Chapter 4
"Yolei, don't give up!" Ken shouted as they fought. Yolei hissed like an animal, kicking and flailing at him with all four limbs. Her hand caught his cheek, skittering across it, and her fingernails drew blood. He winced, sucking in his breath suddenly, and she used the distraction to slam her fist into his head. He kicked out, pushing her off of him, and stumbled to his feet; his ankle screamed with pain, but he ignored it.
Yolei stood dizzily across from him, breathing heavily. Ken felt the ground roll under his feet as he tried to stay standing.
"You can beat this, Yolei," Ken pleaded, trying to catch her gaze again. "I don't want to fight you!" He had to do something, something to help her, but he couldn't think with the waves of pain shooting up his leg like cold fire. "Don't let this thing control you like this! You're strong, remember? I don't want to hurt you!"
Yolei snarled and leapt forward, smashing him against the trunk of a nearby tree; his head jerked back and hit the tree, and he reeled for a moment. Something inside him snapped, and he shoved her backward, nearly knocking her over.
"Stop it!" he yelled, whether to Yolei or to the force controlling her he didn't know, and spun her around, shoving her again and pinning her against the tree with both hands. It was Yolei's turn to crack her head painfully on the bark of the tree. Stunned, she stared up at him, and a flicker or the real Yolei slipped through to him in her frightened eyes. Shaking with helplessness and anger and fear for them both as he looked back, Ken suddenly felt revelation shoot through his mind.
The Crest of Love.
The purifying power of the crests.
The only way to save her.
Before he could think twice and begin to doubt, Ken leaned forward and kissed her.
She struggled in his arms for a muddled, confused moment...and then suddenly relaxed. From the edges of his vision, Ken saw a black haze diffuse from her, dissolving in a starburst of dying evil. Relief filled him, and he silently cheered. Then he was distracted by her arms, coming up to circle his neck.
"Thank you," she murmured against his mouth, and kissed back. He was surprised to feel tears beginning to run down her face, and her body shaking with the release of fear.
*Well, call me a DemiDevimon if I'm not going to try and comfort her,* Ken thought a bit dizzily, and proceeded to do just that.
"It's getting worse, isn't it?" Kari stated unhappily, looking over Izzy's shoulder. The young techie sighed.
"I'm afraid so. I can't think of what to do..."
"The Internet!" Tai yelled suddenly, standing up. "Izzy, get Matt on the phone!"
Izzy didn't ask questions, even though he had no idea what Tai was talking about. A second later, Tai was waiting impatiently for Matt to pick up the telephone.
"Hello, Ishida residence."
"Hi, Mr. Ishida," Tai said. "Is Matt there?"
"I'm sorry, he's out at a band rehearsal. Can I take a-"
"Thanks, Mr. Ishida!" Tai interrupted, hanging up the phone. Picking it up again, he quickly dialed the number for the backstage section of the city concert hall, where the Young Wolves tended to practice. "C'mon, be there, be there..." he whispered, crossing the fingers on his free hand.
"Hello?"
Music sounded in the background. It was the Young Wolves, all right.
"Hi, this is Tai Kamiya. Is Matt there?"
"You mean Yamato?" the unfamiliar female voice said. "Sure, I'll get him right on." He heard the receiver being covered by her hand as she shouted something. Then the music stopped and Matt's voice came in over the line.
"Hi, Tai. Could you call back later? I'm a little busy-"
"Matt, there's another virus loose on the 'Net, and it's in the Digital World, too."
A pause, and then... "Where are you? I'll be right over."
"Izzy's house, and step on it, dude! This thing's growing fast!"
"Right!" They hung up, and Tai sat back down on the bed with a sigh.
"I hope this works..."
Slamming out of the concert hall and pulling on his jacket at the same time, Matt skidded down the front steps...and ran smack into someone coming the other direction. Shopping bags flew in all directions.
"Ow! Hey!"
"Sorry, Miss, I didn't mean to..." Matt said hurriedly, and then trailed off as he recognized the girl's face. "Mimi? What are you doing here?"
"What are you doing here?" she challenged in return, putting her hands on her hips.
"My band practices here," Matt said bluntly. "And I'm kind of in a hurry to get to Izzy's house, so if you don't mind..."
