Chapter Twenty One: WereGarurumon's Diner
When it came time to leave the park, it was a bit of a juggling act, trying to fit everyone into a swan boat. Luckily, there were two of them. In the end, the digimon that could fly, did. Tai took TK in one boat, Lucy took Agumon in the other. Tai reasoned that he and Agumon were the physically strongest of the group, so they should split up to help both TK and Lucy. Lucy wasn't gonna argue with that. She knew how strong Tai's legs were, or at least had a rough estimate.
Once they started out on the lake, both boats being orbited by one of the flying digimon, the go was relatively quick. At least, they felt that way until they found out that the lake was a lot bigger than they had originally surmised. What was a lake seemed to turn into an ocean.
"Looks like we may be out here for a while," Lucy said, looking out the side of the boat, still pedaling at a constant pace.
"We could sing a song, if you want," Agumon suggested.
Lucy turned her head slowly to face the yellow digimon. If the seemingly impossible sound of a creaky door coming from her neck wasn't enough, the look of murder in her eyes completely set the digimon on edge.
"No. Songs," the words weren't said in a growl, or in any uber threatening way, but the yellow digimon gulped in fear, nodding his head rapidly. Boy, could human girls be scary, or what?
"W-whatever you say, Lucy," Agumon said, beginning to sweat in his fear.
After a second she turned away from him and the killer aura faded. She stared out at the waters before them for a few moments. Then she turned to face the yellow digimon again.
She didn't expect him to yelp and nearly fall out of the boat, his claws held protectively around the head, "I'm sorry!"
"Huh? What are you-?" Lucy sighed to herself as she looked at him, grabbing one of his paws gently, "No, no, there's nothing for you to be sorry about, Agumon."
"There isn't?" he asked, calming down slightly, "Then why did you-?"
"When I was in that dark place," she interrupted him, already knowing the question, "the guy in the robes was a total goof. At one point he even started talking about how being taller made him automatically right," she shook her head with a chuckle, "Some time after we started walking towards my light, he started singing. He sang for hours. He didn't stop until... until that monster attacked," she sighed now, looking towards the floor of their swan boat.
Agumon was sitting normally in his seat now, looking at the girl he was traveling with, "Sorry, Lucy."
"No, like I said, I'm the one who should apologize for snapping at you like that. You didn't know about that guy singing like he did," she told him.
"I'm not sorry for that," the digimon said to her, "I'm sorry for reminding you about him fighting the monster. It must have been scary."
"You have no idea," the girl shuddered, "but you should have seen that guy go," she grinned now, "He may have been more annoying than a fly in your ear, but he could fight!" she punched out in front of herself a couple of times, showing the same rudimentary boxing skills of any child, "It was really cool!"
"Sounds like a person I'd like to have in my corner the next time we've gotta fight someone like Devimon," Agumon told her with a grin.
"Yeah, 'til he opens his mouth. Then you'll contemplate joining the bad guy, jut so you can hit the guy," Lucy grinned. Agumon laughed a little bit.
"Hey, you two!" Tai called from his swan boat, "I see land ahead! Read to get off these things?"
"You bet!" Lucy called back, "My legs are getting tired! Agumon's good company, though, right, Skymomon?"
"Yep!" the girl's partner chirped.
"Don't I know it," Tai said with a grin, "Agumon's one of the coolest guys I know!"
"Aw, Tai, Lucy," Agumon said with a blue on his scales, "Cut it out. You're embarrassing me."
"You deserve it, big guy," the pink haired girl told him, patting him on the back.
The kids got to the beach soon enough, parking their swan boats half on the shore in case they needed them again. As they did, they noticed a third boat.
"Hey! That's the boat Matt took!" TK exclaimed, running over to it. All of them knew that Matt wouldn't be inside it, but it was better to check and be wrong than to leave it and be right. "Aw," TK sighed.
