To all my readers-Hope that everyone liked the last chapter.

To all the haters out there: You are not going to put me down! I put in the time, effort and love into writing these fanfics! This is the kind of thanks you want to give me?! The next time you want to say something cruel or cuss me out, create an account and send a PM. Otherwise, keep your negative comments to yourself because I will keep writing no matter what you or other negative people say.

I DO NOT OWN ANY DIGIMON CHARACTERS! I ONLY OWN THE OC FOR SEASON 1!

Matt and Gabumon find themselves lost after travelling on a boat from the amusement park where they had left T.K. and Felicity.

"Where are we, Matt?" asked Gabumon. "Don't tell me we're lost again."

"Okay, I won't but just take a look at that ridge up there." said Matt.

"Where?" he asked, then sees a few Digimon on the ridge. "Hey, other Digimon."

"I say we follow them wherever they're going and hope they're not lost too." said Matt, as he and Gabumon followed the three digimon to a restaurant. "Huh, now that's weird. A restaurant in the middle of nowhere."

"The perfect location for hungry digimon." said Gabumon. Inside the restaurant, the three digimon were ordering from a digimon who appeared to them as a waiter. "The usual waiter, a large snow cone." said Frigimon.

"Same here." said Kokatorimon.

"Mm-hmm. And add fruit." added Monzaemon.

"Okay, okay, I got it, a number four and two specials." said the waiter Digimon, writing it down.

"Meet Vegiemon….the maniacal manager of a rundown café. He puts a new spin on the term 'slave driver'." said Joe.

"Bus boy!" Vegiemon shouted towards the kitchen. "Go get some new customers." He then throws Gomamon out the front door, landing at the bottom of the steps.

"Huh?" said Matt, seeing Gomamon hitting the ground.

"Gomamon, are you okay?" asked Gabumon, running over to his friend.

"Gabumon and Matt! Is Joe ever going to be happy to see you two." said Gomamon. A moment later, Gomamon leads Matt and Gabumon into the kitchen, where Joe was seen cooking food for some reason.

"Hey Matt." said Joe, happy to see him and Gabumon.

"Hey Joe, where've you been and what are you doing here?" asked Matt.

"Well, you see, I umm…." stammered Joe.

"You left, then Izzy wondered off and so did Mimi, leaving me with T.K. and Felicity alone." Matt tells him.

"I know. Well, it started when we all went our separate ways to look for Tai." said Joe. "I wasn't lost. I definitely knew I wasn't, but I just didn't know exactly where I was….I think."

[Flashback]

Joe and Gomamon were walking through the desert when DemiDevimon appeared in front of them. "You're lost, aren't ya?" asked DemiDevimon.

"Ah! Why'd you sneak up on me like that? Who are you?" asked Joe.

"Just a friend." said DemiDevimon. "I thought you'd like to know I saw some other humans nearby."

"You say you saw my friends? Which way?" asked Joe.

"This way. But we've gotta hurry before we lose them." DemiDevimon to Joe, flying in a random direction of where he had seen Joe's friends.

"I was sure he was leading us the wrong way, but who was I to question?" Joe asked. "It's not like I knew my way around. Eventually we ended up at this restaurant which at the time was good cause we were starving."

"Boy, I wish my mom cooked like this." said Joe with a full stomach.

"Delicious." said Gomamon, with a full stomach as well.

"And now the bill." said Vegiemon, giving it to them.

"Oh, of course. This should be enough." said Joe, handing Vegiemon the yen.

"What are you, some kind of comedian, pal?" asked Vegiemon angrily, looking at the money Joe was handing him.

"Here you go, Vegiemon." said a Numemon, placing a US dollar bill on the counter before leaving.

"Uh, dollar bills?" questioned Joe in a shocked voice.

"What did you expect?!" yelled Vegimon.

"Oh, well, I don't have any Digi-dollar bills." explained Joe.

"Some play money is all you have?" questioned Vegiemon and there was an awkward silence between the two of them. "So…what I'm hearing is…you thought I actually let you eat without paying?"

[Flashback ends]

"And now he's making you cook the food to pay him back." said Matt, coming to the conclusion himself.

"When I'm not doing the dishes or scrubbing toilets." said Joe.

