Chapter 1:The Season of Change

Somewhere in the Northeastern United States…

October, 2032…

Jack Tidwell…

How many mornings have I started like this? Just… staring at myself in the bathroom mirror. My reflection staring back at me with tired and vacant eyes like a ghost. It wasn't because I was a narcissist I can tell you that much. I wasn't much to look at quite frankly. Some could call me moderately attractive, I call it painfully average. My red hair was semi long with a fringe that covered my right eye. Said eyes were a pale emerald color. Attached to this face was a slender body that was just shy of unhealthily skinny.

I had about an hour before I needed to head to school. I was still in a plain gray t-shirt and plaid pajama pants. "HouseTek, what's the weather like today?" I asked. A small black box in the corner of the room came to life with a blue light.

"Today's temperature is currently 32 degrees Fahrenheit with highs of at least 43, expect cloudy skies with 0.7 percent chances of showers," Spoke a pleasant sounding robotic female voice.

A typical cold October morning, dark and dreary but not rainy. I should dress warmly today.

"Do you need anything else?" asked the AI.

"No," I said flatly.

"Acknowledged, thank you for using HouseTek™, a division of Syncro Technologies!"

Mom just had the HouseTek AI installed last week. Everyone had one nowadays but mom's been struggling with finances lately so it came as a shock when she came home with one. Still, it was simpler than looking up the weather on my phone.

I left the bathroom and entered my room. It was slightly messy as usual. The walls had posters of various rock bands and video games I liked. In the corner sat a gaming PC rig I had gotten for Christmas two years ago. It was a respectable machine but it wasn't going to drop any jaws. Attached to it was my SyncroGear Icarus VR Headset. Its' piano black shell slightly glimmered in the early morning light.

I'd love to dive into a VRRPG right now and get lost in a fantasy world but right now the real one needs my attention more. Mom wasn't going to let me skip school for something so frivolous after all.

Instead, I went to the dresser and picked out my outfit for the day. I kept today's weather forecast in mind as I picked each part of my outfit. A black long sleeve shirt and plain blue jeans. I'd wear a hoodie over it when I headed out. I shoved my phone in my pocket and, with a big sigh, I left my room.

Our house was a simple one floor and two bedroom kind of house. It was just me and mom so it wasn't like we needed much more than that. A ping of sadness hit my chest as I remembered the circumstances that led to such a state. But I cast it aside for now. I needed to try to keep my thoughts positive.

I entered the kitchen to find mom already awake in a simple red nightgown. Her long red hair was a mess. Which told me she had only just woken up. The cup of coffee in her hand all but confirmed this.

"Mornin'," I greeted.

"Mornin'," she greeted back.

I was never really much of a breakfast person. Eating so soon after waking up always felt so weirdly icky to me. But I know mom would give me an earful if I didn't at least put something in my belly before heading out. I grabbed a small cereal bar from its box. Small and quick, absolutely perfect.

"Would you believe how quickly the seasons changed?" Mom suddenly said. I turned to see her staring out the kitchen window. "The leaves are already changing," she commented.

"It's October, mom," I pointed out.

"I know, but it's early October," she corrected me.

I unwrapped the cereal bar's packaging. "Still October," I insisted before taking a bite.

Mom sighed. "So, anything interesting happen at school?" she asked me, trying to engage in some small talk.

"No," I answered simply.

I managed to catch a small frown from my mom before she forced it into a smile. "Jack, remember what we talked about on your first day of school this year?" she asked me.

Oh god, here we go. "I'll get around to it," I said.

"You always say that but you never actually do it," she said. "I understand that after what happened with your father you have a hard time trusting people, but no man is an island," she lectured me.

I really didn't want to have this conversation, especially not this early in the morning. I hoped staying quiet would get her to drop it. But of course, I was never that lucky.

"I worry about you," mom said. "You hide yourself in your room every night when you should be out with friends, living your life," she explained. "You're a wonderful young man full of love and kindness, I wish you'd let the rest of the world see that,"

I leaned myself against the kitchen counter. I knew deep down she was right. But socialization wasn't something that came to me as easily as it did other people. There was comfort in that shell I dwell in. "I have my whole life to make friends, mom," I said.

Mom strolled over to me, placing a gentle hand on my cheek. "Just promise me you'll try talking to someone before the year ends, okay?" she asked me.

"Mom," I sighed.

"Just one," she insisted. "I don't want you to graduate high school with regrets," she added before lightly kissing me on the cheek. "Now, you should start heading out, don't want to be late,"

With a nod and a simple exchange of I love yous, I put on my green Celtics hoodie and began my long trek to school.

The school was in walking distance from my house so I never had to brave the dreaded school bus like most kids. I mean… not since I started high school at least. Just thinking of all those awkward bus rides with loud constant chatter and judgmental faces made my anxiety spike a little.

