Digimon Adventure Tri: Echo

by digitaldreams0801

Three years have passed since the fall of BelialVamdemon, and the Chosen Children have grown older. A longstanding peace is disturbed with the appearance of a new Chosen Child, and possessed Digimon begin consistently attacking Earth. The past and future are inextricably bound, and unraveling one could pull the other to pieces. (Rewrite of Digimon Adventure Tri. Updated Fridays.)

17. Devolution to Disaster

The scream pierced the air an instant after Taichi expected it to, and he was on his feet in the blink of an eye. In a way, he had known that this was coming no matter how much he tried to swallow back his nerves. It was clear as could be that there was something wrong that day, and if everybody else had picked up on it as well, then that was all the evidence that he needed.

"It's a Digimon," Gabumon confirmed without a moment of hesitation. He was already looking over to Yamato in preparation for the Chosen Child of Friendship to start using his Digivice to kickstart the evolution process. Sure enough, Yamato had already taken firm grip of his Digivice between tense fingers, and Sora was in much the same boat. It didn't take long for Taichi to join them on that front.

"Do you know what it could be?" Taichi questioned, wondering what evolution level would be necessary for the coming fight. Deep down, part of him already knew the answer, but he was going to try and avoid it with everything that he had. He couldn't possibly be correct about this, right? If he was, then what was that going to mean for him and the rest of the Chosen Children? He was going to have to find the answer out one way or another, but would he even want to?

A few moments later, a creature slid into view, and Taichi let out a gasp before he could stop himself. "Dorbickmon," Agumon replied. "He's at the Ultimate level. We have to get ready to fight back as soon as possible!"

That was what Taichi had feared he would say. He had known in advance that this was how it was going to go, but that didn't stop the red-hot angry bile from rising inside of his throat. Of course it was going to be an Ultimate level. After all that had happened recently, this was the next natural step of progression.

Still, all of it felt too fast as far as Taichi was concerned. Had their enemies really decided to unleash their full force so soon after starting the attacks on Odaiba? Did it matter in the first place? They were going to have to fight whether they liked it or not, and there was the chance that thinking was only going to hold them back in the long run.

Taichi shoved his thoughts as far away from the forefront of his mind as he could stand, and he held up his Digivice in front of his torso. "Let's go, everyone!" he cried out. Yamato and Sora followed his lead, and light began to overwhelm the area, creating a bright inferno that temporarily stole Taichi's vision. He couldn't have cared less, so he simply decided to press on with his goal.

"Agumon, warp evolve to... WarGreymon!"

"Gabumon, warp evolve to... MetalGarurumon!"

"Piyomon, evolve to... Birdramon!"

"Birdramon, super evolve to... Garudamon!"

Taichi smiled to himself at the sight of WarGreymon once again. It had been quite some time since he saw his partner take up this form, but it never stopped being amazingly impressive. WarGreymon's armor was just as sleek and shiny as he remembered it being, and Taichi felt his heart skip a beat in his chest. He and the rest of the Chosen Children were used to fighting, and even if they were going up against Ultimates, they were going to find a way to come out on top. After all, their main objective was just to get rid of the dark data patches, and that couldn't be too hard even with the disparity in power, right?

Yamato had pulled out his phone when Taichi wasn't paying attention, and Taichi glanced over to him in confusion and curiosity. It was only after Yamato put his phone away that he dared to explain his actions to Taichi. "I don't know if everyone else knows about this yet. It's better that they hear it from us instead of having to find out on their own," he explained. "I hope that all of them are with their Digimon. I don't know if we have the time to spare right now."

Sora frowned to herself. "You can feel it too," she commented, her tone dejected and shaking with anxiety. Taichi looked to them nervously, and Sora went on to elaborate as soon as he did so. "I feel like there's more than just Dorbickmon around here... I don't know. It just feels like this isn't something that we're dealing with alone."

As if on cue, a flying Digimon streaked through the skies overhead, stealing all of their attention temporarily. Taichi was unable to recognize the silhouette since it was blocking out the sun in a way that made it impossible to see details, but he could tell that this could hardly be a sign of anything good. If there were at least two Digimon in Odaiba, there was no way of saying for sure how many others there were. For all he knew, they were going to be overwhelmed sooner rather than later. That was the last thing that Taichi wanted to imagine, but he knew that he had to think practically about this situation. Everybody was counting on him to do as much, after all.

"Let's get ready to do this!" WarGreymon suddenly declared. He was rushing towards Dorbickmon before he could even receive the order to attack, and both Garudamon and MetalGarurumon were hot on his trail. They were nothing more than blurs through the sky as they spiraled towards their targets, and Taichi's teeth wound up grinding against one another in his moment of anxiety.

This was a bad sign. He didn't know for sure how many Digimon there were, but the fact that the overhead Digimon wasn't going after them had to be indicative of something awful happening elsewhere in Odaiba. What if the Digimon were trying to split up and target the Chosen Children on their own? That was certainly going to complicate matters and then some. If any of his teammates were without their partners, there wouldn't be a way for them to fight back, and that was the last thing that Taichi wanted.

He pulled out his phone on pure instinct before keying out a message of his own in the chat group that he was in with the rest of his teammates. It was a simple command, but he hoped that it would find all of them well just the same.

'Tell us when you're safe.'

With that said, Taichi allowed himself to drop his phone back into his pocket as he looked back to the fight at hand. This wasn't going to be an easy situation to deal with, but nothing had ever been easy as of late, so he was just going to have to find a way to smile and get through it on his own. WarGreymon, MetalGarurumon, and Garudamon were all potent fighters, so it was just a matter of time before they got the job done and were able to move on.

