Agumon's Dog Nose

"You absolutely must not let those humans get away, understood?" The Gazimon who had stayed behind looked down at the group of Bukamon and immediately began issuing orders.

"Yes!"

Despite their nasty personalities, the Bukamon showed a surprising lack of resentment toward orders from Gazimon, who was one evolutionary stage above them.

Rustle, rustle~

After traveling all night, the Gazimon who had led the group finally returned to Etemon's base at daybreak.

"Lord Etemon~ Lord Etemon! My lord~ My lord, where are you?"

Before he had even caught sight of Etemon, Gazimon was already imagining himself being rewarded for his service and reaching the pinnacle of success.

This was a mission Lord Etemon had personally assigned! Good thing I was smart enough to think of coming back to report right away. Otherwise, those two idiots with me would've stolen all the credit.

Thump~ Thump~ Thump!

Just as Gazimon was searching everywhere, a tanker truck pulled by Monochromon appeared before him!

"Lord Etemon!"

At the sight of Lord Etemon's personal ride, Gazimon immediately became cautious and deferential.

Dun~ Dun-dun-dun~ Clang-clang-clang~

Before Etemon himself appeared, a burst of bizarre rock music came from inside the truck.

"I'm the strongest in this world, I am Lord Etemon!"

The rear compartment of the tanker opened outward, revealing a flashy ape Digimon holding a microphone.

(Profile): Etemon

He proclaimed himself the strongest Digimon. His special moves were Love Serenade and Dark Necrosphere.

"Lord Etemon! King of the Digimon!"

Seeing Etemon emerge, Gazimon hurried forward to flatter him.

Bam!

"What's all this racket so early in the morning?"

Etemon punched Gazimon on the head, though he clearly enjoyed the flattery. Otherwise, with his Perfect-level strength, that single blow would have sent Gazimon back to the Village of Beginnings to report to Elecmon.

"But Lord Etemon, weren't you also..."

If we're talking about noise, wasn't your rock music even louder just now, Lord Etemon...?

"Shut up! According to my calculations, the DigiDestined will land here before long. We'll lie in ambush and take them all down in one fell swoop! A perfect operation! So if you're too loud, the children will discover us!"

Holding his microphone, Etemon gestured at the map behind him with the air of a great commander.

"The children won't be coming. The DigiDestined landed somewhere else yesterday. They're in the Bukamon village right now." Seeing Etemon still lost in his own imagined plan, Gazimon bluntly interrupted his fantasy.

"What? What did you say? Why? Why?" Etemon's face filled with shock at Gazimon's report.

I'd finally come up with a plan! And those DigiDestined didn't even land along the normal route!

"Your information is out of date."

Seeing Etemon's agitated expression, Gazimon continued rubbing salt into the wound.

"Honestly, now my battle plan's gone to waste! I'll never forgive them! Mark my words!" As he spoke, Etemon rapidly worked the controls inside the compartment.

"Let's go, black tracks!"

In an instant, two black tracks extended from beneath the tanker across the previously level ground, stretching in the direction Etemon pointed.

Etemon really was an oddball, using the power of darkness for something like this.

Whoosh~~~

As the tanker started moving, Gazimon quickly climbed aboard.

"My lord, should we bring some more troops along?"

Just to be safe, Gazimon offered a well-intentioned reminder.

"I'm more than enough to deal with the DigiDestined."

The arrogant Etemon clearly had no intention of accepting Gazimon's suggestion.

Agumon's village~

"DemiDevimon~ DemiDevimon!"

Everyone had woken up and discovered that DemiDevimon was missing.

"DemiDevimon, where are you?"

Tai stood on a rooftop, searching for DemiDevimon through the Monocular.

His efforts, however, were doomed to be fruitless.

"DemiDevimon, answer if you can hear me!" Biyomon surveyed the village from the air, taking advantage of the wider view, but still found no trace of DemiDevimon.

"Ah~ We finally got a chance to rest, and now someone's causing trouble again~" Watching everyone bustle about, Mimi complained with a distressed look.

"Heh, do you really have no idea who causes the most trouble?" Gomamon, who could no longer stand watching from the sidelines, looked at Mimi and spoke with a sarcastic edge.

"Joe?"

Completely oblivious to Gomamon's sarcasm, Mimi glanced thoughtfully at Joe beside her.

In a way, Mimi wasn't wrong. From start to finish, Joe and Ikkakumon had hardly helped at all. Instead, they kept obstructing the children's decisions. Earlier, Joe had even headed to Infinity Mountain on his own with Gomamon, who couldn't digivolve. If Tai and Sora hadn't arrived in time, fresh grass would probably already have been sprouting on his grave.

After all, back then, it wasn't just Unimon blocking his path. There were also Ogremon and Leomon, with Devimon lurking in the shadows.

Unless Gomamon could digivolve into Zudomon on the spot, Joe wouldn't have had the slightest chance of surviving.

"It's you! You!"

Being called a troublemaker by a girl made Joe, who considered himself the group's parental figure, bristle on the spot.

"He wasn't by the waterfall either~"

Just then, a group of Bukamon approached everyone with false information.

"Really?"

Izzy carefully crossed out the waterfall on his markings on the ground, never doubting the accuracy of the Bukamon's information for a moment.

"DemiDevimon~"

Unlike the children, Agumon had already followed a scent into the forest.

"The village is full of familiar smells~" Even now, Agumon was still puzzling over the scent of Koromon in the village.

"Hm? That's the smell!"

Suddenly, Agumon noticed that the scent of Koromon was stronger nearby.

He hurried forward to investigate, and a waterfall came into view.

"That's right! It's Koromon's scent!"

The smell of Koromon was coming from behind the waterfall!

Tap, tap, tap~

Going around the waterfall, Agumon successfully entered the cave hidden behind it.

But he didn't see Koromon. Instead, the first thing he spotted was DemiDevimon locked in an iron cage!

Agumon was dumbfounded...

"Agumon~"

Looking at Agumon, who had suddenly appeared, DemiDevimon wore a weak, helpless, pitiful expression, completely devoid of the arrogance and swagger he had shown while beating Devimon senseless.