-1
Collin
As much as I love Marianas Trench, having them wake me up at 7 o'clock AM every morning makes me want to shoot them in the head. I reach over and fumble with my cell phone, desperately attempting to find the button to stop "Cross My Heart" before it drove me insane with the chorus. I know technology is great these days, but why does there have to be such a complicated process for changing the alarm sound on your Blackberry? I have over 50 songs on the memory card that I spent 20$ on, and yet I've only ever heard most of them twice. Except this song. I'm not sure if most people would agree with me, but Blackberry needs to step it up.
This is how I start my morning: After briefly considering smashing my phone into a million pieces, I immediately check for new messages. This morning, I've received one from my best friend Shawn. It reads,
"hey Collin, I kno its kinda early, but I just wantd to remind u to bring the mixtapes I asked 4 yesterday. I 3 u ;o".
Sometimes, I swear Shawn is a fucking idiot. I gave him those mix tapes yesterday. I don't know why I'm not used to it yet. The guy's stoned out of his mind most of the time he's not in school. I wouldn't put it past him to be smoking up this early.
Then I remembered that we both had an English exam later on today, and suddenly I could have used a dime as well.
Since that was the only text I had received that morning, I then checked my email. There were over a dozen notifications for both Myspace and Facebook, countless advertisements, and a few spam emails as well. Nothing new. I promptly checked all of the boxes and pressed delete. I could never stand having a full mailbox.
After all the messages were cleared, I received another email. In the subject box, it said "IMPORTANT". Deciding it was probably spam, I repeated the deletion process. After it finished loading, my inbox came back up, and the message was still there. I tried deleting it again, but it wouldn't disappear. I realized that I had better start getting ready for school, so I closed my inbox, hoping that the message would be gone the next time I checked.
***
Rico
You don't chew gum in Ms. Morrison's class. You don't listen to music in her class, talk in her class, hell, you're not even allowed to fucking sneeze in her class. You don't even think of putting your hand near that cell phone in your pocket, because the woman can hear a pin drop a fucking mile away, let alone hear your fingers tapping on a miniature keyboard.
So when my phone made that cute, soft twinkle that meant that I had gotten a text message, I swear the room went silent as death. I looked up cautiously, and saw Ms. Morrison standing as still as a statue. Her head slowly began to turn, and stopped halfway so that only her side profile was visible.
"Whoever's phone that was, I expect a thousand word essay on today's lesson on my desk tomorrow. If not, I'll have the class take an exam that will be worth a hefty portion of your final exam grade on lessons I haven't even began to teach yet, without which you could only dream of scoring decently," she said coldly.
I could feel everyone around me look around them, questioning each other with their eyes, attempting to figure out who the culprit was, dying to instill some sort of pity or threat to whoever it was that could potentially cause them a huge chunk of their final grade.
I caught the eye of one of my close friends in the class, Sara, who was staring at me with a stern, all too knowing look.
After the period ended, I rushed out of the class, desperate to escape the questioning that was sure to begin once everyone was out of the room.
Sara, however, was too quick, and she was at my side before I could turn the corner.
"Rico, is there something you want to tell me?" she asked in a sarcastic tone.
"You know what, I really have no idea what you're talking about Sara." I suck at lying.
"You know, I can pass Ms. Morrison's exam easily, but I really, really don't need to waste my time studying for another exam. You know what my courses are like. Will you at least consider doing this essay please?"
"Sara, I can't do this essay. My homework tonight is Satan's gift from hell. I'm literally buried under all this crap I've gotta do. I've got two labs due tomorrow! Besides, you know Tim Thornton's gonna end up doing it anyways, he'll do anything for an A."
"Ugh whatever. I just think it was so stupid for you to leave your phone's ringer on. I mean, I know you're not an idiot, but come on, it's Morrison's class. I thought you out of all people would bee more careful. Do you know she made Sidney Garcia cry last semester?"
"I swear I turned it off before class started. I must have pressed it by accident or something."
"Who was it anyway?"
"I haven't checked yet." I pulled out my phone, but before I could open the message, Sara said "Shit, I forgot I need to see Mr. Downing to ask for a retake. I'll talk to you later Rico."
After she left, I checked the message.
It read "Tonight, you will receive a call on this device at 9:00 PM. Pick up."
***
Kayla
Dance practice, as usual, was exhausting. I barely made the drive home. Luckily, my mom had offered to take me to and from the studio, even if I did have my own car. It was 7:30 pm, and I longed to just lay in my bed and take a long nap, but then I realized that I had a lengthy paper to write for my English class due tomorrow, and I immediately felt miserable.
