Knights of the Digital World

However, he had also worked hard to improve his combat abilities. Although he had no limbs, he could fully utilize the power of his Treasure Horn using only his tail, wielding it with a skillful and unpredictable trajectory. It was through his diligent training with the Treasure Horn that this move became one of his signature techniques. Its name is—

"Hoboho!"

The Royal Serpent Beast let out a serpentine hiss, roaring and waving the treasure scepter bound to its tail, relentlessly slashing at Yongmeng. Energy flowed across the treasure scepter, making it appear extremely powerful.

However, Emu had also undergone the hellish training of Darkmon. Compared to Darkmon, who was the foremost among the evil warriors, Ogremon's supposedly superior skills were still somewhat lacking.

Emu moved with ease through the gaps in the swings of the Treasure Pot, his Control Card Sword occasionally striking the Royal Serpent Beast's attack points and disrupting its rhythm.

He even offered a few comments with great enthusiasm: "The technique is alright, but still a bit rough. However, considering you don't have hands, it's understandable. But the energy control is terrible; it keeps dissipating. It looks nice, but it's such a waste of energy. Thumbs down."

"Hey! Don't be so arrogant!!"

The Royal Serpent Beast was furious at Emu's actions, and the pain from its blinded eye only fueled the fire in its heart, causing it to roar out in anger.

"I've seen all your techniques, so let's end it here!"

Yongmeng ignored the roar of the Royal Serpent Beast and spoke in a calm tone.

Then, he swayed his body, dodging the treasure shard that the Royal Serpent Beast was about to strike. He then used the Card Box Sword to insert it into the groove of the treasure shard and pry it open. The treasure shard, which was tightly bound by the Royal Serpent Beast, was once again knocked away by Yongmeng.

He wasn't joking with the Royal Serpent Beast; he had truly seen through its moves, which was why he was able to find an opportunity to easily disarm it.

Otherwise, given the power difference between Decade's base form and Orochimon, achieving this would be quite difficult.

The Royal Serpent Beast hadn't expected to be proven wrong so quickly. But instinctively, its tail twitched and lashed out at Emu.

Emu forcefully stepped on the tail of the Royal Serpent Beast, then thrust the Card Box Sword downwards, piercing through the tail and embedding it into the ground, temporarily immobilizing the Royal Serpent Beast.

With the power of the Royal Serpent Beast, it wouldn't take long for it to break free from this simple restraint.

However, Emu was only pursuing this period of time.

"I'll use this move to finish you off!"

Emu took out the Rider Card "Final Attack Ride Decade" and inserted it into the new Decade Driver. With the sound effect of the driver, Emu leaped up, and ten card-shaped light walls appeared between him and the Royal Serpent Beast.

"Fattackride!"

“de-de-de-decade!”

The next moment, golden energy wrapped around Emu's right foot, carrying him through the light wall and piercing through the body of the Royal Serpent Beast.

The Royal Serpent Beast opened its mouth, but before it could utter a word, golden energy suddenly erupted from its body, shattering into data.

Amidst the flurry of data, Emu turned to look at Asuna and calmly said:

"This is the power of Decade. This is the power of Kamen Rider!"

Chapter Thirty-Six, The Secret of Evolution

"You need to become stronger!"

Emu looked at the three people in front of him and said seriously, "The gate between the Digital World and the Real World has been opened. From now on, there will be more and more Ultimate-level Digimon appearing. With your current strength, which can only evolve to the Champion level, you won't be able to handle it!"

"But, isn't there Emu? You took down the Ultimate Ogre Jaguarmon all by yourself yesterday, didn't you? Is that the power of a Kamen Rider? That's incredible!"

Qi Ren said with some admiration.

Yesterday, after Emu defeated the Royal Serpent Beast, he told Takato and Kenra the news. These two friends knew that Emu could transform, but they didn't know his strength after transforming, and they were shocked by his achievements.

"Takato, we can't put all the pressure on Emu. We have our city to protect, so we should do our part too!"

Jianliang reached out and patted Qiren on the shoulder, and said.

Ruki chimed in from the side, "I want to become stronger."

"That's just what I said. I want to get stronger myself. I also want to see what Guilmon's Ultimate form looks like."

Takato chuckled awkwardly and quickly asked, "Emu, how can we become stronger?"