"Hey, don't worry, TK, all this means is that we've come to the right place. I'm sure we'll find him soon," Tai said, placing his hand on the little boy's shoulder.
He just nodded, before a beeping grabbed hi attention, "What's that sound?"
"It's my Digivice," Tai aid, "It's started up again."
"Then our friends are nearby!" Agumon said, "It did the same thing when we found TK."
"Maybe we'll find my brother!" the boy in question hoped.
"And maybe some food, too!" the wild haired boy added.
"I could use a little something to chew on," Lucy admitted, blushing brightly when her stomach growled.
"Wow, Lucy," Skymomon grinned, "what a monster!" Another loud growling filled the air.
"Look who's talking, Sky," the girl said with a grin of her own now.
"Okay, so I'm hungry," the monkey admitted, a sheepish grin on her adorable face, her tail whipping back and forth, almost like a dog's.
"Let's get going then!" Tai said, stepping up the path leading up the cliff face they'd landed near, "Matt first, then food, then the others!"
"Yeah!" TK nodded his agreement, Patamon, who was flying right beside him, nodded as well.
The trek up the cliff face was surprisingly quick. It looked a lot bigger than it actually was from the base. What they found up there had Lucy frowning.
"Okay, I know it's gonna be tempting," she said, stopping the boys and digimon from going into the restaurant right away, "but don't touch any of the food you find in that restaurant." She pointed to the building, as if accusing it of something. It was a light blue, had beautifully crafted windows, and the smell of the food coming from it was absolutely delectable.
"Why not?" Tai asked, "We're all hungry, aren't we, what's wrong with eating a little something here?"
"Need I remind you about the last few Too Good To Be True places we stayed at? The hotel? The luxury liner?" she crossed her arms, "Ringin' any bells?"
Tai frowned himself as he remembered those instances, "She's right. Don't touch anything," the others groaned in disappointment, "At least, not until we're absolutely sure it's safe." That got a couple cheers.
"I can completely agree with that," Lucy said with a grin.
With that, the three kids and their digimon opened the doors to the restaurant to find it shockingly occupied. And if the fact that there was someone there wasn't enough to make them think something might be different this time, the sight of Gabumon and Gomamon washing the floors and carrying food platters certainly was.
"Gomamon!" Tai exclaimed.
"Gabumon!" TK was right next to him.
"TK!" the fur covered digimon gasped.
"Lucy and Tai!" the seal looked more than happy to see everyone.
"If you're here, then my brother must be here, too!" the little boy smiled happily as he ran up to his brother's partner.
"Joe's here, too, right, pal?" Tai asked Gomamon with a grin.
The good cheer from the unexpected reunion left the two digimon they'd just found. Gabumon's shoulders slumped visibly and Gomamon looked away from Tai.
"Yeah, he's here, but..." the seal trailed off.
"What's wrong?" the wild haired boy asked.
"Joe can tell you about it," Gomamon sighed.
"Where is he?" Lucy asked.
"The kitchen," Gabumon said softly.
The kids found their way into the kitchen without a problem. Not very hard to find after all. And wouldn't you know it. There was their friend, blue hair and all, washing the dishes.
"Joe?" the girl asked, as she stepped into the kitchen with the others.
"Lucy?" the boy questioned the air in front of him, then turned to find a small group of his friends waiting for him, "Lucy, TK, Tai! I'm so glad to see you guys!" he grinned wide, "But please don't break anything."
"Sure," Tai said with a single eyebrow raised, "but what are you doing here?"
"Hey, Joe, it's great to see ya, but where' Matt?" TK asked with an excited smile.
"Oh, uh," the blue haired boy's face fell, thinking about the things Matt had said recently, "Matt's around back."
The younger blonde didn't seem to notice Joe's mood fall, just running out the back door to the kitchen with Patamon right behind him, "Matt!"
"I'll go with him," Lucy said, leaving the older boys alone to talk.
"So," Tai started, looking at the other boy's sad face, "what are you doing here?"
