"Mankind is most afraid of what it cannot see. The darkness has always clouded our minds, whether from the depths of our imagination or from an external force... the darkness can be terrifying to endure, however, there is always a small glimmer of light even in the deepest darkness... that alone is what shall sustain you, Chosen Children."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ten Years ago, in the streets of the small, sleepy town of Soldale, a great Black God descended, in hopes of crafting our world in his image--however, for the bravery and purity of two young boys, a White Knight appeared in the Black God's shadow, and sealed the God away, at the expense of his own life.

Those events marked a turning point in the boys lives, and in the town itself--as Soldale grew in size and stature, so too did the two friends grow apart, one leaving with his family, in order to pursue a better life, and the other remaining, to try and forget the events of that night... however...

Ten years have passed since those days. Soldale has expanded quite a bit, and certain parts of the old city are a breeding ground for sin and decay. And perhaps it is this Decay and Sin that attracts their eyes--the eyes of devils, seeking to harvest the sin and despair that hangs upon Soldale like a thick fog. Harvest that despair in order to awaken the Black God once again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~







I'm going to give you guys pretty free-reign with this. Not so much that you are in charge of the rp, but that you are in charge of the environments that you socialize in--Hotaru and Rei are in the same age-group, and thus are in High School. Zach, on the other hand, is in College.

The idea is to give you an opportunity to create characters for me to wield later in the RP. Since Mael and Gillz have characters that will most likely be interacting, or perhaps will be interacting with the same NPCs, the two of you should probably discuss potential characters to bring up in your individual stories.

As for RedAgu, I'll get with you personally if you need to discuss things regarding NPCs for your group. Your College Classes can be conducted in the Apollo Building, which is apart of the High School Campus, allowing you to interact with your team-mates.

As for the High School's layout, see below...

Important Locales:

Soldale Academy & The Apollo Building


The Mall


~~~
Gear and Terminology
~~~

Digivice App


"Black Zones"


"Overshadows"


I WILL ALLOW THE THREE OF YOU TO CREATE YOUR ENVIRONMENTS NOW... THE FIRST ENEMY WILL APPEAR SHORTLY AFTERWARDS. IF YOU READ THE SECTION ENTITLED "OVERSHADOWS" THEN YOU KNOW WHY I'M WAITING.

"DORYA!!!"

With a hearty, enthusiastic yell, the Soldale Academy freshman landed a sidekick successfully to the 2nd year's stomach. The older male student barrelled backwards with a loud "Oof!", having underestimated the short girl's leg power, and hit the concrete ground hard.

Amid the groaning, aching body of the unidentified male with messy jet-black hair, the dark brunette stood proudly from above, grinning in unwavered confidence as she gazed down at him, her uniform blazer flapping slightly in the light breeze.

"Lifting up a skirt to see panties is a no-no without the girl's permission," Wakahisa Hotaru trumpeted practically to the gradually growing crowd of high school students in the Nest. She looked mostly out of place with her decision to wear pants and instead of the option of wearing the skirt like the girl she had been "protecting".

The chosen victim of Hotaru's heroism, a lighter brunette with shoulder-length hair and wearing a white headband, screamed out, "I didn't ask you to beat him up! He was just joking around!" Roughly pushing Hotaru aside, the anonymous young lady helped her boyfriend up on his feet before the couple glared at the little freshman girl in front of them in pure malice.

"C' mon, Kogure, let's go to the nurse's office, ne?" The girl crooned, switching gears and looking adoringly into her teenage lover's eyes.

The boyfriend coughed a little and roughly replied, "Yeah.."

The two walked away in the direction of the nurse's office and ignored Hotaru as she yelled out after them, "Oi! You forgot to say 'You're welcome!' " The extremely short-haired girl scowled after this and rubbed her right shoulder where the lighter brunette had pushed her aside none too gently.

"Che..!"

Her light grey eyes scanned the crowd that was just as quickly beginning to disperse, the fundamental entertainment of the lunch period disappointingly over.

Her previously enthusiastic mood now turned sour, Hotaru grumpily stomped back to where she had been eating her lunch with her hands in her blazer's pockets. Her blazer was open to reveal her slightly baggy white dress shirt, and her worn black tennis shoes continued to stomp upon the concrete to vent out her bad mood.

"Meh... Girl doesn't appreciate a good gesture," Hotaru mumbled more to herself than to anyone around her. She plopped herself down on one of the steel chairs along the walkway where her untouched lunch awaited to be eaten. The very brief fight had made her even hungrier.

Juuust as the freshman picked up an onigiri from her homemade bento (courtesy of Nii-chan) and was about to take a huge bite of it, the dreaded growl of a teacher reached her ears.

"WA.KA.HI.SA~!" The male math teacher roared out, making his way up to her with deadly speed.

"Haah? Don't interrupt a lady when she's about to eat lunch!" Hotaru retorted, her facial expression twisted into that of dread. Immediately after this, she took a bite out of her onigiri and resisted the temptation to grin right then and there in her seat. Her brother knew how to cook, that's for sure, and he never failed to please her with his cooking. She completely ignored the adult male as he got to her table.

"What... in blazes were you thinking, Wakahisa, of getting into a fight! How many times have I told you..." The man lectured roughly at her on and on, and just as equally as Kakeru-Sensei was focused on giving her a piece of his mind, Hotaru was just as equally ignoring him.

Eventually, though, she had had enough. Hotaru wasn't going to just sit there and take it all.

She decided it would be better to eat in an even quieter place where no one could bother her once and for all.

She hastily packed up her bento, stuffed the rest of the onigiri in her mouth, and without so much as a glance to the teacher, went on her way in search of a place here where she could be at peace.

"Wakahisa! WA.KA.HI.SA!" The teacher roared, but soon gave up. With a frustrated sigh, he dragged himself to the teachers' lounge in a different direction.

((Japanese start high school at 16. They're still in lower secondary. Also, more Shinkenger references!

Okay, on to the NPCs. Shiba Kouki, Ikeda Takumi and Itou Daisuke have a certain liking of picking on Rei, and Tomita Chiaki is the good friend of Rei's mentioned in the bio. That's pretty much the NPCs that I'm going to be bringing in. Oh, and the Kendo teacher called Takagi Jyou.))

White hair. Goggles. It was him.

"Hey, it's Zero!"

Rei glanced up from his desk and out of the classroom doors. Once again, they were passing by his class. Silent as always, he turned back to his Chemistry quiz and tried to solve them. Reading, like always, wasn't his forte. All the new vocabulary storming his mind didn't help either, and dictionaries were definitely out of the question.

Now, if he could only figure out what the question wanted him to do ... and what the guys lurking around the corridor outside his class wanted. The teenager turned back to his quiz; what did this question want him to elaborate on? The calcium cycle? Or was it something about the periodic table?

"Oi, Zero! Kiiteru?!" barked a black-haired boy with red highlights, arms carelessly crossed over his chest as he peered into the class. Two others poked their heads over his shoulder, smirks appearing on his face. So Yamazaki Rei was really what he was; cold, indifferent and constantly in trouble with his homework.

The boy glanced up once again. Shiba Kouki, his mind told him, Vice-captain of the kendo team.

He shut his Chemistry textbook and stood up. A bokken was pointed at his jaw, it firmly held in the grasp of Kouki. Rei's eyes flicked towards the boy, before picking up his ruler and flicking away the bamboo sword. Quickly ducking, Rei darted away from his seat and to the windows. His sweaty back pressed against the glass paneling, he stared coldly into the swordsman's eyes. Scuffles like these were as commonplace as the cats near his house; thus, he had gotten used to surprise attacks like this.

Armed with only a metal ruler this time around, Rei's mind began to think on how he would worm himself out of this situation, which was unlike before - generally, Kouki came along, but this time, he was here as Shiba Kouki, the vice-captain of the school kendo team.

