A/N: Here's the latest chapter, it's a bit of a long one. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and favourited so far! Hope you all enjoy! Please read and review!
Disclaimer: I don't own digimon
Adjusting
Tai was aware of three things as he regained consciousness. One, that he was lying down on his back. Two, he was instead of lying on the dirt of the campsite lying down on some very soft grass. Three, there was something small about the weight of a cat sitting on his chest and yelling at him.
'Oh and I have a headache' he noted sourly.
"Tai, yoohoo! Tai wake up!" the voice continued.
'Can't I just stay asleep?' Tai thought but nevertheless began to open his eyes. As he blinked and looked at his chest he could see a big ball o pink flesh about the size of a basketball sitting on him. It had two antennae-like protrusions jutting out of the top of its head-body. Oh and it had a face. That was staring happily at him right now; from about an inch away from his own. With an ogre-like grin...
"Arghh!" Tai panicked rolling away and knocking the thing off of him. He quickly got to his feet staring down as the little pink ball righted itself somehow.
'No that's not a pink ball. That's a Koromon!' he thought as he began to wake up mentally. It was then that he remembered with unbridled happiness, 'I'm in the digital world!'. Koromon had been about to reassure Tai that he was his friend and not to panic when he was suddenly picked up and twirled around by his partner.
"Woooaaaahhh!" he cried as Tai span him around.
"I'm in the Digital World! I'm in the Digital World!" Tai yelled laughing as they spun around.
"You sure are!" Koromon replied equally cheerfully. Tai stopped spinning as another thought came to him and brought Koromon to his chest.
"Where in the Digital World am I?" Koromon still happily smiling said,
"File Island! My name's Koromon and your Tai!" Tai looked at him suspiciously.
"How do you know my name?" he asked. Koromon just kept smiling but before he could reply a softer voice came from the trees.
"Tai? Is that you?" Tai looked around in time to see Izzy stumble into the clearing with his digivice clipped to his rucksack strap.
"Yeah it's me"
"Good. I've got this little pink thing following me everywhere though" he claimed as said little pink thing followed him into the clearing. It was a Motimon, Tai noted as it introduced itself. 'In-training Digimon? There not gonna be much help if danger comes along'. Tai came out of his thoughts as Izzy came up to him,
"I believe that those miniature remote digital devices have taken on an actual life-form!" he said then seemed to notice Tai's blank expression. "I don't remember this being in the camp briefing" he said somewhat unsurely. Tai couldn't help but chuckle,
"Ya think?" Izzy shot him an annoyed look at which Tai chuckled a little more.
Izzy struck him as the type that wasn't used to being wrong or even unsure of something; so seeing him like this was kind of funny. Tai looked around at the scenery. They were surrounded by a thick lush forest.
There were strange and exotic looking plants including massive flowers the size of a person as well as very odd-looking trees with their trunks bent at odd angles. In the distance he could see a massive mountain reaching up into the clouds. 'Infinity Mountain' Tai remembered fondly. He and Zero had only been on file island a little while but they hadn't run into any problems that they couldn't easily deal with. They had then travelled to the continent of Folder where the monsters were far tougher.
"Maybe if you'd been paying attention to the briefing" he heard Izzy mumble.
"Relax Izzy. I'm gonna go take a look around" as he approached a tree and began to climb. Koromon had hooked his antennae-like things around his neck as he climbed. Fortunately Koromon was light and Tai was pretty strong so it didn't hinder him. As he sat down on the highest branch Koromon let go and sat next to him. He pulled out his spy-glass and began looking around. He could see the ocean in one direction and a few other smaller mountains dotted around the forest.
"Hey Tai whaddya see?" Koromon asked.
"Not much. Hey you never answered my question"
"What question?" Koromon seemed confused.
"The question I asked you"
"Which one was that?" Tai gritted his teeth,
"How do you know my name?" He asked, slightly annoyed. Before Koromon could answer a loud roar cut through the air making the tree-tops shake. Tai quickly looked around and saw a giant red beetle Digimon heading straight for them.
'It's a kuwagamon' Tai's mind quickly analysed the situation. 'I'm stuck on a tree, have two in-training Digimon against a champion-level flying Digimon. Crap' There was only one viable option; to try to lose him in the trees. He quickly grabbed Koromon and jumped down from the tree just before Kuwagamon flew by and ripped off the part of the tree they'd been sitting on.
Tai's fall was luckily slowed by the leaves and other branches of the tree but he still hit the ground hard enough to make Izzy wince.
"Are you ok?!" he asked. Tai shakily got up,
"Yeah I'm fine. You alright Koromon?" The Digimon in his arms nodded then said sincerely,
"Thanks for saving me Tai"
"It was nothing."
They were interrupted by another roar from Kuwagamon; who they could see was turning in the air and coming back for another pass at them.
"Run into the trees! We can lose him in there!" Tai yelled and sprinted with both Izzy and Motimon following him. The boys ran faster than they thought possible inspired by both fear and adrenaline. Motimon however practically flew past Tai screaming,
"Follow me, he's right behind us!" Tai panting looked behind them, then immediately wished he hadn't. In the distance he could see entire trees being flung into the air behind them and others being effortlessly torn in half by the unseen Digimon pursuing them.
'How determined is this guy?!' Tai thought.
"Quick in here!" Motimon cried and jumped into a tree. He literally disappeared into the trunk. Both Izzy and Tai were too tired and scared to argue and jumped in with him. The inside of the tree was metal and strange lights lit up the inside.
"This is a hiding tree!" Motimon proclaimed proudly at the shocked expressions on Tais and Izzys faces. Tai was particularly shocked. He'd never seen one of these before on his last adventure. Although provided he and Zero were the toughest things on File Island and so had no need to hide. They heard the tell-tale roar of Kuwagamon as it soared past their hiding place and into the distance. Breathing a sigh of relief, both Izzy and Tai relaxed somewhat.
