Digimon Adventure 07: Virus

by YukiraKing

Moments after the last story ended we find our heroes in a situation that there may be no possible solutions to. They find themselves in situations and locations that test the very fibre of their beings and force themselves to limits they have yet to see, all for a common goal that the world promised them: Peace. [took out the humor genre because there's nothing funny about death.]

26. Sparks Fly

Y/N: Everything's crazy right now, and it's all very exciting. I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, because I love action—and sad things, but this one's pretty much all action. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

U/N: Jenna's chapter here was added much later than the others, in fact I think this entire story was completed and we thought "hm, well, that's a pretty jarring plot thread we didn't cover. What are they doing?" so we had to add it in for the sake of, again, telling a whole story. It was nice to get more closure on the ChiNa storyline too I think. At least for me. So this is the end of arc two, and yay the next arc is probably already up! We're actually uploading it on the Wednesday following this one, so the eleventh. Hey, that's Evelen's birthday, and Remembrance Day. So there's that. So my general thoughts of this arc are that we got to fight again which we've been kind of avoiding doing for a lot of reasons, and it was hard to get into that honestly, since we've gone so long without.

Title: Digimon Adventure 07: Virus

By: YukiraKing and UrazamayKing

Disclaimer: We don't own Digimon or its characters.

Part 2: Digital World and Earth

Chapter 26: Sparks Fly

Jenna Washington:

"So your name isn't even Chi?" I asked in a hushed tone. Just because we were invisible didn't mean no one would be able to hear us. We were however in the same bubble of invisibility so we could see and interact with one another. Chi was sitting with his legs crossed and his heavy duty laptop was open on his lap, we were waiting together for the block to be dropped so we could hack into the system, and release the footage Katsue wanted us to broadcast.

Chi slowly shook his head, but then paused, and looked to me with his amber eyes, "Kind of," he decided. "I mean, I'm Chisikimon, but Chi is just the name I chose for the human world."

I nodded, but something still didn't feel right here. I was sitting next to him, but couldn't bring myself to hold his hand, or even let my leg graze against his. I didn't want to touch him yet. I wasn't mad necessarily, but there were issues we would need to sort out. "So," I said before I paused for probably too long. "Which should I call you?"

He looked up to me and shrugged his shoulders. "Whichever one you feel comfortable with."

I didn't answer then, and instead began running my fingers through my messy hair. Today had been a rough day, and throwing the idea that I was dating a digimon into the mix was only half of it. I had been kidnapped, nearly tortured, shot at, chased by monsters, one of whom bit my leg rather hard, and I'd even been in a very legitimate fist fight. I let out a long sigh and Chi looked up to me and reached for my hand.

I pulled it away sharply.

He looked sad and put his hand back on his keyboard, pretending he hadn't done a thing. "I'm sorry I wasted your time."

"What?" I asked, confused.

"I'm sorry I made you think you had found a nice guy," he said quietly. "When it was just me."

"You are a nice guy," I said sharply. "And you haven't wasted any of my time."

"You clearly don't want to be with me anymore." His voice cracked, and it made me feel guilty for being angry at all. But he was wrong, I did want to be with him—probably. It was complicated.

I shook my head and thought about taking his hand to make the problem go away, but I knew it wouldn't do anything aside from hide the problem. "I'm not mad that you're a digimon, Chi. If that's what you think."

"Of course that's what I think," he said, his voice rising a little in frustration. He adjusted himself so he was facing me now and set his laptop on the pavement in front of us. I leaned back against the black metal fence and tried keep calm and mature about everything, but that really wasn't my style. "We were fine, and now you know I have wings and antenna and that I can spit poisonous gasses from my mouth, and you don't want to touch me anymore."

"Okay," I had been caught off guard. "I didn't know you could do that gas thing. That's awesome. And the reason I don't want to touch you is because you lied to me, Chi. We've been dating for only seven months, sure. But all of that time was fake. The first thing you learn about someone is their name, and I didn't even know that about you. You've mentioned your mother repeatedly—who the hell is your mother? Digimon don't have moms! You don't have parents—you could have told me that! I know what it's like to feel ashamed of something and what it's like to not have someone there for you!"

"I—I didn't mean to lie," Chi stuttered, clearly taken aback by learning why I was actually angry with him.

"Oh, so you accidentally failed to tell the truth for one hundred and seventy-nine days?" I snapped, crossing my arms in disapproval. "You know, for someone crafted from the general concept of the crest of knowledge, you're pretty stupid."

"To be fair, I was created by the void of knowledge," Chi corrected, looking ashamed of himself again. His eyes fell from mine and he looked to his clunky black boots. "I'm sorry."

"Why did you do it?" I asked flatly. Chi looked up and I could see him thinking, his eyes sort of glazed over as if he were planning what he had to say. "Stop!" I hit his leg lightly. "Stop planning out your stories. If they're the truth they should just come out."

He sighed, "You're right." I knew that already though, so I didn't say anything and waited for him to continue. "I met you a couple days into the new year, which you know. But what you didn't know was that I had been spending most of my time on Earth. Ever since the Yggdrasil invasion a few years ago. I found the way Earth used their technology to be fascinating, and they channeled their thoughts together to build empires. And they did the same to tear down those built by others. It was chaotic, and it was counterproductive as a whole, but it was still fascinating." He paused, expecting me to have some kind of comment, and sure I could think of a bunch, but for once I just wanted someone else to be talking. "I created this human form easily, mostly because people didn't trust me out on the streets... and I travelled across the world until I found New York. Everyone was always pumped full of adrenaline, either dancing or shopping or committing crimes—everyone was just... special. Then I went to this crazy night club and I found this girl who was the most beautiful person I'd ever seen—"

"Okay, yeah." I rolled my eyes. "Enough of that. Get on with the story."

He hesitated and then nodded, "Right, well, you were more energetic than anyone else. You had more fire inside you, and the way you danced, everyone had to watch either from fright, or astonishment. All eyes were always on you, and that bedazzled top hat you had been wearing."

"Yeah, I lost that," I said, blushing. "I think Michael stole it."

"I never told you I was human," Chi awkwardly said. "You made that assumption, and you asked me out. I wanted to go with you so badly that I just couldn't tell you the truth. Would you have gone on the date if I'd presented myself as a humanoid bug creature?"

