"Ikkakumon's Harpoon Tornado"
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"I know this is no day at the beach Joe, but that's no reason to be a worrywart about it and make all your friends unhappy. Pardon the pun, but chill out. Only you have a problem with the cold. Right guys? Everyone think warm." Gomamon said.
"I'm allergic to fur." Joe whined as Gomamon and Gabumon laughed as they walked along.
The temperature had dropped and most of the group were cold and rubbing their arms to try and keep warm.
"Aw, come on you guys. The cold isn't that terrible." Tai smiled as TK, Patamon, Mimi, Palmon, Daisuke and Veemon looked at him in disbelief.
"Perhaps not if you're a polar bear or a penguin." Izzy said.
"Yeah, but if it snows, we'll throw some snowballs." Tai winked.
"And make snowmen." Mimi smiled.
"Who do ya think Snowmon is?" Gomamon asked.
"A digimon from their planet." Gabumon suggested.
"It's difficult to explain." Izzy said.
"Well, if it's edible, count me in." Tentomon said.
"No, the best thing about snowballs is that you can throw them at each other. It's a fun game that we play in the winter months." Izzy smiled down at him.
"You throw food?" Tentomon asked stunned making Veemon chuckle at him.
"We could even build a snow fort." Matt said.
"You'll need one." Tai challenged.
"I bet I could beat you both blindfolded." Sora joined in.
"Oh please, I could beat you and do my nails all at once." Daisuke smirked.
Joe was watching everyone interact with a sad look as he looked down sadly.
"I want to build an igloo." TK said.
"I'll help if you tell me what it is." Palmon offered.
"An igloo sounds scrumptious to me." Tentomon commented.
"Too bad they're not edible." Izzy said.
"Yeah, it's a house made out of snow." Veemon told the two digimon.
"Come on, get serious. It'll be horrible if it started snowing right now." Joe said.
"Lighten up a little, Joe. We're just trying to look on the positive side of things." Sora walked over to him.
"Bleh." Joe groaned.
"Hey Tai, when's it gonna snow?" TK asked excitedly.
"Probably any second now." Tai answered.
"Right on Joe's head." Matt joked.
"That'd be so funny." TK said.
"I can't wait to see his face." Tai grinned.
"If the temperature drops any lower than it is already, we won't be able to camp out any more. We'll be frozen digi-treats." Joe said.
Izzy, TK, Tai and Matt were laughing while Joe frowned in annoyance at the fact that no one was listening.
"That's right. Go ahead and laugh, but when your tootsies freeze, don't go crying to me. I'll just say I told ya so. It is always better to be safe than sorry. Safety first." Joe huffed.
Daisuke walked over and threw an arm around his shoulders making the bluenette look at the smiling mahogany haired girl.
"Come on, ignore them. They're just trying to get a rise out of ya." She said.
"Well, I don't like it." Joe told her.
As the group continued walking along, they found the forest was covered in fresh snow much to their shock since it was much colder now.
"What's that white stuff?" Gomamon asked.
"It's a field of snow. There's bound to be a ski resort nearby." Mimi said.
"Oh man, this is much worse than even I thought it was." Joe moaned.
"What now, guys?" Sora asked.
"I think we should keep going. We're not going to get anywhere just sitting here." Tai stated.
TK, Patamon, Palmon and Mimi were running around in the snow, playing.
Picking up a snowball, Veemon threw it at Daisuke making her yelp at the wet and cold feeling making her turn to him.
"Veemon, you know I hate the cold!" she yelled as she ran after the laughing dragon.
"If we walk across the field in our sneakers, our toes will go numb." Matt said.
"It's impossible to continue." Joe added.
"So what are we supposed to do? Just stand here like a bunch of dorks? We either go across the field or climb up that big mountain." Tai said.
"Whoa, there, wait a sec. I think there's a weird odor in the air." Agumon started sniffing at the air.
"I do believe he's right." Biyomon agreed as she sniffed.
"What could it be?" Gabumon asked as even the humans started sniffing the air.
"I don't know, but it smells like…" Tai trailed off as he started sniffing.
"Very familiar." Izzy commented as she sniffed the air.
Looking over to the pine trees, they found a haze of purple smoke wafting over them.
"It's steam." Biyomon stated.
"She's right, but what's it coming from?" Matt asked.
