Episode 01 – I'm going Digital...Again!

The stage was left in darkness, yet a number of colors of blue and yellow began alternating in impatience. Screams of individuals in the distance could be heard chanting. "Teen-Age Wolves!" "Teen-Wage Wolves!" They repeated over and over several times while others just screamed out the lead singer's name. "Matt!" Over and over they cheered, waiting for the show to begin. It had been a while since the band held a concert or well rather a local concert than something on television. It was kind of nice, just having a little something for the people who mean the most to you than having an important gig on air in other countries and what not. In America, however, he was glad that his concert aired there for through several connections, he knew people there, yet he couldn't compare it to his home.

The blonde haired boy peeped out from behind the curtains, scanning over the dark audience to see if some of his friends came to watch. He could see his brother Takeru, or more well known as Tk, with Kari, Tai's sister. They had been going out, or well, not really, but they liked each other enough and with Matt's teasing, he thought it was only pushing Tk a little more to actually go through with it. The blue pools swished away from the crowd of fans and turned towards the ticking clock. "All right! Only five more minutes' guys! Let's get out there!" Matt motioned towards Akira, Yakato, and Takashi, the rest of his band, to head onto the stage. After they had moved over to their stations, the blonde moved out onto the stage, gaining deafening screams.

Matt was always popular, even though he may have never seemed it when he was little Mr. Anti-social at the time. He wasn't surprised that everyone ended up getting pissed off at him with his temper tantrums and the way he was over obsessive with his little brother. They still had a huge bond, but he knew now that he couldn't always be with him every moment of his time. Plus, Tk was older now and he could learn to take care of himself...with his help of course. Clad dressed in a black short sleeve blouse and maroon pants, the boy dashed over towards the microphone, lifting up his red bass guitar and strung it over his shoulder. His hands rested on the microphone pulling it towards him. "Are you ready to rock? I can't hear you!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, girls and fans alike screamed, bounced and cheered for the music to begin. The vocalist glanced behind towards the other members who then began playing. "One, two, three, four!" Soon music at a rather high tempo began blasting out of the speakers all around, yet initiating another undergo of screams and loud yells. He could make out one girl especially. Jun, Davis' sister. Davis was a friend of Tk's that he had met once in a while when he hung out with his brother, and then when he was introduced to Jun, she was completely all over Matt! She was a fan of his music, his looks and about everything else that she could possibly think of to the boy. "Things are starting to accelerate into something never stopping always trouble following.." He began, shouting into the microphone while his fingers slid along the thick metal wires upon the bass guitar. His head and whole form jumped energetically on the stage, singing along side with the guitarist on certain points. "Now I think I'm getting dizzy, too much, spinning pace my patience plan is thickening, quickening." People in the audience began clapping to the beat of the fast pace song, whistling and cheering when Matt reached to a small solo. "Run run baby...Run run baby." He flashed a smile before joining in singing once more. "You run around! I run around! We're all gonna run run around!" And then, finally, the song came to an end only to be followed by various other songs on the play list agenda.

Soon when the concert was over, Akira bided their farewells which allowed Akira to be the center of attention as the rest of them sneaked off to not be killed by fans who were overly obsessed with them and tried to climb upon the stage. Taking this time, Tk took Kari's hand and pulled the young brown haired girl along with him towards the back stage area to speak with his brother in person. "Sora!" Tk called out to the older female teen, who seemed to be waiting there to do the same thing as them. She glanced up as she heard the call and gave a cheerful wave. "Hey Tk! Really something, huh?" The boy nodded proudly, knowing his brother was really an amazing singer. He couldn't ever do that, but he was learning to play the guitar after he had won it from Matt with a coin toss. "Mimi's already waiting for us. Did Tai come?"

Kari sighed and shook her head. "He was too busy, though he really wanted to." Sora frowned lightly but it only turned upside down into a smile once again. "Oh well! Matt will just have to beat him for it." They all gave a small snicker before going backstage, already seeing Mimi talking to the tuckered out bassist. "Matt!" Sora called out, catching the boy's notice. "Hey guys. You all came to see me, huh?" Tk nodded with a bring beam on his face. "Yeah you were great out there Matt!" It was nice having someone to look up to you, even though on certain accounts it wasn't what it was cracked up to be. Like the way his mom always got on his back for making an impression for Tk. Being in a rock band wasn't the greatest line setter for a kid, but Tk didn't mind.

