DIGIMON TAMERS
VOLUME FOUR

By Yuen Wong Yu
Translated by Stephanie Sheh
English Adaptation by Lianne Sentar

Chapter Twenty-Two: "The Departure of a Friend"
Adapts "Rabbit Transit" and "Lionheart"

Henry, Takato and Terriermon's craft crashes down on the highest plain of the DigiWorld, where they find Suzie and Lopmon... and where Beelzemon finds them. Rapidmon takes on the biker, but can inflict no harm to him, and Takato calls out for Guilmon, who hears his call through a Data Stream. He and the other Tamers and Digimon travel through the steam and arrive at the battle site, where Growlmon and Kyubimon go up against Beelzemon in vain. Beelzemon is about to deliver the killing stroke to Kyubimon, when Leomon restrains him - at the cost of his own life, as Beelzemon impales him, killing him. Takato is consumed with rage, and his hatred causes Guilmon to Digivolve to Mega - but it's a corrupted, evil Digivolution that turns Guilmon into the monstrous Megidramon.

Chapter Twenty-Three: "The Dos and Don'ts of Digivolution"
Adapts "Give a Little Bit"

The ferocious battle between Beelzemon and Megidramon unleashes dangerous energies that begin to rip the landscape apart. Rapidmon and Taomon attempt to lend a hand, but their data is almost consumed by Beelzemon, until Rika and Henry use the Alias Modify Card to save them by duplicating them. With the power of the duplicates' data, Beelzemon overpowers Megidramon and takes him down, but as Takato runs to his side and begs for him to be okay, he reverts back into Guilmon... and then, Tamer and partner combine together in a true Mega Digivolution, as Guilmon becomes the awesome Gallantmon.

Chapter Twenty-Four: "Mega Trouble"
Adapts "The Battle Within" and "No Mon Is an Island"

Gallantmon and Beelzemon square off, as the others run for cover from the Mega battle. Kazu and Kenta are almost Beelzemon's next victims until Gallantmon saves them, and they realise that Takato and Guilmon have merged. Gallantmon's Shield of the Just fells Beelzemon, and he prepares to deal the fatal blow in vengeance for Leomon, until Jeri steps in and makes him stop - she knows that Beelzemon's death will not bring Leomon back, and does not want to see any more loss. Silently, Beelzemon leaves, struggling with what this act means.
Lopmon then leads the Tamers and Digimon to the palace of Zhuqiaomon, one of the four Digimon Sovereign, and Takato, Rika, Henry and their Digimon venture inside. Zhuqiaomon confronts them directly, immediately felling Terriermon with a blast of flame. As Henry cradles Terriermon, another new Digivolution occurs...

Chapter Twenty-Five: "Fight the Program"
Adapts "No Mon Is an Island," "Azulongmon Explains It All" and "Song of Sakuyamon"

Henry and Terriermon Biomerge Digivolve into MegaGargomon, and promptly level Zhuqiaomon's palace with a barrage of missiles, only to find that the Sovereign himself is unhurt. The battle between them continues, until suddenly, Azulongmon, another of the Sovereign, appears and puts an end to it. He explains that the battle is pointless - the true enemy of both human and Digimon is the D-Reaper, a deletion program design to control digital growth that has attained sentience and seeks to wipe out the Digital World. It is revealed that Calumon was 'captured' by them for his own safety - he is the power of Digivolution given form to hide him from the D-Reaper, but now he has disappeared from his containment. The Tamers agree to help, and Azulongmon takes them to where he believes Calumon is. Rika and Renamon venture into the pit, and soon find both Calumon... and trouble, as the D-Reaper's bubbles of pure chaos rise up, destroying all in their path. When Renamon pushes Rika to safety, she tumbles towards the chaos, and Rika dives after her, prompting their Biomerge Digivolution into Sakuyamon.

Chapter Twenty-Six: "To Be in the Glow"
Adapts "Song of Sakuyamon" and "Janyu's Ark"

Sakuyamon emerges from the pit with Calumon, but is quickly followed by a geyser of the D-Reaper's chaos, which reaches out the orb of the real world in the sky. It's effects are felt as an earthquake in the real world, prompting Janyu to begin the plan to bring the kids home with an ark. Meanwhile, the four Sovereign give Calumon a choice to help them, and he agrees, releasing the light of Digivolution, Digivolving Digimon all across the DigiWorld to Mega - including a MarineAngemon, who takes a shine to Kenta, but is shooed away by the boy. Takato then receives an e-mail from Yamaki, telling them that the ark is ready to bring them home. As everyone gets ready to return, Jeri appears to be missing, but she then appears from behind a rock.
Elsewhere in the DigiWorld, the forlorn Beelzemon staggers through the desert, and eventually collapses and reverts into Impmon. His scarf is blown away by the wind... and is soon caught by Renamon, who sets out with Rika to find him. But the ark will soon arrive...

