Chapter 36: after.
Takuya and the others were finally able to enter the city—if it could even be called a city—without any resistance. Built like a commercial district, it was now eerily silent.
Even so, they advanced cautiously.
It was unlikely that any of Fantomon’s followers were still hiding, but none of them were willing to lower their guard.
Now that he wasn’t sneaking through the streets with Pumpkinmon, Takuya could finally appreciate the place.
It reminded him of Japan.
Parts of it looked strikingly similar to Harajuku, mixed with the bustling shopping districts of Seoul and the traditional streets of Kyoto. The architecture blended together in a strangely natural way, creating a place that somehow felt both familiar and foregin.
Surrounded by mountains on every side, the town possessed a charm he hadn’t noticed before.
Taking into account the glowing lights drifting through the air, the scenery was honestly more beautiful than any Golden Week trip he had ever taken to Japan.
Eventually, they reached the large building standing at the center of the district.
Unlike every other structure, which blended naturally with the surroundings, this one was made entirely of metal.
The contrast was impossible to miss.
The building was enormous.
Inside, they found dozens of Monochromon chained to the floor, restrained in the same manner as the Drimogemon had been. Although they were in better condition, months of forced labor had clearly taken their toll. Their heads hung low, and they barely reacted to the newcomers, just like the drimogemons.
It was impressive—and depressing—what only a few months could do to someone’s spirit.
Only after Takuya and the others began removing the chains did the Monochromon finally raise their heads.
They looked around in confusion before turning toward the other members of their species.
"You’re free now," Takuya said. "We’re here to help. The invaders are gone. You can go home."
One by one, they freed every Monochromon.
The Digimon silently nodded in gratitude before slowly walking away.
Whether they couldn’t speak or simply didn’t want to, Takuya honestly wasn’t sure anymore.
The group continued deeper into the facility.
There, they found even more prisoners.
Most were Rookie-level Digimon, though there were a handful of Adult-level Digimon as well. The majority were smaller species, exhausted from constant labor.
There were Tailmon, both Rookie and Adult variants, Hookmon, and several other species Takuya recognized. A few larger Digimon were scattered among them, but not a single Perfect-level Digimon remained.
Either they had never been captured...
Or the Nightmare Soldiers had considered them too dangerous to keep alive.
Takuya immediately looked toward Pumpkinmon, but the Digimon was already glancing around, as if searching for someone. His plush fists slowly clenched.
Seeing that, Takuya didn’t need an answer anymore.
He understood.
There had been a friend of Pumpkinmon here.
Without saying a word, Takuya placed a hand on his shoulder and gave it a gentle pat.
"Thank you," Pumpkinmon muttered quietly.
After they finished releasing the remaining Digimon, every one of them thanked the group. Most of them, however, were starving and exhausted.
Takuya emptied his inventory without hesitation.
One would think he carried spare weapons or useful combat equipment inside it, but the truth was that he didn’t need any of that. He already had everything he needed to fight. Instead, his inventory was filled almost entirely with food, because that was what truly mattered during long expeditions.
Of course, he also carried a few basic supplies. He explained to the guild, that his inventory—or rather, his ""space magic""—had limited capacity, so he couldn’t carry everything, only the essentials.
After emptying it completely, he made sure every Digimon had something to eat. Only once all the food was gone did everyone finally settle down to rest.
Takuya rested as well.
Still, there was one more thing he wanted to see.
The Mugendramon shell.
The artificial body Fantomon and the others had been constructing in an attempt to force an evolution.
And there it was.
The sight filled him with an unexpected sense of nostalgia.
At the center of what he assumed had once been the forge rested a gigantic metallic arm, easily six or eight meters long, there’s was also part of the helmet.
It was unmistakably MetalGreymon’s.
The armored torso lay beside it, half-finished, waiting for the rest of the body to be assembled.
Now that he thought about it...
There hadn’t been a single Greymon on the island.
Or had there?
There should have been at least one somewhere. Even if Pumpkinmon had mistaken this place for a continent, it was still a fairly large island. He had even seen an Agumon among the rescued workers, so logically there should have been a Greymon somewhere.
Well... whatever.
Nearby rested Gokumon’s (reapermon) helmet as well. It looked surprisingly plain—rather ugly, even—compared to the rest of the construction, but it confirmed they had truly been trying to build these evolutions piece by piece.
The real question was...
How did the process actually work?
If there was anyone who could answer that, it was LoaderLeomon.
He had already seen what he wanted to see, so the rest could wait for another day, maybe a a week. He was sleepy now, and the fatigue from the journey and the battles still weighed on him. Even though he had spent a couple of days resting in LoaderLeomon’s lair, his body hadn’t fully recovered.
Then Pumpkinmon walked over to where Takuya was.
"You aren’t going to sleep? Come on, I’ll show you my home. I used to have a roommate, but... well..." Pumpkinmon said quite low.
"I’m sorry about your friend. Trully. What was he like?" Takuya asked.
