Sora yawned and stretched as she gradually came awake. That had been the best sleep she'd gotten since she and her friends had arrived in the Digital World! Wait a minute... she thought, blinking against the morning sun. Sun? Joe was supposed to have woken her up for her watch! He could've just been trying to be nice by letting her sleep, but she didn't see him anywhere. Something must've happened to him!
She got up, tiptoeing past everyone who was still asleep. "Joe? Are you out there?" No one answered. "Gomamon?" Again, no answer. "Are you guys playing a joke or something? It's not funny!" Now Sora was really starting to worry. Joe had been acting pretty strangely ever since it had started getting colder, constantly talking about responsibility. She stepped out further; maybe he'd just needed to answer Nature's call or something. Maybe he was already on his way back from wherever.
Or not. Sora almost said a very naughty word when she noticed the kanji etched into the dirt, right below the heel of her shoe. Hastily, she stepped off of the message that had obviously been left by Joe (unless Gomamon had learned how to write recently). "I hope I didn't ruin it," she murmured to herself as she began to read. Her heart sank with every undamaged word. She wished she'd paid more attention when her class had been learning to read kanji, as she could only understand the basic gist of the message. Something about leaving, waiting, returning... what could it mean? Only two possible outcomes came to mind: either Joe had gone off and was planning to come back, or he was planning to end his adventure for good.
"Everyone WAKE UP!" she shrieked, running back to the others. Why? Why would he do that when they needed him to... oh. That was it. He hadn't been feeling appreciated since everyone kept ignoring his opinion about, well, everything really. But to do something that rash... it wasn't like Joe at all.
"What now?" Tai groaned, clutching a still-sleeping Agumon. So Sora hadn't managed to wake everyone: TK, Patamon, Mimi, and Palmon were asleep as well. Maybe that was for the better, considering what she strongly suspected Joe was about to do. Or had already done, a thought that made her sick to her stomach. Please, please let Gomamon talk him out of it!
Matt glared at the (for now) self-proclaimed leader. "It's gotta be important, whatever it is."
Tentomon was prodding Izzy to make sure that he wouldn't go to sleep again. "That isn't necessary," the boy grumbled.
"Can we let Sora make her announcement now?" Biyomon asked, flying over to her partner. The guys were silent. "The floor's all yours!"
"Thanks, Biyomon," she began, sounding distracted even to her own ears. "Last night while we were all sleeping, Joe and Gomamon left. I think they went up Infinity Mountain, but the note didn't say... anyways, they're not back yet and I think some of us should go look for them. They could be in serious trouble!" She didn't tell them about her suspicion that Joe had been planning to end his life. It probably wasn't even true, but other than climbing the mountain to prove a point about that argument it was the only logical reason he would leave.
Tai almost immediately volunteered. "I'll come with you!" Sora blinked in surprise; she hadn't actually volunteered herself yet, although she'd been about to.
"I'll go too!" Matt quickly offered. Of course: anything Tai could do Matt had to do better. Sometimes it was the other way around. Boys.
"Uh... um..." she tried to find a way to explain that she only needed one of them to come, but Izzy beat her to it.
"Matt, you should stay back here in case something comes and attacks us. We don't want to spread the group further than we have to. Now, let's go look at this note Joe left."
Matt huffed, "F-ine, but this means nothing, Tai. Nothing. Y'got that?" Sora had no clue what that was all about, but Tai seemed to find it funny. Boys! Not even their partners seemed to be in on it. "And I wanna see the note, too."
"Whatevs, dude, now c'mon!" Tai laughed, prodding him in the side. Were they seriously going to start a fight now? Joe (probably) needed them! Fortunately, the blonde let it go.
"I didn't just suggest that or anything..." Izzy muttered as Sora led the way to the note.
Almost as soon as they got there, Tai had a comment. "Geez, what happened to this? It looks like a herd of elephants went through here!"
"I... might've accidentally stepped on it..." Sora admitted, staring at the ground.
Izzy crouched down and inspected what was left of the note. "Hm... I can't seem to decipher this strange writing. It appears to be some form of kanji, but I don't know much of that yet."
"It all looks like a bunch of squiggles to me," Tentomon commented. "This is what you humons call writing? Digi-code is much simpler."
"I keep forgetting you're a grade below us, Iz," Matt said, receiving a glare for the unwanted nickname... for a nickname. "But I guess Joe knows more kanji than all of us... he is the oldest."
"Honestly, is it really that hard to say 'Koushiro'?" Izzy groused.
Matt and Tai looked at each other, for once seeming to be in agreement. "Yes."
"Well, if you guys can't figure out anything else about it we should get going," Sora suggested, nervously twirling the corner of her shirt. "Are you ready, Biyomon?"
"Always!" her partner answered. "It's Digivolving time!"
As Biyomon became Birdramon, Tai finally had the presence of mind to wake Agumon. How he'd managed to sleep through all of that Sora couldn't understand. "C'mon, buddy, we're gonna go save Joe!" he exclaimed, bouncing his partner up and down. Agumon simply yawned, too sleepy to do much else.
"I hope he's okay," Sora whispered to Birdramon as she and Tai climbed on (Tai quickly jumping back off and returning with Agumon, whom he'd almost left behind).
"It's go time!" Tai shouted as Birdramon took off. "Let's blow this popsicle stand!"
Author's Note: ...and the rest is in the episode, and now I'm trying to stay away from re-telling stuff. Because STUFF ACTUALLY HAS TIME TO HAPPEN NOW! YES! Anyways, for once this fic isn't the one I'm waiting on to update... honestly, the other one's new chapter is maybe about halfway finished and over 9,000 words long. It's gonna be huge. This chapter here was probably the easiest thing to write ever, because it was from Sora's perspective. Next up: Mimi! Also... no WAY would Joe be the one to trust that beautiful, safe-looking house first.