"A big geyser." Joe smiled.
"Yippee, now I can take a bath." Mimi cheered.
"And we can get warm." TK said.
The group cheered and laughed as they all ran over to the geysers to find the water was a thick purple color that was bubbling over and everyone sat around disappointed.
"Uh oh. This water's much too hot." Tai grimaced.
"We'd be cooked if we went in this." Tentomon observed.
"Yes, boiled." Izzy confirmed.
"Well, there go my big dreams of a nice, warm bath." Mimi sulked.
"It looks so inviting." Palmon said.
"Well, it would be inviting if you were a vegetable." Matt said.
"I don't wanna be turned into fondue." Veemon whined.
"What's a little dirt compared to starving? We need to find something to eat and there's nothing in sight." Joe complained.
"Oh, yes there is." TK smiled.
"What are you talking about? There's nothing here but a bunch of rocks and boiling water." Joe said.
"Look-it." TK pointed to the side.
Everyone looked over and their jaws dropped at the sight, wondering if hunger was making them hallucinate.
"Tell me I'm not imagining this." Joe begged as Tai and Daisuke glanced over.
"No way!" Daisuke gasped.
"Yeah! It's for real." Tai cheered.
"Aw, come on, that's ridiculous. What would a refrigerator be doing way out here?" Joe asked.
"Hey, where there's a fridge, there's grub." Matt said.
"No way, that's not possible." Joe said.
"We won't know till we open it." Sora said as the group walked over to the lime green colored fridge, looking it over cautiously.
"I don't really think-"Joe was cut off.
"I want hot cocoa!" Mimi said.
"What's that?" Palmon asked.
"Come on already. Let's see what's in there." Tai said.
He then opened up the door to reveal all of the trays were filled with eggs, more than they could count.
"Whoa, eggs!" Tai smiled.
"There must be a zillion of them." Agumon said.
"Yeah, grub on! These will keep us all fat for a month!" Tai exclaimed.
"Wait a minute! You shouldn't even touch them. We don't know if they're fit to human consumption." Joe said.
"Then I'll be the guinea-pig, if I turn purple you'll know they're not edible." Tai jokingly assured.
"And what's gonna happen if you keel over throwing your guts up?" Daisuke crossed her arms.
"That won't happen. They're just eggs." Tai said making the girl roll her eyes.
"There's more to it than that, even if they were edible they still don't belong to us. That'd make us all thieves!" Joe said looking close to having a panic attack.
"You've gotta think about stuff like that, Tai." The bluenette said.
"Unless you're into eating rocks, we don't have too much choice." Matt said.
"I'm sure they'd say yes if they knew we were in trouble." Sora assured the teen.
"Exactly, we'd tell 'em it's an emergency situation." Izzy agreed.
"Rationalize away." Tentomon buzzed.
Joe looked sad as everyone stood by Tai, taking his side while Daisuke and Veemon felt bad that even Gomamon wasn't siding with his partner.
(Later on…)
Everyone had gone off to start preparing for dinner, Sora and Daisuke cracking eggs on a knock as they used a thin slab of rock to cook the eggs on over the fire.
"Sunny side up eggs are my specialty." Sora smiled as she watched Biyomon flap her wings to keep the fire going.
"To bad we don't have anything to give them more flavour. It's fun that way." Daisuke commented as Veemon was helping Agumon and Gabumon carve bowls and plates out of wood.
TK and Patamon were cooking hard boiled eggs in the hot springs.
"They're done." Patamon chirped.
"Great." TK smiled as he pulled the basket out of the water with the rope.
"Hey, come on man, how are those chop sticks coming?" Tai asked Joe as he and Izzy had an armful of sticks.
Joe was leaning against a boulder as he used a pocket knife to carve chopsticks out of the twigs for the kids to eat with.
"Hurry, we wanna eat." Mimi said as she walked by him.
"Sorry, this just makes me feel uncomfortable. We'd be in big trouble if someone got sick. No doctors you know. Why do I always have to be the one who thinks about these things?" Joe asked himself.
Soon enough, it got dark and the eggs were ready, being set on the table made of a slab of rock and had other rocks used as the legs.
Everyone gathered around and helped themselves to the eggs that had been cooked.
"Trés gourmet." Mimi commented.
"It's your turn next time." Sora said.
