The kids and their digimon were falling from the cliff through the air. "Sora!" Piyomon shouted grabbing Sora's shoulders in her claws. She flapped as hard as she could.
"Izzy!" Tentomon cried grabbing Izzy's arm. He tried hard to keep them in the air.
Patamon shouted "TK!" and grabbed TK's hand. The three flying digimon desperately tried to keep them fromfalling, but the combined weight was too much, and they all continued falling.
Palmon grabbed hold of Mimi and, holding tightly, whipped out a Poison Ivy attack, clinging to a rock jutting from the cliff face. The rock came loose from the wall and fell.
Dani and Danny grabbed Tai and Matt along with their Digimon and tried to keep them in flight but they couldn't.
Gomamon and Joe were the first to hit the water below. "Fish net!" Gomamon cried. Around him hundreds of fish surfaced and swam together. They formed a floating raft which pushed Joe out of the water and caught the others as they hit.
"Wow," Tai said once everyone had landed. "This is some ride."
"What?" Matt said looking up at the cliff. As he watched another large chunk of cliff fell off. "Hey, look out!" Kuwagamon fell from the cliff as well. The kids screamed as the boulders and the larger digimon fell towards them. Gomamon shouted to his fish friends. "Look out!" The fish raft moved faster, and the beetle monster and the boulders splashed into the water behind them. The impact sent huge waves at the raft, and the kids and their digimon hung on, screaming their lungs out. The fish raft bashed against the side of the river and the kids and their Digimon rolled off. Danny and Dani bashed their heads together as they got up.
"Ow!" They said together. The group laughed at them breaking the tension.
Matt helped TK too his feet and said, "I knew we'd be okay." He looked at Tai stretching his back. "I wasn't worried."
Joe's glasses were hanging off the edge of his nose. "Well, what was that?" He asked no one in particular. "A floating fish market?" He pushed his glasses back up to his face.
Gomamon came up in front of him. "Lucky for us, those fish were having a school reunion." He laughed, not realising Joe wasn't. "I'm kidding," The seal-like creature said noticing Joe wasn't laughing. "Those fish are good friends of mine, and I just asked them for a lift."
Joe looked at him and smiled. "And all these years I thought I was allergic to seafood! Thank you!" A look of confusion crossed his face. "Uh, I guess it's not Bukamon?"
"Gomamon, now," The Digimon said nodding.
"Gomamon, hmm," Joe said looking interested.
TK looked to the little orange creature in front of him. "And I guess that you're not Tokomon, are you?"
"Mm mm!" The creature said, stretching its wings. "Now I'm Patamon."
"It's all because we digivolved," Agumon said.
"I don't think," Tai said, sounding a little confused. "That word's in my dictionary."
"So digivolving is what happens when they advance to the next level," Izzy said looking from Tai to Tentomon, who was hovering at his side. "And become more powerful than before."
"Right!" The ladybird like Digimon said. "All of us digivolved," He gestured to himself. "I went from Motimon to Tentomon." Tentomon had a round body with orange, twisted antenna on his head. He had large green eyes and was green, grey, orange and red in colour.
"I digivolved from Pyocomon to Piyomon," Piyomon said.
"First, I was Tsunomon, then Gabumon," Gabumon said. Over his back and head was a fur pelt of a blue wolf, while he himself was a yellow lizard with a blue and pink symbol adorning his stomach. Sticking through the pelt was a single, long yellow horn.
"And I changed from Tanemon to Palmon," Palmon said.
"And me, I was Koromon. I digivolved into Agumon," Agumon said.
"I was Zerimon, now I'm Gummymon!" Gummymon shouted, bouncing slightly. The green creature looked just like Kokomon except it was green and had a single horn on its head.
"And I was Conomon and am now Kokomon," Kokomon said timidly.
"Mmm hmmm," Tai said remembering what they had all said as they digivolved. "When you digivolved, you certainly got way bigger. Does this mean you're something different now, or are you still digimon?"
"Digimon," Agumon replied. "But I needed your help, Tai."
"Me?" Tai asked. "For what?"
"You see," Zerimon said, before Agumon could answer Tai. "Digivolving is a very difficult process. In order to be successful, we had to share your energy."
