Okay, now here we are at episode 13. Also, I'm at the beach, so finding time to work on this has been a little difficult, but hey, I made it, right?
Labramon: "So, we all wound up in another desert and Miyuki and DemiDevimon went off on their own, probably to blow off some steam. Unfortunately, a sandstorm hit and we kinda lost them, but then a Virus showed up and I Digivolved to Cerberumon to kick its ass. But we're still separated from Miyuki, and we have no idea where she is. We seem to have a lot of trouble sticking together..."
Miyuki smiled a little when she saw the hole in front of her. She was getting sick of seeing only sand for miles. Now she could get moving...
When she stepped through, DemiDevimon on her shoulder, she looked around to find herself alone. Either the others girls hadn't left yet, or their hole had opened up much farther than hers had. It was probably better that way. Despite the fact that she and Harusawa didn't get along all that well, she liked to think of the others as her friends. And she didn't want to have to try to slip away without any unfortunate goodbyes again. She wasn't sure if she'd meet up with them again.
~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x
"Dammit..." Hana muttered. "What does that idiot think she's doing...?"
"Miyuki?" Kiira asked. "Well, she probably still didn't feel completely welcome, so..."
"So she just goes off on her own when she can easily get herself killed?" the blonde asked.
"I never said it was smart of her..." the other girl replied.
Yumi sighed at the bickering, looking down the tunnel, seeing no sign of the brunette or her Virus partner. "I hope you're okay, whatever you're doing..." she said quietly.
~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x
Miyuki leaned against the tunnel wall, staring at the binary around her.
"What are you thinking?" the Rookie asked, studying her face. She was looking straight ahead, but she seemed focused instead of lost in thought. She seemed to be looking directly at the wall opposite them. DemiDevimon's eyes widened as he picked up on her thought process. "I thought we agreed this was a bad idea!" he exclaimed as she pushed off the wall, still studying it.
"I know," she replied, placing her hands against the invisible surface to find where it would give way. "But if a lot of the Viruses are coming from there, then we might get some good information."
"Yeah, or we might get killed!" DemiDevimon yelled. "You remember the last time we were in there. I almost became one of them!"
Miyuki didn't look up. "I trust you," she said simply. She couldn't feel any difference, but a feeling hit her in the gut as soon as her hand touched a certain spot. It was difficult to figure out. It was very bad, but at the same time... there was something else, but she couldn't place it. It was something they had to risk.
The human pulled out her Digivice. "I need you to get us in there," she said. "And there's probably going to be some stronger stuff in there." She clicked the little device open.
"DemiDevimon Digivolve to... Devidramon!"
The large four-eyed demon dragon picked Miyuki up and curled his hands around her to protect her before going through the spot his partner had pointed out. Just as they had last time, they passed through the wall with ease.
Miyuki had to hold her Digivice closed to keep it from opening and trying to scan all the Viruses around them.
"So, what are you planning to do while we're here?" Devidramon asked. "How do you plan on getting information from all of these?" He swept an arm out to motion to the countless Viruses flowing past them.
Miyuki thought for a minute. "Um... find a way to grab one and yank it out, back into the tunnel?"
Devidramon raised a brow. "You do know that these are all probably stronger than me, right? 'Yanking one out' isn't going to be easy." His eyes narrowed. "And there's no way in hell I'm absorbing any more Viruses into me like last time."
The girl nodded. "Yeah, that was definitely not smart," she agreed.
"Yeah, and it was definitely your idea," her partner commented with a nod. She rolled her eyed.
Miyuki scanned the figures going by. She remembered that when she had jumped from Devidramon's hands before, she had gotten a better look. Against her better judgment, she looked at him and said, "Drop me."
"What? No way in hell!" he argued.
"Drop me," she said again.
"Why?"
"Just do it!" she yelled, but when he made no move to do so, she jumped. The girl immediately lost sight of her partner as she was swept away by the shadows she knew were becoming clearer. The ones around her seemed to be giant insects with tattered wings and a sharp stinger. She reached for a wing and grabbed on, though she had half-expected her hand to go straight through it.
Miyuki had to put her free arm in front of her face as shadows began to bombard her, and after minute, her grip on the wing slipped, sending her tumbling. Her back hit something hard and she blacked out.
~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x
When she finally came to, Miyuki saw that there were no Digimon, shadowed or otherwise, surrounding her. She was surrounded by blackness, almost like the tunnel, but the binary was red, instead of bright green. "What the hell...?" she muttered.
"You..." a voice hissed, causing her to turn, though she couldn't see anything. The voice seemed to be coming from all directions.
"Who are you?" she called out. "And where the hell am I?"
A deep chuckled filled the space around her. "Haven't you figured out where you are?"
The brunette's eyes narrowed. "Obviously not, or I wouldn't be asking." She paused to think for a minute. "I'm not in the Virus tunnel anymore, am I?"
