Izzy leaned back in his chair and spun around to face the group. His computer beeped quietly behind him. He looked up at the others; everyone was there: Tai, Matt, Sora, Mimi, TK, Kari, Joe, Davis, Cody, Yolei, and Ken.
"Well," he said, "it seems there's a problem in the digital world."
"Isn't there always?" said Davis.
Izzy looked at him coldly then turned to the others. "This is a special one you guys. It requires all of us."
"Alright!" cried Yolei, grinning at Mimi. Sora smiled wistfully and leaned into Tai, who put his arm around her.
"It'll be nice to see Agumon again," he said. "The newbies have been doing everything lately."
Davis looked highly offended but at a death look from Tai's sister, Kari, he didn't say anything. Instead, he glared at TK, angry that he wasn't considered a "newbie."
Joe looked worried, Ken looked thoughtful, Cody looked confused, and Matt looked perfectly calm and collected. Joe took over the questioning.
"So," he began, "what is this problem?"
"I don't know," said Izzy carefully.
Davis grinned. "Then let's go!" he cried, pulling out his D3. "Digi-port op-"
"Stop!" Izzy whacked the D3 out of Davis's hand and it clattered to the floor. Davis looked murderous.
"What did you do that for?" he yelled as he retrieved his D3. Izzy counted to ten and answered.
"That won't work," he said finally. "If we go in this way, we'll end up on Server. We need to get somewhere on an entirely different continent."
"So how do we get there?" asked TK.
"We need to access it from somewhere an equal distance from Japan as the distance from Server to this new continent."
"Huh?" asked everyone at once, except for Ken.
"For example," he said, "if this continent was 12 miles from Server we would need to find a country 12 miles from Japan."
"Exactly," agreed Izzy.
"And this place is…?" inquired Kari.
Izzy met her gaze. "America."
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"Ohhh, I'm gonna be sick…" Yolei moaned as she quickly shoved her head face-first into her barf bag. Mimi, quite used to planes, tried to help her feel better. Cody, Ken, and Izzy sat together talking about this new thing they had to do. Tai and Sora sat together, TK and Kari sat in front of them, and Joe, Davis, and Matt sat next to them across the aisle.
Kari smiled at TK and looked out the window. They were rising higher and higher in the plane they had gotten on.
They had told their parents they were going to visit Mimi, which was partially true, as they would be staying with her. All but Mimi, Sora, and Joe had never been in a plane before; Sora to visit Mimi, and Joe—well, he had refused to answer when the others asked him. He had just blushed deeply and glanced at Mimi, who had smiled sweetly and waved.
Kari thoroughly enjoyed the trip over to America. They landed in "New York" and immediately hopped onto a city bus to Mimi's apartment. Once there, Mimi showed them around. Sora had no need to be shown around and Joe, it seemed, also knew Mimi's house like the back of his hand.
Everyone went to sleep at 9:00 but Izzy and Ken. Izzy opened his laptop and Ken borrowed Mimi's PC. Together, they worked out where they needed to go to get to where they wanted to go (odd sentence, huh).
The next morning, Davis found himself rudely awoken by Ken at 7:00 in the morning.
"What're you doing, Ken?" demanded Davis groggily. Ken gave a half-smile like he'd always wanted to wake Davis three hours earlier than he was used to and left to go wake the others. TK, Kari, and Cody woke up without complaint. When Ken got to Yolei, he shook her gently. Suddenly, her hand reached up and smacked him. He staggered back, Davis laughing, as Yolei opened her eyes. When Yolei saw whom she'd smacked, she reddened.
"S-sorry, Ken," she stammered. "I was dreaming I was being attacked by an evil digimon!"
Ken nodded shortly and went into the kitchen to get some ice.
Meanwhile, Izzy was waking up the 01 Digidestined. He had odd ways of doing it.
"Aahhhhhh!" screamed Sora and Joe as Izzy turned his computer sound up all the way and performed an Illegal Operation (those of you with PCs know what I'm talking about). Mimi, Tai, and Matt just covered their ears in their sleep and rolled over.
