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Digimon Defenders Chapter 11: The Hive

"Okay, so... I built a machine, I transformed us into new 'X-Antibody Digimon.' But that protects US from the virus. What about everyone else?" Gato asked as she helped stand up some chairs in the shelter command hub. She was slowly getting used to her new body. While her paws felt a little too big, she had begun to regain a bit of her usual grace and control. Having learned how to retract the claws on her gloves helped immensely in this regard.

"What 'everyone else?' We're it. The only ones left in the entire world, as far as we know," BlackGato replied, hefting a computer tower four times her size back into its mooring.

"Love the optimism, sis, but seriously..." Gato said, rolling her eyes.

"We were working on it before we all got infected," Goma said, sighing as he typed at a console. The main screen flickered to life reluctantly, the computers beginning to whir loudly as they booted.

"Agu, could you get that second generator running? We're gonna need the power," Goma called into the communication system.

"I'd like to get all ten generators up and running, but... The Infected ran wild in here. Most of the machinery is gummed up with... um... stuff," Agu's voice replied.

"It's semen. Just call it what it is," Goma said, sighing.

"Yeah, last I checked, spunk doesn't harden into gunk like rubbery Play-Doh. So, no," Agu replied, "But I think I can get generator 2 up and running in a couple of minutes. The others... well... that'll be an ongoing project."

"Thanks," Goma said, typing at the controls, "...Now, as for your question, Gato... We have no idea what we're doing next. Mostly because we don't know anything about the Infected's behavior."

"...They screech mindlessly, stick their penises into any Digimon that moves, and turn them into more of them. What's to understand?" BlackGato grumbled, lifting another computer tower into place.

"...And THAT right there illustrates the problem," Goma sighed, "THAT is all we know about them. We need to gather more data. I mean, look at this..."

Goma typed, bringing up the security grid. Multiple camera images flashed, showing the perimeter of the Defenders base. Images of abandoned roads, forests, the beachfront and more scrolled across the screen.

"...When we all went into stasis, there were at LEAST seven thousand infected milling about out there. What do you see now?" asked Goma.

"...Only a handful... Where'd they all go?" Gato asked, standing beside Goma. The seal glanced over and blushed. His new shortened eye level while sitting was right at the same height as the heads of her penises.

"...That's the question, isn't it?" Goma said, frowning, "File Island had a population of 1,350,000 Digimon, mostly living in File City, but others elsewhere. And now it looks like they've all vanished."

Goma pulled up a sattelite image of File Island, showing the varied and patchwork biomes. He shook his head, grumbling as he flitted through several more views, thermal, ultraviolet, even a view showing the underlying code that formed all matter in the Digital World.

"No they haven't," BlackGato called from across the room, connecting a series of cables to each other.

"What?" Goma asked, blinking.

"Am I the only one around here who pays attention? Switch back to the thermal view," BlackGato said, walking over to press a few controls. The image returned to the infrared view.

"There," BlackGato said, pointing at the Defenders base, where a few sparks of green, yellow, red, and white appeared in the black and blue background, "That is us..."

She dragged her index claw along the screen, and pointed to an area roughly a mile away, where the blue was lighter. The patch of lighter blue was enormous, easily three times the size of the Defenders complex.

"...Huh. How'd I miss that?" Goma asked, leaning in.

"It's too cold to be geothermal, like the onsen or File Mountain. But a mass of heat this size could be generated by thousands of Digimon, if they were... underground," BlackGato said, frowning.

"...A hive," Gato said, frowning.

"We have to investigate. Go inside," Goma said, frowning as he tapped commands into the computer, highlighting the hive and working to try to determine its outline.

"We'll need to scout. I'll gather up a small team and we'll go out and investigate!" Gato said, already walking to leave.

"OH, NO YOU DON'T!" exclaimed Goma in irritation, grabbing the feline by her Holy Ring and yanking her backward.

"OW! That hurt!" Gato complained as she massaged where the enormous golden ring had cut into her chest.

"No running off half-cocked this time!" Goma growled.

"...I'm not, I'm running off three-cocked," Gato said with a grin before yelping in pain as the seal slapped her upside the back of her head.

"Not funny. Last time you did this, we thought you'd turn into a mindless zombie. I have never been more scared for your life. This time, I want to ensure that you and the others are safe. And there's things you need to know, too," Goma said sternly, "Like the fact that you can't Digivolve!"

"Huh?!" Gato exclaimed, her eyebrows rising so high that the tattoo on her forehead scrunched up slightly.

"The X-Antibody and Digivolution are incompatible. If you attempt to Digivolve, I can't say it won't kill you outright, but even if you somehow survived, you wouldn't live long," Goma growled, "So you wanna sit down and get a proper pre-mission briefing for once? Or do you wanna go out there without knowing what the frig you're doing?"

Gato stared at Goma for a silent minute, before pulling up a chair and sitting down without a further word.

"Smart choice. Now, this is MY mission, so I'll determine who stays and who goes..." Goma said sternly, beginning to open planning holowindows in the air in front of him.

******

Several hours later, a small group of Defenders trudged through the forest surrounding the base of File Mountain, picking their way through branches and shrubbery. A strange smell wafted through the air, a spicy, smoky scent that sent Gato's shafts throbbing and her inner thighs drenched.

Upon explaining it to Goma, he replied, "It's probably to be expected. The Infected must be giving off all kinds of weird pheromones. Just use some nasal filters and you should be okay."

As she clipped a little metallic device to her black nose, Gato reflected that the apocalypse wasn't quite what she expected. As an avid consumer of post-apocalyptic fiction, she had expected more ruins, more devastation, more zombie hordes.

Instead, she found her body altered as if someone had written a very perverted fanfiction about her. There were zombies, sure, but they weren't exactly out to eat her brains so much as hump them out. She sighed, some part of her wishing for a much more normal life; maybe an office worker or a shop owner?

"...You'd hate every minute of having to deal with customers without beating them bloody, and you loathe paperwork and offices," BlackGato muttered, snapping Gato out of her reverie.

"Y'know, I miss the days when my own private thoughts were private," Gato muttered back, grinning as BlackGato gave her a pat on the back.

"Nose filters applied. We're almost to the entrance," Gato reported, speaking up so that Goma could hear her. The small group trudged through the underbrush, following a trail of slimy black fluid that dripped off leaves and made the grass glisten.

It led to a large opening in the cliffside, a deep tunnel that disappeared somewhere under File Mountain's volcanic depths. The entire cave entrance was coated in the black goo, and a warm, wet wind blew from within; like the breath of some large, dangerous beast sleeping.

"Okay, changed my mind. This is the worst idea of all time. And I've been witness to some truly terrible ideas," Gato said, her paws on her hips as she peered into the entrance of the Hive.

"Are you SURE we can't Digivolve?" Gabu asked, sweatdropping, "I'd feel way more comfortable about this if I could be Garurumon... or just nuke the place as MetalGarurumon..."

"Not unless you want to BE the nuke and explode with the force of a few megatons..." Goma's voice replied through the communication line of their Brands, "or implode... or worse."

"...I think I'll pass, thanks. I'd rather end my day unexploded," Gazi replied, speaking with a slight lisp. The cat-rabbit had not gotten used to speaking with his new, enormous fangs.

"Tell Agu he owes me nine blowjobs for going on this mission instead of him. Three for EACH," Gabu grumbled irritably, shaking his head as he adjusted his fur and clenched his claws.

"Have fun stormin' the castle!" called Agu's voice from the communicator, in a fair imitation of Billy Crystal.

"You suck, I hate you, and I hope you die," Gabu replied grumpily.

"...I love you too, dear. Seriously, be careful and come back safe," Agu called, sounding more serious.

"Okay, quiet down. Let's get started..." Gato muttered, holding up her hands to silence her bickering friends. She stepped forward slowly and carefully.

The cave was coated, every square inch of it, in a thick black glaze of semen. As Agu had said earlier, it had hardened into a sticky, rubbery gunk, the texture of putty. It squished under their feet wetly with every step. Gato frowned, and narrowed her eyes as the light from outside began to fade.

