Digimon Adventure
Shellfish Shock
As soon as they plunged into the water, Tai struggled to get to the surface. The water was roaring and rushing around him, making it almost impossible to get to the surface and breathe. He had no idea where the others were, being thrown around so much. Only for a sudden rushing to surround him and then Tai was being thrown in the air. He landed on the bank of the river, drenched but safe, and then the others were being thrown out of the water as well.
"What just happened?" Matt panted.
"Sorry 'bout that." Syakomon hopped out of the river, "Tryin' to save you guys and all. You okay?"
"Yeah." Tai nodded. He didn't know Syakomon could do that. Then again, there seemed to be a lot of things he didn't know.
"I can't bring up a raft or anything but I can push you out of the water." Syakomon explained. He appeared sheepish, "I can't really walk, either. So, uh, do you mind carrying me?" Tai gave him an exasperated look. Syakomon had a point but Tai didn't particularly like it. He sighed.
"Yeah, sure." Once he had recovered enough, he got to his feet. To make it easier on him, Syakomon closed his clam, so it wasn't too unwieldy. But it sure was heavy!
"How much do you weigh?!" Tai cried.
"I dunno." Syakomon spoke, somewhat muffled from inside the shell, "Sorry, Tai."
"It's okay, Syakomon." If they were going to be walking around for a while, they'd need to come up with some better way of carrying the clam-like creature. For now, however, this would do. He looked over at the others, "Everyone okay?" He got some noises of agreement. Matt was taking care of T.K., Sora and Mimi were checking on each other and the flower digimon, and Izzy and Joe were being checked over by their own respective digimon.
"Should we keep moving? Will Kuwagamon get us down here?" Sora asked.
"Maybe." Armadillomon said, "We damaged 'im but he's still a Champion and a nasty one at that. Wouldn't put it past 'im to chase us down." They all looked up to the top of the cliff.
"He's gone!" Mimi said.
"You don't suppose he fell into the water with us, do you?" Izzy asked, "The cliff was very unstable."
"If he did, then there's no sign of him, dame." said the poop-shaped digimon. They were quiet as they contemplated whether or not that was correct. It was a relief to no longer hear Kuwagamon's roaring, though.
"But what was that about digivolution?" Matt asked, "You can change form?"
"Yep!" The flower twirled, "I used to be Budmon but now I'm Lalamon! As long as we have the energy, we can digivolve to other forms to become stronger."
"Like what happened up on the cliff, right?" Tai asked.
"That's right!" Syakomon agreed.
"But then, uh, what are you guys now?" Joe was confused.
"Well, I'm Armadillomon!" The digimon wagged his tail, smiling up at Joe.
"I'm Syakomon!" cried the clam.
"I'm Damemon, dame!" said the poop. He looked pretty proud of himself, hands on his hips and all.
"And like I said, I'm Lalamon." spoke the flower.
"Prodigious! But if you had the energy before, why did you digivolve just then? Was it because of the danger?" Izzy was becoming very interested in the topic.
"Maybe, dame. We've never had to digivolve before." Damemon shrugged.
"So you don't really know what caused your digivolution?"
"We may know a few things 'bout this place but we don't know everythin'." Syakomon sighed.
"Hmm." said Izzy.
"Anyway, what should be our next move?" Sora questioned, "It'll take a lot of time and work to get back up the cliff, so that's kind of a no-go."
"We should see if there's any way off this island!" Joe said, "If we could at least find a phone to call for help-"
"Actually, there's such a place." Syakomon interrupted, "If we follow the river here, it should lead us to the ocean and there's payphones on the beach."
"Really?" T.K. asked.
"Then what are we standing around for? Let's go call for help!" said Matt. They had no idea how far away the beach was from their position, so they started out at a walk. Tai hung back to talk with Izzy.
"If this is a different dimension, do you think we can somehow call home?" he asked. The boy shrugged.
"Possibly. Every world has its own rules on how it works. We might could call, we might not."
"But does that mean we can still get home?" Tai worried over that the most, "If we were able to get here, that means we should be able to leave. Right?"
"It should." Izzy agreed, "But since we have no idea how we got here, then going home is looking less likely." Well, that was depressing. The boy went on, "As we learn more about this place, we should get a better idea of how things work and how we might be able to get home, though. It's not a total loss."
"If you say so." Tai sighed. They continued walking as everyone chattered on. Eventually Mimi was the first to spot the beach and broke into a run.
"There's the phones!" She pointed them out. One was even ringing! But as Tai went to answer, it stopped. He had to set Syakomon down before he could hope to try dialing the number back, but when he did, he got a weird answer.
"At the tone, the time will be exactly 45 miles per hour... and 90 seconds." said the operator. Tai gave the phone a look.
"What's happenin'?" Syakomon asked, tilting his head.
