The ground beneath them crumbled and the eleven children and their Digimon partners were sent falling towards the river below. The first pair to hit the water were Joe and Gomamon, who called out to the fish for some assistance. Around Gomamon, hundreds of fish surfaced and swam together, forming a floating raft which caught the others as they landed.
"Woah, some ride." Eliza sighed, looking down at the hundreds of fish swimming underneath them.
"Look out!" Sam warned.
From far above them, Kuwagamon fell from the cliff and took a large part of the rocky edge with him. The kids screamed as the boulders and the larger digimon fell towards them. In response to the threat, the fish raft began to move faster, and the large beetle and the boulders splashed into the water behind them. The impact created a huge wave, which nearly swallowed the raft. The kids and their digimon hung on, screaming.
The raft crashed to shore and the children breathed a collective sigh of relief.
"Well, what was that?" Joe asked, cleaning off his glasses. "A floating fish market?"
His seal-like partner crawled up to him. "Lucky for us, those fish were having a school reunion. Ha ha." Gomamon chuckled. "I'm kidding. Those fish are good friends of mine, and I just asked them for a lift." his tail wagged a little.
"And all these years I thought I was allergic to seafood." Joe chuckled. "Thank you. Uh, I guess it's not Bukamon?"
The small marine digimon shook his head. "Nope, Gomamon now." he corrected.
Eliza looked over her fox-like partner, "So you're not Chibimon, are you?"
"That's right." Shukamon confirmed. "Now I'm Shukamon."
"It's all because we digivolved." Agumon informed.
Tai folded his arm over his chest. "I don't think that word's in my dictionary." he noted.
"So digivolving is what happens when they advance to the next level and become more powerful than before." Izzy concluded.
"Right." Tentomon confirmed.
"Mmm hmmm. When you digivolved, you certainly got way bigger." Tai noted, lacing his hands behind his head.
"Does this mean you're something different now, or are you still digimon?" Destiny asked, looking at Guilmon.
"Digimon." Guilmon answered. "But we needed your help for us to digivolve."
"How so?" Maya asked.
"You see, digivolving is a very difficult process." Labramon answered. "In order to be successful, I had to share your energy."
"I guess you guys don't run on batteries." Sora noted.
"Sure don't." Biyomon chirped in reply.
"But how do you access my energy?" Sam asked his digimon partner.
"Even we don't know everything." Bearmon replied, rubbing the back of his head.
Mimi rubbed her temples. "This whole thing makes my head spinny." she whined.
"Okay, so what are we going to do now?" Sam asked, looking at everyone else.
"If only there was a payphone nearby." Joe pointed out. "We could call the police, or fire department, or my mother."
"But we don't even know where we are." Eliza reminded.
"But we know where we started." Sora reminded. "Up there on that mountain."
"I say we forget about going back and explore around here." Matt suggested.
"I'm not exploring anywhere. I say we stay right where we are." Joe rebuked.
"Yeah, let's wait for that giant bug to come get us." Maya scoffed.
"We need to find a road leading someplace to get away from here." Sam noted.
"Sam's right." Izzy agreed. "But without a compass, we don't even know which way is north."
"Wait, I do!" Guilmon chimed, his winged ears twitching.
"Which way?" Destiny asked.
"It's the opposite of south." Guilmon chuckled.
Destiny sighed, "That's not what we meant Guilmon."
"Think 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?" Maya asked the rest of the group.
"Wait, are there more monsters around like that big flying beetle?" Mimi asked.
"Yes indeed." Palmon answered, making her human partner recoil in disgust.
"Are there any more humans here?" Tai asked.
"Humans? Others like you?" Agumon questioned. "You're the first ever. There's never been anything but digimon."
"So, okay. You're all digimon." Sam concluded. "But what about the rest of those monsters? They're all digimon, too?"
Bearmon nodded. "Yup, everyone here in DigiWorld are digimon, well except for you guys I guess."
"That's creepy, not to mention dangerous." Maya spoke.
"And what happens when it gets dark?" Destiny asked.
Matt rolled his eyes. "Whoever says it gets dark here?" he challenged.
"That phenomenon would be unnatural." Izzy reminded.
"And you call all this natural?" Joe questioned.
"No joke." Eliza agreed.
"Well, we're not going to find out anything by sitting around here." Tai noted, walking off, followed by Agumon.
"Where you going Tai?" Sora asked.
"Up on that cliff." the brunette male answered. "That's where I saw the ocean."
"The ocean?" Destiny and Matt repeated in unison.
"Yep. There might be a boat or something." Tai thought, racing back down the riverbank.
