24. The Root of the Problem

Birdramon had settled into a steady rhythm, beating her wings and gliding through the cool night air before flapping them again.
The others were nestled among her upturned claws. Charlie leaned out and took a deep breath.
"You smell that, guys? That's freedom."
"F-Funny. Freedom smells a l-lot like burning feathers and b-bird feet." Kumomon commented from where she crouched in the crook of a toe.
On Birdramon's right foot, Loogamon was sat on top of a claw letting the wind blow in his face. His tongue was hanging out and his tail was wagging.
"This is amazing!" He called over the roar of the wind. "I've never left the fortress before! I didn't know the desert was so big!"
"This is nothing!" Tigremon swung herself up to crouch beside him. "There's a whole world out there! When this is done, my friends and I going to travel all over it!"
"Hold on! I never agreed to that!" Shinyu looked up from reading Kartik's guidebook.
"Seriously?" Tigremon hung down to face Shinyu, holding onto a claw by one hand. "After the adventure we've had, you don't want to see more of the Digital World?"
"This 'adventure' has consisted of me almost drowning, being firebombed, having a building nearly fall on me; and now I'm a wanted fugitive! So, no! I'm not interested in what the rest of the Digital World has to offer!"
Back on the left foot, Kartik was sat next to Tarumon, trying not to think about how high up they were. The soft sound of Relemon snoring was coming from his bag.
"So, what exactly is the plan once we get back to File City?" He asked his partner.
Tarumon scratched his muzzle and furrowed his brow.
"It's hard to say. First, we need to know the situation. My main concern is whether Baalmon will be reasonable or not. We may be trading one prison for another."
"So you think he'll just chuck us out of the Digital World once he lays eyes on us?" Charlie settled down beside them.
"W-Well, that would be the qu-quickest way to solve his pr-problems." Kumomon put in. "If he and M-MetalTyrannomon see you guys as a th-threat, then sending you home would a-appease them both."
Charlie shook her head.
"That won't be enough. Thanks to Bird-Brain here, Metal-T thinks humans pose a threat to the Digital World."
Kumomon stiffened and glanced nervously towards Birdramon's head, but she didn't seem to be able to hear them.
"He's going to search for evidence to back up that theory," Charlie continued. "But he's not going to find any."
"But that's a good thing, right?" Kartik looked around at the others. "That'll prove that we don't mean the digimon any harm."
"Or it'll convince MetalTyrannomon that Baalmon is hiding information, which many digimon already suspect him of doing," said Tarumon.
"Why's that?" Kartik asked.
"Well, he used to be an archaeologist, investigating old and abandoned parts of the Digital World searching for the Roots of Yggdrasil."
"Oh, d-don't tell me there are digimon who still b-believe in that old story." Kumomon crossed her forelegs and shook her head.
"What story? There's a story? Tell me!" Charlie looked excitedly from Kumomon to Tarumon and back.
Tarumon's ears flicked up and he smiled at Charlie's enthusiasm.
"Okay. When the Digital World was created, Yggdrasil was the first being to come into existence. It took the form of a gigantic tree and the rest of the Digital World formed around it.
It's branches collected data from the Physical World and drew it into it's trunk where it was stored and analysed. Then it's roots spread this data all around the Digital World, sharing the knowledge it had learned with the digimon. That's how we learned about humans and how our world was born from yours.
Now, some believe that Yggdrasil doesn't share all the data it stores. That there are deeper roots within the Digital World that hold secrets which, for some reason, Yggdrasil has decided to keep from us.
Scholars have searched for these hidden roots for generations, believing that whoever gains access to this data will possess all the knowledge of Yggdrasil and the means to reshape the Digital World as they see fit, effectively becoming the God of Digimon."
Kartik and Charlie were both leaning forward, eagerly listening to Tarumon's words.
Kumomon snorted.
"But, of c-course, no one has found these l-legendary roots because they d-don't exist. It's just a story for B-Baby-Levels."
"Lots of digimon didn't believe that the Physical World existed until the Gates started appearing." Tarumon pointed out. "You shouldn't be so quick to dismiss something just because you've never seen it."
Kumomon rolled her eyes.
"F-Fine. You can believe in your m-magic tree roots. Just don't ask me to go p-poking around underground for th-them."
"So, what does all this have to do with Baalmon?" Kartik asked.
Tarumon looked to Birdramon's other foot where Blitzmon was sitting watching Shinyu and Tigremon having one of their heated discussions. He motioned the others to move in closer.
