Chapter 30:  Situational Irony

            Misty kept one hand on Ash's arm as the ship sailed into a blinding mist.  "Ash, this is getting spooky…!"

            "So…what do you expect me to do about it?"

            "That's not what I wanted to hear.  Something along the line of 'we'll be okay; stop worrying' was more like what I was hoping for."

            Ash sighed.  "Misty, you worry too much.  That's all I have to say to you."

            "I sure hope you're right…I mean, it's not like there's much to worry about…it's been smooth sailing since---" a huge, underwater explosion interrupted her.  She cringed and gripped Ash's shoulder.

            Tina looked out at the explosion with wide eyes.  A loud, "Cool!" rolled off her tongue.

            "Not when you have her clinging to you like moss," Ash whispered to Tina as he tired to comfort Misty.

            Tina's smile disappeared as she saw Misty's terror.  She wondered to herself whether she should play on Misty's fear or give her a helping hand.  Her heart won out over her love of fun, and she patted Misty on the shoulder.  "It's just water.  Nothing to be scared of."

            "Scared?  …Who's scared?"

            "Uh…you'd better keep an eye on him; he's terrified.  Your boyfriend."

            At the same time, Misty said, "He's not my boyfriend," and Ash also denied, "I'm not her boyfriend!"

            "…Uh-huh, I noticed."             

            "What, are you one of those English students who always has to read between the lines in every last---" "You're blowing this way out of proportion!  We've just been friends for a long time, and---" "It's nothing you should make fun of, even if it were true, and it's not, so---" "You're not the first one to make this mistake, though, so don't feel too badly---"

            Tina smiled and added incredulously, "Riiiiiiiiiight…"

            "Oh, come on!" they both said at once.

            Tina shook her head and looked away, snickering.

            "Can you believe her?" Ash asked Misty under his breath.  He looked at Misty's face and instantly wished he hadn't asked that question.  "Ahem…so…what was that explosion, anyways?"

            Yolei, who had a walkie-talkie to her ear, answered the question:  "It was Cody.  He and Submarimon were fighting off a…robotic seal that fired blue lasers out its nose.  They won."

            Tina leaned over the edge rail of the deck, looking out over the ocean.  "Neato!  Youngdramon needs to get a piece of that action!"

            Yolei gripped Tina's hood and yanked her backwards.  "No, you don't!"  Yolei handed her the walkie-talkie and said, "Get in the cabin!  We don't want this thing to get wet."

            Tina knew that this was just overprotective-ness, but she complied.  She sat in the pilot's cockpit, sat down on a bench, and put her feet up.  "See anything interesting down there, Cody?"

            "Nothing much; it's pretty quiet down here.  I like it "

            "I barely understood you, but I'll take that as a 'no'."      

            "It was a 'no', Yolei."

          "I'm Tina, not Yolei.  She's being overprotective; she sent me into the cabin.  Now I know why they call it 'cabin fever'."

            "You know, we really shouldn't be using this thing for casual conversation.  It's…hello!  I'm seeing another navy-seal…turn the ship hard starboard!"

            " 'Turn the ship hard stubborn,' he says," Tina said to the pilot.  "What's that?  There's a navel steel?"

            "That's navy seal, and it's attacking!"  There was another explosion outside the boat, and a few blue beams of light went flying up from the water.  Tina saw everyone on deck get drenched from the ensuing explosions.

            "Boy, I'm glad I'm in here," Tina thought, looking at the windshield wipers whacking water away from the glass windows.  "Should we send down someone to help you out?"

            "That would be nice, yes."

            Tina stuck her head out the door.  "Cody could use some help, down there!"

            "Betamon, digivolve to…Seadramon!"  Seadramon flew down into the water and fired a chunk of ice out his mouth at the navy seals.  They were too quick to hit, but the distraction of Seadramon was enough to let Submarimon slice through a couple with the blade on his snout.

            "How's it going down there, Cody?" Tina asked.

            "That was the last of the seals.  I'll keep you posted."

            Tina turned to the captain.  "How's the fish intake doing?"

            "At this rate, we'll have a full net in a few hours."

            "A few hours of constant attacks…hmm…should be a good thing that we have umpteen water fighters along…"

            On deck, Misty was clutching Starmie's pokéball, and Ash had his hand on Squirtle's.  They didn't know exactly what was next, but they'd probably want their water pokémon for it.  Then, it came:  catamarine.

            "Aw, gimme a break!" Ash moaned.  "Squirtle, come on out!  …Huh?!"  Ash was in for another surprise:  it was Blastoise, not Squirtle.  "I…I don't believe it!"

            "This is not a bad thing, Ash!" Misty shot back.  "Starmie, go!"

            "Now, how does this guy go…what's its weakness?" he shouted to Kari.

            "Attack the joints of the legs and the head!" Gatomon answered.

            "You heard her, Blastoise!  Bubble beam!"  Blastoise aimed his two cannons at the catamarine and fired a pair of blue beams at its head.  Starmie joined him in firing a barrage of beams at the catamarine.

            "Not working!" Misty moaned.  "Oh, why can't pokémon ever get that big?"  The shots weren't hurting the catamarine much, but they were keeping it at bay.

