"AFTER HER!!"

"WE'RE TRYING!

Damn it! They really were dumb for sleeping without checking! Shiramon's claws had gotten her out and it had them scrambling to get out and find her. Thank goodness she hadn't gotten too far!

Griffomon, Plesiomon, LampKnightmon and Chaosdramon were right on HanShiramon's heels, although even Chaosdramon's keen sense of smell couldn't help him now. In fact, the only thing that helped them recognise their friend was the tail. Huge and fluffy as ever despite the twin bone katanas made from her spikes growing from it.

The rest of her? Not so much. Her eyes were now crimson red. Hard bone armour covered her body, highlighted by the red spikes. Her fangs were as sharp as knives, glinting an onyx black against the sunlight. Coherence was no longer a thing for HanShiramon; hisses and growls were all they could hear now.

The smile, though, sent Kiyo cowering, made Ruri swallow nervously, and had Hiro and Luno shivering.

Creepy and wide, showing off all her teeth.

It brought back.... Memories. Of a Jogressed Digimon, who was only beaten back by Shiramon's will.

Malicemon...

Holding back his shivers, though, Hiro commanded, "Stay on her tail! We can't lose her now!"

"Got it!!" The others nodded, and the Digimon quickened their pace as they tried to go after her. They couldn't let her hurt anyone!

Little did they know that nearby, a particular trio was playing baseball.

Violet Tamada was swinging her baseball bat front and back multiple times as a warmup, sometimes barely missing Dracmon or her own partner, which of course did not sit well with Culumon X, "Violet, please be careful!"

"I know!" she cheerfully answered as she stopped. "I'm done anyway, so don't worry. Are we ready to swing baseballs like mad?!"

"Oh yeah!!" the mischievous imp, even if he had become less malicious after Violet took him in, was still excited for bouts of chaos. "Let's do this!!"

Culumon X could only chuckle slightly at this. She was having fun, which was great, considering...

She went quiet, the smile disappearing as she remembered Violet... Turning into stone, her Sin Code mocking Violet's desire, greed for smiles. It was....

She had somewhat caused it, hadn't she?

Feeling a hand on her shoulder, she turned to see Violet shaking her head as the 10-year-old said, "I don't blame you. It wasn't... Your fault. No matter how much you claim otherwise."

"But..." She looked at Violet's hairclip. The Digivice sat on her hair, glinting in the sunlight.

"Don't blame yourself for it," Dracmon cut in, giving her a soft smile as he continued, "You're better now, aren't you?"

"Y-Yeah," She gave them a small smile, hugging both of them with her feelers before starting, "We shouldn't do-"

"Alright!!" Violet interrupted with a playful smirk while Dracmon grinned. Time to play!

Culumon X had a fond smile on her face despite her clear reluctance.

Dracmon began throwing the baseballs they had prepared at Violet, who swatted at them like a pro, although the same couldn't be said about her aim. In fact, they went all over the place, flying in random directions.

One of them just so happened to fly all the way to HanShiramon, hitting her head pretty hard and knocking her out cold, making the others step on the brakes. Well, what could be considered that on a Digimon. Luno nearly fell over were it not for Bokomon's grip on him.

"What just.... Happened?" Hiro muttered as he stared at the Champion that had just collapsed.

Violet soon stopped once there were no more baseballs left, and the three began to pick up the balls scattered all over the place, but once they counted how many there were, she blinked and looked around, "Now, where could that ball have gone off to?"

This didn't go unheard by Chaosdramon, who nudged his partner and gestured to Violet.

Culumon X noticed them too, and waved at them, "Hello! What brings you here?"

Plesiomon picked up the ball with her mouth and handed it to Kiyoshiro, who walked over and gave the ball back to Violet while saying, "While normally I would be getting mad at you for recklessly hitting balls everywhere, not this time. You helped us out a lot."

"Yeah! Thanks a lot, Violet!" Hiro smiled as he ruffled her hair up.

She giggled and answered, "Glad I could help! Though... What did I help with?"

At the same time, Dracmon noticed LampKnightmon carrying HanShiramon, causing his eyes to widen, "Woah, what is that?!"