"Well, rumour has it that whenever other archaeologists visited the places Baalmon had been; they got the impression that something was missing. An empty space that seemed to serve no purpose. A suspiciously smooth wall that showed no sign of decay. That sort of thing.
It's suspected that Baalmon took things from the ruins he explored and hid them away from other digimon."
"So he could actually have found clues to the location of the Roots of Yggdrasil, and he wants to keep other digimon from finding it first!" Charlie's knees quivered with excitement. A long-buried treasure was the kind of thing all good adventures needed.
"I'm not so sure it's digimon he wants to keep from finding it." Kartik had his hand over the lower half of his face but there was a grave look in his eyes.
"From what we've been told, the Digital World was created when humans started storing data online, and the digimon are born fromthat data. Every time we upgraded our digital technology, the Digital World got upgraded too. Even the Overloading is a result of the increasing digitisation of our world. Everything is online now." He lowered his hand and looked around at everyone's questioning faces. "What I'm trying to say is; humans have been indirectly influencing the Digital World and the digimon for a long time. But what if we had direct influence over it?"
He turned to Charlie.
"Imagine if some aliens showed up on Earth with the ability to change the planet, and us, into anything they wanted. Isn't that thought terrifying? Can you really blame Baalmon for wanting to keep that from happening to his home and his people?"
Charlie thought back to the look of fear on Muchomon's face as she'd reached out to touch her, and the horrified reactions of the dinosaur digimon when they'd seen Kartik use his digivice to revert Minotaurmon.
Everything was starting to make a scary sort of sense.
"But we'd never do that!" Her voice hitched as she looked desperately to Kumomon and Tarumon as if begging them to believe her.
"I know we wouldn't," said Kartik. "But can you honestly say that there aren't some people who would take advantage of the power of the Digital World and the digimon if they had the chance?"
Charlie put her hands over her face.
"Oh man... Why didn't you mention these root things before, Tarumon?"
"I didn't think they had anything to do with the situation! I just brought them up to explain why other digimon don't trust Baalmon! You're the ones who turned this into a conspiracy theory!"
"And th-that's all it is. A th-theory." Kumomon held her forelegs up. "There's no pr-proof that the Roots of Y-Yggdrasil even exist, l-let alone that they're the reason behind B-Baalmon's actions. Maybe he just r-really humanphobic."
"Is that an actual term here?" Kartik asked. "Because if it is, it makes me very uncomfortable to think that enough digimon hate us for there to be a word for it."
Tarumon took a deep breath.
"Kumomon's right. This is all just guesswork. We don't know what's really going on and it's causing our imaginations to run wild. Let's not mention this to any of the others."
"Yeah. Especially Shinyu." Charlie looked over to see that he and Tigremon had finished their argument and were pointedly not looking at each other. "The poor guy's stressed enough as it is."
Back on Birdramon's other foot, Blitzmon sat contemplating what he had just heard.
The magnetic current he'd sent towards Charlie and the others had picked up the sound vibrations of their voices, and he'd listened to their conversation inside his helmet.
He'd always known that Baalmon kept secrets, and he'd always trusted that his leader had good reasons for doing so.
But his comrades were already facing an assault from MetalTyrannomon and those same secrets could put them in even greater danger.
He looked to Birdramon's head, wondering if she was as in the dark as the rest of them or if she was keeping secrets too.
Birdramon was approaching Sunshine Canyon now. She could just make out the tracks of MetalTyrannomon's forces in the sand below them. They disappeared into the canyon as the sand gave way to stone.
With the head start they'd gotten, the dinosaur digimon were probably well within the canyon by now. Still, it would take a couple of days for them to traverse it entirely, and Birdramon was confident that she could overtake them.
The problem lay in how to avoid being seen. If MetalTyrannomon knew that they had escaped, he would drive his forces faster and Baalmon would have less time to prepare for their assault.
Birdramon's fiery feathers would stand out against the blackness of the night. She could stop and rest until daytime, then continue when there was less chance of her being spotted. But she didn't like the idea of staying still while their enemies were making progress.
There was another, riskier, option.
She cast her eyes over the wastelands bordering the canyon. If she flew out over them, the dinosaurs wouldn't spot her.
The question was; would she be able to keep going all the way to the end of the canyon? She still felt energised from the cactus soda, and she knew that Tigremon had brought more; but would that be enough?
Her musing was interrupted by something catching her eye. Over the wasteland on the right side of the canyon, there was a dot of light. It wavered to and fro, as if it was struggling to stay in the air.
