Ah!!! The house is finally clean, so for the next two days until the relatives get here, it's just me, the compu, a Frappuccino, mandarin oranges, somoas, and peaches. Gaw, could I be more in heaven? *pictures 2 anime guys and one real guy, you can probably guess who, next to her* yes, but only in my dreams!!
denotes internet speech. It goes back and forth unless otherwise noted.
Biggest Dreamer
Kat skipped happily down the stairs, beeping the phone in her hand off as she jumped nearly halfway across the room, landing grinning in the recliner and throwing her arms behind her head as she turned sideways. "Yes!" she squealed, still not believing the news one of her friends had given her only minutes before. She flipped the TV and VCR on, turning it onto her recording of the previous weekend's Tamers episode… "Ranting in the streets, screaming hooray, I'm too romance high, to be of use anyway! My fave characters kiss, fanfics all beckon, I just hope they don't go to far and put a chicken on Tai's head," she sang to herself, rather loudly, as the tape rewound. "Taiora, Takari, and Jenki all the way. Oh what fun it is to be an otaku everyday, yea! S&S, Twerpshipping, myself with Willis, too. I'll only be romance high enough to make Demi squeal ew…" she grinned, going back over the new information in her mind as she giggled at all the Jenki evidence in the latest episode, noting it on the back of a drawing she was working on. As the TV continued, she glanced up at the clock… 9… to late to still be up when she'd woken up at 4 that morning, again. She nuzzled her head into the chair, pressed play, and mumbled something to herself about 'narrator Davis' needing to shut up…
"How do you know Davis?"
"Dah!! Willis!!" Kat shook her head and sat up from the chair, looking around frantically. "Who?!"
"Davis. I thought you just said that he needed to shut up…"
"Oh… I don't know, I must have been dreaming…" She glanced around, scanning her tapes for something to watch. The clock read 9:10, and there was an episode of Yu-gi-oh running on her tape. Completely normal for all she knew. Imemon was sitting, staring intently at the TV and randomly turning into miniatures of the monsters that appeared, Lopmon and Terriermon asleep on the sofa nearby. "But… I don't remember anything… Who is Davis, if you know him?"
"One of the Digidestined from Japan. Maybe you can meet them sometime," he smiled, sitting on the floor with his back against the couch. "Alright, forget this, there's presents to wrap, and I, like all the guys in your family, need help with such! I guess I belong in your family, ne?"
Kat blushed and glanced over at him with an evil glare. "Eh, maybe someday. Nice, traditional style Japanese house in Parker, you, me, our four kids, my best friends next door, animetion studio down the street…" she teased.
"Sounds fine to me…"
"Wh-what? Why?"
"Because I found the mistletoe," he smirked back.
**********
Kat sighed and rolled over, thus falling out of the recliner and waking up. Her mind shot between the dream and reality… she'd rolled off the couch and declared she was going to sleep, and then she woke up… but that wasn't what really caught her attention… how did her brain know what that was supposed to be like? She'd never even gotten asked out, only danced with someone once… "Too many PG13 stories… dang you, logan and Erina… you've got me addicted." She looked at the clock, and suddenly realized she'd promised the last chapter of Happy Holidays would be out by Christmas… she had an hour and a half. "Yo, dad! Internet!" she called, more as a statement than question as she whipped her main Zip disk (#4 of 7… so far…) out of her vest pocket and typed in the password for Pamejo47. The familiar tones of the modem buzzed as she impatiently tapped her finger against the w key and held her other hand poised to click the http box. www.f is all it took for fanfiction.net to load, she logged in, and watched as IMs appeared suddenly on her screen, mostly junk… but Chocomarshmallow, on the other hand, she wanted to talk to.
::pounce:: Ly!!! Merry Christmas, honey ^_^
§pounced§ DR, hey! Yes, merry merry.
Was that sarcasm Lyra deary?
No, not at all. The only thing sarcastic about me right now is that I *love* being expected to be wrapping paper girl the entire male population of my family.
Ah. Lovely. Ooo new story by you. Makes me feal all fuzzy inside…
You're drunk again, aren't you hubby?
No… just too much cider. How do you know me so well?
I'm 'married' to you, aren't I? Now I gotta go… wrapping duty beckons. Don't drink to much, and keep Demi away from the Dimsum.