"Really?" Dani and Danny asked, surprised. They were still rubbing their heads.
"I guess you guys don't run on batteries," Sora said to Piyomon.
Piyomon shook her feathered head. "Sure don't."
"But how do you access my energy?" Izzy asked, always trying to learn!
"Even we don't know everything," Tentomon said.
Palmon smiled at Mimi and ducked her flowered head and spun around, "Thanks for my magical powers!"
Mimi was on her knees, she held a hand to her head and said, "The whole thing makes my head spinny."
TK walked around Patamon's small form, Patamon's wings reached to almost as high as TK's head. "So, I help you change!" TK said. "That is so cool!"
"Yep, sure is," Patamon said, he was feeling a little small compared to most of the others.
Joe turned his back on Gomamon. "My folks warned me about strangers," He said crossing his arms.
Looking hurt Gomamon said, "I'm not a stranger, Joe. I'm your friend for life!"
Joe looked unconvinced. "Hm."
"Okay," Matt said preventing any other conversations. "Come on! What are we going to do?"
Joe looked sceptically at him. "If only there was a payphone nearby. We could call the police, or fire department, or my mother."
Tai looked at him and said. "But we don't even know where we are!"
Sora looked at him and then back down the river. "But we know where we started." She pointed to the mountain. "Up there on that mountain!"
"I say we forget about going back and explore around here," Matt said.
Standing determinedly, Joe said, "I'm not exploring anywhere. I say we stay right where we are."
"Yeah," Danny said sarcastically.
"Let's wait for that giant bug to come get us," Dani added.
"We need to find a road leading someplace to get away from here!" Matt agreed with the twins.
"Matt, Dani and Danny are right," Izzy said, looking out into the forest.. "But without a compass, we don't even know which way is north."
Looking up at the short teen, Tentomon said, "Wait, I do."
Izzy looked at him. "Well, which way is it?" He asked.
Tentomon, feeling really proud of himself, said, "It's the opposite of south. Izzy sighed in exasperation.
"I shouldn't wear these trousers," Joe randomly said. "They ride up when I do a lot of walking." Dani and Danny gave him weird looks.
Sora looked at the mountain again. "Y'know," She said thoughtfully. "If we could get back to where we were before, we might at least find some clues as to why we're here in this place."
Looking up at Matt and Sora from her spot on the floor, Mimi said, "Wait. Are there more monsters around like that big flying beetle?" Her hat bobbed slightly as she spoke.
"Yes indeedy!" Palmon said, trying to be comforting, but not quite understanding why Mimi asked.
"Ick!" Mimi said, pulling a face.
"Those monsters don't scare me!" Matt said with his brown gloved hands on his hips. His green vest, that was supposed to make him look like a tough guy, emphasised the lack of muscles on his arms.
Tai asked a question everyone had been thinking, "Are there humans?"
Dani and Danny asked, "Or ghosts?"
"Humans?" Agumon asked. "Others like you?"
At the same time Gummymon and Kokomon answered Danny and Dani, "Ghost Digimon, yes!"
Answering Agumon Tai said, "Mmm hmmm."
"You're the first ever," The orange T-rex said. "There's never been anything but digimon."
"So, okay," Tai said. Danny and Dani were testing their powers, or rather were having a childish fight with their powers! "You're all digimon. But what about these monsters? They're all digimon, too?" Tai asked, and nobody answered him.
Sora looked at Tai and Agumon, one of her pink gloved hands resting on her hip, and said, "It's creepy. And dangerous. And what happens when it gets dark?"
Questioning her, Matt said, "Who says it ever gets dark here?"
Izzy joined the conversation, "That phenomenon would be unnatural."
"His logic's sound Izzy," Danny said. "In the ghost Zone there's no night and day."
"Yep that's true," Dani said thoughtfully.
"And you call this natural?" Joe added.
"Well, we're not going to find out anything by sitting around here," Tai said starting to walk off down the river. Agumon followed a step or two behind him.
Matt, sounding stern, said, "Where do you think you're going?"
Pointing to the cliff, Tai said, "Up on that cliff." Then he pointed the other way, down the river, "That's where I saw the ocean."
