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![Good Enough [Sorato]](GoodEnough.jpg){kind=small} |
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![Soar with Love [Sora and Taiora]](soarwithlove3.jpg){kind=small} |
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| Ledgend of the Digi-Destoned ---By Blitzkrieg--- |
| High and dry in the long hot day Lost and lonely every way Got the flats all around me, sky up above I need a little Water of Love I've been too long lonely and my heart feels pain Crying out for some soothing rain I believe I have taken enough I need a little Water of Love Water of Love deep in the ground But there ain't no water here too be found Someday, baby, when the river runs free It's gonna carry that Water of Love to me There's a up in a tree sitting up high Just a waiting for me to die If I don't get some water soon I'll be dead and gone by the afternoon Water of Love deep in the ground But there ain't no water here too be found Someday, baby, when the river runs free It's gonna carry that Water of Love to me Once I had a woman to call my own Once I had a woman, now my woman, she gone Once there was a rive, now there's a stone You know it's evil when you're living alone Water of Love deep in the ground But there ain't no water here too be found Someday, baby, when the river runs free It's gonna carry that Water of Love to me Yeah, Water of Love deep in the ground But there ain't no water here too be found Someday, baby, when the river runs free It's gonna carry that Water of Love to me "Water of Love" by Mark Knopfler from the album "Dire Straits" by Dire Straits (easy to remember, huh?) Chapter five: This Desert Life The Yokomon had dubbed the vast expanse of desert west of their village "The Great Dead Land". The fourteen brave, to a relative degree, travelers who were now challenging it's sun scared expanses had come up with their own, much more accurate name for it: "Hell." That certainly was the first thing that would come to you're mind while looking across the barren, unchanging landscape. And when you were walking across that barren, unchanging landscape it ceased to be simply a name for the desert. It was the desert. It described every last aspect of it's existence. The hazy air, the rock hard ground, the grimy salt that seemed to be on everything, the thick, sticky air. When God designed Hell-the biblical one-he must have visited this one first and took notes. Whether or not that was true, just the thought made the seven, ragged humans suddenly feel extremely religious. When you feel that death would be a welcome alternative to spending another second in a pace, the last thing you want to consider is that it would result in an eternity in an identical land. All their clothes stuck, as if they'd been glued to their gritty, sweaty skin. Their sore, rough tongues repeatedly skittered across dry, parched lips. Although they'd taken great pains to secure what little water they had left, it had proven impossible to prevent it from taking on the taste of the ever-present salt and sand, so drinking it did little to relieve the suffering of it's partakers. In their delirious state, none of the travelers could have told you how many days they had been en route (I, however can tell you it was three), only that it'd been too long. It didn't help that the ever-present haze seemed to both dim the daylight and brighten the night; for the heat ravaged wanderers, it had become almost impossible to tell the difference except for the most extreme instances. All they could tell, with any certainty, was that they still had a ways to go. Not a pleasant thought. "OK, the glass is about...well, I dunno how tall, but it's one of those big Coke glasses so it's pretty big. Then I take the cup to the bowl of ice. It's got a kind of a fog over it, but you can still see the ice. So, I scoop up a bunch of the ice with the cup and go get the bottle of Dr. Pepper. It's a big bottle too, with lots of beads of water all over it. It kind of blows up a little when I open it. As I pour it over the ice, it falls down like this giant waterfall. As it starts to pile up on the bottom, the fizz starts too shoot up to the top..." "Mimi, I don't need you to help me die of thirst." Tai growled. "No, wait!" Palmon begged, licking her lips "That was beautiful! Tell us another one!" "No..." Mimi moaned "It's starting to depress me, really." "Anything that isn't depressing has to be at least a million miles from here," Matt said from the front "so that would make it depressing." "Well, leave it to you to make anything depressing." Tai responded. "I don't think he needs to." Joe moaned "It all already is." "You're not helping things" Sora admonished. "Would you rather we lied and said that this was the best time we've ever had in our lives?" Joe asked, sarcastically. "Well," Gomamon answered "it might be a lie, but it sure beats the truth at the moment." "What's that?" T.K. mumbled, weakly. "It's that we're all gonna die out here!" Mimi shouted, stopping dead in her tracks (oops, poor choice of words) "We're gonna run out of water, run out of food, then we're gonna collapse and die, and we still won't be any where near the other side of this stupid desert!" "Mimi!" Biyomon shouted "The last thing we need is to start getting a defeatist attitude like that!" "I don't care!" Mimi shot back, starting to cry "I just wanna go home, and lay in my own bed, and put on some clean clothes, and see my baby brother, and have air conditioning, and TV, and a shower, and first and foremost...I...WANT...MY...MOOOOOMMMM!!!!!!!!!" and with that, she collapsed on the cracked, gritty ground. "MIMI!" Sora shouted, rushing over to her side "Listen to me! We ARE going to get out of here! But not if you don't get up and stop crying!" "I don't care!" she answered "I'm not going any further! I'm got going any deeper into this desert!" "But you can't just stay here!" Palmon insisted, frantically "Don't want to get to the other side?" "We're NOT going to get to the other side!" Mimi sobbed admittedly "We're all going to die! So who cares which part of the desert it is?" "So that's it?" Matt jabbed "You're just going to let it win? You're just going to give up, roll over and die?" "It already won!" Mimi shouted, nihilisticly "I'm not going to die any more hot and tired than I already am!" "Mimi?" a soft, quivering voice whispered from behind her. Looking up for the first time sense her collapse, Mimi found T.K. timidly approaching her. "Don't talk like that, Mimi." he whimpered, on the verge of tears "Please...You're scaring me..." With a start, Mimi realized what she'd been saying "Oooohhhh.....come here..." she whispered. T.K. approached, slowly, and Mimi, with what strength she hadn't used in her tangent, hugged him. "Don't cry...don't cry, I'm sorry...I'm sorry." she whispered, trying both to console him and pull herself together at the same time. "Out of the mouth of babes." Izzy mussed to himself as he watched on from the side. "Well, that was extremely depressing." Tentomon observed. "That it was," Izzy concurred, but at least it's over." "For now." Tentomon added. "Alight, now that's depressing." Izzy said. If the previous incident had seemed depressing, it certainly couldn't have held a candle to when their last