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Chapter Text

Chapter 1: Destiny arrives

In a dark room, a boy no older than four, was watching his favorite video of his idol on his computer. This boy's name was Midoriya Izuku, he had a head of green hair and eyes, four freckles in a diamond shape marked each of his cheeks.

“All Might is so cool! I can’t wait to get my quirk and be a hero like him!” Izuku didn’t know it yet, but his wish was about to be granted.

The screen that showed the smiling mountain of a man began to flick, the image glitching, “What?! Oh no, if I break the computer mom won’t let me use it alone again!” Izuku started to panic, and the feeling only grew as the screen turned black.

Little Izuku was almost crying when the computer lit up with a colorful glow, and from it an object emerged. Izuku watched in amazement as an egg almost as big as him came from the screen and softly landed in his lap. The egg was a light green color, and soft to the touch, giving a comfortable warmth.

“Wow!” Izuku looked at the egg with stars in his eyes, “That was amazing! I have to tell mom… tomorrow, because she’ll be mad if she finds that I’m still awake.” Izuku’s excitement died down as he remembered he should be in bed almost an hour ago, as his mother told him.

Izuku carried the egg with him to bed and pulled his blanket to cover both of them, “Good night” Izuku said, and the egg seemed to warm a little more, as if responding to him, and that warmth lured Izuku to dream land.

The next day, Inko came to her son's bedroom, she was a young woman with green eyes and hair like Izuku. Opening the door she saw Izuku’s fluffy hair poking out of the blankets, “Izuku time to wake up” she said while pulling the blankets, and what greeted her was the small form of her son… cuddling a green toy?

It was a small light green ball with a horn poking from its forehead and a long tail. Strange she didn’t remember getting something like that to Izuku, he was always asking for hero toys. Her train of thought was interrupted by a yawn… that came from the toy.

It blinked the sleep out of his beady black eyes and looked at her, “Good morning!” Inko did the sensible thing in this situation, she screamed.

“Whaa!” That ended waking Izuku, who clenched the green ball to his chest, “What happened?!” He asked in panic.

“You’re squishing me!” The ball cried, and that made Izuku realise what he was doing, and that the egg was gone, “Wait, where’s the egg?”

“I’m here, I hatched!”

“So you came from the egg?” He asked.

“Yup, my name is Zerimon.” 

“I’m Midoriya Izuku, nice to meet you.” While Izuku and the now named Zerimon were happily talking, Inko was already gone from panic, to worried, to entranced from just how cute the two were.

“Izuku, care to explain what is happening?” In the end, the motherly instincts won and Inko seated beside Izuku and checked to see if he was okay.

The boy happily told his mother of the events of last night, and Zerimon explained that when he hatched it was in the middle of the night, so he just went to sleep as there wasn’t anything else to do.

“Okay, Zerimon right?” Inko received a nod (how a ball could nod was a mystery), “What are you?”

“I’m a Digimon” The two greenettes gave him a confused head tilt, sighing he explained, “Digimon is short for digital monster”

Inko was confused how something so cute could be called a monster, but she focused on the more pressing matters, “Okay, and why are you here?”

“I’m here because I’m Izuku’s partner”

“Partner?”

“Yes like...ugh it’s hard to explain, I think I’ll leave that part to her.”

“Who?” Inko was interrupted by the sound of the door bell, “That must be her!” Zerimon said while jumping on top of Izuku’s head, “Let’s go, she’ll tell you everything.”

Inko and Izuku traded a glance before the bell sounded again, they got up and walked to the door. Inko gave Zerimon an apprehensive look, one that the Digimon noticed. “Hey don’t worry, she’s nice, and if anything happens I’ll protect both of you.” That was enough to ease some of Inko’s worries, and let Izuku star-struck at how cool he sounded.

Inko slightly opened the door, and saw standing in front of it a young woman with fair skin, purple eyes, short purple hair, and a large bust. She was wearing glasses with purple hexagonal lens, a white buttoned shirt with long puffy sleeves, and pocket on the left side of the chest, a purple bow tie, a black dress that accentuates her breasts and is open in the back with the straps forming an "X", black stockings, and high white boots with purple shoelaces and black soles, and was carrying a purple laptop finishing the professional look, “Hi, do you need something?”

“You must be Inko, can I come in? There is a lot I have to talk to you and your son about his new partner”

Inko spared a last look to her new guest before opening the door, “Come in”

The woman entered the house and Inko guided her to the living room where Izuku and Zerimon were watching the TV, the woman smiled seeing the two cheering for a hero. She walked to them and sat in a chair next to them, Inko taking the other side of the sofa that Izuku was on.

“Now I think introductions are in order, my name is Mikagura Mirei, but you two can call me Mirei, I was never one for formalities.”

“Okay, Mirei-san, why are you here?” Inko asked.

“Because of these two.” Mirei said, giving another smile to Izuku and Zerimon, “That and I promised Hisashi I would deliver some things to both of you.”

“You know my husband?” Mirei nodded at Inko’s question and gave her a picture, in it was Mirei and three other boys, each accompanied by a creature, one had messy black hair red eyes and freckles, he was wearing a black plain shirt, baggy jeans, red shoes and yellow aviator goggles that sat on his forehead. He was kneeling beside a red lizard with a white belly and with a black mark on it, both smiled at the camera.

Standing beside him was an older boy, already a teenager. He had red hair and blue eyes and was wearing an orange muscle shirt, cargo pants and combat boots. He had a small smile on his face and standing on his shoulder was a biped orange cat with similar green eyes, it had a yellow tuft of fur in its chest and a crown-like piece in its head that was on fire, the point of its tail was also aflame.

The last boy was standing on the first other side of them. He had green hair with blonde highlights, he was wearing a button up shirt, navy blue trousers and dress shoes. The boy had a serious face, but the slight pull of his lips show that he to was happy to be there, at his side was a floating gear, it had a golden outer layer and in the center of a darker metal, two red eyes could be seen from two holes in the metal, and a shaged mouth, that like the boy seemed to had a slight smile, two other small gears that looked like hands floated at its sides.

“That’s my dad?”

“Yes Izuku, these are Midoriya Hisashi, Todoroki Eiji and Sasaki Mirai, they are the three best friends that saved the whole Digital World!” Izuku recognized the names almost instantly, jumping towards Mirei and almost making Zerimon fall from his spot in his head Izuku asked, “My dad is friends with Endeavor and Sir Nighteye?!”

“Yes, these three know each other since their childhood.”

“Why didn’t dad tell me that?” 

“For the same reason he didn’t tell you about Digimons and his partner, it was his duty as a Royal Knight partner to keep the balance.” She answered.

Inko who was staring fixedly at the picture, finally got back to her senses and saw Izuku almost in Mirei’s lap asking a million questions to her, and the woman doing her best to answer all of them, her smile never leaving her face.

The moment was interrupted by a growl, Zerimon blushed and scratched his head with his tail. “Sorry, I haven’t eaten anything yet.”

Inko stood up and started walking to the kitchen, “You both still haven’t eaten, just give me a sec and I’ll prepare breakfast, would you like something too Mirei-san?” Now that Inko’s concern was dismissed, she promptly got back to her ‘super mother mode’, already thinking what to do to a boy in his growth phase and their new charge, while doing her part as a host.

“Just a coffee will do, thank you.”

After Inko walked away Izuku took the picture once again, Mirei noticed how much the boy was missing his father and decided to cheer him up a little, “Izuku, I got something here for you.”

She gave the boy a set of yellow aviator goggles, and Izuku quickly recognized them, “These are my dad’s goggles?”

“Yes, he said to give them to you, that you’ll need them for your adventure like your father needed on his.”

Izuku stared at the goggles with moist eyes before putting them on, leaving them on his forehead, “You look cool” Zerimon said after jumping on the couch and giving Izuku a once over.

“I still have one more gift for you” Mirei opened her laptop and after a typing for some seconds it let out a glow, in her free hand a small device appeared, it was similar to a old tape recorder, with a ergonomic grip, two side buttons, in the center was a small hexagonal screen, below it was a d-pad and three buttons, and whole device was a blank white.

“This is a gift from our boss, your father worked so hard with us for so many years that he decided to make one specialy for you, it is called a Digivice.” She put a hand in the side of her mouth as if she was telling a secret, “And between you and me, it's the best one they’ve made yet.”

Izuku was curious of what the little device was, taking it from Mirei’s outstretched hand, the Didivice gave a soft glow. Izuku was starstruck, the Digivece was now a forest green while the buttons and grip were red.

The screen lit up and project a holographic interface, Izuku didn’t understand most of the symbols in it, the only thing he could read was the center screen where it was written:

{SYNCHRONIZATION COMPLETE}

“Wow”

“Don’t be surprised, this is nothing compared to the digivices full capabilities.”

“What can it do?!” Izuku exclaimed.

Any form of answer was interrupted as Inko came back with a tray with some sandwiches, orange juice, and coffee. Now both Izuku and Zerimon's stomachs growled, and in a second they were already digging in.

 “Slow down you two, the food isn’t going to run away.” Inko slightly scolded the boys with an amused smile.

Mirei took a sip from the coffee, and any semblance of professionalism was broken by the delight on her face. “That is so good! You have to tell me how you did it!” She said while holding both of Inko’s hands. Izuku and Zerimon snickered at that and Mirei quickly recompose herself and cleared her throat. “If is not too much trouble”

“Not at all.” Inko decided to go along to help Mirei. After Zerimon devoured his last sandwich, he suddenly started to glow, startling the two Midoriya’s. Izuku’s Digivice that was on the table shook and projected another screen.

{EVOLUTION}

“Zerimon digivolve to...Gummymon!”

When the light died down, in the place of Zerimon was a slimy creature of the same color, eyes and horn, but now he had a stumpy body and two small ears. The Digivice shook again and another screen with an image of Gummymon appeared, a synthetic voice started to read a description below the image.

{Gummymon: Level In-Training, is a Lesser Digimon. It grew up from Zerimon. As it inherited an exceedingly energetic personality from Zerimon, it is both cheerful and lively. Although it is growing, it's squishy because its body tissue is as unstable as usual, but just like Zerimon, its horn portion has hardened, and it intimidates the opponent with headbutts. Its greatest change from Zerimon is that it has a body and ear-like objects coming out of its head.}

“Congratulations Gummymon!” Mirei said while lightly clapping her hands.

“Thanks!”

“What just happened?” Inko asked, confused. Seeing the opportunity, Mirei turned to Izuku, “Izuku could you please take your Digivice?”

“Hum? Ah okay” Izuku snapped out of his entranced state and grabbed his Digivice.

“Okay press the top side button and said ‘evolution entry one’” Izuku did as she asked and a Mirei’s voice sounded from the Digivice.

{Digimon evolution is a simple yet highly complex process, while the species in the Human World could take millions of years to do it, Digimon can do it instantly, changing forms to more powerful ones. This process is possible because as digital life forms, Digimon can use the data they collected to accomplish it}

That helped them with their current question, but ended causing a lot more. Mirei saw this and prepared herself for a long explanation

“So the Digital world is a world made of data of the Human World, Digimon are creatures also made of data, and my dad and his friends ended up in the Digital World when they were kids”

“Yes.”

“They ended partnering with Digimons and saved the whole Digital World a bunch of times?”

“That’s correct.”

“And the reason they never told anyone about it, is because dad and Sir Nighteye are partners of Royal Knights and Endeavour is partner with one of the Olympus XII, and they are like super cool heroes that protect the whole Digital World?”

“Good to see you understood everything Izuku.” Mirei gave the boy a smile. Meanwhile Inko was still trying to make sense of everything she was told, she got the important parts, her husband's secret job was actually of a other-wordly hero, which was the reason why he had to travel so much and spent so much time away from home, and her son got a partner like him.

“I have a partner too, so I can be like dad?”

“No Izuku” That made the boy’s eyes water, but Mirei continued before tears could be spilled, “You can be even better”

“What?”

“Well why don’t I let you see for yourself.”

After a few quick taps in her laptop Mirei projected a holographic screen with Hisashi’s face in it, he still had the same messy black hair and freckles, but the childish face of the boy in the picture was now a face of a man in his prime. The video began, and Izuku and Inko had their eyes glued to the screen.

“It’s this thing on? Heh should be, well hi Izuku! If you are seeing this then you just got your partner, man I wanted to be there to see it! But well is how they say ‘no rest for the wicked’ so us good guys don’t have any either” Hisashi laughed before stumbling, an explosion sounding in the background, “See can’t even talk to my son in peace! Hey buddy can you take this elsewhere I’m recording a message to Izuku!” He shouted to someone off screen, getting a quick “OK!”

“Well where was I? Oh right, Izuku there are a lot of things you don’t know about me, your mom too. I’m sure she will give me an earful when I get back” Hisashi shook a little with a fearful look on his face, “Well I’ll take that beating when I get there, but back to business, you Izuku have something really special with you! Something better than any quirk in the whole world.”

That got Izuku’s attention, what could be better than a quirk? With one he could be a hero!, “I know what you are thinking Izu, but with a quirk you could only be a hero in the Human World, with what you got you can be a hero in both! Because, son you have the YMC sleeping in you, what does YMC mean? It means Yggdrasil Master Code, It is something the god of the Digital World created. Yup you got a god’s most amazing creation on you, pretty cool right?” Hisashi gave Izuku a smile, while the boy looked at his hands in shock, Inko too didn’t know what to do about this.

“I know you and your mother have questions but I don’t have much more time to talk so I’ll let Mirei explain the rest to you, but know this Izuku, you have a good heart and a brilliant future ahead of you. So live your life, make friends, and see everything these two wonderful worlds have to offer, and don’t worry about a thing, because your old man will hold the fort until you are ready to show everyone the amazing person you are and the wonderful things you’ll do!” Hisashi said with a proud voice, as if Izuku had already done all these wonderful things.

Holding back a sob Izuku hugged his mother, who was holding back tears herself, “And most important, know that I love you, both of you, now and forever.” With that the recording stopped and the screen vanished.

Mirei gave the two a minute and Gummymon did the best he could to join the hug even without arms. After a couple minutes and lots of tears, the two greenettes calmed down.

“That’s one of the reasons I came here today, the YMC is too important to be left unattended.” Mirei sighed.

“Mirei-san, what is this YMC, and will Izuku be okay?” 

“I understand your concern Inko, but there’s nothing to worry about, think the YMC as a quirk, it’ll be just another part of Izuku.”

“So my quirk is the YMC, but what does it do?” Izuku asked, fiddling with his hands.

“Well Izuku, for a comparison, the YMC is like a computer programming language, and Yggdrasil was the programmer. They used it to make the Digital World what it is now, and you can use it too.”

“Wow that’s amazing! But, why do I have it?”

Mirei gave the boy a soft smile, “Your father originally had the YMC, Yggdrasil entrusted it to him the first time he was in the Digital World, but he wasn’t compatible with it.” She brought up a screen with an image of Hisashi with information of him, from his blood type to his personality, and blinking red was a small window written ‘code integration 18%’.

“You Izuku, is a different case” The screen changed to show Izuku’s data, and the previously red window was now green, the words were now ‘code integration 100%’, “The code synchronized perfectly with you, and that’s why it passed to you.”

“But how did it pass to me?” Izuku's innocent question was met with Inko’s panicked voice, “I’ll tell you when you're older!” Izuku looked at Gummymon who shrugged (how something without arms and shoulders could shrug was anyone's guess).

“In more important matters, I would like to help you with the YMC Izuku, and help you with what I can Inko, it’s the least I can do for everything Hisashi did.”

“You don’t have to Mirei-san, we’ll be fine on our own.” Inko lightly objected.

“You’re right I don’t have to, but I want to, and you will see I can be quite stubborn when I put my mind to something.” Inko sighed, and ended up accepting Mirei’s offer in the end.

“Good, I would like to discuss some things with you, and while we do that, why don’t Izuku and Gummymon go to the park Izuku usually go to play with his friends?”

“How do you know that?”

“The only thing Hisashi talks about is his son.” Mirei giggled as Inko blushed, embarrassed by her husband’s antics, “Okay, Izuku you want to go to the park?”

“Yes! That way Gummymon can meet Kacchan and the others!” Izuku hopped around excitedly.

“Okay you can go, but be careful, and come back before it gets dark” After fussing over Izuku for a bit, she let the boy and Digimon go after he changed into some outside cloths that consisted in green shorts, an All Might shirt and red shoes accompanied by his new goggles.

“Don’t forget your Digivice!” Mirei handed the boy his Digivice. 

Izuku looked at her confused, “Why do I need to take it along?” He asked.

“A Tamer should always have their Digivice with them, your father learned that the hard way.” The boy gulped and put the green device in his pocket. Inko led Izuku to the door after making sure he was ready.

“Bye mom!”

“Bye!”

Izuku ran down the street with Gummymon on his head, he couldn’t wait for his friends to meet him! Even though he knew his Digimon partner for less than a day Izuku already considered him his best friend. It was like they knew each other for years and only now were reunited again, it was as if they completed each other.

After a quick run, the duo reached a park with lots of trees. It was a small piece of nature in the middle of the city. In the borders there was an open space where children normally played, but now a trio of boys were beating another one.

Izuku was shocked, one of the bullies was his friend, he could recognize the spiked ash blonde hair and the sound of explosions anywhere. The emotional turmoil didn’t stop Izuku from running at them, against Gummymon protests.

“STOP!” Izuku shouted while putting himself in front of the beaten victim, and in the path of the three bullies, “You’re hurting him!”

“Yeah, back off!” Gummymon said, the natural protective instincts of a Digimon to its partner going overdrive like Izuku’s own instinct to help others. Unknown to them, the Digivice in Izuku’s pocked started to glow.

“What is that thing Deku? Is your quirk a stupid slime? That’s almost as useless as you!” Bakugou and the other boys laughed while Gummymon fumed, more towards the insult to Izuku than the one to him.

“Get out of my way Deku! That bastard said his quirk was better than mine, so I need to teach him a lesson!” The aggressors closed in on Izuku, and that was the breaking point to Gummymon. He jumped from Izuku’s head, the boy's desire to protect was matched by the Digimon, the Digivice burst with light with the power of their will and Gummymon was enveloped in the light.

{EVOLUTION}

“Gummymon Digivolve to… Terriermon!”

Izuku could hear the synthetic voice of his Digivice in his head, describing his partner's new form.

{Terriermon: Level Rookie, is a cute bipedal canine with white fur that is striped with green on its collarbone, paws, and the tips of its ears. Its most prominent features are its long, frayed ears and the solitary horn on its forehead. Like a dog, it has black toes and paw pads. While it is primarily reminiscent of a dog, it necessarily shares design elements with its twin species, Lopmon, who is reminiscent of a rabbit.}

Back at the Midoriya family apartment, Mirei suddenly looked at the window and gave a soft smile, ‘Looks like the apple didn’t fall far from the tree after all.’

Back in the park Terriermon landed in the way of the three charging bullies.

“I won’t let you hurt my little bro! Petit Twister!” Terriermon spinned his ears like a propeller, generating a tiny tornado that pushed the bullies back. The other kids in the park watched in amazement as Izuku and Terriermon stood against the downed bullies.

“I don’t know what the hell was that, but now you’re dead!” Bakugo got up and runned at Terriermon with his hands cracklin with explosions. Izuku saw his partner in danger and was about to run to help him, but Terriermon just gave him a smirk and said, “Watch how a pro does, Bunny Blast!”

Terriermon took a deep breath and shot a blast of superheated air on Bakugo’s hand, that made the natural nitroglycerin he secreted ignite. The sudden explosion sent the blonde to the ground again.

The two cronies, after seeing their leader defeated, turned tail and ran. Bakugo got up again, his hand burning with pain, he snarled at Terriermon, but the green Digimon wasn’t even slightly intimidated. The small audience started to comment on the fight.

“Midoriya beat Bakugo!”

“That bunny is so cute, I wanted to have a quirk like that!”

“Finally someone put Bakugo in his place!”

Bakugo was furious, but he wasn’t stupid, he started to walk away after giving a last heated glare to Izuku and Terriermon, “This isn’t over!”

“I’ll beat you as many times as you like firecracker!” Terriermon said to the retreating blonde. The Digimon then walked back to Izuku, who was helping the boy that was being bullied to stand.

“Are you okay?” Izuku asked.

“Yeah, that was really cool, you looked like a team of heroes!”

Izuku blushed at that, while Terriermon put his hands in his hips and puffed his chest. The boy walked away and left the partners alone, the other kids in the park giving them space.

“You Digivolved again!” Izuku pointed out.

“Yup, I’m Terriermon now!”

“Yeah, the Digivice told me about you”

“Aw, that ruined the surprise!”

