Miyako hadn't even started fighting off the Digimon, but it already felt as if she had been struggling for at least half an hour.

It hadn't been easy for her to wish her parents a safe passage out of Odaiba. She wanted to stay with them but knew that there was no choice. Her wish to make sure that both of them were safe remained bright and passionate inside of her, and it only seemed to grow worse when she realized that her siblings were elsewhere in the evacuation messiness that had come to consume Odaiba as of late. They hadn't been willing to let her go, but after some hard-won fighting, she was able to convince them that splitting up would be the best option. She still felt bad about it, yes, but she knew that there was no other option. If they were going to be saved in the long term, she was going to have to push them to make the hard decision for the short term.

Miyako and Silphymon had started running through the streets of Odaiba since then, though it was still much easier said than done for them to figure out where anyone else was. Miyako cursed the lack of warning that they had been given for such a large invasion. She knew that there was nothing that would have made this easier, but she was so frazzled that it felt like all she could do was curse the universe for not treating her with anything resembling dignity. The others were far out of her reach, and she and Silphymon would waste valuable time if they tried to track down other members of the Chosen Children team without fighting off at least a small handful of the enemy Digimon first.

Silphymon's hand suddenly reached out towards Miyako, and the two both pressed their bodies against the side of a nearby building firmly. A Digimon whistled by them, and Miyako shoved her eyes shut so quickly that she had no idea if the shrieking of the wind had come from overhead or somewhere in front of her. She didn't think that it even mattered. There were Digimon near them at all, and that meant that she and Silphymon were going to have to get to work as soon as possible.

Miyako was still for an extra set of precious seconds even after she was convinced that it would be safe to move. She was almost afraid of creeping out of the shadows since there was no way of saying for sure what would be waiting for them. Miyako didn't normally get frazzled this way, but everything had happened so quickly that she had barely been able to get a grip on the passage of time before her life turned upside down in favor of the invasion from the Digital World. She could be ruled by her emotions, yes, and she had been aware of this for quite some time. However, emotions or logic meant little in the face of the attack from the Digital World; nothing would be able to help her out of this aside from brute force and a dash of well-earned luck, and she didn't know if she had any time to try and gain something of that nature.

"Let's go," Silphymon told Miyako as he took a step forward. His wings seemed to shift slightly from the call to action that the enemy Digimon had forced from him, and he looked ready to jump off the ground and into the air if he had to. He was simply waiting for Miyako's cue as a matter of formality and kindness.

Miyako swallowed back her nerves to the best of her ability, though it still felt like her organs were about to burst free from beneath her skin in a messy display of anxiety that threatened to eat her alive. "Okay," she forced herself to say through gritted teeth against the pounding in her skull. How long had she been suffering from a headache? Was that a question that she even wanted the answer to? She assumed not.

Silphymon took to the skies soon afterwards, jumping from building to building like some type of superhero on the lookout for crime on the streets below. Miyako took off running only a handful of seconds later, and she hated the burning in her chest just a few moments after the sensation began. This was a disaster, and she wished that there was more she could do than just wish that it ended as soon as possible.

Meiko knew that something was wrong long before she saw that there was something in her way of escape.

Meicoomon's body went tense in her arms, and Meiko let out a small gasp. Meicoomon had the sharpest instincts out of anyone that Meiko knew, Digimon or human, and the fact that her partner was suddenly tense could not have been a good sign. Maki looked up to the sky from her place nearby, and before Meiko had a way of processing what was happening, she was falling.

To be more accurate, Maki had pressed a hand against the small of her back and sent her crashing towards the concrete. Meiko let out a shriek of surprise as the air was thrust from her lungs in a messy display that left her with skid marks across her palms. Meicoomon had jumped from her grasp at the last minute so that Meiko would be able to at least somewhat circumvent the damage of her fall, and the orange cat Digimon was standing alert a few steps away. Meiko had been ultimately unsuccessful in saving herself from the harm that her fall brought, and her hands began to burn as soon as she pulled them away from the warm springtime asphalt.

The ringing of wings in her ears almost didn't feel real at first. Meiko was convinced that it was something that her brain had conjured to help her to feel disconnected from the situation, but Maki swore from somewhere off to her left, and that was a sign that the flapping of wings was most certainly real. This wasn't some twisted way for her to lose attachment to her body and go on autopilot. There was something close by, and it wasn't going to hesitate to attack them both.

"Okuwamon," Meicoomon suddenly said, and Meiko held tightly to the word as if it was the only thing keeping her from completely falling apart. In a way, it certainly felt as if that was the case, and her body protested her every motion as she tried to move a bit closer to her partner. Had she always been shaking this much? How could she make it stop?

"Okuwamon?" Meiko forced herself to question as soon as she was able to get a grip on herself to speak. It was difficult to find a way to phrase the single word, and she found that she wished she hadn't spoken at all as soon as the word left her lips because of the weight that it seemed to bring to her, Maki, and Meicoomon.

