1 -Chapter 1-
...
<Japan Odaiba 22:34>
Shudder
Inside a series of apartments, a dark-haired boy can be seen sleeping peacefully in the dark of night as the warmth of his blanket wraps him comfortably.
Shudder
After a few violent tremors that knocked over some toys, the boy finally woke up, slowly getting up from his bed and coming out in a deep sleep feeling groggy he looked around curiously. His yellow eyes gazed around the room lostly.
"Ugh..." His mind was taking a while to catch up, but when it finally did, his eyes widened as panic swept over him. "An earthquake?!"
Quickly the boy left his room heading for the apartment door quickly, some pictures had fallen over along with a vase which shattered into small pieces of glass.
Before opening the door he thought of his parents, but quickly remembered that his parents were not in the apartment as they had gone on an outing just for the two of them and would be late.
Walking out the door shakily he was greeted by a sight that would scar him for life.
"MEGA FLAME!"
"GAAHHHHH!!!"
An orange T-Rex with blue line-like markings was firing several fireballs at what looked like a giant green parrot, the latter barely managed to dodge as it flew hundreds of meters in the air, but one of the fireballs managed to hit one of its wings, making it fall from the sky towards the street destroying it because of its great weight.
Without mercy, the T-Rex began to bite him with its gigantic teeth while immobilizing him with its strong legs. It was a frightening sight, two beasts fighting for the survival of the fittest out of pure animal instinct.
"..." The boy's eyes almost seemed to pop out of their orbits as he watched the scene with a strange mix of emotions in his chest. He felt incredulous at what his eyes were witnessing, but also excited to see two Kaiju fighting, and finally afraid to know that these beasts actually existed.
Shaking his head to get out of his daze he refocused on the two Kaiju fighting in the middle of the two large apartment buildings. "I'm... I'm dreaming?"
Suddenly the two giants began to float in the air as what appeared to be a giant white door opened in the sky and began to slowly suck them in, deforming them into smaller animals until only dust was left of them....
The boy stared at the scene from beginning to end, maybe he should have called someone to inform him what he saw that night, maybe if he had not left his apartment his life would have been normal and peaceful.
But the boy kept looking at the door where the Kaiju had disappeared.
The cold of the night finally managed to snap him out of his daze. "...maybe they're shooting a movie, I'd better go to sleep before mom and dad get here."
The boy rolled over feeling dazed and lost, he entered the modest apartment - which was in disarray from the tremors - before closing the door and throwing himself on the bed, quickly falling into the realm of unconsciousness, but even after waking up he couldn't stop thinking about the two monsters he saw that night.
Unbeknownst to the boy, this strange event would mark not only his future and that of 8 other children, but also the future of the world itself.
For better or for worse... that remains to be seen.
***
<Japan 12:43>
Inside a school bus, a 10-year-old brown child could be seen sleeping peacefully without a care for the world around him, almost as if the child was part of the world itself.
The sleeping child was none other than Noah Tatsumi from the 4th grade of elementary school.
Noah was dressed in a white t-shirt with yellow sleeves, black shorts that came down to his knees, and old brown boots.
The bus door opened to reveal a blue-haired boy with big glasses.
"...Weren't there 8 of us when we got on the bus?" The bespectacled boy wondered before looking around the bus.
Noticing Noah the bespectacled boy couldn't help but sigh in annoyance. "Are 4th graders always this careless?"
Shaking his head, the bespectacled boy walked over to Noah before taking a deep breath and...
***
<PoV - Noah Tatsumi>
"Wakeee uuuup!"
A loud scream jolted me out of my startled sleep, my eyes opened abruptly as my breathing quickened for a moment.
Taking a deep breath I turned to my right to see a child looking at me with frustration and disapproval.
Staring at the child for a moment I let out an annoyed grunt.
Feeling briefly dizzy from the rude waking I began rubbing my eyes in annoyance. "Joe...you could have picked me up without yelling in my ear, you know...you could give me cardiac arrest, haven't you heard that picking someone up can scare them to death?"
The boy's annoyed look changed to a concerned one as he got a little too close for my liking. "Wha- I'm sorry! Are you all right?! Do you want me to call a teacher?!"
I quickly raised my hands to get him away from my face. "Calm down Joe it was a joke..."
The boy with glasses was none other than Joe Kido, a tall 12 year old boy who was in 6th grade.
He had dark blue hair and black eyes hidden behind his big glasses that made him look like a nerd, he was dressed in a light beige sweater that partially hid his white t-shirt, his pants were a light grayish color and he was wearing white shoes with red sides.
"Mmnnn..." Joe looked at me with narrowed eyes for a moment before smiling with great relief. "Phew I'm glad you're okay, I didn't mean to scare you. Oh, by the way, we've already made it to the mountain the teachers said we can advance to the shrine at the top of a hill, the other kids already out there but I noticed one was missing so I came looking for you."