But they were only memories so it didn't last too long. All there was today was the gentle sounds of the autumn wilderness and the occasional passing car. Living in the country was probably the best thing for someone like me. Nice, quiet, and always familiar. As much as the world had changed between my childhood and now, there was a simple comfort in the familiar.

Like that stop sign who's right corner was kinda bent. Or that old pile of rust vaguely in the shape of a tow truck that was tucked a little bit into the woods across the road from where I was walking. This little corner of paradise seemed forever frozen in time, unaffected by the ceaseless march of technology.

Don't get me wrong. I'm no technology hating Luddite or anything like that. I just… like some things in life to stay the same… that's all.

But of course, the serine countryside had to give way to civilization eventually. No one puts a school in the middle of the woods after all. Not as far as I know at least. The town I lived in was kind of small, it barely even met the requirements for being called a "town". There were some stores, a few gas stations, a Chinese food restaurant, and the random Dollar General that just sort of appeared one day.

This was always the hardest part of the trip, especially on days like this when the weather was nice. Because… well… I wasn't the only one out here on an early morning constitutional.

"Mornin'," greeted a passing jogger.

I tried to return his greeting but it got caught in my throat like it always did. This was what constituted human interaction for me. This was also why it was so hard for me to make friends like my mom wanted me to. I just… every time I try to talk to someone new I always get so jumbled and anxious. I get this sensation in my chest I've dubbed "the ice ball". Named as such because it felt like I had an ice ball in my chest every time my anxiety got bad enough.

It's been like this since I was eight and almost ten years hadn't made it any easier for me. The worst part is I wasn't even sure why I found talking to people so difficult. It's not like I was antisocial or hated my fellow man. I just… get intimidated by them I guess. God, I'm hopeless aren't I?

Brushing aside that bit of self loathing, I found myself at the front entrance to the high school campus. Jefferson High School, home of the Crimson Dragons. It was a small school built in the late sixties and boy did it ever look the part.

It was a plain looking brick building with plain windows. The pillars at the front entrance had been painted red last year which gave the building some much needed color. A simple log fence separated the sports fields from the parking lot. The wood having rotted and faded from possibly decades worth of neglect. I think someone actually broke one of them trying to sit on it once.

From the parking lot you could see the fenced off football field complete with yellow goal posts. It seemed the football field was the only part of this school that got regular maintenance but that was to be expected considering our football team was one of the best in the state.

From where I was standing I could see a sea of students waiting to be let in. They were all gathered in little clusters, friend groups most likely. Despite my social anxieties I couldn't help but feel a bit lonely looking at them all. If only I had the courage to actually put myself out there.

I remembered what mom told me, that I needed to at least try to make friends by the end of the school year. There was no verbal promise attached to it, but it still felt every bit as binding as any other promise. I tried to force myself to talk to someone but my feet stayed firmly planted on the ground.

"What if they didn't like me?"

"What if I say something stupid?"

"I'll just freeze up and embarrass myself again,"

The ice ball comes back, and I decide to put off trying to socialize until I'm mentally ready. No need to force it, right? Do it at your own pace. Upon deciding this, the ice ball melts and my mind settles down.

With a ring of the bell everyone funnels into the school to begin the day. I was still unsure how I was going to meet mom's challenge. I mean, I had the whole remainder of the school year to try to make a connection with one of my fellow humans.

But still, I'd hate to have that hanging over me for that long. But what can I do? Every time I even think about it I overthink it and get cold feet. As I walk down the halls I overhear some of the conversations people are having. Mostly about weekend plans, the hottest gossip, the result of last week's homecoming game, and other typical high school conversations.

One conversation I did overhear though, kinda holds my interest for a little bit.

"Did you hear Digimon World Online is going Free to Play?"

I stop dead in my tracks. I knew Digimon World Online by reputation alone. It seemingly came out of nowhere and became the number one VRMMO on SyncroGear. Everyone was playing it, even people who'd normally never even thought about touching a VRMMO.

Three boys were discussing the topic. A rather portly young man with thick glasses and scraggly blonde hair, a rather lanky boy with long brunette hair, and a redhead with crutches.

"Found out about it on an IGN Twitter post last night," said the blonde. "SyncroSoft is expecting a massive flood of new players tonight,"

"Man, the servers are gonna be packed!" said the red head.

"You still gonna log on tonight?" asked the brunette.

"Well, yeah, I still gotta train up my Leomon! I'm just a few points away," the red head said.

And the conversation kept going from there but I decided I shouldn't stand in the middle of the hallway while everyone is trying to move through them. Digimon World Online is going free to play tonight… I don't know why I cared so much, I wasn't exactly the multiplayer type. I preferred my RPGs single player, tactical, and story rich. But yet… I dunno… if I wanted to meet people… it was a lot easier online than in reality… I think.

