Notes about this series (Replaced):
It may start out with Mimi's POV, but it only stays that way for the first
few chapters, to get the story going. After that, it switches to third
person. Also, character relations and the "romance" part of this story
don't appear immediately, since it takes time for relationships to develop,
but they will, just stick with the story until then. ~_^
Chapter One: A New Face
I'm sure you know how Digimon, season one began. These seven kids get sucked into a strange, new world and meet their partner monsters called Digimon. From there, they have some exciting and dangerous adventures, meet a new team member, and repeatedly save the Digital and real worlds.
Well, isn't that just peachy. But, the real story is nothing like that. The concept is the same, and the characters are the same . . . well, all except for one. I guess the guys who made the TV show thought that the team had one too many "brains" but no ditzy kids, so they cut me out. As in, I, according to them, never existed. Instead, they replaced me with that idiot, Mimi. Sure, we may share the same name, but that's it. If I sound bitter, it's because I don't like being replaced.
Then again, it's probably a good thing that they cut me out, because the person that I am just would never work on a kids' show. That must sound strange, since the Digi-destined on the show are all in 5th or 6th grade, but that is just an illusion. When we were sent to the Digital world, we were all in high school (excluding Takeru). But of course, you can't expose little children to the "mature" world of teenagers, can you? So, the writers changed our ages, and our maturity level. They cut out all of the TV-14 stuff, which is probably for the best; I wouldn't want my private moments broadcast all over the world.
Plus, I completely screwed up the show's main archetype: darkness is evil. It's a running metaphor during the seasons, and I did everything I could in my power to contradict it; a little something that the undeveloped minds of an elementary student can't comprehend. If you can't either, well, I apologize in advance for your ignorance.
So, you want to know the real story? Well, enter with an open mind; you will be surprised.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
It did start at summer camp; at least they got that part correct. My parents had figured that I needed to get out of the house, meet some new kids, and hopefully get some fresh air. I couldn't see much logic in this; I liked staying inside just fine, I never met anyone decent at camp, and I daily got fresh air during my early morning jog (I had to keep in shape for the next season of cross country). All the same, they still forced me to go. Now, I'm very glad that they did.
My parents dropped me off at a bus stop in the center of town, kissed my forehead, and waved good-bye to me as they drove away. I rolled my eyes and sat down on the bench. I had 3 packages with me: my sleeping bag, my large duffle bag with my clothes, toothbrush, toothpaste, and other assorted necessities, and my backpack. As always, I put off packing my duffle bag until the night before, and so my parents insisted on packing for me so I wouldn't stay up late doing it.
I had no idea what clothes they had put in it, so I lifted the duffle bag onto the bench beside me and opened it. I almost screamed in dismay once I saw what was inside. I had my soap, combs, hair-ties, etc. in there as I had expected, but my parents had only packed me dresses to wear. I grabbed my hair in frustration; didn't they know how unpractical dresses are? There was a folded up note lying on top of them, so I reluctantly opened it.
Dear Mimi,
I went on a shopping trip this weekend and saw these in a store window and just couldn't resist buying them! They're very stylish, and since they're dark blue, purple, and black you won't have to worry about standing out too much at camp. I think I may have accidentally shrunk them when I washed them initially, but I'm sure you can manage. I know dresses aren't your favorite thing to wear, but you'll grow to love them, just as much as I love you.
-Mom
I nearly ripped the note in two from frustration. I had no choice but to wear them since I couldn't wear the clothes I had on for two weeks; the kids at camp would start to wonder. At least she had included my running shoes and athletic socks, and they did match surprisingly well with the dresses. I angrily zipped my duffle bag back up and roughly dropped it onto the sidewalk beside me.