"It's ok. You don't need to hide anymore" A female voice echoed throughout the hollow tree. Izzy and Tai stepped out to be confronted by Sora and a digimon Tai didn't recognise. 'I guess everyone must have gotten transported to the digital world this time' Tai thought. The flower-like digimon began to speak,
"I am enchanted to meet you friends of Sora" it said very politely to Izzy and Tai.
"Guys meet Yokomon, she's my own little personal something-or-other" Sora stated to them. Tai looked at Yokomon and wondered, 'has everyone been brought to the digital world this time or just us?'
"What are these things anyway?" he heard Sora ask Izzy.
"I don't know but they're everywhere" he replied as a Tokomon ran into the clearing followed by a very happy Tk. Not long after Matt had also joined them. The Tokomon had belonged to Tk and Matt was carrying a very polite and furry digimon with a large horn on its head that had introduced itself as Tsunomon. They had all been giving odd looks at Tk and Tokomon who were snuggling when they heard a scream and Joe came running into the clearing with Bukamon floating after him.
"Help me! Help me! This thing won't leave me alone!" he pleaded with them.
"I'm not a thing I'm Bukamon" the thing cried, landing on his shoulder. Joe looked at them all with a half-manic expression on his face,
"What's wrong with you guys, don't you see it?" He then noticed their creatures all standing together. He pointed, "Arghh they're everywhere, what are they!?" Bukamon flew over to join them.
"We're Digimon, digital monsters!" they all cried out much to the shock of the humans sans Tai. Tai meanwhile was contemplating. The last time he had been summoned to the Digital World it had been in danger from powerful dark forces. Did that mean that the same thing has happened again and that they were needed to defend it again? He looked at his digivice. 'We were given these on purpose. So someone meant to bring us here. The only question is who. Was it Lord MagnaAngemons again or someone else?'
"Hey Tai" he looked up and everyone was staring at him. Sora who had just spoken looked amused, "We were introducing ourselves to the Digimon. You really should pay attention sometimes" Tai rubbed the back of his head as Tk and the Digimon laughed,
"Sorry everyone. My name is Taichi Yagami but you can all call me Tai." He then looked around,
"Hey wasn't there someone else?" he asked Sora. She furrowed her brow and looked thoughtful. After a few seconds she snapped her fingers in realisation,
"Mimi!" On cue a girlish scream was heard followed by a familiar roar. As Mimi ran into the clearing along with a Tanemon; Kuwagamon appeared and began to dive, only barely missing the group. Sora went to comfort Mimi as Tai kept an eye on Kuwagamon.
"It's ok now Mimi" as the two embraced.
"He's coming back around! RUN!" Tai yelled making sure everyone was already running before picking up Koromon and sprinting himself after them. They were running fast but Kuwagamon was catching up, the trees being the only reason they were still ahead of him. They soon came to another small clearing devoid of trees.
"DUCK!" Matt yelled as he pulled Tk to the ground. They all followed his lead as Kuwagamon, with no trees to hinder his progress, swooped over them just missing them by the barest margins. Tai gritted his teeth in anger and frustration as some of the others began to panic.
"What are we gonna do?!" Mimi cried.
"There's no way we could fight that thing. We have to keep running" said Matt with only the barest hint of fear in his voice. Tai was inwardly impressed. They were handling things well considering this was their first time being chased down by a giant monster. 'I'm the one with the most experience. I have to take responsibility.' An idea popped into his mind. Tai smiled and looked down at Koromon in his arms.
"I have an idea to take that thing out. You with me?" Koromon looked surprised but nodded firmly,
"Always with you Tai." Tai smiled. Then turned to Sora.
"Ok listen up. I have an idea. You guys keep running and I'll distract it" Sora immediately protested,
"NO! Tai it's too dangerous!" He grabbed her shoulder and looked her dead in the eye,
"Trust me" Sora wavered and looked as though she would protest but another roar from the monster seemed to settle it.
"Ok follow me!" she cried and ran off as everyone else followed her leaving Tai holding Koromon alone in the clearing. She looked back and thought, 'Please be safe Tai; don't be your usual reckless self'. The others were just behind her. They were running for a few minutes when they came to yet another clearing except this one was on the edge of a cliff. They barely stopped in time.
"Great, anyone bring a helicopter?" said Matt sarcastically,
"Now what?" asked Tk looking at Sora. Sora looked around noticing that they were all looking at her. All of them waiting for her to tell them what to do. Suddenly a roar cut through the air and they stiffened. Before Izzy noticed something,
"Wait a minute. It seems further away now." The others paused and noticed as well.
"Hey, where did Tai go?" Matt suddenly asked.
"And Koromon?" asked Motimon. Sora seemed downtrodden.
"Did they get left behind?" asked Joe panicking, "Should we go back?"
"Like hell I'm going back to face that monster!" cried Mimi,
"So we're just going to leave him behind are we?" Matt asked sarcastically, others began interjecting and it quickly escalated into an argument between many of the kids with the digimon watching in confusion. Sora realised she had to maintain order,
"Guys! Guys!" she repeated to little effect. Sora drew in a big breath, "GUYS!" her voiced echoed down the cliff causing everyone to stop arguing and turn to face her as she quickly regained her breath. "Tai didn't get lost" she said much more subdued than before.
"Then where is he?" asked Izzy looking at her, she sighed.
"They're distracting Kuwagamon so we can get away" Sora said miserably. The others gaped at her.
"I tried to stop him but there was no time and it was coming right for us and I panicked and I ran and everyone followed..." Sora's voice quickened in pace and increased in pitch with each word she said. Mimi ran forward, knowing Sora needed some comfort, and embraced Sora in a hug as her babbling turned into sobs.
