Preparing for the Digital World

Jayr POV - Real World, Earth, Japan, Tokyo - 2001

Hearing Patamon singing that song in a mocking tone, I flick his forehead and say, "Don't do that. In this particular universe, Leomon's death is the start of a series of events that can very likely bring this universe on the path of total destruction. It isn't something funny."

Patamon looks back at me and says, "Come on, Jayr. It isn't like he is going to die now, we have already prevented that by helping Impmon make up with his Tamers..."

In response, I sigh and explain, "If only it was that simple... while it is true that it is very likely that now Impmon won't kill Leomon, that doesn't mean that Leomon won't still be killed by another Digimon or in some other way..." 

While I'm saying that, we all focus back on the water and watch as Juri is charmed by Leomon's heroic appearance and wonders if he is her destined partner. 

Meanwhile, Leomon, declaring himself to be a fighter against injustice, takes on Kumbhiramon and sends him flying. 

Juri immediately latches onto Leomon, who's rather put off by her rather abrupt assertion that she's his Tamer, and he isn't the only one as my Digimon Partners also comment while watching this scene.

"Is that a healthy behavior...?"

"Run! Leomon! Run! Don't let her catch you!"

"Maybe Leomon will actually off himself to escape that creepy girl..."

As Juri gets progressively more and more clingy, Leomon runs off to prevent the situation from getting any more awkward, while Juri chases him.

The chase gets to Guilmon's hideout, and when Culumon's about to point out to Juri where he is, Leomon pulls him in to keep him quiet. 

Soon after, Takato and Guilmon find him and assume that Leomon's attacking Culumon and an exasperated Leomon decides he'll fight if he has to. 

Juri, however, quickly appears and tells Takato that Leomon is her partner. 

Leomon is completely confused by this entire situation, not really understanding what a Tamer is and why Juri is latching onto him, and when Juri continues to be unsettlingly clingy he runs off again.

At this point, Takato calls Jianliang for advice, and Jianliang suggests that it might be something different like love at first sight, but after an amusing discussion between Takato and Juri who is still chasing after the poor Leomon, Jianliang tells Takato he's coming over to check it out, and Takato calls Ruki to get her opinion on things. 

Ruki says that Juri can't be a Tamer if she doesn't have a Digivice, and also decides to come over to talk to Juri about it. 

In the middle of the chase, Kumbhiramon appears and begins a fight with Leomon, and Jianliang, arriving, identifies Kumbhiramon as a Deva. 

As the kids watch Leomon fight, Juri takes Takato's Digivice and tries to perform a Card Slash, but nothing happens. 

At this point, Juri is distraught at the realization that she's not Leomon's Tamer after all.

Jianliang sends Terriermon in, evolving him to Galgomon via Option Card while the disguised Makurumon, watches the battle, sees Culumon's forehead glowing, and laughs while running off, while Renamon and Ruki arrive and Renamon chases after the boy. 

Galgomon and Leomon continue to fight Kumbhiramon, and Leomon, seeing Juri miserable, decides to fight for her sake as well.

Leomon and Galgomon defeat Kumbhiramon, and Leomon takes his leave while Juri asks to be left alone and continues crying, while all of the others awkwardly leave.

Suddenly, the scene in the water changes showing us the Hypnos Headquarters, where Dolphin alerts Jiang-yu and shows him a picture he'd found, a picture of children playing with a D-Ark, which Jiang-yu identifies as simply Arks, implying that they also were the ones behind the basic concepts of the D-Arks. 

But, while the Wild Bunch nostalgically checks out the picture, the ground begins to shake which isn't that strange considering just how prone to earthquakes Japan actually is, as it sits on top of four converging tectonic plates that constantly grind together, but since Crateris' Retrocognition is showing us this, it can only mean that it is some kind of sign that something bad is about to happen.

The scene in the water changes yet again, and this time it shows Takato as he returns home and fetches some bread, and despite his mom reminding him that he needs to study, he goes off to meet Guilmon knowing that it's more important. 

While he's on his way, however, a large earthquake occurs, and as the news reports that the earthquake only hit Shinjuku, Jianliang decides to take Terriermon and go out, having to take him from Shaochung in the process and causing her to cry.

Terriermon berates Jian for being so harsh on Shaochung, and Jianliang suddenly catches sight of a store with a poster of the Chinese zodiac animals. 

