Chapter 22: You Are the Challengers!
The vibrant spiritual aura of the day began to recede, though the pale moon had not yet claimed the sky. The evening glow cast a golden veil over the land, bathing the Village of Beginnings in a soft, dreamlike light.
"Fist of the Beast King!"
"Overlord's Fist!"
The continuous shouts and impacts from nearby drew Tai's attention. He glanced over at the sparring Digimon before turning his gaze back to the young man working beside him.
"Hey, Mizuki," Tai began, a hint of concern in his voice. "Is this really okay?"
"Hm?" Mizuki looked up from his task, though his hands never stopped moving.
"I mean Leomon. He's still going at it with Ogremon."
"It's fine," Mizuki replied easily. "Don't underestimate their stamina. For them, this is just a normal daily workout." He paused, a playful glint in his eyes as he thought of something. "Besides, if you're so interested, you could always go spar with them yourself."
"Ah? Me?" Tai pointed a finger at his own chest, his expression one of pure shock. He quickly waved his hands in dismissal. "Are you trying to get me killed?"
"Oh, you just have to believe! It's your magic, after all," Mizuki teased, quoting a familiar tune. "If I can wrestle with a Digimon, why can't you?"
With a lighthearted grin, Mizuki patted Tai's shoulder. "You're a DigiDestined, you know. Show some spirit! Don't let the title down."
"Really?" Tai, who had been thoroughly unconvinced, felt a spark ignite within him. His eyes lit up.
'He's right,'Tai thought, the idea taking root.'If Mizuki can do it, why can't I? I'm a DigiDestined!'The thought fueled a deeper resolve.'And if I get stronger, I can do a better job of protecting Kari!'
With his heart now blazing with courage, Tai quickly finished prepping the ingredients in front of him. He turned to Agumon, who had been watching the sparring match with a dazed look.
"Agumon! What do you say we go spar with Leomon and Ogremon?"
"Eh!? Us?" Agumon tilted his head, his expression adorably blank for a moment. Then, as the words sank in, the fire of battle ignited in his reptilian eyes.
"Mhm!" Tai nodded firmly. "Leomon is yours, and Ogremon is mine! No problem, right?"
"Of course, no problem!" Agumon shot to his feet, immediately striking a fighting pose. "Just hearing you say that, Tai, I can feel my whole body catching fire!"
"Power is boiling!"
"Spirit is burning!"
"Right now, we are invincible!" they roared in perfect unison.
After sharing a determined glance, they charged toward Leomon and Ogremon without a single look back.
"Mizuki, wait for our good news!" Tai's voice echoed behind them.
"My, my," Mizuki sighed with a warm smile, watching the two energetic figures dash off. "So young and full of vigor."
At that moment, LadyDevimon, who had been standing silently by his side, finally spoke. "Mizu, are you tired? Would you like to rest?"
"It's nothing," Mizuki said, turning to her with a gentle smile that dismissed her concern. "This little bit of work is nothing. I spent more than enough time resting in a sickbed in my past life."
Now, he wanted to try everything, to experience it all. Perhaps it was his way of making up for the long years of regret, of a life confined to a bed.
However, just as he finished speaking, LadyDevimon added another, unexpected question. "Um, Mizu…"
"Were you just teasing them?"
"Cough, cough—" Mizuki sputtered slightly. "LadyDevimon, how could you say such a thing? I was merely trying to inspire their fighting spirit. As we all know, the Digital World is fraught with crisis. It's a good thing to train early and improve oneself. I had absolutely no intention of playing a trick on them."
He delivered the lines with an air of perfect righteousness.
Despite his earnest expression, LadyDevimon somehow felt that he was trying to pull the wool over her eyes. Then again, she considered, what he said wasn't wrong. Leomon and Ogremon were both Digimon who knew how to hold back. There was no real danger for Tai in sparring with them.
Still… recalling Mizuki's usually gentle demeanor, a strange new feeling bloomed in her heart.
'I never expected Mizu to have such a mischievous side…'
As LadyDevimon was lost in her thoughts, the voices of Tai and Agumon rang out from the training ground.
"Leomon! Ogremon! Your battle is over!"
"Now, you are the challengers!"
Leomon and Ogremon both paused, turning to the newcomers with identical looks of confusion.
"?"
---
What exactly Tai experienced that evening, no one knew except for Ogremon, Leomon, and Agumon, the only ones present.
The only thing that was certain was that when he and Agumon finally returned, leaning on each other for support, they looked utterly disheveled.
Interestingly, Tai's expression held no anger at being tricked. Instead, his face was alight with pure joy and exhilaration.
Seeing this, Mizuki, who was in the middle of cooking, paused his work.
"Mizuki, I knew you weren't lying to me!"
"Tai, you don't mean—"
"Mhm! I did it! Just now, I really sparred with Ogremon!" Tai was like a child who had just unearthed a hidden treasure, excitedly recounting the tale. "I didn't win, of course, but Ogremon said it himself! I seem to have the strength of a Rookie-level Digimon!"
"..."
Listening to Tai's breathless, ecstatic words, Mizuki fell silent.
At that very moment, in a hidden corner not far from the Village of Beginnings, several Phantomon were secretly observing the distant settlement. It turned out that among the specters who had retreated earlier, a few had been ordered by Devimon to stay behind. Their mission was to monitor the situation and find an opportunity to launch another invasion.
Now, as the rich, savory aroma of cooking food wafted through the air, saliva dripped continuously from their fanged mouths.
"Smells so good… so good…"
"Those guys are being way too careless."
"Hey, should we try to snatch one of the kids?"
"Yeah! Then, the first credit of autumn will belong to our Phantomon squad!"
The Phantomon plotted in hushed tones, completely oblivious to the figure approaching silently from behind.
"Yo ho," a calm voice drawled. "The first credit of autumn? You guys are quite poetic."
"!!!"
The sudden voice made the Phantomon jump.
The voice spoke again, laced with amusement. "With how timid you all look, you're talking about the 'first credit of autumn'? How about I offer you the first eulogy of the season instead?"
Just as Mizuki finished his taunt, one of the Phantomon subconsciously nodded. "A eulogy? If you're giving one, I'll definitely take it!"
Mizuki froze. "..."
It was his turn to be struck silent.
Nearby, Tai, ever the helpful one, chimed in. "Um, they're ghosts. If you offer them something for the departed, they won't get angry. They'll actually be very happy."
"..."
Under the combined gazes of Tai, Agumon, and LadyDevimon, Mizuki remained silent for a long moment before slowly turning around.
"Tai, I'm leaving them to you."
His voice was dead serious. "How dare they fool me? Since we're companions, please give them a good beating on my behalf!"
Tai blinked. "..."
Although he desperately wanted to say, 'They didn't fool you, you just misunderstood,' his emotional intelligence kicked in, and he forcibly suppressed the thought.
"Agumon, let's go!" he declared, pointing a finger at the confused ghosts. "Let's teach these bad guys a good lesson!"
"Ooh!"
[Akarin's Note:
Enjoying the story? Dropping a quick review, comment, or Power Stone means the world to me and keeps these daily updates flowing!
Want to read 50 chapters ahead or just want to help keep a shameless translator alive? (My livelihood actually depends on this, haha 😭). You can support me directly here:
(P.S. Just remove the brackets and replace the [.] with a regular dot . to use the links!)
✨ Patreon (50 Advanced Chapters): patreon[.]com/AkarinTL
☕ Ko-fi (Support / Sponsor): ko-fi[.]com/AkarinTL
🔗 All My Links: linktr[.]ee/AkarinTL
Thank you so much for reading and keeping this project alive!]