Knowing there wasn't much else to do, the rest of the group followed Tai as they walked down the riverbank, noting the unusual scenery they passed.
"The trees here are beautiful." Eliza noted as she passed by the colorful vegetation.
"They're nothing like the ones back home." Destiny muttered.
A few steps ahead of them, Izzy was walking beside his partner, who was flying. "Digital monsters. Exactly who came up with that name, anyhow?" he questioned.
"Just call us digimon." Tentomon corrected. "We like that."
Izzy looked at his machine-like ladybug partner. "I only ask because your composition isn't at all machine-like." the young kid noted.
"Oh really?" Tentomon challenged, creating a ball of electrical energy between his wings, causing Izzy to hold his hands up in front of his head in defense.
At the very front of the group, Tai and Agumon were walking in step. "Once I get back, this is gonna make one great story." he told Agumon. "Of course not a single soul will ever believe me. Or any of us for that matter."
"That Kuwagamon back there, he was huge." Sam pointed out, walking just a few steps behind Tai.
"And he's not the only one." Bearmon added. "There's plenty more where he came from."
"I don't think you're really helping the situation." Sam told his partner.
"But don't worry, we're here to protect you from any threat." Labramon reassured, her tail wagging.
After another few minutes of walking, the group suddenly heard a faint noise.
"Wait a minute, listen." Matt halted.
"What's that sound?" Destiny questioned, tucking her hair behind her ears.
The noise sounded strangely like a telephone ringing.
"A phone?" Tai questioned.
"Either that or we're all hearing things." Sora replied.
The kids broke into a run and came to the shore of a deserted beach. Much to their own shock and surprise, was a row of evenly spaced telephone booths, with all lines ringing.
"I told you! All we needed was a phone!" Joe exclaimed. "We're saved!"
As they reached the booths, the ringing suddenly stopped.
"Why'd it stop?" Agumon asked.
"Wrong number." Tai guessed.
The kids broke into smaller pairs and each tried their home numbers, and each got a different operator message that sounded nothing close to normal. Only Joe was frantically trying every number possible, and getting different messages every time.
The others were relaxing on the beach, watching Joe continue to try the phone, and getting nowhere.
"Very curious." Izzy noted, leaning against a small boulder. "Does Joe always behave like this?"
"Every single day." Tai sighed, sitting on the sand with his legs stretched out in front of him.
Matt shook his head, folding his arms across his chest. "No matter what number, or how many times he dials, those phones aren't gonna work." he pointed out.
"But still…" Eliza added, her skirt-covered legs out to her side. "gotta give him points for trying."
Tai jumped up and brushed the sand from his pants. "Well, I'm gonna keep searching for something."
Matt rolled his eyes. "Even though we can't call out of here, there's always a chance someone else might be able to call in to us." he pointed out.
"It's a waste of time doing nothing but sitting here." Tai rebuked, meeting Matt's eyes.
The other kid still held his ground. "I'm going to stay here for a little while and see if anyone calls." he reiterated. "Besides, everyone could use a little rest."
Tai looked out to the rest of the group, most of who were sitting on the beach next to their digimon partners, all looking a bit exhausted.
"And I'm pretty hungry too." Sora said, her knees pulled up to her chest.
"Because we haven't eaten anything all day." Tai noted. "Okay, break time, everybody!"
The kids sighed collectively, relieved they were finally getting some food in their rumbling stomachs.
"Does anybody else have any food?" Destiny questioned. "I have some granola bars and…" she froze when her hand clasped something round in her fringed satchel. "that gadget that fell out of the sky at camp."
"Yeah, I almost forgot all about those things." Matt followed, examining his digivice.
"We wouldn't have them if they weren't important." Sam noted.
"If I could only take mine apart." Izzy muttered, but his thought was interrupted when his stomach growled. "That is until we find something to eat."
Sora dug through her small, pink fanny-pack, "Well, the only thing I've got is my emergency supplies." she informed, holding out her pack's contents in her red-gloved hands. "It's got a first aid kit, some bandages, and some medicine, but that's about all I've got."
Destiny pulled out a small, metal container packed full of various flavors of granola bars. "I always pack a light snack, just in case." she added. "This time I'm really glad I did."
"I have a full thermos and an extra bottled water." Sam followed, pulling out said items from his tattered brown knapsack. "Plus a couple bags of beef jerky, that's about it."
Izzy knelt down in the sand, pulling out his laptop. "I have my trusty laptop computer, and a digital camera. Oh, and I've got a small cell phone, too." he listed. "Of course, not one of them has worked since we got here."
"I can't believe you dragged all of that to summer camp." Tai chuckled.