canteen ran empty. In a valiant attempt to ad a little levity to the dire circumstances, Matt gave a mock funeral for the canteen: "We are gathered here to honor the memory of this brave and valiant canteen who, despite fierce opposition from extreme circumstances, hostile terrain, and the presence of fourteen savage and ravenous travel companions, faithfully guarded a quart of water over four days. Now, as you go on to join you departed brethren, know that your dutiful service has not been in vain and will be remembered with honor." Of course, despite all the banter, the group teetered on the brink of despair, knowing full well what grim circumstances they were now faced with. Still, the illusion of a light mood was a welcomed change of pace, and they all leapt upon it with zeal. "You know, once my apartment felt a lot like this." Joe remembered "See, somebody was going to rob this store that was by the office, so he broke into the basement and turned the heat up all the way-in the middle of summer, mind you- to distract everybody." "Well, what happened?" Agumon asked. "Oh, I know!" Tai laughed "I heard it on the news! The guy got away scott free, but he didn't turn the heat back down, and the owner people were so caught up in the robbery that they forgot to do anything about the heat `till like the next day." "Bet a lota people got fired for that." Gomamon laughed. "Probably." Joe agreed. "At least you could leave and go some place cooler." Gabumon pointed out "We just have to grin and bear it." "I'll bear it, but I'm not grinnin'" Mimi objected. "I especially fear sorry for you furry guys." Matt said of Gabumon, Patamon and Biyomon (well, she wasn't furry, but feathers seemed just as bad to him) "The rest of can take things off, but you're really screwed." "Well, you can only take off so much." Izzy corrected. "And less than that, if there's more than one of you." Sora added. "I dunno," Tai thought, eyeing his female companions mischievously "it'd sure make the trip more enjoyable." "For who?" Mimi joked. The others had a good laugh while Matt mussed over what'd been said for a minute. "Hey, Gabumon," he said "is all that fur really a part of your body, or can you actually take it off?" "Hey, yeah!" T.K. shouted "It looks more like a big fur coat!" "Maybe he's trying to look like Matt?" Patamon joked. "No." Gabumon grinned, shaking his head "I just wear it because...well...I don't know why. I just do, I suppose." "That sounds like Matt to me!" T.K. giggled. "So why don't you take it off? It'd definitely make you feel better." Matt said. And he would know, he hadn't had his shirt on since they'd entered into the desert. "Some of us are just a little more...how should I put this...discreet that you, Matt." Gabumon explained, blushing a bit. "A little 'discretion' might do Matt some good." Sora whispered to Mimi "I don't even want to think about what kind of sunburn he's getting." "Yeah, but in the meantime, he's the only thing in this whole desert worth looking at!" Mimi said with a wink. "Hey, what's so funny?" T.K. asked, hearing the two giggling. "Oh, nothing!" Sora laughed, inocently. "Just girl stuff!" Mimi added. "What's 'girl stuff'?" Patamon asked. "I dunno," T.K. answered "but whenever my Mom says somthing like that, it means 'you don't need to be asking'." "Ooh...What does that mean?" Patamon asked again. "Don't ask me. I'm not sure I wanna know." "Uh...OK." Patamon said, deciding that things were getting a little too weird for his taste. While a sense of good humor can be refreshing, it sure can't hold a candle to water; which was, of course, the only thing that could have improved thing in any meaningful degree. But since there wasn't any, thing didn't improve. Within mere minutes of the conversations above, the jovial manner had been replaced by an air more depressing than any that had preceded it. There was no more whining. No more complaining. No...there was no time for that. As each second passed, each of the increasingly weary travelers found themselves falling deeper and deeper into an abyss of fear unlike any they had encountered before. Oh, there had been a considerable amount of fear involved in the several fierce battle that had been fought in the hectic days following their abduction from camp, but that was different. There was a constant rush involved, the conflicts didn't last as long, the object of their fear was something right in front of them. But most importantly, there was always something they could do. Always some tactic they just had to devise, some attack they had to use, a gear they had to hit in the right place. There was nothing of the sort here. No trick, no secret, no little key to uncover, just walking; walking though a desert with no idea how close they were to the other side. Dying of thirst all the while. It's hard to imagine the helplessness they now found themselves battling if you have never had to experienced it yourself. There was simply nothing they could do. No way to get water. No way to move faster. No anything. Just walking... There wasn't really anything anyone had to talk about that they hadn't already brought up in the previous days, so there wasn't much coherent conversation to record here. But that didn't mean that things were quiet. This mind numbing heat, endless walking, and increasingly suffocating blanket of disrepair had an effect on it's victims that I couldn't describe in rational words if I was given a thousand years to try. So I'll simply try to make do with sharing the results: "Oh, yeah" Mimi mumbled, not fully realizing that she was even speaking "It'll be a great party...we'll get my dad to bring the big screen TV from his office to watch some movies...he doesn't let us keep it around all the time because it takes up to much of the living room...my cousin's gonna come over from New York, and you're just gonna love her...I'll be great to see her again..." "Look..." Palmon muttered from behind her "There's a big, giant water fountain...and there's a nice long slip and slide...look at all that water..." "Vulpix is the coolest..." T.K. whispered as he stumbled along "Well, OK, Snorlax is all right to...but Vulpix is better..." "...Lincon...Johnson...Grant..." Izzy recited, trying to keep his mind clear "Hayes...Arthur...Garfield...no, wait, Garfield was elected first, then Arthur...This isn't working...2x2=4...4x4=16...8x8=64..." "Hey, Gabumon?" Agumon asked weakly "Remember that time when you and me got stuck on that little raft in the middle of Tanemon Bay?" "Ohhh...yeah." Gabumon sighed with an odd mix of fear and nostalgia "That's not the sort of thing you forget easily." "Neither's this." commented Sora, who couldn't help but overhear. "You know..." Agumon continued, ignoring her "When I got back to the shore, I swore that I didn't ever want to see water again." "Bet you regret that now..." Mimi commented, snapping back to reality for a moment. "Water?" Tai muttered oddly, at an unsettling volume. "Uh, oh..." Sora said, nervously "He's gonna pop!" "WE NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED WATER!!!!!!!!" he yelled with a voice that betrayed not the slightest hint of sanity before breaking out in song, in questionable key and without the slightest sense of melody: "The fireman over there hates the gang Poor people on the barge getting so rough The truck driver drives like a devil The police men, they're actin' so tough They need water! Good, good water! WEEEEEE need water! And maybe somebody's daughter!"