Chapter Seven

Inju ran to the east. She could hear fighting in the distance. She could tell that the Digipure of Friendship was there, but was surprised that she could sense the Digipure of Hope in the same area. She jumped up on top of a house and saw the battle. There in front of her, were Ishida Yamato and Takaishi Takeru fighting side by side against the Digicursed of Enmity and Despair.

"Hand of Fate!" cried Angemon.

"Ice Wolf Claw!" shouted Metalgarurumon.

Both attacks missed their targets. Steelfinrirmon and Archdevimon closed in for an attack.

"They need help," said Inju to herself.

Inju rushed at Steelfinrirmon. Before he could finish his attack, she had thrown him in the air. She jumped up after it and kicked it down.

"Look at that!" exclaimed Takeru.

"What?" wondered Yamato. Yamato turned to see the six-inch tall Inju beating the living daylights out of Steelfinrirmon. "Whoa."

"Is that a digimon? I haven't seen anything like it before. And it's taking on a mega with ease!" said Takeru.

"Steelfinrirmon, stop playing around and finish the job!" yelled the Digicursed of Enmity. She had long, dark blue hair with light blue streaks.

Inju grabbed Steelfinrirmon again, spun around and threw him at the Digicursed of Enmity, causing Steelfinrirmon to de-digivolve into Frostfinrirmon.

"Fubuki!" screamed the Digicursed of Despair. He had shaggy blonde hair. "That's it! Archdevimon, go giga!"

Archdevimon digivolved past its mega-level form and into Sadisticdevimon.

"What's that?" asked Takeru.

"Takeru, I believe that if I digivolve to my mega-level form, I should be able to beat it," said Angemon.

"There is no need," said Inju. "I was built to be able to defeat a giga. A mega wouldn't stand a chance against one."

"A giga?" wondered Yamato. "How strong is that?"

"One-thousand-twenty-four times stronger than a mega-level digimon," replied Inju. She started to attack.

Inju rushed at Sadisticdevimon, which moved out of her way. She turned and jumped at it, knocking it down with one blow. Sadisticdevimon swiped at Inju with its claws, but missed every attack. Inju continued to deal damage to Sadisticdevimon with a barrage of attacks. Sadisticdevimon was getting angry.

"Claw of Despair!" it cried, lunging at Inju with its claws. The attack landed and sent Inju to the ground.

Inju looked down at her side. There was a gash where she had been hit. Wires had been severed, and sparks were flying out of the wound. To make matters worse, her digital engine had been damaged. She couldn't win the fight in her current condition. She needed help. Without warning, an ear-splitting noise came from Inju. She had called for help.

"Zetsubou, what's going on? What's that noise?" asked Fubuki. She was still pinned underneath Frostfinrirmon.

"That thing that took out your digimon is dying," responded Zetsubou.

"What's wrong? Are you alright?" asked Takeru.

"Get your families, quick. My master will be here soon to escort you to safety. I will keep this digimon busy," replied Inju.

"But..."

"Go!"

Takeru and Yamato rushed into their house, following Inju's orders.

"Sadisticdevimon, finish her off!" yelled Zetsubou.

Sadisticdevimon attacked again, but Inju simply dodged the blow.

"Inju!" cried a voice. It was Eugene. He leapt off of a nearby building and ran over to Inju. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Sister!" yelled a voice. It was Bethany.

"Don't call me sister!" Inju yelled back.

Takeru and Yamato came out of their house with their family. They were surprised to see Eugene and Bethany next to Inju.

"Bethany, it's fun time again," said Eugene. Bethany's hair turned blood-red, and her eyes turned fiery. She laughed maniacally, then charged at full speed against Sadisticdevimon. "Inju, damage report."

"Digital engine has been severely damaged. Energy loss estimated at one point two gigabytes per second. Estimated time before function loss... thirty minutes," responded Inju. As she said this, Bethany's blows to Sadisticdevimon reduced it to its mega-level form, Skulldevimon.

"That's not enough time to fix it, it looks like I'll have to transfer your data to a new frame."

"Excuse... me... who are... you?" Yamato asked, struggling to remember his English.

"Huh? Oh, I am Eugene Carter, Digipure of Logic. I suppose you are the Digipure of Friendship?"

"You can speak Japanese?"

"I can speak many languages."

Inju spoke. "That is the Digipure of Friendship," she said pointing to Yamato, "and the younger one is the Digipure of Hope." Her ribbon turned lavender as she spoke.

"Not good, she's getting tired. Her energy is depleting fast." Eugene looked over at Bethany, who had already reduced Skulldevimon to its rookie-level form, Demidevimon. "Bethany, that's enough." Bethany stopped. Her hair returned blonde and her eyes to normal. She ran back to Eugene.

"Is she going to be alright?" asked Mrs. Takaishi.

"If I can transfer her data in time, then yes. We must hurry. Bethany, I need you to scan for the remaining digipure."

"Scanning for digipure!" yelled Bethany. Like she had done before, she scanned the surrounding area. "None present!" she said, blankly.

"Widen the scanning area."

"But I just scanned all of Japan!"

"…I see. We'll have to regroup for now. Lead me to Beth, okay?" Bethany started to return to Beth's location. "Listen up. Follow me and I'll get you to safety," Eugene told Yamato and the others. They listened and followed Eugene. Zetsubou started after them. "Note to any digicursed following us," began Eugene. "I'll kill you if you take another step."

Yamato and the others stopped and looked back. Zetsubou stood there for a moment, clenching his fist in anger, turned, then left. Yamato, Takeru, and their family continued on, following Eugene. They soon met up with Beth and the Inoue family.

"Beth..." started Eugene.

"Not right now," Beth responded, holding her head in pain. "I had a hard time with Ikusa."

"Ikusa?"

"The Digicursed of War."

"Oh."

"THAT STUPID PURPLE HAIRED FREAK!" Miyako looked at Beth, startled. "Not you."

Eugene grabbed his digivice and created a portal in front of them. "Enter here and you will be safe."

"Wow! What is that?" asked Miyako.

"She seems to have gotten better fast..." remarked Beth.

"This is an interdimensional portal. It leads to a safe haven that I created for the digipure, their families, and their..." Before Eugene could finish, Miyako had already entered the portal. "...digimon."

Together, Takeru, Yamato, and the others walked in, followed by Beth, Eugene, and Bethany.