Chapter 7: Welcome to the File Inn!

Rebel Camp- Noon

The rebel camp was pretty damaged from the attack, I hadn't really noticed how badly until the dust had settled and the battle was over. I felt kinda bad actually, like it was somehow my fault this happened. Well the queen had come here for us after all so it wasn't entirely unfounded. Kentaruosmon had summoned us to the same tent he had yesterday, mainly to give us our supplies and send us on our way.

"This should be everything you need for your journey through the Digital World, forgive me if it seems light, but the attack by the queen left us with little in the way of supplies." Kentaruosmon apologized, handing me a satchel. I'd go over it's contents once we left the camp. Kentaruosmon then turned to the others, "I wish you all luck on your journey, the whole of the Digital World is counting on your success." He said, everyone then went to leave, I was about to be the last one out when.

"Jason, can I talk to you? Privately?" said Kentaruosmon, confused I turned and approached him, "You and Bridget, I couldn't help but hear what she said to you, do you believe her when she says this world is only a simulation?" He asked me, how the hell did he hear that?! He was all the way across camp beating up Tandramon when she said that! But I'd stopped questioning this world a long time ago.

But I didn't know how to answer, I couldn't lie, I did think it was a possibility. But I couldn't just say that to him, it might freak him out or worse offend him. However he didn't wait for a response, "You don't have to answer Jason, I can see the doubt in your eyes, I can tell you this, she is half right." He said, "The Digital World was indeed created by your world's computers, and we Digimon are indeed data, but despite that… we are as real as you are, we feel the same things you do, we hurt like you do, we are real in every sense, the only thing that separates us from the creatures of your world is what makes up our bodies." He elaborated.

Well there was more than just that, creatures of my world didn't shoot laser beams and grow ten feet tall with the push of a button. But that was just semantics at that point. "What happened? I mean, with the Queen?" I asked him, to be frank, it was something I'd been meaning to ask since the battle, I just hadn't known how to approach it until now.

Kentaruosmon seemed to hesitate at first, as if not wanting to tell me, but he relented, "She is a complicated case Jason, Bridget was the first human I had brought here to the Digital World to stop the Digimon King. But… she had a dark… troubling past, a past that had consumed her with grief and anger. I thought that I could help her… give her a chance to find peace… but the King got to her first, she became corrupted… lost in her own rage… She is why I asked you that question Jason, I don't want to see you fall to the same fate. I know you've had your own sorrows… I just hope for your sake you don't allow yourself to be consumed by them like she was." He explained.

So she was like us, that explained the Digivice she had, but another question popped into my mind, "Is there any hope for her?" I asked, I was always one of those people that tried to see the best in anyone, that felt anyone could change if given the chance. It was why I saved Commandramon despite the fact I probably really shouldn't have.

But Kentaruosmon shook his head, "I doubt anyone could reach her at this point Jason. And even if you did… the weight of her actions… I doubt she would be able to come to terms with them. I admire the fact you wish to help her Jason, but some people… can't be brought back to the light." He told me, I'll admit, It wasn't the answer I wanted, but he seemed so sure of it.

He then began to usher me out of the tent, "Be strong out there Jason, the Digital World brings many wonders, but also many hardships. Some of the things you might see on that journey will test your will and spirit, but you mustn't ever give into despair. Emotions are a powerful thing in the Digital World, they can create and destroy. Keep your head high, and your spirit strong, and you'll make it just fine." He told me before I left the tent.

I wasn't even going to try to unpack that info dump. The others where there waiting for me, "So, what was that all about?" Ross asked almost instantly. In all honesty, I probably should tell them what he told me, but part of me had the feeling he told me alone for a reason.

I just shook my head, "It's not important right now, we should get going." I told them, I knew that wouldn't be enough for them, but right now I just wanted to focus on beginning this journey. Part of me just wanted to get this whole thing over with and just go home, and the sooner we left, the sooner we'd end the Digimon King and get back to our lives.

