A/N: Wow, this is a really long chapter! Thanks to Crystal-Wolf-Guardain-967 for reviewing my last chapter. If I say anything else, I'll give something away, so on with the story!
Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon.
The Warrior of Hope
Chapter 13
Beastie Girl
As we looked out across the ocean, I was finally able to get a glance at the island that we were going to. "I see it! Look over there!" I pointed it out to the others. They looked up in excitement, glad that we would soon be leaving the inside of Whamon's mouth.
Ten minutes later, we climbed out of Whamon's mouth and onto some rocks. We all waved goodbye to Whamon as he swam away. I looked around at the island, there were palm trees growing everywhere. It looked like the perfect island paradise, minus the resort and tourists.
"Well, there he goes." Koji was still watching Whamon swim away.
"Nice of you to point out the obvious." Takuya said.
"Don't be such boys!" Zoe said, smiling as she climbed up the rocks. I raised my eyebrows at her enthusiasm.
"My dear Zoe, what has gotten into you?" Bokomon asked.
"You can't blame a girl for feeling good on such a beautiful day, especially a girl who has her spirit back." Zoe said, holding her D-Tector in the air.
"And let us not forget who has a beast spirit now!" J.P. added.
"Let's hear it for J.P., the Princely beast of thunder!" Zoe rolled the r in princely.
"And Zoe, Princess of the summer breeze!" J.P. added. I widened my eyes, it was official, they were crazy.
"And Takuya, King of I'm going to be sick!" Takuya added.
"Yeah, I don't even know how to respond to that, but I can tell you one thing, I never want to hear you guys talk like that ever again." I started to climb the rocks.
"Hey, don't you think you should give your back more time to heal? I don't want you to push yourself too hard." Koji came up behind me, trying to help me up the rocks.
"I'm fine, I can climb a few rocks, and it's not going to kill me Koji." I wasn't lying; my back didn't hurt at all. Besides, I was done slowing everyone down. I wanted to be strong like everyone else. I quickly climbed up the rocks before Koji could protest. "See, I'm all better. My back just needed a little rest, that's all."
Once everyone was over the rocks, we started walking along a path next to the water. "You know, I can't help but notice that it's summer, and we're at a beach." J.P. pointed out after a few moments of silence.
Zoe laughed, "I noticed that."
"Yeah, you know what that means." Tommy started.
"Summer vacation!" We all shouted except for Koji, who just rolled his eyes at my excitement.
"The waves!" Tommy said, striking a pose.
"Shell hunting." Zoe had picked up a starfish…not exactly a shell, but close enough.
"Lots of sunshine!" J.P. said.
"Summer romance." I waggled my eyebrows as I whispered in Koji's ear. He smirked at me, but rolled his eyes.
"Put it all together and what do you get? The beach, baby!" Takuya finished.
Koji tried to reason with us, "Takuya, aren't you forgetting something? We're supposed to be on a mission here. We'd be stupid to let our guard down." He directed this last part at me, raising his eyebrows. I responded by sticking my tongue out and looking away.
Takuya elbowed Koji's side, "Come on, you've got to lighten up, buddy." Koji was starting to laugh.
"Yeah, stop being a party pooper." J.P. poked Koji's other side. Koji was really breaking down now, he was really ticklish.
"Wait, wait don't, I'm not guys, I just think that…" Koji never got to finish his sentence, he was too busy laughing.
"Yes you are, you're being pooie." Tommy said, pouting.
"Stop it!" Koji looked up at Tommy, a guilty expression on his face.
"It can't hurt to take a break, we've earned it." Zoe told him.
"Yeah, you did say that you wanted me to rest my back." I pointed out, smirking at him.
"I thought it was all better." He raised his eyebrows at me.
"It is, but it never hurts to rest." I winked at him.
"Fine, whatever, I'm obviously outnumbered here." Koji gave in.
I cheered and hugged him, "Thanks Koko!" He rolled his eyes, but hugged me back.
"Oh!" Neemon said suddenly.
"Oh indeed, look!" Bokomon pointed down towards the beach where a beach house was. We rushed down and stood right outside the open doorway.
"What's summer vacation without a beach house?" Zoe asked.
"This is a little too convenient." Koji looked at the beach house suspiciously.
"I don't know about that, but it sure looks awfully comfortable." Tommy said, looking inside with longing.
"Welcome!" Four birds that looked like toucans in pants and shoes came out of the beach house.
"Oh goody, it's the Toucanmon." Bokomon informed us, using sarcasm.
"Honored guests, we welcome you to Toucan Paradise." The Toucanmon in the front said.
"Thank you Mr. Toucanmon, we're honored you're honored." Tommy told him.
"Yeah, we're honored, but we're broke." Koji pointed out.
"Oh please, what's a few digi sheckles a month among friends? And it just so happens that today, everything is on the house. By which I mean free, not served on the roof." The Toucanmon on the far right spoke.
"We know what it means." Bokomon informed them.
"Sorry, sorry it was just a small joke, very small." The Toucanmon in the chef's hat said.
"It's okay." Tommy told them.
"No, no, no we are humiliated. There is absolutely nothing we wouldn't do to make it up to you." The last Toucanmon said.
"Oh wow, really?" J.P. asked, looking excited.
"Really, really, really, double really." They replied together. "Come inside, and we'll serve you some lunch."
"Oh, boy!" J.P. shouted before entering the beach house with Takuya, Zoe and Tommy right behind him.
"This still looks suspicious." Koji said.
I grabbed his hand, "Come on, let's just have fun for a while. When do we ever get a chance to do normal things around here?" I pulled him inside and sat him down at the table where everyone else was.
The Toucanmon came out of the kitchen, each carrying plates of food. "A little of this, a smidge of that, and ladies and gentlemen, your lunch is served." The table was filled with every food imaginable. In front of me, was a plate with Fettuccine Alfredo.
"Let's dig in!" Takuya said before proceeding to do just that.
"Yeah, where do we start? Delicious!" We all exclaimed after taking our first bite. I eagerly took another bite of my pasta. It was amazing; the noodles were cooked just right, not too hard and not too soft. There was also a perfect amount of sauce, not too much and not too little.
"Oh man, I am so enjoying these overcooked ramen noodles with rubbery egg!" Takuya stated before taking another bite. I gave him a confused look.
"This is the best lumpy curry I've ever had!" Zoe said, confusing me even more.
"You're weird, is that supposed to be a compliment?" Koji asked her. Finally, somebody else noticed.
"Dude, don't you get it? It's real food, like home, not some kind of crazy meat tasting rabbit food." J.P. explained.
"Every bit of it looks exactly like what it is, lumps and all. Besides, it's a beach house buddy, the food could have sand and bugs and stuff all over it and nobody would care." Takuya said.
"Bring on the bugs!" Zoe and J.P. said together.
"And sand!" Neemon joined in.