* "OK, OK..." Sora butted in "I don't like the direction this thing's taking." "I just plain don't like it!" Biyomon complained, covering her ears. Never the less, Tai continued: "My Chevrolet just makes steam Your crop is laying far out My grass's just lost it's green I'm alive but I don't know how We need water Good, good water We need water And Somebody's daughter Come on, give me good water Come on, give me good water Come on, give me good water Please don't refuse me, mister I've daughter at the oasis, and I'm beginning to blister..."* "TAI?" Joe thundered (well, it was as close as he could get to something like that) "IF YOU MENTION WATER ONE MORE TIME, I SWEAR, I AM GOING TO START TO CRY." "I sincerely doubt that that would be a wise course of action." Tentomon panted "I doubt you could spare the moisture." But, difficult as it was to rationalize with Tai when he was coherent, it was downright impossible in his current, maniacal state: "Indian Lake is burning New York skyline is hazy The river Thames is turning dry The whole wide world is a'blazin'! We need water! Good, good water! We need water! And maybe somebody's daughter!"* Tai hadn't quite finished that last phrase when he was presented with an argument he couldn't ignore: Matt's fist. "Tai? You listen closely, because I am only going to say this once. I am hot, tired, sore, thirsty, and all around MAD. The absolute last thing you want to do in your life is tick me off any more. So, SHUT UP!!!!!!" It was more than any one could tell if Tai (who know laid prostrate on the cracked ground) had actually comprehended what Matt had said, as he didn't shut up, but he did get quieter. "Waterfall, nothing can harm me at all My worries seem so small With my waterfall..."** Then, abruptly, Tai stopped and followed with something even more unexpected. He started to cry. Not loudly, out of control, or anything like that; he just shut his eyes and wept softly. Agumon, Biyomon and Sora rushed over and gently tried to console him. "Hey, hey. Just calm down, Tai." Sora whispered "It's going to be all right if you just calm down; OK? Tai? You there?" Eventually, after less urging than you might have expected, she was successful in rousing Tai enough to get him walking again. He didn't stop crying, however. Neither did his singing cease, but both had become soft enough that no one was bothered by it anymore. Besides, most of the group had suddenly been over come with enough compassion for the poor soul that they couldn't have gotten angry with him at the moment even if they'd wanted too. Not so for Matt. Wrenching compassion from him was something that was quite a feat under the best circumstances, for which this hardly qualified. No, he just stood in utter disgust of this whole, pathetic display. "Maybe we should take a rest for a minute" Sora whispered to Matt "Tai could really use it." "We don't have time." Matt answered, briskly "The sooner we get out of this place the better." "If we continue to proceed at this rate, I fear that we may exhaust our strength long before we exit this desert." Izzy said, panting. "And if we stop," Matt shot back, annoyed "we'll still be getting hotter, and we'll still be getting tiered, and we'll still be drying up like rocks. The only thing we won't be doing is getting closer go getting out!" "Look, big guy," Sora pressed, becoming angry "you may be able to walk for a hundred miles without a drop of water and not flinch, but Tai's about to crack." "Oh?" Matt asked, sarcastically "I'd assumed that that was what just happened." "OK, fine!" Sora continued "You go ahead and assume just that! How can we keep pushing him while he's like this?" "What, you think just because things are getting a little unpleasant and Tai doesn't like it, that we should all just stop so he can pout?" Matt snarled coldly, but wrathfully "It's not our problem that he's to soft to handle it when thing get rough. A dose of the real world will do him good." "Wha-wha...WHAT?" Sora gapped, aghast "How...how can you say something like that?" "Because it's the truth." he sighed, shaking his head. He'd hoped she wouldn't turn out to be as naive as the others. So much for that. "Look..." Sora growled, now just plain mad "It's easy to just stand around and ignore it when someone else has it bad, but it'll seem a lot different when it's you." "HEY, IT'S BEEN ME!" Matt hissed, as he stopped and whirled around to face Sora "I have spent my whole life "having it bad", so don't you go trying to tell me how to handle it!" Sora tried to respond, but she was too taken aback by Matt's sudden outburst to think of anything. Matt hesitated for a moment and, seeing that Sora wasn't going to try and interrupt, continued "Look, life is an ugly, hideous, bloodthirsty whore who likes nothing more that to make things miserable for everyone. You and Tai and the rest of you may not have realized it till now, but I've had thirteen lousy years see it first hand, and I can tell you that it's just one lousy disaster after another. You just have to shut your mouth and keep on going. There's no time to feel sorry, no time to lick your sores, and certainly no time to curl up in a ball and cry like a little baby!" With that, Matt stormed off once again. It was hours before the hazy air was cut by conversation once again. Not that things were quiet for Matt; far from it. That was a good question, you know. What if it was you? You know it will be. It's just a manner of time. "Just cause a baby like Tai snapped, that doesn't mean I will" Matt told himself. We all know Tai's just a child, but that just meant he'd go sooner than you. You'll go too. Just wait. "Shut up." Matt hissed silently. You didn't answer me. What do you think you'll do? You think you'll start singing? Maybe you'll do a little dance. Who knows? You might actually speak in more than three sentences per hour! "I said shut up. I am not going to lose it like these wimps." I know what you'll do. You'll curl up in a little ball and cry; just like Tai. "NO." Matt replied, teetering on the edge of becoming audible "Don't you dare compare me to him." Why not? It's what you'll do. You'll collapse in a heap and cry; weak and pathetic. "What do you know?" I know you...oh, come on. I am you! And I know that's what you'll do: you'll break down and cry. You'll be as weak as the others. Weak as Tai...weak as your father.... "SHUT UP!!!!!!!" Matt's mind screamed. "Matt?" Gabumon asked, noticing Matt's visible distress "Are you all right?" "Yes..." Matt hissed through gritted teeth "I'm fine." That night the group laid solemnly under the pea soup sky and tried, in vain, to wrest a few moments of relief from their ravenous thirst. Relief was, of course, not quick in coming. Instead, the exhausted corps spent the night attempting to occupy themselves as the silent hours crept by. "Patamon?" "Yeah. T.K.?" "Are you all right?" "No...I can barely lift my ears..." "Gee...and you haven't even had to do any walking..." "Hey, Tai?" "What is it, Agumon?" "What was up with all that singing back there?" "Oh..." Tai winced "I dunno...To be honest, I