"Maybe," I said, though I wasn't sure. "I've never had that opportunity present itself to me, so it's just really hard to guess how I might react." But I knew he had a point. A pretty good point too. And as he spoke, everything had slowly begun falling into place. The reason Chi had been so frightened to be in the EVOLVE meetings, and why he's refused to touch the tracking devices, and why he wouldn't come with me to Veronica's house! It hadn't been because he was angry—well maybe it was a little—it had been because he couldn't go. The barrier prevented him from stepping inside. He would never come with me to the Digital World because someone might recognize him, and he'd never let me come to his mother's house because it simply didn't exist.

I wanted to still be mad at him. I wanted to be furious that he had kept something so integral from me for so long, but I couldn't. He had kept his biggest secret from the person he trusted the most—at least I hoped that I could play that role for him—and that meant he had been truly ashamed or worried about what people would think. He had not lied in a malicious attempt to hurt me. He had lied to keep himself hidden.

I looked up to him and sighed as his amber eyes locked with mine again. They were glistening like he might start crying soon, but I wouldn't let him. There was no reason for that. I reached forward and grabbed his hand gently. It was still rough, still firm and still just as inviting as it had been every other time I'd held it. And honestly I didn't even care that he still had antenna's sticking from the top of his head. For a girl who had grown up rich I was surprisingly not into material possessions or the way someone looked. I still loved him even if he was a poor, homeless bug.

"I'm sorry," Chi said finally, and I shook my head, because it didn't matter anymore.

"It's okay," I told him. "Don't you ever lie to me again though."

He looked shocked and filled with joy at the same time and he was nodding his head fervently. "O-of course!" I leaned in to hug him but his laptop binged as the internet connection finally kicked in. We looked to each other one last time and then released each other, turning down to the computer. Then messages were flying onto the screen. They were from Katsue.

Don't post the video.

You didn't post the video did you?

Dammit guys, why aren't you answering?

Are you dead?

Seriously. Seriously, someone answer me.

Chi somehow found it in himself to smirk at her messages and clicked in the response box and began typing, 'No, Katsue, we did not post the video. We're coming back. Evelen has taken the block down.' He clicked send just as someone came around the corner. I panicked but remembered we weren't able to be seen. But it didn't matter anyway, because it was Evelen.

She looked like she was very nervous still, even after leaving the building and she was walking with her chest out, trying to seem professional and like she knew what she was doing. She was looking around though, frantically searching for the two of us. I reached for my phone and pressed the button to remove the invisibility. She caught sight of the two of us and hurried our way, glancing over her shoulder to be sure no one could see us.

"How did it go?" I asked her, taking in the sight of her frantic behaviour from up close and holding back my laughter.

"No one stopped me," Evelen said with a shrug. "I guess they recognize me from Arnold working with my dad. Either way, I walked right into his office and did what you told me to, Chi." Evelen's eyes trailed up to his antenna and she stared for a moment too long. "Anyway," she said, standing tall again. "You can post it now."

"We're actually not supposed to," Chi explained, getting to his feet, and folding up his laptop. He reached down a hand for me and I smiled up to him allowing him to help me. Evelen looked flabbergasted, probably frustrated that we'd asked her to do something that was useless. "Don't worry, I'm sure we will. And with the block down we'll be able to at any time. I think we're supposed to go back to our base now."

"Do you want to come?" I asked before I had thought it through. Chi seemed nervous about it and for good reason. We barely knew this girl... but she had helped us just now, and it seemed fair that she was permitted to involve herself.

Evelen seemed to think it was a good idea in any case and she agreed to come, which was good because I couldn't drive. Evelen took control of Mantarou's car and Chi instructed her where to go while I sat in the backseat with the laptop. The drive took longer than I'd have liked, but every now and then Chi would reach back to hold my hand and it was cute. Eventually we were pulling up to the curb down the street from Mimi's restaurant and we were all getting out of the car.

Mr Ishida's van was parked outside of the restaurant, which seemed kind of like an obvious mistake, wouldn't it be easy for people to figure out where we were hiding if we parked our vehicles outside? Though it didn't overly matter because we walked right into the building from a crowded street daily. I shrugged my shoulders and threw the door open, stepping inside.

"Oh my god," Momoe snapped. "Where were you?" She flew around the corner into the entrance hallway and had her hands on her hips. Her eyes fell to Evelen a second later and she took a step back, worried.

"Are they here?" Katsue asked loudly, "I got your message, but who the hell is Evelen."

As we stepped out into the open seating area everyone turned their eyes on us. Akira and Takashi were sitting with Natsuni's father, bent over the big law books, Mr Ishida was sitting with Katsue at the counter near the kitchen, each with a laptop opened in front of them, Mantarou, Natsuni and Chiziru were all sitting across from the two of them with notepads, apparently trying to solve something, and Yutaka was on the phone, of course. "That would be me," Evelen announced, hoping for the best.

"That means nothing, I'm sorry," Katsue said. "Who are you?"

"She's Neo's friend," I answered for her. "That's what matters now." Evelen looked thankful, but I did not respond. Instead I took Chi's hand and dragged him toward Katsue and the others. "Why weren't we supposed to upload the video?"

"Did you?" Katsue asked sharply.

"No, I told you that," Chi said, rolling his eyes.

"Good," Katsue said, relieved, but she returned to her computer without answering the question.

Mr Ishida looked up finally and decided to answer instead. "We've found that the gift from Tako may have more information on it than we thought, but we need a password. The file was protected on Arnold's drive, and it's protected here too. What happened to my son?"

I was caught off guard by his question, because he'd asked it so casually. "I—he, well..." My voice faltered and I cleared my throat. "Neo was shot, Sora and Yamato took him and Gomamon to the Digital World and that's all we know."

"They were followed by hideous creatures, and Director Arnold," Evelen helpfully filled in.

"And that," I added awkwardly.

"What?" Natsuni asked sharply, looking right up at me. "How? What?"

Evelen reached into the bag she had around her shoulder and she pulled out the strange round device. "This can take you to the Digital World." Momoe moved quickly to get her hands on the machine, but Evelen pulled it sharply away from her. "But," she added with a clear voice, stopping Momoe in her tracks, "I don't really know how to use it. Your friend Sora and I simply pushed all the buttons we could find, and it worked."

