Life Before the Digiworld

by Cybra

Author's note: You've probably read at least one of these before. Still, I'm doing this anyway!!! BWAHAHAHAHA!!! Ages are what I have been corrected with (Tai, Sora, and Matt - 11; Joe - 12; Izzy and Mimi - 10, TK - 7). Spellings may not always be right, but give me a break (However, I DID manage to fix my spell check dictionary so far!)!!! BTW, it switches narration from 3rd person to 1st person and back again. Also, there are a LOT of big words in there since we all know who's writing this. Have fun!!!

Disclaimer: All the characters in this story (with a few obvious exceptions which I "borrowed" names from other shows and my sister's attempt at a manga) are not mine. The thing called "How to Keep an Insomniac Busy" is not mine and is a real website. All that stuff belong to whoever made them. Send your lawyers away! I have nothing of real value that you would want!!! I swear!!!

Izzy tossed and turned as he slept. The grass felt cool and soothing, like a cool summer breeze. The moon seemed to smile at the sleeping children and Digimon below him. There was hardly a sound, except for the snoring of Agumon, Tai, Gabumon, and Biyomon. Finally, Izzy opened his eyes and glared up at the stars.

They were jewels on a dark velvet pillow, being displayed for all to see. One shooting star flew across the night sky, its glittering tail leaving a trail behind it. It flew behind the dark trees that were to one side of the clearing. The perfection all around gave no testimony to the darkness of the evil threatening the Digiworld and the children's own world.

The only awake child sighed as he pulled out his Crest. He stared at the symbol on it, knowing what it meant but not knowing what it represented. The circles had been positioned that way for a purpose, but for what purpose he did not know. He enjoyed trying to figure out puzzles, but he couldn't figure out this one. Perhaps he could ask Gennai the next time he saw him.

The niggling at the back of Izzy's brain grew a little stronger. It had kept Izzy from falling totally asleep. There was something that Izzy had to do, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Something he should have done a long time ago...

Izzy opened his backpack and removed his Pineapple computer. The familiar white and yellow colors stood out against the rest of this strange world. Izzy easily flicked it on, but glanced around to see if anybody was waking up as the computer began to hum. Nobody had heard the laptop coming to life.

Now satisfied, Izzy began to type. He continued typing long into the night...

My name is Koushiro Izumi but I'm mostly called "Izzy". A friend of mine from online gave me that nickname one day. He'd teased my screen name of "Izumikid" and asked why didn't I just take off the "kid" and the "umi". Then, add a "z" and a "y". He had been just joking around, but I fiddled with my screen name until I had changed it to "Izzy". I like that name much better than my real first name.

As long as I can remember, my parents have been great to me. They allow me to be myself and trust me to do what I have to do. I know they love me. But one night, they lost a little bit of trust from me.

Mom had been talking about whether or not I knew about something. I had been going back to my room after using the bathroom when I overheard their conversation. I hadn't meant to eavesdrop! Honest! However, when Mom asked whether or not I knew I had been adopted, I was shocked. It was impossible! It couldn't be true! Yet, I knew that what she had just said WAS true. I didn't approach them, I just silently went back to my room.

I guess that's when it started. My infamous obsession with puzzles. I just want to find out who my real parents are and why they didn't want me. I also want to know what they're like. Still, I try not to take my parents for granted. After all, they DID raise me.

I know I should start at a single event. I'll give it my best shot, but I don't know how this will turn out.

WHAM! I met the cinder block wall of Odaiba Elementary. Pain flew up and down my body in hot lightning bolts. I knew what I had done for my friend had been stupid, but I'd done it anyway. Now, I was going to pay the price.

"Here's your computer virus, 'Lizzy'!" the brute in front of me growled.

"My name is 'Izzy'..." I corrected through gritted teeth.

"Whatever, 'Lizzy'!"

Why was I in this position? Easy. This bully, Seiya (his nickname is "Da Crusher"), had done a computer science project with this girl I knew named Caitlin Stevenson, a girl who had moved here from the United States with her parents. The two of us had originally met on the Internet, but that's irrelevant. What IS relevant is that Caitlin did 100% of the work while Seiya had done nothing but sit around and annoy her. He had gotten an 100% and had made Caitlin do an extra credit project for him. He would've gotten 100 extra points if the teacher had gotten that project!

So what did I do about it? Something I should've REALLY thought about. I was so mad that I stayed up the night before and programmed a little something special for the program that CAITLIN had made for him. I had told Seiya that it would make it work even faster. Happy that I was going to improve upon "his" work, he'd allowed me to upload it into the computer. The second he activated the program, the new line of code I had put into the program activated itself and began to destroy the program. That was the only program affected on the entire computer. I know that doesn't sound like me, but I did it since I had known that Seiya had practically twisted Caitlin's arm to get her to do this.

So there I was, squeezing my eyes shut and waiting for that blow to the face that Seiya was sure to deliver. The little voice in the back of your head that constantly tells you "I told you so" was screeching at me.

CRACK! His fist hit my right eye. I gave a cry of pain from the blow just before my head, only a few centimeters from the cinder block, snapped back to hit the wall behind me. My eyes watered from the pain, but I forced myself not to cry. Seiya left me standing there, gingerly touching my right eye and the bump forming on the back of my head. I had to give him credit. He was smart enough to know not to stick around long. It would've been most unfortunate for him if a teacher had shown up and saw him beating me into rice paper.