"Go on, dig in." Biyomon told them.
"Yeah, I haven't had a meal like this in a long time. My stomach's chiming." Tai smiled as everyone ate.
"If we had some ketchup to go with this, it would be perfect." Matt said.
"Mm, I love ketchup and eggs." TK grinned.
"That sounds pretty gross to me." Sora commented.
"No kidding." Daisuke stuck her tongue out playfully.
"What's the matter, Joe? You haven't eaten anything." Gomamon said as he poked his head over the table to look at his deep in thought partner.
"Huh? Oh, I was just thinking that if we were able to go home, ketchup wouldn't be a problem. Oh well." Joe sighed.
His words then made everyone feel depressed since they were unsure of how to get home and were missing their old lives.
"Oh, now I'm homesick. How depressing." Mimi lowered her head.
"You're right. Now I wanna go home." TK mumbled sadly.
"Oh, TK." Daisuke sighed as she picked the boy up and set him on her lap.
The little boy clung to her as she brushed his bangs out of his face, Matt watching them curiously, unsure of how the girl had a natural instinct for looking after children.
It made him wonder if she had any younger siblings of her own.
"It's been four days since we've been here. I wonder if anyone's tried to find out where we are." Izzy said.
"Cheer up! Tell me how you like your eggs and I'll try to do my very best." Sora smiled to try and raise their spirits.
"I prefer my eggs to be covered in salt and pepper but I guess it doesn't matter." Joe began.
"I like soy sauce." Tai followed.
"How 'bout salsa?" Matt asked.
"How 'bout a reality check?" Sora joked.
"I'll have mine with mustard and jellybeans please." Izzy said.
Tai gave a nervous, unsure laugh.
"How gross." Matt commented half-jokingly.
"Jellybeans, that sounds good." TK said.
"What? You're both weird. My favorite is eggs topped with maple-syrup, yummy! Sometimes I like them with cherry's on top!" Mimi said with a bright smile.
"That's weird." Sora cringed.
"What do you mean? Maple syrup is awesome on eggs." Daisuke said as she and Mimi smiled at each other.
Palmon and Veemon shared a look before laughing at how their partners seemed to be getting along.
"It sounds good." TK said as Matt and Tai chuckled nervously at the tastes that their friends had.
"What? You're making me completely lose my appetite, I just like plain eggs! I wish we could talk about something other than egg recipes." Joe said frustrated as he put his hands on his head.
"Don't be so hard on yourself, they're just having fun." Gomamon tried to calm his partner.
"C'mon, join the party." Matt encouraged.
"I think it's really too late for him, I think Joe thinks we've all gone a little crazy over these eggs." Tai joked.
"Well really, jelly-beans and cherries on eggs, that's just crazy talk." Joe huffed.
"Salt and pepper's all they need. Keep it simple, that's always been my motto." He said.
"I'm afraid Joe's just not the kind-a guy that's meant to be adaptable." Gomamon held his paws up in a shrug.
"Just what do ya mean?" Joe questioned.
"Let's face it Joe, you're kind-of a stick-in-the-mud if you get my drift." Gomamon said.
"I'm just practical!" Joe said.
"You're stuffy!" Gomamon teased.
"It never fails. Here they go again." Biyomon sighed as she held a wing to her head.
"Someone has to have a head on their shoulders!" Joe stated.
"You wanna fight? Huh, huh, huh?" Gomamon asked playfully.
"Oh yeah? Sure!" Joe said standing up, but Matt stepped between them before they could into it.
"Hey, hey, hey! You gotta calm down." Matt grabbed Joe's shoulder, only to be shrugged off.
"I am calm! He's the one who's dingy! And why'd you squeeze my arm?" Joe complained.
"You don't seem to be yourself today, Joe. You're a basket case." Matt stared at him.
"I am just trying to be careful. Unlike the rest of you weirdoes. I'm telling you, you're all asking for trouble." Joe said as he walked off.
Veemon's ears lowered as he watched the boy walk off and then looked up at his partner who jerked her head in his direction.
Nodding, the dragon ran off after him.
Joe was found sitting in front of one of the pools, throwing rocks into them.
"I've got to be the cautious one around here. I have to be the voice of reason. I have to." Joe sighed.
"But why?" Veemon asked making the boy look over at the dragon who walked over to him.
