Chapter 2: It Must Be a Mistake
You ran down the sidewalk as fast as you safely could with so much snow on the ground. "Late, late, late!" you chanted to yourself. "Stupid snow made me late!"
The first load had almost melted away when suddenly a storm raced through and dumped another two feet onto the city. For a while there you'd literally been snowed into your house and classes had been canceled until Friday - today. But the city buses were still having trouble arriving on time; they were often fifteen or twenty minutes late.
You raced across the crosswalk as soon as the light flashed on, and arrived at the dining hall shortly after. Standing next to a gigantic snowdrift, shivering in the wind, was Junpei. He had a lonely expression on, but it vanished as soon as you came into view.
"There you are!" he yelled. "I thought you forgot - OOF!"
You had run right into him - to show affection, of course. He stumbled back a step but you were the one who went down on your butt.
"OW!" you shouted.
"That'll teach you to challenge me, lightweight!" You took Junpei's hand, which hovered by your shoulder, and stood up. You wiped some snow from your backside and gave him a stern glare in response to his grin.
"One of these days I'll sneak up behind you," you growled.
"You still won't knock me down," he bragged.
The two of you went inside to eat, needing intense fuel for the history report you both had due in a week. When you were done, you headed for the library, arguing the whole time.
"Now that I've eaten, I bet I can knock you over," you announced. You got ready to charge.
Junpei laughed. "No way! I ate more than you did!"
"We got the same thing, you baka!" you yelled. Something about being around him made you louder for no reason.
"Yeah, but my cheeseburger was bigger!"
"Was not!"
"Was too!"
You were in the library then, so you lowered your fight to a whisper. It was way less impressive though. You traded 'was-not's and 'was-too's while waiting for the elevator.
You rode to the top floor where you could be loud again, since no-one ever went up there.
"Was too!"
"Was not!"
"It was and my cookie was bigger too!" Junpei yelled.
You didn't reply except by making a loud noise and shoving him. The shove failed miserably and he got you in a headlock.
"Lemmee go!" you shouted.
Surprisingly he did, and you stomped off to an end table. "Let's just get the stupid project done!" you huffed.
"Fine, fine." You flicked Junpei a suspicious glance. He was being weird.
An hour later, your brain was fried and your bladder was full. "Be right back," you told Junpei. He just grunted - he was in the middle of thinking.
While you were drying your hands, you felt your pocket buzz. You looked down in surprise - your phone was in your pocket for a change. You pulled it out and flipped it open.
"'Do you want to start?'" you read. "'Yes or no.'"
Your automatic response was to think 'start what?' but you clicked 'yes'. Something told you this was important.
There was a flash and another text arrived. 'Take the elevator down,' was all it said.
You hesitated. Something was happening to you, something unusual. Things like this didn't happen to you. Maybe it was a mistake?
You stared at yourself in the mirror as you thought. You decided.
"I've clicked 'yes'. I'll give it a shot," you mumbled. "But what do I tell Junpei?"
Nothing, as it turned out. He was gone, but the stuff was still there.
"Huh," you said. Then you guessed maybe he'd had to go too. Well, you'd go down and come back up fast so he wouldn't notice that you had gone anywhere.
There were two elevators. One was at the second floor at the moment. The other was at the basement. You got on the first when it arrived for you and automatically reached for the buttons. Then you paused. The text hadn't said what floor to go to.
Suddenly the buttons blinked in rapid sequence and the elevator started moving. It went down, gathering speed until it felt like you were riding in your mom's car. It shot past the lower floors and into the basement levels. Then, before you could panic, it went below the basement. The digital readout displayed only a zero.
You began to suspect that 'yes' had been the wrong answer.
The elevator suddenly stopped and you grabbed onto the railing so you wouldn't fall. The doors opened and you stared out into a huge room with train tracks and tunnels. On one set of tracks, a train was waiting.
