Chapter 4: Here we go again!
W hat? Darkness. Complete Darkness. Empty of all light. Nothing. What ... is this? It was strange. It was as if I were dreaming, but almost not dreaming. Like I can feel myself somewhere, but I can't feel anything at all. It's hard to explain, but somehow, I just knew I was ... Suddenly, mindlessly, I found myself staring down. Or was it really me? No, it wasn't. It was more like I was somewhere else, kinda watching everything from a distance, like on TV or something. But I wasn't the one with the remote. Below my feet, I saw my reflection- I must have been standing on a mirror or something. It was the 'Prance' me, though, not the real me. I just stood there, staring at my reflection, looking lost and confused. I don't get it. Where am I? What is this all? Don't you know? No. Do you? Yes. What is it? It is . your destiny. My destiny? I pulled my head up slowly and looked around, partly to find a face behind the voice, and partly to figure out what part of my destiny this all was. This is . my destiny? Yes. But, I don't understand. Your destiny is darkness. Darkness? Yes. No. It can't be. But it is. No.
"Heather?" I felt myself being shaken back and forth, but my mind refused to return to consciousness. "Heather, get up!" Finally giving in, I slowly opened one eye. "Kyra?" "Well, sort of, yeah. Still Kyra, anyway," she replied. "But I don't get how." "How what?" "Look around and you'll see what I mean." Now sort of apprehensive, I rubbed my eyes and slowly sat up, yawning. Scratching lazily behind my right ear, I opened my eyes to a big surprise. "M-my room!?!" "Told ya." No kidding, I thought to myself as I looked around, jaw dropped. Everything was exactly the same as how I left it- the bed was tasseled from me laying on it, my backpack was still slumped on the ground by my desk, my stuffed german Sheppard and old raccoon were both laying on my bed against the wall. I looked around, awestruck. "Wait a second, how is this possible? We're back in my room, but we're both still . well, animated!" "Yeah, and uh . that's not the only thing wrong with this picture." Lacey added, pointing at something behind me. Not wanting to look, I forced myself to turn. "So this is your world? It sure is really weird!" "Gatomon! What're you doing here!?" She rolled her eyes, crossed her paws, and gave me one of those 'you've- gotta-be- kidding-me' looks. "You think I actually want to be here!?" she spat. "I fall asleep next to Seadramon's Lake, and next thing I know, I'm apparently tagging along side you two to this place!" I sighed, suddenly feeling totally exhausted. "So what do we do, now?" Lacey asked, looking at me. Shrugging lazily, I stood up, and began walking around, twirling my tail between my fingers. "I don't know. I mean, we could try going outside and see if anyone's around, or maybe we could call someone, or something." "Are you kidding!?" Gatomon exclaimed. "Think about it- if you two were completely surprised by the whole 'wish' thing, what makes you think any of your other humans will understand?" "She's right," Lacey agreed, nodding. "No one would believe us if we tried to tell them, and they'd probably drop in a dead faint and call themselves crazy if we showed up in person." "Well, what else can we do?" I asked, starting to feel desperate as I walked to the door. "Why don't we just think this over some more?" Lacey suggested. "I'm sure we'll think of something." "Including how to get me back home?" Gatomon asked. "Of course," I replied. "I'm going into the bathroom to wash my face. Maybe if we're lucky, it'll all just wash off!" I added, smiling grimly. "Who knows?" Knowing very well it wouldn't, I reached my hand forward anyway. "Ouch!" "What's the matter?" Lacey asked. I rubbed my fingers gingerly. "The doorknob just shocked me!" "Static electricity- nothing wrong with that," Lacey said, returning to her thoughts. "Yeah, I guess not, " I replied, although for some strange reason, a strange, lurking feeling told me otherwise. Trying to ignore it, I reached out again. This time, no shock. Of course not. There's nothing wrong with it. I must be losing it- all this animated stuff is infecting my head, I chided myself as I opened the door. I groaned. "Oh man, this cannot be happening!" "What is it?" Lacey asked, joining me. "What's the ." She no longer had a need to continue as we both stared out at the vast plains of green grass before us. Animated green grass, might I add. "Sure, why not?" I exclaimed hysterically. "First, I end up turning us into cartoons in the Digimon series. Why wouldn't a rippling field of cartoon grass be where my bathroom was?" "What next?" Lacey asked, still taken back, looking back and forth between my normal, non-cartoon room and the huge expanse before her. I sighed, thinking over it all in my head. "Well, there's no point in staying in my room. We might as well find out where we are." "Good idea. I mean, for all we know, we could be in some unexplored area of the Digital World." "This isn't the Digital World." Startled, both Lacey and me turned to face Gatomon who was staring absentmindedly out at the scenery. "How do you know?" I asked. Gatomon glanced up at Lacey briefly before returning her gaze to the field. "I traveled all over the Digital World with Kyra, and I've never seen anything like this before." "Do you think we could be in the real world?" Lacey asked. "Where else could we be if we weren't in the Digital World?" she replied. "Well, Kyra's the Digital Guardian, right?" Lacey said. "Maybe somehow or other, I got us to some other dimension." While the two of them talked, I thought. Out of nowhere, a bizarre theory came to mind, and I instantly dismissed it. But the more I tried to think, the more the idea repeated itself over and over in my mind. "Heather?" I scrunched my brow, playing with the idea of saying my opinion aloud or keeping it to myself. Finally, I looked over at Lacey. "What is it?" she asked. "Well, I kind of have an idea, and it may be totally crazy, but-" Lacey smiled. "Are you kidding? Look at us- we're cartoons! I don't think we're allowed to accept any idea that's below crazy!" If you say so.. "Even if I were to say something like maybe we weren't even in the Digimon world anymore?" She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Slowly closing it again, she furrowed her brows, staring blankly at my face while her mind whirled. While she was busy thinking, I glanced down at Gatomon. "Are you positive this is nowhere in the Digital World?" I asked again. Her eyes narrowed to bare slits, her expression obvious. "Okay, okay, sorry I asked!" I muttered, turning back to Lacey. "Well, what do you think?" "Well," she began, tapping her chin thoughtfully, "it does make sense, doesn't it? But," she added, looking up at me warily, "if it is true, and we are someplace else, then where are we?" I shrugged. Gatomon rolled her eyes and started walking forward. "Hey, where are you going?" Lacey asked. Gatomon looked back at the two of us, an impatient look on her feline face. "What do you think? If you want to find out where you are, than you can come with me, but if all you're gonna do is sit there and think about things, then I'm leaving." Lacey blinked, briefly