Slowly and carefully, the creature made its way through the dark shaft. It was a stranger in this world, but in one respect it was certain. It would fulfill its mission. After all, the king himself had given him this task. So it would do anything but disappoint him. On the other hand, it had no idea how to approach the matter. This world seemed huge, simply finding the Digimon they were looking for here was definitely a challenge. But there was something here that existed in its world as well. Something that could be used very well for searching. Namely data. It slithered into the next room, which felt cool. It didn't like cold, but here it was just right. Humans seemed to call this place a 'server farm'. Strange, it bore the same name as the largest continent of the Digital World. In any case, there were data here with which it would be easy to fulfill this mission. It connected to the servers and set out.
Hebimon made a sullen impression. Tsubasa had just come back from school, while the Digimon had been quite bored. The first day at school had still been quite exciting, but now it seemed that her partner refused to take him with her. Supposedly Takeshi and Shun had advised her against it. As if Hebimon had done anything wrong. It had always been safe in her backpack and had not attracted attention. Hebimon was now aware that some humans had never seen a Digimon before and therefore reacted accordingly.
"Tsubasa! There's nothing to do here. Let me at least look for Rurimon while you're at school," it begged now.
Tsubasa immediately objected.
"No way! You don't know your way around here at all! Something else could happen if you go out alone," she pointed out to him.
Hebimon slithered up to her and settled on her shoulder.
"Then let's search together. We're making hardly any progress," it complained.
The girl nodded and devoted herself to her laptop.
"I've already done a search. About sightings of a blue, dragon-like creature. If we're lucky, it's shown itself to someone and they've posted it. Maybe even with a photo, if we're very lucky."
She checked the results of the search. At first it seemed to be unsuccessful, but then there were actually half a dozen entries about sightings in Shibuya.
"There! Several people report a dragon, others a dinosaur."
Hebimon got more excited.
"Great! So we've found him then!"
Tsubasa grumbled.
"Well, Shibuya is quite big. Even if we've narrowed down the location, it's still quite large. We'd need help searching, we can't do it alone."
Hebimon didn't seem to see a problem with it.
"Then call one of the others. You've exchanged numbers, haven't you?"
Tsubasa agreed with her partner. After all, they were all DigiKnights and thus a team. She took her smartphone in hand and clicked on one of the entries. The connection was established, and a female voice announced itself.
"Yagami here."
Tsubasa flinched. She had dialed the wrong number. Actually, she wanted to call Takeshi's number, but the many new numbers were not yet sorted.
"Hello?", asked the woman on the other end.
Tsubasa thought feverishly about what to do. Could she really turn to her?
"Yes...! This is Tsubasa. So the one from the ramen shop! Uh... Yagami-san? Do you have a moment?"
The woman on the other end laughed.
"Sure. But I said, you don't have to be so formal. Kari is perfectly fine."
Tsubasa was not used to being so familiar with someone right away. But finally she reported about the sighting in Shibuya. Kari told her that both Davis and T.K. had to work today, but she was happy to help them with the search. So they made an appointment in two hours in Shibuya, directly at the train station. Then Tsubasa hung up and breathed heavily.
"Great. Then we have someone who will help us with the search," Hebimon was pleased.
Tsubasa grumbled.
"But Yagami-san... I mean Kari is an experienced DigiDestined. What if I do something wrong? I've only been in the Digimon business for a few days. She won't take me seriously."
Hebimon moved closer to her left ear and hissed with its tongue into it. Immediately Tsubasa turned around and complained.
"Hey, you have me! Together we'll get this done," it was confident.
This did encourage the girl somewhat, and she prepared for the day. Hebimon wandered back into her backpack, and a few snacks were not to be missed. Even though she had the suspicion that these would mysteriously disappear one by one within the backpack. Drinks she decided to buy on the way. She was almost ready to go, when she hurried once more to her desk and took out a pillbox, from which she quickly swallowed two pills. Then she left her room and hurried downstairs. Her mother was in the kitchen, and Tsubasa paid her a brief visit.
"Hey, are you going out?", she wanted to know.
Tsubasa nodded.
"Yes, I'm just meeting Takeshi and another friend."
That she wanted to go to Shibuya, she kept to herself. After all, she couldn't possibly explain that. And her mother knew the boy from before, so she wouldn't think anything of it.
"Nice that you're still such good friends, even though you haven't seen each other for a long time," the woman said.
Tsubasa agreed with her. Takeshi had been her first real friend. And now they were even DigiDestined together.