Chapter Twenty-Seven: "Countdown"
Adapts "Homeward Bound" and "Reunion"

The ark arrives and everyone boards, except Takato, who refuses to do so until Rika and Renamon return. Thankfully, they soon show up - but just as they arrive, the ark begins to lift off, and an attempt to form a human chain to grab them fails. Guilmon screams for the ark to stop, and much to everyone's surprise, it actually does so, allowing everyone to board. On the return trip, the MarineAngemon then emerges from Kenta's pocket, along with a D-Power, finally signifying that he's become a Tamer. The Ark materialises in Shinjuku Park, where the kids have a tearful reunion with their families - except for Jeri, whose parents have refused to turn up, insisting that since she got to the DigiWorld on her own, she can get back on her own. Takato walks her home, and it seems like everything may finally be over - only for the next morning to bring a deadly surprise, as the D-Reaper's chaos engulfs Shinjuku. Takato and Guilmon head into Shinjuku alone to battle it, but run into Rika, Henry and their Digimon along the way, and they then observe as the military impotently try their weapons against the D-Reaper. Suddenly, they are confronted by a mass of eyes from the shadows...

Chapter Twenty-Eight: "Starting Over and Moving On"
Adapts "Beelzemon's Big Day"

The eyes belong to Agents of the D-Reaper, which Takato and the others then follow.
Meanwhile, Impmon has decided to pay a visit to his former Tamers, Ai and Mako, who greet him with much happiness at his return. But he refuses to just forget what they did to him, and they try to make it up to him with food and toys. Impmon finally breaks down and accepts their forgiveness - but then spies a news report on the other Digimon's battle with the D-Reaper's Agents, and vows to help. Armed with Mako's toy "kill laser" for the sake of humouring the boy, and with a kiss from Ai, Impmon races to the battle, where a blast from the Agent summarily destroys the toy gun, enraging Impmon and allowing him to Digivolve under his own power into his full, true Mega form of Beelzemon Blast Mode. He destroys all of the Agents in an impressive display, but when the others ask him why he helped, he just says that he owed them.
Other events have also occurred as this went on - the missing Monster Maker, Shibumi, has awoken from his coma, and has begun working with the others on a new weapon for the Tamers to use.

Chapter Twenty-Nine: "The Final Battle Begins"
Adapts assorted bits and pieces of "The D-Reaper's Disguise," "When Is A Mon Justimon?" "Shadow of the Beast King" and "Jeri Fights Back"

In the midst of another battle with the D-Reaper, Gallantmon disappears inside the monster's chaos, where he splits back into Takato and Guilmon, who discover what appears to be Jeri, but who is in fact one of the D-Reaper's Agent, who has been posing a the girl since they left the Digital World. Kenta and MarineAngemon come to his aid and fend her off - but that leaves the question of where the real Jeri is; one which is soon answered by Beelzemon and Calumon, who discover her trapped in the D-Reaper's kernel of consciousness, feeding off of her sadness. Beelzemon calls upon Leomon's data to use the Fist of the Beast King to shatter the sphere, only to be cut down by an attack from the rear before Jeri can take his hand. Gallantmon swoops in to rescue him on the Monster Makers' new weapon, Grani, only to be struck down as well. And he begins to fall...

Final Chapter: "Good-Bye, Guilmon"
Adapts "Jeri Fights Back" and "Such Sweet Sorrow"

Grani gives his power to Gallantmon save him, transforming him into Gallantmon Crimson Mode. Gallantmon shatters the Kernel Sphere with his sword, but in defence, the D-Reaper transforms into the Mother D-Reaper and unleashes an army of Horn Striker Agents. Gallantmon tears his way through them with a little help from MegaGargomon, who has had a program installed into him by Henry's father that will generate a black hole to destroy the D-Reaper. As the vortex begins to take effect on the D-Reaper, Sakuyamon gives her power to Gallantmon, giving him the strength to cleave the D-Reaper in two and rescue Jeri, as the remains of the creature are sucked away.
But it is a pyrrhic victory - the Digimon, who revert to their In-Training forms, must return to the DigiWorld with the black hole. Henry's father apologies for having to do this, but the kids accept it. Takato knows that having Guilmon come to life was a dream come true, and that dreams don't last forever - but just because he's gone, that doesn't meant he'll ever forget.