Sora's phone suddenly emitted an ear-piercing shriek, and the other phones followed suit soon afterwards. She let out a yelp of surprise as she pulled the device from her pocket. When the others looked down at their own devices, they were met with an unpleasant message. Taichi felt his heart drop into his feet.

"An evacuation of the city has been ordered," Yamato declared before Taichi had the chance to say that very thing. "That means that there are more Digimon than we realize, and they're all moving towards their targets. I guess that our enemies got tired of twiddling their thumbs and waiting for something to happen, so they just decided to try and take care of us themselves."

"I don't like that at all," Taichi muttered, though that much felt as obvious as it got. He shook his head and looked back to Yamato and Sora. "Alright. Let's do what we can to make sure that this all goes well. Let's take care of Dorbickmon and then go to see who's going to need our help next. Does that sound like a plan?"

Taichi was met with nods from both Yamato and Sora. The motions were concise and to the point, a sign that they weren't exactly comfortable with the idea of casual conversation in that moment either. There was too much happening for them to focus on just talking to one another, and Taichi was fully aware of it. He heard a cry of an attack from the nearby fight against Dorbickmon, and he hoped with everything he had that this ended well.

Please let everybody be safe. Tell us when you are. Please.

"This is a disaster."

Maki resisted the urge to scoff at Daigo's words. She had traded out her flats for a spare pair of running shoes that she kept in her office, and both of them were wearing much more casual clothing than they had been previously. Suits were passable when it came to looking smart during meetings, but they weren't exactly helpful when it came to running for one's life during a Digimon invasion. Maki was wearing an uncharacteristically large hoodie with tight leggings that hugged her body and offered a full range of motion for her legs. Daigo, on the other hand, had simply pulled a jacket around his torso and paired it with a t-shirt and sweatpants. Both of them looked so beyond out of their element that it would have been jarring if anybody they knew well happened to see them.

"That's the understatement of the century, Daigo," Maki finally told him as she focused all of her remaining attention on just running. That was all that mattered. They had to keep moving to make sure that everybody was safe. Odaiba was falling apart, and it was up to them to make sure that the people within the city limits were evacuated as quickly and safely as possible. It wasn't going to be easy, and Maki was fully aware of such a fact, but she was going to try her best anyways.

"We just have to make sure that everyone is fine," Daigo said. "I bet that the alert for the evacuation has been sent out by now, so that means that everybody should know about it sooner or later. We can use that to our advantage, and that should make it easier for us to get everybody out of here as soon as possible."

"We're going to have to leave this one up to the Chosen Children," Maki told him. "They're the only ones who can make sure that nobody gets hurt in this mess, so we have to count on them to resolve this as soon as they can manage. They're smart kids, and they know what they're doing when it comes to combat. I just hope that this is enough."

Maki had, quite frankly, been shocked when Hiraku sent her the news. There were more than two dozen Digimon running around throughout Odaiba, and Maki had to resist the urge to feel sick when the number fully set in. More than two dozen was, at the very least, twenty-five Digimon that the Chosen Children would have to fight off. Maki hadn't received any details beyond that, but as far as she was aware, that was all that she needed to hear about. Did she even want to know anything else?

Crunching the numbers was unfortunately very easy, and Maki found herself remembering that all of the Chosen Children save for Meiko could reach the Perfect level with their partners and Crests. That meant that all of them would have to try and fight off at least two Digimon, and for all Maki knew, those Digimon could have been at either the Perfect or Ultimate level. She didn't want to acknowledge the latter as a possibility, but it kept nagging at the back of her mind regardless. She simply couldn't escape it, and no amount of running was going to change that.

"Maybe we'll run into some of them along the way," Daigo suggested. He seemed to be just as flustered as she was, though it was much less of an accomplishment when he wore the expression of shock. After all, Daigo had always been prone to being overwhelmed by his emotions when the struggle of daily life got to be too much for him, and he couldn't even begin to pretend otherwise.

"You want to make sure that they're safe," Maki finished for him. She didn't know why she bothered to say that at all; it felt pretty damn obvious that this was the intention behind Daigo's words, but she stated it regardless.

"Yeah," Daigo replied simply, seemingly unbothered by Maki's words. "But we can't stay with them forever. They have business to take care of, and we're in the same boat. We have to make sure that everybody gets out of here as soon as possible. We can't afford to leave anybody behind. Who knows what could happen if somebody has to roam around the city on their own while looking for a way to escape?"

There was another thing that Maki didn't want to think about. She snidely wondered if perhaps it would be more effective for her to keep a list of all the things that she refused to acknowledge as she ran through the streets of Odaiba, but she ultimately declined the proposal in favor of just pushing herself forward. There was work to be done, and regardless of her own reservations, she couldn't neglect her duties.

"Everybody is going to be fine," Maki told him, though part of her wondered if perhaps she was actually speaking the reassuring phrase as a way of calming her own fears. Once again, she decided that she would rather not open that can of worms, and she declined herself the chance to even come close to finding out the answer. There was too much for her to do to even bother thinking of that mess in the instant she was living.

Luckily for her, Daigo chose to not call her out on her anxieties. "Alright. Here we are," Daigo said firmly. He and Maki had been given instructions when they first came to work in the data bureau on what to do if a citywide evacuation was necessary. It wasn't as if they had enjoyed hearing about it, but both Daigo and Maki were thankful for the extra precautions. After all, everything would have been a mess if not for their past work on the matter.

"Let's get to it then," Maki muttered sourly under her breath. She didn't know who was responsible for this, but she was going to find them and make sure that they paid. It didn't matter what that entailed; she was going to figure out a way to pull it off, and when she did, they were going to wish that they had never incurred her wrath in the first place.