"Oh... has Dad called by any chance?", she asked.
Her mother hesitated. After all, it had already been two years since the separation. She shook her head, but said that he would surely do so soon. As far as she knew, he was now working in Shibuya.
Tsubasa had boarded the train and hoped that Hebimon would not be too affected by the many fluctuations. The ride lasted barely 20 minutes, then she got off and oriented herself. It didn't take long before she could see Kari on the platform. She waved to her and was glad to see a familiar face.
"I'm sorry... that you had to change your plans because of me," said Tsubasa a little shyly.
But the young woman immediately denied it.
"Oh nonsense. I didn't have anything planned anyway. And we're not here for fun, right? We have to find this Digimon before this unknown group does," she reminded her.
Tsubasa nodded and recognized a white tail that was sticking out of Kari's bag. Gatomon seemed to have come along as well. She wondered if Digimon could sense the presence of their fellow creatures. That would certainly make things easier. In any case, she was now motivated.
Ten minutes later they were sitting in a café and enjoying an ice cream.
"So... Kari-san? Shouldn't we start the search rather than take a break?", asked the girl. She hadn't expected that they would start with a break.
The young woman across from her, however, first enjoyed her ice cream, while the Digimon seemed to be enjoying the waffles that went with it.
"If we don't approach the matter with strength, it won't do any good. Besides, we should first make a plan," she explained.
Tsubasa nodded and began sending her the places where the sightings had occurred on her cell phone.
"I would suggest that we split up and each take a closer look at one of the places. The Digimon is probably not there anymore, but we have to start somewhere."
Kari agreed with her. If Rurimon was on the run, it would certainly never stay long in one place. After they had finished their ice cream, they parted ways, but agreed to stay in touch to exchange progress.
Tsubasa was glad not to have to tackle the whole thing alone. She and Kari exchanged information via LINE. She had visited the first place, but it was a store. The Digimon had certainly left there by now. Nevertheless, she made the attempt to question the saleswoman. She held her cell phone up to her, on which she had loaded the sketch drawn by Prismamon.
"So... I lost my stuffed animal the other day. Have you seen a blue dragon by any chance?" she wanted to know.
But the saleswoman had to disappoint her.
She left the store again and next investigated the intersection where Rurimon had also been sighted.
"Excuse me. Have you seen my dog by any chance? He looks something like this!", she asked the first passers-by, but only received skeptical looks. And of course she had no success.
"Tsubasa, I don't think we're getting anywhere with this strategy," Hebimon said.
After a while, the girl had to reluctantly agree with him. She was just about to pull out her cell phone and contact Kari about her progress when she stopped in perplexity.
She stared at the other side of the street. There was a tall office building there. The glass door slid open to the outside, and a man in a suit stepped outside. He seemed very busy, but Tsubasa immediately set off in motion. She quickly looked to the left and right and crossed the street.
"Dad!", she called out to the man, who in turn reacted perplexedly. Tsubasa came to a stop in front of him and panted slightly.
"Tsubasa? How did you get here?", he asked.
She scratched her head awkwardly.
"I was just in Shibuya by chance," she reported.
The man nodded.
"Good, you know I forbade you to visit me at work."
Tsubasa remembered that. However, she didn't even know her father's workplace, a visit would have been difficult in any case. This one now scrutinized her from top to bottom.
"You can't stop, can you? Still this silly outfit. I had hoped this phase of yours would finally be over," he said sternly.
Tsubasa's smile disappeared immediately.
"I explained that to you. That's just who I am...", she replied quietly.
Her father didn't seem to want to know anything about it.
"Such nonsense! If my colleagues saw my child like this... I would be the laughingstock of the company," he was certain.
Tsubasa let her head hang.
"Good... then I'll leave again. I'm sorry for the disturbance. It won't happen again," she mumbled and began to retreat.
Her father considered saying something else, but was interrupted by a colleague.
"Department head! The problem has even gotten worse. All the systems seem to have developed a life of their own."
Tsubasa's father looked at him grumpily.
"What can you IT guys do? Were we hacked?"
The employee nodded.
"That's how it looks. The systems seem to be performing only one function. A search query."
"Search query? For what?"
The IT expert had difficulty answering.
"Well... the system is searching all over the Internet for blue dragons," he announced.
His superior looked at him as if he had just made a joke.
"I'll take a personal look at this," he decided and re-entered the company.
