It's a new and late day in the morning. Drake calls Team Twilight out of his computer. He sees Komet, a Coronamon and a Lunamon projections in front of him.
Komet stretches her body. "Today I could finally sleep. So, any good news?"
"That shit your cat sent me crashed my computer twice! The mofo was just growing bigger, but somehow I managed to isolate it before it had the chance to do any critical damage. I mean, I'm awesome, this is why I managed to do it! Your cat can eliminate the threat, right? Tell him to do that before it bricks my computer" says Drake
She grits her teeth. "Give Sonne permission to reach where you're keeping it then. He'll do it in an instant"
He sits in front of his computer and types something while Sonne returns inside the system. "The good news is that I cross referenced the data with the whatever destroyed my programs, and they seem to be the same program, monster or whatever that is. Which means your killer is still roaming that area of the webs"
Lua pokes Komet. "Did the sample - just the sample - grow bigger and wreak havoc on his machine? What if this monster is actually nothing more nothing less than the source of the Corrosion Virus?"
"Then killing it will solve a lot of our problems and the Angels will leave our planet alone" says Komet
"Awn, that's unfortunate. I'd loooove to see all those dumbasses here greeting these angels thinking they are the holy saviors" says Drake, opening a big grin.
"Do not joke about that, you idiot. They caused too much trouble for us already"
"That's not my problem. Now-"
At that moment, the old lady opens the door without knocking. Drake quickly jumps out of his chair to cover her view of his room while Komet and Lua quickly jump back into the system.
"Two sweet boys are looking for you, my dear! Should I let them in?"
"Yes please. They can come directly to my room. Thanks, granny!"
The old lady leaves, and some seconds later, Drake sees William and Ferdinand coming downstairs and reaching his room.
"Boss! We missed you so much already!" Ferdinand runs towards him to give him a hug, but Drake just dodges him, resulting in the poor guy to crash on the floor.
"You really ran very far away, huh? Good thing there's an airport 3 hours away from here, or it would take days for us to come directly by car" says William
"Did you two leave as soon as we ended the call? You're fucking insane!" says Drake
"But of course!" says Ferdinand, while getting up. "We're excited to see what you have to show us! You said it as if it's your lifesaver or something, so we came rushing after going shopping! O-of course, it's mostly thanks to Will that we could afford coming here fast"
"Well then, then take a look at that!" He presses some keys and projects Team Twilight in his room.
William and Ferdinand take one step back, but they don't quite understand what's so special about that, while Komet looks around and gets shocked when she sees different people in the room.
"What the hell, Ricky? Who are they, and why are you displaying us like that? This was supposed to be a secret, you know?" says Komet, enraged.
Drake crosses his arms and smirks, ignoring Komet's protests. "Believe or not, but this is Tayna Bambadi, alive and digitized"
William looks at Drake, raising an eyebrow. "Is this some kind of prank?"
"Tch, of course you wouldn't believe it at sight. I get it, she doesn't look exactly like her, but I swear it's actually her"
"What are those two creatures? Are they Pokémon?" asks Ferdinand
Lua scowls. "'Pokémon'? Are you really comparing us to those stupid, dumb and ridiculous monsters?"
"I-IT TALKS!"
She floats in front of him and shakes her fist in front of his face. "Yeah, and talking is not the only thing I can do! Compare me to those things again and you'll see what will happen to your 'Pokéballs'!"
He lets out a shriek in fear and cowers.
She turns around. "Hey Komet, let's just head back inside his computer, I'm already more than tired of his bullshit!"
Ferdinand opens his eyes wide. "W-wait, did you say 'Komet'...? Is she really hacker Komet, Tayna Bambadi?"
She covers her mouth in shock. "Oh shit!"
Komet looks at Drake, also in shock. "Why did you tell them that? Were you trying to ruin my reputation or something?"
Drake rolls his eyes. "Of course not! Those two suspected something and cornered me, I didn't have much of a choice. Besides, they know more than damn well that if this gets out of our circle, I'll be more than screwed. You can trust them"
"You- Gah! You are unbelievably a pain in the ass" She closes her eyes and takes some deep breaths to calm herself down. "It doesn't hurt to tell me this in advance, you know? You did it just to annoy me, didn't you?"
"Didn't you need help? The more the merrier!"
She groans. "Who are they? Members of The Dragons?"
"No, but they know I'm Drake from The Dragons already. This is Ferdinand, and this is William"
Ferdinand nervously waves at her while William is still skeptical. Komet stares at the skeptical nerd for a few seconds. "Wait, I think I know you… You are William Alencar, son of the owner of that big consulting firm in IT!"
