In pursuit of the secret of evolution—and also to find himself a strong supporter—Zero had chosen Andromon, the guardian of File Island's Unmanned Mechanical Factory, as his target.
As an Ultimate-level Digimon, Andromon was immensely powerful and possessed a straightforward, lawful-good personality. He could certainly provide Zero with valuable information regarding evolution to the Ultimate level—or at the very least, some helpful clues.
More importantly, as a machine-type Digimon, Andromon was highly likely connected to an incredibly powerful faction within the Digital World. Exactly how formidable was this faction in the original Adventure?
…Half of the Dark Masters were products of that force. Even the protagonists' own Digimon had deep ties to it.
That faction was the stronghold of virtually all machine-type Digimon: the legendary Metal Empire!
Zero didn't have extensive information about the Metal Empire—after all, at this point in the series, it remained mostly a background element.
Yet MetalSeadramon, of the original Dark Masters, had been a sea-based weapon crafted by the Metal Empire. Even MetalGreymon, the iconic partner of the protagonist Taichi, was famously the Metal Empire's masterpiece created after studying dragon-type Digimon.
Moreover, as the so-called "ultimate doomsday weapon," the Metal Empire had produced a mechanical Digimon boasting supposedly "infinite" power—Machinedramon.
In a sense, Machinedramon was essentially the face of the original Dark Masters.
Compared to him, MetalSeadramon seemed almost disposable—barely managing to inflict damage throughout his appearances, ultimately becoming WarGreymon's first victim to demonstrate the absurdly OP "Dramon Killer" official cheat.
Then there was Puppetmon… If MetalSeadramon was simply weak, Puppetmon was straight-up team cancer—a toxic loner causing pointless chaos throughout his arc, until he literally died of his own reckless antics…
Fortunately, the two remaining Masters somewhat restored dignity to the group…
…Yet Piedmon, supposedly the strongest of the four, had nearly the same fatal flaw as Puppetmon: an obsession with fooling around. But because Piedmon was immensely stronger, his flaw initially didn't seem as catastrophic.
But in the end, his insistence on turning the Chosen Children into collectible dolls—rather than simply finishing them off outright—ensured his eventual, humiliating defeat.
Compared to them, Machinedramon could be called the shining star of the original Dark Masters: unmatched in strength, clever and ruthless, nearly destroying the protagonist group with a scorched-earth strategy and extermination tactics. His defeat came only through blatant official plot armor—a pure storyline kill.
If Zero had to rank the original Adventure bosses based purely on the sense of oppression, from greatest to least, it would probably be Myotismon, Devimon, the Dark Masters, and Etemon…
…As for Apocalymon, his strength was unquestionably immense, but after a lot of buildup, his brief appearance and quick defeat simply didn't leave enough impression—so Zero didn't include him.
In terms of pure threat, Myotismon had the advantage of top-tier screen time and resources: strength, track record, tactics, and even charisma (?). No wonder he returned as the final boss in Adventure 02…
…Even if getting talked to death at the end was a bit embarrassing, he at least earned sufficient screen time—not shameful at all~
As for Devimon, his problem was simply his role as the tutorial boss: due to positioning, he inevitably became constrained. After all, if Devimon had played his cards just slightly more carefully, the main cast would never even have escaped the rookie village.
But the Chosen Children could always survive desperate crises because, well, they were the protagonists. The will of the universe itself was on their side, ensuring they always narrowly escaped death.
Zero himself had no such innate plot armor. If he wanted to confront Devimon, he would absolutely need power at least equal to an Ultimate-level Digimon.
Within all of File Island, the only one who could reliably guide Zero to achieve that at this moment was probably Andromon.
Yet, after leaving the Digital Forest, Zero, Rina, and Hajime had circled File Island for half a month, still unable to locate even a clue about the Mechanical Factory.
Finally, this time they'd rescued a group of Baby-level Digimon from Flymon's attack—and from their mouths, Zero finally obtained valuable information about the Unmanned Mechanical Factory.
One of the babies was a Tsunomon—a species related to Hajime herself. Having narrowly escaped from Flymon's attack earlier, it still seemed somewhat shaken, though by now it had calmed down a little.
Seeing Hajime, a member of its own species, naturally lessened Tsunomon's caution. Moreover, Zero and Rina had just protected them from danger—so it freely answered every question.
"About three days ago, while I was out foraging nearby, I got attacked by an Ogremon. I could only run away…"
Hearing the name "Ogremon," Zero felt his heart jump slightly… That Ogremon on File Island…could it be the one with the complicated relationship with Leomon?
Sure enough, Tsunomon's next words confirmed his suspicions.
"But afterward, a Leomon saved me. After driving off Ogremon, he warned me that File Island had become very dangerous recently, and weak Digimon like me shouldn't wander around carelessly."
Here, Tsunomon paused slightly, reaching the crucial part:
"Then, Leomon said he planned to stop the crisis unfolding on File Island and decided to seek out strong allies…"
The ally Leomon intended to find was precisely Andromon at the Unmanned Mechanical Factory. While mentioning his plan, Leomon had casually given directions to the Factory, and Tsunomon had remembered them.
According to Leomon, if conditions on File Island continued deteriorating, weaker Digimon like Tsunomon could seek refuge and protection from the guardian at the Mechanical Factory.
"So that's how it is…"
Zero considered this carefully. Leomon was known for his strong sense of justice—a noble warrior who always defended the weak. Tsunomon's story matched his personality perfectly.
Currently, with Devimon's threat looming, there was absolutely no way Leomon would sit idly by. Naturally, he'd take action, and then…
…And then tragically get wrecked by Devimon, becoming brainwashed by a Black Gear and temporarily forced to serve as his subordinate.
One couldn't help but suspect that the writers of Digimon held some personal grudge against Leomon—otherwise, why would they constantly assign him such tragic roles, making him suffer endlessly across multiple storylines? Had they been bitten by lions as kids or something?
Having obtained the vital clue he needed, Zero immediately began discussing with Rina preparations to head toward the Unmanned Mechanical Factory—but then noticed Hajime standing hesitantly, staring at those Baby-level Digimon.
"What's wrong, Hajime-chan?"
Zero approached her, though he already had a pretty good idea of what she was thinking.
"Zero-kun, Rina-san… can we… take these children along and protect them on the way to the Mechanical Factory?"
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T/N: look u havbe to look up the images yourself :sobL: