Chapter 3
"Well? Can you reach them?" Izzy said anxiously into the computer mike. Cody's voice, made choppy by digitalization over the 'Net, was just as worried.
"We still can't get a clear signal," he said, hesitant. "We've tried sending them a message...but they didn't respond...I...think they might be...trouble.....need........help..." The *kkkzzkkcckk* of static had begun to sibilate between his words, breaking up the signal. Izzy hit a few keys, trying to clear the transmission, but it didn't help.
"Cody, what's going on? We're losing you!" he exclaimed into the microphone.
The reply was garbled. ".......can't get........signal...........virus.........." The sound dissolved into static, leaving Izzy staring, stunned, at his screen.
"Okay, that cuts it," he said, turning his chair to address Tai, Sora, and Kari, who were sitting on the bed in Izzy's room and looking anxiously at him. "This is officially weird."
"First Ken and Yolei, now Cody, Davis, and TK," Tai said reflectively. "If I didn't know better, I'd think our team communications were being systematically knocked out."
"Well, you may not know better, but I do," Izzy said firmly. "I took a few readings of the area around where that Digimon disappeared, and of the trenches before you arrived. They both correlate, and so do the readouts I'm getting from the D-Terminal signal wavelengths. Something very bad is loose in the Digital world, and it's somehow gotten onto the Internet and is messing with the D-Terminal transmissions. Whatever it is, though, it's not sentient...just very, very hungry."
"For data?" Tai said, remembering their last similar problem.
"No, Tai," Izzy said. "For...something else. I'm not sure what. It's more destructive than the last one, too. It's not eating, it's just bashing things up. So far it's only messing with our apparatus, but who knows when it'll move on to public domain."
"And all this means...?" Sora said inquiringly. Izzy sighed.
"Folks, we have another virus outbreak on our hands."
"Great, so we just squash it and go along our merry way!" Tai said cheerfully, clapping his hands together.
"It's not that easy, Tai," Izzy said knowledgably.
"I was afraid you were gonna say that," Tai groaned.
"We can't just take out the leader here," Izzy stated. "This virus is spread out, without a definite figurehead like the last one. Furthermore, it's spreading unchecked through our systems. At the rate it's going, we've got less than an hour before it reaches public files, maybe as little as half an hour. More time than most viruses would give us, but still not a lot."
"Well, what do we do to get rid of it?" Sora demanded, beginning to really worry. "We're not just going to let this digital kudzu take over the 'Net, are we?"
"Not if I can help it," Izzy said firmly. "But, Sora, it's not just the Internet at stake."
"Then what-" Kari began, but Izzy cut her off.
"You all saw what that virus did to the Tortomon that attacked Sora."
"Yeah, it made it nuts," Tai said uneasily. "I got *too* good of a look at that thing, and it was completely out of its gourd. It couldn't even talk...not that Tortomon are very smart in the first place, but you know what I mean."
"That's right, Tai," Izzy said, with a sigh. "In fact, according to my readouts, it brought out all of its negative impulses and magnified them several times over. The backlash from all of this was eventual insanity...and the strain of the virus running through its system eventually destroyed the Digimon host."
"Ohh..." Kari breathed, her eyes going wide.
"So this thing could be a mass killer if it got loose in the real world!" Tai said, stunned.
"Exactly. And that could happen at any time. But that's not what I'm afraid of right now," Izzy said darkly. "We've got more immediate danger to worry about."
Sora's hands flew to her mouth. "The others in the Digital world!"
"TK!" Kari cried, looking terrified. "And Yolei!" She shuddered. "I hope they can hold on until we get a line through..."
A sound behind Ken startled him into turning to look, nearly dropping his D-Terminal. The familiar shape standing by a tree reassured him, and he relaxed.
"Oh, hi, Yolei. Didn't you find the others?"
She didn't answer, but kept her eyes on the ground. Ken frowned.
"Yolei? Are you okay?" Still no answer. "It's okay if you didn't find them," he said gently, mistaking her silence for embarrassment. "We'll get out of here."
