The sun shined down on Uptown Springdale, which was part of a small town in Japan. In this small part of town, there was a group of four kids that were around the age of eleven hanging around in Triangle Park. One of the kids picked up a wooden box and looking inside the box revealed a couple of dead insects neatly pinned down and labeled.
“Wow!”
“Did you catch all those yourself, Eddie?”
The boy holding the box, who was named Eddie, turned to the boy and girl that spoke and grinned.
“Yep! We have a forest behind our vacation house and there's always a bunch of bugs there!”
“Yeah, but I had to catch a couple of them. Eddie here got too squeamish to touch them.”
Eddie glared at the large boy who basically called him a coward and said,
“Well, I'm sorry for being unsure if they were dangerous or not, Bear. I don't want this project to be the cause of my death.”
Bear just rolled his eyes and turn to the other boy and the only girl in the group.
“Hey, Nate and Katie? How are your projects coming along?”
Nate and Katie glanced at each other for a moment and Katie spoke up first.
“I haven't been able to get much done. My sketchbook is already full and I haven't gotten around to getting a new one yet.”
Bear and Eddie turned to Nate and Nate rubbed the back of his head and said,
“My bug container's lid broke and I gave my mom the container so she could try to grow herbs in it. I'm trying to find a new bug container before I can do anymore work on my project.”
Nate wasn't sure if Bear and Eddie believed him or not, but that didn't matter to Nate. He was going to continue progress on his summer project, he just had to get new supplies. Nate wondered to himself how much more money he needed to buy a new container because the one that broke had been bought from a yard sale a while back and he couldn't remember if there were any more that were at a decent price still in stock at any of the stores that carried them.
The four of them stood in silence before they eventually parted ways. Nate and Katie started back home together, Nate softly sighing.
“Nate? What's wrong?”
Nate turned to Katie and said,
“A lot of things. I have no clue when I'll be able to buy a new bug container, I have no clue what else I want to do this summer, and I'm afraid this summer will be boring!”
After he ranted, Nate blushed and mumbled an apology.
“Sorry for ranting like that. It's just...I don't know if I'll ever get to do anything exciting in my life. I don't want to have an average and boring life.”
Katie sighed as well and said,
“I know what you mean. Life here is just too slow for my tastes. I want to experience something life-changing before I die.”
They kept walking until Katie spoke up.
“Do you want to work together on our projects?”
Nate was confused.
“What do you mean?”
“I'm saying that I can loan you my bug container for your project and as soon as I can find some paper to draw on, I could draw the insects you catch for my project and our projects will be done in no time.”
Nate stopped on the sidewalk and thought about it.
“Actually, that could work and we can release the bugs after we're done with them.”
Katie smiled and said,
“Yeah! That's what I was thinking!”
Nate smiled back and extended his hand.
“Well, partner. Ready to tackle our projects so we can have a nice summer?”
Katie took his hand and shook it.
“Consider it a deal, partner.”
When they got to Katie's house, they agreed to meet back at the park after they got the things they needed.
“See you in a bit, Katie.”
“You too, Nate.”
Nate walked back to his house and went up to his room, collecting his bug net and some money.
You never know what could happen, even in a peaceful town like Springdale.
As Nate walked downstairs, he overheard his mom talking to someone on the phone, so he stood in the doorway, waiting patiently for her to finish so he could tell her he was heading out. His mother turned her head a bit, muttered something to the person on the other end, and placed a hand over her phone.
“Going back out, Nate?”
“Yeah, I'll be back before dinner.”
“About that, Nate. We're having Katie and her family over for dinner tonight. We haven't decided what we're going to cook yet, so it might be a while before dinner is ready. Just come back home around 5, okay?”
Nate nodded and went out the door, jogging over to the park where he saw Katie waiting. She was sitting on a bench while carrying a few index cards, a pencil, and a bug container.
Nate gave her a strange look and she looked up and retorted,
“What? I told you my sketchbook was filled up.”
Nate tried to think of something that wouldn't sound rude, but decided to drop it before it became a problem.
“You ready to tackle this?”
Katie gave him a grin and said,
“Thought you'd never ask, Nate!”
She placed the objects she brought with her down on the bench as she stood up and helped Nate look for some insects.
“Here's some over here!”
