Ursula had barely had enough time to think about how much oh shit this was an awful idea before her partner barrelled through the portal. She held on tightly, feeling her whole body lurching from side to side as they tumbled through the black void.

Then suddenly, daylight. She had mere moments to enjoy the sun on her face before they landed with a soft thud in a sandbank, right before Kobolmon bent forwards and slammed his face into the ground, instantly jettisoning all three of his passengers.

“Mfferffffrchrgh”

Ursula clasped her head, trying to get her bearings as the other two children sat dazed all around her. It didn’t take long for the others to join them; first Saxophmon, landing quite neatly a few metres away, then Aardmon landing not-at-all neatly on Saxophmon, then finally the huge bulb of Manowarmon smothering them all like an open parachute. Only Lorelie was left intact, sitting up like a meerkat in the sand and looking from left to right.

“Did we get out?”

It took a while for anyone to answer her for the few minutes while they were trying to dig their way out from under their partners, but eventually Martin got the message. He brushed sand from his chest, and tapped a couple of buttons. “Well, we’re definitely a fair way away from where we were.”

Eleanor coughed as she walked up to him. “And since when were you able to read your D-Psyche?”

“I’ve been practising. It’s not easy, either. Everything’s upside down. Look,” He pointed, showing a large yellowish-green blob on his screen, which showed a cluster of flashing white lights and one large blue one, all the while blipping and beeping like the complete show-off it was.

Eleanor was as helpful as usual. “You mean we had a fucking map this whole time?”

There was a shuffling behind her as Aardmon raised her hand. “Look in fairness, the geography of the Digital World changes like...every month. Maps aren’t very useful.”

“It’s better than nothing.” Callum leant forwards, squinting. “Though it looks like it’s broken? What’s this big blue shiny thing?”

There were a series of flashes behind him, and Polypmon, Hinkymon and Empermon straightened themselves out, the reverted Rookies brushing sand from their bodies. Aardmon put a finger her mouth in a thoughtful fashion. “Big, blue, shiny...that’s what the digital core’s like nowadays.”

She scrabbled forwards trying to get a close look at Martin’s chest. (The boy in question merely looked away, his face tinged slightly pink from the attention.)

“I’m sure of it. That’s exactly what it’s like. Only...” She looked around at the waves of sand and thin grassland surrounding them, and the cool, balmy atmosphere.

“By that logic, we should be in the middle of it...”

Ursula cleared her throat, and pointed skywards. “Excuse me, but is that what we’re supposed to be looking for?”

The group looked up in unison, and a collective gasp came from everyone’s lips.

Granted, if you’ve been shut in a cage underground for a few days any source of sunlight seems utterly beautiful, but at the same time it was hard to deny the utter picturesque splendour of their surroundings, in every direction. They seemed to have landed on a large disc of sandstone, which hovered gently over...some other endless void which frankly they had absolutely no interest in. Similar discs floated around the sky at different angles, brandishing patches of green, red and orange like watercolours, and between each of the floating islands were great azure rivers that spiralled through the sky suspended by some mystical power. All of which paled in comparison to the vast ocean floating a couple of miles above their heads; a great sphere which rippled and spun, seeming eerily calm and yet swirling in spirals and pulses. By squinting, they could even make out the smaller islands playing around on its surface, and more than that, the fleets of tiny ships and settlements gathering between them.

And even further above that, like a tapestry in the vast purple sky above, lay the digital core itself. Like a miniature galaxy, it spun lazily; a vast blue and purple spiral which sent out sparkling arms all across the sky and over the horizon. It was quite marvellous, although the beauty was somewhat tainted by the occasional digital blips that pulsed along the different arms, sending new waves of chaos every which way. There was no question about it. That was the core, and it was up there they would find the Funnyman.

Although that prompted its own question, as brought up by Eleanor after a few moments of beholding this wondrous sight.

“How the flying fuck are we gonna get up there?”

Callum felt her comment had slightly ruined the moment, but he pointed up regardless. “Look, the rivers. They all seem to meet up there.”

That they did. Like a vast ladder reaching into the clouds, the streams of water linking each of the islands all seemed to converge right at the top, before spiralling up to meet the core itself. It was almost like it was beckoning them to come up and join the party. And knowing the Funnyman, it probably was.

Callum squinted upwards, sticking his tongue out one side of his mouth as he held a thumb up. Slowly, he began to wave his free hand around in an arc as Martin watched on, exasperated.

“What are you doing?”

“Maths.”

“You can’t do maths.”

“Until a few days ago penguins didn’t play sax and jellyfish didn’t fly.” Callum looked down, and beamed at Polypmon, who was suddenly wielding a very nervous expression.

“Speaking of which, you’re probably our best bet. How do you feel about flying us all up to the core?”

Polypmon spluttered. “I can’t fly that high! Let alone carry anyone!”

“Can you swim?”

“Well I can hover above water in a similar way to the ground, but if you’re suggesting I carry you up one of the rivers then that’s a terrible idea.” The jellyfish humphed, and folded their tentacles. “Besides, I’m poisonous, remember?”

Martin raised a finger. “Don’t you mean venomous?”

“I decide what I am, thank you.”

Callum’s expression flattened, and he turned to Hinkymon, who was hopping around on one leg. The goblin shook his head. “Don’t look at me. I can’t swim.”

A glance at Empermon in desperation yielded an even more direct response.

“Not happening, mate.”

“Come on, guys! We’re on a roll! We’re actually doing something productive; three of us have partners now.” He placed his hand on his hip, grinning. “Where’s your drive?”

Ursula raised an eyebrow, and pointed over her shoulder. “I think it was left back in hell along with all of my youthful energy and optimism.”

Martin nodded. “Yeah, no offense Callum, but I think everybody’s genuinely knackered after all that. Can’t we just...take it easy for an hour and think about it?”

Callum pointed upwards. “But...the world is ending...”

There was a skywards groan from Eleanor. “The world’s been ending since it started. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ve just jumped halfway across a terribly-designed video game level and I’m tired. And I’m even more tired of pointing out your bullshit so can I please have a break?

She gazed in an exasperated manner at the boy, who pursed his lips.

“Fine...”