"You're the cats. Can you see anything?" Gabu asked, frowning at Gato and BlackGato.

"Probably the same that you can. Slime, gunk, spunk, and a tunnel going down..." BlackGato replied, frowning.

"Pretty much," Gato agreed gravely, narrowing her eyes as she let her night vision adjust. For Agu, she imagined the cave was pitch black, impenetrable. For her, being a feline with superior night vision and reflective irises, the cave was merely a bit dim. It was no less creepy, despite being able to see it better, she was certain.

"BG and I will lead. You guys follow. Clip-on lights set to low. Stay six paces behind," ordered Gato. Since she and BlackGato could see without lights that might alert the infected to their presence, it was best for them to go first, with the others following a distance behind.

The group moved in silence, moving slowly and carefully to avoid alerting anything further down the tunnel to their presence. Keeping their footing was difficult, as the coating of black sludge on the ground was over an inch deep, and they kept slipping.

After almost fifteen minutes of travelling downward, the group found themselves before a branch in the path.

"...So, lemme guess. We split up?" Gazi asked. The other Defenders turned and stared at him.

"What? Why would we do something so profoundly stupid?" Gato asked, unable to stop herself.

"...Well, I mean... there's two paths... and... uh... covering more ground..." Gazi sweatdropped, "...I mean... they always do it in the horror movies..."

"...Yeah... and you always notice that results in almost everyone DYING when they do that?" Gabu said slowly, "Did you even listen to one word of my lectures? Scouting party protocol number 1: Never split up for any reason EVER."

"We stick together at all times. If we need to explore multiple paths, we pick one, follow it to its end, then backtrack and explore another," Gato explained, annoyed, "Takes twice as long, but is also twenty times safer, since we can't get picked off."

"Right... so... uh... which way?" Gazi said, looking embarrassed.

"Left," BlackGato said simply. Everyone turned to look at her.

"...Why?" Gato asked, frowning.

"Because I just saw something move down there," BlackGato replied, her green eyes staring into the blackness. This pronouncement made the four Defenders draw closer together nervously, slowly inching forward into the tunnel.

Sure enough, the sticky slap of feet against the goo-coated floor was echoing from somewhere further ahead.

"Goma, you still with us?" Gato whispered into her Brand. There was no reply.

"...Too far underground. He said this might happen," Gabu grumbled, tapping at the sparks of light on the back of his left hand.

"Doesn't matter. The mission continues. Just keep scanning; we'll dump all the data on the servers when we get back in contact," Gato said, adjusting a setting on her Brand before continuing further.

Snarls and screeches echoed from down the tunnel, echoing loudly. The four Digimon glanced at each other nervously, but continued on.

The tunnel opened into a small chamber. Within were over a dozen Infected. Gato managed to stifle a yelp of surprise and pressed herself against the wall. She winced at the wet splat as her back touched the stone, but made an effort to ignore it. The feline peeked around the corner and squinted into the darkness, trying to get a better look.

If the Infected were anything other than mindless beasts, she found it hard to discern that from her first look at their behavior. Most wandered around the chamber aimlessly, sometimes walking facefirst into walls or each other and bouncing off to shamble away. Others snarled and wrestled with each other, driving cocks and tentacles into any holes they could find, pumping wildly. Black spunk flew about everywhere, messy ropes splattering bodies and rock haphazardly.

It was then that Gato caught a glimpse of someone she recognized among the throng of writhing bodies.

"Oh, Gennai, no... Pata..." Gato murmured, tears welling up in her eyes at the sight of the boy.

Pata had seen better days. His golden fur, once so brilliant that it glittered in the sun, was matted down and messy, stained with black liquid. His eyes had turned crimson, the pupils vanished. He snarled like an animal, his body hunched. His hips were driving against the stone wall, as a trio of rock-hard shafts pulsed and gushed powerfully. The thick tar coated the stone, and his hands smeared the goo about. Her growled mindlessly, even as a pair of fleshy, penis-tipped tentacles lashed behind him, sprouting from his shoulder blades. He grunted like an animal, humping the air as he climaxed continuously, his enormously distended furry sack wobbling and jiggling beneath him.

"I've gotta..." Gato began, taking a step forward and reaching out to him. BlackGato reacted like a viper striking, her paws lashing out, snagging Gato by her enormous Holy Ring, and pulling her back.

"You can't.... you can't," she whispered into her sister's ear sadly, "That's not Pata. That's just something that looks like him. Wearing his fur."

"But..." Gato sobbed, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Leave him. We can help him by finding a cure, and then he'll come home to you. So will Imp, and Biyo, and all the others..." Gazi whispered gently, gripping her hand.

"Wait, what's he doing?" Gabu asked, frowning as he peered over Gazi and Gato's shoulders.

Pata stooped down and picked up a large mass of congealed fluid, prying the putty-like fluid from the floor. Snarling and screeching, he turned and began stalking towards an exit at the back of the chamber, carrying the mass in his hands. The way he moved was different from the other beasts wandering about; he had a sense of purpose.

"...Let's follow," BlackGato whispered.

This was easier said than done. Going through the chamber involved hiding behind rocks and masses of goo, and carefully choreographing their movements to avoid bumping into any of the creatures.

There was a moment of terror when two intertwined Infected parted to blast each other with their orgasm, their trio of lengths firing off in powerful jets, just as Gato was passing by. A Pandamon's crimson eyes locked right onto her. Gato froze in place, every muscle in her body tensing in preparation for action. The Pandamon snarled at her... then turned its attention back to the Goblimon it was currently spraying down.

Gato stayed still for a moment, but when it was clear that the Pandamon did not care about her, she scrambled to safety as fast as her body could take her.

Following Pata was easier said than done. The tunnels were pitch black, the goo on the walls had the weird effect of muffling and distorting noise, and the Defenders had to keep ducking for cover to hide from passing Infected. They almost lost track of the boy several times, but each time managed to catch up and pick up the trail. Despite the number of Infected they passed, Gato found herself wondering exactly where they all were. They were far too few to account for the entire population of File Island, which meant that the bulk of them had to be far deeper.

She found out the answer to her question as Pata entered another chamber. This one was enormous, almost triple the size of the underground cave that the Cult of Belialmon had occupied. The chamber was filled with Infected Digimon, thousands, hundreds of thousands of them, all wandering about. Gato's jaw dropped at the sheer sea of bodies milling in the room. But it wasn't the enormous amount of mindless, screeching, snarling monsters that drew Gato's eye.

Gato gasped in horror, in the original sense of the word. Horror, at its core, was not about terror, but offense. It was about an offense against reality, against everything we know to be true about the world.

It was what could only be described as an enormous, black brain. A gigantic, pulsating mass; it rested on an enormous pillar nearly forty feet tall. Where a spinal cord would be, hundreds of cables trailed off, snaking away down the corridors. It dripped wetly, the entire mass clearly made of the same substance that everything else was made; the Infected's black semen. The air held a static charge, and bolts of electricity crackled between the wrinkles of the brain. Attached to the pillar were Digimon: Elecmon, Gazimon, Kunemon, Thundermon and a wide variety of others; all encased in the mass of the pillar's goopy material.

Gato winced as she saw Tento among the Digimon in the tall tower. The beetle buzzed incessantly, random noises spilling from his mandibles. His compound eyes were solid crimson. Most of his body was encased; his head and shoulders, a portion of one of his claws, and his hips were all Gato could see of him. His strange, chitinous penis had tripled, three of them convulsing and sparking as they fired three strands of black fluid at a time. One of the black, dripping cables was attached to the back of his neck.

As Gato watched, Tento convulsed from head to toe in orgasmic ecstasy, or perhaps incredible agony. His cocks throbbed and fired off, splashing the floor dozens of feet below. A surge of electricity sparked from his body, running up the cable on his neck, and into the brain-mass.

"...What in the nine Digital hells are we looking at?" whispered Gazi, frowning.

"I'm... not sure... I'm setting my Brand to take scans, though... EVERY type of scan. All of them," Gato muttered, rapidly flipping through holowindows projected from her Brand.