"No," the voice replied. "You're even further than that. You're far away from your partner. As we speak, the Viruses around him are merging with him, corrupting him, making him one of us." She could almost hear the smirk when it spoke next. "Making him mine."
"You're the big bad Virus in charge of all this, aren't you?" Miyuki asked, still trying to discern the source. She tried to ignore the cold feeling that was starting to fill her.
She received no answer. Instead, she heard, "What makes you so special, I wonder...? The other humans were handpicked in your world, but you... you are different." The voice took on a darker tone. "I would like to know why."
"I have no clue!" she yelled. "I'm just a below average kid! What the hell do I know about saving the internet?"
"Mm, what, indeed," the voice spoke. She had the feeling she was being studied. The sound of clanking footsteps behind her caused her to turn. A red figure, almost resembling a dinosaur, but not quite, covered in armor and other machinery approached her, clicking its pincer like hand open and closed.
Miyuki watched it for a moment. She was getting another gut feeling. "This isn't actually you, is it?" she asked. "This is just a puppet."
"I understand now," the Digimon said with a nod, using the same voice that had surrounded her. "Your intuition is exceedingly above normal. However, as entertaining as watching you struggle may be, I cannot allow you to live any longer." The Digimon puppet raised its arm, seemingly about to fire some sort of energy cannon at her. "Your partner cannot save you now."
Miyuki braced herself for impact, but was surprised when it never came. Instead, a familiar voice in front of her spoke. "He cannot," it said. "But I can."
"You!" the voice yelled. "I thought you were dead!"
"Merely in hiding," the robed figure that had brought Miyuki into the internet told it. "I may not have as much influence here as I did before you came, but I have enough to save this girl." He touched her shoulder and the cold feeling disappeared.
There was silence for a long moment. "Fine," the voice said. "But we will meet again, human. Be sure of that. And you will not escape this time." With that, the Digimon it had used as its puppet disappeared, disintegrating into tiny bits of data.
Miyuki turned on the figure. "Okay, you owe me some answers," she told him. "What am I doing here? Why me? There are already those three other girls here."
"Your intuition, as our enemy stated, makes you a great asset," he told her. "The other three girls have the brainpower, but you, Miyuki Otori," he continued, tapping her chest, "have heart."
The brunette paused. "What did you do back there? And who are you, anyway?"
The figure put his hands together, cloaking them both in his robe. "Our enemy was attempting to infect you with one of his viruses. Had he finished, he would have you under his control. You would be a puppet, just as the Chaosdromon had been as his mouthpiece. I purged the virus from your body."
"If you did that, then why can't you 'purge' the viruses from the internet?" Miyuki asked.
"If I had noticed the growing problem sooner, I may have been able to do so," he said, almost sounding ashamed. "However, it was overlooked until it was too late. Our enemy had grown too strong, and unbeknownst to me, he had begun slowly sapping my strength. It used up much of my power to bring you here. Thus, I had to recover."
"Okay, but you didn't answer my second question," the brunette pointed out. "Who are you?"
"For lack of a better term," he began. "I suppose you may call me the Spirit of the Internet."
"The what?"
"I am comprised of some of the first programs and codes that built the internet. With time, as the internet grew, so did I. I grew a consciousness, and I became its protector," he informed her. "I am, unfortunately, unable to affect much of the code that is transferred into your world, so I am unable to protect you from the problems that plague you, but I am responsible for the inner workings. I take this form to appear as something familiar to you."
"So what do you normally look like?"
"Under most circumstances, I simply exist. I have no form or appearance, but I believed you would find it much more comforting to talk to a visible being," the Spirit told her.
Miyuki took a moment to process what she had been told before speaking again. "If you control all this," she said slowly. "Then why can't you stop that Virus that's taking over everything?"
"As I said, it has been sapping my strength. By the time I realized that something was amiss, it was too late," he spoke. "I sensed it the moment the other humans entered this world, but I knew they wouldn't be enough. They have stronger brainpower of most people their age, but that knowledge prevents them from listening to their heart. That is why you are here, Miyuki Otori. You know when it is time to listen to your brain, and when it is time to listen to your heart."
The brunette nodded slowly. "Devidramon has been on his own in the Virus tunnel for a long time," she said quietly. "Is he okay?"
"Yes," the Spirit told her. "Our enemy was lying to you. Devidramon has been fighting with everything he has to find you, fending off any Virus attempting to take him over."
She smiled a little. "That's my partner." A thought occurred to her. "Hey," she began. "Do you know who this enemy of ours is?"
"Alas, I cannot say," he replied. "I have never seen it in its true form. It is not something to be taken lightly."
"I figured that out," she told him dryly. "Hey, can you send me back to my partner? He's gonna need my help."
"Of course," he replied and she felt herself lifted from where she stood and pulled through the ceiling of this odd, red binary tunnel.