"And stuff, bring on the stuff!" Even Bokomon, our voice of reason, had lost it.
"Okay, you guys are officially crazy. I wouldn't be happy if there were bugs or sand in my food." I told them.
They all looked at me, and then Zoe smirked, "Well of course not, you're the Princess. I bet that if I put a pea under your seat, that you would feel it." Everyone started to laugh and I rolled my eyes.
"Good to see that you're back to your old self, Zoe." I said before taking another bite of my pasta. She smiled slightly and then started eating her food. We didn't say another word; we just ate our food in silence. The boys looked back and forth between us, trying to figure out what was going on, but when they couldn't figure it out, they just started eating their own food.
Once I was finished, I was so full I felt like I was going to explode. I leaned back in my chair, "Well, that was filling." Everyone nodded in agreement.
"You ate a lot." Neemon said, directing his comment at Bokomon. There were three empty bowls in front of him.
"Well, I'm eating for two now. My selfish days are over, if I must pig out, so be it." Bokomon was rubbing the egg the entire time. Does he really think that he's a mother?
"It was wonderful." We all said to the Toucanmon.
"Don't mention it, it was our pleasure." They replied.
"My tummy feels like a melon." Takuya said, rubbing his stomach.
"Tommy, did you get enough?" Zoe asked him.
"Yes." He replied.
"Enough and more!" J.P. said.
"Well, I guess it's time to split." Takuya said, standing up. The Toucanmon looked at him in shock.
"We've imposed on you enough." Zoe told them.
"Go ahead, impose." One said.
"Come on, we're begging you here!" Another added.
Takuya gave them a confused look, "Thanks but, we're stuffed as ticks."
"But you're growing kids and it won't be long before you're hungry again. What kind of folks would we be if we let you leave without supper?" These birds really didn't want us to leave.
"Supper? Are you nuts? I won't be hungry for hours. I might never eat again." Takuya informed them.
"You say that now, but after being in the sun I'm sure you will agree with me, and might I suggest you take advantage of our super value summer special." The Toucanmon sure were persistent. My eyes followed him across the room until he opened a curtain, revealing everything you would ever need for a trip to the beach.
"What he's saying, is free beach rentals for everybody!" Another Toucanmon told us.
We all rushed over, taking a look at all the different things. There were so many bathing suits; I couldn't decide which one to wear. "Complimentary baskets are available for your valuables, so just go out and have a good time; you leave the worrying to us." A Toucanmon told us.
Zoe loaded a clothes rack with bathing suits and proceeded to wheel it towards the girls changing room. The boys each took one bathing suit and followed after her. I was about to follow, when I remembered how hard the Toucanmon had worked to make us stay here. I quickly jogged out, grabbing Koji's hand to stop him. He looked at me in surprise, "What is it, Jade? Aren't you going to the changing room?"
I shook my head, "I'd like to have a word with you, alone." I pulled him towards the trees. He followed, but still looked at me in confusion. Once we were far enough into the trees that I thought nobody could hear us, I stopped.
"Alright, what did you want to talk to me about?" Koji asked, leaning against a tree, but he still had his hand clasped in mine.
"Did you not notice how we were not allowed to leave?" I raised my eyebrows at him.
"Not allowed, what are you talking about?" Koji tilted his head to the side, something he does whenever he is confused. He looked so cute when he did it that I almost wanted to forget about my suspicions and spend the time kissing him. I shook my head, now was not the time for that.
"The Toucanmon, they were practically begging us to stay. Don't you think that's a little strange?" I asked him.
He shrugged, "Maybe they get lonely out here. It must be a real treat seeing someone as beautiful as you here." He smiled at me when I blushed. I looked into his eyes, a quick kiss couldn't hurt. I leaned in, and our lips were just about to touch when I remembered why I had really brought him out here.
I quickly dropped his hand, backed away, and frowned at him, "Stop distracting me. I thought you were the suspicious one, what happened to that?"
He sighed, "You're the one who told me to enjoy myself, didn't you? We can keep an eye out, but I really doubt that those bird brains could do anything to harm us." I sighed, he was probably right, but did I really want to take the chance that he was wrong? I bit my lip and looked at the ground, my usually pose for when I was thinking. Koji's hand grabbed my chin and brought my face up to look at his, "Hey, everything will be okay, okay?"
I sighed, but then smiled, "Okay."
He smiled then moved closer, his lips a mere inch away from mine. He looked into my eyes and raised his eyebrows, asking for permission. As answer, I closed my eyes and pressed my lips against his. I wrapped my arms around his neck, bringing him closer. His hands moved too, one went into my hair, keeping my face against his, and the other went to the small of my back, pulling me closer to him. I jumped when his hand touched bare skin from where my shirt was riding up, but I was relaxed by his touch. I soon ran out of breath. I turned my head slightly, just enough so that I could breathe. Koji took this time to leave a trail of kisses along the edge of my jaw. Each kiss left me feeling warm inside. He pulled back, taking a moment to look at me. His eyes were bright, filled with more warmth than I had ever seen. He appeared to be thinking something over. I could tell when he made his decision because he smiled slightly. He came in for another kiss, this time hesitant, like he didn't want to scare me away. His lips pressed softly against mine before he parted his lips slightly. His tongue snaked out, touching my bottom lip, asking for permission. I let him in, his tongue explored my mouth.
"Koji, Jade, where did you guys go?" We were startled by the sounds of shouting coming from the beach house. I jumped away, blushing. Koji chuckled and clasped his hand in my own before he started walking back to the others.
"We're right here." Koji said as we stepped out of the trees.
"What were you guys doing?" Takuya looked at me, but his question was soon answered by my blushing face. "Oh, well we just wanted to make sure nothing had happened, we're going to go swim now, bye." Takuya walked towards the water, dragging Tommy and J.P., who still looked confused, with him.
Koji winked at me before going into the guys changing room. I sighed and walked into the girls changing room. Zoe was standing with her hands on her hips and a smirk on her face. "So, what were you guys doing?"
I blushed, "Nothing." I quickly took one of the baskets and began to place my clothes in it; soon I was only wearing my tank top over my bra and underwear. "Hey Zoe, do you want to check on my back? I just want to make sure that it has stopped bleeding."
She smiled, "Sure, if you tell me what you and Koji were doing."
I sighed; I should have expected something like this. "Fine, we were kissing. Now will you please check on my back?"
She smiled, "Of course, what are friends for?" I rolled my eyes before taking off my tank top. She quickly untied the cloth and took a look at my wound. "It doesn't look bad, it stopped bleeding and it is scabbed over. It shouldn't take too long for it to heal. You won't need this cloth anymore." She told me, discarding the cloth into an empty basket.
"How bad is the scab? Is it really big?" I asked her, not wanting to wear a bikini if the scab was huge.
"It's really small; you can barely tell it's there. The only way you can see it is if you are looking for it." She informed me.