"...If I had to guess, when we called this a Hive, we weren't far off," BlackGato murmured, her green eyes narrowed as she watched the brain pulsate, "I'd have to guess that thing is some sort of central processing node for a hivemind. If we could go to other hives around the world, I'd be willing to bet that there're brains just like it in all of 'em."

Gato reminded herself, not even for the first time that day, that despite their near-identical appearances, BlackGato was far more intelligent than she could ever hope to be. The black-furred feline was a genius.

"...First off, ew. Yuck, gross," Gazi grunted, looking utterly repulsed, "and second, why are Tento and all of those lightning-elemental Digimon encased in the pillar?"

"..." BlackGato was silent for a minute, apparently mulling it over, before she said, "...This is just the most rudimentary and wild of hypotheses, but... I'd have to guess that they're essentially generating the bio-electrical energy that runs the brain. Same way your neurons have electrical impulses that run between them. They're generating the hivemind's 'thoughts,' so to speak..."

"Thoughts? The Infected are like animals. We haven't seen any sign that they can even figure out how to turn a doorknob, much less think," Gabu asked.

"I say 'thoughts' in the broadest terms possible, Gabu. Honestly, until I see the scans we're taking, I'm just guessing off the top of my head," BlackGato replied, crossing her arms.

"I'm gonna get a closer look... and closer scans. You guys stay here," Gato ordered, dropping onto all fours and prowling forward.

"...Uh, how are you gonna get out there without getting spotted?" Gabu asked, frowning deeply.

"I'm not. But when we saw Pata earlier, he definitely saw me. And we've been looked at by a bunch of others. If they're all connected by a hivemind, or something, then they ALL know we're here," Gato explained, glancing over her shoulder.

"...Oh, thanks, now I feel even MORE comfortable," Gazi complained, shuddering in fear as his fur stood on end.

"Since they haven't swarmed us, my guess is that the hive doesn't view us as a threat... or recognize us as Digimon, or... something," Gato said, "Maybe the X Antibody makes them perceive us as Infected."

"Possible," BlackGato conceded, frowning as she watched the mutated Digimon swarm about below the pillar, "...But don't take any risks."

"Wasn't planning on it," Gato said, slowly crawling forward and away from the group.

Despite herself, Gato did not realize she was holding her breath until she was fifty feet from the hiding spot. She forced herself to exhale slowly, taking several long, slow, and deep breaths until her paws stopped shaking. Fear was something she had long learned to accept as part of the job. It was a motivator, giving much needed adrenaline when in a fight or in an emergency. She accepted it, let it flow through her, but not control her. She was finding it considerably harder to do so right now. This was different than facing down a stampeding horde of Mammothmon, or digging into a collapsed skyscraper to dig out survivors. She did not know how to deal with this. It wasn't a problem that could be solved by fighting or by rescue.

But she was a Defender. It was her job, her career, her calling. And regardless of fear, she would do it to the best of her skill and ability.

Gato closed in on the Brain Pillar slowly, keeping low to the ground. She could see hundreds of Infected Digimon swarming around. Some were carrying piles of black material, others sculpting cables out of the muck. Others were busy clearly having sex, driving one of their three penises or their tentacles into other Infected. Still others seemed to be wandering around at random, snarling and snapping at the air, not even noticing when they walked into another of their own kind.

Gato shook her head, forcing herself to keep focused and keep breathing. The last thing she needed was to hyperventilate and pass out in the middle of the Hive.

The white-furred feline held herself completely still as a pair of Infected walked by. From her position, low to the ground, she couldn't see what Digimon the creatures used to be; to her, they were nothing but cocks and wobbling scrotums stretched far beyond normal by extra testicles and tentacles. She winced and flinched involuntarily as a jet of black fluid caught her in the face, splattering messily over her forehead and down her nose.

Despite herself, Gato had a moment of sheer, unadulterated panic, her breath catching in her chest. She was infected again! She was going to become a slavering beast!

"...It's okay. You're safe. You're fine..." said her own voice, calmly, gently, lovingly. It took Gato a moment to realize it was not her own voice of reason, but BlackGato whispering to her through the Brand. She glanced over her shoulder at her sister, who peered out from behind the boulder, her green eyes focused and calm.

Gato shuddered, taking a moment to wipe the semen from her face. She could feel BlackGato's calm in the back of her head, the other feline's focus helping to sharpen her own. Sending a mental flicker of gratitude through their shared mental link, Gato continued to crawl.

It took several minutes, but she made it to the base of the Pillar without further incident. Lifting her left hand, Gato began to wave her palm up and down. Her Brand glowed and gave a barely-audible hum, scanning the massive structure in every spectrum it could; biological, electromagnetic, infrared, ultraviolet, visible spectrum, x-ray, data scans, everything.

Gato was a courageous Defender who did her job no matter what, but even her nerve failed her on occasion. This was one of those moments. As several Infected began wandering her way, Gato decided that she had done enough. She had managed to get a few minutes' worth of scans, and that was already too much risk for her to take. She rapidly tapped her Brand, storing the scan data within her own data code, before turning and making a break back to the hiding spot. She made to move briskly, but not run or dash. She did not know if the Infected were coming her way randomly or if they were after her, but she saw no reason to draw more attention.

It was a slip that caused it. Her weight came down on a foot that was stepping on a wet spot on the floor, where the cum was still fresh. It slipped out from under her, and she stumbled helplessly sideways, still not used to her new body.

Her gloved paw came down on one of the cables snaking across the ground. Instantly, every muscle in her body locked up as a surge of power coursed through her, electricity violently shocking her.

But it was more than that... Something ELSE entered her.

Gato stiffened. It wasn't a voice, not exactly. It wasn't even a mind. It was simply a mass of programming, so heavy, so powerful and so simple and singular that there was no resisting it. Within it were millions of other Digimon, every individual connected by a network larger and more powerful than Gato could conceive.

But in that moment that she brushed the cable, Gato the individual, thinking, self-aware Digimon ceased.

Her eyes glowing bright red, Gato turned and walked. The roar of the Hivemind subsumed any thoughts she may have tried to have, drowning out her own mind with the force of millions of networked minds thinking as one. The thoughts weren't complex. In fact, the sheer simplicity, the brute stupidity of the thoughts made them that much harder to fight. Her thoughts were nothing but a pin drop in the roar of a jet turbine running at full power. Even if Gato had been aware, she would not have been able to put the Hive's thoughts to words. They were too alien, too primitive, too loud to make sense.

It hurt worse than anything she could have possibly imagined, a searing fire that burned away at her brain, and the brains of every other Digimon in the Hive. If she could have been capable of individual thought, she would have begged for deletion, to die, to spare her the agony.

It was ecstasy beyond anything in her young experience. It wasn't just that she was suffering the most powerful orgasm she had ever felt; it was that every single other Digimon was as well. The Hive itself was in an endless state of climax. And it was more than a simple orgasm, it was a euphoria that inflamed her senses, sent her mind spinning and her body shaking. If she had been capable of individual thought, she would have given anything, absolutely anything to experience it forever.

Gato yowled in pleasure as her body shook, all three of her penises beginning to erupt onto the floor, splattering the black goo with streaks of glowing white. Her hips bucked violently, her inner walls clenching as her juices soaked her thighs. Her twin tails thrashed back and forth in time with her ejacuations, her eyes rolled up in her head. She mewled and gasped, panting for air as her cum splattered her front, her cocks jumping and twitching. Then the Hivemind noticed her. She was an anomaly in its system, an intruder, and it was now aware of her, if only in the most primitive of senses. And it did what it had done with every other Digimon. It consumed her.

Gato stopped moving in mid-climax. She went completely still, even as her penises jumped and spouted ropes of glowing fluid. Her face went blank, wiped clean of all emotion, all intelligence, all expression. Her eyes began to glow brightly, as she calmly stood up. She moved in slow, awkward, jerky movements, like a marionette being controlled by someone who had never done it before. Her head twitched from side to side, up and down, her eyes flicking back and forth.

Then she began to walk back towards the pillar, staggering a few steps at a time between ejaculations.

