Zeromaru

Zeromaru, or Zero for short, is the partner Digimon of Yagami Taichi in Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01, and a member of the Royal Knights in the Digimon Xros Wars manga.

=Evolution=

=Profile=

Personality
Zeromaru, like Taichi, has a lighthearted and often goofy demeanor. The two often celebrate their wins with a silly victory dance, but are just as prone to bickering over the pettiest things, as Zeromaru is highly emotional and it takes very little to offend or anger him. Despite this, his bond with Taichi is very strong and there is no genuine bad blood between them, to the point that Zeromaru is able to resist Vamdemon's attempts to brainwash him and drive a wedge between the two. Zeromaru and Taichi have absolute trust in each other and total understanding of each others' feelings. Both will gladly risk their lives for the other, and neither will hesitate to enact or follow plans that put themselves in jeopardy out of faith that the other will not let them down.

Zeromaru is also strongly driven by the need to protect his friends and allies, and will push himself well past his own limits if it means protecting them. He is especially protective of Taichi and his honor, and is angered by any insults toward him. He secretly hopes that his relationship with Taichi will never change, to the point that, for a time, he even stops himself from evolving.

Properties
As a V-dramon, Zeromaru is an Ancient Species Digimon, which makes his Overwrites characteristically violent and causes him to express various unusual powers in response to his emotions, such as powering up when angered.

Zeromaru is the first Ancient Species Digimon known to have been raised by a Tamer, and after evolving, he becomes a rare living specimen of the supposedly extinct Aero V-dramon species and, ultimately, the first-ever Ancient Species Digimon known to have evolved to the Ultimate level.

In the original run of Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01, Zeromaru's evolutions are one-way and permanent, aside from Ulforce V-dramon Future Mode. This is no longer the case in Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01 ~New Courage~, in which Zeromaru stays in his V-dramon form by default and, at first, is only able to evolve into Aero V-dramon temporarily in order to fight. Zeromaru himself speculates that this could be due to damage he took in his original adventure with Taichi, or an effect of the polyhedron.

Production
V-Tamer 01 creators Izawa Hiroshi and Yabuno Tenya wanted the name of Taichi's partner Digimon to include the word "zero," to both make it sound fighter jet-esque, and to pair with the ("one") sound in Taichi's name for. However, they moved away from just calling him "Zero" for the purposes of trademarking. Since the name "Zeromaru" is a compound of two Japanese words/symbols which can be taken to mean 0&mdash;
 * , a loanword from English, and
 * , "circle,"

&mdash;the potential interpretation as "00," taken together with the in "Taichi," resulted in the "100%" motif with which the duo are associated (e.g. being called the "100% Combination"). In "Folder Continent's Military History", the two characters even directly call attention to the "100%" interpretation, as does Lord Holy Angemon to the reference to binary data.

=Appearances=

Zeromaru originated from Taichi's Digital Monster virtual pet. Taichi developed a very strong attachment to Zeromaru, and often spent time with him and taking care of him.

One day, Taichi attempted to enter the D-1 Grand Prix with Zeromaru, but was disqualified from entering as his species, V-dramon, was not one that had been programmed into the devices and was suspected to be the result of cheating. Shortly after, Taichi was brought into the Digital World and met Zeromaru in the flesh. Zeromaru joined Taichi on a journey across the Digital World to find his way home, and the two quickly develop a reputation as an unbeatable team, or "100% Combination," with a flawless win rate against other Digimon.

When they meet Gabou, he brings them to Holy Angel Castle for an audience with Lord Holy Angemon, who has called on them to help stop Demon's scheme to create a Super Ultimate Digimon. They accept this mission.

