Chapter 18


	"So, have you guys thought about my offer yet?" Squid asked.

	"We told you know last time and the time before that," explained Flint.  "And our answer is not going to change."

	"Well this time I've got a big job that will put my gang back on the top," he explained.  "Trust me when I say you'll want to be part of this."

	"Yeah right," taunted Rex sticking his tongue out and pulling down his eye lid.  "The only thing big is your ego and it was never your gang to begin with.  And there's no way you can lead it as effectively as they could."

	"Yup," added Flint.  "The best you could ever come up with is taking candy from a baby and the only thing you got out of that was a face full of spit up.  You should just be smart and quit while you're ahead."

	With that, Flint and Rex started to walk away, but Squid ran in front of them not ready to give up yet.  "Just hear me out," he said practically begging.  "You know how the lake is the only source of water to his whole city?"  His words didn't seem to gain their attention as they kept walking like he wasn't even there.  "Fine!  But when I own this city don't come crying to me."

	"You think its okay just to ignore him?" asked Rex.  "He seemed really serious this time, almost crazy serious."

	"We're not going back to that life," replied Flint.  "And we're definitely not getting involved with him because chances are he's going to drag us down with him."

	"Yeah, but what if he actually manages to pull it off?" suggested Rex.  "If he's going nuts who knows what might happen?"

	"Not our business anymore," stated Flint.  "And remember that time he tried to rob a bank?  His sock mask got caught in the revolving door when he entered the bank.  He had to ditch it and tried to continue with his plan, but there was a line.  He tried to cut past everyone, but Bertha was there and the second he tried to get around her she uppercut him through the roof and right next to a baby that spit up on him."

	"Oh yeah," laughed Rex.  "He didn't hear the end of that for months."

	"So there's nothing to worry about with him," commented Flint.  "His plan will fail before it even begins."

	"If you say so," said Rex.  "But if he suddenly gets a twitchy eye perspires uncontrollably and develops a nervous twitch, then I told you so."

	"Think I'm just a loser, huh", growled Squid angrily.  "We'll see what they think when I'm succeed on my evil plan to steal all the water in the city!"  He laughed maniacally as his eye twitched a bit.  His lackeys stared at him creeped out.

	"Uh, are you okay boss?" asked one of his lackeys.

	"This is just part of my slow descent into madness," he ranted. "What do you expect?  I'm a Divermon living in the middle of the dessert and the only water source around is only a few yards deep.  On top of that my constant failures in the past put even more of a strain on my brain.  In fact, it feels a lot like my whole life is just for comic relief as a minor villain that will give a few meager laughs every time something happens to me."

	"Oh, boss we feel your pain," his lackeys cried as they hugged him as a waterfall of tears poured down their faces.

	"You guys are the best," Squid sobbed.  "Even if we do end up going down in a blaze of failure let's give it our all!"

	That night, Squid and his goons snuck into the reservoir control room in the center of the city.  The water from the lake flowed into it and was dispensed throughout the city from here.  The turbines quietly hummed as they provided the power for the pumps that sent the water through the tubes.  It was extremely rare for anyone to be in it at night since the temperature dropped down to near freezing after a day full of blustering heat making it all too easy for somebody to sneak in.

	"See, I told you this would be easy," snickered Squid.  "Everybody thinks nobody is stupid enough to shut off the water and potentially doom this town and everyone in it so there isn't any security here."

	"Yeah," added one of Squid's lackeys.  "We sure showed them.  We're so dumb we're in a league of our own."

	"You're missing the point," began Squid.

	"So dumb we broke the stupid scale."

	"Ok, we get it."

	"We make the king of buffoons bow before our supreme idiocy."

	"Enough!" shouted Squid.

	"No.  Wait one more.  I've got a good one.  Ok, ok, we're such complete morons that... that... oh, now I can't remember what I was going to say."