"Taichou!" came a husky voice, flickers of urgency standing out amidst his statement.

"I will be that next month; there's no need to rush honorifics," replied Kouki with a calm air about him. He stepped towards Rei, sword held at the ready to strike.

Footsteps. "Wakahisa ... you ..." muttered the teacher as he rubbed his nose, only to glance up to see two students staring at him and then at their leader.

"Ikeda ... Itou ... kendo club ..."

Finally piecing one and two together to form three, Kakeru's voice blared out once again. "IKEDA! ITOU! SHIBA!" he yelled, rushing towards the two with murderous intent. Were all the third form students deciding to cause him trouble today? After Wakahisa, he was feeling decidedly murderous, but sadly, his frame didn't quite allow it.

The two troublemakers hastily rushed in, grabbed Kouki and left. When Kakeru entered the classroom, there were spatters of blood on the ground and an open window. The teacher walked towards the window gingerly before noticing a bloody hand-print on the ledge and a figure running across the basketball court.

"... Yamazaki."

((My NPC's, besides Kakeru Keichi the math teacher, are going to be Tomo the older brother and Miki. The idiot couple mentioned earlier will make brief appearances every now and then. Otherwise, I haven't decided on any more, but if I do, I'll let you know.))

It wasn't that Hotaru wasn't looking hard enough. She was trying. But, really, lunch period was only for so long and she didn't have time to scour every building for the perfect spot.

In the end, she settled for the rooftop of the 2-story school library. On the way to find such a place, about half of her bento had been scarfed down to make up for the loss of time.

Thankfully, as far as the tomboy knew, there was no one but her.

She leaned back on the fence that separated one from open air and sat on the ground, enjoying the quiet and the occasional thrum of wind stirring through the fence behind her. Hotaru exhaled gratefully with a sigh. How nice it was here.

And without further ado, Wakahisa Hotaru began to eat the rest of her homemade lunch, used to always eating lunch alone.

(( So far the only NPC I'm going to be introducing is Tent Zach's roommate.))

*WHAMP!! WHAMPP!!* went Zach's alarm clock as he jumped out of bed his blonde hair staying flat against his head.

"Man I'll never get used to that", spoke the college student as he jumped off his loft bed. He noticed that the other bed in the room was messy and unmade.

"Trent must of gotten up early to day", wondered Zach as he threw on a white t-shirt

"Man where is my dress shirt?" he asked searching his dirty dorm for a spot of red.

"Aha there it is", he said throwing on the wrinkled red garment as he noticed the time.

"Holy crap Trent must have messed with my alarms again, I thought it was weird that he was up. I got to hurry before I miss POE", thought tired college student.

As he ran out to the car his he trip and landed face first in the cement. As he got up an impression of the concrete as well as a few pebbles were stuck on his face.

"'I'm going to kill Trent.", though Zach as he got into his car.

Once he got the the Apollo building he sprinted up to the top floor, before making it to room 532 with a minute to spare looking clearly that he had overslept.

Though as he entered the class room he noticed Trent.

"Dude what are you doing You don't take Principles of Engineering?, asked a clearly confused Zach.

"Dude it's a B day this is Art 101 .", replied his roommate trying not to laugh.

"God D@^^!+!", yelled Zach as he walked out the class room now with their attention focused solely on him.

"I don't have a class until 3 today!", thought Zach as he got back into his car sighing.

(( ... forgot about the siblings! Rei has three older brothers and one younger sister ... >.> Now isn't this a whopping amount of NPCs ...))

He kept running, blood trickling from his palms as he gripped the metal ruler tightly. His pockets were empty - if only he had this cellphone ... however, all students were required to hand them to the teacher every morning during homeroom, and they only got them back after classes were over and afternoon activities (clubs) started. It was only lunch now, and if he made his great escape out of the school ...

Mother.

The very thought stopped him from running. He was now entirely across the basketball court, ruler still clutched tightly within his hands. The voice of Kakeru was still ringing within his ears as he glanced ahead at the foliage that shaded him from the sun. The item he held within his hand reflected the sunlight occasionally; as he started to sweat, so did his hands before a stinging sensation nagged at his hands.

Rei glanced at the bloodied ruler, his wounded palm and the small trail of blood that led to his current location. The brief rush of adrenaline had started to worn off; in its place, a certain dizziness had started grasping its way up his neck. Realizing that he had probably lost a substantial amount of blood in his sprint (enough to get him all cold and clammy - the sweat on the back of his neck was cold, not warm), the boy quickly dropped the ruler, it catching the sunlight as it fell to the ground with a clatter.

He studied his hand. He'd probably make it back to the staff room in one piece to get his cellphone, back to the class to get his bag ... if he was quick enough, he might even catch an early train home; he wouldn't have to squeeze in with sweaty old men and over-scented ladies then.

The thought was rather inviting to him.

"Should I?" he voiced to himself.

Mother, I acted on impulse today. I'm sorry, Rei apologized mentally, I had always kept my metal ruler sharpened, but I didn't know that my playing with it would result in a certain skill with it. I slashed Shiba Kouki's upper arm and hurt myself in return; I gripped it a tad too strong.

I'm sorry. Mother.

OOC:


IC:

The sky was a brilliant blue in color--though, unlike our own world, this sky was littered with strange numerical codes, racing back and forth. The clouds, the sun in the distance, it all looked as it did on Earth--the most obvious difference was the binary that raced through the sky, like shooting stars.

The land was no different--grass grew tall, and green. Rivers coursed with great beauty and power... and yet, they had this artificial look to them--strange lines periodically glowed across the grassy plains, and the water seemed to be filled with translucent binary codes, flowing through it like a items lost while swimming.

The young lady standing there seemed out of place amidst the strange environment--she was short, and had long, blonde hair, and wore a beautiful, blue dress, apparently made out of lace. In her hair as a small pin, with a red, V-shaped" emblem fixed upon it.

Beside her, stood a rather statue-esque figure, with brilliant white armor, red plates fixed upon his shoulders and helmet, and a tattered crimson cape hanging down from his shoulders. Upon his breast was the symbol for "Hazard."

"It has started... hasn't it?" the young lady inquired, the giant knight nodding in agreement.

"I sensed it a short time ago..." he spoke with a voice that sounded gentle, yet powerful in many ways. "A Digimon has penetrated the barrier that He placed, so many years ago." he explained, as the young lady closed her eyes, raising her hands, and folding them, as if in prayer. "Lady Megami... if I were to go... then..."

The young lady, Megami, shook her head. "That is out of the question. Humans... humans would not accept your existence, just as they did not accept your brother's." she explained. "Your tale would be just as sad as His, if you were to go now..."

"..." the red knight stood solemn, staring up at the sky.

