Always Follow the Rabbit

by Mrpointyhorns

Taichi's has started to settle in his life, and while that can be quite nice, he and Koushiro have never been better, it can also be a bit disappointing, especially his dead-end job. The only thing interesting that ever happens is when he has to babysit his nephew. Until Koushiro detects a disturbance that is about to give Taichi the adventure he craves.

15. Chapter 14

Title: Always Follow the Rabbit

Author: Mrpointyhorns aka Blemery

Beta: Takato The Dreamer

Rating: R

Status: In Progress

Part: 14

Pairings: Taichi/Koushiro

Warnings: Slash

Spoilers: Season 1 and 2, plus some of the movies (nothing blatantly but there)

Summary: Taichi's has started to settle in his life, and while that can be quite nice, he and Koushiro have never been better, it can also be a bit disappointing, especially his dead-end job. The only thing interesting that ever happens is when he has to babysit his nephew. Until Koushiro detects a disturbance that is about to give Taichi the adventure he craves.

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by someone else. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

---

After that day, the guys decided that Taichi and Takeru would only travel one day out radiating from the RV. Meanwhile, Ken and Daisuke were still following Rika's footfalls. The desert was so boring; no wind had come to blow the footfalls away so they were easy to follow. It also made them realize that their tire tracks were probably still visible so Tentomon went out to get rid of them. They didn't think Rika could have gotten far on her own without any food, but it was three days before they had a lead.

"Wallace?" Koushiro stuck his head into Wallace's room. He had a towel around his waist and was digging though one of the drawers attached to the bed. Wallace straightened and looked at Koushiro. "Ken says they found something. The pictures look promising."

"Is it the you-know-what?"

"It's something. Ken and Daisuke only have a little while before they have to return to sleep, but they are going to keep an eye on it. We should have idea, by then, if this is what we're looking for," Koushiro explained.

"If it's a children's prison, what are we planning?" Wallace asked. He stooped down to grab the nearest shirt and put it on.

"Well, that's why I couldn't wait to talk to you. Taichi and Takeru are on their way towards them now. If it isn't a prison, then Ken will send a message and everyone will head back to camp. However, if it is, then we don't want to wait until tomorrow to help. I was going to start heading that way myself just in case." Koushiro felt uneasy having planned this without Wallace, but it hadn't taken longer than the shower. He hoped Wallace wouldn't be angry at the results.

"That leaves me here with Rika?" Wallace asked.

"Yes. We could potential leave her with one of our partners, but she probably wouldn't take that very well. I think one of us should stay here," Koushiro explained.

"She trusts you now too. She likes Tentomon. Well, she doesn't seem as afraid of him as some of the other digimon."

"I thought about that, but then I thought: I need to be with Tai." Koushiro felt a hot blush on his cheeks. He was embarrassed to admit that sometimes logic took a backseat to Taichi in his car.

Wallace just nodded. "Alright. If anything happens, then keep in contact with me, alright?"

"Sure. And thanks Wallace." Koushiro bobbed his head in a slight bow, and hurried back to the main area of the RV. Rika looked up from the book she was still reading. He knew she was around the part where File Island had broken up, because she had asked him questions about it earlier that day. "Hey, Tentomon and I are going to meet up with Ken and Daisuke."

"They found it, didn't they?" She said very softly.

"We think so. We never saw it before so we can't be sure, but probably." Koushiro didn't lie to children to spare their feelings or because he didn't think they would understand. He had been a child who had the truth hidden from him and it gravely troubled him.

Rika looked at him for a long time staying very quiet. After a while Koushiro didn't think she would say anything else so he started to pack his laptop and devices for the journey. After he slipped on his backpack, Rika finally spoke. "Can I see Tentomon digivolve?"

"Sure," Koushiro agreed. So far everyone had been cautious about Rika seeing their partners digivolve, after all she was afraid of their Rookie forms what would she think about them as Champions? "Let's wait for Wallace."

