Roten let out a long yawn she wasn't able to conceal with the back of her hand. Candlemon looked back at her from his perch on Kokoroe's shoulder and laughed. "Still sleepy, eh? Hard to believe, since you were the last to wake up."
"Well, sorry!" Roten said. "I can't help it if I'm not used to running off of 5 hours of sleep on a hard mat in the wide open in a foreign world on a battle-stricken island!"
"Roten, chill," Falcomon said, walking speedily alongside of her. "Don't worry, Once we're to the main land we can find a nice town to sleep in!"
"Or we could meet up with Polamon and Kodimon again," Elecmon said with a snicker. "You never know!"
"Knock it off," Popomon said, looking down at Elecmon. Elecmon walked alongside Shinzen while Popomon sat on Denkou's head, confortable nestled in his messy brown hair.
"Wanna say that to my face puffball?" Elecmon said, looking up as his tail began to spark. He promptly put it out when Shinzen hit the top of his head with a fist.
"Knock it off already," she said. She looked over at Kokoroe, her best friend, and said, "Too bad Elecmon here can't be more like Candlemon."
Elecmon softly growled and looked ahead to the path.
At the head of the group was Unimon, Seidaku, and Syniomon. Seidaku was riding side-saddle on Unimon's back. Everyone had insisted that she not walk on her ankle just yet. It had been caught and pulled when Numesamon and Antylamon had tried to pull her and some of the others into the woods.
Seidaku looked back at the group. She was happy that some of them had partners, Roten especially. She seemed to have already changed. She was getting along well with Falcomon, while Seimei didn't shy away from Lopmon so much. Kokoroe and Candlemon seemed to be best friends already while Shinzen and Elecmon were continually bickering. Further back, Shinai was walking proudly in between Anchuu and Mushroomon, completely ignoring the glares that Mushroomon and Anchuu exchanged. That is, in between Anchuu trying to ward off a little baby digimon that seemed attached to him. Puffmon was the little thing. It absolutely refused to leave Anchuu alone. Seidaku turned her glance to Denkou, who was walking in a relaxed manner with Popomon on his head. The two seemed to be good friends, and Seidaku had a feeling that both he and Puffmon would be going with them to the mainland, even thought neither were partners with the kids yet. Seidaku looked to the very back, were the pair she was most worried about. Kanki was walking close behind Shinai and her brother, helping Puffmon to annoy Anchuu. Renamon was behind Kanki, following in a very unwilling manner. It was very clear that they were partners, even though Kanki had yet to get a new digivice like Roten, Kokoroe, and Shinzen had. Seidaku looked to the others. Gatomon and Tomo were talking comfortably with each other, as though they had been friends for years. Tanshin was next to him, occasionally glancing into the woods and laughing at the monkey digimon named Monmon and his antics. Tanomoshii was walking alongside Shoki, who still carried Poyomon. Poyomon was talking to another baby digimon, Pupumon. He resembled a bee and alternated between conversing with Poyomon and conversing with Tanomoshii about soccer, which Pupumon quickly became interested in. Of course, Seidaku couldn't hear any of the conversations, but smiled nonetheless.
She turned her attention to Unimon and said, "We could have stayed behind to help you rebuild."
Unimon shook his head. "That is most kind, but you must go to the main land quickly," he said. "You must find Polamon and Kodimon and stop their leader."
Seidaku fell silent for a little bit. Then she asked, "Do you know why Roten, Shinzen, and Kokoroe got new digivices while the others who digivolved did not?"
Unimon shook his head again. "No, I do not," he said. "I may be old and wise, but I do not know everything. I would not doubt, however, that your answers will be found on the mainland."
A little bit later, a set of docks met the eyes of the digidestined. A small boat was docked there. They left the cover of the woods as they approached the docks. Some of them looked behind to see a lot of the digimon still in the woods. Puffmon, Monmon, Popomon, and Pupumon were still among the kids, though. Having given up, Anchuu let Puffmon ride his shoulder. The little digimon grew excited when he saw the boat. "Mainland, mainland!" he shouted, hopping up and down until he slipped from Anchuu's shoulder. He bit the shoulder of Anchuu's shirt and held on until Kanki lifted him back up.