The two laughed, when no one else approached them the duo began to play by themselves. They played for hours, laughed, and enjoyed each other's company. When the time came for them to go back, Terriermon jumped in Izuku’s head again. The Digimon's significantly larger size almost made Izuku fall, but the green bunny spread his ears, using the wind to lift the boy up.

They laughed while doing their best to keep balance, Izuku spread his arms. The whole way was full of stumbles and laughter, and that marked the beginning of their adventure.

Chapter Text

Chapter 2: A brand new world

Time flew by and a couple weeks passed. Terriermon became officially part of the little family, they chalked everything to be Izuku’s quirk, registered it, and all questions were answered with a simple “It is his quirk”. Terriermon started to protect Izuku from other kids who tried to bully him, saying it was his job as the ‘big bro’, and Izuku being himself always helped others, ended with them gaining quite the reputation with the children of the neighborhood as the ‘Two green heroes’.

Inko took some time to get used to the changes in their lives, but now she couldn’t imagine life without hearing two small sets of footsteps running through the house, and the sound of laughter that followed.

Mirei keeped her word and helped Inko with the financial situation that the new member of the family caused. She came from time to time to help Izuku understand more about the Digital World and Digimon (and tell some histories of Hisashi and his friends).

Finally, the day arrived. The day that Izuku would finally go to the Digital World!

“You got everything you need boys?” Inko asked the boy and Digimon, she was still concerned about letting them go, even if Mirei would be with them.

“Yes! When is Mirei-nee coming? I wanna go already!” Izuku was hopping around in excitement, patience was a boring concept for a four year old. Terriermon just shook his head, his little bro was acting like an excited puppy, all because of a quick visit to the Digital World for the weekend, so he didn’t even want to imagine what he’ll do when he learns about his ‘legend’. His musings were interrupted by the sound of the door bell.

“She’s here!” Izuku bolted to the door. Opening it, he was greeted by Mirei in her usual attire.

“I see someone is excited.” She giggled.

"You ready?"

"Yes!" Izuku and Terriermon said in unison.

"Then let's get going."

In the middle of a small mountain a blue portal opened, Izuku emerged from it. For the first time in his short existence, Izuku felt truly alive, he looked at the horizon and he could see everything. The data flowing through the world lighting up the sky like a kaleidoscopic aurora, the sound of a million words traveling with the wind.

Izuku’s eyes were shining an emerald green as he connected with the Digital World, and the YMC sleeping inside him began to stir. Mirei was quietly watching the boy, smiling she softly whispered, “The Prince arrived”.

“Hey Izuku your glowing!” Terriermon said after recovering from the shock of seeing his little bro lighting up like a beacon.

“Wha-Woah I’m glowing!” Izuku said after snapping out of his trance.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, I feel great!” Izuku was almost vibrating in his shoes, he felt like every breath filled him with energy, he could feel the data that formed the ground beneath his feet. Lookin at Terriermon he saw his partner, and at the same time the core code that composed his very existence, it was like a small star shining a little brighter than the rest of the world around them.

“Now boys I think we should get going,” Mirei voice brought Izuku back to the present, “I promised your mother that we would get back before night time, so if you  want to discover a little of the Digital World we have to get going.”

“Where are we going first?!” Izuku asked while jumping in place.

“There’s a village not far from here, that’s our first stop.”

“Then what are we waiting for, let go!” Terriermon shouted as he started to walk down the mountain on a beaten dirt road with signs that didn’t make sense. Mirei and Izuku started to follow him, and the boy could see the hidden meaning of the signs, their data forming what looked like a map of the area.

Mirei accompanied the duo, but let them take charge, which led to some very amusing scenes. Terriermon tried to lead, while Izuku tried to convince him he knew the right way, in the end they ended somehow getting to the foot of the mountain in record time.

“These two really are a good team” Mirei murmured, amused seeing how the two even while disagreeing ended helping each other.

“See I told you sliding down that clif was a good idea!”

“And I told you turning left on that rock was a bad idea, we almost ended on the other side of the mountain!”

“How do you know that?” Terriermon asked genuinely curious, his little bro was in the Digital World for the first time, so how could he navigate so well?.

“I just read the signs.”

“But these signs don’t make sense, they are just trash data that ended up here.”

“No they’re not, it’s a map, don’t you see it?” Izuku asked, getting a confused look from Terriermon. That puzzled Izuku as he was able to read the signs clearly, until he realized what was the cause of it.

“The YMC, that’s why I understand the signs! Can you see the lights in the sky?”

“Lights? I just see a couple clouds.” Terriermon said while looking up, “You were glowing earlier, I thought it was a human thing but now that you mentioned it, it could be the YMC.”

“Took you two long enough.” Mirei said while typing something in her laptop, the duo a little sheepish about forgetting they could have just asked her. “When we arrived, the YMC started to activate, now it is already operational in 5% of its capacity.”

She projected a holographic screen with a bar that was ever so slowly filling, on it a 5% was shown. “I will pass this program to your Digivice, that way you can keep an eye on your progress.”

“What will happen when it's complete?”

“That’d be spoiling the surprise." Mirei gave an amused smile as Izuku pouted.

"Okay, you know where we have to go, so lead the way." Terriermon said while laughing at the other two antics.

"Okay, that way!" Izuku started to walk in a seemingly random direction. They passed for an assortment of trees that had more signs sticking out of the trunks. After a couple minutes, they arrived in a small village full of small cottages. Izuku didn’t think he could even pass through the door.

From one of the cottages came a Digimon, a pink, ball-shaped Digimon with floppy ears, bright-red eyes and sharp teeth.

Izuku took his Digivice and pointed it at the Digimon.

{Koromon: Level In-Training, is a Lesser Digimon. It is a tiny Digimon that shed the fuzz covering its surface, and whose body grew even bigger. Although it has become able to move around more actively, it is still unable to battle. It can produce bubbles from its mouth to intimidate opponents}

"So that's a Koromon." Izuku said while putting his Digivice away. The Koromon saw them and came closer bouncing.

"Hey, who are you?"

"I'm Terriermon and this is my little bro Izuku," Terriermon gave a friendly wave before introducing them, "And that's Mi- where did she go?" Looking around he saw that Mirei wasn't with them anymore. 

Izuku let Terriermon talk as he was looking at the cottages, he could see eyes looking at them from cracks in the doors and windows. The Koromon just stared at them for a second before his eyes widened. "The Prince!"

His shout gained the attention of everyone, and in a moment more Koromons came from their hiding spots. Izuku was confused as to what was that about, he glanced at Terriermon and saw him facepalming.

"I knew it." Izuku heard him grumble.

In a blink Izuku was surrounded by Digimons talking at the same time, he could barely understand what they were saying, but one thing stuck out.

"What Prince are you talking about?" At that all the Digimon stopped.

Terriermon came to the rescue and explained while trying to open a little space between the excited Koromon and his partner, "You remember that Yggdrasil rule the Digital World, the thing is, he has a sort of avatar that he uses for it, it's called King Drasil, and since you have the YMC you are kinda like..." He then gave an exasperated shrug, "His successor."

That threw Izuku for a loop, there were a lot of things that seemed really important to know, so why didn't they tell him before? And he was a Prince! Even while don’t understanding everything that it entailed, he knew that if he was King Drasil's successor, then he would have to take care of the Digital World, right?.

"More or less, but yeah that's basically it." When Terriermon answered him, he realized he had been muttering the entire time.

"I really have to stop doing that." Turning back to the mob of pink balls, they were a little confused with the enchenge, but no one interrupted them.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you all" Izuku waved with an awkward smile. What he didn't expect was for them to start to cheer. They started to bounce and sing, "The Prince likes us!"

Terriermon sighed, "Koromon are a merry and carefree bunch, so now get ready for a warm welcome." he said while shaking his head.

And he was right, the Koromon brought them to the center of the village, and in no time they started a party. A feast was prepared, and some Koromon started to dance and sing. 

Even though he was a little overwhelmed, Izuku really liked the way that the small Digimon just started to have fun and made the best to make him and Terriermon feel welcome. 

But all that noise ended up getting the attention of less pleasant individuals, "Look what we have here, a whole feast ready for us! What do you say boys? Let's eat!" A group of Digimons came from the three lines on the border of the village. 

They were green goblin-like Digimon with yellow eyes, short red mohawk hair, and pointy ears. They had two large teeth in their mouth, five fingers on each hand and five toes on each foot. They wore a pierced ring on the left ear and a light brown sleeveless jacket that is open with brown trim and has black leather adorned by metal orbs near the shoulders. They also wore a brown belt and a light brown loincloth. They carried a wooden club with screws on it, and a metallic ornament under its hilt.

Izuku took his Digivice and scanned them. 

{Goblimon: Level Rookie, is an Evil Digimon. It has the appearance of a mischief-loving, troublesome goblin. As it has a devious personality lacking in courage, it never acts alone, and always attacks as a group concealed in buildings or the bowers of a forest. However, if they come to a disadvantage, they flee as fast as they can, scattering in all directions. Accordingly, its intelligence is only a little higher than other Rookie Digimon.}

The Koromon stopped and started at the new arrivals, there were at least twenty of them. Izuku saw the Koromon glancing at each other nervously and knew that they were scared, and he wouldn't be a hero if he left them like that.

"Hey don’t worry, why? Because I am here!" Izuku gave his best smile while putting his hands at his hips.

"And don't forget about me!" Terriermon said getting at Izuku's side. The Goblimon that arrived saw the two and started laughing, "Look at these brats acting all high and mighty, they think they can with us, why don’t we show them why that's our turf" The other Goblimon agreed with the first and started walking to the two green heros.

"Listen here brat, that village is ours now, so get out!"

"I have a better idea, why don’t you get out! Petit Twister!" Terriermon was angry at the wannabe raiders, and heard them insult his little bro just threw gasoline in the flame. Twisting his ears, the strong gust sent the first Goblimon back at the others, hitting two and making them all fall in the ground in a pile of tangle limbs.

"Get them! Goblin Strike!" a bunch of Goblimon pointed their clubs at Terriermon and from it fireballs flew.

"Oh no you don't! Petit Twister!" Terriermon started to spin like a top, creating a small tornado that sucked and put out the fireballs. More Goblimon came and shouted, "Goblin Rush!" started to swing their hammers.

Terriermon started to dodge and taunt them, making various Goblimon hit each other.

"You missed!"

"Too slow!"

"Can't get me!"

In the end the aggressors ended in a pile of bruised and angry Digimons, "Easy, now who's next?" Terriermon asked after clapping his hands to clean nonexistent dust from them.

"How are you so strong?" One of the Goblimon asked. 

’Nothing much, is just that my partner is buffing me at the point I'm almost at Champion level without even realizing, but it's not like I'm gonna tell you that’.

Izuku and the Koromons watched amazed as Terriermon single handedly beat more than twenty Digimons. In the end the invaders were sprawled in the ground while Terriermon cleaned some sweat from his forehead with his arm, "That was a good workout".

"Good to see that, but now is my turn! Pummel Whack!" A ball of dark energy hit Terriermon from behind, Izuku ran at his partner and helped him to stand. From the trees, came an Digimon that resembles a green ogre with long, unkempt white hair, pointed ears adored by earrings, two horns on its head and spikes jutting from its shoulders. He had his mouth open with an exaggerated lower jaw and had fang-like tusks on his upper jaw like a traditional Oni.

He was wearing a black loincloth with a belt, a bracer on its right arm, red bandages on both its left arm and right leg and black belts on its left leg. He carried a large, spiked femur bone as a bludgeon weapon. He had a skull and crossbones on its left arm below its shoulder spikes, metal studs on the knuckles of its left hand, and a scar on the back of its right hand.

Izuku took his Digivice and what he saw made his face turn white.

{Ogremon: Level Champion, is an Evil Digimon. It is a Demon Digimon resembling an Oni in Japanese folklore. The attacks it carries out with its muscles have tremendous destructive power. It has a high intelligence, but a rough temper, the driving force behind its destructive anger. It is very belligerent, and is referred to as the "Digimon Hunter" due to seeking to fight bold Digimon with as much combat power as itself. It carries a bone club that is said to be a femur of a slain SkullGreymon. Also, it is a rival to Leomon.}

"Now brat, you really fought well, I'm honestly impressed." He said while looking at the Goblimon in the ground, "But I can’t just let you get away with it, my gang and I have a reputation to keep. So, any last words?" Ogremon asked while raising his bone club.

"Get away from him!" Izuku yelled, putting himself between Terriermon and Ogremon. He was scared, his legs were shaking, but he stood his ground, not in a million years he would let someone hurt his big bro.

Unknown to them, something deep within Izuku stirred, and his Digivice glowed. 

"Huh, you have guts kid, but that alone won't save you, in this world only the strong survive!" Ogremon brought his club down, intending to finish the two at the same time.

Izuku closed his eyes and raised his arms. Terriermon, jumped up and put himself in front of the hit, and the world stopped. 

Izuku’s Digivice gave a blinding flash, and in the tree lines Mirei let out a breath she was holding since the beginning of the fight, "That is the last time I let you have it your way, Yggdrasil" She had some words for her boss later, but now it wasn't important, what was were the two boys fighting a lost fight, or it would be to anyone else.

Izuku opened his eyes and saw Terriermon standing in front of him, and holding the giant bone club of Ogremon. 

"What?! How are you doing this?! You are only a Rookie!" Ogremon asked, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. 

"I am, but I'm also the Prince's partner!" He pushed and Ogremon had to take a step back. Izuku also couldn't believe what was happening, but then he felt his Digivice vibrating. On the holographic screen was a new window.

{ACTIVATING PROGRAM}

{POWER UP}

At the side was a window showing Terriermon and what looked like his status. The Power Up window was connected to it, and Terriermon power stat seemingly doubled. 

"It's like a video game..." Izuku muttered absentmindedly, a loud noise brought him back to the present. Terriermon was swapping his ears to counter Ogremon angry swings.

They looked to be in a standstill, Izuku once again looked at his Digivice and thought, 'if it can buff one stat, then…' He opened the program file that was linked to the Power Up program, and his eyes swirled from the cheer quantity of programs.

"Why does it have that many? I don't have time for this, I need something to help Terriermon!" As Izuku said it, The window started to scroll down on its own, stopping and highlighting one of the programs, "That's oddly convenient." Izuku deadpanned, but a hit of Ogremon that made the ground tremble remembered him that he didn't have time to complain. 

"Ok here goes nothing!" He selected the program, and it appeared at the side of the Power Up one.

{ACTIVATING PROGRAM}

{BRAVERY}

Izuku suddenly felt lightheaded and fell in his behind, he looked at his partner and saw him enveloped in an orange aura.

"Bone Strike!" Ogremon swung his mace, but Terriermon jumped on it, running its length until he was face to face with Ogremon. 

"Terrier Punch!" Terriermon threw his fist and the force behind it made Ogremon lose his footing, he felt like he was hit by a cannonball.

Taking advantage that his enemy was down, Terriermon was still airborne, the force of the punch making his small body shot up, started to twist like a top once more, the orange aura flowed with the wind and set it alight.

Ogremon looked up and saw a spinning meteor going at him, and he knew that he couldn't dodge so he put his mace in front of him and braced himself.

The impact made the whole village tremble, a curtain of smoke rose hiding the result of the attack. The expectators waited with bated breath, and ever so slowly the smoke dispersed.

Ogremon was covered in burns and soot while almost buried in the ground, standing on his chest was Terriermon, he was panting but fortunately not hurt, "Now listen here, you are going to get out of here and never bother this village again, am I clear?"

"Crystal" Ogremon nodded frantically.

"Good, now scram!" At Terriermon's shout, Ogremon and the Goblimons got up and started to run.

Terriermon gave them a last glance before running at Izuku, "You okay little bro?"

"Yeah, just a little tired, and you?"

"I'll live, thanks for the help by the way, but how about you don't throw yourself at danger next time?" Terriermon gave a light chop on Izuku’s head, the two smiling at their victory. 

Helping Izuku to stand, Terriermon turned to the Koromon still watching, and seeing their starstruck expressions, he decided to have a little fun himself, "Don't worry, your valiant Prince pushed the invaders back!" He said while raising Izuku’s arm.

The reaction was instantaneous, the Koromon started to bounce around them while chanting, "The Prince is our hero!".

Izuku was feeling both extremely embarrassed and extremely happy, he was their hero, but he couldn't leave his partner out, "Today, it was the brave knight Terriermon that saved this village, he is your hero!".

In the end, both Izuku and Terriermon became the village heroes, and the party restarted with even more vigor. Hours later, the green duo said their goodbyes and started to make their way back up the mountain. 

"That was fun, even with the whole fight for our lives thing" Terriermon said from his spot on Izuku's head, normally it would have made walking hard for the boy, but since he recovered after using the programs, he felt different. Now he could barely feel the weight of his partner, and even with only the light of the setting sun passing between the leafs above them, he could see perfectly well, both the way ahead and the data flow.

"Yeah, I just hope the village doesn't get attacked again," Izuku said while hopping over a root.

"You don't have to worry about it, that gang of Goblimon is not from around here" A voice said from behind them, making the two jump startled, Izuku turned around quickly and saw her, "Mirei-nee!"

"I was wondering where you had gone to." Terriermon said with a small glare, he could have used a hand on the fight with Ogremon, one that didn't involve his little bro almost being turned into a pancake.

"I know what you're thinking and it wasn't my idea, Yggdrasil thought that would be a good test to see if you two are ready for the Digital World, but I promise it's the last time I let them just do whatever they want." It was clear she was upset, so the two boys let her calm down before continuing the conversation. 

"Mirei-nee, what was that program window that appeared on my Digivice?"

Mirei took a deep breath to calm down before responding, "It is one of the features of the Digivice that help you channel the YMC, it can temporarily alter the code, both of Digimon and the world itself." She explained, they had to get back soon or Inko would flood the apartment, the woman had real powerful tear ducts.

"So I can change things with it? But why did I get light headed?" Izuku asked curiously while falling into pace with Mirei. 

"You are still young, so your body still has to develop, and the YMC is still mostly dormant, that doesn't help." Izuku nodded, it made sense as it was like a quirk, it would get stronger and his body would adapt to it as he grew.

"This is nice and all, but can't we talk more tomorrow? All the fighting and partying left me really tired." Terriermon said while letting his limbs dangle. Izuku had to admit, he too was tired and wasn't paying complete attention to what Mirei was saying anymore. 

Seeing that the boys were both exhausted, she said, "You’re right, let's talk more tomorrow, for now Izuku go to the program file and execute the 'Gate' one"

Izuku did as Mirei asked and on the window of the program was a list of places, the first was surprisingly his house.

After he chose his home as the destination, a green portal opened in front of him, "With this you will have a easy way to travel, but be mindful of the surroundings while using it, as the portal need some space to fully open"

"Okay, so I just have to enter it now? Like the one you made" Mirei nodded, and Izuku took it as his cue to go. He walked inside the portal, he could feel it pulling his data and in a second he was walking out of a similar green portal in the middle of his living room. 

"Izuku is that you?" Inko’s voice came from the kitchen.

"Yes mom, we're back"

As his mother received them back on their house, the day ended. 

But the adventure has only begun.

Chapter Text

Chapter 3: Fighting together 

"Humm…" Izuku slowly opened his eyes. Blinking the sleepiness out of his vision, he looked around and saw where he was.

Izuku, along with Terriermon, was in his mother’s bedroom. Last night she insisted that the boys sleep with her after discovering the dangers they faced.

That led to the current situation, with Inko hugging Izuku and Terriermon as they peacefully slept. Izuku looked at the clock and saw more than just the red numbers. 

He could see the programing of the clock, including the alarm set to 8 a.m, five minutes away. Izuku, still tired from the last day and enjoying the warmth of his mother, he didn't want to wake up just yet.

Focusing on the clock Izuku altered the alarm to 9 a.m. He didn’t know how he did that, it simply felt natural.

Seeing that his sleep time was secure, he blissfully drifted back to sleep. If Izuku was still awake, he would have seen his Digivice giving a soft green glow and projecting a small screen. 

{ADAPTATION COMPLETE}

{Vessel successfully adapted to current core capabilities}

"Izuku, I know you were tired, but you can't just change the alarm like that," Inko gently scolded while serving breakfast.

"Sorry mom, I already changed it back" Izuku said while tilting his head down. 

"Don't be like that little bro, you already apologized, and now you know you can do more stuff with your powers!" Terriermon said between bites. He really loved Inko's pancakes, in a minute he had already devoured his portion, much to Inko's joy and amusement. 

"Hum?" Izuku looked at his mother's phone and saw a stream of data entering it, before being checked by the device's system, "Mom you got a message, it's from Mirei-nee.”

