Sixteen digimon and humans stood around motionless, silent digimon they'd rescued, not sure what to do. It looked like a strange cross between a mini submarine and a torpedo. Everyone was a bit soaked, seeing that, along with bring in the digimon, Whamon had let in tonnes of water. They were all wondering if soggy clothes for the rest of the day had been worth it.
Matt tapped the metal exterior with his foot and jumped back as the hatch opened, to reveal the unconscious body of a young boy. They all gasped, except Sora and Tai, who pulled him out and checked to see if he was breathing. He was.
With the boy safely out of the hatch, the strange digimon dedigivolved into a smaller creature, that somewhat resembled an armadillo. It crawled over and laid it's head on the boy's chest, calling softly, "Cody. Cody. Cody."
Izzy immediately began to look up information on this digimon and was somewhat confounded when he couldn't locate any information.
Meanwhile, Tai had moved forward and was gently prying a rectangle shaped box out of the boy's grip. It was some sort of mini laptop. He put the computer aside for Izzy and, since no one objected, began to go through the boy's pockets.
"What are you doing, Tai?" Matt asked, sharply.
Tai continued to go through the pockets, pulling out interesting looking stones, candy wrappers and a device that strangely resembled their own digivices, deliberately avoiding Matt's question and his cold stare.
"What are you doing Tai?"
"None of your business."
A hand clamped down on Tai's wrist and roughly yanked his back, so the two boys were nose to nose. "it's bad enough that he's unconscious but you're stealing from him, too."
"I'm not stealing. I'm checking to make sure he isn't dangerous."
"He's a little kid, Tai. How dangerous can he be?"
"How should I know? Besides, you didn't even want to rescue him."
"That was before I knew the kid was inside."
"Davis. TK. Quit fighting. It's okay." a young, raspy voice, wary but steady, said. Tai and Matt looked down to see the unconscious boy was no longer unconscious.
"Davis. TK. Quit fighting. It's okay."
Even though Cody hadn't known what the two boys had been arguing over, he'd told them to stop anyway. He hated arguing. But when they had looked, or rather glared, down at him, Cody could feel his spine tingle and his breath caught in his throat. This was all wrong.
Sure, Davis had goggles but his hair was not his hair. And where was TK's hat? And when did TK start wearing sleeveless shirts. Where was Davis' bomber jacket?
Cody sat up, confused and disoriented. Armadillomon was beside him and, using a gesture he'd picked up from his human friends, raised a forelimb to his mouth, indicating Cody should be silent.
Cody nodded understanding, his memory slowly returning.
Oh, yeah. We went back in time. Got attacked by those weird sharks. Where am I?
Frantically, he began to look around. He was in a big cavern of some sort, that smelt oddly like fish, and around him was gather sixteen human and digimon. Though the humans looked vaguely familiar, the digimon were very familiar.
Oh... If Cody had known any profanity, he surely would have uttered it.
There was Tentamon, next to a short, red head ('Izzy', Cody realized with a jolt) typing away at a laptop, muttering on about how the digimon had to be here somewhere. A girl dressed in pink from head to toe was next to a dorky boy with big glasses (Mimi! Joe!), sitting with Palamon and Gomamon. And two kids, about a year younger than Cody himself (Cody couldn't believe it. TK and Kari!), Gatomon and Patamon standing beside them.
"Look, I don't know who Davis is but I want to know how you know my brother?"
Cody turned his attention back to the boys who he now identified as Tai and Matt.
"TK's a friend of mine." Cody explained, truthfully. "He looks a bit like you."
Suddenly a flood of questions came all at once:
"Who are you?"
"Where are you from?"
"Why am I unable to identify your digimon?"
"How old are you?"
"Is this a digivice?"
"Do you like mushrooms?"
"Stop interrogating the boy." A girl with a blue hat-helmet said sharply, sitting beside Cody. He'd missed her before because she'd been standing behind Tai and had been hidden by his hair.
"I'm Sora." She said, smiling. Her smile has a calming effect and Cody found himself relaxing ever so slightly.
"I'm Cody" And then, for lack of anything better to say, "Do you play tennis?"
Sora laughed. "No, too boring. I like soccer better."
***
Davis and Ken didn't say much as they flew across the sky. Just,
"There they are! And something following them!"
And, when they got close enough to see Yolei paler than a sheet,
"Yolei, what's wrong?"
