Chapter Twenty-Five

When she woke the next morning, Hikari could feel a nervous tension hanging in the air like a physical weight. Today was the day they were going to assault the Dark Ocean and everyone knew it, even if it hadn't been announced. They just knew. She glanced over at Daisuke as he lay on his bed, flat on his back, staring up at the ceiling with lidded eyes. It didn't look like had gotten any sleep, as wound up as the rest of the soldiers on base, if not more so. He would get the unenviable task of dealing with the most powerful monsters they found in that shadowy realm.

'Are you worried?' she asked him.

'Yes,' Daisuke whispered.

'But you're still going to go,' Hikari said.

'Yes,' Daisuke said.

'Even though you might die,' Hikari said.

'Yes,' Daisuke said a third time.

She propped herself up on an elbow to get a proper look at Daisuke, seeing he had thrown off his bedcover at some point in the night, staring impassively up at the ceiling. There was a tremor in his voice, though, that belied his otherwise stoic façade but rather than fear, it sounded more like regret or sadness to Hikari.

'I'm not ready to die,' Daisuke said, his tone still low.

'I don't think anybody ever is, really,' Hikari said.

'I'm just a kid,' Daisuke continued. 'Barely sixteen. There's so much I haven't seen or done, things that I might never get around to doing anymore.'

'Do you have any regrets?' Hikari asked, watching as tears began to form in the corners of Daisuke's eyes and fall down his cheeks.

'Yeah,' he said.

'Am I one of them?'

Daisuke nodded absently, his gaze never moving from the ceiling, and seeing that helped Hikari make a decision she had been thinking over ever since last night at the campfire. She had regrets of her own and it was plain to see Daisuke was struggling with the prospect of meeting his end in the Dark Ocean. Too much of her dream had come true for even him to ignore, and though they had faced down death no end of times in their role as DigiDestined there had always been that small glimmer of hope they could escape it. That didn't seem to be the case this time.

She rose from her bed and padded, barefoot, over to Daisuke and before he could react she was sitting astride him, looking down at his face in the dim light. He opened his mouth to speak but Hikari leant down and cut him off with a soft kiss, her hands on his cheeks.

'I've got regrets of my own,' she breathed. 'And hurting you is the biggest one, so please, Daisuke. Let me try to atone for it with this.'

She kissed him again, more firmly, as Daisuke's hands came to rest on her hips. Either by reflex or conscious thought, she didn't mind, so long as he wasn't trying to dislodge her. Soon, they were drifting to her back in an embrace that brought her tight up against his chest. He moaned and kissed the nape her of neck, then just behind her ear, likely savouring and cherishing the feeling after four long years of pining after it, and Hikari hoped the reality far exceeded his expectations.

They spent a few minutes more kissing and touching one another until Hikari felt, or at least finally became aware of, Daisuke's erection pressing up against her backside. It didn't even cross her mind that not three weeks ago, that exact same sensation had caused her no small amount of fear and terror and yet here she was, about to give herself over to the very person that had tried to rape her.

Daisuke let go long enough for Hikari to sit up and take her T-shirt off, so she was wearing nothing but her underwear, and without taking her eyes of him she undid the clasp of her bra and threw it to the floor, giving Daisuke his first look at her naked chest. His eyes seemed to have glazed over and lost all focus, mesmerised by the sight before him, and his hands slowly started to creep up from her hips towards the soft, supple flesh that had his full attention-

-and then his phone rang.

His hands stopped and he blinked, the light coming back on in his eyes at the sound.

'Ignore it,' Hikari said.

'I can't,' Daisuke said. 'It'll be the captain.

'Tell him it was on silent,' Hikari said. 'The battery was dead. You were asleep. Just ignore it.'

'I can't,' Daisuke said again.

He gave a resigned, weary sigh and sat up, bringing himself face to face with Hikari, a defeated look in his eyes as he reached for his phone, flipping it open and answering.

'Yes?' he said. 'Yes, sir. No, sir. Understood.'