"At least," I thought, "I have my backpack." I had included in it everything that I needed to survive two weeks of possible misery in the middle of nowhere. Inside were my CD player and a case of 10 CDs, mini- speakers (for the rare event that someone else wanted to also listen to my music), 8 extra batteries, my sketchbook, several art pencils, pencil sharpeners, erasers, an extra brush, a comb, about $50, a small variety of snacks, a water bottle, lip gloss, scrunchies, nail clippers and file, a 3- ring binder with college-ruled paper inside, and an "emergency kit" I had pulled together. It had scissors, tape, a mini-stapler, string, thread and a needle, and a few other things. I pulled out my CD player and placed in a CD of spine-tingling, but soothing, melody. I could feel my lips involuntarily mouthing the hypnotic words to the song as the bus pulled up. I zipped up my backpack, threw it across my shoulders, and picked up my duffle bag in one hand, my sleeping bag in the other. I was fortunate that my parents had supplied me with a compact, lightweight sleeping bag that could easily fit into a drawstring bag the size of a basketball.
I climbed the steep steps up into the bus and could feel a whoosh of air and the bus door slid shut behind me. I looked down the long aisle and could tell instantly that I was the last person to get on because there were two people in every seat save one. Seeing that I had no choice I strode past rows of gossiping high schoolers to the middle of the bus and stood in front of the only available seat. Sitting nonchalantly in the seat was a rather short, red-haired boy who was enveloped in the laptop that he was typing on. He was so caught up in his work that he didn't even notice that I was standing there until I cleared my throat and tapped him on the shoulder.
"Excuse me," I interrupted, "may I sit here?" The boy hesitated slightly; perhaps he was taken aback by the fact that someone wanted to share a seat with him; he was obviously the reserved type, as I can sometimes be. He moved over slightly and took his backpack off of the seat so I could sit down. I pushed my sleeping and duffle bags under the seat, but kept my backpack on my lap. The bus started again, and we were off.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The kids on the bus grew increasingly louder as we traveled farther and farther from home and closer to camp. It was supposed to be somewhere in the mountains, away from towns and cities. That was a relief to me; I like to have solitary time where I don't feel crowded. This is hard to come by back home since I share an apartment with my mom, dad, and little sister.
I gradually turned the volume up on my CD player in hopes of trying to drown out the obnoxious voices on the bus, but found that it hurt my ears too much. Instead, I looked over the shoulder of the boy sitting next to me at his computer screen. It looked like he was creating new computer software or something because the screen was littered with numbers and computer commands. I turned down my CD player's volume slightly and moved the headphone away from my ears.
"What kind of program are you creating?" I asked, casually. I was getting bored since it's difficult to write or draw on a moving, jostling vehicle.
"Oh," he replied, "It's actually not my program. My school's library system shut down due to a malfunction in the call number quadrant of the network, so they asked me to fix it over the summer. I would have finished much sooner if it wasn't for the primitive software that the network is based on." I nodded, but couldn't think of a response, so I turned the CD player's volume back up and leaned into my seat, hypnotized by the tune floating into my ears.
A few hours later the bus finally pulled to a stop. The last ten miles had been slow and uncomfortable since we had to drive down a dirt road. The boy next to me eventually had to close his laptop because the ride made it too bumpy to type.
We all stood up as the bus screeched to a rather abrupt stop, eager to get off of the vehicle. As we walked out of the bus door, I stopped and turned to the red-haired boy I had sat next to.
"Oh, I don't think I ever caught your name, mine's Mimi," I told him. I figured it would be useful to at least know one person at camp.
"Mine's Koushiro" he replied with a nod, and we walked off on separate paths to the girls' and boys' sides of camp.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
By the time everyone had gotten settled in their cabins it was already 8:30. We were all called down to a mandatory dinner at the mess hall: a cramped log building that could barely fit all of the campers and councilors. We had an unsubstantial dinner of sandwiches and store-bought cookies for dessert, and a 45 minute talk that basically stated that those of us who had driven to camp couldn't leave or take anyone with them without notifying a councilor first. We also we were not to stray more than 5 miles from camp without a buddy, and with a buddy no more than 10, computers, cell phones, and other complicated electronics (excluding CD players) were not to be used, and that we weren't supposed to let boys in the girls' cabins or vice-versa. I suppressed a chuckle about the last rule since it was a well-known fact that the regulation was frequently broken.