Wallace came out of his room a few minutes later and all three people and all three digimon went outside. "Why do you want to see him digivolve?" Wallace asked.

"He does it in the book. It doesn't seem dangerous, and I want to see it. I want to know what it means to be a partner," Rika explained.

Koushiro exchanged a look with Wallace hearing Rika's explanation was good. It was progress. She knew she had a partner and maybe when she first arrived she didn't want to have one, but now she wanted to see what it was like. She was starting to understand how amazing it was. Wallace smiled and waved his hands for Koushiro to go. Koushiro looked at Tentomon and nodded.

"Alright, Tentomon digivolve to…Kabuterimon!" Kabuterimon took a step back away from the RV suddenly being much bigger than it.

"This is Kabuterimon," Koushiro introduced.

Rika stared up at Kabuterimon, but she didn't look scared and she didn't back away. "So he is really the same digimon and not new?"

"Yes. He already knows you because of when he was Tentomon. He just looks different." Koushiro explained.

Rika looked at Wallace. "What about Terriermon and Lopmon? They're not in the book."

"Terrimon digivolves to Gargomon and Lopmon digivolves to Turuiemon, sometimes," Wallace explained. Koushiro knew that Lopmon didn't digivolve often because he had been corrupted before, and preferred to stay in his rookie form with Terrimon taking control of digivolving. Rika didn't seem to question him though.

Koushiro turned back to his partner. "Are you ready?"

Kabuterimon offered to help Koushiro up so that he could ride comfortably while they caught up to Ken and Daisuke. "Let's go!" The champion digimon said before taking off. It was true that he couldn't fly as high as Koushiro was used too, but it was nice being in the air with his partner again.

Once they were close, Koushiro had Kabuterimon return to his rookie form, and then they went the rest of the way by foot. It wasn't long before he saw the building that Ken and Daisuke had described. It was a dark grey building that didn't stand out against the background of the sky. It stood about two stories high, though if digimon were using it, it could just be bigger to accommodate larger digimon. There were no windows, except for one on a small door. There were no wired fences or outdoor facilities like in prisons on Earth. Still, Koushiro thought the building was prisons like, though it could be a factory of some kind, from his experience in their digital world the building could be something else entirely. He needed to find Ken and Daisuke and see if they had seen anything.

Tentomon spotted them first and showed the way. Ken and Daisuke were lying on the sand keeping an eye on the prison. Wormon stayed close to Ken, lying between his arms, but Demiveemon sprinted over to Tentomon and him when he spied them. "Time for action?"

"We need to wait for Tai, if we can," Koushiro reminded. Demiveemon jumped into his arms and sat comfortably in them. Koushiro was a little surprised, but knew that Demiveemon was a friendly mon. Koushiro brought him back to Daisuke. The two guys had sat up and turned to face Koushiro. "What do you think?"

"There were digimon in there for sure, but I'm not sure that it is a prison. I've only seen some movement from the windows. No kids. I think we should still check it out. Rika's footprints lead almost to it," Ken explained.

"Also, if it isn't a prison maybe we can get some more information." Daisuke finished. He pulled out his digivice. "Tai and Takeru are close."

Koushiro nodded. He sat down in the sand and took out his laptop. He wanted to take down their notes, but also he might be able to find more out about the prison this close. Certainly, once they were inside he could find away to connect to the network, but he knew that the network might trace him so he set about making sure that his computer wouldn't be detected once it was connected.

After setting up his firewall and privacy, Ken gave more information about the building, they had circled it and there were two doors one on each side. There were no windows, except for the ones in the doors, which they could see. They thought the closer door would be a better one to enter, because they hadn't seen activity from that one.

They were all slightly surprised, when Taichi and Takeru crouched beside them. Augmon and Patomon at their sides.

"We need to go in," Daisuke said.

"You have a plan?" Taichi asked. Daisuke nodded. "Okay, let's do it."

"Wait what is the plan?" Takeru looked between Taichi and Daisuke; Ken and Koushiro. "What have you seen?"

