Chapter One
Matsukiyo had finally made it. After rationalizing it to himself a lot, psyching himself up and trying to be as stealthy as possible to hide his intentions and preparations from his folks, he had finally gotten everything perfect; noone was guarding the Antenna Tree today, so he had waited until noone was watching from the street and managed to use his small frame to squeeze through the gaps in the gate to reach it.
"Hmm... All the studying I've done says that by walking straight through, I'll be able to get to the Denjū world... But I hope I don't mess up regardless..." The 10-year old mumbled to himself, fidgeting.
After looking up at the very tall tree, and the seemingly natural large opening in it that seemed to swallow the light, making it pitch black, Matsukiyo started having second thoughts.
"M-Maybe I can come back later? I wonder if I can get an adult to come with, after all? I'm pretty sure there are adults that come and go from the Denjū world without problems; maybe I'll just wait here and see- hey!" He theorized, stopping at the last second when a round white object flew over the fence and just narrowly missed his shaggy black hair as he hopped backwards, nearly tripping over his black hiking boots.
As the object hit the vibrant green grass growing around the Tree and rolled to a stop, the child prodigy quickly realized it was a baseball and looked in the direction it came from...
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...Where a boy in a red hoodie, blue baseball helmet with an 'S' embossed on the front and brown shorts was jogging down the road next to the tree, looking for that very object while tapping his wooden bat on his shoulder as he did so. He rolled his eyes at the sound of a player at his back yelling at him to "Get the ball already!"
"Yeesh! I'm getting it, don't yell so much just 'cuz I hit it real far..." He grumbled, shoving his free hand in a pocket as he trudged forward.
His search was interrupted when his childhood friend came up from the other side of the street, looking for him.
Once she saw him, she turned back round the corner and yelled, "Shigeki's over here! I think I'll help him find the ball!", before heading back towards his way with a skip in her step and a smile on her face, one that softened the now-identified Shigeki's frown a bit.
As she came closer, Shigeki took a good look at his friend; the white flower placed over her left ear in her black bob, her pink t-shirt, white sneakers and white cargo shorts.
"You know, I really didn't think you were meant to hit the ball that hard, Shigeki. You sure you know how to play baseball?" She asked teasingly, swinging her hands back and forth as her eyes swept over him and around the place, making sure the ball wasn't just in the immediate vicinity and that her friend wasn't dragging his feet.
"Hey! That was just a mistake, Miyo! I know what I'm doing!" Shigeki huffed, stomping a foot.
"Oh c'mon, I'm just playing with you; let's look for the ball, 'k?" Miyo said, already turning around.
With a huff, Shigeki let her help, both of the 10-year olds making small talk as they looked around.
"Sooo... I heard that some people haven't ever had the chance to visit the Denjū world; isn't that just you and Matsukiyo?" She teased after a while, eyes glinting in the late afternoon light.
This made the already miffed preteen's face redden in embarrassment and anger, and he turned to yell at his friend, but she had already run off, giggling.
"Damn it! She didn't come to help me at all!" He growled, "Always taking a chance to annoy me!"
As he grumbled and finally decided to walk over to see if the ball had gone over the fence to that stupid Tree, he muttered under his breath;
"If she'd just shut up about it, she'd be kinda cute, too, not just annoying..."
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After making sure noone was watching, Shigeki scrambled over the fence and slid down the other side; he always heard he was pretty fit -read: freakishly strong- for a 10-year old, so it wasn't even that hard for him.
Patting himself down, he turned around and was surprised to see the child prodigy of the town doing something even the slightest bit not entirely legal by being here.
"Oi! Matsukiyo! What're you doing here?" He questioned, walking over to the suddenly nervous boy who took off his wide, circular glasses and wiped them off on a rag he pulled out of his blue jacket before putting then back on with shaking fingers.
"O-Oh! S-Shigeki! Are you the one who threw the ball over here?" He nervously tried to deflect, pointing at the ball just in front of him.