The group looked over the boat. It looked small, but they bet it would hold them all.
"Here is where I leave you," Unimon said. "I trust your partners will get you to the mainland safely." He glanced at the three baby and one rookie digimon. "You four may go with them, if Seidaku agrees."
Seidaku, who was already climbing into the boat with Shinzen's help, looked up. She smiled and said, "Yes, you may come. For all we know, you may be digidestined digimon." The four whooped and hollered. Soon, everyone was settled in the boat. Falcomon and Pupumon were standing by to push the boat off. Seidaku looked up at Unimon and smiled. "Thank you for your help," she said, "And I'm sorry about your village. I hope everything can be fixed." Unimon smiled and bowed. "Well, let's go."
She turned around as Falcomon and, to a lesser extent, Pupumon began pushing out. Soon, the boat was out and the sail was full. In fact, it wasn't long before none of them could see the island, save for Gatomon and her excellent sight. It also wans't long before complaining started.
"I am so bored!" Roten shouted. Everyone just looked at her. "My voice doesn't echo either," she said. "I was hoping it would echo, like in movies."
"Roten, there is nothing for the sound waves of your voice to reflect on," Kokoroe said matter-of-factly. "You won't get an echo out at sea unless there are landmasses like mountains or structures like a town ot a bunch of lighthouses nearby, which is unlikely."
"Gee Kokoroe, you're so smart," Roten said sarcastically. "Why don't you go off and solve this whole digiworld problem for us so we can go home?"
Kokoroe glared at her. "I don't appreciate upper-level sarcasm."
"Upper-level sarcasm?" Roten laughed. "What is that?"
"It is sarcasm from preps, jocks, and over-all popular people who have no consideration for the feelings of others!" Kokoroe screamed. "People like you Ten'no Roten! People like you bakas!" Kokoroe was now standing and pointing a shaky finger at Roten, who was a bit taken aback.
"Ko, calm down," Shinzen said, gently grabbing Kokoroe's shoulders and pulling her down.
"Why are you getting so damned upset?" Roten spat. "It's not like I ever talk to you! This would be the first time!"
"You're just like the rest, so what's the difference!" Kokoroe sobbed. "You, your friends, the jocks and sport people, the preps! What's the difference! You know one, you know them all! You talk to one, you've talked to them all! There's no difference!"
"Ko!" Shinzen shouted, startling the girl. "Calm down. If there is a place for this, this isn't it." Kokoroe looked at Shinzen, then cast a side-long glare at Roten before turning around and crossing her arms, resting them on the edge of the boat. She then rested her head on her harms. Candlemon floated up next her her and sat on her shoulder.
The others diverted their staring to the sea, not wanting to make eye contact with Roten. The digimon looked up at the humans in confusion. Puffmon looked at Syniomon and asked, "Are all humans like that?" Syniomon shook her head.
"It's an emotion thing," she said.
Roten eventually shifted herself to the opposite end of the boat from Kokoroe. She leaned back the best she could, tipped down her hat, and soon fell asleep with Falcomon near her head, also asleep. Tanshin sat in between Kokoroe and Tomoshibi. They were talking about soccer. The subject caught Gatomon's attention and soon she was talking with them as well. Monmon was hanging from the mast, sometimes upside down, and staring out to sea. Shinai and Anchuu were asleep, leaning slightly on eachother. Mushroomon was leaning over the side of the boat, his stomach upset. Puffmon kept himself anchored between Anchuu's feet, fearful of blowing away. Shoki and Tanomoshii were alternating between rock, paper, scissors and playing thumb wars. Poyomon and Pupumon were cheering the two on, always cheering on the one who seemed to be losing. Seimei occupied herself with trying to avoid conversation with Lopmon while Kanki tried to strike up a conversation with Renamon. Shinzen seemed content with the small amount of quiet on her end of the boat, but ultimately found herself poking Elecmon, and then trying to keep him from stealing her hat. At the front of the boat, Seidaku and Denkou were leaning over the edge, watching the waves and recieving the occasional spray. Syniomon and Popomon were asleep with Syniomon curled up and Popomon curled on her ears. A vast majority of the trip went like that, all through the day until nightfall. It was shortly after the sun had set that Monmon started hooping and hollering.