I swung my backpack in front of me and opened it up. My laptop, fortunately, had not been damaged by the "fight". However, I gave it a thorough inspection to make sure. When I looked at the shiny screen, I gave a slight moan.

There, right around my right eye and on the eye lid, was a brown spot. I knew that that spot would get darker until it formed, what Caitlin called, a shiner. Perfect. Just what I needed to show my parents. A black eye.

I walked home as I normally did, knowing that dawdling would only delay the inevitable. When I unlocked the door to our apartment, my parents' shoes weren't there. I was shocked. Where were they?

I removed my shoes and stepped onto the wood floor. I walked around the apartment aimlessly until I found this note:

"Dear Izzy,

"Your father and I went out for that dinner we told you about this morning. I'm sorry if you forgot. Dinner's in the fridge, just heat it up.

"See you later!

"Mom"

I blinked. They wouldn't be back for hours! A frown formed on my lips. What a great thing for my parents to come home to and find out: their son got in a fight at school today. Okay, so it wasn't really a FIGHT, but I did do something really inane and got a black eye for a reward. I pulled my dinner out of the fridge and popped it into the microwave.

I felt like something stuck to somebody's shoe the next day during class. I had been up all night the night before. The reason? My principal wanted to talk to me today. Why? I had no idea. I had stayed awake last night since I was afraid of what he might say.

My parents had been shocked, of course, when I told them what had happened yesterday. That and they began to tease me unmercifully, saying that I had a "sweet spot for Caitlin". They didn't ground me since they knew I had done it to keep Seiya from getting a grade he didn't deserve. However, they DID give me a strict warning not to do it again.

There was guilt for doing what I had done and disappointing my parents, but I was too tired to really think about it. As I walked into the principal's office after school, my eyelids were drooping. I wanted to just go to bed, but I had to do this first.

"Name please?" the secretary in front of the principal's office asked. Her voice was something between nails on a chalkboard and the quacking of a duck.

"Koushiro Izumi. The principal wanted to see me."

"Just a second." She tapped a button on a miniature intercom. "Sir, there is a Koushiro Izumi out there to see you."

"Good! Send him in!" came a cheerful voice from the other end.

I successfully suppressed a moan. I did NOT want hear someone who was twenty times as awake as I am talk as if he'd just had about 3 pounds of sugar in 5 seconds. I was going to have a problem.

I walked in through his door and saw him messing with one of his pens. I suppose I should describe how he looks. He's tall with wild green hair and always-excited blue eyes. He's pretty young, just out of college, but he's...something else...

He lifted an eyebrow as he looked me over. "Get in a fight?"

"Sort of," I said evasively, "and I didn't get much sleep last night."

"Oh?"

"My parents told me I was going to see you today..."

"...and you stayed up trying to figure out what I wanted to see you for," he finished for me.

I looked at the floor and nodded. Mr. Fukachi (pronounced Foo-cah-chee) had an amazing talent for figuring out what had happened. He showed that off now.

"I heard about the computer virus for that boy's project," he said casually. "Quite a piece of work."

'They're going to expel me!!!' I thought in a panic.

"Sir, whatever punishment you see fit I will gladly do," I said respectfully. I had no other choice, but I didn't add that on.

A smile formed on Mr. Fukachi's lips. "Punishment? I think justice has already been done."

I stared at him, not comprehending.

"Sir?"

"Your friend Caitlin told the teacher how Seiya, my son, had been trying to cheat for extra credit by forcing HER to do HIS project. She also told me how you intervened."

"Your...son?" I asked pathetically. I was in deeper trouble than I thought!

"Uh huh. My son." He smiled even more broadly. "I felt like the punishment you gave him fit the crime. That and it was pretty poetic. Besides, I have already caused you to lose a night of sleep which isn't healthy for a young boy. Let's put this little matter behind us, shall we?"

I nodded numbly. Then I asked, raising an eyebrow, "Sir, I have the impression that that wasn't what you wanted to talk to me about. May I ask why am I here?"

Mr. Fukachi nodded. "Of course. The real reason I wanted to talk to you was because of your grades and test scores. Neither your teachers or myself have seen anything quite like what you have done. You truly are a phenomenon." He fingered a small statue on his desk.

Then, he stopped. He lifted his hand up off the statue and gestured to a chair as he stated, "Where are my manners? Please, have a seat."

I sat down in the leather chair and put my hands in my lap. I didn't wiggle around as he started speaking again.

"Koushiro, all your tests and other work register way above normal. The only decline we've ever seen is one test score where you and Caitlin tied at 98% each. However, that's still pretty high." He eyed me. "Have you met Miss Naru?"

I shook my head.

"She's a teacher specially trained to teach exceptional students like yourself. She's starting a class with students from different grade levels coming together to form one class. The class will have each of the students working independently on their work for their grade level, but can get help from other students and Miss Naru herself."

"It sounds like an fascinating class," I stated truthfully.