"They've seen enough, and we shouldn't wait." Taichi stood up.

"Wait Tai." Koushiro stood as well putting his laptop back in his bag. "I think we should go in right away, too, but we need to move slowly. Ken and Daisuke could only see the outside of the facility, so we don't know what is inside."

"Don't worry Koushiro. We're going inside. We want to try to find where the children are being kept, and obviously the control room. If we see digimon, we are going to assess how friendly they are and decide whether or not we need to attack," Daisuke explained. It wasn't a hard plan, but it was good enough. Since they didn't know what was inside it was best to be open with the plans.

"I'm sending a message to Wallace, let's go." Ken stood, with Wormmon in his arms.

Silently, the five of humans and their partners moved towards the building. They easily made it to the door without any trouble. There were no digimon outside, or guarding the door. They entered the building just as easily.

Koushiro took out his laptop. He was slow as he walked and typed, but getting in seemed really easy.

"This is too weird," Taichi spoke very softly. Ken and Takeru nodded in agreement. Daisuke motioned for everyone to follow him. Ken and Takeru followed in line behind him though the passage. Taichi followed after the two of them. Koushiro kept at his heels without looking up.

After a several minutes with little activity, Koushiro looked up from his computer. They were in a long hallway that was as grey and dull as the desert outside. So far there were no corridors or doors leading to other parts of the building. The ceiling was a little higher than a normal ceiling, but not uncommon for a digimon building. However, from how tall it was from the outside and how high the ceiling was, Koushiro suspected a second floor. The lighting was a little like an old hospital in a movie, dim and yellowish.

"You said you saw digimon, correct?" Koushiro asked, not being as quiet as Taichi was, but still being careful about giving away their presence.

"We did," Ken replied looking back at Koushiro. "At the other door."

"Why would a door open to an empty hallway?" Takeru asked.

"There's something up there." Daisuke insisted though it was too dim to see the end of the hallway.

"Might as well keep going." Taichi agreed. "Even if it is nothing, at least we'll know that for sure before using the other door."

The group fell into silence again and continued walking. Up ahead the hall curved so the never-ending effect was a bit of an illusion. When they got around the bend, the hall ended at an elevator. There was also one door that stood to the left of the elevator. When Daisuke check the door it was just a janitor's room. There was a mop and bucket with shelves of cleaning supplies. It smelled heavily of ammonia. "Maybe this hall is just for the cleaning staff and the elevator takes them where they need to go," Takeru suggested.

Since the janitor's closet was no help the guys turned to the elevator. There was just one button and the elevator's doors were more narrow than compared to Earth, most Champions wouldn't be able to fit. When the door opened, Daisuke went in first and Ken followed. "There is a door on this side too."

"Does it open on this floor or another?" Takeru asked. He followed the other two inside. Demiveemon reached out and pressed one of the buttons. Immediately the doors swished shut.

Taichi looked over to Koushiro. "That's not good?"

"I think it will be fine. Send them a message. Tell them that we will meet them outside," Koushiro suggested. "I think this place is two floors anyway, and we'll want to explore both."

"Alright. Tentomon hit the button again will you?" Taichi spoke as he was typing the message. The elevator returned just as Taichi and Koushiro's D-3's vibrated with a new message. "They're in the basement."

"There's a basement?" Koushiro followed Taichi into the elevator their partners close by. He inspected the elevator's controls. They were unmarked, but they lined up vertical so Koushiro assumed they were in order by level.

"I guess we go up." Taichi reached forward slowly as though he thought Koushiro might protest.

Koushiro nodded and turned to his computer. "I'm going to track Ken's D-3 from my laptop. Then, we can get a clear map of the lower level."

"How are you doing that?" Taichi reached out to steady Koushiro when the elevator jolted up. Koushiro pressed against Taichi as he continued to work Taichi looked over his shoulder. "You're on wifi?"

