I know you've all been waiting with bated breath for this since the last episode. I hope it doesn't disappoint~ Also, since the very first scene is wordless, the background music would be the lullaby version of the vocaloid song, Meltdown.

Hana: "We finally found out what our real enemy is. It's a Digimon called Diaboromon, and apparently, Yumi was the one who created him. We were fighting him, but we weren't ready. He took our partners down with no problem, and he was about to kill me, but... Otori pushed me out of the way and took the hit instead. Now she's gone, and we've just been pulled back into the Real World. I have no idea what we're supposed to do now..."


It wasn't looking good. There was a good chance they were going to die. The Digimon had been reduced to their Rookie forms, and it didn't look like they were getting up any time soon. Hana was going through so many different ways they might be able to get out of this, though every scenario failed. It took her a moment to understand what Otori was saying, and the next thing she knew, it was almost as though life had started playing in slow motion. Otori was running. Diaboromon thrust an attack of some sort at Hana. She could feel the hands on her shoulder, pushing her.

When she looked back at the brunette, stunned, the girl was frozen in place. It took a moment for Hana to realize that Otori was slowly disappearing. She was dying. She took a hit that had been meant for Hana.

She saved the blonde's life, and paid for it with her own...

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

"...na? Hana? Are you okay?"

The girl in question blinked a few times, being pulled out of her thoughts. "Hm?" she asked dully.

The woman in front of her, Yue Tachikawa, was one of the women who worked for the government agency that had sent them to the internet and brought them back. "Did something happen in there?"

The blonde bit her lip. She didn't know if she could say it out loud. She glanced at the other two girls, who were being looked over by two other people. Yumi seemed just as upset as she was, no doubt because she had been the creator of their problem.

Kiira, however, managed to catch her eye, and as soon as she was done being checked out, she walked over to them. "There's a lot we need to tell you."

Yue nodded in acknowledgement before beckoning Daichi Kagurazaka, the head of the agency, over. He needed to hear this.

"While we were in the internet, just before you brought us back out, we lost someone," she said.

Daichi paused. "I don't understand," he finally said. "There was another person in there with you?"

Kiira nodded. "Yeah," she confirmed. "But now she's gone..." She didn't miss the way Hana winced slightly, clenching her fists. "Everything else... Can we go over that later? We've... been through a lot, and we kinda need to get our bearings."

"I understand," Daichi said with a nod. "Let us know when you're ready."

"Thank you."

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

Yumi looked blankly down at her hands in her lap. So much was going on. She wasn't sure how to even begin processing it all. First was the fact that she had managed to create a Virus that threatened the lives of everyone on the planet. If his influence spread far enough, hospital equipment could fail. Fire alarms, radar... He might even be able to take over the controls of nuclear missiles and other weapons of mass destruction given time.

And all that blood would be on her hands...

"They're alone in there, now," Kiira commented softly. "I mean, I hate to bring the mood down even more, but... What's going to happen to them if we're not there to help?"

The lavender haired girl's brown eyes widened. She hadn't even thought of that. He fists clenched and she felt something in her pocket. That was where she kept her... Very slowly, she pulled out the small box that served as her Digivice. An idea was already forming and she examined the sides, finally finding a panel that slid back to reveal some sort of port.

"Someone give me access to a computer!" she called out. "Now!"

"What?" one of the men asked, a but stunned at the sudden outburst from the previously somber teen.

Yumi didn't answer him. Instead, she turned back to the other two. "I might be able to bring them here. We can still save our partners."

"What?" Kiira asked, echoing the confused government worker.

The hacker turned to Yue. "You programmed our anti-viruses, right?" she asked, remembering that their partners had been pulled from the Digital World because their coding matched that that had been written to protect them.

"Yes," Yue replied with a nod. "We were monitoring them, and it was when their signals were weak that we decided to bring you back here."

"I need to know those codes," Yumi said. "And I need them now." She took out her Digivice before taking a common USB cord from a drawer, plugging one end in the computer and the other in the small device in her hand. She smiled a little when it opened and the orb inside let out a soft light.

"What are you doing?" Kiira asked, walking over to try to get a better view of what she was doing.

Without looking up, the hacker replied, "I think I can get our partners out of the internet and store them in our Digivices. "That way, they can be safe from Diaboromon while we try to figure out what we're going to do next."

Despite the situation, the dark haired girl gave a small smile. With Yumi throwing herself into her work like this, she was able to have something to focus on, more than just her self-placed blame. "Anything we can do to help?"

"Just put your Digivice on the desk, and give me Hana's. I'll get to work grabbing Palmon and Renamon as soon as I can figure out how to transfer Labramon."

"Got it."

Yumi pushed her glasses up as they began sliding down before looking at a woman on a nearby computer. "Hey!" she called, grabbing the woman's attention. "I need you to set up a strong firewall for the whole system while I do this." She looked back at the screen in front of her. "We can't let him follow them out here..." she added to herself.