"Wait, what? What consultancy?" asks Drake
She looks at him incredulously. "He's your friend and you don't even know about that? It's Alencar IT Solutions. It's thanks to his father that that scummy company InIATeS had the chance for a fresh new start!"
William nods. "That's correct"
"You son of a bitch, for real? This is why you are filthy rich! Now I get why you're their VIP for their beta testing!" says Drake
"Let's not get sidetracked now. You asked us to come over to show something important, and this thing turns out to be, well, Tayna Bambadi theoretically. Sure, this woman has a lot of similarities with her, but… This doesn't make sense, you know?"
He looks at Komet. "Go on, tell them everything. Let's get it over already"
She rolls her eyes and tells Drake's friends about what happened during the attack and how she was saved and got back to their world.
William scratches his head in confusion. "None of these sounds real, but at the same time it sounds believable, just because of how bizarre the crime was! And if boss really believe you are Tayna, then who am I to disagree, I guess"
Ferdinand looks at Sonne and Lua. "So these creatures are 'Digimon'...?"
"They are, and they can look more badass and scarier than that. Show 'em!" says Drake
Komet scowls. "Just because you are a clown doesn't mean I have to be part of your circus show, you know?"
"Just do it already, bitch"
She growls, but then she gets calm. "Okay, alright!"
Lua and Sonne evolve to Lekismon and Firamon respectively. Both guests exclaim 'woah!' in awe. Lua shows off to make them even more impressed, while Sonne just sits down.
"Oh, but that's not all! It can get better~" continues Komet, while uploading the data on her hands, which takes forty seconds. She sends it to Sonne, making him evolve to Perfect stage: Flaremon.
The now-bipedal lion crouches a bit, since he's now too tall for a room with a low ceiling, even though he's just a projection. William and Ferdinand look even more impressed, with Ferdinand enjoying the most of it. Drake opens his eyes wide in surprise, since he didn't know about this either. He whips his head to see how big the file is now: it reached terabyte.
"YOU BITCH! Are you insane? This is taking almost all the HD of my computer! You're gonna make it explode!" he yells
Komet smirks. "Oh, I'm sorry, I just wanted to show them how badass and scary they could get!"
He faces her, looking very annoyed. "You were itching to get back at me, weren't you?"
Before the two get the chance to start yelling and throwing insults at each other, William approaches Drake while holding a box. "Oh, boss, before I forget, here's what you asked. Just take as a gift, you don't need to pay me back"
Drake opens the box and sees a smartwatch. He nods and smiles. "Amazing! Thanks!"
Komet raises one eyebrow. "A smartwatch? The same model as mine on top of that! Are you copycatting me?"
"Is that a problem?"
"Not 'a problem', but it's just stupid if you think your smartwatch will function like mine. I already said I won't give you access to its source code, and it's not for the reasons you think it is!"
"Then I'll give you access to my smartwatch and you can modify it by yourself"
"I'm not an idiot! Now you're just asking for free labor! Even because I have no idea how it was programmed!"
Drake laughs. "I'll eventually have that, but for now I'll connect you and your creatures to the smartwatch, so that we can communicate from anywhere. I won't be always stuck in this fucking room, after all. You never know when I need to run away, and this is more practical than a smartphone"
"A miracle! A smart move coming from someone like you"
"I'm smart enough to not let myself get killed by a computer monster"
Before they get the chance to bicker again, the old lady opens the door without notice, holding a tray of cookies. Komet, Lua and Sonne quickly jump back in the computer, while Drake facepalms. "Let's go boys, you really don't want those cookies to go to waste"
"Oh my god, Komet! Let's just leave Drake to die already! He's such a spoiled bitch! I can't take that anymore!" protests Lua
"To achieve success, one must be willing to sacrifice something in exchange" says Sonne, while Komet devolves him back to Firamon
"Oh yeah? Then I'll tell him to sacrifice his face to my fist that will go right into his filthy mouth!"
Komet sighs. "Don't worry, I know what I got myself into… It's gonna be fine"
"When? Because since we've arrived here, you two always start an argument after a normal sentence! Not even big puss and I argue that often! Unless you are into arguments or masochism, I can't see the 'fine' in this. But hey, I can see why you stopped being his friend"
She shakes her head. "As soon as all of this is over, we're gonna be away from him, okay?"
