Johnny and Sunkgi crashed to the ground in the middle of a strange forest. If Johnny hadn’t been wearing his baseball helmet (which wasn’t likely, as he was always wearing his baseball helmet) that could have been a problem for Johnny. As it was, it was only a problem for Sungki.



“Well… ow,” Sungki muttered, checking himself for injuries. “That hurt. What to do, what to do?” He glanced at Johnny, then jumped up and down a bit to check if his bones and muscles were all still in order. “That was a terrible landing, Mr. Ragegu.”



Johnny quickly jumped up, still hurt but not wanting to look like a slacker. “What? Stop shouting, Sungki! You’re giving me a headache!”



“Why are you scolding me?” Sungki chided. “I’d thought something terrible just happened to you -- to both of us, really.”



“What’s the matter…?”



“Don’t you realize? This must be the electric monster’s world, the one that the legends speak of!” Sungki spoke as if he was quite an authority on the subject… which, technically, he probably was. Or at least the closest anyone got in Elf’s World to being an authority on a subject that most people thought was merely a mushroom-induced hallucination.



“What!! The electric monster’s world?!”



“Just -- quick, show me the antennas on your phone,” Sungki went on, taking the phone from Johnny. “See, you’ve got four antennas, don’t you? Most “Beck and Call” portable Telefang models are built with three antennas only. But if you have four antennas, and that fourth one’s a D-Shoot, then--” (Sungki whooped a little) “--then you’ve got a cell phone that picks up signals from the Denjuu world!”



Johnny looked around the area. “Yeah... we’re here! Inside the world of electric monsters!”



“Well… I guess the Denjuu called us because your phone had a D-shoot on it,” Sungki said. “But -- seriously, you had a D-Shoot? People would fight and kill for a D-Shoot! Where did you even get a cell phone this valuable, and why have you never showed me?”



Johnny was about to answer that he didn’t show it to Sungki because he wanted to keep his phone in one piece, but then a turtle walked up from behind him and suddenly addressed him in English. “This is Tulunk Village, isn’t it?”



Johnny and Sungki both jumped in alarm.



The turtle merely smiled. “Aww, what a cute kid!” he chuckled, looking at young Johnny in his baseball uniform and bat. “Are you a Selected One? Tell you what. I’ll meet you at that house over there. Take your time, I live long enough.”



And with that, the turtle turned around and, with surprising speed, trotted into a very human-looking house.



“Selected One…?” Johnny wasn’t quite sure how to handle this.



“Well then, Mr. Ragegu,” said Sungki, “maybe if we follow this guy, he’ll tell us something.”



“He’s not a ‘guy,’ he’s a turtle!” Johnny quickly whispered. “And he talked!”



“Which means we’re in the electric monster world, and on one IN OL of an adventure,” Sungki grinned. “Come on. Maybe there’s food!”



“Fine,” Johnny said. “On one condition.”



“What is it, Mr. Ragegu?”



“Stop calling me Mr. Ragegu. I’m ten years old. He’s a turtle. I don’t need to sound that mature.”



“Got it, Mr. Ragegu!” Sungki said jokingly, then followed the boy and turtle into the house.



---



“I need one of you to fetch something for me. That is, if you’re willing to enter our world?”



Johnny Ragegu was somewhat surprised at what the old turtle was telling him. Not so much that he was surprised that the turtle could talk, but that the turtle spoke as if they hadn’t already entered the electric monster’s world. “Aren’t we already in it?”



“Tulunk Village? Oh, this is merely the outskirts of the Denjuu world. The closest we’ve come to human and Elf habitation since forever. Most people have forgotten that we even exist, and believe the tale of the tree to be merely a legend.” The turtle went closer to Johnny. “So, are you going back to Shengdu, Selected One? Or are you staying to help?”



Johnny briefly considered between saying yes or no, but found himself nodding yes.



“Well, I’ll tell you why I asked you to come here.” The turtle looked at the three beings before him -- two young human boys and a strange Sandslash-like creature in a nice dress. “ A guy named Netaro lives near the fountain that gives the village its water. Netaro’s job is to deliver all the village’s water, but he’s been absent an awful lot recently. Everyone’s worried about the village running out of water without Netaro’s deliveries.”



The Sandslash-creature snorted. “Probably sleeping on the job again, that walking carpet.”



“Yes, but still. We need to know what’s happened to him.”



The turtle drew closer to Johnny. “I should warn you, Netaro also has a brother named Nejiro. And Nejiro is a troublemaker.” He then pointed to the creature in the dress. “That’s why I asked you to bring a Denjuu with you. Making your first friend in our world will help you ease into the… unfamiliar aspects of our universe and culture.”



Johnny turned towards the strange creature in front of him. “A bread rat?”



The monster jumped back in surprise. “Bread rat? My name is Jasmine. Jasmine Kuribute. Here’s my number,” she said, using her claws to aptly type her phone number into Johnny’s phone. “Thanks!”



Johnny took his phone back, wondering just how many times people were going to gush over his phone and those blasted D-Shoots. “Hey! Personal property here!”



As he grabbed his phone back, he looked at the screen: Kuribute NatMon, level five. “Okay… Jasmine, I’ve got your number.”



The old turtle walked up to Johnny again. “So, you’ll need a map of this world too, and I think that has you set.” He briefly plugged a small device into Johnny’s phone, uploading a strange app. “Wherever you go, you must try your best to write down whatever you see on the map. Think of taking out your map as something like... pressing ‘start’ on one of your phone’s apps. It’s the beginning of a new and exciting adventure!”



“Um… yeah!” Johnny wasn’t sure how he felt about this. “Um… how do I hold this thing?” He tried to unfold and arrange the map every which way.



