The Calling

By EntreriRose

"Hey, see you guys tomorrow!"

Yamato slung the heavy guitar case over his shoulder, his hard-soled school shoes tapping loudly on the wooden floor of the auditorium stage. It had been another unproductive rehearsal; they all were since their guitar player had left the band. How did the rest of the guys remaining ever expect to make it big if the refused to show up to practice on time?

Sighing, Ishida Yamato pushed open the heavy steel door, closing his eyes briefly as the chill night breeze played through his wild, dirty blond hair.

"Hey there, Yama!"

A moment of panic shot through the core of the teenager's heart. Jun! Anything but Jun! She was the plague the hovered in the air, threatening to infect him at the first sign of weakness, was his shadow that stalked him under the sun. Yamato prayed fervently and silently, the tonight the parasite would get it through her thick skull that he had no romantic interest in her. Actually, he held no interest in her whatsoever.

"Umm . . . Earth to Yamato!"

The tall young man breathed a heavy sigh of relief as his deep blue eyes fluttered open. It was a girl that stood in front of him, but not the lanky, obsessive groupie he had expected to choke him in a tight hug. No, it definitely was not who he expected. The girl's shoulder length auburn hair was styled far to neatly to be Jun's and this girl was far shorter than Yamato's nightmare. Yamato found himself smiling at the small, naturally pretty girl, one of his closet friends.

"Umm . . . Sorry Sora," he mumbled, blushing fiercely. "I thought you were Jun."

Sora simply smiled further entrancing Yamato with her innocent charm. "That's ok. I can't blame you for being paranoid," she giggled girlishly. "Jun's gone off the deep end for you." She continued to laugh, though now it was more than a little nervously. "Actually, all the girls in school have."

"Yeah?" was all that Yamato could bring himself to reply. There was a prolonged moment of awkward silence; he found himself shoving his hands deep into his pockets and staring up into the darkened sky. Anything to keep from looking at the flushed Sora.

"So, can I give you a ride home on my bike?" he finally asked after a struggle with his own vocal chords.

"Nah. I've seen the way you ride around on your motorcycle. No offense, Yama, but I don't really feel like risking my neck for a ride."

Yamato chuckled; he couldn't refute her words, "none taken."

"Besides," she continued in her light, cheery tone, "I'm waiting for Taichi."

Yamato keenly felt his heart cracking apart. "Tai, huh?" It was no secret that his reckless best friend had a crush on Sora for years now, but Yamato would have never expected her to feel the same for him.

"Yeah, he's in my chemistry class and we thought we'd get a bit more studying in. You really don't want to fail your last year of high school."

"Yeah . . . well, I'll see you tomorrow, Sora. I gotta get going."

Yamato lay restlessly in his small room of the tiny Odaiba apartment that he shared with his ever-working father. His father's absence kept him up nights any longer, but his budding feeling of jealousy did. So what if Tai and Sora like each other? What did it matter to him?

Tossing and turning, he tried to keep it out of his mind, tried not to hate his best friends of seven years. Eventually Yamato found himself sinking into an unsettled sleep . . .

A small man jolted him; the only speck of hair on him was the topknot at the summit of his shiny head. He was cloaked in bright, festive robes and both eyes seemed perpetually squeezed shut.

"Gennai?" Yamato asked groggily.

The old man chuckled. "Been a long time, hasn't it?"

Yamato furrowed his brow, only now realizing that there was nothing but hazy smoke around the two of them. And then there was the fact that Gennai was a young man the last time he saw him.

"We need your help," Gennai continued.

"Huh?"

"The Digital World is in great danger, unlike anything you children have ever face."

Fighting hard against the remnants of sleep, Yamato shook his head vigorously. "What do you want me to do?"

"Find the lost Chosen Child, the bearer of Faith." Gennai began to fad back into the haze. "Only they can free us. Find them . . . please . . . release Destiny!"

Yamato sat upright in his bed, drenched in a cold sweat. Breathing heavily, he brought his hand up to his bare, lean chest. There he found a digivice and tag, bearing a crest he did not recognize.

Shaking, Yamato stood to walk over to where he kept his bag and his cell phone. The others had to know about this.