DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon or any video games, books, films, TV shows or pieces of music referenced in this story. Original characters owned by me are stated in my profile.

Chapter Twenty-Four: Just Keep Swimming

Thursday 11th November – 9:40a.m.

Digital World, Ocean Level

"Uh, Guilmon?" Terriermon began as he pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "When Ryo said that we were going to the Ocean Level, didn't you think that it would be a good idea to let us know that…oh, I don't know…that YOU CAN'T SWIM?"

"What's an ocean?" Guilmon asked innocently from his perch on Leomon's back.

"That's it! I give up…"

"Terriermon…" Henry sighed and flicked his head to the side, depositing his partner into the water.

The Tamers' journey to the Ocean Level had been…interesting. The portal from the Desert Level had vomited them out about five metres below the surface of the water. Guilmon, having never been in any water deeper than his chest, quite understandably panicked and had to be dragged to the surface by Leomon. Everyone else had managed to swim (or hitch a ride from their Tamer) to the surface without incident and (with the exception of Guardromon, who was hovering above the water's surface) was treading water while they got their bearings.

"Oh, man…" Kazu complained as he looked around. "Ryo, couldn't you have warned us it'd dump us underwater?"

"Actually, I didn't know it was gonna do that…" the taller boy replied with a sheepish grin. "I've never used that portal before."

"Oh, great. So we're on a Magical Mystery Tour of the Digital World, now?" Terriermon complained with a glare at the boy. "Some plan you've got here…"

"Uh, guys? We have a slight problem…" Takato said hesitantly. "We can't keep treading water forever, and if we don't find land soon…"

A collective shudder of fear ran through the group as they considered the inevitable outcome of their current situation. Eventually, it was Rika who broke the silence.

"No way I'm letting myself get killed by Mr Perfect," she muttered and drew a card, swiping it as it flashed blue in her hand. "Digi-Modify! Matrix Digivolution activate!"

MATRIX DIGIVOLUTION

"Renamon Matrix Digivolve to…Taomon!"

As the blue data sphere shattered to reveal the robed form of Taomon, it sent a miniature tidal wave out in every direction, scattering the Tamers and Digimon in every direction. With a sigh, the kitsune levitated into the air, pointed her arms out in front of her and cried "Thousand Spells!" The vulpine Digimon fired dozens of little red spell papers into the sea, each one glowing white as a beam of light connected it to the adjacent papers. Within seconds, a massive fishing net of light had appeared below the surface of the water, and Taomon drew it closed with a wave of her hands, reuniting the group.

"Wow, great thinking Rika," Kazu called sarcastically. "Was this your plan? Treat us all like a bunch of mackerel and maybe we'll learn to swim properly?"

"Talisman Spell!" Taomon shouted, cutting off her Tamer's reply as the impromptu fishing net dissolved. Several members of the group let out little yelps of surprise as they suddenly felt something solid rising up from the depths to meet them. A second later, the humans and Digimon were stood on a transparent, floating taijitu disc about twenty metres across, Taomon descending gently to join them.

"Nice…" Cam noted with a grin as he tried to find his balance on the perfectly-smooth platform.

"Couldn't you, um, put on a safety rail or something?" Kenta asked as he nervously eyed the edge of the disc. A second later, the boy jumped as a transparent barrier appeared around the disc's rim, arching upwards to turn their flying saucer into a flying half-sphere. "Oh, thanks."

"Taomon, how long can you keep this up?" Rika asked her partner with a worried frown.

"If we are stationary, I can maintain the platform for up to three days. If we are moving, my energy will deplete significantly quicker. A day and a half at most."

"Damn," Takato cursed and gazed out at the featureless blue expanse. "So, what do we do?"

"Let's just pick a direction and go," Cam suggested. "It worked last time."

"Last time we had a reference point," Gaomon noted and shook his head. "We have no idea which way the portal to the Jungle Level will be. We don't even know if it's above the water or below it."

"Why don't we ask someone for directions?" Jeri suggested, earning a deadpan stare from the rest of the group.