"It's ok Sora, I'm sure he'll be fine, he sounds like a tough guy" Mimi continued to whisper assurances into Sora's ear as she clung to the pink-dressed girl racked with a mixture of terror and guilt. The others were still in shock.
"Wow. Tai is really brave isn't he Matt?" Tk said looking at Matt. He nodded solemnly,
"He sure is" he said hesitantly as if unable to believe the words coming out of his own mouth. 'I guess I misjudged him' Matt thought. He looked towards the forest searching for any sign of the goggle-headed boy. 'I don't know if I could have done that'.
Similar thoughts were running through Joes and Izzys minds. Izzy being in slight awe, 'We only introduced ourselves to each other scarcely an hour ago and he goes and sacrifices himself for us? What could possibly motivate him to do such a thing?' Joe on the other hand was blaming himself.
'I'm the oldest in the group It's my responsibility to look after everyone and Tai goes and does this?!' he screamed in the confines of his own mind. 'Where does he get the nerve to do something like that, how can he be so reckless, so stupid?' They all stood in silence and silently pondered Tai's actions. Eventually Izzy asked,
"So what do we do now?" They all looked at one another. That was a question no-one had an answer too.
First, Tai thought, I have to make sure he comes after me and not them. Tai unhooked his goggles from his head and began angling the light at kuwagamons face. The light seemed to draw his attention as he gave a roar and diverted from chasing the larger group and towards Tai and Koromon. 'Perfect' thought Tai as he put his goggles back on his head and ran for his life. 'I remember seeing it somewhere near here from my spy-glass. Good thing I play a lot of soccer'.
Tai continued to sprint through the forest until he eventually came into a clearing and found himself at the bottom of a small mountain. It was a sheer rock cliff in front of him. Tai turned around and put his back to the rock-wall.
"Now what Tai?" asked Koromon nervously once they could back up no more. "We're cornered!"
Tai smiled at him. He had found during his last adventure that people reacted better if you seemed confident. 'Even if you have no idea what you're doing' he thought. Kuwagamon was approaching fast..
"How big of a Bubble Blow can you make?" Tai asked. He could see trees not too far from the clearing being thrown around like rag dolls. Koromon puffed up with pride at the question,
"The biggest!" Tai smirked.
"Good. On my signal I need you make as a big a bubble as you can and throw it at Kuwagamons head ok?" Koromon nodded bravely as they both turned their eyes to the forest. As another loud roar cut through the air Tai could feel Koromon shaking a little in his arms but they stood strong nevertheless. Tai swallowed then once again unhooked his goggles as Koromon engorged himself getting ready for a big Bubble Blow.
A roar cut through the clearing as Kuwagamon burst from the trees.
"NOW!" screamed Tai as he once again angled his goggles to reflect light at Kuwagamons face and Koromon jumped out of Tai's arms and launched a Bubble Blow directly at Kuwagamons face. Both seemed to do the trick as Kuwagamon roared in anger and veered upwards off course. Realising his mistake too late it crashed headfirst directly into the mountain behind them at full speed.
The impact was so great that to Tai it seemed the ground and the mountain shook. As Tai looked up he could see that it had hit the cliff so hard it had left a dent in the rock along with cracks. Kuwagamon then began to peel off the wall and fall.
"Watch out!" cried Koromon bouncing towards Tai. He screamed and dived out-of-the-way as Kuwagamon hit the ground headfirst right onto them. Koromon gasped.
"Tai!"
Tai opened his eyes. He saw that Kuwagamon had barely missed him. He was so close to the slumbering insect he could smell its awful stench. Tai slowly got up, breathing hard from the adrenaline and walked towards Koromon. He picked him up and asked,
"You ok little buddy?" Koromon just stared at the unconscious Kuwagamon and nodded. Tai quietly snuck away from Kuwagamon, in case it woke up. Once out of sight of its body he ran for it. As a result he never saw its arm twitch. Quickly making his way back to the clearing where he had split up from the others he dropped Koromon, put his hands on his knees and began to catch his breath. Koromon in contrast seemed full of energy,
"Wow! That was amazing Tai! We took out a champion-level Digimon! Did you see my Bubble Blow? We're the best! The others will never believe this!" Koromon continued, bouncing up and down excitedly. Tai smiled softly. 'It's just stunned I think. We had better find the others before it tries to chase us again. Now which way did Sora go?' Tai straightened up.
"Lets go find the others." and he began to walk in the direction where they had run off with Koromon bouncing after him.
"You know you were pretty brave back there buddy" Tai told Koromon.
"Really?" the digimon asked with a strangely soft tone.
"Yeah, the way you leapt in front of me so fearlessly. You were really brave" Tai smiled at him. Koromon smiled back,
"It was nothin'" he said bashfully.
After a few minutes of walking in comfortable silence with Koromon bouncing after him a thought occurred to Tai,
"You know you never answered my question" he told Koromon,
"What question?" Tai gave a frustrated sigh, 'Deja Vu' he thought,
"How do you know my name?!" he asks as they walked into a clearing.
"TAI!" a voice yelled. Tai looked forward and nearly fell over as Sora practically flew at him shortly followed by everyone else crowding around them.
"You idiot! Never do that again I was so worried!" Sora chastised in ,what Tai recognised as, full 'Mother Hen' mode as she began brushing dirt off of his clothes while scolding him for running off. He couldn't help noticing the relieved smile on her face as she did so though. Meanwhile he was getting a few hugs from the others as well as pats on the backs from some of the other guys. Matt in particular seemed relieved although Tai couldn't guess why.
Koromon was getting his own welcome from the other digimon as they crowded around him.