"Do it again," Momoe demanded.

"Momoe," Mantarou said gently, "Keep in mind that there is a virus in the Digital World, if we were to open the gate in the wrong place, we would all die." Even Momoe seemed to understand how dangerous that could be, and when she reached for the machine again, her expression was much less frantic. She was going to be careful with it now, and Evelen seemed to realize that, and she handed Momoe the device.

Evelen, Momoe and Mantarou moved off to start working on that, leaving me a free chair between Natsuni and Chiziru. I slipped into it without hesitation and Chi leaned against the counter to look down at Natsuni's work. "So you're trying to find Arnold's password," he said, reading down the list. Natsuni's list consisted of names and dates, while Chiziru's list was essentially the basic passwords everyone used.

"You should know that they're also intending to use their radar to locate all digimon on Earth," I told Katsue who had Monimon sitting on the counter next to her.

She looked sharply toward her partner who had panic written across his face—literally. "Oh no!" he exclaimed. "I don't want to die!"

"We won't let it happen," Katsue assured him. "I care too much to let you die." Monimon beamed up at her and she patted his head, and then everyone returned to their work.

I watched as Mr Ishida typed in random ideas every time one popped into his head, trying to solve the password issue. "Have you tried his name," I scoffed sarcastically. "He's pretty arrogant." Mr Ishida began typing, not hearing my sarcasm—or not caring and being open to trying anything at all. "Have you tried just hacking into it?"

"Yes," Katsue said, looking up in a panic as if someone was about to do something horrible, she looked around and saw that everyone was still again. "We nearly destroyed the file in our attempt. It's not safe."

"Okay," Chi said. "We'll just find the password then."

"It's not that easy," Natsuni warned him.

"Try, 'me'," I said, sarcastic again. Once more Mr Ishida typed the password in. "What about 'EVOLVE' or 'DWD' or his birthday, or—oh! What about 'Behemoth'?" Chi clapped his hands against the counter at that one, agreeing that it would be a good attempt. Mr Ishida typed away, but his face fell when it hadn't worked.

I thought back to everything I'd ever known about Arnold, because there had to be something in his past that could give his password away. After all of my research on him I knew he was born January 14th 1980 to a happy Christian family. His parents died, and he used the money he received from health insurance to pay for university and then started working at some mysterious place, which I knew was with the government, in the late nineties... then he worked his way to the top and was now in charge.

None of that was helpful, but I began firing of his parents names and Chi helped out with their birth dates, and then we both started listing off Christian figures, but none of them were correct.

And then an idea shot straight into the front of my mind, and I reached for Mr Ishida's computer and was immediately searching the internet. No one objected, but all eyes were suddenly on me, and I could only hope this was right. It would be pretty embarrassing if it wasn't. I couldn't remember the name of the man I was searching for. I needed to find the obituary of Willis' old boss.

"I don't understand," Natsuni said, reading the screen. "What are you looking for?"

"Arnold is just sick enough to think this way," I explained, opening the file and reading the name. "'George Adams'" I read aloud. "The man who died inexplicably, forcing Arnold into his role in charge of his office. Willis told me that everyone suspected Arnold of killing him. He's twisted enough to be thankful for this man's death, but human enough to be guilty about it, surely." I opened the locked file and clicked where it was asking for a password, and I typed in the name.

My finger hesitated above the enter button nervously, and Chiziru ended up pushing it for me. There was a moment of waiting as the little spinning bar loaded and then finally the bar turned green and the file opened. Natsuni let out a triumphant yell of excitement that washed right through me.

"Brilliant!" Chiziru squealed, patting me on the back as Mr Ishida tore the computer away from me, too anxious to find out what was inside. We all watched as Mr Ishida stared at the screen, scrolling through what we had discovered. Katsue was leaning over to get a good look at it as well, but the rest of us simply waited for them to finish. When it seemed to be taking too long for Chiziru's liking she finally spoke up. "What is it?"

Mr Ishida looked up to us and seemed speechless, "There's a lot," he said finally. He looked to Katsue and she seemed to agree that it was the best way to sum it up. "I'm sure we can use this too."

"Damn right we can," Katsue said, taking the memory stick right out of his computer and plugging it into her own. "I've got some editing to do."

The rest of us kind of backed away to make room for the Teenage Wolves who had become Katsue's little sidekicks and knew more about editing than the rest of us. Yutaka seemed to be really having fun with it, and the optimism that was building up in the others was enough to set us all over the edge. I was practically rocking back and forth, desperate to know what it was that we had found. Momoe, Mantarou and Evelen were working away with the world splitting device and arguing about whether or not they should take it apart to understand it first, but Momoe was adamant about keeping it together in case they couldn't piece it together properly.

After about a dozen reminders to Katsue that the blocked signal could easily be blocked again if they didn't finish faster, she finally seemed to understand the urgency and she finished up what she was working on. "Post it!" she demanded of someone who knew what they were doing. Mr Ishida stepped up and began typing away. I didn't think it was wise to be sending it from our exact location, but no one seemed to listen anymore. They were too excited.

I was too.

Finally, Mr Ishida stepped back and the laptop began playing the feed. Everyone in the room silenced and we stared, captivated by the video that was soon to be playing across all televisions in the area.

The video started with the usual opening sequence of Monochromon eating in the Digital World, and then of Garurumon peacefully playing with a Kapurimon that had been lost in the woods, with the soft acoustic version of one of the Teenage Wolves songs playing in the background.

And then it opened to Katsue's voice over a black screen. "Today, the Digital Man is unable to speak to you all because he may be in serious danger. I, the Director, will be taking his place, until further notice." The blackness faded away to video footage of Biyomon attacking the man at the fashion show. "I am sure you are all familiar with this footage, trying to paint this digimon as cruel. Now, watch what happened moments before this incident." The man was back, this time reaching for Hikari and pulling her to the ground where she smashed her head against the stage of the fashion show. Then he was hitting Sora with the stick he had brought with him, and later was trying to get to the baby sleeping in a bundle of clothes. "Here you will see this bird digimon defending her friends, and this infant that this horrible man attempted to harm. Are you all still sure he should have been let out of prison so easily?"

