On Kieran's phone, the video 'Quiet Time ~ lo-fi hip hop to sleep/relax to' abruptly stopped to give way to a persistent ringing. The boy's eyes opened slightly as he fumbled for the device underneath his pillow. He brought it up to his face and stared at the screen for a moment, his vision still too blurry and his mind too hazy to understand what he was looking at. He shook his head a couple of times, as if physically trying to shake the sleep out of himself. When he looked back at the screen, he realised that not only did he not recognise the number, the first few digits indicated it wasn't even local. 

[i]Probably just a cold caller,[/i] Kieran thought. He tapped the decline button with his thumb before sitting up, phone still in hand. Besides the light from his mobile and his computer monitor, the room was completely dark. Kieran glanced down at his phone again. The top of the screen read 21:30. "Crap!" he said aloud, the last remnants of sleep completely leaving him. He'd promised he'd promised he'd join one of his friend's gaming streams at 20:30! He quickly clicked on one of the chatting apps and began texting a (grammatically questionable) apology as he got up and started making his way over to his desk. He almost tripped on the pizza box in the middle of his room, causing him to accidentally send the message before it was complete.

"Shitshitshit!" Kieran hissed to himself as he started texting yet [i]another[/i] apology. However, before he could send this one, his friend had already responded.

[b]Hey don't worry about it[/b] Retrogue typed. [b]You seem really frazzled are you okay?[/b]

Kieran sighed aloud. [b]yeah just overslept[/b] he responded. [b]still a little fuzzy[/b]

[b]The stream's almost over anyway. If you want we can voice chat after? Give you time to fully wake up lol[/b]

Despite himself, Kieran smiled. [b]that'd be nice thanks[/b]

His friend then finished off the conversation with a smiling cat emoji and a heart, which caused Kieran's smile to widen... only to immediately turn into a scowl once he realised what he was doing. He sat himself down on his desk, placing his phone just next to the keyboard. It was then he realised how odd it was that his computer screen was still on. If he'd been asleep for over an hour, shouldn't the monitor have gone into sleep mode? He also noticed that there was a pop-up in the corner of his screen, informing him that, only a minute or so ago, he'd received an email with a glitched address and a blank subject. Likely just spam, but he opened his emails anyway just to get a better look.

Aside from the email telling him someone had messaged him on chat while he was offline, this was the only email he'd received today, and unlike the former, it had somehow avoided the dreaded fate of all random emails and hadn't been automatically sent to the junk folder. Kieran's cursor hovered over the email for a moment, his curiosity and common sense currently having a argument about whether or not opening such an obviously suspicious email was worth it, when a small [i]ping![/i] resonated from his phone, causing him to jump.

[i]What now?[/i] he thought. He grabbed his mobile and looked at it, only to relax immediately when he saw who it was.

[b]Everything okay? Texted you half an hour ago but you didn't respond[/b] The sender's name read 'Mum'.

[b]fine. just had a nap[/b] Kieran texted. [b]how are things?[/b]

[b]Good! We just ran into some people from work so we might be back later than expected. Hope that's okay[/b]

[b]of course[/b] Kieran wrote before adding, [b]bout to be on voice call with rogue[/b]

[b]Tell them I said hi[/b]

Kieran suppressed a chuckle. [b]i will mum have a good rest of the night[/b]

[b]You too! Love you x[/b]

Kieran was about to respond with a 'love you too' when his phone suddenly went off again. The same number from before flashed across the screen. "Seriously?" he said once he'd gotten over the initial shock. He hit 'decline' and placed it back on the desk... only for it to immediately start ringing again. 

He was really starting to get annoyed now.

He hit 'decline' once again. It started ringing barely a second later, causing him to throw it onto his bed. He placed both his pillow and blanket over the top, hoping to muffle out the sound until whoever it was who was trying to call him gave up and left him alone. He certainly hoped this wouldn't go on during his call with Rogue.

