Do you wanna play the game 'Who's Life is Weirder'? I'll win. I may be just a sixteen year old girl from Seattle on the plane to Tokyo for a six-month exchange program. But just wait. I'll win.
Juniper looked out her plane window, trying to see if she could catch a glimpse of whatever they were flying over. But all she could see were wispy clouds strewn about the azure sky, like cotton balls that were pulled apart. Juniper's reverie was interrupted by a soft dinging sound. Her bright blue eyes darted up to look at the yellow light flashing above her. The stewardess came over the intercom and announced, "We're approaching our destination. Please return to your seats and buckle your seatbelts."
The young girl pushed a strand of butterscotch blonde hair behind her ear and turned to look at the other teenager sitting next to her. The boy sat with his eyes closed and wearing large headphones, which had dishevelled his blood red hair.
"Riley," Juniper whispered. The boy didn't stir. She softly nudged his arm to get his attention. Riley slowly opened one eye in annoyance to look at her, sliding his headphones around his neck.
"What?" he barked. Juniper winced at his tone, but she hoped he didn't notice.
"The light to put on our seatbelts came on; I think we're almost there."
"Mm-kay," Riley grumbled, reaching for his headphones once more.
"Riley?" Juniper called again. He rolled his eyes, deciding to forget about being able to listen to his music again. That sound in her voice meant she was going to talk for a long time.
"Do you really hate doing this because you just don't want to, or you don't want to with me?" she asked with melancholy eyes.
Riley chose to play the "dumb" card. "Doing what?"
"Going to Japan," she replied.
"Well, I'm here, aren't I?"
"But everything was finalized before—" Juniper cut herself off. She and Riley decided to both spend a year in Japan together on an exchange program with their school, back when they were together.
Riley's piercing orange eyes softened a little.
"Look, I know this can be awkward sometimes, but try not to worry about it. We'll be staying with different families, and we'll probably go to different schools. Tokyo's a big city. Maybe we won't have to see each other at all," he told her.
"That's true," Juniper said quietly and turned back to her window. She silently buckled her seat then pressed her cheek against the glass. She noticed that she could make out tiny buildings through the clouds. Out of habit, she fondled the gold necklace she always wore around her neck. It was a very simple necklace; just a gold chain with a flat gold disc pendant hanging down. Juniper's dad had brought it back for her from a business trip in India.
Riley was still watching her, surprised that she didn't reply with some nasty remark, which is what she would've done. He just shrugged and putting his headphones on once more, closed his eyes.
Within fifteen minutes their plane had landed in the Tokyo Airport, and Juniper and Riley were soon rolling their suitcases down the hallway to the lobby of the airport, where they were supposed to meet their host families. Juniper was staying with the Takenouchi family; they had a young girl her age. Riley's hosts were the Ishidas, and they too had a son the same age. Juniper searched through the crowd of people already waiting for their loved ones to get off the plane. She stood on her tiptoes to glance over the heads of people around them, when she spotted a large sign saying 'Welcome to Tokyo Juniper!'
"Over there!" Juniper exclaimed and pointed to the sign. She grabbed her suitcase and began to make her way over to her host family.
"You go ahead, I think I found my family over here," Riley told her and left in the opposite direction.
Juniper stopped to watch him go. No 'good bye', no 'see you later'…it was so hard for Juniper to get used to this side of Riley. Sometimes she couldn't believe that he had even loved her. She thought about what Riley had said on the plane…about how they probably won't see each other that often. A wave of enlightenment came over Juniper as she decided that maybe she could use this opportunity to finally get over him. Out of sight, out of mind, right? Maybe this would do her good after all.
Now a bit more hopeful, Juniper continued towards her host family. Under the sign she saw a pretty young girl with short ginger hair standing next to her mother, who looked very sophisticated. Both of them were smiling widely as they saw Juniper approach.
"Hello!" Juniper greeted with enthusiasm and turned to hug the girl and the woman.
"Konnichiwa!" the girl said as they embraced. "I'm Sora."