Looking around, I blinked twice as I realized that Joe and I were the only ones left on the school bus.
The school had scheduled a camping trip to visit the shrines located around the mountain. Honestly, most of us thought the trip was impossible with all the crazy weather changes that were happening lately, but somehow the school had agreed to take this trip since: it's important for the kids to get to know their country, or something like that, I don't remember exactly what the principal said.
Originally I thought there would be more kids since they always talk about wanting to go camping, but I quickly realized I was very wrong.
Thinking about it logically, no kid would want to go camping to get bitten by hundreds of mosquitoes and sleep on the grass, and that's not even counting the crazy weather.
'Maybe I should have stayed home.' I thought absentmindedly as I picked up my backpack and stood next to Joe. 'Although... I don't want to bother mom too much either...'
Surprisingly despite being two years younger than Joe, I was a little taller than Joe by a few inches. I had been surprised myself with my height but my mother had explained to me that I had possibly inherited my father's height.
'Dad...'
Looking out the window thoughtfully I could see the thicket of the forest represented by its large trees that dominated the entire mountain along with its beautiful flora.
'Maybe coming wasn't so bad' I thought as I got off the bus running into the teachers who were discussing something I couldn't hear.
"Hey Noah, why do you always sleep so much? not to be nosy or anything, but I remember some teachers complaining about you always sleeping in class" Joe asked with a curious look pulling me out of my thoughts. "You should pay attention in class you know? plus sleeping too much can be bad for your health."
I shrugged as I looked around. "You can complain but I'm one of the best students in my Grade so it's not like I care much. Besides, they say sleep helps you grow...or was it the exercise?"
Joe rolled his eyes as he let out a tired sigh, causing my mouth to curve into an amused smile. There was nothing better than annoying 'Joe the Overseer'.
I kept walking as I talked to Joe about different things, well, more like listening to him prattle on about how sleeping so much wasn't good for your health and blah blah blah.
'That's why the other classes nicknamed you Mr. Spoilsport.' I thought stifling a yawn that turned into a half annoyed half amused sigh. 'Although I'm not one to talk about nicknames...'
We finally arrived at a small shrine at the top of the hill, the place looked a bit old and dusty but it gave off a strange mystical vibe around it. For some reason, I felt that there was more to the place than met the eye.
After admiring the shrine for a moment, I noticed the children who were scattered all over the place.
'There's Mimi, that's... yup, that's Izzy... I see Sora... the blond one I think is Matt, the one next to him could be his brother... I don't remember his name...' I thought as I briefly glanced at each kid, while I wasn't friends with almost any of them I at least knew their names due to the attendance list they passed around when we were on the bus. 'Now where is-'
"Noah!" A voice shouted from above.
The next thing I knew a person was falling out of a tree and crashing backwards into the ground in front of me.
"Ow, ow, ow!"
The Tarzan Boy, was none other than Taichi 'Tai' Yamagi, he was 11 years old and in 5th Grade Primary School.
He has messy dark brown hair and round chocolate eyes, he was dressed in a blue shirt with orange star patterns on the sleeves, brown shorts and white shoes with blue soles.
Perhaps the most remarkable point about him -apart from being more stubborn than a goat- would be the blue goggles he'd been wearing on his head since... forever.
'Come to think of it he's never taken those goggles off'
Joe immediately sprang into action approaching Tai in panic. "Tai, are you okay?! Did you break something?!"
"Calm down Joe, it was just a little fall! I'm fine!" Replied the boy as he rubbed his head, running his hand through his brown hair. "I just slipped off the tree, nothing new."
"I guess the question now is why are you still climbing trees" I spoke in a flat voice as I held out a hand, which he took with a smile. "Besides, I'm with Joe in that you might break some bones."
"It's fun buddy!" Tai replied with a cheerful smile on his face. "You should try it sometime! You never know when climbing a tree might save your life, maybe you could be running from a giant dinosaur and-"
"Don't make it sound so dramatic, I don't see what's so interesting about climbing a tree" I shrugged as I started walking towards the other kids with Tai walking in front of us. "Besides, dinosaurs went extinct years ago."
"Scared?" Tai asked with a shit eating grin, to which I responded with my legendary rolling eyes which got a chuckle out of him. "You should do more things than sleep, you know? Kari says you might as well turn into a sloth and I'd barely notice the difference."
"Mmnn" I put a contemplative look on my face, before smiling. "That would be fun, sleeping all day while lying in a tree enjoying the silence of the forest..."
Tai simply shrugged as he let out a sigh. "That's not-"
In less than a second the white clouds suddenly darkened, the temperature was rapidly dropping by several degrees making us shiver at the sudden change in temperature.