"Or maybe we won't," Yolei said softly, her voice menacing.
"What?" Ken said, shocked-and Yolei raised her head. A dark cloudiness had filled her beautiful eyes, making them alien and frightening.
"You're going nowhere, Ken," she purred, her face expressionless. Ken swallowed, not sure what was going on here, but feeling a strong impulse to run...
"Um, Yolei? What the heck is wrong with you?" he said, edging away from her.
"All those Digimon you killed," she hissed, her voice slurred and strange in her throat. It had a metallic edge to it, as though it were computer-generated and not her own voice at all. "All those deaths on your hands. Revenge isn't civilized, but it can feel so good..." She grinned, wolfishly: a cruel expression that wasn't hers. "Say goodbye, Ken."
With that warning, she lunged for him, her hands going for his throat. Rolling to the side, Ken tried to leap to his feet and cried out in pain as his ankle buckled beneath him. He fell, rolling over and over until he was stopped by Yolei, who grabbed his arm and yanked him back. He stumbled to his feet, putting his weight on his uninjured ankle.
She struck at his face, and he ducked and grabbed her wrist. Struggling and growling in a voice that was no longer even remotely human, she tried to wrench away, but he held fast.
"Yolei, stop it! Listen to me! Whatever is going on inside you, it's not you! Fight it!" he yelled at her. She paused for a moment, staring into his eyes, and he saw the fog in her own eyes roiling, as if a second battle were being fought inside of her...
She abruptly broke their locked gazes, and without warning brought her free fist up and into the back of his head with a force that made his ears ring and stars dance in front of his vision. If he'd had any doubts about Yolei's part in all of this, they were gone; Yolei on her own had nowhere near that strength. He collapsed, taking her down with him. The world swam for a minute, and when it steadied he was fighting off her hands, still clutching for his throat as she pinned him down. Shoving her sideways, he tried to get out of her grasp, but she wouldn't let go. They rolled across the forest floor, battling for Ken's life and Yolei's soul...
TK gazed out across the lake, silent in his own thoughts. At least an hour had passed since he'd shouted at Davis, and he still hadn't come to terms with himself. As he sat there, mired in his own guilt, he didn't even notice the faint whispering sound behind him...
Davis glared at his D-Terminal, giving it a whack.
"Stupid, useless thing!" he yelled at it, losing his temper.
"I don't think that's going to help, Davis," Cody said matter-of-factly, trying to adjust the tuning knobs on his own. Armadillomon looked over his shoulder, just as confused. "I wonder what's going on with the rest of them..."
Suddenly, TK came striding through the trees, purpose in his step.
"TK!" Patamon exclaimed joyfully, winging up to greet him.
Davis looked up, surprised. "Hey, TQ, where do you think you're going in such a hurry?" He got up to stop him, moving into his path.
TK pushed him aside like a toy mannequin, sending him stumbling off balance.
"Hey! Cut that out, TR! I'm sick of your being a jerk to me! What's with you today?" He scrambled after the retreating back of TK, and grabbed his shoulder...
TK whirled, his fist lashing out viciously. Davis sat down hard, bleeding freely from his nose.
"TK, what are you-aah!" Patamon cried, as TK swung at him, knocking him out of the air. Cody, running up and grabbing TK's arm, was thrown aside like a rag doll. Without further ado, TK turned and headed into the forest again, leaving his friends stunned and hurt behind him.
"TK..." Patamon whimpered, bewildered and frightened as he nursed a painful leg.
"What does he think he's doing?" Cody spluttered, trying to catch his breath, which had been painfully knocked out of him in his fall. Davis wiped blood from his face, breathing hard.
"Don't ask me, but I think he's finally snapped! Back at the lake, I tried to talk to him, and he tried to thunk me with a rock! It was freaky..."
Cody winced. "I remember I used to be afraid that he was becoming a little scary, but this is completely out of line! We'd better get to the Digiport, and fast!"
"The Digiport!" Davis exclaimed suddenly, fear knotting in his stomach. "That's the direction he was heading! I'll bet you anything that that creep is after Kari!"