don't really remember it..." "Well, did the others fill you in?" "Yeah. The singing, the rest of the singing, Matt's fist-though I do remember that-they told me everything." "So what was with that last bit?" "What last bit?" "You know," Agumon said, a little bewildered " after Matt hit you." "I didn't think any thing happened after he hit me..." Tai said, suspiciously. "Uh oh" Agumon mumbled, figuring that he'd done something he wasn't supposed too. "UH OH, WHAT?" Tai asked. "Nothing! Nothing at all!" Agumon stuttered nervously. "WHAT HAPPENED???" Tai demanded. "Uh...well...are you sure you want to know?" "YES, I'm sure! Now cough it up!" "Well...OK...You see...Now, this doesn't in any way make me think any less of you..." "What happened?" "And it's not like there was anything wrong with it..." "WHAT?!?!?!?" Tai thundered. "...You started to cry." "Ohh, great." Tai moaned, laying back down "Was it bad?" "Like a baby." Agumon confessed. "Sigh...I bet Matt just loved that..." "I can't believe this is happening..." Joe mumbled, in a state of quiet panic "This just can't be happening. It isn't real. It's just a figment of my imagination. That's it...I'm going crazy...I'm not dyeing, I'm just going crazy...OH NO! I'm going CRAZY!!!" "Joe, please!" Gomamon moaned "I'd like to be able to at least imagine that I'm asleep." "How can you sleep at a time like this? Don't you have any idea what's happening?" "Yeah, you're making a lot of noise that's keeping me awake." "NO! I mean what's happening to us!" Joe said, shaking his head "Do you have any idea what happens to the body when it undergoes dehydration? The damage being done to our mussels by all this walking without any breaks?" "We're having a break right now, Joe." "You know what I mean! And don't even get me started on all the sunburn we're going to have to deal with dose having a layer of dead skin all over you sound like fun?" "You know what, Joe?" Gomamon asked, sarcastically "You're a real joy to have around." "Well, I'm sorry that I happen to be taking our health seriously." Joe answered "We need to have somebody who thinks of these things around." "Yeah, it's just too bad that nobody listens..." Gomamon snickered. "Nobody ever wants to listen to their doctors advice." Joe complained "They just run off and forget it all as soon as they leave the office. The, of course, something bad happens, and guess who's fault it is?" The doctor's, of course!" "So, remind me again," Gomamon asked "why exactly is it that you want to be one?" "Because it's supposed to be such a fulfilling job..." Joe sighed, shaking his head. "...However, this hypothesis is most likely false. For, throughout the know universe-even the supposed expanses of space that would separate our universe from this supposed `anti-verse'-matter still exists in a rarefied state-" "...And as such, would eventually come into contact with the particles of which they are the conjugates." Tentomon started, interrupting Izzy's lecture "This of course would result in, to put it mildly, cataclysmic circumstances that would be recordable even from Earth." "Very good, Tentomon!" Izzy congratulated "Although, I still wish you wouldn't interrupt me like that." "Oh, I'm sorry...I just got so swept up in the moment..." "It's all right, I can think of plenty of worse things you could get caught up in." Izzy assured him, thinking specifically of his hockey playing neighbor; a nice enough fellow, but dumb as a post. "That's right! You can never know too much! That's what I always say!" Tentomon laughed, though he'd never in his life said it before. At that, Izzy rolled over so Tentomon wouldn't see him frown. He had found, through personal experience that a wealth of knowledge that exceeded that of the average person could be as much of a curse as it was a blessing. Very often, people seemed to feel threatened by a superior intellect, which often made it difficult for Izzy to interact with those of lesser intelligence. Maybe they're afraid you'll figure out something about them they don't want you to know. "Intelligence isn't the same thing as clairvoyance." Izzy thought to himself. Maybe not, but you must admit, you do have a knack for it. "I simply pay attention to my surroundings; there's nothing wrong with that." But there is something wrong with eavesdropping. "That was just that one time! It's not like I made a habit out of it." But it did lead to other kinds of snooping. "Only along the lines of that one subject!" Still, you did it. Rooting through personal information. Breaking into computer files. You know, you could possibly be looking at jail time if anyone ever tracked it back to you. "We both know it would never come to that." Yeah, you're right. After all, you did have a right too know. "Exactly." It's not your fault their both liars. "Now wait just a minute!" Izzy snapped silently. Well, it's true. They lied to your face. "It was also their prerogative. They needed to do what they thought would be in my best interest." What they "thought" wasn't necessarily what was right. "Are you trying to make any point in particular?" thought to himself, annoyed. Just what a sorry, confused person you are. "Well, I'm sorry that you feel that way." You will to, if you'd just stop and think about it for a moment. However, Izzy made especially sure that he didn't; as usual. "ooohhhhh...MAN!" "What's the matter?" Palmon asked. "Look at this!" Mimi whined, rooting through her suitcase "All this sand is getting into my clothes!" "Oh, no!" Palmon gasped "We'll have to do some major washing once we get out of here!" "I'll say." Mimi concurred "I remember once this...man, I don't know what it was, but it got caught in the air vents and blew dust all trough the building. Me and my mom had to spend all day cleaning the apartment." "Geee..." Palmon mused "That sounds like a real drag." "It was, at first, but see, the whole building was doing it, so Mom started giving out cups of lemonade to our neighbors. Pretty soon, it was almost like we were having a party!" "That doesn't exactly sound like the best kind of party I can imagine." "Well, I guess you'd have to've been there." Mimi laughed. Then, abruptly, she frowned. "What's the matter?" Palmon asked. "It's just...well...it's been a week since I got here, right?" "I think..." Palmon answered "Why?" "Today was supposed to be my little brother's birthday party." she said, down cast. "Ooohhh..." "Noel's birthday was actually the day before, but we were going to wait for camp to let out before we had the party so I could be there." Mimi stood silent for a moment before starting up again "What do you think their doing?" "Your family?" "All our families." she corrected "Are they worried? Do you think their looking for us?" "Of course they are!" Palmon reassured "I know, if you just up and disappeared, I'd be worried about you!" "That's just the problem! I don't want them to be worried about me! I don't want them to be scared..." "Ohhh, Mimi..." Palmon sighed, coming up blank on things to say to comfort her "Are you going to start crying again?" "I hope not..." Sora tossed and turned, trying to somehow trick herself into thinking that the thick, crackling leaves that made up her "bed" were comfortable. Unfortunately, Sora had never been much of a liar. The only thing within