"Hey! Whats going on here?! I'm not getting any richer with you to stand here and chit chatting!" shouted Vegiemon. "What? Do you want me to say pretty please?! Dish out the stew."

"Ah! Okay! Alright! Quite yelling or your gonna make me spill it over my pants." said Joe, pouring the soup into a bowl.

"About time." said Vegiemon as he walks in and sees both Matt and Gabumon. "Who are these jokers?"

"We're friends of Joe and Gomamon." said Matt.

"Well, whoopee doo and good for you." said Vegiemon and takes a bite of the soup Joe had made. "Ah! Disgusting! I can't give that to any of my customers!" He then throws out the bowl of soup onto the floor.

"Um…but, but I…." stuttered Joe.

"Now you'll have to work an extra day for the ingredients you wasted." said Vegimon.

"Another day." said Joe.

"One more day?" asked Matt. "On top of how long, Joe?"

"Well, at first you see, was only supposed to be for three days, but I kept messing up and it got longer." Joe explained. "Now I'm up to over six weeks."

"And he still owes me for all the wasted food, not to mention the broken dishes!" shouted Vegimon, but then the back door opens.

"Whats all the commotion in here? The customers are complaining." said a digimon with an egg-like body and two small dinosaur like legs.

"We didn't know yet, but Digitamamon was an evil digimon, Ultimate level and protected by his Digi-egg shell." said Matt.

"Excuse me, are you the restaurant owner?" Matt asked. "My friend's been working like crazy to pay off one lousy meal. Can't he go now?"

"Are you kidding me? This guy's not going anywhere, of course if you stay here and work with him, to pay off the debt." said Digitamamon.

"Who? Me?" asked Matt.

"If you won't help then just go away. You are no use to me." said Digitamamon, walking up the stairs.

"I feel ill. I'm allergic to kitchen work." said Joe staring at the stove.

"What are you saying?" asked Matt.

"Oh, just never mind." said Joe.

"Listen, I gotta go find Felicity and T.K., but after I do, we'll come back here and help you work off your debt. Ok?" said Matt.

"Really? You will?" asked Joe.

"That's what friends do, Joe." said Matt. "When things are tough, they help each other out."

"I'll always remember this, Matt." said Joe, tearing up a little. Meanwhile, Digitamamon walks into his room to find DemiDevimon there.

"DemiDevimon, I…I didn't know you were coming." said Digitamamon, surprised to see him. DemiDevimon looks to his left to show Digitamamon a stack of money on the table.

"I take it you have another job for me to do." said Digitamamon.

"The new boy….you mustn't let him leave here." said DemiDevimon. As Matt and Gabumon make their way towards the boat to find T.K. and Felicity, Digitamamon stops them.

"Where do you think you are going? You're not finished." said Digitamamon. "I checked the schedule."

"Schedule?" asked Matt, confused by what he meant.

"The work schedule. Now get inside and start cooking or you're fired." Digitamamon tells him.

"I quit, how's that?" asked Matt.

"You can't quit, I say you stay!" shouted Digitamamon.

"Hey, what's the big deal, egg-head?" asked Matt. "I'm coming right back. Besides, you've already got a slave working in your kitchen."

"Oh, I see. So you don't care about what happens to your friend while you're gone." said Digitamamon. "Selfish, aren't we?"

"What are you talking about?" asked Matt.

"I'm just saying, while your away there's no telling what might happen to your poor little friend." Digitamamon tells Matt. "So many accidents could happen in the kitchen you know."

"Is that a threat?" Matt asked the Ultimate Level Digimon.

"Easy, Matt. He's already cracked." said Gabumon, trying to calm him down. A moment later, Matt is in the kitchen, cooking some food while Joe is doing the dishes.

"This water's hot. If I had some rubber gloves, my fingers wouldn't get all wrinkled. So hey, what are you making over there?" said Joe. "Is there some reason you're not talking to me? I mean, I know you think I can be irritating sometimes, but what gives? Matt?"

"So many accidents could happen in the kitchen. So many accidents." Matt remembers what Digitamamon said to him before. "I can't leave him." He thought to himself.

"Did you hear me, Matt? Earth to Matt, come in Matt." said Joe, trying to gain his attention.

"Although he talks a lot." said Matt.

"Weren't you going to get T.K. and Felicity?" Joe asked him. "If you want to leave, it's okay."

