My apologies to any mistakes I've made (and my awful, awful title), as it has not been beta-ed. Comments can be made in that funny little white box below (especially if they involve a shiny, new title). ^_^
The Digidestined are in college, but as fate has it, they all end up at the same one. God help us all...
College Life
By Six
Izzy's Dream, Shattered in the Face of Reality
Getting into R. University had always been a dream of Izzy's. In his opinion, it was one of the top schools in the country, maybe even the nation. He'd go as far as to say that R. University was the best school. Ever. There, students studied hard and were diligent in their learning. They spent hours debating the global economy and various statistical theories. They discussed the masters of literature and art house hits. Nowhere on earth could compare to its hallowed halls of learning.
He spent all of high school studying fervently so that he would be accepted. His nights were spent in his lonely room, reading from textbooks by the light of the desk lamp and the weekends were whiled away with study trips to the library. He was lucky to squeeze in a few hours of Jubei-chan a day.
Sometimes he considered historical figures and mathematicians with theories that he learned to be his only friends. After all, they were the only ones helping him to get into the school. The day he got the crisp, white letter of acceptance from R.U. was the happiest day of Izzy's life. He almost collapsed in his room in idyllic splendor, satisfied to live out the rest of summer in the nothingness of sleep.
That is, until he found out that the rest of the gang got in, too.
"B-but how did you g-guys get in?" stammered Izzy unsteadily, "It took me two years to pass the admittance tests! And I took the practice tests in preparation, too! I mean I can see how Ken got in," Izzy glanced at Ken, who smiled back at him proudly, "but the rest of you... It's just insane!"
Tk smirked, "When you got it, you got it."
"Hard work and stuff, I guess?" said Kari, popping her gum and twirling a strand of hair around her finger.
"I have no social life, so I studied all the time. I might have never kissed a guy before, but I've already taken two years of calculus!" exclaimed Yolei, pushing her thick glasses up her nose. R. University had been a dream of hers, too.
Davis leaned back against the wall near Izzy's favorite Jubei-chan poster. Izzy looked towards him apprehensively, protectively looking out for his poster.
"Soccer scholarship," he said nonchalantly, "I wanted to get into the same school as Tai."
Davis tactfully decided not to mention that R.U. was not his first choice.
Izzy's eyes widened. He didn't even notice that Davis had slid closer to the poster.
"T-tai got in, too?" he sputtered incredulously.
"Oh yeah!" said Davis, his eyes sparkling, "Tai, Matt, Sora, Mimi, Joe... they're all there!"
Ken's eyes narrowed at the mention of the other guys. He didn't like Davis talking about guys who weren't him.
Izzy almost fainted. The idea that all those idiots had gotten into his ideal school was absurd... preposterous... laughable even. He wanted to cry.
He knelt down on the floor, clutching his knees and rocking back and forth. They weren't going to R. University. It was impossible! Davis walked over and crouched down next to Izzy worriedly, ripping a little corner of the poster accidentally on his way, and tried to calm him down by slapping him a few times. It proved ineffective. Izzy continued his thoughts. He must have imagined the conversation. Stress, right? He was still there when the rest of the gang quietly walked out of Izzy's room (Davis glancing back at the poster with trepidation. Izzy was going to be pissed when he found out!) and shut the door.
It was going to be one helluva four years.
On a scale of 1 to 10, College is Hell.
Izzy got up the next morning with a brighter outlook. So what if he had to go to the same school as all the other Digidestined? It may have still irked him that those idiots got into his school, but it wasn't like he was ever going to see them, anyways. All his classes were sure to be of a higher educational ability, insuring the fact that he would never have to be associated with any of them. What was Davis majoring in, anyways? Snack Cakes? He couldn't believe he had been so upset earlier. College was going to be perfect.
So the summer passed in peaceful oblivion and the day finally came when Izzy was ready to leave the comfort and ease of home for the studious life at the university. He carefully packed all his clothes, books, and Jubei-chan merchandise (including the torn poster, which had almost made him weep). Izzy kissed his mother and father (both of whom had misty eyes) goodbye, grabbed a couple Twinkies out of the kitchen, and was ready for anything college could throw at him. Or so he thought.