"Thanks, Z." I said before walking over to the clothing rack. I picked out a purple leopard print bikini and quickly put it on. "Well, what do you think?" I asked Zoe.
"Wow, that is definitely your style, it looks great on you." She told me, smiling.
I smiled and started to head for the door. "Wait, are you going to leave your hair down, and with that crown in it?" Zoe stopped me from leaving.
I ran my fingers through my hair; it was still messy from Koji grabbing it. "I guess not, I should probably do something about it." I sighed; long hair was so annoying sometimes.
"I'll braid it for you if you want." Zoe offered.
"Thanks that would be great." Zoe sat down and patted the ground in front of her. I sat and took the tiara off my head, placing it in my basket of clothes. Zoe pulled a brush out of a different basket and started running it through my hair. I have to admit, it felt good to have someone else do my hair.
"This reminds me of back home, my sister used to always do my hair. I'm hopeless when it comes to hair. I can do three things, keep it down, put it in a ponytail, or straighten it. I don't like straightening it though; it makes my hair look flat." I don't know why I was telling her this, it just sort of came out.
"That sounds nice, having someone there to do your hair when you can't." Zoe said as she began parting my hair.
"Yeah, I guess I never really appreciated it until I came here." I thought about it, my sister had always done my hair; it was just something that I came to expect over the years.
"So, back to you and Koji, what's the story? Is he your boyfriend or what?" Zoe asked as she began twisting my hair into a braid.
I sighed, "I don't know, we haven't really talked about it."
"What? You haven't talked about it? What do you guys do, just kiss each other the whole time?" Zoe questioned.
"No, we talk, just not about that. I hadn't even thought of it until you brought it up. I don't really think that it matters, it just feels nice to be with him, you know?" I smiled just thinking about spending time with Koji.
Zoe finally finished, putting an elastic around the end of the braid, "I guess I understand, I just don't want you to get hurt."
I stood up and Zoe quickly followed my lead. I smiled and hugged her, "Thanks for caring; it's nice to know that I have a friend that I can talk to about this stuff." I pulled away and she smiled back at me.
"Go on, Koji's probably waiting for you out there, and I still haven't decided which bathing suit to wear." Zoe shooed me out the door.
I stepped outside into the bright sunlight and smiled, it was a beautiful day to go swimming. I walked towards the water, seeing the boys all swimming. Neemon was buried in the sand, and Bokomon was lounging on a chair under an umbrella. I dipped my foot in the water; it was nice and cool against the hot air. I looked up and noticed that all the boys with the exception of Tommy were looking at me. "What?" I asked.
They continued to stare at me, and I was growing uncomfortable. I looked at Koji and raised my eyebrows at him. He blinked, blushing and looked away to see that the others were staring at me too. He narrowed his eyes and splashed them both with water, causing them to stop staring at me. I folded my arms and tapped my foot, glaring at them. "What?" Koji asked.
"I'm still waiting for an answer. Why were you guys staring at me?" I glared at Takuya, making him blush and look away. I did the same with J.P., and he had the same reaction. When I tried the same thing on Koji, he just smirked at me.
"You want to know why I was staring at you?" He asked me. I nodded. "I was staring because you are gorgeous." I blushed and rolled my eyes.
"So, why were they looking at me?" I gestured towards J.P. and Takuya, who still wouldn't look at me.
He frowned, "Probably the same reason as me." He took the time to glare at them.
I raised my eyebrows at him, this was the perfect time to bring up what Zoe and I had talked about. "Why are you glaring at them? You can look at me, but they can't?"
Koji looked at me in shock, "Well, Um…" It seems that he doesn't know what to say.
"I had no idea that you owned me, maybe you should let me know next time." I smirked at his confused expression and waded into the water until I was swimming. I felt my body relax in the water. I arched my back and kicked my feet up, causing my body to float on the water. I felt my body sway back and forth as the waves passed. I sighed; this was where I felt most comfortable, in the water. I wasn't a swimmer, although many people thought I should be with my long arms and legs. I think that if I swam for competition that I would just feel the need to do laps every time I got in the water. The experience would be lost to training for the next meet.
I was startled by a hand touching my shoulder. I looked up to see Koji beside me, trying to talk to me. I hadn't heard him thanks to the water in my ears. "What?" I asked him as I stood up straight.
"Can I talk to you for a moment, alone?" Koji's eyes were serious. I nodded and we got out of the water, grabbing towels from the pile. I put mine around my shoulders, only wanting to keep my hair from dripping on my back. Koji quickly dried off then set the towel on the ground. He started walking along the beach, waiting until we couldn't hear the others talking. He stopped, not turning to face me, just stopping.
"Koji?" I reached out my hand to touch his shoulder. He shrugged it off, but turned to look at me, his eyes full of confusion and hurt.
"What did I do wrong? Everything seemed fine earlier, but then when Takuya and J.P. were staring at you, you got mad at me. Please enlighten me, because I didn't know that it was a crime to stand up for the girl I liked." The confusion was gone; anger in its place, but the hurt was still there.
I sighed, what had gotten into me? "I don't know, I thought that everything was fine, but one thought kept nagging at the back of my head. It was something that Zoe mentioned while she was braiding my hair. She asked if you were my boyfriend. I replied that you weren't and it has been bugging me ever since. When you got mad at the other guys, I thought you were a hypocrite. You had been staring just as much as they had, and since you aren't my boyfriend, you have no more claim to me than the others." I looked away, the words sounded ridiculous now that I said them out loud, but I couldn't take them back, I had already gone too far for that.
"Do you really think that? That I am just like them? I am just another boy to you?" Koji was losing his anger, the hurt completely taking over.
"No, you are much more to me than that, but you never made it clear. I want to be with you, but if you don't want a relationship, just kissing, then it's not worth it." I turned away, tears rolling down my cheeks. I didn't want him to see me cry.
"Jade, I-" Koji was interrupted by the sound of screaming, Zoe screaming. I didn't think, I just took off running down the beach towards the dressing rooms. Takuya, J.P., and Tommy were all running out of the water, rushing to save Zoe. They made it to the dressing room before me.
"Zoe, what's wrong, are you okay?" I heard them ask.
Zoe screamed again, "Get out, get out, get out!" Takuya and J.P. came out, covered in bruises from what Zoe had thrown at them. Tommy was the only smart one, he was waiting outside the whole time. I shook my head and walked into the dressing room.
"Zoe, are you okay? What happened?" Zoe was covering her body with a lavender swimsuit, and this was obviously how the boys had found her. I handed her the basket that held her clothes. "I'll wait outside, you can tell us all together." I walked outside, seeing that Koji had joined the others and they had just finished telling him what happened. We sat in silence as we waited for Zoe.
She finally walked out in her normal clothes. "Guys, I am so sorry." She said, looking at J.P. and Takuya.
