Singing, dancing, and basketball?

"Who was that? Who dared ambush the great Etemon!"

Feeling the force of that blow, along with the stinging pain coursing through his body, Etemon instantly raised his guard. His attacker was definitely a powerful Perfect-level Digimon on the same level as him.

"Would I need an ambush to deal with the likes of you? You're giving yourself way too much credit, monkey." Greatsword in hand, Wisemon gave Etemon a provocative look.

"Hmph. Where exactly did you come from? Don't you know this whole area is my territory?" Sensing an imposing aura from Wisemon that rivaled his own, Etemon's expression grew wary.

If his opponent had merely been a Perfect-level Digimon like Nanomon, someone weak or unsuited to combat, he wouldn't have taken him too seriously. But judging by the greatsword in Wisemon's hand...

Not only was this fellow highly skilled in combat, he also seemed to wield both magic and martial arts...

"Your territory? It's yours just because you say so? Try calling out to it. Will it answer?" Wisemon poked the ground with his greatsword, a teasing look on his face.

"Did you come here looking for trouble?" It seemed there would be no peaceful resolution today. What rotten luck. He hadn't caught the DigiDestined, and instead he'd run into this troublesome fellow.

"Dark Spirit Ball!"

Having seen Wisemon's attitude, Etemon wasted no more words. He hurled his strongest attack at the fellow mocking him.

"Hmph. A cheap little trick. Nothing worth mentioning!"

"Core Dart!"

Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!

As their attacks collided, the ground itself seemed ready to be torn up.

Bang!

Bam, bam, bam!

Before the shock waves subsided, Wisemon swung his greatsword and slashed at Etemon.

Wisemon was a genuine practitioner of both magic and martial arts. Not only were his energy attacks powerful, his swordsmanship was exceptional too!

In a sense, Wisemon's swordsmanship also counted as a physical attack skill. In other words... through Wisemon's combat practice, Zhou Zhu could reproduce these powerful sword techniques with his own body.

"Love Beam!"

The sudden close-quarters assault caught Etemon completely off guard. After all, his melee abilities weren't particularly outstanding.

Only if he evolved into the Ultimate-level Metal Etemon would his melee prowess rank among the best of his peers.

Boom!

Faced with Etemon's Love Beam, Wisemon simply swept his sword horizontally. The skill didn't impede his offensive in the slightest.

After all, these love-themed skills seemed designed for mowing down weaklings. They were terrifyingly powerful against weaker Digimon, but against an equally powerful opponent, they were hardly worth showing off...

Bam!

"Love Beam, huh?"

Bam, bam! Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!

"The great Etemon, huh?"

Boom! Crack, crack, crack!

"Singing, dancing, and basketball, huh?"

Boom, boom, boom!

Clang! ...Wisemon's attack was blocked!

"Wait! I know singing and dancing, but what's basketball? It actually ranks alongside my singing and dancing?"

After barely blocking one of Wisemon's blows, Etemon hurriedly used the opening to put distance between them. Holding his swollen, reddened cheek, he asked curiously about what was puzzling him.

"Basketball? At a time like this, you're still worrying about basketball? Is my greatsword not sharp enough? Looks like I went too easy on you. Let's start over!"

With that, Wisemon charged toward Etemon with his greatsword!

"Dark Spirit Ball."

"Dark Spirit Ball!"

"Dark Spirit Ball!"

Boom, boom, boom!

Having suffered once already, how could Etemon let Wisemon close in again?

He hurled a whole barrage of Dark Spirit Balls straight at the charging Wisemon!

"Hmph. Want to change how we fight? Then I'll grant your wish!"

Dodging Etemon's bombardment, Wisemon put away his greatsword and switched to magic!

"Core Dart!"

Under Wisemon's control, a crystal ball wreathed in flames curved toward Etemon's face!

Boom!

"Dark Spirit Ball!"

Whoosh!

A sideways sliding tackle!

The special attack missed again!

"Core Dart!"

Whoosh! Boom!

A curve! A homing pursuit! A hit square in the face!

With the accuracy of Etemon's special attacks so poor, they did nothing to keep Wisemon from closing in.

As the battle continued, the distance between them shrank once more!

"Dark Spirit Ball!"

Etemon unleashed his finisher again, but this time Wisemon had already closed in.

Whoosh!

A sidestep!

A turn! The greatsword drawn from his back!

A slash!

"Face the wind!"

Rumble!

The slash left a vast stretch of ground riddled with cracks!

"Cough, cough..."

With the greatsword in his face once again, Etemon was slashed straight to the ground and lay motionless for a long while!

"Hey, are you dead?"

A few pokes with the greatsword.

"Who on earth are you?"

Lying on the ground, Etemon had traces of tears at the corners of his eyes beneath his sunglasses. Behind the lenses, his gaze was hollow and bewildered as he stared at the sky, looking as though he had nothing left to live for.

There shouldn't be any Perfect-level Digimon this powerful around my territory. Even that flashy Myotismon living in the castle couldn't be much stronger than this, could he?

Could this fellow have only just evolved? Impossible! Absolutely impossible! How could a newly evolved Perfect be stronger than the great me?

"Me? I'm the Digimon partner of one of those children you're looking for." Looking at Etemon, who offered no resistance even with a greatsword in his face, Wisemon privately wondered whether he'd hit him too hard and damaged his brain.

"What? You're one of the DigiDestined's partner Digimon? Impossible! How could you be so strong? According to the intelligence I received, you should only be able to evolve to Champion at most!"

At Wisemon's answer, Etemon's slightly bewildered gaze suddenly grew agitated.

"Oh? Intelligence? So you've been keeping tabs on the DigiDestined all along? Could you tell me why, instead of enjoying life as king of your little domain, you insist on causing trouble for them?"

When Zhou Zhu watched the original series in his previous life, he had found the behavior of Devimon, Etemon, and even Myotismon highly suspicious.

Etemon in particular seemed to have known the children were coming before they even landed on the Server Continent.

Even Whamon needed nearly five days to swim there from File Island.

Etemon must have started gathering intelligence after Devimon's defeat, around the time the children decided to head to the Server Continent.

In other words, within five days, Etemon already knew roughly where the children were headed...

The Gazimon gathering intelligence under him shouldn't have been capable of that!