Disclaimer: I own the plot not the characters.
Ch4: First night.
Conner: Only me, Kaldur and Betamon were able to swim through the rough waters but we couldn't reach the rest of the team. For a while it looked like Kaldur and I would only be able to watch them drown but then Betamon called some of... Fish friends I guess, to help us.
The fish swam underneath and formed a raft and saved the team and the digimon. They swam us to shore where we waited for the others to wake up. Renamon was the first to wake up, followed by Dorumon, Artemis, Falcomon and Terriermon.
When Robin woke up he freaked out. Didn't talk to any of and just... he shied away from us!
None of us knew what to do... if Wally hadn't woken up when he did then we'd have spent the whole day watching Robin cower against a damn tree!
Why weren't we allowed how to help?!
After Megan woke up and Wally calmed Robin down we all agreed to follow the river which led to the beach where we found a bunch of phone booths. Of course none of them worked.
We were all taking a break when another big digimon attacked. Shellmon. Dorumon was the only digimon strong enough to fight, probably because he stole Wally's protein bar.
I tried to help him fight but ended up getting caught by Shellmon. Apparently Dorumon handles being helpless the same way I do.
He digivolved into an even bigger digimon called Dorugamon and managed to defeat Shellmon.
Once everything calmed down Robin... told me what was bothering him. Turns out that I wouldn't have been able to help even if I had known what the problem was... But it sure feels good to be trusted.
And if Kuwagamon and Shellmon are anything to go by than we're going to all need to trust each other if we wanna make it off of this island.
Digital-Justice.
The team and their partners had walked through the forest for five hours. All of them, except for maybe Conner were exhausted, but even he was about ready for a break.
After being sucked through a portal, running from a giant beetle monster, falling down a cliff, landing in a rough river and being attacked by a shellfish the size of a dinosaur Conner about had it for the day.
Possibly the whole week.
He needed to distract himself from how tired he was getting. Conner glanced down at his partner. "I liked it when you were Dorugamon, no offense but why didn't you stay that big?"
Dorumon's nose went up as the purple dragon tried pondered over the question. "Can't."
"Why?" Wally asked slowling his pace so he could glance over his shoulder at the small fury dragon.
"Even superheroes need to rest." Clearly Dorumon had learned from Conner's explanation about superheroes.
So surprised by that answer Wally forget to turn back around and nearly tripped. He would have landed with his face in the dirt, had Renamon not stabilized him. The slim vulpine didn't even glance around as she blindly put a hand on Wally's chest and pushed him back onto his feet.
Conner's reaction was far more surprising than Wally's lack of balance. At least... No on had ever heard Conner snort in amusement before.
For a small moment the whole team stared at him, wise enough not to mention how unusual that sound was. After all maybe they'd hear it again some time soon...
At the back of the group Megan started to slow down. "I've never been on the ground for so long." The Martian groaned dragging her feet.
The green girl looked down at her partner, amber eyes landing on the small wings under his arms. "Hey Monodramon, can you fly?"
The grey dragon looked apologetic. "Shorry." Monodramon moved his arms and in turn his wings. "These wings... They're kinda jusht there." He said in that lisp that Megan was sure she would ony ever connect to her partner digimon.
"That's okay." Megan quickly assured, a large smile on her face. "I think they look real nice."
Monodramon turned his head away to hide his cheeks becoming a darker shade grey.
Megan smiled at him, ready to follow the others. "Come on, we're getting too far behind."
Following behind her Monodramon nodded, his yellow eyes landing on a certain bunny-like digimon. "Yesh, unlike someone else we don't get a free ride."
Terriermon turned to them from his place on top of Artemis' head and cheerily raised an arm. "Moumentai, Monodramon. It's not that bad of hike."
That cheery announcement was met with a series of tired groans.
"Ugh..." Wally groaned running his hand down his face. "What does that even mean?"
Terriermon opened his mouth but his answer was muffled by Artemis' hand. "You're smart, try figuring it out." The archer smirked at the scandalized expression on Wally's face.