"Now that we're all together, why did you scream before?" I asked her.
"Because someone's a peeping tom." Zoe had her hands on her hips.
"You're kidding!" Takuya looked at her in shock.
"Let me at the creep, how dare he!" J.P. exclaimed, causing us all to look at him. Well, he was the most likely one to do it. He did have a major crush on Zoe. "What are you all looking at me for?"
"You must admit, it looks suspicious, after all you are the most likely culprit." Bokomon said. Neemon nodded in agreement.
"He makes a good point, J.P., why don't you just admit it?" Takuya said, putting his hand on J.P.'s shoulder.
"Because I just didn't do it, that's why!" J.P. exclaimed.
"Come on guys, it couldn't have been J.P., he was swimming with us the whole time, remember?" Tommy stepped forward to stop the fighting.
"I forgot." Takuya and J.P. both said.
"We all had the same alibi." Koji said.
"Then by the process of elimination it was no one?" Bokomon asked.
"Are you calling Zoe a liar?" J.P. asked him.
"No of course not, J.P., it's obvious we're not alone here." Takuya stated.
"The Toucanmon!" I exclaimed. Everyone looked at me in confusion. "The Toucanmon are here." Their eyes widened in understanding. We rushed towards the beach house. When we got there, nobody was inside. It was completely empty of people.
"Where'd they all go?" Tommy asked.
"Now this is suspicious." Takuya commented.
"Oh, no!" Koji yelled, running out the door. We followed him to the dressing rooms. Inside, he started searching through his basket full of clothes. "The bird boys tricked us!"
"Oh man, my D-Tector's gone." J.P. said as he searched through his clothes.
"Oh man, mine's gone too. This is awful." Takuya said after dumping his clothes out on the floor.
"This goes well beyond awful young man, how could you let those Toucanmon trick you like that?" Bokomon said.
"Stop it, they fooled all of us." Koji told him.
"That's right!" Takuya and J.P. said together before starting to take their swimsuits off. I screamed a little, before turning around and getting out of there.
"Well, I'd better change, and check to see if my D-Tector is still there." Zoe nodded and followed me to the dressing room. I quickly searched my basket. "Oh, no." I whispered in shock.
"What? What's the matter, Jade?" Zoe asked me.
My eyes were filling with tears, "They didn't only take my D-Tector, they also took my tiara."
Zoe gasped, "That's horrible!" She put her hand on my shoulder, "We'll get it back, I promise." I nodded and started to get dressed. "So, I know this isn't the best time, but what's up with you and Koji? You won't even look at him. Did you guys get in a fight?"
"Yeah, but it was all my fault." I told her what happened after I left the dressing room, up until when she screamed and we all came running. "So, it was really just my fault. I just had to push him, and not in a very nice way, either. It's funny, every boyfriend I've ever had has let me take charge. They never got angry when I pushed them, because I wore the pants in the relationship. It's different with Koji; he likes to be in charge. I kind of like it. I don't like the fact that the other guys just let me push them around. I want someone who will take care of me, not someone who will hide behind me in the face of danger."
Zoe nodded, taking all this in. "Did anything ever happen in your previous relationships? Anything that made you not trust guys anymore?"
I looked away and nodded, "There was one boy, Tony. He was a friend of mine, and he was always making me laugh. He wasn't very good looking, but he was so nice. He actually looks like J.P., now that I think of it, except his hair is blonde. He asked me to be his girlfriend one day, and since I loved his personality, I thought that it would be great to be his girlfriend, I said yes. That's when it started, he stopped being the sweet boy who made me laugh, and became the guy who couldn't keep his hands off of me. It started in Drama class, he would run his fingers up my arm. I didn't really mind, it felt nice, but then it got worse. We went to see Macbeth together and he started to run his hands up my legs. It made me feel really uncomfortable, having him touch me like that, especially when I was trying to concentrate on the play. He started doing it more and more often, it drove me crazy. He never tried to kiss me, thank goodness, but one night we were texting each other while doing our homework. He asked me a strange question, hey, do you think our relationship is going anywhere, because if not, I think that we should break up. I was shocked, I didn't know what to say so I said, um…what? He replied, if you don't think that our relationship is going to progress within a week, then I think that we should break up. I said, I don't think that you see things the same way as I do, I see most things as emotional, but all you seem to think about is physical. He replied with, oh, then we should definitely break up. I said, fine. To me, that was the end of our conversation, I didn't need him, all he wanted me for was my body. A few hours later, I got a new text message from him. He asked me if he could ask out one of my best friends. I didn't respond, I just cried knowing that he had gotten over me so fast. I felt so unwanted at that moment, and I didn't want to ever feel that way again."
"Wow, that's horrible. I can see why you don't let people in." Zoe said.
"I'm ready to go now, we should probably go if we ever hope to catch them." I said as I walked out the door. Zoe nodded and followed me. When we got outside, the boys were standing there waiting.
"What took you guys so long? In case you've forgotten, the Toucanmon stole our D-Tectors." Takuya said.
"Leave us alone! It's none of your business what we were doing." Zoe replied.
"I'll tell you what's my business-" Takuya started, but I cut him off.
"We don't have time to argue, let's just get going before the Toucanmon get too far ahead of us." I said. Everyone nodded and started running down the beach. We found footprints that looked like they belonged to a bird and we followed them.
We soon heard the Toucanmon talking amongst themselves. "We've finally proved ourselves worthy of the ravishing Ranamon."
"Oh, Ranamon the ravishing!" They said together.
"All right, hold it right there, you thieves. Just what do you mean by Ranamon the ravishing? Huh?" Takuya questioned them.
"Give our D-Tectors back to us, right now!" Koji demanded.
"And don't forget my tiara!" I added, making everyone look at me in surprise.
"No way, no how. These little babies are our ticket to a date with Ranamon." One said.
"Take it from me, you guys are delusional, now give them back!" J.P. said.
"You can't make us, now scram!" One said.
"Um, maybe we should scram." Another suggested.
"Scramming!" They said together as they started to run away.
"Wait, come back here!" Tommy yelled as we chased after them.
"This is so dumb!" Takuya commented. Bursts of water started coming from the ocean. "That doesn't look good." Suddenly, Ranamon came from beneath the waves, surrounded by pillars of water.
"Oh dear, it's Ranamon!" Bokomon shouted.
Ranamon waved at us, "Hi, y'all."
Bokomon looked in his book, "She's the warrior of water, and very evil."
"Well of course she is." Takuya replied.
"She sure has lousy timing." Koji commented.
"What a pleasant surprise, I have so looked forward to seeing y'all again. I'd hoped to have my beast spirit to show you first, but everything happens for a reason. We can't have everything. Just be good little children and hand over your spirits. I'd love to stay and chat, but frankly you'd bore me to tears. Now, how's that sound?" Ranamon's accent was really getting on my nerves, and Zoe looked just as aggravated as me.
