Now, here we are with episode 7~ Enjoy~ (Also, remember that I use google translate for a lot of the foreign languages because I know very little of many languages, but not enough to piece together a full sentences. I can only really say "Where is the bathroom?" in four languages and a few other useless sayings)

Renamon: "We found ourselves in a village full of Viruses, yet they didn't want to hurt anyone or anything. There were some Vaccines, however, that didn't seem to want to believe that. Luckily, we managed to subdue them and convince them to leave. I believe all of this, however, has opened Hana's mind a little bit. Maybe she won't be ask harsh on that other girl, now."


Hana stared at the ground, hands in her pockets as they walked through the tunnel. She was still trying to process what had happened back there in that last site...

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

"So, let me get this straight," Hana asked, not completely convinced. "You're telling me that a bunch of Viruses live here, but you aren't trying to hurt anything?" A nod. "But you're Viruses. Everything we've been told taught us that Viruses are bad."

"Not all of us," BlackGatomon repeated. "Some of us didn't come here by choise. We were just pulled in one day. We've been trying to live here in peace until we're able to go home."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

It was difficult to wrap her head around. Viruses that were good... or neutral, at least. Could the others be right? Could that girl not really be all that bad? The blonde was still suspicious about how the brunette got into the internet in the first place, but she was beginning to doubt that she meant them harm.

Renamon watched her partner silently. She had a good feeling she knew what was going through Hana's mind, and she was proud of her. The Rookie allowed herself a small smile. Hana was beginning to doubt her first assessment of the girl and her Virus partner, DemiDevimon. Normally, she should be concerned that the teen was doubting herself, but in this situation, when everyone else disagreed with her... it was nice. Now, if they managed to run into the girl again, maybe they could get her to join them.

Keeping an eye out for any holes to take them to another site, the group continued to walk, all lost in their own thoughts. Yumi's thoughts drifted back home. She wondered what her parents were doing... Did they miss her? She'd only been gone a little less than a week, but it already felt like forever. She had no idea how long this would take, she just hoped it would end soon. She was already getting homesick.

Labramon looked up at his partner and frowned. He had a good feeling he knew what she was thinking about. All the humans probably missed home. He knew he missed the Digital World, and Renamon and Palmon probably did, too. He scanned the walls for a hole to go through. The sooner they ended this, the sooner they could all go home, though that would mean that they would have to say goodbye. The Rookie had to admit, he was torn.

"Look," Kiira said, pulled everyone out of their thoughts. She poeinted to a ripple that began to form in the wall. It was another hole that was forming.

Hana looked up, walking toward it. It was always a little nerve-wracking, since they never really had any idea what to expect when they went through. But she couldn't show hesitation. She was their leader, so it was her responsibility. She stepped through, followed by the others.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Miyuki stretched carefully as she stood. The medicine had worked miracles. It had only been a few days and she was already on her feet.

Centarumon stood in front of her, ready to catch her if she fell, since he was the only one tall enough to do so. "Once again, I am truly sorry," he told her.

"And once again, it's fine. It wasn't your fault," the brunette said, though her partner was still glaring at the Champion. "DemiDevimon, I told you to quit it." Taking a few steps, she smiled. There was only a dull ache, which was easy to ignore. Just a few days, it hurt like hell to just sit up. Looking at the few Terriermon gathered at the door to watch her, she said, "Thank you for this."

"I should warn you," the Rookie that had given her the medicine, "It isn't perfect. I don't know if its effects will last, or what side-effects it might have."

"As long as I'm mobile," Miyuki replied. "I have a job to do. And nothing, not even a busted back, is going to stop me."

"Maybe you should rest a little bit more, then," DemiDevimon suggested, sounding more than a little worried. He didn't want her getting hurt any more that she already was.

The girl shook her head. "No can do, DemiDevimon," she told him. "I've already been out too long. We need to get back to work if we're ever going to help these guys, and the rest of the Digimon get back to the Digital World."

He sighed. Miyuki was extremely stubborn. It would take a lot to get her to change her mind, and he knew it would just waste even more time. "Alright," he said.

Miyuki carefully made her way back to the exit of the site, ready to head back into the tunnel. "Thank you all for everything you've done," she told them with a smile. "I'm going to do my best to get rid of this whole Virus problem and send you guys home." With that, she went through.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

"What is this freaky place?" Kiira asked, looking around. The area around them was surrounded by tall walls. The hole had opened through one of them. The grass around them looked dried and dead, and the stones that made up a path were cracked and broken. The path led to a large stone building with tall towers. The sky was covered in a dark grey haze.