"Good! I'd be worried if you still wanted to be around that asshole"
A few minutes pass, and Drake calls them to go to his room. Lua growls, and together with Sonne and Komet, they jump out of the system. The bunny sees William just sitting on the bed while Ferdinand is talking to Drake. Ferdinand starts stammering, while Drake is almost growling. Then the not-so-brave boy flinches and almost cowers, while the boss of the bunch rolls his eyes and shifts his attention to his new acquisition. As soon as Ferdinand notices that Komet is back in the room, he walks towards her.
"So you are really Tayna, right? You are also hacker Komet! Ahm, what should I call you then…?"
She looks a bit away. "Either one is okay"
"Okay! Then I'll call you hacker Komet, since you look a bit different from Tayna"
"Just 'Komet' is enough"
"Okay! Okay!" He nods excitedly. "So, you work at Diamlock Tech, right? What is it like? Is it as good as they say?"
"It is. I enjoy working there"
"Oh! You are also a vigilante hacker at the same time! This is not even legal, correct? How does it feel to know one of the leaders of The Dragons? Do you like The Dragons? You do like Hydra at least! It's hard to find someone who doesn't like him!"
Komet frowns. "Ahm… Ahm… I-I'm sorry, I… I need some space" She jumps back into the computer.
Ferdinand frowns. "D-Did I do something wrong…?"
"Uuh… Ahm… Well… I think she's feeling overwhelmed right now… H-hey! Don't make this face! It's not your fault, I promise!" says Lua
He nods. "So… Can you two answer those questions? Does she like The Dragons? How did she get to know hacker Drake?"
"Apologies, Ferdinand, but we cannot speak for her, especially regarding personal matters. These are topics that should be answered by herself" says Sonne
He holds his hands together. "A-ah, sorry! I'm sorry! I really didn't mean to be intrusive!"
Lua frowns, but smiles. "It's fine, really! As long as you don't call us 'Pokémon' again, we're not gonna lift a finger to hurt you-"
Sonne bites her arm to call her out. She shrieks in pain.
William approaches the group. "Befriending the monsters already, Ferdy? This is very like you". He looks at Sonne and Lua. "Okay, Tayna was trying to prove Hydra is innocent, but got attacked by a monster. I'm happy to hear that she was doing this, because I'm a big fan of the guy too, and never believed the idea that he was a monster- Ah, as in, a horrible person" He fixes his glasses on his face. "But what do you two have to do with all that?"
The lion tells him the deal with the Corrosion Virus and the imminent danger of an attack on their world.
He blinks. Then he looks left and right, and finally scratches his head. "The more I hear about all that, the more I think this is just a weird dream. Or I'm part of an anime at this point. Well, I am talking to sentient digital animals that seem to be smarter than any up to date AI"
"Hard to believe, I know," says Drake from the other side of the room. "But I've seen what they can do, so I can confirm this is fucking real. Unless you are saying I'm lying"
"Of course not! But you can't deny that if an ordinary person listens to all that, they will think you're on heavy drugs!"
At that moment, Komet projects herself out of the computer, looking shocked. "GUYS! You can't believe what just happened!"
Everyone whips her head towards her, except Drake, who slowly spins his chair to her direction. "Don't tell me you deleted the system folder" says Drake
"You know I can't, you idiot. Anyway, Police Chief Hawks is reported missing!"
Everyone looks very shocked, except Drake again. "Good for him. I don't know why I should care"
"Because…" She projects snippets of the news and the attached images in the room. The group gets close to it, and Drake is the first to gasp. It's a partially blurred picture of the crime scene, depicting a room with a burned computer and some stains on the floor and wall. They easily assume it's bloodstains.
"No way… This is…"
"...the exact same thing that happened to me, yes"
"The computer monster is attacking again?" asks Ferdinand, already in panic. "What if we're the next ones?"
"It's easy to assume Chief Hawks found something he 'shouldn't'" says William. He reads the article further. "And of course, they're already pinning the blame on Richie. Not only that, they want to make people believe it's the hacker group The Dragons again and relate Richie to them. It's already happening actually, and unfortunately for him, they are correct: Richie is part of them. How does that link to The Dragons exactly? Well, I'm sure you all remember what ruined the group's reputation"
"Fire…" says Komet, swallowing hard.
Sonne shakes his head. "It is very clear that whoever is committing those crimes is attempting to make the public believe the killer has a very specific modus operandi. Komet's burned computer, for instance, was not an act of the criminal, but mine, caused by carelessness"
William nods. "The person pulling the strings decided this is The Dragon's calling card and is using this to 'prove' that Richie is linked to them, therefore an even bigger threat. They know very well what they are doing"
Drake turns his attention back to his computer. "Then what are we waiting for? Get back in the system, let's find out who Leviathan is right now!"