It was clearly thrown together last minute, but it was sure to get the point across anyway.

"Here you will see documented proof, signed by one Benjamin Arnold," Katsue said as a photo of some kind of printed form came onto the screen. "He knew that the weapons they had been creating were able to harm humans as well." Katsue's voice faded and a poor quality sound recording began to play instead.

"EVOLVE," Arnold's voice came. "Everyone in their right mind knows I'm involved with them. I'm not ashamed of my involvement in such a prestigious and revolutionary movement." This was from the footage Katsue had recorded from inside Arnold's base!

"Revolutionary, you say?" Katsue asked. "I heard their goal was actually mass genocide. What do you say about those rumours?"

"They are vastly exaggerated," Arnold dismissed.

"And what of the two women that were hurt by a certain officer within the EVOLVE ranks? Jun Motomiya and Noriko Kawada," Katsue pressed.

"Yes, well, she would be fine if she hadn't jumped in the gun's trajectory. It was her fault." Arnold replied disgustingly.

"You see, these rumours also state that you sent out a mass virus designed to destroy all life in its path, knowingly sending towards a mass of humans, therefore taking the lives of upwards of fifty people. What do you have to say to those allegations?" Katsue really was a decent reporter.

"Yes!" Arnold snapped. I snorted, which seemed disrespectful and probably was, but I knew the recording pretty well, and I knew that Katsue was taking what she needed from it. Arnold would never have his own version of the recording and could never prove that this wasn't the exact conversation. It was sly, it was underhanded, but he deserved it. "Of course we did. Everyone that lived there was scum, monstrosities that needed to be eradicated! The world needed to be destroyed."

"As you can tell," Katsue's voice was back. "Arnold is cruel and spiteful. He wants only destruction and hate to fill the hearts of those on both planets. Are you sure you want to stand behind that? In addition to this, Arnold then invited me to his basement in attempts to have me killed."

There was footage on the screen suddenly of the monsters in his basement. I was on the screen and I felt my face flush. I didn't want to be shown to all those people—and even if I did, I wouldn't want them to know that I'd broken into his workplace... But the footage was genius. Arnold shoved Sora and Yamato in with his Behemoth, and then he shot Neo. There was even footage of Willis being locked in the cage, and of Mari coming in to rescue him.

"These creatures Arnold has created are not humane," Katsue said sharply. "But only because they are lead by a horrible man. He intends to rid the world of digimon, just to replace them with beings that obey his every command. Just like a certain chief of police Sakana Moretsuna. He obeyed Arnold's every command, including those that involved manslaughter."

This footage was probably the worst that there had been so far, and I could barely make out what I was seeing, but it soon became clear as Noriko stepped in front of her partner before being shot by the police officer who claimed to be protecting her kind. Then the footage changed to that of another store's security and Moretsuna was back, aiming his glimmering gun directly toward Miyako's stomach.

"Arnold would have anyone that stood in his way taken out," Katsue said from the monitor. "He wants all those who fight for equality and goodness to be wiped from existence entirely." The footage was of Mari's parents suddenly picketing some kind of social rights group. "You can either stand behind him and his barbaric ways of creating a peace that does not exist, or you can fight against him and stand up for what I know that you know is right." There was a pause and the video shifted to some more peaceful digimon out in a field. "This has been a broadcast from the Digital Man and his followers. We will be back with more information shortly. And thank you for your support."

The video then ended with our symbol, which was just a blue digivice on a black backdrop. "See what I did there," Katsue said proudly. "I thanked them for their support which makes everyone think they're already helping which is going to make them do more. Ha! If Arnold wants to manipulate people, I'll do it right back."

Natsuni tackled her into a hug. "While I don't agree with your methods and I find you highly aggressive, I'm so happy you're here to make these things!" Katsue seemed confused momentarily but decided she was pleased with the compliment and hugged Natsuni back.

Taichi Yagami:

"SORA!" Biyomon screamed as she flew towards the figure that was emerging from the split in reality. As the form got bigger, it became obvious to us that it wasn't just Sora. Neo's arm was draped over her shoulder, his other arm over Yamato's, as they dragged him between them. I frowned, and Dracomon rushed forward to see what was wrong. Gabumon and Jou both raced ahead as well, having caught sight of their partners. I grinned at the sight of Yamato carrying Gomamon under his free arm.

But that grin was short lived.

There was blood staining a large portion of Neo's shirt, and none of them shared their partners' excitement. They all looked afraid. It didn't take long to figure out just why that was. They weren't the only ones that came through that portal. Deformed beasts followed after them. There were large ones, the largest looking like a bear crossed with an alligator, and there were small ones too. A fluffy one that had no eyes let out sharp, high shrieks as it chased after our friend, and was followed by a long, thin snake-like fox creature that's eyes glinted at the sight of the large collection of us. We were new prey, and he looked very hungry. Each creature was a mix of purple and black. A tiny, furry creature with big, black, beady eyes rode on the head of a two headed bird that looked like it was meant to be an ostrich, but somehow its DNA got mixed with that of a velociraptor. A large cross of a gorilla and a moose picked up the fluffy one without eyes and threw it ahead of Sora and the others. It crashed down on top of Dracomon, who had panicked, and stopped moving at the sight of them.

"Dracomon!" Warg shouted, appalled.

"We'll save you," Melga assured him as the pair raced forward. Warg let out a Pepper Breath, to match Megla's Blue Blaster, but Fluffy jumped over their attacks and shrieked like a banshee so loudly that it actually brought them to their knees. It almost brought me to mine, but I was too far away for it to be quite so potent. Warg, Melga and Dracomon were all not so lucky. Sora and Yamato nearly went down too. Sheer force of will to protect Gomamon and Neo kept them moving.

Biyomon, still flying at Sora changed her course and flew over Sora's head instead, glowing brightly as she digivolved into Birdramon in one quick, seamless motion. Birdramon's great, fiery wings beat through the air powerfully, and she bellowed "Meteor Wing!" as she unleashed a barrage of small, flaming meteors that crashed loudly into the ground at the monsters' feet.

