Episode 3 time~ I like the way the last chapter ended, but you guys probably didn't, having to wait a week to see what's going on~ Sorry, but if you've been following me for awhile, you should know how much of a bitch I am when it comes to stuff like this (and isn't that how a lot of Digimon episodes end?). Anyway, here we go~

Miyuki: "So, something pretty weird happened. This person claiming to be the 'Spirit of the Internet' showed up in my room and brought me into the web. I guess there are these things called Digimon that are trying to take it over. I got a Digimon partner, DemiDevimon, who's a Virus like the Digimon trying to control the internet. We just kinda wandered for awhile, but we finally managed to run into these other people. Somehow, though, I don't think this is going to end well..."


"I'll ask again," Hana said. "Who are you?"

"Miyuki," the brunette replied. "What about you?"

Kiira was about to speak when Palmon's eyes fell on the Digimon on Miyuki's shoulder. "Be careful," she warned. "That's DemiDevimon, he's a Virus!"

The girl and her partner looked at each other. This was going downhill, and fast. If things kept going like this, they'd find themselves in a battle, and Miyuki didn't really like her odds.

"So, what do we do?" Kiira asked, looking to Hana for an answer. The blonde seemed to be thinking for a moment, probably judging the best course of action.

"We take him out," she said, readying her Digivice, just in case she needed it.

"Poison Ivy!" Palmon yelled, vines reaching out to grab the Virus, smacking Miyuki a bit in the process.

DemiDevimon immediately flew off his partner's shoulder. He didn't want her to get hurt by any more attacks meant for him. "Demi Dart!" he yelled, aiming at the plant Digimon.

"DemiDevimon, no!" Miyuki yelled. He was only making things worse... He was making them seem like an enemy. "Wait!" she yelled as Labramon seemed to be charging up an attack. "You've got us all wrong!"

"That guy's a Virus and he's attacking us! I think we get it just fine!" Hana retorted. Yumi and Kiira looked at each other, unsure. This was another human here in the internet. But at the same time, she was partnered with a Virus. He was fighting, but only because Palmon had made the first move.

"Diamond Storm!" Renamon yelled, hitting her target perfectly.

"I'm telling you, you're making a mistake!" Miyuki said, taking a step forward. She was probably putting herself in a lot of danger, but she had to stop this before she lost her Digimon. They might have only just met, but the little bowling ball had really grown on her. When the battle continued on, she looked behind her. It looked clear... "Come on, DemiDevimon, we're leaving!"

The Rookie looked back at her, just barely dodging Labramon's RetrieverG. She was right. This was not a battle they could win. Without another thought, he flew toward her and they began to retreat.

Hana gripped her Digivice tighter, ready to pursue. A hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"Let her go," Kiira suggested. "We have more important things to worry about. And if she really is some kind of problem, I'm pretty sure we'll run into her again."

The blonde stopped, going over what Kiira said. "Alright," she finally relented. "For now, we have to keep looking."

"We know that Viruses have the ability to infect Data Types, at least in the websites they live in," Yumi commented. "Maybe we can take care of more of that. Who knows? We might even find more information."

"Alright," Hana said with a nod. She looked down the tunnel, in the opposite direction Miyuki had gone. "Let's get going."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Miyuki looked back, relieved to see that the others hadn't followed her. Sitting down, she leaned her back against the wall, staring at the zeros and ones zooming by. "I don't want to do that again..." she said.

"Me, neither," DemiDevimon agreed. They'd been at an extreme disadvantage, so escape had definitely been the best option. "So, what are we supposed to do?" he asked, looking at her. He had once again settled himself on her shoulder. "With them running around here, too, we're in trouble."

The human put her head in her hands. "What we need is some way to convince them that we're not their enemy..." she said. "It would probably all be a hell of a lot easier if we could all actually work together. You know, strength in numbers."

"Instead, we're on our own..." DemiDevimon agreed. "This sucks."

