Aegiochusmon

As Greymon's screams drew closer, his enormous body smashed every sword mark Zheng Fan had hastily carved into dust. The severe injuries to half his body had slowed his fall considerably, but the impact was still more than Greymon could survive.

"I'll risk it!" Unwilling to accept that Greymon would revert to a Digi-Egg in the next instant, Zheng Fan fed him the data energy gathered in his left hand, then lunged forward beneath him again. It was practically suicide. Unless he could slow Greymon down further, Greymon would die, and Zheng Fan would be left severely injured at the very least.

"Aah!" Zheng Fan roared. His somewhat lean body swelled in an instant. Muscles bulged all over him, and his frame grew to more than three times its original size. Somehow, his handsome, delicate features now went with a hulking, powerful physique.

"Up you go!" Zheng Fan assumed a perfect weightlifting stance and held himself stationary in midair, letting Greymon crash down onto him.

The instant Zheng Fan's arms met Greymon's enormous body, Greymon screamed, and every muscle in Zheng Fan's arms ruptured. "We stopped!" Greymon cried happily. Although he still wasn't standing on solid ground, he finally felt a little safer. Zheng Fan replied with equal delight, "We stopped!" His all-out effort had finally paid off.

Joe Kido watched the orange Greymon overhead and felt something drip onto his face. He wiped it with his hand, only to find his palm covered in blood. "Blood!" he cried, stumbling back several steps before falling onto his backside.

Tai hadn't caught what Joe Kido said, so he took out his monocular to look. Every muscle in Zheng Fan's arms had ruptured, and blood dripped down along his bulging veins. His palms had sunk completely into Greymon's skin. Even after seeing all kinds of injuries on the soccer field, Tai couldn't help looking away.

A bright yellow Digimon appeared in Tai's field of vision. It resembled a bee, with black markings crisscrossing its yellow body. Faint ripples shimmered behind it, presumably its membranous wings. The stinger at its rear wasn't as long as those of bees on Earth. Looking again, Tai realized that the giant hornet was flying straight toward Zheng Fan and Greymon.

"Zheng Fan! Greymon! Watch out! There's a Digimon flying toward you!" Tai shouted, unsure whether they could hear him.

Zheng Fan heard him, of course. But hearing was all he could do. Given some time-even a minute-he could have adjusted to Greymon's weight. After all, his injuries had come from the force of Greymon's falling impact. Greymon's weight alone wasn't beyond what he could bear.

"Flymon, Champion, Virus-type. Fields: Wind Guardians, Metal Empire."

"Its special move is Turbo Stinger, which fires a large-caliber laser cannon from its tail."

The information appeared in Zheng Fan's mind, leaving him momentarily stunned. "The Metal Empire? Are you kidding me?" he grumbled. A flying Digimon that had also been modified by the Metal Empire-"troublesome" was the only word for a Digimon like that.

"Turbo Stinger!" Flymon seemed to have come to assert control over its airspace and attacked Zheng Fan and Greymon without hesitation. While Zheng Fan was still wondering whether they could communicate with Flymon, the laser blast had already struck Greymon's head.

"Roar!" Greymon roared at the hornet's attack, but he wasn't injured. He was a thick-skinned, sturdy Digimon, and an additional layer of exoskeleton protected his head. The laser struck it and bounced straight off.

"Super Flame!" Greymon was lying on his back, stretching all four limbs and his tail upward while leaving Zheng Fan to support his entire back.

"Damn it, Greymon! Stop moving!" Zheng Fan shouted. He wasn't a circus performer who could find his balance that quickly. He had only managed to hold Greymon up by covering his entire body in data energy to help keep him balanced. A little movement was still manageable, but the moment Greymon attacked, he scattered the data energy Zheng Fan was desperately using to maintain their balance.

Zheng Fan's roar couldn't stop them from tipping. Greymon's head slowly dipped first, with Flymon interfering from the side. By the time Zheng Fan's waist had been forced into an almost ninety-degree bend, he could no longer hold on. Greymon plunged straight down from the sky.

"Greymon!" Tai's anguished cry rang in Zheng Fan's ears.

I won't accept this! Greymon showed none of the fear one might expect in the face of death. In that respect, the Digimon World and Buzhou had something in common.

Greymon stared at Flymon with eyes full of ferocity, fighting spirit, and defiance. So what if Flymon can fly? If we hadn't made mistake after mistake, I wouldn't be about to fall to my death. In a real fight, I'd never lose. And Tai-how will Tai survive in the Digimon World without me? And everyone else, Unimon, Nanimon, Bukamon, Tanemon...

