Daichi: And now to finish off File Island! Finally!

Verity: Given how many episodes got cut…

Daichi: Did you just want to see Tai and Matt fight a lot? Because that was the alternative!

BlackGatomon: No ownership here, move along.

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Sometimes, Joe hated being right. "Did we really have to do that?" He asked, glancing from Ikkakumon's back at the burning island behind them.

"Well, what if the others had ended up there somehow?" Sora pointed out.

"These things can track others!" He reminded her, waving his blue device in the air. "If anyone else was headed that way, they didn't make it. You just wanted to burn something down."

"Well, I think they deserved it," Birdramon opined.

"That doesn't count- we told you about Halloween!"

"They used a day for candy against us," Ikkakumon stated. "I agree with Birdramon."

"Of course you do…" Currently in Champion form or not… that didn't change the fact that their partners spent almost all their time as Rookies. Apparently, some things stuck. Like the ever undefeatable sweet tooth.

Either way, it didn't matter. It had happened, and now they were hoping to find some part of the island that wasn't on fire. Joe thought Ib would find the story sort of funny. Both she and Sora, when stuck in another world, turned to flames as the solution. Still, he couldn't help but feel sorry for any innocent Digimon living on that part of the island…

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It had started off as a… well, Ib wouldn't call anything that happened in this world a 'normal day' just yet. But things had actually been sort of okay. T.K. and Patamon were playing with the babies, and seemed to be enjoying themselves, while Elecmon prepared breakfast. Ib and Lalamon didn't really have a task to do in the mornings beyond making sure nobody wandered off, but that could be a full job by itself sometimes.

...Such as now, apparently. "Poyomon!" Ib chased after the little white blob, hopping across the bouncy floor of the village towards the forest. "Come back!"

The little Digimon gave no sign of having heard her voice. "...Lalamon, how quickly can you fly?"

"Not fast enough." Her partner was still flying alongside her. She'd almost gotten used to it, was starting to think that maybe it was meant to be that way. But there was still that small doubt, that didn't seem like it was going away anytime soon. "He can't get that far, though. There's not much food in the forest." And the main way to attract a Digimon was to promise to feed them.

Now there was an idea. "Poyomon, if you run off like that, you're going to miss breakfast!"

That was enough to get the small creature's attention, the jellyfish turning around and hopping right back. Nice and predictable. Not enough was.

"Come on, let's get you back to the others. I think we're having rice and bacon today…" Did she know where the meat came from? No. Did she care? Not really.

The tiny blob squeaked excitedly, bouncing ahead back towards the other Digimon. "I guess the way to a Baby Digimon's heart is through the stomach," Lalamon remarked.

Ib raised an eyebrow. "Just Baby Digimon?"

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

"I've seen you eat. I didn't even think it was physically possible…" The Rookie had eaten meals twice her size before. Somehow.

Suddenly, Ib got the feeling that she was being watched. Quickly, she turned around, but there was nobody there. "Lalamon."

"Yes?"

"Keep an eye out for possible trouble, would you? It's just a feeling I have…" One of these days, she half-expected the pink flying plant to say no. That her partner would turn and leave her behind.

But today, at least, she didn't, floating nearby and twirling around like a ballerina. Ib didn't think she'd see much of anything that way, but, well, at least she was having fun.

That much, at least, was impossible to begrudge.

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It was half an hour later when Ib's feeling of danger resolved itself. Leomon was large and powerful, and was aiming for T.K. and Patamon over her and Lalamon, which she didn't really understand. Or want to. The world was cruel, and anything else didn't really need elaboration.

"We need to stop him!" Lalamon cried. "Come on, Ib!"

"What are we supposed to do, though?" She asked. "We're not that strong."

"But we can be!" Her partner insisted. "We can't let them be hurt! I know it's scary, but we have to try!"

Right… they had to. Because if anything happened to T.K., Matt would not forgive her. She wouldn't even forgive herself, for allowing anything like that. Whatever it took.

"Let's do this, Lalamon," She whispered, and her partner lunged forward. Leomon turned to face her, but the glow of Digivolution had already enveloped her.

