Matt Ishida was taking a shower. It was Friday, and around six o'clock in the morning. He had a big football game after school, and before that a pep rally. He smiled to himself thinking about Mimi Tachikawa in her tight little cheerleading uniform. She was one of the hottest girls in school, he was lucky to get one moment alone with her, but they were old friends, and he just happened to be her tutor
"Hey, bro! I need to get in!" Matt's little brother, TK, called, standing outside the door.
"One sec, TK!" Matt quickly pulled his green shirt over his muscular chest, and pulled the door open. "It's all yours," he said to TK, going down to get some breakfast.
"Tai, what are you doing in there?" Kari screamed at the closed bathroom door. Tai had been in there for a half an hour already, she needed to get in. That's it, when I get in there; I'm checking the hair gel.
"Nothing!"
Kari sighed impatiently. "Yeah, right. You don't spend a half an hour doing nothing," she said. "Get out right now, or I'm barging in, clothes or no clothes!"
"Be out in a minute!" he replied. She heard crashes and grunts before he finally opened the door. "Finally, just how I like it." Tai's hair was in short; brown spikes, and his goggles were around his head. It took him that long get that?
Kari ran into the bathroom, and just in case Tai had any second thoughts about his hair, slammed the door, and locked it.
Along over at Mimi Tachikawa's house . . .
Slipping her books into her pink backpack, Mimi hoped that Matt wouldn't show up for a few minutes. She still had her hair to do, and there was no way she would let Matt Ishida, the hottest guy in her class see her with one single strand of hair out of place. Absolutely NOT happening.
She had just pulled the last curler out of her hair when she heard a knock at the door. She quickly sprayed her hair and adjusted her pink tank top before running to answer it.
"Hi Matt!" she said, trying her best to keep the excitement out of her voice. He looked so cute. Only he, Matt Ishida, can look that good this early in the morning, she thought with satisfaction
He thinks I LOOK GOOD!? She thought, feeling ready to pass out. Calmly, though, she closed the door, and starting walking to the car. "Sure," she said.
"Okay, TK, scoot!" Matt ordered. "Mimi's sitting up front."
TK shrugged and got in the back of the '96 red Ford convertible. He didn't care; he wanted to sit by Kari anyway.
At Sora Takenouchi's house . . .
"Mom, where's the hair spray?" Sora called down stairs to the kitchen, where her mother was cooking breakfast. Tai was picking her up alone today; she had to look her best.
"Under the sink, honey!"
The one place she didn't look! "Oh." She grabbed the can from under the sink, but before she could use it, her mother told her Tai was waiting for her. Tossing the can into the sink, Sora went running down the stairs.
Tai helped her up. "Are you okay?" he asked, concerned.
"I'm fine. Let's go." Real smooth, Sora! She thought reproachfully. Making a fool of yourself in front of your boyfriend! That's good going!
"TK's at the door, sweety!" Mrs. Kamiya called from the kitchen.
Kari scrambled to grab all of her things in one swipe, while checking her reflection. Lately she wasn't sure exactly what she felt towards TK, but whatever it was, it was stronger than just friendship. She wanted to impress him. "Coming, Mom!" she said.
Taking the stairs two at a time, she practically jumped into TK's arms, but succeeded only in knocking him down. "Oh, TK, I'm so sorry!" She blushed. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. What about you?" he asked, helping her up. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Wish you'd knock me down more often, in fact, he thought. Like Kari, he had come to the conclusion that he wanted to be more than friends, or thought he did. He wasn't sure yet, but he knew he felt something for her that he didn't for any of his other friends.
"Never been better. We'd better go. Bye, Mom. Love you!"
"Love you, too, dear," her mother said, waving.
Smiling at TK, she walked out the door. He followed, fighting a blush.
"Here he comes! OHMYGOD!" three girls shouted as Matt came through the doors. They ran up to him, screaming for his autograph.
What skanks! Mimi thought, standing behind Matt, shaking her head. And they call me an airhead! Compared to these girls, I'm an Einstein!
Matt signed the papers being shoved in his face, as his own group of admiring girl-fans was swamping TK. He ducked and began to book it. Kari ran after him, swinging her bag at the offending girls.
"WHERE'S MIMI!?" called five different voices. Mimi got down low behind Matt
"Uh, if any Neanderthals come up asking for me, I'm not here, okay?" Mimi said. Matt nodded, smiling.
