Chapter 17: Sea Storm

"Are we there yet?" Gomamon complained.

"Just a few more minutes," I reassured him.

"How come you don't live closer to the store, Joe?" Gomamon asked me.

"I don't know, ask my parents sometime," I replied.

"But it doesn't make sense to live so far from . . ."

"Gomamon, I don't know why it's so far to the store, but it's out of my control, so please stop asking," I cut him off.

"Alright, sorry, you don't have to get mad about it," he said.

"I'm not mad, Gomamon, I just can't explain everything. I wish I could, but I can't." I glanced over at him for a moment before looking back to the road. "Right now I need to concentrate on driving so I don't get in an accident. It's especially important because you aren't wearing a seat belt again," I nagged at him.

"That thing doesn't fit right, I'm not big enough, you know that Joe," Gomamon said.

"Well perhaps I should get you a baby seat then."

"Don't even joke about it Joe," Gomamon said.

The drive to the store was about fifteen minutes. It wasn't really that bad, except that with how much Gomamon could eat I had to make the trip twice as often.

"What are you doing now, Joe?" Gomamon asked suddenly.

"What do you mean, I'm still driving," I replied.

"No, look at that," Gomamon said, pointing to my chest. I glanced down, and saw a weird blue glow coming from inside of me.

"What on earth is going on? This can only be bad," I said as the light got brighter.

It was almost like the first time I was dragged into the digital world. I felt like I was falling through an abyss, slowly getting dragged against my will into a place that I really didn't want to be. It was a really weird feeling.

The first thing I noticed was that wherever we ended up, it was wet. I looked around o find myself on a raft in the middle of the ocean in a terrible rain storm. Gomamon was right next to me, looking around.

"What the heck happened?" he asked.

"Joe! Gomamon!" A voice called from behind us. We turned to see Kari. Gatomon and Will were right next to her.

"What happened? Where are we?" I asked. I scanned the raft. "Where's Drakamon?"

"There," Will said, pointing behind me. Gomamon and I turned to see Hydramon locked in battle with Megaseadramon. The five-headed dragon was wrapped around the larger sea serpeant, trying to bite it with all five of its heads, but losing badly to the higher level digimon.

"Lightning Javalin!"

"He's too hungry to digivolve again, he needs help," Will said.

"Gomamon get him!" I said.

"You got it!"

Gomamon digivolve to…..:::::Ikkakumon!

A massive wave from the battle rocked the raft just after Ikkakumon entered the water.

"Harpoon Torpedo!" Ikkakumon cried as he launched his missiles at Megaseadramon. They stunned him but really didn't hurt him. He turned toward Ikkakumon.

"Mega Ice Blast!" The monster screamed as he attacked Ikkakumon.

"Soul Fang!" Hydramon launched a series of energy blasts from its fangs, but to little effect. Another Lightning Javalin knocked him down into the water.

"Kari, they need help!" Gatomon screamed.

"This storm is too rough, you'll never be able to fly in it," Kari said. She was right, the wind was so rough that the rain almost fell sideways. If the sail had been down the wind might have been able to flip the raft on its own.

"Well we've got to do something," Gatomon said. "They can't take on Megaseadramon alone."

"There's not much we can do, Gatomon. I think it's best if we tried to flee," I said. Just then, a Lightning Javalin landed way too close to the raft, sending up an enormous wave that washed over the raft and rocked it badly. I managed to grab onto the mast and hold on, and Gatomon dug her claws into the wood to get a good hold. Will was far enough from the edge to stay on, but Kari was knocked into the water.

"Kari!" Gatomon screamed, running to the side of the raft.

"Hold on, Kari, we'll get you," I yelled as I turned to look for something useful. Will had already pulled off his shoes, and before I could say anything he jumped into the water.

"Oh no, this is bad," I thought, desperately searching for anything useful. Then I saw the rope near the mast. I quickly tied it around the mast, and after removing my shoes to make it easier to swim, I gripped the rope tightly and dove into the water.

