Knights of the Digital World

Who doesn't dream of their child succeeding? Especially in Japan, where education is extremely important. To get into a good university, you have to build a solid foundation from a young age, climbing step by step, stepping over countless books – that would be ideal!

As for Guilmon, it went to the park to train with Lionmon, hoping to master its wild nature as soon as possible.

Because Emu had to supervise Takato's studies, the two of them always went out on their own. They would rush home for dinner when it was almost mealtime.

The extent to which it has mastered its wild instincts is currently unknown, but Guilmon has at least learned to stealth. Otherwise, a red dinosaur wandering around outside would surely cause some commotion.

Weekends go by so fast. Before you know it, it's time to go back to school.

Keito said that this was the first time he had ever looked forward to going to school so much. Compared to Emu's hellish sea of ​​homework, school was simply heaven!

However, before leaving home, Takato still asked Emu:

"Emu, are you really not going to school with me? Dad can help you with the paperwork. School is so much fun. You'll be so bored at home all by yourself."

Yongmeng chuckled and shook her head, saying, "No, no, I finished it a long time ago in another timeline. Besides, I have my own things to do, so I won't be bored."

"I see. Since you've put it that way, Emu, then alright. But don't run around this afternoon. Let's go to the park together after school. Hirokazu, Kenta, and Kenra will be there too."

Qi Ren said with some regret.

"Okay, hurry up and go to school. Don't be late."

Emu nodded in agreement. Then, Qiren skipped and hopped off to school.

No wonder they're elementary school students!

After watching Qiren leave, Yongmeng withdrew his gaze and began to think.

Now that we don't have to worry about accommodation, it's time to take the initiative to find that host!

Chapter Eleven, Meeting

Emu had also considered the situation of that host.

Without any information, relying solely on Tsukasa Kadoya's statement that "Knights are attracted to each other" and simply waiting or running around aimlessly was too passive and inefficient for Emu.

However, unlike Tsukasa Kadoya, Emu is not able to track the Rider power within the fragments and accurately find the host. For now, it seems that this inefficient and clumsy method is the only option.

However, each situation needs to be analyzed individually. If it were any other world, Emu would find it very difficult to analyze anything further. But the world he's in now is the world of Digimon.

One striking aspect of the Digimon world is the inclusion of adults as casual spectators. This is particularly evident in the fourth and sixth seasons.

The third installment marked a turning point, with adults gradually taking on more screen time and playing a more significant role. It wasn't until the fifth installment that adults truly stepped up, forming the DATS and moving beyond the elementary school students handling everything.

But overall, children have an advantage when it comes to encountering strange and unusual things in the Digimon world.

Emu clearly remembers that his system fragment was awakened because he detected special digital world energy when he entered the Digital World, which activated the system fragment.

It is conceivable that the activation of other fragments will also involve encountering special energies or special circumstances.

These kinds of things are nothing to worry about in this world. Ninety-nine percent of the time, it's children who encounter them.

Who knows, this host might actually be a beast tamer.

Regardless of whether Emu's conjecture is correct or not, at least after his brainstorming, he narrowed down the scope considerably. Especially since the next five days are regular school days, Emu only needs to visit each school once. This is much easier than wandering around aimlessly.

Of course, if the host isn't a student or has dropped out, Emu is helpless. He can only rely on Tsukasa Kadoya's "attraction theory" and wait patiently.

In any case, Emu set a goal first: to visit all the schools near Shinjuku.

Anyway, he wasn't in a hurry. His task wasn't to directly retrieve the fragments, but to observe whether the host had degenerated into a monster and whether he was worthy of being entrusted with the knight's power.

There's no strange news coming out yet, which means that the host hasn't done anything out of line, so there's no need to worry.

Besides Shinjuku Central Elementary School, which Keito and his friends attend, and the private girls' elementary school that Ruki attends, there are four other elementary schools near Nishi-Shinjuku. Emu got a map from Keito's mother and planned out today's exploration itinerary.

