Chapter 16
Back in the computer room, Joe stood behind Izzy's chair, his hands over his eyes as the virus arced toward his friends.
"I can't watch..." he whimpered. The silence of the computer room seemed to stretch indefinitely...
A soft noise caught his ear. It sounded almost like a faint choking sound... Slowly, Joe peered out from between his fingers.
"Izzy? I...is it over yet?"
Izzy was goggling at his screen, slack-jawed with shock.
"J-Joe, c'mere for a second..."
"Why?"
"Because you have to see this to believe it!" Izzy exclaimed, snapping his mouth shut and beginning to type frantically. "Oh, I have so got to analyze this!"
"Huh?" Joe muttered, leaning to look over his shoulder. "What the..."
Then he saw the image on the screen, and his jaw dropped farther than Izzy's.
"If I didn't know better...I'd say that looked like a..."
Izzy nodded. "That's right, Joe. A plant."
When he wasn't immediately struck down by a thousand pounds of seething digital deathtrap, Matt warily opened one eye, then the other. The virus was still there, hovering mere feet from the stolid Sentinelmon...but it was...
Green?
"What on earth...?" Matt murmured, standing up from his sprawled position. He'd ducked for cover at the last second, acting on sheer instinct. Now, as he stood, the virus came into focus again. It was indeed green, although not completely. Most of it was still black, but the green part was growing...
"Matt?" Mimi's voice was thick with confusion. "Are those...rose vines?"
They were indeed. And they were growing at an incredible speed, wrapping around the virus faster than it could multiply, sending shoots deep into it, riddling it with hair-thin roots and clinging to it with long golden thorns. It seemed to writhe within the plant's grasp, shuddering and bucking, but the vines were flexible and held on easily. They had stopped the virus in the very nick of time.
"Whoa..." Matt whispered, staring at the network of vines chaining the virus. "It's totally stopped growing!"
"All right!" Tai shouted gleefully. "How do you like that? A little taste of your own medicine isn't so fun, is it?"
Sora grinned. From the very heart of the plant, right smack in the middle of the thickest vine, protruded the tail end of an arrow.
""Told you so,"" Sentinelmon said with appropriate smugness.
"What an attack!" Agumon said admiringly.
""Can't argue with you there, little friend,"" Sentinelmon said cheerfully. ""But keep watching; you haven't seen the best part.""
Before they could ask what it meant, there was a soft sound like a harp string. The vines quivered, and all over the tons of virus, spots of red and white and gold color blossomed into life.
"Roses!" Mimi squealed.
The virus contracted like a tortured thing, squeezing in on itself and jerking like a beating heart. Then, with a high-pitched keening wail, it dissolved into a billion tiny white sparkles, which silently winked out of existence.
Vines, virus, and all; it was gone.
"Prodigious!" Izzy whooped, pumping his fist in the air.
"I can't believe it," Joe gasped. "All that virus...it's just gone!"
"Joe, we did it!" Izzy cheered. The taller boy grinned, pushing his glasses back into place from where they'd drifted down his nose during the commotion.
"You know," he murmured, "we really did... So I guess there's just one thing left to do."
"What?" Izzy asked.
Joe grinned. "Bring our friends home."
As the last of the virus vanished, TK and Davis let out a shout of triumph.
"YESSS!!"
They exchanged high fives, grinning like maniacs; they'd watched the whole nail-biting episode on Davis's D-Terminal. The sounds of their friends celebrating drifted from the speaker of the little device; Tai's victory whoop, Sora's delighted laughter, Mimi and Matt's voices as they both tried to tell the other how much they cared at the same time.
Then everyone's voices ceased, as their images disappeared from the Net in a soft shimmer of light.
Davis let out a long sigh of relief, grinning at TK. "Well, that's that."
TK sighed as well, but there was more dejection in it than relief. "Not quite..."
Patamon's voice from behind them startled them both.
"Um...TK? You might want to think twice about that..."
"Huh?" TK muttered, half-turning to look over his shoulder...
"Takaishi Takeru," came the familiar voice, scolding him lightly, "you haven't written me off already, have you?"
TK's blue eyes widened, filling with tears as he took in the smiling face of his best friend.