"It's simple, just evolve! When you're both at the Ultimate level, wild Digimon are no match for you," Emu said with a smile.

"Emmu, isn't that obvious? We know that evolution makes us stronger, isn't that... wait, do you have a way to make us evolve?"

Qi Ren had just made a couple of complaints when he suddenly realized something and quickly asked.

Kenryo and Ruki also looked at Emu, waiting for his answer.

"I have some guesses," Emu said, not giving a definitive answer.

In the third part, apart from the ultimate evolution, which is the fusion of a human and their partner Digimon and only requires the Arc Machine, all other evolutions require the power of cards.

The card needed to evolve from the growth stage to the mature stage has been figured out by Takato and his team; it's called "Super Evolution Components." The card needed to evolve from the mature stage to the complete form is a special card called "Blue Card."

This is a special card because it has no physical form. It's more like a manifestation of the children's beliefs and will. The blue card appears when the children's unwavering belief is sensed.

In the original work, Hirokazu and Kenta made their own blue cards to represent friendship. Although the cards were supposed to have no function, after Takato felt the friendship that the cards represented, his courage surged within him, and he firmly believed that the cards were useful, they really did perform the function of blue cards.

In addition to the essential Blue Card, the third season also requires the tamer and their partner Digimon to have a spiritual connection and mutual understanding in order to achieve Mega Evolution.

In fact, the evolutionary path in the third part is very clear: before evolution, the tamer relies on the Arc Machine and cards to support the partner Digimon, allowing the partner Digimon to exert stronger power.

During the first evolution, a synesthetic connection develops between the tamer and the Digimon; the tamer can feel the pain the Digimon experiences during battle. The use of cards becomes less important.

After that, through Mega Evolution, the Tamer and Digimon achieve a complete synesthetic connection. The Tamer can not only feel the Digimon's pain but also channel their own inner power into the Digimon, achieving perfect synchronization. Cards become essentially useless.

In the final ultimate evolution, the tamer and their partner Digimon merge into one, rendering the cards completely useless.

It is evident that each further evolution requires a deeper understanding between the tamer and their partner Digimon, emphasizing a spiritual connection.

If you can't do that, even if you have a blue card, you probably won't be able to super evolve.

Emu briefly explained his conjecture to the three of them, and they all seemed to be deep in thought.

Ruki hesitated for a moment before saying, "Last time I fought the Flying Tiger Beast, after the Rei-Fox Beast was defeated, I felt a little pain. But then I didn't feel anything anymore. I always thought it was just my imagination. Could it be that this is synesthesia?"

"It should be right. However, this vague feeling indicates that your communication with the fox beast is not yet sufficient. You still need to communicate with the fox beast more."

Emu stroked his chin and said.

In the original work, Ruki is clearly the "Digimon Queen," far surpassing Takato and Kenra in card usage, yet she's always the last to evolve. A major reason for this might be that both Ruki and Renamon are tsundere (initially cold but later warm) and unwilling to express their feelings directly, often leading to misunderstandings. This explains why she consistently falls behind in the third season, which emphasizes mutual understanding.

Now, with Emu mediating, many misunderstandings between Ruki and Youkomon have been avoided, and they have become more honest with each other. Compared to their time together in the original story, their relationship is clearly much closer now.

"That's great. I have absolutely no idea about synesthesia... Can you feel Guilmon's pain?" Takato looked at Ruki with some envy and began to think about it with a troubled expression.

In helping Takato grow, Emu also deprived him of many opportunities to connect with Guilmon. As a result, Takato's progress fell significantly behind the original story.

"Synergy... Am I still not understanding Terriermon enough?" Kenjiro pondered to himself. He had probably spent the most time with Terriermon of the three, but he still hadn't achieved synergy. Perhaps there was a lack of communication between them.

Seeing that they were all deep in thought, Emu also began to think about her own things.

There's no need to worry about the bond between Emu and Lionmon. Lionmon was raised by Emu from a Digi-Egg, so they have a natural affinity for each other.

However, Emu's feelings for Lionmon are somewhat complicated. Lionmon hatched from an egg left by his master, Darkmon. Therefore, Emu also lacks interaction with Lionmon, unconsciously treating him as someone capable of standing on his own.