"Hey I have a great idea!" The pink haired Americanized Japanese girl chirped as her hands clasped together tightly. "Let's all go get something to eat and celebrate this gathering of all of us, or most of us anyway!" It really did seem Mimi couldn't get any pinker, Matt had noticed. First it was the dress and the hat, now her hair and her pink shirt. Wow. Talk about over usage of colors. "Hey that sounds like a great idea." Sora second the thought with the others agreeing as well. Matt only needed to put on his jacket and followed them onward. They went to a fast food restaurant, just to hang out and order random things like hamburgers and other junk food to fill their tummies to content's point. It was the perfect way to catch up on old conversations...and enlighten Kari for what she missed out in the beginning of the first trip into the digital world. They had gotten her more towards the end of the adventure when they found out they needed an eighth digidestined.

"Matt was always fighting with Tai, from what I remember." Sora giggled lightly as she sipped on her soda. "I remember from exactly at the beginning when we were starting out. Matt didn't think Tai qualified as the leader.." Kari had glanced over to the blonde teen that was sinking down in his seat. "Sora, stop. You're making me feel like a total jerk." Mimi raised an eyebrow at his statement. "Actually you were a jerk back then Matt. But we still love you!" Matt stared at the pink haired ditzy girl before looking to the grinning Sora and finally dropping the whole thing with a sigh. "Okay so maybe I was a jerk back then." He murmured, munching on a French fry. "Well, he's still like that to me." Tk chimed in but quieted down once Matt gave him a look.

"Me a jerk to you? Who tricked me with a double sided coin? You got all of my good baseball cards and my guitar!" Tk laughed faintly trying to wave it off. "Hey, finders keepers. And you promised no matter whatever happens I'm allowed to get what I win." They all laughed, except for Matt who felt like a real dope for trusting Tk like that, though he had always trusted him from the beginning. He was so innocent then and always needing attention or to be watched by someone. Now, he was pretty good on his own and pretty sure lost his innocence. "Yeah whatever." Matt munched on another fry in a sulking like manner. "Oh cheer up. Think it could be a lot worse." Sora mentioned as she began shuffling through her pockets for some money to pay.

They all had chipped in to pay together. "Uhm. He could have...er..." Tk glanced at Sora then to his brother and then back again before smiling and naming off a few of Matt's prized possessions. "Okay okay! I get it." They laughed as they paid for the bill and left, starting on their way home. "Hey, do you ever wonder what happened to the digimon? I mean they still exist, don't they?" Kari mused over her thoughts before glancing to the rest of them who were just as inquisitive now. "I dunno. I guess they're still okay from where we left them off. I really miss Gabumon now that I think about it." Matt exhaled silently, wondering what the digimon was up to. It had been so long, and their goodbyes were so painful. It was like saying goodbye to a really old friend that was so important to you...and that you may not ever get to see them again.

"Well its getting late, I better head home." Tk popped Matt's thought bubble and regained his attention. "Yeah, I'll walk you home squirt." Tk grimaced at the name, following the retreating brother. "Hey don't call me that!" Matt then snatched the hat off of Tk's head and bolted, only to be chased. "Aha. Try and catch me if you can!" Their voices faded into the night, leaving the others to muse over their thoughts on who would walk who home first. They decided to take Kari back to her house before Sora and Mimi would go their own way. She was young after all and they didn't need Tai yelling at them for loosing his sister.

"Say Matt, what do you really think happened to the digimon?" Tk questioned his brother as he grabbed his hat back and placed it back on his blonde locks. Tk and Matt could almost pass as twins if it wasn't for the hair cut and for the age differences. Matt sunk his hands into the pockets of his maroon pants and gave a light shake of his shoulders. "I really don't know, Tk. But I'm sure they're all fine. They can take care of themselves after all. I'm pretty sure of that. And I'm sure they miss us just as much as we miss them." The blues of the younger brother stared at his older sibling before giving a smile. "I wish there was some way we can see them again, huh?" Matt agreed quietly with a nod, staring at the concrete path walk. "Well I'm sure there's a possibility to see them again."

