In the dense forest, a fierce chase was unfolding.
"Hahaha, wasn't your voice supposed to be cute? Come on, scream a little louder!"
Saying such dangerous lines was… a small bat-like creature, flapping pitch-black wings, launching syringe-like darts from beneath them.
And the target scrambling madly across the ground was none other than a round, ball-shaped creature…
His name perfectly matched this image—he was a Koromon.
…This name wasn't exclusive to any particular individual, just a generic name for an enormous species. In this vast world, there were tens of thousands of Koromon at least.
He was simply one among them, utterly unremarkable and ordinary. Though it was said, "All great Digimon start as Koromon," that merely meant they possessed the potential to become powerful Digimon. Potential meant nothing until it turned into real strength.
Besides, this was a dangerous world…
For survival, for territory, for higher forms of digivolution—or even just to prove oneself the strongest of all.
Every day, countless Digimon returned to Primary Village for countless reasons, having died prematurely. Among these, those who reached Ultimate level were already few and far between; most died at the Champion stage.
A mere Koromon was entirely insignificant within such a large base population.
Precisely because of that, most powerful Digimon scorned bullying such weaklings, granting him a relatively peaceful "childhood."
Today had started just as uselessly carefree as any other. He blew bubbles, hummed songs, rolled around lazily in the sun—but who knew a damn dart would suddenly come flying at him!
From that moment onward, everything veered onto an unexpected track. And the cause of all this was merely the impulse of a certain Demidevimon.
Actually, the Demidevimon had no prior grudge against this particular Koromon. It had just been beaten to a pulp by a Champion-level Digimon moments ago, barely managing to escape alive.
The law of the jungle—where the strong devour the weak—naturally applied here in this "Digital Forest."
For Demidevimon, the reason to attack Koromon was utterly simple:
Since stronger Digimon could bully me without hesitation, calling it "the law of survival"…
Then I just need to copy them. Find someone weaker, and give them a good kick in the belly~
You see, everything was perfectly logical. In an instant, it transformed from victim into victimizer, considering it completely natural.
Yet, for the Koromon being hunted down, all of this came out of nowhere. He didn't even know why he'd been attacked—only one thought filled his mind.
…Hurts, hurts, hurts! Gonna die, gonna die, gonna die!
No matter how he fled, Demidevimon relentlessly pursued, casually firing darts to block his escape routes.
Other Digimon might have witnessed this along the way, but none reacted at all, as if this was merely an everyday occurrence.
Finally, the chase reached its end; utterly exhausted, Koromon had no strength left to keep running.
"What, that's it?"
Seeing its prey stop in exhaustion, Demidevimon's tone turned disappointed.
"Well, I've had enough fun… so, goodbye forever~!"
Saying that, Demidevimon flapped its wings and fired one more syringe-shaped dart, cruelly embedding it deep into Koromon's body.
Intense pain slammed into his consciousness, engraving a single word clearly into his mind—
Death!
Am I really going to die like this?
The instant that thought became crystal-clear, Koromon felt some kind of shackle within him shatter. Immediately after, a powerful will burst forth from within.
Are you kidding me?! Who the hell wants to die in a place like this!!!
Alongside this surge of willpower, countless fragmented images and memories—things Koromon had never seen nor even comprehended—flooded forth like a tidal wave.
"Huh?"
Demidevimon had been intending to watch his prey's death throes up close but never expected the dying Koromon to suddenly erupt in dazzling white light.
"What the… this is ridiculous?!"
Demidevimon certainly recognized what was happening, but it was absurd—why now, of all times?!
What was happening right before him was exactly that indispensable process for a Digimon's growth in strength: the phenomenon known as digivolution!
No way, absolutely can't let this Koromon digivolve here…
Without hesitation, it unleashed three volleys of darts in quick succession, desperately hoping to eliminate the Koromon before the transformation completed.
Once again, darts pierced Koromon's body, searing pain jolting his nerves, but that only stoked the fiery rage inside him.
"Didn't I already say… that freaking hurts?!"
The originally adorable voice suddenly became that of a furious grown man. With this abrupt shift, Koromon's body swiftly changed form—
That round, squishy ball of flesh instantly became a small dinosaur, its entire body covered in bright yellow skin.