"Well, what do you have Tai?" Maya asked.
Tai reached in his back pocket, "I have my mini telescope." he answered.
T.K. chuckled and sat his backpack in front of him. "Hey, look at what I got." he told everyone. "Check it out!" in his backpack was a stash of junk food that only a kid could possibly carry around.
Mimi's eyes widened at the goody stash. "Look at all those goodies!" she gasped. "Why don't you be a good little boy and share those treats with dear, sweet Mimi?"
The little kid just smiled in response. "You don't have to be so nice, Mimi. I'm happy to share." he replied, smiling. "Isn't she cute?" he looked back over his shoulder, directing the question at his brother, Matt.
"Forget it." Matt rebuked, looking away.
Destiny chuckled, glancing in said blonde's direction. "Got the girls chasing you already huh?" she giggled, winking.
"Mimi, what have you got in that big bag?" Sora questioned the pink-clad girl.
"I would put my money on hair brushes and make up." Eliza whispered to her sister, both girls chuckling.
Mimi laid her brown satchel on her lap and dug through it. "Let's see." she murmured. "Here's a compass, cooking fuel, flashlight, one of those knives with all the things, and some other stuff."
"Who knew she would be the one to pack for a camping trip." Maya muttered, blinking. "But, why didn't you tell us you had a compass back in the forest when we needed one?"
"I thought it might be kind of fun to see how far we could get without one." Mimi giggled. "Besides, it's broken."
The rest of the group sighed in unison, more so in annoyance.
"Well so much for finding our way out of here." Tai noted, disappointed.
"Although, we could use the cooking fuel to make a signal fire." Sam suggested.
"We could burn the telephones." Maya added, twisting her blonde hair into a braid and draping it over her shoulder.
"Is Joe still trying those things?" Tai questioned.
"He's trying to call the telephone repair man because the telephones don't work." Eliza replied, shaking her head. "Problem is…"
"Look! Joe's got the emergency food!" Mimi squealed, pointing to a bag with a red cross stitched onto it.
"Joe!" Tai called. "Hey Joe!"
"Don't you know it's rude to interrupt someone when their on the phone?" Joe questioned, looking back at the others.
"Dude, you have the emergency bag." Sam reminded, motioning to the large bag on Joe's shoulder.
Joe shrugged it off and set it on the ground. "Here take it. It's your turn to carry it anyway."
Sam ran up to the phone booth and took the large bag and brought it back to the rest of the group and set in the middle. After five more minutes, Joe and Gomamon joined them.
"Now that we've got some food to eat, let's have some lunch." Tai voted, and everyone agreed.
Joe and Izzy bounded mathematical divisions off each other to try and evenly distribute the food amongst the eleven of them, if they were to eat three meals per day, which totaled out to enough food for like a day and a half.
"But, when you factor in the digimon, we really only have enough for about half an hour." Eliza pointed out.
"Right, I guess I forgot about them." Joe said.
"Not a problem at all." Gomamon rebuffed.
"Yeah." agreed Shukamon.
"We digimon hunt and forage for ourselves." Gabumon added.
"It's one of our basic instincts." Guilmon followed.
"No need to include us in your calculations." Tentomon informed.
"Okay, now that that's taken care of, let's go on a divide the rations between the eleven of us." Joe suggested.
"This is great. I could eat a dozen of these!" Tai laughed. He and Agumon were off to the side of the group, stuffing their faces with a small portion of the rations.
"Tai, what are you doing?" Sora questioned.
"Eating, what else." Tai answered. Agumon nodded in agreement, crumbs sticking to the sides of his mouth.
"Man, he makes me crazy." Joe muttered, closing his eyes.
A loud roar of a large beast echoed in the distance, making the digimon go on high alert.
"What's up Guilmon?" Destiny asked her dragon partner.
"Trouble." he answered, narrowing his golden eyes.
From beneath the sand, a column of water shot up high into the air. The kids screamed and ran away as the column moved, knocking the telephone booths far into the air with its force. The telephone booths, now mangled and broken, dropped onto the beach, where a tornado of sand rose to reveal a huge horned shell rising from the beach. From the shell emerged two great legs and a head with an angry expression.
"What's that?!" Joe screeched in horror.
"Shellmon." Gomamon answered, glaring at said digimon.
"What's a Shellmon?" Eliza questioned, slowly backing away.
Shukamon stood ready to attack, her sand-colored fur bristling. "A sea-digimon with a very short temper." she answered, baring her small canines.
"Everyone, get to higher ground!" Sam called.