Martin double-took. “Back up; Eleanor, you play video games?”

“I have hobbies, Thunderball!”

Martin shrank back. “You’re just full of surprises-“

“For the record, I also collect stamps and my favourite colour is pink. Happy now?”

The girl gave a mock-curtsey, before turning on her heels and storming off down the beach, all her fatigue suddenly replaced by the energising power of pure annoyance.

“Come on then, let’s go find a fucking canoe or something. It’ll be productive.”

She emphasised the last word with air-quotes and a less-than-flattering impression of Callum. The others looked among one another as she disappeared down the beach. Callum furrowed his brow. “I don’t really sound like that, do I?”

Eventually Eleanor slowed down enough for everybody else to catch up, although she still marched ahead on her own, only turning around to warn of approaching pitfalls, sand traps and weird killer plants (because of course there were weird killer plants, though granted they were too small to do much more than bite at the ankles).

It was slow-going over the dunes, and several of the kids were struggling to move through the soft sand, particularly Lorelie. Still, nobody really minded; after what had felt like days of constant running, it was nice to be out in the open, taking things at a comfortable pace and having the opportunity to soak in the genuine beauty of the Digital World.

Polypmon in particular seemed utterly enchanted by their surroundings, flitting back and forth like a hummingbird and occasionally making little squealing noises.

“I can’t believe it; there’s so many colours! And everything feels nice! How come you upper world Digimon get all the nice bits?”

Empermon shot a glance backwards. “Maybe because we’re generally nice and don’t try and destroy the nice bits?”

“Oh yeah...” Polypmon shrugged in an irritated fashion. “I still say you’re hogging it.”

Martin sidled up to them. “I guess it’s not all bad being on our side, then.”

“Yeah, well, I...look...” Polypmon sagged a little, all their tentacles pointing straight downwards. “I didn’t want to let you in on this but I’m not exactly supervillain material.”

Martin gasped. “No. Really?”

“Quiet or I’ll zap you.”

“Sorry master.”

Polypmon sighed, leaning backwards as they drifted along. “I don’t know...you’d think that wanting to smash the system and whatnot would allow for all kinds of possibilities. You’d be free to do whatever you want, whenever you wanted. But you know the biggest problem with everyone down there?”

Empermon rolled his eyes. “They’re all deranged lunatics? Present company included?”

Zzzt

“Ow!”

“As I was saying,” continued the jellyfish, blowing the sparks from their front feelers, “they’re just so boring.”

The penguin rubbed his stinging shoulder. “That would have been my second guess.”

“I know, right?” Polypmon hovered beside him, making an awful lot of tentacle gestures in a short amount of time. “All they do is moan and yell and not do anything. I reckon most of the big guys still locked up in the Dark Area are literally just asleep.”

Empermon placed his saxophone behind his neck, folding his claws over it as he walked along. “I dunno; sounds like the perfect life to me.”

“Wanna swap?”

“Heck no.” Empermon chuckled. “I value my choice in the matter. If I want to not do anything and not get involved with life in any way, that should be my choice.” He glanced behind him. “Which, as you might have gathered, hasn’t quite worked out for me.”

Callum squinted as he caught the penguin’s eye. “I can hear you, y’know.”

Empermon pouted (somehow) and shuffled forwards, whispering to Polypmon. “Quiet revolution, my friend. It keeps them on their toes.”

Polypmon tilted. “It sounds more like being overly passive-aggressive to me.”

Thwack.

“Yow...”

Empermon rested his saxophone back against his shoulder. “There, now we’re even.”

“You did it harder though.”

“Yeah well I’m not poisonous.”

“Venomous.”

“I thought you didn’t care.”

“Well now I do, and that’s my decision.”

Callum struggled to hide his laughter as he watched the two Rookies bicker in front of him. “Martin, I don’t know which one of us ended up worse. Me with Snark of the Penguins or you with Squishy the Happy Eldritch.”

Martin raised an eyebrow. “It is a bit like looking after toddlers, isn’t it...” He shrugged. “At least they’re getting along now. Sort of. And hey, we’re doing well ourselves.”

“See?” Callum playfully knocked the other boy on the arm. “A bit of optimism. It’s just what we need right now.”

“Does anyone ever listen to me? I’m always optimistic. It just means I frequently end up confused and/or a little concerned.”

Callum sniffed. “I’m just glad someone around here sees it my way.”

They walked on a little bit further in silence. Callum looked down and saw Martin staring up at him, a strange expression on his face.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I just...” Martin shuffled his feet a little. “Nothing.”

“Go on, what is it? I won’t bite.”

The smaller boy sighed. “I’m glad you’re happy but...you know things haven’t gone brilliantly, right? I mean we’re all together right now and we’re gathering partners but...you ever think you may be being a little overconfident?”

“We’re doing fine, Martin.”

“Yeah, ‘fine’.” Martin pointed upwards. “You saw the Funnyman that one time, right? Is ‘fine’ going to be enough to beat him?”

Callum placed his free arm on his hip, frowning down at the ground. When he looked up again, his expression was slightly harder.

“It’s gotta be. We’ve come this far, and we can keep going further. We just all need to believe we can, despite all this.” He pointed at his D-Psyche. “We’re the only ones here, Martin. It’s up to us. Even if no-one else believes in us, I’ve got to.” He smiled down at the boy. “We can win anything that comes our way. I’m sure of it.”

Martin returned the smile, albeit a little lopsided. “Hey, I’m not the one you need to convince.”

“Well I need to start somewhere. I’ve got no chance with Eleanor.”

“Hey, leave her alone. I’m sure she’s just having a tough time.”

Callum blew air out the side of his mouth. “We all are, aren’t we?”

Martin’s smile twisted slightly downwards.

“...I guess so...”

The two carried on quietly, mostly just listening to the bickering of their partners. A few steps ahead of them Ursula was finding the argument slightly less charming, dramatically plugging her ears as she hobbled along in her usual awkward fashion.

“Nobody told me that these digital monsters would be so loud...”

Lorelie shuffled up towards her, holding her keypad out. “At least yours seems to be manageable.”

Ursula turned to look at the Digimon in question, who was busy jumping from sand dune to sand dune like a massive game of hopscotch.

