A mere Devimon?

"Yeah, we both need to keep working hard."

Taking Zhou Zhu in back then really had been the right choice. Without him, Elecmon probably still would not have realized how serious things were.

Sigh... Hopefully Andromon would drive that Devimon away soon.

After the meal...

On a patch of ground beside the Village of Beginnings.

"Elecmon, here I come! Be careful!"

In the clearing, Zhou Zhu poured all his attention into Flamemon's body.

"Hmph, bring it on, Flamemon! I've honed my fighting skills through countless struggles to survive in the wild. How could a baby like you, who hasn't even left the Village of Beginnings, possibly underestimate me?" Elecmon was rather full of himself and paid little heed to Flamemon's warning.

Just an In-Training Digimon. How strong could Flamemon be? It wasn't as though I'd never seen what that Small Flame Shot could do.

"Small Flame Shot!"

As Flamemon began gathering energy, a somewhat scorching fireball shot toward Elecmon at tremendous speed.

Boom!

"With an attack that obvious, only an idiot would get hit!" Elecmon's slightly mocking voice rang out as he sidestepped Flamemon's Small Flame Shot.

Whoosh!

Sparkling Thunder Strike!

While Flamemon was busy gathering more energy, Elecmon charged straight in and unleashed his finishing move at point-blank range!

"Aaaah!"

With a scream, Flamemon went down under Elecmon's finishing move and could not get back up.

Outmatched in both combat experience and level, Zhou Zhu was no match for Elecmon, a veteran of survival in the wild. Even with an adult's mindset, he still did not understand how Digimon fought.

"Tch... I haven't even warmed up yet. Just what kind of fighting power could a little baby have, anyway?" Although Elecmon continued to talk tough as he watched Flamemon lying helpless on the ground, his body betrayed his concern as he went over to check on Flamemon.

So I couldn't stay put after using a move? And against someone a level above me like Elecmon, I absolutely couldn't take his finishing move head-on unless I had an attribute advantage or an overwhelming amount of data. Flamemon couldn't even withstand a single hit. With a level gap like this, tanking an attack through sheer willpower simply wasn't possible.

Still, fighting above my level should be possible, provided I could dodge the enemy's finishing moves every single time.

But that led straight back into a logical dead end. Lower-level Digimon were generally slower than higher-level ones, so the chances of dodging their finishing moves were even slimmer.

Well... except for Digimon known for their speed.

"Elecmon, is Flamemon all right?" Although Zhou Zhu could sense Flamemon's condition, he still had to keep up appearances.

"What could be wrong? I held back with that last finishing move. At most, Flamemon will just need to sleep for a while." After carefully examining Flamemon's injuries, Elecmon waved off Zhou Zhu's question with a casual expression.

"I see. That's a relief..."

He knocked Flamemon down with one hit, and that wasn't even his full strength? If a Rookie was already this strong, what about Champions, Perfects, and Megas?

As he sensed Flamemon's injuries, Zhou Zhu could not calm down for a long time.

Three months later...

"Elecmon, are you sure you aren't going easy on me? Why do you seem so much weaker?" Controlling Flamemon, who still showed no signs of digivolving, Zhou Zhu complained to the panting Elecmon in front of him.

"Hmph, Flamemon, don't get cocky! I've only neglected my training because I have to look after the babies every day."

What was going on with this Flamemon? How could there be such a huge change in just three months? Could this... be what having a human partner did?

Looking at the perfectly composed Flamemon, Elecmon began doubting himself.

"All right, then. Let's stop here and call this one a draw. After all, you still have to take care of the babies later, Elecmon."

Looks like Elecmon really was giving it his all. But the gap between In-Training and Rookie doesn't seem as big as I'd imagined. Well, at least brains and tactics could easily make up for it.

As Flamemon and Zhou Zhu grew increasingly skilled at working together, and Zhou Zhu gained a better understanding of how Digimon fought, Elecmon had become completely outmatched by Flamemon.

Even though Elecmon was one stage above Flamemon, Flamemon could cheat.

With both Flamemon's and Zhou Zhu's perspectives, Flamemon could spot the direction of Elecmon's attacks in advance, even with his back turned to him.

Ever since Zhou Zhu had discovered this, only two or three out of every ten finishing moves Elecmon used could hit Flamemon. Even those only landed because Flamemon's own dodging speed was too slow.

"Hmph, you don't have to sugarcoat it. I'm not such a sore loser. But Flamemon, even among Rookie Digimon, you'd be considered pretty strong. Well, provided you don't let them hit you."

Rubbing the shoulder that had taken a Small Flame Shot, Elecmon gave an honest assessment of Flamemon's fighting ability.

"Only pretty strong among Rookies? Forget it. That's already good enough. By the way, Elecmon, how's that thing I asked you to look into coming along? Have you seen any human children like me appear on this island?"

After spending this time recalling what he knew and making plans, Zhou Zhu had finally decided he could not keep hiding out in the Village of Beginnings forever. After all, when the Four Dark Masters eventually appeared, even the Village of Beginnings would not escape disaster.

Of course, although he did not intend to keep hiding in the Village of Beginnings, Zhou Zhu did not think he would be as lucky as Tai and the others, whose partner Digimon could digivolve instantly and turn the tide as soon as they shouted at a critical moment.

After all, Tai and the others had Digivices, while his Flamemon... had neither anything divine nor any device... He was just an unaffiliated nobody...

If I tried relying on shouting at a critical moment too, I'd probably be dead the very next second...

So he had to get Flamemon to digivolve. Judging by what he could sense, after these past few months of battles and training, Flamemon's data was already very close to the minimum threshold for digivolving into a Rookie.

He believed it would not be long before Flamemon successfully digivolved into a Rookie Digimon. But... even after digivolving, Candlemon would still only be a Rookie. Forget Server Continent-even on File Island as it was now, Rookie Digimon like that were a dime a dozen, nothing more than nameless cannon fodder...