Sora and Joe both leapt up, glared at Izzy, and stalked to the bathroom to change. There was a battle there as all the boys argued over who got to use the bathroom first. Sora and Kari sighed as Yolei reached the door and joined the argument.
Now Izzy hooked up a speaker and set it next to Tai's ear. He then proceeded to blast out "Kryptonite" at full force. Tai snored and as the song ended, he opened his eyes slowly and looked at Izzy.
"You really like this song, doncha, Izzy." Tai smiled lightly and slowly sat up. He stood up from his sleeping bag and stumbled to the bathroom. A moment later, there were screams of "Zombie!" which woke up Matt and Mimi. They also looked at Izzy balefully and slowly stumbled to the bathroom. There were more cries of "Zombie!" and everyone but Tai, Matt, and Mimi ran into the living room. The girls held a quick conference and moved into Mimi's room to change. The boys changed in the living room. Mimi and Matt took the kitchen and dining room. (Mimi had explained that her parents were on business trips and wouldn't be back for a week.) Tai came out of the bathroom, fully dressed, noticed no one was in the hall, and fell asleep in the hall.
Izzy looked at Ken. Ken looked at Izzy. Both sighed.
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"So lemme get this straight," said Davis for the fifth time. "We're supposed to go to a temple?!"
"They're called churches here," screamed Mimi for the fifth time.
They were again on a city bus and on their way to First Faith Church (I made the name up). Davis was completely appalled at the thought (I have nothing against church or atheists; Davis just seemed most likely to complain, as he complains about everything. No offense meant to anyone).
"But it'll be boring!" he cried for the fifth time.
"It's the only place it'll work," replied Ken and Izzy together for the fifth time.
"There's got to be another way!" yelled Davis for the fifth time.
"Shut up!" screamed everyone else for the fifth time. Everything was quiet for a minute.
"So lemme get this straight," began Davis for the sixth time. Everyone sighed.
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Ashiri Ihyou plopped gloomily down into her seat. She stared miserably around the church. Everyone there seemed so lively, hugging everyone they knew and shaking hands with every new visitor. The pastor was bouncing around the sanctuary, then disappearing into the hall to talk, then reappearing in the sanctuary to test the microphones and discuss with the worship team.
Ashiri knew church was important but couldn't bring herself to enjoy it. First, she would sit in her spot in the front row while everyone around her stood up, clapped, sang, and danced. She hated it. Then the pastor would tell everyone to "spread the love" and they would all go around hugging and shaking hands. Finally, the pastor would open his bible on the podium and dismiss the children.
As a preteen, Ashiri would go to the preteen class, which was always boring. After two hours of all this church activity, the congregation would let out and she would at last be allowed to leave.
This Sunday began as usual. She waited as everyone got to their seats and the praise leader started up the worship team. There was a drummer, a guitarist, two keyboardists, and four singers, plus the praise leader who played a guitar. The people in the back with their computers would take care of microphone volume and change the lyrics on the TV screens so everyone could sing along.
But as Ashiri slowly began to go into a stupor, she heard whispers. Looking to her right, past the woman next to her, she saw six children slowly making their way up the aisle, dressed funny and talking in a foreign language. They paused near the front row and a moment later six more oddly dressed children, obviously much older, came up behind them. All twelve children sat down in the front rows in the right aisle.
Ashiri very politely asked the woman if she would mind changing places. The woman smiled and agreed.
Ashiri slid into the last seat in the center front row and casually leaned towards the children, who were mostly her age. She listened very carefully and picked up some words. They were Japanese; she could tell because two boys kept calling each other "baka" which means "idiot". She also picked up some names, though she couldn't fit them into the children. Taichi, Yamato, Mimi, Daisuke, Takeru, Iori, Ken, Jyou—it went on and on.
Near the end of the worship hour, there was much dark muttering from them, and one boy with red hair was looking nervous as the others stared murder at him. Suddenly, there was a brilliant flash of light and a cyclone appeared by the podium.
"The rapture has come upon us!" shrieked the pastor and everyone dropped to their knees. But the twelve children ran towards the cyclone. Thinking the Japanese were not aware of the danger, Ashiri dashed up to the front after them. She heard an American cry.
"Digi-port open!" The kid with goggles yelled it out as he held a small device towards the cyclone. A computer appeared in the cyclone. There was another flash of light.