"Yes, I mind! I come all the way to America for an audition, which for your information is tomorrow, and when I come to scope out the place's acoustics, I get barreled into by Wolf Man the Near-Sighted!"
Matt glanced down at the packages littering the sidewalk. "An audition? With who?"
"An agent, that's who. She heard my voice on a tape I did with a few friends last year and wanted to hear me in person."
Matt whistled. "Sweet...so, what's with all the stuff?"
Mimi blushed. "I did a little shopping on the way..."
"A 'little' shopping?" Matt said incredulously. "Oh, whatever. Here, you'd better come with me. I'll help you get your stuff picked up."
"I can do it myse-ow!" Mimi yelped as they leaned over at the same time and cracked heads. "Careful!"
"Sorry..."
"So, why exactly do I need to go with you anywhere, let alone Izzy's house?" Mimi said skeptically as they gathered up the bags and boxes.
"There's another virus on the loose."
"You're kidding..." Mimi said, her eyes going wide. "I missed the last one, but Tai said it was pretty bad..."
"Pretty bad doesn't cover it," Matt said frankly. "We're going to need all the help we can get, which is the only reason, and I do mean *only* reason, that I'm recruiting you."
"Oh, thanks a lot," Mimi said huffily, snatching a bag out of his hands.
"Hey, I just meant that you're not much of a fighter," Matt said defensively, taking it back. "Let me get that. We can both carry some of this stuff. We'll never get there if you insist on holding it all."
Mimi scowled, but let him take a share of the shopping bags. They hurried off down the street towards the Izumi apartment.
As Matt and Mimi burst through the door of Izzy's room, they were greeted by a frantic Tai.
"What took you so long?" he asked Matt, glaring at him. "Oh, hi, Mimi," he added in a distracted tone. "I didn't know you were in the country."
"I had an appointment," Mimi said vaguely, not wanting to give the sometimes-tactless boy any ammunition in case the audition didn't work out.
"Whatever," he said absently, leading them into the room. "Hey, Sora, Mimi showed up."
"Oh, all right!" Sora yelped, leaping to her feet to give her friend a hug. "It's good to see you again!"
"It's good to be here. Do you have a place where I can put this stuff?"
Sora had just enough time to goggle at the mass of shopping bags before they were all interrupted by a surprised shout from Izzy.
"Oh, no!"
"What? What is it?" Tai demanded, whirling around. "What happened?"
Izzy was staring openly at the monitor. "I have good news, bad news, and really bad news," he said weakly.
"Um, what's the good news?" Sora said carefully.
"The virus left our apparatus. We can communicate again."
"Great!" Tai said jubilantly. "And the bad news?"
"It left our stuff because it all migrated into the public domain," Izzy said with a groan.
"What?!" Tai exclaimed. "But...you said it would take half an hour! It's barely been fifteen minutes!"
"This virus is displaying a growth pattern unlike anything I've ever seen," Izzy explained. "It's gathering velocity at alarming rates as it spreads! It's almost as though it were receiving an energy feed from somewhere!"
"Huh?" Tai, Sora, Matt, and Mimi chorused.
"It's growing faster and faster the more space it covers, like some outside force was pumping it with extra energy," Kari translated.
"Oh, wonderful," Mimi said darkly. "What about the really bad news?"
Izzy turned his chair to face them, worry in his eyes.
"When I noticed the migration beginning, I did a quick scan of major areas of Tokyo. There's an anomaly on a street near the concert hall that resembles a black mist of some sort. It could be a manifestation of this virus."
"So, what do we do about it?" Matt asked.
Tai stood up from where he'd taken a seat on the bed. "I have an idea."
A chorus of groans came from his friends.
"Hey, it's a good idea!" Tai insisted, glaring around the room. "Remember that time when we got translated into Internet data, Matt?"
"How could I forget?" Matt shot back. "Why?"
Tai turned to Izzy. "Izzy, you were there. You probably have all sorts of readings on what happened. Can you do it again?"
"I suppose I could replicate the effect," Izzy said slowly. "But why..."
"Where are our Digimon?" Tai asked him.
"Patamon is acting as guide to TK, Davis and Cody. Otherwise, they're having a well-deserved day off."