For a short while the team walked in relative silence, they all slowed down when they became aware of a rather obvious thing.
"We are loosing our source of light." Kaldur stated, his grey eyes on the sky.
On mars the Martians had all moved underground, because the planet was too hot for its' inhabitants. So one of the first things Megan did after arriving on Earth was watch the sunset. She had been speechless for hours after watching the sun set for the first time.
But even her first sunset couldn't compare to the blue, pink and orange spectacle in the sky right now. "That's... Wow..."
"Yeah..." Robin nodded wishing he had his grappling hook with him so he could swing from tree to tree. The view must be so awesome from one of those odd blue trees!
He could probably just climb one of the trees, but to be honest Robin was too tired to try accomplishing that.
Robin was about suggest they search for a place to rest and stay for the night when Conner held up his hand, silencing them all.
"Shs I hear water." Closing his eyes Conner focussed on the sound of running water. "Stay here I'll go check it out." He told his friends before running off.
They watched him go. Wally crossed his arms. "Gee I'm glad we made him leader."
"We didn't." Robin muttered, he glanced down at his partner. "Falcomon, can you follow him? Feel free to attack him if he goes too far from the rest of us."
"Sure thing!" Falcomon nodded before flying after Conner.
Watching the black bird fly off Robin winced. Shellmon had been able to hurt Superboy, which meant that some digimon were indeed more powerful than Superboy and possibly Superman.
Turning back to his friends the boy wonder noticed that his comment wasn't appreciated by the rest of his team either. He grimaced at the deeply annoyed look Kaldur send him - Well perhaps the look couldn't be described as annoyed, someone as polite as Kaldur didn't get annoyed... Displeased would be a better word for it.
"Renamon can y-" Wally didn't even need to finish the question. Renamon was already racing in the direction Conner had gone of to. Just a yellow blur...
"Not much of a talker is she?" Robin asked watching the fox go. By the looks of it she was about as fast as Wally, at least that's how it looked like, maybe she was slower. They needed to time her sometime.
"She's taller than you."
Eyes narrowed behind his domino mask, Robin stuck out his tongue. A display that showed his age.
It didn't take long Falcomon and Renamon to return. "Conner found a good place for us to spend the night." Renamon informed them, her soft voice carrying a small hidden trace of excitement.
"Clean water and lots of fish!" Falcomon happily added. "Come follow us."
And so they did.
They ended up on a beautiful clearing at a large surrounded by tall trees, but the team was focussed on something else.
There, on the small piece of land in the middle of the lake that connected to the rest of the island through a stone bridge, stood a bright yellow school bus. Conner was already stepping out of the bus.
Dorumon made his way to the bus and started sniffing at it. All those new smells didn't mix well and he couldn't figure out what the yellow thing was supposed to be. "Conner," The digimon asked looking at his partner, pointy ears erect. "What's this?"
"A school bus." Conner answered, a scowling It had probably been gone for too long anyway. "An empty school bus."
"What's it doing here?" Kaldur wondered. How dit it get on that small piece of land in the middle of a lake. That small dirt bridge was hardly big enough for the bus to drive over. "We have been walking for hours and didn't see any roads."
How did it get here? It wasn't like it could have just fallen from the sky.
But then again, wasn't that what Betamon had said happened to them? Had he and his team just fallen from the sky into this strange world? Was that how those telephone booths got here?
"It's like the telephone booths on the beach." Artemis said stepping past Conner and into the bus where she sunk down in the back seat. Terriermon floating off her head and claiming the place besides her. "Aah..." Artemis and her bunny-digimon sighed in contentment.
"Which is exactly why we can't stay here." Kaldur pointed out. Despite his words he stepped into the bus. He then turned around and helped Betamon in who couldn't manage the three stair steps into the bus. "Here you go, little friend."
"Thanks" Betamon softly thanked Kaldur when he was put on the soft green chair.
Robin, Megan, Conner and their partners also stepped inside. "It's air-conditioned!" Megan cheered throwing her fists her in the air in celebration.
She and Monodramon leapt to the nearest chairs. Conner and Dorumon sat down in the chairs closest to the Martian and her partner.