"We have to have faith... in those we have entrusted the future to..."

~~~

Darkness surrounded the egg on all sides--the gentle pulse within began to accelerate, as the shell began to expand, reacting to the rampant beating. "Soon..." a voice rang out from the egg, as it was swallowed up by the darkness once more.

ooc; ((Oh dear me, I had just automatically assumed it was going to be in Japan. xP And thank you for the compliment, R/C. ))

ic;

"Pah.. I'm stuffed..!" Hotaru tiredly announced to no one in particular. The girl closed her lunch box and set it to her side for now, and then laid a hand over her stomach. She felt stuffed, full to the very brim. Subconsciously, she felt fat, like her stomach was as of now bulging over her uniform pants.

Ugh... She was going to hate having to drag herself back to the classroom. Hotaru knew this for certain.

The dark brunette felt the urge to lay on the ground and look up the sky to ease her mind, but concrete was not exactly comfortable enough to lay one's body upon. Instead, forcing her body up, the freshman lazily stood to her feet, turned around, and leaned forward to look over the railing and get some fresh air in her.

As long as she didn't lean forward too much, the need to throw up wouldn't come.

Hopefully.

She silently prayed she wouldn't hurl.

"Haah..." With a verbal drawn out sigh, Hotaru gazed out to the scenes below and beyond her. The railing was cool against her skin, for which Hotaru was grateful for.

In a bit of a daze, Hotaru's eyes scanned what was going on. There were groups of girls dotted here and there, sharing lunch with each other and probably gossiping. Most students were sitting down or at least huddled in a little group while standing on their feet, laughing, looking like they were having fun. Some were trading cards, some were playing cards. Some couples were practically sitting on each other's laps (which entirely grossed the tomboy out for a few moments) and were well oblivious to their surroundings.

There was a student, however, who looked entirely out of place. Hotaru was too far away and above to tell of the gender properly from here, but the person with white hair was probably a "he". As far as Hotaru knew, she was the only girl who wore pants around here.

Anyway, he was sprinting across the basketball court in a straight line, as if running away from someone. But, she couldn't see anyone even close behind him.

And then, all of a sudden, he stopped running. Just stood there, all the way across the basketball court. With his back to her, probably catching his breath, he clutched something in his palm, a little something that reflected off the sunlight every now and then.

"Nnnngh..." Spontaneously, her attention span going kaput, she groaned and put her forehead in the cross of her forearms that were against the railing.

Before Hotaru, across the basketball court, three figures would walk past: one holding his right upper arm; another sporting a bamboo sword over his shoulder; the third glancing at the wounded one in the middle, mouth moving to speak. The trio didn't seem to notice Rei amidst the trees - but he did. The boy glanced over his shoulder, goggles around his neck as he noticed the three move past. He quickly moved deeper, so as to be away from the tree. The teenager had a nagging feeling that with the wound he just gave the vice-captain, there wasn't going to be held-back punches in the second match-off.

"Ossu!" a cheerful voice greeted Rei. Arms in his trouser pockets, a brown-and-golden-haired teenager walked towards the white-haired one, placing a hand on Rei's shoulder as he walked back. Tomita Chiaki glanced towards his friend with a smirk upon his face, before the expression was promptly wiped off when he noticed the red splash across his friend's palm.

"Rei. What did you ..." said Chiaki, blinking in disbelief. Rei was known to be impulsive and potentially violent at times, but of course - not to this extent! The boy rubbed the back of his head and leaned against the trunk of a tree. "Just ... uh ... uhhhhh ..." he grunted, struggling to find the right words to describe the situation.

"Don't let Kakeru or Takagi see you."

Chiaki glanced at his friend. With a shrug, Rei shifted his sharpened ruler to his other hand; his free hand now ran through his hair before he raised an eyebrow shortly. "A-ah ..." he muttered, glancing down at the ground soon after. "Chiaki, I ..."

"Yeah. You were really stupid, you know? Now you gotta dye it white all over again! You better be grateful that -"

Rei glanced at his friend with a grin. "- that your dad works as some high-ranking officer and is loaded with money and somehow feels guilty enough to give you whatever you want. Yes."

Both boys shared a laugh.

As Zach sat in his car feeling like a total spaz, about to leave he noticed two young men standing against a tree one of them clearly in pain. Zach being the caring person he was couldn't stand by and do anything. He quickly exited his car and made his way to the boys though as he got closer he could see that the injured one was bleeding causing him to move even faster. Once he was close enough to see a blood strained ruler his mind began trying to piece together what had happened.

"What happened here, does he need to get to a hospital?", asked Zach, "I hope I said that right.", thought the exchange student.

Lunch break was just about over... as a young man, Caucasian, with short, blonde hair, moved across the Nest, towards the Admissions Office. He was dressed in the traditional garb, and his eyes were a bright blue--a trait that not many of his peers shared.

A few girls standing en-mass around the boy smiled, giggling a bit. He tried to pay no attention to them, however--he had some other things to do at present.

As he moved to the door of the office, he took a deep breath, trying to prepare himself for what awaited him. After he was sure he was ready, he swung the door open, entering into Admissions, a smile spread wide across his face.

A young lady, sitting beyond a wooden desk against the far-wall of the office space, greeted him with a smile. "Good afternoon... how may I help you?"

Although what she had just spouted was Japanese, the blonde young man had no trouble deciphering what she had said--he was quite versatile in Japanese, the same as english. One would have to, if one wanted to enter the Japanese Foreign Exchange program... otherwise, the trip wouldn't be quite as fun.

"I'm new here... just arrived early this morning..." the boy chuckled nervously, speaking in Japanese as well. "I'm Blake Luna, from America... my paperwork should already be here."

The receptionist looked quite puzzled, as she began to dig through the papers stacked upon her desk. "Ah... here it is!" she smiled, gripping a stack from beneath the pile, and prying it free. "I see... so you've transferred to this School as apart of the Foreign Exchange...?"

Blake nodded. "Someone mentioned picking up a class schedule here once I made it into class... do you have any idea where I can get one?"

"Yes, Luna-san. I'll just need you to look over some more paperwork before we're able to get to that stage." the receptionist smiled weakly.

Great. More red-tape. Blake thought to himself. Despite this, he smiled to the receptionist. "Very well."

She checked her watch for a second after raising her head.

Great, lunch's almost over...

Hotaru lightly scowled, not feeling in the mood to drag herself back to the classroom. She wanted to stay somewhere with a bed and take a nap... Eating so much made her feel pretty tired. Not sleepy, just tired. Why couldn't today be an easy day?

Her light grey eyes gazed back at the scenes below and beyond her. Once again, the white-haired student holding a metal thing caught her attention. He was soon joined by another student, probably another male, before someone definitely not from school dashed to the two persons standing near the trees and approached them. It looked urgent.

Hotaru frowned. Sure, pretty much anyone could walk in or out as they pleased, considering there weren't really any physical boundaries to stop them, but it was as though something at least somewhat major had just happened.

Here, however, she stopped watching. Hotaru stretched her arms over her head, let out a lazy yawn, and picked up her lunch box. The dark brunette then turned around and began making her way off the roof and down the stairs. She needed to start heading to class now in order to make it back in time.

Chiaki opened his mouth to answer, but Rei stopped him. With a cold stare at Zach, he shook his head and turned back to his friend and extended his hand. The golden-haired teen rummaged around in his pockets, before drawing out a slightly scratched cell phone and placed it in Rei's hand.

Rei flipped the phone open and glanced into the screen. No new mails. No missed calls. Everything seemed to be going on fine in his house; he wasn't needed there. Not yet, anyway. Suddenly, his phone vibrated as an invitation was sent to him. With a smile at his friend, he hit the 'accept' button; it was a gaming session between phones with a simple downloaded game.

"Uh, mister? I think he's fine," said Chiaki with a grin, "He ... he gets too into stuff sometimes." The teen eyed the ruler now sticking out of his friend's back pocket. I mean, who in this world sharpens their ruler to be like a blade? he mused to himself with a quiet laugh and tapped several buttons on his cell.

However, the session was soon interrupted when Rei's device started vibrating inexplicably. Due to the fact that Bluetooth was on for their cellphones, the duo had been prompted with the arrival of a file sent over. Perhaps it was by accident or by pure chance, but Rei had already hit the 'accept' key and continued his game to annihilate his friend.

"I think it's a virus ... gah! You!" yelped Chiaki, staring blankly into his screen as he saw his character being tossed up into the air before being encased within an icicle. Soon after that, the virtual entity was hurled through telekinesis into the depths of the lake that surrounded the pitch they were fighting on.

"You lose."

Chiaki rubbed the back of his head."Only because I decided to warn you about that file!!"

"Well if everything is okay here.", said Zach before going back to his car.

"I definately need to go back to Aragaki", thought Zach as he got into his car and looking into his mirror noticing his hair was still a mess and he had gotten blood on his his clothes from when he had fallen on the sidewalk.

After he got back to his dorm he gelled his hair into it's usuall spikes and changed into another white undershirt and a red sleeveless jacket. He then proceeded to do his homework he need for three. Once he finished he packed up to get ready before once again noticing the time. "Man it's only one.", thought the college student.

"I guess I could download something for my phone?", said Zach as he picked up his phone., "Digivice that sounds promising."

The download took an inordinate amount of time, but Zach belived that meant it had more possibility. Though once it finished his phone froze.

"I hate you.", said Zach glaring at his phone, " I guess I could watch some tv. I still have about hour and a half till class."

By the time the freshman had made her way down the two flights of stairs and back on the ground floor, she had put her lunch box away, back into her backpack. The dark brunette didn't feel like trekking all the way to her locker just to put it back in. It would have to do to haul it around for now.

At the same moment as the other two males she would probably soon encounter, she felt her cell phone vibrate in her right pocket.

Mm? I thought I turned it off?