"Wrong number, I'm hoping." Tai tried to dial again. He got the operator once more with a different 'busy' message. This time, he hung up. It looked like there wasn't any way they were going to be able to call home like this. As he glanced over at the others, he could see things weren't going well for them, either. It made him wonder, too. As far as he could tell, half of them were close to certain digimon. He had Syakomon, Mimi had Lalamon, Joe had Armadillomon, and Izzy had Damemon. But Sora, Matt, and T.K. did not. There were four digimon and seven kids. If he didn't know any better, Tai would think that all of them should have partners. Yet that wasn't how it worked. You took what you could get. Still, he felt kinda bad about it. Shouldn't they all have digimon friends, or a way to protect themselves? As it was, he moved away from the phone and sat on the sand, sighing. What could they do now if they couldn't call home?
"You couldn't contact anyone?" Syakomon hopped over. Tai shook his head.
"Pretty sure that's not the real operator I was talking to."
"Sorry, Tai." Syakomon's ear-strand-things drooped, "I was trying to help."
"I know, Syakomon. It's not your fault." Tai pat the digimon's head. What were they going to do now? Eventually, he was joined by the rest of the group, except Joe and Armadillomon. Joe apparently didn't know when to give up and Armadillomon was his cheerleader.
"So, the consensus is, there's no actual operators we can contact?" Sora sighed, "This is the worst."
"How are we supposed to get home now? We could starve to death!" cried Mimi.
"That's not true, dame!" Damemon waved an arm, "Digimon hunt our own food for survival, dame. We can share with you guys and you won't starve, dame!"
"Yeah! I can even bring water to shore and catch fish for you guys!" Syakomon cheered, swaying side to side happily.
"And I can help you guys figure out what fruit is healthy and what's not." Lalamon added.
"Sure, that's good and all, but what about getting home?" Matt snapped. The digimon were taken aback. None of them could answer that.
"Hey now, don't be so mad at them, Matt." Tai frowned at the blond, "They don't know what to do, either." He reached over and rubbed Syakomon's head. It was smooth and a little slimy as a result of his clam-like shape, but Tai found himself getting used to it.
"He's right." said T.K., "It's not their fault." Matt glanced at the young boy before giving a small sigh.
"Right. Sorry." apologized Matt, though he didn't look too apologetic.
"It's okay." Lalamon said, "I mean, if we were stuck in your world with no way to get home, maybe we'd get a little angry, too."
"Yeah, but nothing there tries to kill us." Mimi grumbled.
"Hey, dame, as long as we're here, we'll protect you!" said Damemon. Then their stomachs rumbled. Damemon flopped back onto his butt, groaning, "As soon as we eat, that is. Dameeee…"
"I've got some candy bars. Here." T.K. handed one to the digimon.
"Didn't you guys say you hunt for your food?" Sora asked.
"Yeah, but it's harder when we're hungry." Syakomon said, gobbling some snacks Tai was sharing with him. He added, "We have no energy when we're hungry."
"Interesting." noted Izzy. He spoke, "So, between seven people and four digimon, with all of us needing three meals a day, that means we'd need about thirty-three pieces of food a day. That's still a lot of food to forage for."
"I'm sure we can manage something." said Lalamon. The humans weren't as optimistic. As they sat on the beach, they couldn't help but allow their eyes to stray to Joe and Armadillomon, who were still trying to use the phonebooth.
"Should somebody stop him?" Sora asked.
"He's always been kind of a worrywart." Tai noted, "Let him just exhaust his options."
"What about the bag he's got?" Mimi questioned, "Isn't that our emergency bag?"
"You mean the one with all the food?" Matt asked. Immediately they all took a second look. Jow definitely had the emergency bag.
"Hey, Joe!"
"What?" Jow called back, hand on the receiver.
"Could you hand us the emergency bag? We're starving!" Tai called.
"Yeah, go ahead!" Joe took off the bag and threw it in their direction. Damemon caught it with a small 'oof!' and landed flat on his back.
"This thing is heavy, dame…" he complained.
"Well, it's got a lot of food in it, what did you expect?" Izzy said. As the group began digging through the bag, Armadillomon watched them. Curious, he turned back to Joe. He carefully grasped the boy's socks between his claws and tugged.
"What?" Joe demanded, even more irritated at being disturbed.
"Why are you guys so worried about food?" asked Armadillomon, a confused look clear on his face, "There's plenty to go 'round, you just have to look for it!" Joe stared down at the digimon. Even though he didn't like having the yellow beast following him around, it only made sense that the creature wouldn't know the first thing about not having to look for your own food.
"Well," Joe sighed, "Back where we live, there's plenty of food, but we've found ways to secure it and mass-produce it. Most people don't know how to hunt for themselves anymore. So if we don't know how to find food…"
"Ah." Armadillomon scratched his chin, "No wonder you're all so worried." The digimon brightened and waved his paw, "But don't worry, Joe. I'll make sure you and the others are taken care of and don't have to worry 'bout nothin'."
"I hope so. Thanks, Armadillomon." Having the digimon's assurance made Joe feel the slightest bit better. He turned back to the phone booth to try again. But as he tried for the umpteenth time, the ground began to rumble. Joe and Armadillomon bolted for their lives as the sand shifted and a shell twisted out of the ground. From it came a pink creature with yellow feelers of sorts on its head and it roared at the children, angry.
"Uh oh. Looks like we ticked off a Shellmon!" Syakomon spoke.
