Disclaimer! I own only my OCs and potentially a few of the OC digimon. Everything else is owned by Saban Brands.

Hope you all enjoy! Note, I do not have a Beta, so any mistakes are yours truly!

Chapter 8

"Look over there!" Tiffany directed the group's gaze to the forest, where loud crunching noises could be heard. "What is it, I wonder…" Azuremon tried to sense the other creature that was with Michael and Jacob. "Oh wait, I think that's the sound of an argument…" Ally facepalmed and sighed. "Well, you knew it would happen." Linzi told the younger girl and laughed a bit. "That's true. They always argue all the time, even for no reason." Kangamon hopped around and stood by the lake, watching the water. "Kangamon, if it's an enemy digimon, you must be ready." Ravenmon flew near her and flapped his wings, creating a small gust of wind. "I hear you, I hear you." She jumped back over and stood next to Ally.

"PUT ME DOWN!" Michael yelled at Jegamon as the three stepped into the clearing. "WHAT HE SAID! PUT US DOWN!" Jacob yelled as well and Jegamon sighed and looked at the other digidestined. "They have been like this the entire time that I've been walking over here." Jegamon dropped the two boys, who promptly glared at Jegamon. "You could've at least given us some prior warning." Michael stood up, brushing the dirt off of his back and walked over to the group. "So, do you mind explaining why Jegamon carried you two here?" Luke frowned at the two. "Well, we may have gotten into another argument again." Jacob laughed nervously and stared at the ground. "There's no may about it. You were going to punch each other if I did not intervene." Jegamon laughed quietly.

"Really guys? We've got to work together to get to Server!" Torpedomon stepped in between the two boys. "Ah, so you are going to Server." Jegamon quickly spoke before Tiffany could begin to rant at the boys. "Korokomon, Vegiemon, and I would like to help build your raft, if you allow us." The other two digimon stepped into the clearing as well and waved. "Hi guys!" Vegiemon smiled at Jacob and Caninmon as Korokomon tilted its head to the side at seeing Luke and Ravenmon. "Well then! I guess we'd better head to the beach to get started." Chinchilmon piped up and started dragging Michael down the mountain. "We'll follow behind you." Korokomon chirped. "Alrighty! Let's get started then." Kangamon jumped away as Ally ran behind her.

At the base of the mountain

"There's the beach everyone!" Michael yelled as Caninmon barked excitedly. "Water!" Torpedomon cheered and doubled her speed. "Hold up Torpedomon! Don't go too far ahead!" Linzi yelled and sped up to catch her partner. "Michael! Slow down, I can only run so fast!" Michael began to laugh and picked up Chinchilmon and started running down to the beach. Ally started behind the group, but soon, everyone made it to the beach where Linzi had started her journey in the digital world. "Hey Luke, this is the beach where I washed up, right?" She confirmed. "That's right. This is where Ravenmon and I found you." Luke nodded. "I wonder if that Octomon is still near here." Torpedomon wondered and looked in the water. "The water looks just fine if you ask me." Azuremon did a quick surveillance check. "There shouldn't be anything to worry about." Jacob reassured Linzi. "Good. That Octomon was a nasty piece of work." Linzi smiled and looked into the jungle. "Well, let's get to work!" She cried.

"HORN BLASTER!" A short while later, Torpedomon and Jegamon were working together to cut down the jungle trees. "CLUB SWING!" Jegamon knocked down several trees at once, making the job much easier. "There we go!" Linzi cheered as she watched the two digimon work together to take down the trees that they needed for the raft. "Watch out Vegiemon!" Jacob called out to the digimon as trees fell all around him. "Don't worry, I got it!" He grabbed several fallen trees with his whips and hefted them up to carry them over to the beach again. "Thanks for your help!" Tiffany smiled at the digimon. "It's no problem at all. COMPOST BOMBER!" Vegiemon used his attack to create the sticky pink substance again. "That'll work quite well to keep the raft together." Azuremon noted and picked the goop up. "Bleck!" Kangamon exclaimed as she jumped on some of the goop that was holding the logs together. "That looks really gross Kangamon." Chinchilmon laughed as he dried the goop using his tail. "It is really gross." Azuremon noted as he used his attack to remove some of the imperfections on the tree.

