Episode 51 – The Shrine of Emille, the Impacted Base! – Part 1
The shrine senses a strange presence, perhaps many presences that were never before seen for almost a millennium. The species of humans have slightly changed since then. In response to the presences, the shrine began to shine a red glow. The red glowing stone deep within the shrine began to crack open. A small gush of green began pouring out of the unknown…
~~~
“Alright, kiddos! I made up a list of who made it in for badminton. I had to cut out a lot of people in order to keep a stable and small team of about ten for each gender. Please check the list!” said the badminton coach.
All the students present in the badminton practice began rushing up to the list. Matt fell to the ground, coughing. “Agh, wait for me!”
Matt was standing in the back behind many students. Matt could see Shirley jumping in the front screaming, “I made it! I made it!!” Matt smiled, feeling happy for her but also worried about himself. Other students began to clear away and Matt could see his friends still standing around.
Huy jumped as well, “Yes! I made it too!” Shirley smiled and they both gave each other a high-five. They then remembered about their past experiences and hatred for each other. They suddenly both looked away, crossing their arms in anger.
Mariel frowned, “Wha? I didn’t make it?”
Alex covered his face and made a murmured sound that sounded as if he was crying, “Aw, huh-huh… I didn’t make it either.”
Matt raised an eyebrow, wondering what went wrong. Yessenia crossed her arms and nodded, “Tsk, tsk, I knew I wouldn’t make it in. I hate trying.” She turned around and walked away from the list with a normal expression as if she did not care at all.
Stan and Kalpesh were feeling sad. Stan got angry, “I don’t get it. Why didn’t I make it in? I play really good!”
Kalpesh shrugged and Jen sighed, “I am an extra, a backup…”
Matt walked up to Jen, “What? But I clearly saw you play really good when the coaches were testing your abilities.”
Jen tapped her shoes, “Hm… Maybe, but I don’t know. I didn’t think I was that great.”
Kalpesh pointed at her, “You should complain! I know WE did badly during the test but you got them ALL. You should get in.”
Jen looked at Matt. Matt was confused about her concern, so he checked the list to find out that he did not make it in. “Oh… I uh…”
Jen held Matt’s shoulder, “I was thinking that if you didn’t make it… then badminton wouldn’t be fun anymore. That’s why right now, I don’t really care that I’m an extra. In fact, I don’t think I want to be in the team anymore.” Matt, Stan, and Kalpesh were silent in awe. Jen giggled, “Don’t worry, Matt. I won’t leave you like that.”
Stan joked about her, “Man you’re too attached. I’m going home now. See ya!” Kalpesh followed along.
Matt turned to Jen, “W-What was that all about, Jen? You shouldn’t quiz the team just because I didn’t get in.”
Jen turned away, “Well… I wanted to pay you back for what I did before.”
“What are you talking about?” Matt asked. Jen walked away without a word.
Matt sighed, “Is this about when she left me during lunch back in October? She wouldn’t let that go, would she? I got over it awhile ago already. Oh well.” He looked at the list again, “But still… I knew I wasn’t going to get in, but the feeling of being rejected hurts. This is something else I have to get over, Jen.” He thought about Stan, “Nowadays I still only hang out with Stan and Kalpesh. I follow them home whenever they leave and they both leave really early without dedicating themselves to playing badminton. Why should I get in? Why is Stan even questioning about how he didn’t get in? It feels like I’ve been following Stan around too much and it didn’t pay off. I should just cool off somewhere, maybe Arkon’s Magic.”
~~~
In Arkon’s Magic, Matt was sitting outside of Shirley’s house. He was watching Jaime use his shadow powers again Yessenia’s wind powers. Yessenia was using her blunt sword to swoosh off Jaime’s shadows. Matt only sat there next to Danny and Shirley.
Danny kept staring at Matt’s face. Shirley slapped Danny on the head, “Psst, don’t stare at him like that!”
Danny ignored her and he asked Matt, “Why are you sad?”
“Yo!” Shirley slapped Danny even harder in anger.
Matt responded in shame, “I didn’t get into the badminton team but I’m trying to get over it.”