	"Whatever," Squid groaned.  "Let's just get down to business."  He looked over the control panel feeling very powerful having control over the water flow.  "Hope everyone already done brushing because there won't be any water for them to rinse with now."  With the flick of a switch the turbines went silent and the water stopping pumping through the pipes.  Squid laughed with great satisfaction.  Despite the cold temperature his began to sweat like a fat guy doing cardio.

	"Are you alright?" asked one of his lackeys.

	"Just a little sweaty," he replied, his eye twitching every now and then.  "Get me a drink of water."

	"Uh, but you just shut down all the water in the city."

	"Darn," he grumbled seeing his plan was also biting him in the butt.


	"You ready for bed yet?" asked Flint as he knocked on the bathroom door.  "You know Bertha doesn't like it when we stay up too late."

	"In a minute," Rex replied. "Just need to brush my teeth."

	Rex applied some toothpaste onto his toothbrush and began fighting plaque and tooth decay.  After a few minutes he felt minty fresh in the mouth and was ready to rinse.  He turned on the water and a few drops dripped out, but that was it.

	"Huh?" cried Rex as he fiddled with the faucet trying to get the water to flow out.  "Where's the water?"

	"What's going on?" asked Flint hearing Rex in distress.  Rex opened the door in a hurry.  Flint was surprised when he saw Rex foaming at the mouth and jumped back a bit.  When he realized it was toothpaste, he figured this was another of his practical jokes.  "What are you trying to pull now, Rex?"

	"It wasn't my fault," explained Rex.  "The water stopped flowing."

	"That's weird," commented Flint as he went to check it out.  As he turned the water on and off a few times and nothing came out he knew Rex was right.  "Wonder if it has something to do with the water facility."

	"This must be what Squid was planning," suggested Rex.

	"I doubt he would be that st..." began Flint before reconsidering.  "Actually they are and that's probably exactly what happened.  Well, the police probably are already on the case.  It shouldn't take them long to put a stop to this."

	"Are you kidding," argued Rex rushing into their closet and grabbing a cardboard box.  He opened it revealing a pair of black cloaks they saved from their former lives.  "We don't know how long it will take them to get there and it will take even longer for them to turn the water back on.  I can't wait that long with toothpaste in my mouth.  No.  We got to do it ourselves."

	"I just know if we do that we're going to get in trouble," complained Flint.  "That's the last thing we need right now."

	"Fine then I'll go myself," stated Rex as he put on his cloak and snuck out the window.

	Flint grumbled a bit and then sighed and put his own black cloak on and followed him out.  "I'm so going to kick your butt for this."

	Silently as a pair of mice, the two of them ran through the streets.  Their cloaks made the almost invisible in the dark.  They never planned to put them on again, but kept them just in case.  As they rushed to the water facility they didn't hear the low humming of the turbines and saw they were correct.

	"Let's make this quick," said Flint as they reached the door and opened it.  "It'll be like we were never even here."

	Suddenly, a bright light flashed on them and they turned to see the cops had already surrounded the building and they were caught in their sights.  In the dark they were difficult to see, but as they shielded their eyes from the light they were completely conspicuous.

	"Give up now," ordered one of the officers.  "There's no escape."

	"This is a mistake," Rex started to explain as he turned to talk to them.  "We are just here to..."

	"Bring in backup," announced one of the officers over the radio that got picked up on the loudspeaker.  "One of the suspects appears to be rabid.  It is confirmed that he is foaming at the mouth."

	"Hey I don't have rabies!" shouted Rex shaking his fists in the air.

	"The suspect is showing signs of aggression," stated the officer.  "Use of force is now granted."

	"You're making things worse," complained Flint grabbing Rex and leading him inside.  He locked the door to keep the cops at bay, though it would hold them back for only so long.  "I guess I should've expected this was going to happen."

	"Well it could be worse," commented Rex.

	"How?" cried Flint.  "How could this possibly get worse?"

	"I don't know," he answered.  "But I'm sure it could."

	"Let's just get this over with," sighed Flint.  And with that, the two of them made their way to the control room.  When they reached the room they found Squid and his minions lazing around, bored.

