Dai was in the infirmary still feeling weak from the final process of having all of her Warriors in her deck.
Groggily, she looked around the room seeing that she and the unconscious Atticus were the only ones in the room at the moment.
"What happened?" she croaked out.
Duskmon appeared at her side along with Agunimon.
"Hey, nice to see you're awake. Jaden brought you here after you wouldn't wake up. That bonding must've taken a lot outta ya." Agunimon said smiling down at her as he brushed the girl's bangs out of her face.
"I'm sorry. I never should have bonded with you. I told you that you weren't the type to be in the dark, but you didn't listen." Duskmon said sadly.
"It's fine. Anything to get you guys to get along. Why do you all hate each other so much?" Dai asked softly.
"It's a long story." Duskmon sighed.
"Not really." Ranamon said as all of the other Warriors appeared.
Just as Dai was about to ask what they meant by that, Fontain walked into the room to go check on Atticus who was in the bed across the room from the maroon haired girl.
The woman looked up and smiled when she saw that Dai was awake, unable to see the Spirits of the monsters.
"Finally decided to wake up, huh? How are you feeling, dear?" she asked walking over to the girl.
"I've been worse." Dai said so as to not make her new Warrior feel bad.
She could tell that he was feeling very sensitive and insecure about everything and she didn't want to make him feel even worst by saying she felt like she was dragged through heck and back.
"Really? Strong one." Fontain said as she placed her hand on Dai's forehead.
"Always have been-"Dai cut herself off when she started coughing, sounding very much like dry heaving soon enough.
Fontain frowned at this as she went to get a glass of water and came back over when the girl was calmed down.
"You're burning up. Here, take a drink." The nurse said.
Dai nodded with teary eyes as she took the glass from her and started drinking down the cool, refreshing liquid.
Fontain smiled as she went to go get the thermometer and some aspirin to give to the feverish girl.
"Take these and then place this under your tongue." She instructed.
The maroon haired girl did as she was told, taking the two pills and then put the thermometer under her tongue.
The nurse smiled as she went back to check on Atticus, Dai watching her the entire time.
She was wondering when the older male would wake up from his sleep so that she and the others could properly meet him.
Alexis had been searching for him for so long and now she has him back, Atticus better wake up soon.
The door to the infirmary opened up making Dai turn to see that Jaden, Renamon, V-Mon, Bastion, Kotemon, Alexis, Zane, Crowler, Banner and Chazz had come to visit.
"Hey, Miss Fontain. Is Dai up yet?" the child of Darkness asked.
"Why don't you see for yourself?" the woman said.
The group turned and looked over to the bed and those who were able to see the Warriors were shocked to see a brand new, more evil looking one standing there.
"Dai, you're awake." Alexis said walking over to the girl's side.
"How long have I been out?" the girl asked, but it was messed up with having the thermometer in her mouth.
"A few days now." Bastion said as V-Mon rushed over, ramming into his partner's chest.
The duo of Miracles giggled as they hugged each other, but the girl soon started coughing making everyone gather around her.
"Are you OK?" Jaden asked but gasped as he felt a wave of darkness that was thick in the air.
It felt different from what he was used to, and had the similar taint as the Shadow Games, only more powerful.
His eyes flashed gold for a brief second as he sent a force prodding inside his mind, like some old memories were trying to reach the surface, but they were forced back just as soon as they came.
He looked over to the new digimon, wondering who he was.
Grumblemon, Ranamon, Arbormon and Mercurymon were standing around him, looking as though they were there for support as the demonic creature seemed to be nervous.
Renamon and Kotemon were looking at him in shock with wide eyes, clearly knowing who he was.
"I'm good." Dai said as Fontain pulled the thermometer out of her mouth and checked it.
"Not really, young lady. You have a 102 fever. You're staying right here in this bed until it goes down." The woman said sternly.
The girl groaned as she leaned back down in her bed, then her eyes widened when something dawned on her.
"Where's my deck?" she asked sounding desperate.
"Calm down, now. Jaden has been keeping it." Banner said as the child of Darkness pulled the deck out of his pocket and handed it over to the girl.
His cousin took it and started shuffling through the cards, looking for something.
She found the card that Ken had asked her to look after until he made it into the academy and also a few new cards that were added due to the Tainted Spirits of Darkness.
"Hey, none of us stole anything from your deck if that's what you're worried about." Chazz said.
"No, that isn't it. I just thought I'd introduce you guys to the new member of my deck, that's all." Dai said.
V-Mon looked at the demonic creature as he jumped up and pointed at him.
"Hey! I know him. He's Duskmon. I was wondering what happened to him. He disappeared after the first battle with Lucemon, but he never returned after he helped the other Warriors fight." He said.
"Is that true?" Bastion asked looking at Duskmon who didn't pay him any mind.
"Anyway, Duskmon is the final Warrior and we went through the bonding process. I felt the usual pain from it and I guess…it just made me really sick-Do not brood!" Dai said when she saw the look Duskmon had.
Kazemon and Ranamon giggled at the fact that their old friend was being scolded while Lowemon and Lobomon ignored him.
"Oh, please don't tell me you just got yourself dragged into another family drama." Jaden sighed.
"Yep." Dai said turning over on her stomach.
"Can you check and see if I got a new mark?" she asked.