"And you can call me Ms. Takenouchi. So nice to meet you, Juniper," the woman said.
"Did you have a nice flight?" Sora asked Juniper.
"It was very long and tiring, but everything went smoothly," Juniper replied. She turned around to look for Riley through the crowd to make sure he found his family. She spotted him talking to a very handsome boy with long blond hair. Suddenly, Juniper dreaded the thought of leaving Riley. She wanted him with her so they could go through this experience together. That was how they had initially planned it so long ago. This could be the last time she saw Riley for a while…
"I bet you're exhausted, Juniper. Do you want to go straight to our house so you can take a nap and then we'll have dinner?" Ms. Takenouchi suggested. Juniper turned to her and nodded with a wistful smile.
"Is something wrong?" Sora asked, noticing Juniper's expression.
"Nah, just jetlagged, I guess," Juniper responded.
Sora and Juniper were sitting together at the dining table chatting away as they waited for Ms. Takenouchi to finish up dinner. They had prepared a traditional Japanese meal especially for Juniper. She could smell the steamed rice and sauces coming from the kitchen. It smelled more crisp and fresh than Japanese food from restaurants in America. Juniper's stomach growled noisily as she realized she was starving. Sora giggled at the sound of Juniper's stomach.
"I'm so glad you chose to come to Japan. You're going to love it here!" said Sora.
"I hope so. I'm nervous about school, though. My Japanese isn't extremely good."
"What are you talking about? Your Japanese is amazing! I mean, you do have a couple of grammar mistakes here and there, but that's understandable. Do a lot of people speak Japanese where you live?"
"Well, in Seattle there is a large population of Japanese and Chinese, so those languages are popular to learn in school."
"Dinner is served!" Ms. Takenouchi called as she pushed through the swinging kitchen door with a plate of steaming hot dumplings in her hands. Sora got up to help her bring in the rest of the food.
"Here are some chopsticks, dear. If you have trouble with those, we have forks and knives in the kitchen as well," Ms. Takenouchi said.
"Thanks. There are hundreds of Japanese restaurants in Seattle, so I'm almost a professional," Juniper joked. But her smile faded as once again her attention drifted to Riley. She wondered what he was doing right now.
Once Sora had finished setting up the table, the girls dug in. Juniper quickly filled her plate with anything that would fit.
Halfway through the meal, Juniper heard a strange beeping sound coming from one of the rooms.
"Sora, what is that?" her mother asked in an annoyed tone. Sora suddenly looked very concerned as she listened to the beeping.
"Um…I don't know…let me go check the computer…" she said and quickly got up from the table. Juniper didn't think it was anything to worry about, but ten minutes had passed and Sora had not returned.
"Sora, honey, is everything all right?" Ms. Takenouchi called into Sora's room.
"Yeah, Mom, there's just something wrong with my computer," she yelled back.
"I'm going to go see if she needs help. I'm pretty good with computers," Juniper told Ms. Takenouchi and excused herself from the table.
When Juniper entered Sora's room, she found her sitting at her computer desk on her cell phone.
"Yeah…just get here as soon as possible. And spread the word. I think we need everyone here," Sora said in a hushed voice. Just as she hung up she turned around and jumped when she saw Juniper at the doorway.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Juniper apologized.
"No, that's okay. A bunch of my friends are coming over later, but if you're too tired to deal with remembering names, feel free to go to bed. It's no big deal. There will be plenty of other chances to meet them, and they'll understand if you just want to sleep," Sora explained.
Juniper thought for a moment. "Actually, is that really okay? I think I need to hit the sack soon. It's been such a long day, and I don't want to seem boring or rude if I stay up and look sleepy when I meet your friends. They're not coming over just to see me, are they?"
"Oh, no, they're here to…just don't worry about it, it's totally fine," Sora reassured her.
"Alright, thanks. I think I'll finish up dinner and then get ready for bed."
