This was a fissure in File Island. In the past, the Metal Empire's Digimon had installed tens of millions of machines beneath File Island to stabilize this enormous ark. Or had they inflicted irreparable damage on File Island while installing those machines? In the end, the machines had become essential to keeping File Island intact.
"Tai, how do you feel?" Zheng Fan asked, standing beside the fissure.
"Too... tense... I can't... stand steady. I'm... a little scared." Tai's legs trembled, and he could not hide the fear in his voice.
"What about you, Joe? I've never seen anyone look at a sight like this for the first time without their legs shaking," Zheng Fan teased. He could already tell that Joe Kido had gone numb all over.
Joe Kido heard the teasing in Zheng Fan's voice and relaxed a little. He stepped back and dropped onto his backside. "It's just too scary. Standing here, I feel like I could get completely crushed at any moment."
"That's because Gomamon isn't here. I'll definitely protect Tai," Agumon said.
File Island's reunification had reached its final moments. They were only a dozen or so meters from the opposite shore, with a huge ocean trench between them. The distance between the two islands was shrinking visibly, making the seawater in the trench churn violently. To Tai and Joe Kido, who were witnessing it firsthand, this sight fell short of the apocalypse only in scale.
When the two islands were less than a meter apart, the machines that seemed embedded in the fissure actually began to glow. In an instant, they awakened every dormant instrument, and a terrifying force set the smaller island rotating.
Zheng Fan had remained calm only because he had prepared himself for the impact long ago. Who could have guessed that the Metal Empire's machines were so intelligent that they could even correct the alignment automatically? Bracing himself the wrong way sent Zheng Fan tumbling to the ground. Tai and Joe Kido chuckled at his embarrassing fall.
Once the alignment was complete, the two small islands finally touched. The tremor at that instant shook even Zheng Fan, and even the fearless Agumon felt a chill of dread. The two human children, by contrast, felt no difference. Whether the force was greater or smaller, it could crush them instantly either way.
Afterward, Zheng Fan took them to watch the merging in another direction. At Tai's request, Zheng Fan wedged a huge boulder into the edge of the fragment. Hovering in the air, Tai watched the hard rock crumble and shatter, with stones squeezed out and shot hundreds of meters away. He let out a long breath and decided never to do anything so pointless again.
"Tai, look. Aren't those Palmon and Mimi Tachikawa over there?" Agumon asked. Though he could not see them, Agumon could sense Palmon.
"Let me look." Tai took out his monocular. "It's Palmon. There are two people, too. One looks a bit like Mimi Tachikawa, except for the hair." "Let me see, let me see!" Before Tai had even finished speaking, Joe Kido snatched the monocular away.
"All right. Whoever they are, we'll find out when we go over," Zheng Fan said, walking toward them.
"Wow, Mimi Tachikawa, it really is you!" Hadn't he noticed Mimi hiding the moment she saw him? Joe Kido, why did he have to rub salt in her wounds like that?
"You've got the wrong person. I'm not Mimi. I'm Lilymon," Mimi Tachikawa said in a muffled voice.
"Really?" Joe Kido reconsidered for a moment, then said with even greater conviction, "Stop lying. You're not Lilymon. You're Mimi Tachikawa. Tai, tell her—isn't she Mimi Tachikawa?"
Meanwhile, Zheng Fan watched the middle-aged man warily. Although something about him felt familiar, the threatening presence of an Ultimate mattered more than that familiarity. Even if Zheng Fan was confident he could escape, the three human children would undoubtedly die. The middle-aged man had approached with Mimi Tachikawa, but who knew whether he was using her as bait?
"Zheng Fan. Don't you know who I am?" the middle-aged man asked. He had sensed Zheng Fan's wariness, too, but paid it no mind. Instead, he was deeply interested in how Zheng Fan apparently had not evolved, yet possessed strength approaching that of an Ultimate.
"Who exactly are you?" Zheng Fan demanded, looking ready to come to blows at the slightest disagreement.
The three children caught up in their argument also sensed the tension nearby. Mimi Tachikawa hurried to intervene. "Big brother, Mastermon, don't fight!" Although Zheng Fan had first appeared in the dim twilight, his dashing manner had left a deep impression on Mimi Tachikawa, so it was hardly surprising that she recognized him at a glance now.
Hearing Mimi Tachikawa's words, Zheng Fan and Mastermon realized they had lost their composure. Both smiled easily, and Mastermon freely released his aura for Zheng Fan to sense.
"You're Elderlymon. You evolved," Zheng Fan said in surprise. It would not have been strange for anyone else on File Island to evolve, but Elderlymon, who had been a Champion forever, was another matter.
"I merely reclaimed my own power," Mastermon said proudly. Digimon were not humans, but power corrupted in every world and among every race. Although Mastermon had not been File Island's ruler in the past, he had certainly possessed the highest level of authority. If Mastermon's nature had fundamentally changed, the Digimon World would surely have punished him, but his ability to remain true to himself likely owed something to his innate innocence.