"The same thing that happened at the beach could happen here." Kaldur said. His point disappearing when he sat down besides Betamon. "It's..." 'not safe.' But they were all so tired and the chairs are so comfortable...
"And maybe we won't have to hike the rest of the way!" Wally was at the front of the bus, still easy to hear by everyone inside.
The meta had stopped suggesting to run ahead and search through the forest. He was too hungry for his powers to be of any use. But after he was done with this bus they wouldn't have to use that much energy. They could just drive through the island.
Grinning Wally eagerly lifted the hood, ready to tweak the engine and- No!
Renamon's left ear twitched as she peered what had her partner excited till a moment ago. "It's empty."
"Empty?" Kaldur asked still inside the bus.
Groaning Wally slammed the hood shut again. "There's no engine."
For a moment they were all silent. It felt like they had a hundred questions and zero answers.
The silence broke when a loud growling sound. "When do we eat?" Dorumon asked rubbing his fury tummy.
Well at least they had an answer to that question.
Digital-Justice.
It took Kaldur no time to divide the chores to his team and the digimon. Robin, Falcomon, Monodramon, Artemis and Terriermon went scavenging for fruits and nuts and Wally, Renamon, Betamon and Megan went fishing.
Monodramon didn't have enough patience to help fishing, and even Wally wouldn't eat scaly raw fish so the chance of him trying to eat all the food was much slimmer than they'd be if he had gone searching for fruits.
While those two groups searched for food Conner, Dorumon and Kaldur searched the forest for wood for the fire.
It was already dark when the three of them returned to the lakeside where they began preparing things for the campfire.
Dorumon dug a hole with his claws which Kaldur surrounded by large rocks and Conner filed the hole with the pile of wood they had collected. "So how are we supposed the light the fire?" Conner asked looking down at the pile they created.
Even if one of them had matches they wouldn't be much use after their fall into the river.
"Like this!"
Kaldur turned to direction of the voice and saw Terriermon flap his large ears to float over to them, Artemis, Robin, Monodramon and Falcomon just a couple of steps behind.
The bunny digimon floated to the pile of wood and reeled back. "Bunny Blast!" Terriermon blew a puff a green hot air out of his mouth onto the pile of wood. immediately a thin trail of smoke started to rise from the pile and in a matter of seconds the wood caught fire.
"Thanks Terriermon." Kaldur nodded at the digimon who giggled and sat down by the fire. He then joined Conner in helping Robin, Artemis and Falcomon put down all the fruits they found.
Bright red berries, a bunch of bananas, pears and apples.
"This truly is a strange forest." On earth none of these fruits would be found growing in the same forest.
"Looks like we're having fruit salad for diner." Artemis commented sitting down besides her partner.
"Don't forget about us!"
"Megan!" Monodramon cheered when he saw his partner make her way towards them along with Wally, Renamon and Betamon. All of them except for Betamon were carrying at least ten trouts each.
Together they attached the fish to long sticks which were put near the fire. As they waited to for the fish to get finished they started on the fruits.
In less than two minutes Wally was on his eighth apple and fourth banana. Aware that he had to stop eating, after all there were twelve of them and he could eat more once he was sure the others were full, Wally went to sit besides Robin who was typing away on his purple palmtop. "What'cha doing buddy?"
"Trying to figure this out." Robin nodded at his palmtop.
Looking at the screen Wally realized what Robin meant. The screen was white with numbers moving around. 1-0-0-0-1-1-0-1-0-1-0-1-0-0
"Digital code?"
"My palmtop shows nothing but digital code, while we're in a place called the digital world and meet creatures that are called digital monsters." Robin summed up finally looking up at the rest of the team.
Wally frowned, not sure what his best friend's point was. "You're saying we're inside a computer?"
"I... I don't know."
"The stars." Megan suddenly spoke up. She had been gazing at the sky for a while now. "I don't see the North star anywhere, which could mean we are in the Southern hemisphere, but then again..." Her amber eyes went up to the sky again. None of those pretty white dots looked even remotely familiar. "I don't recognize any of these constellations. I mean not at all." So they must be far out of their galaxy because Megan knew her way through space pretty well.