Suddenly Ashiri felt herself spiraling forward. Corny music was playing and colors were blinking past her. Ahead, she saw each child, in turn, shoot forward then fly off to alternating sides. Suddenly she felt herself zoom forward and fly to the right.
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"It's her own fault she got caught up!"
"It can't be, no one who isn't supposed to gets here."
"It doesn't matter, we have to get her back!"
Ashiri groaned and stirred. She opened her eyes and faces swam into view. Most of the kids she had seen were peering down at her. She jumped and sat up so suddenly a girl screamed and fell backwards.
Ashiri gasped as she saw where she was. It was a forest and she was lying on the grass.
"Are you alright?" cried the girl who had fallen over, sitting back up and trying to look dignified.
Ashiri didn't answer, just frowned. "Wait," she said. "You were speaking Japanese before."
"How would you know?" gawked the kid with goggles. Ashiri glared at him.
"I'm not a complete incompetent," she shot back. "I heard you tell him"—she pointed to a kid with a bucket hat—"that he was an idiot, a dork, a geek, and a girl-stealer." At this, both the bucket-hat and a girl in pink spandex reddened; one with anger and the other with embarrassment. The goggle kid got mad.
"What were you doing listening to our conversation? And why are you in America if you speak Japanese?"
"I don't," she retorted. "I just learned some."
"Oh yeah?" he yelled unimpressed. "Why?"
"I have my reasons," she said calmly as she stood up and looked around. Most of the kids were now well back, looking unnerved.
"You didn't answer my question," she said. "Why aren't you speaking Japanese now?"
A kid with spiky brown hair moved closer. "Everyone speaks Digimon here," he explained, explaining nothing.
"Digimon?" she asked incredulously. They all nodded.
"That means digital monsters!" she cried. "What are you weirdoes talking about?"
Then the oddest thing happened. Six of the kids, who had lumps in their shirts, pulled out the lumps. They revealed odd little stuffed creatures, which suddenly moved. Ashiri gave a yelp as each little lump hopped out of the kids' hands and began to change. Each yelled something.
"Chibimon digivolve to….Veemon!"
"Poromon digivolve to…Hawkmon!"
"Minomon digivolve to…Wormmon!"
"Upamon digivolve to…Armadillomon!"
The other two, which turned out to be Gatomon and Patamon, stayed as they were.
Ashiri was very surprised but was not one to show it. She stayed calm and acted as though she was used to this all.
She went to the most intelligent-looking one; the boy with the red hair. He was wearing a green school uniform and was tapping into a laptop. Ashiri sat down next to him.
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A few hours later, Ashiri had not the condensed but the full story of their adventures in the Digital world. She also understood the world and the importance of the kids she was with.
Now the others began to talk.
"Don't worry," said the annoying kid with the goggles, whom she learned was called Daisuke. "We'll getcha back to America as soon as we finish here."
Ken shook his head. "We have to take her back now."
"But I want to stay here!" protested Ashiri. "This place is interesting! I want to learn more!" She was cuddling Wormmon as she spoke, and the little caterpillar was making no complaints. In fact, he was asleep.
Ashiri stood up, dumping Wormmon to the ground. Wormmon scrambled back to Ken as Ashiri glared at them.
"You guys brought me here; I think I can do what I
want from here on." Ashiri turned and walked away. All leapt after her but she
had disappeared in the woods and it was impossible to see anything among the
foliage.
Tai sighed. "Well," he said, "that's that. We have to go looking for her." He paused. "Wait…what about our digimon?"
Veemon and Gatomon grinned at him.
Tai shook his head. "No, no, I mean our digimon. Agumon and Biyomon and the others." He looked at the other Season One Digidestined. They shrugged. Tai sighed and began to call.
"Agumon!" The others joined in. "Gabumon!" "Tentomon!" "Gomamon!" "Biyomon!" "Palmon!"
They all searched for a half an hour, but to no avail. Finally they gave up, deciding they would cross them as they searched for whatever they were supposed to do. They set off through the underbrush looking for…something. After ten minutes they emerged from the forest into a wide valley. They gasped and the digimon laughed as they went running in. Davis grinned and proclaimed that they would rest there. There was then a large fight over who was the leader of the group and the younger Digidestined sighed and lay down. Soon the arguers were so tired they just plopped down and went to sleep.
