33. Dio: Drive for me.

Page (1/3)

Etemon was dead.

Less than twenty-four hours after setting foot on the Saver Continent, Tai had already eliminated a member of the Dark Forces. He watched as Etemon’s body dissolved into data in midair, leaving no possibility that he could be any deader.

Yet from the look on Tai’s face, Zeromaru felt that he was not very happy.

“Tai, what are you thinking about?”

“You.”

“Huh?”

Zeromaru had not expected such an answer and froze for a second.

Then a blush spread across his face. Pretending to be bashful, he said, “Honestly, we know each other so well already, and you still say such cheesy things.”

Tai had been gazing at the moon with a melancholy expression, but his act immediately fell apart.

He stared at Zeromaru in disgust. “Could it be that you still haven’t completely purged Bearmon’s data?”

Zeromaru retorted expressionlessly, “You were the one who started being disgusting.”

“What I mean is, when exactly are you going to evolve into an Ultimate?”

Faced with a subject that most Digimon regarded as the highest goal imaginable, Zeromaru remained remarkably indifferent.

“That sort of thing doesn’t matter.”

Tai shook his head. “Judging by the amount of data alone, you should have reached the required value for evolution long ago.”

Zeromaru had defeated countless Ultimates while fighting above his level throughout their journey. He had unquestionably met the standard for evolution. Moreover, the bond between him and Tai was absolutely at MAX.

At this point, it would not have been impossible for Zeromaru to evolve suddenly while walking down the street one day.

In truth, however, evolution was controllable, much like pressing the B button to cancel it.

Naturally, this seemed utterly incomprehensible to other Digimon. To them, every opportunity to evolve was extraordinarily precious. It was a gamble with their lives as the wager; if anything went wrong, they would turn into a mass of worthless data not even worthy of being called a Numemon.

But for Tai, all he needed to do was use his Digivice to scan the Digital Soul and inject it into Zeromaru’s body. Then Zeromaru could complete his evolution.

That had been the conclusion reached by the Digivice when it analyzed the Digital Soul back then.

Yet making a Digimon evolve required more than the Tamer’s power. If the Digimon receiving that power was unwilling to evolve, then everything was meaningless.

Worse still, if the Tamer and the Digimon’s wills ran counter to each other, the Digimon might even embark upon the wrong evolutionary path.

Tai glanced at Zeromaru again. At that moment, Zeromaru was having a wonderful time playing with the Koromon, looking as carefree as ever.

But Tai could clearly sense his resistance toward evolution.

Why?

What could possibly be more important to Zeromaru than evolving—something that was holding him back?

——————————

After seeing Hackmon and the others awaken once their injuries had healed, Tai said farewell to everyone in NEO Village and continued his adventure.

Before leaving, Tai remembered the train Etemon had arrived in, the one marked with the words “Laughing Heaven Gate.”

He went over to take a look. The train had not vanished with Etemon’s death, and inside one of the carriages he found a Gazimon crouched on the floor with his head in his hands.

There was no need to ask. He was one of Etemon’s subordinates.

“Are you the driver of this train?” Tai asked.

Page (1/3)

Page (2/3)

“Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, I am!”

Seeing the superhuman who had crushed Etemon with overwhelming ease, Gazimon felt his teeth chattering.

“I’m not just the driver. I was also responsible for monitoring Etemon’s ter—cough, cough! Etemon’s territory. I can provide you with information about the locations of Etemon’s subordinates!”

To save his own life, Gazimon did not hesitate in the slightest to betray his former colleagues.

“Good, good, good. You’re one of the more sensible lackeys.”

Tai grinned, then walked straight into the train without another word.

He sat in the main seat where Etemon had once presided, crossed one leg over the other, folded his hands over his knee, and said calmly, “Get us moving.”

Not wanting to end up like Etemon, exploding into filthy fireworks in midair, Gazimon hurriedly set to work operating the train.

Before long, the train was once again speeding along the black cables toward the distance.

Along the way, Gazimon asked nervously, “Where are we going, sir?”

“Where is Etemon’s nearest territory?”

Gazimon thought for a moment, then tapped several keys on the train’s computer. Several red dots immediately appeared on the map.

These marked the most recognizable territories controlled by Etemon.

They were:

The arena where he held concerts.

The luxury yacht that traveled across the desert.

And the inverted pyramid that housed the central server of Etemon’s network.