Daisuke snapped it shut again and said, 'The Marines are heading for the Dark Ocean breach point in an hour, and they're mustering for it in thirty minutes. I have to be there with them.'

'Can't you be a little late?' Hikari asked but Daisuke just shook his head.

'I wish I could,' he said, almost mournfully.

'I see,' Hikari said.

She reached down and took hold of his free hand, guiding it to her breast and keeping it in place there as she gave him one final kiss, murmuring, 'Come back to me, Daisuke.'

'I'll try,' he whispered.

With a sigh they parted, Daisuke grabbing some clean fatigues and heading into the en suite to change, emerging a few minutes later fully dressed to step into his suit. He cast one last glance at Hikari as she sat, half naked, on his bed then left the room. The click of the door as it closed sounded overwhelmingly loud in the silence that now filled the room, and Hikari kept her gaze on the door as though expecting Daisuke to come bursting through it and take her, there and then, on the floor rather than meeting up with the US Marines.

But he didn't and eventually she reached down and grabbed her bra, putting it back on. Across from her, Gatomon cracked open an eye and said, 'Is it safe to wake up?'

'Yes,' Hikari said, sighing. 'It is.'

She stood and went over to her footlocker, picking out a fresh set of clothes. Her hands drifted towards the fatigues that had been kindly donated to her during her first night on base, as though she felt that if today was the day they finally struck back against the Dark Ocean, she might as well dress for battle.

'Feel any better?' Gatomon asked as she sat up.

'Not really,' Hikari said.

'It probably helped him,' Gatomon said. 'At least now he knows you care.'

Hikari nodded and slipped the oversized T-shirt over her head, feeling it just hang off her slender frame, and started to pull on the trousers as Gatomon asked, 'Do you love him?'

'Let's not get ahead of ourselves,' Hikari said. 'I admire him, and I feel sorry for what I put him through, but I don't think love is how I'd describe my feelings towards Daisuke.'

'You sounded pretty lovey-dovey when you told him to come back to you,' Gatomon said, wrapping her paws around her and doing a little spin. 'And the way you kissed him, too, when you said it. Hikari and Daisuke, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G!'

'Knock it off,' Hikari muttered as she cinched her belt as tight as it would go, scooping up Gatomon as she continued to pirouette when she was done. A moment later, she added, 'I guess I did sound a little lovestruck then, huh?'

'Yeah, you did,' Gatomon said.

Hikari let out a soft chuckle and rubbed the fur on her partner's head, only to stop as her smile faded, remembering what was about to happen in less than an hour's time. She sighed and with Gatomon in her arms, trudged down to the mess hall where everyone else was already present, forcing food down their throats despite the nervous atmosphere hanging over them all and Hikari did the same. She barely tasted her scrambled eggs as she sat with Miyako and the others, each of them quiet and subdued.

'So,' Miyako said, if only to break the silence that had fallen over the four of them. 'What happened last night? Did you and Daisuke talk?'

'A little,' Hikari said. 'And we talked a little more this morning, before we got up.'

'And?' Miyako said. 'Don't spare the details, girl.'

'I think-' she began, before remembering how she and Daisuke had parted this morning, the tenderness of her plea and the kiss they had shared, and smiled and said, 'No, I know I want to be with him. I'm sure of it.'

Gatomon had been right in saying her last words to Daisuke this morning sounded lovestruck, despite her initial motivation to sleep with him being righting a wrong she had done her friend. The tenderness with which she had kissed him, had spoken to him with, was certainly fuelled by more than regret and guilt. It was deeper than that, and Hikari wouldn't deny that it could well be love she felt towards Daisuke.

'But does he want to be with you, though?' Ken asked. 'I know I said he probably still does love you, but you hurt him.'

'I know,' Hikari said. 'But I could see it in his eyes as we kissed. He still loves me, and I'll do everything I can to make up for abandoning him, and you guys as well.'

'Oh, there was kissing this morning, huh?' Miyako said, a sly grin creeping onto her face. 'Just kissing?'