"The ocean?" Dani asked. Sounding excited.
"Yep," Tai said, walking again. "There might be a boat or something."
"Let's water-ski home," Matt said.
"Ugh, funny," Sora said, Dani and Danny laughed.
Joe was stood with his eyes closed, "At a time like this, I think we'd be far better off just to find a cave and hide. We keep our eyes open, and when a camp counselor comes-" He was beginning to ramble until Gomamon cut him off, saying,
"Hey, Joe! Everyone's leaving us!" The tall blue haired teen opened his eyes to see the others walking down the river, and ran to catch up.
"Wait for me!" He shouted.
The 9 kids and 7 of the Digimon were walking along the riverbank, with green trees to their right, and Gomamon swimming in the water to their left. Next to Izzy, Tentomon was hovering along. Sora looked at the trees and said. "These trees are beautiful!"
"Yeah," Izzy agreed. "They're really different. And I just thought they were sub-tropical."
"Whatever they are," Joe said, sniffing. "They're aggravating my hay fever." He gripped the strap of his bag.
"Hey, Joe," Matt said, without turning his blonde head. "Is there anything you don't complain about?" At his side, Gabumon laughed quietly.
"Digital monsters," Izzy said to Tentomon thoughtfully. "Exactly who came up with that name, anyhow?"
"Just call us digimon," Tentomon replied. "We like that."
"I only ask because your composition isn't at all machine-like," Izzy explains.
"Oh, really?" Tentomon asks. He created a ball of electrical energy between the shells of his wings.
"Hey! Watch it!" Izzy yelled raising his arms in self-defence.
"Hey, I've got electrical attack too!" Danny said. He grabbed hold of a vine, pulled it down and wrapped it around a squishy pumpkin like fruit. Holding on to the other end Danny whipped his arm shouting, "Go Ghost Stinger!" The vine crackled with purple electricity and the pumpkin blackened and then turned to dust.
"So, Patamon," TK said. "Can you really fly?"
"Of course!" Patamon said. He pushed himself up off the floor, closing his eyes tightly. He flapped his wings as fast as he could. But just walking TK was faster.
"Wow, that's cool," TK said to the struggling orange Digimon. "But you're going the wrong way."
"I'm faster than that," Piyomon said. "Watch!" Piyomon took off and was going at exactly the same pace as Patamon. Sora walked past as well and said,
"Wouldn't it be faster to walk, Huh?"
"Palmon," Mimi said looking to the Digimon at her side. "I've been meaning to ask, who does your hair?"
"It's natural," She said, looking at Mimi. "I wake up in the morning like this."
Mimi putt her hands together and said, excitedly, "Wow! Maybe you could let me work with it!"
Looking a little nervous, Palmon said "Do you think you put too much emphasis on appearance?"
"Well," Mimi said. "Honestly, I've never really thought about it."
"Honestly," Palmon said looking down at the ground. "I kinda like my hair the way it is."
"Once I get back, this is gonna make one great story," Tai said.
"Yep," Agumon said.
"But, of course not a single soul will ever believe me," Tai added.
"Our family would probably believe us," Dani said.
"The past year of our lives has been pretty unbelievable," Danny added.
"Why?" Gummymon asked, looking up at the demigod Halfa beside him.
"It's a long story, I'll give you the short version," Danny said. "I went in to my parents ghost portal, it zapped me, I became a local superhero, ended up saving the world twice, once on the down low. After that Dani came to light, my parents brought her back into the family. Soon after that my brother, on my birth father's side, found me and took me to a camp for Demigods, I ended up saving the world a third time!"
"Well," Tai said. "If that's the short version, how long is the long version."
"Let's just say, it will take at least a full day to tell," Dani said.
Izzy pulled the conversation back to the present. "That Kuwagamon back there..." He said. "He was huge."
"And he's not the only one," Tentomon said.
"Ahh," Gabumon said, the smell of salt filling his nose, along with everyone elses. "Nothing like the ocean."
"Ahh haa!" Gomamon said feeling the change in the water. "Everybody in the water!"
"Hey, let's build a giant sandcastle!" TK yelled.
"Oh," Mimi said. "I forgot my bathing suit." Her shoulders drooped as she spoke.
