Piedmon did not block Fallen Angemon's sword. For Digimon, the head probably did not count as a vital spot, especially for a Mega Digimon like Piedmon. Even the Human Race no longer had that weakness once they broke beyond the mortal realm. Of course, an injury to the head—or even losing it altogether—would still weaken their fighting strength.
"Fallen Angemon, calm down. You know that wasn't what I meant." Piedmon controlled four Trump Swords, driving them through Fallen Angemon's wings.
The pain in Fallen Angemon's wings restored the calm to his face. "Piedmon, I'm sorry. I still can't control such powerful strength." With a movement of his hand, the black greatsword disappeared. Flames suddenly erupted over his black wings, instantly shattering Piedmon's Trump Swords.
"It's all right, Fallen Angemon. This was never a burden you should have had to bear. I'm already very happy that you're willing to help me. So what if it takes you endless ages to control this power? Time is the one thing we have in abundance."
"Piedmon, I was never helping you. This is our responsibility. Ours," Fallen Angemon emphasized.
"Angels defend our home, demons wage war far and wide." Piedmon recited their old oath again before continuing, "Fallen Angemon, take a look at this Zheng Fan. I don't think he's a humanoid Digimon. He's a human." At Piedmon's command, the images of Zheng Fan recorded from several directions enlarged again. For beings as powerful as Fallen Angemon and Piedmon, the size of an image made no difference when they were simply studying a few frames, unless it was absurdly tiny.
"Not a humanoid Digimon? A human? Impossible," Fallen Angemon said. "The human world was destroyed. Destroyed just like ours."
My name is Taichi Yagami, and I'm a member of the Rescue Squad for Concerns over Predicted Crises in Future Cutting-Edge Technology and the Prospects of Sustainable Development of Earth's Resources. Over the past year, all sorts of strange things have happened on Earth. Droughts in Southeast Asia, torrential rain in the Middle East, sudden temperature drops in America, that sort of thing. Just look at us right now. We signed up for summer camp, okay? What's with all this thick snow?
They say a born protagonist can lie in bed and still have a divine artifact fall into his lap from the sky. Just like this thing I'm holding right now. It fell straight out of the sky. Hmm. Drawing on my many years of experience, I really can't tell what it is.
Anyway, what are Matt and the others doing? Why is there a rumbling sound? Could it be an avalanche? Oh, good grief, it really is an avalanche! My friends and I-wait, where are my friends?
"Taichi, Taichi." Taichi blearily opened his eyes to find a big pink ball before him, with a pair of large eyes. Those two long ribbons were probably ears. If that were all, the big pink ball would have been adorable. But what was with that enormous mouth and those sharp fangs?
"Wait, what are you? A god? How do you know my name?" Tai suddenly thought of the crucial question. No matter how he looked at it, this thing did not resemble a normal living creature. Could he be a god?
"Tai, my name is Koromon. I've been waiting for you!" the big pink ball—or rather, Koromon—answered cheerfully.
"Koromon, are you a god?" Japanese folklore had always claimed that Japan had eight million gods. Of course, the quality of those eight million gods was not particularly high. Anything displaying the slightest trace of a spirit could be revered as a god. A broom, for example, could be worshipped as a god of cleaning. So it was perfectly normal for Tai to mistake Koromon for a god.
"Koromon isn't a god. Koromon is a Digimon! Koromon and everyone else have been waiting for Tai!" Koromon bounced up and down.
"All of you have been waiting for me?" Tai asked.
"That's right! Tai is my partner, so I've been waiting for Tai. Nanimon and the others have been waiting for their partners too." Koromon suddenly leaped at Tai, who scrambled to catch him. "Tai, I've waited so long for you that I can't even remember how long it's been." Holding Koromon, Tai said, "I don't know what's going on, but Koromon, we're partners."
Before long, everyone had gathered. Besides Tai, each of the others also had a Digimon partner.
Matt sat off to one side playing his harmonica, though he was clearly playing it for Unimon. Tai and Sora Takenouchi could just stay out of the way. Izzy Izumi was asking Nanimon question after question. Just as lively was Matt's younger brother, T.K. Takaishi, who was roughhousing with Tokomon. Sora Takenouchi sat to one side rummaging through her backpack and talking to Biyomon, her thoughts a mystery. Mimi Tachikawa and Joe Kido were two opposite extremes. Everything Joe Kido said was wrong, and his partner Bukamon was comforting him. Mimi Tachikawa said every wrong thing she could and was now comforting her partner Tanemon. Still, Mimi Tachikawa's attempts at comfort would probably only make things worse.
"Everyone, I think we should get out of the forest first," Matt said, holding Unimon.
"But we have no idea which way to go to get out. And we don't have much food left." Sora Takenouchi tallied up the food in her backpack and found that it would not last them very long at all.
