***DISCLAIMER***
I don't own Digimon. Other people do. I've decided to turn this into a group project, as I'm a little slow on the writing.
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Chapter 2 --- DON'T DRINK THE WATER
Tai's breath came back to him slowly. With it came a whole beach worth of sand. He pushed himself up on all fours and quickly coughed it out. Not beach sand; it was too dry. This was the gritty desert dune sand, the kind that would get into places you didn't even knew you had when the wind blew. And that's exactly where it was, too. Just great, he thought. He got to his knees and took a look around. Nothing but sand dunes as far as the eye could see. How in the hell did I get here?
A groan from his left caught his attention. It was a kid, with straight black hair and glasses, that reminded him of Joe, a med student who had lived in his apartment building. The kid looked like he had just choked on some nice, hot sand dune surprise, as well. Looking up at Tai, the kid gave a surprised cry. "I know how you feel, man. I was just thinking the same thing," Tai said as he brushed sand off of his tattered green-and-grey school uniform.
Three more shapes emerged from the sands, revealing three more kids about the same age as the glassed one. The first boy was wearing a blue hooded pullover and yellow goggles the same shape as Tai's. The second had spiky brown hair sticking up behind his visor. His shirt looks pretty cool, Tai thought, noting the cross-like design.
The girl was wearing a green and yellow dress. Interestingly, she had only one pigtail. "Takato, where are we? What happened?" she asked in a too-scared voice.
"Umm…" the goggle-boy murmured, looking around with his eyes wide. "Could I get back to you on that one, Jeri?"
"Dude, Kenta, what are you staring at?" asked the spike-hair. He climbed up the dune to where Kenta was just getting to his feet. "Woah, dude, who are you?" he said when he noticed Tai.
"My name's Tai," he replied.
"Kazu," the spike-hair offered as he shook Tai's outstretched hand.
Tai nodded. "Hey, nice shirt, man."
Kazu beamed. "Thanks, dude. My mom thinks I'm into religion now. She's all buying me bibles and stuff. She just doesn't understand that I got it because it looks like the Crest of Reliability."
"The what-of-what?"
"The Crest of Reliability. Don't you play the Digimon card game?"
"The what? Did you just say 'Digimon'?" Tai asked.
"Yeah, dude, it's this wicked game." Tai shook his head. Kazu looked at him askance. "You've got to have heard of it. It's only the most popular game in existence."
Tai shrugged. "No, sorry, never heard of it."
Images flashed into Tai's head. He and Sora watching Izzy run from the clearing where Tai had laid a blanket down. An unseen force felling the trees around them while everything turned an inky black. The sky tearing open in a fissure, monsters—no, I know now that those are called Digimon—flooding from it like the outpouring of hell from the heavens. He remembered hearing Sora scream and run off into the bushes. Alone, he had stared into the sky with horror and dread.
"Will both of you just shut up?" Jeri nearly screamed. "Who cares about that stupid game at a time like this? Look around! I went to bed last night looking forward to school the next morning, but instead I woke up fully clothed in the middle of a freaking desert!"
Takato tried to put his hand on her shoulder, but she shook him off. "Just calm down, Jeri," he said. "Everything will be fine."
"How can you say that?" Jeri asked. She sank down to her knees, weeping uncontrollably. "How can you possibly say that? We're in the middle of a desert with no food or water, or even shade! We're all going to die surrounded by burning sand, and we don't even know how we got here!"
A harsh wind picked up and blew sand in Tai's face as he looked down at Jeri. I can't blame her for freaking out like this, he thought. I would be too, but the things I've seen… No, better not to think about them.
"Jeri, we can't let this get us down," Tai said. "You said it yourself, we have no food, no shade or water. We'll die out here in the heat. If we want to live, we have to go find those things. And wherever we're going, I'm not gonna carry you."
Jeri looked up at Tai with look of confusion. She smiled as she wiped the tears from her face. "I'm sorry," she said. "I'm just scared."
"Perfectly understandable. Now come on," Tai said, glad that his little joke had pulled her from her panic. He helped Jeri to her feet. "Let's get moving."
Takato went to Jeri's side as she got up. "You okay now, Jeri?" he asked, his face full of concern.
"Yeah, I'm fine." She looked to Tai. "Which direction should we go?" she asked.
Tai looked around at the others. Kazu and Kenta were looking at him like some rabid fanboys, while both Jeri and Takato looked at him with hope in their eyes. It struck him as odd that they had silently yet unanimously elected him as their temporary leader. He had never met any of them until only a few minutes before, but now all were expecting him to lead them out of their strange predicament. On second thought, he was at least three years older than they were, so maybe they saw him as an older brother who was here to save them.