"Long story, which we don't have time to explain," Ruri admitted. "Sorry, but we have to rush back as soon as possible."

Judging by how serious they were, Violet could only guess it was that bad, so she offered, "Culu, Drac and I could help if you want."

Luno shifted away slightly from Dracmon, still a bit uncomfortable with him mainly due to Drac being a reminder of the things she had done before Pump's death. She wasn't the type to hold grudges for very long, sure, but Drac had mocked her as he killed her partner...

Pump had gotten over it, yeah, since he was now chatting animatedly with the vampire imp despite the sheer height difference which made it funny somehow. Not to Luno, though. She still had nightmares. Even after making peace with most of Pride's underlings, she felt like she had to keep pushing herself to be better, to atone...

Noticing her expression, Bokomon gently nudged her as he jumped onto her head, saying, "You've made amends, and even if you don't have to forgive Drac or Ryubo for what they did, don't feel too guilty. You're doing good so far."

Luno couldn't help but smile at that. Bokomon had only come into her life after Pump's death, having hatched the day she lost her partner. It was something she was grateful for, so she patted his head, "Thanks Boko."

"No need for thanks," He snorted. "We should go now, though, if we want to save her."

"Yeah," She agreed, and turned to the others, saying, "We have to go now. Violet, if you want to come along, please tell us. We have to be back soon."

Violet and Culumon X shared a glance before Violet nodded, eyes growing serious, "Let's go."

The team then piled onto their respective Megas, Violet tagging along with Luno as they soon headed back to the hospital.

"Please, let us be on time..." Griffomon mumbled.

"We will, don't worry, Griffomon," Ruri reassured her partner while she stroked his back. "We'll save Shiramon. No matter what."

Griffomon couldn't help the small smile on his face hearing that. Ruri... Even after everything, from him attacking her due to her immense fear of Gaomon, to even forgiving him after he treated everyone, especially her and Shiramon so horribly, she still was a supportive friend. Someone he could rely and depend on when he were down.

So was Shiramon, which was why he would fight tooth and nail to bring her back. As Ruri said, no matter what. "Yeah, you're right. Thanks Ruri."

The kids soon arrived back at Toei University Hospital, where HanShiramon was taken in right away while the others were waiting impatiently outside, watching through the glass as she was put into a cage again, much to their discomfort. It had to be done, though. If not... She would escape again.

By then, Violet had gotten the gist of what had happened thanks to Hiro, so she and Culumon X were in there too, helping Blues and her mother Ryubo as they set up the wires to connect her to the computer. They had to check her code if they wanted to know what was truly going on.

Once they were done, Blues signaled that it was okay to come in, so they all crowded around Blues' laptop while Shiramon slept. Gammamon was holding Bokomon's hand, eyes closed shut as various emotions coursed through him. Worry, fear, anxiety. Bokomon himself had a frown on his face while Pumpmon was hugging Angoramon to soothe him. Even Jellymon fretted over it as she fiddled with her fingers.

Blues typed in the code to scan the body, but what came up instead?

Red. Red code everywhere. Only 1%, no, even smaller than that was what remained of Shiramon. Of their friend.

Everyone's faces were pale. Amoramon looked ready to puke. Oujiaoaomon gasped at this.

What the heck?!

Amoramon began to feel even greener as she realised this was why Shiramon hadn't wanted to go through with giving the Sin Codes to Digitamas. Because if this was... This was what happened to those kids... She would have... She would have... Sentenced them to...

Oujiaoaomon hugged Amoramon, unable to speak up either. She could only provide comfort this way.

No one could. The silence was thick and suffocating...

"We... May have to alter HIS work," Kiyoshiro finally spoke up, eyes looking over the codes. "If we want to save Shiramon, we need to get those codes from those other Digimon and contain them, then help her data grow back to 100%.

Blues sighed and said, "I'll help."

"So will I," Mummymon agreed.

"Count me in. Boko?"

"I won't disappoint," The professor nodded.

"Same here," Ryubo stepped forward. "Culumon X, please use your feelers to heal up anything else."

