Of Chemistry and Digivices

If you'd asked me when I was five years old, I would have screamed and jumped at the chance of having a Digimon. Seriously - it was my favourite show ever, apart from perhaps Sonic X. Terriermon, a small and podgy little creature with long, floppy ears and a tiny horn perched in the centre of his forehead, was my first imaginary friend - and he stayed that way for approximately a year and a half. That's a long time for a five year old. It was true that it was unbreakable. But something was wrong.

While Terriermon was my imaginary friend, a cold yearning began to settle inside of me. The things I would give for Digimon to be truly real! The adventures myself and my friends could have with them! Life would be so much more exciting - from eating breakfast together in the morning, to playing in the school playground at breaktime, to brushing our teeth in the evening, I knew that life would be wonderful - or so I thought. I spent many days just waiting for Terriermon to be brought to me. Naturally he never was. But then, ten years later, as GCSEs approached at exactly the same speed as summer did, everything changed.

  "I'm going to die in this Chemistry mock," I moaned to my friends Meg and Amy, as we trudged perhaps a little sleepily over to the Science block. It was a wet Wednesday morning - and as per usual, the sky was covered with a thick layer of pearl-grey clouds, just as it always was in Britainland.
  "Me too," Amy replied in the same negative tone, "I haven't properly gone over much of the stuff yet."
  "I don't think anybody has," Meg chimed in, "but still... we're going to fail."

The crowd of students in front of us was rapidly thinning as students parted ways with their friends to go off to different Science classes. Thankfully, the three of us were in the same set. We were one of  the last few into the classroom as per normal - the moment we entered, I could feel the tension crackling and spitting in the air. Meg was right - nobody had revised.

My desk was ajacent to the other two - I sat next to another girl who I knew reasonably well. Have you revised? I asked her. She shook her head, a slightly suicidal grin spreading across her face. I returned it, pulling out my notepad, homework diary, pencil case and cal- What? I stared in horror at my calculator. The screen - once totally blank with nothing but a cursor on - now had a strange series of lines varying in thickness running down the screen. I pressed the on button tentatively. Nothing happened.

  "Hey guys, check it!" I called to Amy and Meg, hurrying over to their desk with my calculator. Confusion danced across Meg's face; she took it, examining closely.
  "What the hell?" she demanded, pressing the on button repeatedly. Amy took it from her, she too scruitinising the screen. "I'm pretty sure that shouldn't be happening."
  "Me too," I said, before a humorous smile settled across my face, casting my mind back ten years, "Looks like I'm getting a Digimon though."

The pair of them burst out laughing, and I couldn't help but join in. I remembered the days when something like this would have made my heart pound with pure excitement, the very belief that what I'd hoped and prayed for was coming coarsing through my veins. Now... let's face it. I was old enough to know that Digimon probably weren't coming anytime soon. But still, it was weird. And it did look like it, as Meg said next, staring at the calculator as I picked it up again.

  "I have no idea what I'm going to do in the exam when it comes to those wonderful titration calculations," I said sadly, "but I guess it is cool." With that, I moved back to my desk. Our teacher was already handing out the papers. I really did need a calculator for this exam, I realised with a sudden burst of fiery-hot panic. Unsure what else to do, I hit my calculator hard against the side of the desk. The screen flashed black for a second, and then returned to normal. Cursor and everything. I blinked at it. Both relief and disappointment sank into my skin. That was one way of doing it.

  "You may begin," our teacher said. It took me a while to realise we all had papers. Casting a final nervous glance at Meg, who was sat facing me, I turned the front page and began.

Half an hour later, I was starting to wish that the weird lines on my calculator had turned into a Digimon and whisked me off into their dimension. The paper was brutal, and I hadn't been able to face any of the first two questions in what I thought was a satisfactory way. What was worse, was that the third question was a titration. I reached for my calculator, but my hands were shaking so much that it ended up sliding off the desk and fell to the floor with a swift crack. Oh great, now I'd really broken it. Dozens of eyes all flickered to me, heads even turning as the other students in my class glared at me and the noise I had made. Muttering colourful words to myself under my breath, I darted under the desk. The calculator was lying face down on the floor - I'd almost definitely cracked the screen. I turned it over gingerly. And that was when I felt my heat stop.