"Yes. There was no password. I suspect that being in the middle of a desert affords them the luxury of not securing their network. I can get Ken's D-3 on the network and...there! I have them." Koushiro looked up. Both doors were currently open, but there had been no sound to indicate that they had opened.

On both sides the hallways were dark with just emergency lights on. From the direction they had come, there was a glow in the distance that indicated something interesting could be that way. The other direction, the one Ken said had more activity, there was also a glow, though this glow flickered against the walls and ceiling.

Koushiro stepped out in the direction of the soft glow, the direction they had come from on the first floor. "Uh, Izzy," Tentomon called.

"Tai, where are you going?" Augmon asked. Koushiro looked back. Taichi was on the other side of the elevators looking back at him. They stared at each other for a moment.

"There's probably not much this way Tai. We should rule it out before we go in that direction," Koushiro explained. Taichi agreed with a nod and followed the digimon to the other side of the elevator. Koushiro let Tai lead the way down the hall towards the eerie glow.

The distant glow was less than a quarter of the distance of the hall they had taken to get to the elevator. It opened up into a two large rooms. One looked like a plain break room: a training room with weights, treadmills, tables, chairs and a small kitchen. Everything looked a little strange. There was a bag on the table with some food inside, that Augmon and Tentomon quickly ate. One of the treadmills was running, but there was no one on it. Another repeatedly asked to be restarted to continue the workout.

"It looks like someone's a pig," Augmon said picking up a chair and putting it up right.

"Or someone wanted to leave in a hurry." Taichi was taking a closer look at the cabinets and refrigerator. "Hey there's food in these."

"I'll take some." Tentomon floated over to Taichi.

"Wait for me!" Augmon followed him over.

"That food probably belongs to someone," Koushiro scolded, both digimon stopped to look at him. "We have enough food at the RV anyway."

"Right, besides we need to check out the other room and then get to the other side of the building. If you forgot we're looking for child-prisoners and their guards." Taichi shut the fridge.

"Aw." Augmon pouted and Tentomon dropped a little. "Alright."

"Anything else we need to look at in here?" Taichi asked Koushiro.

"Not that I can tell. It is weird. It's like someone just left. Do you think they saw Ken and Daisuke outside?" Koushiro asked leading the way to the other room. It was dark, but Tentomon quickly found the lights. Koushiro smile brightly. "Looks like a control room."

"Oh great," Taichi sighed.

The room was a very nice control room. There were televisions on that looked like it showed various parts of the building. One he recognized as the hall they were in, one of the elevator, and there was one where they could see Ken, Daisuke and Takeru. There was a large desk in front of it with machines, computers and even a part that was similar to a cockpit or NASA control room. There were buttons, controls, clocks, gadgets all sorts of things. While monitoring what was going on at a prison seemed reasonable, having some of these controls in the room did not make sense, except that they were in a digital world, where things weren't always set up the same.

"Tai…" Koushiro looked back at him. "I have to look around at this stuff if I can."

"I know, but I can't sit around and watch you," Taichi fidgeted. He knew he could be of some use to Koushiro, but not that much, and nothing that Koushiro couldn't easily do on his own.

"You'll have Augmon with you and I'll have Tentomon. I can still track you and everyone else while I'm looking around." Koushiro knew it didn't need to be said as they were both thinking it, but it seem hard to justify splitting up, even though it seemed to be the logical thing to do.

"Okay. Stay safe Koushiro." Taichi turned to Augmon. "Let's go." Koushiro watched as Taichi quickly retreated from the room. Augmon hesitated a moment looking back at Koushiro. Then he raced after Taichi.

Koushiro turned towards the desk. "You think its okay to separate?" Tentomon asked.

"We haven't encountered any dangerous digimon yet, and neither have the other guys," Koushiro pointed out the monitor that the guys were on. "All the other monitors are missing digimon too. So I think it's a lot safer than I did before we got inside. Let's just get this done."

"Alright. What do you need me to do?" Tentomon asked.