"I hate to mess with their vacation time, but we're going to need them," Tai said. "Can you contact Jennai and have him send them to us?"
"Better yet, he can translate Agumon and Gabumon right onto the 'Net," Matt said, stepping forward. "We'll meet them there."
"So you're in?" Tai asked, just to make sure.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Matt assured him with a cocky grin. "I've been in retirement way too long."
"Great! We can attack the virus on its own level-the Internet!" Tai exclaimed. "Uh, Izzy, it is vulnerable to our Digimon attacks...isn't it?"
"It should be, according to my readings," Izzy said dubiously.
"Perfect. We'll blow it out of the digital water!"
"It's not great, but it's the best plan I've heard so far," Izzy admitted. "Okay, we'll do it, but you two should have at least one more person along as backup. We could call Joe-"
"I'll do it."
They all turned to stare at the speaker.
"Mimi?" Kari said, stunned. "Have you gone nuts?"
"Are you aware that of all the places we need to send Digidestined, the Internet is the most dangerous?" Izzy said carefully. Mimi nodded, a surprisingly fierce look in her eyes.
"I know. I want to prove that I *can* fight when I put my mind to it!"
Matt gulped. "Mimi, what I said back there...I'm sorry about it, but when I'm in a hurry I just tend to spit out whatever I'm thinking without stopping to, well, think-"
"Exactly," Mimi agreed. "So, aside from your manners or lack thereof, that proves that you really do think that I'm a sissy. I'm coming along, Matt. Don't try and stop me."
Matt shrugged. "Okay, I guess...but don't say we didn't warn you."
"I'll be fine," Mimi said confidently. "Now let's get going."
Izzy held up his hands. "Whoa, whoa, slow down, Xena. I have to get a program up and running that'll do the translation first."
"Xena?!" Mimi snapped, putting her hands on her hips. Fortunately for Izzy, at that moment a chime sounded from the computer, and everyone came over to look, effectively shielding him from Mimi's wrath.
"You've got an incoming message," Tai said, pointing out the obvious. Izzy nodded, and clicked his mouse over the Accept button. A second later, a window containing Yolei and Ken's worried faces appeared on the screen.
"Izzy!" Ken exclaimed. "I'm glad the D-Terminal *finally* decided to work..."
"What have you guys been doing?" Sora asked with a frown, noticing their collection of bruises and scrapes. "It looks like you got beaten up!"
"You could say that," Ken said.
"We'll tell you later," Yolei said at the same time, blushing.
Ken glanced at her. "We'll tell you *never*," he muttered, blushing a little himself.
Mimi giggled; no one else seemed to pick up on the 'hint', to Ken and Yolei's mutual relief.
"Anyway, we've got some serious problems over here!" Ken barreled on, changing the subject. "There's some sort of killer mist on the loose; Yolei told me all about it, and it has some nasty effects!"
"You're telling me? It's a virus, Ken. It's been attacking our equipment signals and ruining our communication. If we don't stop it soon, it's going to spread all through the Internet-"
"It's already spreading here!" Yolei blurted, looking haunted. "It's all over the place-we can barely go anywhere without running into another cloud of it!"
"Oh, prodigious," Izzy muttered, putting a hand to his head. "Um...try to avoid it, and get back to the Digiport-"
"Hold on!" Tai interrupted. "Don't avoid it, you guys. Use your D-Terminals to call your Digimon, and then track down the mist and destroy it! Your Digimon attacks should work against it."
"Are you sure-"
"Positive. If we don't get rid of this stuff soon, we'll never catch up with it."
Ken looked carefully at Tai's serious expression. "Right. We'll do that, then. Yolei, is Hawkmon anywhere nearby?"
"We'll find out in a minute," Yolei said, her eyes narrowing. "I've got a score to settle with that stuff."
"Okay, so you guys can take care of the Digital World. We can send you backup once Davis, Cody and TK get back. Matt, Mimi, and I will take the Internet, and we'll send someone to have a look at that animal-whatsit-"
"Anomaly," Izzy corrected, glancing up from some sort of window that he had begun typing frantically in.
"Whatever... To look at that thing by the concert hall. Any volunteers?"