Meiko didn't know where she was running, just that she had to get away.

Meicoomon's instincts had told them both that there was something seriously wrong, and she had instructed Meiko to get out of there as quickly as possible. Meiko wasn't sure where the best place to run was, but she felt like she was going to be sick. She had to find a way to get out of Odaiba. That was what Meicoomon had claimed, at the very least, and Meiko wanted to follow her instructions to the best of her ability.

"Digimon," Meicoomon explained after Meiko had been running for a few minutes. "I can feel them. They're coming, and we have to find some way to escape from them." She was running alongside Meiko, long having abandoned her guise of being a common orange house cat. Meiko nodded in her partner's direction, aware of the words being spoken but not fully registering them. It was as if everything was taking place on the other side of a thin veil that censored her understanding of the world around her. Meiko wasn't sure if she was going to pass out or be sick, but she didn't think that she wanted to know the answer at all when push came to shove.

There were two choices for them, Meiko had found. The first option was to figure out where the other Chosen Children were. Meiko had been too stressed and strained under the weight of the attack to bother checking her Digivice. Her feet seemed to be taking her in some direction, any direction, that would get her away from the distant shriek of screams from others within Odaiba. She would have done anything to block out that sound from her memory forever, but she knew that wasn't an option. Some way or another, she was going to find a way to get away from this.

The other choice was to escape Odaiba entirely, and Meiko found herself oddly attached to this premise. The Digimon that were attacking had to be strong, right? Why else would Meicoomon be so tense and stressed? She was sure that they had to be at least Perfect level Digimon, and that was assuming that the enemies didn't push the seal even further. It was nauseating for Meiko to imagine, but she did her best to try and not think about it. She failed in the long run, but she tried anyways.

Meiko slid to a stop when her lungs felt as if they couldn't take any further punishment. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her Digivice. She hadn't realized how much her hand was shaking until after she had been forced to stare at it. Her tongue felt too large for her mouth, almost as if she was being held down by some outside force. Why was the outside world so oppressive all of a sudden? Why couldn't she think straight?

"Focus on your Digivice," Meicoomon said carefully, grounding Meiko with her calm voice and relaxed demeanor. She thanked everything holy that Meicoomon was standing by her side. Meiko didn't think that she would have been able to withstand all of this emotional turmoil without having somebody on her side through thick and thin.

Meiko did as her partner instructed, and she let out a soothing breath. Meiko's body was still trembling with exertion, and she allowed herself to be taken up by the sense of calm that entered her body when she inhaled. The spring breeze pressed itself into her lungs, and Meiko took it in greedily, not caring in the slightest what others thought of her for such actions. She concentrated on her Digivice, looking at the dots that were scattered about in Odaiba.

There was nobody close by. That revelation made Meiko's heart drop. The range of the Digivice was admittedly rather impressive, and Meiko had learned that the radar had been improved since the original adventure in the Digital World, but that didn't stop her mind-numbing panic at the idea that there was nobody present for her to rely on. She was going to have to find a way through this on her own.

"Come on. Let's start moving again," Meicoomon urged, doing a perfect job of motivating her partner as always. After a few moments of blank hesitation, Meiko nodded, and she started to move in the direction that she had been traveling in before. She had to keep moving. She wouldn't be able to think about what was happening elsewhere in Odaiba if she was concentrated on her progress, a small mercy that she wanted to embrace with everything she had.

Meiko was nearing the edges of the city when she saw large streams of people shifting through the streets. She looked down to Meicoomon in confusion before remembering that everybody had been ordered to evacuate. Meiko had managed to avoid the order by hiding in the park until everybody else was gone so that nobody pulled her out of the city, but her anxiety was still running high as could be. Her chest felt so tight all of a sudden. Had she always struggled to breathe this much? Was all of this just a bad dream that she was going to wake up from any second? She sure hoped so.

"Keep it moving, everyone! Stay together, and be sure to be as careful as possible!"

The familiar voice made Meiko feel as if she was going to start crying. She would recognize the commanding yet striking tone of Maki Himekawa anywhere, and after some searching through the crowd, Meiko was able to pinpoint Maki's exact location. She was standing alone, it seemed, as she tried to guide people away from Odaiba. Meiko looked down to Meicoomon, overwhelmingly relieved that there was somebody she knew nearby. She was desperate for at least some sort of reprieve, and this was exactly what she had needed.

"Ms. Himekawa!"

Maki looked up as soon as she noticed that Meiko was calling for her. "Meiko?" Maki questioned as soon as she had finished calling out her newest set of instructions, though her words were much a repeat of what she had stated before. "What are you doing here? I would have thought that you would be helping to fight with the rest of the Chosen Children."

Meiko shook her head. "I can't find them," Meiko explained, trying not to seem as agitated and panicked as she was. "I... I don't know what to do. Where should I go? Should I stay with you from here on?"

Maki frowned and glanced over to her side, and Meiko realized that she was looking for approval from Daigo. The black-haired man was standing nearby and aiding in the evacuation, but he had been hidden by the crowd previously. Meiko was glad to see him as well, and relief flooded her chest in the blink of an eye. Why did happiness feel so much like a punch to the stomach all of a sudden?

"I'm going to take you to somebody else in the group," Maki explained after a moment of hesitation. "Come with me, Meiko. I'm sure that Daigo can handle this himself. Everything is going to be fine, okay? Deep breaths." Meiko nodded and followed Maki's instructions, not having noticed that she was having trouble breathing until after Maki brought it up. She did her best to ground herself, but the world at large was certainly making it difficult to do so.

