helped raise Wizardmon. Well... even if Wizardmon was much stronger than him now.

Speaking of which, how did Wizardmon evolve so quickly? Is he some kind of natural-born prodigy?

"Hmph. Am I wrong?"

Matt wasn't particularly concerned about Wizardmon's combat strength. The earlier battle had made it clear that Wizardmon's attacks weren't very powerful. Without that ability to create copies of himself, he probably would have ended up even worse off than Garurumon.

If they really fought, there was no telling who would win.

"All right, stop arguing. Our main goal right now is to defeat Devimon. Otherwise, none of us will have an easy time." Knowing full well how nasty Matt's temper was, Tai hurriedly changed the subject.

As for Zhou Zhu, he had ignored Matt's remarks from beginning to end.

His relationship with Wizardmon was a secret, after all. Why would he voluntarily expose it over a few remarks from someone else? This wasn't some novel about showing off and humiliating people.

Still, he had marked Matt down in his little book for now. He had a temper too, after all-and a big one at that!

"You're right. And we have the power of our Digivices too!" Seeing what Tai was trying to do, Izzy chimed in to help steer the conversation elsewhere.

"I'll do my best too. And I really want to get home soon."

Mimi didn't pick up on the underlying intent, but that did nothing to lessen her determination to go home.

"I'll do my best too, Mimi."

Hearing Mimi's declaration, Palmon voiced her support as well.

"Then let's go! Let's head to Infinity Mountain together!" After hearing everyone speak, Tai decided to set off immediately.

"I'll help you too." Looking at the brimming confidence on Tai's face, Leomon volunteered his strength.

"All right, it's settled!"

With their decision made, Tai and the others set off toward Infinity Mountain, where Devimon awaited.

Meanwhile, Sora and Joe were also on their way!

Inside the palace atop Infinity Mountain!

"It looks like I'll have to deal with them myself, before that fellow appears!" After hearing Ogremon's report, Devimon realized he couldn't wait any longer. The youngest child's Digimon partner was Patamon. At the rate those children's partners were evolving, that Patamon would probably evolve into Angemon soon.

Devimon could hardly wait to nip this mortal enemy, whose powers specifically countered his own, in the bud.

"Huh? Please give me another chance!" Hearing Devimon's words, Ogremon hurriedly dropped to one knee and pleaded.

"I'll give you a chance. First, become part of me!"

As Devimon looked at Ogremon before him, his voice sounded calm, yet carried a chilling undertone.

"Huh?"

What did that mean?

"Death Claw!"

Devimon offered the bewildered Ogremon no further explanation. Instead, he unleashed his finishing move on him, transforming him into Black Gears.

"Powers of darkness! Gather within me! Digidestined, I'll make File Island your grave!"

Devimon spread his long arms and drew vast numbers of Black Gears into his body!

Even the Black Gears that had been scattered far and wide all flew toward Devimon at that moment.

"What's happening?"

Riding Birdramon on her way over, Sora watched the Black Gears fly toward Infinity Mountain, her face filled with unease.

"The powers of darkness are gathering." Sensing the immense dark power atop Infinity Mountain, Birdramon explained it to Sora.

"Could Tai and the others already be fighting Devimon?" Joe's expression grew grave as he sat on Ikkakumon's back.

"Then let's hurry over!"

Hearing Joe's guess, Sora had Birdramon pick up speed.

Boom!

With a deafening crash, Devimon's enormous body burst through the palace atop Infinity Mountain!

"Huh? What's that?" Halfway up the mountain, Mimi cried out at the sight of Devimon's gigantic, overwhelmingly oppressive form.

"That's Devimon!"

Though he had grown larger, Izzy recognized Devimon at a glance!

"How did he get so huge?"

Palmon was already dumbfounded by Devimon's size...

"It's the power of darkness! It made him grow." Facing Devimon's enormous form, Leomon showed little fear in his eyes. He had already prepared himself to die before coming here.

Whoosh!

Crack!

With a beat of his enormous wings, Devimon landed in front of Tai and the others in an instant.

"He's here! Agumon, get ready to digivolve!"

Faced with such an enormous enemy, Tai learned from his earlier mistake and hurriedly told Agumon to digivolve!

Yet Devimon merely turned and flapped his wings, interrupting everyone's preparations to digivolve.

Looks like I can't give Devimon a surprise after all. Will we still have to rely on T.K.'s Patamon in the end? Forget it. If I can't make it in time, I'll just keep my head down and coast along. Better that than mess up the plot and get everyone wiped out.

Sensing the nearly full progress bar inside Wizardmon, Zhou Zhu knew that although he was already on the verge of digivolving, even that tiny remaining gap couldn't be overcome by shouting and getting a sudden power boost. After all, he wasn't part of the main cast...