"It looks like some kind of castle..." Yumi whispered, staring at the giant structure. The gate leading inside was open, but they were all hesitant to enter. The castle was practically sending off waves of danger. This would not be easy.

"I've got a bad feeling about it," Labramon said quietly.

Palmon looked at the dog Digimon nervously. He was usually the one to run straight into a situation, no matter how dangerous it seemed. "If you've got a bad feeling..."

Hana steeled herself. "We can't just stand here all day," she said, hoping she sounded calmer than she felt.

As they approached, they saw words carved on the wall, but they definitely weren't in Japanese. Remembering Kiira's little 'skill', Hana turned to her.

The translator stepped toward them. "It's German. 'Hüten Sie sich vor allen, die eingegeben werden. Du sollst nie entkommen.' Beware all who enter. You will never escape." She looked at Labramon. "You're not the only one with a bad feeling here."

"We can't let ourselves be scared off by some words on the wall," Hana said. "Let's go." With that, she stepped inside. The others quickly followed. It would be dangerous for her to go in alone.

Yumi paused. "Did you guys see that?" she asked, looking down the hall, near one of the corners.

"See what?" Labramon asked his partner.

"I don't know, some kind of... white shape. It was over by that corner." She pointed. "Then it just... went through the wall."

"Maybe your mind is playing tricks on you," Kiira suggested. "This place is creepy enough to do that to you."

Yumi frowned. "No, I swear I saw something." She crossed her arms, adding quietly, "And if I get kidnapped again by that damn thing, I'm going to be pissed."

"Let's just keep going," the leader suggested. "Maybe we'll run into that whaterver it was sooner or later. We can probably take it, anyway."

"Yeah, okay," the lavender haired girl relented. "Whatever you say." The group continued walking, but she kept her eyes on the walls and ceilings, waiting for it to drop in on them.

She didn't have to wait long. A white figure flew toward them through the wall to their left, followed by many more from both sides.

"Shit," Hana said, pulling out her Digivice. The other two did the same.

"Name: Bakemon. Classification: Virus. Threat: Medium."

"That makes them Champions, right?" Yumi asked. "We should probably level the playing field, then." Her Digivice opened, as did Hana's and Kiira's. The data flowed from the small boxes to the Rookies.

"Labramon Digivolve to... Seasarmon!"

"Palmon Digivolve to... Togemon!"

"Renamon Digivolve to... Kyubimon!"

Hana looked around them, trying to figure out what their best course of action would be. Since all the 'grunts' were Champions, she didn't like the odds they would have against their boss. "Seasarmon, you take the ones to the left! Togemon, to the right! And Kyubimon, focus on the ones in front of us. We need to get rid of these guys fast!"

"Got it!" the three Champions said before going to their respective positions.

"Needle Spray!" Togemon yelled, attacking the Bakemon on her side that were heading for the humans. She wouldn't let them get hurt.

"Sun's Courage!" Seasarmon called out, firing his own attack to ward off the Bakemon to the left. It pushed them back, as did Togemon's attack, but didn't destroy them.

Kyubimon ran forward at the Bakemon that blocked their way forward. "Dragon Wheel!" she yelled, rolling and becoming consumed with a blue flame. She knocked more of their opponents out of the way. Unfortunately, the ghost Digimon recovered quickly.

"We might have a problem," Yumi commented as their partners continued to be very outnumbered. Bakemon didn't seem to be very strong Digimon, but with sheer numbers, it wasn't looking good.

"Zombie Claw!" many of the Bakemon called out, long blue arms shooting out from under their cloaks and slashing at the three Digimon. They were all knocked back, slamming into each other.

"Not good," Hana muttered, quietly agreeing with her teammate.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Miyuki walked through the tunnel, looking for another hole to go through. Another site to save.

She slowed as a pit began forming in her stomach. She knew that feeling well. She saw a hole to her left and walked toward it. The feeling grew stronger. As much as she dreaded going in, she knew she had to. The worse the feeling, the more important it was for her to go in. And this one felt bad.

"Alright, DemiDevimon, let's go," she said, stepping through.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

"Fox Tail Inferno!" Kyubimon yelled as soon as she stood, albeit a little unsteady on her feet. She and the others had been hit time and time again, and it seemed like every Bakemon they destroyed, another immediately popped up to take its place. Things weren't looking good, but they couldn't die here.

Togemon followed the fox Digimon's lead, slowly standing and offering Seasarmon a gloved hand to help him up. She then threw herself at a group of closely knit Bakemon. "Lightspeed Jabbing!" she yelled, and every hit destroyed another Champion. The replacements were beginning to slow, but she wasn't sure if they would be able to keep going before their enemies dwindled away to nothing. And then, of course, there was whatever Digimon was in charge of this place.