With a frown, Hotaru halted in her tracks and put a hand in her pocket. She quickly checked to make sure no teacher was lurking around before swiftly pulling out her cellphone and sliding it open.

'Accept?'

Her light grey eyes stared at the confirmation button for this... "Digivice" application. She knew she was prone to play games on her phone, but she didn't quite remember ever having downloaded /this/ one.

Then again, Hotaru's memory wasn't all that great.

Hesitantly, the tomboy pressed the 'Accept' button, slid her phone shut, and then put it hastily back in her pocket. If it was a virus, then it wasn't her fault, Hotaru silently told herself. Otherwise, the girl shrugged it off. Most likely, she probably had encountered it... Maybe.

She continued on her way to where she was going, but not before a familiar-looking trio caught her eye. Ah, yes, the vice-captain of the kendo club... What's-his-name. Carrying a bokken. And his back up trailing behind him.

See, Hotaru also didn't remember people who weren't important. Or maybe she was just that way intentionally to annoy certain people.

"Oi, /vice-captain/ of the kendo club. Somebody finally outdo you?" She smirked, drawling out her words sarcastically. It was needless to say that she did not feel very appreciative of bullies.

"Not really," came the response from Kouki as he eyed Hotaru. She was known to be sort of a handful, but he didn't quite enjoy provoking her. Takumi glanced down at Hotaru with his arms crossed; he was the tallest out of the four. "Just that blades aren't allowed in school," he glanced at Takumi, who nodded.

"Catch ya later," growled Daisuke as he brushed past Kouki to head towards a student gesturing to him. Kouki nodded, turning back to Hotaru.

"Doing something? Well, he's white-haired, and probably has a bloody palm," said Kouki, edging past Hotaru. As he headed to follow Daisuke's tracks, he turned his head around to give the girl one last glance. "He caused it this time; not me." With that, he left Hotaru's company to head after his other friend.

Takumi offered her a small smile and a nod before moving after Hotaru. Despite being one of Kouki's henchmen-of-sorts, he was fairly pleasant and agreeable. Admittedly, he was the one who made up relationships with the others after Kouki beat them up.

A voice cut through the corridor.

"Wakahisa? Can I see you for a second?"

It was the kendo teacher, Takagi Jyou.

Hotaru smirked wryly at Kouki's words, but said nothing. White hair and bloody palm huh? She didn't know who this person was by the description, but Hotaru knew well enough to know that it was more than likely that the vice-captain had started another fight.

Again, she felt nothing for the henchmen either. In response to Takumi's hesitant smile, she did nothing, just scowl. The scowl stayed glued on her face as she heard yet another familiar teacher's voice.

She sighed quietly. Was she in for another lecture? Unlike with Kakeru-Sensei, she felt too guilty to run away and/or taunt Takagi-Sensei. He was too... She didn't know how to put it.

"Coming, Takagi-Sensei..." She mumbled, just loud enough for the adult male to hear. And with that, she strode towards the voice's location, hands already in her blazer's pockets.

This was not turning out to be as good of a day as she hoped for.

"Man school even school in japan sucks.", said Zach coming into his dorm expecting Trent to be there, but alas he was not it was after all a friday night.

"Ohh well at least it's friday, I guess I'll call Sarah and see is she wants to hang.", said Zach picking up his phone having left it on the couch all those hours ago.

"I guess not.", thought Zach seeing that his phone was still very much incapacitated.

"I guess I could go to the caf, I am getting pretty hungry", he said to himself rubbing his stomach.

"I should probably bring my phone too in case it miraculously starts working again.", thought the hungry teen.

As Zach got into his car his phone beeped and vibrated as if it wsa coming back to life. He looked at the screen and saw a grey egg with two black slashes going through it taking up most of the screen.

"I guess that's better than nothing.", thought Zach as he drove to his favorite eatery, the only cafeteria on capus, The Golden Mean.

Takagi nodded as the girl came towards him. Leading her into the office, the teacher sank into his seat and started to rearrange his desk. He removed the helmet from his desk and placed it near his feet; it was taking up too much of his desk space. From appearance alone, it was easy to see that the kendo teacher was a mild-mannered man, not to mention a warm and fuzzy person. Almost every female student that entered the staffroom waved a hand in his direction, or wishing him with something along the lines of 'Good day, Taka-sensei' or 'Taka-chan, konnichiwa'. And all those greetings were responded with a warm smile and a wave back; of course, there were a few where the greeting was reciprocated.

It wasn't until a few minutes later that Takagi turned back to Hotaru with an apologetic expression. "Ah ... Wakahisa. Sorry ne," he said, nodding politely at the girl before him. He blinked, noticing her hands in her blazer pockets; was she nervous or irritated at him calling her in? The teacher merely shrugged away the thought before shuffling amongst his papers on the table. Besides being the kendo club teacher, he also taught Mathematics.

"I just wanted to ask you about Shiba."

Shiba Kouki. Vice-captain of the kendo club, rarely seen without Ikeda Takumi and Itou Daisuke by his side.

"Forgive sensei, but I couldn't help but see and eavesdrop upon the both of you just now ... let me get to the point. If you see either of them, please tell them to see me. Something is definitely up between the two of them. Onegai ne," finished Takagi Jyou with a smile and laugh towards Hotaru. Despite her temper and penchant for 'doing the right thing', he felt that she was someone whom he could count on. With his personality, he was definitely different from the muscular, bull-like kendo instructors that the other schools had. Far too mild, that the teacher was.

"Sensei knows he can count on you, Wakahisa. Thanks for your help!"

Regardless of her response, he would dismiss her with a smile and show her the way out of the staffroom and watch her on her way off to her next class.

---

Let's skip the afternoon classes. You have practice later on, right? You'll have to leave early anyway, and I don't have any classes of importance. If Kobayashi-sensei was our Maths teacher instead of Takagi-sensei, I wouldn't be at liberty to leave with you. Wait, you can't even leave early in the first place. (laughter) Well, let's go. I've got my bicycle; I'll take you down to the station. You don't plan on walking all the way back home under this sun, do you? So what are you waiting for? Let's go!

Rei trudged home, after waving off Chiaki. He slung his bag over his shoulder, walking down the path to his home. It wasn't impressive, but it was large enough for seven people to live in - albeit it being a little on the cramped side. He had to share his room with his third brother, while his sister slept with his parents, leaving the third room to his two eldest brothers. He extended a hand and opened the gate, and couldn't help but smile when his little sister came up to him. Little Kotoha came up to him, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"Welcome home, Rei-oniichama!"

He wished to talk more to his sister, but as his eldest brother poked his head out from the door, the desire to talk disappeared. "What?" he demanded of his brother, who merely turned back, leaving the door open. "Kotoha-chan, let go. My cellphone," he muttered, taking his cellphone out of his pocket. Flipping it open, he held it to his ear, but heard only bursts of static. Naturally, he assumed that whoever it was had went underground, whether by walking or via the trains. He stuffed it back into his pocket, waved goodbye to his little sister before walking out of his house.

"I'll go to the gaming center ..."

"... Hmph," mumbled the dark brunette. With her backpack slung over her shoulders, Hotaru stretched out her aching muscles for a bit before finally walking out of school grounds.

Help out Takagi-Sensei, huh..?

Unlike with many of the other students at school, Hotaru was just not as familiar and comfortable with the kendo instructor. In a way, he always caught her off guard. He was just so... nice. Even Onii-chan had a darker, 'evil' side to him when he was angry or in a teasing mood. Takagi-Sensei just seemed like the kind of man who was kind twenty four hours a day. It personally creeped Hotaru out that in his presence, she was belittled to almost nothing for no tangible reason.

Pushing the thoughts away, she kept his request for her in the back of her mind. However, Hotaru doubted she would encounter Shiba and his 'victim' anytime soon, and she didn't think it was a good idea to hunt Shiba down just to deliver a message.

It would all come around sooner or later, Hotaru thought.

As usual, today was one of the days where Onii-chan would be coming home late and had no time to prepare dinner for her beforehand. In spite of that, he gave her an allowance to go and buy food for herself if she was ever too lazy to cook. Hotaru casually walked past the apartment where the two of the siblings lived, and towards the mall.

After settling down into doing her homework and maybe some studying, Hotaru would catch some dinner there. Even though doing homework at the mall wasn't exactly the best place to do so, quiet places irked the teen.

Besides, with all that happened so far at school, Hotaru didn't feel like cooking.

She pressed the button at the crosswalk and waited for the light to turn green. While waiting, she set down her backpack and took off her blazer. It was getting too hot.

After re-shouldering her backpack once again, and draping said blazer over her left shoulder, the light turned green and the girl started crossing.

Blake flipped through the messages on his phone, before locking the screen and depositing it into his slack's back-pocket. He sighed--still nothing from his Dad, over 1000 miles away, in the United States.

"Oi! There you are!" a voice called from behind Blake. The Nest was far less populated than it had been during active hours--a few students hung around, awaiting a ride home from school, while others chatter with their friends, before heading out...

...and Blake was no acception--he and his class, the Transfer Students, had been placed in a Dormitory-like structure not far from the school. As such, they had divided the group between boys and girls, and paired off each student to occupy each room.

Fortunately, Blake's roommate he knew quite well--a young man who had transferred with him. He was tall, and a bit more muscular than Blake. He had brown hair, about five-inches long, and spiked out elaborately. His eyes were a pale blue, similar to Blake's.

"Oh, hey..." Blake greeted. The young man had on the uniform of Soldale Academy, however, he had on no tie, his shirt unbuttoned. "Headed out, Cody?"

The young man nodded, closing one eye. "Yeah... I was thinking about it... though..." he paused a moment, scratching his head. "It seems like a waste, what with it being the start of the weekend and all."

Blake nodded. "Yeah, but we don't really know much about the local area... it may not be a good idea to go out right now." he said.

The phone in Blake's back-pocket suddenly buzzed to life, signalling a Message's arrival. As he drew it out and unlocked his phone, Cody's did so as well.

"W-what is this?" Blake demanded, seeing the invitation to install the Digivice Application.

Cody's Navy Samsung Impression displayed a similar message. "Deji...Dejivaisu...?" he tried to sound out the kanji on his phone. "What is this exactly?"