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Shrugging and figuring that he'd find out what the other boy was doing here sooner or later, he walked over and grabbed the ball as he made his reply,
"Nah, didn't throw it. Hit it a bit outta the park we were playing at."
Matsukiyo blinked as he heard that; sharp mind already running calculations to find out how far away the park was, until-
"But that's like half a block away?!" He blurted out, nervousness forgotten.
When he saw that his fellow preteen wasn't fazed at all from his questioning his wierd feat of strength, he took one look at the boy's bat, shook his had and focused back on the task at hand.
"Hey, mind being a bit more careful next time? You would've brained me with that if I didn't dodge it."
"Welp, sorry 'bout that. Hey, wanna play some baseball with us?" Shigeki apologized, already turning back to walk away.
He was stopped by Matsukiyo tugging on his shoulder, and when he did turn back he saw an uncharacteristically determined look on his face.
"Shigeki? Don't you want to go to the Denjū world? We're the only ones out of all the kids we know that haven't even been, and we're right in front of the Antenna Tree. I don't think we'll both get a better chance than this."
Fully turning around, he took a look at the black abyss at the foot of the tree and suddenly had better things to do.
Time for an excuse!
"Hm... I dunno, don't you need one of those fancy D-Shots to get there through that thing?" He said.
#Query: D-Shot Connect
#Connect to Server?
#CONNECTING...
#Connection Failed: Handshake Authorization N/A
"Well, yeah, but! From what I know, most of the first proper D-Shots were given to people by the Denjū when they made it over there! We just have to walk through and we'll be there!"
=#Incoming Signal FROM Server: {High Priority Override} User I.D: N/A... User Designation "Code Key Holder"
#Decrypting...
#Handshake Authorization Received
#Conditions Met
#CONNECTING...
#[CONNECTION ESTABLISHED]#
"Well, I heard they modded those people's phones over there- Wait a sec, is your phone ringing? Do you even have a phone?" Shigeki argued before stopping as a very loud ringing came from somewhere. He had his phone in his pocket, but it wasn't vibrating, so it obviously wasn't his...
#[PING]#=
"Well, no, I don't. Seeing as you don't think it's yours, then... You don't think..." Matsukiyo said, trailing off with an excited look coming to his face as he stepped towards the Tree, which indeed had ringing coming from within it.
#[PING]#=
"Well, you have a phone, don't you?! I'm pretty sure it's a D-Shot-adjacent model, if the Tree is responding to it, so give it here!" The boy said, turning to the slightly freaked out boy with a large grin on his face and an open palm.
#[PING]#=
"W-What? What's happening?" Shigeki questioned, starting to back away a bit.
#[PING]#=
"Come on!!!" Matsukiyo all but roared, spooking him into just tossing the phone at him with due haste.
#[PING]#=
"Hm... Luckily this model can find and connect to the signal; pretty weird now that I think about it, 'cuz all the phones that could do that are supposed to have already been turned into fully fledged D-Shots by now..." The crazed kid mumbled, fiddling with the phone until a deep click coming from the tree was heard, before it went silent.
=#[PING]:{D-Shot}
[Handshake Protocols Initialized] :{D-Shot}
[Communication Channel Transmitting]: {D-Shot}
Huh? Is it over?" Shigeki asked, hands curled around his bat and shoulders set.
"What are you doing? Here, answer the phone, it's obviously for you." Matsukiyo said, acting completely normal now, handing over the phone to Shigeki, who grabbed it tightly and checked the Caller I.D. to see who it was.
When there was nothing, not even a number, just a big fat 'N/A' there on his screen, he just took a deep breath and picked the call with the phone to his ear.
"Hello?"
"...Hello there, Child. We contact each other at last..." A deep, different voice whispered into his ear.
The moment the voice was heard, the void within the Tree shot forward, enveloping both children before drawing itself back into the Tree, which made a deep tone, and then all was still...
#Login TO Server Complete#
#END Transmission#