"Gato? Gato! What are you doing?!" Gazi growled, peeking out from his hiding place. Gato continued to stagger towards the pillar, the small part of the Hive inhabiting her having no need to pay attention to the voice.

The rest of the Hivemind, however, reacted by sending several dozen snarling drones towards him and his companions. Though they fought valiantly, within moments, they were subdued by the sheer number of Infected piling on them.

"Gah! Geddoff me!" snarled Gazi, raking his claws across a Monzaemon that weighed him down, its erections pressed against his back. The teddy bear monster barely reacted to the razor claws tearing open its fabric-like skin, merely snarling at Gazi.

"Dammit! Don't make me do this..." Gabu growled, icy blue flames building up in the back of his throat as he accessed his attack protocols. Tears welled up in his eyes, even as he aimed his muzzle at the Harpymon pinning him down, trying to work up the nerve to kill it.

"CAT'S EYE HYPNOSIS!" BlackGato shouted, her green eyes turning a bright, shimmering silver as she stared straight into the eyes of the Vorvomon that snarled in her face, its drool splashing her cheek. It was seemingly entirely unaffected by the attack, screeching at her as it forced her hands down.

"Dammit, should've realized the hivemind would override any control I could inflict," BlackGato muttered to herself.

But before any of the three could do one thing more, the Infected moved in unison, their tentacles plunging down, penetrating their ears. The penis-tipped tendrils shoved deep, touching their very minds. All three Defenders ceased fighting, their eyes going wide, drool running down their chins. The Infected jerked their tendrils, forcing the Defenders to their feet. They shuddered and gasped and grunted uncontrollably, completely subdued by the spurting, throbbing tentacles inside their heads.

Gato grunted and gasped herself, her trio of lengths pulsing violently as they erupted again and again, leaving a messy trail of blue-glowing spunk on the floor. She approached the Pillar slowly, shivering as her tail thrashed about. At the base of the Pillar, the gunk began to shift and move. It formed what appeared to be an oversized electrical socket, a trio of holes in a solid plate.

While Gato, herself, had no conscious thought, the collective controlling her knew exactly what it was doing. Gato stepped forward slowly, her feet slurping loudly in the semen. Her three erections erupted again and again, sending jets of glowing fluid through the air in front of her. She stepped to the column, reaching forward. She planted her hands against the column, and they quickly sank wrist-deep into the pitch black gunk. Arching her back, she shifted her hips... and without hesitation, plunged her penises deep into the plug-holes.

Ecstasy beyond ecstasy filled her mind and soul as her penises were enveloped in the thick, sticky holes. The goo carried an electrical charge, and it sent her into convulsions of delight as she ejaculated over and over. She yowled as loud as she could, arching her back as she flooded the holes with her semen, her nectar dripping down her thighs.

More sockets formed and shortly after, BlackGato, Gazi, and Gabu were led to them, the Infected forcing their hips forward. Their moans and cries echoed Gato's as they too began to come hard. The Infected retracted their tentacles from the other three and stalked away. BlackGato, Gazi, and Gabu remained where they were, all completely subdued by the hivemind now.

Awareness faded, and yet remained. Gato felt herself passing out, yet was still aware of the world around her... an endless riot of unstoppable pleasure and unbearable pain...

******

The drone-unit formerly known as Gato awoke in her cocoon from her hibernation. During her shutdown period, her mind was mingled with the Hive in a brief instant and endless eternity of ecstasy and agony. But despite her desire to be one with the Hive, to forsake her mind and soul, something prevented it. There was a genetic incompatibility. While her mind was under the Hive's influence, her body almost ran on a different operating system.

It was of no concern. The Virus was already in her system. While protected against it for now, it would adapt to bypass her defenses. It was what the Virus did. It would adapt and evolve. It had samples of her semen, and was already working to break down her firewalls.

For now, the drone-unit designated Gato would be put to use.

Gato's claws slashed, tearing through the gummy material that encased her, opening the cocoon. She fell to the floor with a wet splat and lay there for a moment, her body trembling. Her trio of erections pulsed, spilling messy bursts of glowing semen onto the floor.

After a minute, Gato picked herself off the floor and began to shuffle down the tunnel. Her eyes roamed aimlessly as she walked. The Hive directed her, seeing through her eyes and transmitting the sensory data from the thousands of other Infected within her hive complex to her. Gatomon was herself, a mere small part of the whole; but she was also every other Infected at the same time, and they were her.

Gatomon perceived other cocoons opening nearby, as BlackGato, Gabu, and Gazi fell out. But she did not just perceive them, she WAS them. She was BlackGato as she used her claws to scrape the remnants of the cocoon from her legs. She was Gabu as he slowly stretched his muscles, feeling his ice-cold blue cum burst from his three lengths. She was Gazi as he snarled loudly, humping the air as his gray semen struck the floor.

The small part of the hive within Gato paid them no attention. She had her purpose. The awareness of their minds and bodies faded away, as Gato turned and staggered off down a tunnel.

She snarled, barked, screeched as she went, her body writhing in pleasure as her three lengths bobbed up and down, spouting spunk. She did not need to know where she was going, she simply followed the song of the Hive echoing through the depths of her thoughts.

Gato soon found herself in another large chamber, where Infected Digimon toiled like worker ants in an anthill. Masses of black cum were being piled up, sculpted by hand into numerous basins. The feline joined the Infected in their work, reaching into a large pile of the putty, and carrying it across the room. She knelt, applying it to one of the basins with a loud squish, snarling as she buried her hands into the mass and shaped it.

Out of someone else's eyes, she saw herself, approaching from behind. Gato cried out as she felt a pair of rigid lengths prod against her rear and her cleft from behind, soaking her fur with black fluid. She huffed softly and lifted her tails high, arching her back to let the intruder in.

Soft pink feathers pressed against her back as her fellow Drone screeched and nipped at her ear-tassels with her beak. Gato yowled in response, shuddering as the thick, swollen lengths forced their way inside her holes, the third length sliding along her own trio. The drone that used to be Biyo growled and began pumping roughly and rapidly, taking no care for Gato's comfort or pleasure. There was no need to worry about individual pleasure; not when the entire Hive was in the constant throes of ecstasy. Gato shuddered as one of the bird's erections dragged against her clitoris, sending jolts through her body. Her inner walls clenched around the two shafts, even as they flooded her with the black goo. Biyo's third penis fired off beside her own, splashing her front with streaks of tarry fluid.

Biyo's tentacles lashed about, bulges travelling along the tendrils as they pumped more of the black fluid into the air. One found its way to Gato's muzzle, forcing its way inside. The feline grunted, bucking back harder against the Infected, suckling obediently on the tentacle as it pulsed against her tongue.

Another of Biyo's tentacles slipped down between their legs, wrapping around Gato's penises and Biyo's third member, squeezing them tightly together. The portion of the Hive controlling Gato thrummed with pleasure. Gato was Biyo as Biyo drove her hips forward into her, feeling the bird's cocks pulse and spurt within her. Biyo was Gato as the feline rocked back against her, clenching her inner muscles tightly around the avian, even as she continued to sculpt the black putty into shape with her paws. They were each other, just as they were millions of other Digimon all at the same time, all driven by the same primitive urges.

Gato yowled as she came hard, her body tensing around Biyo's lengths. Glowing spunk splashed the side of the basin she was forming, her twin tails thrashing side to side in time with her ejaculations. Her three lengths pulsated, lurching violently with every muscle spasm. Her teeth clenched on the rubbery tentacle in her muzzle and she hissed loudly around it, shivering from head to toe.

Biyo snarled, twitching the tentacle in Gato's muzzle. A large bulge travelled from her back down the length and then erupted from the penis-tip against Gato's tongue. The feline spluttered as thick black goo filled her mouth, the smoky-sweet-spicy taste of it on every tastebud. She could taste it with a hundred-thousand tongues, other Infected experiencing the same thing at the same time.

It wasn't so much that Biyo had an orgasm, as she was continuously orgasming the entire time she was pumping into Gato. Instead, it was more that she just... stopped. She pulled out of Gato with a loud, wet slurp, slinging ropes of ebon spunk over the feline's pristine white rear, soaking it. Her tentacles withdrew as she screeched again and wandered away.