exchanging surprised looks with me. Without a moment's hesitation, we both walked towards her, occasionally glancing back at the random open door in the middle of the field, looking as if it had always been there. After Gatomon had turned back around, I leaned over towards Lacey and whispered, "Man, since when was Gatomon such a big-" I cut my sentence short. Gatomon was staring straight at me with a wicked sneer. For a brief moment, I realized, I forgot how well her big ears had worked. Afterall, she was a cat, too. If anything, I should know better than anyone exactly how well they worked. Well, after that incident, we pretty much kept walking. And walking. And walking. Oh, yeah. And after that .. big surprise, we did some more walking! I swear, if I had paws, they'd be on fire! "Ugh, can't we sit and take a rest!" I moaned, sinking to the ground. "We've been walking for at least two hours, probably three!" Gatomon rolled her eyes and crossed her paws. "Weakling" was the word I thought I heard her mutter under her breath. However, being so tired, I didn't even have the strength to argue back. Sighing, Lacey nodded. "I agree, I'm kinda tired, myself. Afterall, its not like we're in any supreme hurry, right? A little break won't kill anybody." As she said this, she leaned down and sat on the ground. "Ouch!" I looked up at her, startled. "What's the matter?" "Ugh, I sat on something .. hey, I think there's something in my pocket!" she exclaimed, running her fingers over the small lumps at her side. "Was it there before?" "No .. at least, I'm pretty sure it wasn't." I rolled my eyes. Typical Lacey. "Well, what is it?" Curiously, she reached in her pocket and pulled out several small objects. My eyes widened and my jaw dropped. How many more surprises can I get in one day? "If those are what I think they are, then-" "-we don't need to worry about where we are anymore." I nodded, unable to take my eyes off the six little balls sitting on her palm. A little bigger than marbles, they appeared to be split in half, one side colored white, the other red. On each one, a small, silver button sat in the center, directly in the middle of the two colors. Gatomon looked back and forth between me and Lacey, then finally down at the balls. "What are they?" "Poke-balls," we answered in unison. Obviously not any less confused, she tried a different question. "Okay, then what are poke-balls?" Ignoring her question, I glanced at Lacey. "Do you think there's anything in them?" "Well," she began nervously, "if this is my version of Pokemon, with Kyra in it that is, then I'm willing to bet there is." I stared at her skeptically. "Wait a minute, you mean you put Kyra in Pokemon, too?" Lacey looked away, trying to hide the red creeping on her cheeks. But, despite her efforts, I could see them plainly. She couldn't hide it from me if she tried. I sighed, shaking my head. "Fine, forget it for now. But what kind of Pokemon do you have?" I added, sounding more interested. Lacey brightened. "Lots. Almost all of them, really." "Figures." I replied, smirking. Lacey smiled, rubbing her head. "Yeah, well. oh, and hey," she added, visibly perking up, "if I'm the Kyra from Pokemon, then that means I can talk to them!" I stared at her in disbelief. "What!? You mean you can talk to Pokemon!?" "Yup!" "Oh brother," I muttered, glancing at her childish expression. "Aww, come on. Don't be mad! I wanna see what's inside!" Eagerness overcoming annoyance, I leaned forward anxiously as Lacey took one of the small poke-balls and pressed the button. Instantly, the poke- ball turned into a sphere of pure radiance and a shaft of light appeared at my feet. Though I had my hand covering my eyes due to the intensity of the light, I could barely make out the outline of something appearing from the shaft. As the light diminished, I slowly removed my hand. The thing that came out of the poke-ball was gone? However, before I could even say, "huh?" I heard Lacey's giggle and her exclaim, "Raichu!" Spinning around, I saw the pokemon seated on her shoulder, licking her cheek affectionately, which resulted in Lacey squealing even more. The creature itself looked kind of like a golden brown mouse the size of a soccer ball with long, thin rabbit ears that curved to a fine point and little yellow circles on its cheeks. Its tail was similar to Gatomon's in that it was long and thin until the end where a sharp, yellow lightning bolt sat, about the size of its head. This was Lacey's Raichu. Apparently. "That's a Raichu?" I said curiously, tilting my head to one side in fascination. "Aren't they supposed to be bigger?" Lacey paused from her playful activities to look up at me. "Well, yeah, but when I first thought of all this, I wanted a Raichu, but not big and fat like normal ones. So, I made this one smaller with a longer tail so it could run faster than even a regular Pikachu, and voila! The birth of Raichu!" I smirked. "You always had a need for speed, didn't you?" "Yup!" "Figures. So what else ya got?" Well, after a few minutes of experimenting, me and Gatomon were introduced to Lacey's other pokemon- a black, dog-like thing with a thin, devil tail and bones strapped around its back and head called Houndoom, a beautiful blue water serpent with big black eyes and a round light blue ball on its tail known as Dragonair, a huge praying mantis type pokemon called Scyther, a giant bird called Pigeot, and finally a creepy ghost thing, a Gengar. "Not bad," I admitted, after she had returned all but Raichu to their poke- balls. "Although personally, I wouldn't have chosen something as freaky looking as Gengar, it certainly isn't a bad line up. I like the Dragonair." Lacey grinned. "I thought you would." With a sigh, I leaned back and glanced at her. "Kay, we know where we are. What now?" Lacey shrugged, looking back and forth between Gatomon, Raichu and me. "I don't know, what do you think we should do?" "I know what you should do." Instantly, the three of us were on our feet, looking around wildly. "Who's there?" "Where is it coming from?" "What's going on?" A second voice, low and somewhat squeaky, laughed. "I know what you should do, too!" I spun around, searching desperately for the source of the voice. "Where are you!?" Finally, a third voice spoke out with a thick, kind of New Yorker accent. "So, shall we tell dem?" "Heather, do you see them?" Lacey asked. "Of course not!" I screamed. "You think if I did, I'd still be looking around like an idiot!?" "I think. you should prepare for trouble." Simultaneously, Lacey and I stopped and stared at each other, realization washing over us. Raichu, sitting on her shoulder, seemed to have rolled its eyes. Gatomon, completely oblivious to this all, stood defensively between us, eyes whirling around. "Perhaps, you might want to make that double." "You've got to be kidding me!" Lacey exclaimed, looking at her Pokemon exasperatingly. "Oh, no, not them!" I muttered, smacking my palm against my forehead. Gatomon looked back and forth between the two of us, the hair on the back of her neck rising in slow anger. "What the heck are you talking about?" From out of nowhere, three shadows appeared on the surface of a low-lying branch on a nearby tree. "To protect the world from devastation!" "To