In the one of the trees she was pointing at, there were a few green cicadas. Nate readied his net and pounced, catching one. The other cicadas flew away, leaving Nate a bit miffed and making Katie laugh as she put the cicada in the container. They investigated the other trees, catching another green cicada, and on the last one, the green cicada was way too high for Nate to reach with his net.
“Katie? You mind helping me here?”
Nate gave Katie his net, knelt down, and interlocked his fingers, waiting for Katie to let him boost her up. Katie stepped on Nate’s interlocked fingers and with the extra boost, she caught the final cicada and placed it in the container along with the others.
“Well, there were penalty of bugs here, but nothing too exciting like Eddie’s collection.”
Then, the container started glowing.
“What the-?! One of the cicadas is glowing!”
Katie, who had been sketching out one of the cicadas, looked up and also saw the glowing cicada.
“Wow! That cicada is definitely not normal!”
Nate gave a small smile and said,
“Well, at least something interesting happened today.”
Nate looked at Katie and she said,
“We should look for more insects, just to have a variety.”
Nate got up and said,
“We should ask the janitor. He’s always talking about his crazy bug collection!”
Katie gathered her stuff and the two of them started off towards the elementary school.
*****
Nate and Katie made it to the elementary school they attended and saw the kids playing about on the field as usual, even though school was out for the summer. They kept walking until they saw the janitor. They explained that they were having trouble finding interesting bugs for their reports and if he knew of any place that might have what they were looking for. The janitor reached into his pocket and pulled out some black syrup.
“Here you go. My secret pro-tip on catching these guys. I would recommend going up to Mount Wildwood. There are some good bugs up there you can catch.”
The two kids thanked the janitor and headed to the back of the school, where the entrance to Mount Wildwood was. Nate and Katie stopped before the stairs leading to the shrine at the top and looked up. They held hands as they started to run up the steps, never missing a step until they reached the shrine. There weren’t many people around, just a student, a young child near the pond, and an old man at the shrine. Nate and Katie went towards where the fenced-off part of the woods was and looked past it.
“Guess that’s the end of the line for us. That’s okay. There’s probably some interesting bugs around here.”
Nate nodded at what Katie said and started looking around with her for some interesting looking bugs.
*****
After about five minutes, all they caught were a brown cicada and a butterfly. Nate sighed as he mumbled,
“Well, there are bugs here, but nothing remotely interesting enough.”
Katie finished drawing out the butterfly and started releasing some of the bugs that had been caught. The problem was that there was a green cicada that refused to leave the container for whatever reason. She decided to leave the cicada for now and walked over to Nate.
“What time do you need to be back by?”
“Around 5. Our parents decided to have dinner together and they’re having trouble deciding what they want to make.”
Suddenly, the small gate that kept curious folk from wandering deeper into the woods disappeared before their eyes in a puff of purple smoke.
“Where did the gate go!?”
Nate and Katie looked at each other and knew the other was thinking the same thing.
Time to go deeper into the woods.
*****
“Hmm...if I were a rare bug, where would I be?”
They walked further into the woods and they eventually came across a giant tree.
“Whoa! Look at that tree!”
They looked at the old, giant tree then they glanced at the strange machine at the base of the tree. It looked like an ancient version of a capsule machine and peering inside through the dusty glass revealed that there were some stone capsules in the machine.
“What is this doing here?”
“What is this thing would be a better question, but I have to agree with you on that. What is this doing here?”
They were both deep in thought about the strange machine that they were both startled when they suddenly heard a strange voice coming from the machine.
“Feed me, feed me....”
“Whoa! What?! Who said that?”
“Feed me, feed me. Feed me, feed me, feed me right now!”
Nate and Katie looked at the machine that had been glowing purple every time the voice spoke, or in this case, sang.
“So, we should feed this old machine, then? With what?”
Nate reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin.
“So it wants us to feed it a coin? It is a capsule machine, after all.”
Katie wondered if it would even work as Nate placed the coin in the coin slot and turned the handle. A stone capsule fell out and Nate picked it up.
“Can’t believe that actually worked. I wonder how old it actually is, since our regular coins seem to work with it.”
Nate twisted the capsule as he said,
“I don’t know how old it is, but maybe there’s something in here that’s really old and worth something.”
