If Tai had been sweaty before, the summer heat made him a human faucet by the time he had made it to their apartment.

He was panting like a lunatic, but twenty minutes of mad dashing and he got the sunscreen. No sign of his mother both outside or in the apartment, and his dad was likely still at the office, so apparently with time to spare. The boy gave a silent thanks to years' worth of soccer playing and training as he leaned on the door.

He grabbed the key in his pocket and unlocked the door. With a click, it opened into their humble abode.

The first thing Tai did crossing the doorway was swing his head back and sigh in relief with the cool rush of the air conditioning. The small hallway moved into a living space and a kitchen separated by a counter with closed doors all around. No devices on, nothing in the background, just the silent ticks of the clock that hung by the entry hall.

Tai turned his gaze to the clock inside a porcelain cat's stomach – past noon.

At least, he thought it was because he could never focus on time with that creepy cat sculpture that sent a subtle claw down his spine. His mom had cat-themed decorations all over their crumpled-up wad of a living space. The freezer door when he went to get a snack, the TV on late night movies, even outside their door above their mailbox. As if apartments weren't tiny enough, it was like his parents had a thousand eyes on him at all times.

Wiping the sweat from his brow, his glove went damp. So far, so good. All he had to do was take a quick shower or just grab a towel to dry off, then put on some new clothes. His mom would never know the difference.

"Excuse me."

Tai jumped. He could swear the sweat beads on him did as well.

Looking out the doorway, he spotted some short kid with a mop of wine-red hair and what looked like a tablet clutched closely in hand. A quick blink was the only thing he did to show he was alive.

Tai, however, was blinking several rounds a second.

"Could I perchance trouble you for an additional issue of the forthcoming summer recreational camp itinerary?" If robots had children and those children learned Japanese, that was this kid's voice in a nutshell.

"Huh?"

"The itinerary. My mother was assured you would have a copy."

As Tai returned outside, the kid stepped back to give him space. The black and purple textile of his shoes were smushed together, while his shoulders were huddled with folds of his orange button-up shirt. It looked like on of those laptop-tablet combos that he was clutching, Tai realized after squinting, with a yellow protector cover.

"You appear to be perspiring an excessive amount."

"Uh, no. I'm just sweating, is all."

"Ah… yes." He looked away. In fact, the kid seemed to be struggling with making eye contact at all.

"…Uh, so your mom said…?"

"The camp itinerary. My mother had spoken to your mother about sending us to the upcoming summer camp. She unfortunately was unable to download a copy from the camp's official website but recalled that Mrs. Yagami would have her own." The boy explained with so many big words it was making his head spin. "Personally, I would have preferred computer or astronomy camp, but it was too late to make a request."

"Okay…" Tai blinked and shook his head. "Wait, you're going to the camp too?"

"Ah, yes. My name is Koushiro Izumi." He bowed. "And you are Taichi Yagami, correct? It would appear we are in the same camp group."

"Koushiro?"

The boy lunged into his pocket for his phone. An email with a reminder for the camp was marked in his messages, along with a list of the kids in his group. He'd never bothered to look at it in his eagerness leading up to – all he'd remembered was Sora telling him they were grouped together. The attachment took only a second to load and open.

Ishida Yamato, Age: 11, Grade: 5th, Gender: Male

Izumi Koushiro, Age: 10, Grade: 4th, Gender: Male

Kido Joe, Age: 12, Grade: 6th, Gender: Male

Tachikawa Mimi, Age: 10, Grade: 4th, Gender: Female

Takenouchi Sora, Age: 11, Grade: 5th, Gender: Female

Yagami Taichi, Age: 11, Grade: 5th, Gender: Male

"Oh! Yeah, there you are. You're a grade lower than me." Tai turned back to the computer kid smirking. "Koushiro, huh? No offense, but you look like an 'Izzy' to me."

"Izzy?"

Tai shrugged. "I don't know. It just came to me. So, uh, why couldn't you get the camp itinera… thing?"

Izzy pulled out his tablet and gave the screen a few taps. Tai was impressed – the kid was typing and tapping at lightspeed. A second later he was greeted with a blank white screen. "This error has been present every time we have tried to log on."

An error? Tai looked for the spiral arrow he was sure was the refresh button. He gave a glare after a few tries and the page still wouldn't load.

"I have analyzed the source code for the website as well as our home's wireless internet for any errors, and my parental units has repeatedly called the company. All attempts have proven futile."

"That right?"