"What?" Inko was about to question her son when her phone buzzed, she glanced at Izuku, who was happily eating his pancakes, and her confusion grew when she saw that he was right. 

"Izuku, sweetie, how did you know that I would receive a text from Mirei-san?" Inko asked worriedly, she knew her son was facing changes with his new powers and was both happy and concerned. Every parent got nervous when their children first manifested their quirk, so with a power that,  if she understood that right, came from a god? She was understandably freaking out.

"I just saw the data entering your phone, so I thought that I could let you know it was from Mirei-nee instead of that propaganda that usually comes with the data stream" Izuku said all that like if he was talking about the weather.

Inko took a minute to understand, believing that she got the main idea, she nodded, "Okay, just one more thing, you are not reading my messages are you?" Inko asked, the last thing she wanted is for her baby boy to see the language that her friend Mitsuki used in her texts.

"No, I thought it would be rude to read your things, so I just saw the IP of the sender," Izuku said, a little sheepish. Inko reassured her son that it was fine while thinking that she would have to look at all the technical terms Izuku was using later.

"So what did Mirei send you?" Terriermon asked after finishing his second portion and licking the plate clean, much to the amusement of the others.

"She asked for you two to meet her in a place called Server Plains, that's if you want to go to the Digital World again today." Inko explained, secretly hoping for them to stay home, but seeing how the two expressions lit up she already knew their answer.

A couple minutes later, Inko watched in both amazement and worry as her son and his partner entered a green portal. Both had smiles in their faces and while she prayed for their safety, she couldn't help but feel happy as her boys joyfully embarked in another adventure.

Izuku and Terriermon walked out of the portal and found themselves in grassy plains, the tall vegetation going all the way to Izuku’s knees, while servers littered the terrain, creating a maze. The shear data stored there made Izuku’s skin tingle

"Are you going to glow every time we come here?"

Terriermon's joking question brought Izuku back to his senses, looking at himself made him realize that he was in fact glowing once again.

"I think that this will be a fairly recurring event," Mirei's voice was gentle, with a hint of amusement, unfortunately it scared the daylights out of them. They turned around and saw the woman leaning on a server, giggling slightly at the two boys' reactions.

"Thanks for the heart attack" Terriermon said annoyed, Izuku pat his back trying to calm him, "Hi Mirei-nee, what is this place?" Izuku asked happily, looking around at the weird and interesting place around him.

"I just hope that we don’t have to solve another mess here." the moment the sound of Terriermon's words died down, a pained cry filled the air.

Izuku turned in the direction of the cries origin and without even realizing started to run, his body moved before his mind could and in a second he was bolting to help whoever needed it.

Terriermon groaned, "Really?!" He complained to the sky before bolting after his brother.

Mirei looked in a seemingly random direction, "It looks like Izuku inherited his father's luck." She said in exasperation, walking after her charges.

Izuku blitzed between servers, moving faster than should be possible, but he didn’t have time to think about it, taking a last turn, he saw a small blue and white Digimon being held by the neck by another.

He was a gray canine Digimon with long, lapine ears, large, black claws on his forelimbs, and a long, feline tail, wrapped with three belts. Izuku’s Digivice slightly vibrated, sending the information directly to his mind.

{Gazimon: Level Rookie, is a Mammal Digimon. It is a Digimon with large, sharp claws. It is bipedal, which is rare amongst Mammal types; the claws on its forelegs likely evolved to allow its forelegs to be used as arms, therefore resulting in its bipedalism. It has an extremely aggressive temperament despite its small size, and it never warms up to humans. Although the claws on its forelegs are very effective at attacking, they are also surprisingly suited to digging holes, which it always does as it enjoys watching other Digimon fall into its pitfalls due to its mischievous personality.}

“Leave him alone!” Izuku shouted, if the entry was anything to go by, then Gazimon was the villain of the situation. Noticing his presence, Gazimon turned to Izuku and snarled.

“And what are you going to do if I don’t?” Gazimon said with disdain, but the reply came from behind him, “Him? Probably nothing. Me? I’m gonna enjoy this”.

Gazimon turned and came face to face with Terriermon, who didn’t waste time with more talking, “Terrier Punch!” The attack connected with Gazimon face and sent him flying to one of the servers, freeing the small Digimon.

Izuku ran to the rescued hostage’s side, and now had time to properly look at him. He was a small bipedal Digimon, with a white face and belly while the stubby arms, legs, tail and ears, along with the back, were blue. He had big amber colored eyes and a tiny fang poking from the left side of his mouth.

{DemiVeemon: Level In-Training, is a Baby Dragon Digimon. It digivolved from Chibomon. Unusually for an In-Training Digimon, it possesses a body, hands, and feet, and is able to grip objects with both of its small hands, and move while hopping about with both feet. As it is very voracious, it especially likes sweet foods. Also, as it is very fond of sleeping, if you take your eyes off of it, it will instantly fall asleep.}

“Are you okay? He didn’t hurt you did he?” Izuku asked worriedly, helping DemiVeemon to stand, “Yeah I’m fi-” His answer stopped when he saw Izuku, eyes widening. “The Prince!” He screamed.

Izuku scratched the back of his head embarrassed, having someone he did not know recognizing him was still something weird for him, especially when they act like they were meeting a hero. A loud sound caught their attention in time to see Terriermon throwing Gazimon away. “Good riddance!”.

They watched as Gazimon flew through the air and disappeared behind the servers.

"Good to see that you already took care of the situation," Mirei said, finally arriving, "I would prefer if you two didn't rush ahead, but I see you had a valid reason to." She nodded at DemiVeemon with a gentle smile.

"Yup, a hero's job never ends." Terriermon said smugly while crossing his arms, "Now that we finish dealing with that punk, what are we doing here?" He tilted his head to the side.

"We are here to fix that." Mirei said while pointing at one server, it was covered in claw marks and dents. Izuku saw it, and the data that looked like it was bleeding from it, the colored particles oozing out of the openings and floating away in the air.

"Who did this?" Izuku asked not understanding why someone would destroy something for seemingly no reason, "Gazimon, he breaks the servers here to attract Digimons to the leaking data. Only new Digimon would benefit from it, so he terrorizes them for being weaker than him." DemiVeemon said with a defeated tone.

"So he's just a bully, when I get my hands on him again, I'll show him to not throw his weight around like that!" Terriermon was almost growling, he already had to deal with the pricks in Izuku's school, so his patience was already thin. Terriermon promised himself to knock some decency in every two bit thug he encountered from now on.

"Don't worry DemiVeemon, we are going to make Gazimon stop attacking others. Helping others is a hero's job!" Izuku excitement was contagious, making DemiVeemon and Terriermon cheer.

"I can see you decided to deal with the cause of the problem, but first, we should fix the immediate problem." Izuku nodded at Mirei's words

"How can I help?" He asked.

Mirei instructed Izuku to take his Digivice and execute one of the many programs he had at his disposal. 

{ACTIVATING PROGRAM}

{REPAIR}

Four lime green disks appeared floating around the server one above the other, they glowed and a pillar of light connected them. The disks disappeared, leaving the server looking brand new.

"Remember this one the next time we break something." Terriermon said with a chuckle, he eyed the repaired frame and saw that there wasn't even a scratch left. Turning to Izuku he asked, "What now?"

"Why are you asking me?"

"You are the boss, so you give the shots." Terriermon said with a shrug, the last time they were on the Digital World made him realize that letting Izuku take the lead was for the best.

"Okay, that way." Izuku said while pointing at the direction he saw Terriermon throwing Gazimon. DemiVeemon rushed to his side. "I want to go too!" He said.

Izuku couldn't say no to the determined face of the blue Digimon, so he gave him a nod and a thumbs up.

The Prince and his Digimon companions began to navigate the maze that the countless servers created. While they walked,  Izuku and Terriermon started to talk with DemiVeemon, getting to know their new friend. 

Mirei didn't count two minutes and the three were already joking and laughing, 'Look like he got both Hizashi's luck and charisma, that will definitely make things… interesting.' She sighed, both fondly and exasperated.

"Look who came, the twerps that don't know when to quit!" A rude voice said. The group looked around, and saw Gazimon standing on top of a server.

"Now how about we teach them a lesson!" Another voice called, and from their left another Gazimon appeared.

"Got the words out of my mouth." A third one came from the right, baring his fangs.

"Okay, someone needs to learn how to count, because either the punk learned how to multiply, or he wasn't alone from the beginning!" Terriermon said annoyed, he couldn't stand the mug of one, but the three identical nasty faces looking at them really made him want to punch something, or someone.

"Yeah little bro, it's time to make that lesson of how to throw a punch count!" Terriermon said while getting ready for a fight.

"What?!"

"It's three on three, and you are stronger than you think, so let's send these fur balls packing!" Izuku was still unsure, but he wasn’t about to let his partner fight alone. Steeling his resolve, Izuku did his best to remember what Terriermon told him of how to fight.

Terriermon taught him some basics since he was always running into trouble, and now was time to put it to the test.

"Hey! You don't expect me to handle one of them on my own, I'm not strong enough!" DemiVeemon cried in a panic, seeing the three aggressors closing in like predators. Izuku knew that, but after analyzing tens of hero fights, he knew how he could overcome it, "You are smaller, making you harder to hit, and you are faster, or are going to be now!"

Izuku took his Digivice and activated the program he wanted. 

{ACTIVATING PROGRAM}

{SPEED UP}

DemiVeemon glowed for a second, feeling light as a feather after it. The blue Digimon turned to the Prince, both gave each other a last nod and got ready. 

Terriermon saw the other two were ready and dashed at the Gazimon coming at them from the right with a shout. 

The fight was on!

DemiVeemon followed Terriermon's lead and ran at his opponent, feeling like he was almost flying from how fast he was going.

Izuku kept his eyes locked on the Gazimon on top of the server ahead of him. When the boy's enemy lunged at him, he threw his fist forward, shouting one of the special move names from his favorite hero in a childish hope of making it as strong as the original.

"Detroit Smash!" Izuku fist moved faster than a four year old should be capable. Striking Gazimon on his shin with the force of a sledgehammer, the Digimon was sent flying through the air and crashing in one of the servers.

The impact left a dent on the metallic frame. Izuku looked at it with wide eyes, and then directed his gaze to his still outstretched fist. "I did that? Wow I did that!" The boy cheered and turned to his companions, forgetting the situation he was in on his excitement. 

He was quickly reminded when he saw that Terriermon was on top of a downed Gazimon, giving him a headlock while the canine Digimon flayed his arms in panic. DemiVeemon in turn was jumping from the side of a server to another, raining punches and kicks on his enemy in between.

"Your damn brat!" The downed Gazimon lunged at the distracted boy, tackling him to the ground. Izuku struggled against the aggressor, and by luck or desperation landed a kick on his midsection, launching him in the air and crashing down on the ground.

The hostile Digimon tried to get up a second time, but Terriermon had other plans, "Special delivery!" He shouted before throwing the Gazimon he was facing on the other.

"Why are you throwing people around so much today?" Izuku asked while getting back on his feet. Terriermon only shrugged after helping him up.

"It's fun."

"Look out!" They heard DemiVeemon cry, before the blue Digimon skidded in front of them.

"DemiVeemon! You okay?!" Izuku asked in panic. DemiVeemon pushed himself up with a pained grunt. "Yeah, but that is gonna leave a bruise."

"Guys, I think we have a problem." Terriermon said to them. Ahead of the trio, the last Gazimon ran at his two downed companions, before emitting light, and with a last shout, they transformed. 

"Gazimon digivolved into… Deltamon!"

"Izuku, now would be a nice time for some info!" Terriermon's voice was more than a little desperate, but with a three headed dinosaur in front of him, it couldn't be helped.

Izuku fumbled with his Digivice for a second before getting the scanner running. 

{Deltamon: Level Champion. is a Composition Digimon. It was fused from three Digimon, and although each of them had existed as separate Digimon, due to a computer running wild after it was struck by a storm's electromagnetic waves, they were forced to fuse by a computer bug. It is said that since this Digimon, which possesses three heads and two tails, specializes in tripartite attacks that capitalize on its body's traits, it is even able to fight against three Digimon as if they were one. However, because each of them was a fiendish Digimon, they are only of one mind on destruction, and are usually on bad terms with no spirit of cooperation.}

"I think that might be a problem." Terriermon gulped. The new enemy started to approach, giving them a good look at his new and intimidating figure. 

He was now a blue bipedal dinosaur-like Digimon with red eyes, two tails, blue scales on his back, blue skin on most of his body, and white skin on his belly and nose. He has four toes on each foot, with one toe on the back of the feet, and a black claw on his toes. His right tail has metal armor on its tip, and his left tail has the bones of its tip exposed. 

Deltamon had two reptilian heads on its arms, the right head having its top covered in metal armor, and the left head being a dinosaur skull. He also had a delta-shaped mark on his belly.

The Champion started to growl at them, "You damn brats got me really angry now, so get ready to die! Serpent Bite!" He lunged at them with his left arm first.

"Run!" Izuku shouted and got out of the way. Deltamon missed the three, and as he was now bigger than even the servers littering the terrain, he had a hard time moving around. 

"What do we do now?!" DemiVeemon asked Izuku, his panic bleeding on his voice. Izuku was feeling the same way, but he couldn't let it take control. Heroes always saved everyone with a smile, so putting the best 'All Might' smile he could he said, "Now we beat him again, so he doesn't hurt anyone again!"

"All right! Let's go get him!" Terriermon said excitedly, Izuku little speech getting him fired up for another fight.

DemiVeemon didn't know how Izuku and Terriermon could still be willing to fight against someone that was stronger than them, but he couldn't help be amazed.

'They still want to fight, they are so brave, can I be like that?'.

Deltamon finally turned back to them, leaving some wrecked servers around him, "You won't be so lucky next time!" He roared.

DemiVeemon stood at Izuku's side, "You are the one that won't be lucky, because we will stop you!" He said, even with his legs shaking, even with his voice cracking, he would fight too!.

Izuku was on the same boat, even with his new found strength, he was scared, terribly so. But heroes fight against villains even when they are scared, so he would too!

{SYNCHRONIZATION COMPLETE}

{EVOLUTION}

"DemiVeemon digivolve to… Veemon!"

Izuku covered his eyes when DemiVeemon started to glow, and when he looked at him again, a new Digimon was at his side.

He was a bipedal dragon Digimon with blue skin and red eyes. He had white coloration in his belly and snout, a small horn on the nose, two ear-like appendages on his head, a yellow "V"-shaped mark on the forehead, and two yellow upside-down triangle marks under his eyes.

He had five fingers on his hands and three toes on each foot, and a claw on each finger and toe.

{Veemon: Level Rookie, is a Dragon Digimon. It is a new species of Digimon that was discovered recently. As a survivor of a species that flourished in the Genesis of the Digital World, it is able to perform "Armor Digivolution", a "pseudo-digivolution" using the Digi-Eggs. Among others, Veemon is an excellent Combat Species, as it possesses hidden power, and demonstrates tremendous abilities by Armor Digivolving. Although it has a mischievous, prank-loving personality, it has another side with a strong sense of justice.}

Izuku just got more questions from the brief information he got, but now was not the time for it. Deltamon, dashed at them, this time in a more sedated pace.

Terriermon nodded at Veemon and both dashed at the enemy. Izuku knew he wasn’t of much help in the fight now, so he did the best thing he could now.

{ACTIVATING PROGRAM}

{POWER UP}

Izuku almost fell on the ground from having his energy drained so suddenly, but it was worth it for the result he got.

Using their smaller size to their advantage, they ran up the arms of the bigger Digimon. Terriermon and Veemon both jumped on one of the heads of Deltamon each, preparing their attacks. 

"Terrier Punch!"

"Vee Punch!"

The strikes connected and left Deltamon crying in pain. Both Digimon fell behind Deltamon, and with a shout, shoulder tackled the back of the larger Digimon knees. 

Deltamon ended falling on the ground faces first. Terriermon and Veemon traded a high five before turning back at their enemy.

"Want to do the honors?" Terriermon asked, seeing that Deltamon was slowly raising. 

"You don't have to ask me twice!" Veemon pumped one fist against the other before running at Deltamon. 

"Well then let's finish this, Petit Twister!" Terriermon’s tornado enveloped Veemon as he jumped on it.

Spinning along the wind, Veemon shouted as he was sent flying like a bullet. "Vee Headbutt!"

Veemon collided against the delta symbol of Deltamon belly, making the dinosaur Digimon fold in pain. The combination of the Rookies powers while being amplified by the Prince making even a Champion crumble.

Deltamon fell on his back, unconscious. Veemon stood proudly on top of the limp form of his adversary. Looking at his friends he gave them a peace sign, that was by itself a declaration of victory.

The two Digimon then helped Izuku back to his feet, the boy leaning on them for support.

"I don't think I can fix all this." Izuku's line of sight was full of piles of scrap metal that were functional servers a minute ago.

"Don't worry about it." Mirei's voice once again made him jump with a startled yelp. Terriermon turned to her.

"Again? Really? Again?!" His indignation only further amused the woman. 

"I can see you have a penchant to collateral damage like your father. You have to fix that before it becomes a habit, but for now let me handle the repairs, and the troublemaker that was causing them." Mirei's voice was leveled and she had a small smile on her face, but the menacing aura she gave broke the kind image.

The three boys took a step back, fearing the wrath of the annoyed woman. She noticed and fixed her demeanor, "But you don't have to worry about this, now you three should go back home already."

"Three?" They asked in unison. Mirei nodded and explained, "Your new partner surely would like to see his new home."

Before Izuku could ask, his Digivice vibrated. Taking it, he saw a new screen, it had a picture of him inside a circular area in the center, and connected to it, at each side, was a picture of Terriermon and Veemon, each with their names and general data. On the top of the screen was written 'Team' in white bold letters.

"Wow, so Veemon is my partner now too?" Mirei nodded at Izuku's question, what made him beam with happiness. The three then turned at each other, held their hands and started to jump in circles while laughing.

"Inko sure will have an exciting time taking care of those three." Mirei softly chuckled before sending the boys back through a portal.

Turning back to the mess left by the battle, she sighed, "Time to get to work. And you can go now, looks like Izuku is more capable than we give him credit."

A voice came from behind her, "It sure does, who knows, my disciple could learn a thing or two from him." The voice then hummed, "You know, that actually gives me an idea."

"Gankoomon, I swear-" Mirei started, only for the voice of Gankoomon to start to fade while he laughed.

Mirei sighed again, "When it's not one, it's the other. Looks like Izuku’s life is only going to get more interesting." 

Mirei didn't know just how right she was.

Chapter Text

Chapter 4: Royal Arms

"Almost." Izuku muttered to Terriermon and Veemon. The three are side by side looking at the door of Izuku's class room, waiting for the bell.

"Almost." His voice was low but the three boys were still like coiled springs, waiting anxiously for their freedom.

Two weeks had passed since Veemon joined the family, and the three of them were basically attached at the hip. Inko had accepted it fairly well, after all her son's new partner was cut from the same cloth that her boys were.

Everything was once again explained with the extremely convenient excuse of "It's his quirk." And in no time at all Veemon was another part of their lives.

"Now!" They sprung on a mad dash to the door, the bell rang as they reached it, as Izuku expected. Since the incident with the clock, Izuku's powers over the data of the Real World and everything that it controls have only grown. He now could see the kaleidoscopic aurora that the digital systems created over the world and could alter it with ease. 

Things like seeing the time and when the bell of his school would ring were just the tip of the iceberg he was slowly discovering. 

In no time at all, the trio of blurs burst out of the front doors and ran back to their home, laughing along the way.

Some minutes later they were on the living room couch, watching the news about heroes, something that Izuku never missed, even if he could get the information at any time.

"Look, he is going to do the thing!" Terriermon said while excitedly pointing at the screen. It was a fight from early on the day, if you could call what was happening a fight.

All Might, the Number One Hero, the Symbol of Peace, and Izuku's idol since he could remember, had shown up in the scene, and with his signature smile and catchphrase, they all knew it was going to be okay, because he was here!

"Detroit Smash!" The three said along with the mountain of a man while throwing their fists up, enraptured by the display of power and heroism on the screen.

Inko chuckled at the adorable view of her boys joyfully jumping on their seats seeing heroes saving the day once again.

"Man that's so cool!" Veemon exclaimed, doing some shadow boxing while talking, "He just shows up and boom! Bang! Pow! And it is over!" He ended with a dramatic voice.

"Imagine when us will be the ones doing all that!" Terriermon envisioned himself on top of a pile of Villains while a crowd cheered.

"Do you think we can be like All Might?" Izuku asked incredulously, his dream was to be a hero like the man that single handedly made the crime of Japan dwindle with his presence alone, but hearing someone say he can do it was a completely different thing.