About an hour later, Juniper was in the guest room unpacking her suitcase when she heard the doorbell ring. She poked her head out and watched as Sora went to answer the door. Her eyes widened as eight people piled in! Was Sora planning on having a party? But something abruptly caught Juniper's eye. One of the last people to enter was a boy with long blond hair…and behind him…she felt her heart jump. Riley was here! Juniper couldn't believe it. The guy Riley was staying with was friends with Sora!
Juniper walked over to them to introduce herself. But also to see the look of surprise on Riley's face when he saw her.
"Everyone, this is Juniper. She's the exchange student from America who's staying with me," Sora announced to her friends. "And this is Tai," she said, pointing to a boy with rather large brown hair. "That's Mimi and Joe," Sora continued as she motioned to a girl with pink hair and a tall boy with blue hair and glasses. Izzy was the shorter one with reddish brown hair, Kari was Tai's younger sister, and T.K. and Matt were the two blond brothers.
"Juniper, have you met Riley? He's an exchange student, too, living with Matt and T.K.! And you're both American! What a coincidence!"
Riley stared at Juniper, not moving or speaking.
"We won't see each other at all is right," Juniper said quietly, trying to make it sound like it was an amusing comment, but it didn't come out as planned.
"Yeah…," Riley mumbled back.
The group looked at the two Americans with confused expressions. It was completely silent for a moment.
"We know each other from school," Juniper informed them, finally breaking her stare.
"Wow, that's wonderful!" Mimi exclaimed. Riley was suddenly interested in his shoes.
"You guys can go hang out in Juniper's room if you want…the rest of us are working on a school project," Sora said with a nervous smile.
"It's nothing special, just boring stuff," Tai spoke up.
Juniper nodded, but she thought she could detect a strange anxiousness coming from everyone. She couldn't put her finger on it, but something didn't feel right.
The eight kids scuffled into Sora's bedroom and closed the door. Juniper and Riley were left in the hallway alone. Riley was still looking at the ground.
"Do you have any idea what's going on?" Juniper whispered, trying to break the silence, but she was also curious as to what was really happening with Sora and everyone else.
"What do you mean?" Riley asked.
"Don't you think it's strange…all of those people coming here to work on a school project? I heard Sora on the phone and she sounded like there was a problem. And it's still summer! School doesn't start for a week. What could they possibly be working on?"
"I don't know; schools are different in Japan. Maybe they had summer homework or something."
"Well, I don't buy it," Juniper said stubbornly, crossing her arms.
Loud voices started to seep through Sora's door.
"How is that possible?"
"I haven't heard anything from Agumon!"
"We defeated Apocalymon years ago!"
"What do you think is going on now?"
Juniper looked up at Riley. "Does that sound like schoolwork to you?" she asked skeptically. Riley frowned but moved closer to the door. Juniper pressed her ear against it.
"This is eavesdropping…" Riley muttered through gritted teeth. Juniper shushed him.
"We have to return to the DigiWorld."
"But how?"
"Did Biyomon give you any instructions when she just contacted you, Sora?"
"It was a strange message…she just spoke in rhyme! I remember her saying 'The gate will emerge when day and night converge'. I can't figure out the meaning…there was more but I can't remember. It was like she wasn't even speaking to me…it seemed as if something was controlling her. She just wasn't herself."
"What the hell are they talking about?" Riley asked. But Juniper was too busy staring at the gold chain around her neck, the pendant disc. Almost in a trance, her fingers drifted closer to the necklace.
"They keep saying 'mon' at the end of every word. What the heck? What kind of people have we—Juniper what are you doing?" Riley said as he turned to look at Juniper. She was standing perfectly straight and motionless, staring into space; her hand ready to grasp the pendant.
The tips of her fingers brushed against the metal, and suddenly a blinding light shot from underneath Sora's door.
"What the—?" Riley yelped and jumped back from the door. It swung open to reveal all eight kids surrounding the computer in Sora's room. The burning light was blasting from her computer screen, and it was so bright everyone had to shield their eyes with their arms.
Juniper blinked and shook her head, falling from her trance. Tai had turned to the doorway and saw Juniper and Riley gazing with frightened looks. He didn't know what to do. The light was still so intense he couldn't think straight.
