"Have you found her?"

"Not yet..." Taiyou rubbed his eyes as he lay on his bed. "What the heck did she do to her?..."

That was something they all wanted the answer to. Azami had been hauled away for trying to hack into private spaces and even governmental satellites in search of Digimon, and that only disgusted them more... Still, that didn't solve the burning question in their minds; where their friend was.

"Damn it! Mei trusted that we could care for her but we only disappointed her!" Ruri snapped angrily. Her own bags were prominent while Angoramon's looked like panda circles already.

"I-if she finds out, w-won't she get mad?" Kiyoshiro then spoke up, making them all pale as they imagined the cold aura Mei was good at giving.

"She's going to MURDER us...." Hiro paled.

"Kami-sama, please protect us from Hoshi Mei's wrath," Bokomon and Pumpmon prayed together in front of a small altar that had appeared out of nowhere...

Mei sneezed again, making Mirei Shi and Cha Duri look over at her as Duri asked, "You okay, Mei?"

"I have no clue," she answered with a sigh. "I just got the sudden urge to do that."

Mirei shrugged while her adopted father offered, "Perhaps you're coming down with a cold?"

"I think that if I did come down with one, Shiramon would come here instead of me going back to Japan."

That made Sleepmon giggle in his sleep, and Duri snorted, "I suppose you can say that. Anyway, where the heck is Tohma-nii?!"

"Fashionably late, as per usual," Mei snorted. "Honestly, he is a bigger drama queen than Grandpa."

"I am NOT!" An elderly Austrian finally joined them as he huffed, "Geez, you guys are so mean at times!!"

World-famous Tohma Norstein was pouting at his apprentice, who was laughing so hard she couldn't hold it back. "Mei!"

"You're getting so riled up it's a riot," Duri chuckled.

"HEY!!" More laughing at Tohma's expense could be heard in the computer lab Mirei and Duri shared. They were definitely having fun. Growing closer, unaware of the crisis happening in Japan.

Kiyoshiro then got up and stretched, "It's my turn to patrol, huh?"

"Yeah, but I could always replace you," Taiyou offered.

"No thank you, you were already on patrol yesterday," Kiyoshiro refused.

"Stay safe, Senpai," Hiro warned him.

"I always am," He answered, inhaling slightly. He was scared as heck. Who knew what had happened to her because of Tsukumo. His own past with the supernatural left him in fear.

He owed it to her, though. They all did, and so he would do it. No matter how terrified and anxious he was about it, he would walk out into the unknown and search for her.

He had learned his lesson in Envy, after all. He wasn't about to fall again. Not like when his friends, his family had been taken hostage by an almost-insane Udagawa Aoi.

Never again, he swore. He would be disappointing Sandiramon and Mihiramon, and he did NOT like disappointing people.

"Darling, let's go," Jellymon gently told her partner.

"Got it," he nodded.

The jellyfish Digimon couldn't help the smile on her face as the two stepped out. She was proud of her Darling. He had really grown a lot. Not that she hadn't grown either, but she would like to think that her charm had overcome it. She would never admit it out loud, though.

Kiyoshiro did have a few talismans with him, and she couldn't help but tease, "Why are you bringing talismans, Darling?"

"T-To protect us from the evil spirit of HIM!" he defended. He had perfectly good reason for thinking this way, thank you very much!

"Darling, he's dead. Shiramon killed him."

"S-Still!"

"Oh, Darling," Jellymon chuckled as she patted his head. "Never change for the worse, okay?"

He could only look away from that, although he didn't quip back about it either, knowing it was just a joke.

"Anyway, let's go," she gestured to the park, and he nodded before they headed there. They knew thanks to their experience that the spores made it so that the victims only came out at night, which actually helped as they balanced their morning life with this new patrol that would hopefully end once they found their friend. No luck so far, but they were not going to give up, and neither were the other Digimon like Aegiochusmon, Clockmon, Reppamon, and Kinkakumon. All of them were equally determined to bring her back and undo the damage done by that disgusting excuse of a human.

Kiyoshiro inhaled and gripped his fists tightly. He was going to do this right! No matter what-

Crack!

"W-What was that?!" he jumped. Okay, he was getting a bit too jittery here...

"I think it was just a cat, Darling," Jellymon gave him a stare, making him laugh nervously just as another, louder sound caused them to both turn over to the source.

Kiyoshiro felt fear curl up his throat. Oh God no...

It was... Shiramon, but...

Was this actually her?

Bone spikes were now protruding off her back, and her eyes were red with no iris or pupil at all. The trademark antennas of Morphomon's fear scales were hanging from her forehead now, while her lips were curled into a feral snarl.

He froze up on the spot. The fight-or-flight response kicked in as he took a step back. What was this? Who was this person?

"Darling! We need to-"

"I know!" He snapped back. "B-But it's Shiramon..."

Hearing that, Jellymon went quiet. He was right. But... They had to stop her too.

Shiramon was now snarling at them, the eerie glow of scarlet brightly contrasting the quiet night, as she approached them, step by step, making him freeze up. Did she really not recognise them anymore?...

He shut his eyes, mentally preparing himself for the stab. Goodbye, sweet world! Goodbye, anime and manga and games!!

But when time passed and he didn't feel any pain, he opened his eyes up to see her backing away, whimpering as she stammered, "S-Stay away.... Pain pain pain... It hurts, but.... Trying to fight... PAIN PAIN PAIN!!!"