miles that was soft was Biyomon, who had volunteered (well, actually, she'd insisted on it) to be Sora's pillow. Sora laid there, starring into the murky cloud that was laughably called the air. It was amazing how badly she envied the sleeping digimon. She didn't have be awake and face her thoughts. If only Sora had been so lucky. You know, some of the others still expect to get out of this alive. "Are you saying I don't? It can't be that far to the end of the desert." You know that's not what I mean. I'm talking about this whole thing. The actually think that they'll get back home. "We might." "Might?" You "might" grow wings fly back, but it's not bloody likely. "I'd still rather be optimistic about this." Even when it means being dishonest? Come on, you don't have to keep this act up, no body's watching. "Who said it was an act?" Oh, please, you and I both know it is. Why can't you look at honestly? What are you so scared of? "Oh, I don't know, maybe dying?" Sora thought, sarcastically. It's more than that. You don't want to go without kissing and making up. "With who?" You know exactly who. "Well, it was her own fault!" Sora thought, defensively "She had no right to ask that!" Ah, ha! Here we go! "Shut up! This isn't funny. If she'd just realize how obsessive she's being, we would have this problem!" You know it's not all her fault. You could have handled yourself better to. "...yeah, I know." Sora sighed, reluctantly. Matt couldn't have slept if he'd wanted to, but he didn't, so he didn't mind. He'd never liked going to bed, and some times he'd deliberately stay awake all night out of spite. Unfortunately, he hadn't imagined the long reaching consequences of this childish act: now it was impossible for him to nod off until after midnight without medicinal help. Still, it was nice to have some time alone with his thoughts. Well, most of the time, anyway. This time, like it had been the whole day, Matt found himself fighting a battle with himself. It's true, you know, you're no stronger than any of the rest of them "If you keep telling yourself that, you may actually start to believe it." Oh, I all ready do. It's you who needs convincing. "Shut up" Oh, real mature. You are so pathetic! Do you really think you're so special just 'cause you've been inconvenienced before? "Hey, it goes way past `inconvenienced' pal" It sure doesn't stack up to this. "Some of it does." Oh, that's right. Your little escapade in the park. News flash, hiding in a city park for the weekend isn't anything remarkable. "Well, let's see you try it." You idiot, I AM you! "Look," Matt thought, trying to shift the subject "I just so happen to know twice what they know about what the real world is like." OK, you got me there. "Exactly, this is nothing new to me." Yeah, you're dying. "What?" That's all you've been doing your whole life. Just dying a little more each day. "Well, at least now it won't take so long." You're lying again, Matt. "OK, FINE!" Matt though, annoyed "I don't like the thought of being beat by this smelly, sticky, hunk of sand. You happy?" Not really. Just how do you propose to get out? "The traditional way: walk." You've been walking! Fat lot of good it's done, you're still not out yet. "I don't care! I'm not just going to lay down and die!" That's right, death has to come and get you. It's the running that'll do you in. "I'm not running from death. I'm taking it head on." You know, that's just about the dumbest thing you've ever said. No, wait, I take that back. It IS the dumbest thing you've ever said. "I don't care. I'm still going to keep moving. Even if I don't get anywhere, it's making sure I don't stop that's important." Your life motto. Matt didn't bother to answer. Eventually, daylight managed to cut through the grimy haze, and the time came to rise. Well, that was the plan, at least. "I'm sorry..." Joe moaned "I can't get up..." "Well, TRY!!!" Matt bellowed "We have to keep moving!" "I KNOW!!!" Joe cried "I AM TRYING!!!" "It's no good..." Mimi wept "We're just to tired." "Well you can't just stay here!" Agumon insisted. "And don't even think of asking us to carry you!" Tai said, backing away "It's all I can manage to stand up myself!" "There's only one logical way to look at this," Izzy said, weakly "the three of us can't complete the remainder of this journey." "Well, we can't just leave you!" Sora pleaded. "We may have too." Gabumon said, solemnly. "Well, I'm sorry, but that's something I'm simply not prepared to do!" Biyomon said firmly. "Now, wait a minute!" Gabumon said quickly "Hear me out! The Yokomon said the desert would only take a few days to get across, so we must be almost there! If those of us who can still walk hurry, we can get out to the other side of the desert and bring some water back to the rest of you!" "And since we'll just be laying around instead of walking," Joe added "we won't use up as much water as you!" "As much as I personally don't like it," Tentomon said, reluctantly "that sounds like it could work." "Wha-wha-WAIT!!!" Mimi pleaded "You're not just going to leave us here all by our selves, are you?" "Don't worry, Mimi!" Palmon said, reassuringly "I'll be right here!" "And so will I" Sora said, admittedly. "WHAT?" everyone said in unison. "Well someone needs to stay who's well enough to take care of them." she explained "Besides, I just can't stand the thought of leaving them here and going on without them." "But...I...you..." Tai stuttered stupidly. "Well, if that's what you want...go ahead." Matt said shrugging. "But...I mean..." Tai continued. "She's a big girl, Tai." Matt said, patronizingly "She can take care of herself." then, looking over to T.K. called "OK, squirt, let's go!" T.K. started to get up, but looked over to his ailing comrades and hesitated. "T.K., come on!" Matt urged. "Matt, I..." T.K. started, hesitantly "I'm staying too!" If you think that the group reacted negatively to Sora's announcement, you couldn't imagine the shock from T.K.'s "WHAT?!?!?!?" "ARE YOU CRAZY?????" "YOU CAN'T STAY HERE!!!!" "T.K.!" Matt whispered through gritted teeth as he ran over to T.K. "What are you doing?" "I'm staying!" he repeated. "But...you...I can't just leave you here!" "But you can just leave them here?" T.K. said accusingly "Matt, they're our friends!" Matt just looked away and gave no sign of sharing any of T.K.'s affection "Look, they're not my little brother. It's different with them." "I don't care!" T.K. insisted "I'm not going!" "Matt?" Sora said, rushing over to defuse things "He'll be all right! I can look after him." Matt took a moment to think it over. He didn't for a second doubt that he could trust Sora to look after T.K. in normal circumstances. But these were hardly normal circumstances. "Matt," Sora insisted "I promise, I'll take good care of him." "I...uh...." Matt stuttered ".....all right" "YES!" T.K. shouted "Thanks Matt!!!" "Well, in that case, we'd better get a move on!" Tai said, tapping Matt on the shoulder. "OK, I'm coming." Matt sighed, reluctantly. "Good luck!" Sora called as she watched them fade into the grimy haze, hopping that Matt hadn't misplaced his trust. After they wad been out of view, T.K. looked up at Sora and asked "Will they be all right?" "I don't know..." Sora confessed "I hope so..." It didn't take long for the four