Is That You?

By: OtakuSailorV

Chapter 16:: The Technique is Mastered

"Teleport!!!"

Suezo's voice was loud in their ears, echoing in the depths of their minds which were all still concentrated on him, and their destination. The cry reverberated in the forest and the mountains, shooting back at them as they grit their teeth; sweat starting to fall from their open pours.

Everything was still, and it seemed like they stood there for forever before they all felt a pulling on their minds and spirits. Their bodies remained fine, this strange feeling was completely internal. It was as if their souls were being sucked from their bodies, and their mind was the only thing that seemed to register the shock of it all. Even their heartbeats seemed to have stopped.

Genki became nervous as everything seemed to slow around him; the weird tugging on his soul did not help his predicament either. Tentatively, he tried to open one eye to peer around.

But a vast roaring suddenly rose in his ears, and he squeezed them back shut in pain. He ground his teeth, the sound was hurting his ears and he could not moved his hands to cover them. It was as if everything but his mind was frozen. Yet his ears were intact, though he was sure they would be bleeding soon enough.

He was unaware of his friends as he felt the world underneath him moving, at first slowly, and then faster and faster until he was sure that he would be jarred or thrown if he did not hold tightly to his friends' palms.

His mind spun, but in the midst of all the frantic thinking, he kept one perpetual thought still in mind. The place they were headed was pictured in his head as if he was already standing there. Behind his tightly clenched-shut eyes, he saw the rising spires of the populous city, and the many people bustled in the streets, unaware of his overview of them.

He had never actually been to this place before, but he had seen enough pictures on the news and in textbooks to know what to picture in his mind for Suezo. Briefly, his mind wondered on the thought of what the others, or rather, those that had not even seen pictures of the city, were imaging for the eyeball monster. He hoped that he and Hikari could provide a distinct enough image for their monster ally.

The world reeled, sending his own mind reeling as well. He felt a sickness squeeze in his stomach, it rose in his throat briefly before he forced it back down. He would not let himself become sick all over his friends from such a voyage, though he was sure that his churning stomach was not going to agree with him.

Genki was thankful when the spinning and pulling sensation both halted, the roaring wind in their ears dying just as instantly. Everything was quite, and Genki could feel cold sweat on his back, and in the clammy palms that he held. Relieved that he was not the only one who had been shaken up by the ride, he opened his eyes and smiled awkwardly at his friends.

"Did it work?" Hare asked, looking around. This city that they were in looked just like the one from before, only not all ruined and on fire. The people nearby were staring with boggling eyes, their lips thinning until they were little white lines on their faces.

Pixie turned her head toward a pair of gawking teenage boys. They were smirking at her strangely and after a good death glare, they left with wide, frightened eyes. "What were they looking at?" She growled to herself before turning back to her friends.

Genki and Hikari opened their eyes and investigated the area thoroughly. "Is this the right place, Genki?" Holly questioned him as she steadied herself. She was dizzy from all the spinning and her equilibrium had been thrown off.

Meanwhile, Suezo was grinning quite broadly to himself, his single eye shining as he realized that he had actually used the technique in one try. It had almost been easy this time too. He tried to grin wider as his friends looked to him with grins of approval, but his face would not allow the smile to grow any wider, lest it engulf his head. 'I did it! I did it!' Inwardly, he was praising himself for a job well done.

Hikari gave him a relieved smile before her eyes turned stony and determined, her eyes quickly scanning the skies and the buildings nearby for any signs of trouble. Her ears strained to pick up even the faintest hint of any form of an alarm. But she could hear nothing above the bustle of the crowd, though a good deal of them had stopped to stare at the people in the middle of the road. Cars turned around them instead of stopping or honking, and drivers simply stared instead of yelling for them to get out of the road.

Everyone in the group liked this reaction to their appearance better than the one that they had received in the broken city nearer to Hikari and Genki's homes. However, they still did not appreciate the slack-jawed, wide-eyed stares of the people.

Hikari remained stoic though, her eyes never wavering as she stared distantly, her mind in a different place as she calculated and searched. Her gaze never fell on the staring people, but seemed to go right through them, as if they did not exist.

This produced a slightly eerie feeling to radiate through the 'invisible' people as her narrowed eyes pierced through them, giving them the sensation that she was viewing their minds and souls at leisure.

She took in a deep breath and sighed in frustration before she finally turned back to the others who were watching her closely. "Well, I suppose the only move we could make for now is to get to the sidewalk before some driver decides that he doesn't see us."

The group finally seemed to take notice of the many pairs of eyes that lingered on them, and, cheeks slightly pink with embarrassment, walked to the sidewalk and decided what to do from there.

"I thought you said that there was an emergency." Genki demanded, his eyes drooping slightly from lack of sleep.

Hikari growled in her mind as she noticed all of their fatigue. 'This isn't good.' She answered abruptly to his question though, so that she would not let on that she was worried. It was important to remain in control of such situations at all times. "That is what I was informed of. However, that could be translated into two separate meanings."

They waited patiently for an explanation. Knowing that she would provide one without their questioning.

