"Marching Fishes!" Gomamon unleashed his special move, driving a school of fish to surge up and catch the kids on the surface.
Just as they were celebrating, a big wave slammed into them and flipped everyone over.
The current tossed them to shore. They were finally safe. Seizing the moment, they held a little roundtable about digivolution and reached one conclusion: they still didn't understand a thing about it. Tai kept his thoughts to himself—he couldn't explain how he knew any of this anyway.
"So what do we do next?" Matt asked.
"Go back to where we were and wait for the adults to rescue us," Joe suggested. He still firmly believed they were in the human world—by now, he was the only one who thought so.
"No adults are coming to rescue us," Tai said. The others all turned to him. "We're not in our world anymore."
"You're kidding—no way," Mimi blurted, unable to accept it.
"This should be File Island—Tentomon and the others said so. And the plants around us aren't exactly what you see in Japan. If you don't believe it, look around," Tai said.
"I've never seen flowers like these," Sora murmured. "And the trees look subtropical, but it doesn't feel hot at all," Izzy added.
"In short," Tai glanced at all the eyes fixed on him, "we can be sure this isn't where we came from."
Joe turned to Gomamon. "Have you seen any other humans on this island?"
"Humans—like Joe?" Gomamon asked.
"Yeah."
"I haven't," Gomamon answered.
"Me neither," Matt's Gabumon said.
"There aren't any living things here besides Digimon," Biyomon added.
"Then how do we get back?" Mimi asked in a small voice.
"Maybe… we can't," Matt said, unsure.
"Forget it. Instead of arguing, we should figure out what to do next," Matt went on.
"How about we head for the shore?" Tai suggested. "I saw the sea from up in the tree."
He started walking.
"Let's all go together," Matt said.
"At a time like this, we should stay put and wait for rescue…" Only Joe could still say that—he alone still believed this was the human world.
"Joe, everyone's leaving. Come on!" Only Gomamon noticed his partner lingering behind.
Joe looked up and saw no one near him anymore. He hurried after them. "Wait up!"
On the way, the kids chatted with their partners and the mood warmed a little.
Gabumon twitched his nose. "I can smell the sea."
"I can see it—it's the ocean," said Gomamon, who had been moving in the water alongside them.
Then they heard a phone ringing.
They ran over and found a row of phone booths lined up on the beach.
A cartoonish sweat-drop practically slid down Tai's head. What a bizarre world—phone booths on a beach. Then again, compared to finding a fridge and a vending machine in a forest, this was almost normal.
"Either way, since there are phone booths, we should try them. Izzy, got any coins?"
Hearing Matt, Izzy pulled a calling card from his pocket and handed it over.
"I've got a phone card. If the booth is the same model as the one by my house, it should work."
"I brought a card too," Mimi said.
"I want to call my mom," T.K. tugged Mimi's sleeve.
But—
"It is thirty-five eighty-one ninety o'clock in the a.m."
"Tomorrow will be clear, turning to cloudy with… ice cream hail in some areas…" Was that an alert telling people to get their bags ready to catch ice cream?
"All radio waves and ultrasonic waves are currently unavailable." Since when did phones need ultrasonic?
They went in with high hopes and came back deflated—that about summed up the kids' mood.
"Joe sure has perseverance," someone muttered, as the others sat on the sand watching him keep trying call after call.
Tai sat on the beach thinking about what lay ahead. In the first adventure, the main enemies came in five waves. Devimon on File Island—a Champion-level Digimon. Despite being only Champion, he was stronger than most Ultimates.
Etemon on the Server Continent—an Ultimate, and top-tier among Ultimates. Even MetalGreymon's attack didn't finish him; instead, he evolved into a Mega in the Dark Network.
Myotismon on the Server Continent—an Ultimate, also top-tier. Worse, he could evolve to Mega at any time—unless T.K.'s Angemon reached MagnaAngemon. That solution was out; T.K.'s Crest of Hope only shone near the end. Too slim to count on. They'd need Megas of their own to defeat him.