When he returned to his computer, he discovered that a new glitched email had been sent to him. Same address, same lack of subject, but even more eerie, the time stamp indicated that it had been sent at exactly the same time as that second call he got... and now he looked back at that first email, he also noticed that that likely had come in at around the time he had been woken up. Was this some kind of prank? Had one of the guys at school somehow got ahold of both his number AND email address and sending him weird messages just to freak him out? That seemed like a little too elaborate for them, especially if their goal was just 'freak out the weird loner kid from school'. More likely, he was getting targeted by some sort of weird company that was trying a little too hard to sell him something. He looked at the latest email again.

Well, he did have an anti-virus on his computer. If this thing has malware or spyware on it, his computer would likely detect and stop it before anything too bad happened. Worst come to worst, he might just have to reset his whole computer, but he had most of his files backed up somewhere so... "What the heck?" he muttered to himself, his curiosity getting the better of him at last. He clicked the email.

The ringing on his phone stopped.

Kieran was just about to breathe a sigh of relief - that ringing had really been grating on his nerves - when his screen suddenly went completely white. A pale haze started to seep out from the screen, filling the room within a matter of minutes. Kieran abruptly stood up and took a step away, assuming his computer was about catch fire or explode or something, but he realised quickly that this haze was neither hot steam or smoke, but cold mist.

The light from the screen became brighter, and Kieran was forced to cover his eyes as his whole room was illuminated. Somewhere, very distantly, he thought he could hear waves lapping across stone, even smelling something akin to the salt of the ocean. Against his best instincts, he felt himself being pulled forward, towards the source of the light.

When the room dimmed again, the screen had returned to normal. A pop up appeared on the screen, obscuring the contents of the strange email by saying that call was coming in from 'Retrogue'.

However, Kieran was nowhere to be found in the room, and thus, was unable to answer.
[hr]
It was difficult trying to focus on celebration when a aura of dread and uncertainty permeated from even the ground you walked on. It was hard preparing festivities for your would-be saviours when you didn't know who they were, what they looked like or if they even ate the same food as you.

None of this was made any easier by the fact that one of your so-called saviours had dismantled your decorations again because he insisted on chasing every new Penguinmon he came across in an attempt to pull them into a less-than-comfortable bear hug. The current victim in question had unfortunately almost fallen over during the chase, allowing the blue dinosaur to catch up to them and pick them up.

"Wow, you're pretty fast!" Blucomon said cheerfully as he seized the bird digimon in a vice-like grip. "None of the Penguinmon in my old colony were nearly this quick!" He plonked the Penguinmon down on the ground. "I should know! I was always 'it' in tag!"

"You don't say..." The poor Penguinmon wheezed before falling backwards.

Blucomon started scanning around for his next target when he noticed a bright light coming from his hut. His pinkish eyes lit up. "Ooo oooh! That's me, that's me!" he said, practically jumping up and down with excitement before making a mad dash towards his hut. He was so focused on getting there as he passed - and almost bumped into - the other humans as their partners lead them out of their respective huts. However, if they had any reaction to almost being run over by a small blue dinosaur, Blucomon didn't notice. He was much too excited to meet his new best friend forever!

... wait, were you allowed to have two best friends forever? Second-best friend forever? Joint best friend forever? Hmmm... he'd have to sort the details out with Agumon later.

[hr]

Kieran only narrowly managed to avoid falling on his ass once the light engulfing him faded. He stumbled back, arms still shielding his face, and waited for a solid minute until he was sure it was safe to uncover his eyes. He was no longer in his dark, computer-lit room, or in any room he recognised. Instead, it appeared to be some kind of wooden hut. It looked new and decently well-made, but aside from a battered cot in the corner, was completely empty. Kieran wasn't sure if he was just projecting or not, but the whole place felt a little sad, lonely almost...