unite all people within our nation!" "Here we go again," I muttered, lowering myself to the ground. Following suit, Lacey and Gatomon sat on either side of me, the latter still completely confused. "To denounce the evils of truth and love!" "To extend our reach from the stars above!" Lacey nudged me with her elbow, grinning childishly. "Gee, too bad we didn't bring any popcorn!" "Or a pillow," I added, using my hand to cover my gaping mouth as I yawned. "This looks like this might take a while." "Rai-ai chuu!!" replied the pokemon from her shoulder. Lacey giggled, turning to me. "Heh heh, it said, 'Unfortunately, it always does!'" Nodding my agreement, we all turned our attention back to the three figures just now emerging from the shadows. "Jessie!" cried a tall, blue-eyed woman with fuchsia-pink colored hair that stuck straight out behind her. Her companion, a lanky, green-eyed guy with a big mouth and short, kinda spiky blue hair, stepped out beside her, adding enthusiastically, "James!" "Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!" "Surrender now, or prepare to fight, fight, fight!" Suddenly, the third member of their party appeared, a loud mouth cat-like pokemon with a curly, brown tail and a gold coin plastered on its forehead, striking a frightening pose in front of its two human friends, crying triumphantly, "Mee-owth, that's right!" "Hey, you three done, yet?" I called, unable to resist a second yawn. "We've kind of got things to do, today, you know?" The woman, Jessie, glared at us, a gigantic vein popping out through her bright hair (anime terminology- "popping vein" is usually used when someone is dramatically pissed or ticked off). "You just shut up you snot-nosed, cat-eared little twerp! You have absolutely no idea how hard it is to repeat the Team Rocket motto time and time again, especially when little brats like you keep on picking on us about it!" "Yeah!" piped up James defensively. "Not to mention the difficulties in saying our motto with pride after all those humiliating defeats!" "You idiot!" Jessie screamed, turning on her own team member. "You're supposed to be encouraging Team Rocket efforts, not putting them down!" And with that, she punched him in the face, causing him to fly backward and off the branch with a bright red handprint on his face. From within the bushes of his landing was heard the soft, "Sorry, Jessie." Jessie, ignoring him, folded her arms and looked back at us. "Ugh, pay no attention to him. Where were we?" I raised my eyebrows, exchanging blank expressions with Lacey. "I know," the other pokemon spoke up, grinning evilly. "We was just at the pawt where we snatch up the twoirps pokemon!" Jessie smiled, regaining her confident position. "Oh yeah, that's right. So, you can either hand 'em over, nice and easy, or we can fight for it. Your choice." I shrugged indifferently. "Doesn't matter to me. Ask her," I said, jerking my thumb at Lacey. "She's the one with the pokemon, not me." Jessie paused, blinking. "Wait a minute, what happened to your pokemon?" "Like I said, I don't have any." "Yes you do," Jessie insisted, looking up in thought as she counted on her fingers. "Let's see, you've got Vulpix, Ninetales, Houndour, Growlithe, Arcanine and. and. um, Meowth, what else did she have? I know it was another fire-type." "A Charizard," the cat replied, stroking his tail tenderly. "I remember cause a dat time it toasted my tail." "Oh yeah, that's right. So you see," Jessie announced proudly, "you can't fool us. You do have pokemon! So hand 'em over!" Startled, I glanced at Lacey. Reading my expression, she shrugged her shoulders. "Honest, I don't know a thing about this! I never said a thing about you!" A bewildered look crossed my face as I looked down at the ground. "Well, then, how did I-" "Ahem!" Jessie said impatiently. "Enough with your problems. Now it's time to worry about ours! We want your pokemon, and we want them now! Arbok!" Holding out a poke-ball of her own, she released a gigantic purple cobra with gold and black designs on its hood. It hissed viciously in our direction, throwing us venomous glances. "You too, Weezing!" James shouted from the bushes, releasing his own pokemon, a strange-looking pair of gas balls with eyes and toxic symbols on their centers. Throwing an affirmative glance towards Lacey, I watched as she nodded and turned to Raichu, opening her mouth to say something when- "Thunderbolt!" From behind us, a streak of yellow lightning whizzed through the air, striking the group of pokemon and humans in front of us. And of course, like in classic anime style, a bright light surrounded them, their eyes bulging and their hair dramatically skewering the air as thousands of watts of electricity charged through them. Seconds later, a massive explosion wafted clouds of dust in our eyes, and before we knew it, Team Rocket was flying in the air, muttering something on the way up. However, despite their distance, one phrase was clearly shouted out. "Team Rocket is blasting off aga-ain!" I blinked, mouth gaping, totally confused, as were Lacey and Gatomon. "Um. okay. what just happened?" "You're asking me?" Gatomon snapped. "Uh, hey guys?" We turned to Lacey, startled at her shocked expression. "What?" we said in unison. Eyes wide, she merely pointed at something behind us, mumbling, "Gee, think. We're in Pokemon, and Team Rocket was just blasted out of the sky by a thunderbolt. Any ideas come to mind?" I rolled my eyes at her dramatics, turning to where she pointed. "Don't worry, I think I can guess." "Prance! Kyra! Are you guys okay?" Again, certainly not for the first or last time today, I spun around to find a defensive Lacey looking at me confused. "I swear, I have no idea how they know you!" Before I could respond, three figures emerged from the woods. The first was a boy of about ten or eleven years with thick, black hair hidden underneath a red and white baseball cap. A black t-shirt was covered by a blue and white jacket and he wore loose blue jeans and red sneakers. Ash ran forward, watching the spot where Team Rocket had flew off. His companion, a girl about the same age, ran forward towards us. Her bright red-orange hair was tied back in a ponytail at the side of her head, and her green eyes overflowed with concern. She wore a short, bright yellow shirt with red straps running over her shoulders to her light blue jean shorts. In her arms was what looked like half an eggshell with brightly colored geometric designs painted on it. It's upper half was broken, however, and sprouted from the inside was something resembling a pale yellow crown with two eyes and a bubbly smile. Seeing that we were okay, Misty sighed, smiling, while Togepi trilled joyously. The third newcomer was another pokemon, slightly resembling Raichu, but different. Its mouse body was pure yellow, with black-tipped rabbit ears and a thunder shaped tail. Bright red circles on its cheeks replaced the yellow ones on Raichu's, and its black eyes shined curiously. "You guys okay?" Misty asked, extended her hand towards me. Tentatively, I took it and pulled myself up, dusting my skirt off with my hands and tail. "Um, thanks. Misty." Misty grinned. "Don't mention it." Ash rejoined us, Pikachu hopping to his