Matt's face twitched a couple of times at how perfectly the timing lined up. A huge sweat drop slid down his temple, but he quickly turned back, scratched his head, and forced a big smile. "See? Aren't they right there?"
"Why did my sister have to show up too?" Davis complained.
"Hi, everyone!" Jun Motomiya was still acting as carefree as ever, waving cheerfully at the group.
The kids were finally back, and the battle that had been disguised as a "camping trip" was over. They climbed into the car, ready to head home. This fight had dragged on for so long—and left them with so much to process—that they felt more exhausted than they ever had before. All they wanted now was to sleep.
"Wait for me!" Jun saw them getting in and immediately ran over. "What the heck, I finally made it all the way here and you're leaving already?!"
"Because we're too tired to do anything anymore," Davis snapped. Chibomon in his arms was already asleep from exhaustion. After saying that, Davis got into the car too, slumped into his seat, and started nodding off.
"This is going to be a problem… the car can't fit everyone," Matt's dad said, staring at the already-packed seats with a headache.
Hearing that, Jun looked around. "Huh? Didn't you say there was supposed to be another car?"
Matt rushed over and started explaining in a panic. "The other car had something come up yesterday, so it already went back."
Seeing there were no seats left, Matt's dad leaned out and said, "Matt, you take the bus home." He handed Matt the bus fare, then—right in front of Matt's utterly despairing eyes—pulled the door shut.
"Bye, Matt." Tai, sitting in the back row, grinned and waved at him.
"Take care," Izzy added.
"Hey! Wait a second!" Matt tried to struggle one last time, but Jun quickly shut the final door, wrapped both arms around Matt's arm, and beamed. "Perfect! Then I'll take the bus with Matt. Don't worry—Matt is with me now!"
Seeing Jun's face full of joy and Matt's face full of absolute hopelessness, the kids all collectively got a cold sweat… and hurriedly got the car out of there.
"Just let me get in the car…" Matt's desperate voice trailed off as the car sped away, kicking up a cloud of dust, leaving only a crushed Matt and an over-the-moon Jun standing there.
The car raced along the road. The scenery outside was beautiful, but none of the kids had the mood to appreciate it. Days of nonstop fighting had worn them down to the bone. They hadn't slept properly in so long. Now that the weight on their hearts was finally gone, the exhaustion and heavy drowsiness hit all at once—one after another, they fell asleep.
The car radio was playing the news. The host spoke in a delighted tone: "The genius boy Ken Ichijoji, missing since May, was just found in his own home. Why the missing prodigy miraculously reappeared at home remains unknown at this time."
"Anyway… the crisis in the Digital World has been resolved for now," Izzy said, summing up everything that had happened so far.
"Yeah. The easy stage is over," Tai thought silently. "Next comes the truly brutal battle." He glanced at Kari, asleep with her head on his shoulder, and smiled. Carefully, he smoothed down a stray lock of hair that had curled up. "But even so… I'll never let any of you get hurt. Not ever."
When Ken's parents saw their child suddenly appear in his bedroom, they didn't understand why—but they still cried with joy, tears of relief spilling down their faces.
In the room, Ken lay on his bed in deep sleep. Wormmon's death and everything he had done… the blow was too great. Right now, what he needed was rest—a long, long sleep to ease the crushing pressure inside him.
In class, Cody was called on by the teacher to read aloud: "…And so, the lifeline of the nation was preserved. The king sacrificed himself to save the country. But the king's death left a deep wound in the hearts of the people—and that scar made the king an immortal legend…"
Upamon, hidden inside Cody's desk, listened with delight. "What a moving story!" Before it could say anything else, Cody shoved it back inside the desk.
Yolei held two test tubes, poured their liquids into a heated beaker, and muttered to herself, "Pour this liquid into the tube, add the other chemical solution, then heat it over an alcohol lamp on low flame… and wait three minutes."
But she didn't even make it to three minutes. Poromon had just flapped its little wings up to the window when the liquid in the beaker began to boil in a bizarre way. Yolei froze for half a second—
—and it exploded, giving her a free "explosion hairstyle."
Kari was with her cheer squad, performing an upbeat routine at halftime of a basketball game. Patamon, Veemon, and Gatomon stood on the roof of the gym, watching the dance with excitement. Patamon and Gatomon started copying Kari's moves… if you could even call it dancing.
