The Substitute
Chapter Two
Destiny
A few hours later, Carlos' plane arrived in Japan & to say he was nervous was an understatement. He felt scared that his temporary family would harm him, despite what his mother said. He also hoped that he would be able to understand the language. Despite his teachings, he hadn't really experienced any actual conversation with a Japanese person nor read anything in Japanese aside from what was in his text book.
He made his way to the gate & looked around for any sign of his exchange partner's family. He then saw a sign that had his name in Japanese on it. Relieved, he walked over to the man & woman standing there.
"Konnichiwa." the two greeted as they bowed.
"K-Konnichiwa." Carlos stuttered as he bowed as well.
"Welcome to Japan. I hope that you'll enjoy it here." The woman said.
"I believe I will." Carlos replied. They then left the airport to go to their home.
At the apartment…
Ken's mother opened the door & turned on the light. She invited Carlos in & her husband followed while carrying the luggage. Mrs. Ichijouji gave Carlos the grand tour of the flat while Mr. Ichijouji put the bags in Ken's room.
"And this is your room." Mrs. Ichijouji said at the end of the tour. She opened the door to Ken's room. "If there's anything you need, please don't hesitate to ask us."
"Thank you. I would really like to go to sleep now." Carlos replied. Mrs. Ichijouji nodded & left him. Carlos walked inside.
'Man, is it dark in here!' He thought as he turned on the light. He put down his book bag & emptied the contents of his pockets. He took one look at the purple toy from earlier before putting it on the desk. He climbed onto the bed, yawned, and then fell asleep.
A few hours later…
Carlos was stirred awake by a strange light. He sat up in the bed.
'That's weird. I thought I turned off the light before going to sleep.' He thought. He scanned the room for the source of the light & his eyes settled upon the toy. Its screen was on & glowing blue. Carlos gasped.
'It's on?.! I thought it ran out of batteries.' He climbed down the bed slowly & walked over to the desk. He picked up the toy & it started to beep. Suddenly, the computer's screen turned on.
'What!.? I didn't even touch it.' The light got brighter & Carlos started to feel like something was pulling him. He tried to resist, but it was too strong. He got sucked into… the computer?.?.?
"AHHHHH!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!" He screamed as he fell. He felt searing pain. It felt like he was getting pulled apart. The pain soon left his body & he landed in a forest. He laid there unconscious in the darkness of night.
Another few hours later…
Sunlight poured down on Carlos' face and he woke up.
"Ugh… What happened?" He asked himself as he sat up. He looked around and noticed his surroundings.
"What the—? I was kidnapped!.!.!.!" His voice rang out for miles around. Strangely, he wasn't tied up or anything. There was no one around. Carlos stood up & started to dust himself off. That was when he started noticing the changes.
"Huh? Why aren't I wearing my jeans?" He was wearing blue pants that seemed to be made of silk.
"And my other clothes. I'm not wearing my sweater anymore. Whatever I'm wearing feels heavy." He was wearing metal bracelets on his wrists. He was wearing black gloves. He had on a shirt, which matched his pants. He also had metal anklets on his legs.
"Shoes? I was barefooted before I picked up the toy." He was now wearing shoes that were completely black. He was also wearing a cape, which was blue & yellow with gold shoulder pads. Finally, he noticed he was seeing purple. He was wearing sunglasses. He took them off & examined them. The frame was yellow. Carlos put them back on & a sense of urgency came over him.
"M-My hair. What's wrong with my hair?" He ran a hand through his hair to find out that it wasn't short anymore. It was bushy and everywhere! He chuckled nervously.
"Boy, Mom would kill me if she saw my hair like this." Carlos clipped the toy to his pants as he walked a little into the forest. When he came to a lake, he looked at his reflection.
"Damn! I look good!" He yelled as he did a pose. Suddenly, the ground started to rumble. Carlos turned around and saw hundreds of creatures coming toward him at an alarming speed. They were little yellow dinosaur looking things.
"Awww! They're so cute!" Carlos surprised himself when he said that.
"There he is! Get 'im!" One of the creatures yelled.
"Ummm... I think I should run now." Carlos said & he took off with the monsters on his tail. He didn't get much further when he tripped & fell off a cliff. He screamed as he fell. He then landed on a trampoline that was blue & red. He was propelled into the air.
"Was that a special spring I just bounced off?" He asked himself as he spun in the air. He then wound up in space on a red snowboard.
"Welcome to the special stage!" A voice rang out in his head.
"Huh? Who said that?" Carlos asked. He started to fall into a huge cylinder that had red walls. He took a look at his toy.
"Collect sixty rings!" The voice said.
"Rings?.!" The brunet looked up. "Where are we at again?"
(Me: You're in the Digital World. Now get back to the fic & stop interrupting!)
"Erm... Ok." Carlos replied.
Some music that sounded like it was coming from a pipe organ started to play. He moved his body down so that he can grab the first six rings he saw. He moved to the center of the cylinder, then up when saw some more rings approaching. He continued moving around in this fashion, collecting rings. He had about fifty-five rings when he saw a circle of light. Carlos dove into it and spun around. Doing so caused the circle to disappear and add ten rings to his count. He now had sixty-five. He went to the center and gave a thumbs-up.
"Now collect a hundred twenty rings!" The voice said while Carlos was in his pose.
"You're hard to please, huh?" Carlos replied. By now, he got out of his pose & back to ring collecting.
This time, the job was a little tougher because these spiked bombs were also in the cylinder. They popped up after a group of rings showed up. Carlos showed some impressive aerial maneuvers while avoiding them and gathering rings. After getting propelled through a spring and some more rings, the stage ended with him doing another pose.
Carlos landed on a ledge with something in his hands. It was a small rock that had a gold ring around it. The ring seemed to have ancient writing on it & it was rusted.
His score then popped up.
Carlos got a Destiny Stone!
Total Score: 25,000pts.
Continue:Plus 1
(A/N: I know a Destiny Stone is supposed to be huge. Just go with it.)
"A Destiny Stone, huh? I would've taken an emerald." Carlos said. He was going to toss the stone when...
"Master. I was wondering when you would show up." A voice said. He had a tone of voice that was a combination between being bored & being scared.
"Who's there?" Carlos asked. A green bug-like creature walked out from behind a rock.
"Wait. You're not Ken!"
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Sorry for the cliffhanger. Tune in next time for the next thrilling chapter of The Substitute.