Zheng Fan stared blankly at the falling Greymon, frightened by the look in his eyes. He had never encountered a gaze that terrifying, even on the battlefield. He had only heard of such eyes in the legends others told.

"Once you see those eyes, you'll never mistake them for anything else." The veterans weren't just boasting.

"Super Flame!" Revenge? It no longer mattered. With this final strike, Greymon only wanted to leave some small mark behind.

This time, Flymon didn't dodge Greymon's Super Flame as easily as before. It seemed frightened by the look in Greymon's eyes, too, and even its wingbeats slowed. Super Flame slammed into Flymon's face.

After releasing that Super Flame, Greymon looked much more at ease. Golden light burst from his body, and he began to shrink. When the golden glow faded, a Koromon appeared where Greymon had been.

"Koromon, I'll catch you!" Tai said happily, fiercely wiping the tears from the corners of his eyes. Sometimes, the advantage of size was just that obvious. The enormous Greymon could crush Zheng Fan, who stood at the peak of the Emperor Realm, to death, while Tai, an ordinary human, could easily catch the tiny Koromon.

"Thank goodness." Seeing Koromon land safely, Zheng Fan breathed a sigh of relief. His body rapidly returned to its original size. If not for the blood dripping from his sleeves, no one could have connected his two forms.

"Hiss, hiss, hiss, hiss!" Flymon rolled and thrashed nearby. Against another Champion Digimon, Super Flame should have been nothing more than an energy blast, with no burning effect. Yet the fierce flames engulfing Flymon told them that this Super Flame was no ordinary attack.

Flymon screeched with all its might, but how could mere cries disperse Greymon's Super Flame? Gradually, the fire spread across Flymon's entire body. It only died out after burning Flymon to ashes.

"Aah!" Joe Kido screamed, dropping the monocular onto the ground. "Is this... the real Digimon World?" he murmured to himself. Although their experiences in the Digimon World had been dangerous, Joe Kido and the others had rarely faced death directly. Shellmon and Seadramon had been killed, but Tai and Matt had been near death themselves at the time, so those deaths hadn't left a shadow over everyone's hearts. Besides, Shellmon and Seadramon had died instantly when their Digicores were shattered. Neither had suffered anything like Flymon.

"Yes. This is the real world," Zheng Fan answered Joe Kido's muttering. "Joe Kido, you just said that we'd face danger sooner or later. Now you should understand what facing danger really means." Zheng Fan swept a hand over him. Joe Kido felt much more at ease, and when he looked down, every trace of blood on his hands had vanished.

"I think I understand what kind of world the Digimon World is now. But there are still some things I don't understand. It's so frustrating." Joe Kido, a young elementary school student, frowned like an adult, making Tai and Koromon burst out laughing. His Digivice began to shine with golden light.

"What's happening? Is Gomamon in danger?" Joe Kido asked anxiously.

Zheng Fan patted Joe Kido's shoulder. "Don't get so worked up. You probably figured a few things out just now, and that's why your Digivice is glowing."

Elecmon ran over from the side, patting his chest. "That scared me half to death! Agumon suddenly evolved into Greymon just now. Is that the special power you Chosen Children have?"

Caught off guard by Elecmon's sudden question, Joe Kido floundered. "No, yes, no, yes..." Tai explained, "That thing Joe Kido is holding is called a Digivice. The light it gives off can make our partner Digimon evolve."

"Only your partners can evolve?" At that answer, Elecmon's spirits sank considerably.

"I'm sorry," Joe Kido apologized to Elecmon.

"Maybe we can give it a try. I happen to know a little about how Digimon evolution works, though we'll still need the Digivice's light," Zheng Fan said with a smile.

"Then, sorry for the trouble!" Elecmon said happily.

"First, Joe Kido, bathe Elecmon in the Digivice's light," Zheng Fan instructed. Joe Kido aimed his Digivice at Elecmon, who looked incredibly excited beneath its glow.

"Elecmon, how do you feel?"

"I feel my Digicore changing, but it seems like something's still missing." Elecmon was a very experienced Digimon and knew his own body inside out.

"Here, absorb this into your body." Zheng Fan handed Elecmon a ball of light. Koromon nearly drooled at the sight of it. It was a mass of pure data energy.

Please. This time, I have to evolve, so I can protect the Village of Beginnings better. Elecmon made his wish.

"Elecmon, digivolve to... Aegiochusmon!"

"Aegiochusmon, a God Man Digimon. Champion, Vaccine-type."