The first time I heard What I Do by Junior Doctor, I was living back in Waukee and had just finished obliterating my biological clock. I will proudly admit my weakness when the little kid inside of me took over. My last several days were spent basically camped out in front of my computer, religiously, watching the first season of Digimon.When I was little, it was by far my favorite show, a title it still holds to this day. I was actually so excited to be watching it again I was getting only two hours a sleep a night, at most (it's a little pathetic, I know). With my head full of childish dreams and a heavily sleep deprived brain either one of two things happened 1.) The lack of sleep struck me so hard the borders between reality and my imagination ceased to be or 2.) My wildest dream finally came true.
I've been an avid runner my whole live, it dates back to the age of 7, but due to this, even with the extremely unhealthy amount of sleep I had been having, I still went out for a 6 mile run after my Digimon binge. This usually takes just over an hour to complete unless something weird happens.
While out on my run, I saw what appeared to be a tear in the sky, and some...thing was falling out of it, and then the tear closed up. The whole scene looked so familiar; I just couldn't put my finger on what it was. The curiosity inside me welled up so suddenly I hadn't even noticed that I had changed direction and was running straight for where I thought that thing landed. It only took a few long strides, but I was now at a full out sprint. My body became an orchestra of agony. My legs burning and screaming for more fuel, my lungs bulging and tearing at the inside of my chest trying to pull in more air, and my head was barking orders down my spinal column trying to calm down everything and get back the fuel my legs were so kindly stealing from it.
Minutes passed and after haphazardly taking turns, it hit me. I was lost. "I really don't need this," I muttered to myself. I anxiously tried to retrace my steps. "I turned left three streets back, right? Then a…right before that? Yeah that's got to be it." I was following my directions as soon as I thought of them, but every turn I made I became even more disorientated, nothing looked familiar. I stop, only for a moment, but my body takes the chance to call for a rest, and I collapse. "What the hell am I doing? Chasing something I saw fall from the sky that's what I'm doing. Now I'm talking to myself, and that ladies and gentleman, is how I know I've pushed my body way too far. Ha. Look at me addressing my imaginary audien..."
"Are you alright Jordan?" asked this strange sounding voice.
"AH! Holy hell!" I shouted back. There's a person behind me? How long have they been there? Please tell me they didn't hear me talking to myself. That would just complete this day, wouldn't it?
"Ah! Sorry I didn't mean to scare you," the voice came back with.
What is up with this person's voice? "D-d-don't apologize. I was so off in my own little world I didn't notice anyone was near me," I said trying to regain my wits.
"Do you want help up?"
"Uh…yeah sure. Get on my right side I've got a bum knee, it'll need the most…Jesus! What are you?" At this point I had finally opened my eyes and gained the confidence to look at the person who so graciously made my tail go between my legs. Once my eyes fell upon them, I was really glad I didn't have a tail because it would have been right back between my legs. My visitor, on the other hand, had quite a showy black and white striped tail, two of them in fact.
"Huh? Are you ok Jordan?" my complete and undivided attention was on this creature. It was no more the size of a football with four little legs you could barely see. It sort of looked a bit like a fox but yet not at all. Out of all this, the part I was most interested in was its fangs.
"How do you know my name? And what are you?"
"Don't you remember? You created me." It said this with an extremely friendly smile. At this point, I was so frozen with fear mashed together with bewilderment I blacked out, and that is the last thing I remember.
"Ahhh, everything aches," I sigh in pain. "Where am I?" I look around and see that I'm in what appears to be the middle of a forest. There is something unbelievably foreboding about this forest. Even the plant life looks like it would enjoy you as a snack. Where is that little fox-looking thing? Who am I kidding? It talked. There is no way it was real. "I would appreciate it if my psyche would stay in one piece," I sarcastically mumble to myself. But where am I? Last thing I remember I was talking to what I'm going to now assume was a football in the middle of Suburbia, Iowa. Now I'm in a forest?
The plant life around me suddenly starts moving. I'm not alone. "W-w-who's there?" I manage to squeak out.
"GAAHHHH!" it roars as it rockets out of the bushes. It is so fast I couldn't even tell you what color it is. All I can tell you is I'm terrified to wits end. "Hahaha! You should see your face Jordan! It is beyond priceless. It's just me, Erebosmon. You can pick your jaw up now." The figure has stopped moving now, and I can plainly see the football has returned.
"You can't be real! Oh dear God. I really am crazy," I squeeze out as a whimper.
"Haha you're so funny. Are all humans like you?" the football giggled.
"I'm probably laying in some random neighborhood right now, all stroked out. I really need to stop pushing myself so damn hard."
"Jordan? Joooorrdan? Are you listening to me?
"It's not real. No way, no how. I'll wake up any minute in a hospital bed I know it…." Everything falls silent for a while. Wait a minute... "The football is gone! I knew it wasn't rea…I'm still in the forest…why is this happening to me! I can't believe this. What am I going to…" I'm interrupted by what I can only tell is whimpering. I turn around to see the football curled up and is crying. "Hey…are, are you ok?"
"You don't like me. I'm so horrible you don't even believe I'm real!"