"I will," Kari spoke up. As Tai began to protest, she glared at him. "I'm a big girl, Tai. I can take care of myself. Plus, I can take photos of it to bring back." She held up her digital camera.
"Well...I guess so," Tai said reluctantly. "Just be careful."
"I will," she assured him. He sighed, looking less than convinced.
"Anyway, Sora, you should call Joe and get him over here. With his help, you and Izzy can hold down the fort and be backup just in case...oh, and send the others on to wherever they're needed when they get here, okay?"
"Sure," Sora agreed.
"Okay, we'll get on it, then," Ken said resolutely. "Not a moment to lose and all that good stuff, right?"
"Exactly," Matt agreed.
"Perfecto," Yolei said with more than a hint of irony in her tone, rolling her eyes. "I work best under pressure...Yolei out."
The image vanished, just as Izzy raised his fists in triumph.
"Prodigious! I've got it!"
"Got what, a case of the sillies?" Kari said in amused confusion.
"No! I've got a makeshift program cobbled together. It's not great, but it should be able to get the three of you there and back again. To be honest, I don't think I *could* make it carry a fourth person," he admitted sheepishly. "Not on this kind of notice. It's hard enough to format it for three when I'm hurrying like this."
"The master programmer does it again!" Matt crowed, clapping the diminutive alpha-nerd on the back. "Don't worry about it, Izzy; it's good enough for me."
"And the rest of us," Mimi agreed. "Enough standing around; let's go!"
"Just let me program your Digivice signatures into the computer...you do have them with you, don't you?" Izzy asked.
"Right here," Tai said, holding his up. Matt and Mimi did the same.
"Prodigious," Izzy said distractedly, typing away at an incredible rate. "It'll just take a second...there!" He grinned. "Ready?"
"Ready," they chorused.
"Then why waste time? Good luck, you guys."
He reached for the keyboard, bringing up a window to give them a view of the Internet and typing in the initiating string of numbers.
"Tai!" Sora cried suddenly. "Be careful..."
"I wi-"
Izzy pressed Enter, and with a flash of light, the three Digidestined were pulled by their Digivices...right through the computer screen...and into the Internet.
"Yolei, don't give up!" Ken shouted as they fought. Yolei hissed like an animal, kicking and flailing at him with all four limbs. Her hand caught his cheek, skittering across it, and her fingernails drew blood. He winced, sucking in his breath suddenly, and she used the distraction to slam her fist into his head. He kicked out, pushing her off of him, and stumbled to his feet; his ankle screamed with pain, but he ignored it.
Yolei stood dizzily across from him, breathing heavily. Ken felt the ground roll under his feet as he tried to stay standing.
"You can beat this, Yolei," Ken pleaded, trying to catch her gaze again. "I don't want to fight you!" He had to do something, something to help her, but he couldn't think with the waves of pain shooting up his leg like cold fire. "Don't let this thing control you like this! You're strong, remember? I don't want to hurt you!"
Yolei snarled and leapt forward, smashing him against the trunk of a nearby tree; his head jerked back and hit the tree, and he reeled for a moment. Something inside him snapped, and he shoved her backward, nearly knocking her over.
"Stop it!" he yelled, whether to Yolei or to the force controlling her he didn't know, and spun her around, shoving her again and pinning her against the tree with both hands. It was Yolei's turn to crack her head painfully on the bark of the tree. Stunned, she stared up at him, and a flicker or the real Yolei slipped through to him in her frightened eyes. Shaking with helplessness and anger and fear for them both as he looked back, Ken suddenly felt revelation shoot through his mind.
The Crest of Love.
The purifying power of the crests.
The only way to save her.
Before he could think twice and begin to doubt, Ken leaned forward and kissed her.
She struggled in his arms for a muddled, confused moment...and then suddenly relaxed. From the edges of his vision, Ken saw a black haze diffuse from her, dissolving in a starburst of dying evil. Relief filled him, and he silently cheered. Then he was distracted by her arms, coming up to circle his neck.
"Thank you," she murmured against his mouth, and kissed back. He was surprised to feel tears beginning to run down her face, and her body shaking with the release of fear.
*Well, call me a DemiDevimon if I'm not going to try and comfort her,* Ken thought a bit dizzily, and proceeded to do just that.
