Following the voice, Izzy looked over and spotted a door. Drifting closer, he found Vademon and DemiDevimon tangled in a quarrel. Vademon was already losing patience.
"If I don't bring this Crest back, I don't know how Lord Myotismon will punish me," DemiDevimon tried to win by pity.
"That's your business. I'm not obliged to care," Vademon was unmoved.
"Please, I'm begging you—help me out," DemiDevimon kept flitting after him.
Thud! DemiDevimon was swatted into a heap of trash. "You're really annoying."
Izzy and Pabumon saw the Crest twirling in Vademon's hand. "That's the Crest I threw away," Izzy said—answered only by a soft "Pabu…"
"Without curiosity, you won't understand anything. Let's get back the Crest we tossed aside—and my curiosity." Sharing a look, boy and partner slipped the door open and sneaked in.
Vademon and DemiDevimon were still bickering when Pabumon bounded over, sprang up, snatched the Crest in his mouth—and bolted. Two pursuers gave chase.
"Stop! Don't run!"
"Give that Crest back!"
Izzy followed Pabumon and ducked into a side room to hide. Vademon and DemiDevimon barreled past, couldn't stop in time, and shot through. Izzy slammed the door and braced it with a plank, sending the pursuers crashing against it.
Izzy found his "curiosity," slapped it onto his head—and Vademon smashed through the door a heartbeat later. Izzy sprinted for his life, diving out into "space." With Izzy's curiosity restored, Pabumon began evolving in a rush—Motimon—and, in a flash, quickly returned to Rookie as Tentomon, then evolved further into Kabuterimon and engaged Vademon.
Vademon's toy-like ray gun turned out to be anything but—it was a high-powered laser—and he fired repeatedly at the fleeing Izzy. Seeing Kabuterimon, he sneered. "Don't underestimate me."
Vademon might be revolting, but he was a bona fide Ultimate. Sensing a shift, he didn't hesitate—he unleashed his trump: Devilish Scarlet Kiss. The grotesque flying kiss erupted, in an instant, into a vast meteor barrage. Kabuterimon couldn't hold; a meteor slammed him, plastering him against the tumbling rock.
Seeing his partner in peril, Izzy cried out, "Kabuterimon!"
Hearing him, Vademon realized there was another target. A massive meteor hurtled toward Izzy. Izzy knew exposing himself now was a terrible idea.
"Aaaah—!" In mortal danger, he did what anyone would—he screamed.
Whether because his partner was in danger or because the noise jolted him awake, Kabuterimon's eyes snapped open—and it was Izzy's crisis he saw. "Izzy!"
Light flared from Izzy's Digivice, shot into the Tag at his neck, and then, magnified, poured over Tentomon's body.
"Tentomon super evolves to MegaKabuterimon!"
After a searing blaze of light, Tentomon's teal shell was wrapped in brilliant evolution radiance. A hulking, beetle-type Ultimate burst forth before Vademon: MegaKabuterimon, electricity licking from his iron horn; the hard red elytra opened to either side, even more striking than before. Thrusters roared, boosting his speed; the horn had hardened further, his offense heightened; the bulge of forelimb musculature promised close-quarters might. His signature: Horn Buster, the colossal horn-drill charge.
"Tentomon… evolved." Izzy stood there, dumbstruck, staring at the enormous crimson beetle.
MegaKabuterimon surged forward, scooped his partner onto his back, and, facing the falling meteors, unleashed his attack. "Horn Buster!"
Every meteor the horn touched shattered to fragments.
"MegaKabuterimon—fly up!" Izzy checked bearings on his laptop and called the vector.
MegaKabuterimon banked, then drove his horn straight up.
Boom.
Dust billowed across the mountainside. Coated in ash, Izzy blinked. "What power…"
Below, Vademon stamped his feet. "My house! Break someone's home and think you can just run? Get back here!" Bluster only—he didn't have the nerve to give chase.
Riding on MegaKabuterimon's back, Izzy pulled up his Digivice to display the others' positions. "We need to regroup everyone, fast. A new enemy has appeared."
He hadn't forgotten what DemiDevimon had said at Vademon's lair: he was under Myotismon's orders to collect the DigiDestineds' Crests.