The monsters were distracted, working to protect themselves from Birdramon's quick thinking, and that left Sora and Yamato to bring the others towards relative safety. Gatomon and Tentomon flocked over to Sora, excited to see her, and Jou took Gomamon out of Yamato's arms just in time for Yamato to be knocked over by Gabumon. Patamon flew excitedly around Yamato's head. Agumon ran for him too. I would have, but I was too distracted by the sight of Neo's shirt. I heard Mari hiss and I knew that was where she was looking too. It looked bad. Really bad. Jou needed to look at it, because I didn't know how much longer Neo would be able to remain conscious without it being treated. As it was, he was slurring something. The words were all mangled, but I figured it had something to do with Dracomon—who was still out there with Warg and Melga at the mercy of Fluffy.

"Agumon," I called, but Yamato was faster.

"Gabumon, time to digivolve," he told his partner. Gabumon looked like Christmas had come early. I figured he'd thought he was never going to get to hear those words again. I might've spent more time being happy for the little guy if three of our digimon weren't being beaten by an overgrown pompom. Gabumon reached out and squeezed Yamato's hand before he started racing forward, digivolving on the fly just as Biyomon had. He started glowing and shifting, falling forward onto four legs as he grew in size. Yamato didn't waste any time, and started running after him, despite Patamon's calls for him to not be stupid. Garurumon was in front of him, and he jumped up onto the wolf's back even as the wolf continued forward. It was quite impressive considering he'd been out of the game for the last two months.

"I can't let him have all the fun," Sora joked, before looking to Daisuke. "Give me a boost?"

Daisuke was confused, but latched his hands together. I took Neo's arm from her and propped him up against myself, as Sora put her foot on his hands and launched herself up into the air, using him as a stand until Birdramon flew over. Sora wrapped her arms around her partner's giant claw, and lifted herself into the air, contorting herself until she managed to get up into position seated on Birdramon's enormous claws. Sora leaned back and shouted out to Birdramon.

"Am I ever glad to see you," she called up with a teary eyed grin.

"I missed you Sora," Birdramon cried loudly, as they flew off towards the monsters again, sending down a rain of fire, as Birdramon used her Fire Flapping technique. The monsters screamed again, and I was getting a little more excited about our prospects of winning.

It seemed like forever since the last time we'd had a fight on our hands. But even now we weren't fighting against digimon. It felt strange to me, and Miyako's revelation was brought to mind. It shouldn't feel necessary for us to fight against digimon. It was so common place, and it really shouldn't be. She was right, but right now, I didn't know if we'd really get the chance to find out if these could be redeemed or not. I didn't know if they had functioning brains even. It would feel wrong to fight against something or someone that didn't understand what was going on. It felt like fighting against a child. I winced at the thought. Did that make us any better than any of our old foes? They'd fought against us when we didn't know anything either. I'd been eleven, pretending I could lead my friends in a glorious quest to save the world. I was way over my head. Even now I was over my head.

"Gomamon," Jou cried. "I don't want you to fight. I just got you back."

"I know, Jou," Gomamon said, looking sad at the thought of fighting himself. Jou was holding him closely to his chest, and didn't seem likely to let go of his partner any time soon. Gomamon shouldn't have expected any differently. The pair of them had been separated longer than most. Gomamon had been legitimately kidnapped by the DWD—or EVOLVE, I supposed—and we'd pretty much given up hope that he'd ever make it back. "I gotta do it though. Think about the others. We got to see each other again. I gotta fight to make sure the others get that same chance."

"Don't you dare get hurt," Jou ordered, giving in. He knew he couldn't control Gomamon, no matter how much he desperately wished that he never had to let go of him again. "It's Emiko's birthday tomorrow and you can't miss it."

"I wouldn't miss it for the world," Gomamon said. "Do you think I can be my own present, or is she gonna want a toy or something. I'm afraid I don't have one of those on fin. Get it? 'Cause I don't have any hands? HA!"

Jou let out a strangled sigh, "Gomamon..." he said, shaking his head, but the grin on his face betrayed him. Gomamon raced out into the fray, heading towards Dracomon, Warg and Melga who were being assisted by Yamato and Garurumon. Jou watched him for a few minutes before impulse got the better of him. He shook his head and followed after his partner, unwilling to be separated after having just been reunited.

"You'll never take us alive!" Warg shouted excitedly, as he fought against the tiny, furry monster with the beady eyes. "Let's see how you fare against my Claw Attack!" He started swiping wildly with his claws, scaring the monster backwards...right into Melga's path.

"Keep your monster under control," Melga scolded Warg. "I've got one of my own to deal with!"

Melga was trying to wrestle with the alligator-bear, and was not making any headway at all, even with Dracomon at his side. Melga's Horn Attack was paired with Dracomon's Tail Smash, but all it served to accomplish was to tick the alligator-bear off. It snapped its enormous jaw at them, and they dived to the ground out of the way. Veemon ran head on towards it, glowing as he did so, shouting out as he transformed himself, "ExVeemon!" "AeroVeedramon!" "UlforceVeedramon!" By the time he finished transforming, he was within striking distance, and he struck the alligator-bear with his saber, knocking it off its feet. The creature slammed into the ground, and Hawkmon flew overhead, dropping Terriermon down on it.

"Terrier Tornado!" Terriermon shouted, as he spun his ears around, creating a tiny wind storm that slowed his descent onto the monster. When he got within range, he shouted out "Bunny Blast!" as he shot a condensed ball of hot air into the monster's face. The alligator-bear was annoyed, and swatted Terriermon out of the way, sending the tiny dog digimon crashing to the ground, where he rolled into the middle of a battle between Gatomon and a large octopus-crab. The monster wrapped one of its giant tentacles around Terriermon, lifting him up into the air. "Hey, lemme go!"

"I've got ya," Gatomon promised, diving forward with her claws extended. "Lightning Claw!" she shouted, slashing at the tentacle, causing the beast to drop Terriermon. Terriermon scrambled to his feet and let out another Bunny Blast, again not accomplishing much. Hot air wasn't going to get him far in this fight, but he was determined to contribute.

