The night of the game, I only partially kept to my promise. I was going nowhere near the game, but I was still going to be on school grounds. I was wearing a dark blue hoodie that covered most of my face. It was the same colors as the team, so no one really paid attention to me as I made my way to the library. Just my luck, the librarian had his eyes glued to a screen in front of him. Probably watching the game himself since he was stuck here.
I told him I had a project due on Monday and I needed a stable internet connection in order to finish it. He barely said a word as I headed to the back of the library and found a spot where I couldn't be easily seen.
I took my laptop out of the bag and laid it out on the desk in front of me. A minute later I was connected to the school's network and watching Gazimon make one last check before we got this party started.
As it turned out, the laptop had plenty more programs besides the few I'd found. They had just been hidden among the files. It had taken a whole day's search to find a couple more, and Gazimon was convinced there was still more to find.
But for now, we'd be content with one of our bigger finds, video editing software. You see, while I was pretty sure I was in the moral right for doing this, the legal right was a bit murkier. And if the only video that got played was the one where I'd gotten beaten up, I'd be suspect number one.
But Coach K's PC had a couple of weeks' worth of video files in the trash. Files I'd somehow managed to fit onto the rebel drive and deliver to Gazimon's waiting claws. And if we instead played an edited video made up of a bunch of times people had been hurt under Coach K's watch… I'd still be suspect number one but I'd have an out.
"Okay, it's ready," Gazimon declared into my headset as she walked back into the digihome carrying a ring of pink and white light. Apparently, that was what raw data looked like. All she needed to do now was play it on the monitor. I sat back and watched Gazimon as she walked out into the net. Part of me wanted to join her, but it was better if I stayed out here. Plus I had a way to keep an eye on her.
My long furry ears twitched as I exited the digihome and walked out onto the laptop. It only took a few seconds to find the glass panel with the internet browser inside. I clicked it open with my free claw and watched as the glass panel spread out and became a portal. On the other side, I could see the metal tubes which made up the network.
I was ready, all I had to do now was wait for the last piece. A few seconds later, I heard something flying toward me. I looked up and spotted a small object flying toward me. It was made from a large red sphere of light in the center, with three smaller blue spheres flying around it.
"Satellite working okay?" I asked as the object came to a stop over my shoulder.
"I can hear you loud and clear," Gabi responded. The satellite was one of the many new programs we'd found. If it worked the way we thought it did, it would allow Gaby to keep an eye on me and even teleport me back to the laptop if the worst happened. What 'the worst' meant was still up in the air, but it was nice to know we had a back up plan.
"Then get ready for this," I smirked before jumping into the network, the satellite locked onto me and matching my motions. I feel roughly to the center of the tube before floating in place. I thought back to my exploration from a few days before turning to the right and flying towards the system which controlled the football field.
"So the internet really is a series of tubes," Gabi said from the satellite after a while. He sounded weirdly amused, "haven't thought about that meme in years."
"What are you even talking about?" I asked as I spotted a fork in the tube coming up. I leaned to the right as I got closer to my destination. Only a couple of turns left.
"Sorry. Old joke from a long time ago. I'll explain later if you want."
I nodded as we fell into a tense silence. I didn't need Gabi to tell me, but I knew he was taking advantage of social media to keep an eye on the game. The goal was to play the video right as half time was about to start.
"We're here," I came to a stop in front of a portal with the words 'football' printed above.
"And with plenty of time to spare," Gabi announced as I willed myself through the portal and came out the other side. I took a quick look around just to make sure we were in the right place. "Wow, you weren't kidding. This place really does look like an old coliseum."
Yeah we were in the right place. For whatever reason, the system controlling the school football field looked like what Gabi had called, 'a few thousand years out of date'. Not sure what he meant by that, but I liked it. The brown walls and the sandy pit felt pretty reminiscent of home. As long as I ignored the blank white sky above, it was pretty easy to lose myself here.
I had already written off any chance of going back there at this point. No matter how much I searched, I couldn't find any information on digimon on the internet. So the only way to get home would be to power on a random PC, hope that tears would appear inside, and hope that going through one would leave me anywhere near home.
The digital world was a huge place, and there were a lot of places that would kill me if I just stumbled into them. So now places like this would be the closest place to home. Maybe I would come back here another time and just relax.
But right now I had a job to do. I walked out of the entrance tunnel and stepped back as I spotted things moving on the sandy field. I moved up to the edge to get a better look.
"Are those the players?" Gabi asked from the satellite. On the sandy field were large blue holograms covered in armor, running around and throwing a ball at each other. They had a strange rhythm where they would all line up against each other, only for one of them to throw the ball, sending them scrambling. After a few seconds of that, they would line up again.
I pointed it out to Gabi, and the satellite was silent.