shoulder as he helped Lacey up. "Well, Team Rocket's gone. For now, anyway." "Yeah," Misty sighed, "those three always find some way to come back and bug us." "Yeah," I agreed, "we kinda noticed." "So where were you guys?" Ash asked, turning to Lacey. "Last time we saw you guys, we were at the Pokemon Center back at the last town, talking to Professor Oak. Next thing we knew, we woke up this morning and you guys were gone!" "Uh. well, we. um," Lacey stammered, glancing at me for help. "Well, Prance wants to tell you, don't you, Prance?" I could feel the sweatdrop sliding down my head as I glared at Lacey, my eyebrow raised. "Oh, I do, do I?" I replied, my voice low and vicious. Lacey quickly picked up my negative vibe, smiling nervously with a typical anime expression as she backed up. Ignoring her, I turned to Misty and Ash, who were watching me curiously. Scratching my head, I looked up at the sky, thinking. "Well. you see, we left early this morning because." Out of the corner of my mind, I saw Lacey muttering something to Raichu, who exchanged a few words with its trainer as well. Suddenly, she spoke up. "Sorry about that," she replied, rubbing the back of her head. "See, this morning, Prance saw a wild pokemon, a fire-type, and of course, she couldn't resist the chance to go capture it. Since it was so early in the morning, and neither of us wanted to wake you, we left, planning to come back before you woke up. But as we were on our way back, we ran into Team Rocket, and. well, you pretty much know the rest." For a brief moment, I stared dumbly at Lacey, wondering where in the heck she thought up something like that. But I didn't have time to complete that thought for Misty smiled and Ash laughed, glancing at Pikachu. "Well, I'm just glad we got here in time to help out." "Not like we couldn't take care of 'em," I replied confident, planning to ask Lacey about her explanation later. "Not without these, you don't," Misty replied, pulling out something from the green backpack she wore. Placing it in my hand, I looked down at my palm and gasped. Six tiny poke- balls sat comfortably in my hand. For a brief moment, Misty looked at me strangely, probably questioning my amazed expression. But before she could comment on it, Lacey stepped forward, wrapping her arm around Misty's shoulders. "Hah, you know Prance, so excited to catch a new fire-type pokemon, she completely forgot to bring her own. Sound like anyone we know?" she added, glancing in Ash's direction. He paused before stepping forward, flushing angrily. "Hey! Now what do you mean by that!?" Misty looked back at him and smirked. "Oh nothing, Ash. She's just saying that you tend to have a habit of jumping into stuff before you even think about it." "I do not!" he protested. "I think about stuff all the time!" Misty, Lacey and I exchanged glances, rolling our eyes amusingly. From his shoulder, Pikachu cried, "Pi-ka pi-ka chuuu!!" Lacey laughed. "It seems Pikachu agrees with us." "Pikachu!" Ash exclaimed, looking at Pikachu, shocked. "You don't really think so, do you?" Pikachu uttered an apologetic, "Pi-ka piii." The three of us laughed as Ash sank to the ground, digging his hands in his hair. As I looked around, marveling once again at who and where I was, I suddenly noticed somebody was missing. "Kyra!" I hissed, flexing my index finger so that she could come closer to me. Doing so, I leaned forward and whispered, "Where's Gatomon?" Lacey paused, blinking. "Wow, I don't really know." Looking around, Lacey added, "The last time I saw her was back when Team Rocket was." Suddenly, we both gasped, heads spinning around to face each other. I spoke first. "You don't think she could have been-" "-blasted away with Team Rocket?" Lacey finished. "I really hope not." "Psst!" Simultaneously, we looked up, recognizing the voice instantly. "Gatomon?" we said together. "Shh!" she hissed from behind us. Spinning around, we saw her two purple tufted ears sticking out from behind a bush. Glancing back to make sure Misty and Ash were still distracted by their own affairs, I darted into the bushes, Lacey following behind. "What happened to you?" was the first question Lacey sputtered. "We thought you were blown away with Team Rocket." Gatomon raised an eyebrow. "You think I was stupid enough to get caught up with that bunch of losers?" Lacey rubbed the back of her head, light pink appearing on her cheeks. "Well, . no, not exactly." "Look we were just worried about you," I said defensively. "What happened, anyway?" Gatomon snorted, folding her arms. "Duh, I snuck back here while you guys were all yapping away. I've been here, waiting for one of you to notice I was gone while you were playing around with those fools." I clenched my fists at my sides. "You know, you've got a real attitude problem. Ever since the beginning, you've always had a problem with everything and everyone. How come I never remembered you having this much of an attitude before." "Yeah? Well, sometimes things tend to happen when you begin to lose faith in everything you've know to be true your entire life!" she spat furiously. "Hey, both of you calm down!" Lacey interrupted, stepping in between the two of us. "We don't need to be fighting, especially right now." "Whatever," Gatomon muttered. "Same here," I added. "Anyway, exactly what is it we're supposed to be doing right now?" Lacey shrugged. "I don't really know. I guess first of all, we figure out who we are in here and why you're included in it," she began, pointing at me. "Since this whole storyline is wacky, if we find out why, maybe we can figure out how to get out of here." "Sounds like a good enough plan to me," I replied, shrugging indifferently. With a grin, I added, "Actually, sounds like a great plan. Just play along with the story, right? I think I can do that." Lacey smirked. "You just wanna try out your fire pokemon." "So?" I replied innocently. Rolling her eyes, Lacey turned back to Gatomon.
"You had better stay close but out of sight, you know?" Gatomon rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I know. By now, I'm pretty much used to it." "Oh yeah, huh?" Lacey replied, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "You did have to do a lot of hiding away whenever Kyra went to the Real world with everybody else, huh?" Gatomon threw Lacey an intensely hateful look. She took the hint. "Ugh, never mind. Anyway, since you're so familiar with this, I take it you know what to do," Lacey said, pulling her backpack to her front and pointing to the open end. Rolling her eyes again, Gatomon uncrossed her arms and jumped inside. Lacey waited until she made herself comfortable before pulling at the zip tap, leaving a small pocket open for her to breathe from. Swinging the backpack over her shoulder, Lacey suddenly noticed Raichu sitting next to her, staring at her curiously. Lacey sighed. "Don't worry. I promise I'll explain it all later." "Good luck," Gatomon muttered from inside her backpack. Ignoring her, the two of us stood up, walking out from our secured spot. "There you are," Misty said. "For a moment we thought we had lost you again." "Sorry about that," I replied. "Well, anyway," Ash said, calling Pikachu to his shoulder, "we had better get going. We have a long way ahead of