"Veemon? Why aren't you with Daisuke?" Joe asked.
"She sent me to check up on you. You did kinda freak out back there." Veemon told him.
"That's because I'm right. No one is taking things seriously." Joe frowned as he threw a rock into the pool.
"Maybe it's because they're scared. People have ways of acting like nothing is wrong to make themselves feel better." The blue dragon sat down beside the boy.
"But that isn't going to help us get home." Joe stated.
"Hmm. You know what else isn't going to help? Arguing with your friends." Veemon said.
Joe looked at the dragon, unsure of how to react to what he had said and was confused as to how someone who was always so cheerful and playful could be serious.
"Why are you making such a big deal out of this?" Tai demanded.
Hearing the beginning of an argument, Joe and Veemon stood up as they rushed over to see what was happening now.
"Because it's way too dangerous." Matt said as he and Tai faced each other while everyone watched from the sidelines.
"There's no place else to go. We have no choice." Tai argued.
"Look, before we do something foolish, we should think it over a little more!" Matt yelled back.
"You're just a big old chicken, Matt!" Tai yelled at him.
"Hey everybody, what's all the ruckus about? Why are Matt and Tai fighting?" Joe asked.
"I am not!" Matt yelled.
"You are too!" Tai shouted.
Gomamon shook his head while Agumon held up his arms and Gabumon crossed his arms as they groaned in disbelief of the humans.
"They're debating about whether or not we should climb Infinity Mountain, which is way up over there." Izzy pointed at the tall mountain peak.
"That's practically up to the sky." Joe observed.
"I guess that's where the name comes from." Daisuke had her hands on her hips.
"Infinity Mountain's a doozy, that's for sure." Tentomon said.
"It's the perfect spot. We gotta climb up there. It's the best view of the island." Tai argued.
"You've gotta admit, he's got a point there." Joe mused.
"That's not how Matt sees it." Sora chimed in.
"Nobody would make it up that peak. It's much too big of a gamble." Matt said.
"He might be right, Joe. There are lots of evil digimon up that peak." Biyomon turned to the humans behind her.
"Hmm, that's not good. It wouldn't be worth the risk." Joe held his chin as arm as crossed over his stomach in thought.
"Come on, Matt, don't be a whimp. We won't get anywhere if we stand around talking." Tai clenched his fists.
"Put your fists down when you talk to me and stop acting like you can just bully your way into being the leader." Matt crossed his arms as he turned his head away from the brunette.
"What are you saying?" Tai glared as Joe walked over, standing between them to end the argument peacefully.
"Stop, you guys. Chill out. Now look here, calm down, let's be sensible." Joe said trying to break them up.
"So what's your opinion about this, Joe?" Matt asked a bit demandingly
"Huh?" Joe asked.
"Well, it's his fault for walking into that mess." Daisuke commented as Veemon shook his head.
"Yeah, Joe, tell us who's right, me or Matt." Tai demanded.
"Umm…well, I think Tai's right about going up that peak; if we went up there we would be able to see the landscape of the island a lot better." Joe said.
"See, Matt?" Tai smirked.
"Hold on, Matt brought up a real' good point about the danger, it'd be kinda dumb to lead everybody up to a place we don't know anything about. It wouldn't be safe." Joe said making Matt smirk.
Both boys sighed dejectedly at that as Joe went into thinking mode.
"Ah, c'mon, let's go as far as we can up the mountain!" Tai insisted.
"That's stupid; we can't protect ourselves out there." Matt countered.
"Stop it now! You're both making me a nervous wreck; just give me a chance to think! Don't be difficult." Joe snapped.
"What? You are the most difficult person I ever met!" Matt hissed indignantly.
"Hey, I am trying to make a decision here so don't interrupt me!" Joe chastised.
"You're just a big ol' chicken, Matt!" Tai snarled at the blond.
"Tai, you better take that back." Matt warned dangerously.
"Enough already, you're giving me a headache!" Joe shouted.
"Put a cork in it you three?!" Sora yelled making the boys turn to see the annoyed orangette.
"Now grow up! We have to decide what to do." Sora frowned at them with her hands on her hips.
"Besides, it's going to get dark soon." Biyomon said.
"I think we ought to get a bit of shut eye." Agumon suggested.
"There'll be plenty of time to argue latter." Gabumon said.