"W-Wait, what are you gonna do?" asks Ferdinand
"Send them to the telecom provider system and try to fetch the message exchange between Leviathan and Don Werisley. It's Tayna's chance to recover what was stolen from her and expose the motherfucker behind all this shit"
"Why does it have to be right now?" asks Lua, but she sees Komet just nodding and disappearing from the room. She groans. "Okay, fine! Let's go, big puss!"
Sonne nods, and both also jump back to the system. They see Komet quickly gathering the tools and putting them in her bag.
"We are ready to devolve" says Sonne
"No, you two are going as Adults in case the goop monster shows up. He does carry the Corrosion Virus, after all. Besides, the exploitable backdoor is still there, so fortunately high secrecy is not needed. Drake is already aware of that" says Komet
"Okay, but why do we need to go right now ?" asks Lua
"Great opportunity to get the info without facing the monster beforehand and possibly tracking or ambushing it, since it's too busy murdering people. The goop monster will probably figure out this is Drake's doing again, so we must not let it have the chance to infect his computer, especially now that we know it can grow like a cancer. We do need to kill it if it's really the source of the Corrosion Virus, but it's preferable that we take the fight somewhere else"
"Oh, that's actually pretty smart! But I doubt Drake also thought about all that"
She chuckles. "You're really underestimating how smart he can actually be"
"Why are you complimenting him now?"
"Anyway…" The lass puts on her goggles and mounts Sonne. "All set. Operation 'Finding Leviathan', active!"
The trio hear Drake's voice echoing in the room. "The rules are simple: do your job and don't get caught. Gimme a call when you're done!" Then they feel themselves being pushed by a wave of data.
As they travel, Lua looks around, recognizing the path they are taking. She shudders. "It's still scary that the last time we came here, you were almost killed…"
Sonne also feels apprehensive about remembering the last time they were there. He closes his eyes and sighs. "I am grateful that we managed to get a good outcome. Not the best unfortunately. Now we return to fetch the answers that were stolen from us, with a potential chance to face the enemy again. Hopefully you are ready for that, Komet"
Komet grits her teeth. "I think many things will be revealed at once today. Leviathan, Don Werisley's secret, Hydra's sentence, Corrosion Virus… I'm sure they are related… I just can't figure out the reason yet"
"Maybe some kind of mafia? Or a criminal organization? Either way, we are messing with a hornet nest!" says Lua
"It's not like it's our first time, right? I'm obviously feeling very nervous about that"
Sonne lands in front of a gate. "We arrived. Our next step is to get past this. We know the procedures, so allow us to proceed"
"Before you do…" Komet shoves her hands in her bag, takes two protective vests out of it and hands them to Sonne and Lua. "Wear this. Or update it into your files or something, I don't really know what you two do in this case… Anyway, Drake built those to give a layer of protection against the Corrosion Virus. It's not exactly anti-ternary, but will protect you from getting infected. I'm not sure of its durability, but any kind of protection is better than no protection, right?"
Lua takes the vest, looking surprised. "Wow, that's really thoughtful of him. And I actually mean it!"
"I assume those vests are big in data size" says Sonne
"Unfortunately it is. It's very risky, I know, but you two are also under the risk of getting Infected in case the monster appears, so it's worth the risk"
He grabs the vest with his mouth, closes his eyes and absorbs the accessory, making it materialize in his body. Lua just wears it the traditional way.
"Now I give you permission to proceed!" Komet projects a keyboard in front of her and types something. Then she nods at her Digimon.
Lua nods back and turns her attention to the door. "Let's go, big puss!" She places her hands on the gate, while Sonne places his front paws. They emit a shockwave from them, which makes the gate flicker for a moment, displaying its wireframe for a second. Then, the door unlocks and opens, allowing them to move in.
The Lekismon looks around, seeing the room full of scrolls with different sizes in shelves. Each shelf has a different phone number on them. "Here we are again, inside the telecom provider system"
"Oh, they are scrolls. I expect them to be letters, but I guess being scrolls make more sense. You do need to scroll up or down to see more of its content, after all" says Komet, rolling her eyes. She gets one of the scrolls, opens it, and sees them written in very weird characters that seem to change from time to time. "Awesome, end-to-end encryption…"
"Worry not, Komet. We still possess the key to decrypt the exchange between Leviathan and Don Werisley" says Sonne
She places the scroll back on the shelf. "If the 'key' is literally a key like-"
"It is. Allow me to show it to you"
"You must be kidding me!"