Conner grabbed the small device that attached to his belt. "And what about these things?"
"That's a digivice." Betamon answered, his red eyes on the small device. "They help." He didn't say with what the digivice actually helped, but it was clear that the digimon viewed the 'digivice' as something important.
"The moment we all had one we got sucked into this world." Artemis said while adjusting the fish so they wouldn't get burned. Her eyes narrowed. "So thanks again Kid Idiot." She snapped turning around so she could glare at Wally.
"It's good that he took them." Kaldur said right when Wally opened his mouth and say something that would likely start argument number 124 between the two of them.
"What?!" Wally and Artemis chorused whipping their heads around to look at their leader.
"Think of the consequences of what would happen if someone like Lex Luthor had access to a world like this. Luthor would tear this place apart, taking digimon and do who knows what to them." Kaldur explained, his tone solemn.
That realization silenced them all. Megan unconsciously shifting closer to Monodramon.
Artemis pulled Terriermon onto her lap and absently stroked the soft fur on his head. She didn't like thinking about what the people on earth would do to the digimon. Research and experiments were some of the first things that came to mind and the archer didn't like it.
But that wasn't the only thing that someone like Lex Luthor would do.
"He would bring them to earth." She muttered staring into the flames of the fire. "Kuwagamon, Shellmon... I mean no offense." Artemis said briefly glancing at Conner. "But Shellmon had no problem taking you out, so in theory it could have taken down Superman. So..." Artemis trailed of but they all understood the implications.
"How did LexCorp get the digivices anyway?" Robin wondered looking at his own digivice. Obviously they were important. They were what opened the portal -even though the group still hadn't figured out how- and the digivices had had a roll when the digimon digivolved.
"Forget that, how do we get back to Mount Justice?" Conner asked the main question.
No one had an answer to that so no one spoke up.
Not till Megan suddenly stood up. "The food is ready."
While that wasn't enough to cheery everyone up it was enough to soothe their stomachs and soon all of them were happily munching on grilled fish on sticks.
All of them except for Wally who took another apple and tried to ignore the delicious smell of grilled fish and the sight of everyone eating by closing his eyes.
When opened his eyes again a fish was being held out in front of him. Looking up Wally saw Renamon standing over him, a concerned look on her face. Wally swallowed, staring at the food being held out in front of him. "...No thanks, Renamon."
There wasn't enough food. He'd eat everything...
"You need to eat Wally." Renamon pointed out. "We've caught plenty of fish."
"Well yeah, but..."
"No buts." Renamon said putting the fish in Wally's hands. "You don't have to eat enough to be able to use your powers, but you have to eat enough so you don't starve Wally."
Obviously she had a point but still...
"The others-"
"I'll warn you when you eat so much that there isn't enough for the rest of us." Renamon promised, a small trace of a smile detectable on her face.
For a small moment Wally stared at the fish in his hand before a large grin nearly split his face in two. "Thanks Renamon!" He cheered before happily digging into his food.
Digital-Justice.
After dinner the group discussed their plans for another hour before deciding to call it a night. Kaldur volunteered to be the first one to stand watch. In fact the leader insisted on it.
So while he and Betamon stayed near the fire the rest of the went over the thing bridge to the small piece of land and into the school bus where they made themselves comfortable on the cushioned chairs.
"Goodnight everyone." Megan sighed settling in the couch.
Conner did the same. "Night."
Wally waited for the others to fall asleep before quietly making his way over to where Dick and Falcomon lay. "Dick," the redhead whispered. "Dick are you awake?" When no answer came Wally poked his best friend's side.
"What?" Dick groaned turning over, a sure sign that he didn't want to talk and just go back to sleep.
Wally didn't care, even now hours later he hadn't gotten Artemis' words out of his head. "Do you know what moumentai means?"
"Kinda..."
"What language is it even?" Wally muttered frowning at the unfairness of the situation. Why couldn't Artemis or Terriermon just tell him what it meant.