"Wait a minute, listen!" Matt said as a ringing sound filled the air. "What's that?"
"A phone!" Tai said.
"Either that or we're all hearing things," Sora said.
"Come on," Danny said setting off at a run, with Gummymon, Dani and Kokomon close behind him. The closer they get to the beach the louder the ringing got until they saw a line of 8 phones sitting evenly spaced just off the surf.
As they approached the first booth Joe said, "I told you! All we needed was a phone! We're saved!" Just as Tai opened the door to the first booth, the ringing stopped, leaving the group confused.
Agumon looked up at Tai and said, "Why'd it stop ringing, Tai?"
"Wrong number?" Tai asked in return.
"Well, that's bizarre," Sora said coming up behind the pair.
"My theory is aliens," Izzy said determinedly. "They've set these phone booths out as a trap."
"Nah, got to be ghosts!" Danny said.
Matt ignored both of them and said, "If we can find a place that delivers, let's order pizza!" Obviously he was joking because they all knew that they didn't know where they were and therefore couldn't order pizza.
"Whatever you get," Mimi said, taking Matts joke seriously. "No anchovies for me."
Ignoring all four idiots Sora said, "The question is, what are these doing here at the beach?"
Joe, never seeing something that could be helpful as a bad thing, answered, "So people can call their parents for a ride home!"
Gomamon and the other Digimon looked up at the tall blue haired boy and he asked, "Parents? What exactly is a parents?"
Joe made a face at the digimon and said, "That's it. I'm outta here."
Tai, who was still in the first booth, stuck his hand out and asked, "Does anybody have any loose change?"
"Why?" Izzy asked stupidly considering where Tai was.
"Really, Izzy, really?" Danny said.
"What?" Izzy asked.
"Obviously," Tai answered, anyway. "I'm gonna make a phone call to get some help."
"Ah, use my phone card." Izzy said, taking out the green piece of plastic. "The aliens can bill me. Here." He gave the card to Tai.
TK ran past with Patamon at his heels. He shouted "Maybe there's a quarter in one of the slots!"
Mimi followed, yelling, "I'm calling Daddy!" As the two ran past Tai inserted the card.
"I'm hooking up to the internet," Izzy said, walking to one of the booths.
"I'm calling collect," Matt said running down.
Danny ran towards one of the untaken booths and said, "Prank calling! Best chance to get Tuck!" Everyone stopped moving and turned to him. "What?" He asked. "It is!"
Sora broke the silence by shouting "Dibs on booth four!" And then running towards that booth. Izzy, who was three steps from it, beat her there.
"You snooze you lose, Sora!" He said picking up the phone.
"Hey guys," Joe said, running to another phone. "Wait for me! Come on!"
Finishing typing his mum's number, Tai put the phone to his ear. "Hello? Hey Mum, it's me!" He said.
The voice on the other end replied, "At the tone the time will be exactly forty-five miles per hour." After a brief pause it added. "And ninety seconds."
Taking the phone away from his ear Tai said, "Something's wrong, or Mom's flipped."
In the booth next to Tai, Mimi listened to her phone, the operator said, "Tomorrow's forecast calls for clear skies with occasional ice cream."
Taking the stupid message seriously Mimi said, "What do you wear for that?" Palmon shrugged.
In the booth Matt and TK shared they had no more luck, "This number only exists in your imagination. Please hang up and don't call back."
"What planet did I dial?"
Having had no luck himself Izzy said, "I'm telling you. It's a twisted alien joke."
"Why don't you try that one over there?" Tentomon said, pointing to the booth Sora was stood in.
Piyomon responded saying, "I don't think it's any better."
The operator on the other side of Sora's phone said, "No telephones are working in your service area. Hang up and have a nice day." Sora hung up and crossed her arms.
"Huh," She said, as Tai walked up.
"Any luck?" Tai asked her.
"No," She said. "How about Dani? Or Danny?" The twins stood in separate booths trying to call their friends.
"This is a dud number and has ice cream filling, would you like fries with that?" The operator on the other end of Danny's phone said.
"Tuck, is that you?" Danny asked. "This isn't funny Tuck!"
"I don't think that's your friend," Tai said.