The moment he arrived on campus, Izzy knew he had badly underestimated how different reality was from his ideal school. It was chaos. People were everywhere; loud college students bustling to get their dorm assignments and course schedules, not caring who they had to step on or shove to get their way. Izzy, being vertically challenged, was having an especially hard time. He was thrust through the noisy crowd like a cat in a pretzel barrel.
College was hell.
Occasionally he saw other Digidestined, but was too embarrassed to ask for help from them. Davis passed by with Ken, going on and on about someone named Tom while Ken stared at him with the deathglare. Davis blissfully ignored it.
"And then Tom climbed really high up the tree and saved the kitten! He's so heroic. And then Tom..."
Izzy speculated how far he would have to climb and fall before his skull split open.
Awhile later, as the crowds pushed him back and forth in frenzy, Izzy caught sight of Tk, each arm around a girl he had never met before, as he talked to them about them visiting his dorm-room later.
"Thank god I don't have to live with him," thought Izzy, trying to get his footing. Kari and Mimi passed by, Kari taking notes on a stenographer's pad while Mimi ranted about the school colors not matching her fall wardrobe.
While making his way through the line for dorm assignments, the redhead glimpsed Tai and Matt, arguing about their microwave and some hair gel, and Sora following them and, from time to time, grabbing onto Tai's shirt, only to be shoved off violently by Matt. A couple of his computer club friends passed and Izzy took a moment to wave or talk to them before the crowd got control and he was pulled away again.
Oh yeah, college was hell.
Awhile later, Izzy was pushed into an awful situation. In front of him, in the way of the line, stood a pack of burly seniors. He had to make a choice. Either charge at them in hopes of squeezing through them, or wait until the crowed slammed him into them. Either way, things really sucked.
Izzy, in a moment of idiocy, got a running start. He headed for the seniors, running as fast as he could. He gained speed. He was on top of his game! He sped up, he was getting closer, and he... ran into Joe.
"JOE!" yelled Izzy. Finally, someone who could help him, someone who understands thought Izzy, inwardly sighing with relief. He and Joe fell from the same scholarly tree of assiduousness. Joe looked at the angry group of seniors, pushing his glasses up his nose.
"Alpha kappa pi!" cheered Joe, his hand raised in the air.
"Alpha kappa pi!" the seniors chanted back. Problem solved.
Joe smiled at Izzy triumphantly. Izzy started to rethink the whole "same tree" thing.
"Need some help?"
Still, he wasn't one to turn down assistance when he so badly needed it. With Joe's help, Izzy managed to get his class and dorm assignments fairly quickly (Joe seemed to know everyone in line and no one cared if they stepped ahead). As Izzy studied his class list, making sure everything was up to his standards, Joe grabbed his dorm assignment.
"Alright!" cheered Joe, reading the thin paper, "I'm your R.A.!"
Well, thought Izzy, it could be worse.
"Tai, Matt, Davis, Tk, Sora, Mimi, and Kari are all there, too! This is gonna be fucking awesome!" Joe said happily. Izzy blanched.
College was hell.
Into the Depths of Despair: A Journey to "The Lizard Lounge"
It could have been worse. Izzy looked around his dorm room while Joe leaned casually in the doorway. It was kind of small (just two beds (which of course meant a roommate), sets of drawers, desks with fun looking, spinny chairs, a couch, a closet, a semi-coffee table that had probably seen more keggers than the thirty year old guy who refuses to leave college and insists that he's still "hip", and a kitchen that wasn't really a kitchen) kind of dull (everything was the same shade of insipid blue), but his Jubei-chan posters, action figures (fully poseable) and wall scrolls would probably help to brighten it up. Jubei-chan made everything better! Izzy practically drooled.
It really could have been worse.
"Don't worry," said Joe, mistaking Izzy's entranced "Jubei-chan" face for one of mild disgust (a common mistake), "All the doors on the floor are opened when we party, so it's a lot bigger." He smiled comfortingly at Izzy. Izzy didn't find this news too comforting.