"I've heard that similar incidents are occurring all over Tokyo currently. My social media feed is linked to numerous news outlets and experts in various technological fields."

"Huh…" Tai racked through his memory thinking back to any such news himself. The best search result was a few weeks back when his father was beating the TV for a championship soccer game while he was grabbing a soda. He had steered clear like his dad was a dinosaur on the hunt for prey. Then other such things began to pop up, like his mom whining about the microwave and oven being busted when making dinner. The sad truth was she couldn't cook to save her life.

It had been on again, off again since then. The odd switch to the news had big headlines talking about traffic accidents and periodic internet failures. His dad had even been complaining about late nights due to bugged office equipment. The technology of the city was practically on strike for better working conditions. It made for late night entertainment with posted videos of epic fails, Tai thought chuckling.

"Confidentially speaking, I have a theory as to why electronic devices seem to be malfunctioning." Izzy piped up.

"Really? Hit me with it."

Izzy blinked. "Why would I… hit you?"

"Ah… that was an expression you know?" Tai deadpanned. "I'm saying just… tell me."

Izzy cleared his throat like some old-time professor type. "I believe that the signals may be jammed due to some outside interference. Extraterrestrials are infiltrating our systems through some manner of hacking in order to gather information on us and our activities. I have been gathering evidence from various areas and theories from-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait." Tai shook the extra syllables out of his head. "You think aliens are behind this?"

"Correct. That is my current working theory."

The kid actually seemed a bit bright-eyed. He had been for a while. Apparently talking about alien conspiracies and tech was what got talks going with him. It wasn't really the best icebreaker. "That's a little… much."

"I don't really see any other plausible explanation." Izzy almost went pouty. "My device won't function despite."

Tai snatched the tablet from Izzy's hands. "Nothing to worry about! You just gotta give it a jump start!"

"W-What are you-!?"

For the first time, Izzy was showing some kind of emotion, and it was pure panic. Clearly he considered this tablet more valuable than his own arms. But there was only one thing to do when tech started misbehaving. Tai pounded the side of the device like crazy, earning aching rattles from the thing and screams from the younger boy.

"Relax! My dad says you just gotta give a computer a few whacks when it starts acting up!" The screen was actually taking its time loading on the fourth whack where his finger landed on refresh again. That was a good sign, maybe. "It always works with our desktop and we've had it for about ten years!"

"No, don't!"

Izzy snatched the tablet back from his hands. The little computer kid was on the verge of tears as he scanned the device from top to bottom for any dents or signs of damage. Forget limbs, the thing was practically his child. Izzy breathed in pure relief seeing his little tablet was fine, but it quickly turned into a fierce glare once he turned back to the older boy. Tai blinked in surprise at the fire that seemed to burst out of the kid.

"Are you insane!?" He screamed. "This is a state-of-the-art, custom-modded device with ten times the processing power of anything on the current market! It took me weeks to customize it! And you just decide to hit it!?"

"Hey, you wanted the page to work! Don't blame me!"

"You're supposed to be delicate with electronics, let alone someone else's property!"

"Well, sorry. I thought you-"

The rock solo from Super Strikers, his favorite show, started blaring from his pocket. The screaming match was cut off as Tai reached out and pulled his phone. He flinched a bit seeing his mom again on the caller id. Nonetheless, he answered.

"Hey, mom!" Tai called with a cheerfulness so forced his teeth gritted.

"Tai, I'm just calling in, seeing as you weren't responding to text. Did you make sure to get everything you need?"

"Yeah! Yeah, got the sunscreen and everything!"

"And what about the medicine for Kari?" The woman's tone was dead and flat.

Tai flinched again. "M-Medicine?"

"The medicine for your sister. I was going to tell you to pick some up before, but you weren't answering."

Tai could just imagine his sister next to his mom on the train, silent as a church mouse to not make a fuss. Kari had always been the sickly sort, even now prone to the occasional fever or fit of coughing. When it came to their parents she was practically made of glass and so barred her from going to summer camp with him. It was a bummer since he liked to say they were close, but Tai couldn't help but think she was made of glass too sometimes.

"You appear to be perspiring excessively again." Izzy spoke, reminding Tai he was still there.

The kid had to mentally slap himself before remembering he was still on the spot. "Uh… right. The medicine. I think I was able to-"

His mom sighed on the other end. "You never called, so you wouldn't have known."

"Eh. Uh…" His brain was on the fritz. Think, he forced himself. Make thoughts, some kind of excuse.