As Nate was getting the capsule open, Katie said to him,
“Yeah, but if there is something in there not from our time period, how do we explain where we got it from? We can’t say that we got it from a talking capsule machine that was in the woods that was closed off by a gate that suddenly disappeared. People wouldn’t believe us and we would get in trouble for going in here.”
Nate stopped for a minute and said,
“You have a good point. Let’s just see if there’s anything in here. If there isn’t, we’ll just leave the capsule at the machine and leave. If there is something in here, we’ll see if we can figure out what it is and do some research later.”
Nate pulled the capsule apart and a bright blue light came from the capsule. The blue light suddenly materialized into a white blob-like creature with blue lips and a black line between it’s eyes. The creature turned to the shocked kids and bowed politely.
“Hello there, children! My name is Whisper and I’m a Yo-kai. Pleasure to meet you! Charmed!”
Both Nate and Katie were at a loss for words.
“We’re sorry. What are you exactly?”
“I’m a Yo-kai.”
Nate and Katie knew about some Yo-kai, but they had never seen or heard of anything like...Whisper, he said his name was?
“You’re a Yo-kai?”
“Of course. I was trapped in that stone capsule for 190 years because a monk was convinced I was an evil spirit and locked me away.”
Seriously? This guy was considered ‘evil’? Wait, he was locked in that stone capsule for 190 years!? How is he still sane!?
While Whisper was ranting about how unjust it was for him to have been locked away based on a bias, Nate looked over to Katie and gestured to start walking away from Whisper. They waited until his back was turned and started to walk off.
“Hey! Where are you two going?!”
They froze and turned back around, showing a clearly not amused Whisper crossing his arms.
“At least let me finish my story before you decide to sneak off.”
They felt sheepish as they looked at the annoyed Yo-kai and said,
“Sorry, Whisper. It’s just we’re busy looking for bugs, so we…”
They turned back around, about to leave when Whisper suddenly teleported in front of them.
“Bugs, eh? Why settle for boring old bugs, may I ask?”
Nate replied to Whisper in a questioning tone,
“Bugs aren’t boring, are they? Besides, there are a lot of people that study bugs their entire lives.”
“Hmm, yes. But I have an interesting proposal for you two. You can either leave me and go back to your mundane lives or you can have a little excitement in your lives. An adventure, if you will.”
For the first time in their short lives, Nate and Katie had a life-changing decision to make. They could leave Whisper and return to their normal lives, but have a boring summer and there was no guarantee that Whisper would still be around. He would most likely go off somewhere else and they wouldn’t be able to take up his offer if they changed their minds. Or, they could take Whisper up on his offer of excitement and have a not so boring summer, but there was probably a risk of some dangerous situations that they would have no idea how to handle.
“Whisper? If we agree to your proposal, how do we know that we’ll be safe?”
Whisper suddenly gave them a large grin, which made Nate regret asking that question and Katie immediately hid behind Nate before Whisper caught on and toned down on the creepiness factor he was giving off. He chuckled softly before apologizing.
“I’m so sorry. It’s been awhile since I actually conversed with someone on this sort of thing. Well, it’s actually been awhile since I had a proper conversation with anyone, period. Anyway, I have something for the two of you, but I’ll only give it to you if you want some excitement. If you don’t, that’s fine.”
Whisper reached into an invisible pocket or something and produced two watches, one wristwatch and a pocket watch necklace. The wristwatch looked like a normal, run-of-the-mill wristwatch while the pocket watch necklace looked more feminine. The one thing the watches seemed to have in common was the strange symbol in the middle that had four sections that consisted of blue, purple, green, and pink that was covered by a weird looking bubble. Nate and Katie took the watches, Nate taking the wristwatch while Katie took the pocket watch necklace, and examined them further.
“How will these keep us safe?”
“These are Yo-kai Watches. They can make the impossible possible! Which brings me to our deal. Would you two like to search for Yo-kai?”
Wait, there are more Yo-kai in existence? I thought they were just legends!
They were at a loss. They could search for Yo-kai?
“Wait. What’s the catch?”
Whisper blinked before understanding what Nate was asking.
“I believe you two can bridge the gap between the humans and the Yo-kai. So, what do you say?”