	"So what now boss?" asked one of Squid's lackeys.  "Are we just supposed to wait here?"

	"We've got the water under our control," he explained. "It is only a matter of time before they are forced to give in to our demands."

	"But we didn't make any demands."

	"Shut up."

	"And nobody is even guarding the door.  What if they just come in to get us?"

	"I told you to zip it."

	"Still as clueless as ever, huh?" asked Flint.

	"Well you know me, Flint" Squid replied not realizing the situation.  "Flint!"

	"I'm here too," added Rex, waving and smiling through his foaming mouth.

	"Hi Rex," greeted Squid.  "Rex!  What are you two doing here?  Oh, wait.  You came to join me in my triumph.  Well, I guess I could make an exception for you just this once."

	"No we just came here to turn the water back on and leave," explained Flint.  "We might have to kick your butt too if you get in our way."

	"Yeah, I have to rinse bad," commented Rex.

	"Don't make me laugh," chuckled Squid.  "There's no way you can stop us now.  We shut down the water and there's nothing you can do now."

	"Can't we just turn it back on?" asked Flint.

	Squid started getting a nervous twitch as his head tilted randomly.  That coupled with his sweating and twitching eye made him looking incredibly crazy.  "Get them boys!" he barked like a raving lunatic.

	"See," shouted Rex, sounding bizarrely satisfied at the same time.  "He has gone nuts."

	"What else can you expect from a comic relief minor villain?" asked Flint.  "Let's just get this over with.  I'll take the..."

	"You take them and I'll turn the water back on," interrupted Rex as he rushed to the controls as the lackeys ran at Flint.

	With ease, Flint dodged their attacks aiming to tire them out before fighting back.  Meanwhile, Rex looked at all the buttons on the control console and was at loss of where to start.  His solution to this, press everything.  Flint found an opening to land a crushing blow on one of Squid's henchmen as Rex pressed a button.  Suddenly, a burst of boiling hot steam erupted beneath Flint's feet making him jump in shock.  The lackey took the advantage to attack Flint instead.

	"That wasn't it," grumbled Rex.

	"You think?" groaned Flint rubbing his sore feet.

	Flint got up to attack again.  He charged the lackeys as Rex pressed another button causing a geyser of water to shoot up below them sending him flying across the room.  He'd have smashed into the ground if Rex hadn't opened up a pool right below him breaking his fall with a splash.

	"Whose side are you on anyway?" asked Flint as he resurfaced.

	"Yours," replied Rex.  "But who the heck designed this place and what's with the crazy hullabaloo in here anyway?"  He kept pressing turning on a sprinkler in the middle of the room, starting a waterfall around the sides of the room, and even made it rain supersized water balloons on everyone.  "Why would this place need all this?"

	Flint managed to catch and save one of the falling water balloons.  He swung it around building up momentum and then he launched it nailing a direct hit on all of them and drenching them all over again.  After the water explosion subsided they found Flint already on top of them and then stars.

	"The right button has got to be around here somewhere," said Rex as he kept looking through the controls.

	"I've had enough of you two," raved Squid as he pinned Rex to the control panel.  Flint was busy with Squid's three lackeys, pinning one with his foot, holding the second up in the air, and gripping the last one in the tail with his teeth.  "If you aren't going to be persuaded to join me, then I'll destroy you."

	"Uh, that's nice and all but hold that thought," replied Rex as he reached for a button and activated a water fountain beside him.  With his thumb on the button and his index finger on the spout he was able to redirect it into his mouth filling his cheeks to bulging.  He started swishing it about feeling the relief of getting rid of the toothpaste.