"Daigo!" Maki suddenly cried out as she cupped one hand around her mouth. "I'm going with Meiko, and I'll be back as soon as I get the chance! Stay out of trouble while I'm gone, will you?"

Daigo nodded in response, and Meiko pretended that she didn't see the flicker of uncertainty that flashed across his eyes. She hated that all of this was happening because of her. If she could just figure things out for herself, this wouldn't be happening. She had to be able to leave Maki to handle the situation herself, but instead, there she was, pulling Maki away from her position because she was too afraid to be able to handle herself. Weak, weak, weak, learn to take care of yourself for once-

Maki grabbed Meiko's hand before her mind could feed her any other dark uncertainties, and Meiko allowed herself to be comforted by the grip of Maki's fingers curling around her wrist. Maki was moving in the opposite direction soon afterwards, running through Odaiba a moment later. She didn't seem to fit the running gear that she was wearing, but something about the motion of escape came all too easily to Maki. Meiko shoved aside her fears to the best of her ability and tried to concentrate on just following instructions. That was what she had to do. Everybody was counting on her, and this wasn't the time for her to back down no matter how afraid she was.

Weak, weak, weak.

Everything was pure chaos.

Chisane clamped her hands firmly over her ears just to make sure that she didn't have to listen to the hustle and bustle that came with the evacuation. She and Kaya were some of the only people who were actively trying to get into the city instead of away from it, and Chisane hated how noisy it was. No matter how much she tried to hug the sides of her face to block out the noise, she could never truly escape it. She felt like she was going to be sick. She just wanted it all to stop. Why couldn't they be quiet and leave her alone? This was too much for her.

A grounding hand came down on her shoulder, and Chisane looked over to see Kaya standing beside her. Chisane let out a careful breath as soon as she was sure that she was safe, giving Kaya a small nod for her security. She still wanted to get out of the noise and the crowd as soon as possible, but she didn't think that escape would come as easily as she was hoping.

"We have to get in there," Kaya muttered as she looked over in Chisane's direction. "I don't know if we're going to be able to push through with the evacuation going on though. Everybody is trying to evacuate, and I'm sure that the others are in there. We have to sneak past if we want to get into Odaiba. The officers are going to try and stop us if we aren't careful."

Chisane nodded as she did her best to swallow back her nerves. She still failed in the long run, but she still tried with everything that she could manage. "Okay," she said. She had barely been able to hear Kaya's voice over the chaos, and it took every piece of effort that she had in her body to keep from completely falling to pieces. This was too much for her. Why did it have to be this way? Why couldn't she just be fine with all of this? Everyone else was fine with noise and crowds.

She already knew why, as much as she hated to admit it. Chisane's fragile constitution was something that she was all too familiar with, and trying to press forward with how weak her body was had been difficult for her in the past. It was one of the many reasons that Kaya had left Odaiba alongside her. Chisane hadn't remembered Odaiba being this chaotic though, and as far as she was concerned, it never had been this wild. Then again, Digimon attacks hadn't been regular back when she lived in Odaiba during the older days.

Kaya pulled Chisane in closer as they started to push against the crowd once again. Kaya was careful but skillful, doing what she could to move quickly while still not putting Chisane into any unnecessary danger. If she wasn't cautious enough, Chisane was going to start falling apart. Chisane was too sensitive for this, too fragile for fate to have its way with her without mercy. Kaya had known this for a long time, and it certainly factored into the endless bitterness that she held towards the world at large.

With some careful maneuvering, Kaya managed to break through the crowd on the other side. There were a few government agents standing nearby and trying to funnel everybody out of the city, and Kaya quickly ducked behind a building with Chisane following after her. Kaya didn't dare to peek out and see that they were in the clear, instead focusing only on Chisane. Her arm curled gently around Chisane's shoulders.

"Are you alright?" Kaya murmured once she noticed that Chisane had pulled her hands away from her ears. Chisane responded by nodding back simply, but it didn't take a genius to see that she was still shaken from all of the noise. That was one thing that Kaya had learned about Chisane years ago: she was not good with loud sounds, and crowds only made the issue even worse for her. Chisane was fragile and delicate both physically and emotionally, and Kaya had wanted to protect her as soon as she understood what was happening with the other girl. It was a trend that had started in childhood, and Kaya doubted that it would ever truly leave her behind.

Chisane was quiet for a long while, and the noises of the crowd started to die down. The rest of Odaiba was eerie when it was mostly empty, and Kaya wondered just how long the evacuation had been going on for. Surely it couldn't have been that long, right? She and Chisane had left that morning though, and it was the middle of the afternoon by that point. Kaya eventually decided that it wasn't important enough for her to linger on, and she shook off the thought as soon as she realized that there were matters of more value to concentrate on.

"Let's go and try to find someone," Kaya advised. She only said this after she was sure that Chisane would be able to take traveling, and the other woman nodded to her with determination gleaming in her bright eyes. Kaya hated how Chisane could look so upbeat and cheerful when she was actually falling apart on the inside. She wasn't a fool; she knew that something bad was coming, and Chisane could sense it better than she ever could. Chisane was too kind and empathetic. She was more sensitive than any person should have been, and it hurt her more often than Kaya cared to admit.

Still, Chisane chose to not say anything on this matter as she started trailing after Kaya through Odaiba. They were careful to stick to shadows to keep from being spotted, and Kaya resisted the urge to swear under her breath when shadows passed by overhead. This was not going well, though she didn't know what she was expecting. This always happened when Digimon got involved.

Apparently, Atsuo and Hiraku had been the slow ones.

