The orange-red energy sphere looked like a fly compared to Megadramon's enormous body—yet that "fly" actually shoved the "sparrow" back. The orange-red sphere vanished, and Megadramon froze mid-motion. A gust of wind swept past; its metal body crumbled like sand into nothingness—no ashes left behind—disappearing without a trace.
"That was…" T.K. gaped at that all-too-familiar energy sphere.
"Tai—WarGreymon!" Kari spun around and cried out in disbelief.
Tai was riding on WarGreymon's back as WarGreymon charged straight toward the platform where Kari and the others were. With a heavy clank, he landed smoothly.
"Are you okay, Kari?" Tai helped her up, his face full of worry.
"Tai…" The fear that had been held back finally broke. Kari threw herself into his arms and began to sob softly.
"Spiral Sword!" Andromon didn't care about their reunion at all, firing his special move on his own.
WarGreymon simply swung the Dramon Killers on his right arm once, effortlessly slicing the Spiral Sword into pieces.
Tai pulled out a small handheld computer and started operating it rapidly. "Highest-level admin login. Login code 306690956 (book group number). Command: stop all alarms, restore normal patrol status. All guard units return to their original positions."
The moment Tai's command went through, the citywide siren cut off abruptly. Gigadramon, still in the air, suddenly turned around, flew back to the tower it had launched from, and folded into it as the rooftop mechanism closed again. The Guardromon that had been poised to attack all turned around and returned to their posts. In just a few dozen seconds, the entire city fell back into silence—only the clank-clank of Guardromon patrolling the streets remained, along with the whirring sounds of Hagurumon emerging from somewhere to repair the damaged roads.
"Th-this… what the hell just happened?!" Davis stared so hard his eyes nearly popped out.
Down on the street, Andromon's eyes were clear again. He tore the Dark Ring off his neck and turned toward the distant Control Spire. "Super Missiles." Two missiles trailed fire as they struck the spire with pinpoint accuracy. With an explosion and a bloom of flame, the spire snapped in half and collapsed. Guardromon immediately moved in to clear the debris.
"I sincerely apologize. I was controlled by the Digimon Emperor and committed many wrongdoings," Andromon said in that emotionless mechanical voice.
"It's okay, Andromon. Don't take it to heart," Kari said gently.
"I have modified both my own program and the Guardromon programs. From now on, we will no longer be controlled by the Digimon Emperor. We will properly protect this city," Andromon said again—though his gaze remained fixed on Tai.
"That's good," Tai nodded, then turned to Kari and the others. "You were completely reckless. Breaking into this city is extremely dangerous. Just now it was only a Level 2 alert. If you had triggered a Level 3 alert, these streets and rooftops would've been packed with turrets and missile launchers. At that point, even WarGreymon wouldn't have been able to get you out easily."
"Sorry… but, um—when Agumon evolved just now, that Digimon was seriously so cool," Davis scratched his head and laughed awkwardly.
"Tai-senpai, can Agumon already evolve to Mega level?" T.K. asked curiously.
"Mega level? What's that?" Davis heard another word that felt both familiar and unfamiliar.
"Davis…" Kari sounded drained. "Tai already explained this to everyone last time. Mega is the level above Ultimate. Those two mechanical Digimon and Andromon are Ultimate level, but WarGreymon is one level higher than them. Seriously—were you even listening last time?"
"S-sorry, sorry…"
"Agumon can only just barely evolve to Ultimate level right now," Tai explained. "I was afraid Kari was in danger, so I used the Holy Ring's power to force Agumon to evolve into WarGreymon. Good thing I did—otherwise, if it was only MetalGreymon's strength, it really would've been hard to rescue her."
"Then why did you have to kill that Digimon?" Davis asked, still unwilling to accept it.
"In that situation, there was only one choice," Tai's tone hardened. Then he softened again. "It's fine. That was just a mechanical Digimon—like these Guardromon. They're assembled from parts."
"But doesn't Andromon have his own consciousness too?" Davis pressed.
"Andromon is a modified Digimon—his base form was a real Digimon," Tai said patiently. "But Megadramon was made by imitating an Airdramon. Inside and out, it's nothing but steel. Strictly speaking, it's no different from these steel streets."