Daichi walked over. "What are you doing?" he asked, having heard her yell for the woman to make the firewall.

"Please, I know these are your people, but this is really important, and I need them to do what I'm asking," Yumi said. "Those anti-viruses you programmed us were just as sentient as the Virus you sent us in to take care of. They're our friends, and they're in there by themselves now. And when you pulled us out, we were in a lot of trouble."

Daichi studied her face for a moment. The determination was clear. She wasn't going to let anyone stand in her way. "Very well," he agreed. He might be handing some power over to a teenager, but this teenager could probably rival any of his employees in skill level, and she knew more about the situation than they did.

"Thank you, sir," Yumi said with a small smile before turning her attention back to her work.

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

Kiira frowned when she saw that Hana was still in the same state she'd been in when they first arrived. The two girls have both given their Digivices over to Yumi so that she could bring their partners back as soon as she was done with her own, but for the moment, that left the other two girls with nothing to do. Meaning Hana was more than likely drawn into her own thoughts about what happened to Miyuki again.

"It wasn't your fault," the dark haired girl told her friend.

"Yes, it was," Hana replied quietly. "She did it to save me. If I had just moved when she..." She clenched her fists. "But I froze. And she had to push me, but she didn't get away in time." She stopped, taking a moment to attempt to compose herself. She didn't want to start crying. "We need to find her parents," she finally said. "They need to know what happened. As far as they know, she's a runaway. And they'll just keep thinking that. They need to know..." Her voice got quiet. "They need to know she isn't coming back..."

Kiira nodded softly. "I'll go and see if someone can look into that, okay?"

The blonde nodded. "Tell me when you do."

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

Yuji Otori was sitting on the couch, holding a picture in his hands. It had been taken four years ago, of him, his husband Masato, Miyuki, and their late cat, Nono. It had become a habit of his for the last several weeks, ever since he had come home to find the teen gone. He and Masato had waited for two days, hoping she would come back on her own, but she never did. She hadn't taken anything with her, or even left a note. It was like she just... vanished.

Masato was, as usual, these days, locked in his study, trying to distract himself via his work. They knew they probably needed to be there for each other, but right now, they each had their own ways of coping.

Yuji's head shot up when he heard a knock on the door. He doubted it was Miyuki, since she would have used the key behind the wall-mounted mailbox, but maybe it was someone with news about her.

A woman and a teenage girl stood on the doorstep.

"Hello," the woman said. "My name is Yue Tachikawa, and this is Hana Harusawa. We have... some news about your daughter. May we come in?"

He didn't like the way she was saying that. It was clear that whatever she had to tell him, it was bad news. "Of course," he said, stepping out of the way. "One moment." He stepped into the hall and knocked on Masato's office door. "Masato," he said. "There are some people here who say they have news about Miyuki." A moment later, the door was open.

"Alright, what happened to Miyuki?" Masato asked immediately once they all sat down.

Yue paused. "This is going to be hard to believe, at first, so please have an open mind. You know about the viruses that have been spreading through all the computers in the country?"

"Yes," Yuji said slowly, unsure of what this might have to do with Miyuki.

"Well, I work for a special government task force," she stated. "We were put in charge of monitoring this virus, and we sent three girls in to take care of it."

Hana spoke up. "It was just me and two other girls at first," she started. "But then we ran into her. I don't really know how she got there, but she did." She wasn't really sure she could explain about the Spirit of the Internet, since she, admittedly, didn't really understand it much, herself. "She's been with us for awhile. We just got back." She felt a wave of guilt pass over her when she saw the hopeful expressions of the two men in front of her. "But..." she continued, hating to be the bearer of bad news, but knowing it had to done. "Right before we left, we were in a very dangerous situation. I was in a very dangerous situation, especially, and she..." The blonde closed her eyes, once again attempting to compose herself. "She saved me, but she didn't make it." She tried to hide the thickness she felt in her throat as her eyes became damp. She refused to cry. She wouldn't make herself the victim. This wasn't about her. This was about the brave girl who gave everything for what she thought was right. "I'm so, so sorry. She... she isn't coming back."

Yuji and Masato were silent for a very long time. It was a lot of information to process. They knew that there had been a huge, nationwide virus problem, and they didn't doubt that there was a government agency set up to try to put a stop to it. It was hard to imagine Miyuki being any part of it, though.

After several minutes, Masato finally said, "Thank you for coming to us." He sighed. "Now we won't be waiting forever for her to come home..."

"Masato..." Yuji said, trying to stop the bitter tirade he knew his husband was about to start.

"Now we know that she's gone for good," he continued as thought Yuji hadn't tried to stop him. "Now we know she's never coming back, because she isn't here, or in the internet, or anywhere else anymore. So thank you, for taking any hope we ever had away."

Yuji glared. "Masato," he repeated, this time with a warning tone. He was hurting just as much as Masato was over the news, but this was not the way to handle it. He turned to Yue and Hana. "Thank you, really, for letting us know."

