I jumped out of the Laptop and into the local network as soon as it connected. The satellite hovered over my right shoulder, connecting me to Gabi. Hopefully this time around, we wouldn't have any troubles. I passed through a few other access points but ignored them all.

It had taken a while, but I was starting to be able to tell where a connection led by the looks of it. Enough to know I was sailing past things that weren't PCs.

After a couple of minutes of searching through the tiny network, I had already found a connection that looked right. I forced it open and floated through to the other side.

"Gabi…" I whispered through the satellite, "I think I found the right place.

Then normal parts of a PC were all here. The glass roads with circuity, the panels storing programs and data, and the void holding it all. What I also saw was a giant red orb in the center, with a thousand black cables exploding out of it.
Each of them snaked out, wrapping around the roads, coiling around the programs, making sure to touch each and everything in sight.

"So that's what ransomware looks like," I heard Gabi say from the other end of the satellite. "How do you want to do this?"

"Well I could start slashing at stuff, but that would take way too long." I poked one of the cables next to me, watching as it twitched and a spark of electricity ran through it. "We'd be better off heading to the center and doing something…"

"Look out!" I jumped as I saw something flash near my feet. I looked down and saw a couple of cables sweeping the glass road after me. I touched back down for a split second before jumping away. I kept jumping a few more times until I was clear of any moving cables.

"Well that was close," I sighed while making sure not to touch any of the other cables around me. The last thing I wanted was to do that again. "Going to have to be careful."

"Good luck, and stay safe," Gabi said as I started making my way up the glass roads towards our destination. I was slow, deliberate work, careful, and measured. I had a couple of close calls, times when I almost touched a cable here and there, but I managed to climb up to where the big red core was without getting caught.

"Okay, I made it this far, now what?" I perched down on all fours at the edge of the glass road, the core floating only a few feet in front of me. "I don't exactly have a way to hit it from here."

"Hmm…" I glanced over at the satellite, wondering what Gabi had in mind. Maybe he had a program he could use? "I think I have an idea."

And as soon as he said that, the satellite unlocked itself from me and started floating over to the core. I settled in as Gabi took his time to scan the core from every possible angle. From time to time, the satellite would stop, get in closer to a particular part, then move back and keep going. After a couple of minutes, the satellite came back.

"Find out anything? I asked as I got back up on two feet.

"Well I have good news, bad news, and worse news." I narrowed my eyes and braced myself. "The good news is that there is something that might be the off switch for this whole thing. A huge panel with a couple of buttons on it, including one labeled 'ransom paid'. I'm pretty sure hitting it will get rid of this whole thing."

"Okay, now hit me with the bad news," I glanced past the satellite towards the red core. I could already guess what the bad news was going to be.

"Well, the bad news is that it's on the other side of the core. So you would have to jump across to it and get to the other side before you could do anything. And I spotted a couple of spots where more cables could come out, so you'd have to be careful while you're doing it."

"And that's the worst news?" I looked back at the core. "That doesn't sound too bad, just get to the other side and press a button right?"

"Well no, that was all the bad news. The worse news is that above the console is a giant lock icon. So you'll have to find a way to get past that." I grit my teeth in an annoyed grin. Of course, there had to be a catch. "Here's a picture of it."

The satellite expanded out into a screen as I got a look at my target. It was just like Gabi had described, a console with a couple of buttons with some sortof security lock on top of it. A pretty fragile looking one too…

"I think I have an idea. I'm going to try to get over there and try it out. Just keep your finger hovering over that recall key." I said as I walked back to give myself the best running start I could.

"Alright, just be careful. I'll be ready to call you back if anything goes wrong." I dropped down to all four and started dashing towards the edge. I lept off and brought my claws back.

"Gazi Claws!" I roared as my claws stretched out and started glowing white. I landed on the core and sank them into the cables, latching on and staying in place. "Made it!"

"Behind you!" I heard something whooshing behind me as I dug out of my claws and swung to the side with my other one. A split-second later, a cable crashed into where I'd just been. I put my feet on it to keep my steady as I swung back in with my free claw and started climbing. I made it to the top of the core as I heard a couple more cables swinging at me. I undid both claws and scrambled to the top just as they crashed into the orb.

"Okay, now time for the risky part," I called out as I ran to the other side of the core. I jumped off, turning in midair until I was facing the core. My eyes shifted downwards and narrowed. Had to time this just right… there.

"Gazi Claw!" I called out as I swung my left claw, digging into the core and coming to a stop right next to the panel. I raised my other claw and took aim. "Gazi Claw!"

I swung down with my free claw, slicing through the thin lock and leaving the console out in the open. I undid the free claw as I heard more cables whooshing through the air. I glanced back and saw how far they were.

