6. Never overlook a single warning sign.
After bidding farewell to the Seadramon, Tai and Zeromaru once again threaded their way through the forest.
Leaping down from the root of a massive tree, Tai glanced ahead at the path. Dense roots broke through the earth, forming a natural barricade. Just climbing over one tree left Tai wiping sweat from his brow. He thought to himself that he should have had Kuga run with him a few more times.
He had even tried riding on Zeromaru’s back, but the constant jolting was too much to bear.
This made Tai realize a problem: compared to Digimon, he was just a human elementary school student with a physique somewhat lacking in endurance.
“Next time I train Zeromaru, I’ll train alongside him,” Tai resolved firmly. The battles between tamers were similar in nature to the wild fights between trainers depicted in the special Pokémon manga series.
If he couldn’t match Zeromaru in a direct fight, enemy Digimon might resort to underhanded tactics, aiming to eliminate Tai—the commander—first.
As a tamer, one must discover their partner Digimon’s weaknesses and compensate with their own abilities. If Tai himself became Zeromaru’s weak link, that would be counterproductive.
On the other hand, if enemies tried to strike at the seemingly weaker Tai first, only for him to shrug off his jacket, revealing a sleeveless cloak and well-defined muscles, and then humiliate them in return—that would be a sight to behold.
“Whoosh—” A dark shadow flew through the air: a spinning gear heading toward the summit of Mount Mihalashi.
Mount Mihalashi was a verdant mountain rising in layers, like the five-tiered Creation Mountain.
The spring water flowing from Mount Mihalashi was sweet and pure. Protected by a Flame Digimon residing there, many juvenile Digimon chose to live in this sanctuary.
While planning his training regimen, Tai looked up in confusion.
“Zeromaru, do you hear that?”
“It sounds like gears turning.”
“So it’s not just my imagination. The sound seems to be coming this way.” Tai held his forehead, sensing keenly that, like a plot twist in a novel, he was about to encounter an enemy again.
“No matter how strong the opponent is, our 100% combo won’t lose!” Zeromaru made a “V” sign with his hand. Seeing his partner's confidence, Tai perked up.
“Yeah, me too. I can’t even imagine us losing!”
Fueled by their full fighting spirit, Tai and Zeromaru crossed the natural barrier of giant tree roots in roughly half the planned time and emerged from the forest.
They finally arrived at the wasteland Tai had spotted earlier.
Without the shade of leaves, the scorching sun beat down on the endless sands, warping the surrounding air with heat.
Being there, Tai felt as if he had stepped onto the African savannah, to the point that even the sight of utility poles around left him speechless.
Reflecting on the landscapes he had observed before, it was astonishing that this relatively small island contained sea, glaciers, desert, and jungle all at once—truly a wondrous digital world.
---
Walking ahead, Zeromaru’s nose twitched suddenly.
“Hmm, hmm-mmm... I smell Digimon up ahead!”
Tai’s first thought: “Is it an enemy?”
Zeromaru scratched his bare head thoughtfully.
“Probably not. I smell many Digimon—it must be a Digimon village.”
“A village?” Tai looked forward eagerly. If they had the intelligence to build a village, he might finally meet Digimon besides Zeromaru who could communicate verbally.
“Let’s go, Zeromaru!”
“Okay.”
Now on the flat desert, Tai climbed onto Zeromaru’s back again. With a small sandstorm kicked up by Zeromaru’s speed, they soon reached the village.
A cluster of straw huts barely reaching Tai’s chest formed the settlement.
Looking down, the ground was covered with juvenile Digimon that resembled pink garlic bulbs sprouting blue flowers.
It was Tai’s first time seeing such plant-like Digimon.
“We are Pikamon,” one of the pink garlic-bulb Digimon said.
The juvenile Pikamon were as innocent as human children, showing no suspicion toward the sudden arrival of Tai and Zeromaru, only gazing at them with curiosity.
“What kind of Digimon are you?”
“I’m a V-dragmon called Zeromaru. He’s Tai. He’s not a Digimon; he’s human.”
Zeromaru smiled softly at the Pikamon, shedding his fierce battle demeanor.
The Pikamon repeated hesitantly, “V-dragmon? Human?”—words unknown to their data cores.
Zeromaru put his hands on his hips and grinned proudly. “I’m in my mature stage!”
“Wow!”
“Already mature stage!”
“So cool!”
“Just like the Flame Digimon!”
The Pikamon surrounded Zeromaru with open mouths, admiring him deeply, which made Zeromaru quite pleased.
Tai, watching Zeromaru bask in the attention like a schoolyard bully, smiled.
“You’re just a kid who’s developed too early.”
---
One of the Pikamon hopped over to Tai, her head topped with a wooden bowl.
“Here, have some water.”
“Thanks...” Tai wondered how they carved wood into bowls.
Still, he accepted the bowl and drank the water in one gulp.
The cross-country run through the forest had drained much of his water and strength.
Perhaps because of that, the water tasted especially refreshing.
Seeing Tai’s satisfaction, the Pikamon smiled.
“This is spring water from Mount Mihalashi. It’s very sweet.”
“Mount Mihalashi?”
“That mountain,” the Pikamon said, tilting her body and pointing with a stamen behind Tai.
Looking back, the layered verdant mountain was indeed there in the forest.
“That’s just a green Creation Mountain...” Tai’s expression darkened as he recalled the black gear flying past his ear earlier.
He had a bad feeling.
“Boom!”
Sure enough, a Pikamon came running back from the spring, crying out.
“Bad news! It’s burning! It’s burning!”
The spring, which had been gushing sweet water, now spewed towering flames like pillars from hell.
“Something’s definitely wrong,” Tai wiped sweat from his brow as the air grew even hotter.
Not just the spring—an adjacent stream had mysteriously dried up, and every water source connected to Mount Mihalashi’s spring was now spouting roaring fire.
“It must be the Flame Digimon!” The Pikamon, sitting in Tai’s lap, had tears in her eyes.
“Flame Digimon?” Tai pointed toward a streak of red fire rushing swiftly down from the peak of Mount Mihalashi toward the Pikamon village.
“You mean that?”