Desert Children's Festival

Aaru Village's sandstone walls shimmered with ribbons and Padisarah blooms, transforming the oasis into a storybook fortress. Children's laughter echoed under the desert sun as Candace oversaw the festival grounds, where Kazuha stacked the final batch of "Children's Lucky Bags" into a glittering pyramid. 

"All bags scanned," Lumine waved her elemental detector, "no forbidden energy traces." Her eyes flicked to Kazuha slipping a blue-and-white cylinder into a gift box—a "special prize" he'd unboxed that morning. 

When the ceremonial camel bells rang, six-year-old Asam squealed upon drawing the grand prize. He aimed the flashlight-like Miniaturization Torch at a jar of honeyed dates, shrinking them to thumbnail size. "Magic!" children shrieked, unaware the blue beam grazed a passing Scarab. 

The ground quaked as a 30-meter Scarab smashed through watchtowers, its compound eyes pulsing with Akademiya runes. Poison dripped from its stinger, corroding the sand. 

"Get the children underground!" Candace sounded the alarm, leaping onto her pack beast—only to find it shrunk to hamster size. Amid chaos, Asam sobbed, "I played with the torch yesterday... hit so many bugs..." 

Lumine's elemental sight flared—the Scarab's core glowed with Akademiya tech. "Use this!" Kazuha tossed her a Digivice. "No clue what'll summon, but—" 

Light erupted as Patamon fluttered into view. "A Rookie-level?!" Kazuha groaned. Candace seized the digimon's ears, soaring skyward: "To its back!" 

Sand whipped their faces as Candace's spear sparked against armored plating. Patamon suddenly glowed: **"Patamon evolve—Pegasusmon!"** Holy wings unfurled as the Miniaturization Torch flew from Asam's grip, its beam striking the Scarab's core. 

The giant insect shrank to normal size, disgorging a charred log. Lumine's Geo magnifier revealed Akademiya seals: *Project SD-514: Micro-Transportation of Bio-Weapons.* 

"Explains the frenzied desert foxes," Candace crushed a shrunk scorpion. "They disguised monsters as animals!" 

Kazuha picked up the core fragment, his reflection staring back—the 13th time he'd forgotten Lumine's name. Yet instinct made him press a hidden button, projecting a hologram: Akademiya labs held rows of shrunken Ruin Machines, a masked figure adjusting a giant insect hive. 

"Cleanup's incomplete." Cyno's Electro spear crackled as Matra emerged. Children cheered around Pegasusmon, Asam waving the torch like a glow stick: "Evolve again!" 

That night, Lumine unearthed a shrunken Akademiya beacon. As Kazuha's repaired torch restored it, clockwork whirring awakened a memory fragment—him sealing forbidden knowledge into dolls during a storm. 

"Last time," Candace sealed the torch in a Scarlet King ruin. "The desert needs no stolen miracles." 

Moonlight bathed Koromon playing with children. Asam slept hugging his miniaturized pack beast, a true gift hidden in his "Lucky Bag"—a Scarlet King coin engraved with **"Freedom."** 

Deep in Akademiya labs, the masked figure adjusted the insect hive. "Proceeding smoothly," he muttered, watching Aaru's hologram. "With children using the torch, the desert will be ours—" 

Unnoticed, a shrunken sand fox crept closer—its eyes gleaming with intelligence. A hidden button clicked—Kazuha's sabotage device. 

**"Alert! System breach!"** 

The figure scrambled as the fox reverted, lunging at consoles. Data dissolved in electric bursts. 

Back at Aaru's bonfire, children listened to Candace recount Scarlet King legends. Lumine and Kazuha watched silently. 

"Still no memories?" Lumine whispered. 

Kazuha shook his head, eyes locked on the torch. "Feels... important." 

She handed it over. "Maybe one day." 

Under the moon, children slept peacefully as the masked figure fled his ruined lab—defeated by desert cunning.