"It is." His smile faded slightly. "But so far we have only been able to find 3 students that meet the requirement for this class. However, we believe we may have found an 4th student..."

I jerked at the meaningful look he was giving me.

"Me?!" I blurted out, incredulous.

"Uh huh. You."

I couldn't believe my ears. He was trying to get me to join up with this special class since they needed more students in there. However, he was also offering me a challenge. Could I take on this class that was sure to be much more difficult than my old one?

"Your parents will have control as to whether or not they should pull you out of that class and put you back in your old one. If they decide to pull you out, you'll be back with your old teacher in no time. However, I believe they will be pleased by this." He handed me a note. "Here. All you have to do is get your parents to sign this in order to become part of the class. Return it to me tomorrow morning."

The next morning, that signed note was in his hand and I was moved into Miss Naru's class.

To be totally honest, Miss Naru's class turned out to be fairly easy...for me at least. At first, I couldn't figure out why 2 out of us 4 were in this class, however, since they knew absolutely nothing about what they were working on. It made little sense to me. How could they have possibly met the requirements?

Those 2 students failed test after test. They always had the exact same answers also. To be totally honest, I, at first, thought it was because they were trying not to make the other one feel stupid. Those 2 were a very serious couple. As in, holding hands, kissing when they thought nobody was looking, a lot of hugging, the whole motherboard. It was positively revolting! I saw them kissing once and I was worried that they were eating each other's faces!

Finally, the truth about those two was revealed. They had cheated off of many test papers all at one time during tests in their old class. That gave them a better ability to pass the tests with flying colors. Mr. Fukachi was madder than Ogremon losing a battle to Leomon! He kicked those two right out of Miss Naru's class and had them suspended at lightning speed.

Miss Naru herself was quite interesting. She always caused me to think of the high school's coach and cheerleaders all drinking 10 cups of coffee and somehow combining themselves together. I was pretty impressed by the way she kept her cool when Yaten and Umi were kicked out. Still, an angry light gleamed in her eye, like she wanted to pound those two like you would pound a nail into wood. Still, even under ordinary circumstances, she wasn't anybody you forgot.

When I walked in the morning we were getting our report cards (about 5 weeks since I had entered this class). She was wearing a bright red (and I mean RED) dress that went down to her knees. Her nails were alternately green and red to match it. Her high-heel shoes were also red. Her eyes were violet today (she wore colored contact lenses and switches out which contacts she wears every day). She wore that golden necklace with the eyeball (I am not being facetious about this) and a headband that really didn't hold back her frizzy orange hair. And Mimi thinks that I have a strange taste in clothing! My orange shirt, brown shorts, yellow gloves, green socks, my shoes with the lightning bolts, and "shrub-like red hair" (Matt's exact words) looks downright bland if you stood me next to her.

"Good morning, Izzy!" she greeted me cheerfully. "Are you ready to learn today?"

"Good morning, Miss Naru," I replied as I nodded in response to her question.

That's how she greets us. I know it sounds odd and she sounds like she's on something, but that's the truth. I swear on my mother's grave...only Mom's not dead yet. However, you understand what I mean. I hope.

"It's just you and me today! Poor Junpuu has caught the flu."

By the way, "Junpuu" is pronounced like "June-pooh". She's gotten teased about the last part of her name, but she's also gotten even with all those people that dared tease her. Woe to the child who teases Junpuu's name.

Miss Naru giggled, "Junpuu. Flu. That rhymes!"

I sweatdropped. There were days when I was embarrassed to be a part of this class. I was about to know what tortures that Junpuu went through when I had been out sick the week before. To be completely honest, there were days when Miss Naru scared me.

I only nodded in response to her last statement. This was going to be a LONG day...

One nice thing about being in that class was that you hardly had any homework. The only nights that you had to do something at home were if you have to do one of her special projects or she assigns something specifically as homework.

I had homework that night after school. I was supposed to find synonyms for the words she had given me. By using my computer's thesaurus, I was able to find plenty of synonyms, but they had to be words I didn't know, if at all possible.

"Last word!" I congratulated myself a half-hour later. "Let's see...'astounding'? Hmmm..."

I typed in the word on my word processor. Then I highlighted the word and clicked on the thesaurus. As I skimmed through the list, one of them caught my attention, the word "prodigious".

I cocked my head to one side and I looked it up. I could give you the working definition, but I think you'd rather want this. It means either immense or unusual. Personally, I don't use it in either one of those contexts. It means, to me, either "amazing" or "cool" or something else along those lines.

I wrote down the word on my list and put my homework in my backpack. That was done, now for the fun stuff. I used to keep up my own webpage, which was what the "fun stuff" had been at the time. Maybe, when I get back, I could change it to include information and other miscellaneous items on us Digidestined and the Digimon. That would be prodigious!

Days passed and I hadn't been able to see any of my old friends. Sure, I would talk to them in the halls before class, but never after class. I didn't have the time. I had to go home and get to work on Miss Naru's newest idea for a long-term project: write a computer program that would do something to help somebody. I had been working away at my computer trying to come up with ideas. I was even allowed to work on it during class.

Junpuu walked up to me one day as I was in full-blown "computer dark mode" (as Mimi puts it). I was completely absorbed into my work. She tapped me on the back in that one spot I couldn't possibly ignore.