            Seadramon jumped out of the water and began firing at the catamarine, too.  The freezing blasts from Seadramon were causing thermal stress against the catamarine's lava weapons, and so catamarine decided that Seadramon was a threat that took priority.

            "Tuli Dra Jalnor!"  It fired a stream of lava at Seadramon, and Seadramon was hit.  He regressed back to Betamon.

            It was at this exact moment that another too-close-for-comfort explosion rocked the ship in one direction.  A shiny, blue object flew out of Misty's front pocket and over the edge of the boat.  It landed on Betamon's belly.  "My water stone!" Misty shouted.

            "You have a water stone?"

            "I brought it in case we'd need another starmie; then I'd be able to evolve Staryu!"

            "Well, if Betamon has it…"

            Tina shouted into the walkie-talkie, "Cody, we have a digimon overboard!  Digimon overboard!  Betamon is out cold and in the water; you need to get him!"

            The situation got better:  there was another catamarine licking its chops for the ship…

GAZRIITOR:

Nickname: Navy Seal (Umidatōru)
Real Name: Riidae-tor-zalo
Caste: Ro Var'ka
Modes: One
Special Attacks:
Dar Gazrii
Comments:
The navy seal is a water tor that is designed to attack boats and water digimon. It is capable of digesting biomass, but it is not programmed to attack humans. It has firepower between the rookie and champion levels, and is propelled by a speedy engine whose intake is the seal's mouth. While not as intelligent as a luftwaffle or mandroid, the navy seal is not very stupid as ator go.

******

            Cleaver was stunned… "You saw a column of light, and it healed your arm?"

            "Uh-huh.  And, until I got out, I couldn't tell how long I was in there."

            "Hmm…my guess is that it's a temporal eddy."

            "A temporary what?"

            "Temporal eddy.  It's a whirlpool in time, essentially.  You remember when the Digidestined got their digimon to multiply in another world, right before they beat Malomyotismon?"

            "Yeah."

            "That was the same thing, another temporal eddy was in that world.  Those are time anomalies, and they're really unpredictable.  It's a good thing that only one of you came out of it."

            "What're we going to do about them?"

            Cleaver pensively sighed.  "Well…there's a way to get rid of them…all you need to do is channel enough subatomic energy into one."

            "Subatomic energy, huh?"

            "Radiation, magnetic fields, electric shocks…basically a strong enough special attack would do the trick."

            "Okay…if you say so.  But is it dangerous to have these 'temporal eddies' around?  I mean, the Digidestined seemed to find the one in that world pretty useful, and this last one sure was a help."

            "Well, getting rid of them is the only thing I can think of.  I don't know whether we could use them to our advantage or not.  Like I said, they're unpredictable."

            "Thanks anyways," Takato answered.  His shift was over, and so he walked to the cafeteria, hoping that Henry would be there.  He was.

            "So, how's Rika doing?"

            "She managed to cry, and she told me not to tell you about it."

            "What set her off?"

            "Seeing blood on a headhunter's spear.  I don't know what was going through her mind right then, but I think she's becoming…sensitive."

            "Sensitive, huh?  …Sounds like the kind of person you wouldn't want on seek patrol.  There are some pretty nasty sights, from what I've heard.  You'd hate to hear what those menace machines are doing with the dead bodies, besides eating them."

            "Then don't tell me.  But…do you think I should suggest to her she should get off seek patrol?"

            "I don't know…she might take that as an insult."

            Takato nodded.  "Good point.  And what would we do with her?  I don't think she should be sent down to being a cleaning maid, again."

            "That's true…but she's not all that warm a person, so she wouldn't make a good orphanage supervisor…so what's left?"

            "Lookout duty, I guess."

            Henry snapped his fingers. "Hey…that might be just the thing for her!  I mean, Renamon's Diamond Storm attack turned into Tine UZI, where she shoots all these little spikes rapid-fire out her wrists.  And it's digimon that can have rapid fire that we want for lookout duty, right?"

            "That's true.  I'll talk to Yolei…or…should I talk to Rika, first?"

            "Maybe…I guess you should ask Rika first."

            "I'll go do that."  Takato walked to Rika's room and knocked on the door.

             "WHAT??!!" Rika shouted angrily.

            "It's me!" Takato answered.

            "Go away!  You know I'm not going to talk to you!"

            Takato pulled open the door.  Rika was sitting on her bed, and immediately whipped something behind her back as Takato entered the room.  "I said go away!"

            "This is about a…career change."

            "Go awaaa-aaay!"

            "Rika…you didn't seem to enjoy seeing even a little blood out there, and there are a lot worse things out there than a little blood stain on a spear.  So…I was wondering if you'd like to switch jobs with Henry?  He's on lookout duty, so…you wouldn't get such awful sights."

            Rika glared at Takato, thinking about what he was offering and hating him for intruding.  "I'll think about it.  Go away."

            "What's behind your back?"

            "GO AWAY!!"

            Takato took a few steps closer, and saw that the empty box for a teddy bear was next to her.  He also saw a fuzzy paw, clad in a fake-leather jacket, protruding from behind her back.  "Since when was a teddy bear something to hide?"

            Rika threw the bear at Takato fiercely.  "What do I have to do to get you out of my room?!"

            "Okay, okay!  I'm leaving!"  As he shut the door, he said, "Note to self:  do not confront Queen Resentment in her own personal space."