"Not fast enough!" I growled as I curled up my paw and smacked the 'ransom paid' button. As soon as I did, the core began to glow. I let go with the other claw and kicked off the core as fast as I could. I started falling as the core disintegrated and the cables started to fade…

"What is that?" I spotted something as I landed on a glass road. It looked like a small ball of light. After a second, it started turning into a flat white object with a couple of lines on it.

"I think it's…" Gabi was cut off as the object went flying towards me…

No, it wasn't going towards me. It was going towards the program on the same glass road as me.

"Gazimon, whatever you do, you need to catch that thing," Gabi spoke and I moved, getting on all four and making a mad dash towards the program. The white object got closer and closer, almost making it to the program when I leaped at it, claws outstretched.

"You're mine!" I roared as I brought my claws down and around the object, gripping it into a hug before crashing onto the ground. I took a few deep breaths before carefully unwrapping my arms to get a better look at my prize.

"So what is it?" I asked as the satellite came in to get a better look at it. Gabi was silent for a few seconds, but just as I was about to get worried I heard it through the connection. Gabi was doing everything in his power to hold back his laughter.

"This, Gazimon, is an email," he finally said after calming down "one designed to automatically mail itself when the ransom is paid if I had to guess. Mind opening it up for us?"

It took a minute for him to explain to me how to exactly open the email, but as soon as I did the contents spilled out for us to see. The message itself was kind of useless. Just a few sentences stating that client number eighteen had paid their ransom and that agent black had removed the ransomware.

No, the important part was on the very top of the email, away from the main message. It was an email address one belonging to the person behind all this if Gazimon had to guess.

"Jackpot, we got you now," Gabi said through the satellite. "Start heading back with that email, I think our work here is done."

I crumbled the email back into a smaller, more portable form, before putting it away and making my way back to the network.

"We're so glad you stopped by Roxane," I fought back the urge to scowl at the use of my real name. I needed to stay positive if I wanted to make sure Gabi's plan worked. I should have demanded some sort of reward for helping him out with this…

"It was the least I could do for family. Tommy looked really broken up over what happened." I cringed back at the display from earlier today at school. Hopefully, his parents wound't find out he'd spent half the day hiding underneath a staircase, missing a bunch of classes.

"I just don't understand that boy," My aunt sighed as she took another sip from the teacup in front of her. I took the chance to take one of my own. My Aunt may have been a bit overbearing and nosey, but at least she made really good tea. "Why is he getting worked up over some silly little game."

Wait game?

"Uhm, Aunt Chrisey… you do know what ransomware is right?" Oh boy, if his parents were under the impression that it was all some game and Tommy hadn't done anything to convince them otherwise…no wonder he was in a bad spot.

"Oh it's some kind of game right? And you have to beat it under a certain amount of time. I just don't understand why he wants to beat it so badly. He even asked us for a thousand dollars to do it."

I sighed and mentally cursed Tommy for what felt like the one-hundredth time today. What followed was a near ten minute long process of explaining the concept of ransomware to Aunt Chrissy. A process that mostly involved my Aunt getting increasingly horrified the further along I went.

By the time I was done, the poor woman looked outright scandalized.

"So yeah… that's what Tommy's going through right now." I took another sip of tea, finishing off the cup before it could get any colder. "But I do have some… good news. You see…"

"So let me see if I understand this." I froze as my aunt's words chilled my ears. "Some criminal… has taken control of my baby boy's computer, and is demanding a ransom or else everything on it gets deleted."

I got the sudden sense I needed to be careful with my words here. I hadn't seen my Aunt angry like this too many times before, but each time I had could be classified as a 'defining childhood moment'. What could I say that wouldn't set her off…

"Yes."

She stormed off upstairs, leaving me all by myself. I looked back down at my cup, and then to the tea kettle. I reached out for it and quickly found it empty.

"Should have asked for a reward," I sighed before putting the kettle back. "I should ask for one… maybe some time with Pagumon…" Despite everything, I got a goofy smile as I thought of the cute little gray blob. I'd been a little too overwhelmed the first time I'd met her to properly appreciate her, but in the time since I'd learned just how adorable and hugable she was.

I got brought out of my daydreaming by a scream from upstairs. Probably should go check up on that…

A few minutes later, I was crushed by my Aunt's hug as Tommy cried in front of his now free PC.

"…And let that Gabriel boy know he's invited over as soon as possible. If it wasn't for his connection, who knows what would have happened."

I made sure I was out of sight before rolling my eyes just as my aunt tightened the hug again. That was it, I was getting my time with Pagumon out of this.