Tk folded his arms against his chest before turning towards Matt. "You think so?" It wasn't that much of a walk to Tk's house, but it was a good enough distance between houses. Tk's school was closer to him, than it was to Matt when he was still in grade school. Now he was in high school, which meant uniforms. Gosh, he hated uniforms, but they weren't really that bad. He liked the color green anyway. "I'm more than sure." Matt gave a smile to his younger brother before stopping in front of the house. Just before Tk was able to get away, Matt grabbed him and pulling the hat off of his head, giving him a noogie. "I'll catch you later squirt."

Tk squirmed away and snatched his had back before sticking out his tongue and then smiling. "Right! See you tomorrow." Matt and Tk glanced up as they saw the door opening, with their mother standing there waiting. One last wave was given to Matt before Tk disappeared inside the house. The teen remained there, staring at the woman at the door before turning around and walking away.

--

A shadowy bitter chortle boomed in the pitch black surroundings. "Who's there...?" Matt questioned, turning around and around to see if he could pinpoint that voice to a face, but nothing was there. The laugh rang out again, making Matt wince. It hurt. It was painful. But then he heard someone calling him. "Matt! Matt!" The voice was very recognizable to the boy's ears causing him to broaden his eyes. "G-Gabumon?! Gabumon! Where are you?" Suddenly the lights blazed and he found himself on the ground in a colorless area with a figure approaching at a rather quickened pace. "Matt. I don't have time to explain." The digimon quickly stated, but he was cut off as the boy held him tightly. "I missed you so much, Gabumon!" The reptile digimon smiled, but pulled back the boy to look at his face.

"Matt...The digital world is in trouble again. There's a new darkness that's arrived and they're slowly taking over the digital world. We need you to come back." Matt listened to what he was told, in alarm. "But..didn't we defeat Devimon before? I thought we got rid of him for good.." Gabumon nodded at the question. "You did, but it isn't Devimon. His data was reprogrammed some how and was changed into someone known as Hadesomon. He has a number of other dark digital lords working with him and little by little the digital world is disappearing or turning into something horrible. There isn't much more time!"

"But wait! Why are you coming to me? Why not go to Tai or something? He is or well, was the leader after all." Gabumon smiled as he listened to his friend doubt his abilities and skills in leadership. "Its time for a new digidestined leader Matt. Sora and Mimi have also been told by Biyomon and Palmon. They will be the other digidestined." Matt felt like this was..impossible, unrealistic, and upon all else, totally insane! He was dreaming wasn't he? Of course he was dreaming! This wasn't real, but...it felt so real...it seemed so real. "All...right." Was he out of his mind? Probably. The next thing Matt had heard was a loud ringing that sounded like his alarm clock. Matt gasped and jumped up in his bed, wide eyed at the wall in front of him. "Wow..Talk about an odd dream. Man." His eyes glanced to the clock, which gave him another jolt for the morning. "Oh man I'm going to be late for school!"

He ditched the bed clothes and scrambled around to put on his uniform. "God I hate this thing." He fumbled with the small round buttons before dashing out into the hall and grabbing hold of his backpack. "Morning Matt." His father said with a yawn as he shuffled through the room. "Uh, hey. Sorry I woke up too late. I can't make breakfast but I'll make dinner when I come home. I promise!" The boy spoke rather rapidly as he grabbed his school shoes and ran out the door. "Oh man, oh man! They're gonna kill me. That first period teacher is harsh." He thought he would make it as there weren't that many people out there early in the morning, but there were enough to slow him down a bit further along the line. Once he reached the school building, he pried the door open and dashed in towards his first period class. History. Gotta love history.

He was just about in front of it, when the school bell rang. "Oh, shoot!" He crept up to the door and glanced inside the room, not really seeing the teacher in sight. That was the class he shared with Sora and Tai, or one amongst many. Izzy wasn't ever in his classes, since that brainy computer wiz was on the first track half of the time and held AP classes. He was going to be some professor for sure some day. Matt quietly opened the door and snuck in, sliding into his seat with a sigh of relief. "Hey Matt.." Sora waved, motioning him over until the teacher stood in their way. "Mr. Ishida!" She narrowed her eyes at the blonde boy who only smiled politely. "Yes Mrs. Murasaki?" His voice was nice and sweet, so perhaps he could make the while thing blown over..but he didn't think that was possible seeing a vein popping out of her head that of the size of two shoelaces tied together.