"I decided not to go!" yelled Matt.

"Hey, wow. I'm sorry if I said something that made you mad." Joe said apologetically.

"Man, I can't believe what a jerk I'm being. Joe's trying to be nice and I bite off his head." thought Matt. "Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you, okay. I guess I was thinking about something else."

"Oh yeah." replied Joe.

"Anyways, I'm a really good cook. Everything will go a lot faster if we work together and we'll be out of here in no time." said Matt.

"Alright, I guess that sounds like a plan." said Joe.

"I make a mean PB&J you know." said Gomamon.

"And I'm an expert at boiling water." said Gabumon.

"Alright then, we can do it." Joe said confidently.

"Hang on, Felicity and T.K. I've gotta solve this first." thought Matt. Over the weeks, Joe causes more accidents.

"That'll cost you three more days!" bellowed Vegiemon, after Joe drops a tray full of food.

"Not again! That'll cost you another week!" he shouted at Joe when he burns the food in the oven.

"Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! That'll cost you ten more days!" he shouted at Joe again for messing up the bill.

"Boy oh boy. I don't understand why I'm so accident prone. Okay, so maybe balancing plates on a platter isn't one of my natural skills but now it seems worse than ever. Sorry, Matt." said Joe, apologizing. "Look at me. I'm falling apart and why am I talking to myself? Even worse, why am I listening and talking back? I've gotta do something to snap out of this." Just then, Joe spills the food on the floor, causing Matt to stare at him.

"That did it. I snapped." said Joe as Matt looks at him and turns back around at the stove.

"It's okay, don't worry about it." said Matt calmly, causing Joe to sigh. "Half of what I cook ends up on the floor and the other half on his clothes. This job is giving me a killer headache. Tell me this is all just a bad dream."

Meanwhile outside, DemiDevimon is watching Matt and Joe struggle to get the debt paid off. "Everything's going perfectly. Those two will be slaving away in that kitchen for life. Hm, looks like another likely spot for another little accident." thought DemiDevimon, looking at the table full of potatoes.

"Bring me some potatoes, will you, Joe?" asked Matt.

"Alright, coming right up." said Joe. Meanwhile, one of the supports on the table was missing, causing the table to fall. "Those potatoes falling will cost them another month of work." thought DemiDevimon but he didn't see Sora placing the missing support where it belongs.

"Think it'll work?" asked Biyomon.

"Quiet Biyomon." whispered Sora, not wanting the others to see them. DemiDevimon lands on a branch in a tree, waiting for his plan to unfold.

"Here it goes." said DemiDevimon, watching Joe grabs some potatoes and head back inside. "Huh?" He was confused by what he had seen.

"Nothing happened." said DemiDevimon as his plan failed. "But how…could that be? Grr! Looks like my dirty tricks will have to even dirtier." Later that night after the restaurant had closed, Matt headed back to the boat and started playing a song on his harmonica.

"That's a beautiful sound." said DemiDevimon.

"Huh? Where did you come from?" asked Matt.

"I was just passing by when I heard the sound of your music. You're very good." said DemiDevimon. "I'm a bat digimon, we have very good hearing and it sounds as if you're worried about something."

"Huh? How could you tell?" asked Matt.

"A musical interment often reflects the feeling of the person who's playing it." said DemiDevimon. "Your music sounds sad so I figured you're sad about something. I wonder if you're hurting yourself to help out a friend."

"And how would you know?" asked Matt.

"Well, it's obviously happening at the restaurant." said DemiDevimon. "I see what your friend is up to."

"What are you talking about?" Matt asked him.

"I think he's making all those mistakes on purpose." DemiDevimon lied to Matt.

"He can't be." said Matt.

"Just so you won't leave him there alone." said DemiDevimon.

"Not him. Joe just wouldn't do that to me." said Matt.

"Hm, you're a nice guy but remember, nice guys always end up washing dishes for the rest of their lives." said DemiDevimon, flying away.

"Joe…can't be or could it?" Matt wondered. The next day at the restaurant, it was packed full with Digimon. "Listen, I promise you I'll come right back. You just have to let me go and get my little brother and my other friend." Matt explained to Digitamamon.

"Oh, I can't do that." said Digitamamon.