"It was incredible! You should have seen it! Kuwagamon was all like "rargh!" And me and Tai were like "Come get some", and I used my Bubble blow and knocked him out..." he claimed to all the other in-training Digimon. Some like Tsunomon and Yokomon seemed sceptical but others like Tokomon were hanging on his every word.
"Wow Koromon you're so brave" Tokomon said,
"You bet I am" Koromon replied puffing up with pride.
"Well now what do we do?" asked Matt looking around. "Now that we're all here we can make a decision". Tai looked around.
"We should probably get off this cliff" he said. "Its just asking for one of us to fall off." The others quickly agreed and they began to walk back towards the forest.
A loud growling noise came from the forest stopping everyone dead in their tracks. They began to back away as a large creature began to appear in front of them coming out of the forest. It had four legs with black armour running down its body ending in a large horn on the tip of its snout. Its eyes feral and crazed with unlike their digimon no glimmer of intelligence behind them. It growled again; revealing rows of large, pointy teeth each as big as Tai's forearm. It began slowly walking towards them causing the group to back away further, heading closer to the cliff-edge.
"What is that?" Sora cried,
"It's a Monochromon!" replied Motimon. "He's a champion-level digimon like Kuwagamon. We must be in his territory!"
The Monochromon continued to move towards them. There was nowhere to run. The cliff-edge was right behind them. All the kids stood tense when suddenly their digimon leapt forward! They cried out as all the small Digimon charged fearlessly at the feral dinosaur with Koromon leading the way. When suddenly their digivice's beeped and each of the Digimon began to glow,
"Koromon digivolve to...Agumon"
"Tsunomon digivolve to...Gabumon"
"Yokomon digivolve to...Biyomon"
"Tanemon digivolve to...Palmon"
"Bukamon digivolve to...Gomamon"
"Motimon digivolve to...Tentomon"
"Tokomon digivolve to...Patamon"
Each of the kids watched mystified as the glowing shapes became bigger and changed, eventually revealing the new forms of the digimon. Even the Monochromon looked confused about what had happened.
'Impossible!' thought Tai. 'They all digivolved? At the same time? What could have triggered it?' The now rookie-level digimon then sprung into action.
"Alright everybody, attack!" yelled Agumon launching a ball of fire from his mouth while crying, "Pepper breath!" It hit the Monochromon in the face causing it to roar and shake its head. Then Biyomon, Tentomon and Gabumon all launched their attacks as well.
"Blue blaster!"
"Electro Shocker!"
"Spiral Twister!" The blue and green fire combined to nail the Monochromon in the face. This, along with the electric attack, caused it to rear up on its hind legs roaring with pain.
"Poison Ivy!" cried Palmon as she roped the dinosaurs back legs together destabilising it further,
"Boom Bubble!" from Patamon swelling up then releasing a large burst of air. This hit Monochromon at the same time Gomamon from behind body-slammed its legs causing the digimon to fall down on its back.
"Now all together!" cried Agumon as they all launched their attacks at the flailing Monochromon causing it to burst into flames screaming and rolling out of sight back into the forest.
The kids stood in silence, gaping at the battle and the sight of their new friends as they turned around staring at the humans. Tai broke the tension laughing and running at them,
"Agumon! Good job buddy!" The dinosaur in question smiled and rubbed the back of his head,
"It was nothing Tai" he said bashfully and then tried leaping into Tai's arms like when he was Koromon except this, rather predictably, ended up flattening Tai. It didn't stop him from laughing though. All the other now-rookie level digimon also celebrated with their partners, hugging and laughing.
"So you're Gabumon now?" Matt asked. The dog-like digimon nodded,
"That's right" he said cheerfully, "We digivolved."
"At least you can't fly anymore" Joe said thankfully to Gomamon. "Now you can't sit on my shoulders". Gomamon seemed nonplussed.
"Don't worry about that, I'll find a way" he said grinning.
"Great"
"Wow you look so cool Patamon!" yelled Tk. The flying digimon blushed and said bashfully,
"You really think so?"
"So now you're a pink bird instead of a plant?" Sora asked confused. Biyomon beamed up at her,
"That's digivolving for ya!" she said smiling.
"You look a lot more stylish now than before Tane-I mean Palmon" Palmon in response wiggled her root-like feet,
"Thanks Mimi. We showed him didn't we?" Mimi nodded happily.
Suddenly a loud roar came from the forest. The group looked as the Monochromon came stomping back out of the forest towards them. It was badly burnt but otherwise looked unharmed from their earlier attack. They backed up to the very edge of the cliff face as it walked menacingly towards them. It scraped its front leg against the ground like a rhino preparing to charge.
Tai was thinking about tricking it into running off the cliff when a familiar sound interrupted his thoughts. A piercing roar from the trees behind the dinosaur-digimon stopping it.
The trees fell and the ground shook as a very pissed off Kuwagamon walked into view.
It was clearly damaged; there was a large dark bruise across the side of its head and one of its pincers had been bent inwards but it was alive and although it had no visible eyes they were certain it was glaring at them with hatred.
It was interrupted from its staring contest with them by the Monochromon which didn't hesitate in charging at him. The giant red insect put his arms forward catching the charging Digimon with the force behind the charge being great enough to slide the monster back a few feet.
With another roar the Kuwagamon lifted the Monochromon clear off the ground. Its arms clearly struggling with the weight. It then slammed it back down with enough force to make the ground shake and cracks began to appear around the edge of the group. The Monochromon quickly got back to his feet backed off a bit to gain distance and charged again.
This time when the Kuwagamon tried to grab on it ducked a little causing the insects hands to slip off its smooth armoured hide. It collided with the Kuwagamon chest knocking it down onto the ground, causing the ground the children were on to shake precariously. The dinosaur-digimon then charged again but the insect recovered quickly getting down on all fours and leaping over the charge and onto the Monochromons back. Like something out of a comedy show the huge insect was riding on the back of the charging rhino-like digimon.