I had stupidly forgotten to bring a flashlight with me to the mess hall, so I ended up tripping at least 10 times before making it back to my cabin. I had wisely chosen the bottom bunk closest to the door so I could easily slip in and out of the cabin every morning to go for a jog. My clothes were completely covered in dirt from tripping so many times, and my parents had stupidly forgotten to pack me pajamas, so I changed into the black dress that my mom had bought. To tell the truth, it really wasn't all that bad of a dress; it was slightly tight, but that actually ended up flattering my best physical qualities. However, I did notice that it was all the way to my ankles, a bit too long for my taste.
"Good thing I brought a needle and thread," I mumbled as I climbed into my sleeping bag and let my heavy eyelids droop.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I awoke to the faint sound of my CD player. I had set it on a timer so that it could serve as an alarm. I never liked the abrupt, blasting din of a watch or clock alarm since it jolted me from my sleep unnaturally. It would make for quite a crappy way to start a day. I silently flipped the cover off of my sleeping bag and sat up, careful not to bonk my head on the bunk above me. I fumbled for my socks and running shoes in the soft morning light and put them on. I was about to head out the door when I stopped short with a startling thought. The other girls in my cabin already think of me as a weirdo, so they might start nosing through the stuff in my backpack! I loathe even the thought of someone invading my privacy, and I have some rather personal sketches and stories in my backpack, so I picked it up and threw in on my shoulders. Jogging with a heavy backpack on was going to be hell, but I figured it was worth it just to keep the nasty girls in my cabin from going through my stuff.
There was a surprising bitter chill in the morning air; in this area of the mountains it's never below 60 in the summer, even at six in the morning. I adjusted the headphones on my head and started jogging along the path towards the center area with my backpack bouncing behind me. I closed my eyes and sucked in a lungful of thin air. It stung my chest, but it was refreshing.
I opened my eyes just in time to crash into another camper who was groggily walking the opposite way. We both yelled in pain and we fell to the ground in a heap.
"Owwww," I moaned as I struggled up. I heard several footsteps as I stood up. The boy I had collided with looked to be about my age, probably older, was fairly tall, and had messy, blonde hair. A little kid, no older than six, was helping him up, asking if he was ok. I assumed that they were brothers; the resemblance was uncanny.
"I'm sorry," I apologized, "I probably should have been watching the path while I jogged." The boy shook his head.
"It's fine; I probably should have been watching too."
"Yamato was just coming back from a girl's cabin!" his brother proudly stated.
"Takeru, shut up!" Yamato hissed at his brother as his face started to turn scarlet. I chuckled at the look on his face.
"Really," I assured him, "I won't tell. It's really not my business, and I'm not supposed to be up this early anyways, so that would just get me in trouble too." Yamato looked relieved until a dark-haired upperclassman strode over.
"What are you two doing up so early?" he demanded, and then turned to Yamato. "Although, it's quite obvious what you were doing." Yamato shoved him aside.
"Oh, please, like you have the authority to boss me around. Being a senior only makes you an assistant councilor, and besides Jou, I could beat you up in a heart beat." I could feel the hair on my arms start to stick up and form goosebumps from a sudden blast of cold air. I kinda wished that I had grabbed a wind jacket or something, but I had doubted that I would need one since I rarely ever get cold.
Another blast of cold air drove us to the side of a near-by cabin for shelter from the winder. Another boy was standing there. His hair was hilariously wild and he wore a pair of goggles as if they were a headband or something.
"Hey," he shivered, "is the mess tent open yet?" Jou shook his head. "Damn," the other boy whispered under his breath.
I felt something tickle my nose so I reached my finger up to brush it off, but all I felt was a drop of water. I looked up at the crimson sky and could barely believe my eyes. Dancing like fairies on the wind were large, fluffy, snowflakes. Just as they began to settle on the ground, the wind let forth another blast of cold air, nearly knocking us off of our feet.
