Almost Home Free

Transcribed and written by Mabis

    Tai, Matt, and the other kids had been wandering around in the subway for a while. They had slept through their stop and now were trying to find an alternate route to Odaiba. To top it all off, everyone was hungry, and there weren't any places to eat in the subway. While everyone else decided to get something to eat, Izzy and Joe continued walking towards their connecting train.

    "This place is a zoo, and not a restaurant in sight." Joe looked behind him and continued, "The first one to see some place to eat give a shout, okay? Huh?" The only people Joe could see behind him were parents and other adults rushing to their trains.

    "Oh, uh, hey Izzy?" he said, with the usual touch of worry in his voice.

    "What is it, do you see something?" Izzy asked, not having any idea that something was wrong.

    "The other guys, they're gone!" Joe replied, with a touch of panic on his face.

    "What?"

    Both Izzy and Joe looked around, confirming what they were afraid of; they really had been abandoned by their friends.

    "I can't believe this, they ditched us! Ohhh!" Joe said, now even more distraught.

    "Okay, okay, don't panic. As long as we have this we can always find them." Izzy pulled out his digivice, but the tiny screen was blank. "Huh, that's funny, why isn't it working? Do you think something might have happened to it when we came back to the real world?"

    "All I know is that this is one of those days where everything goes wrong." Joe said while walking away.

    "Come on," Izzy said, shaking his digivice. How could it stop working like that?

    Joe and Izzy soon came to a woman dressed in some sort of red leotard with a blue skirt, carrying a green sign and a basket full of samples.

    "Free sample!" she said, holding one out to Joe.

    Just then Gomamon reached out and grabbed the green wrapper out of the woman's hand, which instantly made the woman scream.

    For a second, Joe was completely shocked that his Digimon pal would do such a thing, especially considering what had happened on the subway not to long ago.

    "Ahh, Bad dog, bad dog!" he finally managed to yell, and quickly ran away, with Izzy right beside him.

    They didn't stop running until they were well out of sight of the woman.

    "I can't believe you did that, Gomamon," Joe said in a loud whisper. "Especially since you saw what happened to Yocomon and Sora in the subway."

    Gomamon could only mumble in reply, as he still had the sample in his mouth.

    "Oh, never mind," Joe said, "Let's just find the others."

    "I wonder where they could have gone," Izzy said, "They were right behind us. Maybe they decided to get something to eat."

    "Oh great, now they're probably eating without us," Joe complained. "I can't believe they left us like that."

    "I don't think they would eat without us," Izzy commented, "Besides, we can always get something to eat when we get home."

    Joe turned around to face Izzy, with the same look of worry as before. "But it might be too late when we get home. What would happen to us if another one of those Digimon attack us right now? Gomamon's so hungry he's swiping food samples, and you know that our Digimon are weak when they're hungry. Oh, I knew it was going to be a bad day."

    "I guess you're right about that," Izzy replied, "We should go look for the others. They probably left the subway by now, and are looking for a restaurant above ground."

    Joe nodded, and the two of them exited the subway system and returned to the surface. As they were walking, it occurred to Izzy that maybe Joe really did have a reason for all his complaints and worrying.

    Almost as soon as they reached street level, however, a small boy and his mother approached them.

    "Hey, cool," the boy said, looking at Gomamon, "That's a really nice toy you have there, can I hold it?"

    "Uh, well," Joe stuttered, looking quite nervous, "It's, uh, really delicate, and if you drop it, my mom's going to get really mad."

    "We really have to go now," Izzy added, equally nervous, "Bye!"

    The two then ran off, not bothering to look behind them.

    "I can't believe how popular you guys are," Izzy commented.

    Joe and Izzy continued running down the street, when suddenly Joe stopped.

    "Ahh! Look!" he said, "They're eating without us!"

    Across the intersection, they could see Tai, Matt, and the others getting something to eat in a fast food restaurant.

    Just then the light changed, and the two ran across the street.

    "I can't believe they're eating without us!" Joe complained.

    "I hope they saved some for us," Izzy added.

    Things didn't work out that well when they got there, however.

    "Joe, Izzy!" T.K. said, "Well, it's about time!"

    "Hey, what are you guys waitin' for," Tai said as Joe and Izzy walked up, "Order something."

    "How," Joe asked, clearly annoyed that no one bothered to wait for them, "When you guys have all the money, huh?"

    "Oops, we went and spent it all," Mimi replied, in her usual high pitched voice.

    "What?" Joe mumbled, while dropping Gomamon. How could they do such an inconsiderate thing?

    "See," Sora tried to explain, "We were all so hungry we ordered the super-duper combos."

    "Great, you spent it all," Joe said, looking about ready to explode. He then raised his hands up and yelled, "That was all the money we had in the world!"

    Everyone just stared at Joe, amazed at his outburst. For his part, Joe quickly turned beat red.

    "All the dumb greedy selfish small things it's unbelievable. You guys are supposed to be my friends, my friends, my friends," Joe mumbled to himself as he stomped away.

    "Look at that," Izzy said, turning back to his digivice, "Now the digivice is responding."

    "So, why wouldn't it be?" Sora asked.

    "Well," Izzy replied, turning to her, "It wasn't working at all when I tried it in the station."

    "Really?" she asked, turning back to her food.

    "I guess it in this world they only function at a close distance." Izzy wondered why their digivices would respond differently in this world.

    "That's great," Mimi remarked, "But meanwhile what are we going to do now?"

    "We start walking," T.K. replied, "They won't let us back on the train without any money."

    "I'm sure not looking forward to walking all that way," Mat said, wondering if there was any other way of getting to Odaiba.

    "Ha!" Tai said, looking rather pleased with himself, "I know a way that won't cost us a penny! Just leave everything to me!"

    "Aw, great," Matt replied, clearly not looking forward to Tai's idea, "You're a genius."

    "By the way," Sora said turning to Izzy, "Where'd Joe go? I thought since we spent all the money, we should give some of our food to you and Joe."

    "Thanks, Sora," Izzy replied, "Joe was worried about our digimon getting too hungry, and I myself am rather famished."

    "Well, tell him to come back here. After all, we really should've saved some money so that you two could order something."

    Izzy found Joe sulking in a nearby booth. He could understand why Joe was so upset, but he didn't think stomping away was the best answer.

    "Come on, Joe," Izzy said, "The others are going to share their food with us."

    "Well," Joe replied, sighing, "I guess it's something. I just can't believe they were so irresponsible as to not think of us when they spent all our money." He got up and started walking back to the others, and added, "Although I probably should apologize for loosing my temper."

    So that's why he was so upset, Izzy thought to himself as he followed Joe back to the others. He would've made sure that everyone be able to order something, and he got angry when he realized they didn't do the same thing for us.

    "Hey Joe," Tai said when they got back, "Have some of my fries."

    "Thanks, Tai," Joe replied. "And I'm sorry for loosing my temper earlier."

    "Don't worry about it," he replied, "Just think, if you started yelling at Myotismon like that, we'd have no trouble at all!"

    The other kids started laughing, but Joe was just happy getting some food for himself, as well as for Gomamon.

    Izzy and Joe each pulled up a chair and started eating what their friends donated, making sure that their digimon got enough food as well. It wasn't a feast, but no one left the table hungry.

    "Come on, guys," Tai said as soon as they had finished eating, "Let's go to Odaiba!"

    "Yeah, we all just can't wait to see what your great idea is," Matt said sarcastically as they all left the restaurant.

    Little did anyone know that Tai's "great idea" involved cops and a cat stuck up a tree.
 


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