~~~

The dark room showed little signs of life, save the silhouette sitting in it's center, a glowing LCD Monitor before it. The monitor had various Phone Numbers displayed upon it, each with one of three different status words next to them:

"Accepted."

"Pending."

"Ignored."

A vast majority of the owners of those numbers had decided to accept whatever the silhouette was sending them...

The silhouette chuckled a bit. "Soon... very soon..." it whispered, as the screen's glow began to dim, clicking off.

((DUN DUN DUN!! ))

The trip to the mall was roughly a half-hour walk, but Hotaru didn't mind at all. In this way, she was burning energy, so to speak, and if she didn't burn energy, it would be difficult for the tomboy to sleep at night.

On the way, she passed by students from other schools, most she didn't recognize. Passersby were carrying small groceries, holding hands with children, talking on their cellphones, or otherwise on their way to some unknown destination. Store after store after store was entered, exited, and shopped around in for whatever they sold.

The streets were lined with all sorts of automobiles, ranging from the little passenger car to a four-door truck, and bicycles and motorcyles of all kinds dotted the edges. It was too simplistic to say that this was a busy, bustling city, but too complex to describe just what was happening at every corner, at every space. Signs and ads screamed at the people to buy something, think something over, do something in reaction, but most merely glanced at the words, at the message before moving on.

Blake closed out the invitation, as did Cody. The two looked at one another, shaking their heads and chuckling. "Prolly just some virus or somethin'." Cody said with a grin. "Nothing to worry ourselves over, right?"

"Yea..." Blake chuckled nervously, depositing his phone back into his slack's pocket. "Well... I saw a little convenience store on my way here, this morning." Blake pointed out. "I'm going to go grab some instant noodles or something, so we'll have something to eat."

Cody scratched his head. "Alright. I'll head back to the dorms then. See you later." he nodded, dismissing his thoughts of heading out on the town for the weekend.