"Let's get inside, and we can settle this there!" Jou commanded as he opened the cabin door. We all rushed inside, surprised that the lights were already on. Sitting in the middle of the room were the boy I had met on the bus, Koushiro, who was typing away at his laptop, and an orange- haired girl who was lying down on a bench nearby trying to get some sleep. Jou was flabbergasted.
"Aaah!" he shouted. "Don't you know that this cabin is off-limits to campers until 9 A.M.? And you," he pointed at Koushiro. "Computers are not allowed here!" I sat down on a bench and shook my head.
"This camp should be re-named 'Rules-are-meant-to-be-broken-camp," because obviously no one ever abides by them." I muttered, but I doubt that anyone heard me. Jou was meanwhile running around in circles, telling everyone why what they had done broke the rules.
"But my cabin's pipes leak right above my bunk," the girl Jou was yelling at stated. "How am I supposed to try and get any rest on a sopping wet mattress?" Finally, Yamato punched Jou right in the jaw, and he slumped to the ground. Yamato shrugged.
"What? He was getting on my nerves." We sat awkwardly in silence for a few moments until Takeru finally stood up on his short little legs and paraded to the door.
"I want to know if it stopped being windy," he explained as he opened the door. It was almost blown off of its hinges by the wind and several chunks of snow were blown into the cabin. Yamato jumped up and slammed the door shut.
"Takeru," he instructed, "never do that again, ok?" Takeru nodded.
We sat in silence for a while longer until the goggle-headed boy asked "So, since it looks like we'll be stuck here for a while, what's everyone's name? Mine's Taichi."
"Mimi"
"Koushiro"
"Takeru"
"Sora"
"Yamato, and the one knocked out cold is Jou. Jeez, that guy really needs to loosen up every once in a while." We were an interesting little gaggle of students, all uncomfortably sitting in the cold, trapped in a dimly lit cabin. I put my headphones back on and pulled out my sketchbook. Koushiro's concentrated face was so intriguing that I couldn't help but capture it on paper. I felt strangely attached to him, to everyone, as if we had all met before. I brushed it off, thinking that it was probably just some stray hormones that the camp seemed saturated with.
After 10 or so minutes, the other students in the cabin began to grow restless, especially Takeru. He started skipping around the cabin, humming some happy tune of his own composition. Taichi and Yamato even started a light conversation, and Jou started to come around. I just kept sketching, my pencil scraping rhythmically to the beat of the song I was listening to. Koushiro's picture was really turning out well and I even debated whether or not to show it to him once I was done.
Another 10 minutes passed, and the wind finally died down. Taichi got up and cautiously creaked the door open. The air was still, so I packed up my sketchbook and pencils and stepped outside. The ground was blanketed with a layer of snow that shimmered a pale orange just like the eastern sky. In a word, it was drop-dead gorgeous. We all stepped outside into the foot or so of snow to admire our surroundings. Takeru was staring at the sky with a look of bewilderment on his little face. He tugged on Yamato's pant leg.
"Onii-chan," he whispered shyly, "why is the sky green?" He pointed up at a mass of swirling color. My mouth gaped in astonishment. It was like the sky had turned into a green whirlpool of color. Several spots of light appeared from the green mass and shot down from the sky to the snow at our feet. I jumped back in shock, but couldn't help but to lean forward and examine the shining objects. As the one closest to me started to float back up to the sky my hand involuntarily shot forward and caught it in mid-air. I cautiously opened my palm and examined the object. It fit snuggly in my hand as if it had been molded to fit my fingers perfectly. There was a blank screen and a few buttons on the front; overall it looked like a Tamagachi toy or something. Everyone else looked as perplexed as me as they held identical devices in their hands.
"How eerie," I muttered under my breath. Suddenly, the wind blew up from the stillness and began to push, or should I say pull, Taichi up towards the sky. He yelped in surprise as his feet slowly lifted off of the ground. I started to back away in fear but found that I was starting to float upwards as well. As I frantically looked around I realized that all seven of us were being sucked up into the mass of swirling color. I began to mutter senselessly "this can't be happening; dammit, this isn't real!" as we were started to fall up into the sky. The last words I heard before blacking out were from Koushiro's mouth, "it's real all right, it's real."