"Sounds stupid to me." Zoe told her.
"But we don't have our D-Tectors." Koji said.
"I'll handle her." Zoe told him.
"Zoe." J.P. tried to argue.
"Don't worry, J.P., I'll take care of her in no time." Zoe said.
"Goody, goody this is going to be a treat." Ranamon said. The pillars of water around her turned into cyclones, throwing water everywhere.
"Oh man, this is supposed to be a vacation!" Tommy complained.
"This is very, very bad. As long as she's near water her powers exponentially enhance." Bokomon informed us.
"Is that a bad thing?" Neemon asked.
"I just said that. Didn't I just say that?" Bokomon asked.
"I don't know." Neemon replied.
"Water woman sure has a nasty temper." Zoe commented.
"Zoe, you can't!" J.P. said.
"Look, I haven't been able to spirit evolve, so I need to make up for lost time." Zoe said.
"Oh, goody, goody." Neemon said.
"Guys, just believe in her, I'm sure she can do it!" I told them. Zoe nodded at me then smiled.
"I've never felt this helpless before." J.P. said.
"Just leave it to me. Execute, Spirit Evolution!" Zoe said, turning into Kazemon.
"Sugar, do you really think that you can take me on alone?" Ranamon asked.
"That's a silly question, of course I do, Sugar." Kazemon mocked.
"So now you're going to mock me?" Ranamon asked.
"I wouldn't dream of it, I'd rather fight!" Kazemon said, going in for a punch. Before she could even get close to Ranamon, water shot up, blocking her attack. Kazemon started to fly away, but the water followed her.
"Don't you want to play with me anymore?" Ranamon asked as the pillar of water that was following Kazemon split into two. The water followed her until she made it run into a cliff. "Whippin' Waves!" Ranamon shouted, creating two more swirling pillars of water.
"Hurricane Wave!" Kazemon shouted, using the tornadoes coming from her hands to break the columns of water apart.
"Well, you're actually pretty good at this." Ranamon told her.
"Oh Ranamon, that means so little coming from you!" Kazemon said.
"You little brat! I'm going to take you apart, wing by wing." Ranamon said, creating five columns of water surrounding Kazemon. "Feeling a little more polite?" Ranamon gasped, "What's that calling to me? Could it be? Out of my way, brat!" Ranamon said as she dove underwater.
"Oh great, what's she up to now?" Kazemon asked. That reminded me of something.
"The Toucanmon! I totally forgot! I'm going to go look for them, you guys stay here to support Zoe!" I said as I started running down the beach, following the tracks of those bird brains. "They couldn't have gotten too far." I said to myself. I finally caught sight of them, on the edge of a cliff. Their faces were filled with disgust, looking down at the beach.
"I think I'm going to be too busy for the Ranamon fan club from now on." One said.
"Yeah, me too." Another agreed.
"Me three." They were dropping buttons and hats on the ground.
"And to think, we almost had to go on a date with her." The last one said as they started walking away. I was about to stop them, when I caught sight of one of the most ugly things I had ever seen. It looked like a giant squid with a woman's upper body coming out of it.
I heard a little bit of what she was saying, "I'm so sorry, sugar pie. Are you not enjoying our little dance? Maybe I should turn up the music." She had an accent kind of like Ranamon's. I cringed, maybe this was her beast spirit.
"It's just so ugly!" I shuddered and looked away, finally remembering the Toucanmon. "Great, lost them again!" I started to jog along the tracks. "I have to find them, Koji and the others are counting on me!" I sped up to a run and finally spotted them. They were talking at the edge of a cliff.
"So what should we do with these?" One of the Toucanmon was saying, looking at our D-Tectors and my tiara, which were sitting in a pile on the ground. I gritted my teeth, that was no way to treat something as valuable as that.
"You can give them to me." I said. They jumped up, startled.
"No way! How did you find us?" They asked. I pointed to their tracks in the sand.
"New plan, we sell these things, come on guys!" One Toucanmon grabbed our stuff and jumped off the cliff, flying towards an island in the distance.
"Good idea!" The others said, quickly following after.
"No!" I tried to reach out and grab the last Toucanmon, but only succeeded in losing my balance. Great, now I'm going to fall to my death all because of those stupid bird brains.
"Are you crazy?" I heard someone ask as they grabbed my arm, keeping me from falling off the edge. I looked over my shoulder to see that it was Koji who held my arm. He pulled me into a warm embrace, "Don't ever scare me like that again. I was so afraid that I was going to lose you."
It felt so good to be hugging Koji again, but I knew I had to pull away. I took a step back from him, careful to stay away from the edge. I turned away, looking across the ocean. "Why does it matter if you lose me? I'm useless! I couldn't even get the D-Tectors back from those stupid bird brains!" Tears were rolling down my cheeks as I yelled out across the ocean. "I can't do anything right." I whispered.
"Jade," He swallowed, "Um, what I was going to say to you before, you know, before Zoe screamed, well, I was going to say that I really care about you, and I don't want anything to happen to you. I want to protect you, make sure that you never get hurt. I want to be there for you when you are feeling down. But mostly, I just want you to be happy. I want to be the one to make you happy. Jade, will you be my girlfriend?"
I gasped, he wants me to be his girlfriend? "Why would you want me? I'm selfish, vain and emotionally damaged. You deserve someone better, someone who looks good next to you, someone who nobody would question why you were with her, you were just meant to be."
Koji grabbed my chin and turned my head to face him, "I know exactly what you're talking about, someone who understands me, someone who will always be there for me, someone who cares enough that they think they aren't good enough for me. The perfect girl for me is you. Whenever I'm with you, I wonder why someone as amazing as you would want to spend your time with me. You have everything backwards, I don't think I'll ever be good enough for you, but I can try."
The tears were coming faster now, dripping onto Koji's hand. "Koji, I would love to be your girlfriend." He smiled and brought his lips down on mine. The kiss lasted only a second, but it was just as sweet as all our other kisses. "Hey, Koji?"
"Yes, Princess?" He asked me and I rolled my eyes at the nickname.
"If you promise not to think that I'm too good for you, then I'll promise not to think that you're too good for me." I said.
"Alright, I promise." He said, smiling at our agreement.
"I promise too, we are both equals." I smiled and gave him a quick peck on the lips. "Well, we should probably get back to the others and tell them the bad news." I said, grabbing his hand. He nodded and we headed back towards the others.
We finally came into view of the beach house, and we saw that everyone was sitting, obviously taking a break. Zoe was talking to J.P., who seemed to be in a daze.
"J.P., weren't you thinking about your D-Tector?" I heard Zoe ask when J.P. finally snapped out of it.
"Oh, uh, well, I was wondering if you'd be like that." J.P. explained.
"Huh? Be like what?" Zoe asked.
"Like Calmaramon." J.P. replied.