Meanwhile…

Unknown Place

I was dreading this encounter, Rex wasn't one to forgive failure, and I hadn't quite failed him on this level before. He would be livid when he found out that one of the new Digidestined had not only turned one of my soldiers against me, but digivolved them to defeat me. I always hated how dark and dingy Rex kept this stupid castle, it made walking through it a pain in the ass. His gloomy and dark artwork didn't help matters. He was a bit too much of a fan of Gothic art and architecture.

Soon enough we reached Rex's chambers, and true to his nickname "The Digimon King", he sat in his throne, he wore his black dark coat with red straps and silver jewels. His hair was a black mullet, his eyes glowing a bright fire red. He stared at me with anger, "You failed Bridget." He snarled.

I took a knee and tried to keep my composure, "I'm sorry Mr. Nexion, I tried but one of them managed to digivolve on me." I tried in vain to explain myself, but Rex cut me off.

"I don't want EXCUSES!" He roared, slamming a fist on the throne arm rest, "The Commandramon are supposed to be your underlings! And you allowed one of those Digidestined to not only turn one of them against you! But Digivolve it as well! I expect much better from someone who calls herself the "Digimon Queen"!" He added. Rex wasn't usually one to show his anger, unless someone really screwed up.

"Perhaps my lord, trusting her with this mission is a mistake."

Oh for f*** sake, of course he would say that, in walked an all too familiar Digimon, he was a tin can with arms and legs pretty much, the leader of the former Metal Empire, and not exactly my biggest fan, Datamon.

Datamon continued, "Trusting the machinations of the Metal Empire forces to a human is clearly not working out, I could easily defeat these flesh bags no problem! Allow me to control the D-Brigade! I promise you I'll have better results than your so called "queen"." He said, it took all my self control not to deck that pompous hunk of bolts!

Okamon stepped in, "She did her best Datamon, she and I were merely caught off guard! Besides, she has more instinct than you and your data obsessed motherboard ever will! Numbers aren't going to beat the Digidestined!" He snarled in my defense. At least I had him on my side.

Datamon however, didn't seem to agree, "You and your partner aren't smart enough to run an army! And you're only just a rookie! I can have them dead within an hour!" He boasted, you wouldn't think a robot would have so much ego, but you'd be wrong in Datamon's case.

Rex then decided to butt in, "ENOUGH! Bridget despite your loyalty, Datamon is right, you're clearly in over your head, I'm moving control of the D-Brigade over to Datamon until the Digidestined are dealt with." He said.

Datamon naturally was pleased, "Thank you my lord! I promise you I'll do much better than this foolish little girl! Those Digidestined will be nothing more than a distant memory when I'm done with them!" He bragged. He then shot me a dirty look before going off to concoct whatever hair brained scheme he had.

Rex then turned to me, "I'm sorry Bridget, but this is too important for me to take chances on you. You should take this time to solve your Digivolution issue." He told me, before motioning for me to leave.

I stormed out of the King's chambers, I waited until I was out of earshot before I unleashed my anger. "WHAT THE HELL?!" I screamed, slamming my fists on a handrail. "I've done so much for this regime, and how does he thank me?! By pushing me aside and forcing me to sit on the damn side lines while that old bucket of bolts gets my army!" I continued. To say I felt unappreciated would be an understatement.

Okamon put a paw on my shoulder, "It's okay Bridget, Datamon will screw it up, he had the brains but not the instinct. If the Digidestined are smart, they'll use that against him, and when he screws up, Rex will see your value and give the D-Brigade back to you." He told me, trying to comfort me.

I paused for a moment, Datamon was simpleminded, he worked purely in statistics and numbers, but from what I'd seen of the Digidestined, they barely knew how to work as a group, let alone take advantage of a logic based Digimon like Datamon. However, I wasn't about to let Datamon take my spot! I didn't need a god damn army! I'd take those punk kids down myself! The look on Datamon's face when he sees I did his job by myself would be priceless!