~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~
Chapter One: A New Face
I'm sure you know how Digimon, season one began. These seven kids get sucked into a strange, new world and meet their partner monsters called Digimon. From there, they have some exciting and dangerous adventures, meet a new team member, and repeatedly save the Digital and real worlds.
Well, isn't that just peachy. But, the real story is nothing like that. The concept is the same, and the characters are the same . . . well, all except for one. I guess the guys who made the TV show thought that the team had one too many "brains" but no ditzy kids, so they cut me out. As in, I, according to them, never existed. Instead, they replaced me with that idiot, Mimi. Sure, we may share the same name, but that's it. If I sound bitter, it's because I don't like being replaced.
Then again, it's probably a good thing that they cut me out, because the person that I am just would never work on a kids' show. That must sound strange, since the Digi-destined on the show are all in 5th or 6th grade, but that is just an illusion. When we were sent to the Digital world, we were all in high school (excluding Takeru). But of course, you can't expose little children to the "mature" world of teenagers, can you? So, the writers changed our ages, and our maturity level. They cut out all of the TV-14 stuff, which is probably for the best; I wouldn't want my private moments broadcast all over the world.
Plus, I completely screwed up the show's main archetype: darkness is evil. It's a running metaphor during the seasons, and I did everything I could in my power to contradict it; a little something that the undeveloped minds of an elementary student can't comprehend. If you can't either, well, I apologize in advance for your ignorance.
So, you want to know the real story? Well, enter with an open mind; you will be surprised.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
It did start at summer camp; at least they got that part correct. My parents had figured that I needed to get out of the house, meet some new kids, and hopefully get some fresh air. I couldn't see much logic in this; I liked staying inside just fine, I never met anyone decent at camp, and I daily got fresh air during my early morning jog (I had to keep in shape for the next season of cross country). All the same, they still forced me to go. Now, I'm very glad that they did.
My parents dropped me off at a bus stop in the center of town, kissed my forehead, and waved good-bye to me as they drove away. I rolled my eyes and sat down on the bench. I had 3 packages with me: my sleeping bag, my large duffle bag with my clothes, toothbrush, toothpaste, and other assorted necessities, and my backpack. As always, I put off packing my duffle bag until the night before, and so my parents insisted on packing for me so I wouldn't stay up late doing it.
I had no idea what clothes they had put in it, so I lifted the duffle bag onto the bench beside me and opened it. I almost screamed in dismay once I saw what was inside. I had my soap, combs, hair-ties, etc. in there as I had expected, but my parents had only packed me dresses to wear. I grabbed my hair in frustration; didn't they know how unpractical dresses are? There was a folded up note lying on top of them, so I reluctantly opened it.
Dear Mimi,
I went on a shopping trip this weekend and saw these in a store window and just couldn't resist buying them! They're very stylish, and since they're dark blue, purple, and black you won't have to worry about standing out too much at camp. I think I may have accidentally shrunk them when I washed them initially, but I'm sure you can manage. I know dresses aren't your favorite thing to wear, but you'll grow to love them, just as much as I love you.
-Mom
I nearly ripped the note in two from frustration. I had no choice but to wear them since I couldn't wear the clothes I had on for two weeks; the kids at camp would start to wonder. At least she had included my running shoes and athletic socks, and they did match surprisingly well with the dresses. I angrily zipped my duffle bag back up and roughly dropped it onto the sidewalk beside me.