“He’s just mental.”

“You talking about me?”

Hinkymon hopped over, abandoning his dune-hopping game for a few moments as he tried to act civilised. He walked between the two girls, grinning up at both of them.

“I can be a pain if you want.”

“I think we can do without, thank you.”

“It’ll be fun!”

“Maybe.”

Ursula chuckled, and Hinkymon giggled in response. The girl’s laugh faded, and she glanced down surreptitiously. It was hard to believe that just a couple of hours ago this weird little goblin had been fighting for his life against a quartet of voracious predators. The girl could still make out the pock-marks and gouges over his body and limbs, shimmering slightly in the sunlight. And yet here he was, bouncing along as if he’d only fallen off a climbing frame.

“I made a little dance. You wanna see?”

Hinkymon puffed his cheeks out, and Ursula realised she’d been caught. She scratched her cheek, flushing a little. “I’m just worried, that’s all. You really shouldn’t be out walking after all of that.”

“I’ve fallen down holes and everythin’. Killer horseys are nothing.”

“Really.”

Hinkymon thought for a while. “Okay, they’re something. Different, at least. But I’ve had worse...well, probably not worse but...as bad. Maybe. I dunno.”

The girl placed her hands in her pockets. “I don’t mean to shout at you; I’m very thankful. I just don’t understand why you’d put yourself in danger for my sake. You’ve only just met me.”

Hinkymon blew a raspberry out of one side of his mouth. “I dunno; I thought it was a nice thing to do. You’re fun, miss. Misses.”

Ursula shook her head slightly, realising she wasn’t going to get a huge amount of comprehensive information out of her fiery little companion.

“I won’t say you’re an idiot because I’m grateful and I owe you a lot. But you’re definitely utterly mad.”

“Thanks!”

There was a kerfuffle as Lorelie stumbled a little, although she managed to regain her balance in time. Hinkymon grinned upwards at her. “You wanna play hopscotch?”

“I’d love to but I think it would be a bad idea.”

“Fair ‘nuff.”

The goblin hopped forwards and resumed his earlier game, jumping into a particularly sizeable dune and spraying Eleanor in sand.

Eleanor reacted less-than-kindly to the sudden deluge, and Ursula winced as her partner was summarily chased away. A moment later, she shrugged. “Well, I guess that was his own fault.”

She looked down at Lorelie, dangling her arms by her sides. “So who do you think you’re going to get?”

“Me? How do you mean?”

“A partner.” Ursula gestured over at Aardmon, who had been staying very much out the way of everyone. “Do you have any ideas?”

“I’m afraid your guess is as good as mine.” Aardmon ruffled her hair. “I thought there was like this...world-spanning bond thing, but by the looks of it the way you are now you really can just pick up any body you come across.”

Ursula rolled her eyes. “That’s reassuring. We’re just one big mistake here.”

“I don’t think so. I think it’s a miracle how well you’ve all done so far...” The aardvark paused, and pressed her lips together. “That came out very, very wrong.”

“I’ll say. We’re only here because of you.”

Now it was Aardmon’s turn to get embarrassed, and she started dragging her feet. Lorelie’s shoulders fell forwards, and she tapped on her device again.

“You’ve kept us all together.”

“No I haven’t.”

Pause.

“You’ve helped us fight.”

“You’ve seen my attempts at fighting.”

Another pause, and the aardvark was looking glummer by the second. Lorelie looked up at Ursula for help, who shrugged.

“Regardless of your power, you did help us during the last battle. I got to kick a demon in the balls because of you. That’s its own reward.”

Her comment didn’t have quite the reassuring quality that she was aiming for, so Ursula tried again. “It’s enough that you are trying.”

Aardmon sighed, and she brought her hands together, clasping and unclasping her claws.

“I wanna see you win. I wanna see you bring the Funnyman down. Take the smile off of...whatever he has that counts as a face. I just wish there was something more I was able to do.” She looked ahead, seemingly staring into nothing. “It is...I mean...I did-“

“Just staying with us is enough.” Lorelie beamed down from her screen, her posture a lot brighter than before. “Thank you for all you’ve done.”

Aardmon laughed nervously, but before she could respond Eleanor stopped in front of them, holding out a hand.

“Wait up, everyone, the path ends.”

It did indeed, and very abruptly, the edges of the dunes literally pouring away into the vast drop below. They were close to the mouth of the river, which also roared off the edge, although rather than doing the sensible thing and falling into the abyss below, it instead decided to tilt upwards in a defiant manner and rush towards the next island up. It seemed to be running at a rapid pace, spiralling like a jetstream through the air on its gravity-defying travels, although its surface was almost deceptively calm.

Eleanor folded her arms, tapping her foot on the sand. “How do you follow a river up into the sky...?”

“I think that river’s had a few victims already.”

Eleanor turned and saw Callum pointing at a large metal structure to his left, half-buried in the sand. “Come and have a look at this.”

Eleanor plodded over to join the others, as they looked up at the large geometric shape. Perhaps it had been a ship at one point, or maybe even something larger. But right now it was little more than a wreck, seemingly plucked from its normal life and thrown way, way off course. On closer inspection, there were many such vessels scattered around the beach, all of which seemed in relatively good nick, aside from being stuck fast on dry land.

Martin frowned, putting a finger to his lips. “This doesn’t bode particularly well.”

There was a shuffling beside him, as Lorelie showed her keypad to everybody. “Maybe we just need to take it slowly...”

Eleanor hummed to herself, and stepped forwards, running her hand over a bulge in the vessel. She turned round, looking over at Callum. “You said we might be able to use Polypmon to pull us up the river, right?”

Polypmon started. “What?”

Callum nodded. “I...I mean...yeah I said that, but...”

Eleanor nodded, and reached forwards, curling her fingers round a panel on the ship and pulling with all her might. After a minute or so she paused, repositioning herself on the sand.

“If you can give me a hand with this that would be really helpful.”

Callum and Ursula stepped forwards, and soon they were all pulling against the mysterious lump, slowly prying it away from the rest of the ship. It soon snapped off, landing on the soft sand with a thump, and revealing it to be a curved piece of metal, with struts across it for support of the main ship body. Martin placed his hands on his hips, clearly confused.