A voice floated through the beam like the sound of chiming bells.
"I'm afraid we need the help of the DigiDestined once again. Here are your DigiVice," rang the bodiless voice. Eight meteor-like objects flew from the computer monitor and into the hands of their previous owners.
"But eight might not be enough. Two more DigiDestined have been chosen. With them, you will be invincible," the voice continued. Two meteors again emerged from the computer and floated towards Juniper and Riley.
The eight DigiDestined all turned to look where the meteors had landed.
Juniper gaped at the tiny contraption that had dropped into her hand. Riley had one, too. Neither of them had any idea what to do. This had to be a dream…
"I don't believe it…" Sora murmured as she watched them.
"They're the…new DigiDestined," Izzy finished.
The dazzling white light instantly changed into a vivid aurora. It formed a vortex; and Juniper felt her body being dragged in. She couldn't fight it—the force was too strong. She screamed as she tumbled into the vacuum and she thought she could see the other kids falling beside her. Her stomach jostled violently as she fell faster and faster into the seemingly bottomless hole.
Where…am I?
Juniper slowly opened her eyes. Her body was pressed against something hard and uncomfortable. After awhile she realized she was lying face down on the ground. Juniper got up hastily to study her surroundings more.
It seemed she was in the clearing of a very dense forest. She had never seen these kinds of trees before. With a horrible feeling in her stomach, Juniper grasped that she was completely alone. She twisted her head frenziedly; searching for someone to be between the trees. No one was there.
"Riley?" she called timidly. There was a rustle in some distant bushes.
"Riley?!" Juniper yelled with more hope. The sound of the rustling grew louder, but there was no answer. Juniper quickly started to panic. What if that wasn't Riley? What if that wasn't anyone she knew? What if something was hunting her? She stood frozen in the middle of the clearing, frantically searching for somewhere to hide. Whatever was in the forest was getting closer…
Juniper closed her eyes and grabbed the necklace in her fist. Whenever she was scared or nervous she would hold on to it. It always helped her think. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked again at the giant tree with the huge trunk. As quickly as she could, Juniper ran behind the tree before whatever was coming for her got to the clearing.
She leaned her back against the tree, breathing heavily. The rustling had stopped. Maybe they had reached the clearing. Meekly, Juniper strained her neck to take a glimpse of what was behind her. But nothing was there. Juniper sighed with relief. She turned back around.
"Hello!" said the creature standing at her feet.
"AHHHHHHH!" Juniper screamed and started running again.
"Wait! Come back!" yelled the thing. Juniper looked back as she ran. The thing was bouncing after her like a kangaroo, except the thing didn't have feet. It looked like a cat's head with a tail. And it had a gold earring on its left ear…and two purple markings on its cheeks. What kind of animal was this??
"Hey! Watch out for the—" yelled the creature, but it was too late. Juniper ran smack into the low hanging tree branch and fell over.
Once again, Juniper was lying on the ground.
"Ouch…" she mumbled, rubbing her forehead.
"Are you okay?" the blob asked, finally catching up. Juniper sat up and crawled a couple feet away from the thing.
"What are you?" Juniper demanded. The creature sighed.
"They didn't tell you?"
"Who tell me what?" she spat, still clutching her head.
"My name is Konekomon. I'm a Digimon."
"That's what Sora and everyone were talking about…" Juniper said half to herself as everything was becoming clearer.
"Yes, and you're my partner, Juniper. You're the new DigiDestined."
"Hey! How do you know my name? And what do you mean partner?"
"This is going to take a long time to explain…" Konekomon started.
"Oh, well, if it's going to take too long, don't bother," Juniper said sarcastically. The Digimon stared blankly at her.
"Yes, explaining would be great," she rephrased.
"Alright. First of all, you're in the DigiWorld, or Digital World, whichever you prefer. It's an alternate universe from your planet Earth. And this whole place is inhabited by Digimon, which means Digital Monster," Konekomon explained.