W hat? Darkness. Complete Darkness. Empty of all light. Nothing. What ... is this? It was strange. It was as if I were dreaming, but almost not dreaming. Like I can feel myself somewhere, but I can't feel anything at all. It's hard to explain, but somehow, I just knew I was ... Suddenly, mindlessly, I found myself staring down. Or was it really me? No, it wasn't. It was more like I was somewhere else, kinda watching everything from a distance, like on TV or something. But I wasn't the one with the remote. Below my feet, I saw my reflection- I must have been standing on a mirror or something. It was the 'Prance' me, though, not the real me. I just stood there, staring at my reflection, looking lost and confused. I don't get it. Where am I? What is this all? Don't you know? No. Do you? Yes. What is it? It is . your destiny. My destiny? I pulled my head up slowly and looked around, partly to find a face behind the voice, and partly to figure out what part of my destiny this all was. This is . my destiny? Yes. But, I don't understand. Your destiny is darkness. Darkness? Yes. No. It can't be. But it is. No.
"Heather?" I felt myself being shaken back and forth, but my mind refused to return to consciousness. "Heather, get up!" Finally giving in, I slowly opened one eye. "Kyra?" "Well, sort of, yeah. Still Kyra, anyway," she replied. "But I don't get how." "How what?" "Look around and you'll see what I mean." Now sort of apprehensive, I rubbed my eyes and slowly sat up, yawning. Scratching lazily behind my right ear, I opened my eyes to a big surprise. "M-my room!?!" "Told ya." No kidding, I thought to myself as I looked around, jaw dropped. Everything was exactly the same as how I left it- the bed was tasseled from me laying on it, my backpack was still slumped on the ground by my desk, my stuffed german Sheppard and old raccoon were both laying on my bed against the wall. I looked around, awestruck. "Wait a second, how is this possible? We're back in my room, but we're both still . well, animated!" "Yeah, and uh . that's not the only thing wrong with this picture." Lacey added, pointing at something behind me. Not wanting to look, I forced myself to turn. "So this is your world? It sure is really weird!" "Gatomon! What're you doing here!?" She rolled her eyes, crossed her paws, and gave me one of those 'you've- gotta-be- kidding-me' looks. "You think I actually want to be here!?" she spat. "I fall asleep next to Seadramon's Lake, and next thing I know, I'm apparently tagging along side you two to this place!" I sighed, suddenly feeling totally exhausted. "So what do we do, now?" Lacey asked, looking at me. Shrugging lazily, I stood up, and began walking around, twirling my tail between my fingers. "I don't know. I mean, we could try going outside and see if anyone's around, or maybe we could call someone, or something." "Are you kidding!?" Gatomon exclaimed. "Think about it- if you two were completely surprised by the whole 'wish' thing, what makes you think any of your other humans will understand?" "She's right," Lacey agreed, nodding. "No one would believe us if we tried to tell them, and they'd probably drop in a dead faint and call themselves crazy if we showed up in person." "Well, what else can we do?" I asked, starting to feel desperate as I walked to the door. "Why don't we just think this over some more?" Lacey suggested. "I'm sure we'll think of something." "Including how to get me back home?" Gatomon asked. "Of course," I replied. "I'm going into the bathroom to wash my face. Maybe if we're lucky, it'll all just wash off!" I added, smiling grimly. "Who knows?" Knowing very well it wouldn't, I reached my hand forward anyway. "Ouch!" "What's the matter?" Lacey asked. I rubbed my fingers gingerly. "The doorknob just shocked me!" "Static electricity- nothing wrong with that," Lacey said, returning to her thoughts. "Yeah, I guess not, " I replied, although for some strange reason, a strange, lurking feeling told me otherwise. Trying to ignore it, I reached out again. This time, no shock. Of course not. There's nothing wrong with it. I must be losing it- all this animated stuff is infecting my head, I chided myself as I opened the door. I groaned. "Oh man, this cannot be happening!" "What is it?" Lacey asked, joining me. "What's the ." She no longer had a need to continue as we both stared out at the vast plains of green grass before us. Animated green grass, might I add. "Sure, why not?" I exclaimed hysterically. "First, I end up turning us into cartoons in the Digimon series. Why wouldn't a rippling field of cartoon grass be where my bathroom was?" "What next?" Lacey asked, still taken back, looking back and forth between my normal, non-cartoon room and the huge expanse before her. I sighed, thinking over it all in my head. "Well, there's no point in staying in my room. We might as well find out where we are." "Good idea. I mean, for all we know, we could be in some unexplored area of the Digital World." "This isn't the Digital World." Startled, both Lacey and me turned to face Gatomon who was staring absentmindedly out at the scenery. "How do you know?" I asked. Gatomon glanced up at Lacey briefly before returning her gaze to the field. "I traveled all over the Digital World with Kyra, and I've never seen anything like this before." "Do you think we could be in the real world?" Lacey asked. "Where else could we be if we weren't in the Digital World?" she replied. "Well, Kyra's the Digital Guardian, right?" Lacey said. "Maybe somehow or other, I got us to some other dimension." While the two of them talked, I thought. Out of nowhere, a bizarre theory came to mind, and I instantly dismissed it. But the more I tried to think, the more the idea repeated itself over and over in my mind. "Heather?" I scrunched my brow, playing with the idea of saying my opinion aloud or keeping it to myself. Finally, I looked over at Lacey. "What is it?" she asked. "Well, I kind of have an idea, and it may be totally crazy, but-" Lacey smiled. "Are you kidding? Look at us- we're cartoons! I don't think we're allowed to accept any idea that's below crazy!" If you say so.. "Even if I were to say something like maybe we weren't even in the Digimon world anymore?" She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Slowly closing it again, she furrowed her brows, staring blankly at my face while her mind whirled. While she was busy thinking, I glanced down at Gatomon. "Are you positive this is nowhere in the Digital World?" I asked again. Her eyes narrowed to bare slits, her expression obvious. "Okay, okay, sorry I asked!" I muttered, turning back to Lacey. "Well, what do you think?" "Well," she began, tapping her chin thoughtfully, "it does make sense, doesn't it? But," she added, looking up at me warily, "if it is true, and we are someplace else, then where are we?" I shrugged. Gatomon rolled her eyes and started walking forward. "Hey, where are you going?" Lacey asked. Gatomon looked back at the two of us, an impatient look on her feline face. "What do you think? If you want to find out where you are, than you can come with me, but if all you're gonna do is sit there and think about things, then I'm leaving." Lacey blinked, briefly exchanging surprised