Narrowing her eyes, Birdramon focused on the light and gradually some shapes started to form around it.
"Is that..?"
Suddenly the light gave a shudder and started plummeting towards the wasteland.
"Blitzmon, hold on!"
"What? Aaaarrggh!" Shinyu found himself flung back against Blitzmon's chest. A second later, Tigremon landed hard against his stomach with an 'Oof!'
Loogamon wrapped his forelegs around the claw he'd been standing on and howled as Birdramon put on a burst of speed and flew towards the falling light.

-

"Coredramon, wake up!"
Baromon kept one hand on Jazardmon, keeping his wings from falling off of their draconic ride, and aimed the other at Coredramon's head. The ball of white light that he had been using to light their way shot into the dragon digimon's unconscious face.
Coredramon gave a grunt but his exhausted eyes stayed closed.
The broken surface of the wasteland was approaching fast. Baromon grabbed ahold of one of Coredramon's back spikes and braced himself for a crash landing.
A flash of flame seemed to light up the sky and Coredramon's plummet came to a sudden halt. The dragon digimon was now hanging upside down, his tail held in Birdramon's mouth.
Baromon's cloak was covering his head. He shook it vigorously to try and see what was going on, while still holding Jazardmon in place.
"Baromon?"
The Demon Man digimon managed to peek an eye out to see Blitzmon leaning out from Birdramon's foot.
"Blitzmon! Thank Yggdrasil I've found you! Baalmon is in terrible danger!"
"Yeah, we know. We were coming back to warn you about MetalTyrannomon."
"MetalTyrannomon? What does he have to do with this?"
"Can we dishguss thish on the ground?" Birdramon spoke around Coredramon's tail. "Thish guy ish really heavy!"

-

There was no need for a campfire with Birdramon's feathers providing light and warmth. The walls of Sunshine Canyon regained some of their golden glow near her.
"You made him fly for two days straight?!"
Blitzmon was kneeling beside the sleeping Coredramon. The dragon digimon was letting out rumbling snores that echoed off of the walls.
"No wonder he's conked out! You know he's not a long-range flyer!"
"I wouldn't have done it if it wasn't an emergency." Baromon replied. "And you may have noticed my own wings are out of commission."
He pointed to Jazardmon who was lying beside Coredramon. He was completely still and there was no light in his glassy eyes.
"And you say that smoke did this to him?" Birdramon turned a questioning eye on Baromon.
"I don't know. Maybe! When I saw him fall, I got a vision. There was this dark formless mass that sent out these smokey tendrils. Every digimon it touched seemed to freeze in place." Baromon's eyes widened in horror as he recalled the terrifying sight. "Then the smoke... it reached into their bodies and... their digicores, it..."
He pulled his cloak tighter around himself.
"I saw them all. Our comrades being consumed by that thing. And standing in the center of it all was Baalmon. But he wasn't himself. There was something... wrong. It's hard to describe."
"You sure you didn't just eat some bad digimeat?"
Tigremon walked past Baromon with a cactus mug in her hands. She went up to Jazardmon and poked a hole in the mug with a claw.
"So... does this guy have a mouth, or a tank I can pour this into?" She looked quizzically over Jazardmon's metal body.
"What are you doing?!" Baromon sprang to his feet, flames surrounding his fists.
Blitzmon held up a hand.
"It's okay. She's just trying to re-energise Jazardmon."
"Which is very nice of me, considering the last time we saw you guys, you knocked us off a bridge!"
"Y'know, it's not really being magnanimous if you point it out to people Tigremon." Charlie said from where she was sitting with the others. They'd thought it best to give Baalmon's followers some space while they talked.
Baromon gave the group a suspicious glare.
"Shouldn't your prisoners be restrained?" He asked Birdramon.
Tigremon narrowed her eyes and unsheathed her claws. Blitzmon put a hand on her shoulder and turned to Baromon.
"They're not prisoners. We've formed a truce."
"A temporary truce." Birdramon amended. "The humans have even agreed to return to the Physical World."
"We said we'd go if that was the only way to prevent anyone getting hurt." Shinyu stepped closer, followed by the others. "But it's now clear that it's not going to be that simple."
"Yeah. Thanks to you flapping your beak about humans invading the Digital World; which is not true," Charlie pointed angrily at Birdramon. "Metal T might decide to take the fight to the other side!"
"Which means we can't go home until we've cleared everything up." Kartik added.