He laughs. "Worry not, I jest. The key is more complex than that"
Komet groans nonetheless. Lua chuckles and takes the lass by her hand, pulling her to a direction. "Follow me! I still remember the phone number somehow, I just don't remember which shelf it is exactly, but it's fine~"
"I will keep watch while you search for the information" he says while following them.
They walk a long corridor and take lots of turns. Lua quickly scans every shelf as they run to find the phone number they are looking for. "Here! It's this single scroll under this number!"
Komet quickly grabs it, but immediately drops it with a short scream and shakes her hand in pain. The bunny looks confused while the object unrolls on the floor. When she looks at the content of the opened scroll, she gets shocked. "No effin' way!"
She sees a lot of scratches with a few traces of dark miasma. 0s, 1s and 2s flicker in place of the encrypted message, meaning it's totally corrupted, so it can't be decrypted and the sender can't be tracked.
"No… No, no, no no no! This can't be!" Komet places her hands on her head, distraught. "We got our answer from here, this was the only place we could reach it!"
Lua grits her teeth. "This has to be salvageable, right? Maybe that dickhead can do something about it-"
"Stay alert! Something is coming. Something… Familiar" says Sonne, looking very serious.
Lua looks around, but she sees nothing. But she feels it. The familiar creepy and cold feeling of a creature that, three months ago, quickly ran past them and almost successfully murdered their best friend. When she focuses in a direction, she sees it again: a slimy, dark giant hand already reaching for her best friend's face. Fortunately, Lua reacts fast enough to grab Komet and jump out of the way.
But Sonne doesn't have the same luck. He doesn't react fast enough, causing the hand to grab him instead and violently push him against a shelf. The slimy hand projects stakes to stab him, but the vest protects him. Lua quickly gets up and helps Komet do the same. The lass summons Darcmon's sword to her hands and runs towards Sonne. She raises it, which shines with holy light, and swings it down. "Baptême d'Amour!"
Lua aims her protrusions at the same spot and launches her attack too. "Tear Arrow!"
Sonne breaks free from the hand and sees his vest slightly damaged. The hand that was cut off evaporates into miasma, while the rest retreats back to the attacker. The trio look in its direction, and see the goop monster walking out of the shadow, flashing its bright yellow eyes and opening a creepy grin with its not-so-friendly draconic moth-like face.
They look shocked when they realize the monster is at least three times as big as them, causing a chill to run down their spines. Dark miasma constantly flows from its body, while dark moths fly around it.
"YOU HAVE RETURNED, HACKER KOMET. COME CLOSER, AND LET ME FINISH MY JOB" says the monster, in a creepy, distorted robotic voice.
Komet lifts her left arm, displaying her smartwatch. "Very funny, mister Infection. Sonne, Identify!"
Sonne focuses on the monster, who Komet decided to name it 'Infection'. But no information is fetched, it doesn't matter where he focuses. "Apologies, but it seems identifying this creature is impossible. It lacks a Digicore"
She grits her teeth. "Lacks a Digicore…" She looks directly at Infection. "Who are you? Why do you want to kill me? Are you the cause of Corrosion Virus? Are you related to Leviathan?"
At that moment, the alarm goes off, announcing that safety measures will begin immediately.
"Dammit! We were spotted!" says Lua
"Komet's carelessly uploading her weapon into the system revealed our existence and current position" says Sonne
Komet quickly mounts the lion while still gritting her teeth. "Well, I'm sorry, but it's not like I had much of a choice! Let's get out of here!"
"LIKE I WOULD LET YOU" says Infection. It swiftly moves past them, blocking their path. It extends parts of its slime body around the room like cobwebs.
Lua also mounts Sonne, who immediately flies away. "It seems this monster intend to get us trapped here and get everyone eliminated by the security system, including itself" he says
"Well, too bad, I don't feel like dying today. Let's make our way out, Team Twilight!" says Komet
Sonne covers his front paws on fire, while Lua already shoots at slimy threads. When they pass through the broken threads, hands extend towards them in attempts to grab any of them, but Komet swings her sword to destroy them. They struggle to go through, as the creature keeps creating more and more obstacles while the security system quickly approaches them. After lots of combined effort, they finally leave the slimy trap and fly towards the exit while Infection pursues them, still extending parts of its body in attempts to destabilize them.
"We are approaching the exit!" shouts Sonne. He roars, gives one last boost on his flight and finally leaves the telecom's database. But before they can celebrate, the lion is shot three times by something else. Fortunately the vest protects him, despite hitting unprotected areas. This is because the vest is just a visual representation, as the item actually protects the whole body. Still, the projectile hurts him enough to force him to land. When they look towards the shooter, they get shocked, especially Komet.