"Well? Can you reach them?" Izzy said anxiously into the computer mike. Cody's voice, made choppy by digitalization over the 'Net, was just as worried.
"We still can't get a clear signal," he said, hesitant. "We've tried sending them a message...but they didn't respond...I...think they might be...trouble.....need........help..." The *kkkzzkkcckk* of static had begun to sibilate between his words, breaking up the signal. Izzy hit a few keys, trying to clear the transmission, but it didn't help.
"Cody, what's going on? We're losing you!" he exclaimed into the microphone.
The reply was garbled. ".......can't get........signal...........virus.........." The sound dissolved into static, leaving Izzy staring, stunned, at his screen.
"Okay, that cuts it," he said, turning his chair to address Tai, Sora, and Kari, who were sitting on the bed in Izzy's room and looking anxiously at him. "This is officially weird."
"First Ken and Yolei, now Cody, Davis, and TK," Tai said reflectively. "If I didn't know better, I'd think our team communications were being systematically knocked out."
"Well, you may not know better, but I do," Izzy said firmly. "I took a few readings of the area around where that Digimon disappeared, and of the trenches before you arrived. They both correlate, and so do the readouts I'm getting from the D-Terminal signal wavelengths. Something very bad is loose in the Digital world, and it's somehow gotten onto the Internet and is messing with the D-Terminal transmissions. Whatever it is, though, it's not sentient...just very, very hungry."
"For data?" Tai said, remembering their last similar problem.
"No, Tai," Izzy said. "For...something else. I'm not sure what. It's more destructive than the last one, too. It's not eating, it's just bashing things up. So far it's only messing with our apparatus, but who knows when it'll move on to public domain."
"And all this means...?" Sora said inquiringly. Izzy sighed.
"Folks, we have another virus outbreak on our hands."
"Great, so we just squash it and go along our merry way!" Tai said cheerfully, clapping his hands together.
"It's not that easy, Tai," Izzy said knowledgably.
"I was afraid you were gonna say that," Tai groaned.
"We can't just take out the leader here," Izzy stated. "This virus is spread out, without a definite figurehead like the last one. Furthermore, it's spreading unchecked through our systems. At the rate it's going, we've got less than an hour before it reaches public files, maybe as little as half an hour. More time than most viruses would give us, but still not a lot."
"Well, what do we do to get rid of it?" Sora demanded, beginning to really worry. "We're not just going to let this digital kudzu take over the 'Net, are we?"
"Not if I can help it," Izzy said firmly. "But, Sora, it's not just the Internet at stake."
"Then what-" Kari began, but Izzy cut her off.
"You all saw what that virus did to the Tortomon that attacked Sora."
"Yeah, it made it nuts," Tai said uneasily. "I got *too* good of a look at that thing, and it was completely out of its gourd. It couldn't even talk...not that Tortomon are very smart in the first place, but you know what I mean."
"That's right, Tai," Izzy said, with a sigh. "In fact, according to my readouts, it brought out all of its negative impulses and magnified them several times over. The backlash from all of this was eventual insanity...and the strain of the virus running through its system eventually destroyed the Digimon host."
"Ohh..." Kari breathed, her eyes going wide.
"So this thing could be a mass killer if it got loose in the real world!" Tai said, stunned.
"Exactly. And that could happen at any time. But that's not what I'm afraid of right now," Izzy said darkly. "We've got more immediate danger to worry about."
Sora's hands flew to her mouth. "The others in the Digital world!"
"TK!" Kari cried, looking terrified. "And Yolei!" She shuddered. "I hope they can hold on until we get a line through..."
A sound behind Ken startled him into turning to look, nearly dropping his D-Terminal. The familiar shape standing by a tree reassured him, and he relaxed.
"Oh, hi, Yolei. Didn't you find the others?"
She didn't answer, but kept her eyes on the ground. Ken frowned.
"Yolei? Are you okay?" Still no answer. "It's okay if you didn't find them," he said gently, mistaking her silence for embarrassment. "We'll get out of here."