It roared and bucked in anger each stomp of its feet making the ground shake and the cracks widen and lengthen. The red monster was in a good place, clamped its pincers around the Monochromons neck and squeezed.
Monochromon roared in pain and the bucking and shaking increased tenfold as the Monochromon tried to shake off the Kuwagamon to no avail. Eventually, as the kids watched in muted horror, its struggles became weaker and weaker until the mighty beasts legs gave out from under it and it collapsed with the Kuwagamon still on top. The insect released its grip, lifted its head towards the sky and monstrously roared in triumph.
It picked up the Monochromon with its arms and threw it in front of the kids. The ground shook again with the feel of finality as the Monochromon exploded into data. This act did however cause the large cracks in the cliff to widen and become gaps.
The earth creaked and groaned as the sound of grinding rock assaulted the children's ears. The part of the cliff they were on gave way and they all plummeted towards the river below screaming.
Everything flashed in front of Tai far too quickly as he fell. Flashes of Patamon and Biyomon trying desperately to fly whilst holding onto Tk and Sora respectively but ultimately being too small. Of Palmon using Vine Whip to grab onto Mimi and the cliff face but only succeeding in pulling more rocks down with them. Tentomon holding onto Izzy angling himself so that the small insect would hit the water first and not the child.
This all flashed in front of Tai for a few seconds before he hit the water knocking the wind out of him. He could feel the strong current trying to pull him down the river but he was strangely lifted up.
He surfaced forcefully next to a coughing Agumon as they were both lifted out of the water by scores and scores of brightly coloured fish. The fish formed a large raft on which they sat catching the rest of the kids as they fell.
'Keeping us together' Tai realised. He spotted Gomamon at the front leading the fish, barking orders like a proud general. Once all the others were safely on the raft it took them down river; away from the cliff and Kuwagamon.
They were dropped off at a nearby riverbank as Gomamon thanked the fish for helping them and those who had fallen in tried to dry their clothes.
"So you guys became bigger?" Matt asked unsure. Gabumon nodded.
"We digivolved" Izzy seemed interested rather interested at this technical term,
"I assume that that is when you evolve to a higher level" he inquired.
"That's right" said Tentomon. "We were in-training digimon. But then we digivolved to rookie"
"What level was that red bug?" Sora asked
"He was a champion. The level higher than rookie" answered Biyomon, "So was the other Digimon he fought". Joe looked panicked and said,
"Guys this is way over our heads. We just got attacked by monsters! We need to find away to get back home right now!"
"We'd love too, but we have no idea where we are" Matt answered folding his arms.
"I theorise from what evidence we've seen so far that we might not even be on the same world as before" Mimi looked at Izzy with worry in her face,
"You mean we might not be in Japan anymore?"
"Forget Japan." Matt replied. "We're probably not even on Earth!"
"I think its awesome!" said Tk excitedly. "We're like explorers!"
"More like pioneers actually" Izzy declared matter-of-factly. He cupped his chin with his hand in thought, "For now we should focus on finding our exact location and building shelter to last the night"
"Wait a minute" interjected Sora, "What if more of those monsters attack us? What will we do then?" Biyomon perked up at this. Standing up straight in front of Sora like her own personal guard.
"Don't worry Sora" she said. "I'll protect you. We're partners after all" Sora was taken aback by the sincerity of Biyomons words. Rather than make a snide remark of how useful they'd all been before; Sora's face instead softened and she smiled.
"Thanks Biyomon"
"Wait a minute. If we're not even on the same planet then how the hell are we supposed to even contact our home!?" Matt asked staring pointedly at Izzy. The smaller boy balked under Matts intense gaze and harsh words,
"Well...er...I..well..you..see." He continued stammering for a few moments before he paused for breath to compose himself, "I-I don't know" he admitted in a small voice. Matt looked ready to yell and opened his mouth,
"Well I think the idea of building a shelter is a good one. We should make sure we have some place safe to spend the night" Sora quickly said before Matt could take out his frustrations on Izzy.
She looked over her shoulder, "What do you think Tai? Tai?"
The boy in question was sitting on a rock with Agumon away from the rest of the group and their Digimon. He was staring at the water, a dark look in his eyes with one leg dangling from the edge of the rock and the other tucked under his chin. Agumon had a peculiar expression on his reptilian face as he stood next to him. Sora wasn't sure if the Digimon was concerned for Tai or confused by him.
She could hear the sounds of the other kids arguing while Tai just sat there staring at the water. "Tai?" she called to him cautiously, "You there? Tai!" this seemed to get a response as he rose out of whatever personal nightmare he was under. He shifted and stretched as his eyes returned to their usual lively brown. He turned to regard her,
"Oh hey. What's up Sor?" he asked casually. All previous hints of his former mood were gone as he looked at her. It had been like this for nearly half a year, Sora mused privately. He would act normal most of the time but now and then something would happen and he would act like this. She had no clue what it was that could affect Tai like this. He was her best friend and she considered herself as knowing quite a bit about him. So it worried her that something could affect it him like this. All attempts at her asking had been brushed off, deflected or ,if the mood that took him was especially dark, ignored.
"What do you think we should do?" she asked him. He blinked at her dumbly then looked at the bickering kids. Tai steadily got to his feet, brushed the dirt off of his shorts and calmly walked over to the group.
"If it even gets dark here?!" Matt growled at Izzy,
"That phenomenon would be unnatural!" the shorter boy responded starting to get aggravated himself.
"How is anything that has happened so far been natural?" countered Joe. The Digimon watched in silence having never seen humans arguing before, or even at all. Tk and Mimi also stayed out of the group argument saying nothing but looking worried.