A pixelated image of a Digi-egg grinned back at me, bobbing up and down like a tamagotchi egg. Little patches of colour decorated it everywhere - oh and there was a jagged crack running down the middle. I felt my pupils suddenly contract like a cartoon character. Oh god.

A sudden shaft of light burst from the calculator, hitting my face full force while it did. Unable to make a sound from the impact, I fell backwards, the device burning into my hands as it became completely engulfed by the light. Chairs scraped backwards as students stood to see. I briefly heard my teacher firmly say something, her steps hurried as she headed over to me. By that point, it was too late. I was kneeled on the floor staring down at a green digivice, shaped in the same way as the ones from Season 3 were. How the... Before I could follow that train of thought, however, something rather heavy smacked into the back of my head, causing me to cry out as stars began to dance across my vision.

  "Whoops! Sorry!" A familiar voice rang across my ears. I felt my heart stop. No way. Reaching round, I pulled the plump, fluffy thing off my shoulders. As I lifted my head, my worst fears were realised. Terriermon grinned back at me.
  "What is that?" My heart sunk. Turning round, I saw my Chemistry teacher standing there, arms folded, her eyes dilated with horror at the sight of Terriermon. I could feel the eyes of all the students in the class on me. I stood up, ignoring the wave of dizziness that caught over me.

  "Well Miss," I said slowly, "I think it might be a Digimon."
  "That's me!" Terriermon cried out in pure jubilation, "I'm Terriermon, and I'm here to save the wo-"
  "Shut up!" I shrieked, staring down at the stupid little thing. He'd definitely gained weight, unless my memory of the anime had been altered over time. I hadn't watched it for years now.

The sound of laughter met my ears - familiar laughter. Turning my head, I saw Meg and Amy with their heads buried in their arms, shoulders shaking. Meg raised her head - there were tears in her eyes.
  "This is brilliant," she said blindly, "this is just brilliant."

  "I don't care who you are, just leave the classroom now!" My Chemistry teacher shrieked at the Digimon, thrusting a finger towards the door. How the heck she actually expected a two foot tall Digimon to reach the handle was beyond me. Terriermon and I blinked at each other before staring back at the woman.

  "Hey, momentine ma'am!" Terriermon spoke again. I facepalmed - I guess Terriermon really was as stupid as he was in the show. I thrust my Digivice out in front of me.
  "Terriermon, return!" It was at that point, however, when I remembered that this wasn't pokemon. An uncomfortable silence descended between the three of us. Meg and Amy were still laughing. And the laughter was contagious - a bubble of hysteria shook me, too.

Our teacher was not impressed. "I'm going to get one of the maintenance people to deal with this. Stay where you are! And no talking, you're in test conditions still!" With that, she stalked out. A tear of pure laughter escaped from one of my eyes. I grinned down at the Digimon.

  "Let's see that Digivice!" said Meg, rushing over as the rest of the class glared at us. I handed it to her - and she was away, pressing all the buttons.
  "Oh wow, it even has minigames!" She flashed me an image of terriermon standing in what looked like the middle of a maze. When she pressed a button, however, Terriermon suddenly soared across the room with a shriek, smashing into the wall back first. My mouth fell open; Meg and I exchanged glances. Then we went rushing over to the wall, which Terriermon was slowly sliding down.

  "I'm... fine..." The digimon murmured.
  "We should probably get out of here, Rach," Amy came rushing over, "if word gets round that there's a Digimon in here, they'll probably call the government."
  "You're right," I said sadly, before casting my gaze around the class, "well, see you later Chemistry!"

It didn't help that the shellshock made me run straight into the fire door before I had the sense to open it. But hey, when your whole life turns upsidown, you can justify a little stupidity.