Chapter 63: The Invincible Ultimate Level
"King Etemon?"
Taichi Yagami blinked, chewing on the name. He had no idea who this Etemon was, but anyone parading around with the title of 'King'had to be an absolute powerhouse, right?'Maybe he is a Mega level!' Taichi thought, his eyes widening slightly. A sense of cautious respect began to bubble up inside his chest at the prospect of facing such a legendary threat.
At that exact moment, Mizuki strolled over from the sidelines, casually slipping his hands into his pockets. "Which Etemon are you talking about?"
"Not 'which one'!" the first Tyrannomon roared, stomping his massive, clawed foot into the dirt with a heavy thud.
Determined to correct this blatant disrespect, the dinosaur Digimon puffed out his chest and attempted to imitate the figure in his memory. He struck a dramatic, wide-stanced pose, throwing one arm into the air. "He is the undisputed King of all Digimon! The mighty King Etemon!"
Listening to this grand declaration, Mizuki simply hummed. Under Taichi's curious gaze, he pulled a notepad and a pen from his bag. With a few swift, practiced strokes, he sketched out a highly realistic, anatomically accurate African chimpanzee.
He turned the notepad around. "Etemon."
The two Tyrannomon stared at the drawing. Their jaws dropped.
"He does not look like that! He is not that dark!"
Mizuki and Taichi exchanged a long, flat look.
Sighing, Mizuki took his eraser and began rubbing out the dense layer of fur on the sketch, adding a few quick adjustments to the outline.
"A monkey, then."
The two dinosaurs leaned in, inspecting the newly drawn, hairless ape. Their snouts wrinkled in deep dissatisfaction. "That is still wrong! He is not that muscular!"
"Fine, fine," Mizuki muttered, his lips twitching with amusement as he went back to refining the sketch.
Watching the process, Taichi suddenly felt a burst of inspiration. He snatched the pen and paper from Mizuki's hands. "Hold on, let me try. I think I get what you mean." He quickly scribbled a few extra details onto the lower half of the ape, nodding proudly at his own understanding of biology.
The second the Tyrannomon saw the new addition, they erupted into a frenzy of panicked protests.
"No! We already told you he is not that muscular!"
"And what is with that thing?! He does not have a thing down there! He is a Digimon!"
Listening to the dinosaurs shouting in distress, Mizuki leaned back and burst into laughter, nudging Taichi's shoulder. "I told you that you were gilding the lily."
Taichi scratched the back of his head, his face a picture of pure, innocent confusion. "But that does not make any sense. How could an ape not have a thing? Wait... is it a female ape?"
Operating on this new logic, Taichi took the pen again. He vigorously erased the offending anatomy he had just drawn, and instead added a thick layer of lipstick and a head of bouncy curly hair to the ape.
He held it up proudly. "Female."
The two Tyrannomon froze completely. They stared blankly at the hairless, lipstick-wearing, curly-haired ape on the paper, their tiny brains short-circuiting.
Mizuki plucked the notepad back from Taichi's hands, shaking his head. He took the eraser and wiped away the lipstick and the curls.
"We already went over this," Mizuki explained patiently, though his eyes danced with mischief. "Digimon do not have biological sexes. They only have psychological ones."
Having sanitized the drawing of all gendered traits, Mizuki held up the final product: a weak, hairless, completely smooth, genderless ape.
"How about this?"
"NO!"
"You are just messing with us now, are you not?!"
Snatching the notepad right out of Mizuki's hands, the furious Tyrannomon shredded the paper into confetti, stomping his feet anxiously in the dirt.
"It is Etemon, I tell you!"
"Have you seriously never heard the legend of the King of Digimon?!"
"He is the incredibly powerful King Etemon, and his singing voice is absolutely divine!"
"Right, right, I get it," Mizuki said, raising a hand to cut off Taichi before the goggled boy could say something to provoke the dinosaurs again. "You guys continue."
"King Etemon is impossibly strong! Who on the Server Continent does not know his name?" The Tyrannomon puffed up his chest again, his tone dripping with absolute reverence. "Not only does he command an army of powerful Champion level subordinates, but even a fearsome Digimon like Datamon could not defeat him!"
Taichi leaned forward, his curiosity piqued again. "So, this King Etemon's strength is..."
Facing the human boy's question, the two Tyrannomon exchanged a smug, knowing smile. They straightened their postures, speaking with feigned, dramatic profoundness.
"Naturally, he exists on a extraordinary plane above all other strong fighters. He is the powerful, the invincible..."
The dinosaurs threw their arms wide. "UL-TI-MATE LEVEL!"