'Yes,' Hikari said as her cheeks heated in embarrassment. 'A call from Captain Ishida stopped us before we could go any further than that, otherwise the things Takeru keeps accusing me of would be true rather than baseless rumours.'

'Willing to sleep with a man on the first date?' Miyako whispered lowly. 'My, my, Hikari Yagami. You are an easy one, aren't you?'

She put a hand to her head as though feeling faint from hearing a shocking revelation, falling backwards into Ken's arms as Hikari felt her cheeks grow even hotter. Some of the others were looing at her, drawn in by Miyako's theatrics, but none of them seemed to have heard what was being said. Certainly Taichi and Takeru hadn't, otherwise they would have some choice words for her, especially Takeru. They had dated for months before becoming intimate like that, and here she was, barely into a relationship with Daisuke, offering herself up to him.

'Shut up,' Hikari muttered.

'You know I'm only messing with you,' Miyako said, grinning. 'But seriously, I'm happy you've managed to work things out with Daisuke. You'll make such a cute couple.'

'You said the same thing about me and Takeru,' Hikari said, nodding at her ex-boyfriend's back as he hunched over his tray of food. 'And look how that turned out.'

'Well, yeah,' Miyako said. 'But this time I know it'll be true. Wanna know how I'm so sure?'

'Please,' Hikari said.

'Because Daisuke still loves you, even after everything,' Miyako said. 'If he can do that, you'll be together forever.'

'I guess so,' Hikari said, though as she did flashes of her dream, of Daisuke being killed by a tentacle, filled her mind's eye. 'Assuming he lives through today.'

'You can't think like that,' Ken said. 'Of course Daisuke will make it through this. If he wasn't going to fight like hell before, he will now.'

The images of a dead and dying Daisuke persisted in Hikari's mind. 'I suppose so.'

'Fight for him,' Miyako said gently, placing her hand on Hikari's. 'If you really do want to be with Daisuke, and he wants to be with you, then fight. Don't let the Dark Ocean take him away from you, because then you'll never be able to make up for leaving him behind.'

Hikari offered a wan smile but her gaze drifted towards Gatomon as she worked her way through a tray of food, saying, 'I'd risk losing her, though.'

'You could,' Miyako said. 'But maybe you should let Gatomon make that decision. I'd argue she has the final say in the matter, don't you?'

At that Hikari nodded and continued to pick away at her food until just scraps remained, pushing them towards Gatomon who gladly ate them up. If there was a possibility of combat, then it made sense for her to be as full of energy as possible. Just in case. She glanced at her watch and saw that thirty minutes had passed since Ishida called, meaning Daisuke and the Marines were mustering ahead of travelling to the breach point into the Dark Ocean. Another thirty minutes and they'd be going through.

She wondered if Ishida was with him but as the hands on her watch ticked over to half past the hour, he strode into the mess hall, dressed in his fatigues and wearing an armoured vest, and addressed the assembled DigiDestined.

'We're launching the operation within thirty minutes,' he said. 'I'm heading out to the command post to help oversee it. If any of you wish to accompany me, now's the time.'

Hikari stood without hesitation, Gatomon cradled in her arms, followed soon after by Miyako, Ken and Iori, plus their Digimon, and then everyone else. Ishida nodded once and span on his heel, leading them out with Hikari at the head of the column. Out in the courtyard area were two trucks, tailgates dropped and ready for passengers, and the DigiDestined split themselves between them with Ishida climbing in with Hikari's group.

'I didn't interrupt anything when I rang this morning, did I?' he asked, sitting next to her.

She hesitated then said, 'Yes,' before adding, 'But it's given him a reason to come back to me.'

Ishida regarded her for a moment and said, 'Good. It's been a while since something decent happened to him.'

Then, 'I'm sorry. I didn't mean to break up what should have been a special moment.'

'So long as it doesn't happen again,' Hikari said as the truck lurched into motion, its diesel engine roaring as they set off for the command post, from where the battle was to be coordinated.

'Is Daisuke going to be there?' she asked a few minutes later.