"I already know you were at the park playing soccer, so don't deny it. It's fine, I can stop by the drugstore and pick up Kari's prescription. Just…" She let out a weary exhale before turning stern in her tone. "I know you're excited about camp, but you're going to have to start thinking about more than sports and summer fun. Do you understand?"

"Rgh…"

"Taichi, please. Do you understand?"

"Y-Yes…"

"I know I sound harsh to you but what I'm saying is for your-"

Her breath hitched on the other line. Tai froze out of his first stupor right into a second one. "M-Mom, what's-" A crash came. Metal jostling and screeching, rattling, blurs of track beats.

"AAaah!"

That was his sister's scream on the other end. That sound could have chilled to the bone twice over. Holding his phone out he yelled into the device. "Kari! Mom, what's going on!?"

"Hold on, honey!" His mom's voice came as the screeching mixed with panicked yells from other passengers. "Stay close to mommy! Tai, we're fine! Don't do anything-"

His mom's voice cut off with a clatter. She must have dropped the phone to the floor. All Tai was hearing at that point was screaming, metal bumps and thuds of bodies slamming every which way like pinballs, and his imagination was streaming the grizzly episode in his head.

"Mom! Kari!"

"W-What is happening!?" Izzy asked, jittery and clenching his tablet.

"How the heck should I know!?" Tai yelled back at the computer kid before turning to his phone again. "Mom, what's going on!? Pick up! Kari!"

More of the same loud sounds were his answer. They were loud and endless, his family's voices quickly lost to the madness. But then they began to break and cut out. What was at first a steady stream quickly became garbled and broken. Bits of the sounds came in and out, clear then fuzzy, then finally muted.

A blank, black screen was shown to Tai, no matter how much he abused the power button. In the time it took to blink, that symbol appeared again. The glowing sun.

"W-What the…?"

"Help…"

A voice came from the phone. Tai almost dropped it in surprise. The voice wasn't Kari's or his mother's.

"Help me… please."

Tai put the phone to his ear again. "Wait, hello? Are you on the train? Who is this!?"

"Who…? What is… a train? Please… help?"

What is a train? Did someone on there get brain damage from hitting a pole or something? The voice sounded like it belonged to a kid or something who took one too many hits, weak and weary.

"Hey, hey!" Tai yelled frantic, feet already shifting to move. "I… I can help! Just tell me where you are right now!"

Do you desire evolution?

Tai did a double take at his phone screen, where the sun symbol was now wiped off like a lame emoji. What the heck was that? His family was in danger and someone took the time to prank call him? He had half a mind to redial whatever number decided to play a joke and tell him off with colorful language he learned from late nights with his dad. The home screen on his phone coming back rebooted his head and he set to calling back his mom.

"Come on! Come on!" The boy's vision was hazed, scrolling up and down his contact list frantically looking for his mother's image. His finger slammed her image once he'd finally spotted it. "Mom!"

"Taichi!"

Izzy spoke again. Tai's gaze wrenched from the ground to his screen, loaded with snaps of social media posts and messages. There were plenty to fill the screen, but more were popping in by the second.

'PERIL ON TRAIN LINE'

'SUBWAY SPEEDING OUT OF CONTROL'

'MONORAL MALFUNCTIONING! CRASH AT OKINAWA STATION IMMINENT'

Each headline sent a new bolt with twice the chill into Tai's frame. The social media posts were out of control screams driving into his head. Before he'd realized it, his feet were moving. His gaze was pulled from the screen to across the building to the complex elevator. His finger smashed the elevator buttons as if it had a mind of its own. The moment, he'd finally regained sense, was seeing Izzy running after as the doors slid shut.

"Tai, wait!" The computer boy called after. "Where are you going!?"

"The station!"

Izzy's legs managed to catch up and grab the door before it could fully close. "What!? Tai, the train is out of control! What do you think you can do?"

The doors finally closed and Izzy caught a fire burning in the young boy's eyes, despite all the panic.

"Whatever I can."


This chapter is finally finished. I'm sorry it took so long to complete. It's been many things – running out of steam, exhaustion from work, plus I took a vacation to Reno at the end of June. But at least with this we are finally getting the plot moving. As I said, it's very similar to the first episode of the new anime series, but we'll be seeing notable changes soon enough.

It will also definitely be more action focused. This chapter was pretty heavy on the dialogue side. And I will try to get it out faster. At this point, I've just been thinking about finally making an original work with characters of my own.

Anyway, as always. Review, favorite, follow! Until next time!

All rights to Digimon belong to Bandai and Toei Animation.