"And who do you suggest we ask?" Terriermon asked dryly and rolled his eyes.

"Well, the way I see it, there's gotta be someone driving that boat…" the brunette mumbled and pointed off to her right.

"What boa…" Ryo began, trailing off as he caught sight of a dark smudge on the horizon that was slowly moving. "I see it! Damn, your eyes are good…"

"Yup!" the girl replied cheerfully, smiling warmly at the comment.

"We have a direction!" Kazu declared and pointed dramatically at the distant boat. "Taomon…FORWARD!"

The kitsune gave the boy a glare that could have frozen a sun before a Kazu-sized hole appeared underneath his feet, depositing him back in the ocean.

"Oops," she said in a perfectly flat voice as the visor-wearing Tamer coughed up a lungful of water and glared back at her.

12:34a.m.

As the taijitu disc drew closer to the object, it became clear that it was not a boat, but a zeppelin. The colossal airship's torpedo-shaped gasbag was painted bright yellow, with the words "DIGITAL AIR" painted in bright blue letters, both in English and Japanese.

"Okay, how the hell did we mistake that for a boat?" Terriermon asked and scratched his head with a confused stare.

"It's best not to ask that kind of question in the Digital World…" Ryo chuckled as he peered at the airship. It was much larger than any other airship he'd ever heard of – over half a mile long at his best estimate. Even the gondola was oversized, easily large enough for even Cyberdramon to fit through the doors and stand without stooping.

"It's…huge…" Rika mumbled as she stared at the brightly-painted aircraft.

"Hehe," Terriermon chuckled. "That's what she-"

"If you finish that sentence I'll make your ears into slippers," the redhead threatened as Henry cut off his partner with a knuckle-rap to the head. "Taomon, can you bring us in for a landing?"

"I believe so," the kitsune replied. "I'll bring us up alongside the rear doors."

"Tangos sighted! Firing warning shot!" a voice announced from to the right of the group and a pair of blue energy beams suddenly streaked across their path. The humans and Digimon let out a collective yelp of surprise as taijitu disc stopped suddenly, throwing them all into the front of the shield-dome.

"Bet you're glad I asked for a safety rail now," Kenta chuckled nervously as he climbed to his feet and looked around for the source of the attack. "What the hell was that?"

"Unidentified craft, this is Gold Leader. You are not authorized to approach Sunny Ivan, do a one-eighty ASAP and run on home!" the voice called again in a Texan accent as a golden aircraft about the size of a small car soared past them, turning at a leisurely pace and doing a second, slower flyby.

"Does anyone have any idea what he just said?" Jeri asked with a bewildered look.

"It would seem that Babel is not functioning properly…" Leomon sighed and shook his head. "Who is this guy?"

"Let's see…" Henry mumbled as he pulled out his green-ringed D-Arc and scanned the newcomer.

Name: Sparrowmon

Level: Champion

Attribute: Data

Special Attacks:

Crash Boom

Random Laser

Wing Edge

"Sparrowmon?" Ryo frowned. "Never heard of him."

"Unidentified tangos this is your last warning!" the aircraft Digimon shouted.

"Let me handle this," Cam said confidently and stepped to the front of the floating dome. "Good mornin' Gold Leader, this is…uh…Blue Mirage!"

"Oh, gods…" Rika muttered as the black-haired boy began talking in an awful Texan accent.

"We got a bit of an 'SOS' situation here. Me and my wingmen here are a little lost. Our map went MIA and we got a little lost on the way to the Jungle Level. There any way you could help a buddy out? Maybe let us land on…'Sunny Ivan'?"

"Aw, shucks!" Sparrowmon replied. "Why didn't y'all say you were in trouble? You take that fancy flying snow-globe o' yours and land yourselves over at Sunny Ivan. I'll call back to let 'em know to roll out the welcome wagon."

"Uh, Roger Gold Leader, and thanks. Over and out," Cam finished and turned back to his friends with a grin as the golden plane rocketed away. "Who da man?"