Patamon had made the same decision, and was fighting side by side with Garurumon. "You get that one," he suggested to the large wolf. They were fighting against a monstrous lizard with far too many sharp teeth. "I'll get the next one." The next one turned out to be some sort of skeleton-fish hybrid with wings, and Patamon unleashed the biggest Boom Bubble that I'd ever seen him let out, but all it managed was to turn the fish's attention onto him. And that fish turned out to be a piranha. He let out a howl, as he flew away from the fish's teeth. The fish followed after him, and was lead far away from Garurumon and Yamato. Patamon kept flying until Jou launched Gomamon into the air at the fish. Gomamon wrapped his limbs around it and its wings and the pair crashed down onto the ground, where they rolled to a stop.

"Oh, I wish I could call my fishes," Gomamon growled. "Maybe you'd learn how a real fish acts. But for now I guess I gotta settle with my Claw Attack!" He started swiping at the fish, but the fish continued to flutter backwards, escaping Gomamon's claws.

"Beautiful, darlings," a man's voice called. I nearly dropped Neo in my quest to find him. Neo groaned painfully, and I tried to pay more attention to him and less to the battle going on around us. But it was so hard to do when a monster could jump on us at any given moment.

"YOU!" Sora screamed. "What're you doing here?"

"I had to see my children accomplish their orders, did I not?" the man asked, smiling at the many rookie digimon that were struggling against their foes. I couldn't see Agumon in the bunch yet. I was trusting in his skills, assuming nothing bad had happened yet, because I couldn't exactly get out there to find him. I was holding Neo. Neo who was injured…was that a bullet wound? My mind reeled. What exactly had been happening on Earth? I tried not to jostle Neo, as I looked for Jou. He really needed to get back here. What if the bullet was still in there? I didn't know anything about taking them out. Were you even supposed to remove them without surgery? They did it in the movies, but that didn't mean anything.

"You're a sick man, Arnold," Yamato growled. "Call off your beasts. You're not going to win."

"On the contrary," the man—Arnold—said, holding his hand out beside him. A beast with a long, narrow snout full of pointy teeth moved towards him, rubbing his head against Arnold's outstretched hand. A long, slippery tongue fell out of its mouth as its golden eyes scanned the Temple square hungrily. "With Behemoth on my side, I can never lose."

"We'll see about that," Mari snapped at him angrily. Her voice was so hostile, I was taken aback. I'd heard her angry before, but this was a new level. I realized that she knew him from somewhere, and when I took the time to try and piece it together, I guessed that this was Willis' boss. This was the man that used Willis' designs for Diaboramon to make a collection of creatures even worse than Diaboramon. I tried to lift Neo higher without hurting him. I was pretty sure that this Arnold guy knew what he was talking about. I wasn't about to flee, but if it came down to that, I needed to be ready.

I needed to know where everyone was too. I couldn't leave anyone behind. I wanted each and every one of them to have their chance at a reunion. Daisuke and Kurayami had their son back at the Coliseum waiting for them, and Emiko, Bearmon and Monmon would want to see Gomamon and Jou again—not to mention Momoe on Earth. I wasn't going to keep their families from reuniting. I wanted to see Hikari again, and I would make damn sure I would get that chance before Arnold got one of his beasts to do me in. I held less hope that Rei was still out there, but on the off chance she was, it would be sort of nice to have the chance to see her again too.

Arnold wasn't going to take anything more from us then he already had.

Wormmon was climbing up the Temple wall, spitting out his Sticky Net, trying to coat a monster in enough of it to keep him from advancing further on Betamon and Armadillomon, who it had backed into a corner. Betamon looked terrified, but Armadillomon was trying to remain calm. When the beast was blinded by Wormmon's attacks, Armadillomon rolled tightly into a ball and shot out at the beast, slamming into him with his impenetrable shell, knocking the thing onto the ground. I couldn't figure out what it was meant to be. It didn't matter though. It was stuck in webbing and on the ground. It would be awhile before any of us had to worry about it again.

"Behemoth, it's time to feed," Arnold announced, and I held tighter to Neo.

"Urgh," Neo groaned. I winced, but I wasn't going to let him go.

"Let us rid the world once and for all of those meddlesome digidestined and their digimon pets," Arnold said as though the thought alone was delicious. Murder and mayhem weren't delicious. Apple pie and cinnamon buns were delicious. Those other things just made people's skin crawl. That guy needed to get his head back in the real world.

"Digimon aren't pets," Mari snapped. I looked to her this time, and saw that she, Daisuke and Kurayami were standing with Spring. Spring had her hands buried in her hair, and an agonized look on her face. These monsters were throwing off her concentration. She would never be able to get us through to a different world if she couldn't get her mind wrapped around the thought. I was happy to see that Tapirmon and Labramon had joined them, protecting them from the teeth and claws with attacks of their own.

"Nightmare Syndrome!" Tapirmon shouted, unleashing a collection of nightmares on the unsuspecting monsters. While they were distracted, Labramon raced forward and scratched at them. He sunk his teeth into a leg, but spit it out quickly, repulsed by the taste. Kurayami reached down and patted her partner's head, and he perked back up, getting his second wind.

"Electro Shocker!" Tentomon called, catching my attention. He was fighting alongside Birdramon, like he always did. He seemed to be in his element, and had obviously missed the camaraderie the two shared when they were fighting. They were effortless, knowing each other's intentions before they put their plans in action. I supposed it was a side effect of combining their data into one powerful fighting source. Koushiro and Sora really liked fighting with a combined digimon partner. Eaglemon came out to play more often than just about any of the other fused forms.

"Incoming," Birdramon announced as she swooped down and grabbed Behemoth with one claw—obviously the one without Sora—before chucking him into the air. Behemoth flew through the air, so close to the barrier's limit. My heart stopped, and I thought for a moment about what might happen if only he'd been thrown a little higher. But I shook the thought from my mind. Miyako was right. We couldn't just kill things willy-nilly. Had Behemoth done anything yet, or was he just acting on his master's orders? I couldn't be sure, and I didn't want to make any rash decisions. It wasn't like fighting a digimon opponent. They wouldn't come back. We couldn't make mistakes. These ones couldn't be undone.

Morestuna was already dead, did we really need to add any more deaths to our tally?

No.

Not unless they did something to us first, where it was either that or be killed ourselves. We couldn't stoop to Arnold or Morestuna's levels.