"FIRE SPRAY!" Ravenmon attacked one of the trees to remove the finer imperfections on it. "And throw!" Luke threw water on the fire to make it die down. "Great teamwork!" Ally smiled from where she stood on the sidelines, not really having a job. "Ally, watch out!" Michael called out to the girl as a tree fell near her. "Don't worry! I'm fine!" She yelled back. "Sheesh, he needs to relax a little bit when it comes to her, doesn't he?" Tiffany whispered to Luke. "She's all that he's got. It's understandable." He whispered back. "Again!" Jacob called to Caninmon as the duo began to roll the logs into place. "Oh! I know what I can do!" Ally ran off momentarily.

"Where's she going?" Linzi asked. "I have no clue." Kangamon laughed before continuing to jump on the goop. "Well, she'll be back soon." Chinchilmon kept on with his job. "That's right. She's a fine fighter by herself." Azuremon noted and went back to work.

"HEY GUYS! I thought I'd go ahead and start weaving the grass together so we can make the rope faster." Ally smiled and sat down to weave. "Korokoooo String!" Korokomon cried out quickly, firing a rope of string out of its mouth and onto the ground. "Or that works too." Ally deadpanned and tossed the grass behind her in exaggeration. "Ugh!" She sighed as Kangamon hopped up to her, finished with her job. "Don't worry Ally, I'm sure Michael won't make you sit out every time." Kangamon nuzzled her leg. "That's right! Michael never says no to extra help." Chinchilmon hopped up, the final logs being knocked down now.

"Is anyone here good with knots?" Tiffany asked the group. "Um… Not particularly…" Michael shook his head. "I don't have opposable thumbs!" Kangamon laughed and Chinchilmon nodded. "I can try, I suppose." Luke took the rope and proceeded to tie the logs together so they wouldn't drift apart during the journey to Server. "Alright, I guess that works!" Ravenmon landed on the raft and found that it was sturdy. "Hold up now, we can't leave yet. We don't have food." Michael reminded the group as they were about to jump on. "Oh, I guess you're right there." Jacob started to laugh. "We'll help you get some food, do not worry." Jegamon assured the group. "Well, that's awesome!" Torpedomon barked as the group headed back into the forest to search for food.

"Here! Catch this, Ally!" Michael called down to the girl as he threw down some banana-looking fruits. "I got them!" Ally caught the fruits with ease as Kangamon looked on. "Wonderful!" Chinchilmon climbed down from another tree holding a strange purple fruit in his hand while he hung on from the tree with his tail. He nimbly climbed down from the tree while still holding the fruit. "Remind me again to get you to teach me how to do that." Ally's jaw dropped open as she smiled at the digimon. "Of course! I'll be happy to teach you!" Chinchilmon laughed as Azuremon walked up. "Chinchilmon, she'd need a tail, which she clearly lacks." He chuckled quietly. "Hey now, he can always dream!" Tiffany chided her partner from the tree that she was sitting in nearby.

"Alright, how many days worth of food is this?" Ravenmon cawed and Jacob quickly did the math. "I think this is at least a week of food." He replied and Luke agreed. "If we need to get more food, we can always fish for some and have you cook it up, Ravenmon." Torpedomon chimed in. "That's right! It's nice to have someone who can breathe fire." Kangamon giggled. "Yep yep! We never have to worry about running out of food with you and the ocean." Chinchilmon agreed and ran around Michael in a circle. "Hey there buddy, calm down there." Michael began to laugh as Chinchilmon tickled the back of his leg. "You need to loosen up! You're too tense." He giggled madly as he continued to tickle Michael.

"Ack!" Michael fell to the ground as Chinchilmon knocked him over by the force of his tickling. "How silly are you?" Caninmon barked at Chinchilmon as Azuremon helped Michael up. "I wanted to make him relax a bit." Chinchilmon scratched at an itch on his face. "Well, I guess that worked." Michael began laughing and his shoulders finally dropped to show that he was relaxed.