I turned to Okamon, "If he wants to take my army? Let him, we'll destroy the Digidestined ourselves. Then Rex will know why I'm his second in command!" I said, Okamon seemed pleased with the idea, giving me an approving nod. The Digidestined were mine to destroy, I still owed blondie payback from defeating me at the camp…

Meanwhile…

The Forest seemed to go on forever, it felt like it had been hours since we left the camp. "God my feet hurt! How much farther?" Ethan whined from the back. I took a look at the map Kentaruosmon had provided us, it seemed that his camp was quite a ways away from any other form of Digimon society, let alone The King's castle, which no, was not marked on the map. Because of course it wasn't, Kentaruosmon had said once that both the Nightmare Soldiers and Metal Empire factions had fallen under his rule, so I was going with the theory that his castle was in at least one of those two territories, and since the Metal Empire was closer, that's where we were headed.

Ross elbowed Ethan, "Stop you're whining! It's not like it's just down the street ya know." He chastised Ethan.

Kate was walking side by side with me, looking at the map as well, "It seems to me like we're a long ways away from anything right now. Although setting up camp at some point seems like it'd be like a good idea." She suggested, well it wasn't like I was planning on having us walk all the way there in one go! I wasn't completely out of my mind… yet.

However Ross felt differently, "Oh sure, we'll just set up camp in an unknown forest full of god knows what! Perhaps we can invite the Queens forces to tea while we're at it!" Ross replied sarcastically. As much as I wanted to disagree with him he did have a point. I didn't exactly feel comfortable trying to sleep in a forest full of Digimon who, let's be real, might not be the most friendly types. "We should keep going until we find a village or something, better to rest in a place we know is safe." Ross suggested.

It wasn't a bad plan per say, but there were holes, "Yeah but, if the queen is tracking us, it wouldn't be right to drag other Digimon into this or worse get their villages destroyed." I pointed out. I didn't like the idea of risking other innocent Digimon's lives if we didn't have to.

CRACK!

In my attempts to reason with Ross I had completely forgot to watch where I was going and managed to stumble over, and break, some kind of sign. What must the others think of the clumsy goof who just ate it over a sign. Kate and Commandramon both helped me to my feet, "You alright Jason?" Kate asked.

With a simple yes, I was back on my feet, Ethan picked up the now broken sign, and turned it over. The lettering on it was strange, some kind of strange language we'd never even hope to read. "What language is this thing written in? Klingon?!" Ethan said.

Gaomon approached form behind, "It's in Digiscript, let me see that." He said, Ethan handed him the sign, he looked it over as he held it in his gloved hands. "It says: "File Inn, up ahead"." Gaomon read, an inn? Out here? WHY?!

Ross seemed more excited than the rest of us, "See? Told you if we kept going we'd find something, and I don't know 'bout you guys, but staying in an inn sounds much nicer than camping in the woods." He said.

We all agreed to head for the inn, I think most of us were just happy about the prospect of sleeping on real beds instead of the cold, hard dirt we found ourselves sleeping on last night. I probably should have been more weary of a random Inn being in the middle of a god damn forest of all places, but everyone else was so thrilled about the Inn I couldn't bring myself to be the Debbie Downer by mentioning this little factioid.

So off we went in search of the fabled File Inn, I imagined a typical fantasy Inn, the one D&D players often found their characters in, full of crappy beds and shady inn keepers, I am such a geek!

The walk was a bit long, but the closer we got, the more and more wandering Digimon we wound up seeing, some even carrying luggage. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out where they were going. "Wow, look at 'em all." Ethan commented.

Kate shook her head, "I'm starting to wonder if this Inn is going to have enough room for us." She added, yeah looking at all these Digimon tourists, it would be a miracle if we could even fit inside the building, let alone find a room for all of us.