"Tai, Tai, Tai!" came from another part of the hallway as Tai came running up to them.
"I can't take this anymore!" he cried, frustrated. " Is this a school or a mad house, anyway?"
Matt and Mimi looked at each other, and said, "Mad house."
TK and Kari were walking to their first period class, when about ten guys screamed in unison: "IT'S KARI! KARI KAMIYA!"
"Kari, run, I'll cover you . . . if I can." TK said, pushing her in the opposite direction.
"Thanks." And she took off as fast as she could, ducking into the classroom.
"Hey, dude, have you seen Kari?"
"Yeah, she went that way," TK told them, pointing in the other direction, away from Kari.
"Okay, thanks." Then they went that way, one of them , who TK recognized as Davis Motimoya, slammed into a wall on the way. TK winced in empathy, and as the bell rang for first period, walked quickly to his classroom.
The football game (5 pm) . . .
As Matt scored another touch down, Mimi jumped up and down in excitement. The rest of the cheering squad might have been cheering for the whole team, but she was cheering for Matt, and Matt only. To heck with all the other players!
Up in the stands, Joe, Jun, and Yolie yelled with pride. They were the only friends of Matt (be side's Mimi) there. TK had basketball practice, Tai was running the soccer field, Kari was going over plans for the yearbook with the rest of the staff, Izzy was in the middle of a very important meeting at Microsoft, and Sora was busy at her mother's flower shop.
And at half time, the score is Odiaba 6 to Kanto 4. Now, we'll go to the cheerleaders for our halftime show.
Immediately shouts of, "Yeah, Mimi!" " Go, Mimi!" and "YOU ARE SO HOT!" erupted from the crowd.
20 minutes later . . .
And the team takes the field again, headed by star quarterback Yamato Ishida.
"Nice buns, Hun!" " GO OUT WITH ME, PLEASE!" " I LOVE YOU!" and "You're the man!" filled the air.
Mimi turned around, glaring at the crowd. The nerve! she thought. "He's my man!" she said under her breath.
"Uh - Earth to Mimi. Hello, girl are you in there?" one of the cheerleaders said, waving her hand in front of her face
Mimi shook herself out of her thoughts. "What?" she asked. "We have to do our job. It's time for the pyramid." The girl blinked, and Mimi wasn't there anymore. She had just disappeared. Out on the field, the team was in a huddle. "Hey, what do you think, Matt?" The guy turned to Matt, but he wasn't there. He, too, was gone.
Jun looked around for Joe. His seat was empty. "Yolie, did you see Joe go anywhere?"
"No, I thought he was here the whole time," Yolie replied.
"MY BOYFRIEND!" Jun screamed, getting weird looks from the people around her.
In the staff room . . .
"I don't know, maybe we should use this sketch for the cover," Kari said, showing the group a hand drawn scene of people entering a building, supposedly the school.
"Or this one," Lain offered, turning around to grab a picture from the table behind her. When she turned back to show Kari, her chair was empty.
In the gym . . .
TK was dribbling the ball down the court, easily avoiding Davis' attempts to get the ball. Davis turned around to see if he was being covered by anyone from his side of the team. He turned back and TK was gone. Just evaporated into thin air.
"Jeez he's fast!" Davis said to himself.
Out on the soccer field . . .
"Here Tai, take it!" Danru called, kicking the ball towards the captain.
There was no captain. Tai was gone.
He was there a second ago. What happened?
"Sora, dear, I need Mrs. Kima's arrangement now." A few minutes later, Sora hadn't come out of the back room. "Sora?" Mrs. Takenouchi went to the back, and looked into the room.
Sora wasn't there. Only the flower's she had been working with, scattered around the floor.
At the Microsoft company building . . .
"And I was thinking, if we added and IB parameter, the computer-" Izzy was saying, then stopped suddenly.
"Where did Mr. Izumi go?"
"Maybe he stepped out for a moment."
"He's not that fast, you imbecile!"
"Now's not the time to be using them fancy words."
"Where's Bill! We need him. Go get Billy, Reginald."
"For the last time, my name is BOB!"
"Who gives a hoot! One of the CEO's just disappeared, we need Bill! Just go get him! BOB."
In the . . .
"DigiWorld!" Tai shouted. "We're back in the DigiWorld!"