Shirley comforted him, “Matt, don’t worry. Lots of people didn’t get in, not just you. And I notice that you go home early sometimes and you’re not the worst person in practices. There are lots of tougher things in the future that you will have to handle. In fact, there are people that are way stronger, mentally than we are. We are just Freshmen, inferior people that are nothing close to them just because they are Seniors, or upperclassmen to be specific. Think of the things you’re better at, Matt. I know you will become someone greater than just a badminton guy!”
Matt stumped her down, “Easy for you to say. You made it into the team.”
Shirley became guilty but she still went on, “No, that’s not it. I just… Well, you’re lucky. You’re strong with your powers, aren’t you?”
Matt pointed at Jaime and Yessenia, still battling each other, “They’re stronger than me. Santi is stronger than me because his time powers can mess with anyone’s mind. My fire powers can’t be as strong. I only have fireballs and the baby chick.”
Shirley stood up, “Well let’s practice with your fire powers. There are
Digicells all over in the Forest of Emille, right?”
Digicells all over in the Forest of Emille, right?”
Matt watched her standing now, “Are you serious about going back in there?”
Shirley giggled, “Of course! We’ll fight weaker Digicells, together.” She kneeled down to get closer to Danny’s ear so she could whisper, “Hey, we’re going to borrow your cellphone for a little while. Tell Jaime and Yessenia that we are going back to school.” Danny gave his cellphone over to Shirley and Shirley invited Matt into her ice house.
In the house, Matt asked Shirley, “Why couldn’t you just invite Jaime and Yessenia?”
Shirley poked Matt’s forehead, “Stuuu-pid.~ You don’t want them to be taking all of your Digicells, do you? They’ll think we’re crazy for mindlessly fighting them anyway. Well, at least Yessenia will think we’re crazy. Jaime probably wouldn’t give a crap. But anyway, let’s go!” Shirley and Matt pressed the button to teleport into the Forest of Emille.
~~~
In the forest, Matt almost tripped when he appeared. Shirley still fell on her behind, yelping, “Oomph! Damn it, my short-short’s got dusty.” She stood up to wipe the dirt away.
Matt joked, “Is that all you care about?”
“Yes! Now let’s go.” Shirley said with pride.
As they were walking along, they began feeling tired. It took only several minutes for them to feel exhausted. Matt coughed, almost sounding like a whooping cough, “Uck… Where are the Digicells?”
Shirley scratched her head in wonder, “Hm, I don’t know actually. Let’s try screaming.”
Matt tried to stop her, “W-Wait, wouldn’t that-…”
“AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!” Shirley screamed as loud as she could.
Matt continued to say what he wanted to say, “cause some kind of stampede…?” Only many birds began flying out of the trees up above from far away from their vision.
Shirley watched the birds flying away, “Nah, I think the stampede was only from the rhinos that we fought before. Where did those birds come from anyway?”
Matt pointed up ahead, “Well they came from over there, I’m guessing.”
Shirley sat down on the ground in shame, “Aw man, do we have to walk another half mile? I’m tired already. Let’s look for them next time.”
Matt yelled at her in a surprised tone, “What the- You wanted to take me here in the first place!”
Shirley yelled back at him, “Well I didn’t know this forest would have nothing!”
Matt suddenly pointed at her legs, “Oh and your pants are dirty again from sitting down.”
Shirley quickly stood up, “Uh- Not again! Ahh!” She became serious, “Fine, we’ll go but this will be the last time I’m walking that far.”
“But you run a mile everyday on Fridays for PE.” Matt corrected her.
“Oh whatever don’t tell me what to do.” She stomped away.
Matt said blankly, “I-I didn’t…”
~~~
At the area of where the birds flew out of many trees, Matt could see the shrine again. “Hey, it’s this place again.”
Shirley stepped on some of the broken pieces of the building, “Aw man, this isn’t interesting anymore. We were supposed to ask Santi about this place.”
Shirley almost tripped from a little creak, “Aiyah!” She kept her balance and then she stood on top of the creak again, but more safely. “What is this?”