"Woah, he actually relaxed…" Ally whispered to Luke. "That's pretty rare, isn't it?" Luke whispered back. "From when I've seen him, he's never been relaxed." Ravenmon landed on Luke's head and startled Ally, causing her to fall backwards. Michael turned towards the girl and helped her up. "Be careful now Ally. I don't want you getting hurt." He told her, quickly returning to the tense mood that he had been in earlier. "You tried, buddy. You tried." Kangamon patted Chinchilmon on the head. "I'll just have to try harder next time." Chinchilmon giggled and began gathering more food again.

A short distance away, Jacob and Caninmon were gathering more fruit. "Hey Caninmon, could you grab this bundle of fruit for me?" Jacob threw down a cluster of strange purple fruit. "Sure thing!" Caninmon caught the fruit in his mouth and ran it over to the pile of food that was slowly growing. "Thanks you two! That's more than enough for at least eight days." Linzi smiled and looked in the direction of the raft. "I know. It's hard to leave this place where this whole thing started, isn't it?" Torpedomon nuzzled her leg. "Yeah… There are a lot of memories here, both good and bad ones, I guess." Linzi sat down to pet Torpedomon. "You saved me from Octomon, and helped beat that evil Dark Antylamon too…" She gave her digimon a hug as Torpedomon blushed.

"When do we want to leave?" Luke asked Jacob. "I don't know, let's take a vote, I guess." Jacob looked surprised that Luke went to him for the decision. "Do we want to leave now guys?" He turned to the rest of the group. "I say we should. That way we get as much time on the water before nighttime and we can keep all of our food." Michael surprisingly agreed. "I agree with Michael. We want to go now so we can help Gennai as soon as possible as well." Tiffany chimed in, getting Azuremon to nod. "Gennai should be our number one priority right now." Azuremon stated, and the digimon agreed. "Gennai seems to be another human in this world, and if there are other humans, there have got to be ways to get back home!" Ally smiled and caused Luke and Linzi to agree with her. "I am starting to miss home a bit…" Linzi stood up again and joined the group. "Any way to get back home is good by me." Luke agreed.

"Well, then it's settled! We're going to Server right now!" Jacob yelled and looked at Jegamon, Vegiemon, and Korokomon. "We must stay here to help the island recover." Jegamon informed him. "However, we'll be more than happy to get you started off on your journey!" Vegiemon chimed in and began ushering the group to the beach. "Don't forget your food!" Korokomon helped the digimon grab the supplies. "Digidestined… You changed this island forever. We shall never forget you here." Jegamon smiled at Michael, who grabbed the last of the fruit and headed back to the beach.

"Everyone on board!" Torpedomon jumped on the raft and started to load the food on board. "There we go! Teamwork makes this go so much faster." Chinchilmon and Kangamon were passing the food between the two of them and up to Michael, who would give it to Ally, who would then put it on the boat for Tiffany to sort. "Purple fruit go over here, and yellow fruit go over here, Torpedomon." Azuremon fixed the sorting as Torpedomon accidentally speared one of the fruit with her horn. "Dork." Linzi giggled at the yellow banana-looking fruit on her partner's horn. "What?" Torpedomon asked, having not seen the fruit on her face. "Oh, nothing." Linzi giggled harder, causing Torpedomon to look in the water at her reflection. "EEP! FRUIT ON MY FACE!" Torpedomon fell into the water and splashed Azuremon, who was shocked by the coldness of the water.

"Be careful now, everyone." Korokomon told the digidestined as they all got into the raft. "We will, don't worry too much about us." Jacob smiled. "We have good reason to be worried though. Server is a very dangerous continent with many powerful digimon." Vegiemon frowned and seemed to reassure himself. "You defeated Dark Antylamon though, so anything is possible. Be safe." He finished, giving them a confident look. "That's right! With our digimon, we can do anything." Luke may have sounded confident, but he looked nervous. "It's perfectly okay to be apprehensive, but if you want to get home, this is the only way to do so, from what I know." Ally teased him. "That's right. We'll send you off using our attacks now, digidestined. Be brave, be strong, and remember what brings you together as the digidestined." Jegamon nodded and prepared himself.