"What are you talking about? MetalTyrannomon never said anything about attacking your home!" Loogamon came to his leader's defence. "He just wants to be sure that Baalmon isn't hiding anything from the rest of us!"
"Baalmon is under no obligation to share any information he has!" Baromon cut in. "Especially with that lizardbrained brute MetalTyrannomon and his band of walking fossils!"
Loogamon's hackles rose along his back and he bared his fangs in a snarl as he started to advance on Baromon.
"Take that back!"
The fire returned to Baromon's hands as he faced Loogamon.
"You better put those teeth away if you want to keep them, Rookie!"
"Touch him and I'll turn that stupid hairdo of yours into a crew cut, pigface!" Tigremon brandished her claws and eyed Baromon's spiky red and white hair.
"I'd like to see you try!" Birdramon stood up and spread her wings. "Don't forget; without those digivices, you're just ordinary Rookies!"
"You m-may want to think tw-twice before making threats," said Kumomon. She pointed to Tarumon. "R-Remember what happened last t-time you made this guy m-mad?"
Tarumon stepped back with a horrified look on his face.
"Don't talk about him like he's a rabid dog!" Kartik stepped up next to his partner.
"Hey!" Loogamon turned an angry look on Kartik.
"Oh. Sorry, Loogamon."
"Would all of you just shut up!"
Shinyu's voice echoed off of the canyon walls. Everyone turned to look at the boy who was breathing heavily with his eyes squeezed shut.
"Our worlds are on a crash course and, instead of working on a solution, all you want to do is fight each other! Like it or not, we all have a stake in this, so the most obvious course of action is to work together. Why is that such a hard notion to grasp?!"
Birdramon's feathers burned brighter with anger.
"Who do you think you are to lecture us?! It's not like humans personify cooperation! Your entire history is riddled with conflict!"
"I-Is anyone else getting a s-sense of deja vu here?" Kumomon looked around the group.
Shinyu took a long breath, imagining he was taking in the cool air of Inokashira Park. He opened his eyes and strode up to Birdramon, tilting his head up to hold her bright blue gaze.
"I don't care about history. I care about what's happening here and now.
I came to this world to prevent a disaster; either by finding a way to fix the Overloading, or by helping to foster a relationship between humans and digimon.
It's become abundantly clear since I arrived that not all of you want that; and I'm sure that many humans would feel the same if they knew about the situation.
But it doesn't matter what we want. This is what we need. Because both our species are stupid and stubborn, and think we know better.
Alone, we don't stand a chance. But maybe - maybe - together we can actually do something right."
Birdramon lowered her head to glare down at Shinyu. He could feel her hot breath billowing over him, but he stood his ground.
A sudden sound of coughing caught everyone's attention.
Coredramon weakly raised his head and opened his eyes.
"Are we there yet?"

-

With an angry growl, Gaomon threw the black device at the laboratory wall.
It clattered to the floor at Baalmon's feet with the screen facing up. A cross took up the screen, likely indicating that Gaomon's latest attempt to digivolve had met with failure.
"Why isn't it working?!" The canine digimon turned his yellow glare on Baalmon. "You said that this would be an exact duplicate of that human's machine, with the same functions. So why can't I use it to digivolve?!"
"I'm just as perplexed as you." Baalmon answered evenly.
"Don't give me that!" Gaomon pointed a boxing glove at him. "I know you've got a theory or two in that rag covered head of yours, so spit it out!"
His eyes narrowed threateningly.
"Or should I see if any of your followers have any ideas?"
Baalmon closed his eyes and let out a slow sigh.
"We may be missing an important component."
"And that would be?"
Baalmon stepped over to the computer. He brought up the file on the machine.
"The device that was originally scanned held data of a digimon and a human." He brought up a second file pertaining to the copy they had created. "This device has accepted your data, but the part that would hold the human's is empty."
"Oh, is that all?" Gaomon's usual cocky smile returned to his face. "Well that should be easy to fix. You've got a whole bunch of humans locked up in your basement. Just grab one and scan it."
Baalmon leaned against the computer's keyboard and lowered his head.
"It may not be that simple. We don't know the exact process by which the original device recorded the human's data. Trying to forcibly scan it could have... negative physiological effects on them."
"Well it's a good thing we've got so many to work with." Gaomon clapped his mitted paws together. "Trial and error is the cornerstone of science after all."
He picked up the black device and headed for the door.
"I'm going to grab some shut-eye. You get to work on the scanner, and be snappy about it. I'm sick of this city and I have important things to do."