Blake started in the direction of the Convenience Store he had spotted... however, as he marched, something kept bugging him--just what was that message he had received? And what did it mean?

~~~

The Red Knight stood solemn, eyeing the brilliant sky, split in half, like an egg, revealing the little blue planet, splattered with green, gray and white in places. Heavy footsteps echoed behind him, as he whirled about, drawing out a long, metallic lance and shield, with gold trim, and a symbol spanning it's center that looked similar to the sun itself.

"Calm yourself, Gallantmon." a golden-armored knight stepped towards the Red Knight.

"Magnamon..." Gallantmon sighed, dismissing his weapons. "You startled me." he added, his tense stance relaxing a bit. "So... what do you have to report?"

Magnamon was a bit shorter in stature than his ally, and had blue skin, sheethed in brilliant, golden armor, on his chest, legs, shoulders, forearms and face. Crimson eyes were calm, and looked as though a foreboding storm were brewing beyond them. "My investigation into the Phenomenon known as 'Overshadow' had concluded. Someone... or something... had attempted to replicate the Digivice Applications that we sent out to the Chosen Children."

Gallantmon nodded. "So... these False Applications are what trigger Overshadows?" Magnamon nodded in agreement.

"Unfortunately, there is no way of telling the two apart." Magnamon explained. "The Application Invitation, and the programs themselves are far too similar to differentiate."

Gallantmon narrowed his eyes, as Megami stepped behind Magnamon. She looked to the two. "But our key players have received their invitations, correct?"

Magnamon nodded once more. "All but two have accepted the invitation... and a few have even began to harbor a Digi-egg." he continued his explanation.

"Good, good..." she nodded. "And what of the original two?" she continued.

Magnamon's eyes dropped to his feet. "Unfortunately, the two who have yet to accept the invitation--" he began, as Gallantmon shrugged.

"I see." Gallantmon turned away from the two. "No reason to stick their necks out for us, after what happened, eh?"

"Gallantmon..." Magnamon looked upon his ally's back, as Megami bit her bottom lip.

Gallantmon... do you still hate those two for what happened to Omnimon?

Zach got done gorging himself on pizza at about five, and decided that tonight would be a good night to walk around campus and just take it slow.

He drove back to his dorm and walked to the courtyard people walking all around moving on with each of their lives indepeandent of each other like they don't exist. He sat down on a bench in the middle and as a cool breeze he began to relaxed. A large statue of the Greek God Apollo was centerend in the court yard clearly visable to all in the lush green park.

"It would be awesome to have been on some of the epic adventure of greek legend.", thought Zach as he stared at the impressive statue, picturng the freakish monsters, and the epic battles.

Rei's hand glided lightly over the controls for the UFO catcher. It stung occasionally when he moved it, probably due to the deep cut nested in the middle of his palm. It was because he had gripped it rather tightly in his hand, but thanks to his own competence, he managed to solve the problem with some gauze and tape. Everything was settled for the most part, but the thing was that he didn't have his wallet with him. Everything except his cellphone was still in his bag; the bag that he left with little Kotoha. He ran an irritated hand through his hair, wincing slightly when the wound was disturbed.

Wrapping his fingers around a tuft of white hair, he yanked it rather hardly in frustration.

"Nggaaaaaarh!" yelled the boy. His voice was drowned out amidst the beeping and cries of the gaming machines, not to mention the yelling of several furyo sitting near the poker tables. His cellphone vibrated, but he didn't bother to check it. Instead, he settled down before one of the Cardass machines, and took out a set of cards from his pockets. He slid a card into the machine, allowing it to scan it before a figure appeared on the screen.

"Final Form Ride! K-K-K-K-Kuuga!"

It was at this that Rei turned away from the screen to look at one of those who were currently entering the center. It was none other than Shiba Kouki and company, which he knew all too well. The boy turned back to the screen, but not a minute had passed when a hand was placed on his shoulder, the shadow of Kouki smirking reflected in the screen before the white-haired boy. Takumi leaned against the machine, while Daisuke skulked around, hands in his pockets. The tallest of the trio glanced down at the screen, and pulled out a card from his own pocket.

"Here, try this," he offered with a smile. Rei accepted the card, entering it into the machine when the first card was returned to him. Without a word of thanks, the boy turned back to the screen, fingers pressing several buttons in succession.

Kouki blinked, picking up his own red-colored cellphone. He flipped open the phone, raising a curious eyebrow. "Goodbye, spam," he grunted under his breath, hitting a button on the device. However, as soon as he hit the button, streams of information started scrolling at twice the speed on his screen, letters being typed out really quickly, ranging from hiragana to the alphabet. "Spam," growled the vice-captain, stuffing his phone into his back pocket. He felt that the effect would wear off sooner or later, and there was no point rushing it.

Instead, he found himself holding Rei up by the collar. "Why aren't you home?" Kouki asked him. "Your mother will be worried, don't you know?" he asked, eyes narrowing as Rei hissed back at him.

"She doesn't care anyway. Not that it matters," he added bitterly in an undertone.

Both Rei and Kouki's cellphones started vibrating. The black-haired teenager dropped his acquaintance, and as if pre-programmed, both of them flipped open their phones and opened their messages. They were greeted with the image of the slightly blurred object: Rei's was ruby in color with thin purple streaks, while Kouki's was purple with bamboo-like marks upon its north and south poles. Once again, both teenagers closed their phones, Rei growling as he got up; right hand gripping his hair while his left searched for a weapon he could use to his advantage.

The tomboy had to pass the gaming center in order to reach one of the tables at the food court. While the short-haired girl was in the midst of winding her way through machines and people, her cellphone vibrated yet again.

She took it out and slowed her walk to a halt. Hotaru squinted at the slightly blurry screen.

Wazzat an egg? A ball? She wasn't sure. But it was mostly cream in color, except for splotches of hot pink here and there.

She didn't like pink. Hotaru momentarily scowled at this thing. Hopefully it would go away very soon. Hopefully, it wasn't a virus of any sort.

Said girl closed her phone and stuffed it back in the pocket of her uniform pants. Her light grey eyes casually glanced around at the scenes of people playing arcade games and the like before her before taking a few steps more to move on.

After this, however, she halted.

White hair. Goggles. Hadn't that vice-captain guy mentioned something like that earlier today?

Hotaru turned to her left fully and went for a closer look.

AHA! She /knew/ the guy was up to no good. But it wouldn't be any good at all to catch the boy without seeing what he would do first. After all, it would be pointless if she stepped into something that had no chance of turning out to be 'wrong', in this case.

Besides, she needed to relay that message.

As Zach continued his romp around the park he met up with Trent, and apparently their was a party going on later tonight for all the transfer students at his dorm. He thought of all the possible out comes and decided that he would probably go. Also he'd been in college for about three weeks now and had still yet to branch out and make friends apart from Trent. Though in the mean time he had to go back home and prepair.

Once home he re-did his spikes the days events had left them a little droopy. The days activities had left him a little tired so he decided to take a nap before tonight, he ended up crashing on the futon.

However, there was no need for weapons when Kouki's cellphone started to ring. Rei headed towards Kouki, ready to pull out the metal ruler he stashed into his pocket not too long ago. It was still there, solid and sharp as ever. He glanced up at his 'friend', only to see the cellphone open, and within it, an eye emerged in a flash of light. Something was appearing ...

Twin blades held within her hands, a Yashamon appeared between Kouki and Rei.

Rei drew in a sharp breath. "Shiba ... what's ..." he growled, holding up the metal ruler.

As Zach slept his phone started producing an ear splitting scream, He looked at the screen and saw that it was time to start getting ready for the party.

As he sat up and stretched it seemed like every vertebrae on his spine popped and cracked. "Note to self don't sleep on the futon.", though the teen as he got up to prepare some food.

It seemed the closer he got to his little kitchenet the more his stomach growled. once he got there he noticed he had basically the college students meal of choice Top Ramen their was even a beef left, his favorite of the ramen varieties, as he sat and ate his collegiate delicacy he thought to himself, " I hope their are some cute girls their."

Instantly, the game-machines throughout the Arcade began to flicker and dim, 0s and 1s beginning to appear on the screen in brilliant flashes. The area began to grow dark--corroded, the walls beginning to crack and bits of the roof caving in--this might have caused quite the panic, however, as all of this was happening, a majority of the people in the crowded arcade began to drop to the floor, unconscious.

Yasyamon stood to it's full height, crimson hair billowing out from behind it's pearl-white mask. It set it's eyes on Rei, letting out a low, feral snarl.

The alarm clock was blaring by her ear as she sat up. She rubbed her emerald eyes as she looked at the clock. She had set it early on purpose. She had a while until class but she figured she would go for a walk.

She noticed her dorm mate was still sleeping and smiled to herself as she went to shower.

She came back out, feeling better and looked for her blouse and and smiled as she put it on. She was glad it was clean as she stepped into her skirt. She moved to the mirror and smiled as she winked at her reflection.