"Hey, Izzy! Didn't you hear the bell? Lunch time!"

I looked up at her and blinked. She rolled her eyes. She knew the answer to her question. I hadn't heard the bell. If she hadn't tapped me in that one spot, I would've missed lunch and never known it.

Now, you're probably wondering: "What is he talking about?" Well, Junpuu had to get my attention a few weeks before, but I was submerged in work so I didn't hear her practically shouting in my ear. Exasperated, she tapped me everywhere that I wouldn't be offended by until I finally jerked and looked up at her. She wrote down in her notebook (which she carries around as much as I carry my laptop around) where the spot was: that one spot in the back of your neck where there's that little bump. It's pretty annoying to have somebody tap you right there.

"Jeez, Izzy! I swear that if you ever get married, your wife is going to become your keeper!"

I merely raised an eyebrow, saved what I had been doing, and closed up my laptop. I put it behind the 1000-piece puzzles in the cabinets on the other side of the room (Miss Naru NEVER locks the door). I followed Junpuu out to the lunch room.

I winced at the noise level this time. Kids screaming, adults shouting, cash registers making that "cha-ching!" noise whenever they close, and coins dropping all over the place. I went through the line and got the "food" of the day: mystery potatoes with mystery gravy, side orders of mystery fruit cup and mystery gelatin, and a bottle of water (the only recognizable thing on the tray). I love puzzles, but I never EVER want to find out what's in that toxic waste that's called school food. THAT'S where my extreme curiosity doesn't shine.

Once out of the line and into the courtyard (where only a few people eat), I made a face at my mystery fruit. It was blue. In my opinion (and this is ONLY my opinion), peeled and chopped-up fruit should NOT be blue. Jell-O is allowed to be blue, that's just the food coloring, but I doubted that the cafeteria people added food coloring to their cups of fruit.

Junpuu sat down on the bench beside me. She forked a bit of mystery potatoes into her mouth. She made no effort to control her gag reflex.

"Bleh! Gross! Can they get away with feeding this to us?!" she inquired, disgusted.

"If they couldn't, would they be serving it to us?" I countered.

"Good point."

She poked at the contents of the "fruit" cup. "The fruit is blue. Fruit should not be blue."

"My sentiments exactly." I took a cautious bite of the gelatin, not sure how it would taste. I made a face at the sour flavor.

Junpuu laughed. "I tried that stuff in the line. Awful isn't it?"

I nodded vigorously. I sipped at the water, saving it for the rest of the "meal".

"Revolting."

Junpuu nodded and looked down at her food, making a face. I also just looked at my food, not quite gaining the courage to take a second bite of it. I assume that we were both thinking the same thing: "How badly do I want to get food poisoning?"

"Why couldn't they have one of those inspections today?" she moaned. "Sometimes the food gets better."

"I read off of the School Board website that each school was handed the new standard recipes which they had to serve since they were 'nutritious'."

"I thought only TEACHERS can get on that website."

I blushed and then informed her, "You know nothing."

She grinned. "Izzy who? I don't know anybody called Izzy."

Junpuu was pleased by my embarrassment. You could tell by the look in her turquoise eyes. She was laughing at me. In fact, she always managed to "get" me. However, that doesn't mean I don't get her back.

Junpuu leaned towards me and spoke in a whisper, "How'd you get on there?"

She was talking as if we were trying to take over the world or something. Just for "kicks" (as Tai would say), I retorted, "If I told you, I'd have to kill you."

Junpuu whooped. I don't consider myself all that funny, but she acted as if I'd told the joke that would start a career as a comedian. To be totally honest, Junpuu was the only one that managed to get me into one of those kinds of exchanges. I rolled my eyes and began to contemplate what exactly was on my tray.

I stared at my laptop computer screen blankly. I had to come up with some sort of useful program, but what? What would someone need a computer program for? I'd made a list of things that you use computers for, but none of them seemed to be what Miss Naru was looking for.

"Okay, what would be useful that someone would really like?" I asked myself.

Word processors: already done to death. Spreadsheets: done to death. Slide shows: that's about 6 feet under. Games: been done.

I sighed. Mom tapped on my door.

"Izzy! Your friend Junpuu is here!"

I opened my door and saw her standing there with her own laptop computer. It was a Pineapple, like mine, only it was blue where the yellow of mine was.

"Hi, Izzy. Sorry if I'm interrupting anything..."

"It's okay. My mind is drawing up a complete blank on what it should be doing."

She grinned. "As opposed to normal?"

"Watch it..." I warned her.

"Sorry." She walked in and I closed the door behind her. "I wouldn't ordinarily do this, but I really need your help."

I gestured to my bed and added, "Sit. Welcome to my office."

She gave a whoop of laughter and flopped down on my bed. She noticed the flat screen and CPU of my other computer. Junpuu whistled at the set up.

"I heard about those. Supposed to be really powerful."

I nodded. "But the modem's too slow. I keep telling my dad that, but he won't listen."

I stopped. Junpuu's eyes were starting to glaze over. Junpuu's bright, but technologically impaired. I hate to say it, but she doesn't know much about computers or other technology. That's one reason why I was surprised to see the laptop she was holding.