NOTES

This volume is a little bit longer than past books, with an extra chapter (eight in total, while each past volume has contained only seven).

As with all the other Tamers volumes, the cover design shown in preview images for Volume Four was different from the finished release. However, no-one could have predicted just how different the obviously-incorrect preview picture (right) was - it bore the image of 01 Tai, lifted from the title page of Chapter 20 from the 01 manga! Further increasing the strangeness, the key card in his hand was recoloured into a Modify Card.

The cast page gets another revamp, replacing the images of the Digimon's Ultimate forms with their Mega forms. Ryo and Cyberdramon are done, and in their place alongside Kazu and Guardromon are Kenta and MarineAngemon. Leomon is also removed, with Beelzemon in his spot, and Calumon and Yamaki remain. In the Villains section, the Mother D-Reaper, its Jeri Agent, and its Horn Striker Agent appear.

Christ on a cracker with cream cheese! This volume has yielded my biggest list of alterations to the anime of any manga volume before it - two full MSWord pages! There's so much compression going on in this volume, you could get the bends if you weren't careful! Much of the story is altered, too, in ways that make this book one of the most interesting reads from the Tokyopop Digimon series, as it differs so much from the animated series. Let's do this thing!

• Things start out fairly inauspiciously, actually - after final few minutes of "Rabbit Transit" are covered (Suzie is never shown to receive a Digivice), all the events of "Lionheart," "Give a Little Bit" and "The Battle Within" are decently preserved. The important omissions are the deaths of Makuramon (leaving no explanation for Beelzemon's little Primal Orb stunt) and Chatsuramon, and Takato's extended dream sequence before Megidramon reverts to Guilmon. Other less important missing scenes include Takato's attempted conversation with DigiGnomes and Zhuqiaomon telling Calumon of his nature.
• "No Mon Is an Island" is shortened down by abbreviating the splitting up of the team into a short summary by Takato, and by not having the Digimon Digivolve when they enter Zhuqiaomon's palace - Terriermon is blasted almost right away. Lopmon does not enter with them, so Suzie is never pulled in by her Digivice.
• While the anime had MegaGargomon's battle with Zhuqiaomon end, then had the Sovereign revive, attack all the kids, and then fight Gallantmon and be stopped by Azulongmon, the manga pulls a bit of clever editing, and simply has Azulongmon interrupt the battle with MegaGargomon, neatly cutting down on time.
• In what is clearly one of the most notable edits made by the manga, Ryo and Cyberdramon do not reappear in this volume. They play no part in Rika and Renamon's rescue of Calumon, and of course, Justimon never appears, altering some events in later chapters considerably.
• Beelzemon doesn't get mauled by Chrysallimon, he just collapses and reverts to Impmon on his own.
• In an awful change - which I can only assume is a failed attempt at some humour by the English edition of the manga - Guilmon, rather than plead with the ark to stop, threatens to "take poo in it." Gyarrgh.
• The D-Reaper doesn't attack the ark on its way back, and so the Monster Makers (of whom only Janyu ever appears) don't have to corral processing power from across the world to save them, though there is a reference to having to "up the connection speed" before the send the ark in the first place.
• Jeri's parents are not in East Matsumoto when the ark returns - they just refuse to come to the park. Takato is able to walk "Jeri" home, rather than having to take a train with her, so the emotional scene of him confessing his feelings is absent.
• The events of "Reunion" are practically non-existent, with all but the final scene of Takato, Rika, Henry and their Digimon meeting up totally gone. But then, it has always been the manga's style to forego any real emotional or character building scenes from the anime and just stick to the basics, given it's limited space.
• Ai and Mako are home when Impmon goes there, so he doesn't have to have Henry's sensei read him their note or go to Hongo. When he shows up, Ai and Mako immediately act a lot more light-hearted, thinking they can easily fix the fact that he "just hates them."
• A wonderful additional scene not in the anime sees Impmon briefly flash back to when he and Mako played with the "kill laser" toy and he pretended to have been shot to scare the kids. It adds a lot more emotional meaning to Mako giving Impmon the toy, a rarity for the manga.
• Impmon does not Digivolve to Beelzemon on the way to the battle, but rather arrives as Impmon, and has the "kill laser" destroyed by an Agent, prompting his Digivolution. Again, I think this is a particularly good change, because it removes the silliness of the anime's idea that the toy actually somehow *became* his Blast Mode cannon.
• Beelzemon then proceeds to actually get to destroy all the Pendulum Feet Agents, rather than simply just getting to sever the life cord of the solitary one that appeared in the anime and letting the others destroy it, giving a much better showcase of his power.
• Rather than make with a bit of friendship at the end of the events of "Beelzemon's Big Day," as in the anime, Beelzemon claims he was just helping them to pay them back (for Gallantmon not killing him), which nicely shows the struggle he's having dealing with what's he's done. All in all, I think the manga's rendition of "Beelzemon's Big Day," is, in fact, pretty freakin' kick-ass, and probably better than the anime episode itself.
• Shibumi's return is covered very briefly in a one-page recap by Takato, noting his awakening, his teaming up with the other Monster Makers, and the commencing of work on Grani. This is all the introduction we will receive to Grani in the manga - its never explicitly named, nor is it explained that it is built from the ark. It just... turns up.
• The events of "The Messenger" are completely removed. Neither Alice nor Dobermon appear in the manga, and there is never any suggestion that Biomerging was not possible on Earth.
• The events of "The D-Reaper's Disguise" are mostly removed - we join the battle in progress as Gallantmon enters the D-Reaper - the battle with the Bubbles and Creep Hands is omitted.
• Of course, "When Is A Mon Justimon?" is considerably shortened due to the complete absence of Justimon. Takato's confrontation with the Jeri-Type Agent is brief, but covers all that it really needs to.
• Calumon and Beelzemon's discovery of Jeri in the Kernel Sphere is the gateway to the complete omission of "His Kingdom for a Horse." Rather than find her, and then wind up trapped for the duration of an episode or two, events immediately cut to the final minutes of "Shadow of the Beast King," bypassing "Kingdom" (and hence any decent intro of Grani) as Beelzemon begins his rescue attempt right away. He doesn't need Grani to smash his way through the D-Reaper Ball here.
• In the manga, unlike the anime, Jeri is actually willing to take Beelzemon's hand (see comments below about her sadness in the manga), but Beelzemon is attacked before she can, rather than having the sphere seal shut, and then have him cut down.
• Rather than have the Mother D-Reaper appear at this point, and have everyone withdraw to Tsukuba, and then return, events again make a sudden jump, as Gallantmon is taken down immediately after rescuing Impmon, and is sent into the fall that convinces Grani to give him his power, all from the final minutes of "Jeri Fights Back." There is no fight against the Jeri-Type to get to the top of the Mother D-Reaper, since it hasn't formed yet - Gallantmon flies up, shatters the sphere, and then the D-Reaper takes on the form of the Mother D-Reaper in retaliation, unleashing Horn Strikers.
• The program within Terriermon is never identified as the Juggernaut.
• Without Justimon around as he was in the anime, Sakuyamon instead gives her power to Gallantmon, who uses her strength to cut the Mother D-Reaper in two, a not-uninteresting adaptation of the anime, in which Justimon used her strength to cut the Cable Reaper in two.
• Very notably, Takato does not discover a portal to the DigiWorld at the story's conclusion, adding a much greater note of finality to the Tamers saga.