By the time that the two of them had left behind the latter's office, the rest of the building was almost entirely empty. Hiraku didn't think that there were any people there at all, and he wondered just how much time he and Atsuo had spent packing to try and get away from the scene. They would be returning to the building, and both of them were fully aware of this fact, but it was still better in their eyes to be safe rather than sorry. Besides, somebody was going to have to help with sending Digimon back to the Digital World, and Hiraku was more than happy to volunteer while everyone else was helping with the evacuation. He wasn't a field agent, so he wouldn't be involved with that anyways.

"Something is wrong," Atsuo commented, pulling Hiraku out of his dazed thoughts about how unfortunately alone they were in the lobby of the building. Hiraku nodded his agreement, though the action seemed to happen against his will. It was as if he was viewing the world through a filter, like his vision had become stained glass as his ears filled with water that blocked out all that he had ever come to understand.

Before Hiraku had a chance to ask Atsuo for any theories (even though he knew there was no point since Atsuo knew much less about these matters than he did), the ground shook fiercely. This was no small quake, and Hiraku nearly fell over. Atsuo, despite his smaller size, was made of solid muscle, and that allowed him to keep Hiraku steady even with the notably height difference between them. Hiraku gave him a brief spare glance of thanks, but Atsuo barely even seemed to notice.

Instead, all of them were focused on the world at large. Atsuo looked over in the direction of the doors and gestured for Hiraku to follow him. The attack made it clear that whatever had lashed out knew that they were inside. Given all of the ways that Hiraku had been targeted as of late, he was sure that the Digimon responsible knew about them. He didn't want to ask questions, knowing that he would never get the answers that he craved. Even if he wanted to, his mouth felt like it was detached from his body somehow, like it had never belonged to him in the first place.

Another attack rattled the earth, and it took all of Atsuo's energy to keep Hiraku from completely buckling this time around. If that wasn't evidence that something was going on, Atsuo repeated his three fateful words from before, his tone somehow even more rushed and petrified than it had been previously. "Something is wrong," he muttered again, almost as if he thought those words would somehow being him salvation against the rest of the world.

"The power here can't go out," Hiraku muttered. "We have a backup generator here to ensure that everything is kept running and functional at all times... That's the only reason that we aren't completely in the dark right now. I'm sure of it." He wasn't sure where the words had come from, but Hiraku had always turned to facts and logic to comfort him in his hour of desperate need. He had to focus on something aside from the rushing inside of his mind, and thinking about the logistics of the building seemed to be the salvation that he needed.

All of that was thrown out the window the second that the ground shook for a third time. However, there was something different all of a sudden, and Hiraku noticed that the lighting had switched somehow. He and Atsuo had been standing in the lobby of the building, and when Hiraku looked in the direction of the door, he could see that it was suddenly completely obstructed by a large object from the other side.

Atsuo ran towards the door and began to push against it with all the force that he could muster. After a few moments of trying in vain to escape, he let out a sigh, admitting defeat and retreating from the area near the entrance. "It's not going to budge," he said, though the lack of fruit that was created from his efforts made that more than perfectly clear.

"It looks like rock," Hiraku murmured. He didn't move closer to the door, instead simply watching from afar. His heart continued to scream in his ears, and Hiraku wished desperately that it would stop. Why were they all in danger this way? He just wanted to find a way to resolve this as soon as possible. Everybody needed to be saved, and there were only a few people who were capable of offering such security.

"The earthquakes," Hiraku suddenly realized. He wasn't sure where the revelation had come from, but it hit him like a punch to the stomach, threatening to send him crumbling to the ground once again. "The earthquakes were caused by a Digimon, and if I had to guess, I would say that they're trying to lock us in here for some reason. They're desperate to make sure that we can't get out, and... That's why everything has been so shaky."

"But why would they want to keep us in here?" Atsuo questioned. He already knew the answer, and Hiraku was aware that Atsuo was only feigning innocence. However, he didn't dare to call his friend out on such a thing, too focused on the screaming of his heart in his chest to bother. The noise was getting unbearable, and he didn't know if he would be able to keep himself upright for much longer. This was all too much for him. There was a reason that Hiraku wasn't a field agent. He had been sensitive to this as a child, and even as an adult, his fear remained.

His encounter with Ken had been somewhat different because Hiraku knew that, at the end of the day, he was still safe. Ken had been able to take care of him despite the initial bout of paranoia, and Hiraku knew that everything would be alright. This, on the other hand, was a primal fear, a terror that he knew something was going to go wrong. It was just a matter of time before everything started to spiral out of his control, and he would be left to pick up the pieces through choked sobs and endless tears.

"They're trying to lock us inside," Hiraku managed to force himself to say. The words took more effort than they had any right to. "They're trying to trap us in here and then take the building down... Why else would this be happening? Everybody else got out in time so that they weren't caught up in the crossfire, but..."

Atsuo's face grew pale. "You can't be serious..." he whispered, though it was clear that he had already accepted Hiraku's words as fact. When the other man didn't respond, Atsuo swallowed dryly. "We can't get out of here as it is, so what are we supposed to do? This place is meant to be as secure as possible to keep information from getting out and people from getting in, so it's not as if we're going to have much luck anywhere else... That's what Daigo and Maki made it sound like, anyways."

"We'll figure something out," Hiraku assured him, but he was being forced to accept that there was a slim chance of their escape from the building without some added figure of salvation sweeping in to save them from the world's cruelty. He hated this more than he could ever hope to describe. There had to be someone out there who would be able to help him and Atsuo. There simply had to be. He couldn't die there. He knew what was happening with the Digimon attacks, at least to a degree, and he had kept the truth secret because he feared that the Chosen Children wouldn't be ready to face the reality of what he had to say. If they didn't show up soon, he would never get the chance to say that. He wouldn't be able to do anything else with his life that he had dreamed of. Was this really meant to be the end for him?