"Nice computer," I commented, nodding to her laptop.

"That's what I came to see you about, Oh Great Computer Guru," she quipped. "I'm totally lost. I don't even know how to turn it on!"

My mind pounced on an idea. A computer program that shows you how to work your computer? Not very useful if you can't even turn it on. Besides, if you didn't know how to work it, how would you use the program? I tossed that idea away.

"Here."

I pushed a button on the front that opened it up. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Junpuu whip out her notebook and begin to take notes. I still wonder how much space she has left in that notebook. I explained to her, 5 times, how to turn it on and demonstrated. She jotted down even more notes. I got her through the start up to where it showed the main screen.

"Okay. Where's the mouse?" she asked.

I looked at her, inquiring. I pointed to the glide ball. "Right there."

"That's not a mouse!"

"It's a glide ball. It's so you don't have to have a flat surface and have a mouse to carry around."

"Oh."

I showed her how to double click (to open programs), to click out (to close programs), and how to move the cursor all over the screen. Within an hour, she was starting to get the hang of it.

"What were you working on before I rudely interrupted you?" she asked.

"Trying to come up with an idea for my project," I admitted.

"You STILL can't come up with anything?"

I shook my head. She looked at my sympathetically.

"It's okay. I still have to figure out how to do a webpage. That's MY assignment."

I brightened. "I know how to do that. I'll give you a hand."

"Really? Cool!"

We worked until the smell of brownies began to entice our stomachs. After ignoring them for 15 minutes, Junpuu stood up.

"I can't stand it! Those brownies are out there and I'm gonna nab us some!"

She left the room and returned 5 minutes later, a plate stacked high with brownies in her hands. She was smiling broadly.

"Your mother is highly susceptible to flattery. I like that in an adult."

She picked up one and began to chow down on it. I kind of looked at the plate. She knew what I was thinking.

"Don't think sugar and calories, Izzy! Think brain food! We've still got to come up with YOUR project!"

I picked one up and nibbled on it, the sweet chocolate flavor melting in my mouth. I held the treat in one hand while I continued to type with my other hand. Junpuu did the same, but she was still using the finger-stabbing method of typing. It's annoying, but it was her third time using a computer while at the same time being the first time she's used a LAPTOP computer. For those reasons, I kept my mouth shut. The sound of our clicking of keys was very different. Her typing was slow and sort of long while mine was fast and staccato.

We continued swapping ideas as we continued to work. I had hooked our two laptops together using a cord so we could see what the other was doing, a little mini-network. Finally, she reached forward and nabbed my brownie, the same one I had started eating about 10 minutes before.

"If you're not going to eat this, I'll give it a good home," she offered, preparing to take a bite.

I nabbed it before she had the chance to devour it. This was my other little problem whenever I'm working, I hardly eat. Scares the life out of my mom whenever she tries to get me to eat while I'm doing schoolwork. She says I'm way too thin.

"I don't think so," I said just before I popped the bite-sized morsel into my mouth. Junpuu stuck her tongue out at me.

Suddenly, she paused. Her eyes sparkled.

"Izzy, I just had a brainstorm!"

"I'd love to hear it."

"Can't you do something for entertainment for your project? You know a lot of people need something to do on their computer."

"There already are games..."

"I don't mean a game! I mean something that they can watch and laugh at or something."

I thought for a moment. "I suppose I could program something..."

It would be useful in a sense. Many people get bored and needed something unusual to break the boredom. Why hadn't I thought of this idea?

I immediately began to type, reaching every so often for a brownie. I wasn't about to let Junpuu have ALL of them...

A few days later, my project was complete. The timing was highly fortunate considering the fact that day it was completed was the due date. I had gotten up early to do the finishing touches and to play with it. Once satisfied, I saved it.

Miss Naru looked at Junpuu's webpage first. It had taken a few trips on the Internet to get the animated gifs, but it was worth it. They added a lot to her webpage while the content was interesting and completely Junpuu. She smiled.

"I can see you two worked together in order to get this done," she stated, her eyes (emerald green today) were smiling as well as her pink lips. "Good work! A+!"

Junpuu squealed with delight and then looked worriedly at me. She thought that I hadn't been able to finish my project. I nervously handed the disk with a copy of my hard work on it to Miss Naru, unsure as to how she would react. Junpuu smiled, not knowing what was on it, but sure that it would be something good.

It took a moment for Miss Naru's computer to load the small program. Soon a title popped up on the screen.

"'How to Keep an Insomniac Busy...for a few minutes at least'," Miss Naru read, curiosity sparkling in her eyes.

Junpuu raised her eyebrows. I went and sat down in front of my own computer. For some odd reason, I had the sudden urge to play Minesweeper.

She scrolled down and I would assume she saw the frog hopping all over the place. In my mind, I could see her reading the text: "Click on the frog!" I heard several clicks of the mouse as she chased the frog all over the screen. A few moments later, I heard her triumphant cry as she finally clicked on the frog. She smiled and gave a small laugh.

"Very impressive, Izzy! I've never seen anything quite like it! Perfect for those people that get bored doing the same old games on their computer!" She gave a slight chuckle. "Very useful indeed. A+."