"It's getting worse, isn't it?" Kari stated unhappily, looking over Izzy's shoulder. The young techie sighed.
"I'm afraid so. I can't think of what to do..."
"The Internet!" Tai yelled suddenly, standing up. "Izzy, get Matt on the phone!"
Izzy didn't ask questions, even though he had no idea what Tai was talking about. A second later, Tai was waiting impatiently for Matt to pick up the telephone.
"Hello, Ishida residence."
"Hi, Mr. Ishida," Tai said. "Is Matt there?"
"I'm sorry, he's out at a band rehearsal. Can I take a-"
"Thanks, Mr. Ishida!" Tai interrupted, hanging up the phone. Picking it up again, he quickly dialed the number for the backstage section of the city concert hall, where the Young Wolves tended to practice. "C'mon, be there, be there..." he whispered, crossing the fingers on his free hand.
"Hello?"
Music sounded in the background. It was the Young Wolves, all right.
"Hi, this is Tai Kamiya. Is Matt there?"
"You mean Yamato?" the unfamiliar female voice said. "Sure, I'll get him right on." He heard the receiver being covered by her hand as she shouted something. Then the music stopped and Matt's voice came in over the line.
"Hi, Tai. Could you call back later? I'm a little busy-"
"Matt, there's another virus loose on the 'Net, and it's in the Digital World, too."
A pause, and then... "Where are you? I'll be right over."
"Izzy's house, and step on it, dude! This thing's growing fast!"
"Right!" They hung up, and Tai sat back down on the bed with a sigh.
"I hope this works..."
Slamming out of the concert hall and pulling on his jacket at the same time, Matt skidded down the front steps...and ran smack into someone coming the other direction. Shopping bags flew in all directions.
"Ow! Hey!"
"Sorry, Miss, I didn't mean to..." Matt said hurriedly, and then trailed off as he recognized the girl's face. "Mimi? What are you doing here?"
"What are you doing here?" she challenged in return, putting her hands on her hips.
"My band practices here," Matt said bluntly. "And I'm kind of in a hurry to get to Izzy's house, so if you don't mind..."
"Yes, I mind! I come all the way to America for an audition, which for your information is tomorrow, and when I come to scope out the place's acoustics, I get barreled into by Wolf Man the Near-Sighted!"
Matt glanced down at the packages littering the sidewalk. "An audition? With who?"
"An agent, that's who. She heard my voice on a tape I did with a few friends last year and wanted to hear me in person."
Matt whistled. "Sweet...so, what's with all the stuff?"
Mimi blushed. "I did a little shopping on the way..."
"A 'little' shopping?" Matt said incredulously. "Oh, whatever. Here, you'd better come with me. I'll help you get your stuff picked up."
"I can do it myse-ow!" Mimi yelped as they leaned over at the same time and cracked heads. "Careful!"
"Sorry..."
"So, why exactly do I need to go with you anywhere, let alone Izzy's house?" Mimi said skeptically as they gathered up the bags and boxes.
"There's another virus on the loose."
"You're kidding..." Mimi said, her eyes going wide. "I missed the last one, but Tai said it was pretty bad..."
"Pretty bad doesn't cover it," Matt said frankly. "We're going to need all the help we can get, which is the only reason, and I do mean *only* reason, that I'm recruiting you."
"Oh, thanks a lot," Mimi said huffily, snatching a bag out of his hands.
"Hey, I just meant that you're not much of a fighter," Matt said defensively, taking it back. "Let me get that. We can both carry some of this stuff. We'll never get there if you insist on holding it all."
Mimi scowled, but let him take a share of the shopping bags. They hurried off down the street towards the Izumi apartment.
As Matt and Mimi burst through the door of Izzy's room, they were greeted by a frantic Tai.
"What took you so long?" he asked Matt, glaring at him. "Oh, hi, Mimi," he added in a distracted tone. "I didn't know you were in the country."
"I had an appointment," Mimi said vaguely, not wanting to give the sometimes-tactless boy any ammunition in case the audition didn't work out.
"Whatever," he said absently, leading them into the room. "Hey, Sora, Mimi showed up."
"Oh, all right!" Sora yelped, leaping to her feet to give her friend a hug. "It's good to see you again!"