Taomon carefully manoeuvred the taijitu disc through the enormous doorway at the rear of the airship's gondola, waiting until it had touched down on the metal floor before allowing it to dissipate. The group looked around the large hangar deck where they had landed, noticing Sparrowmon sat motionless in the far corner. The hangar was made up of two levels – a lower floor with several twelve-foot high sliding metal doors and an upper floor, which consisted primarily of more doors and a wide metal walkway that ran in a "U"-shape around the hangar. A loud groaning rang out from behind the Tamers and Digimon as the metal doors slowly closed, a clang resounding through the hangar as the two edges met.

"POSITIONS!" a harsh voice with a metallic edge called out as the doors on the upper floor clanged open, a dozen draconic Digimon pouring out of them and taking aim at Taomon, leaning their assault rifles on the safety rail at the edge of the walkway.

The image was so surreal that Rika would have laughed had the Digimon not been pointing assault rifles at her partner. They were probably about five or six feet tall, but the ridiculously large doorways made them look comically small. The dragons had skin that was patterned in a Digital camouflage scheme in differing shades of blue and grey. They were wearing what looked like blue-grey, military-issue body armour and carried M-16 assault rifles.

"Point those things somewhere else," the redhead growled and reached slowly for her D-Arc.

"Rika, not a good idea to mouth off to the guys with guns…" Takato hissed from behind her as she drew her D-Arc and scanned the Digimon.

Name: Commandramon

Level: Rookie

Attribute: Virus

Special Attacks:

DCD Bomb

M16 Assassin

Strike Claw

"Och, put down those bloody guns!" a voice shouted in a broad Scottish accent as the central doors on the lower level opened, revealing a short, brown-and-white owl-like Digimon wearing what appeared to be a pair of silver night vision goggles with red lenses. "If I've told ye once I've told ye a thousand bloody times! This is still MAH BLOODY SHIP! What happened to chain of command and all that bollocks?"

"My apologies, Captain Owlmon," one of the Commandramon growled and signalled for his men to put away their weapons. "I did not think-"

"That's right you didn't! Ach, you're worse than Mr Top Gun-wannabe over there!"

"Hey, pal," Sparrowmon protested indignantly. "I was just trying to keep our baby safe! What would we do if we lost Sunny I-"

"SHE ISNAE CALLED SUNNY IVAN!" Owlmon roared. "Her name is Rosita! ROSITA!"

"Well, she needs a codename…"

"What's the point of a codename if ye tell it to everyone ye see?"

"Um, excuse me?" Jeri called out nervously, flinching when the Commandramon jumped and pointed their weapons at her as one.

"IF YE DINNAE PUT THOSE GUNS DOWN I'M GONNA THROW YE INTO THE OCEAN AND CONTRACT BE DAMNED!"

The draconic soldiers flinched in the face of the Scottish owl's rage and placed their guns on the ground quickly and carefully.

"That's better. Now get outta here!" Owlmon sighed and walked towards the Tamers and Digimon, addressing them directly for the first time. "Sorry about them – bloody Commandramon. I swear, if this contract wasn't worth so bloody much I'd never have let the Sassenach on board."

"Sassy-what?" Cam asked with a frown before being cut off by Ryo.

"Thanks for letting us on board, Mr Owlmon."

"Och, it's nae problem!" the owl replied with a wave of his wing. "So, who are you guys and what are a bunch of humans doing in the Digital World? And all the way out here, of all places!"

"I'm Ryo Akiyama, and these are my friends…"

"Colleagues!" Rika interrupted with a glare at her nemesis.

"My colleagues, then. This is Rika Nonaka…" he began, launching into an introduction of each of the Tamers and Digimon as well as a brief explanation of why they were in the Digital World.

"So, we managed to get here from the Desert Level and we were looking for a way to the Jungle Level when we got a bit lost…" the brown-haired boy finished with a sheepish grin. "We saw your ship on the horizon and thought we'd better ask for directions."