"Please, it's really important." begged Matt.

"No! Now get cooking before the customers start complaining." said Digitamamon. Just then, DemiDevimon runs into Joe's leg, causing him to knock over a stack of plates.

"What?! No more plates!" shouted Digitamamon. "That's another week for the both of you!"

"What are you talking about? I can't stay here for another week." said Matt. "I've got places to go."

"You'll stay alright and no tips." said Digitamamon.

"Oh, Joe, why are you doing this?" asked Matt.

"Huh? You think I did this on purpose?" he asked. "You think I'm juggling plates while I wash them? Something tripped me."

"Stop making excuses!" yelled Matt.

"I'm not. You've got to believe me, Matt." said Joe. Matt storms off outside, leaving Joe all alone in the kitchen. Meanwhile, Tai's digivice starts going off again.

"Whats that sound?" asked T.K. and Felicity.

"My digivice is going off again." said Tai.

"Then our friends are nearby. It did the same thing when we found T.K. and Felicity." said Agumon.

"Maybe we'll find my brother." said T.K.

"And maybe some food." said Tai and Felicity. Later, the six ended up at the restaurant and walked through the doors to find Gabumon and Gomamon working as waiters.

"Gomamon." said Tai.

"And Gabumon." said T.K.

"You're both waiters?" asked Felicity.

"T.K., Felicity." said Gomamon.

"And Tai." said Gabumon.

"If you're both here, then that must my brother is here too." said T.K., running up to Gabumon.

"And Joe's here too, right pal?" asked Tai.

"Yeah, he's here but…" said Gomamon, trailing off.

"Whats wrong?" asked Tai.

"Is there something you're not telling us?" asked Felicity, raising an eyebrow.

"Joe can tell you about it." Gomamon replied.

"Joe?" asked Tai as the six of them walked into the kitchen.

"Tai! I'm so glad to see you guys, but don't break anything." said Joe.

"Sure, but what are you doing here?" asked Tai.

"Hey Joe, it's great to see ya but where's Matt?" asked T.K., wondering where his brother was.

"Well, Matt's around back." Joe tells T.K.

"Matt!" T.K. called out to him as he runs outside.

"So, what are you doing here?" Tai asked again, but Joe doesn't reply. Matt was staring at the sky, oblivious of his surroundings.

"Hiya Matt!" said T.K, appearing in his face.

"T.K.!" said Matt, surprised to see him again.

"We thought we'd never see you again." said T.K., hugging his big brother.

"Hey, kid, you okay?" asked Matt.

"I'm great now that we're together again." said T.K.

"So where's Tai and Felicity?" asked Matt.

"Hey Matt!" said Tai, standing next to him with Felicity not too far behind.

"Alright! There you are." said Matt, excited to see his friend.

"So seems like something weird's going on around here." said Tai.

"Yeah, you can say we got ourselves in hot water." joked Matt.

"Oh, a cooking joke." said Tai.

"I'm really sorry that I didn't keep my promise to come back and get the both of you, T.K. and Felicity." said Matt, apologetically.

"That's alright." said T.K. "I'm sure you would have if you could have, Matt."

"Yeah." said Felicity.

"Anyhow, you're both here and that's what counts." said Matt.

"No, what counts is that we get out of this weirdo place and quick." said Tai.

"What? Run away?" Gabumon asked in shock.

"Of course run away." said Tai. "I don't see any guards around here."

"Do you and the others really want to cook here for the rest of your lives?" asked Gaomon as Gabumon shakes his head.

"I don't want to." Matt suddenly said.

"Huh?" asked Tai and Felicity.

"But why not?" asked T.K.

"I'll leave when I'm ready." Matt tells him. "Anyway, I'm not going anywhere with Joe."

"Huh?" said Joe, shocked as he heard this.

"He doesn't want to work together. He only cares about himself." said Matt, hurting Joe's feelings.

"How dare you say that, Matt!" yelled Tai. "We're all friends here!"

"Right, what friends?" questioned Matt. "Oh, you mean this guy who deliberately wrecks everything to keep me here, cooking rice until I'm an old geezer?"

"Hey, back off!" shouted Tai.

"And what about you, big shot? The one who got us all separated in the first place and left his little sister behind!" Matt continued to yell.