"Looks like our task isn't finished after all," Izzy thought, gazing at the sky. "When can we go home? Mom, Dad… I miss you." Feeling the solid weight beneath him, his heart eased. With a partner beside me, I won't be alone. On a nearby peak, a shadowy figure watched the great red beetle soar away.
Elsewhere, after splitting up, brothers Matt and T.K. wandered the Digital World. It was monotonous, but with their partners alongside, dangers on the road were handled by Angemon and Garurumon. They didn't know a new plot had fixed its sights on them.
Joe, meanwhile, had parted ways and was traveling with Gomamon, searching for a way home. He had a lot of homework, after all—of all the kids, he was the most desperate to get back.
After a long trek through the desert, both Joe and Gomamon had their tongues lolling out, bent at the waist, trudging along with drooping spirits. They traded a glance; they wanted to laugh, but didn't have the strength.
DemiDevimon, meanwhile, was flapping along in dejection, wondering how to avoid punishment from Myotismon. He looked up—spark of joy—tears of relief. Another child! Perfect—no punishment today. "I'll be taking your Crest," he snickered.
He flew up to greet them. Gomamon warned Joe he was an evil Digimon, but when DemiDevimon claimed he knew where a human could be found, Joe's defenses crumbled in an instant. Ignoring Gomamon's urgent pleas, he followed DemiDevimon into the unknown. Midway, DemiDevimon vanished.
Left without a guide, Joe and Gomamon wandered aimlessly—until they looked up to see a building ahead: a banner fluttered—"RESTAURANT." They looked at each other—and sprinted toward it at a speed a hundred times what they'd managed a moment before, raising a trail of dust.
Inside, the tiny eatery was packed—jammed with all sorts of Digimon, spanning everything from Rookie to Ultimate. Four or five yellow, long-tendriled Digimon bustled about taking orders, ringing bills, and carrying trays—a dizzying spectacle. Their server was a red-nosed Sukamon—disgusting name or not, he really was one of the best cooks in the Digital World.
Joe grabbed an empty seat. Given a menu by Sukamon, he flipped through dish after dish until his mouth was practically watering down his chin. He ordered one, then another. Gomamon lifted a paw, about to say something—then thought of his own stomach and Joe's feverish expression (and drool), and swallowed his words.
Meanwhile, DemiDevimon watched Joe from a window and grinned, then slipped around back to find the owner—Digitamamon.
"Customer, what is it?" Digitamamon said, none too kindly.
DemiDevimon said nothing. He laid a fat stack of U.S. dollars on the table. Digitamamon's eyes lit up.
"What can I do for you?" His attitude flipped one-eighty.
DemiDevimon snickered, producing a photo of Joe. "See this kid? Find a way to keep him here. The cash is yours."
Digitamamon whisked the money away. "Consider it done."
Watching Joe and Gomamon wolf down their meal, DemiDevimon's eyes glinted coldly. "Heh heh… come nightfall, your Crest will be mine."
Blissfully unaware of the trouble he was in, Joe kept shoveling food.
"Check, please." Full and happy, Joe pulled out yen to pay.
"Customer, you're joking, right?" Sukamon gave him a sidelong look.
"Huh? I'm paying," Joe scratched his head, confused.
A Numemon oozed up to pay his bill. "Boss, the check," he said, peeling off a wad of U.S. dollars.
Joe's eyes nearly popped out. "D-d-dollars?!"
"Of course, dollars," said Sukamon, puzzled by Joe's reaction.
"Can't I pay in yen?" Joe tried one last sliver of hope.
Sukamon's answer crushed it. "Huh? What's that supposed to be?" So not only did dollars circulate in the Human World—they were the currency in the Digital World, too. Some influence.
Sweat breaking out, Joe froze, at a loss for words.
Sukamon seemed to catch on. "Don't tell me you're trying to…" He paused—and the entire restaurant got it: "Dine and dash?" Guess it'd happened before.
Hearing the commotion, Digitamamon came out. Once he'd heard Sukamon's explanation, he felt fortune drop into his lap—he'd been wracking his brain for a pretext to detain Joe, and here it was. He could have done it by force, true, but that would have wrecked the restaurant's reputation. Now he had the perfect excuse. If an egg could smile, he was doing it.
"In that case, you'll work off your debt," Digitamamon decreed.
Joe hung his head, speechless. From the window, DemiDevimon cackled, eyes darting as he cooked up his next nasty trick.
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