water fetchers to regret not staying with the rest of the group. Even if they were sitting thirsty in the middle of the desert, they were still sitting. "Can't we just take a little break, man?" Tai pleaded. "No, we've got to keep moving." Matt said, for what seemed liked the millionth time. "Well, I don't care." Tai said, stubbornly "I'm taking a break." "Tai, if you even so much as slow down, I swear I will drag you by your moth infested heap of hair." "`Oh, I'm so scared', give me a break," Tai mocked "you couldn't drag a bag of trash to the dumpster." "Well," Matt jabbed "if it's your trash, it'd be nothing but smoked up joints and girlie magazines." "Well, I wouldn't touch your trash to save my life!" "Like I'd care what would save your life." "Shouldn't we try to stop them?" Gabumon whispered to Agumon. "I ain't goin' near that!" Agumon said, cautiously. With that, the two digimon backed off and allowed the insults to fly uninhibited. "Tai, if you died right now, I'd skin your corpse and make a tent." "I wouldn't even wait for you to die, I'd drag you back to the others and have a little feast." "Of course, if we tried that with a string bean like you, we'd have nothing but toothpicks." "Oh, you should talk, you toe head, chalky white, blondie rail." "You look like an upside down mop." "...OK, you lost me." "Thin as a post all the way up with a tanglly mess at the top." "That's the best you can do?" "Well, I've been trying to hold back so it'd stay within your realm of comprehension." "Oh, please..." That was by no means the end of the volleys, but, as tempers flared and clear thinking vanished, it quickly became unrecordable. Fortunately, things never came to blows, though the digimon feared it would on several occasions. Eventually, they became too tired to spare the energy for insults; and silence took over. A suffocating, all inclusive silence; broken only by Tai's occasional humming (and that would only last until it became loud enough for Matt to hear it, at which point, he'd put a quick end to it). Matt didn't try to look for conversation and he wouldn't take up any of the other's offers; he just pressed ahead. Slowly, without his noticing, Matt stopped harboring any hopes of finding his abandoned companions alive when they returned. He didn't try to give up hope, and he didn't entertain the thought that they were dead, he just didn't think about any thing. He just walked. After all, it's not important whether or no you get anywhere, just that you keep moving. Right? "I don't have time for you right now." Matt told himself as he marched onward. Do you really think they'll still be alive when you get back? "I don't need to think about that, I just need to keep going." Why should you go if you don't care why? What possible point is there? "The point is not to stop." he thought reflexively, not truly realizing he had at all. But how does "not stopping" help you, or anyone else for that matter? For the first time in what seemed like days, Matt's response actually involved some thought "They're not me...what I do is of no concern to them..." But you ARE of concern to them. "HAHAhahaha...very funny." You don't believe that? "No. Neither do you." You never know... "Yes I do..." Or, at least, you've told yourself that so long, you think you do. "I've had help being told." Yes...I suppose you have... Nothing more was said. Matt was almost unaware of the passage of time until Gabumon shouted something. Turning, slowly, he found that Tai was missing. After a moment of hesitation, not to consider further action, but simply to regain command of his mind, Matt began to backtrack to find his vanished companion. Surprisingly, it only took a few steps before Tai's ragged form seeped out of the murky air. He was lying face down in the dirt; still, aside from slow, labored breathing. Agumon turned up in similar condition several steps behind him. Matt shock his head and tried to rouse Tai with his foot, but succeeded only in getting a slight shiver. After several more pokes, with successively poorer results, Matt leaned over to try for some verbal prodding. It was then that he found that Tai was already speaking: "...yeah, I know...no, it shouldn't take too long...oh, naw, nothing's wrong, don't worry..." "What's he talking about?" Gabumon asked. "Nothing probably." Matt sighed. He had been afraid that Tai would snap again. "...I'll be back on time, don't worry..." Tai continued, uncontiously "No! Don't worry...you don't have to tape it, I'll be there..." "Sounds like he's dreaming about TV..." Matt snickered, shaking his head. "...OK...yeah, I'll see you in a little bit...I'm already on my way...yeah, OK, Kari..." "Who's Kari?" Gabumon asked. "His little sister, I think..." Matt said, looking suddenly dark. "...Yeah, I'll be there soon...don't wait up...no, don't wait. OK?...yeah, I love you too, Kari...bye..." After that Tai became silent, save his slow breathing. Matt sat hunched over the sleeping boy, deep in thought for the moment; then he got up... And began to walk away. "Wait!" Gabumon called "What about them? We can't just leave them!" "We can, and we will." "But...but what about Tai?" Gabumon continued "He could die back there!" "I know!" Matt shouted before adding, in a half whisper "So does he..." Gabumon didn`t try to convince Matt to stop again; he knew a lost battle when he saw one. Tai vanished from sight quickly, thanks to the opaque air. Matt tried to shut him out of his mind as well figuring there was no point in dwelling the dead, or so onto be. Of course, far be it from Tai to go quietly: once again, a song began to craw, mostly unrecognizable, from his lips. That sound, echoing across the flat, barren sprawl of desert from a person that Matt held no loftily hopes of ever seeing alive again, was one that would return to his mind, at odd times, throughout the rest of his life: "Five to One, baby One in Five No one here gets out alive, now You get yours, baby, I'll get mine Gonna make it baby, if we try..."*** Slowly, too slowly to notice, Matt gave up all hope for anything. That Tai would survive, that the others would survive, that he would. He simply let it all go. He wasn't walking to save anyone's life; he wasn't walking to save his own. He was simply walking because that was what he had been doing, and it didn't please him to stop. He found it unpleasant to think of the slow, gradual death that awaited him, but is was T.K. and the others who intruded on his thoughts. He didn't dwell on them, they were just there. It vexed him to think of T.K., dying slowly, painfully. In a split second, he felt guilty; like he had failed in his responsibility. That only lasted a second, however. The last time he had been a real brother to T.K. was years ago. Since then, he'd just been a distant relative who dropped by on holidays. He had been robed of any responsibility long ago. "Besides" he told himself "it's not like he's alone." Since Tai had left with him, T.K. had been left with a group of truly worthwhile people; naive, perhaps, but still worthwhile. In what little life T.K. had left, he'd be all right with Sora. The flash of envy twards his brother that thought brought about was too quick to make Matt embarrassed. Matt couldn't have told you how long it was; he had lost all perception