Kieran shook his head. [i]Focus![/i] he thought to himself, and turned his head towards the door. Other than his immediate surroundings, he could hear people outside. None too close or heading in his direction, just walking around and talking to one another. There was nothing hostile or too concerning in their tones, though he thought he detected a hint of urgency, like they were hurrying to prepare for... something. Beyond the voices, he could also still hear the sound of waves.

He took a couple of step towards the door, planning to peer out so he could scope out where exactly he was so he could formulate what to do next. However, he was only a foot or so away from the exit when he heard rather heavy footsteps rushing towards his position. "Shit!" he hissed to himself, taking a step or two away. He looked in all directions, not sure whether he should attempt to defend himself or simply locate a hiding spot. It didn't matter either way, as neither seemed to be an option here. The cot was too small to hide behind and he doubted throwing it would act as little more than a distraction. Still, he found himself backing up towards it as a [i]something[/i] came barrelling through the doorway at top speed. Kieran had barely any time to register what it was before it launched itself into the air, seemingly with the intent of colliding with Kieran's torso, which would have likely sent both him and it flying through the wall had the boy not managed to - thanks to years of being considered an easy target in dodgeball - sidestep the attack. The creature went straight through the wall of the hut, leaving a large Looney Tunes-esq hole in the structure.

"Ow!" Kieran's would-be attacker exclaimed before adding, in a whiny voice, "Heeeey, why did you dodge?"

Kieran approached the hole, putting his fists up unconvincingly in front of himself. "What do you mean 'why'?! You lunged at me!" he half-shouted.

A small face peeked through the cavity, causing Kieran to let out a small yelp in surprise. It looked somewhat reptilian, though the upper half was coated in something akin to ice. Kieran stared at the creature for a moment while it looked back at him, its eyes giving him a look akin to a kicked puppy. 

It took him a moment to realise that he knew this creature... well, sort of. A few months ago, he'd had a dream about it, and after waking up, had vowed to recapture its likeness in his art. Sadly, his attempts to draw the creature had been fraught with dissatisfaction and frustration, as nothing he put to paper seemed to compare to the vivid idea of the creature he had in his mind. Eventually, he'd abandoned the sketch, and the memory of the dream had corroded until he only had the vaguest recollection of what he'd seen. Now, with this creature staring back at him, he couldn't believe he'd ever forgotten about him. 

"Blucomon?" Kieran said, before he could stop himself. The dragon's eyes widened and he hopped through the hole in the wall and waddled towards him. 

"You know my name!" it exclaimed with excitement.

"Well, sure I do." Kieran frowned. "You told me, remember?"

Blucomon blinked, tilting its head to the side. "I... did? When?"

"Errr.... when we met last time? You know... during the snowstorm?"

The dragon looked him up and down. "I don't think I've ever met you before," it said. "Though..." He took a step forward and sniffed the air. "You do kinda smell familiar."

Kieran felt his heart sink. [i]Even in my own dreams, I'm not important enough to remember,[/i] he thought to himself. His face must have betrayed his sadness, because Blucomon's face briefly flickered with concern before speaking again.

"What's your name?" the dragon asked.

Kieran didn't speak immediately, not sure if there was any point since he'd already told the dragon before. If he'd forgotten it before, he might just forget it all over again. However, Blucomon's puppy dog eyes made him feel he couldn't just stay silent. "Kieran," he muttered.

Blucomon nodded, and for the first time Kieran had known him, his expression became oddly serious. He took Kieran's hand in its icy claws. "I'll remember it this time," he promised.

The boy looked at him for a long moment, before turning his head away. "Where are we, anyway?"

"Oh!" Blucomon returned to his previous excitement. "That's right! You should come along! I'll introduce you to Agumon!" Without waiting for his response, the dinsoaur started leading Kieran towards the exit of the hut.

"Agumon? Wait... hold on!" Kieran's protests were in vain, as Blucomon looked a lot stronger than his small stature suggested, and he had already been dragged out the door before he could do anything.