"We're almost there." Whamon called down, his chuckle gone. "Just a little further, a little further."
Inside, the walls shock and the passengers were jostled around as Whamon squeezed into the increasingly smaller cavern. Near panic and motion sickness were painted clearly on the passengers faces, as they could hear MetalSeadramon come closer and closer.
And then.... a strange, welcome yet unnatural silence. They had reached the surface, alive.
"Is everybody okay?" Tai asked, as digimon and humans crawled out of Whamon into the bright sunlight. They were in the mouth of some sort of river, with land on two sides of them and a dam on the third. There were trees where they could find food and shelter.
"Where-where are we?" Izzy asked, clutching his laptop to his chest.
"The sun's so bright.' Tai said, awed, like it was the first he'd been outside before in his life. The others nodded in agreement. They understood. You never appreciated something so much until you lost it.
"I feel I've been underwater so long, I might never take a bath again." Matt joked and everyone laughed, partly because the joke had been funny, partly from relief.
"Mind telling me what's so funny." A sharp voice broke into the laughter, turning it to cries of surprise as MetalSeadramon broke the surface. All over the bay, Divermon and the time traveling sharks popped up, surrounding Whamon.
"How can it be?" Sora asked nobody in particular.
MetalSeadramon, egotistic dramon he was, assumed she was talking to him, "It was only a matter of time before you came up for air. Now you're going down with the ship.
"Everyone, hold on." Whamon warned as he began to swim in a tight circle, "Tidal Wave!" He swam faster and faster, tighter and tighter, 'round and 'round, creating waves that got bigger and bigger, washing away the Divermon and sharks.
"Should I?" Agumon asked, as Whamon began to slow down.
"Sure, go for it."
Go for what? Cody wondered.
Tai turned to his group. Some, like Joe, were still holding on and others, like Matt, were already on their feet. "While Agumon gets their attention, let's cross over a prepare for battle."
"Aye-aye."
"Gomamon and I will stay here and bring up the rear."
Sora turned on Joe, "Stop being such a coward!"
"Here I go! Agumon warp digivolve to WarGreymon!"
Oh, Wow. Cody was stunned speechless at Agumon's transformation into a mega. He watched with wide eyes as WarGreymon flew upward to attack MetalSeadramon.
"Kid, c'mon." Joe called, "You and your digimon can ride with us."
Cody snapped himself out of his daze. Biyomon, Tentamon, Gabumon and Gomamon had already digivolve and were headed for shore.
"Hold on to Ikkakumon's fur like this." Joe instructed, "And stay away from the horn."
Cody did as he had been told and they headed toward the sandy beach. He was thankful they didn't have to worry about the Divermon and the sharks anymore.
"Striking Fish!"
"Shark Bite!"
Okay, so maybe Cody spoke too soon.
"Harpoon Torpedo! Harpoon Torpedo! Harpoon Torpedo!" The missiles rained down toward the turquoise water. Somewhere in the sky chrome digizoid metal clashed against chrome digizoid metal as the two mega's battled it out. Arrows shot across the sky and frustrated sharks jumped out to bite anyone foolish enough to get in their way.
In dodging the attacks, Joe accidentally knocked Cody off Ikkakumon . Luckily, the water only came up to Cody's waist and he could easily wade to shore. Unluckily, one of the sharks spotted him and headed for this vulnerable prey.
"Diamond Shell!" There was clash of armadillo armor against the sharp triangles that made up the shark's skin.
"Poison Ivy!" Green vines wrapped themselves around Cody's waist and yanked him forward, up on to the sand and out of harm's way.
As he collapsed on the sand, Cody heard behind him, "Ikkakumon digivolve to Zudomon!"
"Thank-you, Palamon. And, you to Armadillomon." Cody muttered.
He didn't hear Palamon say, "Who do you know my name? I never told you?"
Cody could hear, however, the battle being waged behind him but he didn't move. Something in him had gone over the edge. It just didn't add up anymore. Part of him gave up. Part of him thought he was already dead. Another part reasoned he was in the weirdest dream of his life. Yet another part refused any of this was happening. Only the fifth part told him to get up and help. But that fifth part was so small and so weak, he just closed his eyes, lay still and listened.
He listened as MetalSeadramon ripped apart the landscape with his 'River of Power' and WarGreymon retaliated with a 'Terra Force'. Zudomon's 'Vulcan Hammer' went up against 'Striking Fish' after 'Striking Fish', 'Shark Bite' after 'Shark Bite'. And then...
"Twin Horn!"
Cody's eyes flashed open. He knew only one digimon with that attack. Cody looked up and there was Aquilamon, little more than ten feet away.
Yolei jumped down and embraced Cody in a bear hug, "You're alive. You're alive! YOU'RE ALIVE!!"
Joe was on shore by then, with everyone else, minus Izzy, Gatomon, Tai and Kari who were still on Kabuterimon , cheering WarGreymon on. "Is everyone okay?" He asked but everyone ignored him.
Sora came over to Cody and Yolei. "Who are you?" she wanted to know.
"Yolei's my name, digidestiny is the game."
Sora cracked a smile, "Oh, the girl with the giant bird, right?"
"What have you been saying about me?" Yolei demanded.
Cody could only shrug and smile. He didn't say a word but his eyes conveyed deep meaning. He'd missed them all so much.
"No time for that." Davis yelled as he ran over the beach towards them, Ken a close second. "Those things are coming fast." Then, to Ken, "Ready?"
"Ready."
"ExVeemon!"
"Stingmon!"
"DNA digivolve to Paildramon!"
Someone said, "Wow."
Someone else gasped.
Another someone mentioned something about WarGreymon being caught in MetalSeadramon's jaws. But there was no time to sort it all out, because they were under attack.
They were everywhere. Tiny birds, the size of a grown man's hand. They swarmed the digimon and digidestined at the beach, pulling out hair, ripping clothing, tearing skin and going after any and all unprotected eyes. The birds were swooping all around them, blocking off vision, so it was difficult to see what was going on between MetalSeadramon and WarGreymon.
Ken caught a glimpse of Whamon leaping out of the water to attack MetalSeadramon.
Yolei thought she heard MetalSeadramon, "River of Power."
Cody later remembered how his blood ran cold when he heard Tai scream, "Whamon!"
In the last seconds of the fight, Davis escaped the swarm to witness the destruction of MetalSeadramon. It was the most magnificent and the most horrific sight he'd ever seen.
They gathered around the beached Whamon, trying not to look at the gashing hole in his side. With the destruction of MetalSeadramon, the Divermon and the Time Traveler had fled. The digimon had dedigivolved to their rookie forms except the three that were now Minomon, DemiVeemon and Koromon.
"Digidestined," Whamon whispered, "please, save this world."
And they watched, as the digimon known as Whamon broke apart and flew up into the sky. The children's pleas of, "Don't go." could not stop the process.
"Whamon." TK was on the verge of tears, "Where did he go?"
"Look, there, everybody." Izzy pointed.
"It's happening to MetalSeadramon, too."
"They're floating in the sky." Sora's voice held a mixture of awe and horror.
"And look," Davis added, 'most of it's heading for that strange mountain I saw before."
"But," Cody put in, "some of it is following those birds."
"What does it mean?" Yolei wondered aloud.
She wasn't expecting a reply but Ken answered anyway, "I don't know but, somehow, it feels important."
To be continued...