Greymon in Crisis

Everyone soon learned about the rampaging herd of Triceramon. But Zheng Fan had underestimated the Digimon: even the In-Training Digimon came over to help.

Without the Night Dawn Sword, Zheng Fan could only use his fingers as a sword to perform the Ice Sword Technique. A mighty Emperor Level expert, reduced to putting up a row of ice walls at a crossroads. How humiliating. Elecmon even rallied the In-Training Digimon to spit toward Zheng Fan. Surprisingly, the little creatures' saliva was highly corrosive, eating pits into the ground in mere moments. But Triceramon did not have slender legs like Unimon. All four of their legs were as thick as barrels. No matter how much strength the Village of Beginnings had in numbers, they could not set up a field of pit traps.

"Zheng Fan, isn't it a bit much to leave us behind like this?" It turned out Tai and the others had ignored Zheng Fan's orders and sneaked over.

"Tai, Joe Kido, I told you this place was dangerous. Leave immediately." Zheng Fan put on a stern face and scolded them.

"Zheng Fan, however dangerous it is, do you really think the three of us are less capable than In-Training Digimon?" Joe Kido argued. "Exactly! Agumon can digivolve into Greymon, a Champion, and Triceramon are only Champion Digimon too." Tai and the others already knew what had happened.

Tai's question stumped Zheng Fan. After thinking for a moment, he said, "You have more important things to do. You can't die here. And I'm not fighting to protect these In-Training Digimon, either."

Reincarnation formed a major part of Buzhou's basic education. From childhood, everyone was taught that they would enter Reincarnation after death. That was why they could face life and death fearlessly on the battlefield. To the inexperienced youths of Buzhou, protection always meant protecting the Human Race or other races as a whole. The birth, aging, illness, and death of any one individual would not sadden them. One could call the people of Buzhou heartless, or say that their love embraced everyone.

Zheng Fan was no inexperienced youth. Naturally, he knew that life and death involved not only Reincarnation, but also the deep affection of family and loved ones. Yet Reincarnation in the Digimon World was far more tangible: after dying, Digimon became Digi-Eggs again, without even changing species.

Knowing how Reincarnation worked in the Digimon World, Zheng Fan was barely affected emotionally by the disaster about to strike the Village of Beginnings. But knowledge was one thing, and feelings another. If he let the Triceramon charge through unchecked, it would become an inner demon for him. Thus, Zheng Fan had joined the battle only because of that inner demon.

To Zheng Fan, the real headache was having enthusiastic bystanders like Tai, who did not understand the truth, demand to join the fight. Weaklings like Tai and Joe Kido would have little chance of surviving a mass charge by Triceramon, even with the world's consciousness helping them and Zheng Fan protecting them personally.

"Zheng Fan, we're the children chosen by the Digimon World. We can't avoid those dangers. I understood that a long time ago," Joe Kido said. "Agumon and Gabumon digivolved when Tai and Matt were in danger. Back then, we thought it was a coincidence. But that night, when the Bakemon digivolved into King Bakemon, I was really scared. Even after Gomamon successfully digivolved into Ikkakumon, I was still scared." As he spoke, tears began running down his face.

"Only afterward did I understand. We can't defeat our enemies safely every time. Someone will always end up in danger, and then our Digimon will digivolve and help us defeat the enemy. That must be why we were chosen." After finishing, Joe Kido thought for a moment and added, "We have to get used to danger."

Agumon tugged at Tai's sleeve and said pitifully, "Tai." But Tai was clever too, and the cleverer someone was, the easier it was to overthink things. After hearing Joe Kido's full analysis, Tai's thoughts went in an entirely different direction. His hands began trembling uncontrollably.

Once Zheng Fan understood Joe Kido's thoughts, he stopped insisting. Even in Buzhou, only those who could fight on the battlefield were called truly strong. Buzhou's greatest genius back then had attained the rank of False Immortal through seated meditation alone. But he did not dare fight. Although his elders no longer regarded him as a genius who would never amount to anything, they called him only an expert, not a truly strong person.

Seeing the unnatural flush on Tai's face, Zheng Fan naturally knew what had happened. He found it rather amusing. Yet he did nothing to Tai himself. Instead, he grabbed Agumon and hurled him into the sky with both arms. In an instant, all that remained overhead were Agumon's screams.

"Agumon!" Seeing Zheng Fan mistreat Agumon, Tai, who had just regained his senses, was suddenly filled with rage. At that moment, all his jumbled thoughts vanished. All he wanted was to teach this fellow a harsh lesson. And that was exactly what Tai did, kicking Zheng Fan hard in the stomach.