"CLUB SWING!" "COMPOST BOMBERS!" "KOROKO DRILLS!" Jegamon hit the raft with his club, sending it into the air and farther out into the water. Vegiemon's attacks gave it the extra push it needed to escape the tug of the shore, while Korokomon's drills sent it to the west, the direction that the raft needed to get to Server. "GOODBYE!" "GOOD LUCK!" "BE CAREFUL!" "KEEP THE ISLAND SAFE FOR US!" The voices overlapped each other as the digidestined slowly lost sight of the island. "I am not worried about them. I know that they will be just fine, as long as they stay together, and stop the fighting." Jegamon wisely stated before turning away from the ocean. "Yep! They must be careful of the powerful digimon though. Some of them are even stronger than Dark Antylamon, and you know that." Korokomon argued. "If they stay together, they can overcome anything. But the stronger digimon worry me, because there are many who are capable of splitting the group apart very easily…" Vegiemon sighed and headed back into the forest while Korokomon stayed behind, watching the horizon. "Jegamon, if you need me, I'll be in my burrow here." He told Jegamon as the digimon began walking towards the mountain. He didn't reply.

Out on the Digital Ocean

"We haven't even been out here five minutes and you're already seasick?" Michael asked incredulously as he watched Ally lose her lunch. "I can't help it; I've never been good on boats." She defended herself as Kangamon helped her clean up. "It's all good, but this is going to be a looooooong trip." Michael sighed and looked to the west to see if he could see anything. "Do you see anything?" Tiffany asked him. "No, not really." He replied. "There won't be anything for a while. Server is far away from here." Chinchilmon told him. "I know, but I still want to keep an eye out." Michael put Chinchilmon on his shoulder so the digimon wouldn't fall off the boat.

"Be careful guys. The waves are a little rough today, it seems." Torpedomon warned the group. "Get to the center of the boat. The waves could knock you off." Luke told Ravenmon as Linzi chided Torpedomon for almost falling off of the boat. "Everyone in the middle!" Jacob ordered, watching the waves become larger. "Quickly." He ushered Caninmon to the center. "Tiffany, you go to the center. I have better balance than you do." Azuremon requested of his partner. "Alright, but you be careful too." She consented.

"HOLD ON TIGHT!" Michael yelled as a particularly large wave approached the boat. "What is with the size of these waves?" Torpedomon wondered as she braced for the impact of the wave. "WAIT! LOOK IN THE WAVE!" Linzi yelled right as the wave doubled in size. "There are eyes!" Ally yelled as the wave made impact. The boat splintered into pieces, sending the digidestined into the water with their partners.

"GRAB ONTO THE PIECES OF WOOD!" Tiffany yelled to the other digidestined as they quickly did so, stopping them and their digimon from sinking. "Keep it together Linzi, you can do this…" Linzi slowly began to panic as she held onto the board. "Linzi, relax. We're in the Digital Ocean. Most digimon here are peaceful digimon." Torpedomon tried to calm her down. "Torpedomon, the Octomon…" Linzi reminded her. "Oh…" Torpedomon realized what was causing the panic attack. "Linzi, I've got you. I'll protect you, I promise." She nuzzled her partner who was now sitting on the board.

"HEY GUYS! I HATE TO INTERRUPT YOUR LOVE FEST, BUT THE WAVE WANTS A SECOND ROUND!" Jacob yelled to Linzi and Torpedomon. "Hop on Torpedomon, we're going surfing!" Linzi shakily stood up on her board as Torpedomon wrapped her flippers around the board. "LINZI? WHAT ARE YOU DOING?' Tiffany yelled at the two right before the wave hit again. "I'M GETTING TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS RIGHT NOW!" Linzi yelled back as the wave hit. "Let's go Torpedomon!" She began to ride the wave to get as close to the eyes as she could. "EEP!" Torpedomon shrieked as the eyes appeared again and stared right at Linzi.

Linzi recognized the eyes before they recognized her, and she gasped. "IT'S YOU!" She yelled as the digimon shrieked. "OCTOMOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!" Torpedomon immediately reacted and fired into the wave. "HORN BLASTER!" The attack hit Octomon dead on and caused the wave to collapse, revealing the hungry digimon. "It's the Octomon!" Ally yelled, suddenly fearing for her life. "Don't worry, Torpedomon has taken care of it before, so there's no doubt that she'll be fine now." Kangamon tried to reassure her. "That's right, and if she doesn't, then I'll help her out." Ravenmon flew overhead towards the two.