"You can say that again," his partner agreed.

"This sucks," he repeated. She rolled her eyes and flicked his forehead.

"Dork..." She gave him a teasing smile but it quickly fell as a familiar feeling came over here. "Okay, trouble's coming."

"The other humans?" DemiDevimon asked.

She shook her head. "No, something else. I don't really know what, but..." She was cut off when a pale bluish purple, furry creature dropped from the ceiling. Miyuki was on her feet in an instant, DemiDevimon flying off her shoulder.

"Name: Gazimon. Classification: Virus. Threat: Minimal."

"Okay, this shouldn't be too bad, right?" the brunette asked.

"Hopefully not," the Rookie replied. "Demi Dart!"

Gazimon dodged out of the way, jumping up and wrapping its claws around DemiDevimon. It opened its mouth. "Electric Stun Blast!" it yelled as a black gas spilled from its mouth. DemiDevimon froze up, paralyzed.

"Shit," Miyuki muttered trying to figure out what to do now. Gazimon turned its attention to her. DemiDevimon wasn't going anywhere any time soon. It walked towards her, and every step filled her with more dread than the last. She wanted to run, but she couldn't leave her partner here. She focused on the Virus's left side, and once she made to move, she knew it thought she would go that way. It was already moving to its left when she ran straight past its right, making a beeline for DemiDevimon. Scooping him up, she smacked his head a few times before he shook it a few times.

"Thanks," he said. He wasn't sure why that worked, but he wasn't complaining. He turned back to his opponent. "This is between you and me. Leave her out of this." His eyes narrowed as he flew forward. "DemiDevi Claw!" He dove on Gazimon like a bird of prey, latching onto its ears and flying straight up. Once he deemed himself high enough, he flipped and tossed the other Virus into the air, turning and arming himself. "Demi Dart!" He hurled the syringe, and once it hit, Gazimon was destroyed, its data streaming into Miyuki's now-open Digivice.

As soon at it was gone, DemiDevimon flew back down to her shoulder and she slid to the ground. "Damn, that sucked."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

"Found another one," Palmon said, pointing.

"Let's go," Labramon encouraged, already walking toward the hole that would no doubt lead to a website.

"Hold on," Hana called out, making the dog Digimon stop. "I think we all remember what happened the last time we just walked blindly through one of these things."

Yumi nodded, adjusting her glasses. "I would rather not get kidnapped by a Virus-infected Digimon again, thank you very much."

"Well, at least this time we have a Champion on our side to protect us," Kiira commented, glancing over at Renamon, who simply nodded.

Hana paused for a moment. Kiira had a point, and they wouldn't get anywhere. And they owed it to their country, and quite possibly the world, to stop these smaller Viruses, and they wouldn't be able to take on whatever was causing all this. A Digimon able to control all of this must be extremely powerful. They had no hope like they were now. "Alright," she finally relented. "Let's go."

Once they entered, they found themselves in a vast, seemingly empty desert.

"Okay..." Kiira said. "Now what?"

"We start walking, I guess," Hana said with a shrug. She looked at Renamon. "What kind of Digimon do you think we'll see in a place like this?"

The Rookie thought for a moment. "We are likely to see Digimon known as Monochromon, but we should be careful. They're all Champion Digimon."

"Got it," her partner replied. "Don't piss off the Digimon. We'll try."

"Um..." Yumi began. "If they're Champions... and get infected with a Virus like Shurimon and the Ninjamon were... then how are we supposed to pull this off?"

Everyone thought for a moment before Labramon spoke up. "Guess we'll find out if it happens."

"I feel better already," the hacker said sarcastically.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

They'd been walking for what felt like an hour when they finally saw signs of life. Unfortunately, said life was heading in their direction, closing in quickly. The Digimon each took a battle stance, just in case.

The creatures around them slowed, surrounding them. They looked a bit like dinosaurs, with single horn on their head and armor all along their backs.

"Name: Monochromon. Classification: Data. Threat: Medium."

