Peaceful days

In a little wooden cabin, a girl lay quietly on a bed.

In truth, Gomamon, who was not particularly good at controlling his strength, had used a great deal of force. Or perhaps Sora Takenouchi had simply been under too much strain. The girl had barely stirred. Afterward, Gomamon found the Digivice in the ruined forest. With Biyomon and Gomamon's help, Big Mouthmon finally crossed two Fragment Islands and found the Champion Digimon who had been gathered together.

What followed was much simpler. Perhaps because Sora Takenouchi's life was hanging by a thread, the Digivice shone with dazzling light whenever Biyomon let go of it. Across a dozen fragment islands, dozens of controlled Champion Digimon were freed. Everyone also brought over Digimon capable of healing, such as Medicine Boymon, Ginsengmon, and Temmon, to treat Sora Takenouchi. Only then was she saved.

"Mom, Mom." Sora Takenouchi waved her hands restlessly in the air, as though trying to catch something. Outside, Biyomon was exercising when she sensed something and said, "Sora's awake. Sora's waking up." The moment the words left her mouth, she flew away with a whoosh, leaving Gomamon staring speechlessly at the sky.

"Sora Takenouchi's looking for a mom. Temmon, do you know what a mom is?" Ginsengmon asked.

Temmon was a childlike Humanoid Digimon. In fact, however, Temmon was a plant Digimon who had evolved from Mushroommon. Aside from healing and recovery abilities, Temmon was actually better at poisoning than Medicine Boymon. Strictly speaking, Temmon's healing fell within the realm of fighting poison with poison. Of course, Digimon generally did not get sick; they needed treatment because they were injured in battle. If a Digimon suffered an injury that could not be healed, it usually meant that energy from the attack responsible remained in the wound. One example was the Golden Ray from Aegiochusmon's special move, Death Trio. Temmon's ability used poison to corrode that energy. Ginsengmon's ability strengthened a Digimon's own power to resist lingering attack energy. Medicine Boymon's ability redirected the residual energy's target. Saorimon's ability converted attack energy into harmless energy. They generally helped Digimon recover their strength after cleaning their wounds. These abilities were usually useless in fierce combat because they worked slowly or lacked power. But anyone who thought these Digimon classified as "healers" were easy prey was destined for a tragic end.

Although they could not perform a full physical examination and treat each illness like human doctors, their innate abilities could detect abnormalities in Sora Takenouchi's body. Then they could easily break up blood clots in her brain, convert tumors in her stomach, poison excess white blood cells in her blood, absorb kidney stones, or dissolve a protruding piece of bone in her lower back.

Although a Digimon's body shattered into fragments after death, that did not mean Digimon lacked physical anatomy. A particular joint in Garurumon's body made accelerating while running easier, but if WereGarurumon still had that same joint, WereGarurumon's special move, Kaiser Nail, would inevitably stop halfway through. Being able to observe the form of a Digimon's core and determine whether a sideways bone was an abnormality or part of its normal anatomy was something all healing Digimon had in common. Leomon could shatter a few bits of data energy in a broader setting, but this sort of ability was completely beyond Leomon. The Digimon of the Metal Empire could not do it either. Who knew whether they were considered healing Digimon because of this ability, or whether the Digimon World had bestowed it on them because they were considered healing Digimon? In any case, that precise power of identification remained just as accurate when used on Sora Takenouchi.

"A mom seems to be an important pillar in human society," Medicine Boymon interjected. When everyone looked over, Medicine Boymon was also pondering these memories that had suddenly appeared.

"Oh, why worry about all that? She knows who we are. I think she must be calling for Biyomon," the dull-looking Ginsengmon said.

"Oh no. We're in trouble!" Temmon cried out. "I planted mushroom bombs around the house to keep it safe. If Biyomon doesn't take the proper path, the mushroom bombs will definitely hit her."

"Temmon, did you really have to do that?" Medicine Boymon glared at Temmon.

"All right, all right. Stop arguing. Let's hurry outside and keep an eye on things. Could you really live with yourselves if they got hurt?" Ginsengmon had barely finished speaking when a string of explosions rang out nearby. With a scream, Biyomon, blackened from head to toe, crashed through the window into the little wooden cabin.

Temmon lowered that small head in shame.

The explosions also jolted the sleeping Sora Takenouchi fully awake. The moment she opened her eyes, she saw the badly injured Biyomon.

"Biyomon, are you all right?" Sora Takenouchi gave Biyomon's head a little shake. Biyomon struggled to say, "Thank goodness, Sora. You're awake." Then she fluttered her wings and said brightly, "I'm fine! I might look terrible, but I'm not actually hurt." Her voice sounded strong to Sora Takenouchi, but the weakness beneath it could not escape Medicine Boymon and the others.