Japanese elementary school students typically eat and rest at school at noon and do not go home. Therefore, Emu had quite a bit of time.

He had promised to go to the park with Keito and the others that afternoon, so he put Shinjuku Central Elementary School last. After saying goodbye to Keito's mother, Emu took the map and began his exploration.

The new Decade Driver can lock onto the host at a distance of 500 meters, which is quite a large range. In most cases, Emu can simply circle around the school.

The only thing to worry about is being seen by the school security guards or teachers and being dragged into the school as a truant.

"Hmm, I've already checked three schools, and there's still no response. Three more left. Let me see... the next one is... a private girls' elementary school. I remember, Ruki went to school here..."

Emu held the map, examined it for a moment, and muttered to himself.

He had previously investigated three schools, but the new Decade Driver hadn't responded. However, Emu wasn't in a hurry. There were still three schools to investigate, and the results were still unknown; there was no need to doubt himself so early.

"Hmm? The Arc Light Machine is responding. Are there any Digimon over there?"

Emu was surprised that his own Arc Light Machine reacted first. This meant that a Digimon had appeared nearby.

Currently, most Digimon capable of manifesting in the human world are at the Rookie stage. However, even Rookie-level Digimon pose a significant threat to humans.

Especially in the world of Tamers. The Digital World in this world is not fully developed. When a Digimon dies, its data is absorbed by its opponent, instead of creating a Digi-Egg. Digimon directly fight each other for evolution, and the entire world adheres to a jungle law of survival of the fittest, dominated by wild instincts.

Aside from Digimon with partners, most Digimon need to increase their level to shed their wild nature and demonstrate the abilities befitting highly intelligent beings.

Examples like the Ice Demon Beast and the Twelve Demon Emperors from the original work are such beings.

Many of the Digimon that manifest in the human world are the type that attack anyone they see and are solely focused on fighting.

These kinds of Digimon are far too dangerous for humans. The timing of this particular Digimon's appearance is also very opportune. The tamers capable of handling it are all in school. If left unchecked, some horrific incidents could very well occur.

However, Emu wouldn't ignore this. After receiving the Arc Light Machine's warning, Emu immediately found a place, transformed into Decade, and headed towards the location indicated by the Arc Light Machine.

Decade's speed was much faster than in human form. A moment later, Emu saw a cloud of white mist.

This white mist symbolizes Digimon manifesting in the human world, and also serves as a buffer between the rules of the two worlds. In addition to the Arc Machine's prompts, this strangely appearing white mist also serves as a warning to the Tamers.

The fact that the white mist hasn't dissipated indicates that the Digimon has only recently materialized. Given time, the Digimon will adapt to the rules of both worlds, and the white mist will disappear, allowing it to move freely. That's when the real trouble will begin.

Emu breathed a sigh of relief and was about to rush into the white mist to deal with the unknown Digimon when the white mist suddenly dissipated.

What appeared before Emu was a Digimon that looked like a wasp and had a somewhat ferocious appearance.

This is a Champion-level Digimon, Hornetmon!

But at this moment, the wasp-like beast's eyes were lifeless; it had already lost its life. The next moment, the wasp-like beast transformed into red data points, coalescing into a card, which was picked up and examined briefly:

"Digital Card, Champion-level Waspmon. Hmm, another Champion-level? Isn't that weaker than my base form? And... it's so ugly. Forget it, I don't want to become like that. This card is banned!"

The man muttered a few words to himself, then put the card away. Looking up, he saw Yongmeng standing there, tilted his head, and muttered to himself:

"Huh? When did a mirror appear here? Why am I seeing my own reflection?"

Emu, somewhat speechless and helpless, said, "There are no mirrors here. I am another Decade."

The knight standing before Emu, whose main color was magenta, had green compound eyes, and whose face was covered in stripes, was none other than Decade!

The host of the fragment has been found!

Chapter Twelve, Asuna the Fake

Yongmeng never expected that the host she was looking for would suddenly appear when he was completely unprepared.

