The shopping center had already been completely evacuated. The emergency services were already searching every single department. However, without much success. Had the sighting turned out to be just a joke in the end? But if one considered the events in the subway, which were now on everyone's lips, one could not take any risks here.
A firefighter was just walking through the warehouse, shining his flashlight around. He directed it at a flickering light. Somehow it reminded him of a gate that seemed to lead somewhere. It became smaller and smaller, but then something unexpectedly jumped through.
The man fell backwards and his flashlight shattered. The gate had disappeared in the meantime, but something had come through. Even though the light had gone out, the creature glowed by itself. It was oval and seemed to be enveloped in yellow flames.
"Hey... do you like fire?" it asked the man, and he called for help.
Shun was clear that there would be proper trouble if his parents found out about Koemon. How was he supposed to explain that he now owned a Digimon? They wouldn't even allow him to have a dog. Admittedly, nothing had been said about a monkey, but he still expected little support. Koemon himself seemed to have already made himself comfortable with him. He had taken possession of the lower end of his bed and was resting first.
Shun looked at the device on his arm. Why had he received it of all people? And what exactly was a DigiKnight anyway? Takeshi had told him how he had fought against a hostile Digimon with Prismamon. Would he also be expected to do that? He held his head and felt his headache coming on again. He cursed inwardly. Actually, he wanted to focus entirely on studying this school year. And instead, a creature from another world now lived with him. Well, it was as it was. He turned off the light and went to bed a little later.
"Hey, Koemon... you didn't have it easy either, did you?" he whispered, but the Digimon was already asleep. The next morning, Koemon insisted on coming with him. Shun had to explain to him that it would be too problematic. It would be too obvious if it was seen at school. It would be safer if Koemon waited for him here. The Digimon could see that it was not a fan of this idea. However, it finally accepted it.
Shun packed his things and then had his breakfast in the basement. His parents had already started. "Morning. Is Kazuki already gone?" he asked. His mother confirmed it to him. His brother had already left early for university. Shun could understand it, he surely had a lot to learn. His father now turned away from his newspaper. "You should take an example from your brother. Take the school year seriously and try to learn a lot. Especially with your... weakness, you shouldn't allow yourself any absences." Shun nodded and broke off breakfast prematurely. He smuggled two more rolls onto his room and fed them to Koemon. Then he had to leave.
At school, he was glad to see Takeshi. He really had to talk to someone who understood him. The boy had known him since childhood, after all. And he was going through the same thing as he was at the moment. He had suddenly become a DigiKnight as well. He probably understood as little as Shun himself what that meant exactly.
He wished him a good morning, and Takeshi returned the greeting. "How did your Digi... uh, Prismamon, right? How did it do?" he wanted to know. Takeshi leaned back in his chair. "It wanted to go right away and look for its friend. I explained to him that it wouldn't help, as long as we lack clues. The city is big, it would only have gotten lost," he reported. That was only logical. They needed a plan to find the owner of the book. "I assume you haven't told your parents anything?" Shun felt he had to say. Takeshi immediately objected. "No, let's not. That would have only complicated everything. You didn't tell yours either, did you?" Shun immediately shook his head. "Of course not. I cause them enough problems as it is," he replied. Takeshi looked at him briefly and wondered if he should say something. But then the lesson already began. The teacher announced that another student had made it into the class. Takeshi immediately stood up when a blonde girl entered the class who was not unknown to him. Tsubasa introduced herself to the class. She seemed quite nervous, but in the end everything went well. The teacher assigned her a place, which fortunately was near Takeshi's. During the break, she then cautiously opened her backpack.
"Hey, what are we supposed to do with them now?" she asked. Takeshi looked at her doubtfully. Also Shun, who was now coming. Hebimon stared at them happily and hissed with its tongue. "Hey! You didn't seriously bring your Digimon, did you?" he asked skeptically. Tsubasa seemed overwhelmed. "Uh... haven't you? Hebimon said it absolutely wanted to come," she explained. Shun rolled his eyes.
"You shouldn't do everything it asks of you. Digimon are basically nothing more than pets. You have to train them," he said sternly. For this he earned a fierce hiss from Hebimon. But Takeshi was of a different opinion. "No, I think we should treat them like partners. They have just as many wishes and expectations as we do. We should respect that," he was certain. Shun just shrugged his shoulders. He instructed Tsubasa to take good care of the little snake. Only after school did they get to talk again. They had made themselves comfortable in front of the building and were discussing what to do. "I would say we should split up. It's important to find Prismamon's friend before the hostile Digimon do. That metal crocodile fired without regard for loss," Takeshi felt. His friends agreed with him, but did they really have any idea where to look? "Someone must have seen this Ruri, right? Why don't we just ask people? Prismamon did make a sketch, didn't he?" Tsubasa suggested. Takeshi nodded half-heartedly. They did indeed have that, but Prismamon's drawing skills were not exactly developed. "Well, I'll talk to him again. Maybe he can think of places his friend likes to go," Takeshi suggested. Tsubasa agreed with him. "Good, then I'll search the internet. Maybe there were sightings there. We're looking for a small, blue dragon, right?" Shun leaned back. "Good, then I'll visit the places from yesterday again. Where the gates opened. Maybe this Digimon did get through after all," he had the idea. His friends were in favor of it, but Shun should definitely take Koemon with him to protect himself in case of emergency. They promised to keep each other informed and finally parted.