"All right, all right. I knew you were the best, Biyomon." Relieved, Sora Takenouchi asked, "Biyomon, do you look like this because of the fire we set?" At the thought that she had done something wrong, the sadness in her heart showed on her face. "It's all right, Sora." Biyomon placed her hand in Sora Takenouchi's palm. "Sora, we didn't just wipe out the Bakemon Patrol Squad. We cleared out the Graveyard Mound too. The Digimon around here won't have to fear Bakemon anymore." Biyomon was not lying. It was just that more than one Graveyard Mound had been cleared out.

Biyomon's answer visibly eased Sora Takenouchi's mind. Biyomon lifted her hand, and the Digivice slipped quietly into Sora Takenouchi's palm. From a higher perspective, one could see the power of Sora Takenouchi's Love flowing into the Digivice, replenishing the tremendous amount it had consumed over the past few days. Her Love did not diminish; instead, it grew stronger and stronger. Without any help from Medicine Boymon and the others, Biyomon recovered amid that intense power of Love.

"Tai, raise your left arm a little higher. Joe Kido, move your right foot a little farther to the right. Greymon, put more strength into your kicks. Aegiochusmon, your head is too high. Make good use of the horns on your head when you attack." Zheng Fan had cleared a patch of land near the Village of Beginnings to serve as a training ground. During these days of waiting for File Island to return to its proper place, he had already begun giving Tai and the others basic training. For humans like Tai, there was little to say. Although Basic Physical Arts was rather advanced by Earth's standards, it could not create superhumans. In fact, it was the optimal physical training method developed by the Dark Domain after experiments that involved dissecting human muscles. Later, elders of the Buzhou Domain rearranged it to train the muscles along the meridians. The people of the Light Domain thought the method had great potential and used Great Prophecy to help refine it into a practice suited to holy battle aura. Once finalized, it became something everyone in the Three Great Domains had a copy of. It was hardly a secret.

Digimon were a little harder to teach. Still, Zheng Fan had seen countless Fierce Beasts. Since he could not teach the Digimon the complete methods, he could only have them imitate how Fierce Beasts attacked. The results were fairly good.

"Leomon, I can't take it anymore." Panting heavily, Matt stopped running after his complaint. Strangely, he was still moving forward. It was not a pretty sight, though. The Night Dawn Sword carried Matt through the air. With a passenger to carry and Leomon to keep up with, the Night Dawn Sword had no choice but to travel in a straight line. It cut down every obstacle in its path, and Matt crashed through them. If everyone's clothes had not somehow acquired the property of being indestructible, Matt would already have been running naked.

Leomon remained silent. For the glory of SaberLeomon, dedicated training was the only way forward.

Seeing Leomon's resolute gaze, Matt knew the world would not bend to his will. He promptly straightened himself, planted both feet on the ground again, and broke into a long-strided run.

"Mastermon, what's this? Can I eat it?" Mastermon, that handsome older fellow, had thoroughly charmed Mimi Tachikawa. A fine figure, great strength, and vast knowledge-his only flaw was being a little wicked. "Mimi, this is an Oushang Fruit. You can't eat it. Once crushed, it produces one of the colors of the rainbow. Digimon use it to change the color of their bodies," Elderlymon explained solemnly.

"Mastermon, how do I open this? I want perfect pink hair," Mimi Tachikawa asked eagerly.

"Well, imagine the color you want, then break it open with your forehead. That will give you the juice you want." As Mastermon explained, Mastermon used an ability to restrain Palmon, who wanted to warn Mimi Tachikawa.

Mimi Tachikawa looked doubtfully at the seemingly hard fruit, then touched her forehead. Seeing Mastermon's encouraging gaze, she slammed her head down.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome to the Card Magic Troupe." MegaKuwagamon landed on the ground, with Cardmaster Twister standing on top of MegaKuwagamon's head.

"Izzy Izumi, you are a commander. Your job is to see through the enemy's movements and tricks. Take Cardmaster Twister right now, for instance. Can you find his weakness?" Oraclemon focused on passing that experience on to Izzy Izumi.

"Look, everyone, this box is empty. But what about now?" Cardmaster Twister spun sharply around. His wide magician's robe whirled like a dancer's skirt, concealing the box. When the robe fell, a little head popped out of the box. It was T.K. Takaishi.

"The color of the ground is wrong. He may have used a visual trick. His robe stayed in the air a second longer than normal, probably because T.K. Takaishi moved too slowly." Izzy Izumi analyzed everything he had observed.

"Ah, Izzy Izumi. Your power is truly far too weak." Halfway through Izzy Izumi's analysis, a single glance from Cardmaster Twister made him feel as though something had appeared in his throat, leaving him unable to speak. Oraclemon sighed helplessly. "You're only human. Unlike us Digimon, you don't possess all sorts of innate abilities. If you're going to command a war, you must bring along the guardian you trust most."

Time slowly passed, and the fragments of File Island gradually drew together.