of the world around him. He didn't know if Gabumon was still with him, of if he'd collapsed like the others. He couldn't feel the heat around him anymore, he couldn't feel anything. He couldn't see any more. He couldn't feel, he couldn't see, he couldn't hear, he couldn't anything. He didn't think about dying, he didn't think about living. He just thought "Left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot...". Eventually, he didn't even have to think about that. He didn't think period. His legs had been moving with out his help for some time now, so he even let that go. Now, with the last possible need of his conscious mind gone, Matt simply shut down. H was still alive, still moving, but as far as his mind was concerned, Matt was inert. He was an automaton. A self operating puppet. The final thought Matt had while he was still capable of having them was: "At least I lasted longer than Tai..." And then that was it... **************** Gatsumon sat in far to much comfort than should be allowed for one digimon. Letting his stone body sink deep into the giant bean bag chair, he looked over his oasis with great content. Sure, it may not have been the most scenic oasis in the Digiworld, but hey, just because it had lawn flamingos instead of palm trees that didn't mean it was bad. It still had the best water in the desert...OK, the ONLY water in the desert, but that was how they knew it was the best! As he sat looking over it's cool blue waters and breathed the dry desert air, Gatsumon felt perfectly serene. And frankly, it was driving him nuts. "Aawwww, MAN! I'm BORED!" he yawned "I have got to find something to do..." "YO! Gatsumon! Wazzzap?" right on cue, Pumkimon roared up in his big, red, fiery monstrosity of a ride: Pea "Hey, dude!" Gatsumon laughed as his pal leapt from the cab "What's happenin'?" "I dunno," Pumkinmon said "What's up with you?" "Nothing much, how `bout you?" "I'm all right, how about you?" "Yeah, I'm OK, how `bout you, dude?" "I'm all right. You?" "Yeah." "OK..." "Hmmm..." Gatsumon and Pumkinmon stood scratching their heads for some time trying to come up with something to do. Finally, Pumkinmon asked "You wanna cruse around?" "Yeah, that's cool." Pea roared across the desert like a sensitive Kuagumon with a Candelmon's head stuck in his rear end. "WWWOOOOHHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Gatsumon laughed. "Dude, nothing beats crusin' as snot blowin' speed in the desert, `eh, man?" Pumkinmon shouted over the roar of the engine. "You know it, bro!" Gatsumon shouted back "We got the whole place to ourselves!" "Yeah," Pumkinmon agreed "it's just you, me, and that guy over there." It took a few moments for Gatsumon to notice what Pumkinmon had said "Uhh...I think you mean `just you, and me', right?" "Naw," Pumkinmon corrected "There was some other guy back there." "Oh, OK." After a few more moments of silence (Well, the engine was still at a million decibels, but you know what I mean) the two dense motorists cried in unison "HEY! WAIT A MINUTE!!!" After a quick turn around, Pumkinmon and Gatsumon found a bizarre looking fellow stumbling slowly across the sand. "Hey, dude!" Pumkinmon shouted as he and Gatsumon leapt from the driver seat "Are you all right?" "Does he look all right?" Gatsumon said, eyeing the creature's slow, unsteady walk. "He doesn't look like anything." Pumkinmon replied "At least, nothing I've ever seen." "It doesn't look like he can hear us." Gatsumon commented as the strange fellow walked past them. "Hey, dude!" Pumkinmon said, louder as he taped the newcomer on the leg. Whatever the thing was, it must not have been built very sturdy, because it toppled as soon as he touched it. "Awww, man!" Gatsumon shouted "Now look what you did!" "Hey, it's not my fault!" Pumkinmon shouted, defensively "He must be really tired." "Well, what should we do with him?" Gatsumon asked "Try to stand him back up again?" "HEY!" Pumkinmon shouted "Let's take him back to the oasis and give him a drink!" "Yeah! That's a great idea!" "Now...how are we going to get him in Pea?" "Dude, don't look at me. He's way bigger than me..." ************************ Matt hopped off the bus carefully, trying both to avoid being trampled by his liberated classmates and to avoid trampling a few himself. Emerging relatively unscathed, Matt made his way back home through leafy Grant Park. This picturesque little community looked perfectly normal while you were in the middle of it, Matt reflected with a grin, but once you'd been walking for more than a few minutes, it started to get a bit strange. There was just something strange about seeing a cozy little suburban street, complete with all the "Leave it to Beaver" trimmings, that had the peaks of sky scrapers jutting up just behind them. Of course, given what a common, everyday occurrence (read that with sarcasm) serene neighborhood like that was in the middle of metro Atlanta, Matt figured he didn't have any business being picky. It sure beat being back in the digiworld (where?), he added with a contented grin. At least here you could find a drink machine that worked (he sure was thirsty). Almost before Matt realized it, he was back in front of their house (that was quick). It looked like Mom and Dad were already back, both the cars were there (where did they worked again?). Of course, if they were back, that meant T.K. was back too. He was probably out back with Dad at the grill. Dad had made it a family tradition that, at least once a week, he fired the thing up. He couldn't even work a microwave in the kitchen, but, out in the back yard he was a wizard. Matt couldn't tell what he was grilling, but it smelled good enough. He's stomach growled as he considered the possibilities, well, first he'd grab something to drink (why was he so thirsty?) and then he'd go find out. As he walked up the creaky old steps (but the house wasn't that old) he reached for the doorknob. Then, just before he took it in his hand, everything exploded. With a sudden, terrifying blast of cold, Matt was abruptly jolted back to consciousness. He was awake; in the desert; in the digiworld. He couldn't help but be amused at the obvious ridiculousness of the dream. He hadn't lived in Atlanta since he was six, the old house had been torn down shortly afterwards, and Grant Park was never that nice looking. He couldn't move his body and probably wouldn't have been able to feel it if he had. Slowly, lazily Matt opened his eyes to find out what was going on. All he could see was this faint, rippling glow. Slowly as his sight began to come into focus, the glow became brighter and moved with greater fluidity. For a moment, Matt entertained the thought that he had died. However, the slight but steadily increasing pain through his body quickly led him to disregard that theory. If he was in heaven, he wouldn't be hurting at all; and if he wasn't...well, he'd probably hurt quite a bit more. The light continued to get brighter as the rippling substance started to take on a bluish look. It almost looked like water. Then, after an embarrassingly long time, it finally got through Matt's tired skull. It was water! Without a second thought, Matt planted his head into the cool, clear pool and refused to come up until he was in actual danger of drowning. Then, after coming