"Or maybe we won't," Yolei said softly, her voice menacing.
"What?" Ken said, shocked-and Yolei raised her head. A dark cloudiness had filled her beautiful eyes, making them alien and frightening.
"You're going nowhere, Ken," she purred, her face expressionless. Ken swallowed, not sure what was going on here, but feeling a strong impulse to run...
"Um, Yolei? What the heck is wrong with you?" he said, edging away from her.
"All those Digimon you killed," she hissed, her voice slurred and strange in her throat. It had a metallic edge to it, as though it were computer-generated and not her own voice at all. "All those deaths on your hands. Revenge isn't civilized, but it can feel so good..." She grinned, wolfishly: a cruel expression that wasn't hers. "Say goodbye, Ken."
With that warning, she lunged for him, her hands going for his throat. Rolling to the side, Ken tried to leap to his feet and cried out in pain as his ankle buckled beneath him. He fell, rolling over and over until he was stopped by Yolei, who grabbed his arm and yanked him back. He stumbled to his feet, putting his weight on his uninjured ankle.
She struck at his face, and he ducked and grabbed her wrist. Struggling and growling in a voice that was no longer even remotely human, she tried to wrench away, but he held fast.
"Yolei, stop it! Listen to me! Whatever is going on inside you, it's not you! Fight it!" he yelled at her. She paused for a moment, staring into his eyes, and he saw the fog in her own eyes roiling, as if a second battle were being fought inside of her...
She abruptly broke their locked gazes, and without warning brought her free fist up and into the back of his head with a force that made his ears ring and stars dance in front of his vision. If he'd had any doubts about Yolei's part in all of this, they were gone; Yolei on her own had nowhere near that strength. He collapsed, taking her down with him. The world swam for a minute, and when it steadied he was fighting off her hands, still clutching for his throat as she pinned him down. Shoving her sideways, he tried to get out of her grasp, but she wouldn't let go. They rolled across the forest floor, battling for Ken's life and Yolei's soul...
TK gazed out across the lake, silent in his own thoughts. At least an hour had passed since he'd shouted at Davis, and he still hadn't come to terms with himself. As he sat there, mired in his own guilt, he didn't even notice the faint whispering sound behind him...
Davis glared at his D-Terminal, giving it a whack.
"Stupid, useless thing!" he yelled at it, losing his temper.
"I don't think that's going to help, Davis," Cody said matter-of-factly, trying to adjust the tuning knobs on his own. Armadillomon looked over his shoulder, just as confused. "I wonder what's going on with the rest of them..."
Suddenly, TK came striding through the trees, purpose in his step.
"TK!" Patamon exclaimed joyfully, winging up to greet him.
Davis looked up, surprised. "Hey, TQ, where do you think you're going in such a hurry?" He got up to stop him, moving into his path.
TK pushed him aside like a toy mannequin, sending him stumbling off balance.
"Hey! Cut that out, TR! I'm sick of your being a jerk to me! What's with you today?" He scrambled after the retreating back of TK, and grabbed his shoulder...
TK whirled, his fist lashing out viciously. Davis sat down hard, bleeding freely from his nose.
"TK, what are you-aah!" Patamon cried, as TK swung at him, knocking him out of the air. Cody, running up and grabbing TK's arm, was thrown aside like a rag doll. Without further ado, TK turned and headed into the forest again, leaving his friends stunned and hurt behind him.
"TK..." Patamon whimpered, bewildered and frightened as he nursed a painful leg.
"What does he think he's doing?" Cody spluttered, trying to catch his breath, which had been painfully knocked out of him in his fall. Davis wiped blood from his face, breathing hard.
"Don't ask me, but I think he's finally snapped! Back at the lake, I tried to talk to him, and he tried to thunk me with a rock! It was freaky..."
Cody winced. "I remember I used to be afraid that he was becoming a little scary, but this is completely out of line! We'd better get to the Digiport, and fast!"
"The Digiport!" Davis exclaimed suddenly, fear knotting in his stomach. "That's the direction he was heading! I'll bet you anything that that creep is after Kari!"