But it's not alchoholic…
she's still on as Dimsumbrat and §don't_eat_me§
oh… ok, bye Ly… luv u.
love you too DR. *smooch* baibai
Kat sighed and signed off. That's what her love life and romance was limited to, wasn't it? Being I-married to a random nearly 18 year old guy on the other side of the country. A 'Digimon' online, at that. DarkRenamon. Which explained why a girl known as DemiJen and Kat's irl friend Adrie both called her mommy and claimed to be half Digimon. Life was complicated… but horrid. That's why her dreams were doing this to her, wasn't it? Because her real love life sucked to the point that she had no choice but to live one in her dreams to be the slightest amount similar to her friends. Because the one guy she liked in life… well, no matter how many hints she dropped directly on Eric's toes, he'd never get it, and Alan was a completely lost hope what with 2 1/2 years being gone. Her life was quite possibly the most messed up one short of being legally insane.
She sighed as she finished writing 'to Bri, from Santa' on about a dozen more packages. She then snatched up her disk again and went back to a picture she had been working on. She laughed as she looked again at the simple picture, a scene from the future of her and the other "Twerpettes'" story Eeveelutional. A Flareon with a hat on her head, Ember, nuzzled a small Eevee, Soara, who was staring vacantly into space. Ember was trying to avoid laughing at a Jadeon, who Kat had designed about a year earlier only to learn the week before that it looked exactly like a Jagamon, who was sneaking as he sat near a Breezeon by the name of Soarcerer. "Ah, what'sa matter? Big tough Jadeon is allergic to feathers," she giggled, carefully putting in the shading on Soarcerer's wings. It was a simple action, but in this life it was about the only thing that kept Kat going… drawing, writing, talking to her friends… But the last of those actions wasn't that comforting to her, because though they claimed otherwise she knew the majority of them were annoyed to heck of her. Maybe it really *was* just her imagination, but… she had a severe fear of being rejected. Ok, so she was paranoid, but bad things happened to people once she got too close to them. At least the next day was Christmas… she knew she wouldn't have anything good the next morning… her list had been almost purley anime, and her parents had made it very clear she wasn't getting any anime stuff from them this year.
She clicked the save button, and then exited the program and collapsed into bed in the next room… It was too much. Life was too much. She better dang well get reviews on that story, after the number of people asking for it… she was actually starting to feel useful, and though she wasn't about to admit it publicly, it was only those reviews keeping her alive at that moment. She at least knew Kaitlyn and Tommy liked it, she'd let them pre-read it… "Too much. Willis, get me out of here…" she sighed, staring at the picture of the boy and his Gargomon on the wall, before rolling over and pulling the sleeping bag over her head.
*********
Kat ran her fingers over the strings of her new guitar. She'd gotten it, a new vest, and a Japanese cook book, and that was about it… her aunt's husband, whom no one in the family really liked, had even gotten twice as much as her. And it wasn't expense wise, either… She'd been with her parents to see the guitar, and it hadn't even been $200. Jim had gotten a PS2, for goodness sakes! It was also fairly depressing to her, because not much had happened in her dreams that night because of how much of the day she'd been through with naps. But what about today… she thought slowly, smiling and turning on her new Aaron Carter CD, the one thing on her list she actually had gotten. She leaned back in the chair, hugging her guitar to her and letting herself go to sleep.
"Hey, sleepyhead! Time to stop trying to become a rockstar in your dreams, and maybe pay attention to reality!"
"Huh what?! No way, I *will* become famous!" Kat shot back, clutching the deep green instrument to herself and glaring at Willis playfully.
"You've only been watching tapes," he observed, noting the Sailor Moon movie she was watching. "But if we turn actual TV on…" he pressed the power button on the VCR remote, leaving a news broadcast on. Images of black towers in several locations around the world came on the screen.
"What… Are those?"
"The others e-mailed me, saying that they were something called Control Spires. There's one downtown here, which means other Digimon will probably invade. You- you have the right type of Digivice to open Digi-ports, so, I told them not to send anyone here. We can manage on our own, and chances are good that there are others around the city who can help too," he held up his own Digivice, demonstrating it's difference from hers.
Kat stared straight ahead at the TV, flashing images that seemed familiar. Oh so familiar. Yet she couldn't remember a single one… she put her hand to her head slowly, grasping her temples, as she felt herself start to pass out. "Kat?!" Willis and Imemon shouted in alarm, as she fell, unconscious, to the floor.