Baalmon stayed still for several minutes after Gaomon had left. His mind was abuzz with ideas and scenarios where he could gain the upper hand over the Rookie digimon.
Unfortunately, every idea he came up with had too many unknown variables. What's more, his lieutenants kept disappearing.
He'd had no word back from Birdramon and Blitzmon. Baromon, Jazardmon and Coredramon had been spotted apparently fleeing the city two days ago. All potential sources of aid were gradually being stripped away from him.
With a heavy sigh, he stood up straight. This was his own doing.
His desire to protect the others from the truth had only made them all more vulnerable, particularly Baromon.
Looking out the broken window, Baalmon could see the hospital where Babamon still lay unconscious.
Gripping the hilt of his sword, he took another steadying breath and steeled himself. It was time to try something drastic.

-

Coredramon tilted his head back, chugging the cactus soda. He finally put the mug down with a satisfied sigh.
"Ah! That hit the spot!"
Tigremon shook the now empty tarp.
"Well, there goes our emergency energy source. You better make it up to us by getting us to File City before MetalTyrannomon."
Coredramon's wings drooped.
"Are we leaving right now? I'm still sore from the flight over here. Can't we wait a little longer?"
"Every moment we wait brings our enemies closer to Baalmon." Birdramon said firmly. "We've wasted enough time as it is."
"Can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Birdbrain," said Tigremon. She continued, ignoring Birdramon's glare. "With MetalTyrannomon approaching and that smoke monster thing that Baromon mentioned, File City is in danger. I'm not going to just stand by and do nothing. Not this time."
Shinyu caught the slight shake in her voice and placed his hand on her back.
"At least we now know that Babamon's alive. I'm sure she can help us."
"When we left, she was still in a coma," said Coredramon. "Unless she's made a miraculous recovery, I wouldn't count on her."
"So we go to Baalmon." Birdramon was visibly getting impatient. Her feathers were ruffling and she was shifting her balance from one foot to the other. "He'll listen to us."
"Too dangerous." Baromon shook his head. "The... thing I saw is close to him. He may not be aware of it, or it may already have sway over him. Either way, we can't risk confronting it until we have a plan of attack."
"MetalTyrannomon's great at coming up with those!" Loogamon wagged his tail. "I'm sure if we - "
"No!" A chorus of voices interrupted his suggestion.
"What we mean is," Kartik petted Loogamon between his drooping ears. "MetalTyrannomon doesn't trust us and we can't spare the time it would take to convince him."
"So w-we're on our own." Kumomon crossed her forelegs. "T-Typical."
"What about Ogremon?" Tarumon suggested. He's Babamon's secretary. He may know something that could help us."
"He was imprisoned after the battle." Baromon replied. "Along with all of the city's defenders."
"Maybe not all of them," said Coredramon. "Before Jazardmon got smokified, or whatever, he said that a bunch of the city's digimon were laying low together. They may be planning something."
"If they're organised, they might be the fighting force we need," said Shinyu. "Especially since you guys can't digivolve anymore."
He looked to Tigremon, Tarumon and Kumomon who threw her forelegs up.
"W-We travelled all this t-time to get help taking back F-File City, only to find it b-back where we started!"
"Where we're from, that's called dramatic irony." Charlie said with a grin.
"You have found help." Blitzmon, who had been silent for a while, got to his feet. "I'm going with you guys."
"Excuse me?!" Birdramon's plumage flared as she stared down at Blitzmon. "I thought we were going straight to Baalmon!"
"You heard Baromon." Blitzmon replied. "We could wind up just like Jazardmon if we go in unprepared. Besides..."
He looked to the ground and tightened his fists before returning his gaze to Birdramon.
"I'm tired of all the secrets. I've trusted Baalmon's judgement all this time because I believed he knew what was best. But it's like Shinyu said; he might just think he knows better. I want to find out what's really going on and decide for myself where I stand."
"Yeah!" Charlie held a fist up in the air. "Viva le rebelle! Good for you, Blitz!"
Birdramon looked to Baromon and Coredramon.
"Do you feel the same?"
Baromon sighed.
"I still trust Baalmon, but I think his judgement is clouded. The Baalmon I saw in my vision wasn't the same one I've known for so long. Something is affecting him and, for his sake as well as ours, we may have to go against his wishes."
Coredramon scratched his cheek awkwardly.
"Honestly, I'm completely lost here. But I'm finally back with Blitzmon and I'm not leaving him again." He stepped up beside his rider. "I'm his wings."
