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"Hi, big brother. My name is T.K. Takaishi, and this is my partner, Patamon." Compared with his older brother Yamato, T.K. Takaishi seemed much more reserved, probably because he was younger.

"Hello, my name is Joe Kido, and this is my partner, Gomamon. I look forward to getting along with you." Joe Kido, the oldest of the group, spoke in a stiff, formal manner that suited his personality perfectly.

"I'm Mimi Tachikawa, and this is my partner, Palmon. Say, Zhou Zhu, are you from Dragon Country? I think Zhou is a surname there."

Compared with the others, Mimi Tachikawa was much more lively and outgoing. She was of mixed heritage, and her family circumstances not only meant she often traveled abroad, but also gave her a good understanding of other countries.

"Hmm, Mimi Tachikawa, was it? Looks like you know quite a lot. I am from Dragon Country, and Zhou is my surname. You can call me Zhou Zhu or just Zhu."

Zhou Zhu had a fairly good impression of Mimi. Apart from her slight temper, her other flaws were practically negligible.

In fact, she hardly seemed to have any other flaws, and even her temper improved considerably after the Gekomon King incident. He really couldn't understand why Tai had fallen for a troublemaker like Sora in the original story.

And someone like Sora... the more I look at her, the more disgusting she seems. When there's trouble, she relies on Tai; when there isn't, she turns to Matt. She causes all kinds of drama while dating Tai, then quietly ends up with Yamato.

Doesn't that make things awkward for the entire team? Even finding someone outside the group would be better than choosing Matt. How is Tai supposed to handle that? What are the others supposed to think?

Forget it. There are all kinds of people in this world. Those entitled princesses in my previous life weren't necessarily any better than Sora. I'm not the victim anyway, so whatever...

"So you really are from Dragon Country? When I heard you mention eating hot pot earlier, I remembered that it was a dish from Dragon Country. I didn't expect my guess to be right! So what does hot pot actually taste like? I've never had it in my whole life."

Once the conversation turned to food, Mimi could hardly stop talking.

Palmon, standing beside her, had no idea what hot pot was, but listening to Mimi made it sound like something pretty amazing.

"Hot pot is spicy and gives your mouth a tingling numbness. You put all kinds of ingredients into the broth for a few seconds, then fish them out and dip them in a prepared chili sauce, sesame sauce, or something like that. It mostly comes down to personal taste. People in your island country tend to prefer milder flavors, though, so you'd probably only be comfortable with a clear-broth hot pot."

Faced with Mimi's boundless curiosity, Zhou Zhu patiently began explaining.

"All right, stop wasting time on pointless things like this. Let's look around and see if there are any clues here."

Hmph. Suspicious guy from Dragon Country. Whatever you're after, you'd better not do anything that hurts T.K., or I'll never let you get away with it.

Unlike the others, who were willing to learn how to eat hot pot even if they'd never heard of it, Yamato Takaishi impatiently interrupted Mimi and Zhou Zhu's conversation.

"Matt, that's really rude. Besides, Zhou Zhu already told us he'd searched this place thoroughly." Seeing Matt's displeased expression, Tai stepped forward and called him out.

Whatever the circumstances, Zhou Zhu wasn't someone familiar with their little group. To Tai, treating a stranger with that attitude was decidedly rude.

"Exactly, Matt. If there were any clues, Zhou Zhu would definitely tell us. He wants to get back to the real world sooner too." Joe Kido joined in, criticizing Matt.

After all, at best, Matt's attitude was rude; at worst, it reflected badly on their country. Zhou Zhu was a foreigner, after all.

"Joe, I don't need you sticking your nose into this. If you won't look, I'll do it myself." Under fire from the others, Matt failed to resolve the conflict between friends as someone bearing the Crest of Friendship should. Instead, he became even more stubborn and headstrong.

"Don't rush off just yet. As for clues, it's not as if I haven't found any. I just don't know whether they count. I haven't seen any other living people in this factory, but there's a creature that looks like a Digimon trapped under a machine up ahead. It can't move. It looked pretty powerful, though, so I didn't dare mess with it."

"Oh, right. There's also a hidden room on the left, with all kinds of strange patterns drawn on its walls. I tried erasing them, and the factory stopped running. When I drew them back in, it started working again. Anyway, those were the only two places in the whole factory that struck me as odd. Those should count as clues, right?"

None of this was Zhou Zhu spouting spoilers for fun. He had been so bored lately that he had genuinely gone and checked those places himself.

Although Zhou Zhu hadn't tampered with the lever mechanism, he still needed to learn its exact location beforehand. After all, he had nothing else to do...

"A Digimon trapped under a machine? How could you just leave it there to die? Besides, can't you tell whether it's good or evil by checking with this?"

While reproaching Zhou Zhu, Tai took the Digivice from his waist and waved it in front of him.

"Exactly, Zhou Zhu. I didn't think you were that kind of person."

Mimi couldn't stomach his behavior either. After all, girls her age generally saw such matters in black and white.

"But... I don't think I have anything like that, something that can tell whether a Digimon is good or evil."

Easy for you to say. That's Andromon. If you hadn't shattered the Black Gear inside him at the crucial moment in the original story, you probably wouldn't have lived long enough to fight Devimon.

Come to think of it, Andromon with a Black Gear inside him might actually be the most dangerous being on this island. That starter-area boss Devimon isn't even worth mentioning next to Andromon. Judging by Andromon's fighting strength, he's only a tiny bit weaker than Etemon on Server Continent...

He didn't really do much in the first series anyway. Maybe... we should just leave him trapped there and call it a day?

"Uh... you don't have one? Then never mind." Tai looked Zhou Zhu up and down and found that he really didn't seem to have anywhere to hide a Digivice. For a moment, he was at a loss for words.

Since everyone in their little group had one, he had simply assumed Zhou Zhu would too. It turned out he had jumped to conclusions...

"Huh? You don't have a Digivice? How is that possible?" Sora looked equally puzzled.

Without a Digivice, how was Zhou Zhu's Digimon partner supposed to digivolve?