Matt shrugged. “Eh, who knows?” He began walking around to explore the area again. He noticed that there was still a small piece of building facing upward. It did not seem to be damaged yet unlike the rest of the building. Matt placed his finger on the building and he noticed that the dust was extremely horrible. He could see a complete change from gray dust to a light-brownish color from the original color of the building, “Euh…” He blew onto the dust and the whole pack flew onto his face. Matt began coughing.
Shirley placed her wrists on her hips, “Okay what are you doing?”
Matt turned to Shirley and he pointed at the building, “This building is really dusty, don’t blame me!” His finger was too close to the building which made him accidentally press a button.
The creak began to open up fast and Shirley fell to the floor, “Aiyah! What the hell was that for?!”
Matt jumped in surprise, “I-I’m sorry!”
Shirley clenched her fists, “You’re gonna pay for that!”
Matt pointed at the open creak, “Look, the basement?”
Shirley became serious again. “Hm, it must be. Should we go in to check?”
Matt took out his cellphone, “Yeah, and if we’re in danger, we can just teleport out of here.” Shirley agreed with him.
~~~
In the real world, Jen was walking with Stan, Kalpesh, and Huy. They were near the girl’s locker. Jen was shaking, having Huy’s cellphone on her right ear. “Okay… I’m sorry for calling. He’s probably somewhere around the school.”
From inside the restroom in the girl’s locker, Yessenia appeared and she gave herself a grief sigh, “Phew, good thing there weren’t any girls in here to see me.” She began walking out.
Jen came to a stop as she closed Huy’s cellphone, “Thanks Huy.” She frowned, saying, “Matt’s still missing…” Huy was also Jen’s, Stan’s, and Kalpesh’s friends as they all went to Columbia together. They all, including Matt, met Huy in the seventh grade.
Yessenia walked out, hearing the fact that Jen was saying Matt went missing. Huy took his cellphone from Jen’s hands and he asked her, “Why do you need to find him anyway?”
Jen held onto Matt’s sweater, “He left it in the large gym and I wanted to give it back to him. I guess I’ll give it to him tomorrow. I can’t believe he’s not even home yet. It’s almost late.”
Yessenia began to wonder about him herself, “Strange… Danny told me he left Arkon’s Magic early to go back to school. Maybe he’s on the bus.” He took a look at the time in her cellphone, “No, it can’t be. The bus comes every forty minutes and Matt usually goes to the bus stop in the last minute. He should still be somewhere where at least someone knows about him. Wait, could he be…?!”
Jen’s group began to walk away and Yessenia interrupted them, “Are you all looking for Matt?”
Jen did not know Yessenia very well but she has been making friendly progress with her since they have the same lunch periods ever since second semester began. “Yeah, do you know where he is?”
Yessenia was only close to Jen, so she directed her answer only to Jen, “I don’t, but can you look around the school for him? I’m sure he’s here somewhere. I’ll check around too.”
Jen began to feel hope, “Really?! Oh my gosh, thank you! Um, we all don’t have cellphones except Huy. Do you mind giving each other your numbers?” Yessenia and Huy nodded.
~~~
Back in the shrine of the Forest of Emille, Matt and Shirley were going deeper into the basement. It was getting darker and their steps’ echoes became stronger. Shirley began to shake as she paused, “Matt, this is scary.” She held onto his arms, “We should leave right now.”
Matt turned on his cellphone, “Not yet. I want to know what’s down here.”
“Why didn’t we just turn on the lights?!”
Matt screamed at her, “Well duh, it was broken just like the rest of the building!”
Shirley turned on her cellphone as well, “Euhhh, fine… But if something scary comes then we press the home button!”
Matt said softly, “Fine, fine.”
~~~
---- Next chapter preview:Matt: On the next chapter, -
ShirleyC: Eek! What's that noise, what's that noise?! Matt, do something!
Matt: Come on out, flaming little baby chick! Light up the room for us.
ShirleyC: After how far we walked in the dark, you decide that now?!
Matt: Jaime meets his rival! In search of Matt, they start to verbally fight each other, forgetting about their search.
Yessenia: Don't forget about Stan and Kalpesh. They seem to have a grudge against you recently, hmhm. That doesn't sound good at all.
Matt: W-What do you mean? Hrm... Next time, The Shrine of Emille, the Impacted Base! - Part 2!
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