Nah, that's a dumb idea. If I were gonna make friends, it needed to be in flesh and blood reality, not in cyberspace.

I was suddenly pulled from my thoughts by someone tapping on my shoulder. A spiky haired young man named Brad Wench. The notorious class clown. "Hey, Jack," he greeted me. "My friend Bobby's having trouble with his locker, you think you can give him a hand?" he asked me.

I should probably be suspicious, Brad wasn't exactly the most trustworthy kid in school. But at the same time, I knew if I were in Bobby's situation, I'd want someone to help me out. So I wordlessly agreed and Brad led me to Bobby's locker.

He was trying to pull it open with his hand as another one of Brad's friends watched. "He entered his combination but the locker door is jammed," Brad explained. Bobby stood to the side and I went to try to open it. At first I was surprised it opened so easily… but I quickly found out why.

I yelped in surprise as the skeleton fell on top of me and, in my surprise, I lost my footing and fell hard on the linoleum floor. I could hear laughter coming from behind me. "Oh man! That was priceless!" laughed Brad.

I then realized the skeleton that currently laid limply on my body was made of plastic. It even had "Made in China'' printed on the crown of the skull. They probably got it from one of the science classrooms! Annoyed, I violently tossed it aside as it made plastic clacking noises against the floor.

I turned to see all three boys laughing and giving each other high fives. I should have known they were setting me up for a prank. Why else would they come to me for help? I wasn't exactly the strongest looking kid in school. "Did you see his face when the skeleton came out, dude? Priceless!" laughed Brad before he turned to one of his goons. "Please tell me you got that!" he said.

Oh right, I forgot about that. Brad apparently runs a prank channel on YouTube. Which meant… oh god… no. Please tell me he didn't-

"Yup! I got the whole thing, dude!" confirmed his friend.

My blood ran cold and my anxiety kicked into overdrive. Millions of people were gonna see that! If I thought my chances of making friends were bad before… now? Now it was hopeless! I might as well find a hole to dig myself into and live there for the rest of my existence.

"Oh man, that scream he made! Dude it's gonna go viral!" said another of Brad's dumb friends.

My only hope is if that dumb video gets washed away completely by the sea of other videos on YouTube. I mean… prank videos aren't even that popular anymore, right? Oh who am I kidding… it's gonna get thousands of views.

With a sad sigh, I tried to pick myself off the floor but my hand slipped out from under me and I hit the ground again. Another wave of laughter came from everyone around me. "Man! You should have kept recording, dude!" Brad said while laughing his spiky haired ass off.

I hate you Brad… I hate you with all of my hate.

Meanwhile…

Smith's Diner, American Northwest…

Carly Smith…

I hate this place.

I hate being forced to work here because I can't find another job in town willing to hire someone fresh out of high school. I hate how old and redneck this place always felt, but most of all, I hated what it represented.

This diner has been in my family since the 1950's and was basically the birth right of the eldest child. In our family, that was me. My parents were pretty much dead set on me taking this stupid place over once dad retired. But in case my tone didn't tell you already, I really don't want this dump. It barely made any money, it attracted the absolute worst white trash the American Northwest had to offer, and I had dreams of my own.

As I got on my uniform, ready to start my shift, I took a flier out of my hoodie pocket. It was for an armature snowboarding contest to be held next month. If I could win this contest and get myself an actual sponsor, I could leave this garbage heap behind and finally commit myself full time to snowboarding.

But, that day was not today. No, today I had to save up my money so I could afford the entry fee. With a sigh I put on my uniform. A black and white baseball tee with the diner's logo on my left pectoral and a white apron tied around the waist. I looked at myself in the busted and crusty old mirror. I looked about how I felt right now. My shoulder length brown hair was a mess, the bad lighting of the back room made it hard to tell I dyed my tips blue. My blue eyes looked tired.

After that I punched in, ready to waste another day in this place.

As I entered the main diner I was met with the familiar sights of faded wooden walls, red leather seats with plain glossy tables. Neon signs with the logos of local sports teams and beer companies littered the walls. The same droning country music played over the speakers.

There were already a few customers here, mostly truckers stopping here for a quick meal before heading back on their routes. But this place was never that busy, especially this early in the day.

I fished a small notepad out of my apron and started taking people's orders. Making sure to jot down each one as clearly as possible before bringing the orders to the cooks.

"Good morning, Carly," greeted one of them. A young man of Korean descent that had been hired here a few days after I started here. He was about my age, decent build, his raven black hair long and normally straight but currently held in place by a hair net. Travis Kwan was his name, and he was about the only person here that I could have a decent conversation with.