"Kari...?"
Her smile widened. "Angels always come back."
"Kari!!" TK shouted, and then she stretched out her arms for him, and he was there. Davis sat back, watching silently as the reunited pair hugged each other tightly, tears running down their faces as they laughed and cried.
Patamon winged over to land next to the quiet gogglehead.
"They sure look happy, don't they?" the little Digimon said, his voice pleased. Davis nodded.
"Yeah," he admitted, and the corners of his mouth turned up into a smile of his own. "Yeah, they sure do."
Back in the Digital World, Cody was half running, half sliding down the slope toward his friends with Armadillomon in his wake, raising a huge cloud of dust.
"Ken! Yolei!"
Coughing, he struggled out of the cloud to see them sitting with their arms around each other's shoulders, grinning at him.
"Hey, Cody, this whole mess just got settled," Yolei mock-scolded. "Don't go kicking it all up again, will you?"
"You're okay!" the younger boy gasped, as a grin lit up his face. "You guys..."
Ken nodded. "Yup, we're a little worse for wear and tear, but it's nothing fatal. Mind giving us a hand up this slope? I think Yolei's leg might be broken, and my ankle isn't in such great shape either."
"It can't be that bad," Yolei said, trying to move the limb. She let out a hiss of pain. "Okay, so maybe it can," she gasped, with a rueful expression. "I hate to say it, Ken, but you might be right."
Ken nodded. "It's okay. We'll get you back to the Digiport, and once you're back in the human world, medical attention's just a phone call away." Standing up, he grinned, shifting his weight. "Hm. It's not healed by any means, but it's not as bad as it was at first. Here..." He crouched and slid his arms under her knees and shoulders.
"Ken?" Cody said, in an inquiring tone.
"Just help me keep my balance," Ken said, and stood, Yolei cradled in his arms. "Never let it be said that I don't bend over backwards for you, Inoue Miyako." She giggled.
"The thought never crossed my mind."
"Good," Ken said, and with Cody at their side and Armadillomon clearing an easy path, they started the climb back to the world above...
Back in the computer room, Joe stood behind Izzy's chair, his hands over his eyes as the virus arced toward his friends.
"I can't watch..." he whimpered. The silence of the computer room seemed to stretch indefinitely...
A soft noise caught his ear. It sounded almost like a faint choking sound... Slowly, Joe peered out from between his fingers.
"Izzy? I...is it over yet?"
Izzy was goggling at his screen, slack-jawed with shock.
"J-Joe, c'mere for a second..."
"Why?"
"Because you have to see this to believe it!" Izzy exclaimed, snapping his mouth shut and beginning to type frantically. "Oh, I have so got to analyze this!"
"Huh?" Joe muttered, leaning to look over his shoulder. "What the..."
Then he saw the image on the screen, and his jaw dropped farther than Izzy's.
"If I didn't know better...I'd say that looked like a..."
Izzy nodded. "That's right, Joe. A plant."
When he wasn't immediately struck down by a thousand pounds of seething digital deathtrap, Matt warily opened one eye, then the other. The virus was still there, hovering mere feet from the stolid Sentinelmon...but it was...
Green?
"What on earth...?" Matt murmured, standing up from his sprawled position. He'd ducked for cover at the last second, acting on sheer instinct. Now, as he stood, the virus came into focus again. It was indeed green, although not completely. Most of it was still black, but the green part was growing...
"Matt?" Mimi's voice was thick with confusion. "Are those...rose vines?"
They were indeed. And they were growing at an incredible speed, wrapping around the virus faster than it could multiply, sending shoots deep into it, riddling it with hair-thin roots and clinging to it with long golden thorns. It seemed to writhe within the plant's grasp, shuddering and bucking, but the vines were flexible and held on easily. They had stopped the virus in the very nick of time.
"Whoa..." Matt whispered, staring at the network of vines chaining the virus. "It's totally stopped growing!"
"All right!" Tai shouted gleefully. "How do you like that? A little taste of your own medicine isn't so fun, is it?"
Sora grinned. From the very heart of the plant, right smack in the middle of the thickest vine, protruded the tail end of an arrow.