Koushiro set his computer on the desk and opened up his backpack. He tried to search it for the cord he needed. Although, he was logged in wirelessly if he could physically connect he might be able to get more information. He could find out what the control room was used for and what this whole building was doing in the middle of the desert. If it was a prison then there must be a government, city or something to go along with it. Right? The more information he could get the better. "Just keep watch." Koushiro told Tentomon. The bug digimon looked at the screens attentively. Anything coming down the hall he would be able to see through the monitor near the elevator. Koushiro found the cord he needed, a long grey cord that he connected to his laptop and then set about looking for the correct connection on the control panel. There might not be a correct connection since this wasn't the digital world that he was use to, but it was worth a shot.

"There's a fire, Izzy." Tentomon said pointing at the screen. "Tai's going towards it."

Koushiro looked up at the monitor. He could see the steady glow that seemed to be made by flames, but he couldn't actually see the flames. He could tell that it was the same glow that he had seen earlier, so Tai was heading in that direction. "He'll be okay. He'll back off before he gets too close," Koushiro insisted, but stopped to send Tai a message on the D-3.

---

Taichi stopped at the elevator to wait for his partner. Augmon was going unusually slow. "What's up, Augmon?"

"I'm just worried about leaving Izzy behind," Augmon admitted catching up to Taichi. Tai hit the elevator button and the door opened, but the door on the other side remained shut.

Augmon's admission made Taichi smile. "Don't worry. He's better at taking care of himself than you think," Taichi said as he stepped in the elevator and began to look around to figure out how to open the doors. Taichi ended up pressing the top button, the one that they pressed to get to the second floor. The door behind Taichi closed, but a second later both doors opened again. Taichi looked at Augmon who nodded once. Taichi started ahead. Unlike the previous floors this one didn't have a long hall. The hall was less than ten steps and then it opened into a room. It looked almost identical to floor of office Taichi worked at back home. There were cubicles in three neat rows, and it looked like it went back about eight columns. Next to the cubicles were glassed in offices and what looked like a conference room.

Just like the break room this room looked like someone had left in a hurry. The copy machine was still going; the computers in the cubies were still on. Taichi wouldn't be surprised to see papers still floating to the ground as if someone had dropped them as they had run off. "What kind of place is this?" Augmon asked.

"It is hell," Taichi answered. He led Augmon down the middle row of cubies. "I worked in a place like this back home. You go in every day, sometimes before the sun is even up and move papers around. You have to attend meetings where nothing gets done, and fill out forms to do anything."

Augmon stared up at Taichi as he described his work-life. "How come?"

"For about $2,000 a month," Taichi explained he looked at Augmon.

His partner returned the look with a sad expression. "I know why adults need money, Taichi. But as I understand it there are many jobs. I suggest selling food of some kind. Then, you could eat while you work."

Taichi shook his head and laughed at his partner. He was always thinking about food. However, it actually didn't sound like a bad idea. If his stir-fry was good enough to get requests from the digital world, maybe he could have tried his hand as a chef. It wouldn't have been as much fun as being a soccer coach, but being out of an office and in a kitchen would have improved Tai's mood. Could he have been successful enough that he would be able to contribute to their household?

"Tai," Augmon called him. "I think that flicking is coming from down there."

"Huh?" Taichi looked where Augmon pointed. "Oh yea. Let's keep going." Taichi and Augmon continued down the column of cubies. He stepped around the last cubicle and saw a wall of flame, in the back corner, it was too hard to see beyond the dense flames or smoke, but Tai still tried. It looked like there could have been another office behind blaze, or a conference room. The cubicle closest to the flame was starting to catch on fire, and that kept him from looking closer. In his younger days, Taichi might have tried to explore the area more, but the ceiling was starting to turn black, and the flames licked closer to the row they were in. So Taichi looked at Augmon. "Let's fall back. Whatever was there isn't there now."

Augmon nodded. "No wonder everyone left in a hurry."

