2. The corrupting influence on the youth is immeasurable!

Taichi and Zeromaru stood by the seashore, waving at the Kuwagamon as it flapped its wings and flew back into the forest.

"Goodbye, Kuuga! I'll come back for you once I'm done with my business~"

Taichi clearly saw the Kuwagamon's flight falter for a moment. *He must be just as reluctant to part as I am,* he thought.

"Kuu~ga!" (QAQ *Don't you dare come back!*)

Taichi looked around. This beach was no different from a bathing beach in the human world—a calm sea with occasional gentle waves lapping against a golden sandy shore. Near the water's edge stood a row of telephone booths.

*Hmm?*

Taichi furrowed his brows. Did the Digital World actually have these relics of human society?

Come to think of it, when he had looked out over the entire island from the mountain, he had spotted pole-like structures resembling utility poles in the desert region. He had originally assumed they just looked similar, but now it seemed they really were utility poles.

It was strange. Although Taichi had been in the Digital World for days without seeing a single human, he had encountered quite a few technological products of human society.

*Could it be that Digimon have mechanics and machine factories too?*

Taichi thought for a moment, then pulled a ten-yen coin from his pocket. In any case, he should test if these phones actually worked.

Inserting the coin, Taichi dialed his home phone number.

*Ring... Ring...*

The call connected.

"Hello, it's me," Taichi said immediately.

But from the other end of the line came a shrill, pitiful cry: "Gwah—Master, save me!"

"Huh?"

Dumbfounded, Taichi hung up. *Must be a wrong number.*

Taichi rummaged through his pockets. Having been suddenly pulled from the human world, he only had five coins and a subway pass on him.

He inserted another coin. This time, he paid close attention to ensure he didn't misdial. After another brief wait, the call connected.

"Hello, it's me," Taichi said again.

"Beep... beep... beep... standing by."

"Henshin!"

A powerful electronic sound effect echoed, accompanied by the rushing sound of wind, as if the person holding the phone was making some grand, dramatic movements.

*Better not bother them.*

On his third attempt, before Taichi could even speak, a rough, sinister voice boomed from the receiver: "You're watching me, aren't you!"

The voice was incredibly dramatic. Taichi could almost picture a hulking, 1.95-meter-tall man standing backlit on the other side, looking down at him with crossed arms.

*Interesting.*

Filled with anticipation, Taichi dialed his second-to-last coin.

"Onegai, without you all, I..."

Taichi couldn't quite follow this one, but his instincts told him he shouldn't reply.

And so, the final call. The moment it connected, Taichi said, "What kind of gag is it this time?"

"Taichi? What on earth are you up to now?"

"Mom! It really is you!" Just as Taichi wanted to say more, the voice on the other end cut in:

"Stop fooling around outside and get home right now!"

With that, the line went dead, leaving only the *beep... beep... beep...* of the dial tone.

"Taichi, are you okay?" Outside the booth, Zeromaru watched as Taichi's back seemed to turn completely gray with despair.

Taichi walked out in silence and led Zeromaru to the side of the booths. Facing the row of telephone booths, Taichi suddenly pointed his finger and roared, "Blow them all to pieces!"

"Huh? ...Oh." Zeromaru scratched his head in confusion, but since Taichi was his Tamer, he was happy to oblige.

"V-Gale Arrow!"

A blue shockwave erupted from Zeromaru's mouth. This was V-dramon's signature move. As an Ancient Species, a V-dramon's power would swell alongside their rising emotions. In times of extreme crisis, they could unleash destructive power that even surpassed the Ultimate level.

Even lined up in a row, the fragile telephone booths couldn't withstand the V-Gale Arrow for even a second, instantly pierced clean through the middle.

Since the beach seemed to hold nothing else of interest besides the phone booths, Taichi sat on a rock by the shore, questioning his life choices for a while before deciding to explore further out.