"Sun's Courage!" Seasarmon yelled, aiming at a group getting too close to the humans for his liking.

"Thanks, Seasarmon!" Yumi called over once the Bakemon that had been about to attack them disappeared, their data flowing into her Digivice.

"Zombie Claw!" the Bakemon yelled again, once again throwing the humans' partners against each other. They didn't get up this time.

"Crimson Claw!" they heard as a large black Digimon dove at them. They prepared for a killing blow, but it never came. Instead, the large, four eyed Digimon continued past them, slicing at the weakened Bakemon with ease.

The three humans stared as the large Digimon sliced their opponents. The data flew past them.

"What the...?" Hana began.

A familiar figure walked out of the shadows, dark blue Digivice open and absorbing the data from the destroyed Bakemon. "Need some help?" she asked.

"You!" the blonde said. "What are you doing here?"

"What does it look like?" the brunette asked as the large Digimon finished off the last of the Bakemon. "Saving your sorry asses." She sighed. "Look, I don't care that you guys don't like me, or trust me, but I'm here for the same reason you are. So how about we work together for now, and I'll be out of your hair once this is all over with?" She walked toward Hana and held her hand out. "Truce?"

The blonde studied her for a moment. She seemed sincere. "Fine," she said, taking the hand and shaking on it.

"My name's Miyuki Otori," she told them.

Kiira was the first to speak up. "I'm Kiira Wakui. This is Yumi Orihara, and that's Hana Harusawa."

Miyuki smiled. "Nice to meet you all properly." She walked over to her partner. "Alright, Devidramon, we're working together with these guys now, so behave, huh?"

Devidramon glanced down at her. "You just be careful, alright?"

"I'm fine, I promise," the brunette told him. She knew he'd be worried about her the rest of her time here. She looked back at the other girls as they slowly helped their partners up, Kiira being careful of Togemon's needles. "Let's get going, then," she suggested, staring to walk, about to turn into a right hallway.

"Hey, do you even know where you're going?" Hana asked with a raised eyebrow.

Miyuki shrugged. "I get feelings about things. And those feelings are telling me that whatever we need to fight is in this direction."

"And you just trust these 'feelings' all the time?" the blone queried, crossing her arms.

"They're almost always right," she replied. "So yeah, I trust them." She gave a half smile. "They led me here, didn't they?" The leader didn't have a response to that. She had a point.

Miyuki continued walking, followed by Yumi, Kiira, and their partners. Hana sighed and walked with them.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

"So, how did you get here?" Yumi asked her as they continued on.

"This weird figure came out of my computer and brought me here." At the looks she received, she asked, "That wasn't how you got here?"

Kiira shook her head. "No, we got recruited by the government. They found out about the Virus in charge being intelligent, so they needed to send people in. I don't really know why they picked a group of teenagers, but hey, we're here and we have more important things to focus on." She paused. "That's one of the reasons Hana never liked you. We had no idea how you got here and..."

"She thought I was working with the Viruses, right? Because of my partner?" the brunette guessed, earning a nod. "I kind of figured. I got that speech from this Vaccine Digimon I ran into, Unimon." She glanced behind them to see Hana glaring. She wasn't sure if it was because she had temporarily stolen the leader role of if she still didn't trust her. "Looks like she still doesn't like me," she commented.

Seasarmon looked at her. He, Togemon, and Kyubimon had started feeling a little stronger, so they were at least a little more confident about the coming battle. "Don't worry. We think you're pretty cool, at least."

"Thanks," Miyuki said. She glanced up at her partner. He'd been oddly silent. She had the feeling that he liked them just about as much as Hana liked her. He seemed a little more aggressive when he Digivolved. Then again, the only other time he'd been Devidramon was when she got seriously injured by the virus infected Centarumon.

"You know," Yumi said, looking from the girl to her Virus partner and back. "We wouldn't really mind if you stayed with us."

"Well, that all depends on Harusawa, doesn't it?" Miyuki asked, still ignoring the dull ache that had yet to go away. She expected that to be there for awhile, since medicine could only go so far. "She's your leader, right?"

"Yeah, but Renamon might be able to convince her to change her mind," Kiira commented. "I know she doesn't think you're all that bad, either."

The brunette grabbed the end of one of her pigtails and started twirling it around her finger. "Well, we'll see, right? For now, we should probably just focus on this."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

It didn't take them long to find a throne room of sorts. And sitting on said throne was a tall, black Digimon with large tattered wings.