"TORPEDOMON! WATCH OUT!" Linzi alerted her partner to a pod of nearby Dolphmon. "Wait, do they have dark strips on them?" Torpedomon asked. "It looks like they do!" Ravenmon flew overhead. "OH YAY! Ravenmon, do you think you could get the dark strips off of their backs?" Linzi asked the digimon as Luke swam over to the two. "Definitely! It's time to digivolve, Ravenmon!" Luke yelled as his digivice began glowing. "You too Torpedomon." Linzi told her partner while her digivice began to glow as well.

"RAVENMON DIGIGOLVE TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO TOUCAMON!" Toucamon swooped down and picked up Luke and Linzi before Octomon could get to them. "HIYA! FIERY WING!" Toucamon attacked the Dolphmon, destroying some of the dark strips, but drawing the attention of those who still had the dark strips to him. "TORPEDOMON DIGIVOLVE TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO DOLFINOMON!"

Dolfinomon began to swim in circles around Octomon, creating a miniature whirlpool with it at the center. "AQUA BLASTER!" She began to fire attacks into the whirlpool, receiving pained screeches from the Octomon. "FIERY WING!" Toucamon attacked the dark strips on the Dolphmon again, destroying another portion of the dark strips. "HEY FREED DOLPHMON! MIND HELPING ME GET RID OF THIS OCTOMON?" Dolfinomon called out to the Dolphmon that were dark-stripless. "Why, of course! Octomon is a harm to our oceans!" One of the Dolphmon that seemed like the leader replied and brought the pod over to Dolfinomon. "Use your strongest attack on the whirlpool to get that Octomon far away!" Dolfinomon commanded and the Dolphmon leader relayed the order.

"EEEEEEEE! PULSE BLAST!" The Dolphmon leader called out and ten other attacks flew into the whirlpool, causing more pained screams from the Octomon. "Last one is the charm! AQUA BLASTER!" Dolfinomon let out another attack and watched as it entered the whirlpool and struck Octomon again. "OCTOOOOOOOMOOOOOOOOOOON!" The digimon destroyed the whirlpool and turned to face Dolfinomon with hatred in its eyes. "OCTOMON!" It threw its sword at Dolfinomon, but was shocked when the sword disappeared halfway there. "OCTO! OCTOMON!" The digimon looked down in panic as it was quickly turned into data. "OCTOOOOOMPH!" The digimon was vanquished into data particles, which flew away into the ocean.

"FIERY WING!" Toucamon finally struck down the last of the dark strips. "Oh my! Thank you so much for helping my pod!" The Dolphmon leader told the two champion-level digimon. "It's no problem at all!" Dolfinomon chirped away as the Dolphmon pod swam around her. "Is there way that we could ever repay you?" He asked. "Well, the wave did destroy our raft…" Linzi called down to the swimming digimon. "Where are you going? We'll be glad to take you! We Dolphmon pride ourselves on our speed in the water!" One of the other Dolphmon piped up. "Well, we're going to Server, if that's not too far." Toucamon told the digimon as he lowered himself to be hovering just over the ocean. "Server? That's not too far from here at all! We'll be glad to take you. DOLPHMON! RETRIEVE THE DIGIMON AND THEIR PARTNERS!" The Dolphmon leader ordered and the Dolphmon split up to in pairs to carry both the digimon and their human partner.

Many hours later

"Well, thanks guys! This is a lot faster than that old raft was." Michael looked over to see Chinchilmon dipping his tail in and out of the water. "Careful Chinchilmon! You don't want to fall in now, do you?" Ally asked the digimon as he almost did so. "Eep! You're right, I'll keep my hands and feet on top of the Dolphmon at all times." Chinchilmon squeaked as Kangamon laughed. "Tiffany, are you doing alright?" Azuremon checked his partner to see if she was still with them. "I'm fine, only wondering why the Dolphmon were still under the control of the Dark Strips even with Dark Antylamon defeated and destroyed." She told him, causing him to think as well. "My best guess is that their powers were not directly connected to Dark Antylamon, rather to the island that we were on itself." He speculated, getting a nod from Tiffany. "That's my best guess as well, but we're far away from that island now. We can't dwell on the past anymore." She smiled and leaned over to ruffle Azuremon's head, only just missing as Azuremon leaned back as well. "Ha. You didn't get me." He stuck his tongue out at her and she giggled.