"Hey, cool!" Junpuu said. "Can I try?!"

I saw Miss Naru hand her the disk so she could download it onto her laptop (she hadn't been able to put her webpage on a disk, so she had just brought the laptop to school). Within a few minutes, she was chasing after that frog. I was still stunned.

"Actually, Miss Naru, Junpuu helped me come up with the idea."

"Excellent! You two have learned that it's important to work together even if you aren't doing the exact same things!"

A lesson within a lesson. Miss Naru can be tricky that way.

I came home from school that day practically dancing with delight. It had gotten better and better. The school lunch had been actually edible, I had aced a really hard exam that Miss Naru had given me, I finally had a day I could just surf the Internet, and tomorrow was the start of a new weekend!

"I'm home!" I called to my mom.

Mom leaned out from the kitchen and smiled. "Have a good day at school?"

I nodded. I headed to my room to check my e-mail (which the amount had been most likely greater than the height at which the eagle flies). I also had to update my webpage. I decided to add a little page for my project. I thought that someone might see it and enjoy it. There are stranger things up on the Internet.

An hour later, Mom stuck her head in.

"Izzy, your friend Caitlin is on the phone."

She was smiling and stressing the word "friend". I chose to ignore her tone as I picked up the phone. Mom left the room, still smiling.

"Hey, Caitlin!"

"Hey, Izzy," she said, sounding slightly depressed.

"What's the matter?"

"Izzy, I know that you were busy for the past couple of weeks, so don't think that's what's wrong. My parents and I are going back to Hawaii. Dad's job again."

"When are you leaving?" I asked. "I'll help send you off."

I could practically see her smile then frown as she spoke.

"I know you would."

"Would?"

"You see, it's already too late."

My heart leaped into my throat. "What do you mean, 'too late'?"

She sighed. "I'm already on the plane over the middle of the Pacific Ocean. I'm using one of those phones they have on board."

"Wh-wh-why didn't you say something when I talked to you?"

"I didn't want you to come. I'd never be able to leave if you had." A beat. "I'll really miss you."

"I'll-I'll miss you, too, Caitlin," I barely managed to keep my voice at least halfway normal.

"I have to go, Izzy. I'll e-mail you sometime. Goodbye." With that, she hung up.

I just sat there, listening to the dial tone, for at least 3 minutes. I forced myself to put the phone back into its cradle, but I couldn't get myself to stand. It was as if the universe had planned to make that day seem great and then, when my guard was down, hit me with something horrible. Your pick of whether it was an alien plot or a cosmic joke. If it was the latter, I wasn't laughing.

"Izzy! I'm going to the grocery store! Would you like to come?" my mom asked.

"No thank you," I answered, just loud enough to hear.

"I'll be back in an hour!"

If Mom had noticed my mood, she didn't let me know. I imagine that she did know my mood, but had chosen to leave me alone. You see, more than anything, I wanted to be alone at that moment. I cut off my connection to the Internet, my work finished 20 minutes ago, and finally stood up. I walked over to my bed, not a very long walk, and laid down. I wanted to forget everything that had happened. I didn't want to believe what I had just heard. Just like when I had found out I had been adopted.

There was no escaping the awful truth, however. Caitlin wouldn't be there to meet me at school anymore. We wouldn't be able to talk before class and I desperately wanted to talk to her about this. The whole thing was like someone had cut off my hand and I was still reaching for things with the stump.

I didn't bother to stop the tears from falling because I was alone. Nobody would see me just let it all out. I eventually fell asleep.

"Izzy...Izzy...come on. Wake up. Your friend Junpuu's here," Mom said softly in my ear.

She was slightly shaking my left shoulder. I slowly opened my eyes...which ended up opening only halfway. My eyes drifted over to the window. It had been 11 o'clock when I had fallen asleep. The sun was shining brightly now. I calculated it to be about 9 o'clock AM. I had slept in.

I sat up, rubbing my eyes. There were sticky parts where the tears had left their trails running down my cheeks. I hastily began to rub those away. Junpuu stuck her head in.

"Mornin', Izzy! How's every little thing?" she asked cheerfully.

"Good morning." Sort of true. It was morning. "Everything's great." Little white lie. "How are you?"

Junpuu's turquoise eyes narrowed. "Great. And by the way, you REALLY look like everything's great. Man, things must be FANTASTIC."

I sighed. Sarcasm was one of Junpuu's "best" traits. She used it quite often.

"Sorry. You caught me at the wrong time."

Junpuu's eyes returned mostly to normal. "Not a morning person, huh?"

"Usually am. I guess I was more tired than I thought."

She gave me this look that could be easily read as "Sure. Tell me another one."

She turned to Mom. "Mrs. Izumi, may I please speak to Izzy in private?"

"Of course."

Mom left the room and closed the door behind her. Junpuu looked at me sternly.

"What happened?"

"What makes you think an unfortunate incident occurred?"

"Stop it, Izzy! You KNOW I hate that little tactic you use where you try to avoid answering a question by asking one of your own! I don't stand for it during the school week and I WON'T stand it now!"

I swear that Junpuu will make an EXCELLENT mother someday. She can be strange, but she can be as strict as anything. Still, I stubbornly kept my silence.

