Gabumon, flung back onto the shore like a skipping stone, was clearly on his last sliver of health. He swayed feebly, completely unable to stand.
In the lake, Seadramon leisurely shifted its long body, aiming its huge maw at the helpless Gabumon. Tiny, ice-blue lights began gathering deep in its throat…
Everything unfolded in a heartbeat. Just as Seadramon was about to spit out a mouthful of freezing venom, a basketball-sized fireball suddenly flew in from the side, exploding against its face and erupting in a loud bang!
Caught entirely off-guard, Seadramon reflexively snapped its jaws shut. The deadly spit lodged directly in its throat, choking it so badly its eyes nearly popped out.
Nearby, Zero, having successfully interrupted with a small fireball, quickly started circling around the lakeshore.
"What're you glaring at? If you've got guts, come ashore!"
Zero knew perfectly well that if he faced it head-on, he wouldn't fare any better than Gabumon had.
But it didn't matter—fights were never about dumbly standing still and trading blows. Battles shifted unpredictably, and even the smallest detail could decide victory or defeat.
In water, Seadramon dominated. But once it crawled ashore, half its strength would vanish. Zero just needed to keep luring it toward land.
Winning wasn't necessary—he just needed to keep an escape route open. With dense forest right behind, could Seadramon possibly chase him all the way inland?
This was Zero's entire battle plan: harassing Seadramon from shore with small bursts of flame, forcing it to divert attention away from Gabumon and onto himself.
As long as Gabumon had a chance to escape, the rest would depend on its own luck.
But Gabumon seemed to be in worse shape than anticipated. Even though Seadramon's attention was entirely focused on Zero now, Gabumon still hadn't gotten up to flee as planned.
"…"
Seadramon lunged toward Zero, spewing a high-pressure water blast from its jaws.
Zero wasn't crazy enough to challenge that. Without hesitation, he stepped lightly and launched himself into the air, executing a neat backflip and narrowly dodging the jet of water.
The instant he landed, he shot another small fireball at Seadramon's face. While it didn't cause meaningful damage, having another human-head-sized fireball smack it in the face felt exactly like a vicious slap to Seadramon.
Taking advantage of his nimbleness and the fact Seadramon couldn't come fully ashore, Zero danced around, baiting the enemy for several minutes. Finally, Gabumon regained a bit of strength and managed to stagger upright.
Although Gabumon looked like it might collapse again any moment, it had still succeeded in standing.
It seemed to realize Zero's intention and shot him a grateful glance before attempting to retreat.
Yet just as Gabumon turned to limp away, a sharp ice arrow flashed out like lightning, striking Gabumon's back and sending it tumbling violently across the ground…
"?!"
Gabumon's attempt hadn't escaped Seadramon's notice. Even though Seadramon couldn't catch the nimble Zero, targeting the injured Gabumon was easy. That one ice arrow completely extinguished Gabumon's hopes of recovering mobility any time soon.
"…"
Well, crap! Zero stared at Gabumon's collapsed form for two seconds, finally heaving a heavy sigh.
Sorry, buddy. I did my best—fate just isn't on your side today.
Zero had done everything he reasonably could for a stranger. Continuing now might drag him down too.
At this point, Zero was ready to retreat. As much as he wanted to save Gabumon, the situation simply wouldn't allow it anymore.
But once again, the plot violently raced off in a direction Zero had never anticipated.
From behind, he suddenly heard rapid footsteps, and before he could react, a silhouette flashed past him—
"Hey, bullying the weak is absolutely unforgivable… RIDER KICK!!"
…The next instant, the figure leaped high into the air, delivering a flying kick straight into Seadramon's head. Seadramon shrieked miserably, toppling backward with a loud splash into the lake, waves and white foam exploding across the surface.
"…"
Aaah?! Zero's inner marmot shrieked in disbelief.
What the actual fuck just happened?!
Still utterly bewildered, Zero saw the figure that kicked Seadramon casually turn around and start approaching him.
Only now did Zero clearly see her appearance…
…Shockingly, she was a green-haired human girl, about sixteen or seventeen years old!
She wore skin-tight shorts and an open-front hoodie, revealing a tightly-fitted top underneath and accentuating an impressive chest for her age.
Most eye-catching of all, however, was the pair of goggles hanging around her neck…
…Everyone knew goggles symbolized protagonists in the Digimon franchise—excluding Masaru Daimon, every main character had them!
But who was this girl? She was clearly human, yet how could there be another human girl on File Island besides the Chosen Children?
More importantly, she kicked away Seadramon with a single strike—what kind of madness was this?! Are you secretly related to Masaru Daimon or something?!
Having only watched the anime, Zero naturally had no idea that this girl came from the Digimon Story video games, where she once knocked out Barbamon, one of the Seven Great Demon Lords. A mere Seadramon was nothing to her.
"What was that monster just now? And where exactly is this place? Ahhh, things seem to have gotten troublesome~"
The girl muttered to herself. Strangely, though, Zero couldn't detect any real distress in her tone. Rather, she almost sounded… excited about the situation?
Regardless, she had clearly helped him. Basic etiquette demanded Zero thank her.
"Um, thanks for saving me just now…"
When Zero spoke, the girl instantly looked shocked, then excitedly leaned closer.
"Whoa, it talked! You can actually talk? So cute! Can I pet you? I promise I'll be gentle!"