"Ravenmon, you doing alright?" Luke asked his partner, who was looking green. "Whoever thought going full speed was a good idea was clearly mistaken…" The digimon looked ready to faint. "Hey now, we've got to get there as soon as possible, and this is the best way." Jacob laughed a bit and Caninmon agreed. "That's right. I may not enjoy this speed, but Gennai is counting on us for some reason or another." He woofed softly. "We can't let him down now, after we've gone through all of this trouble and after saving the Dolphmon from the dark strips." Linzi smiled down at Dolfinomon, whom she was riding on. "You know, we're extremely lucky that the Dolphmon are keeping me with them. Otherwise, we would've fallen back a long time ago." Dolfinomon told her partner. "Really? I know that Dolphmon are the fastest swimming digimon, but I thought that you'd be able to keep up a little bit." Linzi was surprised. "Oh no, Dolphmon are incredibly fast. There's no way that I'd be able to keep up with them." Dolfinomon assured her.

Not long after that

"Hey everyone! Look over there! It's Server!" The leader of the Dolphmon alerted the group to the shoreline. "Really? It's been so little time though!" Tiffany exclaimed, very surprised. "Never underestimate how fast the Dolphmon are." Dolfinomon sagely noted. "We'll just drop you off here and then go back to the ocean, if that's okay with you." The Dolphmon leader checked with the group. "Oh yeah, absolutely! You guys have been amazing to us, and this is as far as we should stretch your hospitality." Ally answered for the group as Kangamon nodded. "You've really been too kind to us." She smiled and patted the Dolphmon she was riding on. "It's no problem! You saved our lives!" The Dolphmon that Azuremon was riding on chimed in.

"Well, here we are everyone! We've made landfall on Server!" Michael announced as they got off of the Dolphmon. "Goodbye Dolphmon! Thank you for everything!" Chinchilmon and Ravenmon cried to the digimon as they left the shore to head back out to the deep ocean. "Okay, so where do we go from here?" Luke brought their attention back to the beach. "We're on a beach, but we have no idea where this Gennai person is, or where those Crests and Tags things are." He pointed out, getting a general murmur from the group.

"Wait! Look at the sand! There's something pushing up from underneath it!" Linzi noticed the same strange platform that had appeared right after Dark Antylamon's defeat. "Is it Gennai again?" Azuremon wondered, and looked at Tiffany. "Beats me, I have no clue how anything in this place works." She shrugged, eliciting a laugh from Torpedomon, who had dedigivolved from Dolfinomon. "I'd be inclined to agree, but I was raised here. It must be Gennai." Azuremon concluded and waiting for the platform to come to life.

"Hello digidestined! It is I, Gennai!" The hologram appeared again. "Hi there Gennai. We made it to Server, so where do we go now?" Jacob quickly asked. "So impatient. Let me catch my breath for a second." Gennai chided him and the group sighed. "Stop whining. Look behind you. There, is a tunnel that leads to my house. Hurry, as Etemon is always watching the shorelines for new digimon." Gennai's declaration made Michael look behind the group. "Oh, wow, there actually is a tunnel…" His jaw dropped. "Go on now, I'll be waiting for you on the other side!" Gennai tried to usher them along, and his hologram disappeared, causing the platform to sink back into the sand.

"Well, the tunnel is right there. If anybody's got any second thoughts, now would be a great time to get them out in the air." Jacob chuckled a bit. "Well, we've got nothing to lose." Ally smiled again, putting on a cheerful face for the group. "It'll be exciting! Maybe our digimon will be able to digivolve again, just like Gennai said!" Caninmon barked and his tail started to wag. "Well, I guess if nobody's got any qualms against it, what are we waiting for?" Tiffany asked, and the group began the slow descent into the tunnel, not sure what to expect when they emerged on the other side.