"Don't make me hurt you, Izzy. But you know, better than anyone, that I will if you don't spill it."

She twists my arm whenever I refuse to tell her what's bothering me and she knows something's bothering me. I mean "twists my arm" in a painfully literal sense.

I still remained silent. She came over to me. I moved so I kept her in front of me. She couldn't twist my arm behind my back if she couldn't get behind me. I was very surprised when she leaned forward and grabbed my ears. I gave a slight yelp as she began to pull on them. I gave a moan as she continued this activity.

"Now?" she asked. I didn't answer.

She pulled even harder. "Now?"

I continued to cry out as she continued pulling. She pulled harder still. "Now?"

Finally, my stubborn mind told me to tell unless I wanted to lose my ears.

"It's Caitlin!" I practically shouted.

She released. "What about her?"

I rubbed my sore ears.

"She called me from her plane last night to tell me that she was moving back to Hawaii."

"FROM the plane?"

I nodded. She growled.

"Insensitive little..."

I decided to keep that statement from being finished. "Look. She said that she didn't want me to show up at the airport since it would keep her from leaving. I have to respect that."

Junpuu shook her head. "Izzy, you never fail to amaze me. She hurts you, worse than I did when I pulled your ears, and you still defend her. Why?"

I didn't answer. I didn't have one. Junpuu gave me a sympathetic look.

"You liked her. Didn't you?"

My eyebrows shot up at the suggestion. Still, my mind asked me if she could be right. Was THAT why it hurt so much that she left without telling me? I quickly answered the question to myself and Junpuu. My answer was the whole truth.

"She was a friend. A real good one, but not a girlfriend."

Junpuu didn't pursue the issue, much to my relief. Instead she grabbed my wrists and pulled me off the bed and onto my feet.

"Come on, Izzy! Let's have breakfast! I haven't had any and your mom said she'd make me some of those pancakes!"

I couldn't help but smile at her suddenly happy-go-lucky attitude. The rain never seemed to fall on Junpuu's parade and if it did, she always managed to find the bright side in that situation. I have to admit, but never to HER, that I admire her for that quality.

The week of our "graduation" was upon us. Junpuu and I were studying like mad to get ready for Miss Naru's final exam. We quizzed each other right up 'till the last moment. In fact, we had been studying together since the week before. You see, this exam determined whether or not you STAYED in Miss Naru's class and both of us wanted to stay.

"What's 3 to the 3rd power?" Junpuu asked.

I promptly responded, "27. What's the square root of 64?"

"8."

"Good morning, Junpuu, Izzy! Are you ready to learn today?" came Miss Naru's cheerful voice, cutting into our studying. "We have that big exam today! I hope you studied!"

"Yes, Miss Naru," both of us responded at the same time.

"Good!"

She handed us this stack of 50 pages EACH. Neither one of us said a word. We knew that she didn't want to give us such a long exam, but Mr. Fukachi was putting pressure on her. Apparently, he thought the class was too easy. This was supposed to show him that it was, in fact, quite difficult.

"On your mark. Get set. Go!"

The two of us flipped open the cover page and began to furiously do the problems. We were both on opposite sides of the room so there was no way we could've helped each other. I was on page 3 before I knew it. Because of all the study hours I had put in, this exam was a breeze. I glanced up quickly at Junpuu.

She was in her normal test-taking position: hunched over her desk, pencil gripped tightly in her left hand (she's, as some people say, south-pawed), and tongue sticking out of her mouth, held between her teeth. She glanced up at me and grinned. She was doing great also.

Hours passed. Problem after problem flew by. There was reading comprehension, arithmetic, grammar, spelling, vocabulary, history, geography, and science all in that huge test. There were about 600 questions on there. However, the test was also worth 600 points, miss one and you lost a point. I struggled a little bit on a few of the vocabulary words, but managed to give them my best shot.

We had a break for lunch. Many students were cramming for other exams so it was quiet. The food was just as unappetizing as normal. Junpuu and I sat down in our usual spot.

"How's it going?" she asked, poking her what the cafeteria workers claimed to be chicken fillet cautiously.

"A couple of vocabulary words I had to give my best guess on, but otherwise I'm doing well. You?"

"Geography gave me a small problem, but I used my technique to put down an answer."

"Uh huh. Christmas treed it, huh?"

"It's not Christmas treeing it! It's called using clues from the questions to get an answer."

"So you Christmas treed it."

She stuck her tongue out at me. I grinned, satisfied that I could rub HER fur the wrong way once in a while instead of it being the other way around. Actually, her "technique" really DOES work. 9 out of 10 answers from her technique are correct. She taught me it during one of our study sessions.

We talked for a little while, quizzed each other for a little bit, ate VERY little, and the time to leave seemed to arrive quite quickly. We walked into class to finish our exams.

The next day, Miss Naru stood before us. A deep frown was on her face. Junpuu and I shot each other quick looks, each thinking that we might have failed the exam.

"Good morning, class."

"Good morning, Miss Naru."

"I have the results for your exam papers in." Her frown deepened.

We looked at each other. Junpuu had pure terror in her eyes. I suspect mine registered about the same. We'd NEVER seen Miss Naru act like this before when we got our tests and quizzes back.