"Ok, let's say you are real. I wouldn't say I don't like you, but I don't even know what you are, so I'm not sure I like you either. So why don't we just start from the beginning? What did you say your name is again?
"…Erebosmon..." he whimpered.
"Erebos?" Isn't that Greek for something? Come one Jordan those nights at Greek School weren't just for show…Darkness! Darkness or Shadows that's what it means! Well that's a little eerie. "Wait! You said ErebosMON, right?"
"Yeah?"
"So that means…you're a digimon! It has to!"
"Well duh. Did you hit your head or something?"
"A ton, but that's beside the point. You're really a digimon?"
"Of course Jordan. Would I lie to you?"
"No way! This is going to sound weird but just bear with me. Bite me, not super hard, but hard. Got it?"
"You want me to bite you! Why?"
"Just do it! Please."
"Alright, I guess," almost immediately after saying that he flies forward and buries his teeth into my arm.
"AHHHH! Jesus! I said not super hard!" he releases but not before I start bleeding. "Ahh come on Ere. I don't need this!"
"I'm so sorry Jordan! You're so squishy…did you just call me Ere? What's that mean?"
"It doesn't mean anything. You said your name is Erebosmon. No offense, but that's kind of a mouthful, so I'll call you Ere. It's a nickname."
"A nickname? What's that?"
"Haha really? Just think of it as a term of endearment."
"So you like me? Really!"
"Well I'm either comatose, or I'm really bleeding. Now, if I'm really bleeding that means you are real. If you are real, then that means digimon are real! Oh my God. Come here!" I quickly reach over and pick up the little fox and just start hugging him.
"Jordan cough you're crus…cough crushing me!"
"Oh! Sorry, I'm just so excited. I've dreamed of this for so many years! Ah, look at you; I got blood all in your fur. Let's go clean you up. Do you know where some water is?"
"Do I!" The little fur ball explodes with excitement. "Follow me!" he sets off into the forest. He isn't really running but more skipping like a giddy little child, well, uh, fox.
"Wait! Ere come here," I pick him up and put him on my shoulder. His two tails wrap around my neck like scarf. "You know, you're extremely soft. Feel free to come up here whenever you want, you know, just saying."
"Haha ok," we set off. Perched on my shoulder, Ere leads the way. It doesn't take long until we were sitting at a quaint little creek.
"Alright, time to get down so I can clean you up," I say.
"Aw, do I have to?" Ere playfully cries.
"Haha, yes you do. Now come on," he reluctantly climbs down, but it's obvious he is still extremely happy. I start to cup water in my hand and dump it on him. It takes a little effort, but all the blood comes out. "There you go little guy. All cleaned up!" Now what do you want to…" BOOM! We are thrown back as the trees on the other side of the stream explode into a massive fireball, raining shrapnel of plants and wood all over us. "What the hell was that? Ere are you ok?"
"Yeah I think so. How are…" before he can finish he is interrupted by a most gruesome roar.
"Where are you human? I can smell you. Come out, and I promise I might let you keep one of your limbs, maybe," the not yet visible beast growls. It is covered in a veil of smoke. The smoke is so thick I can't even see the silhouette of this thing.
"Ere I sense I fight coming on. I'm still too new here for that. I think we better get far from here and quickly," I whisper.
"Are you sure? Cause I'm itching pretty bad for a fight."
"Yes! If I learned anything from the show is that I can lose you, and I really don't want that. So let's get going!" before we can set off there is another blast. This one isn't as bad as the last, but the forest is now ablaze. The smoke around the original blast has cleared, and we can see the one who started this, and what stands there is awe striking. It looks a bit like a T-rex, minus one huge difference, its left arm. It wasn't an arm at all or anything close to that. What is there instead was some sort of robotic cannon. It has a joint in it that resembles an elbow, but hoses and metal piping are coming out of its shoulder and chest attaching the cannon to this beast.
"That's Kindynomon! He's an Ultimate! We really do need to get out of here!" yelped Ere. After the initial shock wore off, I could see that he had no eyes, and I devised a plan.
"Ere listen closely," I whispered. "He can't see us, so let's move quickly, and he at least claims to have a good sense of smell, so we need to go through the creek to wash off our scents. Got it?"
"Yeah, but isn't the creek back in his direction?"
"I didn't say this plan was perfect did I! Now move!" We dash for the creek, and we don't go unnoticed.
"I can hear you!" roared Kindynomon. "You're getting closer? You aren't as smart as they say you are. This'll be easy!"
"Ere when we dive in, swim as far as you can underwater and follow me," I very urgently whisper. As I'm speaking I hear a low hum and it becomes louder and louder. I look over to see that the cannon that replaced Kindynomon's arm is charging, and it was glowing a very sinister red. "Dive in now Ere!" I yelled. We hit the water, and I hear the muffled explosion hit the earth above us. Oh dear God that was close. Did Ere make it? I look below me, and I see him. He's doing summersaults! He is ridiculous! We almost died, and he's just down there goofing around! Ahhh I can't be mad at him; he looks so happy.
We surface about 250 meters away from Kindynomon. He appears to be looking back and forth, searching for us. Ha! He is actually LOOKING around for us. You have no eyes! Irony, haha. "Let's get moving Ere. We don't want him to find us."