"What the-"
And a drop fell.
Two drops.
And now it was raining.
It was raining very hard, and not only that.
The wind caused by the rain started to move the branches of the trees like crazy, I could see some very big branches falling to the ground heavily which made me open my eyes in bewilderment.
"EVERYONE INSIDE!!" Tai shouted as he grabbed Joe's and my wrist, pulling them out of our daze. "Run!"
We ran as we quickly headed inside the shrine, once we entered the shrine we quickly closed the door without a second thought. Even then, the sound of rain could be heard like bullets.
"Great..." I let out a sigh as I looked down at my clothes which were now soaked by the rain. "I knew the weather lately was really crazy, but this is absurd."
"Everyone okay?" I heard Tai's voice as he leaned back against the wall, the other kids just nodded as they looked down at their wet clothes.
"TK, how are you?" Matt asked, as he checked on the panicked toddler. "You didn't catch a cold, did you?"
"Nope, I'm just a little wet" Replied the boy with an amused smile which made Matt let out a sigh of relief.
The blond boy was Yamato 'Matt' Ishida, he was the same age as Tai and Sora, which also meant they were in the same grade.
He was wearing a dark green short sleeved shirt, blue jean pants along with brown gloves and boots. He had sharp dark blue eyes and an attractive face for his age.
You could tell he was a popular kid at school.
I didn't talk to him much, mainly because he's in another class and I didn't feel comfortable surrounded by a crowd of people, although it was funny to see Tai annoyed by his great popularity.
'Although Tai is pretty popular too... Soccer Captain and all that' I thought absentmindedly as I looked at the little boy Matt was looking after as if he was made of glass.
I didn't quite know who the little boy was, but he looked to be about the same age as Kari, Tai's younger sister. So I would assume he was about 7 or 8 years old.
He wore a dark green vest over a light green long sleeved t-shirt, had brown shorts and green shoes, plus a strange hat that almost completely hid his blond hair.
'TK... that must be your nickname... well, I don't remember your name so you're TK from now on'. I thought as I nodded my head.
As I looked at the two possible siblings, the sound of footsteps approaching my position snapped me out of my thoughts, I turned my head to see Mimi looking at me with a smirk on her face. "Well, well, look who decided to wake up, Mr. Sleeper!"
My left eye twitched with frustration at the ridiculous nickname. "Hello to you too Mimi."
Mimi Tachikawa, or as I liked to call her sometimes 'Mimic', was a tall 10 year old girl who was in the same class as me and Izzy.
Her hair was a light brown color and was tied up in a high ponytail along with long locks falling down her face. She has round light brown eyes. She was dressed in red western clothes, a brown belt with a gold buckle, brown boots and a large white cowboy hat.
Looking her up and down in confusion, I realized something. "That's a cowgirl cosplay? Didn't you have sports clothes on when we got on the bus?"
"Yes, but those clothes were uncomfortable to wear. Plus it didn't match as well as this one!" Mimi exclaimed as she spun around a couple of times before stopping. "It's cute, isn't it?"
'She didn't deny that it was a cosplay.' I thought as I shrugged with a smile tugging at my lips. "I can't say no, almost anything looks good on you."
And that was true, Mimi was known for two things: her outgoing and unabashed personality, and being a fashion fanatic.
Somehow she ended up befriending me, even if I can't say how that happened in the first place.
"Of course it did!" Mimi exclaimed with a smug smile on her face as she folded her arms proudly. "After all I am the most beautiful person in the class!"
"Mimic attacks again..." I muttered under my breath.
Her nickname comes to that she basically copies the clothes she sees in some magazine or on TV, just like a Mimic in the games. I don't think she knows what it means and honestly I'm glad she doesn't, she's oddly strong for a girl.
"By the way, how come you didn't get wet in the rain?" I asked raising an eyebrow curiously as I sat on the ground placing my backpack to the side. "I mean, look at me, I'm soaked."
"I was near the shrine when the rain started, it's a relief that my clothes didn't get wet can you imagine how horrible that would have been?" Mimi made a terrified face before quickly shaking her head and letting out a sigh of relief. "But this weird, the rain was so sudden...do you think we disturbed some spirit that lived in the mountain?!"
I rolled my eyes at her as I smiled amusedly. "Of course not, ghosts don't exist"
She pouted as she frowned. "You don't know that!"
I just laughed at her annoyance as we waited for the rain to pass. We continued to talk about a few things while the other kids talked amongst themselves, despite being cooped up in an ancient sanctuary with people I barely know, I didn't feel uncomfortable.
Fortunately the rain stopped faster than I expected, so we waited a couple more minutes before we opened the door and-.