"I have to say that what you got was what you deserved."

She handed us our exams back in two manila folders. We nervously opened them up, but I felt something strange near the bottom. Something that wasn't a piece of paper was in there. I pulled out my exam and fearfully looked at the grade.

Much to my shock, I had aced it! 100%!!! My eyes flitted over to Junpuu who was also in a state of numbed shock.

"100?" I mouthed.

She nodded. Miss Naru burst out laughing.

"I wish I had a camera! I really had you going there, didn't I?"

Junpuu answered honestly, "Yes, you did, Miss Naru. We were afraid that we'd failed from the look on your face."

Miss Naru kept laughing. "I love doing that to my students! It keeps them on their toes!"

I slapped my forehead, suddenly remembering a time when Miss Naru had gotten me. She had pretended she was writing a referral for me since I had asked too many questions. Junpuu was defending me while I had been literally down on my knees.

Miss Naru laughed all the harder. "I see you remember the 'Referral Incident'!"

"Yes, I do."

It took about 10 minutes for to Miss Naru calm down. We reached deeper into our folders and found two "Achievement" medals for passing her class. Junpuu was grinning from ear to ear. I imagine that the same look was on my own face.

We still had a lot of time left in the day and Miss Naru, as a reward for managing to get all 600 questions right, allowed us to have a "free day". You can guess what I did. I pulled out my laptop and started to type. To my surprise, a cord dangled in front of my face a few minutes after I had begun.

"Wha---?"

"I liked doing that little network thing we did a while back," Junpuu answered, swinging the cord slightly. "Want to surf the 'net together?"

"Are you asking me out, Junpuu?" I teased.

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, yes. The Internet is THE romantic spot. Do you want to or not?"

Still amused, I nodded. Within a minute, the two Pineapple laptops were hooked up and running. Miss Naru leaned forward towards my ear.

"I think she likes you and you like her," she whispered so Junpuu wouldn't hear.

I forced myself to keep my head below the flip-up screen, the color of my blush creeping up my neck towards my face. Miss Naru walked away, amused.

Joe woke up early the next morning. Much to his surprise, Izzy was sitting there with his laptop resting on his lap. He was typing a little slower than normal and looked tired. From where Joe was, Izzy couldn't see him. Joe could look slightly over his shoulder and see what Izzy was working on.

Izzy had his word processor open and had apparently been writing down something all night long, but Joe couldn't read what was written there. Joe saw him put the cursor up to the X in the corner of the screen. He clicked on it.

A message popped up: "Do you want to save Document 1?"

Izzy hesitated. He'd stayed up all night typing all that down. DID he want to save it? That one part of his mind that had disturbed his sleep was telling him "yes", but that one part of his mind that refused to cooperate told him "no". If he saved it, the document might be found by one of the others, but that possibility was doubtful. Still, having it on his hard drive was a high risk. Matt could understand a little bit of computers. He at least knew how to open programs. Besides, Joe would be able to work it once he figured out how to run the Pineapple's main screen (he was used to IBMs and Dells).

Joe watched as Izzy's cursor hovered between "yes" and "no", the user undecided. If ONLY he could get close enough to see what Izzy had stayed up to type! Izzy moved the cursor back and forth over the two buttons, unsure. What if Joe found it? What if Matt found it? What if...

Too many what ifs. Izzy, now decided, ignored that one part of his mind which screamed for him to click "yes" and put the cursor over "no". He clicked down on that button and the screen disappeared, never to be seen again. Izzy was a little angry on the inside for the fact that he'd wasted an entire night just typing something that he didn't save, but he dealt with that anger. He glanced at a watch he had under his glove and decided to catch an hour's sleep.

Joe watched as the boy shut down the computer and put it away in his backpack. He laid down and went right to sleep under the watchful eye of the teenager of the group. Joe sighed quietly. Whatever Izzy had been writing, nobody would know. Not now, not ever.

THE END

Fanfic number 4 is DONE!!! Sorry it took so long, folks! Believe it or not I have a life outside of fanfic writing. <many gasps heard> That's right. It's not much of one, but I do have one. Mucho thanks go out to all you guys who said I was a good writer! I wouldn't be writing without your support. Mucho thanks to both the Gomamon I know (By the way, "Gomamon" is the correct plural form of "Gomamon". So there!)! You both have great pages also! Mucho thanks to the owner of Digi Realm, Mei, the page is really cool (Izzy's Laptop is the best part!)! And mucho thanks go out to my muse, Koushiro Izumi (I got the idea for grabbing a muse from the girl Gomamon I know). He looks over my shoulder and tells me what to fix. Izzy, you're the best! Now enough babbling, on with the ratings!!!

Here are some ratings just for fun

1 - Your ability to write was stolen by Vademon!!!

2 - That was worse than Demidevimon!

3 - Wasn't too bad, but wasn't too good either.

4 - Was pretty good, but needs to digivolve a little bit so it's a little better.

5 - Your ability to write is really good.

6 - Woah! Joe might want to borrow your notes from English!

7 - Even Mimi couldn't complain about this!

8 - Tai must be slipping you info or something!

9 - Who are you? A professional writer who just happens to like Digimon?!

10 - Prodigious!