There, they run into Ruki and her grandmother and Jianliang tells Ruki that he's going to meet Takato, and Ruki decides to tag along after getting permission from her grandmother. 

Just then, Ruki's mother calls and invites her to hang out with her, but Ruki turns it down and runs off with Jian.

The scene then changes showing Impmon, who is recovering from the injuries, he received in his battle with Indaramon, under the clumsy but heartwarming care of Makoto and Ai which makes a small content smile appear on his face.

Meanwhile, Takato and Guilmon hang out with Culumon, Hirokazu, and Kenta, and Hirokazu expresses his wish to become a Tamer. 

Takato brings up Leomon, saying that more Digimon like him could appear to be partnered too, but Kenta reminds him that Leomon went off without doing much else.

Juri appears and shows the group her deck of Digimon cards, asking them to teach her how to play the card game. 

Seeing cards in there that they've always wanted, Hirokazu and Kenta start badgering her to trade with them at the same time, Ruki and Jianliang arrive, and Ruki decides to take Juri aside to teach her how to play. 

Juri wonders if Leomon will return, and Ruki tells her it's good to think that he might.

After some time, Jianliang presents the others with the poster of the Chinese zodiac animals he got from the store and points out that the Devas they've seen so far resemble animals from the zodiac, meaning that the remaining ones are the rabbit, dragon, monkey, dog, and boar, leaving Kenta distressed as he learns that there's still five more Devas. 

As the day ends, the group finds the disguised Makuramon staring at them as it taunts them before running off, and Juri, wanting to see if they can talk to it, chases after the Digimon.

The scene in the water then moves to the Hypnos Headquarters where Reika detects another Wild One in west Shinjuku. 

Hearing that, Yamaki wonders if it's related to the earthquakes, and Reika and Megumi find the Wild One to be the biggest one they've ever seen, soon Yamaki gets a notice from his superior, telling him to hurry up and investigate it.

Then the water once again shows Juri who has no luck in stopping Makuramon while the others follow her, meanwhile, Takato seems to realize that the "strange kid" has always been focusing on Culumon. 

Soon, Guilmon and Terriermon notice a presence, and another earthquake starts. 

Makuramon takes advantage of the chaos to get away, while Impmon shelters his Tamers, Makoto and Ai, from a falling vase.

At the same time, Yamaki finds Jiang-yu and demands analysis data from him. 

Jiang-yu tells Yamaki that it's not easy to find the base program data when the Digimon have evolved on their own, and Yamaki tells him to give whatever he has so far.

After that, the images in the water change back to Guilmon and Terriermon, who go off to find the Digimon, with Terriermon and Renamon informing Jianliang, Takato, and Ruki of its presence. 

The kids pick up the chase, eventually finding the Digimon materializing at a park. 

But before its figure could be revealed, the scene moves back to the Hypnos Headquarters where Yamaki orders his girlfriend, one of the operators to execute Shaggai which makes V-mon groan as he complains, "Oh come on! I understand that Patamon said that it would be like watching an anime, but this is too much! The scene keeps changing back and forth!"

Hearing that, Wormmon looks at his brother and says, "Come on, V-mon, it isn't that bad... at least we have a somewhat clear vision of the overall chain of events that happened in our absence."

After saying that, we all focus back on the water inside the Crateris Cloth and see that the kids find the Digimon to be a large boar, Vikaralamon.

Vikaralamon is a giant, round boar Digimon with thick fur, three-toed feet, and large tusks with gold tips. It has three red horns on its forehead, bonji on its brow ridge, and silver markings on its brow and behind its eyes. 

(Image Here . Vikaralamon) 

Takato's Digivice identifies the Digimon as Vikaralamon, and Vikaralamon begins to rampage around, causing destruction everywhere. 

Takato, Jianliang, and Ruki send their Digimon in and evolve them via Card Slash, with Takato having Hirokazu and Kenta take care of Juri and Culumon. 

The self-defense forces and Growmon, Galgomon, and Kyuubimon attack Vikaralamon, but nothing they do has any effect.

Meanwhile, we see Impmon watching the news of Vikaralamon's rampage on the TV with a scared Makoto and Ai telling them that his friends are going to defeat the big evil boar, but at the same time, he wonders if there is something he could do to help them, then he looks at his Tamers and says that he also has to go, but Makoto and Ai hugs Impmon stopping him while crying out that they don't want to see him hurt again.

