The sight of the infirmary was almost enough to make Taichi cry in relief. He probably would have too, if not for Ishida's presence. He stumbled in through the doorway, Agumon right behind, and his head and left hand trying to out throb each other. He immediately spotted a bed right next to the doorway but ignored its call, just in case Sora needed it more. She insisted she wasn't as messed up as him but he wouldn't take her word anymore than she'd take his. Instead, he picked out the bed third in line, just in case Koushiro needed a closer one too.
He scanned the row of beds on the opposite side. Jou and Mimi were still out, Tanemon and Pukamon were up but staying quiet. Ishida was up, yippie. TK was… still out? "Relax," Ishida said, "He's just sleeping now. Sora-kun told me the good news."
"Aw, TK-kun and Tsukaimon breathing in sync," Sora commented. Taichi rolled his eyes and resumed lumbering to his chosen bed.
"Phantomon's just a burn mark now," Agumon announced.
"Actually it's the wall around him that's the burn mark," Tentomon corrected.
"Sora!" Piyomon quietly sang out. Taichi could only imagine the look on Sora's face. As Tentomon evolved again to help everyone climb out of the hole they fell in, Agumon started sniffing around the flowing water and then stating it was perfectly clean. Even Koushiro was desperate enough to blindly trust him and Tentomon really wasn't kidding when he bragged about the Digital World's water filters. It was the best water Taichi ever had, finally washing the taste of blood and vomit from his mouth. And then Piyomon started singing Sora's name.
"Water's good now," he said, finally reaching his chosen bed. He slid on and almost felt himself fall asleep, stopping himself just in time. He wasn't about to sleep yet, not until everyone else was settled. From the corner of his eye, he saw Sora taking the bed next to him, but Koushiro was moving past both her and him, leaving the bed closest to the doorway unclaimed.
"Great," Pukamon said with a smile, "Jou will be happy to hear that." He floated up and flew over, putting his head right over Jou's ear. "Booga booga booga!" A split second later, Jou was sitting right up, eyes wide.
"Quiet! Mimi's still in a lot of pain!" Tanemon hissed, "She needs her sleep!"
"The gho… The gho…" Jou stammered.
"Nope, just me!" Pukamon said. Jou slowly turned his head to face Pukamon.
"Why did you do that?" His voice had an almost menacing tone to it.
"Because Phantomon's been ghostbusted and the water's good now." Jou fell silent and Taichi quietly laughed to himself at Pukamon's helpful non-answer. Jou stared at Pukamon in silence for a few moments and then looked up at Taichi, his widening even further.
"What happened to you and Sora-san?!" he blurted out.
"Quiet!" Tanemon snapped. Jou looked at her and bowed his head slightly.
"S-Sorry!" he apologized and his voice quieted down. He looked back at Taichi. "But seriously, what happened to you two?" His stomach let out a growl and his voice turned sheepish. "And is there any chance you found something food related?" Taichi's stomach growled its own answer back.
"We weren't exactly in the type of spot food would be in," Koushiro reminded, "Since Phantomon is gone, I suspect it will be relatively safe to explore. Once I get some sleep, Tentomon and I will explore this place properly."
"We are?" Tentomon spoke up.
"Yes, Tentomon. No one's here to take care of us," Koushiro looked at Taichi, "By the way, Taichi-san and Sora-san, I do appreciate you consideration with the bed choices, but anyone here can see I got off far easier than the two of you. Please don't coddle me. I don't believe any of us can afford it."
"And you're absolutely sure Phantomon's gone?" Jou asked, then his voice took on a hard edge, "And again, what happened to you two?!"
"Phantomon got a couple lucky shots in," Taichi answered as nonchalantly as he could.
"But now he's just a burn mark," Agumon said.
"No! The wall around him's the burn mark!" Tentomon reminded, "How many times do I have to explain it to you?!"
"What's the record?" Pukamon asked.
"At least Koushiro got off okay," Tanemon said.
"Y-Yes, I-I did." Taichi didn't blame Koushiro for not wanting to admit to practically hiding behind a girl. Especially given the condition said girl was in.
Trust me, Koush, there's no shame in having Sora protect you. Or choice.
Koush? I mean, thank you.
"We all had different parts to play in that fight," Sora said, "Koushiro-kun's kept him out of the line of fire, but we would never have won without him." Koushiro's face starting turning red. Getting praised like that from a girl had to be very new for him.
A small moan sounded. Taichi looked around and saw TK starting to wake up with a very drowsy looking Tsukaimon rolling off of him. "I'm hungry and thirsty, Yama," he said.
"Sorry TK," Ishida said, "We have water now, but no food yet."
"But we turned the ghost into a burn mark!" Agumon said.
"You're doing that on purpose," Tentomon growled.
"Ghost?" TK looked confused, "I just remember I was gonna use the digivice." He gave a guilty look. "I-I know you said it was bad, Taichi-san, but I really wanted to help." Taichi gave the boy a smile.
"I know, TK, but your body just isn't strong enough. I could barely handle it."
"I believe I'm the weakest a person using the digivice can be," Koushiro said, "Taichi-san is right. Please remember the Harmonius Ones were supposed modify the digivices for our bodies."
"Harmon…" poor TK sounded confused again, "Um, okay. Where are they?" The room fell silent. Eventually Tsukaimon spoke up.
"We think the bad guys got them."
"Oh…" TK looked at his partner, "Why are you purple, Tokomon?"
"He's a Tsukaimon now," Agumon pointed out.
"No I'm not!" Tsukaimon protested, "Tsukaimon are mean! I'm a purple Tokomon." Everyone fell silent at the small digimon's denial.
"What about the kitty?" TK broke the silence.
"You mean Tailmon?" Taichi answered, "No idea. But we've got some new tricks. She won't get us so easily next time." TK shook his head.