"Of course we can, you have to give us and yourself a little more credit little bro, you are the Prince!" Terriermon words made Izuku’s eyes water, he couldn't believe how lucky he got having a partner like that.

"And we are your Royal Knights! You'll see, we are going to be the best heroes ever!" Veemon brought Izuku on a one armed side hug while pointing to the sky and proclaiming their goal.

Izuku looked at his friends, giving a soft smile he said, "Thanks guys."

"Enough sappy stuff, let's talk about what we're gonna do tomorrow. I refuse to spend another weekend shopping!" Terriermon said the words shopping like it was a vile act of torture, and for the three hyperactive boys it basically was.

Veemon hummed while Izuku laughed at his big bros antics, "Hey guys, if we're going to be awesome heroes, then we have to train for it, right?"

"Yes, that's why we are going to UA!" Izuku vibrated with anticipation at the idea of going to the best hero school in Japan. The place where legends were born, legends like All Might.

"I know, but until then, we could get a headstart training somewhere else!"

"Okay stop the drama and just say what you want already." Terriermon rolled his eyes at Veemon's beating around the bush.

"What I wanna say is, there is a dojo where we can train in the Digital World! It's runned by Piximon, he’s an Ultimate, so if we get some help from him, we can be really strong before we know it!" Veemon ended while bringing his fist down his open palm.

Terriermon and Izuku traded a glance before looking at Veemon. "You're a genius!" The two said in unison.

The three talked about the details, before coming with a plan to do the hardest part, getting Inko's approval. None of them liked the idea of going to the Digital World behind her back, so they needed a way to get her ok for it.

After some ideas that ranged from unlikely to absolutely insane, they settle with the simplest approach.

At dinner, after stuffing themselves, they turned to Inko with a combined tripe puppy dog eyes attack, "Mom, can we go to Piximon's dojo?".

While Inko almost said yes from the cheer cuteness, she caught herself in time. Asking what exactly they were talking about, she gained a concerned motherly aura that almost made them regret asking. 

"I don't know boys, aren’t you three a bit too young for it?"

"We’re Digimons, so we would be totally fine with it, and Izuku is the Prince, he's gonna breeze through the training." Veemon's weak excuses didn't do much to convince Inko.

"Can't we go to at least have a look? If in the end you still don't want that we go we drop this idea for now." Terriermon did his best to salvage the situation.

Inko still wasn’t sure, but seeing the three adorable eyes looking at her, she couldn't say no. "Okay, but I'm going with you, I'll talk with this Piximon, and then we see what we do, okay?" The reaction was instantaneous, the three boys hugged her while saying "Thank you!" Over and over.

Laughing at her children's antics, she then sent the three to bed. Inko mused to herself while cleaning the aftermath of dinner, "It’s okay to just look at it right? It's not like something will happen, right?"

She then blanched at her own words, "He's Hisashi's son, of course something is going to happen." She said defeated, remembering all the times some simple things escalated out of control with her husband's luck.

——

In the middle of a stone path that seemingly led to a temple, a green portal opened and from it four figures came.

Izuku felt the soft buzz on his body that always welcomed him to the Digital World. Inko saw her son lit up and became understandably concerned, "Izuku! Are you okay? What happened!".

"Calm down mom, it's always like this." Terriermon said while patting her leg. Veemon turned to him with a raised eyebrow, "Is it?".

"Yup, I always glow when I come to the Digital World, but I'm fine." Izuku reassured them. Turning to the path ahead, he saw what looked like a Shinto gate, and up ahead a temple where the sound of something striking wood came from. 

Inko took the sights of this new world and have to admit, it was marvelous, various Cherry Blossoms marked the terrain, giving a mystique feeling to the path ahead. Inko couldn't help but smile at it, but she was still on edge, her son's misadventures where proof that danger lurked in this wonderful world.

"So this is where Piximon lives?" Izuku asked, but the answer came from behind the group, "Yes, here is where the great Piximon train mighty warriors that were recalled as legends!".

Turning around, the pair of humans and Digimons saw a bipedal reptilian creature with red eyes, a tail, and three digits on his hands and feet. He was wearing a golden armor that covered most of his body, and a white cape. 

His armor had a claw at each digit, a black diamond-shaped object in the tail, a small blade-like object on each knee, an orange "0" on its left shoulder pad, and a sword-like horn on his helmet. The horn emitted a blue light on its blade, and it has a silver "20" on its left side.

"Who's that?" Inko asked her boys. Izuku took his Digivice out of his pocket and runned the scanner.

{Zubamon: Level Rookie, is a Weapon Digimon. It is one of the "Legend-Arms", who are capable of transforming themselves into weapons. A legend about the Legend-Arms goes, "if held by an angel, it will save the world, and if held by a demon, it will destroy the world." Zubamon carries the "Twentiest" data, and often shouts out "I am the Twentiest!" despite not understanding what it means. It despises crookedness, and is constantly seeking sharpness. A day where its battles, jokes, and sharpness turn out well will leave it in high spirits. Zubamon's true power is exhibited while it is in its weapon form.}

The beginning of the entry left them in awe, but the rest made them chuckle at how simple, for a lack of better word, Zubamon is.

"Hey! I know what it means! I just… don't go telling other people about it." His heated reply ended in a weak excuse.

Veemon rolled his eyes at Zubamon, "Yeah right, keep telling yourself that."

"What, are you looking for a fight?! Because I'll let you know that I'll be one of the greatest warriors that Piximon ever trained!" Zubamon proclaimed loudly, the wind picking up and making the petals of cherry blossoms dance through the air and making Zubamon's cape flail behind him.

For a moment, he looked like a great knight ready to defend his honor. But the moment ended when another voice said, "Zubamon, we aren't even Piximon students yet."

The wind died and Zubamon's cape fell uselessly on the ground. The golden Digimon slumped while a depressed air started to form around him.

The owner of the second voice approached and pat his back, "Don't worry, this time we'll pass the test, but do me a favor and stop rushing ahead."

The new arrival was another Digimon encased in armor, this having a green one, with some white and pink paint in decorative designs. He had a circular shield in each arm and one in the tip of his tail, this having a white 'x' painted in it.

In his head, a helmet that looked militar in its design covered it, leaving only his mouth exposed. A "01" was painted on the top of the helmet, a little to the left. In both his feet and shields/hands, three metallic claws worked as fingers.

Izuku was already scanning the militaristic looking Digimon. 

{Ludomon: Level Rookie, is an Armor Digimon. It is one of the 'Legend-Arms', who are capable of transforming themselves into weapons. It is the only one among the 'Legend-Arms' capable of transforming itself into a shield. It wields sturdy, steel shields on its head and on both arms, protecting it from attacks coming from any direction. As a Digimon made with protection in mind, there have been records of it protecting areas being targeted by the D-Brigade. Ludomon is also able to exhibit its defensive abilities at their maximum strength while it is transformed into a shield.}

"Okay, I have to admit, these guys sure have cool notes on them." Terriermon's comment lifted Zubamon's spirit. The two weapon Digimon approach the group, "Yes, and we will be even cooler when we pass the test and become Piximon's students!"

"You two keep saying that there's a test to enter this Piximon's dojo. What is it, if you don't mind me asking?" Inko said in a gentle tone, to her these 'Legend-Arms' were just two boys that looked like they could become friends with her boys.

"It's just a spar with someone that is already a student, it looks simple but those guys are strong!" Zubamon said, acknowledging the strength of his soon to be adversaries.

Ludomon then explained their situation, "As you thingy there said, we can only show our true strength when we are in weapon form, but there's no one that we know that is strong enough to wield us."

Izuku felt bad that the two couldn't find someone to help them pass the test, and being his heroic self, he offered them, "Hey, what if I help you pass the entrance test?"

"You? sorry but you don't look like much." Zubamon said, while he appreciated the kindness, he wouldn't risk failing, again.

"Not much?! You know who you are talking to?!" Veemon asked incredulously, did those two live under a rock or something?! How didn't they know Izuku, everyone knew him, a fact that still left the boy embarrassed. 

"Hey, you two block heads are talking with the one and only Prince of the Digital World! Show a little respect will ya!" Terriermon said with a proud voice, not noticing Izuku blushing in embarrassment.

"The Prince!" The two shouted at the same time, staring at Izuku with wide eyes. Zubamon's brain fried with the revelation, "Him, but he- he doesn't...WHAT?!" He stumbled with his words.

"Is it always like that?" Inko asked her son, who was squirming with the attention he was receiving. The boy gave his mother a resigned nod, which only made her giggle at the fact his head looked like a strawberry with how much he was blushing. 

Ludomon then grabbed Zubamon by his shoulders and turned him around, dragging him quickly away, "Give us a second please, we'll be right back!" He then slapped his friend out of his dazed state.

"Zubamon, this is our chance!" Ludomon whisper-yelled.

"Our chance to what?"

"Ah for Yggdrasil's sake! Is our chance to become real 'Legend-Arms'!"  His friend's still confused face made Ludomon facepalm, what produced a metallic clank.

"He is the Prince! If we become his weapons, we would be Royal Arms! Imagine this, the legendary weapons the Prince used to protect the whole Digital World!" Zubamon took one second to consider what Ludomon said. 

He imagined Izuku on top of a mountain, the sun shining behind him, he lifted his weapon, a golden sword that when illuminated by the sun, looked as if made by pure light.

Zubamon was almost drooling with the mental image, he quickly recovered from his daydream and grabbed Ludomon. The two rushed back at the group, they saw Izuku and his partners explaining something to Inko, and the woman looked fairly worried. 

Stopping abruptly at their side, Zubamon let go of the dazed Ludomon, that was not expecting the sudden suicide dash, "Fear not my dear Prince, from now own you won't lose a single fight!"

The boy was stunned from the turn of events, but before he could ask, Zubamon jumped and in a flash of light, turned in a golden sword. Izuku fumbled while trying to catch it, but fortunately did it before anything could happen. 

The sword was like a modified version of the Digimon it was, the blade/horn elongating, the handguard being Zubamon's head, and the handle his tail. His limbs formed an extended guard in front of his hand.

"Wow." Izuku whispered in awe, "That's Amazing!" He started to gush out, but Inko was not as thrilled as him. The woman didn't like it when Izuku held a knife, so seeing him with a sword that was half as tall as him left her feeling incredibly worried. 

"Izuku be careful, you can get hurt!" The boy stopped his tirade and looked sheepishly at his mother. They both then got startled by the sword talking, "Hey don’t worry, I'm not gonna cut him or anything. He is the one who'll cut things with me!" Zubamon joyfully said.

"Yeah and he'll be safe, as he'll have an awesome shield with him too!" Ludomon followed his friend's lead, and with another flash of light, he transformed in a round shield. It was composed of a bigger centerpiece, that was like Ludomon helmet, and other two smaller ones, that were like his arms.

Izuku was expecting it now, so he didn’t have any trouble with catching the shield in the air.

Inko looked at her son, with sword and shield in hand, he looked adorable. She was still concerned with him holding something sharp, but for now she would not object, as the excited faces of her boys were just too much for her.

"Now you’ll be able to pass the test with flying colors!" Zubamon smugly said. He felt it the moment Izuku’s hand landed on his handle, the sheer power flowing through him. Zubamon was sure he could slice through a boulder without even slowing down.

"Yeah, so let's go! If we are lucky there's someone to apply our test now!" Ludomon was in the same boat, the power trip was making the usual level headed Digimon a little overconfident. But who could judge him? He felt invincible with all the power Izuku was pouring into him without even knowing. 

"Wait, I'm still not sure about letting Izuku fight. You two were already pushing it," She pointed at Terriermon and Veemon, "But I would let it slide as you two were Digimon, but I'm not comfortable with Izuku getting in a fight." She said that with conflicted feelings. 

Mirei had told her that Digimon fought all the time, as it made them stronger, so it was their way of life to push themselves with conflict. But her son was a four year old, and he already had more battles under his belt than he should.

"Hey, it's okay, is not like if we are going to have a death match, I'll only have a spar with them and see if they have what it takes to be trained by my master." A new voice said.

All the commotion until now grabbed the attention of the Digimon training up ahead. And one of them came to check what it was about, rearing the reason the group was there, it was clear what was happening, and the new Digimon clarified what was about to happen. 

He was a combination of a dinosauroid, a hypothetical humanoid evolved from a troodontid dinosaur, and a tribal warrior.

Izuku Digivice lit up once more and the entry of the new arrival was broadcasted to them.

{Dinohyumon: Level Champion, is a Dragon Man Digimon. Dinohyumon has the appearance of a humanoid lizard. It lives in an area that has not yet become a modernised civilisation, where all of the tribesmen are valiant combat dragons who possess the makings of a warrior. It has great muscle strength, allowing it to swing its greatsword, Akinakes, with ease.}

"Yup that's me, but I'm one of the ones that left their tribe to adventure through the world. But enough about me, you all want to be accepted in the dojo, right?" The boys nodded, "Okay then I'll see if you are worthy of Piximon's teaching. Don't expect any favoritism just because you are the Prince kid." Dinohyumon said.

He then turned to Inko and calmed the woman's worries, "And don't worry, I'm not gonna hurt them. I'm sure Sir Hisashi would have my head when he shows up again if I do."

That took them all by surprise, "You know my dad?!" Izuku blurted out. Dinohyumon nodded, "Yup, he trained under Piximon too, a long time ago. Now he appears from time to time to give some tips to the new students, he even helped me a couple times." He said with a small smile, remembering the kind man that helped him to reach where he was now.

"Mom, please, we have to try. Dad comes here, so if we are accepted, we can run into him at some point!" Izuku's pleading eyes quickly destroyed any resistance Inko had left, but she still had to be sure.

"You give me your word that you won't hurt my children?" She asked the dinosaur Digimon. Dinohyumon nodded resolutely, "In the name of my tribe, I will not endanger your young."

That visibly calmed the woman, "Okay, you can try, but if I think that it's too much for you, any of you, you'll stop, okay?" They all nodded.

"Good, now let's go kids, come at me with all you have!" Dinohyumon said while taking his cutlass, keeping it sheathed and making sure it wouldn't slip by tying it with a leader strip.

Izuku traded a glance with Terriermon and Veemon, the three nodding to each other, and them to his 'weapons' who were almost vibrating with excitement.

They stared each other down, the wind picking up once again and making the pink petals float through the air, giving a mystical feeling to the battle that was about to occur.

"YOLO!" Terriermon was the one to break the silence with a, rather comical, war cry. He dashed at Dinohyumon and jumped, going for a drop kick with both his legs.

Dinohyumon watched the Rookie Digimon throw himself at him, and with a smirk he sidestepped the attack, letting Terriermon sail through the air, "I like your enthusiasm kid, but try to stay on the ground until you learn how to fly!" He laughed, seeing Terriermon land unceremoniously on his back with an exaggerated "OOOFF!"

"And no I didn't forget about you." The humanoid dinosaur said while bringing his sheathed blade up, blocking a punch from Veemon. He then grabbed the blue Digimon arm and threw him at the recovering Terriermon, the two Rookies falling to the ground in a bundle of limbs.

"I have to admit, they got spunk!" Dinohyumon nodded approvingly to himself, seeing that the two downed Digimons were already trying to get up, "Now what about you?" He turned to Izuku, who tried to capitalize on the opportunity, as Dinohyumon didn't have his guard up.

Or that was what Izuku thought. Dinohyumon just lazily swung his blade, parrying Izuku’s, who tried to so a horizontal slash at his adversary's legs.

The Champion then trusted his blade at Izuku, holding himself back to not hurt the boy. The young prince managed to bring his shield up, blocking the attack, even if he ended taking a step back from the force of the impact. 

"Huh not bad, but can you keep up?" Dinohyumon said, slightly impressed with the boy's reaction, he then swung his blade at his legs, intending to trip him.

Izuku saw it coming and tried the same move that Dinohyumon used on him. Putting all his strength into it, he was barely able to swat the offending blade aside, gaining a victorious "Yeah!" From Zubamon.

Dinohyumon raised an eyebrow at that, impressed that Izuku could learn even in the middle of a fight highly disadvantageous for him. He knew the boy never held a sword before this day, as it was painfully obvious to anyone that could call themselves a sword wielder, but that only made his improvements more impressive.

The boy was learning, and he was learning fast, just by a simple trade of blows and he was already correcting his flaws. He would be a good addition to the dojo, he knew Piximon would agree, but he couldn't just let him and the others in without working for it!.

"Good, but now let's see how you do with something unexpected!" Dinohyumon then jumped, dodging the double charge of Veemon and Terriermon. They tried to pull the same move they used in Deltamon, but Dinohyumon heard them coming a mile away.

Izuku was startled, but he quickly turned himself sideways and made his body as small as possible, letting his partners pass for him.

"Ouch! C'mon! We already beat Champions before, why is this guy so strong?!"

"Please kid, don't compare me with those wannabe thugs that think just because they digivolved they were strong. I trained day and night to be like this, I earned my strength with blood sweat and tears!" Dinohyumon speech let the group in both fear and awe. This was a real Champion, one that make his title and level count.

Izuku was slightly backing away, he didn't think they could win. They were not fighting someone that gained a little strength and used it to terrorize the weak, they were fighting a true warrior. 

Inko saw the scared face of her son and was about to call the match, but then she saw his arm start to tremble, and Zubamon's voice murmured something she couldn't quite catch, but she saw Izuku instantly stopping in his tracks. 

Zubamon's words echoed in Izuku's mind, "We can be like that!" His arm was shaking because Zubamon was vibrating with excitement. And how could he not, this was what they could be, they could be valiant warriors just like that!.

Izuku’s train of thought took a similar path, and in a second he was smiling, even if still a little shakily. He turned to his friends, both ready to fight with him to the end, and them to his new companions, and he could feel their support. 

Nodding to himself, Izuku gripped his weapons firmly. 

{SYNCHRONIZATION COMPLETE}

{ACTIVATING PROGRAM}

{XROS}

As one, they dashed at Dinohyumon. They could feel what the other was doing, and what they had to do. It was like if they were sharing one mind, with perfect synchrony they attacked.

Dinohyumon was once again surprised. The three were now perfectly coordinated, one punch was followed by a slash, they rushed over him and back, striking and falling back while the other came to cover the retreat.

A kick came and he had to dodge, but it ended pushing him in the path of a punch that was quickly blocked, only for a sword to almost get him in his flank.

The three continued their assault for as long as they could. Forcing themselves to push beyond their limits to land a single strike on the Champion, but he kept dancing on the edge of their attacks, close but never able to land.

Until in a last push, Terriermon punched at Dinohyumon left, making him dodge to the right. Veemon followed with a kick to the legs, which was blocked by the sheathed blade once more.

Then Izuku rushed at Dinohyumon head first. The dinosaurman disengaged his blade and thrusted it at him once more.

Izuku saw the blade coming, he felt time slowing down, the rest of the world getting out of focus, there was only him and the sword coming at his direction. 

He waited, closer, he had to time it perfectly, closer, it was his last chance, closer, so he would make it count!.

Izuku swung his shield, Ludomon giving a war cry as he bashed the cutlass aside, a metallic clunk filling the air as it fell on the rocky path.

For one second, a single second, Dinohyumon lost his balance, and Izuku used this second to swing his blade, Zubamon voice raised along his battle spirit, this was it!.

Dinohyumon back stepped the fastest he could. Looking down, he saw a small cut on his abdomen, he could barely feel the pain, but the joy from the fight, this he felt hitting him like a truck. 

He started to laugh, a laugh full of pride and fulfillment, "Look at that! A bunch of kids could keep me on my toes, looks like I still have a long way to go! Hahahaha!" His laugh filled the path, the only other noise being the heavy breathing of his young adversaries. 

Inko was quickly at their side, checking her children and making sure they were not hurt. The only thing that was damaged was their pride, all of that, for only a single scratch.

"Why the long faces kids? I thought you would be more excited with passing the test!" Dinohyumon's voice cut the heavy air that was starting to form.

"What?!" Five voices asked at the same time. Dinohyumon laughed again, "That was a good fight, and if you could do all that with a spec of experience, then when you end your training, you were going to give me a run for my money!" He said joyfully.

"That means they passed? They were accepted in Piximon's dojo?" Inko asked the Digimon.

"Of course! Now let's go, I think Piximon will like to meet his new students and you too, Lady Inko, even if Sir Hisashi already told him about you almost as much as the little Prince!" He laughed once more.

Now it was Inko's turn to be embarrassed, she knew her husband liked to brag about his family, but she would have some words for him about it. And now she found that not only Izuku, but she and Hisashi were some kind of nobles, this day was already becoming too much.