She skipped out of her dorm and locked the door behind her. She stretched as she went to get a coffee. She was feeling great today. Unlike last week when she was finally settling in. She smiled as she walked towards the cafe on campus.

She emerged later with her large Ice Cap in hand. She sipped as she hummed to a song she had stuck in her head. She was going to see the statues today.


She looked at the Apollo Statue and smiled as she recalled her Greek stories. She chuckled as she walked around until her class.

She looked around as she pulled out her ipod and began to listen to songs that reminded her of home.

She checked her email and smiled as she read one from Chad.

(I didn't know that, Humming. x3)

Rei glanced up, eyes settling on the Yashamon. The metal blade he held within his hands was no match for the sturdy structure of the wooden swords the swordsman Digimon had. Tch ... this is annoying, he thought to himself, running a hand through his hair before grasping a tuft of it, a growl letting itself out under his breath.

On the other hand, Kouki's grasp on his cellphone slipped, the device clattering to the ground and shutting itself off automatically as a result of the impact. The teenager collapsed to the ground, supporting himself with his knees, hands propping his body up with much effort. It seemed that he wasn't like the other civilians who passed out upon the Yashamon emerging; either he was stronger in spirit, or he was just barely hanging on by a thread.

"What - do you want?" muttered Rei, sentence punctuated with a pause as he glanced at the Yashamon.

Quite startled at the swift change of events, Hotaru gaped as people all around her collapsed unconscious, most onto the floor, some draped over certain flat arcade marchines, tables, chairs, and the like.

"E-E-EHHH!!"

To avoid a certain obese man who was about to collapse right on top of her, she scrambled out of the way and managed to jump out, her surprise/disgust verbally expressed with something along the lines of a stuttering, frantic scream.

Of course, this meant that her cover was blown and she was found out. After whipping around to face the Goggle Head and the Vice Captain, her light grey eyes first fell to the floor where the young teenager lay, unconscious.

Then to Goggle Head.

Then to the-

"YEEEEK!" With a swiftness, she pointed a finger at the creature, interchanging her vision with the thing and Goggle Head.

"W-What i-is this thing, Wh-What did you j-just-"

She didn't get to finish her frantic rambling of some attempt at interrogation.

Since her cellphone was a slide phone, it vibrated as well. But there was no need to slide it open, since it was already unlocked. Eyes wide open, she turned her head down to her pocket for a swift moment, as the device let out a brief shine of light.

And seconds later, quickly taking form, the light subdued to give way to a slightly shaggy dog, mostly a creamy white color with a pink tail and ears, and what looked like golden nails protruding slightly out from its paws. It stayed in its place, sitting, immediately to Hotaru's right.

"WHAT THE HELL?!"

Hotaru's vision was now glued to this thing that had emerged from her phone..! She threw her hands up in the air, causing her blazer to fall off of her shoulder and down onto the floor.

Well, okay, it was a spray-painted dog, but that still didn't change the fact that it came practically out of nowhere.

At such loud noise at its arrival, Labramon whined slightly and shook its ears to clear itself of the shrill shriek. Of the Yashamon, however, the slight whine soon gave way to a low, non-menacing growl. It felt more curious than in danger to its fellow digital creature and these two humans.

Yasyamon said nothing in response--rather... it couldn't say anything in response. It was incapable of speech, the group realized, as it raised it's weapons high into the air, as if to slam the goggle-headed boy into the ground in one swing.

However, the appearance of not only Hotaru, but the out-of-place Labramon as well, had caught the snarling beast of a Digimon off guard. It swung a bit shallow, it's wooden blade slamming into the tile floor just in front of Rei, sending up a spray of splinters and tile fragments.

It turned sideways, so that it could face towards both Hotaru and Rei, raising it's broken weapon faced towards Hotaru and her partner, still just as threatening as it had been while intact, and the other towards Rei... almost as if it expected them to attack at any moment.

The smile turned into a frown as she read the last bit of the email. She bit her lower lip. Her little brother had been suspended for fighting. She blew her light brown hair out of her eyes as she pushed the reply button.

She typed away furiously and looked back at the sky as she thought of what to say. Chad was often picked on because of his size and his brains. She had to word it right.

It took her a good half an hour to calm down from the news. She had class next.


She found herself sitting back at her dorm eating Tacos. She sighed as she thought over the email. She wiped up her mess and did the dishes.

She glanced at the clock."%:15, that party is later." She mused quietly. She had decided to go after her dorm mate, Sally had talked into it. "Think of all the new friends we'll make, and the cute boys!" She had said in her dramatic voice unlike her normal Southern accent.

Wendy chuckled at the thought of Sally going to the party as her 'date' They only knew eachother since Sally was one to get her into trouble.

Now she had to pick out an outfit.

Blue eyes stared down at the touch-screen numerical pad. His thumb began to punch in the required number, as the phone suggested a number from his contacts list--under the title "Blake."

Cody pressed accept, and raised the phone to his ear. It took a few rings before Blake finally picked up. "It's me." he greeted. "What's up?"

"One of the guys sent me an invitation to some 'Underground' party later tonight. Wanna tag along?" Cody asked.

Blake sighed a bit. "Nah, I think I'll hang back this time."

"Roger... well, I'll probably be gone by the time you get back. I'll call before I head back to the dorm..." he chuckled. "If I come back at all."

Blake sighed a bit more noticeably this time. "Just be careful out there... we're foreigners... no telling who might target us out there."

Cody chuckled a bit. "It'll be fine, trust me!" With that, he hung up the phone. Cody stretched, garbed in his street clothes, now--a red, sleeveless shirt with what appeared to be a dinosaur footprint stamped into the lower right part of the shirt. He had on a pair of khaki cargo pants, and a black wrist-band on his left arm.

It wasn't for another few hours, so he still had some time to prepare.

The door opened signalling Sally's return. "That was a total waste of time!" She said flopping down beside Wendy who was writing up her homework. Wendy arched an eyebrow at her best friend. "Trouble in Paradise?" She asked the code word they shared. “Oui. It was a very bad day to wear my new heels." She said and pointed to the damaged pair by the doorway. “I had a couple of falls on my way around. They are ineffective and dangerous.” She said sighing. The eyebrow went up again. “You’ve just realized this? I’ve told you about how they look great but they hurt you in the long run.” She said shaking back her newly curled locks. Sally hit her with a Hello Kitty Pillow of hers making Wendy laugh. Sally chuckled as her Baby blue eyes spotted her new hairdo. “Oh, that is very lovely on you, Kiwi” She said calling her by her nickname she had given her. Wendy blushed and nodded. “Thanks, Peach.” She replied.

Sally pulled her own blond locks into the curler as she watched Wendy type up a storm. “So, I heard from Chad. He’s been suspended for finishing a fight. He’s really beaten up.” Wendy said. Sally’s hand nearly dropped the curler and it burned her wrist. “Crap!" She yelled turning it off. Wendy ran to her and pulled her to the bathroom sink. She ran the cold water over it and sighed. “It’s not severe, just a mild burn.” She said relieved. “Still, I’m fine compared to Chad.” Sally said sighing as she looked at her pale wrist now red from the running water. Both sighed in agreement as the water ran. It was the only sound for a few minutes.

Wendy wrapped Sally’s wrist up in an ice pack and made her way to get Sally’s dinner. “Oh Kiwi! You’ve made my favourite!” She squealed as she walked over. Wendy winked at her. “I knew you would need it.” She replied as she went back to typing. She could hear Sally’s pleased voice as she ate. “You should teach Cooking classes! This is unbelievably delicious!” Wendy blushed at the praise and glanced at the clock. It was still a few hours.

Hotaru shuffled back a pace, eyeing the broken wooden sword. Sure, it was broken, but it had lots of spiky bits of wood sticking out of it. Just looking at it, Hotaru knew that if she got hit with that thing, she'd be stuck in bed for days.

She had no idea why it seemed angry.

"H-Hey, now.." She gave out a nervous chuckle, forgetting that the dog was at her side for a moment.

Sensing that the female human was feeling endangered, and the fact that Yasyamon was starting to threaten, Labramon got to its four paws and made its way in front of Hotaru, growling low, but louder, and definitely as more of a threat. Showing its pearly white fangs, it lowered its head slightly and spread its four legs apart a bit. While the creamy white hair almost covered its eyes, none could mistake the ruby-red glare.

Rei's eyes narrowed almost instinctively. He had no way of defending himself, and thinking back, the metal ruler indeed, had looked a little stupid. He adjusted his goggles, thinking that what was done was done, so it simply had to be 20/20 in hindsight. There was no other option, so he had to force himself to admit it. His cellphone vibrated some more, its screen flickering in tandem with the gaming machines, but he ignored it and went over to the flinching Kouki.

"Shiba!" he called, bending down to his level. Rei propped Kouki's head up, before staring straight into his eyes. "You better know what you just did," he growled under his breath, before picking up the vice-captain's cellphone. Turning it on, he noticed that it technically hadn't refreshed itself - the image on the screen was still the same as before, well, the same as the one on his phone, anyway.

"..."

Kouki was silent as he glanced down, fully awake now, but having no idea of what was going on.

Rei's movement was what antagonized Yasyamon. "Nin...ningen..." Yasyamon finally began to speak, in garbled japanese. It's weapon raised high into the air again, it charged, this time out for blood. "Kieuseru!" it shouted, as it took another swing at Rei.