"At least," I thought, "I have my backpack." I had included in it everything that I needed to survive two weeks of possible misery in the middle of nowhere. Inside were my CD player and a case of 10 CDs, mini- speakers (for the rare event that someone else wanted to also listen to my music), 8 extra batteries, my sketchbook, several art pencils, pencil sharpeners, erasers, an extra brush, a comb, about $50, a small variety of snacks, a water bottle, lip gloss, scrunchies, nail clippers and file, a 3- ring binder with college-ruled paper inside, and an "emergency kit" I had pulled together. It had scissors, tape, a mini-stapler, string, thread and a needle, and a few other things. I pulled out my CD player and placed in a CD of spine-tingling, but soothing, melody. I could feel my lips involuntarily mouthing the hypnotic words to the song as the bus pulled up. I zipped up my backpack, threw it across my shoulders, and picked up my duffle bag in one hand, my sleeping bag in the other. I was fortunate that my parents had supplied me with a compact, lightweight sleeping bag that could easily fit into a drawstring bag the size of a basketball.
I climbed the steep steps up into the bus and could feel a whoosh of air and the bus door slid shut behind me. I looked down the long aisle and could tell instantly that I was the last person to get on because there were two people in every seat save one. Seeing that I had no choice I strode past rows of gossiping high schoolers to the middle of the bus and stood in front of the only available seat. Sitting nonchalantly in the seat was a rather short, red-haired boy who was enveloped in the laptop that he was typing on. He was so caught up in his work that he didn't even notice that I was standing there until I cleared my throat and tapped him on the shoulder.
"Excuse me," I interrupted, "may I sit here?" The boy hesitated slightly; perhaps he was taken aback by the fact that someone wanted to share a seat with him; he was obviously the reserved type, as I can sometimes be. He moved over slightly and took his backpack off of the seat so I could sit down. I pushed my sleeping and duffle bags under the seat, but kept my backpack on my lap. The bus started again, and we were off.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The kids on the bus grew increasingly louder as we traveled farther and farther from home and closer to camp. It was supposed to be somewhere in the mountains, away from towns and cities. That was a relief to me; I like to have solitary time where I don't feel crowded. This is hard to come by back home since I share an apartment with my mom, dad, and little sister.
I gradually turned the volume up on my CD player in hopes of trying to drown out the obnoxious voices on the bus, but found that it hurt my ears too much. Instead, I looked over the shoulder of the boy sitting next to me at his computer screen. It looked like he was creating new computer software or something because the screen was littered with numbers and computer commands. I turned down my CD player's volume slightly and moved the headphone away from my ears.
"What kind of program are you creating?" I asked, casually. I was getting bored since it's difficult to write or draw on a moving, jostling vehicle.
"Oh," he replied, "It's actually not my program. My school's library system shut down due to a malfunction in the call number quadrant of the network, so they asked me to fix it over the summer. I would have finished much sooner if it wasn't for the primitive software that the network is based on." I nodded, but couldn't think of a response, so I turned the CD player's volume back up and leaned into my seat, hypnotized by the tune floating into my ears.
A few hours later the bus finally pulled to a stop. The last ten miles had been slow and uncomfortable since we had to drive down a dirt road. The boy next to me eventually had to close his laptop because the ride made it too bumpy to type.
We all stood up as the bus screeched to a rather abrupt stop, eager to get off of the vehicle. As we walked out of the bus door, I stopped and turned to the red-haired boy I had sat next to.
"Oh, I don't think I ever caught your name, mine's Mimi," I told him. I figured it would be useful to at least know one person at camp.
"Mine's Koushiro" he replied with a nod, and we walked off on separate paths to the girls' and boys' sides of camp.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
By the time everyone had gotten settled in their cabins it was already 8:30. We were all called down to a mandatory dinner at the mess hall: a cramped log building that could barely fit all of the campers and councilors. We had an unsubstantial dinner of sandwiches and store-bought cookies for dessert, and a 45 minute talk that basically stated that those of us who had driven to camp couldn't leave or take anyone with them without notifying a councilor first. We also we were not to stray more than 5 miles from camp without a buddy, and with a buddy no more than 10, computers, cell phones, and other complicated electronics (excluding CD players) were not to be used, and that we weren't supposed to let boys in the girls' cabins or vice-versa. I suppressed a chuckle about the last rule since it was a well-known fact that the regulation was frequently broken.