He started to unpack the bags that Joe had lugged upstairs for him. The redhead put his neatly folded, wrinkle-free clothes in one of the sets of drawers, his tidy stack of thick textbooks on one of the thin, wooden desks (blue ballpoint pens and #2 pencils were set next to them in a precise row), and the mass of Jubei-chan merchandise on the newly made-up bed.
"Joe? Do you have some thumbtacks or tape I can use to put up my posters?" The posters were essential to life.
Joe nodded, "I think so. Come on and we'll dig around." Izzy didn't want to know where they were going to have to "dig around". The pair walked down the hall, past several doors decorated with different marks of modern pop culture, to the door at the end.
"This is "The Lizard Lounge": my home for the past three years. Anytime you need something, don't hesitate to come on over. But you might want to knock first," said Joe, indicating to the door.
Izzy looked at him questioningly.
"Sometimes the Joester has lady friends in The Lounge.
Izzy felt a migraine coming on.
"Well," said Joe carelessly, his arm moving in a sweeping arc as he opened the door, "This is my room. Lets start digging around."
Izzy stepped inside, immediately being assaulted by the bright lights of at least three different disco style lamps only seen previously in bad seventies porno movies. The floor was littered with empty soda cans, half eaten bags of Cheetos, a mysterious stain on the blue carpeting, and a stack of dirty magazines piled next to a disheveled bed that Izzy refused to go near. In the corner of the room stood a tidy desk, papers and books neatly set on it. Apparently Joe found time in his busying schedule of partying and sordid acts to do his schoolwork. Izzy briefly noted that Joe's room was bigger than his. The fact that it was so messy on the first day didn't get by him, either.
"Uh... watch out for that spot on the floor there," Joe said nervously, "Matt and Tai got a little somethin' somethin' there last year." Izzy took a step away, running his eyes around other various objects of interest in the room while Joe rummaged through drawers and over his shelves.
"Hey! Check it out. I found the tape on the first try!" exclaimed Joe with amazement as he looked down at the roll of Scotch tape in his hand, "That's, like, the first time it's ever happened."
Somehow Izzy didn't doubt the truthfulness of Joe's words.
The blue haired R.A. handed the freshman the tape, his ever-present smile growing a little wider, "Must be a good omen for you, right?"
Izzy managed to smile back shakily, taking the tape from the so-called "responsible one".
If Joe was the Resident Advisor, Izzy began to wonder what his roommate would be like.
Help! Roommates are as bad as they say!
Eventually all Izzy's posters were put up (one was even on the outside of his door... he figured that he might as well try and fit in with the rest of the people around him) and all of his things unpacked. Joe had left an hour ago to "greet the lovely ladies" and since then Izzy had felt strangely alone. He sat down on his bed, staring at the clean floor in an attempt to entertain himself.
It only took two minutes before that got boring.
That's it, thought Izzy as he stood up, I'm going out there.
He had just got to the door and was reaching for the handle when it was flung open from the other side, slamming him in the nose.
"OWWW!!!" screamed Izzy, bringing his hand up to his face as he jumped around the room in pain. He managed to screw up his bed covers and knock over a stack of books and a lamp before he had calmed down and fell on the couch.
"What's your problem???" shrieked Izzy accusingly, "This is my room! Why the hell did you just burst in here like that???"
"Hey, this is my room, too," said a vaguely familiar voice. A voice Izzy had heard earlier that day. A voice that he had known for years and years: voice belonging to Tk. Sure enough, Izzy looked up, his nose still stinging, and caught sight of blonde hair covered by a dark blue knit hat with the number "69" on it. Definitely Tk.
"Is that you, Izzy?" asked Tk, glancing at the redhead questioningly.
"Yes it's me," said Izzy shortly. His nose still smarted.
"Alright!" said Tk, smiling and sitting down next to Izzy, "I was afraid I was going to have to room with some stick-shoved-up-his-ass, psycho, neat freak that I couldn't stand. It's great to know that I get to hang out with you all this year. And I can "introduce" you to a few of the girls on campus, if you know what I mean."
Tk nudged Izzy in the side a few times for emphasis.