After showing that, the scene changes showing the two operators at Hypnos as they start up Shaggai, and Jiangy-u asks what it's doing. 

Yamaki explains that it's going to destroy all of the digital life forms in the real world making Jiang-yu distressed as that could also mean the destruction of the kids' Digimon as well, but Yamaki reminds him that Jianliang has gotten involved in this whole mess and says that this is the only way to stop the destruction.

Back to the battle, Growmon, Galgomon, and Kyuubimon's only option left is to evolve to Perfect, and Takato, Jianliang, and Ruki remember their families are in danger as the town is being destroyed. 

They hold up Option Cards, which transform into blue cards when the three of them express their wishes to protect their families and town, and use them to matrix evolve Growmon, Galgomon, and Kyuubimon into Megalo Growmon, Rapidmon, and Taomon converge on Vikaralamon.

At the same time, however, Yamaki orders Shaggai to be executed despite Jiang-yu's protests.

Meanwhile, the local government calls for an evacuation of the Shinjuku ward, and Takato's parents decide to go out to look for their son.

MegaloGrowmon, Rapidmon, and Taomon's attacks do little, and MegaloGrowmon is pinned down under an attack as Vikaralamon begins to distort the sky, causing creatures to appear in a void above them.

As this happens, the scene moves back to Hypnos as they continue the execution of Shaggai, while Yamaki presses on, saying that humans shouldn't be creating life and that this destruction is the result of Jiang-yu's work.

Jianliang and Ruki, reasoning that their cards work mainly on belief and willpower, use power-up cards in order to give Rapidmon and Taomon boosts to cut through Vikaralamon's dark attacks and land hits on him. 

As they begin to gather confidence, however, Rapidmon begins to lose power as Shaggai materializes, and Taomon pulls him to a safe haven made with her power.

Watching the situation, Jiang-yu leaves in disgust and deftly pushes aside the guards blocking his way with some skilled Tai Chi move, and runs towards the scene to find Jianliang. 

Takato meanwhile expresses his dismay over the fact their Digimon have gone from close friends to relentless fighting machines, but Jianliang and Ruki tell him that even if they evolve, their Digimon are still their friends.

Shaggai begins to delete Vikaralamon, Rapidmon, and Taomon, and Culumon begins to say something that he "doesn't remember" and "doesn't know" as Jiang-yu appears, and the only thing he can say is "I'm sorry".

At Hypnos, Shaggai is suddenly stopped when something from the network's deepest layer begins to interfere, they receive a message in binary code, which Yamaki orders to be decoded.

While this is happening, the disguised Makuramon approaches Juri and Culumon, saying that now that the Digimon have evolved, they will no longer obey humans as their god, claiming that humans are threatening their world, he declares that they have the right to destroy whatever gets in the way of their evolution, and as it says this Yamaki finds the message to say exactly what the Digimon is saying.

After saying that, Makuramon changes into his true form, a monkey Digimon with a large head that wears a purple hat that has a gold plate with bonji on the front and red cloth on the back, a silver cuirass with spaulders, tassets, and gold trim, silver vambraces with gold trim and black gloves, a purple scarf, a purple belt with three gold buckles, tan baggy pants, and black shoes. 

(Image Here - Makuramon)

After revealing its true form, Makuramon jumps up and throws a crystal ball into the Shaggai hole, causing Shaggai to go berserk and the Hypnos facilities to collapse. 

Inside the building, a scientist urges Yamaki to evacuate, telling him to consider if it really is an artificial intelligence they're dealing with before he escapes, Yamaki sees his girlfriend, Reika waiting and tells her to go as he remains deep in thought.

Back to Impmon's situation, we see him hugging Makoto and Ai while telling them that he has to go not only to help his friends but also to keep them safe and ask them to believe in him and give him the strength needed, Makoto and Ai hold Impmon tighter before telling him that they will.

Right at that moment, another Blue Card appears out of nowhere between Impmon, Makoto, and Ai, and seeing that, Makoto and Ai look at each other and nod before Makoto takes the card and starts to swipe it in the slot on its right-hand side of their D-Ark held in Ai's hands causing Impmon to Matrix Evolve into his Perfect Level form, Baalmon

Baalmon is a tall humanoid Digimon, he wears black boots and a matching black leather jacket, a white full-body suit with "mouths" that can be opened and closed with zippers just like his previous form, Wizarmon, a white mantle that is covered in amulets, a dark blue turban with a small opening in his forehead are for his third eye, and a long white sleeve that covers his whole right arm held together by dozen of belts and amulets. 