"I don't know." Dick buried his face in the black feathers of Falcomon's shoulder in search for more darkness. "Go back to sleep Wally."
"But you just said that you knew what it meant!"
"Wally!" Conner snapped sitting up and glaring at the speedster. "Go to sleep!"
"Just put the words in context, think about when Terriermon says it." Robin said and with that the conversation was over.
The girls and the digimon the only ones undisturbed by Wally's question.
Sighing with contentment Artemis turned over. "Moumentai..." the blond murmured in her sleep.
Groaning Wally went back to his seat.
Five minutes all of them were asleep. Like usual Conner lay completly still, the same couldn't be said for Dorumon who's left leg twitched while the small dragon dreamed. Robin and Falcomon were snuggled up against each other for extra warmth. Megan lay still only moving slightly while Monodramon used her stomach as a pillow. Artemis was hugging Terriermon like was a stuffed animal and Wally discovered that Renamon's soft fur was really warm and nice to fall asleep against.
Digital-Justice.
Outside Kaldur sat at the shore, his grey eyes focussed on the lake, but his thoughts were miles away. As a leader he was responsible for his team not just for making plans and giving out orders during missions, but also their safety.
Which was the problem.
Kaldur had no idea what he was supposed to do. He hadn't been any help when dealing with Shellmon- hell Superboy hadn't even stood a chance. And who knew how long they'd be stranded here and how many of those monsters they'd encounter while they were here.
The young Atlantian wondered what his king would do in this situation. Sure Orin was no Batman, but Orin had many contingency plans of his own too, so maybe king Orin would know what to do.
Kaldur's thoughts were interrupted by a soft voice. Blinking back to reality he looked at Betamon. "Sorry, I didn't hear you, what was that little friend?"
"I asked why you're the leader, Kal." Betamon repeated. "Not to be mean or anything." The green digimon quickly added. "But I wanna know."
"Because I was the most qualified." Kaldur answered after a while. "Well after Robin, but he has no experience in working with a team."
"Why did you want to be leader?"
This time Kaldur stayed silent for three full minutes. "I... Do not know." He admitted. "It just seemed natural."
"So that's why you're a good leader!" Betamon exclaimed breaking into a large grin. "You're a natural."
Kaldur considered telling his partner that that wasn't what he meant, but decided against it. Betamon's cheerfulness actually succeeded in making him feel better.
Four hours later Kaldur got up and was about to head to the bus to wake Artemis for her turn in standing guard when suddenly the small land where the bus was on started to shake and waves formed in the lake.
Kaldur frowned at how rough the water moved, as if something large moved in it.
He was right.
A huge blue, red-stripped sea serpent rose from the lake. As it started to swim it pulled the land the bus on along with it.
Awoken by the bus' rough shaking the rest of the team and their digimon piled out of the bus. "What's happening?!" Megan shrieked clutching Monodramon for dear life while the land kept shaking.
"It's Seadramon," Monodramon answered. "He's pulling us with him!" Which would be really bad if he decided to dive under.
"How?" Artemis asked.
"Over here!" Conner called from behind the bus. When the others reached him Conner pointed to red fin stuck under the dirt, cracking dirt.
The team and their partners watched as Seadramon's tail came loose from the island. Once free Seadramon used his strong tail to hit the side of the land making it shake and the team fall to their knees.
Robin adjusted his shades just before they fell down his nose, and slowly got back on his feet. "Falcomon?"
Nodding the black bird flew up. "Ninja blade!" He threw a bunch of shurikens at Seadramon which bounced of Seadramon's yellow head.
Scowling Conner turned to his partner. "Dorumon digivolve!"
"I can't."
"What do you mean?" Conner demanded taking a step back when Seadramon slammed his tail against the land again.
Dorumon sadly shook his head. "I haven't had enough rest."
Too make matters worse Seadramon reeled back, a blue light visible at the back of its' throat as if it was preparing to shoot something at them. The light was getting brighter and they were sure Seadramon was about to attack when suddenly-
"Here!"