Patamon, Gatomon, Hawkmon, Armadillomon, and Veemon were deeply involved in a game of "Catch Me and Tickle Me" when Gatomon twitched her sensitive ears and stopped dead in her tracks. Armadillomon slammed into her and began to tickle. Gatomon laughed and finally managed to shove Armadillomon off long enough to say, "Listen."
Everyone paused and listened. "I hear it!" exclaimed Patamon. "It's like wings flapping!"
"We'd know that sound anywhere!" cried Hawkmon. The digimon ran to the sound. Veemon turned around and yelled, "WAKE UP!"
The Digidestined jerked awake and heard it too.
"Biyomon!" cried Sora. They joined the digimon running to the sound. They reached the edge of the valley and saw Biyomon slowing to a stop and dropping behind the trees. They plowed into the trees crying, "Biyomon!"
Yolei pulled up short. "You!" she shrieked. Shoving past her, Davis cried out.
"What the—" Matt said.
"I have a name, ya know," said Ashiri. She got up from where she had been kneeling and glanced at the odd looks on their faces. "What?" she asked.
"Did you see Biyomon here?" asked Sora. "No," replied Ashiri. "Why?"
"Oh…nothing," said Davis quickly, elbowing the others.
Sora shot a death glare at Davis. "Ashiri, are you ready to go home?" she asked.
Ashiri stuck her chin out defiantly. "No," she replied. "This place is really interesting, and the digimon are tight. I found some nice ones that are helping me out."
"Not all of them are nice!" exclaimed Tai. "You need something to protect you! Like a digimon!"
"And I am being protected," she retorted. "I don't need the help of any DigiDestined. I have plans." She turned and ducked behind some bushes. They ran behind the bushes but didn't see her. They heard some rustling over a few feet away and suddenly it was quiet. Everyone searched the whole area but couldn't find her, and eventually they gave up again.
They all trooped back to the field. After a quick lunch they started off again, riding on Nefertimon, Pegasusmon, Raidramon, Halsemon, Anklyomon, and Stingmon.
As the sun dropped lower in the sky, the group began to look for a place to spend the night. They were now traveling in a desert, and all that could be seen, even from Hawkmon's view, was sand for miles and miles. Mimi started muttering about how this was just like before and then a big boat had sailed through the sand and Numemon were on board and she had had to pretend she liked the Captain to get on board and then they had been chased off by a big chicken and they had gone back to aimlessly wandering.
Mimi stopped there because Raidramon, whom she'd been riding, had collapsed. She screamed as she slipped off the side. Sora grabbed Mimi but she fell off too, and they both tumbled into the sand, Davis right behind them.
Raidramon immediately dedigivolved into Chibimon, where he lay on the sand gasping. Soon after, Stingmon, Halsemon, and Pegasusmon also dedigivolved, dumping their riders into the sand. The only one left was Nefertimon, who could go for a while in the sun with no water, being Egyptian. She offered to carry all of them but they knew she couldn't; there wasn't even enough room.
"Why don't I go get help?" suggested Kari. "We can find some food or digimon and bring them back here!"
They agreed and Kari, Tai, and Izzy climbed onto Nefertimon. The others grouped together and took turns shading each other while the others dug in the sand, making tunnels of cool sand to rest in.
"We've got to hurry!" said Tai. "Got anything yet, Izzy?"
Izzy tapped on his laptop rapidly. "Not yet, Tai, but I think we need to go south."
"Which way is that?"
"That way!" said Kari, pointing, a compass in her hand.
"Where'd you get that?" asked Tai. "Your room," she replied. "I knew you'd forget it if I left it up to you."
Tai mouthed wordlessly at her until Izzy knocked him on the head. "There's a tribe of Aridramon two miles south," he informed the two.
"I'm on it!" said Nefertimon, angling herself and moving swiftly.
"There!" cried Izzy, pointing down to the right.
"Where?" asked Kari. "I don't see anything."