Gato barely noticed. She was almost done with this basin. It was far too soon in the Hive's existence, but the virus's programming drove it to prepare for the continued survival of the Infection. While Digimon were immortal unless killed through illness or injury, it still needed to sustain and spread.

The basins would be incubators for Digieggs when the time came. Already the Hive was choosing Digimon to perform as breeders, to carry on the genetic legacy of their individual species. The drone formerly known as Gato had just had her audition. And as Gato shuddered and came onto the ground, feeling the black cum slosh around inside her, it would seem the Hive approved of her.

As an Elecmon took its place behind her, gripping her hips with its claws, driving its enormous, gushing penises into her, the drone was ready to serve.

*****

Gato was going to kill her. ...Okay, maybe not KILL her, but certainly spank her until she couldn't sit down for weeks. And if Gato didn't, BlackGato certainly would... and if SHE didn't, Sala knew that Agu and Gabu would be waiting for their chances to spank her.

But Sala couldn't help it. If Gato and BlackGato were going into danger, she wanted to be there to help them. She knew that she was still a little kid. She wasn't even a Defender yet; she certainly didn't have the cool shiny thingie on the back of her paw. But she'd been training to become one. This was her chance to help people, to try to save people!

And so, Sala had tagged along, unbeknownst to her adoptive family. Following them had been an extremely difficult task, particularly with everyone on such high alert for the nasty monsters that were out there. She had stayed in the bushes, following from a distance, sneaking through tall grasses and hiding behind trees. Hiding from the monsters was easier, as they seemed to ignore her completely. Sala was really happy about that. She would have hated to have had to try to fight any of the monsters, because she knew that they were good people who were very sick.

If Gato was in danger, Sala would protect her. She might not have been her mommy, but Gato was the next best thing. And BlackGato was like her fun auntie, even if she never really smiled. And Agu and Gabu were something between her daddies, her uncles, and her big brothers.

Going into the deep, slimy cave was scarier than anything Sala could imagine at that point.... but Gato and BG had gone in, so Sala would too. She frowned and pinched her nose as she carefully stepped through the opening and into the cave tunnel. It smelled weird, and it made her thingie.... okay, THINGIES, she had almost forgotten.... it made them feel funny.

Sala followed the tunnels the best she could, but she lost track of where she was going. There were so many and Sala had never exactly had the best sense of direction to begin with. The little puppy shivered and looked around at the slimy walls nervously. She had to find Gato and the others.

Sala had to stop at one point to touch her swollen thingies, squeezing and caressing them until she began spurting the silver goo. The air was just so thick with that strange scent and her body was so hot that she couldn't help herself. Sala bit her hand to avoid making noise, pumping her lower-left length with her free hand as all three shafts erupted against the wall, washing away the black stuff with her own silvery cream. It felt amazing, and it took everything Sala had to not make noise as she bucked her hips upward, splashing herself as much as the wall. As she came down from her high, she forced herself to keep moving before anyone found her. She could rest and recover once she got away from the mess she made and once she was properly hidden. She figured Gabu would be really proud of her for thinking of that.

She crawled into a little crack in the wall, finally letting out a long sigh. She waited patiently for her heartbeat to slow and her limbs to stop shaking. She resisted the urge to just close her eyes for a minute, fighting off the afterglow. It was a tough struggle, until the little puppy heard a distinctive voice echo through the tunnels, a screeching yowl.

"Gato? Auntie BlackGato?" Sala asked aloud, already running towards the voice as fast as she could go. Her feet splatted wetly against the ground, creating a loud slurping noise as they pulled free with every step. It took a little while to find Gato. All the noise was distorted by the weird black goo everywhere on the walls, and trying to sniff out Gato's scent failed. All Sala could smell was the black stuff, that strange spicy-smoky smell that made her thingies twitch and dribble.

She found Gato in a room with a bunch of bowls made out of the strange goo. The feline was alone, trembling from head to toe. She was covered in black stuff, so much so that Sala almost thought that she was her sister for a moment. She was laying on her back, her stomach distended out like she had eaten a twelve-course meal by herself. The fluid drained out from between her legs, and out of her mouth, and out of her ears. Her hips trembled every so often as her penises stuck straight out from her hips. They were spurting constantly, sending hot ropes of her glowing white goo into the air, splattering the floor and her body. She looked like she was asleep, her eyes closed.

'"G-Gato?" Sala asked timidly, slowly stepping towards her, frowning. She knelt down beside the cat and prodded her gently. Gato's eyes flew open and she sprang to her feet so quickly that Sala did not even see her move. The puppy yelped and backed away on instinct.

"Gato?" Sala squeaked, as the feline growled and stared at her. The feline let out an inhuman screech, stalking forward, her erections leading the way.

"Gato, it's me... Sala! Please, don'tcha remember me?" Sala pleaded, "I'm here to help!"

Gato snarled at the child, pouncing at her. Sala reacted on instinct alone, her paws reaching out to catch one of Gato's gloves. She fell back, rolling to the side, using all of her strength to wrench Gato's arm while she was in midair and throw her across the room. The feline hit the wall with a loud squelch, sinking into the black semen that coated it. She struggled to pull herself free, stuck fast.

"Gato! Are you sick like all the other Digimon? But I thought we couldn't get sick..." Sala squeaked, climbing back to her feet. Tears welled up in her blue and green eyes as she walked forward, looking up at the feline.

"...Gato, please... I'm scared. I don't know where we are, and all these sick people are here, and I don't know how to help them..." Sala begged, shivering as she looked around. Gato showed no sign of recognizing the child as she snarled and growled at her, her blue eyes narrowed in some emotion between rage, lust, and confusion.

"...Please, Gato... I need you to be my mommy and help me..." Sala begged, wrapping her arms around Gato. She buried her face into Gato's chest, letting the tears flow. As she did, her head bumped the large bell hanging from Gato's ear.

The bell emitted a chime, a note that was loud and pure. Sala felt a lurch of happiness surge inside her, like the sound was distilled hope. The sound lasted far longer than it should have, ringing loudly through the room. Gato stopped in mid-snarl, her hips arched as she tried to get at the child. The Hivemind recoiled at the noise. It didn't like it. It hurt! It just wanted to infect the intruder, but now it wanted to get away. But this drone was stuck fast, unable to escape. It... she... She was Gato... She was... a Defender. She...

Gato blinked and groaned, feeling an enormous headache pound behind her eyes as she came back to awareness. The multitude of voices in her head was gone, leaving only her own and an echoing, ringing silence. She looked around in complete disorientation. The last thing she remembered was touching that cable... and now she was... stuck to a wall?

"Sala..." she croaked, wincing as her voice was hoarse and creaky, her vocal chords raw and achy.

"G-Gato?!" Sala squeaked, looking up.

"What's... what's goin' on? What're you doin' here?" Gato rasped, "...and can you help pull me off of this wall?"

******

A few minutes of prying, pulling, and peeling later, Gato and Sala hid in a small crevasse as the child explained everything that had happened.

"...So let me get this straight. You ignored my direct order to stay where it was safe, and followed us into what is easily the most dangerous place in the Digital World. You sneaked past thousands of zombified Digimon. You found me, and bumped this big stupid bell earring and snapped me out of being one of the zombies. Does that about sum it up?" Gato asked, her eyes closed and arms crossed.

"Yeah!" Sala agreed.

Gato slapped her across the face. Hard. Sala gasped as her head snapped to the side, feeling the sting of the feline's paw against her sensitive cheek. Then she yelped as Gato pulled her into a tight hug, kissing her head repeatedly.

"You little idiot... You brave, brave little child..." Gato whispered, kissing Sala's cheek.

"Um... are... you mad at me... or are you happy with me? I... can't tell?" Sala asked, blinking tears of pain out of her eyes.

"I'm BEYOND furious with you for disobeying me and putting yourself in danger. I'm proud of you for being so brave and so good," Gato said, poking Sala's nose, "...And I'll have to decide when we get out of here just how much I'm going to punish you."