I had stupidly forgotten to bring a flashlight with me to the mess hall, so I ended up tripping at least 10 times before making it back to my cabin. I had wisely chosen the bottom bunk closest to the door so I could easily slip in and out of the cabin every morning to go for a jog. My clothes were completely covered in dirt from tripping so many times, and my parents had stupidly forgotten to pack me pajamas, so I changed into the black dress that my mom had bought. To tell the truth, it really wasn't all that bad of a dress; it was slightly tight, but that actually ended up flattering my best physical qualities. However, I did notice that it was all the way to my ankles, a bit too long for my taste.
"Good thing I brought a needle and thread," I mumbled as I climbed into my sleeping bag and let my heavy eyelids droop.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I awoke to the faint sound of my CD player. I had set it on a timer so that it could serve as an alarm. I never liked the abrupt, blasting din of a watch or clock alarm since it jolted me from my sleep unnaturally. It would make for quite a crappy way to start a day. I silently flipped the cover off of my sleeping bag and sat up, careful not to bonk my head on the bunk above me. I fumbled for my socks and running shoes in the soft morning light and put them on. I was about to head out the door when I stopped short with a startling thought. The other girls in my cabin already think of me as a weirdo, so they might start nosing through the stuff in my backpack! I loathe even the thought of someone invading my privacy, and I have some rather personal sketches and stories in my backpack, so I picked it up and threw in on my shoulders. Jogging with a heavy backpack on was going to be hell, but I figured it was worth it just to keep the nasty girls in my cabin from going through my stuff.
There was a surprising bitter chill in the morning air; in this area of the mountains it's never below 60 in the summer, even at six in the morning. I adjusted the headphones on my head and started jogging along the path towards the center area with my backpack bouncing behind me. I closed my eyes and sucked in a lungful of thin air. It stung my chest, but it was refreshing.
I opened my eyes just in time to crash into another camper who was groggily walking the opposite way. We both yelled in pain and we fell to the ground in a heap.
"Owwww," I moaned as I struggled up. I heard several footsteps as I stood up. The boy I had collided with looked to be about my age, probably older, was fairly tall, and had messy, blonde hair. A little kid, no older than six, was helping him up, asking if he was ok. I assumed that they were brothers; the resemblance was uncanny.
"I'm sorry," I apologized, "I probably should have been watching the path while I jogged." The boy shook his head.
"It's fine; I probably should have been watching too."
"Yamato was just coming back from a girl's cabin!" his brother proudly stated.
"Takeru, shut up!" Yamato hissed at his brother as his face started to turn scarlet. I chuckled at the look on his face.
"Really," I assured him, "I won't tell. It's really not my business, and I'm not supposed to be up this early anyways, so that would just get me in trouble too." Yamato looked relieved until a dark-haired upperclassman strode over.
"What are you two doing up so early?" he demanded, and then turned to Yamato. "Although, it's quite obvious what you were doing." Yamato shoved him aside.
"Oh, please, like you have the authority to boss me around. Being a senior only makes you an assistant councilor, and besides Jou, I could beat you up in a heart beat." I could feel the hair on my arms start to stick up and form goosebumps from a sudden blast of cold air. I kinda wished that I had grabbed a wind jacket or something, but I had doubted that I would need one since I rarely ever get cold.
Another blast of cold air drove us to the side of a near-by cabin for shelter from the winder. Another boy was standing there. His hair was hilariously wild and he wore a pair of goggles as if they were a headband or something.
"Hey," he shivered, "is the mess tent open yet?" Jou shook his head. "Damn," the other boy whispered under his breath.
I felt something tickle my nose so I reached my finger up to brush it off, but all I felt was a drop of water. I looked up at the crimson sky and could barely believe my eyes. Dancing like fairies on the wind were large, fluffy, snowflakes. Just as they began to settle on the ground, the wind let forth another blast of cold air, nearly knocking us off of our feet.
"Let's get inside, and we can settle this there!" Jou commanded as he opened the cabin door. We all rushed inside, surprised that the lights were already on. Sitting in the middle of the room were the boy I had met on the bus, Koushiro, who was typing away at his laptop, and an orange- haired girl who was lying down on a bench nearby trying to get some sleep. Jou was flabbergasted.
