Naysa was sitting at her computer, searching through all the data she had collected from Yamaki's corporation in order to find specific information. She could feel it in her chest that something was happening to the digimon in the real world, and even Aifemon could feel it.
Her digimon jumped onto her lap and looked at the computer screen with calculating eyes.
"Have you found anything yet, Milady?" Aifemon asked.
Naysa shook her head, "No, not yet, but I'm pretty close. Take a look at this."
Naysa quickly pulled up a scan of the city, each building having a data marker on it that she placed somewhere on the outskirts of the building while she was on a late night patrol. The markers were encrypted with a code that only she could break, so even if someone did find those markers, they wouldn't be able to trace them back to her.
Not only did those markers pinpoint places in the city, but they also tracked digital bio-emergence readings. And from the past couple of days, those readings had gone through the roof.
"These readings are crazy, Aifemon. Something really big is gonna happen soon, and I don't think I wanna find out what it is."
"Do you think it has something to do with Yamaki again?"
"I don't have a single doubt." Naysa sighed and leaned back into her chair, "That man's been after me and all the digimon in the real world ever since he began to think that digimon are 'dangerous' beings. I just wish he wouldn't be so stubborn about this and listen to me."
Aifemon purred and rubbed her head on Naysa's chest, "Don't worry, Milady. One day we'll get through to Yamaki."
"Let's hope that day comes soon before these readings become even more of a problem." Naysa picked up her digimon and lay her in bed before going to sleep, uneasy about what might happen the following days.
~~~~~
The next day, Naysa was walking down the halls of school just to get to her locker, when she heard Henry and Takato talking. She hid behind the corner and listened in.
"...we were just walking, and then, I don't know. It was like half of him was there and the other half was starting to be rubbed out by an erasure." Takato said.
"Well, digimon aren't from this world. Maybe some of them can't survive long here and they get pulled back into their world, or something like that." Henry hypothesized, "Or maybe our world eliminates them like the body gets rid of a virus."
Naysa's breath hitched at the idea. She knew that the digimon weren't of the real world, and that eventually they would have to go back to the digital world, but a digimon wouldn't just disappear like that without setting off her data markers. No, there had to be some other reason for that happening to Guilmon. Naysa quickly took out her digivice, making sure that no one else was watching, and sent a message to Aifemon in her room, telling her to meet with her after school near the park.
She was going to figure this out before anyone has to lose their partner without a proper farewell.
"But Guilmon just got here, I don't want him to disappear. He just can't go back to the other side." Takato said sadly.
"Momentai." Terriermon said on Henry's shoulder, "The world I'm from. The world you're from. They're really both the same if you really think about it."
"Yeah, thanks professor, but I want him here."
"That may not be possible, Takato."
"Huh? What are you saying, Henry? Do you know something? Tell me."
"I just... know that nothing can last forever, Takato. Nothing. I'm sorry."
"Well, this can. And it will." Takato rushed off in a huff, afraid that his partner would disappear so soon after getting him. Naysa could only imagine that pain, and she didn't want to feel it just yet. She quickly ran past Henry, pretending not to notice Terriermon on his shoulders and went to her locker. Naysa checked her bag for her cloak and smiled seeing it in the bag before locking her locket and heading off to class for the rest of the day.
~~~~
Yamaki walked down the street flicking his lighter open and closed in his hand, when he heard the sound of his phone ringing loudly.
"This had better be important." Yamaki said answering his phone.
"Sir, we're getting some strange readings, and one of the researchers needs you to explain something to him." A woman's voice came from the other end of the line.
Yamaki sighed annoyed by the call, "I don't know why I'd bother explaining. None of these imbeciles understand what I'm saying anyway."
"So... what should I tell him?"
"That he's in a--- Ugh.. I be there shortly."
Just before he was about to end the call, a new voice came through.
"Still trying to proceed with your plans, huh?" It was D.M. "And after I asked you so nicely so many times to stop doing it. Man, you really are stubborn."
"D.M.! How did you get this number?" Yamaki growled.
"Who said I got the number? I just simply hacked into the data signal that connected your call, so it was pretty easy." D.M. said with a chuckle, "I've seen what you've been doing, and I know about Hypnos You'd better stop or else something really bad is going to happen to you and the real world. A lot more people could get seriously hurt if you continue."