"The Jungle Level? Well, ye be in luck, laddy! I'm headin' that way myself on a cargo run for the Dramon Kingdom. I'll be goin' through the portal in less than two days."

"Really? Do you mind if we tag along? We can pay for the ride with food."

"O' course ye can tag along and dinnae worry about pay! I need some company apart from the Killjoy Korps and Golden Boy over there," her replied, pointing not-too-subtly at Sparrowmon.

"I can hear you, you know!" the bird-aircraft hybrid snapped.

"I know. Come on then, I'll give you all a quick tour o' my baby."

The "quick" tour of the airship ended up taking over four and a half hours. In the end, only Ryo, Jeri, Kenta, Cam and their partners finished the tour, the rest of the group stopping two hours into the tour when they reached the ship's mess. The former two stayed with Owlmon out of politeness, Kenta stayed because Jeri stayed and Cam stayed thanks to a minor obsession with all things airborne. They discovered that Owlmon was the pilot of the airship and joint-owner along with his partners Sparrowmon (the ship's designated defence force) and Ebidramon (the ship's cook). Eventually the group were reunited at the mess hall, where they found an enormous spread of assorted seafood laid out on a table that looked like it had been designed for something the size of Growlmon.

"Bon appétit!" a fearsome-looking reddish-brown shrimp wearing a chef's hat called in a strong French accent from the far end of the mess. "I am Ebidramon and I 'ope you enjoy your dîner!"

"We're being served shrimp…by a shrimp…" Cam mumbled and shook his head in disbelief. "This is messed up."

"Shut up and eat, Flyboy," Rika called from her perch atop a ridiculously tall seat.

"Flyboy? Wait…I FINALLY GOT A NICKNAME!" Cam cheered exuberantly as the redhead rolled her eyes.

"Well I couldn't help myself when I saw you drooling over that engine earlier," she chuckled and shook her head. "I half expected you to ask to ride Sparrowmon!"

When her joke was followed by an awkward silence and Cam shifted his shoulders uncomfortably, the girl's eyes widened. "Tell me you didn't…"

"He did…" Gaomon sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"That…was…divine!" Leomon purred and patted his belly in satisfaction.

"I couldn't eat another bite…" Cam sighed and leaned back on his chair, only to yelp in shock as he nearly fell off.

"Would you please be careful?" Gaomon sighed as he grabbed his Tamer. "It's a long way to the floor, you know. And even your skull isn't that thick!"

"Hey, yeah – what's up with the whole size thing anyway?" Terriermon complained from his traditional perch. "I mean, half the ship looks like it was designed for a Greymon, and none of you three are that tall."

"Och, well ye see…" Owlmon started nervously. "We may have…stolen it from its original owner…"

"May have?" Rika asked in a sarcastic tone.

"Well it's nae my fault! The cheatin' swine should've paid me fair an' square…"

"Oui oui!" the owl's crustacean companion agreed. "The airship was merely taken as…how do you say…'payment for services rendered'."

"So, who built the airship in the first place?" Takato piped up.

"That low-down, good for nothin' cheatin' dodo of a Sovereign Zhuqiaomon!" Owlmon spat viciously.

A tense silence descended on the mess hall as the bird's words echoed from the metal walls. "This is just great," Kazu muttered and shook his head. "We're flying along in an airship stolen from the biggest psychopath this side of the Digital Barrier."

"Um…am I the only one seeing a flaw in the logic here?" Henry asked with a bemused frown. "Why would a giant bird need an airship?"

"It was not for 'im! It was for his little slave armies and the Devas," Ebidramon laughed.

"And besides, it ain't like he misses it," Sparrowmon noted as he flew through the open door. "Soon as you fellas came along he got mighty distracted. All we had to do was give the ship a new paintjob. We even flew right past him one day and he never even noticed it was his airship!"

"Yeah, who'd expect you to paint something bright yellow if you wanted it to go unnoticed…" Terriermon remarked and rolled his eyes.

"Exactly!"

"That's it – I need some air," Rika sighed and climbed down from her insanely high chair. "All this insanity is giving me a headache."