To which they got this answer, "A whale! A whale swallowed Cody!"
"What do you mean a whale swallowed Cody?"
Yolei glared, "What part didn't you understand, genius? A big whale came up and swallowed Submarimon whole."
"Are they..."
"How should I know! It's not like he spit them back out or anything."
Ken hung back, not wanting to get involved. Instead he mused to himself, Yolei can change her moods on the turn of a dime. One minute she's sad, the next she want's to bash Davis' head in. I feel sorry for the guy who falls in love with her.
Back inside Whamon, the digidestined were being relatively quiet. They'd given up questioning the boy, as known as Cody. They hadn't managed to get a heck of a lot out of him, only the basics. His name was Cody and his digimon was Armadillomon. He's been alive for nine years, practiced kendo in his spare time and disliked mushrooms. Also he had a talent for evading questions by answering with a question or just refusing to answer, pretending he hadn't heard or didn't understand. He seemed reluctant to lie.
Armadillomon was just as tight lipped. Weather it was because he was normally shy or because boy and digimon held a shared secret.
Suddenly, Biyomon's head perked up, "What's that?"
Whatever small bit of noise that had been going on stopped abruptly, as everyone listened to the faint yet steady sound of a propeller.
"It sound like Divermon!"
No one moved, nor dared to breath for that matter, as the sound of the propeller came closer, came right over top of them and then, after what was a near eternity, moved. They let out a collective sigh of relief.
"We're not out of danger yet. You'll have to stay-"
"It's coming back!" Biyomon interrupted quickly. True, it was coming back, getting louder and louder and then stopping. There was a second of pure tension and then...
"Striking Fish!!"
"They've found us!"
Don't look back. Don't look back. Ken told himself sternly, I spend too much time looking back. Look forward. Like Davis and Stingmon and Yolei. Don't look back.
Of course, few people take their own advice and Ken was no exception.
"Oh Shit."
"Ken, language. Lady present." Yolei scolded. Then she looked back over her shoulder and echoed Ken sentiment.
"What are you two... ah, man."
The three humans looked back grimly, not only at the gaining flock but also at the sharks that were jumping out of the water. They were breaking apart and then reforming as flying creatures to join the flock.
"What's going on Ken?" Stingmon asked, trying to look over his shoulder.
"Nothing to worry about." Ken assured, hoping he sounded calmer than he felt, "You just concentrate on flying."
"I think I see land ahead." ExVeemon reported.
Davis squinted, "Where?"
"It's there. Trust me."
"Why is it that whenever you say that I suddenly want to throw up?"
"Oh, very funny, Yolei."
"Thank you. I thought so."
"Are there trees?" Ken asked, ignoring the exchange between ExVeemon and Yolei.
"I think so. Why?"
"No reason," other than that we are going to need them to hide pretty soon. But Ken didn't say that.
"Watch out!" Izzy warned, somewhat unnecessarily.
Something hit Whamon in the side and everything shook.
"We're being attacked. Hang on everyone. I've got an idea."
There was the sound of a thousand bubbles being blown and then, if you listened carefully, the sound of one very confused Divermon.
Silently, Whamon slipped away from the scene of the crime.
Cody and Armadillomon sat back and watched the others. He'd never seen the older kids so scared before. Where were those competent young adults Cody knew, who'd face terrible odds and still come out on top? Wherever they were, they weren't present. Was that really Matt squeezing the living daylight out of TK, who, in turn, had Patamon clamped in his arms? Was Mimi on the verge of breaking down and crying? And Palamon, too? Sora looked at her wits end. She wanted to comfort her friends but didn't seem to know how. Kari and Gatomon had found themselves huddled in a corner. Tai was pacing, acting frustrated and angry but Cody suspected he was really scared inside. And Joe, Cody's personal mentor, the guy who always had the right answer to every thing, seemed at a lose of what to do. Even Gomamon lacked that one joke needed to lighten the mode.
They're just like me. Cody realized slowly, They're just like the rest of us.
Izzy was hunched over his computer, his face sent in a frown. "According to the audio sensors, there are three... no, four... wait, five, six, seven-ten more behind us. Some of those sharks are following, too. Prodigious! Some of the sharks are morphing into Divermon."