Before leaving, he climbed a tree to gauge the expanse of the ocean. However, even scanning all the way to the horizon, Taichi couldn't see a single island where they could set foot.

If they couldn't find Holy Angel Castle on File Island, exploring other regions wouldn't be easy. If they just built a crude raft and set sail, it might capsize long before they ever sighted the mainland.

When that happened, he couldn't very well squeeze into a wooden barrel with Zeromaru. With Zeromaru's weight, they would sink straight to the bottom!

Looking at Zeromaru's chubby body, he sighed and said, "If it comes to that, I'll have to get in the barrel alone, and you'll just have to sink to the bottom of the sea, Zero."

Zeromaru replied, "Taichi, you really only think about yourself, don't you?"

Just as the two of them stood up to explore further along the coast, Zeromaru's pupils suddenly slit, and his muscles tensed and swelled.

Taichi's heart skipped a beat, and his body instinctively leaped to the side.

*Boom!*

A high-pressure water column erupted right from where they had been standing. Fortunately, Taichi's reflexes were fast enough; otherwise, he would have been blasted into the sky like the wreckage of the telephone booths.

Having avoided being a mere stain on a wall at birth, it would be far too embarrassing to end up blasted into the sky now.

After running to a safe distance, Taichi looked back. A massive shell was emerging from beneath the sand. Seeing the spiked shell and the pink head poking out from within, Zeromaru recognized it immediately.

"It's Shellmon." Zeromaru's eyes flashed fiercely. The aggressive nature of the Ancient Species etched into his Digicore instantly pushed him into battle mode upon encountering such a hostile Digimon.

Shellmon was massive; its shell alone was about the size of a Greymon. Zeromaru, who was only two heads taller than the elementary schooler Taichi, looked no bigger than Shellmon's lower leg.

Admittedly, the size difference between Digimon determined their data volume to some extent, which served as a direct indicator of their strength. The difference in power between a two-meter-tall WarGreymon and a fifty-meter-tall VictoryGreymon was vast enough to span several dimensions.

However, such comparisons were usually made within the same species. Even a two-meter-tall WarGreymon possessed a data volume that, by the most conservative estimates, was thousands of times greater than lesser, larger Digimon.

Similarly, though Zeromaru was only a Champion-level, as an Ancient Species—and a V-dramon, which was exceptionally powerful even among Ancient Species—his data volume was far greater and stronger than Shellmon's!

"Let's go, Zero!"

"Right!"

Zeromaru's muscles bulked up completely, making his entire body look twice as large. Facing Shellmon's signature move, Hydro Blaster, he thrust his powerful right arm forward to block it.

The splashing water pierced the ground around Zeromaru, leaving bullet-sized holes. Yet, taking the brunt of the high-pressure water column head-on, Zeromaru did not take a single step back. His slit pupils, filled with a wild, ferocious aura, glared through the torrent, sending a chill down Shellmon's spine.

At this moment, Shellmon's simple brain finally realized that the blue puppy in front of it was not an opponent it could defeat.

"I'm not a puppy, I'm a mythical dragon!" As if sensing the other's thoughts, Zeromaru roared. He punched forward with his thick right arm, shattering the water column into mist. Feeling the impact of this sheer force, Shellmon tipped backward uncontrollably.

Immediately after, Zeromaru let out a spirited battle cry and dashed forward, reaching the Shellmon whose shell had become wedged upside down in the sand.

Grabbing one of the spikes on the shell with both hands, he spun his entire body, incredibly lifting the Shellmon—which was ten times his size—right off the ground!

Having built up enough momentum from the spin, the V-dramon hurled Shellmon into the sky. He then opened his mouth wide and unleashed a scorching beam of energy.

V-dramon's signature move—V-Breath Arrow!

Considering Shellmon hadn't actually harmed Taichi, the V-Breath Arrow didn't hit Shellmon's body directly. Instead, it pushed against its shell, blasting it all the way back into the ocean.