>Talk to Squid and Bella while she's being treated. You want to make sure she's okay. It's not 100% altruistic, you also want to dispel any doubt you have, and find out how she feels about all this.

“I’ll go see to Bella then.”

By now, your partner’s energy has run out. You check the screen and verify that he’s back to being Phascomon, before you hololize him onto the workshop floor. He struts over to ToyAgumon to observe, and you head to Bella’s side. You’re already pulling out your essential documents to help speed up the proces.

“Hey… How’re you feeling?”

She just grunts.

“Not good. But luckily, I can fix a lot of her. I can remap every texture, I just can’t touch the wireframe as much as I'd like.”

“Maybe this will help?”

You offer her a copy of the medical records that Doc generated while treating you. She picks up the phantom file, scans through it, then slides the whole thing into the diagnosis chair.

“Yeah! This’ll come in handy. Your last injury was a lot deeper, this one is wider. But it should help me fix damage that’s under the surface.”

You suddenly recall that you were shot too. However, now seems like a bad time to ask for a checkup. Not when Bella is in such a sorry state.

Squid keeps working for a while longer, using electromagnetic devices to forcefully morph and deform her features. Bella’s gaze slowly shifts away from the ceiling, settling on you.

“Bella?”

“Mhm?”

“You good to talk?”

“I… I think so. Am I always gonna be like this? From now on?”

“Not if I can help it. How are you feeling? It looks bad, but I don’t know how much it’s affecting your function…”

“Bad. It feels all fuzzy. Like nothing is real. The hospital-“

“We can’t.” Squid cuts in. “They’ll interrogate and pod you. These are suspicious times.”

And that’s thanks to you all.

“But then… What am I gonna do?!”

“You’re gonna have to stay here till we’re all done.” Squid says.

“Maybe I should have just taken the risk… Maybe I wouldn’t have-”

“No!” You interrupt. “You didn’t see the ghost. It was bad. She was glitching nonstop. You said it feels fuzzy, but at least you still know who you are.”

“Anything has to be better than this.” She whimpers. “Why did you have such a dangerous thing on you?”

My usual Code Cracker gave it to me. It was supposed to be for emergencies. I don’t think it was supposed to do permanent damage either. It must have compounded with what you took from the network.”

“Then why would you test it on me?!”

“Because you BEGGED me to save you! You said you didn’t want to die!”

She bites her lip in frustration.