"...Oh," Sala mumbled.

"You saved my life, Sala. And because of you, I think I know how to save the others and get us out of here. Turns out this stupid, enormous thing isn't just for show," Gato said, hefting her large earring.

"It isn't?" Sala asked.

"No, it's part of one of my special attacks in this form. 'Holy Chime.' I didn't know what the attack DID, though, so I haven't used it," Gato explained.

"...So... I bumped it and made you use the attack by accident?" Sala asked, frowning.

"Looks like it. Holy Chime seems to restore any Digimon who hears it from confusion effects... or in this case, nasty viral hivemind mind control," Gato explained.

"So, we gotta find the others and use it on 'em! Then we can all go home!" Sala exclaimed, grinning.

Gato smiled and nodded, "Exactly. And I know where they are. So let's get going. Stay by my side, Sala, and don't leave me, no matter what."

"...Yes, Mo-... Er... Gato," Sala agreed. Gato's cheeks flushed as she patted the puppy's head.

******

Gazi's claws slashed into stone, snapping the rock into chunks, which he dug away. He snarled and growled loudly as he worked ceaselessly, his exhaustion ignored by the Hivemind. The Gazi drone would work until he collapsed, just like any other drone. He howled in ecstasy as his penises jerked, spattering the rock he was mining with gray cum, his hips jerking back and forth. Over a dozen other drones toiled beside him, dragging away the rock he broke free, carrying it elsewhere in the hive. The screaming multitudes of the Hive in his head pushed the drone to work endlessly, without heed for time, injury, or exhaustion.

"Gazi doesn't look good..." murmured Sala as she peered around a pile of rubble.

"No, he's probably been working like this for hours, if not days now," Gato agreed, "and as much as we work out, even Defenders have their limits."

"How are we gonna help him? All those sick people are around him..." Sala murmured. Gato blinked and looked at Sala. In her own head, she had been dehumanizing the Infected, thinking of them as monsters and animals, making it easier to hurt them if she was forced. But Sala still saw them as people in need of help. Gato wiped a tear from her eye and resolved to do better by the child and be a better role model.

"Sala, you wanted to help? Now's your chance. I need you to pick up some of these rocks and throw them down that tunnel as hard as you can. I need you to run and keep throwing them. When you run out, I need you to hide," Gato said slowly, pointing at a tunnel across the chamber.

"You need me to lead them away," Sala said, nodding.

"...Yes. But you'll be safe if you hide. I don't think they're smart enough to search for you. Once they pass you, you need to come straight back here," Gato explained, "Can you follow those orders exactly?"

"Uh-huh!" Sala chirped, already snatching up as many stones as she could carry. Gato couldn't fault the kid for her enthusiasm.

"On my mark... Ready... Go!" Gato whispered. Sala drew back her arm and whipped it sidearm, sending a stone flying far down the tunnel. She took off at a full sprint after in, already through the tunnel entrance long before the rock clattered loudly on the ground.

The Infected reacted instantly, their heads turning after the sound. As one, they leaped away after it. Gazi hunched down on all fours to give chase, but Gato was already moving to intercept him.

As she tackled him, knocking him tumbling against a wall, several of the Infected broke off of chasing Sala to come back at her.

"...I was ready to kill in self-defense, but Sala would never forgive me I hurt you now," Gato muttered, more to herself than to the mindless, slavering zombies screeching as they charged at her, "...Sala, you are so lucky that I love you."

Gato met their charge in a whirlwind of black and white, shedding the dark goo that had accrued on her fur from the force of her movement. She slammed shoulder first into an Apemon, driving it to the floor. She wasted no time with it, delivering a rapid series of punches straight to the forehead, temples, and chin; one of the first ground-and-pound combos Agu and Gabu had ever taught her.

Normally, this resulted in the victim being laid out cold. The Apemon barely looked like he felt it, instead responding with a blow of his own that sent Gato flying off of it. She rolled with the landing, using the momentum to skip back to her feet. The Apemon was a Champion, like herself, but far larger and stronger. She did not want to tussle with it for more than one exchange of blows, or else she'd be at the disadvantage. Gato grunted and scooped up a handful of gunk off the floor, flinging it into the Apemon's face, blinding it as she flashed forward. She lashed a kick at the back of its knee, forcing it to drop, then slammed the blade of her hand against the back of its head. This time, it dropped to the floor, unmoving.

She immediately had to perform a handspring backward to evade a series of lashing tentacles whipping where she had just been standing. She had taken too long with the Apemon, and the other beasts had surrounded her, Gazi included.

Gato grunted. This was a life-or-death situation, so all the rules went out the window. She needed to put these things down and fast. Fighting dirty would get it done. She reared back and slammed her foot right between the fork of the legs of a Chuumon. It was an easy target, given the enormous, swollen triple set of testicles it was sporting. The pink, deranged mouse screeched at the blow... and immediately pounced at her. Gato's eyes went wide in shock. On any normal Digimon, that would have completely incapacitated them, but it just practically ignored it.

She fell back, wrestling with the mouse as its tentacles flailed behind her, its fists flailing at her face. Her two advantages were that the rest of the Infected attacking were Rookies, and that they were wild beasts with no fighting skills. Gato grunted and kicked off the ground, flipping it over. This time, she delivered a solid punch to the solar plexus, forcing all of the air out of its lungs. Sure enough, it frothed at the mouth and passed out.

Nodding to herself, Gato wasted no time in ducking a slash from Gazi, even as a Gaomon snarled behind her, lashing at her with its tendrils. She backed away, sparks flying as she parried more slashes from the cat-rabbit with her own claws. She glanced around, noting a rock near her foot. Hooking her toe under it, she kicked up hard, sending the stone whizzing into the air. It struck the Gaomon dead center of the forehead, and it fell back, limbs splayed out.

"One to go, then you, Gazi," Gato muttered, looking around for any more debris to take out the last approaching Infected, a Labramon, who screeched as it charged her. None was to be found, so Gato did the only thing she could think of. She muttered an apology and socked it in the jaw as hard as she could, delivering the full strength that her little body was capable of in one blow. The Labramon flew across the chamber, at least forty feet, before landing with a wet splat in a pile of the black spunk. If it wasn't unconscious, it was not going anywhere, with how deeply it was buried in the sticky mass.

Gato turned her attention back to Gazi, who was continuing to claw at her. She was at least multiple times stronger than he was, so fending him off was relatively easy. He didn't have the tentacles the others had, which also made the job much more pleasant.

"Let's hope this works... HOLY CHIME!!!" Gato called, her voice echoing as she shouted the attack name. The bell on her ear suddenly gave a loud, ringing peal that echoed through the room. Gazi stopped in the middle of a slash of his claws and crumpled to the floor. He gave a full-body shudder from head to toe, every muscle in his body quivering before he lay still.

Gato panted hard, trying to catch her breath. It had taken twice as much effort as she had expected to take down the Infected Digimon. The Hivemind subsuming their individuality meant that they did not react the same way to pain as normal Digimon might have. They could take blows that would poleax a normal Digimon without so much as flinching. Gato revised her strategies for fighting them; she would have to aim for instant knockouts rather than pummeling them into unconsciousness.

Gazi groaned weakly, drawing Gato out of her thoughts. She ran over to his side, gently lifting him off the floor.

"Gazi, can you hear me?" she asked.

"Oh, gawd, my head. Is this what a hangover feels like? No wonder I don't drink..." Gazi moaned, clutching the sides of his head as he sagged into Gato's arms. His voice was always raspy to begin with, but now, scraped raw from screeching and snarling, it was positively gravelly. The feline supported his weight, waiting for him to regain his strength.

"Nng... Gato? What the heck is goin'... MMRF!" Gazi began to ask before Gato covered his mouth.

"Quiet! We're still in the Hive and I just knocked out five Infected. My guess is that a couple of hundred of 'em are coming our way shortly. We need to get out of here fast and quiet!" Gato whispered, "Sala should be back any second."

"...Sala? What the heck is the kid doing here?" Gazi asked, dropping his voice to a whisper.