Joe just sighed for a moment, thinking about it all. It was such a messed up set of circumstances.
+-9
Matt was laying on the ground, thinking about what that bat digimon had said to him. The more he thought about it, the more it seemed to be true. Joe was... Joe was keeping him here. He kept breaking things and dropping dishes and doing anything he could to make their debt go higher and higher so he couldn't go back to his little brother.
He heaved a great sigh as he stared up at the odd sky in this world. He was really beginning to miss the natural blue sky of home.
"Hiya, Matt!" the smiling face of his little brother was the last thing he expected to see.
"Whoa! TK!" he exclaimed, bolting into a sitting position.
"I thought I'd never see you again," the little boy laughed, hugging his brother tightly for a moment.
"I'm great, now that we're together again! And look who I brought with!" He turned to look over his shoulder. There was Lucy smiling with her hands behind her head, and just behind her was Tai, standing in the door way.
"Hey, sailor," the girl said, "How's it been?"
"Yeah, long time, no see, Matt," Tai said to the boy.
"Hey, Tai, Lucy," the older blonde couldn't seem to decide if the two of them were real or he'd gone completely made from having to work in that stupid restaurant.
"So, seems like something weird is going on around here," the brown haired boy said, his fists on his hips.
"Yeah, you could say we got ourselves into some hot water," Matt punned.
"Oh, cooking jokes!" Tai grinned.
The older blonde turned to TK then, "I'm really sorry I didn't come back and keep my promise to get you, TK."
"That's alright," the little boy said, still smiling, just happy to have his big brother back, "I'm sure you would have if you could have, Matt!"
"Anyhow," the older brother said, a small smile gracing his face too, "You're here now, and that's all that counts."
"You mean, I don't matter?" Lucy turned to Matt, her eyes large and watery, her bottom lip jutting out and quivering.
"What? No! I mean, yes! I mean, you do count, I just," he stopped floundering when he noticed the girl in question and her monkey giggling, "Oh, ha ha, very funny." he crossed his arms.
"I thought so," the girl said, placing her arms behind her head again. Matt couldn't maintain his frown, a smile breaking out again.
Tai was grinning too. Just three more kids and the whole group would be back together. The whole team would be able to stop the bad guys, save the world and go home. It'd be just that easy. At least, he thought so.
"What counts is that we get out of this weirdo place, and quick," Tai said, sobering up. He didn't notice Joe stepping up behind him.
"What?" Gabumon gasped, "Run away?"
"Of course, runaway!" The wild haired boy said, "I don't see any guards around here." he gestured around in the open space out the back of the restaurant.
Matt frowned at Joe, not that Tai noticed.
"I don't want to," the older blonde said forcefully, turning his gaze away from the rest of the group.
"Huh?" the wild haired boy blinked.
"But why not?" TK pleaded.
"I'll leave when I'm ready," he said by way of explanation, "Anyway, I am not going anywhere with Joe."
"Huh?" the oldest boy intoned, startled by that declaration.
"Joe doesn't want to work together, he only cares about himself!" Matt continued.
Lucy looked to the oldest boy in the group and could see the pain on his face. Something was going on here, but what?
"How dare you say that, Matt!" Tai immediately jumped to his defense, "We're all friends here!"
The other boy got to his feet then, a frown marring his face, "Right, what friends!?" he clenched his fists together at his sides, "Oh? You mean this guy, who deliberately wrecks everything to keep me here cooking rice 'til I'm an old geezer!?"
"Hey!" the wild haired boy shouted, "Back off!"
"And what about you, big shot!?" he started in on the other boy his age, "The one that got us all separated!"
"Matt!" TK cried, holding onto his brother's arm, "Stop yelling! Aren't you glad-"
"Be quiet, TK!" the older boy barked.
Smack!
"Wha?" Matt reached up and held his cheek, the stinging not really painful as much as it was shocking. He looked back in the direction of Tai, Joe, and Lucy to see the girl pulling one pink glove back on, a dark look on her face.