"Good as it can be in this place," I said dryly.

"Better not let your folks hear that," he warned me "Last time I thought for sure they'd put your head through a wall," he said with a laugh.

I tried to return the laugh, but could only muster a small chortle. "Well, hopefully I won't have to work here much longer," I said.

"Me either," Travis said, "I'm hoping my band's next gig will get us signed to a label," he said. Travis was in a metal band, "Nexus". He played guitar and did the "growling" apparently. I've never heard them play, but Travis insists that they're good. "How 'bout you? You got a ticket out of minimum wage yet?" he asked me.

I looked behind me, making sure my parents weren't there to eavesdrop on our conversation before turning back to answer his question. "One of the local ski lodges is having an amateur snowboarding competition next month," I explained. "I'm hoping that if I medal it, I might get noticed by a sponsor," I said.

"You do know how unlikely that is, right?" Travis told me.

"About as unlikely as your band getting noticed by a label," I replied, teasing him a little.

"Ouch, your words, they cut deep," Travis replied jokingly. "So, DWO tonight?" he then asked, changing the subject.

Digimon World Online was something Travis had introduced me to after we started hanging out. I had little interest in Digimon as a franchise, but I appreciated the escape it offered me. "Yeah, I'm hoping I can finally Digivolve Grizzlymon tonight," I replied. "I'm just a few hundred Digipoints away," I added.

"You sure you got Grizzlymon's stats right?" Travis asked, "Don't wanna end up with something lame," he warned me.

"You mean like Numemon?" I suggested.

"That only happened once!" Travis objected. "When he finally kicked the bucket I spent my next Digimon's entire rookie stage in that gym, making sure I actually got something good this time," he explained.

We both shared a laugh, "But seriously though, I made sure I trained the right stats this time, GrappleLeomon will be mine," I said proudly.

"He's gonna turn into a Monzaemon, I guarantee it," Travis teased me.

"He is not," I replied.

"Crabby Carly Smith and a giant yellow teddy bear going on magical adventures," he continued to tease me, "It's so whimsical," he added, completely failing to stifle a laugh.

I laughed and lightly punched him in the arm. "Get back to work you goofball," I said. With that we both went back to our jobs. I'll show him when Grizzlymon finally Digivolves…

Meanwhile…

Northeastern United States…

Jack Tidwell…

Thankfully, the rest of the school day went by normally. Save for a few stray chuckles from Brad and his goon squad whenever we crossed paths. I can't believe I let Brad prank me like that! The very idea of being featured on his garbage channel made my skin crawl. Who even makes prank videos in 2032? That stuff was old hat even when I was in diapers!

Well, one thing was for sure. That promise I made to mom wasn't going to happen now. Who would ever want to be friends with "that guy who squealed like a little girl when a plastic skeleton came out of his locker"? The ice ball came back again as I kept thinking about it. The image of millions of people laughing at me falling over and screaming like a small child.

It would have been pretty funny from an outside perspective. Lord knows I wasn't above laughing at the occasional fail compilation on YouTube. But it was different when it was you in that fail compilation. I guess that's why prank videos fell out of popularity in the first place.

The walk home felt different than the walk to school this morning. The leftover embarrassment and pings of anxiety had made it hard to appreciate the familiar sights that once brought comfort. I knew deep down I was overreacting to this. It's not like they'd see my face and Brad wasn't exactly a world famous YouTuber. But… for whatever reason it still got to me.

Maybe it was anxiety, maybe it was the embarrassment, maybe it was even disappointment in myself for falling for one of Brad's stupid pranks. Whatever the reason, my mind just refused to move past it.

The air felt cold, the temperature seemed to be dropping slightly. I found myself hugging my body tightly as my hoodie struggled to provide warmth. It wasn't freezing per say, but it was enough to be uncomfortable.

It was afternoons like this that really made you think about what Autumn really was. It was a season of change. School starts, the weather gets colder, leaves turn from green to varying shades of orange, sports seasons begin to kickoff.

And here I was, still the same as I'd ever been. Ruled by my own fears and embarrassment. As I was walking I noticed a leaf fall from its branch, gently floating to the ground right in front of me as I wished to myself that I could be among the things that changed.

Someday, I hoped, I could become the person I wanted to be… instead of the anxiety ridden mess I was…

A/N: A lot of character setup in this first chapter, there are going to be more than the three characters I established here in our main tamer roster. But I'm choosing to introduce them later.

Would you believe I went through three different versions of this chapter? Most of it had to do with Jack's anxiety and how I portrayed it. In previous versions I felt I laid it on a bit too thick and I was worried it would come off as annoying or "whiny".

Anxiety is something I actually struggle with in real life and I wanted to portray it as authentically as I could, pulling from some of my own experiences with it.