"Well, the wind seems to be blowing that way," he said as he pointed to his left. "We should probably head off in that direction so we're not facing into the wind. I know I've had enough sand up my nose to last me for a while." That made them all laugh. Good, he thought. Good.
And so they went off into the west, the wind and the rising sun at their backs. Tai led, with Takato and Jeri just behind, and Kazu and Kenta yapping at each other at the rear. They walked for hours, the burning sun beating down on them, their clothes drenched with sweat, Kenta and Kazu occasionally falling behind as one or the other would stop to rest.
After hours of seeing nothing but sand dunes, Tai was starting to despair. Maybe I took us in the wrong direction. Maybe if we had gone another way we would've found some water already. He stopped and sat down to rest on the hot sand. Jeri sat with him.
Takato continued to walk up the next dune. "Takato," Tai called, his throat parched. "Stop, man, rest a bit."
Takato didn't hear. He trekked to the top of the dune and stopped. Tai called to him again. Finally, Takato jumped up and starting yelling. "You guys, we made it, we made it!"
Rushing up after him, the others stared in disbelief at the sight of a large oasis. Giant palm trees swayed in the wind and green grass pushed itself up through the sands at the edge. Roaring with glee, the five companions rushed down into the verdant shade below. "You guys," Kenta said once they were in the trees, "I can see a lake."
They all ran to the lake and fell down by the waters to drink. Kazu went so far as to plunge his entire head in. "Gah, that's cold!" he yelled. Everyone laughed and splashed him, which of course turned into a huge water fight. For a moment the five companions forgot about their troubles and reveled in the sheer joy of living. Several minutes later, they all lay back on the grass to dry off, watching the wind whip through the trees.
"So, what did Jeri mean when she said that she was looking forward to school today?" Tai asked Takato. They sat a little ways off from the others after Kazu, Kenta, and Jeri had all fallen asleep.
"What do you mean 'what do you mean'?"
"Well, you guys are from Tokyo, right?
"Yeah," Takato replied. "West Shinjuku."
"And you guys were supposed to go to school today?" Tai asked.
"Well, yeah," Takato answered, looking confused. "Why wouldn't we? I mean, it's the middle of November."
Now it was Tai's turn to look thoroughly perplexed. "November? Dude, it's July. Besides, all of Tokyo was destroyed three months ago."
Takato recoiled in shock. "What the hell are you talking about? Tokyo hasn't been destroyed! I live there! I was there yesterday!"
"Takato, it's been completely destroyed. For the past three months I've been traveling north. Last night I slept in a park in Utsunomiya. The Digimon have built a massive fortress where Tokyo used to be. You can see it even from Utsunomiya."
"From Utsunomiya? But that's like eighty kilometers from Tokyo." A thought struck Takato. "Wait a minute. Digimon built the fortress? That's just not possible. Digimon is just a game."
"I don't know about a game, but Digimon are most definitely real." Tai told Takato about how the sky had ripped open and the Digimon invaded Tokyo. He went on to tell him about how he found out that the monsters were called Digimon when he had overheard two of the monsters, a small blue tadpole-like monster named Otamamon and a little yellow slug-thing name Geremon, while hiding in a van a couple of days after the invasion.
"They were talking about how their Lord—Infermon, I think it was—had slaughtered most of the humans in Tokyo, while a small group had been taken prisoner."
"Wow," Takato finally said after a few minutes of silence, "that's just… Hey, I just had a thought. What if, like, we're from different worlds, you know, like that one time on Star Trek? What if you and I are from alternate universes or something? I mean, that would explain why I don't remember any of that. I doubt Jeri and the guys remember any it either. And you didn't know anything about Digimon until you overheard those two."
"Maybe…"
A bubbling noise emanating from the lake broke the conversation. Out of the depths came a large yellow frog, with both red fur and black fins sticking up from it's back. "Dude, it's a Gizamon!" Takato exclaimed.
"A what?" Tai asked.
"Gizamon," Takato replied. "A Rookie-level Digimon."
"What the hell does 'Rookie-level' mean?"
Takato opened his mouth to reply, but the Gizamon cut him off. "What are you humans doing here at my lake?"
"I guess I'll explain later," said Takato.
Tai turned to the Gizamon. "What do you mean 'your lake'? We've got just as much right to be here as you."
"Tai, calm down," Takato said. "Look, Gizamon, we're sorry if we've trespassed, but we've been walking across the desert all day, and we really needed some water, so---"
"So you just decided to steal some from my lake," the Gizamon cried.