Taichi turned and went back down the first row of cubies, glancing inside each cubicle incase there was something that caught his attention. However, like his office at home, there was nothing significant here. "Why do you think digimon have an office like this?" Augmon didn't answer, but he seemed to contemplate it. Taichi continue on, just before he went back to the elevator he turned around, the third row of cubies was more ablaze then when they first arrived he could see that it was halfway up the row, the cubies were probably made of something that was very flammable. The second row, the one they had first walked down was also on fire, but only one cubie was lit up. Taichi didn't think it would take long before the entire room was on fire. "Let's go. We need to get Koushiro and meet up with the others. We might not have a lot of time before this fire reaches the other floors."

"Right!" Augmon said jumping on the elevator before Taichi. The door on the other side was closed again. Before he could touched any buttons, the doors zipped closed and the elevator wooshed down. "What happened?"

"Someone on another floor must want on the elevator," Taichi replied. He sent Koushiro a quick message explaining that they were on their way, but the elevator had delayed them. The elevator took them all the way to the basement floor and the doors sprung open.

"Tai!" Patamon called and zipped in, Takeru, Ken and Daisuke looked surprised to see him, but joined him on the elevator with their partners.

"This place is a prison, that's for sure. The entire basement is full of prison cells," Daisuke explained.

"We looked though all of them, but there wasn't a trace of any children, or other prisoners," Ken continued for him. "It was funny though, it was like they were all just there, but now gone."

"That's what happened to us too," Augmon announced, and explained what they had seen on the second floor.

"How come you left Izzy up there?" Daisuke asked when Augmon was finished.

"We didn't," Taichi growled. "The elevator divides the floors right? So we had to get on the elevator to get back to Koushiro, and then suddenly we were moving and the door opened to you guys."

"Sorry Tai." Takeru didn't look all that sorry, but Taichi wasn't really mad about what happened, it was just annoying that Daisuke thought he'd leave Koushiro on purpose.

He would have said something else, but then all of their D-3s rang with a message. Taichi pulled his out. "It's from Kou' He says that we should finish looking at the first floor, and he'll meet us outside," Taichi explained. He chewed on the inside of his cheek. His gut told him to go back to Koushiro to make sure that he was out of there before the fire could reach the elevators, because if the fire reached the elevators then Koushiro would be trapped on the second floor. However, Koushiro's message made it clear that he wanted them to keep exploring. If he knew that they were all in the elevator together, then he probably already knew about the fire and would get out in time. So Taichi had to trust that Koushiro knew what he was doing. Even though, his gut twisted into knots, he still pushed the middle button on the elevator; the one that he assumed was for the first floor.

Takeru looked at him sympathetically, but Ken and Daisuke didn't, they didn't say anything either.

When they reached the first floor, the door only opened to the one side that they hadn't been to before. The other side was supposedly for janitors, so it made sense that the door wouldn't open on that side automatically on this floor. The door opened up to a huge room, and Taichi knew exactly what it was even though he had never seen one in real life. It was that area that the guards stayed in a prison. In the middle of the room was a huge hole cut out so that you could see the prison cells from the floor below. The hole was surrounded by railing. In human prisons, there would probably be stairs leading down, but because this was a digital world a digimon could probably fly or jump down there without any problems.

The rest of the room was completely made of concrete. Around the center of the room is an area to walk around the railing and keep an eye on the cells below. Also, beyond the walkway there are different rooms. To the left of the elevators, are rooms that look like they are used for interrogation in the real world, maybe these are used for the same, or maybe for more sinister things. On the right side, of the room were several doors with just one window in each door. Daisuke and Ken took the left side and Taichi and Takeru move down the right.

