Chapter 31: Turnabout Is Fair Play.
Submarimon swam up under Betamon. How he was going to get him back on the ship was a hard question; Submarimon had no arms…the only option is to lift him out on his back, drive up to side of the boat, and hope that someone would be able to pull him up somehow. Submarimon felt something small tap his hull and come to a rest on his fin as he lifted Betamon…
"Submarimon, radio digivolve to…Kurodadumon, the unquestionably reliable guardian of the sea!"
"What?!" Cody looked straight ahead, and there didn't seem to be anything unusual; there was still Submarimon's harpoon protruding from the front of the cockpit…but…Cody looked behind himself, and saw that his cockpit had just become the forearm of a much larger, lobster-like creature. Kurodadumon had two arms; one had a harpoon and the other had a huge, two-bladed claw. "Submarimon, you digivolved?"
"I can't explain it, either. But, for once, this is a good surprise!" Kurodadumon flew up out of the water and deposited Betamon (and the water stone, although he never knew the stone was there) on the deck of the ship. He turned to the catamarines. "Planning on eating some fish? Get your own! Dreadnaught Barrage!" He opened his claw, and a deluge of energy shots flew from the claw at one catamarine's head.
The catamarine snarled and fired a few gobs of lava at him, but Kurodadumon was too quick. He clamped his claw down on the catamarine's head, and it was too much for the catamarine to take. The other fell just as quickly.
"Wow. Just another way to get to ultimate," Yolei thought aloud.
"But…how?" Kari asked.
"It was this," Misty answered, holding up her water stone. "These evolution stones let our pokémon evolve. It must have the same effect on digimon."
Ash cut in, "But Misty, Brock told me he tried to use his fire stone on a Tanemon, and it didn't work."
"But what else could it be?"
Kari cut in, "Hold it! There's a difference between Tanemon and Submarimon: Submarimon is an armor digimon. Maybe the armor lets him use it, somehow."
"Maybe…we'll have to test the theory sometime."
The rest of the voyage was spent warding off attacks from other menace machines. Even if there was only one navy seal in the attack, it would still relentlessly assault the ship---not that it had a chance of winning at all. It was annoying, and Kurodadumon finally ended up tiring out and switching shifts with Ikkakumon.
When there were no attacks, there was a heavy suspense that hung over the ship. When was the next attack going to arrive? How awful would it be? Was there a typhoon over the horizon? Would they lose their bearings and end up lost at sea? The suspense was so severe that the attacks were sometimes a relief.
Sometimes, the attacks weren't a relief, though: the biggest threat was when two catamarines and a crackone appeared, flanking the boat on all sides.
"Okay, not good!" Yolei gulped.
"There's a way out of this, Yolei: Izzy's not the only one with his crest back! Ikkakumon, digivolve!"
"Ikkakumon, digivolve to…Zudomon!"
"Zudomon, the crackone has the most firepower! Use his attacks on the other two!"
"Will do, Joe!" Zudomon shouted as he dove underwater. Zudomon didn't have to wait long for the aggressive crackone to open fire.
"Tuli Telo Non!" it shouted at him, and a pair of green balls of energy flew at him.
"I'm a little rusty at playing squash, but here goes nothing… Vulcan's Hammer!" He pounded the two shots with his sledge, one to each of the two catamarines. The shots hit their heads squarely.
It got better: the crackone was too stupid to realize that its attacks were doing more harm than good. It kept firing at Zudomon, and Zudomon kept knocking the shots into the catamarines. The catamarines sank before long.
"Now, it's just you and me, robo-sushi!"
"Tuli Telo Non!"
Zudomon reflected the shot back at the crackone, but the crackone was maneuverable enough to dodge. "That didn't go so well…Vulcan's Hamm---" Zudomon began advancing on the crackone with his hammer ready to strike, but the crackone---although it was stupid---saw that coming. It fired at the exact moment when Zudomon's grip was loosest, and the hammer went flying over the ship.
"NO!!" Yolei shouted.
Zudomon gulped. "Okay, then…Taser Horn!" he shouted, firing bolts of electricity from his forehead. The bolts scrambled the circuitry of the crackone for long enough for Zudomon to get his hammer back and make the crackone into scrap metal.
The crew on the deck was tense. They knew that the catamarines were finished, but---when Zudomon's hammer went flying---they thought he was a goner. It was a huge relief when Zudomon came to the surface. There were shouts of victory before he even said, "All clear!"
There weren't more attacks worth noting for a while after that. Finally, the captain said, "Time to get back to shore. I think we've got as much fish as we're ever going to get."
Tina relayed the message to the Digidestined and the crew on deck. Zudomon regressed back to Gomamon, and they began pulling the net in. It was a huge catch; the lack of people fishing for a while let the local fish population grow. They had difficulty getting the net out of the water, even. Everyone ended up with the stench of fish clinging to their rainsuits.
Tina left the cabin, satisfied that the voyage was almost over. She said to Yolei, "Looks like all that's left is to make it back in one piece."
"Honey, get back in there!"
"Mom, even if we get attacked, Swampangemon could just carry us back! I've been cooped up in that cabin all morning! I need some fresh air."