Speaking of Arnold, he was just standing there, smiling maliciously in Mari's general direction, which was really creepy. I kind of wanted to punch that stupid look of his face—and I thought for sure Mari was going to do it, but she stayed where she was, protecting Spring. It was probably a good decision, but at the same time, I really wanted to see her smack him around a little bit.

Beating him up totally didn't count as stooping to his level.

It just didn't.

I couldn't limit myself that far. I couldn't keep the digimon from wanting revenge. I could just limit the extent of that revenge. It sounded better in my head than flat out killing the guy. He wouldn't have to face any justice if we killed him. If we did this right, if we played by the books and kept the casualties we'd caused to an absolute minimum—like, hopefully only Morestuna—we could probably turn the political situation around. We could sway the public onto our side. We'd killed once in self-defense—I was assuming, I mean, Kurayami still hadn't explained the circumstances surrounding his death, but I assumed that's what it was.

Behemoth landed directly in Garurumon's path. Garurumon snarled, and moved to send a Howling Blaster at the creature, but Behemoth was a lot faster than I think anybody anticipated. He darted forward and sunk his large collection of teeth into Garurumon's leg, turning his head so that Garurumon went down, sending Yamato toppling to the ground. Garurumon glowed, and reverted to his rookie state. Gabumon, gripping his injured leg, looked to see Yamato was still on the ground. He wasn't about to let Behemoth get his partner, but I couldn't watch as Gabumon struggled to his feet and send a Blue Blaster Behemoth's direction. Behemoth seemed amused as he sauntered forward to kill Gabumon.

"Gabumon, run!" Yamato shouted, as he forced himself into a seated position. Gabumon glanced at Yamato who was still too close to the beast for comfort, and shook his head. He wasn't going to leave Yamato at the mercy of the monster—not that he would've been able to get very far even if he did try to follow Yamato's advice. He was hurt.

"Poison Ivy!" Palmon screamed. I saw her launch Agumon into the air using her long vines. Agumon let out a loud whoop as he fell towards the creature. I felt my digivice warm up in my pocket and knew he was about to warp digivolve. Those digivolutions felt different, heating the digivices up and making them vibrate. The glow that encompassed Agumon was brighter than a typical digivolution too.

"Agumon warp digivolve to… WarGreymon!"

WarGreymon, still on his downward quest held his claws out in front of him, and started turning until he formed the perfect spiral. Behemoth seemed to realize the raw power my partner held within him, and jumped out of the way before WarGreymon could reach the ground.

"Fall back!" Daisuke called. I wanted to point out that there wasn't much of a point where we were. We had to stay within the barrier, but I'd given the reigns over to him. And as much as I hated to admit being wrong, I realized his reasoning pretty quickly. The monsters were getting too close to Spring still, and she had started screaming—just one long, loud, high-pitched, continuous scream. Her mind was wild, and she needed something that could stabilize it.

"Look out!" Mari shouted, running at me. I was confused, and shifted Neo again, thinking that was what she was yelling at me about. Neo just moaned again, and I sighed. Mari was still coming though, and I closed my eyes, not wanting to know what it was that was waiting behind me. But I couldn't just stand here doing nothing—even if my hands were full with Neo. I turned around and saw a long, narrow monster that looked like a cross between a snake and a fox. It had snake fangs within its fox mouth, and it had its head reared back, ready to snap at me.

I cursed myself for focussing on everything except my own back. I'd really screwed Neo over on this one. I prepared to drop him to the ground before the fox-snake could bite him, but Mari arrived, slamming her heel into the monster's side. It slinked back a few feet, and Mari was yelling at me.

"Get a move on!" she shouted. "I didn't save you just to become that thing's lunch. Go, go, GO!"

I followed her instructions, and sort of dragged Neo with me. Daisuke and Kurayami moved aside for the three of us when we reached the barricade surrounding Spring. UlforceVeedramon had arrived already, clearly trying to lead by example. Labramon had joined too, though he wasn't Labramon anymore. He was Seasarmon.

"Neo!" Dracomon cried, flying at us from nowhere. I had just lowered him to the ground when Dracomon arrived. He leaned over his partner, and cried softly at the sight of all the blood. I got to my feet, letting Dracomon fret over him while I tried to figure out just where the hell Jou was hiding. I spotted him, trying to get Gomamon, Terriermon and Betamon over to the barricade. Betamon was having trouble keeping up with the others, and Jou picked him up, which caused Gomamon to complain, so he picked him up too, and then Terriermon wanted a ride, so he hopped onto Jou's head. The two headed, dinosaur faced bird decided they'd be an easy target, and I shouted out to warn him. But he couldn't hear me over the dinosaur-bird's squawking. He was a sitting duck—and now that I didn't have Neo on my hands, I was moving forward to save him.

Jou was one of—if not the—most important people we had among us right then. He was the doctor. He was the only one with any sort of medical knowledge. I couldn't risk losing him. Not with Neo as bad as he was. I was at the front line, ready to shove my way back out into the fray, but saw that I didn't need to. Armadillomon had seen it, and was causing a distraction for the thing by repeatedly knocking into his long, spindly legs. Eventually, Armadillomon was able to use enough force to knock it off its feet. Then Armadillomon joined Jou, circling around him until he made it to the circle.

I felt sort of useless, but I couldn't exactly take a page from Yamato or Sora's books. WarGreymon wasn't all that big. I didn't want to weigh him down. He was needed in this fight. He was still facing off against Behemoth—Behemoth just didn't like the idea, and wouldn't sit still long enough for WarGreymon to get a good shot in.

Warg and Melga were fighting an overgrown insect with a bird's wings. It also happened to have incredibly sharp pincers on its face. Melga wasn't fast enough when jumping out of the way, and went down. The insect refused to let go of its hold on Melga's leg. Warg wasn't happy at all. He let loose a Pepper Breath, and the insect released his partner in crime—only to turn his attention onto him.

"Oh no!" Tapirmon gasped at my side. He, Gatomon and Palmon were standing as a part of the barricade with Kurayami, Daisuke and their digimon. I supposed I was technically a part of it now too, but I didn't feel like it. Tapirmon wanted to rush forward, but I held my hand out to stop him. He glared at me, but Patamon was already on his way.

