They had been walking through the desert for a short while and Amaya had decided to be careful to pass her water out sparsely, making sure T.K. would have a little more than the others. But as it was she wasn't sure how much longer her water supply would last, as it was she had started taking less for herself. She had experience going without food and water for periods of time and she was certain that the others did not, so she could handle it better than they could. They were already on her second canteen.
"Oh, it's so hot I can feel the heat coming up though my socks," T.K. complained
"Well T.K." Matt pointed out gently "maybe you should put your shoes back on."
"Oh," Mimi moaned "this hot desert air is destroying my completion. How much further is it?" Amaya sighed in aggravation, of all the things to complain about, only Mimi would complain about her completion...
"Is that all you're worried about Mimi? We'll be lucky to even survive this hike," Joe snapped. Amaya glared at Joe, he was going to scare T.K.
"Hey, does anyone besides me notice that these telephone poles have no connecting wires," asked Sora. Amaya glanced up, she was right!
"She's right," said Izzy "I wonder if they actually are telephone poles. Maybe they're some odd alien equivalent."
"Hey," said Mimi "remember those phone booths and that street car?"
"Yeah," Izzy prompted "What about 'em?"
"Oh nothing," said Mimi "I was just wondering if anybody else remembered."
"No, we forgot," Amaya muttered under her breath, causing Tai to chuckle quietly.
"That's it!" Joe cried, coming to a stop "Doomed! The heat has baked our brains and we're all gonna end up like roasted piglets!" Everyone stopped to turn back and stare at him.
"Just remain calm Joe," said Izzy "We've only been walking for two minutes."
"Izzy," Tentomon called quietly, causing Izzy to lean closer to his partner "Come here Izzy. I think we'd better find some shade for Joe and quick." Mimi started humming happily and walked up behind Joe.
"You won't believe what happened to my favorite watch," she said happily over Joe's shoulder.
"Hm?" asked Joe "What?" Mimi held out what appeared to be a watch that's hand was spinning like crazy, but on looking closer Amaya could tell that it was a wrist compass, and it was broken.
"The sun melted the numbers right off," Mimi knelt down and put it on the sand, causing the other kids to have to kneel down to see. Amaya stayed standing straight, slightly annoyed. Tai was the first one to voice what Amaya had noticed.
"Mimi, for somebody who hates hiking you sure have a lot of compasses," he said "Of course none of them actually work." The last comment was because the arrow had started to spin around very fast. Izzy leaned down and picked up a handful of sand thoughtfully.
"Oh," said Izzy in realization "This dirt contains small traces of metal, which could affect the compass needle."
"Oh well, I'm always late anyways," said Mimi.
"This is one weird world and I don't like it one little bit," said Sora, standing up and looking at the sky, hands on her hips. Amaya frowned, she liked this world just fine, ok so it was a little dangerous, but she had friends here.
"I think we should start looking for water guys," said Izzy standing up "Otherwise we could dehydrate in all this heat." Amaya shook her head.
"We're ok for a short while still," she said "I still have one and a half canteens left. That won't last for too long though..."
"But we're doing ok for now right?" Tai clarified.
"Yeah," Amaya affirmed. They started walking again in the same direction they had been going before, walking at a fairly steady pace.
"I've taken a soil sample, measured the barometric meter, and measured the relative humidity," said Izzy
"And what did you find out?" asked Sora
"It's really, really hot," said Izzy. Amaya rolled her eyes, no she would have never guessed, but she kept her mouth shut...barely.
"Hang on just a little longer" said Tai "Don't give up now." They had been walking for a good while by this point and everyone was hot and tired. Amaya was down to her last canteen.
"We're gonna be ok, just keep moving along." Said Mimi
"My head is baking," said Palmon "If this goes on too much longer I'm gonna look like a wilted salad." Mimi paused for a moment and took off her hat, causing her hair to fall down around her.
"Here," said Mimi, putting her hat on Palmon's head "you wear my hat for a while. You need it more than I do."
"Thank you Mimi," Palmon said sincerely. Amaya turned her head to smile at Mimi for her generosity, Mimi smiled back.
"P. U." T.K. complained "What's that yucky smell?" Matt sniffed slightly.
"Ugh," said Matt "here's a thought, now you know why they call them sweat socks."
"This beach would be a lot more popular if it just had a couple more things," said Mimi "Like an ocean, a gentle breeze, snack bar, hunky life guard." Mimi giggled. Biyomon stopped to rest.
"Hold it," she said, tiredly "I have to stop. I just don't think I can go any faster." Biyomon visibly drooped.
"You have to stay positive," said Sora "Let's all pretend that it's raining." Biyomon visibly perked up and moved over to Sora.
"Yeah!" Biyomon cried happily, rubbing against Sora's leg "That's a great idea! I simply adore the rain."
"Me too," said Matt "but it's time for a reality check. This isn't getting any better. It might be a good idea to turn around and get out of this desert right now." Joe was nodding in agreement, but Amaya wasn't so sure. She was feeling something that felt similar to a small group of...something, digimon or people she wasn't sure, not too much farther ahead of them.
"You mean before we all have a power outage," said Tentomon "I'll vote for that. Tai walked up and stood beside Matt, taking out his mini telescope.
"Wait," said Tai "hold on for just a second everybody. If I'm not mistaken, if I'm seeing what I think I'm seeing..."
"What is it Tai?" asked Izzy
"Mh, mh. It's not a mirage. It's real water!" Tai called out. The other kids all turned to look at him in shocked excitement.
"Water?" asked Mimi
"This is fantastic!" said Joe "Now all we need are some lemon, sugar, and some big fat ice cubes!"
"It looks like a village," said Izzy "Maybe we'll find people." Amaya nodded slightly, that must have been what she was sensing earlier.
"And shade," Palmon pointed out, looking at Mimi.
"Maybe they'll even have hats for sale," Mimi agreed "hang on."
"Water and food!" cried T.K. "I'm hungry enough to eat broccoli." T.K.'s announcement made Amaya chuckle, but Patamon's comment made her all out laugh.
"What's broccoli? Was that joke?"
"Are you ok, Amaya?" asked Alopexmon. Amaya could only nod and wipe her eyes.
"Great," said Tai "Let's get out of this desert!" All the other kids were in definite agreement with him and they started making their way over to the village. When they were getting close Amaya suddenly felt an intense feeling of pain, confusion, and anger that caused her to grip her head and gasp.
"What's wrong?" Alopexmon asked worriedly. Amaya shook her head with her eyes squeezed closed.
"Hey," asked Matt, putting his hand on her shoulder "are you alright?" After a moment the feelings faded and Amaya was able to open her eyes again.
"Yeah, sorry," she said embarrassed "just...a really bad headache, that's all."
"Ok..." Matt said doubtfully "Whatever you say."