~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x
The first thing Miyuki heard when she emerged among the shadows was the familiar sounds of battle. She could distinctly hear the cries of her Champion partner. Pushing her way against the shadows, she smiled when he was in view. He was fighting the same kind of insect Digimon she had latched on to before.
"Devidramon!" she called out.
"Miyuki!" he yelled, relief clear in his voice. "Where the hell were you?"
"Let's go over that later," she suggested. "Right now, we've got other problems." She nodded at their Virus enemies. "How've you been doing out here on your own?"
"Not the best," he admitted. "But it's good to have you back."
The brunette nodded. "It's good to be back."
Devidramon was about to speak again when he saw one of the Digimon fly away from him, directly towards his partner. "Crimson Claw!" he yelled, swiping it. It disappeared, data flowing into Miyuki's Digivice, which was once again spewing nonsense.
"Brown Stingers!" the remaining few Digimon yelled, firing their stingers at her partner. Each pierced the skin with ease.
Miyuki looked down at her Digivice, hoping she could get a little help from it. A grin spread across her face when she saw some of the data the small device contained flowing toward her partner.
"Devidramon Digivolve to... Phantomon!"
"Awesome!" Miyuki yelled, holding her Digivice closed again. The gibberish was starting to get annoying.
Phantomon nodded. "You said it." He turned to his remaining enemies. "I'm pretty sure you're all screwed now," he commented, raising his scythe. He lowered it a fraction in shock when the three insects merged and absorbed more shadowed Viruses around them and became a large, grey and red beetle type Digimon.
"You forgot they could do that too, didn't you?" Miyuki asked with a sigh.
"Shit," was his only reply.
"Double Scissor Claw!" it yelled, clamping its mandibles around the other Ultimate. Phantomon squirmed, blue eyes narrowed in irritation. With his arms pinned, he couldn't attack with his weapon. He looked to Miyuki, hoping she knew what his plan was. Luckily, she did, after seeing him loosen his grip on the scythe for a moment. She nodded, and he dropped it, pulling his arms close to his sides, making him too small for the mandibles to hold. He slid straight down, grabbing his scythe before it could be swept away by the other Viruses.
"Shadow Scythe!" he yelled, swiping the bladed weapon down, sending a wave of energy toward his opponent. It was forced back a few feet, but otherwise stood its ground. It shook its head violently, smacking Phantomon to the side with its pincers. His scythe went flying away from him, but landed close to his human partner, who had managed to find a stance in which she was able to remain stationary. The Ultimate himself and found himself starting to be pulled under by the Viruses around him.
Miyuki acted without thinking. Ignoring everything else around her, she grabbed the scythe by the end of the staff and held it out of her partner. Luckily, he was able to grip the base of the blade and pull himself out.
"Now you've just pissed me off," he stated, righting himself. "Shadow Scythe!" he yelled, this attack finishing the enemy off. He grabbed his partner's hand. "Let's get out of here," he said, heading for the wall that he knew would take them back to the tunnel, pulling Miyuki behind him.
~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x
Almost as soon as they reentered the main tunnel, Phantomon returned to his Rookie form.
"Are you okay?" Miyuki asked as he took his place on her shoulder, looking a little woozy.
He nodded. "Well, I'm definitely not doing that again." He sighed. "I should be asking you that. What happened back there, where'd you go?"
"Man, do I have a lot to tell you..."
~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x
He had lost his corporeal form once again, but he continued to watch her. He had watched over her since she had arrived, though until now, he had been unable to interfere. And as long as this mysterious Virus continued to gain strength, he would be unable to do so again. Even now, he could feel his power being sapped from his very being.
If things continued to go as they were, there was a good chance that he wouldn't see the end of this battle. There was the possibility that he would cease to exist before this conflict was over. He could only hope that another being like him would be created once peace had returned. He didn't want to leave the internet to fend for itself.
He was glad he had been able to save her from succumbing to the Virus's intent, but he hoped she wouldn't fall into that position again.
He wouldn't be able to save her again.
Next time:
Hana: Okay, where did you go this time?
Miyuki: Remember that Virus tunnel I went in last time?
Yumi: The deep web?
DemiDevimon: Maybe we should have this conversation later.
Renamon: I don't like the looks of this...
Okay, that thing with the Spirit of the Internet probably seemed weird, but before anyone goes off on me, LET ME EXPLAIN. He was another thing I came up with near the beginning of the developmental stage. I think the best way to make him make sense is to compare him to Gennai. Gennai wasn't a Digimon, he was a thing created by the Digital World, presumably to help out the Digi-Destined, considering he saved their Eggs. Likewise, the Spirit was created to protect the internet, though he is not omnipotent. He does, unfortunately, have a lot of limits. And like it was stated, he didn't know how much the Virus was growing until it was too late.
Anyway, I hope that cleared that up a little and made it make sense, because I really, really needed to get this done and it started writing itself and, well... that's just the way things are now.
See ya on the flipside~ Elisa out~