"Alright—it's late. Everyone needs to hurry back," Tai said. "I had Matt tell our parents we were at a classmate's house, but if we get home too late, we'll still get scolded."
"True."
They returned to the computer lab through the TV, only to find Izzy sitting in a chair with his arms crossed, clearly upset.
"Izzy-senpai…"
"Shh. Keep it down."
Everyone snuck out of the now-empty school and headed home. Izzy kept lecturing them with a sour expression. "I heard everything from Matt. You were way too reckless. What if a teacher found out and shut down the computer? Then what would you do?"
"Oh, come on—stop making excuses," Tai said bluntly, immediately exposing him. "Honestly, you wanted to go to the Digital World too."
"Tai!" Izzy snapped.
"Alright, alright," Tai waved it off. "It's late—everyone run. Dinner time already passed. If you don't get home now, you're dead."
The kids immediately broke into a sprint.
Over at Matt's place, Matt was cooking while his dad sat at the table waiting. "Matt, you're really late today. If I'd known, I would've just bought something outside."
"I'm already cooking," Matt said helplessly.
"What happened?" His dad sensed something off in his tone.
Matt was silently grinding his teeth, remembering what Davis's sister had said earlier: "A date?" Davis, you owe me for this. Just you wait. Then a puff of black smoke rose from the pot.
"Matt… why does it smell burnt?" his dad asked.
Matt snapped back to reality and realized he'd scorched the food without noticing.
Elsewhere, a woman pushed a dinner tray to a bedroom door. She didn't knock—she just spoke through it. "Ken, I put your dinner outside." She turned away, but her face was still full of worry.
Inside the room, the Digimon Emperor—now back to being Ken Ichijouji—glared at the Digital World map on his monitor. The city he had sacrificed so much to seize had turned white again, meaning the Control Spire there had been destroyed. All his work had been wiped out.
"Damn it… It looks like Champion-level power still isn't enough to conquer the Digital World. But the Dark Rings are hard to use to control Ultimate-level Digimon… I need to solve that problem as soon as possible," Ken muttered in the dark, sinking into thought.
The next morning, a heated soccer match was underway on Odaiba Elementary School's field. On the sidelines, Tai stood with Kari and T.K., cheering Davis on. With their encouragement, Davis played like he'd been injected with adrenaline—stealing balls, intercepting passes—making even the spectators pump with excitement.
After the warm-up match, the coach announced that on Sunday they would have a friendly match against a team led by a "genius boy." In that match, Ken Ichijouji completely stole the spotlight. Davis's team couldn't compare at all. In the end, Davis slid in with a desperate tackle—becoming the only person in the whole city who managed to steal the ball from Ken.
They lost, but it was a match against the famous genius boy—and Davis had successfully taken a ball from him. Davis felt absurdly proud as everyone left in high spirits. None of them noticed that behind them, Ken—still smiling warmly and kindly on the field—was now staring at Davis's back with a vicious glare, teeth clenched.
The next day, the kids gathered in the computer lab on time. Even though they could go to the Digital World from home, they were afraid their parents might suddenly walk in, discover they'd vanished, and panic. So unless it was an emergency, they still chose the school computer lab.
When they opened the gate to the Digital World, they stared in shock: in the middle of a huge white area, a black region had appeared—one that hadn't existed yesterday. Which meant the Digimon Emperor had built a Control Spire there overnight.
"This place wasn't like this yesterday…" Kari thought for a moment.
"It was probably built last night," Cody guessed.
"Is that somewhere special?" T.K. asked.
"DEATH VALLEY," Izzy said. "A place called Death Valley."
While everyone discussed it intensely, Yolei was still wrestling with whether she should shake Davis's hand—so she could indirectly shake Ken Ichijouji's hand. But when she admitted Davis didn't fit her aesthetic, it felt like she'd stabbed Davis straight through the heart.
"Doesn't that place seem ordinary?" Kari asked, confused.
"Then why would the Digimon Emperor choose to build a Control Spire there?" T.K. asked.
"…." Everyone fell silent.
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