“I don’t get it? Are we going to build a ladder?”

“Look at it, ya dingus. Doesn’t it look like something?”

Martin pulled a blank.

“A boat, Martin. It’ll work fine as a raft. We can travel on the water on this thing.”

Martin raised a finger, but didn’t say anything, swallowing his words. Thankfully Ursula filled in to point out one of the clear issues with this whole idea.

“This thing was wrecked when it was a proper boat. I don’t think using one of the side panels is going to be very helpful.”

Eleanor looked sideways. “You’re the ones saying how we’re gonna find a way up there.”

Ursula started. “I did not say that! That was Callum!”

Callum was a bit narked at suddenly having the burden of responsibility thrust upon him. Nonetheless, he scratched his chin and thought about the idea.

“I mean, it’s obviously supposed to float. Or at least it was, at some point.”

Eleanor held the bridge of her nose. “Look man, we can either do this your way and do something stupid, or we can keep wandering around and do virtually nothing.” She held her hands out. “I’m willing to listen to the stupid plan for once. Do you wanna do this or not?”

“You aren’t half putting this all on me...”

“You honestly think I wouldn’t? This is a dumb idea. It’s only in the very small chance that it works that it suddenly becomes anythingremotely resembling good.”

“That’s reassuring,” replied Callum, folding his arms. He sighed for a minute, looking down at the sand. Then, slowly and in the most non-threatening manner he could muster, he turned to Martin.

“We might need a little help with this.”

In fairness, the group wasn’t so stupid as to just head straight over the edge hoping for the best. They did try a few things out to begin with, in less hazardous waters. It didn’t go entirely according to plan.

After they managed to capsize the initial piece of ship in the nearby river, the group scoured the beach until they found something slightly more suitable; what appeared to be an old dinghy, with oars attached and everything. Even then, it took a fair few tries to get the hang of moving it around, and even more tries to convince Polypmon-as-Manowarmon that they were strong enough to pull the dinghy around. But with a bit of practise, it was...acceptable. Certainly a worthy attempt, although it was a far cry from the real thing.

“I don’t like it,” whined Manowarmon, looking up as the stream cascaded away from him, bouncing off the islands just a few hundred metres above. So close, and yet agonisingly far.

The children sat at the sides, with four of them clutching hold of the oars in some vain attempt to steady the dinghy on its ascent. Eleanor rolled her fingers. “Just go already. We won’t shout unless you’re gonna pull us off the river.”

“What happens then?”

“Take a guess.”

“Fine.” Manowarmon swallowed, and braced themselves. “I’m going up. Hold on.”

They set off with a jerk, a few metres from the edge of the island to get a sufficient run-up. The current caught them just before they leapt off the edge, and with Manowarmon driving them forwards and the children guiding their vessel, they travelled up the spiralling stream towards the next island. Everybody held their breath, and more than one of them held their eyes tightly shut, not daring to look at the horrific drop below.

“We’re there.”

The dinghy swerved sideways as Manowarmon dismounted onto the next island with slightly more vigour than they intended. The dinghy swayed, but stayed upright, and everybody inside breathed a sigh of relief. Callum stared up at the swirling ocean above, now even closer than before.

“That was easy.”

“Don’t say that!” yelled Eleanor, holding onto her oar with a white-knuckle grip. “We’ve got even more islands to go!”

“Only three, by the look of it.”

“And then we have a massive ocean to cross.”

“At least that’s flat, though.” Callum grinned. “Relax. You made a good call; this is going well.”

There was an irritated mumbling up ahead as Manowarmon looked backwards with a tired expression. “It’s easy for you to say; I’m the one doing all the work.”

Martin leaned back, smiling. “But you’re doing it so well...”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. Will enter a covenant with a human to save the world, will be stuck doing all the actual legwork.”

Empermon clicked. “You’ve got that right.”

“Hold on, we’re going up again.”

It was a longer jetstream than the previous one, and slightly more nerve-wracking to cross. The humans held their oars straight down, cutting into the water and keeping them aligned as Manowarmon pulled them up and over. The jellyfish turned, and the boat followed, sending spray off into the air, and giving the boat’s occupants a direct view of the ocean ahead. It was a remarkable view, with the currents clearly visible from this high up.

Lorelie pointed, and Ursula followed her gaze. “Look at the little boats all around. Aren’t there more of them than before?”

“There are bigger ones in the distance.” Aardmon mused, rolling her fingers. “There must be Digimon living here. Colonies or something.”

Martin tilted his head. “This close to the digital core? That seems a little dangerous.”

“Some Digimon like it dangerous. Besides, I’m pretty sure some of them won’t have a lot of choice.”

Callum looked up, watching as the pulsating blue sphere of the core slowly disappeared over the curvature of the ocean. He squinted, trying to make out anything on the inside, but it was hidden before he could do so.

They landed again, and Manowarmon paused, taking deep breaths as they hung around in the island’s lake. Each floating piece of landscape seemed to have its own climate and flora, with this one being far more like a rainforest. They drifted along, staring up at the large river that curled upwards some distance away; the last one they had to travel before they reached the ocean.

“Do you think the Funnyman knows we’re here?”

Everyone looked at Callum, who had posed the question, staring up at the big blue orb. “He seemed to be keeping track of us in the city. I’m just wondering. This could be a trap.”

Aardmon exhaled. “I have no idea what the Funnyman’s up to or what he does and doesn’t know. But yeah, probably.”

“Don’t you think that’s a bit of a problem?”

Empermon leaned forwards, his face uncharacteristically concerned. “I mean there are only three of us who can reach Champion level, and we weren’t exactly in any shape to take on the Dark Area Digimon. This guy could be beyond us.”

Hinkymon raised a finger. “Maybe we could leg it and get him to follow us?”

“Is that your answer to everything?”

The goblin grinned. “It worked with you people, didn’t it?”

Ursula folded her arms. “The penguin has a point though. We are rushing ahead very quickly; there is no way we’re going to be powerful enough to fight this guy.”

“We’re not supposed to fight him.”

“Eleanor?”