"I see mainland!" he shouted, startling everyone. "See see! There it is!" Everyone turned to look, but only darkness met most of their eyes. Renamon, Monmon, Gatomon, and Evelomon could see it well.
"Finally!" Roten said, standing up and stretching.
"Here here," Mushroommon said wearily, raising his arm from his slouched position next to Anchuu. Anchuu moved his arm.
"How long have you been there?" he asked warily.
"A while," Puffmon said. "Poor fella, just not cut out for the open water."
Things were silent for a little while longer as everyone stretched and prepared to land. Then, the boat shuttered to a dead halt. "What happened?" Kokoroe asked. A suddenly bout of splashing and Kokoroe's scream told everyone that something was wrong.
"Kokoroe!" Shinzen shouted.
"What happened?" Seidaku shouted, looking around blindly in the darkness.
"Kokoroe's gone!" Shinzen shouted. Then there was more splashing, then Kokoroe screamed again. "Kokoroe!"
"Help!" she shouted. "Digimon! Something! A-!" They heard her go under.
"This isn't going to work!" Shinzen said. "We need more light! Candlemon, where are you?" Candlemon's dim light suddenly blazed strong, illuminating the whole boat as he floated over to Shinzen. Everyone looked in the water. Then saw nothing. Then Shinai screamed. Everyone looked to see red tentacles snaked around her. Anchuu grabbed her arm but she was pulled away, with Anchuu almost being pulled along with her.
"Octomon!" Seidaku shouted, standing up. "Evelo-!" Red tentacles leapt from the water and grabbed Seidaku, too. Before Denkou could react, Seidaku was gone. Evelomon followed her with a firm grip on her leg.
"Oh no, what do we do?" Roten cried.
"We get in and fight!" Falcomon said.
"I can't do nothing..." Mushroommon said sickly.
"He really can't," Puffmon said. He gasped when a tentacle leapt from the water. "Anchuu!" Anchuu turned and saw the tentacle. It wrapped around his arm, but instead of letting it pull him in Anchuu pulled back. Tanshin, Tomo, and Tanomoshii pulled on him too. They all fell back as a red octupus flew from the water and landed on the boat.
"Falco Rush!" Falcomon shouted, bringing his leg up to kick the Octomon. The attack never connected as one of the eight tentacles whipped around and smacked Falcomon. He cried out as he left the area of light from Candlemon. A splash was heard, then there were the sounds of a struggle, then there was nothing.
"Falcomon!" Roten cried. She was pushed aside as Shoki stepped forward with Tanshin's soccerball. She chucked it at Octomon, hitting him directly in the head. The ball bounce back and Tanshin caught it. He found that to be a mistake when a tentacle followed the ball and smacked him into the mast. In shock, he almost fell out of the boat. Monmon caught him, though, and pulled him back. Then he turned to Octomon. He pulled the over-sized slingshot from his back and ran at Octomon.
"Swing Swing!" he shouted, swinging it at Octomon. A tentacle met his gut and threw the little green monkey digimon into Tanshin. Renamon leapt over them and sent a diamond storm attack at Octomon. The octopus flew back and hit the side of the boat. The boat rocked violently. Then, its rocking changed directions. They looked at a whole bunch of tentacles grabbed the sides. "They try to tip it!" Monmon shouted.
From somewhere, Kokoroe's voice shouted, "Candlemon! Digivolve!" Candlemon did digivolve, just before the boat tipped, sending kids and digimon into the cold black water.