However with a little bit of walking, we found it, the File Inn, and my… was it big! More like a hotel than an inn. Now the huge crowds made a bit more sense, this place was so lavish, I've been to comic conventions that weren't in hotels this nice! All of us just stared in awe, surprised we managed to find such a fancy hotel in the middle of the woods of all places. It was so comically out of place among the nature and trees.

Suddenly a Digimon came running up to us, he was a short but tubby little lizard, his skin was a rose color, but his belly was a lime green color with a weird and kind of worrying darker green skull design in the center. His face and arms were all covered in some kind of animal pelt, she shape of the nose suggested it was canine, but the purple tiger stripes said otherwise. A very large magenta horn poked through the forehead, his eyes were a deep purple. He came to a complete stop right in front of us. "Sorry! Very sorry! Ms. Rosemon said you'd be coming! I hope I didn't make you wait too long!" He apologized in a soft, but raspy voice that indicated a shy and timid personality.

"How the hell could she know we were coming?! We only just found out about this bloody place!" Ross blurted, while I wouldn't have been quite as… forward about it, Ross had a point, unless she's psychic, which given what I've seen from this world wouldn't surprise me in the slightest, how could she have possibly known we'd be coming?

The Digimon sort of stammered for a moment before responding, "She… she has eyes throughout the forest… s… someone must have told her you were headed our way. I… I wouldn't know… I… I'm just the bellhop!" He stammered. Okay that's kinda creepy, and probably should have told me that maybe we shouldn't stay here, but my legs were tired as hell, and quite frankly, a night at hotel creepy sounded much better than being torn apart by roving bands of wild Digimon.

The bellhop lead us into the building, the interior had a rather obvious floral motif, as everything looked like flowers and other plants, I guess that would be expected of someone called "Rosemon". Speaking of, a figure began to approach us, this one at first glance, seemed human, but as she drew closer it was made clear this was another Digimon, her "hair" resembled a rose more than hair, and covered her eyes completely, her body wasn't much unlike a model's, her outfit was a complex, tight red body suit with holes in the places you'd expect from someone trying to show off their body. Her legs were half covered by black thigh high boots, whose tops resembled budding flowers. Around each arm was wrapped a thorny vine, and she had some kind of flowery white cape draping down her back. Her body language was of someone who was quite confident, like a typical female CEO.

When she reached us, she grew a warm smile across her magenta lipstick covered lips. "Digidestined! I am Rosemon, and I cannot begin to tell you how happy we are to have you here at the File Inn!" She welcomed us, her voice was that of a typical woman in her thirties, but had a slight flirtatious undertone. "Please, do make yourselves at home, free of charge, anything for our great heroes!" She added.

A free hotel stay? I didn't know what surprised me more, the fact it happened, or that the Digital World actually has an economy with currency and everything. Rosemon then turned to the bellhop, "Psychemon, be a dear and show our esteemed guests to their suite." She said to the bellhop, revealing his name to be Psychemon.

Psychemon nervously nodded and proceeded to lead us to our suite. I happened to notice there were a lot of Digimon here, of varying shapes and sizes, some where robots, others were plants, some were mammals, and there were even a few dragons in the mix. "Wow… quite the diverse costumer base you've got here." I commented.

Psychemon seemed a bit startled when I spoke, but he answered anyway, "We get a lot of guests from all over the Digital World, some are refugees misplaced by the Digimon King's war, others are just vacationers."He explained, it made sense, I could imagine the King's evil villain rampages would misplace a few people. "S...some of them even get jobs here. R… Rosemon is a big believer in second chances." He added.

Something about Psychemon's behavior kind of worried me, he seemed to regard Rosemon with a hint of fear, she was probably a bigger level than he was so that might have been it, but something in my gut told me there was more to it than that, that there was something I was missing here but couldn't quite place it. But before I could try digging a little more, we arrived at our room. "H.. here you are… enjoy your stay." He said as we all funneled in.

