Chapter Four: You Take the High Road, and I'll Take the Low Road
I shifted around in the tree trunk so I could easily see Motimon's battle. The little pink blob looked like a piece of bubblegum next to the gigantic attacking Digimon. I didn't know how Motimon could even land a punch, especially with his arms. Motimon sucked in a deep breath and blew out a cascade of large, rubbery, pink bubbles while shouting "bubble blast!" They popped lightly on the enemy Digimon's hard exoskeleton.
"Why won't they run?" I whispered. "What would be gained from staying and fighting?" The little Digimon threw himself up at the giant beetle-monster, but was effortlessly tossed aside by one of the Digimon's legs. Koushiro squatted near a tree a few yards away, frantically typing away at his laptop. "What the hell is important enough to be doing on that machine at a time like this?" I chuckled nervously and joked, "he's probably typing up a will."
Motimon was about to get finished off when another voice yelled out "bubble blast!" as the beetle-Digimon was pelted with more pink, rubbery bubbles. They had little impact, but they got his attention. Out from the trees stepped Tai, Sora, Yamato, Jou, and Takeru, beside them stood their Digimon. Angrily, the miniature monsters attacked the beetle with "bubble blasts" and tackles, none of which seemed to have any effect.
I stared helplessly at the fight. "Why did we end up with such weak partners? At least one of them should be able to make at least a dent!" Tears of frustration and helplessness formed at the corners of my eyes as each of our partner Digimon were knocked to the ground. Suddenly, the trees were filled with a brilliant blast of light, and standing where our partner Digimon had been were six new monsters. "Could they be . . . the same Digimon? They have to be, but they look so different!" At that, they threw themselves at the beetle and shot attack after attack at it. These Digimon proved to be significantly stronger than before and together they destroyed the monster. At least, I thought they destroyed it; it burst into a million pieces and disappeared. I cautiously stuck my head out of the tree and looked around before crawling out.
Taichi stepped forward, obviously nervous, and asked, in a loud and clear voice, "are you our Digimon? If not, I demand to know what you did with them." One of the seven, a yellowish tyrannosaurus-looking Digimon leaped forward, hugging Taichi's legs.
"What kind of question is that? Of course we are! We just evolved for the first time; aren't you proud?" Taichi smiled bravely, but I could see his left eye twitching slightly. I chuckled at his expression only to sober up at the sight of a blue sphere staring out from behind a tree. My eyes widened and I shrunk back, but it was gone. I shivered softly as I breathed a sigh of relief. Katamon may have just looked like an over-sized tadpole, but I was still terrified of her, nonetheless.
The others gathered around the group of Digimon, trying to sort out their names and who they belonged to. No one knew what to feel: relieved, scared, curious, or cautious. This was a dangerous place, and we needed to stay on our toes. At least we had added protection, what with our new partners and all.
"Hello! A little help over here," I called to the group as I half- crawled, half-slithered across the ground. Koushiro glanced over and blushed.
"Sorry, we sincerely didn't mean to forget about you," he apologized as he walked over. He helped me to stand and, using his shoulder for support, I walked over to the others. We sat on the leaf-littered ground. The silence was unbearable, so I spoke up.
"So what do we do now?"
"It would appear," answered Jou, "that our main objective would be finding a way home."
"Yeah, well you may not have noticed, but we kinda fell from the sky," Yamato snapped, "and unless you have an extra-large trampoline with you, we're gonna have one hell of a time getting back up there!"
"But," Sora added, "considering that's not possible, at least, I don't think, we'll just have to find another way. Maybe find a pay-phone to call home."
Koushiro shook his head. "There isn't a village, or even a house for that matter, for miles. Besides, if we are stranded in some foreign country, the chance of finding a pay-phone that uses Japanese coins or calling cards is slim."
"We could split up and look," Taichi suggested half-heartedly. "I know it would be extremely dangerous, but we would cover much more ground, even in just a day or so."
"You mean we might have to spend the night here?" Takeru whimpered, clinging to his brother's pant-leg. "Onii-chan, I-I, I miss Mom!" He started to wail uncontrollably. Yamato squatted down and looked him in the eye.
"Takeru, listen to me. You have to be brave about this, even if we have to stay a night. Nothing will happen to you, I promise." Takeru stopped wailing, but still sniffled a little. "If we split up," Yamato told us, "Takeru and I stick together."
"Agreed," Taichi stated. "The safest route would probably be dividing into only two groups, for extra protection in case another Digimon attacks."
"I'd suggest Yamato, Takeru, Koushiro, and Mimi as a group, only because they seem to hit it off so well," Jou commented distastefully. Yamato just glared at him.