A crisp, salty wind buffeted Seimei's face as pale rays of light peeked into her eyes. She opened them and saw Lopmon, sleeping beside her. She almost screamed, but quickly remembered everything. Well, almost everything. She could remember the boat tipping last night, but she remembered nothing afterward. She sat up and looked around. She saw water all around her. She pressed on the material beneath her, and looked to her left. She couldn't recognize what she saw, except for sleeping humans and digimon. She looked ot her right and saw sleeping kids and digimon, too, but also saw something that did make her scream. A large tail like that of a whale slowly and gently moved with the surrounding water.
"What is the screaming for?" asked a large, low, rumbling voice. Seimei almost shouted again, but someone beat her to it.
"Who said that?" Roten shrieked. She was also awake, and standing up she was looking around. She seemed surprised that her shrieking hadn't awoken anyone. She stepped back, and jumped back forward as she stepped on something. She turned and saw Wizardmon, who had opened his eyes and was slowly rubbing his arm. "Sorry," Roten said. Then she gasped. "Falcomon! Where are you!"
"I'm over here!" Flacomon shouted, waving from across the group. Everyone was now getting up and rubbing their heads in confusion. Only Seidaku seemed to have a clue.
"Roten, calm down," she said. "We are on the back of a Whamon, a whale digimon." Seidaku nimbly walked around everyone to be closer to the head. "Whamon!" she said. "What happened?"
"I saw a group of troublesome Octomon last night and went to investigate," Whamon said. "If I hadn't, some of you might not be around. I reackon some of you were underwater for a while. Some Gomamon came along and helped all of you onto my back. I assume you were going for the mainland?"
"Yes, and thank you," Seidaku said. "We were within its sight last night. Where is it now?"
"I figured it would be best to take you to an abandomed port," Whamon said. "Word of humans in the digiworld has spread fast, and Soritamon has many followers and allies. It would be best to take you to a friendly area."
"You mean we're outlaws, eh?" Gatomon said. "Fun, fun."
It took half of the trip for Whamon to explain Soritamon's suddenly take-over and declaration of kingship over the digiworld, though he couldn't remember when. The kids were, indeed, outlaws and aiding them was punishable by death. On the second half of the trip, Seidaku talked about the kids' ancestors and about the past generations. Renamon, Lopmon, Syniomon, Gatomon, and Poyomon chipped in, filling in blanks and what-not. She also explained the importance of the crests and elements. By the time she was done, the sun was setting and they were nearing a run-down dock. The kids jumped off onto the dock, with Tanomoshii almost falling through a broken board. When the kids were firmly on the ground, Whamon bid them farewell and good luck, then disappeared into the waters. The kids looked at the run-down buildings nearby and cautiously walked over to them. One of the buildings had a door that was wide-open. Light from the orange sun made the interior seem scary from a distance, but it also seemed empty. When they got nearer, however, they saw a figure dart across the open doorway. Seidaku and Syniomon were already on their guard, Seidaku's D-Arc in hand.
"Who goes there?" shouted a voice. It was high and rough and made some of the kids cover their ears. "Who goes there!" the voice repeated.
"My name is Seidaku!" Seidaku shouted. "I am a digidestined!" There was a lot of movement in the building and a lot of voices. Then before their eyes poured out a huge group of digimon, at least twenty or so.
"Welcome, digidestined, welcome!" they shouted in overlapping voices. A few came up to the group and ushered them closer, and then into the building. The kids went willingly, though Roten and Seimei tried to keep as far from the digimon as possible.
"Welcome welcome!" yelled a pink flower bulb-like digimon. "Welcome to our hideaway! I'm Yokomon!"
"Hello," Seimei said politely. "Are you in charge here?"
"No," said a voice. "I am." The kids turned and saw a tall robot-like digimon.
"Andromon," Seidkau said, inclining her head. "Are you leader of the resistence or something?"
"In a way," Andromon said. "I've gathered those against Soritamon. After several years of his rule, we've had enough."