His face is obscured by his long dirty blonde hair and a black face mask, only his three red eyes and blonde hair can be seen, and he carries a red sword-whip in his left hand and a big red book tied with chains on his back.

(Image Here - Baalmon)

After his evolution, Baalmon looks at his Tamers and promises them that he will surely return to them before he jumps out of the house and starts to run toward the location where the battle between Vikaralamon and Megalo Growmon, Taomon, and Rapidmon is taking place. 

Meanwhile, with Shaggai no longer active, Taomon and Rapidmon regain their fighting abilities, but Vikaralamon is also able to continue his destruction. 

The kids run into Juri, Culumon, Hirokazu, and Kenta, who tell them what has just happened with Makuramon. 

Jiang-yu urges them to run, but Takato, resolute that he has to help their Digimon friends, begins to scream at the mass of red energy restraining Megalo Growmon. 

Hearing Takato, Megalo Growmon breaks out of the restraint and begins to attack Vikaralamon together with Taomon and Rapidmon, but still, it isn't enough to defeat the gigantic boar Digimon who starts to spew countless wheels of light from its mouth all with different colors and effects to restrain the trio. 

But just as it seemed that the situation would continue like this, suddenly Baalmon arrives and attacks Vikaralamon by releasing a mighty, lightning-fast smite from the sword-whip he holds in its hand which inflicts especially large damage on Vikaralamon as it is a Holy-species Digimon. 

As Vikaralamon roars in anguish, Takato, Jianliang, and Ruki take advantage of this opening and begin to yell, manifesting their energy and feelings through their Digimon, and Megalo Growmon, Rapidmon, and Taomon join forces in one mighty attack and successfully defeat Vikaralamon, causing the observing Jiang-yu to describes them as "the real Digital Monsters".

The rejoicing Hirokazu, Kenta, Juri, and Culumon run towards their friends, but Makuramon suddenly captures Culumon, declaring that the Digimon need him in order to evolve, and flies into the sky. 

Leomon suddenly appears and tries to get Culumon back, but Makuramon escapes by slapping away Leomon, at the same time, an immense island-sized bird-like shadow appears within the hole in the sky which fires countless glowing needles from its body who Leomon making the doomed Digimon grunt out in pain as he falls on the ground.

Seeing this scene, Patamon can't help but comment, "Oh my! Is he already going to die? That's way too soon!" 

But while he is saying that, the water shows the scene of Juri showing genuine concern over him which causes a D-Ark to appear in front of her, which Jiang-yu recognizes as an "Ark". 

Then Juri uses the D-Ark to heal Leomon's injuries, while Makuramon retreats into the sky making Wormmon comment, "No, it looks like he is safe... for now at least, but this is the proof that the Leomon species is truly very prone to dying... I mean, the shadow that attacked him is clearly an Ultimate Level Digimon, isn't it? It is just plain good luck that he survived that..." 

Meanwhile, with the city destroyed and Culumon, the "key to evolution", gone, Takato decides that the only thing left to do is for them to go to the Digital World and get him back, and then as the self-defense forces fly over the city, Megalo Growmon, Rapidmon, and Taomon retreat to hide away while Baalmon returns back to his Tamers and Yamaki looks up at the sky.

After that, the water shows us a few scenes of the last few days, how Shinjuku attempts to recover from the destruction caused by Vikaralamon, and how Takato, Ruki, and Jianliang decide to tell their families about the Digimon and their plans to travel to another world, while in the meantime, Guilmon senses the presence of a portal to the Digital World and starts to search for it.

How Jiang-yu asks to see Jianliang's Ark and says that he's become able to see his dream of seeing children use it to interact with real Digimon on the network, how he tells Jianliang that he's working with his friends all over the world to prevent more dangerous battles from taking place. 

At that point, Jianliang is about to tell his father what he plans to do, but they're interrupted by Shaochung and Jiang-yu, sensing that Jian wants to tell him something, and says to tell him once he's made up his mind.

How Juri goes down to her parents' restaurant and fetches some juice and on the way, she passes by her father and mother, the latter of whom doesn't seem to be the same mother in her baby picture. 