"It's good to be here. Do you have a place where I can put this stuff?"
Sora had just enough time to goggle at the mass of shopping bags before they were all interrupted by a surprised shout from Izzy.
"Oh, no!"
"What? What is it?" Tai demanded, whirling around. "What happened?"
Izzy was staring openly at the monitor. "I have good news, bad news, and really bad news," he said weakly.
"Um, what's the good news?" Sora said carefully.
"The virus left our apparatus. We can communicate again."
"Great!" Tai said jubilantly. "And the bad news?"
"It left our stuff because it all migrated into the public domain," Izzy said with a groan.
"What?!" Tai exclaimed. "But...you said it would take half an hour! It's barely been fifteen minutes!"
"This virus is displaying a growth pattern unlike anything I've ever seen," Izzy explained. "It's gathering velocity at alarming rates as it spreads! It's almost as though it were receiving an energy feed from somewhere!"
"Huh?" Tai, Sora, Matt, and Mimi chorused.
"It's growing faster and faster the more space it covers, like some outside force was pumping it with extra energy," Kari translated.
"Oh, wonderful," Mimi said darkly. "What about the really bad news?"
Izzy turned his chair to face them, worry in his eyes.
"When I noticed the migration beginning, I did a quick scan of major areas of Tokyo. There's an anomaly on a street near the concert hall that resembles a black mist of some sort. It could be a manifestation of this virus."
"So, what do we do about it?" Matt asked.
Tai stood up from where he'd taken a seat on the bed. "I have an idea."
A chorus of groans came from his friends.
"Hey, it's a good idea!" Tai insisted, glaring around the room. "Remember that time when we got translated into Internet data, Matt?"
"How could I forget?" Matt shot back. "Why?"
Tai turned to Izzy. "Izzy, you were there. You probably have all sorts of readings on what happened. Can you do it again?"
"I suppose I could replicate the effect," Izzy said slowly. "But why..."
"Where are our Digimon?" Tai asked him.
"Patamon is acting as guide to TK, Davis and Cody. Otherwise, they're having a well-deserved day off."
"I hate to mess with their vacation time, but we're going to need them," Tai said. "Can you contact Jennai and have him send them to us?"
"Better yet, he can translate Agumon and Gabumon right onto the 'Net," Matt said, stepping forward. "We'll meet them there."
"So you're in?" Tai asked, just to make sure.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Matt assured him with a cocky grin. "I've been in retirement way too long."
"Great! We can attack the virus on its own level-the Internet!" Tai exclaimed. "Uh, Izzy, it is vulnerable to our Digimon attacks...isn't it?"
"It should be, according to my readings," Izzy said dubiously.
"Perfect. We'll blow it out of the digital water!"
"It's not great, but it's the best plan I've heard so far," Izzy admitted. "Okay, we'll do it, but you two should have at least one more person along as backup. We could call Joe-"
"I'll do it."
They all turned to stare at the speaker.
"Mimi?" Kari said, stunned. "Have you gone nuts?"
"Are you aware that of all the places we need to send Digidestined, the Internet is the most dangerous?" Izzy said carefully. Mimi nodded, a surprisingly fierce look in her eyes.
"I know. I want to prove that I *can* fight when I put my mind to it!"
Matt gulped. "Mimi, what I said back there...I'm sorry about it, but when I'm in a hurry I just tend to spit out whatever I'm thinking without stopping to, well, think-"
"Exactly," Mimi agreed. "So, aside from your manners or lack thereof, that proves that you really do think that I'm a sissy. I'm coming along, Matt. Don't try and stop me."
Matt shrugged. "Okay, I guess...but don't say we didn't warn you."
"I'll be fine," Mimi said confidently. "Now let's get going."
Izzy held up his hands. "Whoa, whoa, slow down, Xena. I have to get a program up and running that'll do the translation first."
"Xena?!" Mimi snapped, putting her hands on her hips. Fortunately for Izzy, at that moment a chime sounded from the computer, and everyone came over to look, effectively shielding him from Mimi's wrath.
"You've got an incoming message," Tai said, pointing out the obvious. Izzy nodded, and clicked his mouse over the Accept button. A second later, a window containing Yolei and Ken's worried faces appeared on the screen.
