Chapter 4

"We've been walking for three hours! When do we take a break!" Julie moaned. She broke the silence that had persisted since they began walking. "Hey, Alexx, don't you carry a compass on your keychain?" "Sure I do, Chris. You switched mine with Ben's, and we were both locked out of our houses last week. Here they are, in my jeans' front pocket." Alexx reached in and pulled out a faded blue and yellow keychain, with several keys, IDs, and a cereal box compass. "We're walking...huh? It's pointing south, but look what it's doing." It was pixelating everything within three feet of her, blurring and distorting a nearby tree trunk. "Alexx, put it away! Quick!" Chris grabbed it and shoved it into his pocket. "Don't you remember in Tech class, when we talked about computers? This is the DIGITAL world. Magnetic traces store data on computers, its probably the same here. Hold it for too long near data, and it becomes useless, destroyed. Here, a magnet is a frickin' weapon." Save that for an emergency, its now like a bomb or grenade."

"Hey Chris, what was your dream last night?" "WHAT THE HELL! Ow, Alexx...How did you know about that Marin?" "Let's say that though my sight isn't perfect, my hearing's close." Chris closed his eyes and folded his arms across his chest as he leaned against a nearby tree.

"I dreamt I was in a globe of light in a dark space. I was holding my ground against the dark, which kept pushing me. I then saw a lime colored light shoot from my body, like a laser or something... twelve other globes joined me, all with different colored lasers coming from them. The darkness lost its force, and seemed ready to recede...then I woke up in a cold sweat."

"Chris... I had the same dream, only my "laser" was light blue..." Julie and Alexx looked at them with abject horror. "I had that dream, but my light was orange. Julie, did you..." "Don't ask. Mine was plum colored..." Chris stared at the digimon. "A predilection? What do the digimon know?" Nemeamon took a stand here. "We were told when we hatched- "HATCHED!?" "Yeah, we come from eggs, don't you? Anyways, we were told to wait for the humans to fall from the sky. But you guys fell like shooting stars during the night. It took an awfully long time to get here, but we felt we were drawn to you particular people somehow.. that's all we know. We couldn't say more if we tried." Elecmon stared Marin in the eye. "If you say twelve other lights and there's four of you... where's the other eight? Who are the other digimon? We went off on our own when we say your shooting stars. Plus, we were told to go to Web Tower when we found you. That's South of Mindalay Island in a village on Taura Island."

"SO WHY ARE GOING TO MINDALAY MOUNTAIN!!!" Julie was ticked, unlike her normal bubbly self. It meant one of two things: Someone really got to her, or something.

Avismon cocked her head slightly. "It's the only way to travel. Whirlpools surround this island, enough to stop boats. We have to use a Celierimon. They look like clouds with eyes, they take digimon from here to a bunch of other islands, including the village on Taura Island." "Uh..oh." "Now that Julie has made herself look bad (Chris you bastard!) can we keep going? I don't wanna know what night is like around here."

So they continued to walk until they reached the foot of the mountain, where there was a temple carved out of stone. Hey Zoremon, you're the maps digimon. Is this in entrance?" "Sure it is, Alexx, if you don't mind walking forty flights of stairs. "FORTY FLIGHTS!" "It's the only way up too," he added with an evil grin. "Crap, will this never end!" Chris opened his arms. "Julie needs a hug! OW! OW! THAT HURTS!" Marin smirked. "Well, you made the joke CHRIS. You know what? You call me Marin all the time, why don't I call you Lacona and Julie Connaughey and call Alexx by her name since she's the only one who ever does." "Because Marin comes off the tongue easier." "Screw you and your dumb logic."

The inside of the temple was not inviting. Moss grew on old sandstone walls, and a large iron staircase with railings zigzagged up 40 stories to the top, a pinprick of light. "Elecmon, please stop whistiling "99 bottles." "Just keep walking, Ben. Only ten flights to go.""THANK YOU! Someone else who uses my first name! Hey, who's shoving! It's almost pitch black, knock it off or I'll fall!" "Marin, it must be Chris! He's pushing me too! And after those jokes!""ITS NOT ME""Oh, hell it isn't""OW ALEXX""HEY""Stop shoving the fox Elecmon'"YOU think its me!""YES""It's pushing me""Nemeamon is that you""Help!"

"No, its only me..." Chris, is that your cold skin...and your voi-voice...EYAHHH!""Someone's up here with us! Call the police!""WHAT police!" "QUIET!!"

Suddenly, a plume of flames shot from the next staircase, illuminating the shaft. The kid who was next to them was of average height, with geled spiky mahogany colored air and a large nose between his brown eyes. He wore a blue unbuttoned oxford with a T-shirt underneath it, and name brand jeans. Julie took a deep hard look at him. "Smile, Tim!" "Tim? Tim who?" He grinned, showing slight buck teeth. "Oh no... Tim Aylesbury."

"Hey, Marin, good guess! You've only sat next to me in math the entire year." Marin blushed and turned away. "That kid's perfect in math class. He beats me and Chris. He's tops in THE COUNTY. And he doesn't look much like the nutter he is." "Marin, are you jealous for the first time?""No, Julie, I'm just intimidated...very intimidated."

Julie, however, looked very pleased. "So, Tim, how did you get here?" "I was in the english room writing something, when the computer behind me turned on and went psychadelic. the next thing I knew, I woke up on the coast here with Charizumon looking at me." He pointed at the orange dragon, which was small and on two feet, but looked intimidating with horns like a goat and spikes on its back and tail.

"So, you're going to Taura Island too?" The dragon wasn't as volatile as it looked, with a voice just like a curious ten year old. Avismon seemed to take Julie's enthusiasm in stride now. "Of course we are. We're all supposed to head for Web Tower. You can join us if you want." "Well, Tim? I think we should. It's safer in groups..." "Okay, sure."

Suddenly, Charizumon flew down and grabbed Tim's hand, flying to the top level at blinding speed. "Well meet you up here!" Chris looked up with a smirk. "He's going to be interesting to have around, don't you think Marin?" "Yeah, I suppose everyone has good qualities..." Little by little, they trudged up to the top of the tower. At the top was a similar looking exit onto a stone platform the size of an acre, with a black electric sign that said in red "WAIT HERE FOR SERVICE."

Alexx looked around and then at the sun, which was near the horizon. "A bit of a smartass, aren't we Tim?" It seemed she ws not happy to see Tim. He smiled and let up a suppressed laugh. "Charizumon and I planned to do that if we found anyone. We discussed it at the base of the mountain." "Yeah. So where's the cloud digimon?" Nemeamon walked to the edge of the platform, which had no railings at all. "The Celierimon should be here any minute.'

Then, clouds materialized on the horizon. They grew closr until they arrived at the edge of the platform. "Welcome to the 7:00 flight of Celieriair. We will be traveling to Taura Island. No food or drinks please." For the first time in hours, Marin smiled. "He has a deep comforting voice. That's nice." Suddenly, Tim ran straight off the edge. "Tim, NO!"

He appeared to stand on solid ground. "What, Julie?" She blushed violently. He sat down on his hands and feet,as if he was lying in bed. Charizumon joined him on his side. "Well, what are you waiting for," he added with his trademark grin.