"And what are we gonna do about food?" asked Matt to the group. "I don't see fruits on these trees, we haven't seen any animals, we could easily starve." he finished.
"Well nothing will happen if we just sit around here" They all turned to regard Tai, Sora standing behind him.
"Then what do you suggest we do then?" challenged Matt raising an eyebrow. Tai grinned and began to walk off in the direction of the flowing river, "Hey, where are you going?"
"I saw an ocean earlier back on the mountain" Tai stopped and looked at Matt, he grinned again "There might be fish or even a boat. Lets go check it out" Then continued walking with Agumon following tentatively behind him. Joe crossed his arms,
"Well I think we should stay here and wait for the campmaster to come get us and that-"
"Joe!" cried Gomamon. "Everyone's leaving without you!" Joe looked and saw that everyone ,including Gomamon, had indeed stood up and had begun to follow Tai up the river. Joe panicked and ran after them,
"Wait for me!" Tai grinned. He had gotten them memory serves they were heading East which should show the continent of Folder. Which meant Lord MagnaAngemons castle. Maybe there he would find some answers.
The seven kids and the Digimon walked along the river bank following the flow of water to the ocean. Many of them still had questions about the world they were in and the creatures that inhabited it.
"So, Digital monsters. Who exactly came up with that?" asked Izzy. Tentomon flying next to him replied,
"Just call us Digimon, we like that"
"I only asked because your composition isn't at all machine-like" Izzy responded.
"Oh really?" Tentomon asked in a challenging manner; electricity began sparking between his wings as of gearing up for his super shocker. The noise was so loud Izzy had to cover his head and yell,
"Quit it!"
"These trees are really beautiful" Sora remarked absent-mindedly looking at the forest on their right. "I've never seen plants like these before". Many of the trees were very odd shapes. Some being as smooth and straight as rods whilst other were twisted and gnarled and even had loops in their trunks.
It was as if they had been made by someone who had heard of trees but didn't understand how they grew. The other plants were just as bizarre. Some of them had flowers as large as she was with beautiful crimson petals. Whilst others were rather more normal-sized; scattered in somehow neatly trimmed bunches along the their path.
"You must have some really boring trees where you come from" Biyomon replied light-heartedly walking next to Sora.
She and Patamon had tried to fly casually like Tentomon was doing but their wings weren't strong enough and they ended-up going backwards. They gave up and decided to walk like everyone else. No-one except Izzy had seen Tentomon puff his chest out in pride.
"They look rather sub-tropical but many of them I don't even recognise" said Izzy. "This supports my hypothesis of being stranded on another planet" he concluded.
"Palmon who does your hair?" asked Mimi trying to make conversation,
"It's natural. I wake up in the morning like this" she replied.
"Wow! Maybe you can let me work with it" she said with sincere shock.
"Do you think that maybe you put too much emphasis on appearance?" Palmon shot back to try to hide her blush. Mimi put her finger to her chin thoughtfully,
"Well I never thought about that".
Meanwhile at the front of the group Agumon was rather worried about Tai. He had been awful quiet and distant to Agumon recently which was beginning to scare him. As the lizard-digimon looked back he could see the other kids all talking and interacting with their Digimon and each other. Whilst his partner remained silent. Agumon looked at Tai wondering why this was. Not a few hours ago when they had met he had seemed far more lively and happy, now though...
Agumon could see his partner examining some leaves in his hands as they walked. He was inspecting once side then turning it over and judging the other, his face the picture of concentration and focus.
"Hey Tai" he said trying to sound confident, "What are you doing?"
"I'm looking to see whether these are plants that could be useful" Tai replied without even turning his head to look at his partner. "I could use them to treat wounds if I find the right ones" Agumon gaped.
"Wow. I didn't know plants could do all that!" he cried out astonished.
Humans sure were smart to figure that out. He had hurt himself many times trying to climb trees or running away from other bigger digimon as a Koromon. If all he had to do to make his bruises feel better was rub them against some plants it would have been handy to know. He made a note to do that next time he was injured. Tai nodded.
"Only the right ones though. Other ones won't do anything or could even make it worse" Tai continued matter-of-factly.
'Ok ask Tai to help next time I'm injured' Agumon concluded in his thoughts. 'Don't just rub myself against random plants'. He watched as Tai satisfied with his findings shoved the leaves into one of his pockets. Agumon turned away from him to look ahead. There was something different about Tai that made him different to the others. It wasn't his looks, they all looked at different as could be to Agumon and they were all apparently humans.
Tai had before in only a few seconds come up with a plan that had defeated a Kuwagamon ,a champion-level Digimon with only an in-training Digimon to help. He also seemed perfectly calm unlike most of the other kids who are clearly stressed and confused about where they are. 'All this thinking is making my head hurt' thought Agumon dejectedly. When a salty scent caught his nose,
"The ocean" Gabumon cried out apparently also smelling it. Gomamon who was swimming in the river next to them laughed with delight,
"Everybody in the water!"
"I'd rather not" said Joe, "I might catch a cold." Tk seemed as ecstatic Gomamon; throwing his arms in the air yelling,
"I'm gonna build a sand castle!"
"I didn't bring my bathing suit" pouted Mimi crossing her arms. Matt stood there for a minute then shouted,
"Hey listen!" Everyone quieted down. A faint ringing could now be heard emanating from the beach. The ringing didn't sound natural, it had an obvious pattern one they all recognised, that of a...
"Telephone!" cried Joe running forward. "With a phone that means people, people means home!" he ran to the beach everyone following close behind. As they got closer they eventually saw five payphones arranged in a line one after the other on an otherwise perfectly normal beach. The one nearest to them was ringing. Tai overtook Joe and opened the door. At which point the phone stopped ringing.