"Then why am I here?"
"You're one of the DigiDestined. I'm your Digimon partner. I need you to make me stronger, and I need to be strong to fight the new evil in the DigiWorld. There's some kind of strange unknown force that's destroying everything."
"Wait—you need me to help save the world?"
"Yes. In fact, you've been chosen. This is random by no means. Just like all the other DigiDestined you met."
"All of Sora's friends are DigiDestined?"
"Yep, and so is your friend Riley. All of them are here, too."
"They are?! Where are they?" Juniper struggled to her feet, forgetting about her injury.
"I don't know exactly where, but I can lead you out of this forest."
"Then let's go!" Juniper said excitedly.
The Digimon began hopping away and Juniper followed closely behind. After about five minutes of running past the trees, the Digimon halted abruptly. Her tail was standing straight up and her eyes had narrowed.
"What is it?" Juniper asked.
"There's another Digimon here…"
"Is that bad?"
Konekomon turned to face her partner. "Not all Digimon are good, Juniper."
"What do we do?" she whispered, getting more and more frightened by the second.
"Get down," Konekomon replied.
Juniper crouched behind a bush. They heard a twig snap, and footsteps. Juniper gasped and subconsciously pulled the Digimon closer to her.
"Juniper, is that you?"
"Riley?" Juniper breathed. She immediately jumped up. Riley was standing before her, but he wasn't alone. The boy was carrying a tiny Digimon under his arm. It looked like the head of an orange tiger cub, and it too had a tail and an earring, but on it's right ear. Riley looked at Konekomon by Juniper's feet.
"You have one, too?" he asked.
"Yeah, this is Konekomon. Is that one yours?"
Riley set the tiger head down. "This is Tsumemon. But I still have no idea what's going on."
"We'll get into more details later," Tsumemon spoke up.
"Right now it's important we find the others, before we actually do run into a not-so-friendly Digimon," Konekomon added. Riley and Juniper looked at each other. Words weren't necessary. They seemed to mutually agree that they were either out of their minds, dreaming, or there was some small possibility that this was really happening.
An ear-piercing screech erupted from the trees a few meters away. They could hear trees being torn down, and the screeching continued.
"What's happening?!" Juniper shrieked. A huge red beetle-like Digimon came into view as it flew above the treetops, and like an eclipse it blocked the sunlight shining above them.
"That's Kuwagumon! An Insectoid Digimon!" Tsumemon yelled over the Digimon's screeching.
"He's huge!" Riley shouted.
"We have to fight him!" Konekomon said to Tsumemon. Tsumemon nodded.
"Wait! You can't! You're so tiny! He'll squish you!" Juniper pleaded with her Digimon, scooping Konekomon up in her arms. Kuwagumon was getting ready to land next to them. Konekomon wriggled free from her partner and bounded towards the giant Digimon.
"Bubble Blast!" Konekomon shouted. A powerful gust of wind burst from the mouth of the tiny Digimon. Juniper would have been impressed if Kuwagumon hadn't looked like he didn't feel anything.
"Bubble Blast!" Tsumemon used the same attack. Kuwagumon swatted at them with his claws like they were flies. Tsumemon dodged his swinging pincher, but Konekomon wasn't so lucky. She was hit and flew into the trunk of a tree.
"No! Konekomon!" Juniper screamed, running to the aid of her Digimon. She was lying still on the ground and looked unconscious.
"Juniper, watch out!" Riley called after her. Juniper looked back too late, and Kuwagumon grabbed her in his claw, lifting her high into the air. She tried to fight free, but the monster's grip was too strong.
"Tsumemon, do something!" Riley yelled. Tsumemon tried his Bubble Blast again, but it was no good.
"Pepper Breath!"
A flaming ball of fire tore through the trees and hit Kuwagumon right between the eyes. The Digimon let out a different screech, this one sounded like he was in pain. Everyone looked to see where this new attack had come from. Tai came running through the trees with an orange dinosaur at his side.