"I'll check." The Obelisk Queen said as she reached down and pulled the back of the shirt up, some of the boys blushing at this.
Everyone watched and saw all of the original 10 marks in different colors.
Finally, at the very bottom of the end of the rows was a brand new mark that was in black.
It was an eight pointed star that was inside of a thin lined circle.
"This is the new mark?" Banner asked fixing his glasses.
"New mark? Why does she have these things anyway?" Crowler asked confused.
"She has bonds with her monsters. The Ten, er, Eleven Legendary Warriors now, go through a bonding process where they become linked to each other. It's also pretty painful last time I checked." Jaden said.
"That's ridiculous." Crowler said waving a dismissing hand at that.
Everyone rolled their eyes, ignoring the man before Zane then decided to join in.
"Dai, where's your Spirit Key?" he asked.
Dai blinked as she reached into her shirt and pulled out her necklace and Spirit Key.
"But how does she still have hers when ours were stolen?" Chazz asked.
"Stolen?!" Dai asked shocked.
"Actually…" Duskmon said gaining the attention of the three Digidestinds and Chazz.
"Last night…I sensed something going on, so I arose and created a barrier to protect Daisuke and that male over there so no one would bother them." He said.
"That explains it." Bastion said.
"Whoa, hold up. Get back to the stolen part. YOU FREAKING LET THOSE OVERLY CLICHED SHADOW FREAKS STEAL YOUR SPIRIT KEYS?!" Dai yelled before she went into another round of a coughing fit, sounding very much like she was going to hack up a lung or some blood even.
Agunimon gently rubbed her back to get her to calm down and help her breathing.
"We're gonna get them back. Just stay here and rest. You need to get better." Jaden said gently pushing the girl down and covered her with the blanket.
"You guys better kick their butts." She said.
Jaden smiled down at his cousin and nodded at her as Renamon stood beside him, then led everyone outside.
V-Mon sat down on the bed watching the Warriors, wondering why the three brothers weren't speaking to each other.
"Why do ya guys hate each other?" V-Mon asked.
Lowemon, Lobomon and Duskmon looked at him in surprise that he even had the guts to ask that question while Dai watched them in interest.
"It happened when Takuya and the others were brought to the Digital World to save it from the evil that was rising to destroy it." Agunimon said.
"Takuya was my partner." He said.
"Zoe was mine." Kazemon said.
"Koji was my partner." Lobomon said.
"JP was mine." Beetlemon said.
"Tommy was my partner." Kumamon said.
"And Koichi was my partner, but…before that…he was Duskmon's partner." Lowemon said.
"No freaking way." The duo of Miracles said both sitting up straight.
"Cherubimon was turned evil by Lucemon and he used Duskmon's power to turn him and Koichi evil from it all, then used the power to turn me, Grumblemon, Mercurymon and Arbormon here evil. Things have been weird between us after that since Duskmon was just gone…he vanished after Beowolfmon saved Koichi from the Tainted Darkness." Ranamon explained.
"So the Ying Yang twins hate their big brother just because of something he had no control over? That's…freaking…stupid." Dai deadpanned.
"Yeah, it really is." The blue dragon said.
Lobomon and Lowemon shared looks, then looked at their older brother, who was just staring out the window to watch the group of students run off to go find the thieves.
"You should be resting. If you want to get better so that you can help your friends save the world." Duskmon said.
"Yeah, yeah." The girl said as she settled down in her bed.
Her dragon pulled the blankets up over her, then cuddled up into bed with Dai to sleep.
The Warriors watched over them until Grumblemon picked up the deck and placed them in a black silk bag and then placed it under their Master's pillow.
After that, the Warriors all returned to their cards to rest until Dai was awake again and was feeling better.
Hours later of the two sleeping, Dai woke up to see that it was night time and her stomach was growling.
She hadn't eaten for nearly three days now, so it was to be expected that she was hungry.
Looking down at V-Mon, she smiled down lovingly at him as he snored and hugged the pillow to himself.
Dai lifted the covers off of her and swung her legs onto the floor and stood up, feeling much better than she had been before.
She tucked her dragon in and picked up her silk bad that had her deck inside of it and looked around the room to see her jacket was on the chair beside her bed.
The girl picked it up and put it on over her white spaghetti strapped shirt and black short shorts, then placed her deck in her jacket pocket before she decided to go look for the cafeteria to get something to eat.
Before she got too far, Duskmon appeared in front of her.
"Where do you think you're going?" he asked with crossed arms.
"I'm hungry." Dai said.
He gave her look before he scooped the girl up into his arms and then walked off to the bed she was in and placed her back down.
"If you needed anything, all you had to do was ask and one of us would get it for you." He said.
Pouting at the Tainted Warrior, she then stuck her tongue out at him before Grumblemon appeared with some vegetable soup in a bowel.
He placed it down on the bedside table and Dai smiled at the Warrior of Earth.
"Thanks, Grumble." She said.
The soup was still hot as she ate it, her throat feeling much better from the soothing liquid.
The two Warriors left as they allowed her to eat her food in peace and she also thought about how to get the three brothers to work together in peace again.
Honestly, why does she also wind up getting herself stuck in some stupid sibling rivalry thing?
She just hoped that she would be able to get them to forgive each other soon.
To be continued…