It all started simply. Or to be precise, it started because Digi was being lazy. He had a desire to go out for the day, but didn’t particularly feel like driving anywhere. It was something that happened, though rarely. Digi usually didn’t have much in the way of options to get anywhere should he not feel like driving. He had no real friends, at least any that he had remained in contact with. His family lived far enough away that he couldn’t call any of them up to come visit or drive him anywhere. Yet this time Digi had other options.


While it had taken him far longer than any of his coworkers, Digi had finally broken down and bought a smart phone. For the longest time Digi had no real need for such a device. Sure people all over talked about how handy the things were. Yet he never had a use for all the apps people tended to use it for. No Digi only ever had a basic flip phone, and he only ever needed it as a phone. Now he owned his very own smartphone and had little idea what to do with it. Well until now that is.


Digi had heard of a service that you can use with your phone to take you places if you so wished. Like a Taxi except you used an app to call for one and set your destination. So now Digi sat on his front porch, having queued up his trip to be the local mall. If nothing else he could swing by the arcade there and waste some time. It wasn’t like he got out all that much to begin with.


It didn’t take too long before a silver car began to slow and pull up to his driveway. It stopped right on the edge and one of its window’s rolled down. “Someone call for a Lyft?” a voice called out from within as Digi approached.


He rolled his eyes at the bad pun. “I suppose I did huh?” he asked as he stepped into the backseat. The driver was an older wolf, but still looked in good shape. Digi couldn’t see to much of him from the backseat so he couldn’t see more than his short grey hair and his ears.


“Name’s Tabris,” he said, checking his phone’s nav before heading out. “Welcome aboard.”


Tabris already knew his name, the app told the driver that much, but it would be rude to not respond. “Digi,” came his curt reply as they began their trip. It wasn’t that Digi was a crude person, but he wasn’t the most talkative sort. At least when it came to people he hadn’t known for long.


“Nice to meet you. So where are we heading to today?”


Again Tabris already knew this, thanks to his version of the app, but he was trying to have a conversation. Since the two of them were going to be in this car for awhile, it wouldn’t hurt to talk back a bit. “Just getting out and stretching my legs.”


“Can’t really beat that. Don’t want to get cooped up in your house too often huh?”


“Well I do get out to work.”


The older wolf laughed. “Do you get out do anything more than that?”


Digi rubbed the back of his head. “Not really no.”


“Hey nothing wrong with getting some personal time. Trust me I know how frustrating it can be to find some freetime now and again.”


“Really?” Digi doubted this guy was stuck in a retail job who’s hours kept shifting from week to week.


“Well not now admittedly. But back when I was a cop getting any sort of vacation was a pain in the ass. I was lazy as hell on the days I didn’t have to work.”


Digi wasn’t quite sure what to think about a cop driving him around. On the one hand since he wasn’t in a cop car, he wasn’t exactly at risk of anything. But he wondered what exactly caused him to leave being an officer. He didn’t quite seem that old enough to retire. At least Digi didn’t immediately think so. “I guess I will take your word for it.”


“Nah don’t need to do that. Just talkin to myself mostly here. What about you? What do you do right now? If you don’t mind me asking.”


Digi shook his head. “Retail, unfortunately.”


“Hey, someone has to do it. Not the worst job in the world either.”


“It is better than nothing,” Digi agreed.


“Good attitude to have.” Tabris nodded his head. “Well it looks like we are getting close.”


Digi was surprised to see the mall already drawing close. “Huh, guess we are.”


“I find a bit of conversation helps makes the time go by faster.”


“Indeed it does,” he said as Tabris pulled him right up to the main entrance to the mall.


“Well whatever you get up to,” Tabris continued as Digi got out of the car “I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.”


As Digi got out he finally got a good look at the guys face. It was then he started to realize what might have caused him to leave the force. One of his eyes was milky white and a scar ran from his eyebrow to his cheek. Digi couldn’t help but feel a bit odd as he waved goodbye to his driver. He couldn’t imagine such an injury being conducive to driving. Either Tabris was used to such things or he didn’t notice any odd behavior. Digi couldn’t tell, as he drove away leaving him standing before the local mall.