"Careful if you're going outside, Rika," Ryo called after her. "It'll be dark soon and you don't wanna fall off this thing…"

"Wow, words of wisdom from Mr Perfect? I'm honoured!" the redhead sneered as she headed for the door, her partner following not far behind.

"Wait up a second, missy – I'll show you to the balcony," Sparrowmon offered and swooped down after her.

"Wait for us, Rika!" Jeri called quickly. "I could use some fresh air too."

As the brunette left the room and the door slid shut after her with a clang, Cam broke out in a conspiratorial grin. "Five quid says they're gonna be talking about us…"

The birdlike Digimon escorted the two girls and their partners to a balcony attached to the starboard side of the gondola. After ensuring they knew their way back to the mess hall, Sparrowmon left the quartet to their conversation.

"Why did you really follow me out here?" Rika asked with a mild glare.

"What, I'm not allowed to go out for a breath of fresh air?" the brunette replied, sighing in defeat as her friend's glare did not disappear. "Oh, alright…I wanted to talk."

"What about?" the taller girl asked suspiciously.

"Uh…well…Ryo, actually…" Jeri said hesitantly, wincing as she was fixed with a withering glare. "Don't look at me like that…you could try going easy on him, you know."

"Why should I? He's an asshole!" the redhead spat contemptuously.

"He didn't have to come out here, you know. He's here to help you – we all are!"

"Oh and he's been so much help so far…" Rika snorted and shook her head. "Let's see…two days in and Cyberdramon has already gone berserk."

"You know it's not his fault! And besides, he's got it out of his system now."

"Wow, that's really reassuring…"

"Look, can you at least try to be, well…if not nicer to Ryo then maybe a little less mean to him?"

"Bu-"

"Please, Rika?" Jeri pleaded, using her best guilt trip tactics. "For me?"

"I…oh, fine…" the redhead conceded eventually, prompting the return of Jeri's usual wide smile. "But I'm not being nice to Cyberdramon!"

"That would be asking too much even for me…" Leomon chuckled and shook his head.

"Be nice…" Jeri laughed playfully and turned back to her fellow Tamer and friend. "Right, let's catch up! What's England like?"

"You know what England's like," Rika replied and leaned on the balcony's safety rail. "I already told you."

"Yeah, but we haven't really talked in forever and I thought now would be a good time."

"Fine…" the pale girl sighed in mock exasperation and flashed a quick smirk. "It's…I guess it's a little weird. It's so different from Japan, but at the same…"

"Hmmm…what are the people like?" the brunette asked with an odd glint in her eye.

"Okay, I guess. They don't really seem that bothered about me being a ha-…about me being mixed race. Other than that, there's not much difference."

"Right," Jeri mumbled, a flash of sympathy crossing her features before the mischievous glint reappeared. "Heh, I almost didn't believe Kenta when he told me you'd made so many friends…especially after all those times you told me you hated them."

"Yeah, well…they kinda grew on me…" Rika muttered and shrugged, looking vaguely embarrassed. "I saved their lives so many times, and then there was this fight…anyway, they turned out to be okay. Even Cam."

"I think that's the highest praise I've ever heard you give," Leomon noted with a sly grin.

"Well, it's pretty hard to rip on someone who saved my life more times than I can count. And before you say it, Ryo only saved my life twice and one of those times it was his fault I was in danger!"

"Right…" Jeri replied with a giggle. "So…you and Takato seem to be pretty close…"

"Don't even think about it…" the taller girl threatened. "I don't think of Takato…or anyone that way!"

"So, I'll tell Ryo he's still in with a chance then?" the brunette half-joked, getting a badly-disguised laugh from Renamon in response.

"Renamon…"

"My apologies, I appear to have swallowed a bug."

"Right…and Jeri – don't even joke about that," Rika ordered with a shudder. "I think I'm gonna throw up…"

"Oh come on – he's not that bad," Jeri protested, earning herself an amused look from her friend.