"Matt, stop yelling." said T.K. as Felicity covered her ears. "Aren't you glad…."

"Be quiet, T.K.!" shouted Matt as he rounded on him, shocking everyone. "Just be quiet and come with me. We're going to find our own way home." Just as he says that, Digitamamon walks up the digidestined.

"Well, well, well, you weren't thinking of running away, were you?" he asked. "That would make me very angry."

"Yes, that would be a very bad idea." said DemiDevimon, appearing on a tree branch.

"Hey, isn't that…." Joe begins to say.

"Him again." said T.K.

"DemiDevimon." said Patamon and Gaomon.

"It's the evil digimon we met before." said Agumon.

"What did you say to Matt?" asked Felicity.

"You lied!" yelled Matt.

"You lied to me to get me to come here." said an angry Joe. "And you're the one wrecking everything!"

"So, we're going to teach you a good lesson!" shouted Tai.

"Pepper Breath! Boom Bubble! Pop! Double Backhand!" shouted Agumon, Patamon and Gaomon, attacking DemiDevimon together but dodges all three attacks.

"Hey, watch it! That's hot!" said DemiDevimon, flying away from the kids.

"After him, guys!" ordered Tai as he, Agumon, Felicity, Gaomon and Patamon chase after him while leaving the others to deal with Digitamamon.

"How dishonest! Trying to leave without paying me." said Digitamamon.

"You're a thief!" screamed Matt. "We've worked here long enough to pay for a trip to Hawaii!"

"Hawaii's not on the schedule, but if you insist, I'll send you to the moon!" shouted Digitamamon, getting bigger and attacks them from inside his shell. "You want to leave? You'll have to beat me first!"

"Gabumon digivolve to…..Garurumon!" growled Garurumon after digivolving. "Howling Blaster!"

"His shell! His shell is closed so the blast has no effect." said Gomamon.

"Very perceptive of you." said Digitamamon, then rams into Garurumon's chest, knocking him onto his back.

"Garurumon!" Matt shouted to his injured Digimon.

"Matt!" T.K. cried out to him, gaining his attention.

"Haha, call off your beast." said Vegiemon, holding T.K. by his leg.

"Matt! Help me!" shouted T.K.

"How nice of your little brother decided to hang around." said Digitamamon, before ramming into Garurumon into a stone wall.

"Matt! Somebody get me down!" screamed T.K.

"That's going too far! I've had it!" said Joe, not noticing that his crest glowed a bit.

"Gomamon digivolve to….Ikkakumon!" Ikkakumon bellowed and pokes his horn at Vegiemon.

"Hey, stop that furball or the kid gets it." threatened Vegiemon.

"Stop that!" shouted Matt. Joe then climbs onto the roof and jumps down onto Vegiemon, causing him to let go of T.K., only to end up getting caught himself.

"Joe! He's caught." said T.K.

"Joe." said Matt, confused at Joe was trying to do.

"Matt, you were right." said Joe, struggling to get free against Vegiemon's arms. "You always said we would all have to work together to get out of this mess. Now it looks like it's my turn."

"Matt, we gotta help him." said T.K.

"Go on, Ikkakumon, blast them now!" said Joe as Ikkakumon tries to poke his horn at Vegimon but he jumps away.

"Tell your friend, I'm a very short tempered Vegiemon." said Vegiemon as he tightens his grip on Joe.

"Do it, Joe." said Matt.

"No, you've gotta attack while I keep him busy. Attack! I'm fine." said Joe as Vegiemon's grip gets even tighter.

"Aw man." said Matt, realizing what he had done. "After I accused him and yelled at him, he still risked himself for T.K. Joe!" Suddenly Matt's crest starts to glow.

"I see you two don't know when to quit. I'll destroy you both with one shot." said Digitamamon. "Nightmare Syndrome!" Digitamamon sends out a dark energy blast that engulfs both of them and spits them back out a second later.

"No, this is bad. They're too strong." said T.K.

"We just can't just give up! We've gotta beat them! But I can't beat them alone. I need Tai, Felicity, T.K., Sora, Izzy, Mimi and Joe. Together, we're strong. And we can beat anything. Garurumon!" Matt cried out to his digimon and suddenly, his digivice turns solid blue and his crest pops out from its tag.

"The crest of Friendship!"