"And here I thought I was going to get stuck with some sleazy, slacker idiot who was loud and completely overconfident," said Izzy sarcastically. The sarcasm was lost on Tk, who grinned and looked towards the door. Izzy became bothered by the fact that the blonde's bag had been thrown down on the floor, a few of its more "lively" contents spilling out onto the once neat floor. Suddenly Joe didn't seem so bad.
"Hey! You're all unpacked," noticed Tk, seeing all of Izzy's neat stacks and piles. "I might as well pull some stuff out, too. Gotta be ready for any last parties that spring up."
Izzy just stared. Tk began to take his things out of his bag, including his lucky beer bong and his stash.
"You don't mind if I put this in here, right man?" asked Tk, gesturing to Izzy's bottom desk drawer while holding a baggie.
"Actually, I'd rather that you..."
"Thanks, man. I 'preciate it, " Tk cut him off, sticking the bag in the drawer anyways. Getting up, Izzy began to look for some aspirin. That migraine was coming back. As Izzy swallowed down two little white pills (thankful that his overprotective mother had forced him to pack a bottle), Tk opened up the door and slapped a "Playas gotta play" sign on the door over Izzy's Jubei-chan poster. And it was the Bantaro one, too! Izzy loved Ban! Then, as if to really shove the knife further in a little further, Tk put a big dope sticker on the door, too.
"Gotta represent, right?" said Tk, "Now we're cool, chillah."
Izzy checked the bottle to see how long until the aspirin kicked in. Maybe he needed to take a couple more; like a handful. A knock on the now closed door brought his attention away from the tiny script. Reading it seemed to just make the headache worse. He was about to get up and open the door when it burst open (again!) and Matt and Tai strolled in, twin grins on their faces.
"Hey man, Joe told us you guys were in here, so we thought we'd come and chill or something," said Matt calmly, settling himself on the couch and perching a Mountain Dew on the armrest.
"R.U., R.U. horny?" asked Tai, flopping down next to Matt with a silly grin on his face. The two really made themselves at home.
"W-what?" sputtered Izzy, staring at Tai as he slung an arm around Matt.
"It's the proud motto of the R. University Hornets," he said simply, taking a drink out of Matt's soda. Tk squeezed onto the last space of the couch, between Tai and Izzy, making Izzy squish into the armrest uncomfortably.
"So what have you guys been up to?" asked Tai, taking another swig of the soda and pushing it back onto the armrest.
"Unpacking and stuff, I guess," responded Tk casually.
Matt looked at him, "Nah man! You don't have to do that shit for a while. Classes won't start for a couple of days, so you're just supposed to slack for a couple of days."
"Yeah," agreed Tai, "This is the best part of the school year!" Matt knocked over the soda while moving closer to Tai. Only Izzy noticed. He stared at the growing blue stain on the carpeting, his dread growing with each inch it spread. If this was a preview to what the rest of the school year was going to be like, Izzy wanted out!
"Well we'd better get going," said Matt, standing up and pulling Tai with him, "We've gotta go and say hi to everyone else, too."
The walked out of the room, standing closer than was probably necessary, and slammed the door on their way. A second later Tai's head popped back in.
"Welcome to hell!" he said cheerfully, slamming the door again as he disappeared.
Maybe it wasn't too late to transfer to an American school.
Author's Notes:
The reason I wrote this fic was because I wanted to have fun. One day I was sitting around and thought "Wouldn't it be fun to write about the Digidestined going to college?", and what do you know, I was right! So I just starting writing and found that I couldn't stop (...or I couldn't stop torturing poor Izzy)! So now I have this chapter and no future plot ideas or "grand scheme" of events. It's slightly maddening.
Also, I decided to have Izzy obsessed with the anime "Jubei-chan the Ninja Girl" because (to make a long, long story short) I decided that it appealed to geeky nerds like me. My apologies to non-nerdy geeks who like Jubei-chan.
Alrighty. Those are my notes (really informative *coughnotcough*) and that was my fic. Hopefully you liked the fic (I'm sure the notes could have used a bit of work ^_~)... With any luck (because I rely on luck to write), the next part (that's right, there'll be a next part. You can't stop me!) will be a bit better since it won't all be introduction... feel free to tell me what you think (because I have no idea what I think!), I'm always open to ideas. Especially anyones that involved Matt and Tai getting it on.