The rooms seemed to be evenly spaced and when Taichi looked in the first window, he thinks that maybe these are rooms of solitary confinement, as there is a cot inside, but there were no toilets or sink, which would not be normal in a human prison. As they move down the walkway they look into each window. The window in the next door revealed a rack. In the next were, chains hanging from the wall and suspended from the floor. One cell they couldn't see inside because, the window is smeared with red fluids. He opened the door in case someone was inside, but shut it quickly, because of the horrible smell. Something like decaying flesh, but it couldn't be, could it? He continued walking, looking inside each room. Daisuke and Ken were on the other side and they didn't seem to show too much concern about the rooms on that side, but Takeru was practically fuming by the time they reached the far side of the room.

Daisuke jumped when he looked in the last room on their side. "It's completely devoured in flames." Ken nodded. "We better hurry."

When they finally caught up to Taichi and Takeru they exchanged stories about what they had seen. The wall behind them, the one that was across from the elevator had a big heavy door. It had one small window, but the light from the window was clearly outdoor light, not the icky yellow light in the building.

BOOM!

Taichi jumped and whirled around looking back the way they came. The sound came from there that was for sure, but he didn't see any sign of an explosion. It came from the other side of the elevator! Tai knew it! He clenched his fist and held his breath. His mind flashed to the control room, Koushiro working at his computer, but unknowingly trapped in there because the explosion. He felt his heart speed up. "I have to…"

CRACK!

He whipped his head towards the interrogation rooms and the room that Daisuke has said was on fire had collapsed. The wall between it and this room was in pieces and flames were licking in from the ceiling and crawling down towards the floor, the room beside it had caught too and was hissing and crackling with the fire. Smoke started to pour in through the ceiling and fill the entire room. Luckily the room was big and it would take some time to fill. They could easily get out.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Taichi turned back towards the elevator again, the explosions obviously coming from that direction, there was still no damage from the explosion to this room, but that only made Taichi more worried about Koushiro than before. He jolted forward to go back to the elevator.

"No! Tai!" Takeru grabbed at his elbow. Daisuke moved too, but Taichi didn't stop. He didn't even look back. Unfortunately, Daisuke was in better shape, than Taichi and stopped him! Taichi struggled to pull away from him, but every time he would break free Daisuke would get hold again.

Augmon was in front of him and holding Taichi's shines, and Veemon (when did he digivolve?) was there holding the back of his ankles. "It's too dangerous." Takeru was there, Ken too.

"I have to go back." Taichi tried to get away, but was unable. He feinted giving up for a moment, and almost broke away when he renewed his energy, but that just made Daisuke catch him in a headlock and not let go. After that it was useless. Taichi couldn't break free and that just made him panic. Only the smell of Daisuke's armpits, body axe spray, kept Taichi from giving in to the panic. "No, stop! Let go!"

CRACK! BOOM!

That was in the room! The entire ceiling above all the interrogating rooms collapsed bring computers and cubies from the second floor into the rooms below it. Nothing that was close enough to hurt them yet, but the smoke flooded the room and it was clear that the ceiling above them was bowing with the weighted of the flames too.

"Come on Tai!" Takeru grabbed his forearm that time. "Izzy has Tentomon, they're probably already out of this place. We need to go too."

Taichi's gut was in knots, he knew he needed to get to Koushiro, he knew it, but he knew that he would be unable to do so with Daisuke holding him down and he was losing time. If he got outside he could get around to the other side of the building and make it back to Koushiro that way. Augmon would digivolve to MetalGreymon and smash into the control room. It was probably faster going that way anyhow.

"Okay," Taichi agreed. He stopped struggling, but Daisuke held on. "I said okay."

"You're not lying this time?" Daisuke's voice came out choked and scratchy.

The smoke! Taichi looked back at his friends, the smoke was all around them, ash was falling from the ceiling and there was a coating of the ash in everyone's hair. Taichi relaxed a little more where he was standing. He forgot how good of friends he had. They had put themselves in danger to stop him from doing something suicidal and he knew he couldn't betray them by making a run for the elevator after that. They deserved to make it out safely, and he shouldn't be the one that caused them not to make it. Daisuke let go, slowly. Then, Ken led the way back to the far wall and the door. Takeru and Daisuke stuck close to Taichi's side the entire way, obviously not trusting Taichi not to make another desperate move.