Once I made my way to my room, I changed out of my sweaty tank top and jogging pants into a pair of basketball shorts and a old t-shirt. I then took out my English binder from my bag and set it down next to my white Macbook.
Before working on my essay, I logged on to my email account. I had received several emails since the last time I checked, but the one from this morning which I couldn't delete was still there. I hadn't opened it yet, so I decided to see what this annoying email could possibly be.
"You will receive a message on this device at 9:00 pm tonight. Answer promptly."
I knew it. Just another chain letter. I tried deleting the message again, but it still wouldn't do anything.
I wasted too much time on this message already, so I closed my email and began working on my essay.
I had to write a theory of how the story of Romeo and Juliet would play out in today's society. I had to cite three devices that could be used to foreshadow the inevitable tragedy. Oh, and we couldn't use the movie with Leo DiCaprio as a model.
To summarize the story, Romeo and Juliet never made it because of miscommunication. The failed message, late replies, and far too many mediums between them, inevitably led to their deaths.
My mind kept going back to the email, and suddenly an idea came to me. I could use modern ways of communication, like that stupid email, to show how Romeo and Juliet's lives would have been if they grew up in our time!
I immediately began writing the essay, inspired by that email. In less than an hour, I was finished.
Feeling like I deserved some rest, I lay my head down on my pillow, and drifted away. But after what felt like only seconds of sleep, I heard a ringing noise.
I got up, trying to find out where the noise was coming from, and found that it was coming from my Macbook.
There was a bright yellow box flashing in the middle of the screen, with the words "OPEN THIS" in red letters. I realized that that message earlier must have been a virus that caused this to happen, and now I was pretty pissed.
Accidentally, I clicked the box, and suddenly my laptop flashed a bright white light, and I felt myself being pulled by some sort of force. My room began to disappear around me, and my vision went black.
***
Like Kayla, Collin and Rico both received similar messages, and were transported in the same fashion. They found themselves face down on a cold metal floor, disoriented, and slightly nauseous.
Collin was the first to recover, and immediately stood up and observed his surroundings. He was dressed in a black t-shirt and jeans, his medium length hair falling over his eyes. He took in his surroundings, and saw that they were in some sort of chamber with walls of metal, with a small window in the upper right corner of the one the wall adjacent to him. There were no visible doors, and the room was very cold. He then shifted his attention to the only other people in the room with him.
Kayla began to get up, smoothing out her over sized t-shirt, with a dazed look on her face. Even with her dark skin, her face was flushed from the transport. She observed the chamber just as Collin had, and was embarrassed to find that she was in the chamber with two boys, and immediately felt self conscious. This, however, did not overshadow her confusion and fear of what they were going through.
"Who the hell are you?" Collin asked both Kayla and Rico. He was feeling very antagonistic at the moment, so he directed it towards the only people he could.
Kayla, who was instantly offended, shot back, disdain inflected in her voice, "You better watch who you're talking to."
Just then Rico, who was still on the floor, grunted and moaned, diverting both Collin's and Kayla's attention. Unlike the two of them, who were fully clothed, Rico was wearing nothing but a pair of boxers.
"Damn it, I can't believe I'm having this dream again. Why am I always the naked one?" he said, attempting to cover himself.
"I hate to break it to you, but I really don't think you, or any of us is dreaming," said Kayla.
"What are you talking about?" Rico asked.
"If I knew I'd tell you."
"I must be jacked on some pretty hardcore stuff, because there's no way that any of this can possibly be happening right now," Collin said, rubbing his temples.
"OK, maybe you're high on something, but I stay away from that shit. How do you explain that huh?" Kayla responded.
"I don't give a damn, I just wanna know what the fuck's going on here!" exclaimed Collin, who was now pacing around the room.
"OK, if we're going to find out anything, we better start talking. How did both of you end up here?" Kayla asked.
"All I remember is my phone ringing, so I picked it up, and all of a sudden it starts vibrating insanely. Then everything started getting hot, and there was a bright white light, and I blacked out. And now I'm here, standing in my boxers," Rico recounted.
"That's the same thing that happened to me, except it was my laptop that started acting weird. I got this email today that I couldn't delete, and then later on it started beeping. There was this message on my screen, and I thought it was a virus. I must've clicked it by accident, because right when I did the same thing happened to me," Kayla asked.