"P-Police Chief Hawks?"
Hawks just stares at them with empty eyes, as if he's been zombified. He points his gun at them and starts shooting again. They notice that the bullets are not just regular bullets, but they can't tell what it is exactly. Lua and Sonne jump to different directions, dodging all the bullets. But he doesn't stop shooting: it's as if his pistol has infinite ammo. Meanwhile, Infection quickly moves right behind the officer, giving a creepy grin at Team Twilight again.
"What did you do to him?" yells Komet
"HE SAW TOO MUCH. THOSE WHO SEE TOO MUCH MUST BE ELIMINATED. IT'S AN ORDER THAT I MUST FOLLOW" says Infection. It extends one part of its body to penetrate into Hawks' left eye. This causes goop insectoid legs and a pair of moth wings to grow from his back. Dark slime also covers his hands like gloves. "IT'S TIME TO ELIMINATE YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS, HACKER KOMET"
"You wish. Team Twilight, follow my lead! Our main focus is Infection, but we need to do something about Chief Hawks too. Although…" Komet grits her teeth and grips harder on Sonne. "Do your best to not destroy his body, not the human parts at least. He is just a puppet- Woah!"
A bullet zips very close to her, leaving a trail of infected miasma. Hawks just keeps shooting at them non-stop, never needing to reload. At the same time, they need to avoid Infection's attacks, making their life already hell. But as the policeman keeps focusing on taking them down, Lua performs a diving kick on his arm, forcing him to drop his gun. "Moon Night Kick! This is for cheating with infinite ammo!"
Hawks tries to reach for the gun by extending his goop hand, but Lua is faster. She quickly grabs it, and with another Moon Night Kick, she destroys the pistol. With one treat gone, the policeman goes for physical combat, quickly flying in her direction. Lua notices that he is trying to stab her to get her infected. Fortunately, when he doesn't miss the attacks, the protective vest does its job. But as the fight keeps going on, the vest becomes more and more damaged.
She notices that Sonne and Komet are not doing very well against Infection. Despite having Darcmon's sword, which is effective against Corrosion Virus, the lass is being forced to stay more in a defensive stance due to its immense side and its constant limb stretching attacks. Komet quickly looks around to analyze their situation.
The bunny struggles to deal with Hawks, especially now that he has decided to use the wings to fly. She doesn't have a way to deal with the stretching goop attacks, since she's mostly a melee fighter with only one virtually functional projectile against him, and engaging in close combat seems to become a worse idea over time, since her vest is losing its properties.
"Lua, take this! You'll do much better with them"
The bunny quickly whips her head towards Komet and sees her summoning Minervamon's sword and shield. She looks surprised. "Why did you leave big puss?"
"I'm hindering his full potential against Infection. He can defend himself more effectively if he can cloak his body in flames". She runs in front of Lua and cuts off one of the insectoid limbs that tries to stab her. "I'll stay back and plan something, things are not going well for us. To make things worse, I can't contact Drake… I think Infection is jamming our signal"
"We don't need that dickhead's help anyway, Team Twilight can handle them just fine!" She takes the shield and the heavy sword with ease and jumps towards Hawks to try to cut his wings off, but he just flies higher. She tries it more times, but still fails. She also sees Sonne using his Flame Dive attack to open holes in the goop monster, but it regenerates faster than the damage done. Every time the lion perforates the creature, the vest gets weaker.
She lands and approaches Komet again. "Komet-"
"I noticed. We need to end this quickly. I'll evolve Sonne regardless of the risk. At least this way we have the chance to make it out alive". She readies her smartwatch, but when she is about to start uploading the data, she gets pushed away by a big goop hand.
Lua gasps, and to her surprise, the attack came from Infection, despite being somewhat far away from them. But she quickly cuts the arm off and scowls. "Your opponent is making holes in you! Why would you target him-"
Then she hears the lass screaming. She whips her head towards her and sees Hawks flying up holding Komet's arms. He stabs her left arm and readies the other insectoid legs.
"WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT, THE ARM THAT YOU LOST IS THE ONE GIVING ME THE MOST TROUBLE. LET'S FIX THIS BEFORE KILLING YOU" says Infected through Chief Hawks' body.
"Not on my watch! Fira Claw" yells Sonne. He dives towards the policeman and cuts his wings off, but the man reacts quickly and restrains Sonne on his back with the extra limbs, quickly reshaping it into a rope. As they fall, the lion uses his strength to flip all of them around, so Komet will not be on the receiving end of the impact.