Enraged, he opened his mouth wide, flames rapidly gathering deep in his throat, forming into a fireball the size of a human head—and shot it out!
Demidevimon had no time to dodge, letting out a miserable shriek as it was hit squarely.
Although both were still Rookies—and the Koromon had just evolved into Agumon, theoretically far less adept at controlling its power—there existed a natural relationship between Digimon types: Vaccine, Virus, Data…
Agumon, as a Vaccine-type, perfectly countered the Virus-type Demidevimon.
Attribute matchups trumped everything! Type advantages were divine blessings!
…When evenly matched in strength, fighting against your natural enemy was never smart.
If you knew you could win, it was a matter of attitude. But charging in knowing you'd lose was just a lack of intelligence.
To live longer these days, you could afford to have a bad attitude—but you absolutely couldn't lack brains!
"You… you'll pay for this…"
Leaving behind villainous words that guaranteed it wouldn't survive beyond 30,000 words, Demidevimon flapped its injured wings, fleeing desperately. Its advantage in aerial mobility meant Agumon's short legs could never catch up if it focused solely on escape.
But the freshly evolved Agumon clearly had no interest in pursuing. He stood dumbfounded, glancing around in confusion, his tiny eyes filled with giant question marks.
After a long silence, the newly evolved Agumon finally squeezed out a sentence through clenched teeth.
"…Holy shit, I've transmigrated?!"
......
...
...
"Alright, calm down, smoke a cigarette first… Ah, damn it, I don't have cigarettes right now. Wait, that's not the main issue… Anyway, stay calm. It's no big deal—no, wait, it's actually a huge deal… panicking won't help!"
By appearance alone, Koromon's cute round shape was certainly adorable—but when a grown man's voice came from such a cute little creature, it immediately ceased being cute at all.
Yes, he was Koromon again…
Though he'd successfully evolved earlier, after scaring off Demidevimon, he reverted back from Agumon to Koromon.
After repeated experiments, he found he could freely control digivolution and de-digivolution!
This was indeed good news. In his memories, Digimon evolution was usually irreversible except after suffering severe damage or major strength loss.
Yet he could freely control this transformation. Moreover, remaining as Koromon significantly conserved energy, allowing for prolonged combat after evolution.
Alright, let's calmly sort things out from the top…
…He was originally human. But now, for some unknown reason, he'd transmigrated into the Digital World—specifically, File Island, the starting location of the first Digimon Adventure series.
Moreover, he'd transmigrated into a Koromon—one theoretically possessing immense potential.
But potential meant nothing when he was just an In-Training stage. Even the weakest Champion-level Digimon on File Island could casually stomp him to death.
Not to mention the terrifying boss of this island—Devimon, who nearly annihilated the original seven Chosen Children right here!
Clearly, the plot of Adventure hadn't yet begun; Devimon still tyrannized File Island, and the destined children were probably somewhere still playing with mud.
After calming down slightly, he suddenly thought of a critical issue.
…Wait, what was my name again?!
As a wild Digimon, he naturally had no need for something as individual as a personal name. Most of the time, calling them by their species was good enough. But, after all, he was originally human.
Yet his current memories were extremely chaotic; the only obsession left in his mind was a desperate "I don't want to die."
…From the looks of it, he'd probably encountered some kind of accident before transmigrating.
Other than that, name, age, identity, relationships—he couldn't remember a single thing.
Despite this, somehow he had a profound impression of Digimon as a franchise. He could even clearly recall most of the plotlines from Adventure through Xros Wars.
Adventure (01), Adventure 02, Tamers, Frontier, Savers, Xros Wars…
Familiar titles and story arcs appeared vividly, one after another, along with their detailed settings, etched into his mind.
…Could this be because I've become a Digimon myself?
Koromon helplessly shook his head… well, technically he was nothing but a head.
Anyway, having no name felt incredibly awkward for someone with human memories, so without much effort, he came up with one…
…Zero!
Since he'd lost most of his memory, he might as well start from "zero"…
Given that he'd transmigrated into a Digimon, it seemed unlikely he'd ever become human again. Besides, considering his final obsession before transmigration was "not wanting to die," even if he couldn't remember specifics, just from that small detail, Zero guessed his situation pre-transmigration was probably quite grim.