"I see you took care of my minions," he said.

"Name: Devimon. Classification: Virus. Threat: Medium."

Hana studied him. "He's got to be pretty strong for a Champion if he can control the Bakemon so easily."

"Aren't you glad we showed up, then?" Miyuki asked, glancing back at her. She was ignored.

"So, I guess you're a Virus's version of a protector, huh?" Kiira asked.

"I suppose I could be called than, yes," he replied with a vicious smirk. "Now, it's time for you to die." He stood, raising an arm. "Touch of Evil!" His arm went through Devidramon's head, though the other Virus didn't seem harmed in any way. The group expected Devimon to be angry at his failure, but instead, he still bore that smirk. "Destroy them," he said, and to Miyuki's surprise, her partner turned back to the group.

"I told you these guys were bad news!" Hana told the rest of her team.

Kyubimon shook her head. "No," she said. "Devimon's Touch of Evil allows him to control whatever Digimon he uses it on. And now he's got Devidramon."

Miyuki's mind raced a mile a minute, trying to figure out what to do. The pit in her stomach was growing worse and worse by the second. She had to do something before someone got seriously hurt. "Devidramon, don't!" she yelled as he raised a claw toward the group. She took a step forward, refusing to hesitate. She couldn't risk it. "Remember who you are," she pleaded. "Come on, I know you're a little hotheaded, but you can't let this guy control you."

The Champion's arm stayed where it was, but when his gaze fell on her, it was blank. His red eyes glowed and his partner found herself unable to move. What the...? she thought.

The other three partner Digimon looked at each other. They knew this Virus was their ally, but at the moment, they had to fight him. This was not good, however, for convincing Hana that they could trust these two.

Kyubimon looked from Devidramon to Devimon, who was standing there with his arms crossed, still smirking as he watched Devidramon about to destroy his own partner. He seemed distracted, so it would be the perfect time to attack, but at the same time, they couldn't leave Miyuki at his mercy. Looking at Seasarmon and Togemon, she said, "You two make sure Devidramon doesn't hurt anyone. Devimon is mine." As soon as the other two nodded, she darted forward, tails glowing with their small blue flames, without stopping, she yelled, "Fox Tail Inferno!"

As the attack hit, she could hear Seasarmon and Togemon cry out their attacks. As Devimon became distracted, though, his hold on Devidramon began to waver. The red eyed demon Digimon turned toward Devimon, glancing at Kyubimon before focusing on the enemy again. "Move away, Kyubimon," he growled, and seeing the look in his eyes caused the yellow fox to back away. He had the most right to handle this.

"Crimson Claw!" Devidramon yelled, sending Devimon flying into the wall before grabbing him and beginning to squeeze. "You made your biggest mistake, making me attack my own partner," he growled, squeezing tighter. He tossed the other Champion back into the wall before attacking again. "Crimson Claw!"

Once Devimon was destroyed, he turned back to his partner. "Miyuki?" he asked as she became able to move again. She tried walking toward him before stopping, gritting her teeth in pain. The ache in her back was growing stronger.

The brunette refused to let her injury hold her back. Hopefully, the pain would pass quickly. She looked back at the others. Kiira, Yumi, and their partners, as well as Kyubimon looked at her with worry, but Hana was just glaring. No doubt, she thought Devidramon was too dangerous just because he was controlled. For being a genius, she sure was stubborn. But Miyuki didn't want to stay where she wasn't wanted. She looked up at Devidramon. "Let's get out of here," she said quietly, but her heard her anyway, gently picking her up and placing her on his back before leaving. Yumi and Kiira watched her go as their partners returned to Rookie level. They wanted to stop her from leaving, but before they could say anything, she and her partner were already gone.

Next time:
Kiira: We need her on our side and you know it.
Yumi: I think she proved she isn't as dangerous as you think she is.
Hana: How do we know that her partner won't turn on us again?
Kiira: Oh please, he was being controlled.
DemeDevimon: Are you sure you want to go back there?
Miyuki: What choice do I have? It's only going to get tougher from here.

Whoa, boy. First, I did this one last minute, too. And it just kinda ran away from me. I mean, I planned for this to be the episode that Miyuki joined the group, but obviously, that didn't happen. I believe someone once commented on how it seemed like Hana wasn't being very smart in regards to Miyuki, despite being a genius. This is true, but as stated above, she is very stubborn. She hates admitting she's wrong, even to herself. Hence why she used Devimon's controlling of Devidramon as 'evidence'. Anyway, since that episode flew away from me that much, I honestly have no idea how this next one's going to turn out.

See ya on the flipside~ Elisa out~