A few hours have passed since the girls escaped the sight. But Digit had already turned most of the city into a digital realm.
But she didn't feel happy at all.
She sighed sadly. "Why bother when she hates it?.."
"Hey!"
Digit turned around to see Stella pointing her bayonet at her.
"Why are you back?" she asked. "And why did you come alone?"
"Oh, I am not alone." Stella said smugly. She whistled. From the shadows of a nearby tree, the rest of the girls emerged, weapons drawn.
"We did some reading, Digit," Dee said, her voice steady. "Ursa realized something. You aren't just 'changing' things. You're converting matter into data. But data needs a server. And it also needs a source."
Digit's eyes flickered. "The source is irrelevant. The results are-"
"They are a graveyard!" Cecilia yelled, swinging her blade.
Digit raised a hand to delete the incoming attack, but Yvette was faster, she threw an orb of electricity. When Digit tried to catch it like before, the energy didn't turn into a drawing. It glitched, forcing Digit to pull her hand back in surprise.
"Magic doesn't follow your code, Digit!" Ursa shouted, while Harley held up a scepter. "It's unpredictable. It's messy. And you can't put it into a category!"
For the first time, Digit looked shocked. The glowing beneath her feet began to flicker. The giant bird-monsters she had created shrieked, their forms destabilizing.
"Stop it," Digit whispered, her voice wavering. "You don't understand anything! You don't get why I'm doing this! The world is bad! I wanna fix it!" She slammed her disc player, and a blue light appeared. She tried to force the girls back into the box.
"You're not saving us," Dee said, stepping forward. "You're just lonely! And you want to break the world! That's control!"
Digit's expression broke. "I am not lonely. I am safe!" she looked at Dee, her gaze lingering on the girl. The glitching intensified. The ground began to crack.
"This place is corrupted," Digit muttered.
With a sudden move of her arm, Digit tore a hole in the air.
"Wait!" Dee yelled.
Digit stepped into the tear. "Don't follow me. You won't like what's on the other side."
The portal began to shrink.
"She's getting away!" Stella shouted. "We can't let her close that!"
Dee ran towards the glowing, pixelated portal.
"Dee, stop!" Cecilia shouted after her.
But Dee did not listen, she just ran into the portal. The brightness made her cover her eyes.
And when she opened them, she saw Digit, who sat on the ground.
"It's over. Stop all of this." Dee demanded. She held her sickle, ready to attack.
Digit did not turn around, she looked at a phone in her hand. "I can't… If I do it… none of this will matter… at least this feels like a game, where I can respawn if…"
"That's not living!" Dee shouted, taking a step forward, her weapon raised. "And this is not like we're playing a game! People's lives are on the line here."
"But at least games are safe!" Digit finally turned around. "In a game, the rules are fair. In the real world, your body can just... decide to stop working. They can turn against you, and no matter how much you want to spend more time with your friends, they just… force you to leave…"
"What do you mean?" Dee asked.
"I get why you don't understand… you don't recognize me…" Digit mumbled. Then she turned the phone in her hand off.
Dee froze in one place. The person in front of her was not some evil villain, not even a shadow.
"A-Alyssa?.."
"I'm so sorry… But… I tried to do all of this for us…" Alyssa said. She looked up at Dee, who was still standing there in shock.
"Why?.." Dee asked, her eyes widened with pure shock.
"I... I found a phone on the ground when I was going home a couple of days ago! And I had no idea what it would actually do, I thought maybe somebody had lost it," Alyssa explained, she slowly teared up. "So I took it home. But then a-"
"But why?! Answer me!" Dee demanded.
"I… I don't know how to explain it…" Alyssa cried. "I'm scared about how you'll react…"
"Alyssa, you're my friend, if you tell me, I'll understand everything…"
Dee sat down next to Alyssa. She put a hand onto her friend's shoulder to comfort her.
"I… I'm afraid… Because I'm… I'm dying very soon…" Alyssa confessed, her voice shaking.
Silence fell over the two of them. Dee stared at her, her eyes widened.
"Why didn't you tell me anything?"
"I just found out yesterday, before we went to the arcade…"
"Is that why you did all of this?" Dee questioned, her eyes softened.
"I found a phone on the ground," Alyssa explained. "And a whisper told me that it can grant me access to a world where I won't have to go… I tried it. When it worked, I wanted to fix our world…"
"I'm sorry…" Dee whispered. Alyssa started to cry, which made Dee wrap her arms around her friends.
"I just… I didn't wanna bother you with my problems, you have way more important things to take care of than me…" Alyssa whispered. "If you hate me… I-"
"I could never hate you." Dee said, pulling her friend closer into the hug.
Back at the streets, the girls were still fighting the monsters, but they stopped once they disappeared, as they saw the world return to normal.
A cracking sound cut through the air. The girls turned to the source of the noise. And they saw a portal open up in front of them.
Out of the portal came Dee, but she looked more different. Her red hair got longer, which was held up in a braid. Her skirt was now white pair of tight shorts, and it connected with her top, which weren't pink anymore, but it was black, her sleeves became longer, and in her hands, she carried someone.
"Dee… who is that?.." asked Stella, while she pointed at the girl in Dee's arms.
Dee didn't say anything, she just walked away from the group.
Harley was the first who figured out exactly what happened.
"Oh no…" she whispered.
"Dee, who is that?" Ursa questioned.
Dee placed the body onto the ground carefully. But her body started shaking.
"A friend." she said, her voice filled with cold and emptiness as it echoed through the air. Her eyes welled up with tears.
Dee took the phone her friend had earlier, and in a fit of anger, she smashed the device into tiny pieces, her new form flickered.
Once she was done, she started to breathe heavily, her vision became blurry. After a few seconds, she passed out.
She collapsed onto the ground, which turned her back into her normal appearance.
But what is normal anymore?