At the head of the boat, Eleanor shrugged. “That’s what we were told, wasn’t it? Find the Funnyman and stick the weird flash drive things into him. You know,” she rummaged within her skirt and pulled out the little device, “these things. You all still have them, don’t you?”

Each teenager checked, running the small device through their fingers. Callum pouted. “It’s a little anticlimactic, isn’t it?”

“Maybe, but your partner’s right. We can’t fight the Funnyman.” Eleanor folded her arms, her voice taking on an edge. “You can ditch that idea right now.”

“Alright, alright, geez.” Callum pocketed his device, scowling. “I can’t imagine he’s just gonna let us walk up and stick some nerd program into him.”

“We’ll think of that when we get to it.” Eleanor shuffled, staring at the boy. “Don’t overcomplicate this, Callum. We’re not warriors, we’re couriers. That’s what we were told.”

Empermon raised a flipper. “If there’s an option which means Idon’t need to face up against the giant scary glitch monster that would be cool with me.”

Callum huffed. “I’m sure you’d all be fine-“

“Are you? Are you really?” Eleanor snapped, her expression hardening. “You willing to bet their lives on the line on that?”

Martin flinched. “Eleanor, please, it’s not-“

He was stopped by one of Manowarmon’s rear tentacles tapping him on the shoulder. “Uh...guys?”

Nobody else was listening, with most of them sitting awkwardly between Callum and Eleanor throwing very intense stares at one another.

Callum gritted his teeth. “You always do this; any time I try and make a suggestion you always throw it back in my face.”

“It’s a case between getting into a fight we can’t win, or trying to get through this without dying horribly! That’s why I’m throwing it back in your face!”

“You seriously think this is gonna happen without a fight? I’m just being realistic!”

“We’re not strong enough to fight him!”

“You don’t know that! You haven’t even found your partner yet!”

Eleanor sucked her breath in, her knuckles whitening. Lorelie crouched over, fumbling with her keypad as she tried to type, clutching the little protocol device in her other hand.

“Plz, we don’t need-“

There was a vicious bump, sending her over as the keypad clattered from her hand. The device fell out too, and the group watched in dismay as it hit the edge of the boat and bounced cleanly over the edge.

“Lorelie!”

Eleanor glared up at Manowarmon. “Hey, stop! We’ve lost something!”

“I can’t!”

“Why the fuck not; you’re driving this thing!”

Manowarmon pointed at the raging river ahead as it looped upwards into the sky.

“I promise you I’m not!”

Lorelie got to her knees, scrabbling around on the deck for the device and making very distressed squeaks from her D-Psyche. Ursula grabbed hold of her and pulled her back. “Hold onto something!”

“What the hell is-“

CRASH

The boat veered sideways, coming dangerously close to capsizing and very nearly sending everybody aboard into the stream. They hung onto whatever they could as the current caught hold of them, dragging them up into the sky at an ever increasing speed. They watched as the island flew away from them, just before Manowarmon forced their way back and clamped their entire lower body onto the side of the boat, trying to steady it more than actually guide it.

And the vortex was guiding it plenty, as the river shot straight up(down) towards the spherical sea like a harpoon, entering at a sharp angle. Manowarmon held their breath, and held the vessel even tighter.

“Don’t let go!”

They hit the water’s surface with a splash, their boat skipping across the sea like a pebble. After a few bounces it slowed, and began to spin, drifting away from the river and eventually coming to a halt.

Everybody hung there for a moment, disorientated and frankly shaken by the whole experience. Ursula found herself half-hanging over the side of the boat, and she rested her forehead in her arms. “This was a stupid idea.”

“Ow...”

There was a muttering from Aardmon as she tried to unfurl herself from underneath one of the boat seats, staring around as she tried to get her bearings.

“I think we’ve lost our oars.”

“We’ve lost more than that...”

All eyes turned to Eleanor as she fumbled in her pockets, then on the base of the boat, then stared out across the surface of the ocean, cursing multiple times under her breath.

“Fuck...fuck fuck fuck fuck...”

“What is it?”

“Now I’ve dropped it! My fucking memory stick program thing!”

She yelled out, screaming across the sea, but it was no good. The device was gone. Martin, Callum and Ursula all checked their own clothing, making sure they still had theirs. Lorelie sat up, her fingers trembling as she typed.

“Well wonderful. FUCKING perfect. We’ve lost two of those fucking things in one go. Flawless. AAAARGH!””

“I’m sorry. Really. I’m-“

“YOU IDIOT!”

Lorelie flinched as Eleanor whirled round, eyes blazing. “Even if you have a computer on your head is it really that hard to hold onto one fucking thing? Are you even-”

She stopped, catching her words and very nearly falling backwards. Lorelie sat there, her shoulders trembling and her screen utterly black. She held out her keypad, but the text had already vanished. She fiddled with the pad again, but it slipped from her grasp, falling once again on the floor of the boat, sliding over to Ursula’s feet. Ursula picked it up, and sat next to Lorelie, holding out an arm for comfort and glaring up at the other girl.

“That was an accident, Eleanor.”

“I know.” Eleanor shut her eyes tight. “Fuck me, I know...”

“She didn’t-“

“I know she didn’t mean to. No-one fucking does. But that’s the kind of shit that’s gonna get us killed, and I’m doing that fucking shit as well so everything’s fucking wonderful.” The girl lashed out with a finger, pointing at everyone in turn. “Doesanyone have any fucking clue what we’re supposed to be doing here?”

Callum sat up, his expression hardening. “You’re being out of order! It’s no good blaming us for your problems.”

“It’s our problem, dipshit! It’s all our problem, and it doesn’t matter how many cute fuzzy little partners we win over to our side, we’re still all utterly fucked if we don’t actually figure it out!”

Callum stood up, feet firmly planted on the base of the boat. “What is wrong with you? So what if we’ve lost a couple of the devices; we’ve still got three more. Yeah it sucks, but you standing there yelling at us like you always do isn’t fucking helping!”

“What, so you think just finding a random monster and making it bigger is going to solve everything instead?” Eleanor stood up herself, marching over to Callum and rocking the boat as she did so. “Oh wait, I forgot, I guess nothing I say actually matters ‘cause you’re the ones with partners and you’re all so special!”

