Episode 1.01: Help I'm Alive, Part One
"I tremble at the thought of you all being able to check this graduation requirement off," Mr. Leslie said to his students, "but my repeated appeals to the sanctity of the educational process have been ignored and I have been informed by the administration, the board, and the district that the vast majority of you, despite an absolutely abysmal mean score on the final, are to move on to the physics portion of your high school science education." The ruddy-faced man ran one hand over his vanishing hairline while the other grabbed the top copy off of a stack of packets and waved it in the air. "All but two of you got questions fifteen and sixteen on ionic and covalent bonds, two of the basic building blocks of chemistry, wrong!" he hollered before whimpering, "It's like none of you pay any attention to me."
In fact, while a few students were deriving amusement from their teacher's meltdown, the vast majority of Mr. Leslie's class was paying him no mind. Some were glued to their cellphones and others were blatantly talking to their friends. Others, like Joshua Kleberg, were solely focused on the clock that hung over the classroom's exit as it marked the passage of the last period of the last day of their sophomore year of high school.
Time passed slowly, even more slowly than it usually did for students in Mr. Leslie's class, but after spending most of the hour going over each answer and expressing his incredulity that so many students had missed one question or another, even the middle-aged chemistry instructor was running out of steam. He walked up and down the rows handing back the graded tests and shaking his balding head and grumbling each time when it turned out that a student had skipped his class. Such absences had plagued Mr. Leslie's sixth period class throughout the year, but today more students were missing than were present.
As the minute hand crept over the last few hurdles to the top of the hour, Mr. Leslie offered his students one last admonishment to cap off a year of such warnings. "You all had better turn things around," he said, "or else college is going to eat you alive." After that premonition was ignored like all of the rest, the defeated educator sank into his chair and the bell rang.
The students rushed out of his classroom to join the other teenagers flooding into the hallways and the whole high school shook with the force of the exuberant cheers given by the student body. Joshua did not join in the cheers, but a grin broke out across his face nonetheless as he ducked through the crowd on his way to his locker. His graded test had been hastily stuffed into his backpack without his bothering to check his grade. Joshua made his way down two flights of stairs, skipping every other step with his long strides, and rounded the corner to his locker. After fumbling with the combination and pulling off the aging lock, Joshua swung open the door and began the process of emptying his locker. Joshua haphazardly shoveled notebooks, a near-empty lunch box, and stray pens, pencils, and pieces of paper into his backpack. Only one item was treated with reverence. Gingerly removed from the top shelf of his locker were Joshua's Digimon cards.
The cards inside of the shoebox were hardly remarkable. There were a few that were worth a couple of dollars each and some staples that had seen play in tournament-winning decks. Most of them were in good condition, but a couple had been damaged and by the everyday wear and tear of life or a bit of bad luck. There were countless of collections similar in nature, but these cards were special to Joshua for the simple fact that they were his.
After setting the container down, Joshua slung his bulging backpack over his shoulder and picked the black shoebox up again. The school had already emptied out for the summer, so Joshua had no concerns about running through the commons, save for the precious cargo in his hands. He opened one of the glass doors with his hip and the stepped outside into the muggy afternoon heat. After looking up and seeing the gathering storm clouds on the horizon, Joshua scanned the parking lot for his ride and saw it immediately.
Two figures were in the boxy, baby blue car, wrapped in each other's arms and unaware of the world around them. At least, until Joshua walked up to the driver's side of the vehicle and, after cradling his shoebox of cards under one arm, tapped on the glass, saying "James, James," as he did so.
The two teenagers in the car leapt apart as if stuck with a pin and both of them proceeded to try and put as much distance between them as the tiny vehicle would allow. The mousy-looking girl was making a production out of straightening her modest top and smoothing out her plaid skirt in order to avoid making eye contact with Joshua while the boy sitting in the driver's seat glared daggers from under the heavy black curls of his afro. He mouthed the word, "What," his expression making clear that it was a statement rather than a question.
Joshua responded by pointing at his box of Digimon cards and then tapping his wrist insistently.
James let out a sigh and said something to the girl in the passenger seat before gesturing to the door. She opened it and quickly hurried away, pausing only to give a small wave and to squeak, "Hi Joshua, have a good summer!"
In a flash, Joshua took her spot in the car and gave James a grin. "So, things are going well with Danni I take it?"
His friend just muttered, "Shut up," and turned the key in the ignition. James' car sputtered to life and backed out of the school's parking lot to join the exodus of students fleeing the high school.
"Thanks for accepting my invitation to this thing," Joshua said over the crooning of the singer on the radio.
"No problem," James replied without looking at Joshua.
"And for being my ride."
"No problem."
"And for hosting us, too, I guess."