"I don't care what you say. I don't need advice from a sneaky little hacker like you." Yamaki hung up the phone and stomped all way back to his headquarters. As soon as he got there, he met up with the researcher that needed another explanation.
"I'm only going to explain this once, so please, do try to pay attention." Yamaki said, "The the network of interlinked electronic devices around the world, the internet, the stock markets and even wireless communications, has essentially created a whole plane of existence. A digital plane. This system, Hypnos, monitors that world and records every exchange of information across it, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Simple enough for you?"
"Do you keep track of personal data?" The researcher asked.
"How else would we keep track of criminal activity?"
"If any of the general public found out about this, we'd be treated like criminals. Make sure to keep this very quiet."
"Really? Gee, that never even occurred to me. Listen, there's nothing for you to worry about. We've got everything well under control."
"No, you've got nothing under control, Yamaki. You've shown yourself to be powerless to stop these anomalies. Hypnos has even been hacked several times by the same person and countless amounts of those data anomalies have been stolen to an untraceable source. You must find a way to keep them from bio-emerging and find the ones that have already come through, then eliminate them."
Yamaki clenched his fist in anger and went back to monitoring the anomalies, wanting to find all of the anomalies and that D.M. person.
~~~~~
Naysa, dressed as the Digi-Mage with Aifemon by her side, jumped across the rooves of the buildings during the darkness of the night. She smiled as she jumped from one roof to the next, enjoying the feeling of the warm breeze of the spring air, it was just the perfect night to go out.
All of a sudden, Naysa felt her chest clench again and she stopped running, falling to her knees and clutching the cloth over her chest.
"Milady!" Aifemon shouted in worry and fear as she landed next to her partner, "What's the matter, are you all right?"
"Something's close by. Something off." Naysa said, the pain slowly beginning to fade away. She took out her digivice and opened up the map of the area she was in, hoping to see that one of her data markers was activating. Thankfully one was, and it was really close by near the park. There was also Guilmon's data signature there as well, which further made her concerned.
Aifemon and Naysa jumped across the buildings yet again and saw both Guilmon and Takato standing by a closed off area of the park near the sidewalk. Guilmon was fading in and out of visibility until he had completely disappeared, leaving Takato on the ground crying.
Naysa didn't hesitate to jump down in front of Takato, her eyes settling on the tears he was crying over the loss of his digimon partner.
"Digi-Mage..." Takato cried and looked down in his sadness, "He's gone. Guilmon just disappeared. It's like he was never here in the first place."
"No, that can't be right." Naysa said, "A digimon, especially not a tamed one, doesn't just disappear like that without something causing it. Let me see your digivice."
Takato was confused but handed over his digivice to the masked girl. She pressed a button and then grabbed her own digivice, placing it next to Takato's. Immediately, Takato's digivice beeped loudly and a compass appeared on the screen.
"I got it." Naysa said happily.
"Where is he, Milady?" Aifemon asked.
She looked over at the restricted area, which would be the underground tunnels where all the water drains into after it had rained in the city.
"Takato, go get Henry and Rika, now." Naysa said handing him back his digivice.
"Wait, what are you gonna do?" Takato asked.
"I'm gonna go check out these tunnels and see if I can find Guilmon in there. I'll have Aifemon stay out here and wait for you guys to get back. Once you've come back, just rush down the tunnel and find me. Got it?"
Takato nodded and ran to get Henry and Rika. After he had disappeared from sight, Naysa sighed and looked over at her digimon partner, who had jumped onto the stone walls just a moment after Takato ran off.
"Are you sure you'll be all right all by yourself?" Aifemon asked. Naysa smiled and scratched Aifemon on her head.
"Don't you worry about me, Ai. I'm a Digi-Mage, and because I'm human, I won't be affected by whatever's happening." Naysa said and then jumped over the fence to get into the tunnels.
She opened the door leading into the tunnels and immediately felt a cold chill, and it wasn't because of the leftover freezing water left by the last rainstorm. Naysa felt her chest clench once again, the feeling getting tighter and tighter the further into the tunnels she went. But she continued on and walked down the orange lit tunnels to find Guilmon and whatever was causing the digimon to fade in and out like that.