"This is just getting too weird for me. I got that same message on my Blackberry. I thought it was gonna explode or something," said Collin.
The three looked at each other, perplexed, and yet felt comforted knowing that they weren't imagining this experience. However, that did nothing to diminish the anxiety and fear growing within them.
"Hey, look in the corner over there" Kayla pointed out.
In the corner were Collin's Blackberry, Kayla's Macbook, and Rico's cell phone. None of them had noticed them until now. It was as if they had just appeared out of thin air.
The three of them went to retrieve their devices, which were arranged neatly side by side. When their hands touched them, however, they became scorching hot and glowed with the same white light that they saw before they were transported to this strange chamber. They pulled their hands away, burned and scared.
When the light dimmed, their items were gone, and in their place were three similar looking devices. All three were the size of their palms, and were also oval shaped. The design was very simple: each of them had a flat clear surface on the lateral side, and a smooth metal underside. The only difference between them were the colors of the underside: gold, silver, and copper.
"So, was it just me, or did you guys see our stuff turn into iPhones?" said Rico.
"Should we take them?" asked Kayla.
"I don't see anything else we can do" said Collin, before reaching for the device, the gold one, which used to be his Blackberry.
Once the three of them had each taken a device, the screens began to glow. A ray of red light shone from the screens into each of their eyes. This caused them to blink, but when they opened their eyes the beam was gone, and on the screens were various pieces of information. Their names were displayed in the upper right hand corner, and the time displayed in thee opposite corner. On the bottom were 6 buttons, each with a different symbol on them. In the center of their screens was an elliptical shape.
Suddenly, balls of light bounced out of the devices in front of them and onto the floor, which began to solidify into three egg shaped items the size of footballs. When the light faded, there were three metallic eggs, each of them corresponding to the color of each of their the devices.
"This is beyond weird, this is just freaky," said Collin.
"I would ask what they are, but I doubt either of you would have an answer," said Rico.
"You know what boxer-boy, you're right," said Kayla.
The eggs, which were stationary, began to wobble. The three were startled and backed away from them.
Moments later, fissures appeared on the surface of the eggs. Pieces began to fall off of them, and eventually, they cracked, revealing three of the strangest creatures that Collin, Kayla, and Rico had ever seen.
Out of the gold egg came a green, snake like creature. It was little over a foot long, and had a large head compared to it's small body. It's eyes were a hazel color and, unlike most snakes any of them had ever seen before, conveyed some sort of intelligence. It did not look like a regular snake, but a sort of distorted, comically exaggerated caricature of one.
The creature that came out of the silver egg resembled some sort of insect. It had a round, purple body, with eight short stubby legs that it used to scurry out of the egg. It had two round purple eyes, which did not look insect like at all, but like the sort of eyes that one would find on a cat. Around it's mouth were two small pincers, which didn't look menacing at all. It was also covered in fuzzy purple hair.
Out of the bronze egg came an orange creature with four legs. Of the three creatures, it had the most distinguishable features. It had a long face with a snout. It had a tuft of brown hair running down it's short neck. On it's feet it had hooves, which clicked as it attempted to get up. It's eyes were dark brown, and like the other two, it seemed to convey an intelligence above a regular animal.
"What are they?" Collin asked.
"I don't know, but the orange one looks cute. Come here little buddy," Rico beckoned to the creature.
The orange creature seemed to recognize Rico, and awkwardly stumbled towards him. Rico made a move towards the creature, but Kayla held him back.
"Are you crazy? You don't even know what the hell that thing is!" Kayla said, gripping Rico.
"Oh come on, look at it. It looks harmless. I've seen puppies scarier than that," said Rico, breaking free of Kayla.
He walked towards the orange creature and picked it up. The creature seemed to enjoy the attention and nuzzled close to his chest.
"See, what did I tell you," Rico said. The orange creature made a squeaking sound, apparently agreeing with Rico.
"Doesn't it bother you one bit that we've essentially been kidnapped, and are now trapped in this room with nothing but these freaky little animals, which are probably here to eat us?" Kayla said with indignation.
"I don't know, this guy seems cool," Collin said.
Kayla turned to see Collin playing with the snake-like creature.
"You guys are nuts," Kayla said in disbelief. She then felt a tugging at her feet.
She looked down at her feet and saw the spider-like creature there. She was about to kick it away, but lost the urge when she looked into the creature's eyes.
"I can't believe I'm doing this," Kayla said before picking up the creature. She immediately felt some sort of affection towards it. It seemed so helpless and harmless.