The Dark Masters on File Island: MetalSeadramon, Machinedramon, Puppetmon, and Piedmon—four Mega-level tyrants. Any one of them was terrifying. Only by defeating them one by one could they win. Legends even said they beat the Four Holy Beasts once. And you couldn't rule out one showing up to reinforce another during a fight.
And last—the complicated Apocalymon, released after Millenniumon forced open the Firewall. He even reduced the kids to raw data.
Thinking it through, Tai felt the future turn pitch-black.
The others started complaining about being hungry. Hearing that, Sora said, "Did anyone bring food? I've got—"
Her fingers brushed something at her waist.
"This is… the thing that fell from the sky back then."
"I've got one too."
"Same here."
"But how do we use these?" Izzy asked.
"No idea," Matt answered.
Silence. Silence. More silence.
Gurgle—Izzy's stomach growled, breaking the quiet. "Right, weren't we asking who brought food?"
They took stock. Only T.K. had a stash of snacks. Everything else was inedible. Mimi had brought fishing gear—handy for fending for themselves.
Joe did have some emergency rations, but not much.
"Tai, what did you bring?" Sora asked.
"Yeah, your bag looks huge."
Tai smiled and opened his pack. Because he kept training his body, his endurance was better than most kids'.
"I brought a notebook, hardtack, rice, and some chocolate bars." For this unusual trip, Tai had packed small, high-calorie foods.
"Tai, you… you brought a lot," the kids gaped as he pulled out pile after pile—especially the mountain of chocolate bars.
Suddenly, Biyomon turned away from the group, back to the sea.
"What's wrong, Biyomon?" Sora asked quickly.
"It's coming," Biyomon murmured, facing the ocean.
No sooner had she spoken than a massive column of water blasted up from under the sand, like a giant fountain. It rushed toward the phone booths, punched them skyward, and sent the kids screaming and scattering.
When the booths crashed down, shattered glass littered the ground. Sand exploded where the booths had been, and a gigantic monster burst up from beneath the beach.
"That's Shellmon," Tentomon said. "This is its turf."
The name fit its look: a colossal shell with a thick head poking out, streaming with something like seaweed on top—like a real shellfish blown up a thousand times.
"Everyone—attack!" Agumon led the charge. The Rookie-level Digimon launched their strikes at the Champion-level Shellmon. Pepper Breath! Spiral Twister! Super Shocker! Blue Blaster! Boom Bubble! Poison Ivy! Their long-range techniques pelted the massive enemy. Maybe because Shellmon was so big, it wasn't nimble. It failed to dodge. Even so, their attacks only forced it to give a tiny step back. Shellmon answered by sweeping high-pressure jets of water from its head, tracking side to side and knocking the Rookies away one after another.
Only Agumon, close to Shellmon's flank—apparently a blind spot—avoided the blast. But Shellmon just took a single step forward and pinned Agumon underfoot.
Crushed beneath that bulk, Agumon grimaced in pain.
"Agumon!"
Agumon forced his eyes open. "Tai…"
Tai's Digivice flared with light at his waist, and as if in answer, Agumon blazed with the same glow. The flash was so bright no one could keep their eyes open.
Shellmon was heaved backward by a surge of force, and an enormous Digimon none of them had seen before stood before them. It looked like a huge orange-red dinosaur; yellow body streaked with blue stripes; a black, helm-like skull mask with long horns covering its face—imposing and powerful.
"Greymon! Evade the water jets, close in, and use your special attack!" Tai shouted orders to Greymon.
Dodging several more jets, Greymon rushed right up to Shellmon.
"Nova Blast!" A blazing inferno erupted from Greymon's mouth and, at near point-blank range, struck Shellmon's neck. Shellmon wailed. Its body shattered like glass, then crumbled into glittering data that drifted away on the wind.
Light flashed over Greymon, and his body shrank back down. He turned into Agumon again and collapsed onto the sand. Tai sprinted over. "Agumon, are you okay?"
"Tai, I'm really tired!"
"It's okay now! You were amazing, Agumon—knew you could do it!"
"Helping you, Tai… that makes me really happy. Heh."