"Okay, let's not keep your new teacher waiting boys." Inko turned to the kids, and saw that first, Zubamon and Ludomon were back to their normal forms, and second, they were all around Izuku, who had his Digivice out and a window with Team written in it.

Now Along Terriermon and Veemon, Izuku's picture was connected to one of Zubamon and Ludomon, at his right and left, one below Terriermon and the other Veemon, respectively.

Inko didn't know the specifics, but she had the impression that her family had just grown bigger once again.

Chapter Text

Chapter 5: Don't lose sight of who you are

In a forest with great trees, their crest of leaves covering the sky completely, cables with lamps coming from their trunks and webbing on their branches, providing light to the beaten path below, a lone figure walked. 

It was a dragon-like Digimon with white armored skin, dark blue claws, gold eyes, and horns. He was wearing a red cloak with a hood that had goggles embedded in it. The Digimon was aimlessly walking down the road, looking down, he sighed, “Why did that have to happen? Master, what are you trying to teach me now?”

His master’s words still ring on his mind.

"Hackmon, I see you are dedicating yourself to your training.”

“Yes, Master!” He happily replied, but then his teacher said the word that would make him doubt himself and all he believed until now.

“Why?”

“W-What?”

“Why do you push yourself so much, why do you train for, why do you fight for?”

“I… I want to be a hero like you!”

“Hum, I see… You are still not ready” He said with an even tone.

“Ready for what?”

“It doesn't matter, your training is on hold for now.”

“What! Why?!”

“Because you have to find the true reason that you fight, what you stand for, why you want to be a hero. You won’t find the answer to it here.”

Since then, he was on his own, and Hackmon was still no closer to finding his purpose.

“Do I even have one?” He muttered depressingly. Hackmon glanced up, to the various lights hanging high above, admiring the beautiful sight, before sighing once more, “Is not like the answer is going to fall from the sky.”

At that moment he started to hear a buzz, before a voice shouted, “Lookout!” Hackmon's head snapped back up, and he saw something so weird he thought he was dreaming. Flying at him was an insect Digimon, it was bipedal with four arms. Its head was eyeless with black markings and a pair of long mandibles. It had a pair of large wings and a pair of elytra on its upper back. It was red in coloration with black muscles in the torso, arms, and legs. But the weirdest part? Riding on its head, was the Prince.

Hackmon knew how the Prince looked from his master, who was a close friend to Sir Hisashi, and he could see, even from that distance, that it was him, and he was coming right at him!

He quickly got out of the impact zone, not a second later, the airborne Digimon crashed on the ground, sending his passengers flying.

Izuku’s training paid off, with a turn of his body, he righted himself, did an (accidental) front flip, and landed on his feet in front of a tree. Turning back, he exclaimed while putting his hands on his waist.

“That wasn’t so bad!” When he finished speaking, Zubamon, in sword form, came flying, missing Izuku’s head by five centimeters to his right and buried himself until all his blade was on the trunk, “Speak for yourself!”

Izuku turned his head to his now trapped partner, not at all bothered by what just happened, “Oh, here I’ll help!” He grabbed Zubamon’s handle, put his foot on the tree, and pulled his friend from his wooden prison.

“Freedom!” The golden weapon cried in triumph.

Izuku then saw Hackmon and asked, “Hey you okay… wait a second.” Izuku then pulled his Digivice.

{Hackmon: Level Rookie, is a Mini Dragon Digimon. Its fur shines a cool white. Hackmon had encountered Gankoomon, who saw in it the makings of the thirteenth Royal Knight and decided to temper the Rookie Digimon with frequent, rigorous trials, in order to pass on its own title as a Royal Knight to Hackmon. Its unfettered and restraint-hating, adventure-loving way of life is probably due to Gankoomon's DNA. It chases after Gankoomon and faces the rigorous trials it imposes with an air of composure. It has a masterful sense of combat due to its lineage, and because of its training with its chaperones, the Sistermon sisters, it can more than hold its own in battle against its opponents even if they're an Ultimate. It specializes in close combat that capitalizes on its keenness. It follows its dreams of becoming a Royal Knight like Gankoomon as it fights through continuous battles.}

“Wow!” Izuku whispered with stars in his eyes, that was one of the coolest entries he ever saw.

Hackmon was embarrassed from his entry, more so with what happened between him and his master before, but before he could say anything, Izuku entered his Hero Fanboy mode and started to geek out about Hackmon. A loud bang interrupted the young Prince's tirade and brought their attention back to red Digimon.

Terriermon and Veemon were literally running circles around it while it raged, both dodging the reckless attacks. “Hey little bro, some help would be nice!”

“Oh, right!” Izuku took the moment to also analyze their enemy.

{Kuwagamon: Level Champion, is an Insectoid Digimon. It is armed with gigantic pincers on its head. Like Kabuterimon, it has combat abilities that far exceed those of similar species that inhabit File Island. It is protected by its tenacious power and sturdy shell, and in particular, as the power of its pincers is super-powerful, once it clamps an enemy, it will squeeze until the opponent's life is extinguished. There is a perfect rivalry between it and the Vaccine-attribute Kabuterimon, and there is only "Conflict" between them.}

“Another one with a fated rival thing, please people, be more original will ya!” Terriermon said, ducking to escape the pincers of his adversary, he didn’t want to test the log veracity about the things.

“He’s the one we are after?” Veemon asked while punching Kuwagamon's knee, making it stumble.

“Dunno.” Terriermon shrugged.

“Heads up!” Ludomon, who had landed on a branch and was waiting for his chance, shouted after jumping from his position, right above Kuwagamon. “Wall Rake!” He fell shields first on the insect Digimon head, the impact sending it crashing to the ground.

Ludomon landed on his feet, raising his hands, he got a high five from Veemon and Terriermon. From the distance, he heard Zubamon shouting “Show off!” While laughing.

The three victorious combatants reunited with the rest of the group, and Hackmon couldn’t stop himself to think.

‘Isn't that how it is supposed to happen? helping each other, helping others, why couldn't it be like that for me too?’ He questioned silently.

“Hey, who’s that?” Veemon asked while pointing to Hackmon.

“This is Hackmon, from what his entry said, he wants to be a hero like us!” Izuku was still hyped from the log.

“Cool! But hey was that the prick we are after?” Terriermon said while pointing a thumb above his shoulder to the unconscious Kuwagamon.

“I don’t know, Piximon-sensei said the locals would tell us our target.” Izuku shrugged.

Zubamon transformed back to his normal form in a flash of light, “Then what are we waiting for, let’s go!” The others nodded and started to walk too.

“Wait!” Hackmon shouted, finally getting a hold of himself after all the chaos that just occured, “What are you all doing here? And what is that about a target?!”

Izuku turned to him, making the others stop too, “We are here on a mission for Piximon-sensei, he received a call for help from a village not far from here.” Izuku started, before Zubamon interrupted, “So he sent his best students to solve the problem!” He proudly said.

“We are his students for like, a month.” Veemon said with a roll of his eyes at his friend’s antics.

“Doesn’t change the fact that we are still the best!” Zubamon countered.

“Yeah say that to Dinohyumon.” Now was Terriermon who rolled his eyes, making the others laugh.

“Why?” Hackmon's question cut on the merry atmosfere, “Why are you going to help them?”

Izuku tilted his head in confusion and then answered with another question, “Why not?” Those simple two words pierced through all of Hackmon’s doubts, but Izuku wasn’t finished, with a tone like it was obvious he said, “You don’t need a reason to help people, you do it because it’s right.” The others nodded, agreeing with him, not noticing the turmoil on Hackmon’s mind.

‘Is it that simple?’ 

He didn’t know, but he had a way to find out, “Hey! Let me go with you!”

“Sure!” Izuku promptly agreed with a smile, “The more the merrier!”

“Hey let’s go already!” Zubamon shouted impatiently before starting to walk. They all trade a glance before shrugging and following his lead.

___

“That’s it?” Veemon asked the others, not expecting what he was seeing. They arrived in the village, it was a small group of huts and even some houses carved directly on the trees, a small river flowing in the middle of it, carving the village in two sides with a bridge connecting the two halves. The place was nice, but it was completely empty, not a soul in sight.

“Maybe they’re hiding?” Ludomon offered his input, “They asked for help, right?”

“Yeah, let’s knock on someone’s door and see if they’re home-” Terriermon was interrupted by a cry, from above them, two Digimons fell, blocking their path, another came from the river, surrounding the group.

“Stop right there!” One of the ones ahead of the group shouted, he was a beast-like Digimon with purple fur on most of his body. He had two large legs and two arms, each of which had three black claws, as well as a large, vulpine tail. The fur on his chest, paws, snout, and the end of his tail was white. He had two pointed ears with black stripes and two very small black wings. On his brow was a triangular red gem, similar to an old-style interface.

The one at his side roared at them, he was a dragon-like Digimon, he had a white belly and lower jaw while his head, back and tail were a greenish-blue. He was biped, with three clawed digits in his muscular arms and feet. Two small, red bat wings were on his back, matching his horns, which branched in two flat tips.

The one behind them was about to say something when he saw Izuku, “Wait!” He cried, getting the attention of them all. He was a white, furry sea lion with no nose and long ears, purple markings, an orange-red mane, large claws, a short tail like a Sea otter, and a W-shaped mouth with two pointed teeth popping out. He pointed at Izuku with one of his fins, “It's the Prince!”

“Who are those guys?” Veemon whispered to Izuku, who was already fidgeting with his Digivice.

{Dorumon: Level Rookie, is an Animal Digimon and carrier of the X-Antibody. Because it has an old-style interface on its brow, it is presumed to be an experimental "Prototype Digimon" from before Digimon were discovered. The personality of natural Combat Species Digimon manifests particularly strongly within it, so its combat instinct is high, and it often barks and snaps at everything, but it seems that it was tamed by someone it once bit. The data that is said to have been hidden within the deepest parts of its DigiCore during an experiment is the potent life-force data of the legendary beast, the "Dragon", and it is said it has the potential to grow into a mighty Digimon.}

{Dracomon: Level Rookie, is a Dragon Digimon. It is an ancient, pure-blooded Dragon Digimon that is said to be the "Progenitor" of all Dramon-type Digimon. It possesses physical ability to a degree that could not be imagined from its small build, and both its power and its quick wits are top class among Rookie Digimon. Although its personality is ferocious, Dracomon can show its gentle side only to the others it has recognized. It has wings, but it is unable to fly because they are not sufficiently developed. Also, it has a nature whose primary trait is wanting to collect "shiny things", with an especially strange attachment to gems and metals, and it eats and assimilates its favorite things. Amongst the scales that cover Dracomon's whole body, there is one scale that is called the "Gekirin". If it is touched there, Dracomon loses its mind to an excess of anger, and indiscriminately fires its "Great Strike".}

{Gomamon: Level Rookie, is a Sea Animal Digimon. It has become able to move on land, and is covered in temperature-maintaining fur. The short, white fur that covers its body gets longer as it grows, and furthermore, it's said that it turns brown when it grows up. Its personality is a naughty-boy type that fiddles with everything it sees. The red fur growing along its back from the top of its head moves according to Gomamon's emotions, and when it gets angry, the fur bristles. Gomamon's claws are strong enough to easily break through solid ice, so you'll have a painful experience if you take it lightly.}

“Why does everyone here have a cool entry?” Ludomon asked, genuinely curious.

“Guys!” Gomamon's loud voice got their attention, he had run by the group and was now talking to Dorumon and Dracomon, “We are saved!”

“You sure it’s him,” Dorumon asked, unimpressed by their supposed ‘saviors’.

“Yeah! They don’t look like much.” Dracomon too wasn’t convinced.

Izuku approached and tried to act diplomatic, “Hi, we are sent here by Piximon-sensei, he said this village needed help.”

Before his friends could say anything, Gomamon answered, “Yeah, we asked for help, this village only had In-Training level Digimon beside us, so we had to protect the village, but some Kuwagamon showed up and started to attack, everybody left since then, well except from us.”

“That’s horrible!” Izuku was crestfallen, those Digimon had to abandon their homes and flee, he wouldn’t let that stand, “Don’t worry, we’ll help!”

“And how do you plan to fight Champions?” Dorumon asked, annoyed by how Izuku seemed to not realize the gravity of the situation.

“The same way we took the one we already beat, together!” Veemon, who they didn’t realize was at their side, along with the others, exclaimed, receiving various words of agreement.

“Wait! You already beat one of them?!” Dracomon couldn’t believe it, he and his friends barely could keep up with one of the beetles, and they fought one and won?!

“Yup, if we work together, we can beat the others too, so what do you say? Let’s save this village!” Izuku is successful in hyping the others, all but one.

“What’s the point, there’s no one here anymore?” Hackmon’s doubts once again crept to the surface.

“Exactly, if we drive them off, then the Digimon will come back, even if we don’t be here to see it. Being a hero is about helping people any way you can, even if no one knows, even if you don’t see it happen, if you do everything you can, you can smile and call yourself a hero!” Izuku’s speech touched all of them, and gave Hackmon his answer, he would be the hero he wanted, he would make his decisions without regret and stand by them.

The three natives were having similar thoughts, they failed to protect their home the first time, but they wouldn’t accept that lying down. Even if they had to try a thousand times, they would free the village from its invaders.

“Count us in!” Dorumon didn’t look back, knowing his friends were nodding.

“Me too!” Hackmon said with renewed vigor.

Izuku looked at all of them, smiling he nodded, “Let’s do this!”

“Yeah!” They shouted in unison.

“So, what’s the plan?” Terriermon asked his little bro. Izuku started to mutter too fast for them to follow, after a minute he stopped, “I know what we have to do.” His smile promised them it was a plan that would be so crazy, it might just work, just the way they liked.

___

“Everyone in position?” Izuku asked from his hiding spot, using a program called ‘Communicator’ that created a small green circle that hovered over their ears and worked like earpieces but way cooler in their opinion, what made Veemon say they were on a spy movie and suggesting codenames, but the idea ended getting shot by the lack of time to come with any.

Receiving confirmation from the others, Izuku prepared himself. His plan was a simple one, Gomamon would attract the Kuwagamons to the bridge, where they would drop a net made from the cables from the trees, taking the insect Digimons out of the sky where they had the advantage. Gomamon would then escape by the river, and all would attack the enemies together.

Simple, effective, and crazy, at least that was how Terriermon described it.

“They’re coming!” Hackmon, who was hidden in the tree branches along the others, was the first to see the invaders, three Kuwagamons, one he recognized from the scuffle from earlier, were flying in the village’s direction.

“Gomamon, start to bait them, guys, wait for my signal!” Izuku said while looking out from the window of the house he was hiding. He had to time it right, or the plan wouldn’t work, even if one escaped the net, they would fail.

Gomamon started to launch attacks at the Kuwagamons, “Water shot!” The water stream wasn’t strong enough to reach the flying foes, but it got their attention.

The beetles dived, heading pincers first to their new prey. They were in a triangle formation, closing in fast.

Izuku waited, holding his breath, he couldn’t miss. They were coming closer, fast but ever so slowly, the boy could hear his heart pounding in his ears. He knew when the best moment would be, but the closeness of it all still weighed on him, he couldn't miss, wouldn’t miss!

“Now!” His shout was accompanied by the sound of cables snapping, claws and teeth parting the rubber, and gravity did the rest. The net fell on the bugs Digimon, which in turn started to fall to the ground.

Gomamon jumped in the river, using the current he quickly made his escape. Surfacing at a safe distance, he was just in time to see the three Kuwagamons crash on the ground.

Izuku left his hiding spot and started to run at the vulnerable enemies, putting his finger on the green disc over his ear, he started to give orders, “Zubamon, Ludomon, with me! Dracmon and Dorumon, help Gomamon out! The rest, focus on one Kuwagamon!”

Zubamon heard his part and was quick to throw himself from the branch he was on, free falling with a warcry, he aimed himself at Izuku’s path.

Ludomon saw that and facepalmed, “That blockhead!” Resigning himself, he followed his friend’s lead against his better judgment, screaming while plummeting to the earth below.

Izuku saw his partners all jumping down, some to him and others aiming at the still struggling red beetles. Calculating his trusted weapons trajectory, he crouched, and with all the power a normal human wouldn’t possess, he jumped. Leaving the cracked floor behind, the young Prince soared through the air, extending his hands as he grabbed his friends in the exact moment they transformed. In the apex of his bound, Izuku angled himself and nosedived at the Kuwakamons, who were starting to tear through the entanglement of cables trapping them.

Izuku hit his target shield first, driving it face-first on the floor. He landed on his feet and started to hack and slash, the sound of his companions' attacks unfolding and striking true reached his ears, they couldn’t let them get up, they had to keep them on the ground, “Guy’s with everything we got! Everyone, together!” His Digivice lit up, a program he didn’t know, but activated in instinct and emotion alone, activating.

{ACTIVATING PROGRAM}

{FRIENDSHIP}

Izuku and all the Digimon on his side were covered by an icy-blue aura, their breath making clouds of chilly condensation. They all traded a glance before smiling and moving, attacks started to fly, a blizzard of cold power causing every hit to freeze a part of the Kuwagamons, flames turning blue and cold, slashes and smashes causing frost to creep over the forms of the attackers and attacked, but unlike Izuku and his team who weren’t bothered by it, their enemies started to slow down.

After the tempest of destruction, the river below the bridge had fully frozen over, and above it, an ice statue of three Kuwagamons bonded by frosty cables was all that remained from the village scourge.

The young boy and Digimons were left panting while the blue aura dissipated, they all looked at each other for a moment before they started to cheer, “We won!” They said while celebrating. They all ended in a group hug, laughing while saying how cool it was when Izuku Digivice vibrated.

Izuku stiffened, his face paling. Pulling it from his pocket, he saw that the Team window had double the Digimon listed in it compared to last time. He turned to his old companions, who are also pale, and asked with a cracking voice, "You think mom's gonna be mad?"

While the unknowing newbies of the Izuku Digimon team tilted their heads in confusion, the other members traded glances before dropping their heads while a depressed aura emanated from them.

Izuku looked at his Digivice again and muttered with a blank face.

"We're doomed."

Chapter Text

Chapter 6: The power to protect

“See honey, there’s a lot of children here to play with.” A woman with bubblegum pink hair said to the girl at her side.

The girl was four, her quirk turning her skin as pink as her fluffy hair where two small yellow horns poked out, her eyes were a golden yellow surrounded by black sclera. She was wearing jean shorts, a black shirt, and pink shoes.

“Until I hurt someone here too.” The girl said sadly.

The woman kneeled to look her daughter in the eyes, “Don’t be like that, Mina. It was an accident, accidents happen, it wasn’t your fault.”

Mina didn’t look convinced, but she nodded to her mother and turned back to the park, “Okay, let’s go!” She marched until one of the nearest kids, three boys her age, the blonde one that seemed to be the leader saying they were going to enter the woods to look for beetles, “Can I go too?!” She said with the most cheerful voice she could.

The blonde turned to her and gave her a glare, “Get lost extra!” The boy shouted in her face, making her take a step back, so much for making new friends, she barely arrived and no one wanted her company. She was about to turn back and run to her mother, if she begged hard enough maybe they could go home. Until another voice came from behind her.

“Do I have to teach you good manners again Explodey? The last hundred times weren’t enough?” 

Mina turned to see who was talking and had to do a double-take. A boy with green hair as messy as her own, wearing a green shirt with a pixelated blue D, blue shorts, red shoes, and yellow aviator goggles on his forehead. Around him were eight creatures each more different than the other, the white and green bunny being the one that had talked back at the blonde boy that was now gritting his teeth in anger.

“You're looking down on me?!” The boy snarled while sparks popped in his hands like firecrackers.

“No,” The bunny said before jumping on the green boy’s head, who had not even moved from the added weight on his head, standing with surprising balance the bunny said, “Now I’m looking down on you!” He laughed.

“Terriermon don’t be mean,” The boy said exasperatedly, “And you too should be nicer, Kacchan!”

“Get lost Deku! I don’t need to do shit!” The curse made Mina flinch, okay maybe she was just unlucky and approached the worst kid in the neighborhood.

“Explain to me again why we tolerate this prick?” Terriermon asked before shaking his head, “You know what, don’t, it will only make me kick his butt more.”

“You think you're special right, you think you own the park? I’m gonna kill you Deku!”

The green-haired boy, Deku was it? Or was that just something mean the blonde came up with? Shook his head, “No, it’s a public park, no one owns it,” He then put his hand on his chin and tilted his head, making Terriermon hop back to the ground, “Well I think the government does? But it’s free for everyone to use it-” The boy started to speak faster and faster until no one else could understand his mumbles.