"Now, listen up," she said with an undercurrent of steel in her voice, "I don't know what's going on here, but you're going to calm down. All of us are. We're together again, and I don't care what your problem is, we are not splitting up again because you've got issues with your brain to mouth filter."
"Yeah!" Tai said, holding up a fist.
"Tai," she said in monotone.
"Yeah?" he asked.
"Shut up."
"Yeah," he sighed.
"Now," she directed a look into the blue eyes of the guy that was head and shoulders taller than she was, "Get your act together, Matt. We came here to find you and all the rest of our friends and we are leaving, right now, if we have to tie you up and cart you along like a sack of potatoes, got it?"
"I'm-"
"Got it?" she said, more forcefully.
"Got it," the older boy nodded.
"Good, let's go, now," she turned back to the others, "You ready to split, Joe."
He gulped, hoping he hadn't done something that would get the girl's ire, "Uh, yeah, I just need to, um, get my bag."
"Thinking of running away, are you?" a sinister voice came from the stairs at the side of the restaurant that led up to the second level. The group turned to look, finding a little egg thing. It had an opening in the front of it's thick white shell that only showed two glowing, yellow eyes and openings on the bottom for two green legs. "That would make me very angry!" the eyes inside the darkness of the shell narrowed as he laughed cruelly.
"Yes, that would be a very bad idea," another, more familiar voice, said from a tree behind them. Tai, Lucy and TK turned again, finding the familiar form of Demidevimon.
"Hey, isn't that-?" Joe began.
"Him again!" TK exclaimed next.
"Demidevimon!" Patamon named him for those that didn't know it.
"What's that liar doing here?" Lucy wondered aloud.
"Liar?" Matt asked, realization dawning on his face, he turned a glare on the evil bat digimon, "You lied!"
"You lied to me to get me to come here," Joe realized as well, a frown beginning to cross his face and clenching his fist before him, "And you're the one who's been wrecking everything!"
"So, we're gonna teach you a lesson!" Tai exclaimed.
"Pepper Breath!"
"Boom Bubble!"
"Whirlwind Fist!"
The three attacks streaked towards the little bat digimon through the air rather quickly. Unfortunately for them, the little creep was able to dodge the attacks, one after another.
"Hey, watch it! That's hot!" He winged away into the forest.
"Oh, no you don't!" Lucy shouted, running after the little creep.
"After him, guys!" Tai shouted as well, over taking Lucy. The two kids were followed by Agumon, Skymomon and Patamon.
Before Joe, or the others could try to follow as well, the egg thing, his boss Digitamamon, stepped up again.
"How dishonest, trying to leave without paying me!" he growled at the blonde boy.
Matt whirled on the egg, holding his fists clenched before him, "You're a thief! We've worked here long enough to pay for a trip to Hawaii!"
"Hawaii's not on the schedule!" the bad digimon growled, fire visibly surrounding him, "But if you insist, I'll send you to the moon!" He grew until he was nearly as tall as the human boy beforethe front of his egg closed and he dived at the blonde.
Matt dodged, but only just. The monster turned around to face him.
"You want to leave? You'll have to beat me first!"
The older blonde grit his teeth angrily. This day was just not getting any better. Luckily, Gabumon was still there with him. His digivice went off and the digimon grew.
"Gabumon, Digivolve to Garurumon!"
With the wolf digimon on the field, it looked like things were a little more even, now. He jumped forward, breathing blue flames at the egg digimon, "Howling Blaster!" But it had no effect at all. Digitamamon was still perfectly fine.
"His shell!" Gomamon said, having an epiphany, "His shell is closed, so the blast has no effect!"
The front of the shell opened briefly, and the yellow eyes could be seen again, "Very perceptive of you," the monster said before closing the shell again and launching froward at the wolf digimon.
