"Damn school," Casey thought as he was on a busride to the middle of nowhere. He had better things to do then go on some dumb camping trip with a bunch of freshmen. He could be sleeping in, swimming, or even doing his really important English paper. Well, maybe not the paper. It wasn't a total lost weekend, though. Some of his friends were on this trip, including his younger brother by one year, Marco, an avid hockey player. Taylor was lying down on the other side of him, sleeping. Taylor was a consumate friend; he had a very broad variety of interests and was very likeable. Brett, the ladies man, was also on the bus with them. He was listening to his iPod. Casey drowsed off and woke up later to the sound of banter.

"I don't get it. Why won't she go out with me?" Casey recognized Taylor's voice.

"Must be 'cause you're so damn ugly." Brett said jokingly.

"Guys, guys." Casey said, motioning for them to settle down. "What's going on?"

"Alison." Taylor said with a smile. She was a girl whom Taylor had just met this year, and they were both very good friends. But Taylor wanted to ratchet up their relationship, while Alison wanted to stay put.

"Let me guess. You asked her out…again?" Casey said knowingly.

"Yeah! And I got turned down! AGAIN!"

"Hey Taylor, calm down! I went out with her for a year, trust me, under those breasts, there is no substance. Besides, you can always get Ashley Jocinta to be your girlfriend." Brett said, a sneer replacing the smile upon his lips. Ashley was a girl who was not as pretty as Alison. She was in a band and very, very emotionally unstable.

"Yo dude. That's not nice." Taylor said defensively. And he had a right to; he had known Ashley since they were very little. However, they had grown apart, and Ashley liked their other mutual childhood friend, David, and usually only hung out with him.

The conversation proceeded like this for a little while longer, until they arrived at the camp site. Casey got off the bus and immediately helped to direct the freshman to get their tents and such.

"Damn boy scout camp," he muttered to himself. "All right guys!" he said loudly, so everyone could hear. "We all need to unload the bus together. Everybody please take their belongings and bring them to the campsite." As the people were doing so, Casey spotted a young Latino looking kid struggling to lift his bag. He immediately hastened over to him. "Need any help?" he asked, and the young man nodded in assent.

"What's your name?" Casey asked him while helping him unload his luggage,

"Rodrigo." He said with a strong Hispanic accent. "Rodrigo Fernandez."

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Rodrigo." Casey said politely. "My name's Casey." And the two continued walking into the campsite, when they bumped into Arik, one of Taylor's best friends who had forgotten something on the bus. They talked for a little, and then Casey continued on his now lengthy journey to the campsite. When he finally got there, merriment and fun ensued. The tents were all pitched, and the one hundred or so teens were gathered around a campfire roasting marshmellows and singing songs. Brett actually had marshmellow all over his face by accident, so everyone was laughing at him. However, later that night, the real fun would begin.

At around ten o'clock, the teacher who was running the trip, Mr. McKinney, made an announcement. The children had two options. They could go on a nature hike or go to bed. A lot of kids went to bed, but about 20 decided to go on the hike. Casey decided to take part of the group, and he chose Taylor, Brett, Arik, and Marco immediately. After them, he got Alison to go, egged on by Taylor and Brett. Casey very kindly invited Rodrigo to join them, and Taylor made them bring Ashley, so she wouldn't feel left out.

"Besides, Brett, maybe you can get something from her tonight." Said Taylor with a devilish grin on his face.

The group of eight slowly made their way deep into the forest. After what seemed like a good two hours, Ashley requested to go back.

"It's so dirty here," she said, grimacing.

"Aw, come on," said Arik. "This is a once in a lifetime experience. Besides, I want to go farther."

"Ew! It's so dirty," said Alison. "I hate the woods."

"Want me to clean you off, baby girl." Brett said, a sexual intonation in his voice/

After a vote was taken, and Brett was slapped by Alison, it turned out that the two girls really, REALLY wanted to go back After careful consideration, Casey decided that they should go back but, to his horror, realized that he had lost the compass, their only guide back to the campsite.

"Aw shit," he said angrily. There goes some of his pay. He may even be sent home after this fiasco.

"Wait a minute," said Alison, her face becoming wrinkled with thought. "I think I remember where we came from. Let's go this way."

And so they walked. And walked. And walked. But they didn't return, so they paused on their journey. Thry needed to rest and get composed, but they had no clue of where to go. That is, until Rodrigo saw something very interesting a few meters away.

"Hey guys look. There's a light over there. Let's head towards it."

"If there's light, there's fire. And if there's fire, there's people,' said Brett, excited to finally be getting back to the site.

"Come on guys. Let's go," said Casey, relieved that this night may finally end with him collapsing into his tent.

The troupe walked towards the light. But as they got to the source, all they saw was nothing. The light seemingly was gone.

"Was it a mirage?" thought Marco aloud.

"Mirages only happen in the desert, stupid." said Ashley to Marco, a little miffed.

"I wonder what happened to the light," said Taylor, but his question was answered immediately as all of a sudden, from the heavens, like a gift from God, a blinding light descended on them all. And from the light, eight small devices appeared, all with a different color scheme. They looked almost like cell phones, but smaller, and with less buttons.

"What the heck are these?" Casey said, thinking that this certainly constituted as weird.

However, no one was able to answer as all of a sudden, the eight were all sucked in a portal to another world. Down and down they fell, to another place, another time.

To the Digital World.

To their destinies.