"Well this isn't weird at all" Sora said sarcastically folding her arms.
"Who cares. At least now we can call someone" Matt strode forward to one of the phones with Tk following him. Izzy also chose a phone booth and walked in muttering something about aliens.
"I'm calling daddy" said Mimi who took another phone booth.
"I'm calling emergency services, they'll know what to do" Joe muttered to himself walking into an unoccupied phone booth.
"Why not just order a pizza while you're at it?" Sora said to him sarcastically. Although she too after a few moments went into the last unoccupied phone booth to make a call. Tai walked towards the ocean and stared out. He then got out his small spy glass and gazed out into the ocean. 'Where is it? Folder should be visible. It should be right there!' he thought frustrated.
"What're you looking for Tai?" Agumon asked
"Land" he replied succinctly. He then put away his spy glass and with Agumon following him sat on the beach some ways away.
"Aren't you going to try to call someone?" asked the lizard digimon.
"There's no point. It won't work and even if it did there's no way they would be able to help us" Tai replied lying back with his arms behind his head.
Tai was well used to the Digital Worlds weirdness although phone booths were definitely new. He closed his eyes. 'Why was the phone ringing?' Tai thought. 'I thought you couldn't call public phones. And why did it suddenly stop when I opened the door?' This spoke of a trap to him although it seemed to be a rather slow and ineffective one. They could still just walk away quite easily. Anyway it's probably best to not stay here too long. He felt a shadow cast over him briefly and opened his eyes to see Sora sit down in the sand next to him.
"They're all useless" she said. "The others are still trying but none of our home phone numbers worked" Eventually the others began to walk over to them one by one until only Joe was left desperately making calls in the phones by himself.
"We should keep on moving" said Tai to the group, "There's no point staying here" 'I also need to keep searching for signs of Folder' he thought privately.
"And where do you suppose we go?" asked Matt annoyed, "Look at everyone! They need their rest" by that he meant Tk, who sitting on the sand looking exhausted along with Mimi and Izzy. "We should take a break here first" A loud growling was heard and Izzy held his stomach looking sheepish,
"Maybe we could get something to eat as well." Tai sighed and looked at the tired and hungry kids.
"Ok. I don't like it but fine. We'll take a break" Sora sighed in relief,
"Where do we get food?" Sora asked "I haven't got any."
"Joes carrying all the emergency rations" Matt said pointing over his shoulder at Joe still trying to call someone on the phones. "Hey Joe!" he yelled, "Get over here, you've got all the food!"
"Don't you know its rude to yell at someone on the telephone" Joe angrily yelled back. 'The stress must be getting to him. Joe never gets angry' Tai thought. Nevertheless not long after they were sharing out the food. They sat in a circle trying to divide the food. They rations were just enough for seven people for three days they quickly spotted a problem.
"When you factor in the Digimon we've only got enough food for about half an hour" Sora protested. Gabumon held up a paw,
"No worries. We Digimon can hunt and forage for ourselves". Biyomon also nodded,
"Don't worry about us. We know how to get food". All the other Digimon murmured their agreements as well. Agumons stomach growled. He looked embarrassed as everyone looked at him.
"You can have mine Agumon" Tai said handing him some biscuits "I'm not hungry right now anyway". Agumon looked shocked.
"Thanks Tai" he said gratefully and then eagerly began to dig in. 'Feeding your Digimon is important after all' thought Tai. He had never eaten unless there was food for Zero as well. Zero did most of the physical work, being a Digimon. There was a rumble in the ground. Biyomon stood up and turned around. Sora looked up at her,
"What's wrong?" Biyomon looked serious frowning in the direction of the water.
"Trouble" she stated.
A large burst of water shot out of the ground near the phone booths. The other stood up gasping. The water blast moved along the beach destroying the phone booths throwing their remains high into the sky only to come cashing down a few moments later into heaps of twisted metal and broken glass. The kids moved further back abandoning their supplies as a large column of sand began to rise out of the beach. The sand then burst apart revealing a spinning shell the size of a small house with spikes on it.
"It's a Shellmon!" yelled Tentomon as the sand was flung everywhere due to the wind.
"What's a Shellmon?!" Asked Izzy yelling back. Out of the bottom of the shell came two large, pink and tree-trunk thick arms. In between appeared a large grotesque head with green tentacles on top to look like hair. It began using its big arms to drag itself towards them. Joe started climbing the rock wall,
"Quickly up here!" he yelled. The Shellmon upon seeing this stopped and lowered its head. Out of the mass of tentacles on its head out shot a torrent of water. It collided with the cliffs behind with enough force to cause Joe to lose his grip and fall. He hit the sandy beach unharmed but startled.
"Quickly attack!" yelled Tai, the Digimon happily obliged.
They ran forward with Agumon in the lead. Tentomon, Biyomon and Patamon took to the air to prepare their attacks, while Palmon darted to the side to throw the Shellmon off-balance.
"Pepper Breath!" cried Agumon unleashing a fireball from its mouth. It hit Shellmon in the mouth causing it to shake its head in pain.
"Blue Blaster!" cried Gabumon opening his mouth, but the flame fizzled out.
"Spiral Twister!" But this too fizzled out before it got anywhere near its target. Tentomon tried next with,
"Super Shocker!" but his electricity just weakly sparked in-between his wings. Patamon inhaled as much as he could,
"Boom Bubble?" as nothing but a wheezy gasp of air escaped him,
"Poison Ivy! Huh?" Palmon said looking at her claws in confusion. Then Shellmon counterattacked. A tentacle whipped out striking Patamon from the sky. He lowered his head and head butted Palmon away. Then finally a torrent of water from his tentacles knocked the rest of the Digimon away. Only Agumon stood back up. He unleashed another Pepper Breath again hitting Shellmons mouth. Izzy looked on in confusion beside the injured Tentomon,
"Why is it only Agumon?"