"Garurumon digivolve to….." said Garurumon as he stands upright and has an anthropomorphic build. A belt appears around his waist and goes up across his upper body, connecting to a pair of jeans. A 'glove' covers one arm and spiked brass knuckles are on one hand. Earrings appeared in his ears as various bandages covered parts of his body.

"….WereGarurumon!" he howled.

"WereGarurumon, the ultimate form of Gabumon, is a really fierce warrior with claws, strong kicks and jumps. He's extreme, but egg-head and his little bat buddy leave him no choice." said Matt. "Coming up, one scrambled egg."

"You and your little doggy don't frighten me! Nightmare Syndrome!" shouted Digitamamon, sending another round of his dark energy at them but WereGarurumon stops it with his claws. "Impossible!"

"That was just the beginning, you little poacher." said Matt.

"Wolf Claw!" howled WereGarurumon, sending Digitamamon flying into the air.

"They….beat….Digitamamon!" shouted Vegiemon in shock.

"Ti…ti…time for me to fly." said DemiDevimon, taking off in fear.

"Well, he's gone." said Tai.

"And good riddance." said Felicity and Gaomon.

"Vegiemon, you better let him go." said Matt.

"Unless you want to be salad." said WereGarurumon, causing Vegiemon to set Joe down, releasing him from his grip before running off.

"Yeah! Matt, that was so cool." said T.K., hugging Matt. "You're an awesome big brother."

"I gotta hand it to you, Joe, that was really brave." said Tai.

"All I did was get grabbed." said Joe.

"By a giant vegetable." said Gomamon after dedigivolving.

"A cranky one." said Tsunomon, after dedigivolving too, causing everyone to laugh.

"Uh, Joe…." said Matt, gaining his attention.

"Huh?" said Joe, looking at Matt.

"I'm really proud of how you handled the situation." said Matt.

"Hey, at my old school, they voted me most likely to chicken out." said Joe. "I guess we showed them."

"I also need to apologize." said Matt.

"Oh, why Matt?" he asked.

"Because I should never have doubted you." Matt explained, but Joe laughs it off like it just never happened. Meanwhile, DemiDevimon was meeting his master, far away from the Digidestined.

"Myotismon, one of the humans has gotten the crest of Friendship to glow, causing WereGarurumon to be born." said DemiDevimon to the shadow in the portal.

"What?" shouted Myotismon.

"I tried but…." began DemiDevimon but bats started to attack him from the portal.

"Perhaps your brain is too small for this job." said Myotismon.

"You rotten kids and your rotten digimon!" said DemiDevimon. "You'll pay for this!"

Back with the digidestined, the five of them and their digimon are walking near the water's edge of the lake until the came across a fork in the road. "So, everything's linked." said Matt after Tai explained the situation. "If we don't fix things here, then our world will be in trouble too."

Just then, T.K's and Felicity's digivices went off. "It's going off again." said T.K. as Matt's and Joe's goes off too.

"Mine too." said Felicity.

"It seems every time this happens, we find one of our friends." said Tai.

"So there must be someone around here." said Joe.

"But which direction?" asked T.K. and Felicity.

"Mine says someone's off this way." said Matt, then looks down at the two youngest. "Whats yours say, you two?"

"Mine's pointing in the same direction as Joe's." said Felicity.

"And mine is pointing in the same direction as yours, Matt." said T.K. "Which means, two of our friends must be in two different directions."

"I guess if we want to find them, we'll have to split up again." said Tai.

"Yeah, I think you're right." said Matt. "T.K., you hang with me."

"Awesome! I get to go with you, Tai." said Felicity.

"Cool. Joe and Felicity will come with me." said Tai, smiling as he takes Felicity's hand. "Just so nobody gets lost, lets meet at the foot of that mountain, okay?"

"Sounds like a plan." said Matt as T.K. runs off.

"Matt, do you really think we will meet up again?" asked T.K.

"Yeah, I guarantee it." Matt tells him.

"Bye, bon voyage!" said Tai as he went through another farewell.

"Wait, don't go yet." said Joe. "I have to tie my shoe."

"Okay, Joe." said Felicity.

"Awe, youre ruining our dramatic exit." said Tai and they head down the right path with Agumon, Gaomon and Gomamon following behind them.