	"I don't care about your personal hygiene!" shouted Squid as he stepped on Rex's foot.  In pain, Rex was going to let out a shout, but instead spat the toothpaste and water residue all over Squid's face.  He got an eyeful too causing him tremendous pain.  "It burns!!!  This is worse than baby spit up!"  He blindly ran around in a frenzy eventually making his way towards Flint and his henchmen.  Flint, feeling they had sufficiently pummeled their opponents and dropped them and let Squid tumble onto them.  Rex them pulled a lever like the handle on a toilet and it opened up the floor beneath Squid and his lackeys revealing a bowl of water and they fell in.  The water then turned into a powerful whirlpool sucking them down the drain.  They cried in fright, but their voices were soon lost as they were flushed away.

	"I don't even want to know," stated Flint as he watched the giant toilet in the room close up again.  He then went to join Rex.

	"I've pressed just about every button here," he stated.  "It has to be this one."  He then pressed the button.

	"Uh, what about that blue button labeled, 'Provide water for the city button,'" commented Flint.

	"These buttons are labeled?" asked Rex taking a look and seeing that they were.  "Well what did I just press?"  He took a look at the label that read, "Overload the water system button.  Do not ever touch... EVER!!!"  The button was red with a skull and cross bones on it.

	"You have got to be kidding me," they shouted as the pipes burst all around them spraying water all over the place.  Steam burst out of others and the ground started to shake.  The police finally managed to make their way in and rush up the stairs to see Flint and Rex at the control panels and instantly conclude they were the perpetrators.  Among them now was Carl looking quite disappointed at them.

	"I really thought better of you two," he stated.  "But now it looks like I've got to turn you both in for this."

	"You've got to listen," explained Flint taking a few steps forward.  He prayed for all he was worth that they could still reach an understanding, but they never got the change and the entire facility exploded in a giant geyser of water that burst the facility like a giant water balloon and flooded the streets and the buildings of Zip City.  As Flint and Rex were carried away by the water they were both out cold but knew it was well beyond the point for explanations now.


	Flint awoke under water and realized he had been dreaming of his time shortly before leaving Zip City with Rex.  But now he had to get back the situation at hand.  It all came back to him, the pirate ship, the skeleton fragments, and Hiryuu.  Then there was the wave that destroyed the entire ship, but where was everyone else?

	First, Flint surfaced to fill his lungs with air and looked around.  Somehow their raft was still in one piece after all that, still dancing on the wild waves.  That relieved Flint greatly to know that they had something to get on.  He then dove into the water and searched the briny deep.  He spotted something shiny in the depths and swam to it discovering Hiryuu.  He looked conscious, but in a daze.  Flint carried him back to the surface and deposited him in the water before going back in.  He wasn't so sure if he was going to be so lucky with the others, but he refused to give up on any of them.  He dove deeper and deeper even as he felt his lungs straining and the salt burned his eyes and wounds.  Finally, he found something that felt like a giant mess over tangled hair and saw his friends and the Gekomon, Do, Re, and Mi were all tangled in that mess too.  His friends were out cold, but the Gekomon were conscious, though stuck.

	He attempted to pull them up to the surface hair and all, but found his body was nearly at its limit.  Instead he chose to focus his energy on freeing them from the hair.  Each second he could feel his lungs aching more for air and he could barely see, but he was also getting closing and closer snapping strands and freeing them piece by piece.  With the last of his strength he managed to get everyone untangled.  The Gekomon took it from there swimming everyone back to the surface.  With the last of his strength gone, Flint passed out and started dreaming again.


	"What a wild ride that must've been," coughed Rex getting to his feet.  "Wish we were awake to see it."

	"Yeah, but I think we're about as in trouble as we can possibly get after this," commented Flint.

	"What makes you say that?" asked Rex.

	"Them," answered Flint indicating the cops that were surrounding them.  Carl was among them looking rather pitiful in his drenched state with his mane draped down his shoulders.

	"It is time to go boys," he ordered sternly.  If he was in a listening mood before he was not now.  Destroying the water facility, even if b accident was easily the most destructive and costly thing they had ever done.

	"This was my fault," whimpered Rex.  "If I didn't go out you wouldn't have been involved."  He started to step forward, but Flint held his arm out to stop him a determined look on his face.  "Flint..."