"No problem," James said again, and the rest of the ride was silent save for the sound of the radio. It was not a long trip from South High School to James's home, just a matter of getting onto the highway for a few minutes and then navigating a few side streets. Still, by the time that James' ugly little car had pulled up to the house, Joshua's excitement had him bouncing in his seat, and it only grew worse when he saw a familiar silver minivan parked further down the block.
"Great!" he said. "Joules is already here!"
Joshua and James went inside and, sure enough, the third member of their trio was there. The huskier Joules sat on the middle section of the couch in front of the television, watching a rerun of some mindless cartoon. When he saw the other two boys, he gave them a slight wave and said, "Hope you don't mind I let myself in, James. You got anything to eat?"
"What are you doing?" Joshua asked, his voice gaining a shrill edge. "It's already started and you haven't got it set up?"
"Joshua, relax," James said, putting a hand on the other boy's shoulder. "We'll get it set up, no worries. Go say hi to my mom and let us work.
After setting down his shoebox and taking off his backpack and shoes, Joshua went to the narrow hallway that served as the modest home's main artery. At one end were two bedrooms and at the other was a staircase that led to the larger bedroom which occupied the house's half-story. The teenager walked up to the edge of the first pink-carpeted stair and called up, "Hello, Mrs. Garner! It's me, Joshua! Thank you for having us over!"
A kindly voice rang out from the upper story, "Hi, Joshua honey! How are you? It feels like we hardly see you around here anymore."
"I'm doing well, Mrs. Garner. It feels good to be here, so I'll definitely be trying to stop by more often this summer."
"That's good to hear, honey," James's mother said from her room upstairs. "It's too bad that Natalie isn't around to see you. Anyway, have fun tonight, and, before I forget, I got you boys some things for your little party. They should be on the kitchen table."
"Thank you, Mrs. Garner," Joshua said, "have a good night!"
"You too, honey! Say hi to your mom for me."
"I will," Joshua replied. He then turned his attention to the cramped kitchen situated through an arch just across from the entrance to the living room. Sure enough, on the dining table wedged between two windows looking out at the sparsely-covered backyard were three bags of Skittles and three rectangular packages wrapped in a foil that shimmered in the late afternoon sun. Joshua's face lit up and he scooped up the items and brought them to the living room. "James, look what your mom got us!" Joshua exclaimed, dumping the gifts onto the coffee table between the couch and the television.
James and Joules were sitting in front of the boxy TV with a laptop and a mess of cords, but they both looked up from their work upon their friend's entrance. Joules spun around with surprising speed and seized both a bag of candy and one of the packages emblazoned with various monsters and the words "Digimon Collectible Card Game". James was more subdued and continued to fiddle with the electronics as he asked, "Open mine for me, would you, Josh?"
With fingers trembling with excitement, Joshua carefully tore the foil and meticulously slid the cards out of the opening before fanning them out and examining each card in more detail. Most of them were unremarkable, lower-level Digimon useful for fleshing out a collection, but by no means the center-piece of any serious attempt at deck-building. The rare card in the pack did not look like anything special either. The picture was of a monstrous-looking bird, a chicken really, that the gold lettering on the side of the card proclaimed to be Kokatorimon. Joshua turned to Joules, who was busy examining his own new cards, and said, "Looks like James got a junk rare."
The heavy-set boy looked at the card and laughed. "Shows how much you know," he chortled.
"What's so special about it?" Joshua demanded. "It's just a Champion-level, and it looks like a chicken!"
"Some Digimon have special abilities," James said from his work station. "Use that app I showed you."
Muttering under his breath, Joshua pulled out his phone and opened the official application for the Digimon Collectible Card Game. After navigating through options for keeping score during a game, keeping track of the cards in one's collection, and finding and keeping in touch with other players, Joshua settled on a tab titled "Scanner". Tapping it prompted a message requesting permission to use his phone's camera, to which Joshua agreed without thinking. The cracked screen began to display the card below and, after an animation of some gears spinning, the screen was filled with additional details on Kokatorimon, including some additional rules text. "Petrifier, huh?" Joshua said thoughtfully. He set the cards down and grabbed his own booster pack, and was about to open it when his concentration was broken by the television screen coming to life.
To most anyone else, watching a live-stream of the tournament which would crown the Minnesota State Champion for the Digimon Collectible Card Game would be inconceivable, but for the three teenagers in James's living room, the embarrassing thing would have been to have missed it. Three streams were available, one each for the junior-, senior-, and master-level divisions. James clicked over to the second option, the division for teenage competitors, before finding a spot on the couch next to Joshua. It was the semi-final round of the tournament and the three boys settled into the lumpy piece of leather furniture to watch. Because there were two games going on, the stream had to continually jump between the two tables, leading to James and Joules explaining to Joshua the combos he failed to understand and the effects that he was not familiar with.