Unfortunately, Patamon's Boom Bubble was still pretty much useless.

The insect knocked Patamon onto the ground, and into Melga, who was struggling to move out of the way before anyone else could attack. The only problem with that, was that they were the only small fries still out there. Wormmon and Hawkmon had arrived together, just seconds before. Sora and Birdramon were collecting Gabumon so they could deposit him over in the barricade, where he could get a chance to catch his breath. Yamato was yelling at Arnold, who continued to try and call one of his monsters forward to eat Yamato, just so that he could be rid of him, but Tentomon was always there to deliver a shocking surprise to any that attempted it. WarGreymon was still trying his hardest to kick Behemoth's butt—to no avail.

There was no one ready to save them.

Once again, I got ready to run to them. I actually started running, but I wasn't the only one, and not the closest by far. Kurayami ran out to get them. Daisuke and Seasarmon shouted after her.

"Are you insane?" Daisuke wanted to know.

"Be careful!" Seasarmon urged.

Kurayami reached them before the general population of manmade monsters decided to converge on them. She got Melga up, and was reaching for Patamon when Warg let out a terrified squeak. She looked up, and her eyes widened. Seasarmon and UlforceVeedramon started to break formation, which would leave Spring wide open. Spring seemed to be doing better, but it wouldn't matter if she found the new world if we couldn't get all of our friends to safety.

"AHHHH!" Kurayami screamed, dropping to her knees. A darkness surrounded her, and she continued to scream. Then she looked up, eyes wide open and clear as day. Her face was pale and I could see thin red veins stretched across her cheeks, but she looked calm. She reached out with the darkness using it as though it were a dozen extra arms. She scooped the beasts into the air, wrapping her darkness around them like phantom tentacles, and she threw them into a pile in the corner of the Temple marketplace—not too far from Veemon's standard noodle-selling location.

"You need to put pressure there," Jou called loudly, I heard Dracomon sniffling, refusing to hurt Neo by putting the pressure on the wound. "Mari? Taichi? Can I get a little help?"

I fell back, putting my hands exactly where Jou wanted them to be as I watched over Gatomon's head as Kurayami completely owned the monsters with her freaky darkness powers. I'd actually figured they had been an extension of Fanlgongmon's powers, but it appeared that they belonged to Kurayami herself. It wasn't too strange though. She'd been born in the Dark Ocean, and been gifted with the power of darkness—not just the crest—just as Hikari had been given the power of light. My sister actually lit up like light bulb sometimes. Being able to do this was much cooler—and much more useful.

Kurayami stopped screaming and started to laugh instead. It wasn't a chilly laugh, it was bright and happy. I might've been concerned for a second or more, because of the sheer joy that was coming out of her mouth after utilizing her darkness, but she really seemed like she had it under control.

"A witch!" Arnold screamed, furiously. "How dare you flaunt your demon powers against my children? The digidestined are meant to be pushovers. When did you develop abilities of your own? This isn't right. Children, fight harder. If you want to eat, hunt down your meal!"

His words might've been a decent motivation for his monsters, but they were too thoroughly wrapped up in Kuayami's darkness to be able to move. Kurayami stared at them with a smile on her face. Seasarmon started glowing and digivolved into Cerberumon. It was rather symbolic really, as Kurayami had finally found a way to embrace her crest as she once had. She wasn't afraid anymore. It was kind of amazing. Her hair was dancing wildly around her face, and she looked very much at ease. Daisuke tried to say something to her a couple of times, but the words never quite made it out. He took a deep breath though, and tried again.

"You okay?" Davis called tentatively.

"I'm kind of Superwoman right now," Kurayami said breathily, like she couldn't believe it was happening. "I just used darkness for good. I'm not inherently evil."

"I never thought you were," Daisuke assured her, in awe of his amazing wife.

"I know," she said nodding. "But I needed to prove that to myself."

"But you got there?" he clarified.

"We'll see," she said, and she turned to smile at him. He grinned back and it was all a very touching moment—or it would have been, if we weren't in the middle of being attacked by a collection of monsters that this man decided to piece together in his spare time. No, it was worse than that, because this guy actually got paid to create these abominations. They weren't digimon, they weren't animals. They weren't anything, except bloodthirsty.

"I can do it," Spring announced. "I've breached the barrier between the worlds."

"Then let's get going," Daisuke suggested. He was still happy over his wife's declaration. Spring shook her head though. "What's wrong?"

"This world isn't all that I'd imagined," she whispered, but I still heard her. She was actually a terrible listener. "It is empty. Your friend needs medical attention. Can we really risk taking this journey without knowing what we'll find on the other side?"

"Then don't send us," I suggested. "If this world is as empty as you think, it won't hurt anybody." It wasn't until after I'd spoken that I realized I'd been eavesdropping. Spring sent me a disapproving look, but she also winked at me. I was kind of getting mixed messages from her.

"If my beasts can't get you, I'll do it myself," Arnold snarled, as he took off at a run towards Kurayami. She was too wrapped up in restraining Arnolds monster to be able to do anything. Patamon fluttered forward to send another Boom Bubble out, this time aimed at Arnold. It had more of an effect against Arnold than any of his creatures, but he didn't stop. He tackled Kurayami to the ground, and we all let out a startled gasp as the darkness disappeared in her moment of shock. The monsters were free once again, and Kurayami was fighting off Arnold on her own.

"Send them away," I ordered to Spring. "NOW."

"Okay," she said with a shaky voice. But as she was preparing her magic for their transportation, the flying skeleton-fish flew over the barricade and attacked Spring. She screamed, flailing her arms around, and then things got a little strange.

I knew right away that she'd messed up her spell. The beasts were disappearing, but so were my friends. Cerberumon, Gabumon, Birdramon, Sora, they all disappeared one at a time, until there weren't any left, aside from Neo—whose wound I was still applying pressure to—Spring, WarGreymon and myself. Jou had even disappeared. But then WarGreymon left to join the others, and then Neo. I shared a look with Spring, but lost sight of her after only a second.

I couldn't see much of anything, actually.

It was just an endless sea of white.

Next Time on Digimon Adventure 07: Michael is Enchanted in Sidhendor, as he starts the next arc, between Sidhendor and the Dark Ocean. (With also Cody?)