Sunflowmon, it turned out, had lasers. That was… actually pretty cool. Not that Ib would say anything like that, but, well… laser sunflower. That was so much better than Joe's walrus. It almost made up for her Digivolved form being yet another plant.

Still, though, it could be worse. She could be made of roses. That would kind of suck.

Tai and Matt arrived a bit later, along with Izzy and Mimi. Apparently, they'd met up on the way to Primary Village, and were surprised to see Leomon already defeated and on their side. Ib tried not to think too much about the fact that Joe and Sora hadn't come with them.

Leomon told them that they were supposed to be something called 'DigiDestined', and Izzy and Mimi confirmed that the blue things they'd all been carrying around were called Digivices. Tai poked fun at the fact that Sunflowmon was just a flower, only to get swiped at by a spiked tail. He quickly changed his tune after that, and Ib was glad for it.

Elecmon provided food, and they all made plans to face Devimon that evening. Ib and Sunflowmon kept watch until then, the latter eating whatever she could to help maintain that form.

"How did you know?" Ib asked her partner, glancing into the forest, which danger could come from at any moment.

"Huh? How did I know what?"

"That you could Digivolve."

A leafy shrug. "I just figured that, if the others could do it, why couldn't I? Really, Ib, don't you have any faith in me?"

"...I'm not sure I have much faith in anything," She admitted. "Just… things happen, and I don't really know what to do, then. I just have to go with what feels right."

"And does this feel right?"

"More than anything else here." It wasn't saying much, and she thought her Digimon could understand that. But it was still better than nothing, and that was important, because they didn't really have anything else to go on. Just themselves, and the other kids, and the occasional feeling that something didn't belong, though it was outside their power to understand what.

But it didn't matter where it came from, or what it ended up being. They just had to defeat Devimon, and head home afterwards. Nothing else mattered.

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Seeing Joe again was more of a relief than Ib would have liked to admit. They had different battle positions- him at the bottom of the mountain with Ikkakumon, her standing on a ledge, Sunflowmon protectively guarding her with her tail, the two of them close by to T.K. in the case of trouble- but it meant that, despite her misgivings, all of them had survived. They could make it through this, and it wouldn't be nearly as dangerous as she had imagined.

Of course, what Ib had imagined was a truly unwinnable situation that would end with File Island on fire, but that was semantics, really.

The current situation wasn't that far off, either. Greymon was swatted into the mountain by a large claw, as if he were nothing more than a fly, Birdramon had been forced to make an emergency landing, she didn't even know where Leomon went… it was, apparently, a disaster above all else.

And then Devimon turned his attention to the ledge where she and T.K. stood. He didn't even seem to register the presence of Ib and Sunflowmon, no matter how many lasers blasted his wrist, as he tore away the ground beneath the youngest DigiDestined's feet.

Ib froze. All she could think about was how Matt was never going to forgive her, for letting anything happen to his little brother. That she'd failed to keep the smallest of them safe, and what was the point, really, of choosing her to save the world if she couldn't even protect anyone?

There was a flash of light down the mountain, more brilliant than any before, and she didn't even have time to wonder where it came from before an angelic Digimon was setting T.K. back down on the ledge next to her.

"Did you know this would happen?" She found herself asking. "Back when you saw the painting?"

"Just a fortunate coincidence," The newest Champion replied. "You'll take care of him, won't you?" His tone of voice told Ib something that she was sure he didn't want her to know. And anyone else wouldn't have been able to notice. But she did.

She'd heard it once before, after all.

T.K. was younger than she had been. Losing his partner… it was going to devastate him. "I will," She promised, to herself as much as the Digimon in front of her. "If I can figure out how to get past Matt, anyway."

"But… Matt's not here," T.K. pointed out, still shaken from the fall. Neither Ib or Angemon had the heart to tell him the real meaning behind their words. Sunflowmon was still blissfully oblivious, shooting lasers at Devimon while he barely registered her presence.

"...Don't worry about it," Ib finally found herself saying. "Just… stay here with me, okay?"

The boy listened. Angemon flew up to confront Devimon. And Ib wondered if there hadn't been something she could have done, to make things better.

It was probably for the best that she didn't have an answer.

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Daichi: ...Again, not enough therapists in the world.