Tai yanked the laptop away from Izzy to get a better look for himself. "Izzy, I don't know what that word means but this is definitely not prodigious. This is bad." He tossed the laptop back to Izzy and ignored the death glare he received. "That's it! I'm tired of running. C'mon Whamon, let's go up to the surface and fight!"
"Right!" Apparently, Tai's impatience was rubbing off.
"Well, Whamon?"
"Let me try one more thing." The digimon replied, "Hopefully, it will work."
"What do you mean hopefully in will work?"
"That's what the Captain of the Titanic said." Mimi whined and no one bothered to point out that the Captain of the Titanic had said no such thing. "And what if it doesn't work? What's plan B?"
Yes, Cody asked himself, what is plan B? We can't fight, not with all those extra sharks. I have to do something.
"Can you armor digivolve?"
"I could if I could get something to eat. Why?"
"The only reason those sharks are chasing us is because you and I are here, maybe if we leave, they'll follow us."
"I doubt that, Cody. If those sharks are who we think they are, they're after the original digidestined."
"Then what should I do?" Cody couldn't keep back the whine completely. He didn't like to whine, it was so childish but it had just slipped out and he hated-No, extremely dislike, he corrected himself,- it.
He felt like his head was going to explode. He had to think up something, and fast. But he couldn't stand being in charge, having to make choices, make mistakes. That's why they had a leader. That's why they had Davis.
Oh, think, think, Cody ordered himself, We'll eventually have to go to the surface. And we'll have too fight. More people on our side, the better.
"What are you doing, Cody?"
"Trying to contact the others. Oh, if I'd been thinking straight, I would have done that first thing."
"Don't worry, Cody. You're doing it now."
"Oh, c'mon Davis, answer, you idiot!"
Suddenly, from outside came a scream and a muffled explosion. Cody's head shot up in surprise, "What was that?"
"One of the Divermon just... exploded."
"That was Whamon's plan all along. They couldn't take the pressure."
"And the shark's"
"Aren't following."
Cody sigh, glad one problem had been taken out of his hands, and went back to trying to contact the others. "Yolei, why don't you answer. You can't be in as much trouble as I am."
"It bit me!" Yolei yelled, as she cradled her injured arm close to her body.
"Did it break the skin?" Ken yelled back, as Stingmon dodged the swooping birds. They were all over, the tiny devils.
"No, I don't think so."
"Then stop whining." Davis yelled, "And hurry up, we're almost there."
Everyone was crowded around Izzy and his computer, admiring the view and praising his idea for using Kari's whistle for SONAR.
Everyone, Tai noted, except that kid and his digimon.
He was sitting be himself, scowling over that mini laptop of his.
Okay, let's try Yolei again, Cody said to himself but before he could press the send button, his D-terminal was ripped out of his hands.
"Hey!" Cody protested and looked up. Great,Tai. Just what I need. "May I please have my D-terminal back?" Cody asked, as politely as possible and then mentally added, without breaking it.
Tai ignored him, "So, what were you doing?"
"Trying to contact my friends."
"They wouldn't be the Dark Masters, would they?" Tai was trying to be suave and failed miserably.
"No, they would not. Her name is Yolei." Cody grabbed for his D-terminal but Tai held it out of reach. Oh, I so don't have time for this.
"Yolei, that's a nice name." Sora commented, coming up behind Tai, "What's she like?"
Cody shrugged, "Nice, I guess. Wears glasses, long hair, likes computers, flies around on her giant bird digimon."
"Really." Sora said, standing on her tippy toes, trying to pry the D-terminal out of Tai's hand. He would let her. "She your girlfriend."
"No way."
"Uh-huh."
"Truth."
"If you say so. What about your other friends?"
"Sora, does this have a point?" Tai injected.
"I'm trying to prove to you that Cody is our friend, not our enemy. Now, give back..."Sora faltered and looked to Cody for help, "What is it called?"
"D-terminal."
"Now, give back the D-terminal."
"Not until I'm done with it."
"NOW, Taichi Kamiya."
"Alright, alright." Grudgingly, he returned the D-terminal and went off.
"Thank-you."
"No prob. Now, your friends. Any besides this Yolei?"
"Davis and Ken, I guess."
"And that TK guy you mentioned."
"Right."
"Anyone else? That seems like a lot of guys."
"..." Oh great, how am I going to answer without lying.
"I..um,-"
Suddenly, something rammed into Whamon's side.
"It's Metal Seadramon!"
To Be Continued...