Sam and Joe climbed up the cliff face by the beach, but just as they reached the top, Shellmon fired a jet of water from the top of his head, knocking the two boys back to the ground. When charging to defend their human partners, Shellmon shot a blast of water at Bearmon and Gomamon, sending them crashing into the Cliffside. Agumon, Gabumon, Guilmon, Biyomon and Tentomon faced the attacking digimon.
"Digimon attack!" Agumon ordered.
Agumon's fireball attack hit Shellmon in the face, and he reared back, but the other digimon's attacks fizzled out and didn't even reach the larger digimon. Shellmon aimed a blast of water that blew the smaller digimon back.
"What happened to them?" Izzy asked.
Palmon, Shukamon, Labramon, and Patamon stepped up to attack next, and their attacks didn't work either. Agumon stepped up and blew another fireball that again hit Shellmon square in the face.
"How come only Agumon can fight, while our digimon can't?" Maya questioned, holding her injured Labrador partner on her lap.
"Guilmon, are you alright?" Destiny asked, holding her partner in her arms.
"Too hungry." he muttered, his eyes drifting closed.
Sora picked up her injured bird digimon and exchanged a glance with Eliza, who held her fox digimon in her arms.
"That's it!" Sora gasped.
"Agumon is the only one who had anything to eat." Eliza continued.
"So that means the other digimon don't have enough strength left to fight." Destiny concluded.
Tai overheard what the others were saying and clenched his white-gloved hand into a fist. "Looks like it's up to you Agumon." he cheered. "Let's barbeque this shellfish."
"Then give me a diversion." Agumon insisted.
As Shellmon watched Tai as he ran in front of him, Agumon struck him again from the side. Tai picked up a long pole, broken off from one of the telephone booths. Tai jabbed the stick into Shellmon's shell, but was lifted into the air in one of the long tentacles growing from Shellmon's head. Shellmon stepped on Agumon as he retreated, holding him immobile beneath his foot, and aimed a blast of water at the other kids and digimon, rendering them in a hazy state.
As Shellmon tightened his grip, Tai screamed in pain. Beneath the larger digimon's foot, Agumon struggled to move, but was only crushed further. The small dinosaur closed his eyes and was showing physical pain as he heard his human partner being crushed.
"Tai!" he screamed, and suddenly began to glow. At the same time, Tai's digivice had a glow radiating from it too.
As the light grew beneath Shellmon's foot, everyone looked on in sheer surprise.
"Agumon digivolve to…Greymon!" Shellmon flung Tai out of the way as the tiny digimon suddenly grew into a giant tiger-striped tyrannosaurs digimon; of equal size and strength as Shellmon.
Tai stared at his newly digivolved partner. "Greymon, how cool." he sighed.
Shellmon charged at his new opponent, but Greymon stopped his charge and held him at bay. The large marine digimon fired a stream of water at Greymon, who countered it with a stream of fire. Shellmon relented first, and Greymon took advantage of the pause by using the horn on his snout as a scoop, throwing the other digimon out over the sea.
"Nova Blast!" he attacked, spitting out a giant fireball, which struck Shellmon full force and sent him flying way out into the sea.
Greymon glowed and shrunk back down to Agumon. Tai, shocked and worried, ran to his partner.
"Agumon, you okay?" he questioned, kneeling down beside the tiny dinosaur. "You poor little guy."
"Tai." Agumon murmured. "Do you have anything to eat?"
The human boy just chuckled and helped his partner to his feet.
The digimon all sat in a circle and were happily munching on the food their human partners offered them, knowing they deserved it after putting up a good fight.
"Shellmon wasn't destroyed." Izzy informed everyone. "He was just temporarily removed. We should pack up and leave before he decides he wants to come back for round two."
"I agree." Joe seconded.
Sam cleared his throat and pushed up his glasses. "Now, logically speaking, if there are telephones here, then there must be people to use them." he pointed out. "So, I think it makes good sense to try and find those people."
"That is a good point." Maya agreed.
"And if we run into any danger, our digimon will be able to protect us, now that they've eaten." Eliza added, smiling at the happy creatures.
"All right, everybody let's get going!" Tai voted, raising his fist.
"Anywhere you go, I'll go Tai." Agumon said, grinning. "Just pick the direction."
"Straight ahead we go." The brunette chuckled, pointing straight ahead down the shore.
"Let the monsters beware." Matt warned.
"Well my plan is to avoid all monsters." Joe muttered.
Eliza chuckled and nudged the older boy in the arm. "Yeah, keep dreaming Joe." she giggled.
After packing up their belongings, the group shared a laugh, and headed off, ready for whatever adventure the Digital World was gonna throw at them next…