Izzy frowned. "It should be right there. They must have camouflage."
Nefertimon flew down and landed near the area they thought the Aridramon were. She dedigivolved into Gatomon and the four walked forward, Izzy and Tai wishing for their digimon.
They went ten feet when the sand in front of them erupted. Kari screamed and fell backwards. Tai caught her while Izzy dove to the side.
"RAAAGG-huh?" A huge digimon was staring down at them. It looked like a whale. It had swum up from the sand and exploded out directly in front of them.
"Um…we'd uh…like some help," said Tai. It looked confused. Kari moved forward.
"Our friends need help!" she hollered up at the gigantic "face" above. "Will you help us?"
Aridramon nodded and dove into the sand. For a moment they thought it had left. But then….
"Ah!" they yelled as the sand beneath them rumbled. Kari's legs pushed up and she collapsed as the sand heaved her up. It's Aridramon! thought Kari.
A moment later the rumbling stopped and the three of them were sitting on top of the whale. Three…?
"Hey!" yelled Gatomon from her spot next to the whale. "You forgot me!"
Aridramon made as if to sink back down for her but Gatomon hurriedly said, "I can manage." She digivolved into Angewomon and flew up. The second she was within reach of Kari she dedigivolved and Kari caught her.
"Tired?" she asked. "I think I'll take a little catnap," replied Gatomon. "Wake me when we get there!"
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"There they are!" cried Davis. He sat back on his heels next to Matt and TK, who had also claimed themselves so manly that they didn't need shade. This was, of course, a lie, but they were all to "manly" to say otherwise. Joe and Cody had declared that perhaps they were not manly but they were also not stupid and had gone into the shady tunnel-under-the-sand with the girls, who complained loudly about the sand soiling their clothes.
Yolei poked her head out of their tunnel. "Shade!" she exclaimed and hopped free of the tunnel. She started a little dance, trying to get off all the sand while the others brushed themselves and each other.
"What the—!" cried Mimi. "It's a giant whale! In the sand?"
"Davis!" shouted Kari, waving. "Joe! Cody! Ken! Sora! Mimi! Yolei! Matt! We found Aridramon! He's here to help us!"
"Great!" yelled Davis, already climbing up. Matt followed, as the others soon did. Kari, Tai, and Izzy helped everyone up. Soon they were all perched comfortably on the sand-faring whale. It swam through the desert while the kids perched comfortably on top, the wind preventing the heat from burning them.
Aridramon took them to the edge of the desert. Before them lay a jungle like the ones they were so used to. They climbed off and Aridramon dove into the sand, showering them with tiny pebbles.
Tai smiled and turned to the jungle, motioning for the others to follow. They walked down a path that was just a bit too convenient for Tai's liking. TK, Cody, Ken, Izzy, Matt, and some others felt the same. But not Davis.
"This is perfect!" he protested when Kari suggested they leave the path. "It'll probably lead us right to the spot!"
"But it might not," said Matt, his hands in his pockets. "More likely it's a trap set by an evil digimon."
"Like Arukenimon," added Cody. Yolei and Ken nodded agreement. Suddenly, the ground in front of Sora, Joe, and Mimi, who were at the end of the group, mounded slightly. The three stepped back. They watched as more dirt pushed upward, and a familiar hand popped out. Another came out, and then came a pink flower and, beneath it, the green face of…
"Palmon!" shrieked Mimi. Palmon climbed out of the hole and dashed off the path into the jungle. "Wait!" cried Mimi starting after her. Sora yanked her back and Mimi noticed that the mounding had started again. It formed a ring around Joe, Mimi, and Sora. They stared nervously at it. Joe tentatively took a step over the mound. Something rose out of the mound with a spraying of dirt and slapped Joe's foot back in. He yelped and stumbled backwards into the girls, who caught him. Then, from the circle around them, rose hundreds of things so numerous and skinny they looked like grass at first. The "grass" covered the mound, making a ring of green. Abruptly, the grass shot upwards and wrapped tightly around the three individually. The ground beneath them fell away and the tentacle-grass carried them down. The dirt above sealed itself and looked perfectly normal.
Ken glanced back. "Where did Mimi, Sora, and Joe go?"