~~~

Cody walked past the Arcade, not knowing what was going on within it's hollowed walls. Rather, not being able to tell what was going on--a line still stood outside of it's door--the doors had apparently been locked from the inside...

It's not like it mattered--he wouldn't be able to competently play a game there, as it were.

He could speak the language, but reading it was a different story entirely.

He folded his arms behind his head. "God, this is so boring! Blake should have totally came with me." she shook his head at the thought.

Wendy made her way over to the arcade with Sally as they giggled over their drinks. Sally had said something and it had Wendy reeling with laughter. She looked at her as she punched her arm playfully.

Sally laughed at the gesture then noticed the Arcade and the long line. "Well, we can't go in tonight." She quipped sighing.

"It looks like it's locked from the inside but it says Open." Wendy said pointing at the sign. Sally crossed her arms. "Then maybe something is going on that we don't know about. Like a tournment or something."

"It would have said something in the paper or online." Wendy pointed out thinking.

Cody whipped out his cellphone, about to call Blake on it. However, as he unlocked the screen, he found that he had no reception. "Weird." he noted, as he locked the screen once more and began to deposit it into his pocket once more--however, as he did, the phone itself began to ring and vibrate.

"?" he drew it back out, to see he had a new message--from who, and how it had been received without reception, he was completely clueless. Unlocking his phone, yet again, the screen showed the message title, but not the sender's address... again, in Kanji. "Dejitaru... Monsuta?" he tried with all of his might to pronounce the words on his screen. "Digital Monster?" he finally said in english.

The message from before? he thought to himself, as he stopped mid-stride, looking down at the message's contents. "...akuseputo...inbite-shon...?" he continued to read from the screen, finally working up enough courage to click the link in the message.

All at once, ones and zeroes began to cover the touch-screen of his phone. His eyes glazed over, realizing what was happening a bit too late.

It was... just like back in America...

~~~

Wendy looked at Sally as she wondered what was happening inside. It seemed really eerie to her. It didn't make any sense. She saw that Sally's eyes were wide and her colour was off. A panic attack, low blood sugar? The facts pointed to either of them. Sally was after all prone to accidents and she remembered her falls she had mentioned. Did she injury herself or was it brought on by her anemia? One thing was certain, she had to get her to lay down.

Wendy gently picked up her petite friend and carried her back to the dorm and ran back after she had her safe back home.

She then realized her phone had no recaption. "That isn't normal." She said as she whipped it out and looked at it. It vibrated in her hand and that caught her off guard.

A new message? It was in Japanese and she translated the Kanji slowly. What was it trying to tell her? What was a Digital Monster? How did they did her number? Wendy never gave it out to anyone unless she trusted them. Maybe it wasn't a prank at all.

"Kieuseru ka ..." Rei muttered under his breath, his eyes glancing over the Yashamon. With a surge of energy, he jumped up and away from the incoming weapon. However, he was no experienced fighter, and because of that action, he crashed straight into the gaming machine he was playing on not too long ago. With a yell, he fell from it and to the ground, next to Kouki.

Kouki eyed his friend-of-sorts cautiously. What was he trying to do, help him? But he didn't ... ow! His brain flashed, unwilling to comply with his wishes to allow his body to stand up. His breathing slowly got heavier, eyes drooping; the teen's head soon lolled to one side as he passed out due to the strain on both his mind and body.

On the other hand, Rei managed to get up with the aid of a prop. "Jama," he hissed in Japanese. His shaking hand gripped his phone tightly; the vibration was alerting him, forcing him to take note of it, while his wound dripped blood all over it. It had opened up once again, causing him pain.

As Zach finished his meal in peace he got another text message, as he looked down at his phone it read "Dejitaru Monsuta akuseputo inbite-shon"

When Zach clicked the link a map popped up with a large red dot centered in the mall, with three smaller blue dots near it. "I bet this is from my download earlier.", said the college student rubbing his head.

He then looked down at his watch and noticed he still had a few hours before his party and decided to play his new game. He hopped in his car for a leisurely drive to the mall not knowing of the the events to come.

Once he got to the mall he noticed several people running and screaming out the door, despite being taught to follow a running screaming crowd from danger he blatantly ran towards it noticing more screaming people the closer he got to the red dot.

Once he arrived his jaw hit the floor as he looked on in awe at Yasyamon, "What the hell is that!?" asked Zach as he froze in fear.

Wendy stared at her phone then looked at the sky in thought.

She had no idea where this had come from but it made her curious now.

She glanced at her watch. The party was going to start soon.

Zach stared into the arcade noticing the kid from earlier. Seeing some one in danger and not one to stand on the sidelines Zach began to charge the Blue monster.

"Hey ugly pick on someone your own size!", shouted Zach as he charged the imposing figure, he was not sure what it would accomplish but he was hoping that it would at least give the kid a bit of time to try and get the heck out of their.

Once he got closer he drew back his right arm and threw a decisive blow hoping against all odds this thing wouldn't just kill him after it connected, if it connected.

"Geh!"

Hotaru gaped at the white-haired boy, and moreso at the blood dripping onto his hand. She hadn't exactly expected him to jump away so swiftly.

All of a sudden, a brave yet possibly foolish tackle came from a much taller man, one who did not look to be a native to Japan. It all happened so quickly that Hotaru was unable to get a good look at him. She scrambled to get out of the way, bumping her funny bone into an arcade machine. With a yelp at the strange jolt, she rubbed her elbow ruefully.

Startled, Labramon moved swiftly out of the way. Unused to such fast changes at what was happening, he whined in confusion momentarily at the arrival of another human. He had not expected this.

"Grrr..!" Briefly, the digital creature growled at Yasyamon, his ruby-red eyes narrowing. However, with the presence of another unknown human, it stopped him from making a move just yet.

The screaming people running past was what caught Cody's attention--he was quick to move towards the building, as his phone began to vibrate and beep, the closer he got to it--warmth began to build within his pocket, like the feel of a distant flame... slowly beginning to grow hotter as he inched closer to the doors.

~~~

Inside, recovering from the taller boy's tackle, the new arrival made Yasyamon even more antsy--it let out another roar of anger, slamming it's still intact wooden blade into a game machine, sending out sheets of warped, scrap metal, as well as fragments of glass, circuitry and screws.

It's eyes, trembling behind his mask, stared at the growling Labramon, raising it's weapon to strike it down, before it became too much of a nuisance. However, someone else had other plans--

The wooden sword clacked against the shaft of a metal rod--more than likely a pipe that had been discarded by the front desk. "All of you, get out of here!" Cody shouted, to panic-stricken to realize he had done so in plain english.

The warmth of his cellphone was ever growing, though he took little notice of it, as he attempted to force the sword-wielding Digimon back.

She could hear the screaming as she got closer to the Arcade. She wondered what was going on.

She made a mental note to take her Advil when she got home. She had a feeling she was going to get another one of her migraines later.

Her phone caught her attention as it started beeping all over again. "In here?" She murmured as she looked at the doors that were close to her. Yet she wasn't the only one with a beeping cellphone. She had little choice in getting in. The doors were locked and she could only find a broken window. "I must be crazy." She murmured as she dove through it.

She sat up after she landed and shook her head. Was she seeing things? What was that creature and what was going on?!