Birdramon turned around so her back was to the others.
"And I'm Baalmon's."
She looked over her shoulder at Blitzmon. He felt a stab of guilt at the clear hurt in her eyes.
"I hope you don't regret this." She said.
"Me too." Blitzmon raised a hand in farewell.
Turning away, Birdramon raised her wings and took off into the sky. The light from her feathers faded until the canyon was cloaked in darkness.
"We just lost our ride," said Tigremon.
"It's probably for the best." Baromon replied as he held up an orb of light. "We need to get into the city unseen, and Birdramon would draw too much attention."
Loogamon suddenly raised his muzzle and sniffed the air.
"I smell dinosaur digimon." He took a few steps in the direction of the desert and sniffed again. "A whole squad of them. They're coming this way, fast. Wow, my nose is so much stronger in this form."
Everyone got to their feet.
"Time to go." Kartik grabbed his bag. "Can you get us out of here, Coredramon?"
"Are you kidding?!" The green dragon was hoisting Jazardmon onto his back. "I could barely manage two passengers! No way I'll be able to leave the ground with all of you lot!"
"We could escape into the tunnels." Tarumon suggested.
"Except the n-nearest tunnel collapsed d-during my fight with Bl-BlackGreymon." Kumomon pointed out.
"Oh! Oh!" Charlie bounced on her feet and tapped her head. "Idea! An idea just popped!"
She turned to Loogamon.
"Can you sniff out water? There are underground tunnels full of it running all over the canyon. We just need to find one."
Loogamon put his nose to the ground and started roaming back and forth across the canyon.
"Even if we find a tunnel, how are we supposed to get into it?" Kartik asked.
"Gomamon said he'd dug entrances to the waterways, remember?" Charlie replied. "If we can open one, I'm sure he'll help us."
"And how will we contact him?" Shinyu raised his hands in a questioning gesture. "Stick our heads underwater and yell?"
His hand went unconsciously to his belt, feeling for his digivice. Since it had been taken, it felt like the stress inside him was building up. His chest was now starting to hurt and the familiar ring had returned to his head.
"I found it!"
Loogamon tapped his paw against a wide flat stone near the canyon wall. He put his head down and pushed it aside, revealing a circular hole full of water.
"Awesome!" Charlie ran over and took her hat off.
"Oh my God, I was joking!" Shinyu cried as she dunked her head under the water.
"Is... is that human okay?" Coredramon looked to Blitzmon as he pointed at Charlie.
"Just let her do her thing." His partner replied with a shrug.
Charlie brought her head up with a gasp. A second later, a small green fish stuck it's face out of the water.
"Hey, little guy. Can you lead us to Gomamon?"
The fish nodded at Charlie's request and disappeared beneath the surface.
"Okay, let's go!" Charlie pulled her hat down over her head like a swimmer's cap and crouched down by the hole. "Hold on to me, Kumomon."
With a gulp, Kumomon jumped into Charlie's hood and wrapped her forelegs around her shoulders.
"Wait a minute! We're just going to jump in!" Blitzmon looked nervously at the dark water. "I'm not the best swimmer."
"Me neither." Added Coredramon.
"I'll help you." Tarumon reassured them.
He reached up and pulled his horns off of his head. Passing a chained horn to Blitzmon and Coredramon each, he stepped up to the hole.
"Just hold on to those and I'll pull you along."
"Are you going to be okay, Loogamon?" Shinyu asked.
"I think so." The canine stretched his four legs in turn. "I've never swam before but the thought doesn't scare me, so I think this body can do it."
"Just stick close to us and we'll help you if you need it." Kartik said as he took Relemon out of his bag and gave her a gentle shake. "Wake up, Relemon."
The baby digimon looked around and bristled at the sight of Baromon.
"It's alright. We're working together now." Kartik assured her. "You're gonna have to hold your breath, okay? We're going for a swim."
"Are we seriously entrusting our lives to a fish?!" Baromon looked around in disbelief at the group.
"Feel free to stay behind." Tigremon said as she fitted her goggles over her eyes. "That is, if you think you can outrun those guys."
She pointed towards the desert where a dust cloud was steadily approaching accompanied by the sound of stamping feet.
Baromon groaned and rolled his cloak around his neck like a scarf.
"Everyone ready?"
Different levels of enthusiasm were present in the replies to Charlie's question.
"Then let's go!"
Several splashes later, the hole was quiet. Tigremon's striped paw came out of the water and pulled the stone back over, hiding their escape route from sight once more.