vii. and i know I'm not alone

Rina was a curious person by nature.

Or maybe it was by design. Yakov as a professor, was thorough on these kinds of things, though he sucked at others. Like raising his son, apparently. She wanted to know more of that but for now, examining this ruined castle was top priority. She starts with the monitors, slipping away while the others are talking with Mirei.

She was also interesting! Rina hadn't considered she'd meet a real life Terminal in the flesh. Or what was a person who became a Terminal. All she'd ever seen were artificial ones like her or non-organic ones like these computers. It was definitely possible for her to fix the messy worlds but how would it happen? What was the cost? Was it, was that what had happened to-

No, best not to voice that thought aloud. Everyone would get upset and that Mirei had probably thought of it already. Searching for a solution was probably better. How had her body become separated though? Was it intended to be the opposite? Or a test to create the opposite? Gah, that scientist! If only the people who came before Niko's dad were better at storing the data of who came before them! They were so dumb!

"Rina?" V.V starts. "What are you doing?"

He has his super judgy "what are you getting in trouble with now" voice and hey! That's not fair! She hasn't exploded anything yet! She leans up towards the monitor. "Hey V.V! Can you upload to this terminal?"

The digivice buzzes as V.V approaches the monitors at the edge of the digivice. He presses his palms against the screen. "Yeah! I can. What do we need to find?"

Hah. He always judged her for getting into trouble."I need you to see where the connections are broken at. If we want to bring this place back to the digital world and all."

"Got it. Plugging in!"

V.V was so old fashioned. She loved that about him. His body turned into blue light, zipping up and into the monitors and disappearing.

"What are you up to?"

Yuuya peered up at her with his smirk and dark eyes and maybe that was Akiho's thing but it didn't phase her at all. "Aren't you supposed to be listening in?"

Yuuya shrugs. "I'm not moved by a sob story like they are."

True. He was one of those practical business vipers. He had to be with his dad like that.

"I'd like to focus on the practicalities. It's not like Black can cut dimensions and bring back her father." Yuuya pauses and sighs through his teeth. "Though it'd be nice if he could."

"For sure. Do you think that's where he is?"

"If he made a way to survive the decay, it's likely. But it wouldn't explain why he stopped responding to Taiga."

"It's likely,-" Yuuya pauses as the other four are talking, planning he assumes. Niko's reckless bleeding heart was tempered by his anxious need for solutions. 'That even if the safe zone is safe, the connection was vulnerable. So it has to be closed off for his own safety. That or-"

"Someone went after him."

But that would mean someone knows he's there.

"Yuuya?" Rina says, eyes bright. "Do you trust your dad?"

Yuuya laughs, sharp and cold. "Of course not."

He wouldn't be here if he did.


"Where we're from." Niko's taken on that lecturing voice that makes Akiho want to kill him. "We're all underground. We don't know why it was safer from the fusion. My dad and Yuuya's company have been working to make things better, but in relying on Digimon, it's brought our worlds even closer together. People are starting to digitize and die. We're supposed to be testing the Vitium program."

At that word, blood drains from Mirei's already pale face. "That… that program still exists."

"Uh…" All three kids share a look. "Yeah. It's how we got out of the base."

Mirei takes a deep breath. "Do you, do any of you still have the program in your digivices?"

Akiho shakes her head. "We … I don't."

Niko turns to Yuuya. "Hey were you using Vitium to navigate?"

"It shouldn't work outside of the security system," Yuuya responds without hesitation. But he looks at his digivice. "Rina, you were integrated with a counter-program. Is it activated?"

"It'd be the most base form if it was, and that's not very strong."

Mirei's skin turns transparent and she makes a gesture. "You need to get back in your ship. Get back now!"

"Wha-" Taiga starts. "Why?"

Then, on the throne, Mirei's fingers twitch. Something blue flickers all around her hands.

V.V shouts. "Rina, get ready to fight!"

Rina doesn't even hesitate, power drawing around her hands and arms.

The body lurches, trapped by the vines.

"Go!" Mirei calls, voice fragmenting with static. "Mei and I will hold it off! Go!"

That blue light washes off from the throne and her body lurches again. The vines stagger and strains and twists, mouth opening and cracking the jaw.

A black and blue dragon plops on the ground. It wiggles like in front of Taiga, blinking and chirping like a baby bird.

Then, it looks at Taiga and opens its jaws. "De-Co-Der," it croons, and lunges for him.