looks with me. Without a moment's hesitation, we both walked towards her, occasionally glancing back at the random open door in the middle of the field, looking as if it had always been there. After Gatomon had turned back around, I leaned over towards Lacey and whispered, "Man, since when was Gatomon such a big-" I cut my sentence short. Gatomon was staring straight at me with a wicked sneer. For a brief moment, I realized, I forgot how well her big ears had worked. Afterall, she was a cat, too. If anything, I should know better than anyone exactly how well they worked. Well, after that incident, we pretty much kept walking. And walking. And walking. Oh, yeah. And after that .. big surprise, we did some more walking! I swear, if I had paws, they'd be on fire! "Ugh, can't we sit and take a rest!" I moaned, sinking to the ground. "We've been walking for at least two hours, probably three!" Gatomon rolled her eyes and crossed her paws. "Weakling" was the word I thought I heard her mutter under her breath. However, being so tired, I didn't even have the strength to argue back. Sighing, Lacey nodded. "I agree, I'm kinda tired, myself. Afterall, its not like we're in any supreme hurry, right? A little break won't kill anybody." As she said this, she leaned down and sat on the ground. "Ouch!" I looked up at her, startled. "What's the matter?" "Ugh, I sat on something .. hey, I think there's something in my pocket!" she exclaimed, running her fingers over the small lumps at her side. "Was it there before?" "No .. at least, I'm pretty sure it wasn't." I rolled my eyes. Typical Lacey. "Well, what is it?" Curiously, she reached in her pocket and pulled out several small objects. My eyes widened and my jaw dropped. How many more surprises can I get in one day? "If those are what I think they are, then-" "-we don't need to worry about where we are anymore." I nodded, unable to take my eyes off the six little balls sitting on her palm. A little bigger than marbles, they appeared to be split in half, one side colored white, the other red. On each one, a small, silver button sat in the center, directly in the middle of the two colors. Gatomon looked back and forth between me and Lacey, then finally down at the balls. "What are they?" "Poke-balls," we answered in unison. Obviously not any less confused, she tried a different question. "Okay, then what are poke-balls?" Ignoring her question, I glanced at Lacey. "Do you think there's anything in them?" "Well," she began nervously, "if this is my version of Pokemon, with Kyra in it that is, then I'm willing to bet there is." I stared at her skeptically. "Wait a minute, you mean you put Kyra in Pokemon, too?" Lacey looked away, trying to hide the red creeping on her cheeks. But, despite her efforts, I could see them plainly. She couldn't hide it from me if she tried. I sighed, shaking my head. "Fine, forget it for now. But what kind of Pokemon do you have?" I added, sounding more interested. Lacey brightened. "Lots. Almost all of them, really." "Figures." I replied, smirking. Lacey smiled, rubbing her head. "Yeah, well. oh, and hey," she added, visibly perking up, "if I'm the Kyra from Pokemon, then that means I can talk to them!" I stared at her in disbelief. "What!? You mean you can talk to Pokemon!?" "Yup!" "Oh brother," I muttered, glancing at her childish expression. "Aww, come on. Don't be mad! I wanna see what's inside!" Eagerness overcoming annoyance, I leaned forward anxiously as Lacey took one of the small poke-balls and pressed the button. Instantly, the poke- ball turned into a sphere of pure radiance and a shaft of light appeared at my feet. Though I had my hand covering my eyes due to the intensity of the light, I could barely make out the outline of something appearing from the shaft. As the light diminished, I slowly removed my hand. The thing that came out of the poke-ball was gone? However, before I could even say, "huh?" I heard Lacey's giggle and her exclaim, "Raichu!" Spinning around, I saw the pokemon seated on her shoulder, licking her cheek affectionately, which resulted in Lacey squealing even more. The creature itself looked kind of like a golden brown mouse the size of a soccer ball with long, thin rabbit ears that curved to a fine point and little yellow circles on its cheeks. Its tail was similar to Gatomon's in that it was long and thin until the end where a sharp, yellow lightning bolt sat, about the size of its head. This was Lacey's Raichu. Apparently. "That's a Raichu?" I said curiously, tilting my head to one side in fascination. "Aren't they supposed to be bigger?" Lacey paused from her playful activities to look up at me. "Well, yeah, but when I first thought of all this, I wanted a Raichu, but not big and fat like normal ones. So, I made this one smaller with a longer tail so it could run faster than even a regular Pikachu, and voila! The birth of Raichu!" I smirked. "You always had a need for speed, didn't you?" "Yup!" "Figures. So what else ya got?" Well, after a few minutes of experimenting, me and Gatomon were introduced to Lacey's other pokemon- a black, dog-like thing with a thin, devil tail and bones strapped around its back and head called Houndoom, a beautiful blue water serpent with big black eyes and a round light blue ball on its tail known as Dragonair, a huge praying mantis type pokemon called Scyther, a giant bird called Pigeot, and finally a creepy ghost thing, a Gengar. "Not bad," I admitted, after she had returned all but Raichu to their poke- balls. "Although personally, I wouldn't have chosen something as freaky looking as Gengar, it certainly isn't a bad line up. I like the Dragonair." Lacey grinned. "I thought you would." With a sigh, I leaned back and glanced at her. "Kay, we know where we are. What now?" Lacey shrugged, looking back and forth between Gatomon, Raichu and me. "I don't know, what do you think we should do?" "I know what you should do." Instantly, the three of us were on our feet, looking around wildly. "Who's there?" "Where is it coming from?" "What's going on?" A second voice, low and somewhat squeaky, laughed. "I know what you should do, too!" I spun around, searching desperately for the source of the voice. "Where are you!?" Finally, a third voice spoke out with a thick, kind of New Yorker accent. "So, shall we tell dem?" "Heather, do you see them?" Lacey asked. "Of course not!" I screamed. "You think if I did, I'd still be looking around like an idiot!?" "I think. you should prepare for trouble." Simultaneously, Lacey and I stopped and stared at each other, realization washing over us. Raichu, sitting on her shoulder, seemed to have rolled its eyes. Gatomon, completely oblivious to this all, stood defensively between us, eyes whirling around. "Perhaps, you might want to make that double." "You've got to be kidding me!" Lacey exclaimed, looking at her Pokemon exasperatingly. "Oh, no, not them!" I muttered, smacking my palm against my forehead. Gatomon looked back and forth between the two of us, the hair on the back of her neck rising in slow anger. "What the heck are you talking about?" From out of nowhere, three shadows appeared on the surface of a low-lying branch on a nearby tree. "To protect the world from devastation!" "To unite