"It's weird… even the base itself vanished." T.K. couldn't figure it out no matter how much he thought. The others stood along the edge of the pit too, staring down into the massive hole and trying to reason it out.
"Vanished? That's impossible," Cody objected.
"So what do we do?" Davis asked.
"What do we do…" T.K. repeated to the huge crater. "At this point, there's no way we can just go back now."
"Then we'll search around—we have to find the Digimon Emperor's base!" Davis stood up, trying to sound optimistic.
"In the sky."
Right when Davis was getting fired up with his little speech, Yolei said that from behind them. When everyone turned to look at her, they were stunned to see Yolei climbing up a Control Spire like a monkey and craning her neck to look around in every direction, searching for the Digimon Emperor's base.
"I get it! The Digimon Emperor's base must've flown up into the sky!"
She struck a pose up there, while Hawkmon was so anxious he looked like he was about to sweat. He kept shouting, "Yolei, it's too dangerous! Hurry and come down!"
After they finally managed to talk her down, Yolei—still acting like she was pumped full of adrenaline—started grilling Tentomon about the Digimon Emperor's base, nonstop. Hawkmon could only keep apologizing to everyone behind her. Nothing about her was normal, nothing about her Digimon was normal either… he was going out of his mind.
Ignoring Yolei's abnormal excitement for the moment, the others resumed discussing the crater. There was a painfully real problem right in front of them: the Digimon Emperor's base was truly gone, and all that remained at the scene was one enormous hole. The kids argued heatedly about how this crater could've formed and why.
There was a saying—thinking is good, but action is better—and Yolei was the undisputed leader of that school. While everyone else was still thinking by the edge, she had already pulled out a rope and started preparing to go down.
The kids watched in disbelief as Yolei dug through her backpack, produced a hammer and a piton, and started pounding away. Then, as if it were the most serious thing in the world, she snapped into a salute and announced in an absurdly solemn tone:
"Private Second Class Yolei Inoue is hereby commencing the search for the Digimon Emperor's underground empire!"
The kids were so shocked they didn't even react in time. Before anyone could stop her, Yolei went "whoosh" and jumped into the fire pit—no, the big pit.
"Hey—get back up here, Yolei…" Hawkmon rushed to stop his reckless partner.
As Yolei and Hawkmon descended, they argued the whole way. Hawkmon wanted her to go back up and stay with everyone else, but Yolei kept insisting this adventure was different from before, that they needed resolve, and that she absolutely wasn't going back.
Right when the human and Digimon were bickering at each other, the stone at the bottom of the pit suddenly split apart. A massive spider-like Digimon drilled up from below and charged straight toward Yolei at top speed.
It was a cursed, Champion-level Insect Digimon, its entire body parasitized by computer viruses. Its techniques included Stinger Poration, launched from its fangs, and Poison Thread, which it could spit from its mouth.
The moment Yolei saw that giant spider, she screamed. Girls were already afraid of little creepy-crawlies—this was a gigantic one, and a dangerous one at that.
Dokugumon didn't care at all. Staring at Yolei dangling in midair, its six eyes on its forehead flashed, and it opened its mouth and fired off Poison Thread.
Hawkmon didn't have time to think. He threw himself in front of Yolei and took the hit head-on. The Poison Thread struck Hawkmon's body directly.
"Hawkmon!" Yolei kicked hard off the rock wall and swung herself over, catching Hawkmon in her arms as he fell unconscious from the attack.
"Yolei…? Yolei, what's happening?!" Hearing their cries, the others ran over and leaned over the edge of the pit—only to see the danger Yolei and Hawkmon were in.
"Veemon!" Davis immediately raised his D-3 Digivice. "Armor Digivolution!"
"Veemon, Armor Digivolve—Flamedramon!"
Flamedramon leapt down in a dive, the blade-like horn on his head angled downward as he rapidly closed in on Dokugumon. Taking advantage of the opening, the others hurriedly pulled Yolei—still clutching Hawkmon—back up. Yolei gripped the rope with one hand and stared down at Hawkmon in her arms, shouting in heartbreak, "Hawkmon! Hawkmon!"
"Flaming Fist!"
While still descending, Flamedramon's hands flared with fire as he slammed his fists into Dokugumon, knocking it off the rock wall as it tried to climb up after Yolei. It crashed heavily to the ground.
Then Flamedramon's entire body ignited as he transformed into a living rocket and smashed straight into the spiral-patterned Dark Ring on Dokugumon's back, blasting it off and reducing it to ash.