Boy, MegaGargomon's attacks are messed up in the manga. The English adaptation calls Mega Barrage "Gargo Missile," Gargo Missile "Power Pummel," and Power Pummel "Mega Barrage."

Despite the fact that Jeri's sadness over the death of the Leomon is the key frickin' point of the D-Reaper saga, it is never actually addressed in the manga, except when it is necessary to say that the D-Reaper is feeding off it. While Jeri is clearly very emotional immediately following his death and when she asks Gallantmon to spare Beelzemon, after that, it is never touched upon until she is revealed as the D-Reapers captive, and any scenes of her remorse are outta there. In fact, in the group images - when Azulongmon takes the Tamers to Calumon, when the chaos geyser erupts and when Calumon emits his light - she looks perfectly all right, looking determined, scared and happy, respectively. There is no talk of Leomon or destiny, she makes no suicide attempt, she doesn't break free of her depression... nothing. Bloody nothing. Blargh.

Throughout this volume, the ark used to bring the kids home is called an "arc." Clearly, the spelling's being derived from the D-Arc, the Japanese name for the Tamers' Digivices, which is actually used in this manga, but Lianne Sentar seems to have missed the D-Arc/Noah's Ark (with a K) parallel at work.

When fighting the Pendulum Feet Agent in Chapter 28, Rapidmon groans: "My blood hurts." This is almost certainly a reference to the cult favourite website HomestarRunner.Com, where the phrase is uttered by the character, What's Her Face, in "Teen Girl Squad" #3.