The room was quite lavish, rose red carpets wall to wall, two large beds with velvet red comforters, and a few flower petal shaped chairs on the far right end. It was a nice looking room all things considered. Ross instantly flopped onto one of the beds, "Ohh man… after sleeping on the cold hard ground, this bed feels so goooood." He said, face squished against the soft mattress.

Ethan ran to the window, "Dude, you can see the whole back of this place from here! They've got a swimming pool!" Ethan said, me and Kate seemed to be the only ones here that seemed weary of this place given the look she was giving me.

Commandramon looked around the room, he was hard to read sometimes, making it hard for me to even guess what he was doing, or what he was thinking. Gaomon had joined Ethan in marveling at the hotel grounds, and Hawkmon was enjoying the softness of the bed like his partner. Kate turned to me, "Jason I don't like this, something about this place seems… off." She said.

It was nice to know I wasn't the only one who found this place kind of suspicious. "I know, you notice the way Psychemon shrinks inward when talking about Rosemon? What employee acts that way?" I added. My boss back at Walmart terrified me sure, but even I didn't stutter that badly when uttering his name. Not to mention Rosemon seemed pretty quick to give us a key to a room free of charge.

Commandramon approached us, "I've scoped the area, nothing suspicious in this room, at least nothing I could find." He stated, uhh… thanks Commandramon… although it was surprising he didn't find some hidden camera or something else, that whole "eyes all over the forest" thing was still kind of creeping me out.

Ross got up from his spot, "The hell you two worried about? Just lay down and enjoy yourselves!" He said, well excuse me for being cautious! The hell man!

Kate then turned to me, "I'm going to have a look around the building, and see what I can find." She said, before anyone could say a word she exited the room.

This caused Ross to let out a groan, "If she gets us kicked out I swear to god..." He said before burying himself in the bed again.

Meanwhile…

That exit wasn't as graceful as I had planned, but I'm sure at least Jason understood. I wanted to get a good look around the building, see if I could find anything… out of place. Although my reasons for doing this were less about keeping everyone out of danger, than to put myself at ease… the fact I was the only one without a Digimon had begun to get to me since the attack this morning, I had never ran and hid like that in my life, back home I was known as a dare devil and thrill seeker, but I've been doing nothing but running away since I got here… I didn't like being afraid… so I was hoping a little walk around would help put my mind at ease.

The halls were still every bit as populated as they'd always been, it sometimes shocked me how many Digimon there were in here considering this hotel was in the middle of nowhere. I felt kind of out of place being the only human in a hall full of Digimon, how ironic it was that in a world full of weird digital creatures, I was the freak. I could almost feel some of their eyes staring at me.

"Excuse me Ma'am! Do you require service?"

I squeaked in surprise as I whipped around so see some kind of large robot Digimon, "Perhaps you would like a warm towel?" He said, offering me one. I told him no and he left, that was weird. I kept moving through the hotel, hoping not to run into anymore… ambushes.

I then stopped when I saw what seemed to be an office door, open just a hair. Curious, I moved in closer, and peaked inside to find a room full of tv screens, a security room was my first thought, I looked behind me to see if anyone was watching, they weren't, so I slipped right inside. The screens at first showed what you'd expect, security feeds from cameras in the halls and around the building, but as I looked further down… the placements became more… unusual…

Every hotel room was bugged it seemed, even the one we were in… I could see Ross had passed out on the bed… I guess that was inevitable wasn't it? But it was kinda creepy she had cameras in our rooms… why would she do that? Other feeds came from various points around the forest as well, telling me how she knew we were coming. What was all this for? Why would she need cameras all over the forest? My first guess was for approaching costumers, but some of these didn't even come near the hotel… what is she doing?

"OH DEAR!"

Before I felt someone grab me by the waist, I recognized the furry arms as Psychemon's, "What are you doing in here?! If Rosemon finds out she'll kill me!" He said, trying to drag me out the room. I could tell from his tone he was more scared than angry. He was surprisingly strong for such a little fella, managing to drag me out of the room.