"She wanted to help. She's grounded forever when we get home, but that's for later," Gato murmured, "...Ah! There she is."

"Whee! That was fun!" Sala giggled, scampering out of the tunnel and back towards the two. She looked completely pleased with herself.

"You all right?" Gato asked quickly.

"Uh-huh! It went just as you said! They kept chasin' the rock and not me when I ducked into a hole in the wall!" Sala giggled. She blinked, suddenly noticing Gazi standing there.

"Eee! Gazi, you're back!" she giggled, leaping into his arms and nuzzling his face.

"...Um... yeah, sorta... I think. Very confused," Gazi admitted, kissing the child's cheek despite himself.

"Time to go. I don't wanna be here when the drones start pouring in," Gato said, grabbing his hand and making for the exit.

"Where are the others?" Gazi asked, still carrying Sala as he stumbled after her.

"We're still going after 'em. Let's hope they haven't gone anywhere since Sala snapped me out of it..." Gato said.

******

Millions of drones needed sustenance. Semen, while surprisingly nutricious, would only take them so far. Flora snarled, jabbing her vines into the soil along with other Plant-type Infected. Her cocks pumped a steady flow of black spunk into the soil, seeping into the dirt as she kneeled alongside hundreds of others like herself. They poured their strength into the ground, forcing it to produce at a rate far beyond normal.

The room was filled with mutated vines, creeping up the walls and up stalagmites and down stalactites. Each vine grew bulbous black fruit, hanging heavy as they ripened at a hyper-accelerated rate. The fruit dropped from the vines to the floor with a loud thump, where other drones scooped them up and carried them off.

The fruit was then mashed to a messy, pulpy paste by other Infected in a large pool dug into the floor. The gray slurry was either consumed right there by the Infected by the handful, or drained into another room.

Gato shivered, her nipples hardening, not from arousal, but from cold. The ambient temperature of this room was dozens of degrees lower than the rest of the cave. The black semen on the walls and floor was covered in frost.

"...This is even weirder than I thought it would be..." Gazi muttered, coughing as he massaged his sore throat.

"Normally I'd tell you to shut up and save your voice, but... yeah, I think that's an appropriate reaction," Gato muttered, peeking from behind a mass of the black putty. A large number of ice Digimon were standing beside a trough through which the slurry flowed. They froze the gray stuff into blocks, stacking them on the side of the room for storage.

"Freeze drying. Didn't think they were smart enough for this," Gazi muttered.

"I wouldn't underestimate the Hivemind. The drones themselves are unintelligent and dumb as rocks, but the hive itself is cunning... if primitive," Gato replied.

"...Speak for yourself, Gato. Whatever it had you doing, it had ME breaking rocks with my bare fists. That's not exactly screaming brainpower to me," Gazi grumbled, rubbing his scraped and bloodied knuckles.

"There he is!" Sala chirped, riding Gazi piggyback. She pointed over his shoulder, across the room.

Sure enough, the lizard-wolf was hard at work, sending a stream of icy blue flames against the slurry. He paused only to draw breath and howl at the ceiling as he climaxed into the trough, his light-blue frosty spunk mixing into the fruit pulp and helping to freeze it solid. An Etemon was pumping into him from behind, the Infected's heavy set of six testicles slapping loudly against Gabu's own sextet. The Infected's other two penises jetted cum over Gabu's fur coat, soaking it, as it snarled. Its tentacles flailed about behind it, jetting wildly.

"Yep. Poor guy, he's not gonna be able to sit for a month after this..." Gazi remarked, wincing as the Infected Etemon pulled free and slopped a few more jets of cum onto his back. It was immediately replaced by a Mojyamon, who wasted no time in burying its lower-left member deep into Gabu's body.

"How're we gonna get him outta here?" Sala asked, frowning deeply.

"Not completely sure," Gato admitted, matching her frown, "But I'm working on an idea... but it's gonna be hectic, and I'm gonna need your help, Gazi."

Gabu howled as he came hard, pumping his lower penises in both hands, splattering the wall behind the trough as much as the sludge in the trough itself. He grunted and gasped, before exhaling another stream of blue fire to freeze the constant flow into a solid mass.

Several Infected cracked the frozen pulp into blocks, then picked them up and piled them across the room. As they placed them, the towering pile suddenly teetered forward and fell with an astounding crash. The Infected screeched as they were caught under the avalanche of blocks, howling in pain.

The Infected Mojyamon pumping into Gabu pulled free of him with a roar of outrage, turning and running over to aid the other Infected that had been struck. Gabu snarled and turned to do the same.

"Electric Stun Blast!" a raspy voice called, echoing loudly. Gabu's entire body locked up as he felt a hand rest on his back and a surge of lightning shot through his body, making his fur stand on end. Unconsciousness followed quickly and he sagged backward, his eyes rolling up in his head.

*****

"Heh. Who needs a taser when ya have me?" Gazi asked, helping to drag Gabu's body out of the chamber.

"Less talking, more dragging and more running," Gato grunted, hefting Gabu over her shoulder, "If I use my Holy Chime here, that'll send all of the Hive running right for us. We need to get away before he wakes up and before I can snap him out of it."

"I really hope those poor people are okay... I hope they didn't get hurt by that falling stuff..." Sala murmured, looking over her shoulder worriedly as she scampered after them.

"They're a lot tougher than they look, Sala. The sickness makes them a little stronger than you'd expect. And those blocks weren't nearly as heavy or as hard as they looked. I'm sure they're just bruised, or knocked out at worst," Gato reassured her.

"Good... I hope we can help them soon," Sala murmured sadly.

"Yeah, me too. But first we gotta help Gabu, BlackGato, and then get outta here," agreed Gazi kindly.

*****

"...Ow. Good Gennai, Gazi... Didja have to shock me so hard? My hands and feet are still numb," Gabu complained, wringing them as he tried to work the pins and needles out of them.

"First, yes, I did. You were an Infected, and it took that much to knock you out. And two, SHHH! You wanna get caught?" Gazi shushed, narrowing his eyes.

"BlackGato should be around here somewhere," Gato muttered, peering out from behind a pile of black gunk.

"Yeah, I sorta remember her being here... but... uh..." Gazi grumbled, "I don't remember why."

"It would help if her fur wasn't as black as everything else in this stupid place," Gato grumbled, "I can see better than both of you combined in this darkness, but heck if I can spot her..."

"I see her!" Sala squeaked, raising her hand cheerfully.

"...Man, the kid has better eyes than Biyo or Hawk," Gabu said, blinking in surprise.

"Point her out to me," Gato murmured, lifting Sala onto her shoulders and peering out from behind the mass again.

"Over there. By the giant moving thing on the giant thingie," Sala said, pointing.

"...That narrows it down," Gazi remarked sarcastically.

"...Wonderful. She's next to the Brain Pillar," Gato sighed, ducking back into cover.

"Oh, great. That's where the most Infected are too. We're screwed," Gabu grumbled, "Gato... You're going to hate me for saying this, but maybe we..."

"...Gabu, she's my sister. And you're the closest thing I have to a dad. You weren't about to suggest we leave her behind when we have the chance to save her," Gato said, staring him right in the eyes.

"...No, I wasn't. Never mind," Gabu said after a moment, nodding.

"Damn right, never mind," Gato agreed, frowning as she peeked out at BlackGato again. Seeing the situation, she had to admit, Gabu had reason to feel less than sanguine about saving the other feline.

The only reason she could spot BlackGato at all was the trio of fountains of hot, thick semen the girl was firing off repeatedly. The red-glowing bioluminescent fluid stuck out like a sore thumb against the blackness of everything around her. The large puddle was hard to miss, even though the liquid was not glowing particularly bright. She was in the middle of a throng of well over fifty-thousand Digimon (according to Gato's Brand's scanners). The Infected swarmed around her, all doing their own thing, snarling, humping, ejaculating, and carrying masses of putty or forming new cables out of the Pillar.