A hand came down on his shoulder, and Hiraku nearly jumped out of his skin as he looked over to see Atsuo facing him. Atsuo was trying to keep him grounded, and Hiraku realized belatedly that he was on the verge of spiraling into a panic attack. He had to stay focused. He had to think of something, anything, that would keep him from registering the situation that he found himself in. He had to keep hoping, but he didn't know how he was going to do that.

If miracles truly did exist, he needed one as soon as possible.

The sensation of flying was different depending on how it was performed, Takeru found.

Normally, he preferred to fly when mounted upon Pegasmon's back. It gave him a free range of sight, and he was able to hold on if he had to. Pegasmon could attack without setting him down or letting go of him, and Takeru appreciated the sensation of fine hair between his fingers when he was forced to soar through the heavens. He had never felt more breathless than the first time that he rose Pegasmon, and each time that he clambered onto his partner in such a way afterwards, he was reminded of that rush of peace and perfection that had flooded his body that day three years prior.

Then there was the matter of flying with Angemon or HolyAngemon. Takeru had grown over the years, so it was less convenient for him to be carried by his partner. Still, both of the angel Digimon were more than large enough to continue hoisting Takeru around if they absolutely had to. It was less free for them both than Pegasmon's flight patterns were, but sometimes, that was the only option that they had.

As Takeru and HolyAngemon flew through the skies above Odaiba, they could certainly agree that they had no other choice. The situation was bleak, and it had been ever since they first saw Digimon streaking through the streets. HolyAngemon was the most powerful Digimon that they had at their disposal, so they took full advantage of his evolutionary prowess.

One of Takeru's hands was on his head as he tried to keep his hat from flying off into the wind, and his other hand clamped down firmly against HolyAngemon's arm to make sure that he didn't spiral out of his partner's grasp. He wasn't as happy with this arrangement, but the Digimon that they were going to be fighting against would be strong. That meant that they had to kick it into high gear sooner rather than later, and procrastinating on a strong evolution in the name of comfort was not something that they could afford. Everyone was counting on them to be able to fight, and Takeru knew that they had to do everything in their power to continue kicking and biting until their foes had gone down.

Takeru was in the middle of scanning the street below when he heard the whistling sound pierce the air. It was high in pitch and echoed in his ears relentlessly, noisy enough to make him feel as if he was going to start screaming. It was headache-inducing, but Takeru didn't have the chance to complain about it. An attack came hurtling towards HolyAngemon's wing, and before either of them could say anything, they were falling.

Takeru's screams were torn from his lips, and HolyAngemon lost his grip on the blonde boy. They were rocketing towards the ground at breakneck speeds, and for a moment, Takeru remembered what it had been like to fall after Piemon cut the rope of his escape, the final string of his salvation, the day that HolyAngemon first appeared to him. He tried to focus on a plan that would save both him and his partner instead of imagining the way that the ground was quickly moving closer to hit him.

HolyAngemon managed to grab him again, but their impact with the ground was rough. Dirt came to stain HolyAngemon's pristine wings, and a few feathers fell out of place before brushing upon the ground below. Takeru, on the other hand, slid backwards from HolyAngemon's grip. He didn't stop rolling until he hit a building's outer wall, and the air was forced from his lungs immediately. Everything hurt, and he could feel something wet and sticky dripping down the back of his neck. When he pressed his fingers back to check the injury, they came away crimson. There wasn't much blood, but just the sight of a tiny sliver of scarlet was enough to make Takeru feel like he was going to be sick when combined with the recent fall and overwhelming headache.

Pushing himself away from the ground was a slow and difficult task. Takeru's entire body continued to throb as he tried, and his eyes refused to truly focus on anything, instead flitting from one object to another in a desperate attempt to locate the culprit of the attack that had caused such problems in the first place. Was there anyone nearby that could help him? He was hoping with everything that he had that somebody would appear to him sooner rather than later. He didn't know if he was in any condition to fight, and for all he knew, HolyAngemon was in even worse state.

"Takeru! Takeru!"

The distant echo of a voice reached Takeru's ears, and he looked up to see Shakkoumon's massive silhouette moving downwards to the ground. The clay doll Digimon's metallic wings lowered him to the ground, and Iori slid away from his shoulder and onto the concrete beneath them. Iori started running towards Takeru as quickly as he could, and the sound of his footsteps slamming against the pavement seemed to only make Takeru's headache worse. Everything was disjointed and sickening in the aftermath of the fall. He doubted that he had a concussion, but the sensation of falling remained even after he had been pulled from the air and forced back onto the ground.

Iori's hands appeared as grounding gifts from heaven itself against Takeru's shoulders, and the two boys met their eyes a moment later. Something awfully cruel crossed Iori's vision, and Takeru realized dimly that he must have been upset over the attack that had caused this in the first place. Nearby, HolyAngemon got to his feet before taking to the skies once again, but stray pieces of rock could still be seen among his perfectly blonde hair as traces of his nasty fall from a few moments prior.

"Are you alright?" Iori questioned as he spoke intensely to his Jogress partner. His eyes were as bright as grass all of a sudden, and Takeru wondered distantly if Iori's gaze had always been quite so piercing.

"I will be," Takeru assured him. He reached into his pocket, feeling around for something, anything, that would be helpful in stopping the flow of blood on his neck. It wasn't a large cut, but he still figured that it would be best covered up sooner rather than later. It wasn't as if he had thought to bring a bandage away from his home that morning, so he didn't have much to use in this situation.