"Huh, Calmaramon? Where?" Takuya sat up quickly.
"I was just wondering if you'd be scary like that, you know, when you got your beast spirit and all that." J.P. explained. The boys all seemed to be imagining something, even Koji.
"Who's Calmaramon?" I whispered to Koji.
Before he could answer, Zoe interrupted their visions, "Stop that! I can't believe you guys would think something like that! I'm nothing like her."
"Of course…" Neemon said.
"Hey! Say that like you mean it!" Zoe yelled at him. She pulled on his pants, snapping them against his waist.
"He's not saying you're evil or anything, just that beast spirits are hard to control." Takuya said.
"Yes, remember what happened with Takuya?" Bokomon asked.
"I'll always be a cool and beautiful girl digimon, that I know." Zoe said confidently.
"But, how?" Tommy asked.
"Because I'm a girl, and girls know how to handle power, when they need to." Zoe exclaimed. I narrowed my eyes and my free hand became a fist while my other hand squeezed Koji's, hard.
"So, are you saying that I'm not a girl?" I asked her.
She gasped and turned around, "Oh Jade, I didn't know you were back there. Of course I think that you're a girl, you just weren't expecting the beast spirit to be hard to control." She tried to wave it off.
"Actually, I knew that it would be hard to control. I was informed ahead of time that I would be facing one of the hardest challenges I would ever face." I glared at her.
"Wow, girls are scary when they're angry." Tommy whispered to J.P., who nodded in agreement.
I rolled my eyes, "Whatever, it's not worth it to fight you when we have more important things to worry about."
"Oh, by the way, Calmaramon is a giant squid monster that is Ranamon's beast spirit." Koji explained to me.
"Oh, that really ugly thing I saw earlier? That makes sense." I said.
"So, did you bring our D-Tectors back?" Takuya asked me.
"No, the Toucanmon got away. They flew towards that island over there." I pointed to the island across the water.
"Then we can't let them get away, we can swim over!" Takuya said as he raced out into the water.
"I'll race you there." Zoe told him.
"Tommy, you guys wait here." Takuya ordered before tripping into the water.
"Takuya?" Zoe asked.
Takuya came up from the water, looking down at his feet. Suddenly, a little seal-like digimon with an orange Mohawk came out of the water. "What the heck is that?" Takuya asked.
"That's Gomamon." The digimon replied.
"Well, whoever you are, let go of my foot, okay?" Takuya said, kicking his foot out of the water.
"Sorry, but we had to stop you guys." Gomamon said.
"Hi." "Hi." "Hi." "Hi." "Hi." They just kept on popping out of the water, each saying the same thing.
"Yeah, hi. What are these things anyway?" Takuya asked Bokomon.
"Gomamon are cute and curious, but if you get them mad, they won't hesitate to attack. But, then again, what does around here?" Bokomon explained.
"How cute!" Zoe said, picking one up and squeezing it like it was a stuffed animal.
"Yeah, girls are tough." J.P. commented.
"You bet they are, and you better shut your mouth, before you find out just how tough." I told him.
He swallowed, "Shutting."
"So, why did you stop Takuya and Zoe from going over there?" I asked the Gomamon.
"We wouldn't be very good friends if we let you go out there. The water looks so cuddly and inviting, but really it's very dangerous." The Gomamon that tripped Takuya said.
"Um, what do you mean by dangerous, exactly?" Takuya asked.
"Just look, all that foam by the island is caused by a whole bunch of whirlpools." Gomamon replied.
"Whirlpools?" Takuya asked.
"Don't worry, we're safe here, but if you get too close, they'll suck you in and never spit you out, and even if you could get passed them, you'd get slammed up against the cliffs that surround the only beach you can land on. We know all about it because we used to live there." Gomamon explained.
"So, is there some sort of secret way to get there, or something?" Takuya asked.
"No, I wish there were." Gomamon replied.
"You can't get home?" Zoe asked.
"That's right. Everything used to be so wonderful here, then one day when we went out to play and get some food, there was a big earthquake. That's when the whirlpools started. We were cut off from our island, and we haven't been able to get home since." Gomamon said.
"I'd be willing to bet that the earthquake happened when the destruction of the digital world began. It seems there's no one that Cherubimon's evil touch hasn't hurt." Bokomon said.
"So you're saying there's no way to get across, huh?" Koji asked.
"Maybe we'll be able to find some kind of flying digimon who will take us over to the island." J.P. suggested.
"Hey, good idea." Takuya said.
"Well of course, that should totally work." Gomamon said.
"Thanks for the help you guys, you really saved our necks." Takuya said, then started walking away. Koji tried to follow, but I was still looking at the poor Gomamon.
"Come on Princess, we have to get going." Koji said, trying to pull me towards the others.
"But, they all look so sad. What kind of princess would I be if I just let them suffer?" I asked him, using his own nickname against him.
"Jade's right. Why don't you all come with us? I mean, don't you want to go back home?" Zoe walked up to the Gomamon.
"Oh don't worry about us, we'll be just fine. If we swim close up to the whirlpools, we can catch a really good view of our friends on the other side." Gomamon replied.
"You bet, we get along just fine." Another Gomamon said.
"Come on! Are you trying to tell me you're not even a little sad, watching all your friends from afar, not even being able to talk to them? Well I don't buy it! Everyone gets sad without their friends!" Zoe said.
"Yeah, we just try to ignore it, because otherwise, we get all depressed." Gomamon said.
"Listen guys, I think I have a quick and simple solution to your problem, you're all going to come with us!" Zoe exclaimed.
"Although I appreciate the sentiment, don't you think it might be a tad dangerous?" Bokomon asked.
"Come on guys, we have to try!" Zoe said.
"We can't even help ourselves. I mean, we don't even have our D-Tectors anymore. What good are we?" Koji asked us.
I started to doubt, "Maybe he's right. Maybe we can help them out after we have our D-Tectors back."
"That's a good excuse if you want to give up, but I'm not going to. Sure it's tough, but I believe we can do whatever we put our minds to. Come on you guys, let's get you back to your friends, okay?" Zoe said.
"After that speech, I don't think that we could say no, even if we wanted to." Gomamon said.
"I hope it works, if it doesn't we'll make it work!" Zoe seemed determined, and there was no way to stop her when she was like this.
"I guess you're right." I sighed, this was going to be hard.
"Zoe's right, we'll help each other out, we'll make it together." Takuya said.
"Even without our D-Tectors, I guess there's still plenty we can do as a team." Koji said.
"You mean it, really?" Zoe asked.
"I can't swim well, and I'm afraid of water, but count me in." Tommy said.
"Hey, finding flying digimon is too much work anyway." J.P. said.
"It's decided then, finally." Bokomon said.
"Guys…" Zoe said.
"Don't start crying, because you know Tommy will just start crying." Takuya said.
"Yeah, and if he doesn't, I will." J.P. added.