"…"
Cute?! Maybe as Koromon, but I'm a Rookie-stage Agumon now! My prototype's literally a freaking Tyrannosaurus Rex—couldn't you show the king of dinosaurs some respect?!
But facing this superwoman who'd punted a Champion-level Digimon, he obviously couldn't say that aloud. He just quietly said:
"Can I check on my friend first? He looks like he's in pretty bad shape."
"Huh? Oh!" She quickly realized, hurrying with Zero to check Gabumon's injuries.
Luckily, while heavily wounded, Gabumon wasn't in immediate danger. With help from Zero and the girl, Gabumon shakily stood back up.
"Thank you both for saving me… Agumon, and, um…"
Gabumon stared blankly at the girl, clearly at a loss. For a Digimon like Gabumon, it was probably his first time ever encountering a human. He likely assumed she was some powerful Digimon.
After all, humanoid Digimon existed, so her appearance wasn't completely bizarre to Gabumon.
She laughed cheerfully. "Oh, right, I haven't introduced myself! My name's Rina Shinomiya, pleased to meet you~!"
"My name is Zero. Likewise…"
Zero instinctively introduced himself too. When facing a real human, he unconsciously slipped back into human social habits, speaking as he would've as a human.
"Huh?" But Rina tilted her head curiously. "Zero's your name? But didn't he call you Agumon just now?"
"Oh, that's my species name—kinda like a scientific classification…"
Rina half-understood but quickly pressed on curiously. "Digimon? You mean like that monster before? Seriously, what is this place anyway? One second I was playing games at an arcade, then suddenly poof—I ended up here. Totally confusing~"
"…"
Just as Zero opened his mouth to answer, he heard a loud splash behind Rina. The Seadramon she'd kicked into the lake earlier had resurfaced…
"Ah…"
Sure enough, although Rina's fighting ability far surpassed any ordinary human's, she still wasn't Masaru Daimon, the man-shaped Burst Mode who punched Royal Knights and kicked Demon Lords. Her kick had shaken Seadramon badly but hadn't finished it off.
First toyed with by an Agumon running circles around it, then kicked aside by a mere human…
These consecutive humiliations had driven Seadramon—originally just out for an easy meal—into a maddened fury.
…Today, none of you three will be leaving here alive!
"Run!"
Now that Gabumon had been saved, there was no need to keep fighting Seadramon head-on. Zero's intention was clear: escape into the forest immediately. There was no way Seadramon could chase them onto dry land.
However, Seadramon seemed to have already thought of a solution. Rising again, it whipped its tail violently, sending large waves crashing onto shore, quickly drenching the area around them.
Immediately afterward, an icy-blue breath surged from its mouth, rapidly freezing the water on the shoreline and instantly trapping their feet under a thin sheet of ice.
"!"
Zero, who'd been just about to run, immediately froze in place. The ice beneath them wasn't too thick, so breaking free by force was definitely possible—but it would take time. If it were just Zero and Rina, that would've been fine, but there was also the heavily injured Gabumon dragging them down, complicating matters severely…
Zero spat flames, attempting to melt a path through the ice, and Gabumon struggled to help as well. Unfortunately, their Rookie-level firepower couldn't match Seadramon's freezing ability. The ice was melting at an agonizingly slow pace…
From Seadramon's sudden attack to Zero and Gabumon attempting their breakout, barely ten seconds had passed. Naturally, Seadramon wouldn't miss this perfect opportunity.
It opened its huge jaws wide, directly lunging toward Zero, clearly intending to swallow him whole…
At this critical moment, Rina was the first to successfully break free from the ice. But instead of fleeing alone, she dashed swiftly across the ice like a figure skater, closing the gap in the blink of an eye. Then, with a tightly clenched fist, she swung forward with all her strength—
—That seemingly delicate, harmless-looking fist landed squarely on Seadramon's face.
"…"
With a muffled impact, both sides were pushed away by the collision. Seadramon reeled backward, flailing into the air, while Rina lost her footing and slipped awkwardly on the ice, landing clumsily on her rear.
Sitting on the ice, Rina laughed a bit awkwardly, sticking out her tongue in embarrassment.
"Ahaha… I might've overdone it a bit~"
"No, you helped a ton!"
Zero had already melted enough ice to open an escape route.
"Quick, let's get into the forest—!"
But before Zero could finish speaking, the loud splashing of water resounded behind them again. Seadramon thrashed the lake's surface violently with its tail, launching itself high into the air, covering dozens of meters in one leap—and landed directly onto the shore.
…It actually jumped onto land just to block them. It seemed genuinely resentful toward Zero and Rina.
"Hey, hey, can't you just let us off? Do you seriously have to be this ruthless?"
Zero hadn't expected Seadramon to be this persistent. By this point, it was clearly just stubbornly trying to reclaim lost pride.
Their way forward was now blocked, and behind them lay only the lake—it seemed they'd truly reached a dead end.
Just as Zero was completely out of ideas, Rina, having sprung back to her feet, was staring strangely at her right hand.
"Huh? What's this?"
On the right hand she'd just used to punch Seadramon, a dazzling glow suddenly appeared, flaring brightly as if engulfed by roaring flames.
"!"
---
T/N: WOAHHH!! anyway here's Rina Shinomiya