"What are you doing here?" one of the Digimon asked.

Hana raised her hands in a placating manner. "Relax," she said. "We're not here to hurt you or anything like that. We came here because the Viruses have been taking over our internet, so we're trying to stop that."

"The last place we went, the Digimon were infected with a Virus," Kiira told them. "So please, be careful."

The Monochromon all studied them, though the Rookies seemed to relax a bit, feeling that the threat of danger had passed. "Do you have a protector?" Palmon asked them after a moment.

"How do you know about the protectors?" one of the Monochromon asked.

"When we were in the other website," Labramon began, "they had a protector, too. Shurimon."

The Digimon nodded and turned its head. "Come with us," he said. "He would like to meet you."

The humans gave each other nervous looks. This could end well, or it could end very badly.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

When they arrived at their destination, they were face with a tall humanoid figure made of fire. He turned, looking down at them. "So, you are the humans that have entered this place," he said.

Hana nodded, stepping forward. "That's right," she said. "My name is Hana, and these are Kiira and Yumi. Our human government sent us here to get the Viruses out."

"We hoped that we might be able to get some information," Kiira added. And save you guys from a Virus, if we need to, she added silently.

"I'm afraid we don't know much," the large Digimon said. "But you're welcome to stay and regain your strength."

The girls looked at each other nervously and Hana bit her lip. The last time they had been offered that did not end very well.

Almost seeming the sense the pause in conversation, Yumi's Digivice opened. "Name: Meramon. Classification: Data. Threat: Medium."

Meramon's bright blue eyes fell on the small device. "I see you have Digivices. Does this mean that you are Digi-Destined?"

"What does that mean?" Hana asked. Their partners looked at each other. Why had they never given that any thought?"

One of the Monochromon, the one that had led them there, said, "A Digi-Destined is someone chosen by an unknown higher power to partner with a Digimon and save the Digital World. Perhaps, in this case, your internet."

"I don't think you could call us that," the blonde confessed. "We were hand-picked by our government. No 'unknown higher power' there." She held up her Digivice. "I'm pretty sure they ended up programming these things for us."

"I've never heard of such a thing before," Meramon said thoughtfully. "This isn't the Digital World, however, so I suppose it may be different here."

"Well, since all of the areas are connected through a large tunnel, that doesn't surprise me," Yumi commented. "In the Digital World, it's probably just all connected normally, right? One area just kind of leading into the next one?"

Meramon nodded. "Yes," he told her. "It was quite strange for us when we first arrived."

"Did you all just appear in these website when you first showed up?" Hana asked. The Champion shook his head.

"No," he replied. "We all appeared in what you call 'the tunnel'. We all found these portal that brought us to where we live now."

Renamon watched the humans carefully during the conversation. Humans, she had guessed, didn't do well in this kind of heat for too long. They had begun to slow on their way here. The only thing that had kept them going was probably the promise of getting some answers. "Is there somewhere cooler we can talk?" she asked.

Glancing back at the humans, Meramon nodded. "Yes. Even though it is bare here, we do have a small oasis nearby."

"I could go for some water," Kiira commented.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

"What's that, do you think?" Miyuki asked DemiDevimon. They'd been walking for a while and had come across a hole in the tunnel.

"I'm not sure, but anywhere's better than here," the Rookie commented. That was definitely true. The brunette hated waiting around for another Virus to drop in on them.

"Alright, let's go," she agreed, heading toward it with her partner perched on her shoulder once again.

They arrived on a mountain path. "That's a long way down..." the human commented. "Where are we, a website?"

"I think so," DemiDevimon answered.

"I wonder what one," Miyuki pondered before taking a few steps to the side, staying close to the rock wall behind her. Falling down a mountain was not on today's agenda.

The had just found a larger bit of rock to stand on before they saw a figure in the distance, flying straight toward them. The human groaned. "I have a bad feeling about this," she muttered, and by now, she'd learned to trust these 'bad feelings'. They'd all been right so far.