Size was not an indication of power. Garurumon was still more than twice the size of the egg digimon. And when the smaller digimon tackled him, it was like being hit by a runaway truck. It knocked him through the air and when he landed he skidded a few feet.
"Garurumon!" Matt cried, running over to his digimon.
"Matt!" TK cried fearfully. The boy turned to check on his brother only to find him in the grasp of another evil digimon. It looked like a yellow eggplant with red markings on it's head, a beak full of sharp teeth and a head dress. It had three yellow vines coming out of it, one one it's right and left side each, like arms, and a much shorter one in the back as a tail. He was using one vine to hold onto the roof so he wasn't anywhere near the ground, and the other was wrapped around the smallest boy's ankle, holding him upside down over the ground.
"Call off your beast," Veggiemon ordered.
"Matt!" TK cried, "Help me!"
"How nice," Digitamamon said, walking over towards the blonde boy, "Your little brother to hang around!" He laughed at his own pun before launching at Garurumon again, knocking the wolf into a large rock face rather painfully.
"Matt! Somebody! Get me down!" the littlest boy shouted, flailing about.
"That's going too far!" Joe finally decided, "I've had it!"
"Gomamon, Digivolve to Ikkakumon!" The huge sea beast pointed a horn at Veggiemon, smacking him with it.
"Hey!" the plant digimon growled, "Back off fur ball, or the kid gets it!" he threatened. He started waving TK about, making the little boy look a little sick and making him cry out even more.
"Stop that!" Matt ordered ineffectually.
What neither of them had noticed was Joe. The blue haired boy had managed to get up to the roof. He crawled over to where Veggiemon was hanging then leap off, landing on the plant with a belly flop. The plant digimon panicked and dropped TK, luckily in such a way that the little boy only landed on his back pack.
Unfortunately, this left the blue haired boy in a bind. Literally, Veggiemon quickly wrapped Joe up in his vines, squeezing him so tight you could hear hi bones creak.
"Joe!" TK exclaimed, looking at his friend, "He's caught!" Matt came over at that point, holding TK up by the shoulders, looking for injuries before he looked over at the blue haired boy.
"Joe!" he exclaimed.
"Matt," the boy forced out, obviously in pain, "You were right. You always said that we would all have to work together to get out of this mess. Now," he grimaced as the digimon holding him tightened his grasp, "it looks like my turn."
"Matt, we gotta help him!" The youngest boy cried while the older blonde stared in shock at the worry wart of the group.
"Go on, Ikkakumon, blast them, now," Joe told his digimon.
The large sea mammal lashed forward at Digitamamon with his horn, but the egg thing easily dodged it by jumping away, opening the path to the yellow plant digimon.
"Tell your friend I'm a very short tempered Veggiemon!" he yelled as he tightened the vines even more.
"Do it, Joe!" Matt said, trying to get the boy to get out of the death grip he was in.
"No," the older boy wheezed, "You've gotta attack while I keep him busy," he looked directly at the spiky haired blonde, "Attack! I'm fine! Nng!"
'Aw, man! After I accused him and yelled at him,' Matt thought, clenching his fists so tightly the leather creaked, "He still risked himself for TK," he mumbled, "Joe..." he breathed for a moment before looking up again, a frown growing across his face, this time for Joe instead of at him, "Noooo!" he yelled, his Crest of Friendship glowing brightly beneath his shirt.
Across the way, Ikkakumon and Garurumon were confronting Digitamamon together. They had him cornered, or so they thought, but the egg digimon didn't seem frightened.
"You two don't seem to get it," he grinned beneath his shell, "I'll destroy you both with one shot!" he narrowed his eyes again as he gathered the energy for an attack, "Nightmare Syndrome!" From the opening in his ultra durable shell, a black creature with yellow eyes, dark blue arms, and an open mouth with jagged teeth rushed at the two digimon. It hit them and exploded into a black whirlpool. It sucked the two digimon in, shrank to about a fifth of the size, then spat them back out, looking much worse for wear.