"First of all, we need to find a good place to sleep." Sora looked around.
"What about the caves? We'll be out of the way and hidden from any wild digimon." Daisuke suggested.
"We'll be warm in there." Agumon said.
The digimon, Sora and Daisuke then pushed Tai and Matt off towards the caves before they could protest or get into another argument while Joe watched sadly.
(In the morning…)
Feeling the warmth of the sunlight on her face, Daisuke moaned as her eyes fluttered open and she looked around groggily.
Sitting up, the arms gave a big yawn as she stretched out.
"Man, I hate waking up early!" she yawned.
Sora woke up next, yawning softly as she stretched her arms over her head.
"I sure slept well. Oh, morning Daisuke." The orangette greeted the girl.
"Morning." Daisuke said as she stood up and Sora glanced around curiously.
"Huh? I wonder where sleepy Joe is." Sora mused.
"Maybe he went for some fresh air." Daisuke said.
Standing, the two girls walked outside of the cave they were inside of and glanced around for Joe or Gomamon.
"Joe, where'd you go?" Sora called.
"Um, Sora." Daisuke called as she saw the writing in the dirt.
Walking over, Sora's crimson eyes looked the words over as she read them aloud.
"I'll be back in a little while. Please wait for me, signed Joe." Sora read.
The girls then shared a look of worry as they narrowed their eyes.
"He wouldn't be climbing that mountain by himself would he?" Sora asked.
"And if he is?" Daisuke asked.
Moaning in distress, the girls quickly rushed into the cave.
"Everybody wake up! We have an emergency!" Sora yelled.
Everyone moaned as they slowly woke up, still tired while Tai simply rolled onto his side, still asleep.
Seeing this, Daisuke glared as she walked over to the goggle head.
"Wake up!" Daisuke yelled as she kicked Tai in the butt making him yelp as he shot up, everyone else soon awake.
"Was that necessary?" Sora asked the girl.
"No, but it was fun!" the mahogany haired girl chirped.
"What was that for?" Tai asked as he stood up rubbing his rump.
"Joe is missing. We think he went up to the mountain." Sora announced.
That caught everyone's attention as they gasped and stood up, walking over to the girls.
"Why would he do that?" Mimi asked.
"Who knows, but we gotta go rescue him." Tai frowned.
"Biyomon!" Sora turned to the pink bird.
"Veemon!" Daisuke turned to the blue dragon.
Both digimon frowned in determination as they nodded.
"Biyomon digivolve too…BIRDRAMON!"
"Veemon digivolve too…EXVEEMON!"
Sora, Tai and Agumon jumped onto Birdraon's claws as the bird took off while Daisuke jumped onto ExVeemon's shoulders.
The two winged digimon took off into the sky, flying quickly towards the peak when they heard the sounds of an explosion.
They saw a white winged horse with a red mask and a horn on his forehead was attacking Gomamon and Joe.
Opening his mouth, the horse had a beam of light about to hit the boy and digimon, but before it hit, Birdramon slammed the horse into the mountain.
"Birdramon? ExVeemon?" Joe asked.
"We've come to save you." Tai grinned.
"Just in time I'd say." Joe smiled with Gomamon.
"Are you all right?" Sora asked as she, Agumon, Tai and Daisuke ran over to Joe and Gomamon.
Moving out of the side of the cliff, Unimon used his Aerial Attack and blasted Birdramon down to cliff.
"Birdramon!" Sora called as she slid down after her partner.
Unimon then turned to go after the orangette, but ExVeemon punched the winged horse away.
"Well?" Tai asked as he turned to Agumon.
"Agumon digivolve too…GREYMON!"
Greymon then reached his arms up, trying to grab Unimon, but he was slammed into the mountain side by the winged horse.
"Greymon, are you gonna be all right?" Tai called as he stood in the rubble.
"Just styling, dude." Greymon stood up.
Unimon then knocked Greymon onto his back while ExVeemon used his Vee Laser on Unimon, sending the horse swirling back.
Unimon circled around and rammed into ExVeemon's back, sending him crashing to the cliff.
"ExVeemon!" Daisuke gasped as she ran over to check on him.
Greymon then used Nova Blast on Unimon, but the horse evaded quickly and blasted his Aerial Attack at Greymon and ExVeemon, making rubble fall down on the dinosaur as the dragon shielded Daisuke with his body.