The former Greed Digimon gave a nod, "You can count on me."

"Alright. There's no time to waste then," Kiyo said. "Let's go!"

Hiro and Ruri stepped aside to let them sit down before they began to work on the programs. The data had spread all over her body, so grabbing each and every one of them and combining them into a small program was not easy, but once they did that, restoring her to how she should be was easy.

On the other hand, there was... Another problem. Her internal code was really small. Making it grow to fill her entire body was not going to be easy, yet they kept at it. Culumon X assisted however she could too.

As they watched this, Hiro's phone suddenly rang, making him blink as he checked who was calling, and then he paled like a ghost.

Oh no.

"GUYS STOP! WE HAVE A PROBLEM!!" he yelled, making Blues nearly fall onto the computer as he swiveled over.

"What's wrong Hiro?!" Ruri asked.

His next words made everyone pale a lot.

"Mei.... She's video calling me!!"

"... Excuse me?!" Ryubo looked like she could have a heart attack on the spot.

Blues and Violet simultaneously ducked under the table, grabbing Ryubo and dragging her with them as the 3 former Sin Codes joined them. Once everyone patted themselves down and ensured they were clean enough, Hiro inhaled and pressed Accept.

On the other side, Mei smiled and waved as the Empire State Building could be seen behind her, "Hey you guys!!"

"Mei!" Gammamon happily waved at her.

"How's New Work?" Pumpmon asked.

"New York," She corrected despite the smile on her face. "And it's been a blast! Mirei-- you remember Mirei right? -- and her dad have been showing my sensei and me the sights! It's been so awesome!"

"Despite the usual stigma of Korean people working in America, New York has been a nice place for us so far," Duri remarked. "Hi! I'm Cha Duri, Mirei's dad!"

"Tohma Norstein, Mei's sensei," Tohma smiled as he showed up from behind Mei.

Ryubo nearly gave their location away with a small squeak. She idolised him a lot! He was a doctor who managed to cure his own sister of her illness, and went on to help many others!

Blues and Violet were there to cover her mouth, thankfully, so that was slightly diverted!

But Mei then frowned as she squinted. Was it just her, or... "Hey Hiro?"

"Y-Yeah?" Hiro smiled nervously, his lips twitching ever so slightly.

"Is a Digimon sick?" She asked him. "Because you're in the hospital."

Hiro was about to refute and reassure her when out of nowhere, an all-too-familiar snarl was heard as Shiramon woke up and boy was she not happy with the cage she was in.

"What was that?" Mirei looked surprised. "It sounded like-"

"Shiramon?" Duri was confused as well. Just what the heck was going on here?!

Mei, on the other hand, frowned, "Hiro?"

"I-It's just a stray cat we found!" Hiro gritted his teeth. She couldn't find out! She shouldn't!

"... Okay," Mei decided to play along. "Make sure Shiramon gets enough rest okay?"

"Of course! Bye!"

With that, he hurried to shut the phone, causing everyone to breathe a sigh of relief. Crisis averted for now.

... Right?

"What was that about?" Tohma frowned as the call ended.

"I don't know, but my trouble magnet sibling is at it again, and so is Shiramon this time. I have to head back," She said.

"Alright, I'll book the fastest flight back," Duri got his phone out.

"I'll help you pack!" Mirei volunteered.

"Thanks you guys," Mei smiled at the two, as Tohma gave her a small hug. "Kick the Digimon's butt!"

"We'll come visit you someday," Duri added. "So you better give us room to kick their butts as well!"

"No promises," She laughed. "Let's go then."

"Yeah," Mirei nodded. "We might as well catch up in the car!"

Tohma and Duri chuckled before the four headed back to Mirei and Duri's apartment, prepared to help Mei get home as soon as possible.

When time begins to run out, what will you do? How would you overcome this situation? Will it end well? Will Shiramon return to normal? Perhaps... But we may never know. Sin Codes are... Complicated, after all. If one runs out of time... Will you make the hard choice?... Next time, on A Sinful Reminder, A Hard Decision, Consequences Faced!

venusaura What do you think?