all people within our nation!" "Here we go again," I muttered, lowering myself to the ground. Following suit, Lacey and Gatomon sat on either side of me, the latter still completely confused. "To denounce the evils of truth and love!" "To extend our reach from the stars above!" Lacey nudged me with her elbow, grinning childishly. "Gee, too bad we didn't bring any popcorn!" "Or a pillow," I added, using my hand to cover my gaping mouth as I yawned. "This looks like this might take a while." "Rai-ai chuu!!" replied the pokemon from her shoulder. Lacey giggled, turning to me. "Heh heh, it said, 'Unfortunately, it always does!'" Nodding my agreement, we all turned our attention back to the three figures just now emerging from the shadows. "Jessie!" cried a tall, blue-eyed woman with fuchsia-pink colored hair that stuck straight out behind her. Her companion, a lanky, green-eyed guy with a big mouth and short, kinda spiky blue hair, stepped out beside her, adding enthusiastically, "James!" "Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!" "Surrender now, or prepare to fight, fight, fight!" Suddenly, the third member of their party appeared, a loud mouth cat-like pokemon with a curly, brown tail and a gold coin plastered on its forehead, striking a frightening pose in front of its two human friends, crying triumphantly, "Mee-owth, that's right!" "Hey, you three done, yet?" I called, unable to resist a second yawn. "We've kind of got things to do, today, you know?" The woman, Jessie, glared at us, a gigantic vein popping out through her bright hair (anime terminology- "popping vein" is usually used when someone is dramatically pissed or ticked off). "You just shut up you snot-nosed, cat-eared little twerp! You have absolutely no idea how hard it is to repeat the Team Rocket motto time and time again, especially when little brats like you keep on picking on us about it!" "Yeah!" piped up James defensively. "Not to mention the difficulties in saying our motto with pride after all those humiliating defeats!" "You idiot!" Jessie screamed, turning on her own team member. "You're supposed to be encouraging Team Rocket efforts, not putting them down!" And with that, she punched him in the face, causing him to fly backward and off the branch with a bright red handprint on his face. From within the bushes of his landing was heard the soft, "Sorry, Jessie." Jessie, ignoring him, folded her arms and looked back at us. "Ugh, pay no attention to him. Where were we?" I raised my eyebrows, exchanging blank expressions with Lacey. "I know," the other pokemon spoke up, grinning evilly. "We was just at the pawt where we snatch up the twoirps pokemon!" Jessie smiled, regaining her confident position. "Oh yeah, that's right. So, you can either hand 'em over, nice and easy, or we can fight for it. Your choice." I shrugged indifferently. "Doesn't matter to me. Ask her," I said, jerking my thumb at Lacey. "She's the one with the pokemon, not me." Jessie paused, blinking. "Wait a minute, what happened to your pokemon?" "Like I said, I don't have any." "Yes you do," Jessie insisted, looking up in thought as she counted on her fingers. "Let's see, you've got Vulpix, Ninetales, Houndour, Growlithe, Arcanine and. and. um, Meowth, what else did she have? I know it was another fire-type." "A Charizard," the cat replied, stroking his tail tenderly. "I remember cause a dat time it toasted my tail." "Oh yeah, that's right. So you see," Jessie announced proudly, "you can't fool us. You do have pokemon! So hand 'em over!" Startled, I glanced at Lacey. Reading my expression, she shrugged her shoulders. "Honest, I don't know a thing about this! I never said a thing about you!" A bewildered look crossed my face as I looked down at the ground. "Well, then, how did I-" "Ahem!" Jessie said impatiently. "Enough with your problems. Now it's time to worry about ours! We want your pokemon, and we want them now! Arbok!" Holding out a poke-ball of her own, she released a gigantic purple cobra with gold and black designs on its hood. It hissed viciously in our direction, throwing us venomous glances. "You too, Weezing!" James shouted from the bushes, releasing his own pokemon, a strange-looking pair of gas balls with eyes and toxic symbols on their centers. Throwing an affirmative glance towards Lacey, I watched as she nodded and turned to Raichu, opening her mouth to say something when- "Thunderbolt!" From behind us, a streak of yellow lightning whizzed through the air, striking the group of pokemon and humans in front of us. And of course, like in classic anime style, a bright light surrounded them, their eyes bulging and their hair dramatically skewering the air as thousands of watts of electricity charged through them. Seconds later, a massive explosion wafted clouds of dust in our eyes, and before we knew it, Team Rocket was flying in the air, muttering something on the way up. However, despite their distance, one phrase was clearly shouted out. "Team Rocket is blasting off aga-ain!" I blinked, mouth gaping, totally confused, as were Lacey and Gatomon. "Um. okay. what just happened?" "You're asking me?" Gatomon snapped. "Uh, hey guys?" We turned to Lacey, startled at her shocked expression. "What?" we said in unison. Eyes wide, she merely pointed at something behind us, mumbling, "Gee, think. We're in Pokemon, and Team Rocket was just blasted out of the sky by a thunderbolt. Any ideas come to mind?" I rolled my eyes at her dramatics, turning to where she pointed. "Don't worry, I think I can guess." "Prance! Kyra! Are you guys okay?" Again, certainly not for the first or last time today, I spun around to find a defensive Lacey looking at me confused. "I swear, I have no idea how they know you!" Before I could respond, three figures emerged from the woods. The first was a boy of about ten or eleven years with thick, black hair hidden underneath a red and white baseball cap. A black t-shirt was covered by a blue and white jacket and he wore loose blue jeans and red sneakers. Ash ran forward, watching the spot where Team Rocket had flew off. His companion, a girl about the same age, ran forward towards us. Her bright red-orange hair was tied back in a ponytail at the side of her head, and her green eyes overflowed with concern. She wore a short, bright yellow shirt with red straps running over her shoulders to her light blue jean shorts. In her arms was what looked like half an eggshell with brightly colored geometric designs painted on it. It's upper half was broken, however, and sprouted from the inside was something resembling a pale yellow crown with two eyes and a bubbly smile. Seeing that we were okay, Misty sighed, smiling, while Togepi trilled joyously. The third newcomer was another pokemon, slightly resembling Raichu, but different. Its mouse body was pure yellow, with black-tipped rabbit ears and a thunder shaped tail. Bright red circles on its cheeks replaced the yellow ones on Raichu's, and its black eyes shined curiously. "You guys okay?" Misty asked, extended her hand towards me. Tentatively, I took it and pulled myself up, dusting my skirt off with my hands and tail. "Um, thanks. Misty." Misty grinned. "Don't mention it." Ash rejoined us, Pikachu hopping to his shoulder as he