Sep. 5, Heather Holland's Residence, King Junior Ave., Vancouver; Approaching Noon
Heather sat before her computer. There was an untouched plate of sandwiches on her desk, which her mother had carefully made for her, right down to cutting off the crust. She had the same app open on her computer as she did on her phone. It was a mix between a private messaging app and a social media platform.
"Man, he really is insane, isn't he? And he's coming to school with us in only two days?" a girl named Maggie texted to the group chat.
"Haha!" another girl, this one named Samantha, wrote. "T.B.H. I'm kind of worried. What if a crazy person like that is in one of my classes?"
"It does seem like there's a lot of… well, crazy people in our class this year," said a new person. This one's name, if her username was correct, was Leone D'Arc. "Like, there's Snow, and Luke, and now this Thorne kid? Like, we're a high-ranking public school, not an insane asylum."
"Guys…" Heather texted. "Maybe you're being a little harsh?"
"What are you on about?" Maggie asked, followed by a laughing face sticker to ensure she wasn't coming off to hard on her friend. "Ooh, are you crushing on this Thorne kid? But he's CRAZY!"
"I am NOT!" Heather texted, capitalizing the 'not'.
"L.O.L. she totally is," Samantha responded almost immediately.
"Heather, you should stop hanging out with him. He's probably going to get you into some sort of trouble," suggested the Leone girl.
Sam replied, "I agree. He seems like a danger to himself and others. Like, really? Other dimensions?"
Heather's fingers hovered over her keyboard. She knew she couldn't say he was actually right… the girls would think she was crazy too. Not to mention, it could be dangerous if that information became widespread. She looked down at her phone… There, right on her screen, was the app that proved that that other dimension really did exist… She stared down at her phone screen, hyper-focused on the green app thumbnail.
Sep. 5, Yomotsu Sector, PsykoWeb; Noon
"Whoa…" Thorne gasped, staring up at the sky. Now that there weren't as many buildings in the way, Thorne could see in the direction of downtown. And boy, was there a sight to see. Towering over everything else in the city, there was a ginormous arch… It looked like the poles holding up the arch were made of raw wood, while the top of the arch was a wooden cylinder wrapped in an enormous twine of rope, with tassels hanging down from it. Thorne wasn't quite sure from his vantage point, but it looked like it was at an angle,as if on a hill… or perhaps like one of the poles had sunken into the ground.
"Based on a quick search through internet databases, that appears to be a PsykoNet-influenced recreation of the Yomotsu Hirasaka arch in Shimane, Japan," explained Seven.
"It's absolutely massive!" Thorne shouted.
"Indeed… the Yomotsu Hirasaka arch in real-world Japan is much smaller," confirmed Seven.
"What's the deal with it, Seven?"
"Yomotsu Hirasaka is believed to be the entrance to the underworld in Japanese mythology," Seven explained. "It is commonly referenced in modern media, particularly that which is inspired by Japanese mythology."
"Hm…" Thorne put a finger up to his chin as he scrutinized what he could of the district-towering recreation. "Why's it here, then?"
"Unfortunately, information on PsykoWeb is much less easy to attain than that on Headquarters," Seven sighed. "PsykoWeb is largely unexplored by the staff who work on PsykoLink."
"Let's check it out for ourselves, then," Thorne nodded, then began walking onward. Seven followed at a consistent pace.
Several minutes passed. Thorne guessed it had probably been about an hour. "It's not getting any closer…" he panted.
"It is, I promise," Seven said. "However, you seem to underestimate the size of Vancouver."
"Sorry," Thorne panted, waving his hand lazily in front of him. "I'm new here. Are we really going to have to walk all this way every time we want to come here…? What if we go back to the real world and take a bus?"
"I'm not sure that would work…" Seven said in a worried tone. "I think it was pure luck that the portal took us so close to the equivalent of where we entered from. Unfortunately, we probably would have to walk the entire way to get back here."
"I… I need to sit down…" Thorne groaned, walking towards a PsykoNet-ified cafe.
"The interior of that cafe looks suspicious…" Seven noted.
Thorne took a second look at it. "You know, you're kinda right. It's all different colours from the blue scheme out here. Should we go in and check it out?"
"I could recommend it," Seven nodded. He and Thorne opened the door to the cafe. There were indeed bright colours inside.
"What's this?" Thorne asked. There was a small line of bright light on the wall. Thorne touched it with his hand.
Suddenly, the line of light opened up into a bizarre-looking portal!
"Whoa!" Thorne gasped, stumbling back. "What is that?"
"My sensors tell me that that is a portal," Seven explained. "They function somewhat similar to internet links."
"Oh, so if we go through it we'll end up somewhere else?" Thorne inquired.
"Indeed," Seven nodded.
"Well then let's try it!" Thorne said with conviction and jumped head-first into the PsykoWeb portal.
He came out the other side and regain his balance with a dramatic roll. The location looked familiar. In fact, he could see his house exactly. Or, at least, the PsykoNet-influenced version of it.
"Huh… we're back where we started," Thorne noted.
"It would appear so," Seven confirmed. "It appears we can use these portals to significantly shorten the time it takes to progress through PsykoWeb, only after we unlock them."
"I think it's about time I return to reality for now," Thorne admitted, rubbing the back of his hair.