The team and Seadramon looked at the water where Kaldur and Betamon were swimming. Kaldur was waving his hands through the air. "Attack me, you hideous snake!" He yelled trying to get Seadramon away from his friends.
And it worked.
Seadramon abandoned his attack on the people on the land and started swimming towards Kaldur and Betamon.
"Beta Slugger!" Betamon attacked by removing the large orange fing from his back and throwing it forward like a boomerang.
Seadramon cringed when the fin hit him in the eye and then bounced of, returning to its' place on Betamon's back.
Letting out a monstrous roar Seadramon threw Betamon out of the lake with his tail.
"Betamon!" Kaldur screamed watching his friend hit the ground. That's why he didn't notice something cold and scaly wrap around him un till it was too late and he was pulled under.
"No!" Conner cried out when Kaldur disappeared under the water along with Seadramon.
For a tense moment everyone held their breath as they waited for Seadramon and Kaldur to appear again.
After too long Seadramon emerged from the lake, his backside constricted around Kaldur's entire body and the Atlantian screaming in pain.
On the land Betamon's red eyes snapped open when he heard those awful screams. He quickly turned back to lake. His insides went cold when he saw Seadramon making a pretty damn good attempt at squeezing the life out of his partner.
"Kal! No!" Scrambling to his feet Betamon ran into the water. He didn't even notice the golden light surrounding him till he felt a new unfound power surging through him. "Hold on Kal!"
"Betamon digivolve too... Ikkakumon!"
Betamon's new form was enormous. He looked like a twenty feet tall walrus, with thick white fur and a large black horn on his forehead.
"Harpoon volcano!" Ikkakumon attacked by firing the horn on his forehead like a giant harpoon at Seadramon's submerged middle.
Seadramon screeched in pain and let go of Kaldur who fell into the lake.
Out of breath and bruised all over Kaldur swam over to his partner and climbed on top of Ikkakumon's back. "B-B-Beta-" Kaldur clutched Ikkakumon's thick white fur as he nearly fell over coughing. "Betamon?"
"I'm Ikkakumon now." He definitely didn't sound like the soft spoken Betamon anymore, Ikkakumon's voice was much deeper. "Hold on Kal, we've got a nasty water lizard to get rid off."
Smirking Kaldur did what he what he was told and gripped Ikkakumon's fur. "With pleasure, little-" Well he couldn't call his partner 'little friend' now could he? "My friend."
On the land the group was watching the exchange with wide eyes.
"He's so big..." Artemis breathed watching Ikkakumon dive under and dug his sharp teeth into the flesh of Seadramon's under belly. Once Ikkakumon let go he had to move away to avoid being bitten himself.
They came up again, Seadramon reeled back and blew a blast of ice at Ikkakumon, covering them in ice
"Oh no!" Megan covered her mouth in horror.
Ikkakumon let out a loud roar. A loud sound that seemed to come from deep within him, and the ice around him and Kaldur shattered.
"Volcano harpoon!"
This time the horn hit Seadramon right between the eyes, knocking the serpent unconscious.
Once Seadramon had sunken to the bottom of the lake Ikkakumon swam over to the piece of land with the bus on it. He let everyone climb on top of his back and swam the to shore where he de-evolved back into Betamon.
"Betamon!" Kaldur couldn't keep the large smile from his face, even with the many bruises covering his body. "You were amazing out there my friend!"
Betamon looked at the ground as the skin around his cheeks turned dark. "It was nothing..."
Digital-Justice.
Still exhausted they had decided to try and catch a few hours of sleep, this time on the soft grass near the trees far far away from the lake.
It was Wally's turn to stand guard, meaning he could walk around and complain about his lack of understanding off a certain term...
"I mean why can't she just tell me-..." Wally trailed off when he became aware of the dark glare Conner was sending him.
Huffing Wally sat down besides Renamon. "One night here and Supey's already softening up."
"Maybe he'll end up with fur as soft as mine." Renamon chuckled softly.
Wally snorted, letting himself fall backwards onto the ground. "In his dreams..."