	"I'll take on Carl and anyone else who gets in our way," he declared.  "When there's an opening you run for it as fast as you can."

	With that he charged towards Carl ready to fight to the very end.  Suddenly, one of the condemned buildings adjacent to them fell right on top of them with tremendous force scattering and confusing all the cops.  Flint couldn't believe that the flood could have also caused that to happen and then he realized what had happened and rushed to grab Rex and run before anyone realized it.

	"Sir, their getting away," coughed one of the cops.

	"Forget about them," barked Carl.  "We're needed here.  Check for any wounded."  The cops searched frantically, but were relieved not to find anyone injured.  They did notice a Pixiemon near the building and quickly recognized it was the monster Bertha.  It was quite clear that she was the culprit, but as they approached her she looked and smiled at them.  Though the expression was cheerful there was a great terror behind it.

	"Hello dears," she said in a sweet voice.  "I'm a little old lady and I'm afraid I got a little lost.  Can you please escort me home?"  Not wanting to invoke her wrath she got the entire police force to come with her each hand in hand to her home.

	"We really owe Bertha big time," laughed Rex.  "That's the most awesome, though incredibly overboard escape I've ever been a part of."

	"Yeah, but nothing she can do can change the fact that we can't stay here," he replied.

	"Well this is the perfect excuse for us to get going."

	"Too bad we couldn't grab anything from out base.  We're pretty much going to die in the desert now."

	"Hey boys, leaving town too?" asked a voice they recognized as Butch the Nanimon.  He was passing by on his caravan.  "If you need a lift, hop on."

	"We were planning on walking there and having a few matches to decide which of us is going to be the leader of our team," stated Flint.

	"You can beat each other up at my break spots and as for riding along... well I won't tell if you won't," suggested Butch.

	"Works for me," agreed Rex as they both hopped on board.  They were both out cold soon after from their busy, crazy night.

	As Flint got in he noticed something flying in the sky and quickly recognized it was Sonja.  He figured it Bertha knew they were out and came to help them she was probably helping out too.  Flint felt a bit of regret for leaving without saying goodbye to her, but there was no turning back for them now.

	"There they go," said Sonja to herself.  "Knowing those two they'll be up to their necks in trouble before long, but I know they'll manage somehow.  They're both too hardheaded to let anything keep them down."  She felt a tear fall from her cheek.  "I might even start missing them a bit."  Taking a deep breath she started back home.


	Flint awoke several days later and to his amazement they had reached land and the sky was bright and sunny.  To his delight everyone else was there and looked well.

	"We're back on shore?" he asked.  "But how?"

	"Our five point friend took care of that," explained Flint.  Hiryuu also demonstrated by jumping in the water and spinning rapidly causing the water to splash rapidly.  Flint got the idea, that he used his body as an engine to propel them through the water.

	"And the Gekomon caught us food," added Dan.  "If it wasn't for them we'd have been goners."

	"Don't forget the biggest hero of all," stated Hiryuu.  "If it wasn't for Froggy here we'd all be six leagues under."

	"It's Flint," corrected Flint.  "And if it had been anyone else you'd have done the same."

	"Don't sell yourself short," Fonz commented.  "You have more stamina and heart than any Agumon or any Digimon I've ever seen.  We're lucky to have you for a leader."

	"Heh," chuckled Jack.  "I guess I have to give credit where it is due as well.  But if you guys ever get me involved in something this insane ever again I am out of here."

	"That's alright," Flint replied turning away so the others couldn't see his blushing face.  "It is more praise than I deserve."

	"That's not true," Rex said placing a hand on his shoulder.  "You work so hard to protect all of us.  I just hope one day we'll be able to show you our gratitude."

	"But for the time being have something to eat," said Dan as he placed a plate of roasted fish in front of him.  Flint's stomach groaned in pain hunger hitting him in full force.  He dove into the food ravenously hungry.  The weary and hungry Agumon knew he had a life full of struggles, responsibilities, burdens, and insanities that few could even imagine, but he would never trade his life for anything in the world.