"SET YOUR BODY ON FIRE AGAIN, SONNE, AND WATCH YOUR FRIEND BURNING ALIVE WITH YOUR ENEMY" 'he' says, followed by a twisted laughter.
Infection extends many of its limbs to finish all of the stuck trio off, but Lua cuts all of them. "I'm still here, you piece of shit!" She quickly glances behind her back, and notices that the three of them are really stuck into each other, all of them struggling to do something, but none of them able to do much. Hawks holds Komet's arms, so that she can't access her smartwatch anymore. He also tries to destroy Sonne's vest, so that the lion can finally be infected and killed. The other two try a combined effort to break free while doing their best to defend themselves, which doesn't work well, since Hawks is currently abnormally stronger than a common human being.
Lua quickly shifts her attention back on Infection, since it continuously launches attacks at the stuck trio. "Can you stop ignoring me? I am your opponent now!"
"ARE YOU? ARE YOU NOW?" it says, as it launches a lot of attacks at her.
Lua chops off most of the attacks, but because of her starting fatigue and lack of proficiency with weapons, Infection overpowers her, grabbing her and flinging her away from her friends. The creature now faces her, readying multiple solidified stakes from its body. She gets up again, her body hurting a lot. "D-dammit…"
"ALL BARK NO BITE!" Infection attacks with its stakes. Lua dodges and shields most of them, but the ones that hit destroy the rest of her vest, leaving her unprotected.
As she falls on the floor and gets up again, she feels apprehensive. "Dammit… Dammit… My plan didn't work… If you can call that a plan! I just went by instinct again, and now… I don't know what to do… Why can't I be good at strategy like Komet or Sonne? Am I gonna survive this? Are we all gonna die because I'm just too stupid to do something without them?"
"I THOUGHT YOU WERE MY OPPONENT, BUT ALL I SEE IT A PUNCHING BAG"
"Every time I was 'by myself', someone always had to help with my half-baked plans and make it work… Now that I'm truly alone, there's no one to make up for my flaws…! I… I-"
A stake pierces through her ear, making her feel a very sharp pain and a sensation of burning. It's when she realizes she's being infected by the Corrosion Virus. She gets very scared, thinking it's over, that she failed. But before the infection has the chance to spread through her body and reach her Digicore, she remembers what Plesiomon did when she got infected. So, in a swing of the giant sword she cuts her ear off, which dissipates in bits of data, while the cut area now bleeds.
She gives an angry smile. "Heh, how ironic. You're not the first one to attack and infect me through that same ear. But on that day, I just risked my life to save a friend without thinking, in which they won the battle in the end. I also met someone who did the same thing. That just made me realize something, and remember that as long as we are alive and have something to fight for, the game is still not over!"
"PRETTY WORDS WON'T TAKE YOU ANYWHERE" it scoffs. It launches a flurry of attacks at her, in an attempt to finish her off.
She defends from all attacks with the sword and shield. "Sure, it's better when I have them at my side, but if they can't do it, then I have to do it, just like what I did in Scrivale! And just like the original owner of these weapons, I'll keep fighting for my friends until I can no longer fight!"
Minervamon's sword and shield start shining brighter, enveloping Lua with their brightness and lines of 0s and 1s. Infection tries attacking the ball of light, but it clunks with a bigger shield. The light dissipates, revealing a new form for Lua: wearing armor on the top, metal gloves and boots, she holds a new form of the weapons, both shaped like crescent moons - the Nova Luna. The mask now covers her whole face, and the top ears - including the cut off one - are replaced by two cones with long pink ribbons at the top. "Get ready for a new form of myself, Crescemon!"
"YOU HAVE EVOLVED…!?"
"Now, let me show you what I'm made of! Lunatic Dance!" With her new poleax-like weapon and shield, she approaches Infection with dance-like steps, performing multiple slashes on its body. With her improved speed, she avoids all new attempts to infect her. She deals one last and bigger slash that opens a hole in the middle of its body, allowing her to see the state of her friends. Fortunately, they are still somewhat well. But Infection's body starts regenerating again, closing all the holes made. Lua scowls.
The creature laughs maniacally. "BIG TALK, BUT YOU ARE STILL YOURSELF DESPITE YOUR NEW FORM, ALONE AND CLUELESS. YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A TOOL, AND A TOOL WITHOUT ITS MASTER IS JUST USELESS"
She shakes her head. "You're not wrong. I'm mostly Komet's tool in these moments. But you're also not right. I'm a 'tool' that can improve over time. I can't be like them, but I can use our experience to be a better version of myself. So watch out, Lua is coming to the rescue, ready to be properly used again! Lunatic Dance!"