"Awesome, then let's get to work everybody!" Zoe said.
Koji dragged me back to the beach house. "Why are we going in there?" I asked him.
"We have to find something sharp if we're going to cut down those trees." He explained. We walked into the Kitchen and saw many knives, but none looked like they should be used outside of the kitchen. I wandered around the house, searching for something we could use. I came across a room that was filled with tools. There were shovels, hammers, and finally a huge knife that looked like it was used to chop down trees.
"Koji, I think I found something!" I yelled down the hall, not knowing where he was at.
He came down the hall. "What did you find?"
"A blade of some sort, I'm not really sure what to call it." I replied, leading him into the room.
He looked at the knife and nodded, "That will be perfect. We should hurry; we don't want the Toucanmon to leave the other island." I nodded and he grabbed the knife with one hand and my hand with the other. He led me out of the house then called out to the others, "Alright, let's get to work!"
We started working. It was tough; I wasn't used to this much manual labor. I was given the task of tying the logs together after Takuya and Tommy had brought them over. J.P. was no help at all; he just sat on the ground and drew pictures.
We finally finished. It looked more like a raft than a boat to me, but I couldn't complain if it was going to get me closer to getting my D-Tector and tiara back. Tommy, Bokomon, and Neemon sat on the raft while Koji, Takuya, J.P., Zoe, and I pushed it into deeper waters. I got on the raft first, easily pulling myself up. I then helped Zoe up. She went to help Takuya up while I went to help Koji up. I reached my hand out, grasping his in mine. I pulled him up, using my weight to my advantage. Unfortunately, once he was up, I lost my balance. Luckily, I landed on the raft, but I brought Koji down with me, thanks to the fact I was still holding his hand. He landed on top of me, knocking the breath out of me.
"Couldn't get enough of me, huh?" Koji smirked at me.
"Um, as much fun as this is, can you get off so that I can breathe?" I gasped. He chuckled and rolled off me. Everyone was staring at us. I blushed and looked away, "Um, shouldn't we help J.P. up?"
Everyone looked at J.P., who was holding on the raft with both arms and smirking at me. I rolled my eyes at him, but my face was still red. Koji and Takuya each took one of J.P.'s arms and together they pulled him up. We put the sail down, letting the wind take us towards the island.
"Could we not rock the boat so much?" Tommy asked. He was inside a barrel, trying to ignore how scared he was.
I was sitting in between J.P. and Koji, who was rowing. "I can't believe you built this without even looking at my plans." J.P. complained. We all ignored him.
"This is great." Zoe said, letting the wind blow through her hair.
"I'll say." Takuya agreed.
"But, what about my plans?" J.P. asked.
"J.P.!" We were all glaring at him.
"What?" He asked.
I looked forward to see giant whirlpools in front of us. They were huge! I scooted closer to Koji, wanting to feel his calming presence.
"So much for fun." Zoe commented.
"Those Gomamon sure weren't kidding." Koji said.
"They said it was bad, not horrible!" J.P. complained.
"There must be something at the bottom of the sea that's causing all this." Bokomon said.
"Well, maybe we can find it and fix it." Takuya said optimistically.
Suddenly, a giant wave came at us, "Tidal wave!" We all yelled and grabbed whatever was closest to us. I ended up grabbing Koji, who grabbed the barrel attached to the mast. He arranged us so that I was holding on to the barrel with both hands and his chest was pressed against my back while his hands were on either side of mine grabbing the barrel.
The wave hit, causing us to go underwater. I held my breath and closed my eyes, not wanting to get salt in them. When we came above water again, two pillars of water came out of the ocean in front of us. A third pillar rose up, and on top of it was Ranamon.
"Hi there, kiddy pies." She waved at us.
"Great, now what do we do?" Takuya asked.
"Well, if ya'll have any last wishes, now would be the perfect time to make them, don't you think?" She suggested.
Zoe had a determined look on her face. "Don't do it, Zoe. Don't you remember what happened last time? You were no match for her." J.P. tried to stop her.
"For Pete's sake! Am I the only one her with even a pinch of optimism?" Zoe asked.
"But, Zoe-" Takuya said before being interrupted by Zoe.
"Don't but Zoe, me! Just figure out how to stop the whirlpools while I hold her off." Zoe ordered us. "Hope this works." I heard her whisper.
"You can do it." I told her. She nodded and smiled.
"Execute, Spirit Evolution!" She yelled before turning into Kazemon.
"My, you're quite a little glutton for punishment aren't you?" Ranamon asked.
"Let's kick start this fight!" Kazemon said before kicking at Ranamon. The two pillars of water made a shield in front of Ranamon. After Kazemon was done kicking, they parted to show Ranamon lounging on her pillar of water. "Hurricane Wave!" Kazemon tried to split the water up with her attack like she did before, but it didn't work.
"Honey, I could do this all day, but I'll take pity on you and destroy you now." She snapped her fingers and a dark cloud appeared above Kazemon. "Drainin' Rain!" The rain was sapping Kazemon's energy, and fast.
"Zoe, no!" Takuya shouted.
"Zoe!" J.P. joined in as Kazemon began to fall into the whirlpool below.
"Zoe! If only there was something I could have done to help. Maybe together we could have beaten her." My grip on the barrel tightened, my nails digging into the wood.
"Zoe, come back!" J.P. looked ready to jump in after her.
"No, J.P.!" Koji said, pulling him towards the center of the raft.
"Zoe!" Takuya yelled at the water.
"It can't be." Bokomon was in shock.
"It could have been different, if I had pushed Koji harder that those Toucanmon were trouble, she would probably still be here." Tears were falling down my face. Sure, Zoe and I fought a lot, but she was still one of my best friends.
"What a bother, and here I thought I'd get a chance to test out my beast spirit, it's really not fair." Ranamon complained, still lounging on her pillar of water.
"You're toast, lady!" Takuya yelled at her.
"Thanks, but I already had my breakfast. Hey, maybe I could test out my beast spirit on ya'll." Ranamon said.
"Takuya look, the whirlpool's going away!" Tommy shouted. We all looked to see that it was true, the whirlpool was stopping. The water turned back to normal.
"It's what?" Ranamon asked. "Now how in the world did that happen?" She was staring at the water in disbelief. Another pillar of water shot up, this one bigger than all the others, but this one wasn't made by Ranamon. "What is going on?" She shouted.
"Oh my, could it be?" Bokomon asked. The water was gone in an instant, and Zoe was floating in the air in its place.
"It could!" Takuya shouted.
"It's Zoe!" J.P. yelled.
"Yes, I'm back, and I brought a little friend!" She held out her D-Tector. Multiple rings of blue light surrounded her hand, "Execute, Beast Spirit Evolution!" She turned into her beast spirit. She had blue hair that morphed into wings at the back. A purple cloth was covering her mouth. She had brown and white wings. She was wearing a grey scarf, a purple bikini that was similar to Kazemon's, thigh length purple boots, silver elbow length gloves, and silver shoulder guards. "Zephyrmon!" She shouted.