Your phone buzzed and you jumped. You'd forgotten it was in your hand.
You flipped it open, but this time a man's voice came out. "Please take the train to the Forest Terminal. You'll receive instructions there."
You were probably in shock, you later decided. That's why you got on instead of turning around like a smart person would. The tunnel was dark but the train had lights. It looked nice.
There was a sudden bump and you nearly dropped your phone. Then, when it changed into something else, you did drop it.
"The hell is that?!" you yelped.
"Your D-Tector," the man in the phone - er, D-Tector - said. "Keep it safe."
You poked it. It didn't burn, shock, or bite you. You picked it back up.
It was pretty. Your phone had been black and silver, but this thing was green and gold. A little screen was glowing on the front.
"My ringtones had better still be in there," you growled, but your voice was unsteady.
After a few minutes of train-travel, you arrived at a train station. It was big, but the trees around it were like skyscrapers. For a while you just gawked up at them like an idiot.
Then you remembered you had to go somewhere. There was a staircase in the biggest tree. You shrugged to yourself. That looked as likely as anything else.
You climbed. And climbed. And climbed. Then you rested before climbing some more.
When you finally got to the castle at the top, you were just glad it didn't have more stairs. Then you noticed the creatures waiting in front of it and you knew that 'yes' had definitely been the wrong answer.
There were two angels and a - a bunny? You gave it a long look and, yeah, it was a pink bunny. Weird.
The male angel, whose gray armor reminded you of a soup can, stepped forward. "She's here," he said. It was the voice from your phone.
"This one?" the bunny said. Its voice was freakishly deep for a white and pink thing, even one that big. "You're sure, Seraphimon?"
"She received a D-Tector," the male angel answered.
"Then she must be the one," the female angel said. Her outfit was so awesome, you couldn't think of a comparison to describe it.
"Question!" you said, raising a hand.
The three looked startled. "Yes?" Seraphimon asked.
"Is this really happening, or am I going crazy again?" you asked anxiously.
"Again?" the female angel murmured.
"This is the most real thing that has ever happened," Seraphimon answered.
You made the 'okay' sign. "Just making sure."
"You should take this seriously!" the bunny boomed. It was scary when it looked mad so you went quiet. "Are you really sure, Seraphimon?!"
"… Yes." He sounded more uncertain now.
"I'll explain it to her," the female angel said as she moved towards you.
"Ophanimon," Seraphimon began to say.
"We need her to understand if we want our world to be saved again," Ophanimon interrupted. "I'll handle it."
Ophanimon led you off and you were glad to get away from that bunny. It was beginning to freak you out.
"Don't mind Cherubimon," she told you. "He's not as mean as he acts."
Now you were really confused. "That bunny's a cherub?"
Ophanimon laughed. "Yes, but don't let him hear you call him a bunny. He doesn't like that."
"Got it," you said and made a mental note in bold red letters. "So, you were going to tell me why I'm here?"
Ophanimon turned serious. "Evil is threatening our world again. Something is corrupting the data of Digimon and of the Digital World itself. Seraphimon, Cherubimon, and I have tried to find it, but whatever is causing this chaos is hiding between the worlds where we can't reach it.
"Meanwhile, permanent damage is occurring all over the world. We've reactivated the spirits of the legendary warriors and we summoned you to find the spirit of Dramon."
"Dramon?" you asked, fascinated.
Ophanimon smiled. "Dramon is the Human Spirit of Souls. Her ancient warrior form is called the Creator and Destroyer. She created the Digital World and will eventually destroy it. She's the only one who can repair the damaged data."
"Coooool…" you said.
"Unfortunately, no one knows where her spirit is," Ophanimon admitted.
"That's never stopped me from looking before!" you yelled excitedly. "Where should I start?"
"No one knows," Ophanimon reminded you.
"Oh, yeah…" You thought about that.
"Just follow your instincts and your D-Tector," Ophanimon suggested. "Good luck."