"Aerial Attack!" she heard. On instinct, she ducked and DemiDevimon took off, flying above. The blast hit inches above her head. She looked up and took out her Digivice. She wanted a good idea of what she was dealing with.

"Name: Unimon. Classification: Vaccine. Threat: Medium."

"Great..." she muttered. "A Vaccine who probably thinks we're here to kill it or something." As soon as the Digimon came into view, she yelled, "Wait! We're not what you think we are!" She really didn't want to have to go through this twice in one day, but hopefully this would go better than the last one did.

"That Digimon of yours is a Virus, what more is there to know?" Unimon asked. "No doubt, you were pulled to their side, so you're just as much a threat!"

"Wait!" the human yelled, throwing one hand out while holding up her Digivice with the other. "You know what this is, right?"

The attacking Digimon paused. "A Digivice..." he said quietly. "Why do you have one?"

"Some guy just appeared in my room yesterday and told me to come here. This thing showed up when I wound up out there." She jerked a thumb to the hole she'd come through, indicating the connection tunnel. "I'm not sure, but I think that makes me a Digi-Destined, right?"

"I would... assume so," he said slowly, landing next to her. Luckily, the ledge was large enough to accommodate both of them. "But why would a Digi-Destined be partnered with a Virus?" he asked as DemiDevimon returned to his normal place on his partner's shoulder.

"I don't really approve of what the other Viruses are doing," the Rookie informed him. "I guess that's why I'm helping to stop them."

Unimon considered him for a moment. "I see," he finally said. "Why are you here?"

"To be honest, we just wanted to get out of that tunnel," Miyuki confessed. "But while we're here, can we ask a few questions?"

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Yumi smiled as she leaned against the tree she'd been sitting under. She was definitely not an outdoors person. She liked being in her room, preferably with her computer or laptop. It was nice to be able to sit back like this and relax. "Hey, Labramon?" she asked her partner, who was sitting on the other side of the tree.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"How long do you think this whole thing will take?" she asked. "I mean, my parents know where I am and what I'm doing, but they're probably really worried about me."

Labramon sighed. "I don't know. I hate to say it, but probably a really long time. This isn't going to be easy."

"I know..." the lavender haired girl said. "I just wish I had a time frame."

"Hopefully, no longer than a few months," Kiira said, sitting down against another tree across from her. "A few weeks would definitely be pushing it, but I don't think we'll be here for a year."

"I hope not," Yumi replied, resting her head on her chin. "This is probably some huge, government secret, so my friends probably think I just disappeared or something."

Kiira frowned. Her own friends probably thought the same. She definitely wasn't the type of person who would just run away, but when she was out of school and completely off the radar for a few months, she knew people would start to wonder... "This sucks," she stated plainly, causing a small laugh from everyone else. It wasn't necessarily funny, but laughing at it was better than letting it bring them down.

Hana glanced up at the sky to see the daylight fading. "Great," she muttered. "Desert are freezing at night."

"Think we could sleep near Meramon?" Palmon joked.

"If we could get a fire started, we should be fine," Renamon pointed out. She looked to one of the Monochromon nearby. "Could you start a small fire for us?" she asked.

He nodded. "I would suggest putting some stuff together away from the oasis," he advised. "I don't want to burn the whole thing down."

"Alright," Hana said with a nod before the group began taking small fallen branches and leaves a little ways away.

"Volcanic Strike!" the Monochromon yelled, causing the branches and leaves to easily catch fire.

"We'll have to keep feeding it through the night, so let's sleep in shifts," Labramon suggested. He looked to Yumi. "Wanna take the first watch?"

The girl shrugged. "Why not? I'd rather not be woken up in the middle of the night for second or third."

"We can take second," Hana volunteered before looking at Kiira. "Guess that leaves you with third."

"That's fine with us," she said. "Right, Palmon?"