As Tai's foot struck, the Digivice at his waist burst with pure white light. From somewhere impossibly high overhead came Agumon's roar. "Agumon digivolve to... Greymon!" The pure white light also enveloped Tai's body. The flush faded from his face, and even some of his spent stamina was restored.

This was the first time Zheng Fan had seen the Digivice activate on its own. During their earlier training, Tai had always triggered it to make Agumon digivolve into Greymon, so it had never displayed abilities such as calming the mind or restoring stamina. But this was no time to study it. Greymon was still flying through the sky, and everyone knew that Greymon could not fly.

"When heaven brings disaster, there may still be a way out. When you bring it on yourself, you're done for. I'll have to clean up my own mess," Zheng Fan sighed. He jumped lightly into the air and flew higher and higher. As he ascended, he held two fingers together like a sword and traced strange sword marks through the air. These were all whimsical creations he improvised on the spot. Buzhou had never offered lessons on rescuing people falling from the sky. Had the one falling really been an ordinary person, Zheng Fan would not have needed to go to such trouble.

Greymon's orange markings came into Zheng Fan's view. Even a Champion Digimon could do nothing in this situation but flail his arms and legs.

"Greymon, calm down!" Zheng Fan's shout brought Greymon somewhat out of his panic. "Zheng Fan, what do we do now?" Greymon asked pitifully. In all fairness, if Greymon had been shrunk down enough, that expression would have melted plenty of hearts.

"Greymon, don't do anything. Keep your arms and legs still," Zheng Fan said. "I'll try, Zheng Fan," Greymon agreed.

As Greymon consciously restrained himself, his flailing gradually lessened, though he still trembled constantly. Zheng Fan was quite envious of his performance. This was clearly Greymon's first time doing anything at such a height, yet he had brought his body's instincts under control so quickly. Digimon truly had a remarkable talent for adapting.

"Binding Sword Net, supreme!" Zheng Fan shouted. The sword marks at his fingertips transformed into a vast net that wrapped tightly around Greymon. Although the net slowed Greymon's descent, it also left deep wounds across his back. Only Greymon's enormous size made this possible. A human taking such an attack directly would have been cut into several pieces, even at the Emperor Realm. After all, this sword net was also an extraordinarily powerful killing technique.

Zheng Fan abruptly stopped in midair and, in an instant, appeared above Greymon. A large mass of light gathered in his left hand. He threw it toward Greymon and shouted, "Greymon, eat it!"

A teammate like Greymon was exceptionally rare. When Zheng Fan told him not to move, he stayed still. Even after suffering such severe wounds, Greymon kept his arms and legs under control. Both hands covered his mouth, probably because he was afraid he would cry out. Only when he heard Zheng Fan's shout did he open his eyes. Seeing a huge mass of light flying toward him, he hurriedly swallowed it in one gulp.

The light Zheng Fan had thrown to Greymon was pure data energy, equivalent to half the power of a Champion Digimon. Sukamon, of course, did not count. After swallowing the data energy, Greymon felt his strength increase a little, and even the wounds on his back began to heal. Zheng Fan would have preferred to make Greymon revert to Agumon, which would have solved everything. But Tai's momentary fury had been truly alarming, and Greymon could not revert anytime soon.

Keeping the sword net in place with the sword fingers of his left hand, Zheng Fan began gathering more data energy in his right. "Greymon, get ready. The second bout of pain is coming. Hold on, and imagine that you're a Digimon who can fly." As he spoke, Zheng Fan also controlled the sword net, dulling its edges.

"I understand, Zheng Fan." Greymon's face was solemn. With perseverance and endurance came the chance to become truly strong. Zheng Fan knew it, Joe Kido knew it, and Greymon knew it too.

As Zheng Fan swept his sword fingers, one of the sword marks he had traced in the air appeared. It burst apart in an instant, scattering tiny strands of sword qi across the sky. They stabbed viciously into Greymon's back, slowing his descent once more. But the pain was horrific. This time, at least, Greymon could not hold back and cried out.

As Greymon opened his great mouth, Zheng Fan threw another mass of data energy into it to help heal his wounds.

Though it took time to describe, only five or six seconds had passed. Yet Tai could already see Zheng Fan through his monocular telescope.

Tai had never studied martial arts and did not even know about cultivation deviation, something Chinese elementary schoolchildren knew about. But he knew something had been wrong with his state of mind. He knew that at first, he had doubted Agumon and everyone else. Then Zheng Fan's mistreatment of Agumon had made Tai recognize the bond between himself and Agumon. His anger had made Agumon digivolve into Greymon. Only afterward had Tai fully regained his senses.

"Damn it! Is causing trouble all I can do?" Tai cried in anguish. "Greymon, Zheng Fan, you can do it!" he shouted.