"Aaah!" he shouted. "Don't you know that this cabin is off-limits to campers until 9 A.M.? And you," he pointed at Koushiro. "Computers are not allowed here!" I sat down on a bench and shook my head.
"This camp should be re-named 'Rules-are-meant-to-be-broken-camp," because obviously no one ever abides by them." I muttered, but I doubt that anyone heard me. Jou was meanwhile running around in circles, telling everyone why what they had done broke the rules.
"But my cabin's pipes leak right above my bunk," the girl Jou was yelling at stated. "How am I supposed to try and get any rest on a sopping wet mattress?" Finally, Yamato punched Jou right in the jaw, and he slumped to the ground. Yamato shrugged.
"What? He was getting on my nerves." We sat awkwardly in silence for a few moments until Takeru finally stood up on his short little legs and paraded to the door.
"I want to know if it stopped being windy," he explained as he opened the door. It was almost blown off of its hinges by the wind and several chunks of snow were blown into the cabin. Yamato jumped up and slammed the door shut.
"Takeru," he instructed, "never do that again, ok?" Takeru nodded.
We sat in silence for a while longer until the goggle-headed boy asked "So, since it looks like we'll be stuck here for a while, what's everyone's name? Mine's Taichi."
"Mimi"
"Koushiro"
"Takeru"
"Sora"
"Yamato, and the one knocked out cold is Jou. Jeez, that guy really needs to loosen up every once in a while." We were an interesting little gaggle of students, all uncomfortably sitting in the cold, trapped in a dimly lit cabin. I put my headphones back on and pulled out my sketchbook. Koushiro's concentrated face was so intriguing that I couldn't help but capture it on paper. I felt strangely attached to him, to everyone, as if we had all met before. I brushed it off, thinking that it was probably just some stray hormones that the camp seemed saturated with.
After 10 or so minutes, the other students in the cabin began to grow restless, especially Takeru. He started skipping around the cabin, humming some happy tune of his own composition. Taichi and Yamato even started a light conversation, and Jou started to come around. I just kept sketching, my pencil scraping rhythmically to the beat of the song I was listening to. Koushiro's picture was really turning out well and I even debated whether or not to show it to him once I was done.
Another 10 minutes passed, and the wind finally died down. Taichi got up and cautiously creaked the door open. The air was still, so I packed up my sketchbook and pencils and stepped outside. The ground was blanketed with a layer of snow that shimmered a pale orange just like the eastern sky. In a word, it was drop-dead gorgeous. We all stepped outside into the foot or so of snow to admire our surroundings. Takeru was staring at the sky with a look of bewilderment on his little face. He tugged on Yamato's pant leg.
"Onii-chan," he whispered shyly, "why is the sky green?" He pointed up at a mass of swirling color. My mouth gaped in astonishment. It was like the sky had turned into a green whirlpool of color. Several spots of light appeared from the green mass and shot down from the sky to the snow at our feet. I jumped back in shock, but couldn't help but to lean forward and examine the shining objects. As the one closest to me started to float back up to the sky my hand involuntarily shot forward and caught it in mid-air. I cautiously opened my palm and examined the object. It fit snuggly in my hand as if it had been molded to fit my fingers perfectly. There was a blank screen and a few buttons on the front; overall it looked like a Tamagachi toy or something. Everyone else looked as perplexed as me as they held identical devices in their hands.
"How eerie," I muttered under my breath. Suddenly, the wind blew up from the stillness and began to push, or should I say pull, Taichi up towards the sky. He yelped in surprise as his feet slowly lifted off of the ground. I started to back away in fear but found that I was starting to float upwards as well. As I frantically looked around I realized that all seven of us were being sucked up into the mass of swirling color. I began to mutter senselessly "this can't be happening; dammit, this isn't real!" as we were started to fall up into the sky. The last words I heard before blacking out were from Koushiro's mouth, "it's real all right, it's real."
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