"Years?" Shinai said. "But, Seidaku said nothing was wrong when she left. She was only in the real world for a day."
"Time moves faster in the digiworld, remember?" Gatomon said. "Several years have passed in the digiworld during the time of one real-world day."
"That makes me feel old," Elecmon said.
"Anyway, about Soritamon," Seidaku said. "Do you know where he has based himself?"
"He and his followers are based at Solemn Per," Andromon said, walking over the the group. "It used to be Primary Village."
"That's where we were attacked!" Lopmon shouted. He moved into Andromon's sight. "The three of us, we were first attacked while we were flying over Primary Village!"
"Why would he turn Primary Village into his stronghold?" Gatomon asked.
"What is Primary Village?" Tanomoshii asked. He was sitting on the ground with Pupumon on his head.
"It is where digimon go after their data is deleted," Wizardmon answered. "They are recovered there and begin life again from their digieggs."
"Digieggs?" Shinzen and Kokoroe asked in unison.
"Think about it in our terms," Seidaku said. "Basically, when a digimon is killed they are reincarnated at Primary Village. They are reborn and begin life all over again. Some, however, don't make it to Primary Village. Remember how I told you about the data of digimon being absorbed by others?" The kids nodded. "Well, when that happens they don't get reborn."
"That is why Soritamon took over Primary Village," Andromon said. "He wants the data of deleted digimon to become stronger. He even has his followers out destroying the unfaithful."
"So, digimon don't come back?" Tanomoshii asked. Seidaku nodded.
"The more that are destroyed, the more powerful he will become," Andromon said. "He has been at it since he began his reign, but according to our spies it had been a slow process."
"Then we need to get there as soon as possible," Seidaku said as she turned to the group. "Thankfully, some of the digimon can digivolve to a fast state that we can use to get here faster. The rest of you..." She sighed. "I don't know. I'll think about it. Andromon, can we stay here tonight?" She turned back to Andromon, who was already sending digimon about to get together bed mats and blankets. "Thanks."
Night had fallen and both digimon and child was asleep, save for Shoki and Poyomon. Neither could sleep, for neither was comfortable. They tossed and turned until they were finally on their stomachs. They sighed in unison several times as they tried to force themselves asleep. "Do you think I'll be your partner?" Shoki whispered Poyomon. The little digimon looked at her
"Hard to tell," he whispered back. "I'd say it's likely, though. After all, Gatomon and Lopmon are partners with Kari and Suzi's descendents. I don't see why you should be any different." The two of them sigh and rolled onto their backs. As they finally began to drift off to sleep, they heard talking.
"Andromon, some of them don't have partners. I don't know if I should leave them here or take them along." They turned slowly and quietly to look just a few mats to the end of the row. In the faint moonlight they could see Seidaku talking to Andromon.
"Take them along," Andromon said. "They will find their partners soon enough. It would be disasterous to leave them here. You will need them before the end, and they are a danger to the digimon here so long as they are partner-less."
"I understand," Seidaku said. "I just wish they would have found their partners already."
"They may have," Andromon said. "More than anything, bonds determine a partnership. Bonds can be the first step toward a digimon-human partnership. The bonds that some of them have made will be important."
Seidaku turned to look at the sleeping group. Poyomon and Shoki closed their eyes. "Perhaps," Seidkau said. "I am counting on Shoki and Poyomon to be partners, due to Shoki's ancestor being Poyomon's previous partner. I suppose there are enough digimon tagging along. It seems to me that Monmon and Tanshin have bonded from the boat incident. Anchuu seems to be mildly tolerant of Puffmon, while Puffmon seems to have taken a liking to Anchuu. I know Denkou and Popomon were already bonding back on the island, as were Tanomoshii and Pupumon."
"You see," Andromon said, "These bonds may very well determine who partners with whom."
"I see your point," Seidaku said. They were silent there on after, and Shoki and Poyomon fell asleep soon after.