Freed from control, Dokugumon thanked Flamedramon again and again before fleeing. Flamedramon sprang back up and reverted to Veemon—only to see the kids gathered in a circle around Hawkmon. The injured area had already been wrapped in bandages, and Hawkmon lay on the ground.
Yolei stood a short distance away with her back to everyone, shoulders trembling—clearly crying.
"Yolei…" Kari stood up when she saw how devastated Yolei was. She called her name, but didn't know what to say next, hesitating.
But at that moment, Yolei stood up—still refusing to face them, not wanting anyone to see her tears.
"Everyone… I'll stay behind by myself and take care of Hawkmon. You keep searching for the Digimon Emperor's base."
"But if you do that…" Davis said worriedly.
"Please. I don't want to cause everyone even more trouble," Yolei said as she turned around. Tears kept streaming down her face, but her voice was firm.
Kari looked at Yolei crying, then turned to the others. "I'll stay too. If another Digimon shows up to attack, it'll be safer if there's someone else here. And I really suspect the Digimon Emperor's base is going to come back."
"Come back? How would it come back?" Davis asked, confused.
"Yolei already said it," Kari replied with a smile toward Yolei, who blinked in surprise. "When did I say that?"
"You did. You said the Digimon Emperor's base is in the sky."
"Kari… you don't seriously think the Digimon Emperor's base can fly, do you?" Davis tried to picture a flying base, then stared at Kari.
"Yes. I think the Digimon Emperor's base isn't a ground facility at all—it's a flying fortress. That would explain why the base vanished, but the ground was left with a huge hole."
"Then we'll wait here for the Digimon Emperor to come back!" Davis said happily.
Kari gently shook her head. "That's only my guess. You should still search around—if I'm wrong, then waiting here would just waste time. And with Yolei and me here, if the Digimon Emperor comes back, we'll contact you."
"I agree with Kari. The rest of us will search, and Yolei and Kari will wait here in case the base returns," T.K. said, standing up.
"I agree too," Cody said.
"Th-then I agree too!" Davis quickly added.
"Alright, we're going," T.K. said, waving as he headed into the forest. "If we haven't found the base by nightfall, we'll come back here. If anything happens, contact us with the D-Terminal."
"Be careful!" Davis said, reluctant to part with Kari.
"You too, Davis," Kari replied.
That one sentence made Davis practically explode with motivation as he hurried after the others.
"Do your best!" Gatomon said, hands—no, paws—planted on her hips as encouragement.
Yolei nodded with a smile as she watched everyone say goodbye, but anyone could tell it was a forced smile.
"Yolei," Kari called, seeing the gloom and regret on Yolei's face.
"What?" Yolei looked up at Kari, who had stopped smiling.
Kari lowered her gaze to Hawkmon's injuries. "If I said something yesterday that really got to you… I'm truly sorry."
"Huh?" Yolei stared at Kari in surprise, seeing the apology on her face.
"I mean… when I said 'everyone has to be prepared,'" Kari said, still looking apologetic.
Yolei froze for a moment. Then a genuine smile bloomed across her face. Tears still clung to the corners of her eyes, but it was obvious this smile was real.
"That's not your fault, Kari. Don't worry about it."
Kari smiled too and nodded hard. "Yeah."
The two girls smiled at each other, and it was like even the sky cleared—sunlight turning gentle and kind.
"Kari… thank you," Yolei suddenly said.
"Why are you thanking me?" Kari asked, puzzled.
"Thank you for staying. And for saying it was to wait for the Digimon Emperor to fly back… I was just talking nonsense earlier when I said the base was in the sky. Thank you for backing me up like that," Yolei said sincerely.
Kari softly shook her head. "No. I really do think the Digimon Emperor's base is an aerial fortress. So your guess was right."
"Really? But why would you agree?" Yolei asked, confused.
"That's because…" Kari lifted her head to the sky, as if she were seeing an enormous warship blotting out everything again. "I've seen an aerial fortress even bigger than that. It was really, really huge."
Yolei tilted her head, watching Kari stare at the sky like she'd fallen into a memory. Kari's face held a smile of quiet satisfaction, as if she could see something through the clear blue.
"Nyaromon used to take me flying in the sky all the time. I'd sit on its head and see so many Digimon and buildings down below, and everyone would wave at me. Back then… I was really happy."
As if she remembered something else, Kari's smile faded. She lowered her head, and her voice dropped so softly it was almost inaudible. Yolei didn't catch the next few words. Just as she was about to ask, Kari lifted her head again—like that sadness had never existed—and her smile returned to her face.
All of a sudden, Yolei really wanted to understand what that girl—who always wore a smile—had been through, what could make her look so sad, and what she was sad about. She wanted to share that sadness with her.
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