Although this host looks a bit silly, Emu has indeed been exposed.

It seems that the original plan of secretly observing after finding the host is no longer feasible.

After a brief moment of thought, Emu decided to be direct and explain the situation to the host.

Sometimes observation doesn't have to be done in secret. Since you've already been exposed, just observe openly and honestly.

Human habits are not so easy to change. Even if you know someone is watching you, it's impossible to constantly think about and control your behavior.

Just like in Zi-O, Geiz and Tsukuyomi live in the Demon King's house, openly stating that they want to keep an eye on him. This is precisely based on this point.

Otherwise, if they told the little devil everything, who would be foolish enough to act like they would become a world-destroying demon king and then get strangled in their seedling stage?

Isn't it because they're confident they can truly discern the little devil's character and personality through the details of everyday life?

Of course, it's another matter entirely if they eventually confirmed that the little devil was a chuunibyou (a person with delusions of grandeur) idiot.

Judging from what the host was saying to himself earlier, he seemed a bit dull and was probably another simpleton... These kinds of people are the least able to hide themselves, so there's not much difference between observing them secretly and observing them directly.

Of course, if this person is actually an old fox, and all his previous self-talk was just an act, then Emu has nothing to say—he's disguised so convincingly that even if he observed him secretly, he couldn't see through him.

Yongmeng's sudden voice clearly startled the host. He trembled, jumped back two steps, and clutched his chest, exclaiming in surprise:

"It spoke! It really is Decade. How strange, how come there's another Decade? The fragment didn't tell me."

"Hmm... things are a bit complicated... let's find a place to talk about it slowly. Besides, it's not really appropriate for us to go out like this, let's deactivate the transformation first?"

Emu scratched his face and made a suggestion.

Of course, since the two are not yet familiar with each other, deactivating their transformations at such close range could put the one who deactivated first in danger should the other party have malicious intentions.

Therefore, Emu is prepared to continue proposing methods, such as creating some distance between them before deactivating their transformations.

However, the host didn't think that far ahead. After hearing Yongmeng's suggestion, he readily nodded and said:

"Hmm, you're right. It does look weird if others see it like this. It might scare them. I was terrified when I looked in the mirror the first time I transformed. So, I'll deactivate the transformation!"

As the host spoke, he reached out and pulled out the card, transforming back into human form.

Emu paused, then reached for his card to deactivate his transformation, scolding, "You need to be more careful. We're still strangers. If I had tried to harm you, you would have been in real danger. You... wait? A girl?!"

Yongmeng stopped mid-sentence, looking at her host with some surprise.

At this moment, the host had transformed back into human form. She was a cute girl with pink hair, about the same age as Emu. She was looking down, listening to Emu's lecture, and scratching her head somewhat embarrassedly.

Hearing Emu's exclamation, the host raised his head, a sheepish smile on his face, and said:

"I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking that much. But why are you so surprised? Is it strange that I'm a girl?"

"No... I'm just a little surprised."

Emu waved his hand. Of course, he had considered the possibility that the host was a girl, otherwise he wouldn't have come to the private girls' elementary school. However, subconsciously, he still believed that Decade's user should be male, which was why he was somewhat surprised.

After a brief moment of surprise, Emu quickly composed himself, extended his right hand to the host, and introduced himself: "Hello, I am Hosho Emu."

The host was very outgoing, reaching out to shake Emu's hand a few times, saying, "Hello, my name is Asuna Kino! Nice to meet you!"

"Asuna Kino?"

The host's name made Emu raise an eyebrow again. Wasn't that Oy's alias? However, Emu then thought of her own name and didn't dwell on it. It was probably just a coincidence.

"What's wrong? Is my name weird?"

Asuna noticed Emu's surprise and asked curiously.

"No, I've just heard the name before, so it's intriguing. Let's find somewhere to talk this over. There's something I need to tell you."

Emu shook his head and said.