At home, Shun first strengthened himself and brought something up to his room. His parents or his brother would never simply enter his room, and he hoped that Koemon had not gone on a walkabout. His fear did not come true, but something else did: chaos. Shun's room looked as messy as it had in a long time.
"Koemon! What's going on here? I'd appreciate it if you didn't turn my room into a battlefield," he asked. The green monkey threw itself on the bed. "I was just training my attacks. After all, I have to be prepared when the enemy strikes next," he justified himself. His partner sighed. Then he informed him of his plan. Koemon was immediately on fire, after all, it was the main part of his mission to secure Rurimon and the book. He was already performing his exercises when Shun sat down at his desk and opened a book.
"Don't you want to go? I'm ready to strike!" Shun sighed and shook his head. "I'm not. I still have homework to do and something to study," he explained. Koemon looked disappointed. "Hey, you can do that later! The mission is always...," he began, but was rudely interrupted. "I don't know anything about your mission! I was drawn into the matter, do you understand?" Koemon now looked much more subdued.
"I'm... sorry. I didn't consider that there are things that are important to you too," he said. Shun sighed and apologized in turn.
"Actually... it's more important to my parents than it is to me. But well... I see my father every morning when I go there." Koemon couldn't quite follow him. "Is... that something bad?" Shun leaned back. "Unfortunately, something has been diagnosed in me that is called a learning disability. This will probably not mean anything to you, but it causes real problems. Especially because I will probably not attend a university like my brother," he confessed. Koemon actually did not understand the whole matter very well. But he could feel that Shun was very upset by the situation. So he remained completely still while the boy devoted himself to his homework. Again and again he ran his hand over his head and looked quite frustrated. Finally he was relieved when he was done and got up.
"Let's fortify ourselves a little more and then set off," he suggested. Koemon was always ready, and after they had something to drink, he packed Koemon in a backpack and left the house.
"It's probably just a kind of joke, but... we were told about sightings after a Digimon appeared in the building. However, this information is unconfirmed. Just in case, if you notice anything suspicious, please report it."
Shun promised and took distance again.
"Hey, Koemon," he whispered to his Digimon partner.
"Could it be that another Digimon came through the gate besides you?"
The little monkey thought for a while.
"If so, it must have happened after us. Otherwise we would have noticed. But it's possible that the Digimon King got wind of our actions and sent someone," Koemon thought out loud.
Shun grumbled unhappily.
"That's not good. First this Rurimon, which is said to be wandering around the area, and now maybe another malicious Digimon."
But Koemon didn't seem to see it that narrowly.
"No problem! I am strong, you know?"
Shun would have liked to confirm his statement, but he remembered the large Digimon that Takeshi and Prismamon had fought against yesterday. These enemies were definitely not to be underestimated.
Then Koemon seemed to remember something.
"Hey, just use your DigiVice. Master Gennai said that we could use it to track down the enemy in an emergency."
Shun reached for his wrist. The device was still there. As soon as he touched it, a part seemed to fold forward and revealed a display. Strange characters were visible on it. Could this be the language of the Digimon?
"Let's see...," he muttered and tapped around. When he couldn't get any further, Koemon tried his luck. This one took a little longer, but came to a result.
"Here it says that a Digimon is located north of here," he reported.
Shun thought hard. What should they do now? It could well be the hostile Digimon. In this case, it would be clever to inform Takeshi and Tsubasa. No, even better the experienced DigiKnights, there was no reason to put himself or his friends in danger. But this Gennai had made it clear yesterday how important it was to find Rurimon before the enemy. Finally, he decided to at least sound out the situation first.
"Koemon, let's go!" he had decided and sprinted off towards the north.
He turned into a side street where several residential buildings were located. A group of people had gathered.
"How strange. What could it have been?" asked an older woman.
"The lightning must have struck there," said a man and pointed to a charred shed.
The woman made fun of him.
"Without a thunderstorm? You must be joking!"
Shun had a certain idea of what kind of destruction could have been caused. He pushed his way past the group, which seemed to be busy anyway.