It wasn't until the last time, when Lionmon changed its evolutionary chain through willpower because of a careless remark from Emu, that Emu realized that she hadn't cared enough about Lionmon.

Given its current state, it's probably impossible for Lion Cub to Mega Evolve.

I still need to interact more with the lion cubs!

Just as the four of them were deep in thought, a car horn suddenly sounded in the park, startling them awake.

The sudden sound of the horn startled the Digimon who were diligently training. They rushed to their tamers, warily observing their surroundings.

Wizardmon, who had no tamer, picked up Gurumon and stood next to Emu.

"Gurgle, gurgle, what's that sound? It sounds really nice!"

Gulemon jumped onto Wizardmon's head, reached out and pressed down Wizardmon's wizard hat, and asked curiously.

Wizardmon, as if accustomed to it, lifted his wizard hat back and replied:

"That's a train whistle. It's the sound a train makes when it's moving. But this is a park, so it's probably a Digimon making that sound. Gullmon, be careful and don't run around."

Chapter Thirty-Seven, The Resurrected Dark Ship

"Don't worry so much. If I'm not mistaken, this should be my friend."

Yongmeng had already realized what was happening and guessed who had sounded the whistle. Seeing everyone on high alert, she quickly spoke up.

Hearing Emu say this, the group relaxed and waited with some curiosity for the entity that had emitted the whistle to arrive.

Only Wizardmon remained vigilant. From his initial reluctance to now spending every day with Gullmon, he had completely embraced the role of a guardian, faithfully fulfilling his duty.

A short while later, the whistle sounded again, and a railway suddenly extended out in the void in front of them. A dark-colored tram beast revealed half of its body along the railway, while the other half remained hidden in the void.

Emu and Lionmon excitedly rushed over and called out the name of the trainmon: "Dark! Long time no see!"

"Eternal Dream, Wrinklemon, oh, it has evolved into Lionmon? It's been a long time." Dark's voice replied with a hint of a smile.

"I'm really sorry about last time. I didn't expect that there were people who could move between worlds, and I just ran into them... But that person was really strong. Anyway, in my opinion, even Lucemon wouldn't be a match for him... He said he was your senior and took you away. I was also seriously injured in the spacetime turbulence at the time and had to return to our world to recover. I only recovered a while ago."

After saying hello, Dark told Emu what had happened during his last world trip, which was basically the same as what Tsukasa Kadoya had said.

"It's nothing! That person was indeed one of my seniors, and he was truly powerful. The Light Beast was definitely no match for him. The incident was his fault, and it has nothing to do with you. Dark Ship, you don't need to worry about it."

After comforting Darkmoon for a few moments, Emu remembered her friends who were still nearby and quickly turned to introduce them:

"This is my friend, Trainmon Dark! He has the ability to travel between worlds and is the most powerful among the Trainmon!"

"Trainmon! I've never heard of this Digimon before! It sounds amazing, it travels between worlds!" Takato exclaimed a few times, and introduced himself to Dark.

"Hello, I'm Takato Matsuda! This is my partner, Guilmon!"

Guilmon leaned forward and sniffed the Darkrai's scent, then cheerfully said, "I'm Guilmon, hello there!"

The big-eared beast came over and sniffed, saying, "It smells like gasoline, a bit pungent."

"Big-eared Beast! That's so rude! Hello, I'm Li Jianliang. This is my partner, Big-eared Beast. Please forgive his rudeness."

Jianliang stepped forward, picked up the big-eared beast, and scolded it.

"Don't be rude, Ken." The Terrier broke free from Ken's embrace, climbed onto his shoulder, waved at Darkrai, and said, "Hello, I'm Terrier!"

Ruki also gave a brief self-introduction: "Hello, I am Ruki Makino. This is my partner, Rei-Nukemon."

The fox spirit stood behind Ruki and nodded to the Dark One.

"Hello. If you have the chance, I'll take you for a couple of laps," Darkship replied gently.

"Gurgle, this seat is so soft! Wizardmon, you should try it too!"

Unbeknownst to them, the Ancient Beast had secretly boarded the Darkship's carriage and was hopping and jumping on a seat.

Having been distracted by the Dark One and silently calculating its strength, Wizardmon finally realized what was happening. It instinctively scratched its head, then, finding nothing, hurriedly went inside and pulled Ancientmon out, repeatedly apologizing.