"Who is that?" Takuya sounded impressed, and I have to admit, I was too.
"That is Zephyrmon, legendary warrior of wind!" Bokomon exclaimed.
"Oh my, why? You're pretty! Your beast spirit made you pretty! Well, of course it's not like you're prettier than me, I mean, that's not even possible! But, just because you are prettier than me doesn't mean anything, you got it! Do you have adoring fans all over the world who worship you? I don't think so!" Ranamon was having a fit.
"You know something, for a legendary warrior of water, you sure give off a lot of hot air." Zephyrmon told her.
Ranamon's face reminded me of the expression, "If looks could kill." "That does it! You're going down, sugar. Now, how should I defeat you? Dark Vapor!" Ranamon shot a cloud of dark mist at Zephyrmon, who didn't even try to dodge it. "You're in for it now, girly. That haze will melt anything! Have your feathers started molting yet? Wait a minute, how come you're not molting?" Ranamon finally noticed that her attack wasn't doing anything.
"I think it's time you learned a little respect." Zephyrmon said as her hands began to glow red. "Plasma Paws!" She shouted and headed for Ranamon. Ranamon raised her pillar, causing Zephyrmon to go through it, breaking it apart and making Ranamon fall into the water.
"All right!" Tommy cheered.
"I'll say." Koji agreed.
"She's controlling her spirit!" Takuya exclaimed.
"She's amazing, isn't she, J.P.?" Tommy asked the older boy.
J.P. was looking at Zephyrmon with in the same way he was looking at me when I had on my bikini, but worse. "Boy, howdy!"
I smacked him on the back of his head, "Show some respect!"
Ranamon chose that moment to stick her head above water. "Alright, that's it! No more pussy footing around. Ranamon Slide Evolution! Calmaramon!" She turned into her ugly beast spirit. "Let the party begin!" She was staring at Zephyrmon.
"Zoe, get away!" J.P. yelled.
"J.P., have some faith in her. Come on Zephyrmon; show this witch how to really fight!" I yelled up at her.
"You won't be so pretty when I get through with you, sweetheart! Acid Ink!" Calmaramon's face puffed up before she shot black ink at Zephyrmon. Zephyrmon dodged the attack, moving to the other side of her. Calmaramon shot more ink at her, but Zephyrmon dodged again and the ink hit a rock, dissolving it. "That's what will happen to your friends! Ready kids?" She asked before shooting the ink at us. Zephyrmon cut through the attack with her claws, but some of the ink hit her wing, dissolving it slightly. "Aw, what's the matter, little girl? Did I burn you all up?" Calmaramon asked, spitting more ink at Zephyrmon. Zephyrmon clawed at the ink, but Calmaramon wrapped one of her tentacles around her. "I'm just too good!" Calmaramon said, laughing.
"That witch!" Takuya yelled.
"It's awful, we can't do anything." Tommy said.
Calmaramon squeezed Zephyrmon tighter. "Stop it, let her go, you scum queen!" Koji yelled.
"Yeah, you ugly fish head!" J.P. added.
"What? What did you say?" Calmaramon glared at J.P., making him cower in fear.
"You heard him! If we call her names and distract her, maybe Zephyrmon can escape." Koji whispered to us.
"Okay…Hey you slimy dateless wonder!" Takuya shouted.
"You big coward!" Tommy shouted. We all started shouting insults at her.
"Hey, the ugly department called, they don't want their face back!" I yelled, and that was the last straw.
"Can it! Oh, you are so dead!" Calmaramon loosened her grip on Zephyrmon, allowing her to escape.
"Hurricane Gale!" Zephyrmon yelled, causing Calmaramon to get hit by a violent whirlwind and feathers of light. Calmaramon fell back into the water. We cheered. "That's for picking on my friends." Zephyrmon told her.
"And go tell your friends they'll get more of that if they mess with us!" Takuya shouted.
Calmaramon was slowly sitting up. She turned around and her makeup was smeared, making her face even scarier, "Now you're going to get it!" Takuya, J.P., and Tommy all screamed.
"That's the scariest thing yet!" Tommy exclaimed.
"Be quiet, you brats are in for a heaping helping of pain! Titanic Tempest!" Calmaramon twisted her body and started to spin. She couldn't control it, she was moving back and forth in no apparent direction.
"Oh, I am going to enjoy this." Zephyrmon said.
"I let you off easy, this time!" Calmaramon said as she spun off into the distance.
"What was that?" J.P. asked.
"I guess someone can't control her beast spirit yet. Now, let's get everybody back to that island." Zephyrmon said before pushing the raft to the island.
All the Gomamon were cheering, happy to be back with their friends.
"They're sure happy." Neemon said.
"And it's all thanks to you, Zoe. If you didn't have the courage to stand up to Ranamon, none of this would be possible." Bokomon told her.
"Thanks." Zoe said.
"My pleasure." Bokomon replied.
"Hey Zoe, how were you able to control your beast spirit so fast?" Takuya asked.
"Well, just luck, I guess." Zoe replied.
"Not because you're a girl?" Tommy asked.
"Yeah, maybe, but I won't tell, a girl's has to have, secrets." She blew them a kiss.
"You feel as sick as I do right now?" Takuya asked Tommy.
"No, I'm sicker." Tommy replied.
"Guys-" Zoe said.
Neemon cut her off, "Me too!"
"Knock it off!" She yelled at him.
"I think you overdid it, Z." I told her, laughing.
Before she could reply, the Gomamon walked up to us. "We just wanted to thank you all. If it weren't for you, we would never have seen our friends again."
"You should be thanking Zoe." Takuya told them.
"Yeah, she's the one who did everything." Koji said.
"Aw, you guys helped me more than you know." Zoe said, hugging Takuya and Koji.
I scowled at her and Koji noticed, "Cut it out." He said.
"Hey, we want one too! Where's ours, huh?" J.P. and Tommy were bouncing up and down.
She laughed, "Okay." She gave them hugs. As she was doing this, I walked up to Koji and grabbed his hand.
We turned to the Gomamon, "Hey, did you guys see the Toucanmon?" Koji asked them.
"They're gone. They all left for the Autumn Leaf Fair." Gomamon informed us.
"The what?" Takuya asked.
"It's a traders market on the continent north of here." Bokomon told us, reading out of his book.
"Then, let's go." Takuya said.
"But, how?" Zoe asked.
"Why is nothing ever easy?" J.P. asked.
"Don't worry, I'm sure we can do it if we work together!" I said, smiling.
A/N: Well, now that that's over with, what did you think? I know, I know there was a lot of drama in that chapter, but I was on a roll. Be honest, was it too much? I really want to hear from you, so please review. :)