Zeromaru (although he is not referred to by this name) is, in his Ulforce V-dramon form, a member of the Royal Knights, having been chosen by Homeostasis to join their ranks some time after his adventures with Taichi. Several hundreds of years in the Digital World's past, he, along with the other Royal Knights, tried and failed to resist the Bagra Army when it launched its assault during their search for the "red-black two-headed dragon," during which he was blinded by the miasma from Tactimon's sword, and he and his squires Spadamon, Coronamon and Lunamon were caught up in the shattering of the Digital World and were sent to the Real World with no way back and no way of contacting their comrades. They took shelter in a secret base in Tokyo.

On April 3, 20XX, Spadamon brings Kudou Taiki to Ulforce V-dramon for an audience. Ulforce V-dramon explains the events of the battle and Homeostasis's prophecy about the "red-black two-headed dragon," and asks Taiki to bring the group back to the Digital World with him so that they can stop the Bagra Army in time to prevent the prophecy from being fulfilled. When a battle breaks out between Blastmon, Taiki and Aonuma Kiriha, Ulforce V-dramon and his squires are present, and Ulforce V-dramon senses that Shoutmon has the presence/code of his missing-in-action comrade Omegamon.

When Taiki returns to the Digital World, he brings Ulforce V-dramon with him in his Xros Loader, which heals his eyes enough to enable him to join his fellow remaining Royal Knights in battle when they arrive to reinforce Xros Heart and Blue Flare at the Bagra Pandemonium. He and the Royal Knights volunteer to take on Arkadimon while Shoutmon X7 focuses on Lilithmon. With the support of a vaccine program developed by Duftmon, he destroys Arkadimon with his. After the armies force Lilithmon to retreat, he reflects on his own youth with Taichi, how once again the Digital World has turned to the power of human children to be saved, and how the Generals likely will not be able to stay once the war is over.

The group comes under attack from Amano Nene/Shademon and Dark Knightmon, and while the Generals enter the castle to confront Bagramon, Ulforce V-dramon and the Royal Knights hold off Amano and Dark Knightmon's army of Composite Type Digimon. They witness the formation of the "red-black two-headed dragon," Zeed Millenniumon, by Nene, and he laments that they had failed to notice the warning signs that it, as a likely candidate for the "dragon's" identity, would be revived. Ulforce V-dramon and the other Royal Knights stay outside while the Generals enact their plan to undo Zeed Millenniumon's DigiXros from within, and witness both the success of their plan and the appearance of the horde of evil Digimon released from Zeed Millenniumon's separation.

After the battle, before the Generals return home, Ulforce V-dramon approaches Nene with a request for in case Digimon-related incidents occur in the Real World again.

When the polyhedron appears in the Digital World, Zeromaru and Taichi join forces once again to stop it, but before long, they are the only ones left to fight it as the endless wave of Virus Digimon it spawns takes all of their allies, and eventually Lord Holy Angemon himself, out of commission. Zeromaru takes Lord Holy Angemon to a healing capsule. The best that they could manage was to seal it away.

After a battle with several of the polyhedron's Digimon, Taichi and Zeromaru are excited to encounter a different Yagami Taichi from another reality and his Agumon. While the excitement quickly gives way to the two Taichis bickering, Zeromaru politely introduces himself to Agumon.

After explaining the situation, the other Taichi and Agumon volunteer to join them, and together they face another wave of Digimon from the polyhedron, led by a Belphemon: Rage Mode who quickly overwhelms the group. Despite this, Zeromaru is determined to keep fighting, and when Agumon insists on continuing the fight as well, the two Taichis' determination and courage synchronize, causing a massive Crest of Courage to manifest in the sky, fulfilling Lord Holy Angemon's foretelling of "new courage," and evolve the two Digimon into Ulforce V-dramon Future Mode and a specter of War Greymon, who easily destroy the polyhedron.

After the battle, Zeromaru (reverted into V-dramon) celebrates with Taichi and the inhabitants of Holy Angel Castle.

&
Some event distribution V-dramons, such as the one from, bore the nickname "Zeromaru" in reference to the V-Tamer 01 character. It is currently unknown how many of the other events' distributed V-dramons had this nickname.

TCG
=Additional Information=