The blonde said something before turning and walking away, but Mina was too focused on the strange scene happening to pay attention, didn’t the boy need to breathe? She got her answer with what happened next.

“Terrier chop!” Terriermon chopped the boy in his head, stopping his mumble spree, “Breathe little bro, breathing is important, so breathe!”

Mina couldn’t hold it anymore, she laughed at the absurd display, the other creatures also joined her while the bunny lectured the boy.

Finishing her laughing fit, Mina tried again, “Hi, thanks for helping me with that guy, he wasn’t nice!”

“Yeah, Kacchan is a little… difficult?” The boy didn’t look very sure of his answer but he kept going, “I’m Midoriya Izuku, are you new here?” The now named Izuku asked.

“Yeah, my mom brought me here after-” She stopped and shook her head, “Never mind, my name’s Ashido Mina, it's nice to meet ya!”

“Hey, you're not forgetting something little bro?” Terriermon lightly elbowed Izuku.

“Oh yeah, these are my partners.” Izuku then introduced everyone, all greeting her in their own ways, from the more respectful Hackmon to the more overbearing Zubamon.

Mina’s mother watched her daughter making new friends and let out a relieved sigh. She was worried when the other boy started to shout at Mina, but fortunately everything worked out in the end. She had a smile on her face as the kids started to play together, coming here was a good idea after all.

___

“So why are we in the river?” Mina asked her new friend, Izuku, who was messing with something on his weird phone. It was really cool that it made the screens on the air but the thing looked like an old portable video game.

“The river here is really shallow and doesn't have any fish, I want to see if Gomamon’s ability works in any kind of body of water or only in populated ones.”

"Okay?” Mina didn’t exactly understand what he meant but nodded along either way. She realized Izuku was really smart, so if he was doing whatever he was doing it was for a reason.

“Ready?” Gomamon waved from the river, what was his version of a thumbs up, “Then go!”

“Marching Fishes!” Colorful fishes surged from the river and started to swing about.

“Woah, that’s so cool!” Mina said with stars in her eyes. She turned to Izuku to see his reaction only to see him with a small smile on his face while his eyes glowed, a screen opening above the device in his hand and words filling it faster than Mina’s eyes could follow.

After a minute the screen closed and the glow in Izuku’s irises stopped, “You can stop now, I already got everything I needed.” His partner complied and the fishes dived in the river and disappeared.

“Heh, I’m not impressed, what good fishes will be in a fight?” Zubamon's answer came in the form of a fish hitting his face. Looking down he saw Gomamon laughing, “It’s on now!” The sword Digimon shouted while jumping down on the river, splashing water on the sea lion.

Gomamon's extremely mature response was to splash water back while blowing a raspberry at Zubamon. The water fight continued for another minute, ending with both soaked and the others laughing at them, “What are you laughing at?!” Zubamon shouted and splashed water up, wetting everybody.

“Okay, now you asked for it! Let’s get him, guys!” Terriermon's order was promptly followed by the others, all Digimons jumping on the water and splashing Zubamon with water.

Izuku looked at his partners and then at Mina and shrugged, “If you can’t stop them, join them!” He then did exactly that, and Zubamon's exaggerated cry of betrayal caused them all to laugh.

Mina giggled and rushed down to enter the fun. Stopping behind Izuku she splashed him, earning a startled yelp from the boy. She was then ambushed by Terriermon and Veemon, who came to Izuku's rescue and in no time everyone was throwing water at everybody.

So caught in the moment, Mina didn’t notice her quirk activating, only realizing what she did when a blob of greenish water hit Izuku on the arm. Her heart almost stopped, she did it again, she hurt someone again and now she would be alone again. She didn’t even notice that she curved herself in a ball and started to cry until Izuku called her from her side.

“Mina! You’re okay?! what happened?” He asked worriedly.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t want to hurt you! I’m sorry!” She sobbed.

“What?! Mina, you didn’t hurt me, I’m fine!” She looked at him and saw that the place on his arm where her quirk hit him was actually unharmed, which made her give a shuddering sigh of relief. Izuku looked at her now with both concern and confusion, “Why do you think you hurt me?”

Mina sniffed and let her eyes fall, “I used my quirk on you, I didn’t want to but I did, sorry.”

“Your quirk?” Izuku tried to remember if she did something but he only saw him throwing water at him.

“It’s called Acid, I make this goo that makes things melt.” She said in a tiny voice, bracing herself for the others to start yelling at her.

What truly happened next was Izuku getting right in her face and asking a million questions with stars in his eyes, “That's so cool! Can you make as much as you want? As strong as you want? Does it come from anywhere on your body or only your hands?”

Mina blinked, “You’re not mad?”

Izuku blinked, “No, why would I?”

“I hit you with it! I almost melted your arm!” She yelled, making Izuku open some distance.

He looked confused for a second before looking down at his arm and realizing what happened, “Oh so that’s why my arm stung a little, I thought it was from the cold water.” He glanced back at her, “Don’t worry I’m tougher than I look, right guys?” He asked his partners, who were keeping a little distance to give Mina space.

“Yeah, little bro is right, a little acid is nothing.” Terriermon said while keeping Zubamon in a headlock, “And he is the one best to do the talking so keep your mouth shut!” He whisper-yelled at Zubamon.

“I just don’t know what all this fuss is about, he’s the Prince!” The golden armor-clad Digimon choked retort only made Terriermon tighten his hold.

“Yeah but no one in this world knows it and it’s to stay like that so shut up!” Their conversation was ignored as Izuku was more focused on cheering up his new friend.

“Mina it’s okay, accidents happen, it’s not your fault. I know how strong powers can get out of control, yesterday Dracmon almost burned my house down,” His comment earned an indignant sputter from said Digimon and a giggle from the girl, “It’s fine, you’ll learn how to control it.”

Izuku offered his hand to help Mina stand, “I can help you if you want, we’re friends right? Friends help each other!”

Mina stared at the hand offered to her for a second before accepting it, smiling while Izuku pulled her up, “Yeah we’re the best friends ever!”

“Hey! What about us?!” Veemon asked in mock hurt.

Mina hummed while looking up, “I don’t know,” She smiled mischievously, “Maybe we’re just normal friends.”

“Your words hurt me Pinky.” Veemon's voice was so exaggeratedly pained it caused the others to snort.

“Okay drama queen that’s enough,” Dracmon patted his friend back while rolling his eyes, “Now let’s get out of this place, the water’s cold!”

Once more in high spirits, the group climbed back up to the beaten dirt path and Izuku quickly noticed a problem, “Hum, guys? We’re soaked.”

“Not a problem bro, Petit Twister!” Terriermon shout was the only warning he gave before starting to spin like a top. The resulting wind current was successful in drying them, but the experience wasn’t exactly pleasant.

“Okay, next time I’m using my fire, thank you very much!” Dracmon complained.

“You’ll end up burning down the forest and you know it!” A puffy Dorumon said while trying to get his fur back to normal.

“It was one time! Can’t you let it go already?!”

Dorumon hummed to himself, “Nah.” His answer enticed an over-the-top groan from his dragon friend.

“I think it’s time to go back home guys,” Hackmon said after getting his head out of his entangled cape.

Izuku’s eyes flashed green, “Yeah, it’s almost five now. Let’s go back to the entrance of the park.” He said sadly as the time with his new friend was almost over.

Mina too wasn’t happy with it, “Yeah, but we can take the long way there right?” She asked hopefully.

“Yeah, let’s enjoy the view!” Izuku quickly agreed.

“Procrastination at its finest,” Gomamon drily said, annoyed more than anyone at Terriermon’s stunt.

Taking the longest possible route to their destination, Izuku and Mina reached the entrance. There they were greeted by Mina’s mother, “Hello, did you two had fun?”

“Yeah! Can we come back here again mom?” Mina asked her mother with her best puppy eyes.

“Well we could come another day for you to play with your new friend, but you haven't even introduced him to me yet, my daughter doesn't tell me anything anymore!” She dramatically said, hiding a giggle at Mina’s embarrassed face.

“Mom! Urg, Izuku, this is my mom Yuzu, she’s mean so don’t mind her!” Mina pouted.

“Hum, I’m Midoriya Izuku, it’s nice to meet you, ma’am,” He said awkwardly, shooting a look at his partners that only shrugged with similar confused expressions.

Yuzu chuckled, “Nice to meet you too! Now Midoriya-kun do you have your parents' contact so I can talk to them? This way I can schedule a day for you and Mina to play together again.”

The boy’s eyes flashed, “Sure! Okay, now my mom’s number on your contact list.” 

Yuzu was confused, checking her phone she saw a new number, “How did you do that?” She asked, more surprised than anything.

The young prince's eyes widened, “It was… my quirk?”

Behind him Ludomon facepalmed, producing a metallic clunk from his armor, “I only don’t say that was as subtle as Zubamon because he doesn’t know what subtle means!” The Digimon in question let out an indignant yelp.

Luckily the woman didn't pry and after some last goodbyes, they parted ways. Izuku and his partners started their trek back home, but when he was about to leave the park he felt something odd, it was like a shift in the data flow in the air. Turning back, the boy tried to search for the reason for the disturbance but found nothing.

“Hey little bro, let’s go already!” Terriermon's voice grabbed his attention back.

“I’m going!” Izuku chalked it to his imagination and started to walk, later he would look at it and regret not being more careful.

———

Mina was almost exploding from excitement, after they came home her and Izuku’s mom talked over the phone, they seemed to be getting along well, and decided to let the kids meet to play at the park they met. The neighborhood was relatively safe and heroes patrolled often, so her mother said it was fine for her to go there as long as she came back home before it got dark. Even then Izuku offered to walk her to and from the park. His mom said he could take care of them, and with his partners always with him, she was sure they would be safe.

The next day after school was over Mina ran to her house, changed into more comfortable clothes, and waited for her friend. Barely ten minutes and she heard a knock on the door, she was rushing to it before her mom could even get up from the couch where she was watching the news.

Opening the door she came face to face with her friend, he was as usual accompanied by his partners, “Izuku! I was waiting for you, let’s go!” Mina didn’t want to waste a second more, she grabbed his arm and started to drag him along.

“Be careful kids! And don’t stay out too late!” Yuzu said from the front door, she knew her daughter and that it would be useless to try to stop her now, she just hoped nothing happened to them, a mother would always worry after all.

They all reached the park, and the moment Izuku set his foot in it he felt the disturbance again, this time much stronger. The other noticed his discomfort, “Hey, everything okay?” Veemon asked, Izuku’s unease put all his partners on edge.

“There’s something wrong here, I don’t know what it is but it’s coming from there!” He pointed to the woods.

Mina didn’t understand what was happening, but if her friend was that worried about it then they had to check it out, “Well let’s go then! If there’s a problem then we have to fix it right?”

Izuku didn’t know if bringing Mina along was a good idea, even if this wasn’t the Digital World, it could still be dangerous. The decision was taken out of his hands when Mina grabbed his hand and started to walk to the forest, well in the worst case he would protect her.

———

They tracked through the woods, Izuku following the waves of weird data to its origin, everything seemed right until they reached the river. Izuku watched transfixed as its data seemed corrupted, like it was a mix from the Real and Digital World, from it stop signs rose from floating blue sprites.

“What’s that?” Mina asked while staring at the strange phenomenon.

“I don’t know, but better be careful, stay close to me! Guys, Royal Guard formation!” Izuku’s order was quickly followed by his companions. Zubamon and Ludomon at his sides while the others made a circle around them, they had come with formations and strategies so they could fight without getting in each other's way, and because they thought it was cool but that was not the point.

Mina was starting to get nervous, her friends all looked on edge, she didn’t know why but it couldn’t be a good sign. They slowly made their way deeper in the forest, more and more stop signs sprouting from square windows to a blue void.

They reached a clearing with a big tree, Izuku noticed a disturbance and glanced around, “Guys there’s something her-” Before he could finish a roar sounded, startling them all.

From the tree, a massive form lunged at them. Izuku grabbed Mina and jumped, his friends following his lead and scattering. The figure crashed on the ground, Izuku couldn’t believe his eyes, it was a draconid covered in black leather and with four red eyes, the part that shocked him was that it was a Digimon.

He wasn’t the only one, “What's a Digimon doing in the Real World?!” Gomamon voiced all their thoughts.

Izuku put Mina down, she was staring fixedly at the monster that almost flattened them. Izuku wanted to reassure her but he had to focus on the priorities, pulling his Digivice he scanned the Digimon.

{Devidramon: Level Champion, is a Dark Dragon Digimon. It is known and feared as the "Many-eyed Demon". As a demon beast that was summoned from the Dark Area by the messenger of darkness, Devimon, there are no other Digimon as evil as it is. Although it is a Dramon-species Digimon, its limbs are unusually developed, so it cuts the opponent to pieces with its elongated arms, and flies about the darkness with its sturdy legs and wings. Its personality is the epitome of wickedness, and it is unmoved by a spirit of compassion. If it glares at them with its four eyes burning in deep crimson, the opponent becomes unable to move, and it will chop up their unresisting body. The tip of its tail is able to open up and take on the shape of a claw, which can skewer the opponent. This Digimon was most likely produced by the evil feelings of Hackers who were abusing the Computer Network for their own selfish desires.}

“Well if that doesn't say this guy is a villain then I don’t know what does.” Veemon chuckled at the description of Devidramon.

“Well, then it's our jobs as heroes to beat him up!” Zubamon's shout earned him a glare from the evil dragon, but the legendary sword was unimpressed, “You will need more than an ugly face to scare me!”

As if responding to his taunt, two other Devidramons jumped from the trees, surrounding the group.

“You had to open your big mouth,” Ludomon grumbled, his friend's penchant to tempt fate annoyed him to no end.

Izuku now was seriously worried, three Champions would be a challenge normally, but a scared Mina clung to his side would make the fight much more complicated. He had to make sure she was safe, which was easier said than done when he was being stalked like prey by three dark dragons. He had to get Mina out of there, leave her somewhere safe and come back to dispatch of the Digimons before someone else stumbled onto them.

“Guys I need a distraction! Terriermon with me!”

Without hesitation the prince’s companions followed his commands, Dracmon picked Veemon up and threw him at the closest enemy, “Vee Headbutt!” The impact of the strike took the dragon off its feet.

Izuku grabbed Mina’s hand and started to run the moment the opening appeared, Terriermon hot on their heels to be sure they wouldn’t be attacked from the back. 

The other Digimon still on the clearing prepared to fight, “Let’s see if we can take them out before Izuku can even get back?” Veemon asked casually, back to back with Dracmon.

“Is that a challenge?” The Rookie dragon asked.

“Now it is!” They rushed at the two still standing enemies, the others parting into two groups and following their lead.

With the fleeting group, Mina asked while running, “Izuku, what was that?! What are those things?!”

Izuku asked without stopping, “Those were Digimons like Terriermon and the others, but evil and stronger.”

“The last part is debatable!” Terriermon said from behind them.

“Not the time!” Izuku yelled over his shoulder, “We’ll take care of them but first I have to make sure you’re safe!”

His concern for her was touching, but she wouldn’t let her friend just leave her behind to fight monsters. Planting her feet on the ground, Mina stopped their escape and turned to Izuku, "I can't just leave you to fight alone like that!"

Izuku thought of a hundred arguments to try to make Mina understand it was the best option, unfortunately, he didn't have the time to use any as yet another Devidramon jumped on them.

"Look out!" He pushed his pink friend out of the way.

Mina watched almost in slow-motion as the big black claw smashed on her friend, cracking the ground and raising a dust cloud, "Izuku!" She cried.

"Now you've done it you punk!" Terriermon shouted as he lunged at the Devidramon face, "Terrier Punch!"

The attack made the Digimon step back, getting its claw off the crater and freeing a battered but still relatively fine Izuku.

The boy got up while holding his ribs, "Ouch, that hurt more than I expected," He got away from the fighting Digimon and to his crying friend, "Mina you're okay?"

"Me?! That thing smashed you!" She let tears of relief fall, for a second she thought her friend was gone.

"Don't worry I’m really tough!" Izuku put his best All Might smile to try calming her.

"Crap!" At that moment Terriermon’s yell reached them, now it was the bunny who was being pinned down by the dragon. 

Izuku was already moving, Mina distressed calls at his back, the young prince jumped and kicked the Devidramon snout, causing it to recoil again. Terriermon escaped his predicament and uppercut the evil Digimon on the jaw, giving the chance for Izuku to finish their combo with a punch on the dragon’s stomach. 

The Devidramon fell, leaving the two panting boys victorious, "That wasn't so bad!" Terriermon said while elbowing his little bro.

As his words settled, three other Devidramons came from the trees. Izuku glared at his partner, "You had to say it."

"Oops?" Terriermon shrugged, not looking apologetic at all.

Mina rushed at her friend's side and started to pull them, "We have to run! There's just more and more of those things coming! You two will get hurt!" She was scared for her friends, they were both tired and hurt and there wasn't end to the monsters. 

Izuku stops her attempts of dragging him, giving Mina his hero smile he just shook his head, "It's okay!"

Terriermon walked to his brother's side, not bothered by the slowly approaching enemies, "Yeah, we can do this all day!"

"Heroes keep fighting no matter what!" No one noticed Izuku’s Digivice starting to glow at their words.

Terriermon turned to the Devidramons and said, "So you can come as many times as you want! We'll beat you all!"

At the rising determination of the two heroes, Izuku's Digivice lit up.

{CONDITIONS MET}

{ACTIVATING MAIN PROTOCOL}

{EVOLUTION}

In a flash, Terriermon was encompassed by a white orb with glowing green grid-like lines, “Terriermon digivolves to…” At every word the lines lit up more and more until the orb burst, revealing his new form.

“Gargomon!” The Prince's first partner now was a bipedal lagomorph-like canine with green fur that had whisker-like markings on his cheeks and a diamond marking on his forehead under his horn. He was wearing a pair of mini-gun-like gauntlets with movable extremities on its tips, serving as his "fingers", and denim jeans strapped firmly by a brown belt.

Izuku and Mina had stars on their eyes seeing the new Champion, Izuku pulled his Digivice and scanned Gargomon.

{Gargomon: Level Champion, is an Animal Digimon. It digivolved from Terriermon and is a Hunter Digimon skilled in hunting. Despite its outward appearance, it uses attacks of unparalleled accuracy to reliably bring down the opponent with its nimble movements. Its leg strength is strong enough for it to jump sky high, and it is also able to spread out its ears to glide. Although it usually has a cheerful personality, once it is angered, it gets out of hand. Its cherished "D-VI'S 503xx" jeans are its obsession.}

“Hey, I finally have pants! Can’t I enjoy it?” Gargomon's voice was now a little deeper, matching his new size, a full head taller than Izuku, but with the same joyful tone the bunny Digimon always had. 

The Devidramons stopped their march for a second, surprised by the sudden evolution, but they quickly recovered from the shock and rushed to attack, seeing Gargomon as a threat now.

Laughing at his enemies, Gargomon dashed at them, “Let’s have some fun!” With the sheer amount of power flowing through him, this wasn’t a battle anymore, it would be the curb stomp of the century! When the first Devidramon lunged at him, he ducked below the extended claw, with his gauntleted arms lit up he attacked, “Dumdum Upper!” With a literally explosive uppercut, Gargomon sent the dragon flying, but before it could get far, he grabbed its tail, “Where do you think you're going, we’re just getting started!” Using his new strength Gargomon pulled the Devidramon and used its body to pummel the other two.

Izuku sighed, now that the danger has passed with the new evolution of his friend, he was free to be exasperated at how he was using the other Digimons to play whack-a-mole, “Why am I not surprised, first he threw people now he is using them as bludgeon weapons.”

Mina was giggling at his side, the earlier fear nowhere to be seen, “You have to admit it’s funny.”

“Well, I can’t argue with facts.” Izuku himself was chuckling at the scene.

With a final spin, Gargomon batted the Devidramons aside and threw the last one away. Beating the nonexistent dust off his gauntlets, he turned back to the two humans, “Done and dusted! If no one else would like some?” He shouted to the trees.

When one started to stir he received a glare from Izuku, but luckily the ones that came from its branches were their friends.

“Don’t fear, the cavalry has arrived!” Veemon said before seeing the three Devidramons slumped on the ground and the new form of his bunny friend, “But we sure arrived late, what did we miss?”

The voice that answered his question wasn’t one he was expecting, “Beside the first time Gargomon achieved his Champion evolution, nothing much.” They all turned to see Mirei, leaning on a tree while tapping something on her laptop.

“Mirei-nee! What are you doing here?” Izuku asked, not surprised by her sudden appearance as Mirei normally did, only curious.