Tsubasa was still standing outside and had listened to the explanations.
"Did he... say blue dragon?"
Hebimon stuck his head out of the backpack.
"Tsubasa! That sounds like the enemy is behind it!"
The girl had to agree with him. Who else but them would do such a search query? Tsubasa wanted to go inside the building, but then stopped.
"I... can't. I would only cause my father more trouble."
Hebimon looked at her sadly.
"Don't you... get along with your father?", he asked.
Tsubasa thought about how she should answer. But Hebimon would probably not understand the whole thing.
"He just doesn't want to accept that I am the way I am," she said only and wanted to turn around.
But Hebimon didn't want to leave it at that.
"Then tell him he has to do it! I would do that too!"
His partner sighed. If only it were as simple as the Digimon made it out to be.
"Anyway, we have to get into the building! I'm sure a Digimon is behind it," Hebimon repeated.
Tsubasa remained uncertain. Basically, her partner was right, but what should she tell her father? She didn't know if he had ever dealt with Digimon, let alone encountered one. The fact was, if the enemy found Rurimon first, they had a real problem. She continued to struggle with herself and finally gave Kari a heads up that she had a lead. Then she entered the building.
Inside, all the employees were very excited and so busy that no one addressed her.
"Hebimon, do you have any idea where it might be?"
The Digimon thought for a moment.
"It needs a lot of data for its search. So it must be a place where a lot of data is stored."
Tsubasa nodded, and an idea came to her immediately.
"The basement! Such a large company must have tons of servers down there!", she was certain.
She found the elevator and had herself taken directly to the lower floor. When she got out, she already recognized several people on the ground. They wore blue overalls, they seemed to be technicians. Apparently, they had been attacked. Hebimon stuck its head out of the backpack and explored the surroundings.
"We're in the right place. No doubt about it."
Tsubasa considered whether she should wait for Kari. She checked the progress of her LINE conversation. The young woman would still take a while. If the enemy attacked more people, she could not wait any longer. She followed Hebimon, and together they ran down the hallway. Soon they arrived at the server farm. It was cool and blinking everywhere. They walked back and forth between the tall devices until they came to a stop in the back department.
"Tsubasa!", Hebimon warned and jumped in front of the girl.
Just in time. It seemed to deflect a kind of ball, which changed direction and hit the wall. Immediately acid ate into it and left a small hole.
Tsubasa flinched.
"Well, well, well, who do we have here," a voice sounded from above.
Both looked up and recognized the attacker. It was like Hebimon a snake. It had a brownish pattern and wore glasses.
"Caution! That's Hubmon! It has the ability to influence data!", her partner warned.
Tsubasa understood. On the tongue of the snake-like Digimon was something that looked like a USB stick.
"I haven't found the target yet. But no problem, then you'll just tell me where I can find it."
Hebimon hissed at him.
"No! Even if we knew, we wouldn't tell you anything!"
Hubmon just laughed.
"Too bad for you! There's plenty of data in here that I can eat. And data makes me stronger!"
Now it stuck its tongue into one of the servers, and a short time later the blinking in the large room went out.
"Oh no! She has absorbed all the data here!", Hebimon seemed to fear.
Tsubasa now understood what it meant. Hebimon began to glow and change its form. It became much larger and... more threatening.
"Damn! It's digivolved!", Hebimon's fear had come true.
"Digivolved? Like Prismamon and Koemon? Does that mean it's stronger now?", Tsubasa asked.
Hebimon nodded.
"Unfortunately, much more."
"But... can't you defeat it?"
Unfortunately, the answer from her partner was missing. The enemy now had two large claws, which it directed at the two of them.
"Haha! Now the tables have turned. Now I'm Grimmon and far superior to you. Well? Don't you want to surrender and tell me everything you know? I don't care where I get my data from, as long as I have it."
Hebimon hissed angrily back.
"No chance! We have received a mission from Gennai! We will not let you do this! Acid Fang!"
It began to attack Grimmon, but was immediately thrown back. Tsubasa caught it, her partner had obviously taken a lot.
"Let's withdraw first. Kari knows who we are after all," she suggested.
But this idea was thwarted when Grimmon jumped over them and placed itself directly in front of the entrance or exit.
"No, it's not that easy to escape. Maybe if I have what I want."
But Tsubasa and Hebimon couldn't help him. Hebimon fought its way back up and faced the enemy. It launched the same attack again, but was again knocked back.
"Stop it, Hebimon! You're no match for him!", she tried to talk to her partner.
