Knights of the Digital World

"It seems everyone agrees? Then I won't say anything more. However, what Yamaki said isn't necessarily wrong; everyone should still take care of their own safety."

Emu concluded, then added, "For the next few days, don't worry about Digimon materialization. Leave it to me."

"Huh? Why?"

Qi Ren asked in confusion.

"Because I don't want you to get hit by tear gas," Emu answered in his mind.

In the original work, the reason why Yamaki was able to leave a psychological scar on Takato was not only because his words aroused Takato's fear of the wildness of the Gilmon, but also because of his wild attitude of turning on searchlights and throwing tear gas with a group of people.

Now that I know, I'd better not let Qiren suffer this pain.

However, Emu certainly wouldn't explain it that way on the surface. He simply said, "You've all evolved, and Leomon wants to get some exercise too. So, Leomon and I will handle the recent Digimon."

Hearing Emu's reason, the three agreed. Indeed, only Lionmon hadn't evolved, and he was bound to get impatient. Since he was willing, they would leave it to Lionmon!

After the matter was discussed, the group stopped talking and went their separate ways.

…………

"Emu, are you really going to let me evolve? You've been forbidding it before, talking about some kind of 'bento buff'... what is that?"

Young Lionmon and Emu strolled along the empty, quiet street, asking curiously.

Perhaps because he came from another Digital World, his desire for evolution wasn't as urgent as that of the Digimon in this world. Even though Emu kept suppressing him and preventing him from evolving, he didn't have any objections.

"We'll see. If necessary, I'll let you evolve. Hmm, you should have other evolutionary chains, right? Just don't evolve into Leomon, sometimes you really have to believe in the supernatural."

Emu replied.

"Metaphysics? I don't understand..."

The young Lionmon shook its head and stopped talking. But it remembered one thing: don't evolve into Leomon.

After walking for a while, the area ahead was suddenly covered by white mist.

There are materialized Digimon here!

"Oh, we've arrived. Here's the lion cub. Take care of him, and then we can go back to sleep."

Emu glanced at the white mist ahead and said casually.

"Leave it to me, Emu!"

The young lion said confidently as it charged into the white mist.

Emu didn't go in; he trusted the strength of the Lion Cub.

Sure enough, after a while, the white mist gradually dissipated, and the young lion-mon emerged, swaying its head: "It's Dark Lizardmon. Its strength is average. But after all, it's a Champion-level beast, so it took some effort."

"Dark Lizardmon... I remember in the original story, it was when Takato was fighting him that Yamaki interfered, right? So this time..."

Yongmeng muttered a couple of words, and suddenly a blinding white light shone on where they were.

"Tsk, so it really came. Lion Cub!"

Emu clicked his tongue, covered his eyes with one hand, and shouted loudly.

“I know, Emu!”

The lion cub responded with a shout, then leaped up, its claws crackling with energy, and destroyed the thrown tear gas canister.

At this moment, Emu also adjusted to the sudden bright light, blinked, and saw Yamaki, who was still wearing sunglasses and acting cool in the middle of the night, standing blankly in front of him, looking like he wanted to say something but couldn't.

This script is different from what he expected!

However, Yamaki quickly recovered and said, "You're a Digital Tamer, right? That's your name."

“No, no. Please call me Kamen Rider, thank you,” Emu replied politely.

Yamaki choked for a moment. "Little brother, what's wrong with you? Why isn't this a scripted answer?"

"Alright, then let's go with Kamen Rider. There's nothing wrong with you playing with cards, but your parents will scold you for playing such a dangerous game."

Yamaki didn't want to get bogged down in the details and was ready to get straight to the point.

"Ah, excuse me. I haven't been playing with the cards. I know how to use them, but I haven't used them yet." Emu raised his hand, looking like a good child. "Besides, my mom and dad aren't in this world, so they won't scold me."

"Uh, sorry?" Yamaki misunderstood Emu's words, thinking that his parents had passed away. His tone softened a bit, no longer as aggressive as before.

"I didn't expect your parents to already be... In that case, you shouldn't continue this dangerous game!"

"Thank you for your concern. However, we can't just let those evil Digimon run rampant."

"If that's the case, then what's that next to you? Isn't it also a Digimon?"

“Lion Cub is different. He’s my partner! He’ll protect me too.”

Yongmeng waved to the cub, ignoring Yamaki's words.

He led the lion cub to Shanmu's side, patted his arm, and said:

"I think you're a pretty good person, so I'll give you some advice. Abandon the annihilation plan. That's Pandora's box. Let's go!"

After Emu finished speaking, he and Lion Cub stepped into the street and gradually disappeared into the darkness, leaving only Yamaki standing there in a daze: Are you a member of the mysterious department or am I? Your style is too weird!

But should we abandon the annihilation plan?

Yamaki shook his head. The annihilation plan was their team's trump card, capable of completely eradicating the Digimon in the human world. How could they possibly give it up?

However, Emu's words planted a seed in his heart, causing him to worry again:

Will things go as smoothly as planned?

Chapter Twenty-Six, Annihilation Plan

Yamaki, the head of a division under the Network Management Bureau and the leader of the Wild Squad, is specifically responsible for handling Digimon issues.