'No,' Ishida said. 'He'll be at the initial staging area with the battalion he's attached to. We'll be around a mile back from them, and the timetable doesn't allow for him to come to us, or vice versa.'

'Oh,' Hikari said. 'Okay.'

The officer looked at her but said nothing else for the rest of the trip to the command post, little more than a bunch of tents and vehicles arranged in a sprawl atop the only rise in the area, affording a decent enough view of where the Marines had assembled before strange devices that towered into the air. These were probably the machines that replicated the effects of the Control Spires Ken had once spread all across the Digital World, weakening the walls between dimensions.

A chill swept over Hikari's skin as she looked at them, even from afar, though it could just as easily be something else in the air putting her on edge. The generals said they chose this location because it had a strong connection to the Dark Ocean, or something to that effect.

'You can feel it, too,' Ken said from beside her. 'The darkness.'

'Yeah,' Hikari said.

She shivered and held Gatomon close. Ishida ducked into one of the tents as everyone got down from the trucks and re-emerged a few minutes later sporting a headset over one ear, listening intently to what was being said over the airwaves.

'Two minutes to launch,' he said. 'Bringing towers online now.'

It was hard to tell from this distance if anything was really happening, but when Ishida said that a chill tore through Hikari and next to her, Ken let out a shuddering gasp as a connection between their world and the Dark Ocean began to form. Miyako took hold of both their hands, Hawkmon stood before them all like some kind of vanguard, though Hikari found she wanted it to be Daisuke comforting her right now, except he was about to head into danger.

'Towers at thirty percent,' Ishida reported. 'Fifty percent. Eighty percent. Ninety percent. Towers online. Portals forming.'

There looked like a dozen or more towers arranged into pairs, each with a Marine formation assembled in front of them, and between each pair a dark, hazy image started to take form through which they could see the shadowy outline of lapping waves on a beach made up of black sand.

'Stabilised,' Ishida said. 'Lead units moving in now.'

Several armoured vehicles crept forwards into the portals and seemed to grow indistinct and waver, crossing through to a new dimension few people had gone to, and never of their own choice. When nothing bad appeared to happen, the Marines next in line moved forward and made the transition into the Dark Ocean.

'Lead elements now inside the Dark Ocean,' Ishida said, one hand to the headset as though struggling to make out what he was hearing. 'Picking up some interference. No reports of contact yet, establishing beachhead.'

He carried on like that for a few minutes more, the Marines reporting back what they saw as they secured their entry point into the Dark Ocean. It struck Hikari as odd that the creatures who lived there wouldn't respond to such a rude invasion of their home by beings that, outside of Daisuke, lacked any real power to combat them.

'Wait,' Ishida said. 'Lead recon units reporting contact with unknown forces, described as shadowy creatures. Multiple contacts now. They're engaging. Hostile intent confirmed. Sierra-1's-'

The rest was cut off by an explosion at one of the portals, a lance of energy spearing through it to strike at a line of armoured vehicles waiting to enter and turn them into burning pyres. It happened at another portal, then another, before all of the waiting Marine formations had been ravaged by explosions. Hikari watched the scene in horror, knowing everyone in those vehicles was dead, as Ishida called out casualty reports that made it sound like the entire regiment was done for.

'Sierra-1 is in combat with multiple Ultimate-level targets,' Ishida shouted over the dull rumble of the detonations, muted as they were by the distance. 'Confirm three- no five- eleven- twenty- Confirm upwards of thirty Ultimate-level Digimon converging on the portals. Sierra-1 falling back to friendly lines.'

That might have been something of an exaggeration. Hikari saw a dark shape come hurtling out of the nearest portal and slam into the ground like a meteorite, throwing up dirt and dust and trailing smoke, that she knew to be Daisuke. She could only look on as he righted himself and flew towards the portal, cannons flashing, as the first of the three-thousand infected Digimon the Dark Ocean had stolen appeared.