Callum held his arms out, gesturing at the girl in front of him. “And this is gonna help? You getting pissy ‘cause no-one’s come to find you yet?”

“I’m just trying to get the fucking job done, Callum!” She reached forward and grabbed him by the shirt, staring into his eyes. “Not that you’d know ‘cause you’ve just been able to rely on your old penguin buddy there, who, oh wait,I’m the one who fucking found for you in the first place.”

“Get off me!”

“Make me!”

Callum shoved her backwards, but she stood her ground, lashing out with a fist that just scraped his jaw. The rest of the boat watched in frozen horror as the two children stood there, breathing heavily. Callum shook his head, and spat overboard. “You’re never gonna get a partner like this. Who would want you?”

“You mother-

The boat rocked, one side juddering up and knocking the two off their feet once again. Callum yelled as his head whacked against the side, and he glared upwards. “What the hell was that?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I guess that was my fault as well!”

Ursula peered over the side. “Both of you, shut up!”

“Don’t you start with me as well! Why don’t you all grow a pair and actually-”

Martin raised a finger. “Um...actually I think she means there’s something under the boat...”

SMASH

All conversation was cut off as the something-under-the-boat decided to run up and hit the boat at a frightening speed, cracking the hull with a single impact like a torpedo. The poor boat, obviously fed up of having to put up with all this abuse after already having been wrecked once, decided enough was enough and promptly split in half, jettisoning most of its occupants straight into the sea.

Eleanor and Callum managed to cling onto the front end as it rocked back and forth, taking on water but just managing to stay afloat. Eleanor gritted her teeth. “Shit...shit shit shit...”

Callum turned to her. “It’s alright, we can just relax and-“

“Callum, how the fuck are they supposed to swim?”

The boy stared at her in horror, only to jump with fright as a voice sounded out from behind them.

“Okay, so...the D-Psyches? Apparently they float.”

The two looked down to see Martin, bobbing in the waves like he was lying on an armchair, with a decidedly miffed expression on his face.

“That would have been nice to know earlier...”

Manowarmon hovered above him, rubbing behind their head-fins with their arm. “You’re telling me.”

Eleanor gulped air as she looked around, trying to see where everyone was. Hinkymon was clutched tightly onto Ursula’s back as the tall girl trod water, muttering under her breath. Lorelie was drifting on her back, her screen a mess of squiggly lines interspersed with censored expletive. Aardmon and Empermon were holding onto a piece of the boat’s shattered hull, still seeming a bit dazed.

Eleanor blinked. Everyone was accounted for, but someone else was there as well; a round, spiky-looking object floating in the midst of the rubble. As the water lapped all around, the girl could have sworn she heard a drawn-out groan coming from the orb.

In a better state of mind the girl may have come up with some better conversation. As it was, she resorted to her usual tactic.

“Did you do that, you clumsy fuck?”

That got the orb’s attention. It spun around to face her, and a green head on a wrinkled neck poked up from the front. It seemed to be some sort of turtle, bobbing effortlessly in the surf. It had red ear-like tufts around its neck, great spiked plates on its shell as opposed to the more flat tessellated ones she was used to, and more noticeably, an incredibly bolshie attitude.

“You’re the ones who got in the way, arseholes!”

There was an exaggerated groaning from all around. Lorelie reached up and rested her arms on her face, her screen showing an incredibly done-with-everything face. It seemed everyone knew where this exchange was going to lead.

Eleanor gripped the side of the boat piece with one hand and stood up, waving an arm around.

“I’m sorry, what was that? All this fucking ocean to swim around in and you still run into us? Are you a moron?”

The terrapin swam forwards, raising a flipper and pointing up at the girl. “I was in a situation! You should have been watching!”

“We didn’t even know you were there! And what situation?”

“None of your fucking business.”

“You’ve just wrecked our boat; it is our fucking business now you scaly green bastard.”

“Well get out of it right now then! No-one asked you. I’m in a situation!”

Eleanor stamped on the hull. “What situation?”

She didn’t need an answer, as the situation presented itself rather promptly. A large blue and white mass rose from the water’s surface like an island. It looked very much like a dolphin, although clearly one which was undergoing a rebellious phase; it had three jagged fins along its spine, two more on its tail and a mess of blue and red scar-like patterns across its body. It grimaced, and clicked, showing a mouth full of triangular white teeth.

“Terramon! You’re still alive after that?”

In response, Terramon, for that was the turtle’s name, promptly gave the large dolphin the turtle equivalent of the bird (far more aggressive but with significantly less digit control).

“It’ll take more than that to shove me away, Dolphmon. Tell me about Gizamon and maybe I’ll let you off with a warning.”

Dolphmon’s eyes flashed, and she opened her maw, a rippling energy building at the back of her throat. But Terramon moved first, swimming forwards at a surprising speed and balling energy in the back of her own throat.

“Marsh Bomb!”

A green globule shot out, landing on the cetacean’s shoulder and spreading, the energy forming a constrictive algae on the dolphin’s skin. Dolphmon backed off a little, clicking from either side of her mouth as she dived. The surrounding castaways heard a moaning from deep underwater, before the sea around them started to bubble. Martin was closest to the disturbance, and he paddled away as fast as he could manage. “Crap, crap, something’s coming!”

“Pulse Blast!”

Terramon barely had time to get out of the way before a blast of ultrasonic energy burst out from underwater, catching her on the behind and sending her spinning away. She landed a few metres away, sinking like a stone, before reappearing amongst the rubble yet again, cracking her neck as she did so.

“Didn’t even feel that.”

There was a bubble, and Dolphmon resurfaced, spitting excess water from the side of her jaws. “Aren’t we done yet? Can you just piss off already?”

“Not till you tell me what happened to Gizamon!” Terramon reared up, gathering more energy in her mouth.

“Marsh-“

“Hey!”

A piece of wood struck the turtle in the back of the head, and she turned, looking up at Eleanor standing on the slowly-sinking piece of boat. The girl pointed her thumb at her chest. “You weren’t finished with me yet! Don’t just blow me off like that!”

Terramon gave her a blank look. Behind her, Dolphmon raised two flippers to the sky in an offended manner. “What the hell?”