Besides those, there were also the intricate black circuits spreading throughout the entire Saver Continent—Etemon’s black cables, naturally.

The nearest location to where Tai was now was the arena not far away.

“Then we’re going there,” Tai said flatly.

As they traveled, Gazimon occasionally glanced back at Tai in secret. Tai was reclining in his seat with his eyes closed, resting. Although Tai had no such intention, in Gazimon’s eyes, he was the new boss.

Wanting to make a good impression on his new master, Gazimon spoke up.

“Etemon was very fond of watching Digimon fight one another in gladiatorial combat. Every few months, he would capture powerful Champion-level Digimon and send them into the arena.”

“At present, the strongest Digimon in the arena is a Greymon. It has won ninety-nine matches in a row.”

Tai’s brow furrowed. “I seem to remember Agumon from NEO Village saying that their big brother was about to evolve.”

“Agumon… evolves into Greymon, right?”

Gazimon: “…”

It was as though a Seadramon had just unleashed its signature attack inside the train. The atmosphere instantly plunged to absolute zero.

“Ha—hahahaha! What are the odds of something like that happening? There are as many Agumon on the Saver Continent as stray dogs by the roadside, and most of them evolve into Tyrannomon. Agumon capable of evolving into Greymon are as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns! Hahaha… haha…”

The more Gazimon spoke, the guiltier he felt.

Tai shook his head. “Don’t talk. Just concentrate on driving.”

Since arriving in the Digital World, Tai had encountered far too many coincidences, as if the world were a novel and he were the protagonist who triggered the plot wherever he went.

If that was the case, then the current scene was called laying groundwork—or raising a flag.

If someone raised a flag but never took it down, that meant the story had been written by a second-rate author and was itself third-rate.

Page (2/3)

Page (3/3)

Seeing that Tai had no intention of doing anything to him, Gazimon was instead somewhat surprised.

Normally, if he said even one thing wrong, Etemon’s iron fist would strike him immediately. It would not endanger his life, but it would leave him in pain for several days.

“You… you’re not going to hit me?”

“Why would I hit you? You weren’t the one who captured Greymon. You don’t have the ability.”

Tai looked at him strangely. Why had this fellow suddenly decided to start playing some sort of kinky game with him?

“Although that undisguised contempt is rather hurtful… No, never mind. It’s nothing… I’m fine…”

Gazimon spoke with an awkward, embarrassed smile.

It was almost laughable. He had followed Etemon for so long that not a single day had passed without him living in fear. Yet facing Tai—the one who had destroyed Etemon—a simple question from the man made Gazimon feel something called reassurance.

“You’ve all had a rough time too,” Tai said sympathetically, noticing his embarrassment.

“What else can we do? We’re only Rookies. We’re weak, and merely staying alive already takes everything we have. How could we possibly have the strength to resist a powerful Ultimate?”

Gazimon shook his head.

“That’s why Digimon want to evolve: to gain strength, and to live in this world with dignity.”

Without realizing it, Gazimon had voiced thoughts he had always kept locked within his heart.

Perhaps his instincts had sensed that Tai was not the sort of person who mocked others for their difficult circumstances behind their backs.

He simply mocked them to their faces.

Tai naturally had no idea what Gazimon thought of him, but even if he had known, he would not have cared.

Well, honesty counted as a virtue too, right?

“Eeeeeek!”

At that moment, the train came to a stop.

Gazimon snapped back to reality and said, “We’re here.”

Tai stepped out of the carriage. As a gust of wind swept a veil of sand before his eyes, a magnificent Roman-style arena emerged in front of him.

“So this is the place…”

Tai murmured to himself, then turned toward the others behind him.

“Zero, let’s go! We’re going to rescue the Greymon enslaved by Etemon!”

Zeromaru: “…”

Several seconds passed, but Tai received no reply. He instinctively looked back.

Zeromaru was lying on the floor of the carriage, his eyes rolled back, tears streaming from them in broad ribbons, and a string of bubbles escaping from the corner of his mouth.

After suffering from motion sickness throughout the entire journey, Zeromaru said miserably, “I feel… so awful!”

“Zero! What’s wrong, Zero?”

Tai rushed to his side and dropped to one knee, lifting Zeromaru’s head in one hand.

At that moment, Zeromaru’s vision went completely black, and he collapsed flat on his back.

“Zeeee—ro!”

Page (3/3)