Snow.
Everything was completely covered in snow, from the ground to the trees. Oddly enough it wasn't cold, in fact the temperature was a bit warmer than when the rain started, which was strange and a bit ridiculous.
Sora looked around for a moment before asking the obvious question, "How come it snowed if it's the middle of summer?"
I simply shrugged as I decided to stop thinking about the strangeness of the weather.
"Look up!" shouted Izzy making me look up, only to have my brain shut down for a second at the sight.
The Aurora Borealis.
"Mimi" I called softly as my voice trembled involuntarily. "Is it too late to pray to a spirit?..... Mimi?"
I turned my head to find her praying next to TK in front of the shrine. "Ohhh dear spirit, it was not our intention to intrude on your sacred ground, ohhh please forgive our humble souls..."
I looked at her in disbelief before bursting out laughing at her carefree attitude. Suddenly, I wasn't so uncomfortable with the whole crazy situation.
'Crazy things from Japan I guess'
Just as I finished that thought, a light completely blinded me.
I instinctively tried to block the light with my arms but it was still shining brightly.
As my eyes adjusted to the light I slowly opened my eyes to see... a tamagochi?
No, it's too small to be a tamagochi... and it's floating?
On closer inspection, sure enough, the small tamagochi-like device was floating at my eye level as if it were a Zelda relic.
'This day is getting weirder and weirder...'
I looked at the device for a few seconds, something deep inside me was telling me to take it but my heart had a very bad feeling about the device.
Like if I took it I would no longer be able to back out of something....
After a few seconds of hesitation, I finally succumbed to temptation and took the device with one of my hands. The device immediately stopped glowing and I could see that it was a light blue color, it had some line-like decorations around it, a small screen in the middle which seemed to be connected to three small blue buttons and at the top it had a small black antenna.
It reminded me of a miniature version of a video game console that was advertised on TV.
I looked around to see that everyone else also had one in their hand.
Lowering my gaze to the ground and can see a small hole just below where I had picked up the device. 'They look like they came out of the ground... but that doesn't make sense'.
My confusion was reaching its peak, I could almost feel a headache from this whole crazy situation. First, the sudden rain, then the snow and now a mysterious device that has the ability to float.
Frowning, I looked at the others, but just as I was about to speak....
I heard it.
The roar of the sea.
I turned around in fear, and immediately froze with fear.
A tsunami.
A tsunami was coming in our direction.
I could hear the other kids screaming as they tried to run, I could even feel someone grab my hand trying to move me.
But I was too scared to move.
And the tsunami swallowed us all up....
Leaving nothing but endless cruel darkness in my sight.
***
...
[-'Unknown Data' entering the System Network-]
[...Analyzing: 'Unknown Data'...]
[-Analysis of 'Unknown Data' Complete!-]
[-Entity recognized by the system!-]
[-Place of Origin: 'Human.wrld'-]
[-Entity Types: Chosen_Child-]
[-Chosen_Child: 'Noah_Tatsumi'-]
[-System Codename: 'The_Eighth'-]
[-Destined Partner: Pusuri.mon-]
[...Searching for 'Crest_of_Miracles'...]
[-'Crest_of_Miracles' Detected!-]
[...Granting 'Crest_of_Miracles' to 'The_Eighth'...]
[-Granting Blocked by: 'Unknown Data'-
[-Scanning: 'Unknown Data'...]
[-Scanning Blocked by: 'Unknown Data'-]
[...Searching Origin of: 'Unknown Data'...]
[-Origin of 'Unknown Data' Found: Dark_Area-]
[...Accessing to: 'Island_File'...]
[-Accessing Successfully Conceived-]
[...Starting scrolling from 'The_Eighth' to 'File_Island'...]
[-Error 567-]
[-Error 567-]
[-Error 567-]
...
..
.
[...Seeking Alternative Solution...]
[-Alternative Solution Successfully Found!-]
[...Requesting Permission to Administrators...]
...
..
.
[-Permission granted by: Administrator: Homeostasis-]
[...Changing Location of: The_Eighth...]
[-Alternate Location: 'Server_Continent'-]
[...Starting Displacement from 'The_Eighth' to 'Server_Continent'...]
[-Successful Displacement-]
[...Altered Entity Location: Pusuri.mon...]
[-Location Altered Successfully!-]
[-New location: 'Server_Continent'-]
...
..
.
[-Order issued by Administrator: Homeostasis-]
[-Locate to: The_Ninth-]
[...Locating...]
[-Location failed-]
[...Locating...]
[-Location failed-]
[...Locating...]
...
..
.
__________________________________________
Thank you very much for reading! If you liked the chapter you can leave a Power Stone or a Review! You can also join my Patreon to support me!
https://www.patreon.com/rTem