"I mean the other kitty," he said, "The one you saw the bad kitty fighting." What? He thought back. Tailmon was just there, and just one. "You remember," TK continued, "When Sora-san and Mimi-san were fighting, you saw the kitties fighting. I hope the other one didn't get hurt." Taichi's jaw dropped. Why did TK have to bring that up now?! Or ever?!
Watch what you say in front of my brother! He could practically hear Ishida shouting through the Tmail.
I am so not trusting you alone with him. Sora's Tmail dripped with disappointment.
Hey, I've known the kid for years! I've corrupted him as much as I'm going to!
You've had Hika to reign you in. But I must say, he really is a sweet boy. I certainly approve of him and Hika.
What are you talking about? He and Hikari have been friends for years, remember? Sora's next Tmail took a few moments to come.
You are so dense.
Taichi took a deep breath before putting his hands on the large stone door that, according to Koushiro, should lead outside. It was years, decades even (though Jou claimed it was just a few days), since he was bedridden from Phantomon's injuries. His left hand was still bandaged up, and more bandages were wrapped around the points on his body Phantomon's chain had hit, but at least he could walk around again. Going this long without seeing the sun or even the sky was driving him up the wall.
"Careful you don't wreck your hand," Ishida said.
"I'll push too!" TK added. When Koushiro started exploring the palace, TK insisted on coming. Part of Taichi felt bad for Koushiro; TK was a lot to handle at times. On the other hand, the little guy had a lot to say about how smart Koushiro was. And the look on the older boy's face made it clear he never dreamed he'd have a fan. Ishida joined in too once his back healed enough. Just enough according to Jou.
And now Taichi was finally recovered enough to go along too. So did Sora, but she wanted to stay back with the others in case something happened. Just in time too; Koushiro was creating a map of the palace on his laptop and it was coming along very well. He'd already discovered a kitchen which was still fairly stocked and, apparently, the Rebirth Cycle's maintenance kept the food preserved. Of course, it wasn't infinite, so when Koushiro found the likely exit, or entrance actually, Taichi made a point of coming along.
The actual doors were located in a massive entrance hall, lined with cracked and fallen pillars that probably looked real elegant once. Doorways clearly meant for things much bigger than humans lined the sides, too dark to see inside with just the torch lights, but TK took a good look in each one anyways, looking for the "kitty". He didn't fully buy the explanation that the "cats" Taichi saw fighting didn't enter the Digital World with them but he wasn't about to tell the kid what it actually meant. Sora and Ishida had both forbidden it, in fact.
"Everyone ready?" he asked, putting his hands against one of the doors. Ishida, Koushiro, and TK placed their hands on the same door.
"Other than you using your left hand, we're ready," Ishida answered.
"My hand's fine." Taichi took a breath and pushed… and then bit back a curse as pain shot through his arm. Okay, so his hand wasn't quite fine. But even with just his one good hand, the door slid open, allowing in a rush of dusty air. But whatever joy he would've felt from being outside again died at the sight awaiting him. He knew not to expect much. Sure, the whole Phantomon being the supreme demon lord was a lie, but the fact that a pile of rags pretending to be a ghost could control the palace of a holy kingdom meant the Digital World had to be in bad shape. Maybe not the nightmare Phantomon showed him, but he was expecting bad.
And it was bad. In front of the palace was a completely ruined fountain with the crumbled remains of three figures. At least two of them looked a bit angelic, though it was hard to tell with the statues so broken. A stone wall surrounded the palace, though now it was more rubble than wall. Same could be said for the buildings stretching on ahead. And everywhere he looked, huge chunks taken out were taken out of the ground, like a squadron of bombers just came in and unloaded everything.
"I can't believe File Kingdom really fell," Tsukaimon said, "It was supposed to stand against any evil."
"Maybe from the outside," Koushiro suggested, "Remember those secret passages? I'll bet they first weakened File from the inside and then attacked." Sora suddenly gasped.
"What is it?" Taichi asked, grateful for a reason to take his eyes off the devastation.
"I just had a horrible thought," she said, "Remember when we destroyed the Bakemon and Phantomon? How they turned into those particles?"
"All digimon do that," Tentomon reminded. His eyes suddenly widened. "Oh… Y-You're right." What are they talking about? Taichi wondered, looking back at the ruin. Yeah, digimon disappear when they die… It hit him, leaving a sick feeling in his stomach. Just how many digimon were killed?! It looks like this place was attacked so suddenly… Somehow, it was worse not knowing how many were killed. It could be thousands, tens of thousands even.
"This is horrible," Ishida said, sounding as sick as Taichi felt.
"Rebirth Maintenance should've repaired all this," Tentomon said, "Just how damaged was the Digital World?" Needing to look away again, this time Taichi looked at the sky. The sky always comforted him… but not this sky. This sky wasn't that nice blue he loved so much, it was chaotic clash of black, white, and several shades of purple, all fighting for dominance. And then there was the black pentagon hovering way above. It had to be gigantic given how easy it was to see and on the end of each point was one of the five symbols for Life, Death, Destiny, Miracles, and Equality. The symbols were lit with an eerie purple flame, though Death was simply pitch black.
"I think there's more Wardens," he found himself muttering, his excitement over Phantomon's defeat long forgotten.
"I concur," Koushiro said.
"I wanna go home," TK whimpered.
Afterword: At last this arc is done. Really not happy with how I started it but I do like how the Phantomon fight came out. In hindsight it was a big mistake throwing in everyone at once but these File stories were just to get set up for the Crest stories and work out the ground rules for this series. I originally planned to start with the Crests but starting in the middle like that really doesn't work without knowing everything that happened before.
Anyways, The next arc is drafted but its not ready for posting yet. It'll be a little shorter and tamer than this one.