I managed to wrench myself out of his grip, "What is all that?! How many cameras does she have?!" I asked, I wanted answers and I wanted them now, I could tell despite being able to drag me out the room, he was intimidated by me as he was clearly shaking in fear of me, "I… I … Uhh… P… please I don't know! Please don't hurt me!" He whimpered, covering his head with his hands.

"Is there a problem here?"

I turned to see Rosemon had found us, suddenly I was feeling a lot less willing to confront her about this… I just had a sinking feeling I'd end up regretting it if I tried.. However I didn't have to as one look at the open office door told her exactly what had happened, "I keep telling Agumon to close that door when he leaves for his break!" She said, closing the door with a soft click before returning her attention to us.

I decided to ask the important question, "Y.. you seem to have a lot of cameras..." I said, smooth Kate… smooth as ice.

Rosemon didn't seem mad that I knew about this, sounding with a slight chuckle instead. "OH! I sometimes forget you're not from this world, I have to keep an eye on the forest dear, we get a lot of refugees and rebels here, and I have to know if the Digimon King's forces are approaching so I can prepare the hotel's defenses." she explained.

How did I not even think of that? It made so much sense, the Digimon King seemed the kind of guy who'd attack a hotel. I felt like a complete idiot, "And the rooms?" I asked.

Rosemon shook her head, "Some Digimon have no manners at all, I record the rooms so I know if they break something I can charge them for it accordingly." She answered. "I apologize if I made you think I had any ill intentions for you or your friends, Psychemon, please escort her back to her room." She told Psychemon.

Psychemon proceeded to do just that, leading me back to the room, he didn't speak a word the whole time, just silently leading me back to my room, shutting the door quietly behind me when I got to it.

Everyone looked at me, "So… you find anything interesting?" Ethan asked, I was of course hesitant to tell them what I had discovered, but I kinda had to.

"She's got cameras in our room." I said point blank, Jason and Ethan both nervously looked around the room.

Commandramon gave me a sharp look, "Impossible! I searched the whole room!" He said, not much unlike a petulant child who was just told he wasn't getting ice cream.

Jason however had a different question, "You seem to be a lot less concerned about this than you should be, something happen?" He asked, of course he had to ask that didn't he?

I sighed, "I got caught, she told me she does it because people break her stuff all the time and she uses it to catch them." I admitted.

Ethan scoffed, "Creepy, but it makes sense." He commented, "I think you two are being way too paranoid about this… this crap is probably common place in the Digital World." He said, he could be right… we were in a completely different world, maybe it was just common practice? Who knows. "Anyways, we should look into settling in, because I don't know about you, but I'm beat." Ethan added, before we knew it we were settling in, assigning beds, none of us wanted to even try to move Ross, so I got to spend an awkward night sleeping in a bed with him… joy.

Meanwhile…

I can't believe Agumon left that door open, I had to fumble for excuses just to keep that girl from taking her friends and leaving. But thankfully she bought it, I hated doing this to them, but I had a hotel full of refugees and castaways to think about…

My phone rang, I knew who it was before I even picked it up, "I'm doing what you're asking me. It makes me feel sick to my stomach but I'm doing it." I spat, I didn't even attempt to hide how much I hated this person, but I was forced to work with them, or else more than just myself will pay the price.

"Good..." The voice on the other end said, "You just keep those Digidestined in your hotel for now… but sooner or later, I expect them to be dead… and your hotel will never have to worry about the King or his forces again..." He added.

My stomach turned at the prospect of what I was doing, they didn't seem like bad kids, but the safety of my guests was more important, "Don't worry, by this time tomorrow… you'll never have to worry about the Digidestined again." I said. "Goodbye… Datamon." I told him before hanging up.

A/N- Oh noez! I guess Kate was right to be paranoid after all! Will our heroes survive Datamon's plans? What are these plans? Find out next time!

I had planned on this hotel thing being only one chapter, but this chapter was getting too long and I wanted to just get it out there.