Ken stopped before the door and ripped a large poster from the wall. And he moved to the other side of the door and looked a huge portrait of a digimon. It wasn't one that any of them had ever encountered even their digimon didn't have any answers. "Daisuke where is my camera?"

Crack!

The ceiling cracked again bringing more debris and junk down; falling from the second floor into the prison below, and adding another layer of plaster to their hair. "Forget it let's get out of here."

"I got it!" Daisuke tried to open the door, but it didn't budge. He pulled and then pushed, but clearly the door was locked! Shit! Then, Daisuke put his shoulder into it, but it didn't budge, clearly enforced to keep prisoners in.

Taichi turned to his partner, but stopped, if he digivolved, he'd crash his head into the ceiling that was enflames. He wasn't about to do that to Augmon.

Daisuke and Ken shoved the door with their shoulders together, just as another loud explosion shakes the entire building. Daisuke looks sheepish like he caused it, but the door still didn't move.

Taichi glanced back to the elevator, they were in flames now, and there is no way to get through that. Would the elevator even work? He caught Takeru's look when the turned back. Takeru looked so sympathetic and guilty, but he didn't say anything.

"Veemon, why don't you use your head?" Ken suggested.

"Yea!" The digimon jumped, "Vee Headbutt!" He yelled and ran into the door. It dented, but didn't open. He frowned, and then he turned to the brick wall to the side of the door and tried there. It cracks on the first hit. Veemon tried the same place a second time and it made a small hole, the third time was enough for them to crawl through. They didn't dare wait longer, plus a fourth blow just might do too much damage to a building that was already collapsing. "After you," Veemon said helping Wormmon and then Ken followed. Patamon hurried after and then Daisuke.

Takeru glanced at Taichi. "Just go," Taichi ordered. He still wanted to get out and get to Koushiro, but he didn't want to risk his friends' lives anymore. He slowed them down enough already. Takeru nodded and followed Daisuke. "Okay Augmon."

Augmon shook his head. "People first." Augmon moved over to Veemon the blue digimon nodded in agreement. Patamon and Wormmon had gone on ahead, but that had been strategic incase they were needed outside. Taichi didn't argue a second longer, seconds that could mean the difference between everyone making it out or not.

He climbed through to see the ugly view of the sea of sand that they had been crossing since they arrived. The sky was slightly darker than when they had gone inside, but other than that there was nothing to see. If digimon or child-prisoners had been here when Daisuke and Ken arrived, they had escaped, but there was no sign of them in the surrounding desert. There weren't even footprints in the sand. What had happened?

"Everyone's out," Veemon announced after pulling through the hole. He smiled proud of himself.

Taichi looked around for Koushiro, but realized that Veemon hadn't included him in. "Come on Tai. We should get away from this place." Augmon tugged on Taichi's hand. The other guys were getting some distance from the building, but Taichi had stopped, barely a foot away.

"We need to find Koushiro and Tentomon." Taichi looked into Augmon's eyes. Augmon looked up at him with concern in his eyes. Before either of them had a chance to say anything more or do anything a string of explosions started. Taichi turned around. It was like the finale during a fireworks display one explosion lend into another and the building began to collapse in on it's self. Taichi barely registered Augmon dragging him away from the collapsing building, but standing with the other guys. They probably should have gone farther away, but they were too stunned as they watched the building collapse. Luckily, it mostly collapsed inward and the few pieces that landed at their feet were little more than dust.

Taichi dropped to his knees as the second floor buckled into the first and then the first and second piled into the basement prison. He swore his heart stopped. He threw up in the sand at his knees. After the explosions stopped and the desert was quiet again, the building a smoldering pile of rubble, Taichi choked on a sob. Augmon moved to Taichi and put a claw on his arm. Taichi turned to look at Augmon, but he didn't see him. He just saw what was in his mind and that was only darkness.