His team devised a plan called "Annihilation," which involved using captured Digimon as bait to lure Digimon that would materialize in the real world, and then completely dismantling the data of the hooked Digimon.

This plan seems simple, but once activated, it will create a terrifying black hole that sucks in the Digimon, making it almost impossible to resist. This is why Yamaki uses it as his trump card.

In terms of their approach to Digimon, Yamaki and Kurata are somewhat similar.

In the early part of the third season, Yamaki was portrayed as a villain. He always wore a black suit and sunglasses, fiddling with a lighter, issuing orders to his subordinates in dim lighting. He secretly observed the Digimon's movements and devised the horrific "annihilation plan." By all accounts, he was a villain.

However, Yamaki is different from Kurata. Kurata's determination to eliminate Digimon was entirely self-destructive. He imagined how terrifying Digimon were and then made up his mind to kill them, which was a kind of twisted self-indulgence.

Yamaki, however, was different. He had no prejudice against Digimon and had even carefully investigated their origins. However, in the world of the third season, Digimon, rather than intelligent beings, appeared to humans more like wild animals, driven by evolutionary instincts.

What's most terrifying is that Digimon possess terrifying destructive power, posing a life-threatening threat to humans when manifesting. Moreover, unlike wild creatures which have lifespan limitations, Digimon can live indefinitely through the digital network as long as they are not defeated. They even have the potential to evolve and become stronger.

Such an existence poses a far too great threat to humanity. Yamaki simply cannot ignore it.

His actions were entirely motivated by a desire to protect the human world. Therefore, his ruthlessness towards Digimon is understandable.

After all, he didn't have a Digimon partner and didn't understand the bond between humans and Digimon. He only saw the threat Digimon posed to humans. From a human perspective, he naturally wanted to eliminate that threat.

He is actually quite humane. This is evident in his earlier warnings to Takato and the others not to continue playing dangerous games, and in how he changed his tone after misunderstanding Emu's parents' passing.

This is completely different from someone like Kurata.

Emu still had some affection for Yamaki, so he reminded Yamaki to stop the annihilation plan.

In the original story, the Annihilation Project caused a huge mess. It opened up a passage between the human world and the digital world. A passage that could only be passed occasionally by those in the growth and maturity stages was expanded to allow even fully evolved beings to pass through.

Furthermore, the annihilation plan attracted the attention of Flying Tiger Beast, one of the Twelve Demon Emperors. The existence of Ancient Beast was also exposed, leading to the subsequent invasion of the real world by the Twelve Demon Emperors.

As Emu commented, the Annihilation Plan is Pandora's box; once opened, it will cause even greater calamity.

…………

"Emu, what are you thinking about?"

On the way back, the young lion looked at the pensive Eternal Dream and asked.

"Ah, I'm wondering if the extermination plan will be halted. But it's probably unlikely. Yamaki is very determined to eliminate the materialized Digimon."

Emu sighed. The annihilation plan had consumed countless hours of effort from Yamaki and his subordinates. It was utterly impossible for a mere brat like him to stop it with a casual remark.

However, he couldn't just sit idly by; he could only do his best and leave the rest to fate. Who knew, maybe Yamaki would suddenly have a brain fart and listen to him?

"Phew, whatever. If they're determined to do it, there's nothing we can do to stop them... Lion Cub, get ready, your evolution might be just around the corner."

Emu reached out and ruffled the head of the cub, then said nothing more.

The baby lionmon fell silent, its mind only echoing Emu's earlier words: "Don't you want to evolve into Leomon?"

…………

Over the next few days, Emu and Lionmon continued their journey through the city, searching for materialized Digimon and defeating them.

Yamaki's extermination plan required a powerful Digimon as its driving force. In the original story, Darkstalkermon was captured and used as its power source.

This time, Lionmon defeated Darkstalkermon, forcing Yamaki to search for a new Digimon. Emu and the others' sweeping of Digimon also made it more difficult for Yamaki to find a suitable target.

However, Yamaki has a monitoring system called "Hippos" that can be used to monitor the existence of Digimon.

Just as Emu had said before, never underestimate the power of a nation. Three days later, on Saturday afternoon, a strong energy fluctuation suddenly erupted from the center of two adjacent high-rise buildings in the heart of the city. The annihilation plan had been activated!

…………

"Has it started yet? Lion Cub, let's go take a look."

Emu looked up at the energy waves shooting straight into the sky from the building, pursed his lips, and called to the cub to run towards the building.

…………

"Qiren, something is coming."

The Gilmon's eyes revealed a wildness, yet its mind was clear. It stared intently at the black hole formed by the energy pillar striking the sky, and gave a warning.

"Is this the annihilation plan that Emu mentioned? It looks a bit scary... But we won't give up. Let's go, Guilmon!"

Takato looked at the black hole in the sky and said seriously. Then, he and Guilmon headed towards the building.

…………

"I'm going out!"

With the big-eared beast on his shoulder, Jianliang shouted to his family and rushed out.

His father, Li Zhenyu, frowned slightly, turned to look at the strange scene outside the window, and murmured, "Is it related to Digimon again? What exactly did we create back then..."

…………

"Youkomon, is this the annihilation plan that Emu mentioned?" Ruki looked up at the sky.