Mizuki snorted. "Pfft."
The two Tyrannomon snapped their heads toward him. "What are you laughing at?"
Under their intense, reptilian glares, Mizuki clamped his mouth shut, fighting a losing battle to maintain a straight face. Half a second later, his shoulders started shaking. To physically stop the laughter from escaping, he had to bite down hard on his own index finger.
Seeing the human trembling, the Tyrannomon narrowed his eyes. "I asked, what are you laughing at?"
Mizuki took a deep, shuddering breath, pulling his finger away. "Nothing. I just... remembered something happy."
"What happy thing?"
Mizuki looked the giant dinosaur dead in the eye. "My wife gave birth."
The moment the words left Mizuki's mouth, Taichi slapped a hand over his own face, a loud, muffled snort escaping his lips.
The Tyrannomon instantly whipped his head toward Taichi. "And what are you laughing at now?!"
"Uh... hmm, cough, cough!" Taichi pounded his chest, taking a massive gulp of air to steady himself. He put on a mask of absolute solemnity. "Hmm... well, you see, it is like this."
Taichi looked up. "My wife also gave birth."
A few feet away, Kari's jaw hit the floor. Her wide eyes darted between her older brother and Mizuki, sheer horror and confusion washing over her young face.
The two Tyrannomon stared at the middle-school-aged boys, completely stunned. They looked at Mizuki, then at Taichi, and spoke in unison. "Your wives... are the same person?"
Mizuki and Taichi nodded vigorously. "Yes, yes, yes."
Kari looked like she was about to faint.
Realizing the Tyrannomon's tempers were about to physically detonate, Mizuki and Taichi finally caught themselves. They realized the joke had gone a bit too far. Taking synchronous deep breaths, they forced the grins off their faces and adopted expressions of grave seriousness.
"Oh, wait, no," Mizuki corrected smoothly.
"They just gave birth on the same day," Taichi added, nodding sagely.
But the damage was done. The Tyrannomon clearly did not trust a single word coming out of their mouths anymore.
"We are warning you! We are not joking around!" the first dinosaur roared, spittle flying from his jaws.
"The Ultimate level King Etemon is absolutely invincible on the Server Continent!"
"Do you even comprehend what an Ultimate level is?! ULTIMATE LEVEL!"
As if to visually demonstrate the towering, impossible power of an Ultimate level Digimon, the two Tyrannomon awkwardly clambered on top of one another, stacking themselves into a wobbly, scaly tower.
They genuinely believed this towering display would strike fear into the hearts of the humans. Instead, the moment they stabilized, Mizuki and Taichi took one look at the dinosaur totem pole and completely lost their minds, doubling over in howling laughter.
"HEY!"
"I am sorry, I am sorry," Mizuki wheezed, wiping a tear from his eye. "My wife gave birth."
"Do you think we are stupid?! You are just little kids! Where would you even get wives?!" the top Tyrannomon shrieked, flailing his short arms. "Even if you defeated us in battle, there is no need to be this insulting! I have been tolerating your disrespect for too long!"
Seeing the dinosaurs on the verge of a breakdown, Taichi waved his hands defensively, trying to catch his breath. "No, no, no, we just purely wanted to understand... your strength... pfft."
"You are clearly still laughing at us! You have not stopped!"
"Calm down, calm down," Mizuki finally stepped in, his voice dropping an octave into a more authoritative, soothing tone. "Okay, we understand the details now. Next, just as we agreed at the start, you will go bring back the Agumon you kidnapped. After that, you will accept Koromon's punishment."
Mizuki offered them a small, genuine smile. "Once that is done, you can regain your freedom."
The two Tyrannomon slowly unstacked themselves, their shoulders slumping in defeat. "Fine..."
After Mizuki's final round of appeasement, the dinosaurs calmed down, helplessly accepting their reality. In the end, the Digital World was a cruel place where the strong preyed on the weak. After losing a battle, simply being allowed to keep their lives was a rare mercy. They did not dare push their luck.
Thinking about it now, a cold sweat broke out across their scaly backs. They were actually incredibly lucky. The Agumon they had captured was meant to be a tribute for King Etemon, but they had not gotten around to delivering him yet.
If they had actually handed the prisoner over to the King, there was no way they could complete Mizuki's task now. Their data would have been erased for sure.
----
"So, what should we do now?"
While the two Tyrannomon trudged off into the dark to retrieve the kidnapped Agumon, Taichi and the others gathered back at the center of the village. They were surrounded by the local Koromon, keeping a close eye on the bound Pagumon who served as both captives and use.