"Yeah," the plant Digimon replied. "Goodnight, then," she said before laying down. Kiira, Hana, and Renamon followed suit, Hana keeping close to Renamon's thick fur tail. Yumi resisted the urge to giggle a little.

Labramon stretched before looking up at his partner. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you before," he said quietly. "You know, back in the forest."

Yumi shook her head. "It's fine. We're all still new at this. There are bound to be a few hiccups here and there."

"Yeah, but that 'hiccup' could have gotten you killed," the Rookie muttered miserably.

"But it didn't," she reassured him. "And it's not your fault it happened, either."

"I should have been the one to Digivolve," he said. "You were in danger, not Hana. I should have been able to protect you." He looked at the ground. "Some partner I am."

"I said it's fine," she repeated, wearing a frown of her own. "Seriously. Just because you didn't Digivolve last time doesn't mean that you won't." She gave him a small, reassuring smile. "And you're not alone, remember. So cheer up."

Her smile dropped when a chill ran down her back, but it wasn't from the cold. There seemed to be a wave of something that she couldn't place spreading around them. She could see something blue and glowing in the distance. As it grew closer, she saw that it was the same shape as Meramon.

"Guys, wake up!" she yelled, shaking the others, but the day seemed to have exhausted them. The most that happened was that Hana stirred a bit before going back into a deep sleep. "Dammit..." she muttered, going over her options. Meramon had probably been infected by the Virus, so there was a good chance that the Monochromon had, too. She couldn't let them charge her sleeping friends, they were defenseless. So she did the only thing she could do.

She ran.

Labramon was close at her heels, glancing at Meramon every so often, nervous at how quickly he was closing in on them. Would they be able to handle this alone?

They'd been running for only a minute when he was upon them. She knew that he had gone from orange to blue from the distant view, but his eyes had also changed from blue to red. "Meramon!" she yelled, even though the incident with Shurimon had proved that it was useless. "Come on, you know this isn't right!"

The Virus-infected Digimon simply grabbed her, picking her up and bringing her close to his face, almost as if he was studying her. The look in his eye reminded her of how a predator studies its prey before going in for the kill. He looked down at Labramon and took off in the opposite direction, separating her from her partner and pulling her further away from the rest of the group.

"Yumi!" she could hear her partner yell behind her, but his voice was getting further and further away. Within only a few more seconds, she'd be too far away to for help.

"Not again!" she hissed. It was only the second time, but she was really getting sick of this whole getting captured thing.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Labramon ran as fast as his legs would take him back to the group. He had to wake them up somehow. When he arrived, he bit down on Renamon's tail, startling her awake.

"What was that for?!" she asked.

"We need to wake up the others," the other Rookie replied urgently. "Meramon was infected by a Virus and he took Yumi. We need to hurry!"

Renamon nodded and the quickly managed to wake the others and inform then of the situation.

"He probably has a lot of ground ahead of us," Hana said with a sigh. "How the hell do we catch up with him?"

Labramon and Palmon looked at Renamon, who nodded.

"Renamon Digivolve to... Kyubimon!"

Hana, realizing what her partner was intending, climbed on her back, quickly followed by Hana. Labramon and Palmon joined them, but Kyubimon seemed to have no trouble carrying them all.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Yumi tapped her fingers boredly on the hand that was holding her. Surprisingly, Meramon's flames didn't burn her. "Let me guess," she began. "You're using me to lure out the others, aren't you? That's why you left Labramon instead of destroying him." The only reply she received was a glance before the Digimon went back to watching the area around them, no doubt waiting for the rest of the humans and their partners to arrive.

Soon enough, there they were. Hana, Kiira, Labramon, and Palmon all dismounted and Kyubimon immediately straightened her tails for an attack.

"Wait!" Hana said, causing the Champion to pause. "You could hit Yumi!"

The group looked at each other, all trying to figure out what to do. As long as he was holding onto Yumi, Meramon had the perfect hostage.