Veemon, ignored by everyone, puffed up in a sulk and tried hard to cheer Davis on—but its partner was painfully disappointing. Davis didn't have a single standout moment the entire game. Meanwhile, T.K. stole the spotlight again and again. Between multiple embarrassing wipeouts, getting a basketball smacked into his face, and everything else, Davis felt like he'd completely humiliated himself in front of Kari. Even Veemon felt too ashamed to stay around Patamon and Gatomon any longer and hurried off.
"Hurry up! Hurry up! You're way too slow!" Davis snapped irritably at Cody and Yolei, who arrived late.
"Davis has been in a bad mood since the beginning," T.K. said helplessly. Uh… and you're probably the main reason he's in a bad mood.
"The gate to the Digital World opened—the DigiDestined set out!" With Yolei's words, the kids arrived once again in the Digital World they hadn't seen for days. Ever since the final battle with the Digimon Emperor, they hadn't come back for several days. They'd stayed home to rest and recover. Only after getting enough sleep did they agree to come back today.
"Even without the Digimon Emperor, we can still come to the Digital World?" Cody said, looking genuinely confused.
"What are you talking about? The Digital World finally has peace again—we should take this chance to have some fun!" Yolei complained.
Hearing that, both T.K. and Cody lit up with excitement. Clearly, they were tempted too.
"Kari thinks so too, right?" Yolei turned to Kari. She obviously knew that convincing Kari was the same as convincing Davis—so she might as well ignore Davis and save herself the effort.
"Uh…" Kari hesitated.
"I'd love to let you enjoy the Digital World for a while," a familiar voice said from behind them, "but I'm sorry—now isn't the time."
"Kari!"
"Tai!"
"What do you mean?" Davis asked, confused. "Didn't we already defeat the Digimon Emperor?"
"Don't tell me… there's another enemy?" T.K. asked, having learned the hard way what it felt like to beat one enemy only for the next one to appear.
Tai nodded. "That's right. The Digimon Emperor was just the advance force. The real enemy is still hiding behind the scenes, waiting for the right moment."
"Then who is it?" Davis pressed.
"Do you remember that new type of Myotismon at Fuji TV?" Tai asked.
The kids all nodded at once. That massive enemy had left a deep impression on them—and even now, the destruction from that battle still hadn't been fully repaired.
"When you were fighting Kimeramon," Tai continued, "one of the Seven Demon Lords—Beelzemon—also showed up. WarGreymon defeated him."
"What?!" The kids were stunned. Just dealing with Kimeramon alone had been brutal. If Magnamon hadn't appeared, they might've been wiped out right there. And now they were finding out a much stronger enemy had nearly come for them too—how could they not be shocked?
"I'm telling you this because you can't think that defeating the Digimon Emperor means everything is over," Tai said seriously. "Back then, when we defeated Etemon, we thought it was the end—then Myotismon hit us before we could react. So you absolutely cannot relax. You have to keep pushing forward."
"Right now, you're still too weak." Tai's expression didn't soften. "Only Kari's Gatomon can Digivolve into Mega—and even then, it still can't do it freely. As for the rest… we don't even need to talk about it. With strength like this, you won't be able to handle what's coming. So you need to work harder."
"But how are we supposed to improve now?" Davis said, discouraged. "The Digi-Egg of Miracles is gone, and we still don't even understand how to raise our Digimon's Armor power. It's all a complete mystery."
"It's true that improving Armor compatibility is a long process," Tai said, "and it might not even be possible. But getting stronger doesn't only have one path."
"Tai… you mean normal Digivolution?" Kari suddenly realized, her eyes widening.
T.K. understood immediately too. "Right. Davis and the others still can't do normal Digivolution."
"What are you talking about?" Davis asked, completely lost. "Normal Digivolution?"
"It's Digivolution that doesn't rely on the power of Digi-Eggs," T.K. explained. "Using the Digivice to Digivolve your Digimon into Champion—and into higher levels."
"Like your Digimon, Tai?" Yolei asked.
"Exactly." Kari nodded. "My Digimon and T.K.'s Digimon can Digivolve on their own without using Digi-Eggs."
"Our Digimon can Digivolve from Rookie to Champion, Ultimate, and even Mega," Tai said. "So Davis, Yolei, and Cody—your main task now is to make it so your Digimon can Digivolve even without Armor Digivolution. And after that… you destroy the Control Spires. That's your mission from here on out."
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