up just long enough to take a breath, he did it again. And again. After the fourth binge, Matt felt momentarily saturated enough to take a short brake. Looking around he found himself at a large oasis. Surrounding the perfectly circular pool was a ring of extremely unkempt grass, littered with tacky lawn ornaments. Not too far to his left, Matt saw a old trailer almost buried under a mountain of worthless looking brick-a-brack. Over to his right, there was a similarly ragged looking contraption that vaguely resembled a large monster truck. It also resembled an over turned trash can, vaguely. Be side it were several digimon. One of them seemed to be a living Halloween costume. It's body seemed to be made of poorly stitched together sack cloth, and it has headed with a jack o'lantern that bore an ax in the forehead. Next to it was a fellow who seemed to be a living rock garden. Along with them Matt saw Gabumon. "GABUMON!" Matt called, hoarsely, as he tried to stand. "Whoa!" Gabumon shouted as he ran over to his comrade "Wait a minute! You need to rest!" "Who are those two guys?" Matt coughed as Gabumon urged him down on his back. "Meet our saviors!" Gabumon explained happily "The one on the left is Pumkinmon and the guy on the right is Gatsumon! They're the ones who found us!" "Those two..." Matt repeated, half consciously "What are they doing?" "We're getting ready to go pick up the others!" Gabumon said, quite pleased "Those two tell me that they know how to find the temple the Yokomon told us about!" Matt tried to say something, but his voice gave out on him. Within a few moments, everything had given out and Matt had fallen asleep. By the time Matt had awoken, the three digimon had loaded him onto the freakish looking truck thing, and they were all speeding back into the murky cloud that covered the dessert they had been in. "So who are you guys, exactly?" Matt shouted, of tried to shout, over the monstrous roar of the machine's engine. "Didn't your pal tell you?" Pumkinmon asked. "Well, he gave me your names, but that was it." "Well...uh...actually, that's about all there is to tell." "I mean, what do you do?" "Uh..." Gatsumon replied stupidly "Nothing much really..." "Nothing at all?" "...nope, I don't think so." "Great, our `saviors' are the slacker squad." "Heads up!" Gabumon shouted "I see Tai up ahead!" Of course, given the incredible speeds at which they were traveling, the wannabe rescue team was almost on top him by the time Gabumon had finished his message. Both Tai and Agumon were in roughly the same condition as Matt had reportedly been when he was recovered. As the other digimon loaded the almost dead duo into the vehicle, Matt couldn't help but feel ashamed that he'd allowed himself to become as weak and vulnerable as the two figures he now saw before him. "Hey what's going on?" Agumon asked weakly as they speed of in the direction of the others. "We're saving your lives, thank you very much." Gatsumon called back from the driver's seat. "You got that right!" Pumkinmon, who had also crammed himself into the driver's seat, shouted. "Where...where are the others?" Agumon asked Gabumon. "We're going to get them right now." Gabumon explained "After that, we're finding this temple place in style!" "Great, wake me up when we get there..." Agumon yawned, rolling over. T.K. lay looking up at the sky. Well, he imagined that that's where the sky would be if that ugly haze wasn't there. By now, only he and Patamon were still awake. Joe, Mimi, and Izzy had fallen asleep not long after Matt and Tai had left. Without much else to do, their digimon had gone to sleep not much later. Sora had held on for a long time; longer than Biyomon, but she hadn't been able to stay awake long enough. "You be a big boy now," She'd told him "Matt will be back any minute now." So he'd waited. And waited. And waited. "Patamon?" T.K. whispered, since he was too thirsty to do anything else "What do you think is holding up Matt?" "I dunno..." Patamon sighed "Maybe he's bringing back so much water, it's taking him a long time to carry it?" "I hope that's it..." T.K. said, not really thinking that was what was happening, but not wanting to discourage Patamon "Hurry up, Matt." "Hey, T.K.!" Patamon said, warily "I think it may be starting to rain!" "WHAT?" "Listen! I think I hear thunder!" "Patamon..." T.K. said, shaking his head "It doesn't rain in the middle of the desert!" "Well then, what's making that noise?" T.K. started to suggest that Patamon was imagining it, when he started to hear it too. When he sat up to look around, T.K. saw some kind of...well, he didn't know what it was, just that it was big. Big and loud. Big and loud and headed straight at them! "Wha- Wha...WHAT'S THAT!?!?!?" "I- I don't know!" Patamon stuttered. "Well what ever it is, I don't think I like it!" "Me neither!" "What'll we do, Patamon?" But, by then, it was too late since the thing was right there next to them. It looked like some kind of giant car except without doors or windows or a roof. Basically, it was a big engine with wheels and seats on the top, too high for them to see. "Uh...Hello?" T.K. called, timidly. "T.K.? Is that you?" a voice called down. "MATT!!!" T.K. almost screamed, recognizing the voice in an instant. Within that instant, Matt had leapt down the dizzying height of the contraption and was hugging T.K. fiercely. "Matt!!! You're here!!!" T.K. laughed over and over "I was so worried about you!" "Sorry to scare you, little guy." Matt whispered, tenderly running his hand through T.K.'s messy hair. Then, suddenly, Matt stiffened up and shouted "Well? What are we just standing around here for? Let's move!" Within minutes, everyone had been loaded into Lawdy Mama and they were screaming off through the desert. Although Joe and Mimi were very suspicious of their mode of transportation, they grudgingly admitted that it was better than walking. The others were more than happy to ride from the start. "So, you're sure you know where this temple is?" Sora asked their drivers. "Oh, you bet!" Gatsumon shouted "We drop by the temple of Quadra all the time!" "It's a great place for parties!" Pumkinmon added. "What purpose does the temple serve?" Izzy asked. "Ga-wha?" Gatsumon asked, without the slightest hint of comprehension. "What's the place for?" Tai clarified. "Gee, I dunno..." Pumkinmon answered "I always figured it was just there." "Have you noticed that no one seems to have a clue what anything is for around here?" Joe asked. "Well, who said everything absolutely had to be for for a purpose?" Gomamon asked back. "I do, for one." Joe said, flatly. "Who cares what it's for as long as it has air conditioning!" Mimi said. "And a washing machine!" Palmon added. "Are you kidding, dude? That place has everything!" Pumkinmon shouted. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get there!" Agumon yelled to the drivers as they speed into the desert night. To Be Continued... Additional song credits: * "Water" by Pete Townshend From the boxed set "Thirty Years of Maximum R&B" by The Who (originally released as the B-side of the single "5:15") ** "May This Be Love" by Jimi Hendrix From the album "Are You Experienced?" by the Jimi Hendrix Experience *** "Five To One" by Jim Morrison From the album "Waiting For the Sun" by The Doors |