"Izzy!" Ken exclaimed. "I'm glad the D-Terminal *finally* decided to work..."
"What have you guys been doing?" Sora asked with a frown, noticing their collection of bruises and scrapes. "It looks like you got beaten up!"
"You could say that," Ken said.
"We'll tell you later," Yolei said at the same time, blushing.
Ken glanced at her. "We'll tell you *never*," he muttered, blushing a little himself.
Mimi giggled; no one else seemed to pick up on the 'hint', to Ken and Yolei's mutual relief.
"Anyway, we've got some serious problems over here!" Ken barreled on, changing the subject. "There's some sort of killer mist on the loose; Yolei told me all about it, and it has some nasty effects!"
"You're telling me? It's a virus, Ken. It's been attacking our equipment signals and ruining our communication. If we don't stop it soon, it's going to spread all through the Internet-"
"It's already spreading here!" Yolei blurted, looking haunted. "It's all over the place-we can barely go anywhere without running into another cloud of it!"
"Oh, prodigious," Izzy muttered, putting a hand to his head. "Um...try to avoid it, and get back to the Digiport-"
"Hold on!" Tai interrupted. "Don't avoid it, you guys. Use your D-Terminals to call your Digimon, and then track down the mist and destroy it! Your Digimon attacks should work against it."
"Are you sure-"
"Positive. If we don't get rid of this stuff soon, we'll never catch up with it."
Ken looked carefully at Tai's serious expression. "Right. We'll do that, then. Yolei, is Hawkmon anywhere nearby?"
"We'll find out in a minute," Yolei said, her eyes narrowing. "I've got a score to settle with that stuff."
"Okay, so you guys can take care of the Digital World. We can send you backup once Davis, Cody and TK get back. Matt, Mimi, and I will take the Internet, and we'll send someone to have a look at that animal-whatsit-"
"Anomaly," Izzy corrected, glancing up from some sort of window that he had begun typing frantically in.
"Whatever... To look at that thing by the concert hall. Any volunteers?"
"I will," Kari spoke up. As Tai began to protest, she glared at him. "I'm a big girl, Tai. I can take care of myself. Plus, I can take photos of it to bring back." She held up her digital camera.
"Well...I guess so," Tai said reluctantly. "Just be careful."
"I will," she assured him. He sighed, looking less than convinced.
"Anyway, Sora, you should call Joe and get him over here. With his help, you and Izzy can hold down the fort and be backup just in case...oh, and send the others on to wherever they're needed when they get here, okay?"
"Sure," Sora agreed.
"Okay, we'll get on it, then," Ken said resolutely. "Not a moment to lose and all that good stuff, right?"
"Exactly," Matt agreed.
"Perfecto," Yolei said with more than a hint of irony in her tone, rolling her eyes. "I work best under pressure...Yolei out."
The image vanished, just as Izzy raised his fists in triumph.
"Prodigious! I've got it!"
"Got what, a case of the sillies?" Kari said in amused confusion.
"No! I've got a makeshift program cobbled together. It's not great, but it should be able to get the three of you there and back again. To be honest, I don't think I *could* make it carry a fourth person," he admitted sheepishly. "Not on this kind of notice. It's hard enough to format it for three when I'm hurrying like this."
"The master programmer does it again!" Matt crowed, clapping the diminutive alpha-nerd on the back. "Don't worry about it, Izzy; it's good enough for me."
"And the rest of us," Mimi agreed. "Enough standing around; let's go!"
"Just let me program your Digivice signatures into the computer...you do have them with you, don't you?" Izzy asked.
"Right here," Tai said, holding his up. Matt and Mimi did the same.
"Prodigious," Izzy said distractedly, typing away at an incredible rate. "It'll just take a second...there!" He grinned. "Ready?"
"Ready," they chorused.
"Then why waste time? Good luck, you guys."
He reached for the keyboard, bringing up a window to give them a view of the Internet and typing in the initiating string of numbers.
"Tai!" Sora cried suddenly. "Be careful..."
"I wi-"
Izzy pressed Enter, and with a flash of light, the three Digidestined were pulled by their Digivices...right through the computer screen...and into the Internet.