"Greymon, Tai, Daisuke and ExVeemon are in big trouble. Oh no, he's going after Sora." Joe gasped as he saw the horse fly overhead.
"What do we have here? Another uninvited guest?" Unimon mused.
Birdramon took to the air and used her Meteor Wing, but missed as Unimon rammed into her chest, sending her falling as she hit the cliff, breaking ti and Sora slid down after her, crying out.
"Sora!" Joe called.
Looking over at Unimon, Joe saw the black gear sticking out of the horse's back and he hardened his resolve.
"The gear. I'll get it." Joe said as he stood up.
"Huh?" Gomamon asked as he saw his human get ready to jump.
"This is crazy!" Joe said as he then jumped off the cliff, landing on Unimon's back.
"Come on now." He gripped the gear.
"Hang on!" Gomamon yelled.
"Oh no. It won't budge." Joe grunted as he tried to pull the gear out.
Unimon whinnied in annoyance and pain as he began to buck around in the sky trying to throw the blue haired boy off of his back.
"Joe, stop! Don't try and be a hero!" Gomamon called.
"I know, but I just have to do this one thing. I'm not gonna stop until it's done." Joe said as he kept trying to pull out the gear.
Gomamon watched in worry as Unimon thrashed about, Joe crying out as he tried to hold on.
"I have to think positive! I'm responsible! I've gotta do it!" Joe kept telling himself.
Suddenly, eh lost his grip and was sent flying off of Unimon's back and screamed as he plummeted out of the sky.
"Oh no! JOE!" Gomamon yelled.
Yellow lights then covered Gomamon as Joe's digivice glowed and gave a high pitched whine.
"Gomamon digivlve too…IKKAKUMON!"
Ikkakumon was a large furry white beast with floppy ears and had blue eyes with saber teeth and a black horn on his head.
Joe landed softly on the back of the creature and looked at him curiously and climbed up onto his head, smiling.
"Hold on tight Joe because we're going for a ride." Ikkaumon said as he then tackled Unimon.
The horse blasted his attack at Ikkakumon who leaned away and then used his Harpoon Torpedo at Unimon who evaded the attacks.
"You missed him. He's much too fast for us." Joe gritted his teeth.
The torpedoes then swerved around and hit Unimon on the back, destroying the gear as the horse whinnied and galloped off, spreading his black wings and took to the sky.
"The black gear just dissolved. Yeah, you saved the day!" Joe cheered.
"Hope I didn't shake you too much, Tai." Greymon said to his partner sitting on front of him.
"Nah!" Tai laughed.
Sora and Daisuke ran over to Joe and Ikkakumon with Birdramon and ExVeemon flying above their girls.
"That was a really close call." Sora said.
"No kidding." Daisuke grinned.
"That's what I call pulling it together." Joe smiled.
Afterwards, the digimon all reverted back to their Rookie forms as the girls watched the boys stand in front of each other, Tai holding his hand out to Joe.
"Wow, Joe, you were jamming out there. You're a pretty cool dude after all." Tai shook hands with Joe.
"You were so awesome it made it possible for Gomamon to digivolve." Sora smiled.
"You were great out there." Daisuke praised as Joe blushed at the attention.
"That's not why I did it. It's because I'm just a nice guy. And besides, Joe would've fallen on his head. That's why. I didn't have anything better to do anyway." Gomamon said as Joe walked over to him as the others looked at the seal with disbelief.
"If you don't believe me, then put up your dukes and let's fight about it." Gomamon said as Joe kneeled in front of him.
"Just chill, Gomamon. You're the best and heroes don't have to fight." Joe smiled cheerfully.
"Um, oh. Heroes?" Gomamon blushed as he held hands with his partner.
"Uh oh, Gomamon's embarrassed." Biyomon sang making Veemon laugh.
"No way! I'm no such thing!" Gomamon protested.
"Come on everyone, we're almost there. Let's go all the way up to the top." Tai smiled.
Nodding, everyone stood up as they continued walking up the mountain, eager to see what they would find.
"All right, I knew we could do it!" Tai cheered as everyone cheered as well.
Once they reached the top, everyone gasped at what they saw, which was an island surrounded by a vast body of water that continued on for miles.
"Not much out there." Tai frowned.
"Nice view." Daisuke commented.
To be continued…