She dances again, throwing more synchronized slashes, making cuts and opening holes again. This time, she immediately jumps through the big hole, rushing towards her friends. She places her poleax under her shield, transforming her weapons into a bowgun. She aims at Chief Hawks, forming an arrow of ice, and pulls the trigger. "Ice Archery!"
"HEH, PREDICTABLE!" Infection makes Hawks turn around, making Komet the target.
But to the creature's shock, Lua flicks her bowgun, making the arrow precisely hit Komet's smartwatch's wristband, breaking it. Lua grabs the device, quickly goes to Storage and uploads Flaremon data to Sonne. While the upload is happening, Lua protects them from all of Infection's attacks. Then, Sonne finally evolves to Flaremon, growing too big for Hawks to keep holding him. He makes the policeman release Komet, burns the goop away and pins him down. Komet finds his handcuffs and cuffs him, finally immobilizing one of the threats.
"How do you like it? It's my friend's plan finally executed. Isn't it amazing? 'Predictable' my ass!" boasts Lua
Infection growls. "EVEN SO, YOU STILL NEEDED THEM TO BE USEFUL"
"Yeah, so? I'm part of a team, Team Twilight, and working together is what makes us shine! You made me realize that I shouldn't be trying to be a strategist like them. After all, I have my limits and weaknesses. Like you said, I need them, but they also need me! I should use what I'm good at to complement the team, and if they are out of the game… I'll use our past experiences to bring them back in!" She transforms her bowgun back to poleax and shield. "Komet! Permission to kill the creature!"
"It doesn't seem like we're getting answers from it. Permission granted. Go, Team!" says Komet, pointing at Infection.
Sonne and Lua, now both in their Perfect forms, quickly run towards the goop monster. Lua, now aware of how the creature acts, opens their way by cutting any stretching limbs while Sonne covers his hand on fire. Infection opens its moth wings and tries to fly, but Sonne destroys it with the lion-shaped fire projectile launched from his fist. "Gurenjuouha!"
Following the fall, Lua readies her Nova Luna, getting a dance stance. "Lunatic Dance!" She opens again multiple holes on its body, and before Infection starts regenerating, Sonne jumps over her and inhales.
"Purifying Roar!"
The burning shockwaves hit the goop monster through the injuries, burning its body from inside to outside. It lets out a shriek, and before disintegrating, it says one more thing. "AT LAST, FREEDOM" Then, it dissipates into 0s, 1s and 2s, which fades away right after, leaving nothing else behind.
"We did it! We avenged Komet!" says Lua, celebrating.
Komet approaches her, who is now way taller, and holds one of her hands. "Thank you Lua. You were amazing, and you look equally amazing too!"
"Congratulations on your new evolution, Lua. And thanks for saving us. Regardless of how you made it happen, what really matters is that we are all alive" says Sonne
The lass then approaches where Infection was, disappointed. "He didn't leave any data to collect, huh…?"
"That's true… He just evaporated into ternary… Let's hope this doesn't destroy any computer around" says Lua
"That aside… For the first time I didn't need to give my data to make the evolution happen. Prof. Bokomon sure will be proud of me"
"Ah yeah! About that… Well, I guess you don't have Minervamon's sword and shield anymore… They gave me power to evolve and became my weapons. Sorry about that"
Komet gives a sweet smile. "You don't need to apologize. I believe it was Minervamon's fighting spirit on those weapons that decided to make you grow stronger!"
Lua would be opening a big smile if it was visible, then looks neutral again. "What about your smartwatch…? I broke the wristband…"
"Don't worry about that, I just need to find a new one"
"If you say so… What are we gonna do now…?"
"I'm gonna first call Anpu to tell him about the monster we just destroyed and confirm if it was the source of the Corrosion Virus. Let's hope this is the case. Can you take Chief Hawks' body closer? We can't just leave it there with no dignity…"
She looks towards the corpse and frowns. "Oh… This really is a complicated matter, huh. I'll be right back!" She runs towards the cuffed body and turns it around. Then she feels something bothering her, something… Familiar. She searches his pockets, finding pens and other junks, until she finds an electronic component, which she can't identify. "Why does it feel familiar…?" She places it inside her glove and takes the body closer to the rest of the team.
Komet finishes the call and looks at the two Digimon. "Ready to return?"
They both nod.
"Okay then, I'm calling Drake now" she says, taking her smartwatch close to her face. "We're done here. You can take us back. The mission was a success… And a huge failure"
End of the chapter. Art of Infection can be found in my AO3 in the end of the chapter!