"Yeah, that's American Football all right," he finally said after a while, "now come on, let's get into position."
I nodded and started walking up the steps as the large screen flashed to life and the horns blared. I looked back down and spotted a bunch of the holograms celebrating together at one end of the stage. I guess they must have won or something. Gabi had refused to explain the rules of the game to me when I'd asked. In all honesty, I half suspected he had no idea either.
I fought back the urge to whistle as I watched the inside of the network through the satellite. The last thing I needed was to get in trouble for making noise. Not when we were so close.
The game was already nearing halftime. Gazimon would need to get to the control room soon. Fortunately, she'd already found it the other day. I watched as she made it to the top of the stairs where a metal door awaited. The command room was just on the other side.
Man this was weird. I probably could have handled this better if the system only looked like an old roman colosseum. But there were a whole bunch of strange little modern additions. Like a modern jumbotron, speaker system and main control room to handle it all. They weren't even hidden or decorated to match the theme, they were just out there in the open.
My only real option was to ignore it and move on. Instead of thinking about it, I watched as Gazimon reached for the door and froze. I waited a second to see if it was the connection, but I could still make out slight movements, like her twitching ears.
"Everything alright? I whispered as she slowly pointed toward another thing I was trying to ignore. Next to the door to the control room was a perfectly normal vending machine.
There was something I'd learned while exploring the internet these last few days. Unless you go out of your way to cause a lasting change in a location, it resets as soon as you leave it. Places like this were no exception. Everything should have been exactly like how I found it the first time I was here.
"Everything alright?" Gabi whispered as I pointed toward the vending machine. The one which had been fully stocked the last time I was here. The one that was now missing a bit of food from it. If something in here has already been altered, it could only mean one thing.
"There's something else in here with me," I whispered back as my ears picked up a footstep to my left.
Instinct took over as I jumped from whatever had just tried to hit me. I landed with a roll and got to my feet, claws up and ready to deal with whatever was coming after me.
Standing in front of me was something that must have been a digimon, even if it was one I'd never seen before.
They were wearing blue and red armor, with a face-concealing helmet that only let me see their glowing yellow eyes. They only wore it over the waist though. Their reptilian legs and tail were still there for all to see. But if I wanted to exploit that weakness, there was one last detail I would have to deal with.
The painful-looking wooden sword the digimon held like they knew what they were doing. A painful-looking sword that was pointed right at me.
"Begone foul virus," oh great, he was one of these types, "you will not interrupt this holy ceremony! I Kotemon, will protect it with my blade."
"What just because I'm a virus, doesn't mean I'm going to interrupt a ceremony." I paused as my eyes darted between the field, the control room, and the Kotemon. "Okay I am going to disrupt this one, but it's not because I'm a virus. It's because…"
Kotemon walked forward and swung before I could get another word out.
"Hot head!" I darted to the side again as the blade swung downwards.
"You said it not…," my words died as the wooden sword caught fire. If it had hit me, I didn't even want to imagine…
"Ha!" Kotemon brought their sword back up while I was distracted, getting me right in the chest. I flew to the side, rolling down the colosseum's seats, yelping in pain the whole way down.
I got on all fours and looked up to see Kotemon in the air, coming down at me with full speed. I ran forward just in time, Kotemon's sword crashing into the ground right behind me. I reached the stairs and ran up as fast as I could. Before I'd even made it halfway up, Kotemon appeared in front of me.
"How are you so fast?" I launched myself at him, holding my claws back as they started to glow. "Gazi Claw!"
I swung forward with all six of them, and was blocked in a single swing. Our eyes met and I just knew he could see the fear in mine.
"It's no use foul virus!" Kotemon swung down, catching my claws and smacking me down onto the ground. I groaned and slowly tilted my eyes up.
Kotemon was standing over me with their sword held over their head.
"Our battle ends here. Begone. Hot head!" This time he waited for his blade to catch on fire before swinging it.
I gripped the table with one hand, as my other shook above the 'R' key. All I'd need to do was press it and Gazimon would be safe and sound. And all it would cost would be my one shot at taking down Coach K and preventing my expulsion and eventual homelessness.
Halftime was almost done, and with how long it took to get to the field's systems the last time, there would be no way we could get to it again in time. Plus even if we did, this Kotemon jerk would still be in the way.
I winced as Kotemon caught Gazimon's claws and then winced again as she was slammed into the ground. Come on, there had to be a way. Bring Gazimon back, or leave her to fend for herself and hope she could win.
"Hot head!" My eyes widened as the sword caught fire again.
"No." I grit my teeth and whispered through them as I watched the screen. "I refuse to believe these are my only two options. There has to be something else I can do!"
A small spark of light caught my eyes. I glanced down and spotted the rebel drive glowing. A new window labeled 'PtoD converter' opened as the world went white.