One of the matches pitted two popular tournament decks against each other, but the player piloting the Omnimon-combo deck was unable to assemble the pieces for his complex scheme before his opponent, a stern-faced young man with hair cropped close to his skull using a Machinedramon aggro deck broke through his opponent's defenses and won the game with a lucky turn one Mega-level Digimon. When it was over, all Joshua could whisper was, "Wow, he's gotten really good."
The other game was more drawn out. A girl using her own Machinedramon deck with plenty of techs against expected match-ups had run into an opponent using a rogue deck and was not able to answer his Bakemon swarm strategy. Every time that one of her prized Digimon would succeed in taking out one spectral opponent, two more would take its place. The grinning young man behind the ghostly march would then idly run a hand through his long, greasy black hair before unleashing a devastating counterattack. He was toying with his opponent, but any further pleasure was preempted when the girl conceded. "That's what Champion-levels can do," Joules said, giving Joshua a nudge. An official announced a fifteen-minute break would occur before the two finalists, Todd Connally and Paul Russell, squared off for the title with its accompanying trophy and prizes.
James was badgered into making some popcorn for the final match while Joules and Joshua got decks out of their respective shoeboxes and started a match of their own on the coffee table while talking about the games they had just witnessed, as well as their predictions for who would win the final round. "That Paul guy's going to eat him alive, definitely," Joules said between turns and handfuls of Skittles. "He was in complete control that whole game."
"So was Todd," Joshua argued.
"Look, Joshie," Joules said, his voice dripping with condescension, "I know Todd used to be our friend, but you don't have to stand up for him. He doesn't need us holding him back, he said so himself."
"Fine," Josh muttered as he laid down a card to Armor Digivolve his Hawkmon, "but what makes you so sure that Paul will win?"
"Uh, were you watching the same game I was? Machinedramon can beat slower decks like Omnimon if it gets rolling in time, but that Bakemon swarm was incredibly fast! Short of a turn-one miracle like Paul had, there's no way that chick could have possibly been able to counter it in time to make any real difference."
"But-" Joshua started.
"Furthermore," his friend continued over Joshua, "Machinedramon is all about knocking out targets one at a time. A Bakemon swarm can just make up for it by numbers. Losing one Digimon just isn't that important for a deck like that."
Joshua looked at the television longingly. "I wish we could have been there."
"Why? So you could have embarrassed yourself?"
"I could have done well!"
"You haven't top-cut at all after five tournaments. Five!" Joules shot back.
"There was that one time."
"That was a prerelease so it doesn't count."
"Doesn't matter," Joshua huffed. "I had school today."
Joules smiled at this. "It was your last day. Besides, I thought Todd went to your school?"
"Well, yeah, but James had a test to make up and I was there so I could have perfect attendance," Joshua said, trailing off in defeat.
"Honestly, Joshie, how could you expect to do well if you can't even beat me?" Joules crowed as he laid down the game-winning card.
James had just reentered with a large bowl of popcorn just in time to catch the final move and took in the final state of the game before setting the bowl on the coffee table. The three friends resumed their places on the couch and waited for the intermission to end.
Joules broke the silence that had fallen over the boys after he and Joshua had picked up their cards, by saying, "Joshie here thinks Todd's going to win."
James raised his eyebrow while looking at the friend in question, but didn't say anything.
"Well, I think he's a really good player and Joules is writing him off too soon," Joshua explained quickly.
"We'll see," James said. Not long after that, the television screen was full of movement as the final round was about to begin.
On the livestream, the two players shook hands, Todd grim and Paul somewhat attempting to hide a smirk, before sitting down on opposite sides of the table. After flipping a coin and Todd choosing to go second, the two teens shuffled their decks, cut that of their opponent, and drew their opening hands. Paul's turn went on for several minutes as he played cards setting up his fighting force, tutored out additional Bakemon, and more. He ended his turn with three of the ghost-like Digimon in play, all of them strengthening each other.
Todd's turn was a flurry of activity as well, using his own draw engine and tutors to assemble to pieces to use the incredibly rare Warp Digivolve, a card so powerful it was limited to one per deck, to bring his starting Agumon all the way up to the Mega-level as a fearsome Machinedramon. As part of the cost, Machinedramon's controller had to discard the top ten cards of his deck. Those cards were spread out so that both the audience and Paul could see what was milled away. "Where are his techs?" Joules wondered aloud, and, sure enough, all of the cards that had been discarded were either ways to thin the deck or components for getting a Machinedramon out.
"He's running straight Machinedramon," James said, not unimpressed. No sooner had the words left his mouth that the mighty Digimon attacked, destroying one of Paul's Bakemon and putting Todd in the lead by a wide margin. "I thought that his turn-one Machinedramon last round was a fluke," James continued, "but his whole deck is tuned toward getting his main attacker on the first turn and attacking without any distractions. That's why Todd went second, so he could get the first attack."