“I’m coming to you in a bit! But the reptile and me haven’t finished.”

“I was here first! Wait your turn!”

“Fuck off!”

Beside her, Callum raised a finger to make a point, but she snapped towards him. “Don’t you fucking dare!”

“I just-“

“So I’m no good am I? Just a loud girl in the way like always? You think I don’t count ‘cause I don’t have a partner? ‘Cause you lucked out before me?”

The boat rocked as Terramon climbed on board, standing on two legs and glaring up at Eleanor. “And what does that have to do with me?”

“Look at it! You bust our boat!”

Terramon pointed behind her. “She threw me!”

Dolphmon shrank back a little as she watched the scuffle taking place before her. “Uh, yeah, I mean, technically that was my fault-“

“I don’t care! I’ve had it up to here!”

Terramon swayed, her muscles tensing. “What is your problem? I’ve had a really shitty day and now you’ve come along and you’ve just started screaming at me! Who the fuck even are you?” She waved her arms around. “What the fuck is going on here? Humans? Why? What’s the fucking point; the world’s already gone to shit without you joining in!”

“You’ve had a shitty day?”

Eleanor twitched, and stepped forwards, the screen on her leg spitting green sparks everywhere. Not that she noticed. Her eyes bored deep into Terramon’s, neither of them budging. Eleanor snapped.

“I woke up god knows how many days ago with a fucking piston engine on one leg, I’ve been roped in with these arseholes and got sent here by a bunch of moron scientific fucks, I’ve been chased by a flock of cannibal fairies and thrown off a city like from a fucking dustpan and manhandled by sailor dolls and now I’ve just fallen down a massive fuck-off water slide only to have you and your lard-arse dolphin friend come over and wreck the fucking boat, and the best part is I’m only trying tohelp. So to put it simply, you’re pissing me off,they’re pissing me off, this whole fucking world is pissing me off and goddamnit I am not letting any of you get away with this!”

The girl raised a finger, and jabbed Terramon hard in the centre of the shell.

“I’m Eleanor Joy Graeme and I’m here to save your fucking world! So FUCKING let me!”

She raised her D-Psyche and stamped it hard on the remainder of the deck with her last words, breathing heavily from her outburst. Everyone was quiet. She caught her breath, and turned to see Callum lying on his back behind her, pointing down.

“What now?”

She looked down at the green energy swirling around her D-Psyche, the metal rattling viciously. Terramon was staring intently, her face one of puzzlement.

“What the hell-“

Eleanor’s leg burst open, quite literally blowing her off her feet. Terramon barely got out half a yelp before she was engulfed in a green blob, bouncing around the surface of the water like a pinball, before hovering a few inches in the air, spinning in a rough green ellipse. Eleanor tried to reach forwards to hold her knee closed, but the device wrenched itself open even more, the wheels spinning and releasing sparks every which way.

“Terramon...Psyche Synchronise!”

The voice sounded distinctly confused and rather afraid. Eleanor couldn’t tell whether the words were leaving her own mouth, or that of the turtle who was now pounding inside her green prison, green globules of light dancing around and latching to the outer edge. The girl tried to stand up, the half-boat tilting up as she did so and tipping Callum fully into the sea. She scrabbled to get a footing, but as she knocked her D-Psyche, it opened fully, expelling a spray of green energy in every direction.

“Evolution Activate!”

The orb expanded, but not nearly as much as Terramon, whose form grew with such rapidity that it turned the surrounding orb into a membrane, which rippled and pulsated as the turtle within kept expanding. It slowed as quickly as it started, reaching a point far, far bigger than any of the others had been. There was practically nothing visible of the Digimon inside, save for one large, very spiky silhouette. It jerked. Expanded. Claws reached out and tore at the membrane, and from deep within, two deep red eyes opened up.

The new Digimon burst out with a roar, crashing down into the sea with a vast splash. As the water rained down as mist, the giant turtle seemed to hang there in the middle of the water. What had once been Terramon had now grown to the size of a dump truck; an almighty round shell with overlapping plates that stuck up in all directions, bordered on all sides by four limbs as thick as tree-trunks. Her flippers had broadened into webbed hands, and fronds of kelp protruded from between the armour plates on her elbows and from beneath her shell. Her head was monstrous; almost more dragon than turtle, with two horn-like protrusions growing from her scalp and a third one from the tip of her snout. She breached the surface, her mouth opening to reveal a vast hooked beak; completely toothless, but by the looks of it able to rend metal. Her eyes were wide, and almost perfectly circular, with marbled patterns around the edge of the whites.

“Chelydramon!”

The moment was undercut slightly by a dull glub-glub-glub, as the remainder of the boat finally sank, depositing Eleanor in the water next to Callum. She hovered there for a while in the water, while the other boy stared at her. Everyone seemed to be staring at her, in fact, which considering the presence of a ten-tonne-terrapin, was rather impressive. She snorted, and pushed herself backwards slightly.

“Okay, so, I genuinely didn’t expect that to happen...”

Behind the turtle, the largely-forgotten Dolphmon hissed through her teeth. “Okay, so...yeah. I’m gonna go, if that’s alright with-“

One of Chelydramon’s great webbed hands closed around the dolphin’s tail, and she squawked, flapping wildly as she found herself being lifted into the air. Chelydramon brought her close, breathing heavily as she scowled at the dolphin (though with a face like that, she didn’t have much choice).

“You I’m just about done with! Piss off and never bother me again!”

Dolphmon made several panicked squeaks which finally transformed into a response. “I-I-I-I-I-I-I promise if you’ll just let me go oh god please just let me go!”

Chelydramon did. In a sense. With a roar she threw her arm backwards, tossing the cetacean into the air like a throwing mallet. Dolphmon disappeared beneath the waves with a surprisingly subtle plop, and promptly scarpered, jettisoning bubbles from every orifice as she did so.

Eleanor found herself whistling at the turtle’s raw strength, until Chelydramon promptly turned on her. She swam up to the girl, towering over her and roaring in her face.

“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?”

Callum couldn’t think of a time where he’d seen Eleanor respond with such nuance as when she calmly raised a finger and responded quietly.

“I am ever so sorry...that would have been an accident on my part.”