helped Lacey up. "Well, Team Rocket's gone. For now, anyway." "Yeah," Misty sighed, "those three always find some way to come back and bug us." "Yeah," I agreed, "we kinda noticed." "So where were you guys?" Ash asked, turning to Lacey. "Last time we saw you guys, we were at the Pokemon Center back at the last town, talking to Professor Oak. Next thing we knew, we woke up this morning and you guys were gone!" "Uh. well, we. um," Lacey stammered, glancing at me for help. "Well, Prance wants to tell you, don't you, Prance?" I could feel the sweatdrop sliding down my head as I glared at Lacey, my eyebrow raised. "Oh, I do, do I?" I replied, my voice low and vicious. Lacey quickly picked up my negative vibe, smiling nervously with a typical anime expression as she backed up. Ignoring her, I turned to Misty and Ash, who were watching me curiously. Scratching my head, I looked up at the sky, thinking. "Well. you see, we left early this morning because." Out of the corner of my mind, I saw Lacey muttering something to Raichu, who exchanged a few words with its trainer as well. Suddenly, she spoke up. "Sorry about that," she replied, rubbing the back of her head. "See, this morning, Prance saw a wild pokemon, a fire-type, and of course, she couldn't resist the chance to go capture it. Since it was so early in the morning, and neither of us wanted to wake you, we left, planning to come back before you woke up. But as we were on our way back, we ran into Team Rocket, and. well, you pretty much know the rest." For a brief moment, I stared dumbly at Lacey, wondering where in the heck she thought up something like that. But I didn't have time to complete that thought for Misty smiled and Ash laughed, glancing at Pikachu. "Well, I'm just glad we got here in time to help out." "Not like we couldn't take care of 'em," I replied confident, planning to ask Lacey about her explanation later. "Not without these, you don't," Misty replied, pulling out something from the green backpack she wore. Placing it in my hand, I looked down at my palm and gasped. Six tiny poke- balls sat comfortably in my hand. For a brief moment, Misty looked at me strangely, probably questioning my amazed expression. But before she could comment on it, Lacey stepped forward, wrapping her arm around Misty's shoulders. "Hah, you know Prance, so excited to catch a new fire-type pokemon, she completely forgot to bring her own. Sound like anyone we know?" she added, glancing in Ash's direction. He paused before stepping forward, flushing angrily. "Hey! Now what do you mean by that!?" Misty looked back at him and smirked. "Oh nothing, Ash. She's just saying that you tend to have a habit of jumping into stuff before you even think about it." "I do not!" he protested. "I think about stuff all the time!" Misty, Lacey and I exchanged glances, rolling our eyes amusingly. From his shoulder, Pikachu cried, "Pi-ka pi-ka chuuu!!" Lacey laughed. "It seems Pikachu agrees with us." "Pikachu!" Ash exclaimed, looking at Pikachu, shocked. "You don't really think so, do you?" Pikachu uttered an apologetic, "Pi-ka piii." The three of us laughed as Ash sank to the ground, digging his hands in his hair. As I looked around, marveling once again at who and where I was, I suddenly noticed somebody was missing. "Kyra!" I hissed, flexing my index finger so that she could come closer to me. Doing so, I leaned forward and whispered, "Where's Gatomon?" Lacey paused, blinking. "Wow, I don't really know." Looking around, Lacey added, "The last time I saw her was back when Team Rocket was." Suddenly, we both gasped, heads spinning around to face each other. I spoke first. "You don't think she could have been-" "-blasted away with Team Rocket?" Lacey finished. "I really hope not." "Psst!" Simultaneously, we looked up, recognizing the voice instantly. "Gatomon?" we said together. "Shh!" she hissed from behind us. Spinning around, we saw her two purple tufted ears sticking out from behind a bush. Glancing back to make sure Misty and Ash were still distracted by their own affairs, I darted into the bushes, Lacey following behind. "What happened to you?" was the first question Lacey sputtered. "We thought you were blown away with Team Rocket." Gatomon raised an eyebrow. "You think I was stupid enough to get caught up with that bunch of losers?" Lacey rubbed the back of her head, light pink appearing on her cheeks. "Well, . no, not exactly." "Look we were just worried about you," I said defensively. "What happened, anyway?" Gatomon snorted, folding her arms. "Duh, I snuck back here while you guys were all yapping away. I've been here, waiting for one of you to notice I was gone while you were playing around with those fools." I clenched my fists at my sides. "You know, you've got a real attitude problem. Ever since the beginning, you've always had a problem with everything and everyone. How come I never remembered you having this much of an attitude before." "Yeah? Well, sometimes things tend to happen when you begin to lose faith in everything you've know to be true your entire life!" she spat furiously. "Hey, both of you calm down!" Lacey interrupted, stepping in between the two of us. "We don't need to be fighting, especially right now." "Whatever," Gatomon muttered. "Same here," I added. "Anyway, exactly what is it we're supposed to be doing right now?" Lacey shrugged. "I don't really know. I guess first of all, we figure out who we are in here and why you're included in it," she began, pointing at me. "Since this whole storyline is wacky, if we find out why, maybe we can figure out how to get out of here." "Sounds like a good enough plan to me," I replied, shrugging indifferently. With a grin, I added, "Actually, sounds like a great plan. Just play along with the story, right? I think I can do that." Lacey smirked. "You just wanna try out your fire pokemon." "So?" I replied innocently. Rolling her eyes, Lacey turned back to Gatomon.
"You had better stay close but out of sight, you know?" Gatomon rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I know. By now, I'm pretty much used to it." "Oh yeah, huh?" Lacey replied, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "You did have to do a lot of hiding away whenever Kyra went to the Real world with everybody else, huh?" Gatomon threw Lacey an intensely hateful look. She took the hint. "Ugh, never mind. Anyway, since you're so familiar with this, I take it you know what to do," Lacey said, pulling her backpack to her front and pointing to the open end. Rolling her eyes again, Gatomon uncrossed her arms and jumped inside. Lacey waited until she made herself comfortable before pulling at the zip tap, leaving a small pocket open for her to breathe from. Swinging the backpack over her shoulder, Lacey suddenly noticed Raichu sitting next to her, staring at her curiously. Lacey sighed. "Don't worry. I promise I'll explain it all later." "Good luck," Gatomon muttered from inside her backpack. Ignoring her, the two of us stood up, walking out from our secured spot. "There you are," Misty said. "For a moment we thought we had lost you again." "Sorry about that," I replied. "Well, anyway," Ash said, calling Pikachu to his shoulder, "we had better get going. We have a long way ahead of