The salt water stung my eyes, making it impossible to keep them open for more than a second or so at a time, but I was able to make out their struggling figure under the water. Will had his arm wrapped around Kari, and was trying to drag them both to the surface with the other, but Kari was struggling too much and they were both sinking. I grabbed Will's free hand and shoved the rope into it. He understood immediately and gripped it tightly, as I pulled myself back to the raft with it. Gatomon helped me to climb on, and then we both started to drag the pair up with the rope. Another wave rocked the raft, but holding onto the rope both of us managed to stay on. After one last big pull, their heads broke the surface. They both grabbed the edge of the raft, and Gatomon and I grabbed Kari and dragged her up. We reached for Will, but the raft was again rocked by the battle and the storm, and he lost his grip. He surfaced again a few yards away from the raft. I was ready with the rope again, but he saw the raft and dove underwater. I decided to wait, he apparently figure it would be easier to swim underwater where the waves didn't have as much affect. He popped up again right next to the raft, and all three of us helped pull him on. We scampered to the mast and clung to it tightly.

"Ikkakumon! Hold him off as long as you can!" I yelled to the battling digimon. "Hydramon, push the raft to shore!"

"Ikkakumon can't take on an ultimate by himself!" Will said.

"No, but Hydramon can't help him win. He can stall while we get to safety, then he can escape," I explained quickly.

"I'll do my best!" Ikkakumon called back as he rammed Megaseadramon with his horn. Hydramon swam to the raft and gripped the edge in one of his mouths. He began to push, but suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong, we've got to get out of here!" I told him.

"You're glowing," another head told me. I looked down. The blue light was back, and it was glowing brighter than ever. I didn't understand what it meant until my digivice erupted with light.

Ikkakumon digivolve to...:::::Zudomon!

"What? How'd he do that?" I wondered, staring at Zudomon. It was impossible that he had reached ultimate again. I had given the power of my crest to help defend the world just like everyone else. It didn't seem to make any sense.

"Vulcan's Hammer!" Zudomon bellowed as he struck Megaseadramon squarely on the head with said hammer. Megaseadramon let out a loud screech before trying to wrap itself around Zudomon, but another blow from the hammer knocked it away and sent it crashing down into the water, creating a massive tsunami. Hydramon gripped the raft tightly and lifted it out of the water and high above the enormous wave, but we weren't out of danger yet. Megaseadramon attacked again.

"Lightning Javalin!" the sea serpeant roared. Zudomon used his horn to ground the blast, sending it into the sea.

"Vulcan's Hammer!" Zudomon bellowed again, throwing the colossal hammer at his foe. He scored another direct hit, which sent Megaseadramon crashing down into the sea again. This time the monster didn't come back.

After the sea had settled down a little, Hydramon set the raft back down in the water and, completely exhausted, reverted to Drakamon, who proceeded to collapse on the deck, groaning in pain. Will picked up the injured digimon and held onto him as he returned to the safety of the mast at the middle of the raft. The storm was still blowing fiercely, causing the rain to fly up in our faces as we looked up at Zudomon.

"How on earth did you do that?" I asked him.

"I don't know, Joe. It just happened I guess," he replied as he looked down on our raft. "I think I should get you guys to land now.

"That'd be great, thanks Zudomon!" Kari called out.

"Well, the portal is right here," Will said as we arrived at the TV screen.

"Great. Are you two sure you don't want me to stay? There could be more trouble in the future," I said.

"We'll be alright. We just need to stay away from the water," Kari said.

"But don't you have to cross the sea to get back to the mainland?" GOmamon reminded them.

"I think we'll just have a good breakfast and have Hydramon swim us across," Will said.

"There's still one thing I don't understand. How was Ikkakumon able to digivolve again? Even weirder, how did we end up in the digital world anyways?" I asked.

"I don't know Joe," Gomamon said. "Digivolving must have something to do with your crest, but randomly being sucked into the digital world is just weird."

"Well what were you doing when you were dragged here?" Gatomon asked.

"I was driving to the store to . . . OH NO WHAT HAPPENED TO MY CAR!" I suddenly realized that if I got dragged into the digital world, there was nobody left in my car to drive it. "Oh no, my dad's gonna kill me." I groaned.

"Don't worry Joe, I'm sure he'll understand if you explain that you had to save us," Kari said.

"Yeah, and I'll protect you, Joe!" Gomamon said.

"Gomamon, you're not going to make my goldfish attack him again," I warned him.

"Well, good luck Joe. And thanks for showing up to help us," Will said.

"Oh well. At least everyone is safe now," I sighed. "Don't get into to much trouble you two."

"We won't. Bye Joe!" Kari called after me as I stepped through the portal with Gomamon right behind me.

I needed to find the others. Perhaps Izzy could explain why Ikkakumon had digivolved again. But before that, I needed to find a tow truck.