Inside the Factory

"Sorry, I misjudged you. Without this thing, it really is hard to tell whether a Digimon is good or evil. We ran into a vicious Digimon earlier, too. If we hadn't hidden in a hollow tree at the last moment, we probably wouldn't have made it here."

As she said this, the image of that MegaKabuterimon involuntarily surfaced in Mimi's mind...

"All right, now that we have a lead, we have to go take a look, no matter what. Zhou Zhu, lead the way."

After discovering that Zhou Zhu had no Digivice, Tai stopped dwelling on the subject and rallied himself to continue exploring.

"All right, follow me."

Nothing can go wrong with the Andromon part of the story. If something changes and the Black Gear in Andromon isn't shattered, the consequences will be disastrous. A Perfect-level Digimon is far beyond what the main group can handle right now.

As he weighed things up, Zhou Zhu carried Candlemon in his arms and led Tai and the others toward the Factory's power room, which was covered in all sorts of symbols.

Whatever happens, judging by the original story, Izzy's Kabuterimon played a major role in dealing with Andromon. Before we go find Andromon, I need to get Izzy's Tentomon to digivolve, at least.

Fortunately, Tentomon's digivolution doesn't rely entirely on the power of the heart the way Tai's partner and the others do. If I remember correctly, Tentomon digivolved in this episode through data Izzy transmitted.

Creak, creak, creak...

Tap, tap, tap... tap, tap.

Inside the silent Factory, the only sounds besides the running machinery were the footsteps of the children and their Digimon partners.

"Zhou Zhu, if you don't have a Digivice, how did that little guy in your arms digivolve? According to the data, Candlemon is already a Rookie-level Digimon."

As Tai examined Candlemon with his Digivice, he couldn't help remembering when he had first met Agumon. Back then, Agumon had still been Koromon, an In-Training Digimon.

"Oh, that? I don't know either. When I met him in the Village of Beginnings, Candlemon was still SmokeMon. He only digivolved into Candlemon recently."

Faced with Tai's question, Zhou Zhu simply feigned ignorance and gave him a straightforward answer. Once Tai became more familiar with the Digital World, he would understand that Digimon didn't need a Digivice to digivolve.

"Tai, Zhou Zhu's Candlemon is probably different from our partners. Judging by the Digimon we've encountered, those Champion-level Digimon must have digivolved on their own, too. If anything, our Digivices seem to be the unusual ones," the observant Izzy suddenly pointed out from beside them.

What exactly are these Digivices? Judging by the Digimon in this world's original story, they should all be able to digivolve, but they don't rely on Digivices the way our partners do.

"Izzy's right. My partner Candlemon probably digivolves the same way ordinary Digimon do. But these things of yours can actually make your partners digivolve? Then why are Agumon and the others still Rookies?"

Although Zhou Zhu knew the original story, he still put on a surprised expression as he asked.

"Hahaha, I don't understand that either. Agumon did digivolve into a Champion-level Digimon earlier, but afterward, he turned back into Agumon." Faced with Zhou Zhu's question, Tai rubbed his spiky hair, looking a little helpless.

"They can turn back, too? From what I've observed lately, Digimon shouldn't be able to revert after digivolving. Having these Digivices really is convenient. Oh, we're here. This is the power room I mentioned."

As they talked, Zhou Zhu had already led them to the door of the power room Izzy had discovered in the original story.

Creak...

Tai pushed the door open from outside, revealing a small enclosed room covered in all sorts of symbols.

"Huh? This is the place?"

Matt examined the patterns around him, with little interest in understanding them. They looked like meaningless scribbles. He couldn't make sense of them at all.

Rather than hoping to find clues here, they might as well see whether they could get some answers out of that mysterious Digimon who was stuck.

"What is all this? I can't understand any of it. Zhou Zhu, can erasing just a little of this really shut down the Factory's power system, like you said?" Looking at the patterns covering the room, Mimi's little hands practically itched to give it a try.

"Mimi, don't touch anything. Whatever you erase has to be restored exactly as it was before the Factory can run again. If you erase things at random and can't remember the original patterns, the entire Factory will stop working permanently."

Seeing Mimi's expression, Zhou Zhu hurriedly stopped her. This was no joking matter. Although he didn't know what would happen if everything were erased, leaving things alone was better than meddling. Until he had the strength to keep the whole situation under control, he was better off not taking reckless risks.

"Oh, come on. I only wanted to try it." Though she still sounded unconvinced, after Zhou Zhu's warning, Mimi no longer intended to test whether the patterns really worked as he had said.

Clang...

The sound of machinery shutting down rang out. Every machine in the Factory instantly stopped, and the lights around them went out as well.

"Who was it? Who touched the patterns? Put them back, quick!"

Noticing what had happened around them and recalling Zhou Zhu's explanation, Tai immediately realized why the Factory's lights had gone out.

"It was me. I just wanted to learn more about how this Factory works. It looks like these patterns on the walls are its power source. Still, it's strange that these alone can keep so many machines running."

As Izzy spoke, he took out the marker he carried with him and filled in the pattern he had erased.

Hum...

With Izzy's final stroke, the Factory's power system came back online.

"All right, there's nothing worth looking at here. Let's go find that Digimon who's stuck first, okay? Maybe we can get some clues from him."

Although he found the effects of the patterns on the walls intriguing, Matt was still impatient to leave this wretched place.

"You go on ahead. I need to study this a little more. These patterns on the walls look like some kind of network programming. Besides, my laptop's out of power, so I can charge it here while I'm at it."

In response to Matt's suggestion, Izzy offered his own.