So, what now?
If Zero were still just a normal Koromon who'd suddenly evolved into an Agumon, he'd probably be celebrating happily right now—eating hotpot, singing songs, and continuing his lazy, worthless lifestyle.
But now that the memories belonging to the transmigrator Zero had awakened, he couldn't allow himself to keep living this carefree life devoid of tension.
After all, this was the Digital World. Killing other Digimon, absorbing their data, strengthening your DigiSoul and DigiCore—thus evolving to higher stages—
That was something most Digimon above the Champion stage were constantly doing, and indeed, the central theme of this world most of the time…
…In later series, things improved to an extent; Digimon civilization became considerably more sophisticated. But at least in the original Adventure—or rather, here in File Island's Digital Forest—the law still worshipped was the brutal jungle principle: survival of the fittest, where the strong reigned supreme.
Continuing to live that laid-back lifestyle he'd had before meant that at some random moment, a violent Digimon passing by could casually kill him.
If you didn't want to die, your only choice was to become stronger…
…Originally, after the Ancient War, with Lucemon sealed away and the top-tier bosses basically inactive, only Digimon chosen by the light of evolution from Huanglongmon could reach Mega-level. (This fic has some personal adaptations linking the plots of all six seasons for smoother storytelling.)
But now the Four Holy Beasts who served the God of Evolution had been sealed by the Dark Masters. Don't ask Zero how those four useless idiots accomplished that—he wanted to know too. (Zero's setting didn't include watching tri..)
Therefore, currently, the Digital World was in a chaotic environment without the God of Evolution's management. As long as you put in enough effort, you could reach Mega-level without needing anyone's recognition!
Considering the first season's environment, even reaching Ultimate-level was enough to dominate entire territories, while Mega-level was practically an unreachable fantasy. You could imagine how difficult it was to reach Mega-level in an era without the Light of Evolution.
But this still wasn't the worst-case scenario. In the ending of Savers, Masaru Daimon punched Yggdrasil offline, removing even the World Tree's management. By Xros Wars, the entire evolutionary system had collapsed (based on the Xros Wars manga setting).
In short, Zero currently existed in the best of times: he didn't need recognition from the Four Holy Beasts, Homeostasis, Yggdrasil, or even the Light of Evolution. If he tried hard enough, he could evolve into Mega-level.
But this was also the worst of times. Because everyone else thought exactly the same—competition was unimaginably fierce…
…In this world, there's only number one—no second place… the third-place guy had already been beaten to death by number one.
Those left standing in the end would be tempered, battle-hardened elites!
At this moment, the Ancient War had ended. Lucemon was sealed by the Ten Legendary Warriors, whose spirits immediately went dormant.
One of the Three Great Angels, Cherubimon, suddenly betrayed the Digital World, beating the other two Angels—Seraphimon and Ophanimon—to the point they had to restart practically from scratch.
The Four Holy Beasts were sealed by the Dark Masters, while Apocalymon was still suffering behind the firewall, and even the prototype of the Royal Knights, Imperialdramon Paladin Mode, had yet to appear.
Guilmon—created later by Takato Matsuda based on Agumon's design, who would eventually occupy a seat among the Royal Knights—didn't even exist yet. Heck, Yggdrasil hadn't even begun organizing the Royal Knights.
Meanwhile, deep in the Digital World's darkest depths, the Grim Reaper of the Digital World—GranDracmon—was currently sleeping, awaiting another awakening…
The Digital World appeared calm, like an undisturbed ocean. But only Zero, who knew future plot developments, realized that beneath this peaceful surface, an enormous storm was gradually brewing…
So, what should he do?
Well, let's set a small goal first…
"…I'll fill half the Royal Knights' seats with my alternate forms!"
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A/N: Um, let's clarify a bit here. This book includes some original interpretations and adjustments to better integrate plotlines across various seasons. Naturally, this will create certain conflicts with the original canon—after all, even the original Digimon series itself had plenty of unresolved plot holes and historical problems.
In short, I hope to create an interesting story~
…Lastly, if you, dear readers, found it enjoyable, please consider bookmarking and recommending this story~
…That's all for now~
T/N: I WUV DIGIMON