"Oh, he was funny. He was an Icemon. We used to play pranks on everyone, but we were also the ones who protected this place. Whenever a Digimon tried to attack or capture someone here to evolve, we defended them. This was our home, you know. The people never knew. They only saw us as pranksters, but we liked pretending to be the heroes of this place. He was a really good friend," Pumpkinmon said.
"He sounds like he was an incredible friend," Takuya replied as they walked side by side.
Pumpkinmon nodded before speaking again.
"I would’ve liked you to meet him. Then the three of us could’ve pulled pranks together. That would’ve been awesome."
At that moment, Takuya noticed Pumpkinmon’s voice crack. Tears slowly began to fall from his black-and-yellow eyes.
Without hesitation, Takuya hugged his little friend.
Probably pumpkinmon had never imagined any of this. Pumpkinmon had never mentioned it, and from the way he had reacted before, Takuya had assumed his friend had simply been captured. He had never considered that they wouldn’t find him.
Pumpkinmon cried for almost half an hour before finally calming down.
Meanwhile, besides feeling sympathy for his friend, Takuya found himself thinking about how he could protect these Digimon. These people were just like humans, only with different bodies. To Takuya, there was no real difference between Jinwoo, Jinah, and Halloween the Pumpkinmon.
They were all his friends.
And after seeing everything that had happened here, he knew he would be coming back to the Digital World many more times. If that happened, he would probably make even more friends.
Once Halloween had calmed down, the two of them headed to his house, which, surprisingly enough, turned out to be the takoyaki stand Takuya liked back in korea.
The moment he realized it, Takuya burst into laughter and explained why, giving the little Digimon a reason to laugh as well.
Behind the shop was where Pumpkinmon lived. There were two tatami mats beside a normal-sized bed.
Right...
Icemon had been about the size of a human.
"You can use Icemon’s bed. There’s no problem with that," Halloween said.
The moment he lay down on his own bed, he instantly fell asleep, as if someone had flipped a switch.
Takuya couldn’t help but laugh.
He returned to his human form, finding it much more comfortable for sleeping. His body shrank back to its normal size, and although not quite as quickly as Pumpkinmon, he fell asleep almost immediately.
The night passed without incident.
Nothing happened.
When morning came, Takuya blinked awake and noticed that Pumpkinmon was already making breakfast.
Eggs.
A lot of eggs.
Where he had found them, Takuya had no idea, and honestly, he didn’t even bother asking. Too many things in this world simply didn’t make sense.
"Takuya, what are you going to do now?" Pumpkinmon asked.
"I’m going to talk with LoaderLeomon—and with you. Come on, let’s go. I have a proposal for both of you," Takuya exclaimed.
"Oh, okay."
The two of them continued eating and chatting. Halloween’s mood was much better than before. They joked around, and Takuya asked him everything he knew about the island.
Pumpkinmon admitted that he didn’t know much. He was familiar with the Drimogemon caves—which they now called Leomon Mountain—and another city located near the island’s largest mountain.
After finishing breakfast, they went looking for LoaderLeomon, which turned out to be quite easy.
He was huge, after all.
When LoaderLeomon saw them approaching, he smiled.
Or at least, Takuya thought he did. It was difficult to tell with a mechanical Digimon.
"Good morning, friends. How was the night? Yesterday you said you wanted to ask me something," LoaderLeomon said.
"Yes. Actually, there are two things. First... do you know of a good Greymon around here? Like one we could—"
Before Takuya could finish, LoaderLeomon interrupted him.
"One we could use those modifications on and turn into MetalGreymon? Yes, I know one. He’s a friend of mine. He lives to the north, protecting the Island of Beginnings."
"The Island of Beginnings?" Takuya repeated.
They were already on LAN Island, so what was this?
Another nearby island?
"Yes. There’s a lake on this island, and in the middle of it lies another, much smaller island. That’s one of the places where Digimon are born. A Greymon protects the babies there, along with the Agumon who take care of them. When I saw the MetalGreymon parts yesterday, he was the first Digimon that came to mind," LoaderLeomon explained.
"And how exactly does it work? As far as I know, gathering data is the normal way to evolve."
"That’s the primary method," LoaderLeomon nodded. "But it’s not the only one. You can also integrate existing data stored within minerals and special materials. That’s known as the path of body modification. It doesn’t remove the need for data in order to evolve, but it does reduce the amount required."
"Now let’s go. I already have everything prepared for the trip," LoaderLeomon said.
Several Digimon wheeled over a massive cart and fastened it securely to his body. Inside were the MetalGreymon helmet, the giant mechanical arm, and the armored chest plate. The remaining materials had yet to be forged into recognizable parts, but they loaded those as well.
"What are you waiting for? Get on my back. I’ll be much faster than walking," LoaderLeomon said.
Without hesitation, Takuya and Pumpkinmon climbed onto his back.
The mechanical lion revved the wheels beneath his paws.
Then he shot forward.
The sudden acceleration almost threw both of them off, forcing Takuya and Pumpkinmon to grab tightly onto LoaderLeomon’s armor as the scenery blurred around them.
Leaving the city behind, the three of them raced north toward the Island of Beginnings.