The group then set about dividing the work. Amaya went and broke a sturdy branch off of a tree and attached some of her fishing wire to it with a hook to make a fishing pole which she gave to Izzy, who began to attempt to catch some fish with Amaya's fold-up bucket to store the fish he caught and T.K. to help him as needed. Once Amaya was done with that she began to gather water to boil. Joe and Sora went out to gather firewood. The didimon set about gathering fruit, since they knew what was eatable and what wasn't. Mimi tried to help them, but Palmon had to stop her from gathering poisonous mushrooms. Matt and Tai worked at making a fire pit where Sora and Joe deposited the wood.
"We're all set to cook dinner," said Matt, looking down at his and Tai's handiwork; a circle of rocks with a clear ground in the middle and the wood piled in the middle "Now all we need is the grub."
"Great," said Sora "but how are we supposed to light the fire?"
"Like this," said Agumon, shooting fire at the pile of wood and creating a large blaze.
"Wow Agumon," Tai praised "you're the man!" Agumon smiled in embarrassed gratitude.
"Hey look it," called T.K., running over
"We caught a bunch of fish," Izzy continued. It was true, both of them had their arms full of fish.
"Awesome Izzy," said Tai, holding up a fish "Let's eat 'em!" Matt helped put T.K.'s fish on a stick and Amaya speared several of the fish on a sharpened stick that she had worked on while waiting for the fire to be ready.
"Thanks squirt," said Matt, taking the fish and stick from T.K. and taking it over to the fire where Tai was attempting to cook his fish by holding it above the fire with his hands.
"This is where I wish we had a microwave," Tai muttered.
"Me too," said Matt sarcastically, looking at Tai "cause you're about to lose your fingers. Why don't you use a stick?"
"How did you come up with that, Matt?" asked Tai, slightly aggravated.
"Because I'm the man," replied Matt confidently as he stuck the stick in the sand so that the fish was close enough to the fire to cook, but not close enough to burn. Amaya did the same with her stick, setting it up so all five fish that she had attached were close enough to cook. Once Amaya's fish were cooked she took them all off her fish and put them on top of her, still folded tarp to keep them clean and put five more on her stick to cook. As her next batch began to cook Amaya put each of the already done fish onto individual sticks. Then, as the others made their way over she would hand them a fish on a stick to eat. That way not everyone had to figure out how to work it and there would be less potential for burns and wasted food. Once everyone had had their fish Amaya grabbed one for herself but kept cooking the fish, placing salt on all the ones she was cooking to dry them out for storage, until all of the fish that had been caught were dried out and ready to be stored. She put all the dried out fish inside a water proof container and stored it in her bag for future usage before choosing several rocks that were about the size of her hand and placing them in the fire to heat them up.
"This is surprisingly good," said Tentomon as he and Biyomon nibbled on a large piece of fruit.
"Delitious," Izzy agreed, eating a fish.
"Matt," T.K. called "Mom only lets me eat fish sticks..."
"I won't tell," Matt attempted to reassure his brother.
"Never eat with my fingers,"
"T.K. it's allright!" Matt snapped
"Yeah, you're hanging with the big kids now," said Tai, who walked up and pointed at T.K.
"K," said T.K., who then began to eat his fish as Matt looked on in shock. Once again Amaya felt the flash of hurt that went through him before he crushed it down. Tai then went off and stood with Sora a ways off and they started talking, but Amaya couldn't hear what they were saying. A short while later Joe joined them and they all started looking at the stars. Amaya looked over as Patamon yawned and curled up to sleep next to T.K.
"Look," said T.K. "Patamon's tired." Next to them Palmon was leaning on Gomamon and they were both sleeping soundly.
"I'm getting really tired myself" yawned Tai, who had just walked back over.
"Wait a second," said Izzy "I think we should take turns standing guard."
"Alright," Joe agreed "who wants to go first?"
"How about if each of us stands guard for about an hour," Tai suggested.
"Not T.K." Matt objected "Or Amaya." Amaya looked up in confusion and T.K. got up and grabbed Matt's shirt.
"Oh, come on. Me too Matt." T.K. argued
"No, you're too young and you need your rest," Matt argued back.
"I'm getting cold," said Mimi, changing subjects "I need a warm blanket to help me sleep."
"Hey Gabumon," Tai called teasingly "watch it, Mimi may sneak up on you and steal your fur. So if you feel a little tug it might be her about to cut your tail of." Amaya shot to her feet in outrage.
"Stop Tai," said Gabumon, moving away from him "that's not funny."
"Quit it!" Matt yelled, shoving Tai backwards
"What are you bugging about?!" Tai yelled back
"Gabumon told you to stop! So knock it off."
"Hey, you can't tell me what to do." The two boys jumped forward and grabbed each other's shirts, only to jump apart as Amaya threw the water from her pot onto them.
"What the heck?!" cried Tai as he and Matt spun around to find Amaya standing there holding her empty pot in one hand, with her hands on her hips, glaring at them angrily. With Alopexmon standing by her side, fur bristling and fangs bared in a growl, she was a fearful sight.
"Ok now children," she snapped angrily, glaring between the two of them "Now, if you're done acting like five year olds let's set some things straight. First off, Tai you need to learn that some things just aren't funny. Like trying to scare Gabumon, that's not cool, and if you try it on Alopexmon I will throw you in the lake. Next of, Matt, I know I am young, barely older than T.K., but I am the only one here with any real survival training and knowledge, so yes, I will be taking my own shift and share of the work. No T.K., that doesn't mean that you can too. Matt's right you're too young and sorry but you don't know enough to be of much help. Plus I need to set this water to boil so that I am certain that is safe to drink. And finally, if you two boys think that jumping down each other's throats at every turn will solve anything then think again! We are stuck here with each other and we don't know if or when that is going to change so we are going to have to suck it up and work with it. If you don't like each other, than fine, but don't let it affect your ability to work together. Because if we can't work together than we might as well have let Kuwagamon have us at the beginning, because we're dead." By the end of her tirade Amaya was slightly out of breath, but she knew that it had needed to be said. With that she turned and went to refill her pot with Alopexmon hot on her heels, leaving the other children to stare after them.
By the time Amaya was back by the fire, full pot in hand, she had cooled down enough to be embarrassed and everyone but Tai and Agumon had made their way to the trolley car for a good night's sleep. Pointedly ignoring the other two Amaya used a thick stick that she had soaked in the lake water to push her stones out of the fire and to where she could grab them without catching on fire. She grabbed the stones and placed them inside the pot of water before taking several more stones of the same size and putting them in the fire to replace the ones she had taken out. She then sat back to wait for the water to boil.
"How long do you think that will take?" Tai asked quietly.
"It will take a while to start boiling," Amaya replied, still not looking at him "but after that it needs to boil for at least ten minutes."
"That long?" asked Tai "But won't a lot of it evaporate?"
"Some of it will," she replied "but it will make sure that all harmful parasites and bacteria that could be living in it are dead. I didn't like that we drank that water earlier without boiling it, but we did what was necessary."
"Oh..." Tai fell quiet again.