"A Shellmon?" asked a frightened Tai.
"Yeah. They don't have good tempers, and with all that callin' your friend was tryin' to do, I don't think Shellmon appreciated it!"
"Rooaaar! Aqua Blaster!" Shellmon lowered its head and out gushed a high-pressure spray of water. The digimon tried to block the attack but it was no use. Everyone was sent flying.
"That didn't feel good…" T.K. groaned.
"Why didn't your attacks do anything?!" Joe asked.
"For one thing, most of us are still very hungry." answered Armadillomon, "I haven't eaten yet!"
"And for another," Lalamon got back in the air, "Shellmon is a Champion level, and we're all Rookies. We don't have the power to take him out on our own."
"But we still have to try! We're the only ones who can fight!" Syakomon protested, "Black Pearls!" The black balls bounced off of Shellmon's shell easily. With an irritated grunt, Shellmon spat out more water, sending Syakomon flying.
"Syakomon!" Tai cried. They had been friends for less than a day and already he felt attached to the clam-like creature.
"Seed Blast!" "Gun Vulcan!" Lalamon's and Damemon's attacks were met with similar results. And, with the addition of the stinking black gunk from Damemon's Gun Vulcan sticking to its shell, the Shellmon was now madder than before. The Champion began advancing on the group and not for the first time since their arrival in this strange land, the children began to fear for their lives. Picking up their digimon, they ran along the beach in the opposite direction of Shellmon, hoping to at least put some distance between themselves and the Champion.
"I know this is probably a better question for another time," Izzy panted, "But what's the difference between Champion and Rookie levels?!"
"Oh, I don't know, a lot?!" Syakomon cried, "You saw what we did to Kuwagamon—We barely damaged him! We don't have anywhere near the same amount of power they do!"
"If there were more of us, we might be able to take Shellmon on, but for now, let's just run away!" Lalamon said.
"Good plan!" Mimi agreed. However, they didn't get far.
"Water Wave!" Shellmon cried, and a large wave from the ocean swept across the beach. It knocked the children down and nearly drowned them before it rolled back out to sea. With them struggling to breathe, let alone get back to their feet, it was easy for Shellmon to approach. The only one not affected by the wave was Syakomon, himself another aquatic digimon, and so he turned to face the approaching Champion.
I can't let him hurt my friends! Syakomon thought, trying to put on a brave face despite the fear he still felt. Before, he had always been one to run away from the bigger fishes in the sea, knowing that he would be easily swallowed up if he tried to fight back. But Tai and the others had given him a chance to grow stronger, had even helped him digivolve, and so he had to at least do something to pay them back. He wouldn't run away this time.
" Black Pearls!" The pearls bounced off Shellmon's jaw and it growled angrily.
"Syakomon…" Tai coughed and struggled to sit up.
"It's okay, Tai. I've got this."
"Aqua Blaster!" Shellmon once again fired water from its head and Syakomon closed its shell to deflect the attack. However, the force of the water jet was slowly pushing the Rookie into the sand, to the point where Syakomon wouldn't be able to dig itself out. But he couldn't give up. The others were counting on him.
BEEPBEEPBEEP-
"What the-?" Tai looked down. The device he had found at camp was beeping, its screen lit up in bright yellow. That light was also beginning to shine off of Syakomon, just as it had before. Before their eyes, Syakomon began to change shape, growing bigger and longer, and Shellmon took a few steps back in surprise.
"Syakomon digivolve to…" When the light faded away, Syakomon now looked like a giant lobster. His red shell glinted under the sun as he dug himself out of the sand and shouted his new name, "Ebidramon!"
Ebidramon wasted no time in taking advantage of Shellmon's surprise. With six legs, he launched himself forward and fell on the other Champion with a speed unmatched. Both of his pincers also began to glow orange as he swooped on Shellmon.
"Twin Pincers!" The pincers clamped down on Shellmon's arms, causing Shellmon to cry out in pain. They were too close for the other shellfish-like digimon to use its attacks and Ebidramon had more leverage with its many legs. With this, he was able to start twirling himself in circles until he threw Shellmon out over the ocean, sending the other Champion a far distance away before it hit the water. And once Shellmon was gone, Ebidramon was covered in a soft yellow light as he returned to Syakomon.
"Everyone okay?" he asked, only to have Tai surround him with a hug.
"We're fine, buddy." assured the human child. He pulled away to get a look at his partner, "I'm more worried about you. How the heck did you do that?"
"I…I don't know." Syakomon shook his head, "You guys were in danger and I was the only one who could do anything about it. I felt a surge of power, and then I just digivolved."
"Well, your digivolving saved our butts!" Matt said.
"It was awesome!" T.K. added. Syakomon blushed and hid in his clam.
"Thanks…" he muttered, sheepish.
"Just to be safe, we should probably keep moving." said Joe, "I don't wanna be here if Shellmon decides to come back."
"Good point!" The group quickly ran off, soaking clothes and all, hoping to not encounter another dangerous digimon on their trek.
Apologies for the long wait. Life happens. I don't know when the next chapter of this will come out, but I hope you guys stay tuned!
Please read & review!