“I was investigating a Digital Shift when I found this breach,” Seeing no one understood what she was talking about, she decided to leave it aside, “Nevermind, what you should know was that this,” She made a vague gesture to the pixelated windows to nowhere, “Shouldn’t have happened and you shouldn’t be here, so its better start making your way home.”

“Hey, we took care of things just fine!” Gargomon said proudly, puffing his chest, but then he started to glow. In a second the bunny reverted to his Rookie form, Terriermon slumping, “Wow, talk about a sugar crash!” He said tiredly.

He wasn’t the only one, Izuku felt like he just did a complete training course with Piximon. Mirei noticed the young prince sudden exhaustion and explained, “Both you and Izuku just achieve this new threshold, you two will have to get used to it before you can really use this amount of power effectively,” She turned to the other Digimons, “That is true for all of you.”

Mina was holding Izuku's arm and helping him stand now, Terriermon was also being helped by Veemon and Dracmon, “Are they going to be fine?” She asked the woman.

Mirei shifted her focus to the only other human in the group, “Yes, they only need to rest. I don’t think we’re introduced, I’m Mirei.”

“I’m Ashido Mina, nice to meet you, ma’am.”

Mirei giggled at how Mina called her, “Now Mina can you do me a favor?” The girl nodded, “Keep an eye on Izuku for me, he is even more of a trouble magnet than his father.”

The boy in question was so out of it he didn’t even respond, his eyelids were heavy and all he wanted was to lay down and sleep. Mina saw the state of her friend and nodded, “I promise!”

“Thank you, now you all move along, I have to clean this mess.” The kids said their goodbyes and started to make their way home, leaving Mirei and the unconscious Devidramons behind.

The woman sighed, “Looks like it will happen sooner than we predicted. At least now Izuku will have more time with his father,” She glanced at the downed Digimons, “Now to solve this problem.”

She tapped some more in her laptop before a new window opened, a face she watched turn from a boy to one of the most powerful men on both words appeared, “Enji, I need your help.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 7: History always repeats itself

“Are we there yet?” A raspy voice asked. It came from a short and stout Tyrannosaurus rex-like lizard with amber-orange skin and light green eyes. He has flattened forearms with broad, three-clawed hands and distinct pectoral muscles. His tail was stubby, and its head and snout were almost as large as the rest of its body. He stood about 3 feet tall if he wasn’t currently seated in the back of a luxurious car.

“Just like the other ten times, no!” Came the answer from the other side of the backseat where a maroon-eyed yellow-skinned lizard in a bluish-white pelt with navy blue markings and purple claws was. He had a yellow horn protruding at the top of his head, and his belly was blue with unusual pink markings.

“Agumon, stop asking the same question, Gabumon, be nice.” The unsurprisingly childish voice of the four-year-old between the now named Agumon and Gabumon said. The kid was a boy with bi-colored hair and eyes, white with grey on the right side and red and an azure blue on the left, using a blue dress shirt and jeans tucked in his marron boots.

“C’mon, Sho, I’m bored!” Agumon grumbled; the hyperactive lizard hated sitting still, especially in a car as he could see many interesting things passing by but couldn’t do anything.

“Then why did you want to stay out and take the ride with me, instead of being in my Digivice?”

“And leave you alone? No way!”

“Yeah, Shoto, especially when….” Gabumon was about to complement Agumon's statement but ended up trailing off while staring at the driver.

Shoto looked at the adult, a man with an imposing build, red hair, and azure eyes like his left side, normal considering he was his father. The man was wearing a simple black business suit that was formal without being too fancy. It matched his complexion perfectly as, since the other day when his dad had to take an emergency call, he had frowned and looked… not angry, but extremely annoyed.

Shoto’s mom had just laughed it off and said that it wasn’t anything to be worried about, but that hasn’t stopped his and his siblings' concern. That was the not-so-good part of having a hero for a father. You always questioned if he was alright, and even when he wasn’t, he would say yes, add the fact that Shoto’s dad was the number two hero only made things more complicated, but also being a hero of the Digital World and all it entailed made Todoroki Enji’s life a giant pile of stress.

“Hey, dad.” The sound of his son’s concerned voice brought Enji focus back from his spiraling thoughts. He knew that day would come, but that didn’t make the pill any less bitter to swallow. When Mirei had called him to take care of a Midoriya’s mess, he felt he was fifteen again, and Hisashi had lit something on fire and was calling him desperate for help or an alibi. 

It didn’t matter how much he wanted to deny this. The day had come for his son to meet his burden; no, he was not exaggerating. The capability of a Midoriya to get in trouble was literally world-ending.

Sighing, Enji decided to move on directly to acceptance to end his grief, his son’s peace was dead and buried, and nothing would change that fact, “Shoto, I have something to tell you.” His tone got the boy and his Digimon partners’ attention, “There is a… family tradition that you will be part of from now on.”

Shoto had even more questions now, but he chose the most relevant, “What family tradition?”

With all the existential suffering only someone that survived what he did could produce, Enji said, “Keeping a Midoriya safe, or minimizing the resulting chaos and destruction their existence causes.”

“Huh?” Was the understandable response from all backseat passengers.

Letting out another sigh, Enji started to explain, “My father, your grandfather, had a brother in all but blood, his name was Midoriya Mikumo,” The beginning of the tale already got the boys full attention, “They were almost attached by the hip, always together don’t matter the situation, and I’m glad they are because a family trait of the Midoriyas is to attract trouble. Your grandfather had many stories of how his friend could end up in the middle of a disaster anytime, anywhere, and just by him being there things escalated faster than you could blink.”

“I don’t like where this is going,” Gabumon whispered to Shoto.

“Time passed and other generations came to be, and while I was older, this only caused my work on keeping Hisashi from destroying the worlds we know by going to get groceries or any reason the universe deemed fit to send a disaster his way, what was any reason at all.”

“So the Hisashi he always talked about was one of these guys? That explains why he always looked like he wanted to strangle someone.” Agumon pointed, not bothering to keep his voice low.

“Now I’m sorry to say Shoto, but it's your turn, Hisashi’s son has already started to be a trouble magnet and you will have to be the one to keep him, and everyone else, safe from himself.” Enji glanced at the rearview and saw Shoto with a blank face, the boy stayed silent for a moment before giving another perfectly understandable response for someone in his situation.

“Huh?”

———

Enji checked the address one last time, and fortunately (or unfortunately depending on the point of view) it was the Midoriya residence. The unassuming door in the unassuming apartment complex didn't give a clue of the disasters that lived just beyond its threshold. 

He was sure his partner would grumble he was being dramatic and stalling if he hadn't stayed at their agency to hold down the fort while Enji was away. 

Deciding to just bite the bullet Enji knocked on the door, barely a second later the sound of small and quick footsteps came from inside the house. What happened next made Enji once more feel like he was decades in the past. A Hisashi opened the door, a small and off-colored Hisashi, but the freckles and that light in the young boy were the same he remembered. The illusion of being back in time was broken when the boy spoke.

"You're Endeavour! Can I get your autograph?!" He offered Enji a notebook the man could swear he wasn't holding a second ago.

Shoto poked his head from behind his father's legs, staring at the smiling green-haired boy. That was the world-destroyer? He seemed so… nice.

Enji, even after all his years as a hero and head of the family, still didn't know how to do proper social interactions. He knew and accepted that he wasn't a people person, that's why normally he let his wife take the charge in talking with other human beings, and his partner with other Digimons. Unfortunately, neither of them were with him now, fortunately, a familiar chuckle came from inside the house, a voice he knew all too well followed soon after.

"Calm down Izuku, Enji will have time to give you an autograph after you invite him in," Mirei said while putting a hand on the boy's head and ruffling his hair.

Enji saw the mischief hidden inside Mirei's eyes and there was the moment he knew she was enjoying all this. If he was a betting man, Enji would say she called him, especially just so she could watch the events the woman was sure would unfold. 

His pride as Endeavor wouldn't let him take that lying down. He decided to take the challenge of social situations and awkward introductions that would lead to digging into a completely insane past for all normal standards into his own hands just to not give her the satisfaction of seeing him squirm. Enji accepted the unspoken invitation and entered the house.

Taking off his and Shoto’s shoes, the man followed the child almost vibrating in excitement and the still amused woman inside the Midoriya’s home. What greeted him was a scene he would expect in the Digital World, various Rookie Digimon longing about and playing together while in the kitchen he could see the woman Hisashi still bragged about cooking with the help of a Dracomon, as everybody knew dragon flames had the strange ability to cook meat just right, to the perfect point to bring the flavor out.

Shoto was also more relaxed seeing all the Digimons, even if he was staring at the copy of Hisashi holding a Dorumon in a headlock. Doing a double-take Enji also stared at the scene, seeing in his absent-minded state he didn't notice that argument that had started until now.

"Don't bite the pillows!" The boy grumbled at the furry Digimon. 

"But they are so nice to chomp! Come on Izuku, it’s not like I'm the only one that does it!" 

The Veemon watching TV while sprawled on the couch answered without looking away from the screen, "Yes it is."

Mirei giggled behind her hand, "They're quite lively, don't you think?" She asked a stone-faced Enji. The man gave a pointed look at the boy and the extremely familiar discussion the elder Midoriya already had with his own partner oh so long ago. He still had the pillow with teeth marks if he wasn't mistaken, the slightly burnt couch from the "heated" argument didn't survive though. 

"Boys please, not when we have guests!" Inko, along with Dracomon, came from the kitchen with food in town. She saw the imposing figure of Enji and became a little nervous, "Sorry for the wait, I was just finishing."

Enji shook his head, "Don't worry, we came unannounced after all."

"Actually not really…" Inko chuckled awkwardly. Enji didn't need clarification, knowing perfectly well that Mirei had told Inko of his arrival before he could even think about coming here, she was that scary.

"At least we're not intruding."

Inko started to set the table, "That and I made enough for everyone. Kids! Food is ready!"

In a flash of perfectly controlled chaos, all Digimon and boys stopped whatever they were doing at the moment and dashed to the table. In an impressive five seconds flat they were all seated, leaving only Enji standing, as even Shoto was dragged in that awe-inspiring display of speed and hunger.

Sighing, Enji just accepted that he was talking over lunch. Sitting beside his son he partook in the excellent katsudon served, after some minutes he finally collected his thoughts and started, "I should explain why my son and I have come here today."

While Inko and Mirei stopped eating to pay him attention, the children were too enthralled to stop. Enji continued, "I'm Hisashi’s ( brother, caretaker, babysitter, the sole reason he is still alive) friend, since forever really, and while he couldn't tell you about me or Sasaki, or even our duty, he told me everything about you."

Inko blushed slightly at Enji’s exasperated words, she loved how her husband treasured their family more than anything, but she was so embarrassed knowing she bragged about it for gods and worlds.

Izuku stopped stuffing his face with the meal of champions for long enough to say, "Mirei-nee showed us a picture of you three, and she told me you all saved the Digital World!"

Shouto, who while not wolfing down his plate like the others, still was eating with the enthusiasm of a four-year-old, paused and wiped his head to look at his father, "You what?!"

Enji explained plainly, "I only did my duty, and being honest I didn't do that much, besides keeping an eye on Hisashi." He grumbled the last part.

Mirei giggled behind her hand, "Don't let him fool you Shouto, Enji was a hero long before he got his license, he's just too humble to accept it."

Shouto smiled at his dad's embarrassment, before blinking in confusion, "How do you know my name?" His only answer was a wink from the woman.

Izuku saw that and gave him an understanding glance, "Yeah, Mirei-nee won't tell anyone how she knows about stuff. Just think she knows everything, it's easier that way." All around his partners nodded between bites, the heavenly food, and natural Digimon hunger, making stop eating to joy the conversation, a task they weren't capable of accomplishing.

Clearing his throat loudly, Enji got the conversation back on track, "While I would have liked to have met you much sooner, my position and our mission didn't let me. The reason why Hisashi couldn't be here and we don't have much liberty is that we have a system we created to keep the Real and Digital World in relative peace."

Inko frowned slightly, "So you will finally tell us why Hisashi is away?"

Mirei was the one to answer, "Yes, it's time you learn some things, some things that the children, unfortunately, are not ready to learn."

Izuku's eyes widened, but before he could protest Enji cut him off, "Indeed not, that's why Shoto accompanied me, so he could keep Izuku company and out of danger." He gave them a meaningful look.

The boys and Digimon traded glances, they all knew it was an unspoken order, they had to go. They all finished their meals with less vigor than before, Izuku looked at Mirei in hopes she would let them stay but she just shook her head. Bummed, Izuku led his partners and Shoto to the door, "Hey, there's a park near here, we'll show you."

When the door closed, Enji took a deep breath, it was time to go down memory lane, "Let me start from the beginning, my family and the family of your husband have a history together. From my father and Hisashi’s father to us, and I think that our sons too now, we watched over each other, always have and always will. Doesn't matter how much I say Hisashi would bring up the end of the universe by just existing if not for me, he also has saved my life more times than anyone can bother to count."

Inko smiled at the accurate description of her husband's luck, and it turned gentle when she heard how he and this man that was almost a force of nature himself took care of each other. She knew that Hisashi was a caring soul, Izuku was like his father in that way, they both would do everything to help someone in need, hearing that they would also always have someone to help them when they needed was a great relief.

"I'm glad to know."

Enji nodded, he would never say aloud, but having his son along with the mini Hisashi filled him with relief. There were a metric ton of flaws the Midoriyas had, but there was the double of virtues, in particular their loyalty. Shoto had someone at his corner now the same way he had, Enji thought while remembering all the times he needed help, it didn't matter what, Hisashi was there, always was, and always would be.

Letting thoughts of old times and other tangents go, he was stalling and he knew it, he continued knowing delaying the inevitable wouldn't get him anywhere, "Why we couldn't keep in touch and Hisashi is not here is because… The worlds as we know are ending." There was a pin drop silence after his words. 

Inko couldn't believe what she just heard, "What?" She must have heard him wrong, "What do you mean?" Her voice was as fragile as cracked glass, incapable of accepting his words.

Enji turned his eyes to Mirei, she met his gaze, and nodded, there was no backing out now.

"The Digital World and the Real World have their days numbered, the reason is...because they are fusing." He took a deep breath, he would have to give some context before diving into even more unpleasant topics.

"From the beginning, the Digital World was a creation of the Real World, so it obviously had some overlap, that was actually the reason Hisashi, Sasaki, and I ended up there. But some time ago, this overlap started to grow, our world and the other began growing closer and closer, and one day they will become one. This will be the day both our worlds will end and a new one will be born."

Inko was shaking a little, all that was too much, but there was one thing, one small part of her on the back of her mind that knew where this was going, and it terrified her.

Eiji kept going because if he stopped he wouldn't be capable of starting again, "This is also the day where your son, Midoriya Izuku will be crowned King of the New World. And our sons will have to save whatever is left of our worlds from succumbing to ruin."

Inko felt the walls closing in on her, the room suddenly became much smaller than it was a second ago and her vision grew dark. Mirei holding her hand was the only thing that grounded her. Inko couldn't believe her baby, her sweet boy that barely started his life, had already the weight of the world in his shoulders, that one day the sky would fall and he would have to catch it.

Enji gave her a minute to calm before pressing on. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry that not me or any of us could carry this burden in his place. But the truth is, our children will surpass us, and your son will surpass us all. When the day comes, he will be our only hope."

Inko tried to deny it, tried to latch onto something, "H-How are you so sure? How can you know all that?"

Mirei was the one to put the final nail on the coffin, "Because it was Yggdrasil who predicted it, the probability of world fusion is of..." She opened her laptop and showed her the screen. All the calculations are secondary, what was truly important was what was flashing in the center.

{99.87%}

The woman then pressed a key, and more calculations started, "And when it happens, the success of any of the two civilizations surviving alone are…" The computer stopped, on the screen only one number that was by itself a death sentence.

{0%}

Inko was almost hyperventilating now, but before she could descend into a full-blown panic attack, Enji spoke, "There is where Izuku comes in. While we're all doomed without him, when he enters the equation."

Mirei pressed another key, the screen once again was covered in numbers, but in the end, the answer was one single blaring red word.

{ERROR}

"What?" Was everything Inko could say in this situation.

Enji explained, the reason behind it all still completely expected and even then horrifying to this day, "Yggdrasil can predict everything within his comprehension, his power, almost perfectly. But if something, someone, is beyond his comprehension, then they are beyond him. Now tell me, who is the only person that can say they are beyond a god? Even if now he's only a boy, even if he is not ready for it, one day he will be."

Inko now felt numb, she skipped directly to the grim acceptance that her Izuku's future wouldn't be what he deserved, but what all of them would need. She wouldn't watch him becoming a hero as he wanted, she would see him becoming the King. She didn't even notice she was crying, but the tears fell. Why did they do wrong to leave her dear child with such fate? And the worst part is that, if that means to protect people, protect his family, protect everyone, she knew Izuku would do it with a smile on his face.

Enji stood up and to Inko’s startled surprise gave a deep bow that had his head completely parallel to the table.

"I am sorry, but that's not enough. I promised Hisashi I would look after both of you when he couldn't, just like he promised to look after my family. We're both men of our words, I promise you too that I will do everything in my power to make sure our sons will be ready for their future."

Inko was once again flooded with emotion, tears biting at her eyes, "Thank you." She was never a fan of heroes like her son was, but the man bowing to her with sincerity was on top of her list now, "Please, stand up."

At her words Enji straightened himself, sitting back down, he began to explain what they could do for their children and that with the current state of things Inko could expect to see more of him, and hopefully the third member of their group of Digimon chosen.

They talked for hours, Inko finally learning about the life of her husband and what he had faced, about what her son should expect, and what she could do for him too. When they ended it was late at noon, the sun almost setting, and then was the moment the children returned. 

Enji looked at them and sighed, their state once more bringing him to ages past when he and his brother, in all but blood, were in the same way and their fathers laughed at their misfortune. Shoto had the left side of his shirt almost completely burnt off, trails of smoke still rising from the little that was left from it. The youngest Midoriya though was covered head to toe in fresh cement. 

Both boys were a mess, but both were also sporting the biggest smiles he ever saw, considering how his youngest had difficulty in expressing himself that was saying something. 

At the side, Inko’s gaze at the boys was soft like only a mother's gaze could be, and Mirei was almost visibly radiating amusement. 

He was in their position before, coming home looking like hell for reasons that were best left unsaid, so he made the only pertinent question, "Did you two have fun?"

No, Enji wasn't smiling, and he would deny it to anyone that asked.

The boys traded a glance, an unspoken conversation, and answered at the same time, "Yes!"

Enji should be concerned, about the future, about the tragedies to come, about various things, but he wasn’t. Why? Because the greatest calamity the worlds' have ever seen had just gained a faithful companion, and unlike how it was with Hisashi and him, Shoto seemed fine with going along with whatever chaos his friend would cause.

'May Yggdrasil have mercy on the poor fools that get in the way of these boys because my son is a genius and Hisashi’s son is a menace. Just like we are back on the day. But oh so much more.' Enji gave a silent prayer as Shoto and Izuku started to tell the convoluted and borderline insane story of how they ended up looking like that.

Maybe there was a reason he should be concerned, but Enji accepted that reason wasn't something that applied to his life a long time ago.

Chapter Text

Chapter 8: Double trouble

“Izuku.”

“Yeah Shoto?”

“Weren’t we going to a park?”

“Yeah.”

“Then why are we in the sewers?” The youngest Todoroki tried and failed to understand how it came to that. They had left the Midoriyas’ house and hit the street. On the way, Shoto had taught Izuku how to send his partners into his Digivice so they could move faster in a smaller group.

It was actually really easy, he just had to open the connection and let the Digimons import themselves into it. Inside was a reserved space that worked as a safe house for them.

Shoto’s looked like a wooden cottage on a snowy mountain, Izuku’s was exactly like the boy himself, weird. It was a three stories tall building made from wood, stone, metal, and even crystals with a big tree that was an amalgamation of it all in the center, the strange construction was located in the middle of a valley that bordered a beach, a desert, tundra and every other biome there was.

All Izuku’s partners save for Terriermon entered it to start working on the place, the building was empty but had a terminal where they could customize it. After a long debate, it was decided the place was weird already so they could all just go nuts as long as no one got in the other’s way.

That led to the group being composed of the two human boys, Shoto’s partners and Terriermon. Until that part, the young Todoroki could understand the sequence of events, but then something happened and they were now underground, and he couldn’t even remember what exactly, it was as if Shoto blinked and in that time they had gone off track enough to be in a completely different place.

“Oh, that’s because there’s a Digital Shift here!” Izuku exclaimed while pointing ahead, at the dark tunnel they were tracking through.

“Shouldn’t we tell my dad?” Shoto knew what a Digital Shift was, and he also knew they shouldn’t be near one.