"Yeah, I guess it isn't," Danny said, sighing and putting the phone back.
"This is Jazz Fenton's phone, Leave a message after the tone...beep," Jazz's voice said from down the phone. Just as Dani was about to speak another voice said. "That is what your call would sound like if there was any service in your area, please hang up, and the sky is orange with purple spots, thank you have a nice after cheese!"
"Gah, almost!" Dani said.
"Weird," Tai said. "I got a strange feeling about this."
The group settled on the beach, having worked out the phones don't work. Everyone that is, except Joe who was stood in booth 8. A couple hours later the group were sat watching Joe as he kept trying numbers. Most of the group were either curled in on themselves or spread out on the sand.
"Maybe this one will," Joe said to himself.
The operator on the other end said, "To leave a message, press one now. To leave a fingerprint, press two now. Fifteen dollars for the next three minutes."
Joe grumbled to himself and said, "Okay. Next one."
Izzy looked intrigued at Joe's behaviour and said, "Very curious. Does Joe always behave like this?"
Answering without looking away from the crazy blue haired teen, Tai said, "Every single day."
"No matter what number, or how many times he dials," Matt said keeping his eyes on Joe. "Those phones aren't gonna work!"
"Well," Tai said getting up and walking a little down the beach. "I'm gonna keep searching for a boat or something."
"Hey, wait a minute!" Matt said and Tai turned around to look at him. "Even though we can't call out of here, there's always a chance someone else might be able to call in to us."
Tai scowled at the blond. "It's a waste of time doing nothing but sitting here," He said.
"I'm going to stay here for a little while and see if anyone calls," Matt said, without taking his hands out of his pockets. "Besides, everyone could use a little rest." Tai looked over to where TK, Mimi, Palmon and Patamon were sitting, looking utterly exhausted. He then saw Dani and Danny, who were actually asleep.
"Yeah," Izzy said. "And I'm getting pretty hungry, too."
"You know why?" Tai asked. Then, without waiting for a response he said, "Because we haven't eaten anything all day. Okay, break time, everybody!"
Danny and Dani woke up and looked shocked "Where's the ghost?" They asked. "Huh?" They said. "Oh, sorry!" The pair said, scratching the back of their heads.
Sora sighed in relief and said "Does anybody else have any food?" She started to reach behind her. "I think the only thing I have is..." Her hand came into contact with her digital gadget. "huh?" She said removing it from her belt. "Is that gadget that fell out of the sky at camp!" She finished bringing it in front of her.
Tai grabbed his from his belt and said, "I forgot all about those weird gizmos."
Mimi looked at hers and said, "If anybody's got a pink one, I'll trade."
"What are they, anyway?" TK said looking at Tai and Izzy.
"We wouldn't have them if they weren't important," Matt said, trying to make sense of the situation.
Izzy took his off the strap of his backpack and stared at it, visualising what he was going to do, "If I could take mine apart..." His mutterings were interrupted by a rather loud growl from his stomach. "Ummm..." He said sheepishly. "That is after I get something to eat. I'm really famished."
Sora reached behind her again and opened a pouch attached to her belt, she pulled out a first aid kit, "Well, the only thing I've got is my emergency supplies. It's got a first aid kit, some bandages, and some medicine, but that's about all I've got."
"I have my trusty laptop computer, and a digital camera," Izzy said as he opened his back pack. He paused for a second then added. "Oh, and I've got a small cell phone, too. Of course, not one of them's worked since we got here." Tai was crouched down beside the short redhead, who was kneeling in front of his laptop.
"I can't believe you dragged all that computer stuff to summer camp," Tai said.
"And what do you have?" Izzy questioned, looking up at the google wearing boy.
"Uhh, let's see," Tai said reaching into his pocket. "There's-" He pulled out his miniature telescope saying "My mini-telescope."
"Sorry," Matt said drawing everyone's attention. "But I don't have anything to eat, either."
"Hey, look at what I got," TK said pulling off his blue backpack. "Check it out!" He opened the bag revealing hundreds of bags of sweets, crisps and fizzy drinks.
"Wow, look at all those goodies!" Mimi said crouching next to the 8 year old. "Why don't you be a good little boy and share those treats with dear, sweet Mimi?"