"That is fair. Returning to reality…" Seven droned.
Sep. 5, Location Unverified; Time Unverified
A man appeared dark against the light of a myriad of holographic screens, facing away from the door where his female assistant waited, who was instead darkened by the light from the hallway.
"With the school year starting soon, I imagine many more distorted Headquarters will soon take form," the darkened man said in a deep, intimidating voice.
"I predict the same," the woman replied. "Teenagers in a school setting can't help but manipulate their image to get others to like them."
"It's the perfect opportunity to test our equipment, don't you think?" The man turned around in his chair, revealing a large, black visor that completely covered his eyes. It looked exactly like a VR Headset.
"I think you're precisely right, Boss!" the woman chuckled. "And nobody suspects any of this work is even happening under their noses." The woman stepped out of the blinding light of the hallway, to reveal she too was wearing a VR Headset-thing.
"How is the research into PsykoWeb going?" the Boss asked.
"It's… not really going all too well…" sighed the woman. "Shadows in PsykoWeb are of a different variety than we've seen before… We can't neutralize them using our current technology."
"That is indeed a problem…" Boss sighed, balling his fist in frustration. "Well then, get to it designing technology that can be used to neutralize them," he snarled.
"It's not completely without hope, sir," the woman said, turning up a slight smile. "One of our PsykoWeb cameras caught a disguised boy using a Persona to neutralize Shadows. The people watching the cameras even reported that they saw the boy turn one of the Shadows into a mere playing card!"
"A boy… using a Persona!?" Boss half-shouted, slamming his fist on the arm of his chair. "How did some random boy even get a hold of PsykoLink!?"
"I'm sorry, sir," the woman apologized, "but I don't have enough information on him to tell you that. However, a robot was spotted with him…"
"An Android, no doubt! Which one!?" Boss yelled, unabashedly angry now.
"Android 07, sir," the woman answered.
"The failed model… I thought we trashed it!?" Boss put a finger to his temple.
"I'm not really sure what to tell you, sir," sighed the woman. "We did trash it… I'm not sure how it was able to survive it… but we'll do our best to take care of the issue for you."
Sep. 5, Charles St., Vancouver; Mid-Afternoon
Thorne was comfortably back in his airy summer outfit, and also back on the familiar street in front of his home. However, he wasn't quite ready to go back inside yet… He checked his phone. There was a text from Heather! "Want me to show you to the sushi place I talked about?"
"Are you actually going to eat something?" Thorne texted back..
"I sent that an hour ago, Thorne," Heather responded. "Have you been dimension-hopping again?"
"N-no!" Thorne texted, trying to make it appear sarcastic even if his only tone was text.
"Well, at least you're safe," Heather replied. "I'm still down for sushi. I still haven't eaten."
"Sure, I don't wanna go home yet," Thorne replied. "What street?"
"It's kinda close to the school," Heather explained. "The street name is McMillis Ave."
"Seven," Thorne said aloud. "Take me to McMillis Ave."
"Would you like to go by foot, public transit, or car?" Seven asked.
"Public transit," Thorne replied.
"Take a right at the end of Charles St., then follow Skirting Lane to the nearest bus stop, and take it to the skytrain," Seven explained.
Sep. 5, Amaya Sushi, McMillis Ave., Vancouver; Late Afternoon
"You made it!" Heather waved.
"Hey!" Thorne waved, holding up his phone.
"Hello, Heather," his phone greeted.
"D-Did your phone just greet me?" Heather asked, slightly shocked.
"Oh, no, it's Seven," Thorne laughed. "He's staying in my phone while I'm in our world."
"O-oh…" Heather sounded. "Anyway, this is it, Amaya Sushi!"
"Cool!" Thorne acknowledged. "Shall we go inside?"
"You first," Heather offered.
"Oh, well, don't mind if I do," Thorne said as he entered.
The interior was rather calming and zen. There was a mini-waterfall right by the entrance. It was everything that he dreamed of in a sushi restaurant.
"Hi there," greeted the waitress. "Is everyone here? May I seat you?"
Thorne looked at the waitress. She was all too familiar. "Wait… Uh… Snow, was it?"
"Oh, I hardly recognized you," replied Snow. "Uh… what did you say your name was?"
"It's Thorne," he smiled.
Snow's smile slightly faded when she acknowledged Heather. "And you're with Heather, as always."
Thorne didn't seem to notice her unimpressed tone. "Yeah. We're friends. Oh, uh, Snow, you go to Goldhelm Secondary School, right?"
"Unfortunately," Snow joked. "Why?"
"That's where I'm going, too," Thorne admitted. "Maybe we'll get some classes together."
"Hey, wait, weren't you working at the Dollar Star, like, in the other half of town?" Heather asked.
"Yep, I was," Snow nodded. "However, it was just a summer job. School is starting now, so I'm working with my mother in her sushi restaurant."
"I see," Heather nodded. "Since it's closer to the school?"
"It is only a short walk from the school," Snow admitted, "but since my mom runs the place it also gives me the right to do homework instead of being constantly on the job."
"She really wants you working with her, huh?" Heather asked.
"It's… kind of a long story, but basically, yeah," Snow nodded. "May I show you to your seats, guys?"
"Please!" Thorne chimed in.
"Right this way."