The kids looked at the Yo-kai Watches in their hands before coming to their final decision.
“We accept.”
They put their Yo-kai Watches on and they started to light up.
“Oh, goody! There’s a Yo-kai around here!”
Whisper did his weird teleporting trick before pointing towards a random tree.
“I’m getting some odd sensations from that tree over there!”
Nate and Katie walked over to the tree and didn’t see anything.
“Umm...are you sure something’s there, Whisper?”
“That’s because you’re looking with your eyes, not with your Watch. See that button on the side? Push it.”
The kids pushed the button on the side as Whisper told them to and the bubble flipped up.
“Whoa! The bubble opened!”
“That’s not a bubble, my friends. That’s the Yo-kai Lens. If you look through it, you’ll be able to see the Yo-kai.”
They looked through their lenses and they saw a depressed looking bird with a droopy neck.
Okay, now what?
The bird Yo-kai looked at the two kids and said with a depressing tone,
“I was having a nice nap and you two had to go and wake me.”
You looked awake when we were scanning you!
“I guess I’m going to have to fight you, aren’t I?”
Nate and Katie tried desperately to get out of the fight with the Yo-kai, which they realized they didn’t know the name of.
“Whisper! What do we do?!”
“Simple, just call forth the rest of your Yo-kai friends.”
“Wait! We don’t have any Yo-kai friends! We were literally just introduced to all of this!”
“Well, that’s a bit rude to your cicada friend there.”
The cicada that had refused to leave the container earlier suddenly started glowing and it leapt out of the container, revealing it’s true form.
Nate and Katie had no words for what just happened.
“I am Cadin, a Yo-kai that dons the disguise of a mere cicada. Noble Nate and Katie, my heart was abuzz with thy bug catching.”
“Uh, thanks?”
“To able thee, I give you my Yo-kai medal.”
Cadin pulled out a small disc and tossed it over to them, which Nate caught.
“Umm, what is this?”
Whisper was filled with glee.
“Your first Yo-kai medal! Congratulations are definitely in order.”
Nate studied the medal in his hands. It had a picture of Cadin on one side and the other side was pink except for a white heart-shaped area.
“This medal is a symbol of our friendship. Use this to call upon me if thou art ever in need.”
“Well, thank you for the medal.”
“I guess you went and forgot about me, didn’t you?”
The kids turned to the bird Yo-kai they just realized was being ignored this whole time.
“Eh, sorry?”
Cadin pulled out a sword and said,
“Have at thee, feathered fiend! Thou shalt note I will not hold back!”
Cadin and the other Yo-kai proceeded to battle each other until Cadin started glowing blue and ended the battle by repeatedly slashing at the other Yo-kai with his sword until the other Yo-kai gave up.
“So, I guess you won. What are you going to do to me? Are you going to grill me or fry me?”
Nate and Katie made a disgusted face as they said,
“Gross. I don’t want to do either.”
“Well, are you going to make me ask for forgiveness, then?”
“We should really be asking you. We did disturb you.”
The bird Yo-kai tossed over her medal, which had her picture on one side and the other side was purple with a symbol of an eyeball, and she said,
“You can call me Buhu.”
Cadin put his sword away and he said,
“Top notch performance! I have to go now, but thou can always call upon me in thou art ever in need.”
“Yeah, I’m going too. Call me if you feel like disturbing me again.”
With that both Yo-kai left, leaving Nate and Katie alone with Whisper.
“Did we just become friends with those Yo-kai?”
Whisper smiled and said,
“Yep! Oh, right! I have something else for you two!”
Whisper produced a book and handed it to Katie.
“This is the Yo-kai Medallium. You can store any Yo-kai Medals you receive in here for safekeeping.”
As soon as the two kids tried to comprehend the situation, they just sat down on the ground.
“So, do you think you understand Yo-kai a little better know?”
Nate looked at Katie and they said,
“Well, it’s a little hard to believe that Yo-kai actually existed in the first place. I believed they were just stories.”
Whisper chuckled and said,
“Oh, I understand, but Yo-kai are hiding everywhere in the city, you see.”
Whisper made a gesture to indicate the entire area that they lived in was filled with these creatures.
“So, how’s about we put those Watches to good use and get you two some Yo-kai friends, okay?”