"Bukamon, do you know how to get out of the forest?" Joe Kido asked. "Joe, we've never left the forest." Bukamon looked at him pitifully. "Nanimon doesn't know either." Even Nanimon, who had always seemed the most knowledgeable, shook his head at Izzy Izumi.
"Leave this one to me." True to his status as a soccer team member, Tai climbed a large tree with ease.
"Tai, be careful! Don't do anything reckless!" Despite everyone shouting desperately from the ground, Tai quickly climbed to the treetop. Koromon had neither hands nor feet, yet somehow bounced his way up after him.
"What's that thing?" Tai asked, handing his monocular to Koromon. Sure enough, Koromon's ears were nimble, and he curled one around the monocular. "Tai, that looks like Kuwagamon." "What's Kuwagamon? A Digimon like you?" Tai asked. "No, we're different. Koromon is—Kuwagamon is a powerful Champion Digimon." Koromon sounded a little dejected. An In-Training Digimon could not compare to a Champion at all. "Koromon, is that Ku-Kuwagamon flying toward us?" Even without the monocular, Tai could see the red insect in the distance slowly approaching.
"Tai, look out!" Before the others had finished shouting, the boy in goggles came falling out of the sky. Although he did not make the legendary face-first landing, he certainly failed to achieve the imposing effect of, "Sorry I'm late."
"Tai, sit down. I'll bandage you up." Joe Kido had already pulled out some bandages. "Joe, I'm fine." Although Tai had fallen from such a tall tree, he only felt a little pain. Injuries were commonplace for soccer players. "Tai, don't try to tough it out. Some injuries might not hurt now, but if you don't treat them promptly, they can have very serious consequences." An air of authority naturally arose around Joe Kido as he spoke. At the very least, Mimi Tachikawa was looking at him with stars in her eyes.
"Joe, this isn't the time to treat injuries! Everyone, run!" Tai made a few sweeping movements to show Joe Kido that he was unhurt, then grabbed Sora Takenouchi's hand and charged straight into the forest.
"Wait, Tai!" Matt's shout earned only a reply from Tai telling them to hurry and run. The five had no choice but to grab their things and quickly flee after him.
A gigantic red insect burst through the forest with an overbearing presence, descending from the sky. It was Kuwagamon.
Kuwagamon still remembered how a strange Digimon and Leomon had slaughtered the Kuwagamon on File Island earlier. That was why he wanted revenge.
As a Digimon devoid of reason, Kuwagamon had virtually no ability to analyze things logically. Had it been Leomon, he would at least have noticed that these little fellows were even weaker than In-Training Digimon and probably-most likely-were not the same kind of Digimon as Zheng Fan. Of course, Kuwagamon's intelligence amounted to nothing more than animal instinct. As the saying went, there was only one truth. A beast would ignore every motive and weapon involved in the crime; finding the real culprit was the only truth that mattered.
"Koromon!" Tai cried out in alarm as Koromon broke free of his grasp and charged at Kuwagamon. Responding to Koromon's actions, Biyomon and the others leaped out as well, launching attacks at Kuwagamon.
"Tanemon, hit his eyes!" Mimi Tachikawa actually gave instructions on the battlefield. Hearing her, Tanemon leaped up and spat a stream of bubbles at Kuwagamon's eyes.
Flight aside, Kuwagamon was actually on the weaker end among Champion Digimon. Besides, even a Mega Digimon would tear up after taking a direct spray to the eyes like that. Kuwagamon shook his body, throwing off every Digimon clinging to him, then immediately flew far away.
"Mimi Tachikawa, how did you know attacking his eyes would work?" The question came from Tanemon. In their short time together, Tanemon had already come to believe that his partner had no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Just as he was falling into despair, Mimi Tachikawa had displayed her intelligence, allowing him to see a bright future. "Yeah, exactly! Mimi Tachikawa, why could we attack his eyes?" Tai hurriedly asked too.
"Actually, I saw on some pepper spray that you should spray it in the eyes, so I thought we could try attacking his eyes. And it really worked!" Mimi Tachikawa said excitedly.
"Pepper Spray? Are there wolves in Odaiba, Mimi Tachikawa?" In the end, Tai and Matt were still young boys. Although Izzy Izumi went online every day, he was a tech geek. Joe Kido was a little older, but no one expected a bookworm like him to understand this sort of extracurricular knowledge. What? T.K. Takaishi? How old was T.K. Takaishi, anyway?
Watching the clueless boys, Sora Takenouchi covered her mouth and giggled, and Mimi Tachikawa began laughing too. Girls did mature a little earlier than boys, after all. Seeing that even Joe Kido, the oldest, did not understand, they could not help feeling intellectually superior.
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