Well that was definitely an interesting trip. Digi thought to himself as he turned and walked into the mall. To be honest it wasn’t much of a mall. The town where Digi lived wasn’t exactly big so the mall was only a single story. One could walk from one end to the other in a span of a few minutes. Still it remained active. Its food court had several restaurants, and it had some decent small clothing and specialty stores inside it. Plus the big retail ones connected to it. If you couldn’t find something you needed here then you didn’t need it to begin with. Or would have gone to any other number of nearby stores.


Digi’s first target for today was the arcade. Now of course such a place wasn’t the center of activity it might have once been. With the advancement of video game tech, it was hard to find an arcade that was. Outside of places like Japan at the very least. Even still it had several well maintained arcade cabinets. There was one in particular that had been a favorite of Digi’s. Whenever he was in the mall and had the opportunity to play he would grab an old Star Wars rail shooter. It followed the story of all three original movies and had both ground battles and space battles to take part in. It even featured Lightsaber Boss Fights. It was a classic as far as Digi was concerned.


He readied to get change to prepare for his gaming session. At least long enough to get through the whole thing. Yet his plans were interrupted by a sudden shout. One coming from a familiar voice.


“Oh My God! It is you!” came the voice and Digi turned to see what the commotion was about. He then made eye contact with a black and white cat with red hair who was wearing clothes a bit too skimpy for her frame. A tank-top and what could only be described as booty shorts. In complete fairness she looked out of place, but she didn’t seem to care. She was definitely looking right at Digi though, and was making her way toward him. If her attire hadn’t drawn any attention, her outburst sure did. Considering no one else had her eye there was no one else but him to which she referred.


Digi was about to open his mouth to ask her why she thought she knew him when something finally clicked in his head. For the most part he was horrible with names. Almost as bad with faces. He would recognize you easily enough but get him to remember from where would be next to impossible. Yet this particular cat was important. A person he hadn’t seen in a few years but that mattered little considering how long he had known her before that. “Jaden?” he asked as she grabbed him up in a hug, causing him to grunt and reposition himself a bit to prevent from falling over.


“You betcha!” she beamed letting him go. “Man I would have never thought to run into you! How long has it been?”


“Way too long that’s for sure,” he looked her over and felt himself blush a bit. He had seen her go through puberty so he shouldn’t be too surprised that she filled out so well, but she never wore anything close to this. “Just what are you wearing by the way?” He asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.


“You mean this?” Jaden said with a frown, gesturing toward her outfit. “Lost a bet with my roommate. So I gotta wear this outside all day.”


Betting on wearing something embarrassing for a day was something Jaden would do. Digi smiled to himself thinking how little she had changed through the years. “It looks good on you,” he smirked.


“You would think that,” she punched him in the arm and smirked back, “perv.”


“So other than showing off and leaving little to the imagination, what else were you doing here?”


Jaden shrugged. “Not much, playin some of the shooters. There seems to be a new version of one the Tekken’s. Not sure if it’s just a new cabinet or a new game though. We could play a round or two.”


Digi shook his head. “You know how much I suck at fighting games.”


Jaden smiled. “Exactly! I need something to feel better about today anyway.”


“How about a co-op game instead? There should be a Jurassic Park game in here somewhere. At least I hope it’s still here.”


“Better idea,” Jaden said grabbing hold of Digi and dragging him out of the mall’s arcade. “Were goin go-carting and put-put!”


“Wait what?”


“Don’t tell me you forgot that place already?” Jaden pouted as they reached the parking lot.


“Kinda?” True there was a place a bit tucked out of the way that offered both put-put and go-karting. It was a bit awkward to reach but it had been in business for years. Digi only remembered it at all thanks to a sign towering over the buildings it usually hid behind. He had been once or twice in his whole life, and definitely not anytime recently.


“Well clear you schedule because you and me are gonna spend all day there!”


“Must we?”


“Cmon, the weather is great and it’s the perfect opportunity to catch up!” Jaden was bouncing as she pulled Digi onward.


“I don’t get to say no to this do I?” Digi was smiling even as the pair made their way out of the mall.


“Perhaps next time, but this time you're making time up for all the days we missed!” Jaden said with a smile as the pair headed toward a day of fun with put-put.