""Told you so,"" Sentinelmon said with appropriate smugness.
"What an attack!" Agumon said admiringly.
""Can't argue with you there, little friend,"" Sentinelmon said cheerfully. ""But keep watching; you haven't seen the best part.""
Before they could ask what it meant, there was a soft sound like a harp string. The vines quivered, and all over the tons of virus, spots of red and white and gold color blossomed into life.
"Roses!" Mimi squealed.
The virus contracted like a tortured thing, squeezing in on itself and jerking like a beating heart. Then, with a high-pitched keening wail, it dissolved into a billion tiny white sparkles, which silently winked out of existence.
Vines, virus, and all; it was gone.
"Prodigious!" Izzy whooped, pumping his fist in the air.
"I can't believe it," Joe gasped. "All that virus...it's just gone!"
"Joe, we did it!" Izzy cheered. The taller boy grinned, pushing his glasses back into place from where they'd drifted down his nose during the commotion.
"You know," he murmured, "we really did... So I guess there's just one thing left to do."
"What?" Izzy asked.
Joe grinned. "Bring our friends home."
As the last of the virus vanished, TK and Davis let out a shout of triumph.
"YESSS!!"
They exchanged high fives, grinning like maniacs; they'd watched the whole nail-biting episode on Davis's D-Terminal. The sounds of their friends celebrating drifted from the speaker of the little device; Tai's victory whoop, Sora's delighted laughter, Mimi and Matt's voices as they both tried to tell the other how much they cared at the same time.
Then everyone's voices ceased, as their images disappeared from the Net in a soft shimmer of light.
Davis let out a long sigh of relief, grinning at TK. "Well, that's that."
TK sighed as well, but there was more dejection in it than relief. "Not quite..."
Patamon's voice from behind them startled them both.
"Um...TK? You might want to think twice about that..."
"Huh?" TK muttered, half-turning to look over his shoulder...
"Takaishi Takeru," came the familiar voice, scolding him lightly, "you haven't written me off already, have you?"
TK's blue eyes widened, filling with tears as he took in the smiling face of his best friend.
"Kari...?"
Her smile widened. "Angels always come back."
"Kari!!" TK shouted, and then she stretched out her arms for him, and he was there. Davis sat back, watching silently as the reunited pair hugged each other tightly, tears running down their faces as they laughed and cried.
Patamon winged over to land next to the quiet gogglehead.
"They sure look happy, don't they?" the little Digimon said, his voice pleased. Davis nodded.
"Yeah," he admitted, and the corners of his mouth turned up into a smile of his own. "Yeah, they sure do."
Back in the Digital World, Cody was half running, half sliding down the slope toward his friends with Armadillomon in his wake, raising a huge cloud of dust.
"Ken! Yolei!"
Coughing, he struggled out of the cloud to see them sitting with their arms around each other's shoulders, grinning at him.
"Hey, Cody, this whole mess just got settled," Yolei mock-scolded. "Don't go kicking it all up again, will you?"
"You're okay!" the younger boy gasped, as a grin lit up his face. "You guys..."
Ken nodded. "Yup, we're a little worse for wear and tear, but it's nothing fatal. Mind giving us a hand up this slope? I think Yolei's leg might be broken, and my ankle isn't in such great shape either."
"It can't be that bad," Yolei said, trying to move the limb. She let out a hiss of pain. "Okay, so maybe it can," she gasped, with a rueful expression. "I hate to say it, Ken, but you might be right."
Ken nodded. "It's okay. We'll get you back to the Digiport, and once you're back in the human world, medical attention's just a phone call away." Standing up, he grinned, shifting his weight. "Hm. It's not healed by any means, but it's not as bad as it was at first. Here..." He crouched and slid his arms under her knees and shoulders.
"Ken?" Cody said, in an inquiring tone.
"Just help me keep my balance," Ken said, and stood, Yolei cradled in his arms. "Never let it be said that I don't bend over backwards for you, Inoue Miyako." She giggled.
"The thought never crossed my mind."
"Good," Ken said, and with Cody at their side and Armadillomon clearing an easy path, they started the climb back to the world above...