“He’s busy talking with my mom, so we have to go there to solve the problem.”

Shoto thought the logic sounded reasonable, “Okay then, let’s go.”

Terriermon snorted, “See, told you he would go along.”

Agumon pouted, “Dang.”

Gabumon, the last reasonable being left, facepalmed, “Now I know why they say Izuku’s a walking disaster.”

Izuku kept leading his friends by the maze that the sewers until finally, the marks of a Digital Shift started to appear. This time, the blue sprites to nothing were accompanied by railways that flowed from one window to the other, crisscrossing through one another.

“I’m starting to regret coming along.” Gabumon sighed.

“Don’t be like that, it’s not that bad.” Terriermon barely stop speaking when a rumble sounded from deeper in the tunnel.

Izuku sighed heavily, “Please, stop tempting fate.” He begged his first partner.

The clicks of something walking on the rails filled the air, making the group tense. Thanks to the training they received, Izuku from Piximon and Shoto from his father, the boys reacted in time to jump away when a large body crashed into the place they were a second before.

It was a giant spider Digimon, mainly colored black but having some yellow lines on the fur, a yellow helmet covered the upper face but left the nine beady green eyes, the three-piece maw and the red mane of hair exposed, and a white skull-and-crossbones mark on top of the abdomen. All in all, the Digimon was intimidating in appearance alone, add the fact the spider was almost four times taller than the boys and you got a truly terrifying enemy.

Izuku gulped and pulled his Digivice, scanning their adversary.

{Dokugumon: Level Champion, is an Insectoid Digimon. It is a cursed Digimon in the shape of a spider, whose entire body has been parasitized by a computer virus. While it was originally a spider-type, it had a docile personality typical of insect-type Digimon; however, at some point, it was drawn into a powerful electromagnetic storm and infected by a computer virus that had been circulating the Network. Since then, it has become but a lump of poison, or, in other words, a computer virus, that corrodes anything it touches. Not only that, special mention has to be given to its great movement speed, made possible thanks to its eight legs. No matter how desperately one tries to get away, Dokugumon will never be far behind, and it will not stop its chase until the opponent ceases to continue running out of exhaustion. They live in colonies and are presided over by their queen, Arukenimon.}

“Why it had to be a spider?!” Agumon shuddered, he didn’t like the eight-legged things, “Urgh, Baby Flame!” He spat a fireball at Dokugumon.

The Champion took the hit without flinching, only becoming angry at the small dinosaur. Dokugumon roared, “Poison Cobweb!” The spider shot a purple blast of sludge from the mouth at Agumon, who yelped and dodged. The gunk hit the ground and hissed.

“I’m sure that’s poisonous and almost sure it’s acidic too.” Izuku nodded to himself, “And that’s dangerous.”

“You, right. Poison, strong!” The Dokugumon spoke in broken sentences, proof of the virus that infected it also affected its mind, “Me, hunt!” The Champion yelled and lunged at the Prince.

“Look out!” Shoto’s cry was followed by the boy using his quirk with a stomp. Shoto was a special case, his quirk, like his hair and eyes, was a heterogeneous fusion of both his parents' ones, he could use fire from his left side, and, as he just made use of to stop Dokugumon, ice from his right. 

Izuku stared at Shoto and the glacier coming from his right foot with stars in his eyes, “That’s so cool!”

“Fight now, geek out later!” Terriermon complained, snapping his little bro back to reality. The bunny jumped on top of Dokugumon’s head, holding on to his foe’s mask with one hand, he started to pummel it with the other.

“Shoto, can you trap Dokugumon’s legs?!” Izuku already had the start of a plan, but he needed to know what Shoto was and wasn’t able to do before anything.

The bichromatic boy blinked, “Huh, I think so? I never tried on someone with more than four legs before.”

“That will do, on my signal!” Izuku then turned to Agumon and Gabumon, “You two, help me to reach that!” He pointed at one of the floating rails.

Agumon asked his friend, “Fastball special?”

“Yup.” Gabumon nodded. Both Rookies grabbed Izuku, one arm and one leg each. They lifted the boy, got a running start, and then threw him up. The Prince sailed to his target and hit it with a perfect three-point landing.

“Now Shoto!” His cue given, the boy stomped down and spread his ice wide, overshooting a little but getting all the spider Digimon’s legs stuck.

Izuku jumped from his perch the second he saw his enemy stopping, falling with an impressive frontflip, the boy brought his leg down on an ax kick, “Smash!” He was still an All Might fanboy, and always would be. The Prince’s attack made Dokugumon buckle and one last swing from Terriermon’s fist brought it down.

Both landed and traded a high five, “We did it!” They cheered.

“A little help?” Shoto broke the moment, the boy accidentally iced his own foot to the floor and he didn’t want to risk burning himself to melt it, he knew how to use his right side better than his left, maybe because he was right-handed?

Agumon and Gabumon grabbed their human partner and pulled, freeing Shoto, “Thanks.”

“So, are we done?” Agumon asked, only for a loud noise to come from deeper in the tunnel, “Yeah, guess not.”

“C’mon, let’s go check it out!” Izuku called, already rushing ahead, Terriermon hot on his trail.

“Hey, wait up!” Gabumon cried out, the three stragglers running after them. As the children regrouped, they soon found themselves in a well, big enough to house a football field and then some, large pipes flowing with dirty water letting it fall freely to its depths hanged from the walls of the pit.

That was not what made the view surprising, the fact a complex array of rails and webs covered most of it, rising from the well’s bottom and up and up, to the limits of the boys' sight and beyond. Crawling on the fantastical structure were at least thirty different Dokugumon.

“The entry said they lived in colonies,” Izuku said dizzily, not expecting something like that.

“It also said they had a queen right?” Shoto gulped.

“We’re doomed.” Gabumon deadpanned.

“Guys, I think they saw us.” Terriermon pointed down, at three Dokugumon fast approaching. He traded a glance with his little bro, “Evolution?”

Izuku nodded, “Evolution!” He pulled his Digivice and started to go down the path for the right directory. After their adventure with Mina, Izuku and Terrieirmon trained incessantly to achieve control over it, with help from Pixiemon and countless tries, they reached enough mastery of it for Terriermon to evolve to Champion for twenty minutes, Izuku just hope that would be enough.

{EVOLUTION}

“Terriermon digivolves to…” The bunny Digimon threw himself out the tunnel’s edge just as his form was once more cocooned by a white dome with green grid-like patterns, “Gargomon!” The Champion burst from inside the shell and started to shoot, using his ears to glide down.

Unlike before, the projectiles stopped the Dokugumon in their tracks. Gargomon gunned all the targets he could see until landing on one of the rails, “C’mon, there’s a lot more from where that came from!” He raised his gauntlets in challenge, daring more enemies to show their faces.

Izuku saw his partner charging ahead and nodded to himself, walking back, he got a running start and jumped after him. Shoto looked at his partners and shrugged, doing the same.

“Well, what are we waiting for?!” Agumon grabbed Gabumon, much to his protests, and threw him before jumping, both falling behind their partner.

“I didn’t agree with this!” Gabumon cried. Turning to Shoto, he shouted, “Beef me up!”

“Okay!” Pulling his own Digivice, it looked like a blocky radio, having an ergonomic grip on the left side along with a d-pad, two buttons on the right, one blue on the right and one orange on the left, and a screen the size of a flip phone one, Shoto started his partner’s own digivolution.

{EVOLUTION}

“Gabumon digivolves to…” The same white dome formed around Gabumon, but this time the grid over it was glowing blue, “Garurumon!”

Shoto grabbed onto his partner’s back, now a giant beast resembling a wolf with light blue fur, a white underside, dark blue tiger stripes, magenta claws, dark blue-tipped blades, and a very curly tail, “Garurumon, stay on the move!”

Using his new form, Garurumon jumped from rail to rail, never staying in the same place for more than a second. Using the speed advantage, Shoto started to throw streams of flames from his left hand, burning the webs and spider Digimon alike.

Izuku watched that with stars in his eyes, pulling his Digivice, he analyzed Garurumon.

{Garurumon: Level Champion, is an Animal Digimon. It is covered in blue, white, and silver-colored fur as hard as "Mithril", which is called a legendary rare metal, and since the blades growing from the tips of its shoulders have sharp edges, anything that touches them is cut to pieces. As it possesses a furious combat instinct and sinews honed in freezing lands, as well as carnivore-like agility and the accuracy to reliably bring down its targets, it is a being feared by other Digimon. However, its intelligence is very high, and it faithfully obeys those who it recognizes as its master or leader.}

“So cool!”

“Heads up!” Agumon divebombed one Bokugumon that was sneaking behind Izuku while he was distracted. Trying to blow a fireball at the spider Digimon again, with the same results, Agumon cried out. “Sho! A little help for me too, please?!”

The boy riding Garurumon sighed, “This is going to make getting out of bed tomorrow hard.” He fidged with his Digivice again, activating another stance of the evolution sequence.

{EVOLUTION}

“Agumon digivolves to…” The third Rookie to evolve had an orange shinning grid covering his white dome, from it a bipedal reptilian Digimon who looked like a Ceratosaurus burst out, “Greymon!” The new Champion had orange scales with blue stripes covering his body, three clawed fingers on his hands, and three clawed toes on his feet, with claws protruding from the heels. Greymon was even wearing a rhinoceros beetle-like skull on his head, adding to the intimidating new form.

Izuku wasted no time in pulling his record up too.

{Greymon: Level Champion, is a Dinosaur Digimon. Greymon's cranial skin has hardened so that it is covered in a rhinoceros beetle-like shell. It is an extremely aggressive Digimon, with a body like a lethal weapon covered in sharp claws and gigantic horns. However, it is highly intelligent, and if you're able to tame it then there probably isn't any monster as strong.}

“Mega Flame!” This time, a colossal fire orb flew from the dinosaur Digimon’s mouth, completely engulfing the Dokurumon in flames, “Hah, take that you overgrown bug!”

“Spiders are not bugs,” Garurumon commented while passing by.

“Shush you!” Greymon snapped back before charging at more approaching enemies.

Seeing Shoto evolve both his partners, he got an idea. Fidgeting with his Digivice, he found the right program and smiled.

{DEPLOY}

A green pillar of light formed at his side, and from it, Dracomon stumbled out, “Get your paws off my grill!” The small dragon looked from side to side and realized he was not inside the Royal Stronghold, the name they gave to the safe house, but in a mess of a battlefield, “Huh, what did I miss?”

“Dracomon, we need your help!”

“I can see that!” He quickly pushed Izuku aside and spat a fireball at a Dokugumon. Unlike Agumon, Dracomon did some damage, but not much.

“You need to evolve, we need to burn our way up.” Izuku pointed at the spiraling way up, the rails making a path but being covered in too many webs for them to use.

“Fine, what do I need to do?”

At Dracomon's question, Izuku drew a blank, he only had Terriermon's evolution sequence, and only Gargomon and nothing beyond the Champion, “I should have thought this through.”

“Well, think fast then!” The Rookie yelled as one of the spider Digimons lunged at him. Dracomon braced for impact, but even them the heavy body pushed him back. Planting his feet on the ground, clawed toes tearing the rails under him apart, the dragon roared, “You think you’re strong? Well, I’m stronger!”

Izuku, seeing one of his partners in need of help, rushed to his side. The young Prince helped the dragon push back his enemy, “Yeah, we’re stronger! I don’t know why you guys are trying to come to this world, but I won’t let you do it just to mess it up!”

“We won’t! If you want to fight, you’ll have to fight all of us!” Just as their fighting spirits were set ablaze, the Digivice in Izuku’s pocket lit up.

{CONDITIONS MET}

{ACTIVATING NEW MODULE}

{EVOLUTION}

“Dracomon digivolves to…” Izuku was pushed away as the white dome from the evolution formed, this one with an azure grid. With a flash and a violent wave of force a larger, more powerful version of Dracomon, exploded the shell enveloping him with a roar, “Coredramon!”

His body was now much more developed compared to his Rookie form, his limbs, wings, and horns lengthening in comparison until the full-grown dragon stood taller than his enemy, showing that the simple evolution only brought out the power he already had.

Izuku, looking at the back of his partner, laughed joyfully as the entry for Coredramon played in his mind.

{Coredramon (Blue): Level Champion, is a Dragon Digimon. It is the digivolved form of the Dracomon who assimilates plenty of "Blue Diamante", a rare gem mined from mountainous regions with very high altitudes. For them to live on steep mountains, they have grown wings and can fly at a high speed. Digimon having "-dramon" in their names must contain dragon-gene data (dragon DNA) in their DigiCores. The higher the ratio of dragon DNA, the more the body shape is like a dragon type. Having a dragon DNA ratio of 100%, Coredramon is a pure-blooded Dragon Digimon.}

“Blue Flare Breath!” Coredramon roared as a stream of blue fire consumed the Dokugumon in front of him, then with a sharp movement of his head, the dragon drowned every enemy near them in flames.

Izuku's smile was blinding, with childish euphoria he run over Coredramon’s tail and back, ending on the Digimon’s head and holding one of his red horns, “Coredramon, all speed ahead!”

“You don’t have to tell me twice!” With a powerful beat of his wings, the dragon took flight. Similar to Shoto and Garurumon, they threw waves of fire at everything in their path. Passing close to his friend, Izuku shouted over the raging flames, “Shoto! Let’s go up!”

“I think we don’t have a choice.” The youngest Todoroki looked back and only saw webs burning and spider Digimon falling down to the water below.

“Yeehaw!” Gargomon laughed from his perch on Greymon’s head, the armed bunny gunning down everything that got close while the charging dinosaur plowed over anything that stood on their path, “The last one to get to the top is a smelly Numemon!”

Shoto blinked, “What?”

“Escape now, get confused by that later!” Garurumon growled, then the lupine Digimon made his best to run away from the inferno burning around them.

The three pairs of raiders and mounts rushed to the top of the construct of rails and ended up face to face with a concrete ceiling. Gargomon huffed, “Gimme a boost!” He jumped on Greymon’s tail, giving the chance for him to snap it up and send the bunny flying. Gargomon shouted while closing on the ceiling, “Dumdum Upper!” He threw an explosive uppercut and blew the obstacle in their path to smithereens.

The Prince’s first partner looked around and tilted his head, “A train station?”

The others came from the hole just as the flames started to rise from it. Izuku saw the station where they ended up and how it too was covered in the blue sprites of a Digital Shift and gulped, “Guys! We’re not out of the fire yet.” He stopped, realizing what he said, “Huh, pun not intended.” The others chuckled at his embarrassment.

Shoto and Izuku jumped off their perches on their partners' backs, the latter noticing the former had burnt away most of the left side of his shirt, “Hum, Shoto there’s a…” He pointed at a patch of cloth still on fire.

The bichromatic boy put it off with some heavy pats, “What do we do now?”

“How about helping me?” A new voice came from the ceiling. The two boys looked upward and saw, dangling by spiderwebs, a train, the most shocking part wasn’t that but the fact the train was a Digimon. The young Prince didn’t waste a second checking the new Digimon entry.

{Locomon: Level Ultimate is a Machine Digimon. It has the appearance of a steam locomotive, and its purpose in life is to keep running. It is a being that transports the data within the Network across the Digital World. Within the Digital World, where a large quantity of information comes and goes, the meaning of life for Locomon and other Vehicle-species Digimon is in how quickly they can convey that information. However, there are times when old models of Locomon have run completely wild as a result of seeking to go too quickly. Although its range of movement is confined because it can only run on rails, there are occasions when it has generated spacial distortions by continuously running in circles.}

“He’s an Ultimate!” The whole group exclaimed in shock. The only other Ultimate Izuku knew was Pixiemon, and his sensei was so absurdly strong that the young Prince not only had never beaten him but also not put a single scratch on the fairy Digimon.

“Huh, yeah, I’m not much of a fighter though.” The living train chuckled awkwardly, “I got trapped here by Arukenimon after she ambushed me and I thought I was done, but she’s out now and you guys are here, so… a little help?”

“Of course! Just a second.” Izuku used the walls to jump from surface to surface until he reached Locomon. Landing on his front cart, he patted the Digimon metal casing, “Don’t worry, we’ll get you out.”

“Hey, you’re the Prince!” Now that Locomon had Izuku in his line of sight, he instantly recognized the boy.

“Yeah, I am.” He chuckled while scratching the back of his head, “Now keep really still. I’m gonna cut the webs.” Using Deploy again, Izuku summoned Zubamon.

“A little to the left- what the heck?!” The sword Digimon looked from side to side, “What happened?”

“Long story, I’ll explain later, now we have to cut those webs!” 

Zubamon shrugged, saluted, and turned into his weapon form. Izuku grabbed it with both hands and shouted to his friends on the ground, “Get ready to catch us!”

“How are we gonna do that?!” Garurumon panicked. He didn’t like the idea of being crushed by a train.

“I have an idea!” Gargomon quickly rallied the others. Up top, Izuku was slashing all the webs he could reach while running on top of Locomon, the Digimon not even breathing in fear of getting hit by accident or worse, making the Prince fall.

With increasingly less force to keep him up, Locomon started to descend, more and more until his weight was too much for the webs remaining and he dropped, “Heads up!” The train warned. He crashed down in a surprisingly soft manner, looking down he saw the reason why, “Snow?”

“Yup! Four Champions were more than enough to powder a glacier in time.” Gargomon laughed.

“We did it!” Izuku jumped down from the top of the cart he was on and rushed back. Just as he regrouped with his friends, the Champions started to glow and then returned to their Rookie forms, the human boys almost kneeling over from the energy crash.

“OOF!” Terriermon didn’t stop on the almost, he fell on the floor on his back, Dracomon on top of him, Agumon on top of the dragon, and Gabumon on top of them all.

Zubamon, back in his normal form, grabbed them all, “I’ll drop them on your Digivices then I’ll finish helping Gomamon set the aquarium, call if you need anything.” Just as he finished, the armored Digimon and his cargo were covered by a green pillar of light and vanished.

“We should go before Arukenimon gets back. I’ll give you kids a lift to the edge of the Digital Shift, from there you can go back to the Real World.” Locomon offered, earning thanks from the boys.

Izuku and Shoto hitched a ride on the conductor cart of Locomon while the Ultimate started to make his way across the tracks, leaving the infested station behind. A minute later he stopped, “That’s your stop!”

Both boys disembarked on the rails, noticing they were in the middle of a complete blue void, “Thanks Locomon!” Izuku expressed his gratefulness again, earning a chuckle from Locomon.

“I should be the one thanking you two! If you need a ride, just say the word and I’ll get you anywhere you want. Bye-bye!” The train Digimon set off his whistle and started moving away. 

“What now?” Shoto asked, just as his words sounded, the limbo around them glitched and vanished a second later, leaving both him and Izuku standing on a normal train rail.

“Now I think is better we jump ship before that train hits us.” Izuku pointed at the said approaching vehicle. Both traded a glance and a nod, then they threw themselves from the rails. Luckily, it was a suspended line, more luckily, there was a construction site under them, so Shoto had complete freedom to create a glacier and slide down to the floor.

“That wasn’t that bad.” The youngest Todoroki smiled and clapped some dust from his hands, “Right?... Izuku?” He looked around, not seeing his friend anywhere.

“Help!” Izuku’s voice made Shoto snap his head to its source, a cement mixer, which was both on and full.

“Hold on!” Shoto quickly rushed to it and started fidgeting with the buttons and levers on the machine. He did something right, as it spilled its contents on the ground.

Izuku got up, completely covered by fresh cement. The boy spat and whined, “Ew, that tastes horrible!”

“I think it wasn’t to be tasted.”

“You’re probably right.”

___

“And that’s what happened.” Izuku finished his tale, both he and Shoto sitting side by side on the couch after a good bath and a change of clothes.

Shoto, still staring weirdly at the T-shirt with “T-shirt” written on it that he got from Izuku, nodded, “Walking back was surprisingly calm, even if Izuku was covering everything in cement.”

The young Prince’s head dropped, “Sorry.”

Enji chuckled and shook his head, “Like father like son, at least you remembered to take off your shoes.”

Inko laughed, “Yes, it would have been a nightmare to clean everything.”

“Hey, dad?” Shoto pulled his father's sleeve and used his best puppy eyes, “Can I go hang out with Izuku more times?”

The second-place hero in Japan looked from his son to Izuku’s puppy eyes begging for him to say yes and sighed, already knowing he would get grey hairs before the year ended. Well, at least he would match his wife, “Sure, just keep out of trouble, or at least the collateral to a minimum.”

The boys traded a glance, a smile, and a high-five, “Yeah!”

The worlds were doomed, but maybe that was fine, with those two together Enji doubted they would last much anyway.