She walked around for about thirty minutes, finding nothing out of the ordinary, until she heard voices behind her.
"How long does this tunnel go?"
"My teacher says that it goes all the way to the next town."
"That's so stupid."
Naysa smiled and turned around to see Rika, Takato and Henry down the tunnels.
"Takato! Henry! Rika!" She shouted, running back down the tunnels to meet up with them.
"Digi-Mage, you're all right." Takato said in relief.
"So, you're here, too, huh?" Rika asked in her usual snotty tone.
"Well, it's good to see you too, Rika." Naysa chuckled, unfazed by Rika's attitude.
"So, Digi-Mage, did you find anything in these tunnels?" Henry asked.
"No, nothing yet, but I've been getting a weird feeling that just keeps growing the further I go down these tunnels. So the answer to why your digimon are fading in and out of this world has be somewhere down these tunnels."
Just then, Takato's digivice began to beep and the compass appeared again.
"Guys, take a look." He said.
"Forget you digivice, take a look at that." Henry said pointing further down the tunnel, "What the heck is that?"
They all looked further down the tunnel and saw a large data energy field fluctuating rapidly with power. Everyone ran over to the dome as fast as they could, but Naysa stumbled, feeling the immense power that dome gave off. However, she kept herself stable enough to get the task of getting Guilmon back done.
"Guilmon's gotta be in there. Guilmon!" Takato shouted.
"Stupid, how could you possibly know that?" Rika asked.
"I don't know how, I just feel that he's in there." As if on command, all of the tamers' digivices lit up with a bright beam of white light.
"What's going on?" Takato wondered aloud.
"Our digivices have a connection to our digimon." Naysa explained.
"Then maybe we can use them." Henry suggested and pointed his digivice to the dome. Rika, Takato and Naysa did the same, all of the light converging and creating a single opening in the dome's wall.
"It's opening!" Takato shouted lowering his goggles, "Guilmon!"
"Takato, wait!" Naysa shouted and ran right after him into the dome along with Rika and Henry. All four of them floated through a white space, unable to control where they were going. Takato spotted Guilmon nearby and they all began swimming towards him. When they got close enough, they saw that Guilmon was tied in data strands asleep.
"Guilmon, wake up!" Takato shouted and Guilmon opened his eyes.
"Right now?" The digimon asked, "Five minutes."
"Don't worry, boy. I'll get you out of there. Somehow."
All of a sudden, Naysa's chest began to feel like it was on fire. She couldn't choke back the pain anymore and curled herself up to her body, clutching her chest in pain.
"Digi-Mage, what's the matter?" Henry asked concerned for the hooded and masked girl. As soon as she curled up in pain, something came into the data field, beginning the erase every single bit of data in the area, including the strings that were tying Guilmon down.
"I can't reach him in time!" Takato said. Rika and Henry took Takato's hands and whipped him further towards Guilmon just as the digimon broke free of the strings.
"I thought I was gonna lose you for sure." Takato said in relief. A red light shone all over Guilmon and created a path. The path made land on the red beam of light, but Naysa collapsed to her knees, still clutching her chest in pain.
"Digi-Mage, come on!" Henry shouted and ran back to get her. He picked her up wrapping his arm around her waist and her arm around his shoulders before running out of the data field with the others before they could get erased.
Once they got back into the tunnels, they ran out as fast as they could.
"Milady!" Aifemon shouted as soon as she saw her partner in so much pain, "Please, say something Milady."
Naysa chuckled, "I'm.... I'm okay, Aifemon. Just a little pain that's all."
"It's not just a little pain, you look so pale. Let's go back home."
Naysa nodded without hesitation and stood up on her feet as best she could.
"Hold on a second." Takato said, "You can't just walk home like that. You look like you're about ready to pass out."
"Don't worry. Aifemon will take me home. See you around again some time." Naysa smiled. In a flash, Naysa and Aifemon were back home, Naysa quickly passing out on her bed as her cloak and Digi-Mage uniform disappeared. Throughout the entire night, Naysa slept heavily, but the effects of the strange data field were slowly settling in.