"But if he's not running any techs, how is he supposed to counter his deck's main weaknesses?" Joules asked.
"He already got rid of his biggest one," Joshua said with pride. "No one expects a Machinedramon on the first turn."
James stroked the stubble his chin. "It's a gamble, that's for sure."
Meanwhile, as the boys had been talking, the game had continued. Paul was playing defensively and building up his resources, his smirk having melted into an uneasy grimace after his opponent's first attack. Despite Paul's efforts, Todd's mechanical Digimon continued to blow steady holes in those defenses. Things looked to be going in the latter boy's favor until his opponent activated his own surprise card.
Individually, the Champion-level Bakemon could not hold a candle to the powerful Mega-level that Todd was commanding, even as they powered each other up. But Paul's Lord Bakemon card allowed one Bakemon to absorb the power of the other's by sacrificing them. After paying that price, the resulting Digimon was able to destroy Todd's Machinedramon.
"Paul's lost," Joules said with a sardonic shake of his head. "Todd sacrificed depth for speed and now he's doomed."
"Why?" Joshua asked. "Paul's only got one Bakemon out right now. He's vulnerable."
"Todd burned through his resources too recklessly," explained James. "Without any support Digimon or back-up attackers, his one shot is pulling out another Machinedramon in a single turn, but most of the cards that would make that possible have been used up. Next turn, all of Paul's Bakemon will be revived by the effect of the one on the field right now and he'll win."
On the television though, Todd did not look beaten. His face was still stony when the stream turned its attention to the teenager, but his eyes were bright and alert. The grim boy drew a card to start his turn and then started playing cards one after another. He was activating, drawing, and searching for cards at a frantic pace. His deck dwindled to only a handful of cards, but soon Todd had all the pieces that he needed. By discarding his hand, Todd found a way to return his Warp Digivolve card to his hand and then he used it. The last cards of his deck were discarded, but Todd had another Machinedramon out and with a single attack, the lone Bakemon was destroyed, and the game was over. Todd Connally was the Senior Division Minnesota State Champion. The stream showed people cheering for the cold-eyed teen, but the three boys watching from the comfort of James's home were as somber as the new champion was. It was only after the stream cut away to the ongoing match in a different division that Joshua and his friends started discussing the details of the game they had just witnessed.
The excitement was punctured when Joshua checked his phone and saw a flurry of text messages on the lock screen. All of them were from his mom. None of them were happy. "Sorry," he said to his friends. "I have to pack up. My mom's gonna be here in a few minutes."
"I thought she was okay with you staying the night," said James.
"I actually, uh, forgot to ask her," was all Joshua could say.
James and Joules both exchanged a look as Joshua started packing up his things. He put his shoebox of cards in order and placed his still unopened booster pack in the back pocket of his jeans. When his phone buzzed, Joshua gathered up his things and went outside where his mother was waiting in a sleek white two-door car. The clouds that had been gathering in promise of a summer storm had begun leaking water and Joshua did his absolute best to protect the shoebox containing his prized collection from the rain.
After the initial lecture about responsibility and communication, Joshua's car ride home consisted of him answering and avoiding his mom's questions about his last day of classes and his plans, or lack of which, for the summer. He delivered Mrs. Garner's message, but that only led to a string of uncomfortable questions about her health which made him clam up again. Joshua counted himself lucky that the car ride was not long. At home, the rest of the night passed by uneventfully, with Joshua eating dinner, doing some chores, and reorganizing his Digimon cards all in relative silence.
While he was getting ready for bed, Joshua remembered the still-unopened pack of cards Mrs. Garner had given him. After he finished brushing his teeth, the sandy-haired teen pulled out the foil-covered package from his pants' pocket and carefully opened it. Most of the cards were nothing special, but one card in particular stood out from the rest. At first, Joshua thought it was a misprint, as the back and front of the card were nearly identical, with both depicting a small pixelated monster emerging out of the center of a yellow "D" on a blue background. The only difference was that one side of the card was holographic and shone under the light of the lamp in Joshua's bedroom. Confused, Joshua pulled out his phone and opened the card scanner feature of the official Digimon app to examine the card. No sooner had the blue card's visage taken up the cracked display that the phone shut down, the blue screen turning gray in an instant.
"Piece of junk," the teenager muttered with a savage flick of his finger against the phone's battered black case, "you had thirty-six percent battery left." Joshua set the phone by his bed and forgot all about the strange blue card and his phone malfunctioning as he drifted off to sleep to the sound of the rain falling on his window. While he slept, his phone's screen lit up and the whole device began to glow as thunder rumbled in the distance.