"Hold on, Juniper!" he called up to her. "Agumon, keep using Pepper Breath. Aim for his stomach this time!"
Agumon fired again, following Tai's instructions. When the fire hit its mark, Kuwagumon keeled over, letting out another screech of agony. Juniper screamed as well.
"He's tightening his grip on her!" Riley said to Tai. Tai scrunched up his eyebrows.
"We need a distraction. If Agumon keeps hurting him he's going to break her in half," Tai said.
Still on the ground, Konekomon had regained consciousness. As her blurred vision became clearer, she saw that Juniper had been captured by Kuwagumon.
"No!" she shouted. "Juniper! I'll save you!" Konekomon got up but knew that her Bubble Blast wouldn't do anything. Oh no, what I am supposed to do? I need to be strong for Juniper!
A beam shot from the DigiVice in Juniper's pocket as she was still in the grasp of Kuwagumon, enveloping Konekomon in a rainbow light.
"She's DigiVolving!" Tai shouted excitedly.
"Konekomon, DigiVolve to…Nekomon!"
The cute little kitten head had grown into what looked like a black cat, but the size of a big dog. The gold earring was still on her left ear, as were the two purple markings under her eyes. But this Digimon looked a lot more menacing. Nekomon bared her sharp teeth and hissed at Kuwagumon. Leaning back on her hind legs, her eyes narrowed and with a single swift movement, she launched herself towards the beetle. Nekomon landed on the arm that held Juniper. Kuwagumon noticed and violently thrashed its arms, trying to throw Nekomon off. But the cat had dug her claws into his skin, and she slowly began crawling towards the wrist. When she reached her destination, she opened her jaw wide and plunged her teeth into the Digimon.
With a horrifying scream of agony, Kuwagumon released Juniper.
"Juniper!" Nekomon yelled as she helplessly watched her fall towards the ground. She prepared herself for the sound of Juniper's neck breaking when she hit the bottom, but to her relief Tai had acted quickly and ran to catch her in his arms. The two of them tumbled over. Nekomon jumped down from Kuwagumon to see if she was alright.
Juniper was sitting on top of Tai's stomach, looking very dazed.
"Juniper! Are you okay?" Riley said, rushing to her side.
"Yeah…what happened? I thought I fell about fifty feet!"
"I tried to catch you," mumbled a voice from under her. Juniper looked down.
"Oh! I'm so sorry!" she apologized, getting off of him.
"That's okay. I'm just glad you're not hurt."
"Thanks for breaking my fall," she giggled. Tai laughed with her as she helped him up.
"Um, guys," Riley said impatiently, "we still have a problem."
"Pepper Breath!" Agumon used his fire attack on Kuwagumon's stomach again.
"Claws of Fury!" Nekomon joined him. She was swiping Kabukimon at his leg, but so quickly you could barely see her paw moving.
Kuwagumon lost his balance from the force of their attacks and stumbled backwards. Agumon and Nekomon attacked him again, and with a ground-trembling thud he fell over. For a moment, he didn't move at all, and then suddenly he shattered into millions of pieces and floated away.
Riley and Juniper were rooted to their spots.
"Is he…dead?" Riley finally asked.
"Not technically dead. He will be reborn. But yeah, he's gone," Tai told them.
"Nekomon! Nekomon! You did it!" Juniper said happily as she ran towards her partner. Nekomon jumped into her arms and Juniper almost fell over like Kuwagumon, but she kept her balance.
"Thanks for helping me DigiVolve," Nekomon said into Juniper's shoulder.
"No, thank you for saving my life."
"No problem."
Juniper looked up to see Tai watching. She gave him a warm smile before he quickly turned away.
"Good work, Agumon. Now let's go meet everyone else," Tai said. Everyone nodded in agreement and followed Tai and Agumon out of the forest.
Well, I made it through my first adventure in the DigiWorld. Hopefully it's the last, too. And hopefully I'll be getting some answers. Like why I'm here. And what's destroying the DigiWorld. And when I can go home. See what I mean? Your life can't be any weirder than this. I win.