This would have made it hard enough, but the black feline was encased up to her hips in the black gunk, immobilized. Her paws were glued into the mass, preventing her from moving much at all. Her eyes were rolled up in her head, her mouth moving constantly. Gato had trained in lip-reading, and could only pick out the occasional coherent word out of what appeared to be a stream of complete gibberish. Long black cables snaked from the Brain into her ears, surges of electricity traveling back and forth between her and the thing on the Pillar.

"So, other than challenging my very sanity, what the heck is it doing with her?" Gazi asked, frowning.

"It looks like it's using her brain as some sorta external processing drive. Look, there's others like her..." Gabu muttered, pointing. Gato squinted, peering into the darkness of the cavern. It took her a minute, but sure enough, she picked out other Infected that were similarly encased and connected. Datamon, Andromon, and a random assortment of other Digimon, all attached to the Brain.

"Gabu, when all this is said and done, remind me to have Goma hack me and scrub every single memory file of this entire incident out of me," Gato muttered, rubbing her face.

"So whats the plan, Gato?" Gazi queried, sidling up beside her.

"...To quote Gabu from a minute ago, it's gonna make you hate me," Gato sighed, shaking her head hard enough to make her ears flop side to side.

******

Out of all the Digimon in the Hive, it was those that were connected directly to the Brain that were in the most agony and ecstasy. The cables were fed directly into BlackGato's ears, and connected directly to not just the Hive of File Island, but every other Hive on the planet. The random noises tumbling from her lips were essentially the verbal interpretation of the corrupted data being fed into her and back into the Brain from her after processing. Her brain was on fire, every single neuron and axon and dendrite being pushed to its absolute limit of processing power. It was only lucky that for all intents and purposes BlackGato was completely unconscious; if she were anywhere close to awareness, the strain might have killed her.

Her body shook as her cocks twitched, spouting spunk high into the air, splattering passing Infected as much as the floor. Her nectar sprinkled onto the ground. She could not buck her hips, as they were immobilized, but she shivered and yelped as much as she could.

She did not notice as the Infected suddenly perked up, reacting to something. Loud snaps echoed from down one of the tunnels, as several of the Brain's cables suddenly snapped loose, spraying sparks about as they waved wildly. Each cable was as large around as a city bus, and so the Infected scattered rather than get crushed under its mass.

As one of the cables came to rest, the Infected swarmed it, using their bodyweight to hold it down, heedless of the ungrounded surges of electricity shocking them. Others repeated the process with the other cables. Several snarled at the severed ends of the cables, which were coated in ice.

The crowd was thinned out somewhat near BlackGato, and reacted slow as a trio of Digimon barrelled into them at a full sprint. Gabu laid down a stream of icy blue fire, freezing feet to the floor. Gazi struck out with electrically charged claws, shocking as many as he could within reach. And Gato led the charge, using her massive golden Holy Ring as a battering ram, slamming it into the crowd like a cattle catcher and using it to toss bodies aside.

"Finally this stupid thing is useful!!!" Gato called over her shoulder as she sent a dozen Infected flailing into the air with a swipe.

"Shut up and get her already! This is the stupidest plan ever!" Gazi shouted back.

Gato leapt hard into the air, propelling herself as high and as far as her legs would take her. She vaulted twenty feet up, arcing over the masses to land lightly beside BlackGato.

"LIGHTNING CLAW!!!" she shouted, slashing wildly as her claws gained a metallic sheen. Quick swipes severed the cables that hooked BlackGato to the Brain, and cleaved through the gunk keeping her held fast. Separated from the Hivemind, true unconsciousness came as a relief for BlackGato. She slumped into Gato's arms, who heaved her over her shoulder. Gato quickly slipped off BlackGato's silver Holy Ring, using it as a second weapon to fight her way back to Gazi and Gabu.

"Got her! RUN! RUNRUNRUNRUNRUN!!!" Gato shouted, bolting past them as fast as her little legs could carry her. Gabu and Gazi broke away from the melee and joined her, sprinting as hard as they possibly could.

"This was BARELY a plan, Gato! It's about half a step up from 'smash and grab,'" Gabu complained, scooping up Sala from behind the boulder where they left her, and continuing to run.

"It's the best I had. Less talking, more sprinting for your life!!!" Gato shouted over her shoulder.

A rumbling noise like the loudest thunder Gato had ever heard came from behind them. Risking a glance over her shoulder, Gato immediately regretted it.

File Island had a population of over 1,350,000 Digimon before the Virus. It now looked like every single one of that number was giving chase.

"Get into the tunnels and make back for the surface! They can't chase us like this in there! Gabu, ice walls!" Gato shouted.

"You kidding me? I can't make ice walls THAT fast!!!" Gabu growled back.

"Whatever you CAN do, then! Anything to slip them up or slow them down even a step!" Gato yelled.

"Gah, fine! BLUE BLASTER!!!" Gabu snarled. Gato did not bother to look, but heard the roar of flames and the snap and crackle of frost behind her. Every so often, she heard Gabu shout the attack name again, every time he had to pause to breathe.

For a while, that became all of Gato's life. Carrying the dead weight of BlackGato's body on her shoulder, her legs aching as they pounded the floor. The sticky gunk made it so much harder to run, taking twice as much effort to take every step. The good news was that it slowed down their pursuers as much as it did them. They ducked down side tunnels, rushed up slopes, but the pursuit never ceased. It was only thanks to Gazi directing them with a map projected from his brand that they even knew where they were going.

It almost came as a surprise when they burst from the cave entrance and into the bright light of day. The sunlight blinded Gato momentarily, until she just decided to run with her eyes half-closed, barely peering out between the lids.

"GOMA! GOMA! Can you hear me?!" Gato screamed, praying her comm channel was still open after all this time.

"GATO! Holy crap! It's been three days!!! Where are you?!" Goma's voice replied frantically.

"No time! Being chased by every Infected on File Island! GET US OUT OF HERE!!!" Gato shouted, glancing over her shoulder as the cave entrance suddenly exploded outward in a mass of bodies, penises, and tentacles. The swarm snarled and screeched, drowning out anything else Goma might have said.

Gato ran as hard as she could, but they were losing ground. They had not slept in three days. Their only food had been cum or that fruit mush. They had been working constantly the entire time, and when awake, they had been in a constant state of stress and fear. Exhaustion nipped at her heels as much as the Infected did.

She could not catch her breath, and her pace slowed. The Infected approached.

And then the world became a blinding light, and there was a rushing sensation. And then Gato and her friends were gone.

******

"...I never want to think about anything ever again. The Hive wore my brain out so much that it hurts to think!" BlackGato complained as she held an icepack to her forehead. She lay in a hospital bed, looking much the worse for wear after her ordeal.

"Tough luck, sis. We need your brains to fix this," Gato said, patting her paw affectionately.

"Thanks for getting me out of there... That was... horrible. Worse than anything Devidramon put me through..." BlackGato murmured tiredly.

"Don't thank me. I'm the one who screwed up and got us all captured and brain-scrambled. It was Sala who saved us," Gato said, glancing over at the puppy, who slept soundly in another hospital bed nearby.

Goma had activated the Emergency Data Transfer just in the nick of time, pulling the four of them to the safety of the File Island HQ Shelter. None of them were in any condition to do much other than mutter a few barely coherent phrases and fall asleep (after Gato made sure to perform a Holy Chime to free BlackGato from the Hive's control).

Now, several hours later, exhaustion was still gnawing away at Gato and the others who had entered the Hive, but rest was the last thing on her mind.

"What do we do now?" BlackGato asked, grunting as she forced herself to sit up, wincing as she kinked one of her tails. She grabbed at the silver Holy Ring sitting beside her bed, slipping it over her shoulder.

"...Well... We... We made things way worse," Gato said slowly, "...And I don't know what we're going to do."

"How?" BlackGato asked, frowning as she climbed to her feet, grunting.

"BG, we gave the Hive a sample of our DNA. It infected us again. I don't understand the biology or computing or whatever, but this time, the X-Antibody isn't going to protect us," Gato explained.

"How long do we have?" BlackGato asked, looking her sister in the eyes.

"...We have less than a day to cure the world," Gato said slowly, the weight of the Digital World pressing down on the room.

To Be Continued...