But the Digimon got up again.
"I really thought... that I was strong. After all, I've trained and prepared. But... I guess I can't do it alone," it hissed, but then collapsed.
"Hebimon!", Tsubasa called its name.
What should she do now? They couldn't do anything against the enemy. If only Kari were here. But she was not like Kari, she had to realize that. Hebimon had indeed a stronger partner deserved.
Grimmon now approached the Digimon lying on the ground. It took it between its claws and seemed to want to do something to it. Tsubasa couldn't allow that. It was true, she was not Kari. And not one of the other DigiKnights. So she had only one chance left. She had to become a new person. Someone who was strong enough to be a worthy partner to Hebimon.
At the same moment, she felt the DigiVice on her wrist begin to glow. The same thing was now happening to Hebimon.
Tsubasa watched as it, like Hebimon before, now began to transform.
"Hebimon digivolves to... Julungumon!"
Her partner was now just as big as Grimmon. However, much more colorful. It had patterns that looked like the colors of the rainbow. On its tail tip was a kind of scythe.
"Hebimon... you are... digitized?"
Julungumon wasted no time and attacked the enemy immediately.
"Toxic Scythe!"
Grimmon was hit hard, but did not give up. Its next attack followed its tail. Julungumon had not been prepared for that. It staggered back and suffered damage.
"No! Come on, you can do it!", Tsubasa cheered on her partner.
But this one had difficulties to get up. Grimmon launched another attack, but was stopped by someone else.
"Lightning Claw!", something from the side attacked it.
It was a white cat, whose paws pushed Grimmon back.
"Tsubasa-chan! Are you okay?", Kari called out in concern.
The girl nodded.
"The enemy is distracted, strike now!", the DigiDestined called out.
Julungumon didn't let itself be told twice. Once again it attacked Grimmon with its lance and split it in two with it. Grimmon dissolved into data, and the danger was over.
It digitized back, and Tsubasa took it in her arms. Hebimon seemed very exhausted, the fight had probably been very hard.
"Hang in there, Hebimon. Everything is okay now."
She thanked Kari for her help, who suggested they leave quickly. The girl didn't let herself be told twice.
She hurried to the upper floor, but was already expected by security forces. Kari stepped in front of the girl, but before she could say anything, Tsubasa's name was called. A man in a suit stepped through the group.
"Can you please explain to me what's going on here?", he was quite annoyed.
Then his gaze fell on the two Digimon.
"Are those..."
Tsubasa held Hebimon out to him.
"This is Hebimon. He is my Digimon partner. He prevented a bad Digimon from taking over your data. You should be grateful to him."
Her father rolled his eyes.
"This can't be true. You always find new ways to cause me trouble, don't you? Now you're even coming with Digimon. Do you have any idea how dangerous these things can be? And besides, do you know what damage you've caused down there?", he scolded her.
Kari cleared her throat.
"Don't worry, someone from the government will be here soon to assess the damage. They will also take care of the financial damage. So you don't have to worry about it."
The businessman seemed to see it differently.
"Don't worry? Listen, Lady! You don't want to support... Tsubasa, do you? This phase is one thing, but giving her these Digimon? Am I surrounded by crazy people?"
Kari, still smiling, stepped forward and pinched him in the cheek.
"Listen, okay? You can be really glad to have such a brave daughter. Because she just saved your ass," she lectured him.
Then she turned to Tsubasa and gave her a sign to leave. The security guards hesitated, but then Tsubasa's father gave them permission.
Outside, the girl took a deep breath.
"I'm sorry, I should have waited," she said quietly.
But Kari didn't seem to see it that way.
"Don't worry about it. Immediate action is probably also part of being a DigiDestined. I used to be no different."
The girl nodded.
"I'm sorry about my father. He just doesn't think it's good how I am now."
Kari scrutinized her briefly.
"It's okay. That's why I think you're good now. And Hebimon surely does too, right?"
The little snake came back to life.
"Yes! I wouldn't want anyone else as a partner but you!", it confirmed.
Tsubasa almost shed a tear. They decided to give up the search for today. Kari hadn't gotten any further either. It was unlikely that Rurimon was still in Shibuya. It had probably already moved on. So the two of them left and headed for the train station.
The Digimon on the roof of the company building didn't notice them. After all, it was good at hiding from the enemy, as a ninja should. So Hebimon had also failed, as it had to realize. Too bad, then a stronger opponent would have to do.