"Oh no," TK gasped, seeing this, "This is bad, they're too strong!"
Veggiemon was doing his best to turn the blue haired boy into Joe paste, Digitamamon was mopping the floor with Ikkakumon and Garurumon, and the others hadn't returned from chasing down Demidevimon yet. Everything was going wrong.
"We can't just give up!" Matt yelled, "We've gotta beat them!" He clenched his eyes shut, thinking to himself, 'But I can't beat them alone! I need Tai, TK, Sora, Lucy, Izzy, Mimi and Joe! Together we're strong!' he opened his eyes after focusing on the faces of all his friends, "And we can beat anything! Garurumon!"
The wolf suddenly leapt to his feet, energy flooding him.
The Digivice on Matt's hip began the keening of Digivolution. Just like with Tai, when Garurumon began to Digivolve to the final level, the light from the Digivice was focused through the Crest. The symbol on the Crest of Friendship hit Garurumon on the chest and change began to overtake him.
"Garurumon, Digivolve to WereGarurumon!" Unlike Greymon, he didn't grow any bigger. Instead, he stood up on his hind legs, blue jeans formed on his lower body with a brown belt, his front paw and legs turned into arms and red clawed hands, and he had a should guard on his left shoulder that was fastened there from around his chest and back, hooked to his belt. On his left arm down to the fingers was a long bit of blue cloth and a set of spiked bras knuckles. The final difference was that his tail had disappeared.
"Comin' up, one scrambled egg!" Matt quipped, holding his Digivice in hand, the little thing vibrating violently with how much power was being forced through it.
"You and your little doggie don't frighten me," Digitamamon told the blonde boy before launching his attack again, "Nightmare Syndrome!" The attack left the front of his shell again, aiming right for the werewolf digimon.
WereGarurumon however wasn't in the mood to take the hit. His claws on each hand glowed blood red and he slammed them down on the blast with a furious growl. The darkness was stopped cold. It kept trying to push back on the werewolf, but it wasn't getting anywhere.
"Impossible!" Digitamamon exclaimed, unable to believe his beady yellow eyes.
"That's just the beginning, you little poacher!" Matt yelled confidently.
WereGarurumon held the blast of darkness back, with only the slightest amount of struggle. Finally, he had enough of just standing there and cried out the name of hi attack.
"Wolf Claw!" the glowing red of his claws increased for a moment before the darkness was sent careening back into the egg digimon that had fired it at him. It hit the fully evolved digimon with such force that he was sent flying off into the distance.
And the kids weren't the only one to see this. Veggiemon had followed Digitamamon's trajectory through the air.
"They beat Digitamamon!" he exclaimed, more than a little shocked.
Demidevimon had come back, just in time to see the evolution of WereGarurumon and the defeat of the egg monster. Fear was plainly on his face as he hovered there for a few seconds, "Aye, aye, aye, time for me to fly!" He took off, faster than ever for the distance.
"Well," Tai huffed as he came out of the forest, a little out of breath, "He's gone!"
"Get back here, you coward!" Lucy yelled after the bat digimon.
"Veggiemon, you better let go of him!" The blonde ordered the yellow plant that was still holding on to Joe.
Ikkakumon and WereGarurumon both stood before the much smaller creature, glaring at him.
He laughed nervously as the werewolf spoke, "Unless you want to be salad." Veggiemon gently lowered Joe to the ground, unwrapped his vines, and took off like a monkey from a box.
"Yay!" TK exclaimed, running over and hugging his brother, "Wow! That was so cool, Matt!" While the little boy spoke, the older boy looked over to Joe, "You're the awesomest big brother!" He knew for a fact that, if it weren't for the blue haired boy, TK might not be around to say those things to him.
Joe himself was just looking on what his good deed had wrought with a kind smile, no expectation of any reward on his face.
"I gotta hand it to ya, Joe, that was really brave!" Tai said, a smile on his face as he stepped up next to the taller boy.
