Corrupted Earth [N-Rank Mission] 5/5

"A Guardromon you say?" Coredramon asked Leon, intrigued. He looked uneasily into the ruins. "Well... that may be then, but, the corruption of the ruins may have changed that by now. In my observations here, movements have been observed deep inside. It might not be the same temple that you explored".

While he hadn't gone in to make sure, there were enough signs of it on the outside for him to guess it was a possibility. Shifting sands, shaking ground, noises within the depths of the temple.

Coredramon was a little confused at the Tsukaimon asking to bring an 'it' with them. He then realized he was talking about one of the humans. 'Oh dear, perhaps I should have asked for a team with better camaraderie?' he thought, starting to get the feeling in his gut that there was a chance they might not work together down there, going from the Gabumon's growling.

Still though, they were the hired help and Coredramon could only trust that they got the job done. He watched after them as they entered the ruins.

---

As you enter the tall open portal to the entrance hall of the temple, you see a once majestic sandstone room reduced to ruin. Where there was once two dozen decorative pillars stretching to the roof four metres above, only about four remain - the rest collapsed and shattered on the dusty floor. It is lit by sunlight entering through gaps in the roof - piles of rubble settled underneath where the roof had caved in.

A thin layer of black data hovers above the floor at about ankle height, appearing like thin smoke - wisps of it rising and falling with the breeze entering from outside. This data would not harm you, but, it wouldn't make you feel particularly good either.

There is little things to note in the entrance hall, other than a doorway at the far end. Once grand carved wooden doors were here - now they were both reduced to dust. Beyond this doorway, you can see a set of stone stairs leading downward. The data appears to be originating from them. However, the stairs beyond appear dark, as the sunlight does not extend down the stairway.

I let Tsukaimon take the IC blame for Leon being absent, simply because it suits his character.

---

Tsukaimon didn't like the idea of sharing room with a holy digimon so he hatched a plan of having everyone walk away to the mission without Leon. After-all what use is a rookie version of a Leomon who for some reason tends to die at the most inconvenient times?

"Hurry, we have a mission to take care of. The Leormon can just catch up"
Tsukaimon was completely unrepentant when Agumon called him out on being a bigot and when Trey apologized he smiled as if Trey technically owed him more but that Tsukaimon was generous enough to forgive him anyway the underlying arrogance towards humans was impossible to miss.
"Ehh don't make it a habit." He was also quick to approve the notion that Trey was to be their 'rear guard' (the word support didn't pass his mind)
"You do that"
Tsukaimon then prepared to enter the ruins.

It didn't matter to him how many people didn't enter in, he was given a job and he'd make sure that it'd see through in some variety or another with or without their help. The Tsukaimon seemed to be in a rush to get inside; he couldn't really blame them for wanting to continue forward; after all quick completion would reflect well on everyone involved. The other human and her digimon exchanged a few words before heading into the ruins in earnest.

There once again wasn't much for him to say; no galvanizing words that came to mind. It was as simple as walking through a doorway into the next zone so to speak. The spirit user gripped his scythe a little tighter and headed after the other "two". He considered briefly bringing up his ability to phase through things as a good venue to avoid traps. If and when one triggered he'd use that as an oppurtunity to do so. For now, silence stopped suggestions. Common sense and experience would likely prevail through this whole ruin.

After all what more could he say that wasn't already explained or covered? They knew of the traps, they knew there was likely another digimon in there. They were prepared as much as they could possibly be in such a short time. Any more hesitation would certainly brood ill for the group as a whole....

The mission was getting more tolerable for Tsukaimon now that the holy digimon was holy digimon was gong along with the human and his partners. Sure the rest was also humans but at least they looked like they knew what they were doing so for the time being Tsukaimon sat his prejudice aside. As he entered the ruins he came into a long corridor the ground below was infested with thick black goo obviously the result of whatever corruption they were going to handle. Today was a great day to be able to fly since it meant the black data could not reach Tsukaimon for the time being. Habitually, Tsukaimon looked down to see if there were any traps that would have trigger had he not been able to fly, though it didn't affect him, he knew that he couldn't fight everyone alone as a rookie. Tsukaimon could not afford to lose more party members, humans or not.

Dark eyes swept over the ruins, curiosity matted his scaled features as he took in what there was to see. The dark swirling data certainly had the spirit user's attention up until it seemed to do nothing when they touched it. He'd frown and look about; hand clenching on his scythe tightly. What was he really supposed to do at this junction? The Tsukaimon seemed to be looking for traps; while Mana seemed to be more focused on where they should be going and the general make out of how they should go about this, her partner was more concerned with payment. Past the trivial chatter; there were a few questions that certainly needed to be answered.

"Staying in a group would be wise; we know there are traps and opposition of some form. We know not how corruption of the data here will effect either of them.'

He'd gingerly prod at the swirling data at their feet and knees, looking slightly irritated by it's presence.

"We also do not know how long it'll take for the corruption to affect us, or how it will affect us. Is this dark swirling mist a part of the corruption or was this always here? Too many questions we don't know the answer to; so therefore caution must be our approach."

He'd gesture now to the three paths.

"For now let us pick a path, and if this ruin allows we come back to this fork we can traverse them. We were never given a time frame of completion so why go quickly when we can be smart about this?"

A long way ahead the corridor was straightforward, just fly from point A to point B. On the way he saw that the redheaded girl said that the corridor was scary.
"It figures" Tsukaimon mumbled before laughing at his own joke. Then they came to a forking path and it was time to make a decision. Mana was fine with anything before whining suggesting that they hurry up with whatever decision they want to make.

It seems like the other human knew some sort of strategy, Tsukaimon listened closely at the notion that they should stick together. As much as the idea sickened Tsukaimon, it made sense.
"You're quite smart, for a human." Tsukaimon remarked, this is likely the closest Uric Kan can get to a compliment from Tsukaimon.

Then there was some obviously corrupted Gotsumon right in front of them al, which Tsukamon noted.
"I suggest we postpone that discussion until those Gotsumon are dead." Despite the gesture, Tsukaimon himself stayed in place for the time being.