Ikkakumon

"What's in the refrigerator?"

Matt came over to join them.

"Is that really the point? The point is that there shouldn't even be a refrigerator here!" Joe was speechless as he looked at Matt, who hadn't noticed anything wrong. Had none of these people realized how strange this was?

"Whatever. Let's open it first."

Sora wasn't going to worry about all that. Rather than dwell on it, she would rather find some food to fill their stomachs.

"What could be in here?"

"Could it be jelly?"

"What's jelly?"

"Something you eat."

The children and Digimon all chattered about what might be inside the refrigerator. Only Candlemon seemed a little out of place.

"Zhou Zhu, is Candlemon always like this?" Feeling that the Candlemon in her arms wasn't as cheerful as the other Digimon, Mimi turned to Zhou Zhu, who was idling nearby.

"Yeah, don't worry about it. That's just Candlemon's personality." Zhou Zhu didn't offer much explanation for Mimi's question. After all, this was his own private secret.

Although he liked Mimi well enough, they weren't close enough for him to share something like that. Besides, that old man Gennai could be watching them at any moment.

"Really?"

Feeling the waves of warmth coming from Candlemon, Mimi stopped dwelling on Candlemon's personality.

"Ah, eggs?"

While the two of them were talking, Tai and the others had already opened the refrigerator.

Rows of neatly arranged eggs greeted everyone's eyes.

"Great! We're having eggs today."

Tai wasn't a picky eater to begin with. Having eggs to eat in a place like this was already good enough, so he wasn't particularly disappointed.

"Wait! We don't even know if these eggs are safe to eat!" Unlike Tai, Joe was always highly wary of anything that appeared out here in the wilderness.

"It's fine. If they're poisonous, leave it to me." Tai couldn't be bothered with all that. They were just eggs. What could possibly happen?

"What nonsense are you talking about? These might belong to someone! Taking other people's things is wrong. How would that make us any different from thieves?" Joe was as indecisive as ever. Even at a time like this, he was still worrying about taking someone else's belongings without considering their current situation at all.

"What else can we do? I'm starving." Matt scoffed at Joe's objections. Who had time to worry about that now?

Besides, he wasn't the one stealing. Tai was clearly the one stealing the eggs.

"It's fine. As long as we explain what happened, they'll definitely understand."

"Exactly. This is an emergency, after all."

"We're having these for dinner."

The DigiDestined all chimed in, leaving Joe thoroughly dejected...

Once everyone got to work, plate after plate of eggs was soon turned into fried eggs and onsen eggs.

As for a source of heat, Agumon, Gabumon, Candlemon, and Biyomon were all masters of fire.

"This is wonderful!"

"They're delicious. They'd be even better with some white rice."

"Onsen eggs with white rice! Yes!"

"Joe, why aren't you eating?" Gomamon asked, looking at his partner with a hint of concern.

"I was thinking that if we went home, we wouldn't have to struggle like this." Looking at the lively group, Joe promptly threw cold water on the mood.

"Huh? I... I want to go home too."

"What's gotten into you?"

"This is already our fourth day here."

That single remark from Joe left everyone feeling down. Even the eggs that had tasted so delicious a moment ago no longer seemed appetizing.

It's only been four days. I've been here for almost a year! What are you all being so melodramatic about? Looking at the dispirited group, Zhou Zhu grumbled inwardly.

Sure, I've relied on Elecmon's help all year, but I spent a whole year alone in the Digital World, with no phone and no air conditioning. Did I complain?

After everyone had eaten their fill...

While the others were resting, Tai and Matt started causing a fuss again.

"What are you two arguing about?" Sora walked over to the pair, who had suddenly become hostile toward each other.

"I want to go up to the top of that mountain and get a look at the surrounding area. The higher you are, the farther you can see, right? But Matt's against it." Tai spread his hands and explained his idea as Sora approached.

"That's far too dangerous. What if we run into some vicious Digimon?" After their previous experiences, Matt had developed a strong aversion to anything unknown.

After all, neither Andromon nor Monzaemon had been opponents they could handle. Their encounter with Monzaemon in particular had nearly wiped them all out. If Mimi hadn't saved them at the crucial moment, he didn't dare imagine what would have happened.

They had already run into so many problems they couldn't handle in just a few days. If they kept charging around recklessly, who knew whether they would encounter something even stronger?

"But we can't just do nothing because it's dangerous!" Tai was worried about the danger too, but he also understood that some things had to be done. They had neither shelter nor food. If they didn't explore, they could only sit around waiting to die.

"There are lots of dangerous Digimon on that mountain," Gomamon added, backing Matt up.

"Yeah, yeah! It's really dangerous over there!"

The other Digimon partners chimed in as well.

"Aw... why are you all saying that?" Hearing everyone's objections, Tai could only hang his head and put his plan on hold for now.

Climbing that mountain really would give us a general view of the surrounding area. In that respect, Tai's idea is right. But as the oldest person in this group, I certainly can't let Tai do something like that.

Ignoring the dejected Tai, Joe gazed at the distant peak and silently decided that he should be the one to undertake this dangerous exploration.

Night fell...

Once all his companions were sound asleep, Joe furtively took Gomamon with him and set off on his own toward the mountain Tai had mentioned during the day.

They've left? It really is just like the original story. Looks like I was right not to change the plot much. Watching Joe and Gomamon gradually disappear into the distance, Zhou Zhu had no intention of stopping them.

For one thing, he wasn't capable of bearing the consequences of changing the plot. For another, this was also Gomamon's opportunity to digivolve.

The next day...

"Everyone, wake up! Joe's missing!" Tai and Sora, the first to wake up, noticed that Joe and Gomamon were nowhere to be seen and hurriedly roused the others.

"Huh? What happened?"

Seeing that Joe really was nowhere nearby, Matt couldn't help feeling alarmed. Had they run into another powerful Digimon like Monzaemon? Had Joe been taken away...?