"You are late." She said aggravated. "May I ask why?" He winced mentally, trying to come up with a quick explanation in his head. "Uh, well. My alarm clock broke for starters and I couldn't find my uniform so I had to go get some out of the laundry, which took a while since I live in an apartment building. Then since my dad was laid off he hadn't really moved the car in a while so I had to walk to school but the sidewalks were so crowded today for some reason! But I did make it to school in time. The bell just rung as I got into the class room so technically I'm not really late." After speaking all of this, he gave another smile, folding his hands upon his desk. A few snickers were heard from other students, only stopping from the glares they received. "You are excused this one time, but fix your shirt tail and tuck it in! It's hanging out."

Matt rose after she walked away and moved into the hall as he was directed. "And learn to wear a tie!" Blah blah. That's all that registered in Matt's mind. After he did as he was ordered and made his way back into the first period class, half way through, his head fell on his arms and he snoozed away, much like Tai who was only a few seats away. Noticing this, the teacher then slammed her ruler on the desk, gaining both of the boy's attention. They gave short shouts of surprise, making the class laugh. But luckily, the bell saved them from their teacher's wraith of vengeance! Matt quickly rushed to the door before Sora caught his arm and pulled him towards her. "Matt. I need to ask you something." Her voice was soft with concern, but yet she seemed rather her normal perky self. "Oh sure Sora. What's up?"

"Well.." She began until a few girls bumped her out of the way and began drooling over Matt. "Oh my god Matt you are so cool!" The first one with two tails in her hair said. "Yeah! You totally rock my world!" Said the second who giggled and blushed. Then they all, in sync like shoved pencils and paper in his face and said, "Can we have your autograph?!" He smiled nervously before stepping back and trying to get them out of his personal space. "Uh, later. I have to get to class." He felt bad for leaving Sora back there, but he would always see her at lunch anyway. And there she would have a free time to talk to him. Matt's hand fell into his pocket, furrowing his brow as he took out a rectangular object. "What the..? This wasn't here before.."

He stared at the silver device with the crest of friendship insignia on the cover. His thumb slowly pulled down the casing, revealing something rather cool looking and an object that he hadn't seen in a very very long time. "..A digivice? But..how did this end up here? And..why does it look like this?" He heard a few people mumbling 'cool cell phone' as they passed, before he dashed up the stairs to his next period. The digivice was slipped into his pocket, a safe place for the mean time, while he mused in his own thoughts. Sora would just have to be questioned this later. Wait, did this mean that his dream really wasn't a dream at all, but the truth? Was the digiworld really in trouble? And would he really have to save it, by taking the lead and having Mimi and Sora helping? This was really just too much!

He couldn't juggle school, his band, house cleaning, and now saving the digital world! But did Matt really have a choice for this matter? He highly doubted it. With a light sigh, he shifted into the small class room and planted himself into the old wooden desk. He seemed to be in a daze as the teacher began the lesson after the bell had rung. He swore someone was whispering to him, but when he turned around to look, no one was. The words were something like 'Crest Evolution' over and over again. What did this mean?! It was really brain racking! He never heard of such a thing. Well, he heard of crest obviously, but..Was it a new digivolution? It made sense on how it was said. The blonde decided to keep that in mind for the next time he would hear it...and sure enough the voices stopped when he reached that conclusion.

Things were just getting way to weird for his liking. He needed to talk to Sora as soon as possible, before he would snap like a twig. His blue orbs danced towards the clock, narrowing as he found out it had only been five minutes since the bell rang. Well, only forty more minutes to go! Only forty!? He was going to be there forever! Matt tapped his pen upon the desk, staring out the window now with his mind faintly listening to the teacher. Literature classes were just as bad as history. So many poems and so many poets who all wrote mushy love stories to make people fall head over heels over some girl or boy, who ended up dying! Now did that make sense? Not one little bit!