With a moan she rolled over and rubbed her head. She'd fallen out of her chair and hit it, after she'd fallen asleep. On the TV behind her she could hear a commercial during her taped episode… an ad for the Digimon Christmas special… and as she heard Takato's familiar "This is no game of chance" line, she sighed in relief, switching everything off and heading upstairs to her room. It was all, too… bizarre. Her mom was right, she'd overdosed on Digimon, and was letting it take over her life. Digimon real? The World Tour happening? Yeah, right. Only if she was incredibly lucky. She glanced around her surprisingly clean room, and, upon realizing that her sleeping bag was at the cleaners, she threw back the covers and collapsed into bed, utterly confused.
**********
She awoke that afternoon to see Willis leaning, half-asleep, against the doorway, a worried expression on his face. Imemon stirred suddenly from her place by Kat's head, squealing suddenly in delight as she realized her Tamer was finally awake. Willis looked up at the noise, and came over and sat at the foot of Kat's bed, staring at her for a moment, not sure what to expect. The look on his face was that of having seen a ghost. "I… didn't tell your parents that you passed out. It would have caused a lot of explaining… You're alright, ne?" she nodded slowly in response, sitting up and scooting down the bed so she was sitting beside Willis.
"It's all so… familiar. Like I've seen it all happen before, but… I can't remember…" she sighed, leaning against him as he pulled her to him.
"I guess… you chose the other path…"
"Huh?"
"Do you think… that this place, that you're in right now, that we're in, is reality? For you, at least. Or is it just something that could have happened had you taken a different path?" he asked slowly.
"I… don't know. I wasn't like this, until just recently. I never fell asleep suddenly, didn't get headaches and pass out… I think I did once, for about a week in 5th grade, but that… was so long ago… I can't remember even vague details about my life, Willis. It's… a blur…"
"Have you ever had a dream that you were somewhere else? Somewhere where Digimon weren't real, just a TV show or something like that, and this was nothing but a dream world?"
"I… I don't know. I feel like I have, but…" she paused, and started crying. "I'm so confused… I never get confused like this…"
Willis sighed, regretting what he was about to put the girl through but knowing it was necessary. "Kat… Was there a night, 8 years ago, or an afternoon 4 years ago, where you made a choice?"
"Like what?"
"You saw something, or your computer went insane, or something and you just ignored it? You chose to go back to bed and forget it ever happened? Or you just shrugged and went to work on something other than the internet?" he said slowly, remembering both his own choices, and that he'd caused one of them to begin with.
"Yes, I did. 8 years ago, Jeremy ran outside to see what was in the sky… and I was to afraid that my parents would find me out of my room at 3 in the morning. 4 years ago… The computers shut down, after displaying some weird message… Alan sat there, trying to get the computer to reboot… and I… I don't know what I did. I thought I helped him, yet something tells me I went across the hall into the library. It's… blank, which I did," she admitted, sitting up sharply and staring at the wall.
"Your destiny was decided that day… but only your spirits. From what I, and a couple of the others have figured out… The decision that we each made on that day, whichever of the two days or even both that it was, was so important, that for each and every one of us a new reality opened up that day. There are two universes, co-existing, that are the same universe, Kat. One of those is this one, where Digimon exist and we're Digidestined. The other one, which I think you actually belong in, and I've been before in a dream… they don't. There's two versions of every one of us, but only one of those two have any ability…"
"So why haven't I always come here, in my… dreams?"
"You chose the other path, Kat. You chose not to venture further, you never got a Digimon. Only a version of you did. Me, I chose this path, and have a Digimon. I was needed once, though, in the other reality, and was taken there in my sleep. It's the same for you, now, only in reverse…"
"I still don't understand…"
"Just go back to sleep, and when you wake up back home, it'll all be clear…" Willis sighed and heard a sudden noise. Though the tone was low and unbothersome to him, he quickly realized the Digimon must be hearing something else in it, as Imemon scrunched up and his own pressed their huge ears tight against their heads. "Only I'm afraid that might have to wait…"
Once again, people, don't ask me how I come up with this stuff. I honestly don't know. What I do know, is that I'm addicted to ActiveWorlds now and that Terriermon is kawaii when he's sleeping with his ears for a blanket. ^_^ Review please! Ja ne to heiwa!! ^_~ Ai Lyra-chan