Sungki stomped his foot down. “Hurry up, Mr. Ragegu… I want to look around this village. I’ve always dreamed of being in this world, and I’m going to enjoy it!”



“That’s all right!” Jasmine said, elbowing Johnny (at least, he thought it was her elbow, he wasn’t quite sure). “I’ll hurry him up for you. Come on! We’ll go wake up Netaro!”



The turtle took a few steps back. “Just remember, watch your step. And once you get back, I’ve got a funny surprise to show you!”



Like this isn’t? Johnny thought. But, to be honest, he was looking forward to it. A trip through a fantasy world to fetch water, a lovely lady… well, a lovely lady bread rat… Jasmine by his side, and the promise of an entertaining reward for saving a village.



What could possibly go wrong?



And that was when he first heard the Voices.



---



As he stepped outside, Johnny checked the map of the Denjuu world, just like the old turtle had instructed him to. Much to his surprise, it was mostly blank, with only a small area marked aside for Tulunk Village.



UP DOWN LEFT RIGHT GUYS WE NEED TO BEAT MISTY KAPPA



What was going on? Why couldn’t he think clearly? What he was hearing… were they voices in his head?



He felt a strange claw on his shoulder. It was Jasmine. “Are you okay?” she asked, concerned.



Johnny shook his head. If he told about the Voices, then he’d probably be sent to bed -- or worse, to an asylum. But then, would the Denjuu view things the same way the people in Elf’s World did? “Fine. Just kind of dizzy from the fall,” he lied.



Stumbling around, Johnny found himself facing a strange creature that was green, triangular, and pretty ticked off. A Denjuu? “This is Tulunk Village,” it said sternly. “You can’t pass through here without the permit from Musa.”



“Musa?” Johnny was confused. “Who’s Musa?”



“The village elder? Musa?” Jasmine turned towards the Denjuu and glared at him. “Why, Musa practically raised me. And this human’s with me, buster. Musa sent us both on a mission to find Netaro and get him to bring back the water like he’s supposed to. If you have a problem with us doing that, well, you can tell it to my claws.”



The Denjuu gulped and stepped back a bit.



Johnny wasn’t paying attention. He was too busy examining his phone. “D-Shoot, huh…” he said, playing with the buttons on it. “So that fourth antenna is what got me on this frequency to enter this world, did it? I wonder where it came from...”



“Hey! Mr. Ragegu!” Jasmine said, waving her claws in front of his face. “Hellooooo? Let’s go bring water to the entire village, because we, I don’t know, need it to live?”



Johnny sighed. “Point taken. And please, just call me Johnny.”



They made it past the talking triangle Denjuu without event, and Johnny picked up his map. Remembering what the turtle Denjuu -- named Musa, apparently -- had told him, he turned on the map applet that Musa had given him and carefully recorded his surroundings into it. Smiling at his work, he stepped forward through the tall grass.



“Hey, look!” Jasmine said. “Behind you!”



Johnny turned around and gulped. He’d dragged his feet through the grass, leaving a mess of uprooted vegetation behind. “Um… whoops. Sorry, miss--”



“No, this is good!” Jasmine pointed to a small, shiny gem in the ground. “You dug up this. Just keep doing what you’re doing. It’s just grass. It grows back anyway.”



Johnny paused, staring at the treasure he’d unearthed. But just as Jasmine reached for it, it crumbled like flour, collapsing into a pile of glittery dust.



“Oh. Whoops,” she said, shrugging. “That happens from time to time. Easy come, easy go.”



Johnny went back to playing with his cell phone. “Ylab… Tvuz… Wovu… what language is this, anyway?” He managed to pull up what looked like a contact list, but none of the numbers seemed to be getting him anywhere. As he continued to wander around, he kept glancing at his phone, trying to figure out how it worked -- why couldn’t Sunkgi have come with him, anyway? “Oh, look, a ten-donger piece!” he said, picking up the coin from the grass.



“Donger? What the heck is a donger?” Jasmine asked. “ You’re holding a ten-ball piece.”



“Wait, balls?” (The Voices laughed at this.)



Jasmine gave him an annoyed glare. “Ball, noun: a spherical or approximately spherical body or shape; sphere. I.E. the shape our coins took before someone had the bright idea that they’d fit in wallets better if they were flat. What did you think I meant?”



Johnny gulped. Elf’s World this certainly wasn’t. “Never mind. Let’s get on with it.”



By the side of a river -- a river? A source of water? Was Netaro close by? -- Johnny was surprised to see another human being. He waved. “Hey! Are you Netaro? The man who delivers the water?”



The man shook his head. “No, Netaro’s a Denjuu. Denjuu are a lot like humans, though -- they have names and jobs as well.” He looked over Johnny curiously. “Is this your first time here?”



Johnny nodded, and Jasmine waved. “We’re looking for Netaro to go find out why he hasn’t delivered any water recently,” the Kuribute explained. She elbowed Johnny again. “At least, we were, until Genius here decided that he’d rather mow the lawn.”



A closer look at the river, and Johnny realized just why the town was in danger. The river’s water was brackish, smelled awful, and seemed uninhabitable, let alone undrinkable. Not even a Jelly would want to live in there.



He shook his head and started moving again. “There’s a house nearby. Maybe somebody inside knows where Netaro lives…”



Jasmine smiled. “Takabi’s house? Perfect! If anyone knows how to work cell phones, it’s him. Well… Takabi?”



He paused for a moment, listening to the Voices, then shook his head no. “If the village is really in danger, then we need to get moving on. No time for futzing around with cell phones or whatever.”



Jasmine nodded, but couldn’t help noting Johnny’s odd step pattern… or that, despite his own words, he kept picking up his phone again to try to make out the odd button commands.