"I thought you only had eyes for Kenta?" the redhead teased with a smirk. "I'm guessing you still haven't asked him out yet."

"Um, no…I'm just waiting for the right moment!"

"You've been saying that since July," Renamon noted with a tiny smirk.

"You've only been getting it since July?" Leomon grumbled and shook his head wearily. "I've been getting it since April."

"Yeah, what happened to the 'Heart of the Lion'? Just ask him out already – even Kazu can see you like each other!" Rika chuckled and stood up straight as the sky suddenly darkened. "I guess that means it's night time…let's get back inside. This place looks weird in the dark."

Renamon had to agree with her Tamer. The night was moonless and the only sources of light came from the airship and the glowing Earth in the sky, giving them just enough illumination to see the ocean's surface, a rippling mirror of pure black extending to infinity in every direction. The ocean wasn't the part that disturbed her the most, however – that took the kitsune a few seconds to identify.

There's no reflection, she thought with a shudder. The Earth casts no reflection on the water.

The Tamers and Digimon spent the rest of the evening talking, arguing or playing cards (both of the normal and Digimon variety). Spirits were high, but they finally managed to force themselves into their respective beds at around eleven o'clock. One by one the children dozed off, all of them much ecstatic to be spending a night sleeping in a real bed instead of on a cave floor.

That is, with one notable exception.

Takato yawned as his eyes drifted groggily open and he yawned widely. The boy sat up and stretched, glancing at his watch and barely registering the time.

Ugh…it's three in the morning…can't be bothered getting out of bed…too comfy…

Damn it. Gotta pee.

The brown-haired Tamer slipped reluctantly out of the soft, metal-framed single bed he had been sleeping in and climbed over the softly-snoring form of his partner. With another yawn, he crept silently out of the room he was sharing with the five other male Tamers and those of their partners who had been able to fit through the human-sized door.

Five minutes later, Takato had finally managed to find his way to the toilet and back and was fumbling his way down the corridor to his bed when he noticed a light on in the next room. Who could be up at this time? he wondered groggily as the sound of two hushed voices made its way to his ears. Is that…Henry? And Terriermon?

"Hey, what're you two doing up?" Takato asked as he poked his head through the door to see the two partners sat at a small metal table deep in conversation. "It's like three am."

"Oh, did we wake you?" Henry asked guiltily as he span around.

"Nah, I had to use the bathroom – I couldn't even hear you in the bedroom. So, what's going on?"

"It's nothing…" the blue-haired boy started to say before his partner cut him off.

"Nothing my furry white ass! Maybe you can talk some sense into him, Takato," Terriermon grumbled and leapt onto the table. "Henry here is feeling guilty because he's not miserable every waking minute!"

"Uh…what?"

"It's not like that!" Henry protested, ignoring his partner's predictable sarcastic remark. "I just…when we were all just goofing around earlier I…I was having such a good time that I…"

The boy looked down and took a deep breath, and Takato was surprised to see tears in his eyes when he looked back up.

"I forgot about Suzie!" he moaned, the guilt in his voice almost overwhelming. "I was having so much fun that I forgot my little sister had been kidnapped!"

"Henry, look," Takato began gently, placing a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder. "You can't expect yourself to be miserable all the time just 'cause of what's happened. I mean, it's normal to try and take your mind off it for a little while. Besides, if you let it get you down too much you're just letting Zhuqiaomon win."

"I…I know, it's just that…" the half-Chinese Tamer stammered and sniffled, wiping away his tears. "Her and Sam and Steph are stuck in some hole somewhere going through hell and we're…we were just sat around goofing off! I was playing poker while my little sister is being held prisoner by a crazed Sovereign!"

"Somehow I don't think they're gonna hold that against us," Terriermon noted with a wry grin. "Would you rather we were stuck in prison with them? 'Cause then everyone would be miserable!"

"I…maybe you're right…" Henry finally conceded ad dried his eyes. "Thanks Takato, and…sorry for getting so…you know…"

"Heh, no problem!" the brown-haired boy reassured him. "What're friends for?"