Taichi looked around the campfire. "Should we pack up and leave, or wait here for Etemon to come looking for us?"
"Leaving is objectively the safest option," Mizuki replied, poking the fire with a stick, watching the embers dance. "But blindly running away into unknown territory will not solve our core problem."
Hearing Mizuki's assessment, Taichi immediately jumped to his feet, his fists clenched. "If we only had Champion level strength, running would make sense. But things are different now. My Agumon can evolve to the Ultimate level."
Taichi's eyes burned with determination. "Etemon is also an Ultimate level. Under these circumstances, we are not helpless. We can absolutely contend with him!"
Seeing the raw fighting spirit radiating from the goggled boy, Mizuki simply smiled and nodded, choosing not to argue.
Izzy, sitting cross-legged with his laptop resting on his knees, adjusted his posture. "Taichi, did you not mention earlier that you felt a reaction from your Crest nearby?"
Taichi blinked, the adrenaline fading for a second. "Yeah, I did."
"Since that is the case, why do we not quickly search the surrounding area before Etemon has a chance to arrive?" Izzy suggested logically.
Taichi slammed his fist into his palm. "Right!"
No sooner were the words spoken than Taichi was moving. Operating on pure initiative, he completely ignored the fact that it was pitch black outside. Grabbing Agumon by the claw, he bolted out of the tent and vanished into the night.
Izzy watched the tent flap swing shut, letting out a long, helpless sigh at his friend's boundless energy. He then turned his attention back across the campfire, his gaze locking onto Mizuki.
"Mizuki, your Nyaromon has not returned yet."
Izzy adjusted his grip on his laptop. "According to what the Tyrannomon just confessed, the BlackGatomon they encountered earlier today must be..."
"That is right," Mizuki answered smoothly, not showing a shred of hesitation. He had no intention of hiding the truth from Izzy's sharp mind. "I was the one who sent her out to investigate."
Mizuki tossed his stick into the fire, watching the flames consume the wood. "Although Etemon is only an Ultimate level, which is absolutely nothing compared to her true power, we still have to be careful. The incident with Devimon taught us that much."
Izzy frowned slightly, the glow of the screen illuminating his worried face. "Will there be a problem?"
"There will not be."
As Mizuki spoke, a deep, unshakable light shone in his eyes. It was a look of absolute, unconditional trust.
"If it is her, I believe there will not be a single problem."
Izzy studied Mizuki's face for a long moment. Slowly, the image of BeelStarmon's terrifying, world-shattering presence flashed through his mind. The sheer, overwhelming dominance she had displayed.
"...You are right," Izzy muttered, nodding as he turned back to his screen, asking no further questions.
----
Miles away, under the cover of darkness.
After traveling swiftly through the rugged terrain, BlackGatomon—who had split off from the Tyrannomon earlier—successfully arrived at the coordinates of Etemon's base camp.
Crouched high atop a rocky ridge, she stared down at the massive, heavily modified trailer parked in the clearing below.
'What kind of powerful existence could this King Etemon be, to receive such high praise from those Tyrannomon?' BlackGatomon thought, her golden eyes narrowing into dangerous slits.
She remained perfectly still, silently mobilizing the dense, volatile data within her small body. The moment it became necessary, she was fully prepared to trigger her digivolution. She would descend upon this so-called King in her BeelStarmon form and annihilate him with the force of a localized natural disaster.
Down below, the heavy metal hatch of the trailer hissed, slowly lowering to form a ramp.
BlackGatomon tensed every muscle in her body. She concentrated her senses to their absolute peak, preparing to lay eyes on the entity the Tyrannomon had dubbed the 'Strongest Digimon'and the'King of the Continent'.
A figure stepped out of the shadows.
BlackGatomon froze.
Down on the makeshift stage, a Digimon wearing a pair of dark sunglasses and holding a microphone began aggressively thrusting his hips, striking a series of bizarre, provocative poses for an audience of absolutely no one.
BlackGatomon's jaw went slack.
'Wh... What the heck is this?!'She scanned his data signature, her mind struggling to process the feedback.'An Ultimate level? He is just an Ultimate level?!'She stared at the dancing monkey, utterly bewildered. His data density was pathetic. He did not even possess a fraction of the raw, suffocating strength that NeoDevimon or Andromon had radiated!'Are they kidding me?'Looking down at the ridiculous, hip-thrusting Digimon on the stage below, BlackGatomon felt her tense, murderous aura evaporate into the night air. She slowly sat back on her haunches, falling into an unmatched, deep state of self-doubt.'Why was I taking this so seriously just now...?'
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