He followed the trail of devastation and came to a dead end. But no, to the left a path led him that seemed to end at an industrial site. If Shun remembered correctly, the old power plant was located there. He increased his pace and came to a stop in front of the plant. Now it was time to call for reinforcements. He rummaged for his cell phone, but was still wondering who to call. It would have been more reasonable to set up a chat group. He decided to propose this at their next meeting. He was just about to dial Takeshi's number when a kind of lightning came down from above.
Startled, he dropped his cell phone and held his right hand.
"Shun, watch out!" Koemon called out from the backpack.
He stared up and recognized the danger. Shun followed his gaze and was able to confirm it. Above their heads, on top of a power pole, something seemed to be sitting.
It was an orange, oval shape that seemed to consist only of a face.
"You are... the one I'm supposed to take out? Aren't you?", it now called down to the two newcomers.
Koemon positioned himself protectively in front of his partner.
"Shun, that's Kaminarimon. It attacks with lightning and fire. Please leave it to me, I've trained for this moment!" he assured him.
Still hesitant, Shun took a few steps back. Koemon grabbed his slingshot and fired the first projectile. It went wide, Kaminarimon was simply too high. But it gave up this advantage by now descending.
"Kaminari-okoshi!", it called now, and a reddish lightning appeared, which hit Koemon unprepared.
He fell to the ground, and Shun was feverishly considering what to do. Should he help his partner? But what could he do? Koemon said himself that he had prepared, even if it didn't look like it at the moment. He fired another projectile, but Kaminarimon was simply too fast for it. Now it even fired several red lightning bolts, which split up. Incredulously, Shun had to watch as they formed a circle of fire around Koemon.
"Damn! We have to get out of here, Koemon!", he called to him, but he didn't seem to be thinking about it at all.
"No! I came into this world to fight! To defend the weak! Shun, you have to give me more power! Together we can do it, I know it!"
The boy couldn't answer at first. How the hell was he supposed to do that? Koemon seemed to think he was some kind of expert or jack-of-all-trades. But he was merely a middle school student who wasn't particularly gifted. On the contrary.
"Shun! You can exceed yourself! We both can!", Koemon made another attempt.
And he was right. Shun knew that they had started this thing together. But all he could do was cheer on his new friend.
"Koemon, give it your all! You're stronger, I know it!"
But not only his partner seemed to react to this newly found strength, Shun felt a warm feeling on his wrist.
He could see the result a little later with his own eyes. Koemon began to glow and change his form.
"Koemon digivolves to... Lianpumon!" Takeshi had already reported about this phenomenon, but Shun succumbed to his amazement when he himself became a witness of it. Koemon had transformed. He was now much larger, his fur no longer green, but white. Besides, he seemed to wear a cape like a superhero. Shun couldn't see his face because he was also wearing a mask. And... he could now fly. Lianpumon floated into the air and had escaped the circle of fire in no time. Kaminarimon was agile, but it couldn't hover. Now Shun's partner was the one with the advantage.
The enemy fired red lightning bolts again. Shun already feared that they would hit Lianpumon, but he took another mask out of his coat and held it against the attack. This was immediately absorbed. Now he changed the mask and launched an attack of his own. An energy wave flowed in Kaminarimon's direction, hitting the Digimon directly. Now it was being roasted and dissolved into data a short time later.
When Shun had made sure that it was gone, he hurried to Lianpumon, which had just landed. He hugged it immediately and praised it. It felt fluffy in this form, but this didn't last long. It digitized back, and soon Koemon was standing in front of him again.
"You were right! You're really strong!", Shun told his partner, praising him.
Koemon looked a little embarrassed, but assured once again that he wouldn't have made it without his partner. Then he turned around and pointed behind Shun.
"Hey... isn't that..."
Shun followed his gaze and recognized a young man running towards them. But he was not alone. Above him floated an orange Digimon. Patamon, if he remembered the name correctly.
A little out of breath, T.K. came to a stop in front of them.
"Damn. I guess I'm not in time after all," he sounded apologetic.
Shun shook his head.
"It's okay, we managed on our own. Koemon transformed, and we defeated the hostile Digimon," he reported.
Surprised, T.K. looked at his partner.
"Well, that's called a Digivolution. It means that you have become stronger together," he explained.
Shun eyed Koemon closely. Yesterday it had been a creature from another world that he had first feared. And today?
T.K. now seemed to come up with an idea.
"Come on, I'll treat you to a delicious cake. Both of you, of course," he suggested.
Koemon was immediately in favor of it, but Shun pointed out whether they really had time for it. T.K. finally convinced him that one should sometimes treat oneself to something. So they left the area before they attracted unnecessary attention.
However, they did not notice that they had been watched the whole time. On the roof of the power plant stood the ninja-like Digimon and had analyzed the fight. He could now better assess the enemy, which would be important in the future. Next, he would report to his master.