Eventually the river calmed enough that the fish could stop next to a low part of the river bank and the children and digimon could step onto dry land. Mimi was the first of them to collapse to her knees once they were on solid ground, but the others weren't far behind. Amaya's knees gave out just from feeling the overwhelming relief from the others.
"I knew we'd be ok," said Matt "I wasn't worried." Causing Amaya to snort at his obvious lie, or perhaps it was just obvious to her since she had been feeling his terror along with all the others.
"Well, what was that?" Joe asked "A floating fish market?"
"Lucky for us those fish were having a school reunion," Joe's partner joked with a chuckle. Joe looked up with a surprised sound.
"I'm kidding," his partner reassured "those fish are good friends of mine and I just asked them for a lift."
"A-and all these years I thought I was allergic to seafood, thank you!" Amaya stared at Joe, stifling her laughter "Uh…I guess it's not Bukamon…?"
"Gomamon now." Gomamon smiled.
"Gomamon," Joe repeated "hm…"
"And I guess that you're not Tokomon are you?" T.K. asked, looking at his partner closely.
"Now I'm Patamon." Patamon confirmed.
"It's all because we digivolved." Tai's partner informed the children.
"I don't think that word's in my dictionary…" said Tai
"So digivolving is when they advance to the next level and become more powerful than before…" Izzy theorized
"Right, all of us digivolved," Izzy's partner confirmed "I went from Motimon to Tentomon."
"I digivolved from Yokomon to Biyomon." Biyomon told Sora
"First I was Tsunomon, then Gabumon" Gabumon informed Matt
"And I changed from Tanemon to Palmon." Said Palmon
"And me, I was Koromon. I digivlolved to Agumon." Agumon said, pointing at himself
"I was Kitsunemon and now I'm Alopexmon." Alopexmon told Amaya, rubbing against her leg.
"Mmhm…when you digivolved you certainly got way bigger…" said Tai "Does this mean you're something different now? Or are you still digimon?"
"Digimon," said Agumon "But I needed your help Tai."
"Me?" asked Tai "For what?"
"You see, digivolving is a very difficult process. In order to be successful I had to share your energy." Amaya looked down at Alopexmon in wonder, they had shared energy?
"Really?" asked Tai, tilting his head.
"I guess you guys don't run on batteries…" said Sora
"Sure don't." Biyomon chirped happily.
"But how did you access my energy?" Izzy inquired of Tentomon.
"Even we don't know everything." Tentomon laughed
"Thanks for my magical powers!" said Palmon, twirling around happily.
"The whole thing makes my head spiny…" moaned Mimi
"So I helped you change," said T.K. as he circled Patamon with his hands behind his head "That is so cool!"
"Yep." Agreed Patamon "sure is." Joe turned so he was facing away from Gomamon
"My folks warned me about strangers." He said, crossing his arms.
"I'm not a stranger Joe. I'm your friend for life." Gomamon sounded hurt.
"Hmmm." Joe didn't appear convinced.
"Ok," said Matt, changing the subject entirely "come on, what are we going to do?!"
"If only there was a pay phone nearby," said Joe "We could call the police or fire department, my mother."
"That's the first sensible thing I've heard you say since we got here." Amaya said
"But we don't even know where we are." Tai pointed out.
"Well we know where we started," Sora pointed out "Up there on that mountain."
"I say we forget about getting back and explore around here." Matt suggested.
"I'm not exploring anywhere," said Joe, crossing his arms and closing his eyes "I say we stay right where we are."
"Yeah, let's wait for that giant bug to come back and get us." Matt pointed out "We need to find a road leading someplace to get away from here."
"Hm…Matt's right," said Izzy "But without a compass we don't even know which way is north."
"Wait, I do." Said Tentomon
"Then which way is it?" Izzy asked
"It's the opposite of south." Said Tentomon
"Ugh…" Izzy sounded exasperated. Amaya looked back and forth between the other children before hesitantly stepping forward.
"I have a compass…" she said quietly. Everyone turned towards her.
"You do?" asked Matt and Amaya nodded, sitting down and taking off her shoulder pack.
"I always have one…" she said, reaching in and pulling it out. Everyone crowded around as she closed her bag and looked at her compass.
"Wait…" she frowned "There's something wrong." And there was; the needle was spinning in every direction without settling on one.
"Well that's just great," Said Tai "It's broken."
"But it was working this morning…" Amaya trailed off confused.
"Well it's obviously not now, so we need a new plan." Said Matt
"I shouldn't wear these pants…" Joe muttered "They ride up when I do a lot of walking…"
"You know," Sora began "If we could get back to where we were before we might at least find some clues to why we're here in this place."
"Wait!" Cried Mimi "Are their more monsters around like that big flying beetle?!"
"Yes indeedy." Palmon said calmly
"Ick!" Mimi whined
"Those monsters don't scare me." Said Matt
"Are their humans?" Tai asked, causing all the other children to look at him.
"Humans?" Agumon asked "Others like you?"
"Mhm." Tai confirmed
"You're the first ever," said Agumon "There's never been anything but digimon." Amaya wasn't sure how she felt about that. Most of the digimon she had met so far had been nicer than most humans she had met in her life, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to be stuck here.
"So ok. You're all digimon, but what about these monsters? They're all digimon too?" Asked Tai
"It's creepy, and dangerous, and what happens when it gets dark?" Sora asked
"Who says it ever gets dark here?" Matt pointed out.
"That phenomenon would be unnatural." Said Izzy
"And you call this natural?" Joe had made his second intelligent point of the day in Amaya's book.
"Well, we're not gonna find out anything by sitting around here." Said Tai as he and Agumon turned to go.
"Where do you think you're going?" Asked Matt angrily. Tai turned back.
"Up on that cliff." Tai replied "That's where I saw the ocean." That got everyone's attention. Amaya looked at Tai closely, that would explain why she had smelt salt air the night before.
"The ocean?!" asked Matt
"Yep," confirmed Tai "there might be a boat or something."
"Let's water sky home." Matt said sarcastically.
"Funny…" Sora snapped, before starting after Tai. Everyone else was close behind her, except Joe. Amaya stopped for a bit to pull out two of her three canteens and fill them with water from the river, just in case, before placing them back in her shoulder bag and running to catch up with Matt and the others.
"At a time like this, I think we'd be far better off just to find a cave and hide," said Joe "If we keep our eyes open and when a camp counselor comes—"
"Hey Joe!" Gomamon cut him off "everyone's leaving us." Joe opened his eyes to see the rest of the group walking away at a brisk pace.
"Wait for me!" Joe called, running to catch up.