She sees her sleeping younger brother with her hand puppet and takes it, greeting Leomon outside with it and giving him the juice then she asks Leomon what the Digital World is like, excited at the prospect of going somewhere that nobody has gone before while Leomon is still trying to wrap his mind around the idea that Juri is his Tamer, and Juri decides to ask Leomon a favor.

How Ruki called Takato, with both of them looked for the portal to the Digital World, after that, Renamon appeared to Ruki and told her that since Vikaralamon's influence was vanishing, they needed to find the portal quickly. 

Renamon then tells Ruki that she doesn't have to go and that the Digimon can go by themselves but they're found by Ruki's grandmother, revealing that she'd known about Renamon for a while and had thought she was a Kitsune who was protecting Ruki. 

Ruki then reveals that she is unsure that she'll be able to convince her mother about what's going on, but her grandmother is sure that Renamon can protect Ruki.

How Takato goes to Guilmon's home the next morning and finds that he's been digging a deep tunnel, and Guilmon reveals that he's found a portal under the area. 

While they take a look at it, Impmon is now spending his time with his Tamers and their parents as Makoto and Ai reveal his existence to them, and the parents, once they learn that he was one of the Digimon who stopped the boar that caused so much destruction and that protected them during Indramon's incident, decided to welcome him in the family.

After that last scene, the water within the Crateris Cloth returns to normal as it stops showing images of past events, which means that we have caught up with everything that happened during our absence.

After watching all that, I realize that the time has come for me to quit my job as a Teacher as I have to follow the kids to the Digital World to ensure their safety, and it is very likely that I won't return as the date for the next Random Battle is drawing closer.

Coming to that conclusion, I quickly start to write a formal resignation letter to submit to Principal Kurosawa.

I keep the letter brief, clear, and professional, including my intended last working day, offer to assist with the transition process, and express my appreciation for the opportunity to work at the school.

I also include a list of readily available and competent substitutes and after writing, the letter, I don't waste any time and use a little bit of Restoration Magic to send it back in time to give Principal Kurosawa more time to fully prepare, after all, the school will reopen in a couple of days.

Done with that, I spend these few days relaxing with my Digimon Partners waiting for my last day as a school teacher to arrive and when it is time, I head to the Yodobashi Elementary School to go through the usual procedures, saying goodbyes to my colleagues and students, thanking them, informing my substitute of what the various class did until now and so on.

At the same time, during one of my last classes where I introduced my substitute to the students, I sensed that Takato was unable to focus in class, and Nami told him to stay after class and write an essay. 

Suddenly, Juri, Hirokazu, and Kenta stand up, claiming that they weren't paying attention either and that they'll also stay after class and write essays with him forcing Nami who has them all stand out in the hallway, where they reflect that this could potentially be their last class.

Later the day, after my last class, I head back home and make sure to clean up the house and everything while transfering the personal items of my Digimon Partners in their rooms in the mansion in my Soulbound Territory, and after that, I directily teleport to Guilmon's home and watch from the distance as the kids meet up.

Jianliang advises Guilmon to stay away from the area for the night, while Hirokazu and Kenta wonder what they're going to tell their parents, and when Ruki tells them that they should just stay home when they don't even have partners, they insist that they're going to find them in the Digital World. 

After that, they agree to meet up in the morning the next day, and Takato takes Guilmon home to meet his parents while the others also return back to their home and prepare for their journey.

Through my Cosmic Awareness, I percieve that Takato's method of introducing Guilmon to his parents is casually leading him into the bakery, which incites fear from Takato's mother. 

After that, Takato explains the situation about Guilmon, the other Digimon, and Culumon's kidnapping, and tells his parents that he's planning to leave the next morning. 

As result, Takato's mother is distressed, but Takato's father recognizes that Takato is serious about this and decides to help him. 

Meanwhile, Jianliang tells Shaochung that he's leaving on a trip with Terriermon, and Terriermon reveals himself to Shaochung. 

Jianliang, sure that his father would refuse if he told him face-to-face, tells Terriermon that he's informed his parents of this via e-mail, while Shaochung still seems to treat Terriermon with her usual fervor.

Ruki, as awkard as she can be, wanting to approach her mother about what they're doing, decides to put on the dress they'd put on her in the modeling studio, but when Ruki's mother tells her that it suits her, and Ruki apologizes before running off.

After sensing all that, I let out sigh and continue to calmly wait for the night to pass and morning to arrive while thinking, 'With this the peaceful days are truly over, I have to make sure that all the kids will be able to return back home safe and sound...'