Accompanied by a towering waterspout, the calm ocean split slowly, and an enormous figure rose up from beneath the waves.
Zero immediately recognized the figure…
…Whamon, a Vaccine-type, aquatic Digimon.
It existed both in Champion and Ultimate forms, though visually the two stages had practically no differences. The Whamon before Zero was a Champion-level Digimon, one of those previously controlled by Devimon's Black Gear.
When Zero defeated Devimon, he'd freed all the Digimon controlled by the Black Gears, effectively earning their gratitude—and most of them were quite grateful indeed.
"I've already heard from Gennai-san. You intend to reach Server Continent, retrieve the Tags from the underwater cavern, and need a way across. If you don't mind… please allow me to assist you."
Zero immediately smiled and nodded. "Yeah, that'd be a huge help! Server Continent alone is manageable for me, but that underwater cavern would definitely be trouble."
After all, Zero had already unlocked three Ultimate-level evolutions, two of which—RizeGreymon and MetalGreymon—could fly. If he really tried, crossing the ocean directly to Server Continent wasn't impossible.
But dealing with underwater things wasn't nearly as easy. Among Zero's current evolutions, none could handle deep-sea diving, so he had no choice but to rely on aquatic Digimon capable of assisting him.
Luckily, Whamon owed Zero a favor, and with Gennai's request, it agreed without hesitation.
In the original story, Whamon was also a loyal ally to the Chosen Children. Eventually, it bravely sacrificed itself to help them, truly repaying their kindness with its life.
Zero naturally held immense respect for such a loyal companion, so he immediately accepted Whamon's invitation as it opened its enormous mouth, signaling for Zero to climb in.
Without any hesitation, Zero hopped inside Whamon's mouth, happily waving a claw.
"Then, I'll leave it all up to you~!"
"Mm…"
Whamon rumbled a quiet reply, then gently closed its mouth, sealing the water outside, and began its slow descent into the deep sea…
Inside Whamon's mouth, Zero couldn't see the outside world and could only judge their progress based on Whamon's descriptions. He felt himself gradually sinking deeper and deeper into the ocean—so long, in fact, that he grew bored to the point of nearly dozing off inside Whamon's mouth.
There really was nothing else to do. Zero simply closed his eyes to pass the time, almost drifting off completely, until suddenly, Whamon's voice reverberated like muffled thunder:
"We've arrived… This is the Undersea Cavern."
As Whamon spoke, its mouth slowly opened once more. Zero immediately snapped awake and jumped to his feet.
Before him was a vast underwater cavern entrance, completely devoid of seawater, as if some invisible force—or perhaps just natural design—had kept it dry.
The Tags were hidden deep within this Undersea Cavern, crucial equipment for the Chosen Children. Although Zero and Rina could activate their Crests' power without the Tags, having them would allow more stable control of that strength.
No matter how he looked at it, the Crests and Tags were overpowered and reliable buffs—he definitely needed to recover them.
"I'll wait here for you. When you're done, I'll carry you to Server Continent…"
"Yeah, thanks again~!"
Zero acknowledged with a nod, then ventured forward into the cavern. However, the moment he stepped inside, confusion overtook him.
"…Hold on. Exactly where are the Tags hidden again?"
Zero knew the Tags were somewhere in the Undersea Cavern, but this cave was incredibly spacious, with countless tunnels branching and twisting into a sprawling, complex natural maze.
Zero's DigiCore gave him computational abilities equal to a supercomputer, so he wasn't worried about getting lost—he could easily navigate his way back out.
But with such complicated terrain, and no idea exactly where the Tags were hidden… was he really supposed to do a carpet-search through the entire place?
At that moment, Zero felt tears welling up in his eyes.
…If only he had some underlings! Life would be so much easier. Now he understood why those powerful bosses always gathered armies and subordinates, even though they themselves were strong enough.
It wasn't practical to personally handle every little thing. Some matters were too trivial for a powerful boss to deal with personally. Hiring underlings made tasks infinitely more efficient.
If Zero had followers, all he'd have to do now would be to issue an order, sit back, and wait like a lazy boss—why bother running around doing a brute-force search himself?
But alas, there was no other choice but to do it the hard way.
If his luck was good, maybe it wouldn't take too long to find the Tags. But if luck wasn't on his side…
…Forget it. Zero was already tired of worrying about such things. At worst, he'd just treat it as sightseeing.
After wandering through the Undersea Cavern for over an hour, however, Zero felt even more lost than before.
…An hour had passed without any sign of progress. The cave still stretched endlessly ahead. Who knew how small a fraction of the area he'd actually explored?
Zero sighed helplessly, and just as he was about to continue wandering aimlessly like a headless fly, suddenly he heard a panicked cry echoing from a tunnel ahead:
"Help!"
It sounded like a young boy's voice. Zero froze in surprise. Under normal circumstances, not even ghosts would haunt this empty cavern. Usually, only a handful of Drimogemon guarded the Tags.
Who was that?
But before he could even think clearly, his body was already in motion, charging without hesitation toward the source of the voice.
Since searching for the Tags had gotten him nowhere anyway, investigating this disturbance seemed far more interesting.
If he could hear voices clearly, it meant they weren't too far off. As Zero sprinted down the tunnel, he soon saw two figures—one tall, one short—frantically running toward him, being chased closely by a Drimogemon.
The slightly taller figure was a boy dressed in athletic clothes, goggles atop his head, desperately holding the hand of a shorter girl beside him as they fled in panic.
Seeing this young pair, Zero's mind went utterly blank, leaving only four huge characters echoing in his head:
…Wait a damn minute!!!
At that moment, he genuinely wanted to cry from sheer astonishment.
Was this a destined encounter? But isn't this too sudden?!
Despite the chaos in his mind, what he needed to do was crystal clear…
As the boy ran desperately, dragging the girl with him, he suddenly saw a small dinosaur-like Digimon charging straight toward them.
Instantly, despair flashed across the boy's face. He was trapped—wolves before him, tigers behind. Now what?
Yet, in contrast to his despair, the girl beside him stared blankly for a split second, before her expression filled with sudden joy.
"Big brother—it's Koromon!"
"Huh? Hikari, what'd you say?"
Before their conversation could continue, dazzling data poured forth from Zero's body—
"Out of the way! Leave this guy to me!"
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T/N: ITS THE SIBLINGS!!!