"If you ever need anything," Yue began, standing and handing the philosophy teacher a business card. "Feel free to call us any time."

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

"How's it going?" Kiira asked, watching Yumi work. She had disconnected her Digivice from the computer and had just plugged in Kiira's.

"It's complicated, but I managed to get Labramon back," she replied. "But now that I've got it all down, it shouldn't take as long to bring Palmon and Renamon here."

Kiira nodded in acknowledgement before a thought hit her. "And... what about DemiDevimon?"

Yumi abruptly stopped typing. "I... don't have anything to put him in, and besides, we don't have his code. I have no idea how to find him in the first place." She sighed. "As much as I hate to say it... there's no way I can get him out." She raised a brow when she turned back to the screen. "That's weird..."

"What is?" Kiira asked, looking at the screen, but she wasn't quite sure what she was seeing.

"I was just working on getting Renamon's data together, but a bunch of extra data just... added to it, somehow. It has the same abnormalities as our partners."

The dark haired girl paused. "You think...?"

Yumi nodded. "I do. I'm pretty sure DemiDevimon managed to somehow attach himself to Renamon." She smiled. "Looks like I can get him out. I'll just need a bit more time."

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

Daichi sat in his office, Kiira and Hana sitting across from him, his desk in between. Yumi was still busy with her 'project', but he was sure the information would be relayed to her later.

"I'm sure you're wondering why I decided to send you into the internet," he spoke.

Kiira nodded. "Yeah. Why send kids when you could have some trained operatives go in, instead?"

"At the time, children seemed like a better idea," he admitted. "We didn't think it would be as dangerous as it was. Children's minds are much more flexible than those of adults, and you are far more creative than we are. Solutions that we may not see very easily would be quite clear to you. Adding to that, children are typically much more familiar with the internet than adults are." He closed his eyes. "Again, we had no idea what kind of dangers you would face. Had we known, we would have left you out of it, and trained some of our own people and sent them in, instead. I am sorry for your loss, I truly am."

Hana's fists clenched once again as Miyuki's death ran through her mind. Kiira put a hand on her shoulder. "It was probably better that it was us, anyway," she told her. "No matter who was sent this way, she'd still be brought in, anyway. At least she had people her own age to hang around with and fight beside."

Daichi looked at the girls. "I am sorry if this is too soon for you, but we need to know what happened. What did you find?"

"The Virus was intelligent, like you thought," Hana said, trying to push down her feelings for the moment. As long as they were talking business, she might be able to keep the personal element out of it. She could forget about the brunette for the moment. "So were a lot of the smaller Viruses it sent, and even the anti-viruses you programmed for us were, too. They're these things called Digimon, and they come from a place called the Digital World." She left out the fact that Diaboromon was created right in the internet. "They were drawn in here because some of the coding of different programs matched them. That's what the real danger was. Some of the Viruses were sent by the main one, Diaboromon, and we had to fight those."

Kiira nodded. "And sometimes, he sent out these viruses to infect the different ones that were more peaceful, and we had to fight those, too."

The conversation was cut off when the door opened and Yumi walked through, carrying the three Digivices. "Good news," she reported. Realizing there was a bit of a meeting going on, she added, "Sorry." She handed the devices to her friends. "I got them back. They're safe in here. But we need to go back. I'm pretty sure we're the only ones now who can take out Diaboromon." The other teens knew that a large part of her reasoning for that was that she was still feeling guilty about creating the ultimate Virus.

Daichi looked at her for a moment, taking in her determined expression. "Very well," he said. "I'll have someone set up the machine to send you back."

"Thank you, sir," Yumi said. She looked at Hana. "Also, Renamon managed to find a way to save DemiDevimon." She nodded at the purple and yellow box in the blonde's hand. "She got him out, and now he's in there with her."

Hana smiled a fraction. At least they managed to save one of them...

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

Yue finished typing on the computer connected to the large machine. "There, it should be—"

She was cut off by the sparks coming out of the machine. "Oh, dear..." she whispered. She immediately pulled up the program running it. "Something's wrong, but... I can't figure out what."

Yumi thought for a moment. It clicked. "We're probably stuck here for awhile..."

"What do you mean?" Hana asked.

The hacked bit her lip. She really hoped she was wrong, but she doubted she was. "I think something followed us out."

Next time:
Kiira: So you're saying we can't get back?
Yumi: That's right.
Hana: Then what are we supposed to do?
Palmon: Hope it finds a way out here, too, I guess.
Labramon: What are you doing?
Yumi: Well, when data gets deleted, it's never really gone for good. Especially if it's just dispersed. It had to go somewhere.
Labramon: What are you saying?
Yumi: I think I can bring her back.

Welp, there you have it. No real battle in this one, but the events of this episode are pretty important. I like the way it turned out. I hope this answers the questions some of you had about why they sent children into the 'net.

See ya on the flipside~ Elisa out~

e finished typing on the computer connected to the large machine. "There, it should be-s ."

emiDevimon." She nodded at the w