A sweeping shadow passed over the sky above the two boys, and Angewomon settled down on the concrete nearby. Hikari jumped from her partner's arms before she approached Takeru and Iori both. When she was sure that they were okay, she let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness..." she whispered. As soon as the words left her lips, she shook her head and began to try and focus on their surroundings once again. "There's a Digimon near here, and we have to get ready to fight him off."

Takeru winced at her words. He had expected there to be a Digimon given the circumstances surrounding his and HolyAngemon's attack, but he still didn't like it in the slightest. This was not a favorable position to be in, and he prayed that they were able to escape it as soon as possible. With the combined force of HolyAngemon, Angewomon, and Shakkoumon, they should have been able to worm their way out of it sooner rather than later, right?

Takeru was so caught up in his own thoughts that he didn't notice Hikari had pulled a small cloth from her bag until after it had already been pressed into his fingers. He gave her a nod of gratitude before he pressed it against the cut on his neck. Hikari sure had been prepared for this, and he wondered if perhaps she had been at home before everything started to spiral out of control. It would have made sense given how close they were to the Yagami family apartment. Taichi was out with Sora and Yamato for the day, something that Takeru had learned from his brother, so this was certainly a suitable explanation on Hikari's part. If she had been at home, she would have had a brief window of time to prepare for the attack as well.

"Who are we fighting against?" Takeru questioned. He fully got to his feet, and he continued to press the cloth down against his neck. It wasn't convenient for his arms to be restricted in such a way, but there wasn't much of a choice as far as he could tell. Unless a magical angel with medical skills came swooping in out of nowhere to patch up his injury, he would be stuck like this for quite some time. Three angelic Digimon was more than enough, and Takeru knew that his luck had to run out soon enough.

"Angewomon said that our enemy goes by the name of Hexeblaumon," Hikari replied. "I don't know where he is now, but he has to be close by. Let's go and try to get ready for this. I know that there are other Digimon elsewhere in the city, and we can't stay here for too much longer."

Hikari's movements were quick and to the point, and Takeru was left to smile at the clear resemblance between her and Taichi. Hikari truly had started to come into her own within the past few years, and it was clear what she had in common with her brother. She was a better leader than she was willing to give herself credit for openly, but Takeru would always be more than willing to sing her praises even if nobody else was.

Iori didn't hesitate either, and he trailed after Hikari wordlessly. Takeru took that as his cue to follow in their footsteps as well. He had no idea what it was that would be waiting for them, but he wasn't going to be able to gather any new information as long as he was just standing around. Hexeblaumon was clearly waiting for them, and they had to be ready for whatever was bound to come next. Takeru was relieved to no longer be alone, but he had an awful feeling about all of this. A million questions were brewing in his mind, but he forced all of them as far away from his focus as he could possibly manage. This wasn't the time to get distracted. Everyone was counting on him, and he couldn't afford to let them down. There was too much on the line, so it was time to get down to work.

Mimi had gotten bigger.

This was an obvious fact, yes, but it was still something that seemed to catch Lillymon by surprise. Mimi's expression was painted with guilt as she held tightly to the torso of her fairy Digimon of a partner. Lillymon was nowhere near as nimble as she usually was when she carried Mimi, and while this was to be expected, it was unfortunate regardless. Mimi hoped that they were able to find someone soon. After all, searching for other members of the team was the only reason that Lillymon was carrying her, and she was desperate to give her poor partner a break sooner rather than later.

An outline of a Digimon down below caught Lillymon's attention, and Mimi let out a gasp. Before she knew it, Lillymon was spiraling down to the ground, and she dropped Mimi off against the concrete. The shift between flying and walking was admittedly disorienting, and Mimi threatened to crumble under the sudden rush of her focus to a new task. Lillymon's delicate hand came down around her arm to make sure that she didn't completely lose her balance, and Mimi shot her partner a smile of gratitude before she looked ahead.

The Digimon wasn't one that she recognized, but Mimi could tell that he was moving with a mission. Because he was so far away, details were hard to make out, and Mimi looked to Lillymon for advice on what to do next. Luckily, her partner seemed to know just what to do. "That's Aegisdramon," Lillymon explain in a tense whisper. "He isn't a Digimon that we should trifle with. We have to be ready for whatever he throws at us."

That wasn't a good sign. Mimi's stomach dropped into her feet, and she swallowed back her nerves dryly. This was an absolute disaster. Where had all of these Digimon come from? She doubted that she would be finding an answer anytime soon, but she was going to hope for one regardless. After all, this was putting others in danger, and she had to be able to solve it as long as the people of Odaiba were at risk. Even with the evacuation, it was inevitable that a few injuries would occur or the stray person would slip through the cracks of the order to leave the city. Mimi hated admitting that this was her reality, but she knew that there was no choice but to do so.

"Mimi! There you are!"

A voice came from behind her, and Mimi turned to see Daisuke and Paildramon both coming to land nearby. Daisuke dashed towards Mimi, and she was left to wince at how clearly nervous he was. His goggles looked as if they were on the verge of falling out, and his breathing was heavy and strained from the constant activity. Mimi wondered if perhaps he had been running before Paildramon took them both into the skies prior to their recent landing. Not even his hobby of soccer had been able to save him from this sudden rush of sprinting, it seems.

"Daisuke!" Mimi cried out in surprise as she resisted the urge to throw her arms around him. It was a relief to know that at least one other member of their team was safe. She wanted nothing more than to try and track down everyone else, but she knew just as well as Daisuke and every other member of their team that this simply wasn't an option. They had to fight the Digimon from where they were individually. After all, coming together would only make it harder for them to stomp out the various foes that had appeared throughout Odaiba, and it would waste precious minutes that could prompt another outbreak of invaders.