Yolei frowned. "All right. But the first sign of trouble, and I want you back in the cabin."
Fortunately for Tina, there was no sign of trouble---yet. But her excuse for getting "fresh air" was a lame one: the air above the ship stunk of dying fish. The thought that she would be eating the fish tomorrow made her feel uneasy. In fact, the thought of being lost at sea made her feel less uneasy than did the thought of those fish. But, then again, that's the kind of girl Tina was: she would rather be out in the "great white somewhere" than at home…eating dead fish. But, then again, this surreal planet that Earth had become was basically one big "great white somewhere"… Tina sighed. She looked over at Youngdramon. "Hey, Youngdramon! You're eating that squid raw!"
Youngdramon spat the beak over the deck of the ship. "That's what they do in Japan. It's called sushi."
"I know what it's called, but that stuff put the salmon in salmonella (1)! That squid could be riddled with anthrax!"
"Oh, right!" Youngdramon clutched her long neck and gagged, pretending to be dying. "Oh! Tell…tell Tina that my POG collection is in the safe deposit box at the bank! ---oh! OH!"
Tina giggled. Then, all of a sudden…WHAM! A crackone slammed into the side of the boat, with its tentacles gripping the deck and its beak clapping. The boat tilted in the crackone's direction, and a few people went rolling its way. One of them was Ash…
******
Pixie's life flashed before her eyes as she plummeted into the lava pool. Of course, she didn't know about Metalgarurumon's abilities…
"Metal Wolf Claw!" A barrage of freezing missiles flew into the lava and turned it into a collection of warm, broken stones. The stones were sharp, and Pixie felt them cut her as she went down.
"Milady!" Big Blue shouted.
"It's better than her burning to a crisp!" Matt shouted back. "Gary, get rid of the other one the same way!"
"Right! Pokéball, go!" The catamarine fell into the ball without a whimper of resistance. Another incoherent scream of joy rose up form the cheerleading squad.
"♪Gary, Gary, getting greater! He's better than The Terminator!♫"
"Riiiiiiight…" Matt murmured, not particularly wanting to know who "The Terminator" was.
"Master Pixie!" Big Blue shouted, picking her up off the ground.
"How is she?" Matt yelled, running towards Big Blue.
"I don't know if she'll recover," Big Blue answered, shaking his head.
"Hold on! Medic!" Gary shouted to his pokémon. He immediately began spraying super potion on Arcanine, Gyarados, and Nidoking.
"What're you doing?" Matt yelled across the block to Gary.
"Healing my pokémon!"
"We have someone over here who needs it more than they do!"
"In a minute!"
"NO! Not in a minute! She needs help, and she needs it now!"
Gary acted as though this argument wasn't worth his time, and he continued spraying his pokémon with the potion. "If she's alive now, she can wait a few seconds."
"She's in pain and losing blood! Your pokémon might've gotten hit with a hard attack, but they'll survive! She might not!"
"Ho-hum."
"Metalgarurumon, take that medicine from him and bring it over here!" Matt shouted. Gary was clearly wrong in letting Pixie down like this, and there just wasn't time to let Gary be a conceited brat.
Metalgarurumon snatched the potion out of Gary's hands and brought it to Matt. Matt read the instructions and began spraying Pixie's wounds. They healed surprisingly quickly, but not before Gary walked up to Matt and yelled, "I wasn't done with that! That's private property, and you can't just---!"
"You can't just let Pixie die! If you can't give up your precious medicine for forty seconds to let her live, then you aren't mentally fit to use this stuff in the first place!" Matt angrily shoved the potion into Gary's chest.
Gary was taken aback, and just about believed what Matt said. Then a "Gary's better than that mocker; Matt is just a big-mouthed talker!" snapped him out of his dismay (or back into his usual conceit-mode) and he answered, "Thank yew, ladies!"
Big Blue scooped Pixie up and laid her in the same place where they had put Matt a few days ago. "Looks like déjà vue," Pixie sighed.
"I know," Matt agreed. He scooped up more gauze that had been meant for him and wrapped Pixie's wounds in it. "I'll get some more food for you. You'll be fine."
"Thanks…for saving me, Gabumon."
"No problem. Remind me to catch you next time, though. That way, this won't happen again!"
Pixie was breathing heavily. "Big Blue?"
"Yes, milady?"
"In future, we need to be ready to move when there's another attack like that one. Unless Gary has an unlimited supply of those capturing balls, we'll need to be careful."
"I do not recommend we deal with the boy. He is arrogant and self-centered. Not the best qualities for an ally."
"True, but he has those healing potions and his pokémon are nothing to sneer at. And those capture spheres…" Pixie winced in pain and rolled over to try to alleviate the agony. "His capture spheres are a major help."
"Perhaps. But the risks of his actions under pressure are too great."
"You may be right…"
(1) I'm sure that Japanese people think that Americans are just as sick-minded for eating raw vegetables as we think they are for eating raw fish. Just to keep from offending them, I'll present both sides of the argument and say that our raw vegetables put the "choke" in "artichoke."