"Good plan, splitting those two up," Taichi mumbled. "So then, it's just myself, Sora and Jou. If you guys follow the river and see where it leads, we'll head towards that mountain; maybe we could get a better view of the area." I was rather taken aback at how quickly Taichi had assumed command, but he did seem to know what he was doing. At least, he wasn't as hesitant as the rest of us.
"So, meet back here in, like, two days?" Yamato asked Taichi. "That gives us the rest of today and tomorrow to scout things out, and the day after to get back here. Are we all in agreement about that?" We all nodded, with the exception of Koushiro, who was busily typing away at his laptop.
Without even looking up he asked, "could someone hand me their handheld device?" Taichi reached into his pocket and pulled out the grey thing that had fell from the sky earlier this morning."
"You mean this thing?" he wondered out-loud as he handed it to Koushiro who took it and pushed a few buttons, grinning. Taichi just stared at him and asked, "So, what's so great about this piece of junk?" Koushiro looked up at him is disbelief.
"This is no 'piece of junk!' The design is quite complex and appears to have a variety of uses. Best of all, if I upload a few features . . ." his voice drifted off into a murmur as he continued to type. Stunned, we all watched in silence and a few moments later, Koushiro spoke again. "It would appear that these devices contain a map of the area, see?" He held out Taichi's device and on the screen was what looked like a rough topographical map. "This red dot," he continued, "is probably our location, since it is by a river, and a forest, as we are. The devices also are equipped with a wireless network-like program compatible with my laptop's. Lucky I have a USB cord to upload the program!" We fell over in disbelief. Who keeps a USB cord in his pocket? "Could I have your devices?" We handed them over, shaking our heads.
"Hey," Taichi whispered to us, "have you ever seen a computer model like his? It appears to be a custom job." I nodded.
"It's quite impressive, nothing like my wimpy Celeron processor," I whispered back as Koushiro handed back our devices.
"That should do it. The location of your device is marked on the map by a red dot; other devices are marked by green dots. This way, we can keep basic track of each other. Just don't push any other buttons; I don't know what they do." Impressed, I put the device back in my backpack.
"I suppose," Taichi said, "that we should go if we're to get anywhere today." We stood there uncomfortably for a moment, saying our goodbyes, and went our separate ways.
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I shifted around in the tree trunk so I could easily see Motimon's battle. The little pink blob looked like a piece of bubblegum next to the gigantic attacking Digimon. I didn't know how Motimon could even land a punch, especially with his arms. Motimon sucked in a deep breath and blew out a cascade of large, rubbery, pink bubbles while shouting "bubble blast!" They popped lightly on the enemy Digimon's hard exoskeleton.
"Why won't they run?" I whispered. "What would be gained from staying and fighting?" The little Digimon threw himself up at the giant beetle-monster, but was effortlessly tossed aside by one of the Digimon's legs. Koushiro squatted near a tree a few yards away, frantically typing away at his laptop. "What the hell is important enough to be doing on that machine at a time like this?" I chuckled nervously and joked, "he's probably typing up a will."
Motimon was about to get finished off when another voice yelled out "bubble blast!" as the beetle-Digimon was pelted with more pink, rubbery bubbles. They had little impact, but they got his attention. Out from the trees stepped Tai, Sora, Yamato, Jou, and Takeru, beside them stood their Digimon. Angrily, the miniature monsters attacked the beetle with "bubble blasts" and tackles, none of which seemed to have any effect.
I stared helplessly at the fight. "Why did we end up with such weak partners? At least one of them should be able to make at least a dent!" Tears of frustration and helplessness formed at the corners of my eyes as each of our partner Digimon were knocked to the ground. Suddenly, the trees were filled with a brilliant blast of light, and standing where our partner Digimon had been were six new monsters. "Could they be . . . the same Digimon? They have to be, but they look so different!" At that, they threw themselves at the beetle and shot attack after attack at it. These Digimon proved to be significantly stronger than before and together they destroyed the monster. At least, I thought they destroyed it; it burst into a million pieces and disappeared. I cautiously stuck my head out of the tree and looked around before crawling out.
Taichi stepped forward, obviously nervous, and asked, in a loud and clear voice, "are you our Digimon? If not, I demand to know what you did with them." One of the seven, a yellowish tyrannosaurus-looking Digimon leaped forward, hugging Taichi's legs.