Rico had immediately bonded with the orange fawn-like creature, and was on his knees playing with it. The creature responded with eagerness and enthusiasm.
Collin on the other hand, was examining the snake-like creature, which was wrapped around his wrist. It was as if they were locked in some sort of staring contest. Collin then rubbed his hand on the creature's head, which it apparently enjoyed.
"You're a freaky little monster aren't you," he said.
Just when the three pairs of human and creature were getting along, another strange event occurred. The devices, which they had stored in their pockets, began to glow with the all too familiar white light. At the same time, the creatures exhibited the same phenomenon. Panicking, the humans dropped the creatures, which were still glowing.
When the light faded, the creatures stood before them, barely recognizable. It appeared that they had grown larger, and developed more distinct features.
The snake-like creature was now over 6 feet long, it's body now more proportionate to it's head, which now had some sort of metallic helmet attached to it. It's body was a darker green, and had dark diamond shaped markings running down the length of it. It's tail tapered off into some sort of spade. There was also a thick metal ring around it's neck, with unrecognizable markings on it.
The spider was now as large as a dog, it's legs now long and spindly. There was a clear distinction between it's head and body, which were separated by a neck. On it's head was a maroon bandanna, and on most of it's legs were an assortment of bangles and bracelets. It's body had a deeper purple color, with a bright red marking the shape of an hour glass on it's back.
The small orange creature had changed into what appeared to be a small pony. It's body had turned into a deeper reddish color, and it's mane stood up bristly. All over it's body were what appeared to be metallic rings embedded in it's skin. it's limbs were now longer and more muscular, and it's tail was longer, which swished every now and then. It had a gold earring in one of it's ears.
"What the hell just happened?" Kayla said aghast.
"You know, I'm really tired of everyone saying that," said Rico.
"Well get used to it, because I'm sure we're gonna be saying that a lot," said Collin.
The three creatures looked at the three humans, regarding them with curiosity.
"Well if none of you are going to say something, I'm going to," said the spider in a cool, distinctly feminine voice.
Collin, Rico, and Kayla looked on, their mouths open in disbelief.
"Way to go Anansimon. Have you ever heard the word subtle?" the snake said in a smooth masculine voice.
"You know what, I don't think subtle would've worked either way," said the pony, also masculine, but warmer than the other two.
The three humans could not believe their ears. They hadn't even gotten used to the fact that the creatures had spontaneously grew larger, and now they were talking. They were speechless.
"How…how the hell…" Rico stuttered.
"Yeah, I must be stoned," muttered Collin.
Kayla still couldn't say anything.
"Well, you could be, except conventional substances from your world don't work here," said the spider.
"What do you mean our world?" Kayla asked.
"What little miss spider over here means is that you guys aren't in the human world anymore," said the snake.
"Ok, I'll buy into it. Where are we then?" asked Collin.
"Hey, hey, what's the rush? We haven't even been properly introduced yet," the pony said playfully.
"Well excuse us for wondering where the hell we are, and how it's even possible that we're talking to you," said Rico, serious for the first time.
"Look, just be patient, everything will be explained to you eventually. We don't have all the answers for you," said the spider.
"Fine. Who, or what are you then?" asked Kayla.
"Well, my name is Anansimon," said the spider.
"I'm Hizmon" said the snake.
"You can call me Pintomon," said the horse.
"And, what are you exactly?" asked Collin.
"We're digital organisms, but you can call us Digimon for short," said Anansimon.
"Digital organisms? That doesn't make any sense at all," said Collin.
"Well it does, and the sooner you can wrap your heads around that, the easier it will be for you when the bossman explain everything else to you," said Pintomon.
"Bossman? Who would that be?" asked Rico.
Just as Rico said it, a loud voice rang through the room.
"Humans and Digimon, welcome to the Inter-Dimensional Communications and Research facility, or IDCR for ease of remembrance. A gate will open for you on the wall to your left momentarily. Please exit and follow the path to the laboratory. Everything will be explained eventually," it said.
After the voice spoke, the panels on one of the walls shifted, revealing an opening. The three Digimon began to walk towards it. They stopped halfway there and turned towards the humans.
"Are you coming or not?" asked Hizmon.
"Should we go?" Kayla asked Collin and Rico.
"I don't see what else we can do," said Rico.
"Well I'm going. I wanna know what this is all about," Collin said, following the three digimon.
Rico and Kayla followed, and exited the chamber before it closed behind them.