Another explosion sounded close by and for a fleeting moment, Hikari feared that the infected Digimon had gotten through to where she was and had flung an attack, but looking around she saw some of the field artillery had been located nearby in defiladed positions, and the crew had just fired off the first of many shells at the newly arrived targets.

Others joined them from all around the towers as more infected Digimon appeared, blanketing the ground with smoke and dust as the explosive shells churned dirt. Some Digimon were taken down in just a few hits, dissolving into data, but others were more robust and emerged from the barrage unscathed. These ones Daisuke went after, as did flak cannons and some of the fighter aircraft Hikari had seen when she first arrived at Alpha Base.

'We'll be okay,' she said to Ishida who had stopped talking and was staring intently at the six portals, hand still pressed against his headset. 'Won't we?'

'Nothing's certain in war,' he said. 'We just lost two-thousand Marines in five minutes.'

Hikari's face blanched. 'What does that mean?'

'That they were ready for us,' Ishida said. He listened to his headset. 'Towers are offline, destroyed more like, but the portals are still operational. Wait, two new portals have appeared. Make that five. More Digimon appearing through the portals. Bringing up the balance of our forces.'

Artillery and mortar shells continued to pour down onto the centre of the battlefield where only a few minutes ago, so many young men and women had stood ready to fight against a threat to their world. Now all that remained was torn scraps of clothing and metal, spread between what now looked to be twenty portals arranged in a loose circle. From each, every few seconds, stepped three or four Ultimate-level Digimon. Soon there were sixty of them, a hundred, three-hundred, on the plains with more coming.

Some were blown up by the artillery shells, and others still were harassed by the fighter aircraft until they dissolved into data, but enough survived both to begin advancing on the defiladed human forces and launch attacks of their own. Missiles, energy balls, rocks, fire, anything and everything these Digimon could use as an attack came slamming down amongst the soldiers and blew them to pieces. Slowly, but surely, the incoming fire began to drop off, and when it began to slow the rate at which the infected Digimon were being destroyed fell, too…

Now there were five-hundred Digimon on the battlefield, roughly what the gathered forces of Alpha Base could theoretically handle as a maximum, and still more filtered through the portal, plus shadowy looking creatures a little bigger than an adult. These ones stole across the plains, dodging between explosions and flurries of gunfire, to set themselves upon the fighting positions of the soldiers. Screams could be heard from them as the monsters tore them apart, literally, working to create breaks in the defensive line around their portals.

'We are leaving!' Ishida shouted, tearing his headset off and turning for the trucks, grabbing Hikari by the arm to pull her along as he went. 'All units are ordered to retreat back to the transition points.'

'What about them?' Hikari shouted back over the din, pointing at the other troop formations.

'They're on their own,' Ishida said. 'Our priority right now is getting you to safety.'

He hauled Hikari up into the back of the truck and slammed on the back of the cab, not even bothering to close the tailgate before half sitting, half falling into his seat as the driver set off. Behind them, the armoured fighting vehicles of everyone that had come, both the tracked designs and the smaller, lighter trucks that used wheels, formed up into a defensive posture around her truck as Ishida shouted orders into a radio.

'How far until we get to the portal?' Hikari asked.

'Eight miles, maybe nine,' Ishida said. 'And that's assuming the closest one to us is still intact. We'll be lucky to make it inside of twenty minutes.'

The sound from the truck's engine rose into a pained scream as the driver pushed it as hard as he could, but the real issue came from the terrain. It looked deceptively flat, with small dips and bumps everywhere, and the inside of the truck felt like it was riding a rough sea. Any faster and they might hit something and break a vital component, like snapping an axle or blowing a tyre, and then they'd be sitting ducks.

Hikari glanced out the back of the truck to the skies, wondering if taking flight with Angewomon or Nefertimon was a better idea before discarding it. There were too many Digimon up there to make it even remotely safe, to say nothing of the constant barrages from flak guns or the fighter aircraft that flicked from one target to another without a second's hesitation. She'd be fired upon for definite, so Hikari went back to holding on for dear life as the truck bounced across the plains.

Then the world exploded.