"What kind of question is that? Of course we are! We just evolved for the first time; aren't you proud?" Taichi smiled bravely, but I could see his left eye twitching slightly. I chuckled at his expression only to sober up at the sight of a blue sphere staring out from behind a tree. My eyes widened and I shrunk back, but it was gone. I shivered softly as I breathed a sigh of relief. Katamon may have just looked like an over-sized tadpole, but I was still terrified of her, nonetheless.
The others gathered around the group of Digimon, trying to sort out their names and who they belonged to. No one knew what to feel: relieved, scared, curious, or cautious. This was a dangerous place, and we needed to stay on our toes. At least we had added protection, what with our new partners and all.
"Hello! A little help over here," I called to the group as I half- crawled, half-slithered across the ground. Koushiro glanced over and blushed.
"Sorry, we sincerely didn't mean to forget about you," he apologized as he walked over. He helped me to stand and, using his shoulder for support, I walked over to the others. We sat on the leaf-littered ground. The silence was unbearable, so I spoke up.
"So what do we do now?"
"It would appear," answered Jou, "that our main objective would be finding a way home."
"Yeah, well you may not have noticed, but we kinda fell from the sky," Yamato snapped, "and unless you have an extra-large trampoline with you, we're gonna have one hell of a time getting back up there!"
"But," Sora added, "considering that's not possible, at least, I don't think, we'll just have to find another way. Maybe find a pay-phone to call home."
Koushiro shook his head. "There isn't a village, or even a house for that matter, for miles. Besides, if we are stranded in some foreign country, the chance of finding a pay-phone that uses Japanese coins or calling cards is slim."
"We could split up and look," Taichi suggested half-heartedly. "I know it would be extremely dangerous, but we would cover much more ground, even in just a day or so."
"You mean we might have to spend the night here?" Takeru whimpered, clinging to his brother's pant-leg. "Onii-chan, I-I, I miss Mom!" He started to wail uncontrollably. Yamato squatted down and looked him in the eye.
"Takeru, listen to me. You have to be brave about this, even if we have to stay a night. Nothing will happen to you, I promise." Takeru stopped wailing, but still sniffled a little. "If we split up," Yamato told us, "Takeru and I stick together."
"Agreed," Taichi stated. "The safest route would probably be dividing into only two groups, for extra protection in case another Digimon attacks."
"I'd suggest Yamato, Takeru, Koushiro, and Mimi as a group, only because they seem to hit it off so well," Jou commented distastefully. Yamato just glared at him.
"Good plan, splitting those two up," Taichi mumbled. "So then, it's just myself, Sora and Jou. If you guys follow the river and see where it leads, we'll head towards that mountain; maybe we could get a better view of the area." I was rather taken aback at how quickly Taichi had assumed command, but he did seem to know what he was doing. At least, he wasn't as hesitant as the rest of us.
"So, meet back here in, like, two days?" Yamato asked Taichi. "That gives us the rest of today and tomorrow to scout things out, and the day after to get back here. Are we all in agreement about that?" We all nodded, with the exception of Koushiro, who was busily typing away at his laptop.
Without even looking up he asked, "could someone hand me their handheld device?" Taichi reached into his pocket and pulled out the grey thing that had fell from the sky earlier this morning."
"You mean this thing?" he wondered out-loud as he handed it to Koushiro who took it and pushed a few buttons, grinning. Taichi just stared at him and asked, "So, what's so great about this piece of junk?" Koushiro looked up at him is disbelief.
"This is no 'piece of junk!' The design is quite complex and appears to have a variety of uses. Best of all, if I upload a few features . . ." his voice drifted off into a murmur as he continued to type. Stunned, we all watched in silence and a few moments later, Koushiro spoke again. "It would appear that these devices contain a map of the area, see?" He held out Taichi's device and on the screen was what looked like a rough topographical map. "This red dot," he continued, "is probably our location, since it is by a river, and a forest, as we are. The devices also are equipped with a wireless network-like program compatible with my laptop's. Lucky I have a USB cord to upload the program!" We fell over in disbelief. Who keeps a USB cord in his pocket? "Could I have your devices?" We handed them over, shaking our heads.
"Hey," Taichi whispered to us, "have you ever seen a computer model like his? It appears to be a custom job." I nodded.
"It's quite impressive, nothing like my wimpy Celeron processor," I whispered back as Koushiro handed back our devices.
"That should do it. The location of your device is marked on the map by a red dot; other devices are marked by green dots. This way, we can keep basic track of each other. Just don't push any other buttons; I don't know what they do." Impressed, I put the device back in my backpack.
"I suppose," Taichi said, "that we should go if we're to get anywhere today." We stood there uncomfortably for a moment, saying our goodbyes, and went our separate ways.
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