"All I did was get grabbed," the oldest member of the group said, trying to brush away the praise.
"By a giant vegetable," Gomamon added after he reverted back to his smaller form.
"A cranky one," Tsunomon added. Joe smiled a little more, a red dusting on his face.
"Uh, Joe," Matt said, stepping forward tentatively, a small blush on his own face.
"Huh?" the blue haired boy turned to look at the blonde again.
"I'm really proud, how you handled the situation," he said, looking at the ground.
Joe just shrugged, "At my old school they voted me most likely to chicken out. I guess we showed them."
"I also need to apologize," the other boy said quickly.
"Oh? Why?" Joe asked. He knew why, and he wasn't trying to make Matt feel even more guilty, he just wanted him to see that he understood he'd only said what he did in anger. Joe really didn't take it to heart.
"Because," he sighed and looked up at the boy, "I never should have doubted you, Joe. You're probably the second most level headed person here, you never would have done those things I said."
Joe smiled at him for a few moments, then asked, "If I'm second, who's the first?"
Matt grinned a little and turned to look over at Lucy, "She is. She knocked Tai out of his funk, and me out of mine," he grinned a little wider, "I could do without the stinging though," he rubbed the still visible hand print on his face.
"Er," Lucy grimaced, "Sorry."
"No, you were right," Matt said, holding up his hands to stop her, "I was being a jerk. I needed someone to knock some sense into me, just like Tai did before."
The girl smiled happily at the older boy, "As long as one of you will return the favor for me if I ever start acting like a brat, why don't we consider it even?"
"Sounds good to me!" Tai said, standing there with his arms behind his head and a wide grin on his face.
"Me too!" Matt nodded.
"Can we eat now?" Skymomon groaned, holding her stomach. That got the group laughing as they headed into the restaurant. This time they could actually just eat and run, no hard feelings.
+-9
Some time later, the five Digidestined were traveling together up another rock path, away from the restaurant. They'd eaten their fill of food they prepared for themselves, and were moving on to find the rest of the group. Tai had just finished explaining the whole deal to his friends, and Matt was going over it again aloud.
"So everything is linked," he said, "If we don't fix things here, then the digimon will continue causing trouble in our world, too." Just as he finished, his Digivice and Tai's began beeping loudly.
"It's going off again," TK commented.
"It seems like every time this happens, we find one of our friends," Tai said, looking at his map.
"So there must be someone around here," Joe said, leaning over to look at the screen as well.
"But which direction?" TK wondered.
"Well, mine's pointing out there," the wild haired boy replied, pointing to the path that split along the coast of the large lake.
"Mine says they're off this way," Matt pointed to a path that led up a mountainous trail.
"I guess if we wanna find them, We're just gonna have to split up again," Tai suggested. It was not a popular idea, but it was what they were going to have to do.
"Yeah, I think you're right," the blonde said before turning to his younger brother, "TK, you hang with me."
"Cool, then Lucy and Joe will come with me," Tai grinned, "And just so nobody gets lost, let's meet at the foot of that mountain, okay?"
"Sounds like a plan," the other boy grinned back. The two groups split up again, one going to the left, the other to the right,.
"Matt," TK began, "do you really think we'll meet again?"
"Yeah," the older blonde nodded, feeling more optimistic than he had in weeks, "Sure we will! I guarantee it."
"Farewell! Bye Bye! Auf Wiedersehen!" Tai called out energetically.
"How do you even spell that last one?" Lucy asked, looking puzzled.
"Hold up, don't go yet!" Joe cried, bending down, "I have to tie my shoe."
"Aw," the wild haired boy complained, "You're ruining our big, dramatic exit!" The laughter that was quick to follow let the boy know it was just a joke. The kids and digimon started chuckling as well.
Matt was grinning ear to ear as he walked along with his hands in his pockets, listening to his little brother laughed. This day hadn't turned out so bad after all.
Chapter Twenty One: End.
Please Enjoy.