"Zero-kun~!"
Seeing the battle conclude, Rina immediately ran over with Hajime to rejoin Zero—naturally, both of them were still quite confused about the earlier situation.
"What exactly was that thing?" Hajime stared cautiously at the spot where the Black Gear had vanished. Clearly, the sudden berserk behavior of these Digimon had something to do with those gears.
"That's called a Black Gear…" Zero sighed internally. Of course, the job of explaining all this would fall on me again…
"…It's a special mind-control tool created by Devimon. Any Digimon embedded with it turns into a mindless beast, becoming Devimon's plaything."
In the Digimon series, this item could be considered a source of numerous evils. Later, in Adventure 02, Ken Ichijouji—the Digimon Kaiser—analyzed data from these gears and developed improved versions called Dark Rings…
With those Dark Rings, combined with Dark Towers, he controlled large numbers of Digimon, briefly reigning as emperor over a vast territory in the Digital World.
The original data behind the Black Gears might have come from the enigmatic Dark Ocean or possibly even related to the Dark Seeds. The origin of those seeds could even be traced back to Millenniumon—the evil god who commanded time-space itself, possessing power said to "destroy the Digital World."
These relationships were complex and tangled, impossible to fully unravel immediately. All they knew for certain was that Devimon controlled part of that data and used it to manufacture Black Gears.
At one point, Devimon controlled nearly all the Digimon on File Island through these gears, turning them into his subordinates. Later, during the decisive battle, Devimon absorbed countless gears, greatly increasing his own size and power, and briefly overwhelmed the Chosen Children…
…Until, finally, Patamon—one of the original series' ultimate cheat codes—evolved into Angemon. Relying purely on attribute advantage, he exchanged his life for Devimon's defeat.
For any child of that era, those plot points were as familiar as their own name. Now, since Devimon had begun spreading the Black Gears extensively, it meant the plot was officially underway.
Due to these gears, File Island—this "rookie village"—once became extremely dangerous. But precisely because of this, the Chosen Children gained ample early experience points for growth.
Either way, it would still take some time before the entire island fell completely under the Black Gears' control. Currently, Devimon would focus primarily on distributing gears and building up his army, without spare attention to other matters.
And thus, this was also the best possible opportunity for Zero's group to rapidly strengthen and develop themselves…
They needed to hurry and reach the Unmanned Mechanical Factory as soon as possible.
...
"Zero-kun, heading your way~!"
At Rina's call, Zero—currently an Agumon—hurried over as fast as his stubby legs could manage. On the other side, Hajime's Blue Blaster drew an approaching Flymon toward them…
…This giant insect, buzzing furiously with wings vibrating, had eyes glowing crimson red—clearly influenced into berserk behavior by another Black Gear.
Its pointed, gleaming stinger flicked ominously, aimed at Hajime as she moved closer toward Zero, suddenly launching out like a bullet.
Flymon's stinger contained a powerful neurotoxin capable of paralyzing Digimon below Champion-level almost instantly, effectively deciding battles. Even Ultimate-level Digimon could be affected, although, of course, landing a hit on one was unlikely.
Seeing the stinger streaking in aggressively, Zero stomped down, threw back his head, and roared…
…Nearby, Rina lifted her Digivice, injecting shimmering DigiSoul into it. At the same time, she turned and smiled reassuringly at several trembling Baby-level Digimon hiding behind her.
"Don't worry, we'll finish this quickly~ Zero-kun, ready?"
"Yeah, let's go!"
The DigiSoul flowed into Zero, and his Agumon form instantly swelled in size. The incoming stinger was swiftly neutralized by a burst of Mega Flame. Zero roared ferociously, lunging directly into combat with the Flymon, both quickly tumbling together in battle.
Though Flymon possessed the advantage of flight, Zero clearly held superior strength.
Under normal circumstances, Zero remained as Koromon, but his internal DigiCore maintained Champion-level intensity.
In other words, Zero functioned like a compressed data archive—part of his data compressed into his physical form, while additional data remained stored "in the cloud" within Rina's Digivice.
This setup allowed Zero to conserve energy in daily form and unleash his full power strategically when needed.
Working together seamlessly, Zero essentially had no rivals among typical Champions—provided they didn't encounter monsters disguised as Champions whose power neared Ultimate or even Mega-level.
But on File Island, fortunately, such an absurdity existed only in Devimon himself.
The battle quickly turned one-sided. Zero slammed Flymon to the ground, grinding it against the earth. Meanwhile, Rina had already prepared her Digivice.
"Alright then, scanning!"
A brilliant ray of light shot out from the Digivice, passing over Flymon's body and extracting the Black Gear. Flymon's blood-red eyes gradually returned to normal.
"How about now? Still wanna fight?" Zero released Flymon, who—once freed—showed absolutely no gratitude, immediately flinging another poisonous stinger in retaliation.
Zero dodged with an exasperated sigh.
"Fine, don't blame me then…"
Without further ado, flames gathered within Zero's gaping jaws as he bit down mercilessly.
With the battle finished, Zero gestured for Hajime to absorb Flymon's data. Currently, absorbing more data had little short-term effect on Zero's own strength—it would be far more efficient to let Hajime evolve first, improving their overall team power.
Initially, Hajime felt embarrassed, but after half a month…she had gotten used to it.
Yes—half a month had passed since Zero saved Hajime and met Rina, and the trio began traveling together…
…They had left the Digital Forest long ago, but after trekking for half a month, they still hadn't found the Mechanical Factory's location.
On the other hand, Devimon, aided by the Black Gears, had assembled an army and begun systematically sweeping across File Island, steadily working to dominate the island completely.
Compared to Devimon's rapid progress, Zero felt their own plans were moving rather slowly.
"How's it feel?"
Zero immediately asked after Hajime finished absorbing Flymon's data. She shook her head helplessly.
"It's no use…my DigiCore hasn't reacted at all."
"Alright, guess we're still missing some trigger."
Zero knew evolution couldn't be rushed, so he didn't press further. Meanwhile, Rina was happily chatting away with the Baby-level Digimon who'd been saved earlier from Flymon's attack.
"Oh?"
Suddenly, Rina gave an excited cheer, immediately waving to Zero and Hajime.
"Zero-kun, Hajime-chan! These little ones here…say they know exactly where the Mechanical Factory we've been looking for is!"
"!"