"We're just too hungry" replied Tentomon weakly.
'Of course!' Izzy realised, 'Agumon's the only one that's eaten! The rest are still tired from before!'
Tai looked back at the other Digimon with their partners beside them.
"Agumon" he cried out, "It's just you and me!" Agumon nodded as he turned towards Shellmon. Tai racked his brains. It didn't look good. A Rookie against a Champion in a one on one fight isn't good odds and Agumon wasn't a particularly powerful Rookie either.
Tai analysed Shellmon as his Digimon dodged a blast of water. 'He attacks from those tentacles, if we could burn them that might weaken him. No there's too many.' Agumon dodged another water blast. 'We need an attack point that could do extra damage. Agumons hit his mouth twice and it hasn't done anything so that's out.' Agumon barely avoided being crushed by Shellmons huge hands, 'His nose has flaps to prevent water getting in so they're protected as well'
"Tai hurry up!" he cried. Tai gritted his teeth, 'Come on, come on you're the Victory Tamer you've taken out Megas before, one little champion shouldn't be too hard.' Then it struck him. Tai grinned
"Agumon! Listen up. When it lowers its head dodge to the right and fire at the side of his head!"
"But how will that help?!" he asked
"Trust me!" Tai grinned. Agumon nodded and stood his ground. The giant shellfish once again lowered his head, Agumon tensed ready to dart to the right, and fired its water. The water rocketed towards Agumon who darted the water barely missing him,
"Pepper breath!" The fireball aimed for Shellmons head would have hit his mouth had his head been at a normal angle instead hit it dead on in left eye. It screamed and roared in pain tossing its head this way and that as smoke was coming out of its now charred eye. Tai grinned, 'I knew it!' he thought triumphantly, 'He lives in the ocean, his eyes would be adapted for water and even weaker to fire than normal.'
The others looked on as the Shellmon moaned in pain shaking its head left and right erratically. Before stopping and zeroing in on Agumon with its bad eye closed. Agumon stepped back hesitantly, "Tai I think we just made it mad!" it roared as if confirming this then began to drag itself towards Agumon intent on crushing him. 'Clever. Its realised its vulnerability and is now changing tactics' Tai thought. Agumon began backing away, 'Too bad I'd already considered that'.
"Agumon!" Tai yelled. Agumon looked away from the approaching Shellmon and towards him. Tai could see the fear and hesitance in the reptiles eyes who could in turn see nothing but confidence and assurance in Tai's. They made eye contact and Tai said "Trust me". Agumon nodded. Turning to face the Shellmon.
"This one will take some skill Agumon!" cried Tai. Sora could see the smile on Tais face, 'He's actually enjoying this' Sora thought with confusion. The digimon nodded,
"I'm ready!"
"As soon as he finishes lifting his paw, dive forward then hit his other eye!" The Shellmon was upon Agumon and lifted its right paw. Agumon dove forward as soon as it had finished lifting it barely avoiding being crushed. He rolled onto his back unleashed another Pepper Breath and the beast lost its other eye. It roared in pain again flailing wildly clutching at its eyes with its hands. It was such a human gesture that it almost elicited pity from some of the children. It began to recede its head back into its shell and drag itself across to the water to try to soothe the burning in its eyes.
Apparently deciding this prey was too much to bother with it slid back into the ocean to lick its wounds leaving the children and digimon alone on the beach. Tai ran towards the still prone form of Agumon.
"Agumon are you ok? Say something!" The exhausted Digimon weakly raised his head,
"Do you have anything to eat?" he asked weakly. Tai smiled at him.
A large pile of food from Joes and Tks packs was laid out with all the Digimon eating from it. Sora was also there encouraging them to all eat their fill. It looked like keeping the Digimon fed was going to be an important task to survive out here. She didn't want to think of what would have happened had Tai not fed Agumon.
"Now there's no reason to stay here at all" Tai said. Matt sighed, he couldn't really argue. Tai and Agumon had saved all there butts back there.
"I agree. Shellmon is after all only licking his wounds. He could come back at anytime and I doubt that particular tactic will be useful twice." Izzy said looking at Tai.
"That was really cool Tai!" said Tk. "You and Agumon showed that guy whose boss!" Tai laughed and rubbed the back of his head nervously,
"Thanks."
"That was very impressive Tai" Izzy agreed. "You came up with that battle strategy under intense pressure after only a few seconds. That is superb cranial processing"
"Huh?"
"He said your smart" said Matt.
"Oh. Well thanks I guess."
"You and Agumon make a great team" said Gabumon. 'A great team?' thought Tai. 'Sounds like me and Zero. The 100% combination. We were the best. He was the best. He trusted me completely. We could tell what the other was thinking just by making eye contact.' He felt a pang of loss stab him through the heart like a physical spear. He absent-mindedly clutched his chest and his face fell. The others felt the mood shift as Tai looked pained. Things became quiet. Agumon looked dejected.
"Tai, is something the matter?" Sora asked tenderly. Tai sniffed,
"Its Zero, nothing, I mean" Tai quickly covered up. The others could tell something was wrong but decided not to push.
"We should find out whoever was using those phones. Logically whoever put those phones there had to use them so we should find those people."
"Good idea" said Matt.
"I want to get out of here my feet are course from all this sand everywhere" Mimi complained.
"Then lets move out" said Joe
"And let the monsters beware" Matt smirked. Tai had his own thoughts, 'Maybe if we find a village we could get directions to Folder. Then I could ask Lord MagnaAngemon why we're here.' The children gathered up their things and set forward to continue their adventure.
A/N: Hope you all enjoyed. Please review and let me know what you think.
Updates every Monday.