She then spun on her heel and sped away from them, holding herself back. The pain was overwhelming. She couldn't, it hurt too much...

Please... Anyone, help me... She thought, pleading for anyone to hear.

But her body was no longer hers. It was puppeteered by pure feral instinct. Her mind was now filled with endless chatter, swallowing everything that made her, her.

Shiramon could only hope they could save her before she was lost to it completely.

When Kiyoshiro told the others about it the following morning, Ruri and Angoramon both paled while Hiro growled under his breath. Eos themself looked pretty annoyed, but chose to say, "We can only know how much damage Tsukumo did once we have Shiramon brought in, so Ruri, Angoramon... please don't hold back." 

"Got it," Ruri nodded. 

Angoramon steeled himself for the patrol as the two set off, leaving the other three Tamers there to watch their friend head into the unknown, only hoping for the best now...

The two walked in complete silence until they reached the park, and it was only then that they shared a glance and nodded. 

The meter on her Digivice filled up twice, and Angoramon Digivolved to Ultimate Level, allowing Lamortmon to stand tall in front of Ruri as the two readied themselves. 

The quiet hisses they had been hearing for a while radically escalated before Shiramon leaped from the bushes, now with a pair of small white horns growing from her head as she snarled at them. 

"Shiramon..." Ruri gasped quietly. 

Lamortmon flinched, remembering the Digitamamon incident, but inhaled and yelled, "Ruri, we need to focus!" 

"R-Right!" she nodded, eyes narrowing as she commanded, "Kouhabattou!" 

With a roar, Lamortmon began swinging his longswords at Shiramon, not holding back even though all he wanted to do was to stop all this pain and sorrow. Stupid Tsukumo Azami!

Shiramon hissed back, summoning her clones to attack him as well, but he deflected it with Fuuga Rekkanjin, the harsh winds sending her back to a tree before Ruri ordered a Gouon Kieizan, which hit her HARD and made her slump onto the ground, swirls even comically appearing on her eyes. 

Despite the circumstances, Ruri had to stifle a snicker at that. Boy was that cute!

Lamortmon could only chuckle himself before picking his wife up and saying, "Let's head back." 

"Yeah!" she nodded but stopped as she realised something, "Lamortmon, we might have to... cage her if we want to keep her from running off..." 

Here, her partner froze up. Cage her? But she was... she was claustrophobic. He... He couldn't make her suffer like that again. 

Noticing the slight flinch, Ruri placed a hand on his shoulder, saying,  "Look, I know you don't want her to suffer anymore, but we don't have a choice now, do we?" 

"N-No..." he admitted heavily. It was a painful part to confess, but Shiramon was definitely destabilizing. They needed to get her to a doctor right away...

"Don't worry, we'll bring her back to normal," she told him. "She's come back from death once, and she'll come back to us, okay?" 

"A-Alright," he nodded, deciding that trusting Ruri would probably be for the best. 

So, with a firm grip on the feral Digimon, Lamortmon flew them all to Toei University Hospital, where Mummymon had been called out via a call beforehand and was now waiting with the others. 

As Lamortmon landed and returned to Angoramon, Ruri noticed that they weren't alone; Hiro's aunt, a former doctor at Toei, was also there, and Tamada Ryubo looked shocked at the changes that had happened as well. "What the heck!?" 

"Oh my GOD," Eos looked pale at this, while Pumpmon had tears falling down his cheeks as he hugged Bokomon, fearing for Shiramon. What was going to happen to her now...

Mummymon's face was stormy. This was his bint, his daughter, the person he had taken in over the course of the Sin arcs. How dare that human.. How dare she hurt her this way!? 

Clockmon looked pretty terrified of Mummymon's face at the moment, although it was to be expected. He HAD destroyed a good amount of the hospital, which led the human side of it to shut down temporarily. They were just glad that it had been early morning and FAR AWAY from the patient wards when he had been informed.

The words he had spoken when he found out, though...

"If I must I will HUNT HER DOWN and destroy every bit of her body... I will make her rue the day she thought playing with Digimon, playing with MY bint was a funny idea."

Those words, when spoken with rubble and debris everywhere, were all the more terrifying, and Clockmon was mentally swearing to never hurt Shiramon ever lest he anger Mummymon. Dude was scary as heck!

"Bring her in," Ryubo finally spoke up. Thank goodness for that. "I'll call Blues to come in to help, but we need to know what's happened to her before we do anything." 

"R-Right," Hiro nodded. "Gulus, mind helping out?" 

"Ah, sure," Gulus agreed from within the Digivice. "Gamma, get ready for a Digivolution." 

"Alright," the child nodded with a determined gaze before Hiro allowed the meter to fill up once. Gammamon Evolve to GulusGammamon!

"Move," he said simply, and the others stepped aside to let him carry the cage in, then followed him in. 

They never noticed the growing white claws on her paws as the cage cracked slightly due to her size increasing. 

Sometimes, you listen for a voice, for anyone who may be calling out for help. But when there is none, and all that is left is but a shell, what would you do? How would you come to terms with the fact that your friend is nearly gone? That all of what she is, of what makes her her is about to be consumed wholly by a dark code? Perhaps there is hope, though...

Next time, on A Sinful Reminder, Broken Codes!

Oof! This was really fun to write! I hope it wasn't too rushed for you! A reference to the recent episode here and there, and some comedy as well cause it'll make everything a bit better. venusaura Hope you enjoy it!