"It could mean that the city is in danger at that time." She stopped for dramatic pause as she lifted her head to the gray sky above. "Or it could mean that the threat hasn't arrived yet."

The others looked skyward as well, drawing the attention of the people around them, who also lifted their heads. Usually, such a thing would be comical, if it were not for the imminent danger that approached. Genki felt a small chill run down his spine as the clouds swirled and surged above him.

"Hikari." He claimed her attention immediately. Her face turned from the clouds and she peered at him questioningly, though her face was impassive of any other emotion.

"Shouldn't we move? I mean - leaving the monsters out in front of all these people like this?"

Hikari turned her head back skyward, as if she had not heard him. After a moment of tense silence, Genki spoke up again. "Hikari." He bit out her name sharply. Still, she showed no signs of having heard him.

"H-"

"We should move now." She interrupted him, sweeping past, their shoulders almost touching. Genki froze as she passed, and rounded in a circle after her. He was angered by her dismissive attitude. She had become like this before. Why did she change her attitudes so much? It only furthered his anger toward her that she could be such a schizophrenic.

'I suppose it must come from her job. . .' He thought grudgingly in his mind. 'But that doesn't dismiss her rudeness.' He added bitingly.

They trudged after her, only half-awake as they suddenly felt the chill of the early-morning wind on them. It seemed to penetrate, going to their very bones and making them shiver so hard that they were sure that their bones would be shaken loose inside of their bodies.

Holly's teeth chattered slightly, her breath barely visible as it came out in steamy little wisps from her mouth. She rubbed her hands on her arms, trying to gather warmth into them, but it helped very little.

Genki made a face, wishing that he had some cloak to provide for her. Biting on the inside of his right cheek thoughtfully, he pulled off his hat and placed it on her head with a small grin. "Ninety-nine percent of your body heat is lost through your ears." He informed her, the smile broadening into a large, amused grin.

Holly smiled back at him. "Thank you." She replied, pulling the hat snuggly down over her head.

People continued to stare, but the police never showed up. When Genki inquired Hikari about this, she replied that either the people did not care, were too scared to call for the police, or the police was already under the control of 'her Agency'. Meaning that any reports of traveling monsters and strangely clothed humans in the city would be dismissed.

"Miss Hikari, do you think that there are any others like us that got pulled into this world?" Holly asked tentatively. She was slightly intimidated by Hikari when she grew into this foul kind of mood. Though it did not frighten her, she was reluctant to bother the fellow fighter when she was acting this way.

Hikari looked sidelong at her, as if mulling it over. "As in?"

"I mean – people like myself from the 'monster world'. Could others also be pulled through?"

"No." She seemed sure of this answer, as she answered almost immediately. "You were, and will be, the only human from your world that was pulled through."

"Why only me?"

Hikari nodded at the green stone that hung from Holly's neck once again. "That bauble of yours is the answer. This world vortex pulls in only beings with strange powers, or 'magic' as you might call it. The Monsters have that such power, and you have that power around your neck, which affected your entire being as it was pulled through the vortex. However, it is still possible that if the worlds fully integrated that other humans would be pulled through as well."

Genki stepped up to the plate now. "What about me? Are there any other gamers like me that were pulled through by your little 'accident'?"

Hikari ignored his sarcasm, though it struck home as he had intended it to. "No. Your disc was the only one we tampered with. We did not anticipate that you would fall prey to what you did. I am sorry."

Genki raised an eyebrow at her. Was she. . .apologizing to him?

He felt the corners of his mouth twitching, and soon, he was smiling broadly again at her. Running one finger underneath his nose, her let out a pleased laugh. "Nah, that's ok. I'm glad it happened." He said, his eyes shining brightly with happiness, and some other hidden emotion.

Hikari looked back and was slightly puzzled by his smile and words. She had not anticipated this either.

Genki took no notice of her raised eyebrow and looked around at his friends that flanked him. "Yeah, I wouldn't have changed what happened for the world. I'm glad I got sucked into the Monster world."

His monster friends smiled back knowingly, a few contented chuckles rumbling around, despite the cold air and heavy fatigue.

". . .Otherwise, I wouldn't have met these guys."


Hello, back again. Ya'll miss me? Crickets Hm, I guess not.

Ok, this was mainly just another chapter for explanations sake. Sorry guys. But there will be more action next time, I promise. Plus, I wanted to have a few cute moments with the characters, since I thought the story was in need of some cute stuff. Nervous laugh Heh. . .

Thanks for your reviews, as always. You guys really motivate me and make me feel really happy. I'm so glad everyone likes this story so much.

Ok, so, I promise for another update soon enough, and next time with more action and all that good stuff. Oh, and more lines for the monster's and Holly and all them. I feel like I focus on Hikari too much, which makes me feel like I'm writing an OC romance or something. But that's not what she is!! Frustrated Gah, so, next time, definitely going to try and improve there.

Alright, enough of my chatter. Thanks for reading, reviewing, and for your continued support. Smile

Ja'ne.

Review please!!