Mimi Tachikawa finally admitted that she was Mimi. "Mimi, what happened to your hair?" Tai asked that humiliating question.
"Well, there was a Rainbow Fruit along the road. I told you about its properties. This child used it and ended up with hair like that," Mastermon said casually.
Zheng Fan examined Mimi Tachikawa's partner Digimon closely and asked, "You're Palmon, right? How did Mimi end up doing this to her hair?" Zheng Fan knew there was no point asking Mastermon again. He also knew that the Rainbow Fruit's dyeing effect was practically permanent.
Palmon glanced at Mimi Tachikawa and said, "Mimi wanted pink hair. This was how it turned out."
After hearing Palmon's explanation, Zheng Fan felt helpless, too. As everyone knew, pink was not one of the colors of the rainbow.
While everyone was joking around, Zheng Fan and Mastermon suddenly leaped away warily, each erecting a defense. Under Tai's bewildered gaze, waves rippled through the spot where they had been standing. The fluctuations in Data Energy were so intense that even an ordinary human like Tai could feel them.
The waves of Data Energy obscured everyone's vision. Their intensity alone suggested that someone extremely powerful was coming. Sure enough, once the waves subsided, an enormous Digimon emerged from a streamlined Gate, as large as a small villa. Its bone-white body radiated a terrifying presence. It was MegaKuwagamon.
A humanoid Digimon stood atop MegaKuwagamon's head. Seemingly sensing that two Ultimate-level sources of energy were preparing their finishing moves, Cardmaster Twister hurriedly called out, "Don't attack. We're allies!"
At Cardmaster Twister's words, Zheng Fan and Mastermon both slowed their movements. As a Digimon who had regained his senses from chaos, MegaKuwagamon had not lost his brutality; he merely controlled it better now. MegaKuwagamon's rider could not possibly be weak. Besides, that sense of an Ultimate's presence could not lie.
Taking advantage of the opening, Cardmaster Twister constructed another Gate, reached through it, and pulled. This time, he caused no ripples at all as he brought two humans and two Digimon over.
"Tai, Joe, Mimi Tachikawa, I get to see you again! I'm so happy!" The moment T.K. Takaishi landed, he rushed over, hugged Tai, and bounced excitedly. Patamon also pounced onto Agumon's head, leaving Izzy Izumi and Joe Kido grumbling inwardly. Izzy Izumi looked at Tai standing to one side, walked over, and bowed. "Thank you for saving us that night. Are you really human, too?" Izzy Izumi knew his question was not entirely appropriate, but he asked it anyway. Zheng Fan waved a hand and said, "Saving you was the right thing to do. And I really am human."
Izzy Izumi was still pondering how a human could become so powerful when he spotted Mimi Tachikawa's hair. Naturally, he wounded her feelings all over again.
After hearing what had happened, Izzy Izumi said, "Maybe I could give it a try." His words brought a little sparkle back into Mimi Tachikawa's eyes. Mastermon, however, sounded displeased. "Human, even with so many Ultimate Digimon here, none of us can do it. What makes you think you can?"
"If Izzy Izumi says he can, then he can," Tentomon retorted, completely unconcerned that he was talking to an Ultimate.
Izzy Izumi thought for a moment, then replied without either arrogance or servility, "I imagine Digimon don't have much desire to dye things, do they?" Mastermon considered this and nodded. Izzy Izumi continued, "Everything advances through constant exploration. Digimon don't care about dyeing things, so you've never paid attention to how Rainbow Fruit works. That's why, when you suddenly need to do something about it, you're helpless."
Zheng Fan nodded, realizing he had taken a little too much for granted. Mastermon and the others naturally realized it, too.
Having earned everyone's approval, Izzy Izumi scratched his head sheepishly and said, "I can use my laptop to build a database first, then analyze it gradually. Once we make a start, we'll find a way eventually."
As Izzy Izumi spoke, the ground shook repeatedly. No one was nervous, since none of them was experiencing the merging for the first time.
Hearing this news, Mimi Tachikawa finally spoke up on her own. "Mastermon, what are we all going to do now?" Mastermon thought for a moment and looked at Zheng Fan. If Mastermon was the Digimon's leader, then Zheng Fan was the humans' leader.
"Let's go to Infinite Mountain. After all, that's where everything started. I think the others will head there, too." Naturally, Mastermon shared that opinion. Having evolved again, he was looking forward to the glory of returning home in triumph. Cardmaster Twister was not a Digimon from File Island, so he did not mind either way. MegaKuwagamon, however, felt apprehensive. After reminding himself that he had already evolved into an Ultimate, he agreed as well. The human children had no room to voice an opinion.
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