Bidding farewell to Toy Town's now-friendly mayor, Monzaemon, the kids set out once more. It had been their happiest night since arriving in the Digital World—so many toys to play with that spirits ran high.
Tai, who knew the story, of course wasn't about to do something dumb like climbing Infinity Mountain right now. If they ran into Devimon, their current fighting power wasn't enough to beat him. But there was one place they absolutely had to go: the Dino Ruins on File Island, where the Digivice program's seals and DigiCode had been left behind.
Using the map of File Island they'd downloaded from the steel factory, they found the location of the Dino Ruins. Tai led the kids, who were pedaling their bikes with their partner Digimon riding along, racing toward the ruins.
They rode into a forest and kept going for who knew how long, still not coming out the other side. In the woods, though, they spotted a structure that looked like it had been built of stone. Time had done a number on it; it might as well have been a ruin. Tai braked, checked the map, and nodded. This was it. All that DigiCode—his for the taking.
They parked and craned their necks at the building, a bit like a Mayan pyramid. At this point they'd seen so much weirdness that even this felt almost normal.
"What is this?" Joe asked. After so many letdowns, he seemed to have given up on finding other humans.
"I don't know," Gomamon answered.
"I don't know either," Patamon added.
"Ah—maybe we've reached the Dino Ruins?" Tentomon suddenly said, as if something clicked.
"You know this place?" Izzy asked his partner.
"It's my first time here, too. But I've heard other Digimon talk about it," Tentomon said.
"Let's go in and take a look," Tai suggested. No point standing outside when the reason they'd come was inside.
"No objections," Matt said.
"I'm in. Walking around the forest forever is boring," Mimi, the most delicate of the group, chimed in.
"Mimi…"
"All right, let's move out!"
With Tai in the lead, the kids and their Digimon stepped into the Dino Ruins.
From outside it looked shabby, but the inside was surprisingly clean.
Once in, Tai didn't rush into the labyrinth. Without a map, a labyrinth just meant trouble—and there wasn't anything in it he actually needed.
They went straight to the main hall. The walls were covered in program text, and there were odd, out-of-place ports embedded in the stone.
They reached a wide-open area. Tai ran a hand along the floor—no dust at all.
"It's clean here. Let's have lunch," he suggested.
"Good idea. I'm getting hungry," Joe said.
Tai glanced around and didn't spot the giant Black Gear from the original storyline. It looked like Devimon hadn't started splitting File Island yet.
"Let's keep lunch simple—emergency rations," Matt, who managed the food, said. "There's nothing else to eat, and no river nearby."
"Works for me," the kids agreed; after so much riding, no one wanted added hassle.
"Our stamina's fine from riding in the baskets. We'll go find some fruit," the partners volunteered, ready to forage in the forest.
While everyone sat and rested, something on the wall caught Izzy's eye. "What's that on the wall?" he said, drawing everyone's attention.
They looked and saw line after line of familiar letters.
"These are computer programs," Izzy said, stepping closer. The strings of code were both familiar and strange. "Same kind of stuff as in the steel factory's power room."
"Okay," Tai said, pulling out his laptop. "Izzy, you take that side; I'll handle the rest. We'll parse this together."
"Got it." Izzy took out his own laptop and knuckled down, entering the wall's code into his machine. The others watched, bored. Tai worked fast. After finishing his section, he realized this was data about how the Digivice program was made. There was also a fragmentary map of the labyrinth. Once he copied in Izzy's share, the map was complete.
The find thrilled him. If they could fully master the Digivice program's construction, maybe Agumon could digivolve past the usual gating—beyond the Digivice trigger and Crest requirements. Tai didn't think he alone could crack it quickly, but he knew there was an expert across the sea on the Server Continent—Datamon. In the original, Datamon had already solved part of the Digivice mystery, even claiming he could force Biyomon past Sora's Crest gating to Ultimate. The plan failed thanks to Etemon and the kids, but still—if they teamed up with Datamon and used this data, they could do much more. Maybe even reach Mega.
"In the original, Izzy didn't find this stuff—only the map. Must've been a limit of his coding skill," Tai thought after a moment's reflection.
A few minutes later, Izzy finished as well. Tai passed him the map portion but kept the Digivice-construction data to himself—this was too important to share just yet.
After compiling the data, Izzy came to the expected conclusion. "Got it. This place is a labyrinth." He and Tai merged their recordings and the result popped up. Izzy turned his screen to the group.
"What's inside the labyrinth?" T.K. asked.
"No idea. We'll have to go in and see. The traps are marked, though," Izzy said.
"Then let's check it out. We've got a map—we shouldn't get lost," Sora suggested.
"Wait for the Digimon to get back, then we go. No telling what's in there. Also… darn, the Dino Ruins guardian—Centarumon," Tai muttered, realizing he'd been so focused on DigiCode he'd forgotten the plot beat. A bucket of cold water on his excitement; the thrill of the data haul faded fast.
Mimi peered at the screen. "Hey, look—there's a yellow dot moving. Izzy, what's that?" She'd pointed out something Izzy hadn't noticed when he first rendered the labyrinth program. Tai went cold—without their partners, the kids' combat power against Centarumon was basically zero.
Izzy swung the laptop back. A yellow dot was heading straight for their location. "Something's coming here," he said, then looked toward the labyrinth entrance. Tai clenched his fist. "Looks like I'll have to use it. It's not finished—no idea how strong it is—but this will be the test," he thought.
Soon they all heard it: footsteps. Moments later, a Digimon with a human upper body and a horse's lower body appeared. Everyone stood.
"What Digimon is that?" Sora asked.
"Good or bad?" Matt cut straight to the point.
"No clue," the group said, shaking their heads.
Suddenly Centarumon raised his right hand and aimed at the children. A cannon barrel extended from his palm, visible energy building at the muzzle—aimed right at them.
"He's attacking!" Izzy snapped his laptop shut and jumped up.
"Look out!" Tai shouted. At the same time, an energy round blasted from Centarumon's cannon.
The kids froze, not knowing what to do.
Tai sprinted a few steps to the wall, yanked something from his backpack, and threw it up to shield everyone.