“LIKE FUCK!”

“Hey! Put me down!”

Chelydramon lifted the girl completely clear of the water, holding her up to her massive snout. “Who are you really? You’re in on it too, aren’t you! Is that what you all are; are fucking humans in on it too? Give her back!”

She exhaled, getting far too worked up for someone so big, and she pulled Eleanor even closer.

“What have you done with Gizamon?”

Eleanor struggled, punching against the muscular hand that held her firmly to no avail. “I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about! Calm the fuck down!”

“ANSWER ME!”

“I DON’T KNOW!”

“Toxic Shocker!”

Chelydramon flinched as sparks jumped all over her shell, and she turned, not even dropping the girl. Martin stood atop Manowarmon’s dome, and the jellyfish was holding both arms out, the ends coiling and building electricity. Martin held up a palm.

“Whatever you think is happening, it’s not. Please...let us just explain...”

Chelydramon roared and swiped at Manowarmon who just floated away in time. The turtle came down again, very nearly bringing her hand down on Ursula, who screamed. But Chelydramon wasn’t paying any heed.

“You’re all in on it, aren’t you? It’s all another fucking ambush! You’re after me now! I know your game!”

Manowarmon clasped their hands together, forming an orb of purple lightning. “I don’t know what you’re talking about! Toxic Shocker!”

Chelydramon headbutted the attack away, and there came an indignant screech from her palm. “Fucking hell, watch it! I’m still here!”

Manowarmon yelped as Chelydramon swiped again, causing huge swells in the ocean which were causing chaos for the humans and Digimon below. Ursula swallowed her third lot of water and leaned back towards Hinkymon. “You’ve got to...evolve...”

The goblin shook his head, and clung even tighter to her back. “I can’t swim! I’ll sink! I’ll drown! Or...fall through the sea! Or something!NOPE!”

Callum looked around for any sign of Empermon, but the penguin was lost in the swirling foam as Chelydramon swum after the jellyfish. Suddenly she stopped, growling under her breath.

“You won’t take me. I WON’T LET YOU!”

She reared her arm back, and as she did so, trails of waterweed erupted from her palm, extending into the sky and spinning around into a vast spiky ball, which glowed an intense green.

“MANGROVE MACE!”

Manowarmon quailed as they watched the great green ball hurtling down towards them. “Oh shit...”

Martin punched them in the kidney area. “DUCK!”

Manowarmon snapped to their senses and hurtled to one side, the mace narrowly missing them. But the impact didn’t as waves of green energy crackled over the water’s surface, the pure pressure sending Manowarmon spinning. Chelydramon wasn’t done yet; she thrust her arm sideways, the ball following her movements and slamming directly into Manowarmon’s chest.

“ARGH!”

The jellyfish skidded across the water’s surface their tentacles scrabbling against air as they rushed towards the spinning turtle, who was reeling back for another blow.

“Torpedo Coil!”

“Mangrove Mace!”

Tentacle clashed with ball, and the ball won, sending Manowarmon careening sideways again, with Martin desperately hanging on and even more desperately trying not to get crushed outright. The jellyfish spun, rearing up as bolts coursed down their front tentacles. They turned to face Chelydramon, who was spinning her weapon expertly, building up momentum.

“For god’s sake, stop this! Let her go!”

“No! You’re all going down! Take this!”

“Toxic Shocker!”

Chelydramon roared as she charged, her mace spinning wildly. Then, inexplicably, she stopped, her entire body shaking and jerking as white bolts coursed over it. She fell backwards, completely prone, and still clutching Eleanor in one hand.

“Eleanor!” yelled Martin, running as far forwards as he dared as he tried to see her. The girl was folded over in the turtle’s grasp, definitely not moving.

Manowarmon held their palms up. “I didn’t think I was that powerful....”

“You maniac! You’ve killed her!”

The jellyfish started, when they noticed movement. A shining grid, coiling its way over Chelydramon’s body and slowly stretching towards them. They sighed in relief.

“Oh good, it wasn’t me. It was...oh shit!”

The wire mesh jerked forwards and caught them on the dome, passing several hundred volts through their own body, and by extension, Martin’s. They too fell prone into the water with a plop, leaving the rest of the group to stare in horror as the mesh extended in either direction. Callum felt the breath leaving his body as he tried in vain to swim away from it. “Not again! Oh christ, not again!”

Empermon reached Callum, trying to drag him away as the metal rushed towards them. “What the hell is this? The Funnyman?”

Aardmon looked left and right, then behind her. Her face paled, and she pointed. “It’s the boats! They’ve come for us!”

“A giant electric fishing net?” Empermon was so beside himself that he forgot to swim. Not that it mattered, as the net was closing in from all sides. “You have got to be kidding me!”

Ursula watched as bolts danced across the surface of the water, and she felt her soaking hair standing up strand by strand. Moments before her inevitable electric anaesthesia, the girl closed her eyes.

“This is going to sting...”

“Damn it!”

The winch jerked, and Pagumon flew off, rolling on the deck of the tug and cursing like a sailor (which, in a way, he was)

“Damn thing’s stuck again! Puwamon? Puwamon!”

A Tanemon shuffled up and rolled his eyes. “Dipshit, he’s keeping the electric field going. It’s a big job, you know.”

“Whatever; just get the winch going again? We’re drifting.”

Tanemon sighed, and leapt atop the handle, bouncing hard up and down. “It’s all...about...getting...the right...force!”

The handle jerked, and the winch shot into life again, pulling one end of the vast net inwards. Tanemon jumped off and squinted over at the other tugboat, which was doing the same to the other end.

“Hey Tanemon, look at this.”

The little green blob hopped onto the stern of the boar and stared out to where Pagumon was pointing with one blue ear. His leaf stem flicked slightly, and he grinned. “Are they what I think they are?”

“I’ve never seen any Digimon like them before. And are they...I don’t believe it...are they humans?”

Tanemon blinked twice. Then he rubbed his front arm nubs together, cackling to himself. “I think we just hit the jackpot.”

“Fuckin’ sweet.”

Tanemon and Pagumon looked at one another and their smiles widened.

“The Impenetrable’s gonna absolutely love this...”

TO BE CONTINUED...