"No, that's not it at all…" Takato was cut short as the Gizamon rolled itself into a ball with the fins pointing out.
"Spiral Saw!" it yelled. Its entire body started spinning fast, then charged itself into Takato.
"Aaagh!" Takato yelled as was knocked to the ground.
Tai was stunned. "Takato, no!"
The others all woke up at Tai's cry. Jeri screamed, "What's happening? Tai, what's happening?"
All of a sudden, Tai felt a great warmth inside. It was like a million fires burning him up. A blast of light shot forth from his chest. As he screamed, the world seemed to go white as he was caught in an explosion of energy. When things began to come back into focus, he thought that the shocking stares of the others must mirror his own. "What the hell was that?" he cried.
Jeri was trembling visibly. "Y-y-you're a-a…"
"What?"
"Dude," Kenta and Kazu said together in awe. "You're an Agumon."
"A what?"
Tai looked down at himself. The first thing he noticed was that his skin was orange. Not skin, scales! His arms ended in reptilian claws, and he saw that he had gotten shorter. He only came up to Jeri's waist! He stepped over to the lake and looked at his reflection. "I'm a lizard!" he exclaimed. "I'm a tiny orange T-Rex!"
The Gizamon looked at Tai with contempt. "I don't know how you did that, human, but you are still a thief, and thieves must be punished! Spiral Saw!"
As the Gizamon spun towards him, it seemed to Tai as if the whole world had slowed down. Knowledge flooded into him, and he smiled inwardly as he felt the burning yet comforting fire materialize in the back of his throat. "Pepper Breath!" Agumon yelled (for that was how he thought of himself in this form), and shot a ball of burning flame from his mouth. It hit the Gizamon and sent it spiraling in the opposite direction, hitting a tree.
Takato pulled himself up to his elbows. "Woah, that's pretty freaking cool."
"Damn skippy, my friend," Kazu replied. "Damn skippy."
The Gizamon got up to its four webbed feet. "Think you've beaten me, do you? Think again!"
A bright light engulfed the violent Digimon. "Gizamon digivolve to… Ebidramon!"
The light faded. Where the Gizamon had stood was now a giant red lobster with a dragon-like head. "Okay," Agumon yelled, "this is just getting too fucking weird!"
"Dude, he digivolved!" Kenta exclaimed.
The Ebidramon roared as it balanced itself on its back legs and large tail. It lunged at Jeri, its enormous claw ready to strike. Kenta tried to pull her away, but she stood frozen in shock. Jeri screamed as Ebidramon's claw clamped around her middle, trying to squeeze the life out of her.
"Jeri!" Takato screamed.
Yet another burst of light shot forth, this time from Takato's chest. A small explosion of white, and Takato was also transformed into a lizard. His scales were red instead of orange, and he was at least a foot taller than Agumon. Bands of black scales encircled his forearms, thighs, and neck, while triangular designs were set on his hands, feet, and snout. A strange symbol comprised of two perpendicular lines surrounded by two circles seemed to have been burnt onto his white belly.
"You did it too, Takato!" Kenta exclaimed. "But I've never seen that kind of Digimon before."
"Not Takato," the small red dinosaur replied. "My name is Guilmon."
Ebidramon dropped the screaming Jeri and turned its attention to the two Rookies. "You think you can take me on, do you? Your pathetic attacks can't hurt me! I am more powerful than either of you combined!"
"Pepper Breath!" Agumon's fireball hit Ebidramon on the head directly between his eyes. The lobster showed no sign of the attack except for a small scorch-mark. Agumon saw a blur out of the corner of his eye as Guilmon ran past him and jumped up to swipe at Ebidramon with his claws. Ebidramon knocked Guilmon out of the air with ease, sending him flying into the waters.
Ebidramon leapt into the air towards where Guilmon floated on the surface of the lake, his jaws opened in a bestial yell. Guilmon looked up into the massive maw and yelled, "Pyro Sphere!" A fireball, larger and darker than Agumon's, surged from Guilmon's mouth and shot directly down Ebidramon's throat. The dragon-lobster screamed in pain as the fire burned him from the inside. As his shell burst into flame, the fire was doused by the waters of the lake. Unfortunately for Ebidramon, it was too late. The monster's sightless eyes stared at Guilmon as the corpse slowly sank. Guilmon gazed for a moment at the spot where Ebidramon had gone down, then hurriedly made his way towards shore.
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Next chapter, Izzy and Joe try to break out of prison!