The blonde bassist heaved a sigh that was loud enough to catch the attention of his teacher. Matt jumped in his seat as he was told to read the next paragraph. He scrambled to look on where they were before finally finding the place and reading allowed. God, he really hated school when he could be doing better things, like saving the digital world from total destruction of evil digimon. It was all in the same category of going home onto the computer. At times like this, he was happy he had third period lunch, meaning after this class, he would go and eat or in his case, go bother Sora about the dream. She seemed all too eager to talk to him, but they kept getting separated or brushed away from each other. Something really was going on!

Once the bell had rung, he sprinted out of the room and down to his locker to switch books for his afternoon classes and then ran down to the lunch table. His hands felt around his pockets, grasping hold of the digivice that he had left in there, but to his dismay, no money. He was in such a rush that morning that he forgot to take money for lunch. Oh well, not like that wouldn't harm him. He could always fix something for himself when he got home from school. Not like that wouldn't hurt. He seemed to have beaten everyone to the punch to get to the lunch room, or at least Sora in any case, being that he didn't see her, but as soon as he sat down, she wandered in. Matt waved his arms rather frantically to catch her attention, but he needed not to as she seemed to be looking around for him as well.

"Phew. Finally! I've been trying to get a hold of you all day!" She joked as she sat down across from him, but it really wasn't a joke since he was such a popular boy! Everywhere she went someone was trying to get his autograph or getting him to talk or something along those lines that constantly kept chasing him away. Sora felt bad for him, yet she also couldn't help but feel a large hint of jealousy about his popularity. Who would think Matt would have become such a popular person in only a short amount of time? Gabumon must have made a real impact on changing his attitude towards things. Sora came out of her thought as she saw Matt place an object before her. "So, it wasn't a dream was it?" He spoke on a low tone, glancing at her now taking a digivice out of her pocket.

"I don't think it is Matt, but.." Both of their attention was drawn away as a few people were approaching towards their table. Ugh, great, more fans for the blonde haired blue eyed rock star. They snatched the digivices away and placed them into their pockets prior than anyone catching a glimpse of the two items of importance. "Matt! Hey that was some concert you had last night." One of his school friends commented with a grin. "Yeah dude, that was sweet." Another boy from another class of his sat down beside the blonde and nudged him in the arm. "If you have any problem with the ladies, you know where to send them." The other teen rolled his eyes and sat down where Sora had scooted away from. "Dork."

"Uh, Matt I'll see you later." Sora gave a motion towards the doors in the hall as she stood up and left the boy with the other two school 'fans'. Matt waited a little while, to listen to the guys keep blabbing on and on about how cool the band was and if they could hook them up. He was starting to question some of his friends' real purpose about hanging around him. Or well, just his new high school friends. Akira, Yakato, and Takashi along with his old friends of the digidestined, were those real friends that he held deep place in his heart. "Yeah I'll...Be right back." He mumbled finding that enough time had past and got up from the table and moving towards the two doors.

He pushed one open, looking around for the girl until Sora grabbed his arm and pulled him aside. They sat next to the lockers and examined the two digivices. "So, it is true isn't it?" Matt mentioned as he stared at the time on the screen of the digivice. Sora's was identical to his, for the exception of hers had her crest upon the front, which was the crest of love. "Well we both had a similar dream, and found these magically appeared in our pockets. If this isn't a sign, then we're both going crazy." The blonde teen couldn't help but smile as he pressed a few buttons on the digital item. "You know these are pretty cool, even better than our first one's in fact." Sora gave a small giggle and nod. "I agree. These are more fashionable."

Words began appearing on Matt's screen, and soon appearing on Sora's screen. They read 'Opening tunnel of transportation. Transporting beginning.' "Uh, what's..that supposed to do?" Suddenly, they both gasped as a bright blue and pink color light erupted from the two digivices, swirling around the two forms. They soon found themselves in a blue luminosity tunnel flying through towards a vivid ashen light ahead. They both had their eyes closed, to protect them from damaging their vision incase of any surroundings to be too harsh for them to bare, since after all they were clueless on where they were going. Sora opened an eye of hers, glancing below. They were..floating. "Matt?!" She glanced around to see the boy beside her, equally in shock. "We're back." He spoke slowly, feeling the warmth from the digivice in his hand. "We're back in the digital world!"

To be continued...