"Ahh," TK said tilting his hatted head to the side. "You don't have to be so nice, Mimi," The 8 year old smiled at the 11 year old holding his stuffed bag out to her. "I'm happy to share. You're the best." The boy turned to the other blonde in the group, the 12 year old looked towards him as he spoke. "Isn't she cute?"
"Forget it!" Matt said angrily looking off towards Tai and Izzy.
"I'm so hungry I could eat a horse," The goggled boy said leaning back and holding a gloved hand to his grumbling stomach.
Without moving from his slumped position Izzy replied, "I'd settle for a small cow."
Sora looked at Mimi, and the older girl asked, "Mimi, what have you got in that big bag?" The the tomboy added jokingly, "Some hair brushes and makeup?"
Not picking up on the joke the girl replied with, "Uhh, well, let's take a look." Reaching into her bag Mimi brought out various things including; "Here's a compass, cooking fuel, flashlight, one of those knives with all the things," Mimi stopped searching in her bag and added "And some other stuff."
Scowling at the items, MAtt said, "Why didn't you tell us you had a compass back when we needed one?"
Taking herself way too seriously Mimi replied, "I thought it might be kind of fun to see how far we could get without one." As an afterthought the brunette added, "Besides, it's broken."
"Well," Tai said glaring at the compass. "So much for finding our way out of here."
"Although," Matt said thoughtfully. "We could use the cooking fuel to make a signal fire." Neither Dani, Danny, Kokomon nor Gummymon were paying attention. All four were playing a game of I spy.
"I spy with my ghostly eye, something beginning with S" Danny said.
"Is it Sand?" The other three had guessed together. Now Danny had to do a tie breaker question.
"Yes, but can you guess the exact colour of the piece of sand I am looking at?" They could it was all uniformly yellow.
Ignoring the childish 14 year olds and their digimon, Sora said, "That's true, or I guess we could barbecue some telephones."
"What have you guys got?" Matt asked eyeing the twins backpacks.
Shruging his bag off, Danny said, "We both have exactly the same kit. My Girlfriend put it together." He pulled out a small box. "First Aid kit for serious injuries, consisting of bandages, nectar and ambrosia." He pulled out a silver and green thermos. "Fantasma Nero, my sword that doubles as a thermos for ghosts." He twisted a dial on the base. A click sounded and he removed the cap. Thr thermos extended into a bronze sword and the cap shrunk to a pen cap. "A simple adjustment choses the setting." Replacing the cap Danny reached back into the bag. He brought out an even smaller box than the last. "An invention of a dear friend of mine. Ectoplasmic Meal Substiutes!" Dani opened the box and pulled out a small green pill. "Has enough nutrients in it to keep me going for a whole day. Unfortunately only half-ghosts can take them and we need at least one proper meal a week to keep them working, but other than that Tuck had a real breakthrough with these!"
"Like Danny said," Dani said replacing the tablet and lid. "I have exactly the same kit except." She pulled a pair of water guns from her pockets. "Fantasma Oplo and Pistoli, and I have a Fenton Thermos."
"Oh boy," Tai said, looking back at Joe. "Check out the genius. See? He's trying to call the telephone repairman because the telephones don't work. Problem is-" Tai cut off looking at the bag on Joe's shoulder. It was plain white with a red cross on the front. "Look!" Tai exclaimed recognising the bag. "Joe's got the emergency food!"
The other kids startled, turned to look at Joe, who was still trying the phones with a dogged determination while Gomamon sat patiently bored. On the boys shoulder is the bag that could be their salvation.
"No way!" Izzy and the twins chorused.
"Joe!" Tai yelled and Joe ignored him. "Hey Joe!" He still didn't respond but Tai continued regardless. "Look, you've got all the food!"
"Hey!" Joe said, turning around with the phone still close to his ear. "Don't you know it's rude to interrupt someone when they're on the telephone?"
Izzy pointed at the bag and said, "But that bag-"
Joe looked at the bag. "This? I just brought it to give to Mimi. Today was her day to carry the bag!"
Palmon looked at Mimi. "Think he likes ya!" The green digimon said.
"No way!" Mimi whinned, sticking her toung out.