"Cold Flame!" he yelled.

"I thought he was all about fire!" Kiira yelled as she and the others ducked out of the way.

"It looks like the Virus turned him into a Champion version of BlueMeramon," Kyubimon said. "And he uses ice-related attacks."

"Okay, so we have an ex-fire, ice ex-Data Virus to take care of?" Kiira asked. Hana raised an eyebrow.

"What?" she asked.

"Never mind," the other girl replied.

"I have an idea!" Labramon exclaimed before running to Palmon and whispering his plan. It wouldn't really work if Meramon heard it. She nodded.

"Poison Ivy!" she yelled, her vines wrapping around the Champion's wrist.

"RetrieverG!" Labramon yelled, aiming at Meramon's arm, making him drop his hostage. Kyubimon, quickly catching on, dove forward and the girl landed on her back. She slid off, moving back to the other girls.

Hana put a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"A little shaken up and kind of annoyed, but yeah," Yumi replied.

Kyubimon straightened her tails once again, now that she had a clear shot. "Fox Tail Infer—"

A blue flamed hand batted her to the side before she was able to finish the attack.

"Kyubimon!" Hana yelled, running over to her partner as she changed back into Renamon.

Labramon looked from the fallen Kyubimon to Meramon and then back to his partner. He had to do something. Palmon could only do so much with her vines and Kyubimon was down. Besides, it was his partner that had been captured. Again. He wouldn't let that go unpunished.

"Labramon Digivolve to... Seasarmon!"

"Name: Seasarmon. Classification: Vaccine. Threat: None," Yumi's Digivice read.

"Sun's Courage!" he yelled as beams of light appeared around him and fired, hitting Meramon straight in the chest.

"Poison Ivy!" Palmon yelled again, this time wrapping around his ankles and using his temporary broken balance to pull him to the ground.

Seasarmon jumped on the Virus-infected Digimon and stared down at him. "I'm sorry, Meramon, but you kidnapped my partner." His eyes narrowed. "This might hurt a little bit. Sun's Courage!"

Meramon's body shook with strong tremors before finally falling still. Seasarmon jumped off, and as he did, the Virus data flew into Yumi's Digivice. Meramon returned to his normal coloration.

He slowly stood before looking down at the humans. He bowed his head in shame. "I am sorry, my friends," he apologized.

"It wasn't your fault," Yumi told him. "It was just some stupid Virus, and that's exactly why we're here. To stop those once and for all."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Miyuki stretched as she sat up from where she'd been sleeping in the cave Unimon had offered her for the night. DemiDevimon woke up shortly afterwards. "Morning, sleepyhead," she greeted.

The Rookie replied with a yawn before saying, "I'm glad that went well. Or... kinda well." He sighed. "I get the feeling it isn't always going to be this easy..."

"Me too, buddy," the brunette said with a sigh, twirling one of her thin pigtails. "Me too."

Next time:
Kirra: Looks like it's going to be our turn soon.
Palmon: I just hope it won't involve you being kidnapped.
Kiira: No, that's Yumi's job.
Yumi: Hey!
Hana: You again!
Miyuki: I said we're not—Oh, never mind! If that's how you want it...

I didn't even realize that Yumi was going to be kidnapped again until midway through this episode. I wrote it ahead of time so I added it later in last episode's preview.

I feel like I should explain something here. The reason that the info from the Digivice keeps saying 'None' for the threat level of their partners, even when they make it to Champion, if because they're no threat to the Digi-Destined. Also, these are the threat levels in relation to the state of a Digimon.

Fresh or In-Training: None
Rookie: Minimal
Champion: Medium
Ultimate: High
Mega: Extreme

And then we have the occasional extremely-superpowered Digimon that no one wants to mess with, and they fall under the 'Critical' threat level. Just wanted to explain that a little, even if some people kinda figured that out already. I just wanted to make it clear. That's all I've got for today, so...

See ya on the flipside~ Elisa out~