"It's good that you're here," Daisuke told her. He cleared his throat as he forced his breathing patterns to return to something resembling normality. He rose to his full height again a moment later, and a sigh left his lips. "There are a lot of Digimon around here. Paildramon and I could see them before we came down here to see you."

"A lot of Digimon?" Mimi echoed, trying to hide the note of anxiety in her voice. She knew that there were tons of Digimon in the area of Odaiba, but something about the way that Daisuke said it really didn't sit well with her. Just how many was he talking about when he said 'a lot'? Why was she so nervous about hearing the answer?

"Yeah," Daisuke replied, his expression slipping into panic. "There were at least six or seven of them near here, and they were all moving towards a single destination. I don't know where anybody else is, but we have to hope that they can come and help us sooner rather than later... After all, the place that they were going after is..."

"It's the place where the government agents work," Paildramon explained when Daisuke's voice trailed off. "I couldn't see all that much of the building from far away, but I'm pretty sure that I saw a pretty big rock blocking off the door. It was like the Digimon had reached into the ground and pulled it out of the earth before using it to make sure that nobody could get in or out. I don't know if anybody's going to be able to escape after all of that."

"I hope that nobody's still inside," Mimi murmured, though she somehow already knew that there had to be somebody within the limits of the building. Why would the attacking Digimon go to so much effort if there wasn't someone worth trapping inside? That meant that she, Lillymon, Daisuke, and Paildramon were going to have to find a way to get over to the building, fight off the Digimon that were trying to get inside, and make sure that the people in there were given the chance to escape before they could be hurt or worse. That was an awful lot for two people to do, and given the fact that they only had two Perfect Digimon on their side, it was starting to seem even more difficult the longer that Mimi thought about it.

"We're going to have to get lucky if we want to do this," Lillymon said, her voice wavering with uncertainty. Fighting against six Perfect Digimon at the very least was not something that any of them were looking forward to, and Lillymon was clearly afraid of the concept. After all, even if she and Paildramon were going to be holding back against the enemies, there was no way of saying for sure that their foes would do the same to return the favor. If Digimon were defeated on Earth, their data was permanently deleted, never again given the chance to be reconfigured. That alone was enough of a reason to scare anybody who fought on the wrong side of the barrier, but fighting a battle where they were clearly outmatched was another beast entirely that was even more terrifying than previous endeavors.

"We have to try at the very least," Daisuke pointed out. He looked down at his D-3, and Mimi realized that he had been holding onto it as if it was a lifeline throughout their conversation. He swallowed dryly before he shook his head. "There aren't any signals from the group around here. I guess that they're all off taking care of other things... Unless we get seriously lucky and they decide to head our way, then we have to round this off on our own."

Mimi shoved her hand into her pocket and pulled her phone free of its home as quickly as she could manage. The message that she typed out was brief, only a fraction of the explanation that she could provide on the situation. In short, it was a cry for help and reinforcements, and she prayed that any other member of the team arrived. As it was, the chances of her and Daisuke pulling this off without finding some other scheme to get around the enemy numbers was impressively low, and they were going to need more than a little bit of luck to pull off such an impressive gambit.

"We had better get ready to try and rush in there," Lillymon pointed out as soon as the message had been sent and Mimi returned her phone to her pocket. "I don't think that they're going to wait around forever before they start to storm the building, and if they aren't careful, they could destroy it. Given the track record of infected Digimon, I feel like something is going to cave if we don't go and make sure that this isn't solved soon."

Mimi whimpered in response. She didn't think of herself as a pessimistic person, but this was still a disaster that she didn't know how to see through. There had to be a way out of this. Maybe they could gather information on the infected Digimon and where the dark data patches were located before they rushed in. If they could figure out where they had to hit first, then everything would hopefully fall into place. Perhaps the element of surprise would keep them from completely finding failure. There had to be something that would help them out of this. All Mimi had to do was think of it, though that was unfortunately much easier said than done.

Daisuke pulled his goggles down from his forehead so that they were resting over his eyes. "Well, we aren't going to get anything done by just standing around here!" he declared, all thoughts of hopelessness or fear tossed to the wayside in the blink of an eye. "We can do this! Paildramon, let's go and see what we can do first. Are you coming, Mimi?"

Despite her uncertainty, Mimi didn't hesitate as she nodded. Lillymon took to the skies alongside Paildramon, and they began to streak through the sky towards the building that the enemy Digimon were targeted. "Let's do this," Mimi told Daisuke intently. The two had both pivoted on their heels and started off sprinting before a single other word could be uttered.

---

We're really getting into the thick of the action now!

This act is definitely much more based in combat than the opening to the book was, so we've got a lot of stuff going on throughout this arc. This chapter is mostly helping to set up the next handful of action sequences since everything took a twist from zero to a hundred really quickly. I suggest getting used to this structure of many small scenes that come together to form a larger chapter; we've got a lot more where that came from.

All in all, there's not much to say about this chapter that wasn't already stated within the story itself. We're going to get into more of the intense fighting sequences soon, and that means that we're going to have lots of fun with the characters. Let's just say that it's time to take one thing that Tri did in canon and turn it on its head to fit this variation of the story. This is certainly going to be interesting, to say the least.

With all that said, I'm going to leave you here. I'll see you all next week as we continue the second arc! Until then, I hope you enjoyed the chapter of this week. Feedback is appreciated as always. I hope everybody has a nice day. Until we meet again!

-Digital