Chapter 19: Returning Home

Meeting Agumon’s pitiful gaze, Zhao Jie tossed the Fire Spirit Fruit toward the little creature. He’d checked earlier and learned that the fruit’s gentle properties made it suitable even for newly hatched Digimon.

“Go ahead, eat it,” Zhao Jie said, his eyes narrowing into a gentle smile as he quietly watched Agumon before him.

Agumon took the Fire Spirit Fruit but hesitated, glancing uncertainly at Zhao Jie. For some reason, he suddenly felt a bit uneasy.

“I just eat it?”

“Eat it.”

“Really? You’re sure I should eat it?”

Zhao Jie’s smiling face only made Agumon more hesitant. Was this thing really edible? It should be, right?

“Don’t worry, I checked. The Fire Spirit Fruit is perfectly safe for you. But Agumon, as you eat, pay attention to how it affects you. In the next few days, we’ll be doing a lot of training to help you unlock its benefits.”

Relieved by these words, Agumon immediately sank his teeth into the fruit, and within moments, he’d devoured it down to the pit.

“Delicious!” Agumon patted his belly, his face full of bliss.

“How do you feel?” Zhao Jie ignored how quickly Agumon had dispatched the fruit and asked about its effects.

“How do I feel? Is ‘full’ a feeling?” Agumon looked up at Zhao Jie, speaking cautiously.

Zhao Jie: ???

My Agumon, is there hope for you?

Dragging himself off the bed, every muscle in Zhao Jie’s body screamed in pain with each step. Watching Agumon bounce around as if nothing had happened, he sighed to himself, Life is so hard.

...

“Training. Training.”

On an open stretch of ground, Agumon was constantly moving, darting back and forth. Since consuming the Fire Spirit Fruit, not only had its affinity with fire improved, but its physical abilities had grown by leaps and bounds.

“Baby Flame!”

After a brief charge-up, a large ball of orange-red fire shot from Agumon’s mouth and exploded with a bang into a water-filled pit prepared in advance.

“Well done, Agumon!”

Zhao Jie waved his arm in encouragement. Now, Agumon needed only two seconds to charge up the Baby Flame attack—a full second faster than just a few days ago. Such rapid progress was astonishing.

Not only that, the instant-cast version of Baby Flame was now far more powerful than before. The Fire Spirit Fruit’s benefits had truly been unlocked.

“Agumon, we can go home tomorrow.”

There were only a few days left until the Newcomers’ Cup in Shashi at the end of August. Staying here any longer would offer little additional benefit.

Now, Agumon had mastered the charged-up Baby Flame, the instant-cast version, the double burst, and had even gotten the hang of casting while moving.

In terms of combat strength, it was now a force to be reckoned with among rookie Digimon.

But turning all this training into real battle power required more than just hard work—Agumon’s earlier inability to defeat even a baby Greymouse Digimon was proof enough.

Only through real combat could Agumon truly internalize these skills.

“Hooray! We can finally go home!”

Agumon leapt up in excitement, already thinking of all the ways to spend its hard-earned points—snacking without a care in the world.

The next morning, Zhao Jie and Agumon bid farewell to the elderly couple and set out on the journey home.

From mid-June to early August, a month and a half had passed. The little Botamon had evolved into Agumon and had even begun to develop its signature move, Baby Flame.

If, before the college entrance exams, Agumon could evolve further into Greymon, then those exams would be no obstacle for Zhao Jie.

With a mature-stage Digimon, he might not have his pick of any university in the country, but he’d be close.

Now, figuring out Greymon’s evolution requirements was an urgent task.

“What should I do?”

Zhao Jie gazed out the window. The only idea he had was to exchange his points for the research paper outlining Greymon’s evolutionary path and try to deduce the conditions from there.

There was no other way.

The only other Digimon Tamer he knew was his teacher, Li Ping, but even if Li knew, there was no guarantee he would share that information.

“What a headache.”

When the bus finally arrived, Zhao’s parents—rarely seen together—were waiting at the station to greet him.

“Oh, Botamon’s turned into Agumon! It’s grown so much—how adorable!”

“That’s right! It looks exactly like Xiao Jie did as a child!”

Hearing his parents’ conversation, Zhao Jie’s head was full of question marks. Were they praising him? They must be, right?

Agumon, already familiar with Zhao’s parents, immediately began showing off and acting cute, making them laugh with delight.

Even the passersby nearby couldn’t help but watch with envy. Not everyone was qualified to raise a Digimon, after all.

“Excuse me, may I take a picture with Agumon?”

A teenage girl mustered her courage and approached the group, her eyes shining as she looked at Agumon.

Gulping down a can of Sprite, Agumon stared wide-eyed at the girl, saying nothing.

I am Agumon—I have my pride! You think you can just take a picture with me whenever you want? Who do you take me for?

“Oh, right, here’s some ice cream I just bought. Would you like it?”

Seeing no objection from Zhao Jie’s family, the girl quickly offered her ice cream to Agumon.

Hmm?!

Agumon shook the empty Sprite can in its hand, then, without hesitation, accepted the ice cream and handed the empty can back to the girl.

“One.”

Agumon held up a single finger, indicating that he’d take only one photo.

Laughter broke out among Zhao’s parents and the onlookers, but Zhao Jie himself couldn’t bring himself to smile—he could only weep inside.

The world is upside down! Here I am, a handsome young man, and not a single person wants a photo with me. Such injustice should be apologised for before the whole nation.

“I’ll buy you another ice cream if you’ll pose for one more picture with me, okay?”

After the first photo, the girl looked at the adorable Agumon with hope in her eyes.

“Two.”

This time, Agumon held up two fingers. Did she really think a single ice cream could buy him? At least two, surely!

Haha...

It was great to be home. Munching happily on ice cream, Agumon’s big eyes shone with contentment.