"A Digimon, if I had to guess," Maki muttered, though there was something suddenly darkened and cruel to her gaze. "They've figured out where we are, and they're not going to hesitate to take us out."

Meiko was about to ask Maki what she meant by referring to them as 'we' (did she mean Meiko and Meicoomon? Maki herself?), but she was cut off by the older woman forcing herself to her feet and starting to face the direction where the silvery bug Digimon had come from. Meiko could see the traces of the Digimon's silhouette from her place on the ground, and she wished that she never saw a bug that big ever again. She had never been fond of bugs in the first place, but Meiko was confident that she was bound to develop a downright phobia of them before this disaster of an invasion was over.

Meiko forced herself onto her knees slowly, trying to resist the swaying pull that her shaking body brought. Meicoomon launched herself into the sky nearby, though her words were stolen away by the wind as she brought down a harsh clap of a fist against Okuwamon's shell. The sound of impact echoed, but no damage was truly done. Instead, Okuwamon simply shoved Meicoomon off as if she were nothing, and while the orange cat Digimon sustained no true damage, the pounding in Meiko's ears only continued to get louder upon seeing this. She didn't know if she cried out for her partner or not, but she didn't think that she was ever going to get her answer.

Maki's fingers wrapped around Meiko's upper arm as she hauled the black-haired girl to her feet, and Meiko stumbled as she tried and failed to find her balance in the face of Okuwamon's giant pincers. Was it possible to die of fear? She certainly felt as if that was an option if it was possible given the screaming of her heart in her chest and the whistling in her ears that came from a combination of fear and a plea for outside assistance.

Before Meiko could completely register what was happening, another attack came streaking in out of nowhere before slamming into Okuwamon's shell. This strike had more than enough force behind it to force Okuwamon into a spiral that knocked him into the concrete, kicking up small rocks without any issues. Meiko threw up her arms when she saw a notably sharp pebble rocketing through the air towards her, and while she was able to deflect it with her wrist, she barely felt the pain at all because of how distracted she was by the new arrival.

JewelBeemon appeared overhead, and he landed on the ground beside Meiko with his spear primed for another attack. Meiko was so shocked and overwhelmed by his sudden appearance that she felt as if her body was simply going to give out from beneath her. Unfortunately for her, it seemed that her legs agreed with such a sentiment, and her knees bowed to the side as soon as she was able to fully process what was taking place. Everything was so overwhelming to her, and she barely noticed what was happening as the ground almost rushed up to meet her.

At the last minute, an arm wrapped around Meiko's waist, and she slowly managed to return herself to something resembling stability despite the pounding inside of her chest and head. When she looked over, she could see Ken staring at her with wide, concerned eyes. "Are you alright?" he asked, though his words were faraway and distant, almost as if they were being spoken on the other side of a filter made of pure water.

Meiko was slow and careful when she nodded to him in response, unsure as to if it was actually the truth. Thanks to Ken, she was alive and on her feet though, so that had to count for something. Even if it felt as if the world was falling down around her, this was at least a small blessing, and she was more than willing to consider it a good thing given what could have happened had he and JewelBeemon been even a little bit too late. Meicoomon simply wasn't strong enough to battle Perfect Digimon as it was, and she didn't know how that fact was ever going to change.

"You three should get out of here. We can take care of Okuwamon," Ken suddenly declared, and Meiko realized belatedly that he was speaking at least in part to her and Maki. She nodded carefully, looking down to Meicoomon for reassurance. Her partner seemed to agree that this would be for the best since Okuwamon had them more than outmatched in the department of raw strength, so they were going to have to take matters into their own hands in other ways.

Meiko's legs still felt like gelatin as she started to move away from the scene, and her heart screamed inside of her body until she was able to find a solid rhythm where her feet were slamming against the concrete below. Maki's hand wrapped around her own, but Meiko knew that the other woman was messing with something using her other hand. She couldn't quite see what it was that had caught Maki's attention to such a degree, but Meiko ultimately decided that she didn't want to think about it as long as she was in such extensive danger. There was too much for her to focus on, and her curiosity regarding Maki's actions could wait until they weren't at risk of being pierced by Okuwamon's sharp body.

Please just let this end soon. I don't know how much more of this I can take.

Ken waited until after Meiko and Maki had disappeared from sight alongside Meicoomon before he pointed to Okuwamon once again. "JewelBeemon, find the dark patch of data and take care of him! We need to be able to take him out of the fight as soon as possible!" he announced firmly.

JewelBeemon didn't wait for even a second before rushing forward, his spear outstretched in a show of clear power. Ken nodded to himself, glad that they were able to at least somewhat resolve the issue of Meiko being in danger. Until Meicoomon was able to regularly evolve to the Perfect level, the rest of the group would have to look out for her. He somehow doubted that sending her off with the rest of the evacuated city would be a good idea, though he had no idea quite where this thought of uncertainty could have come from. He acknowledged it regardless, believing it to be the best course of action.

There was one thing about the recent chain of events that struck Ken as odd. Maki had been fiddling with a small device, and Ken recognized it instantly as the odd device that Hiraku had been using. It likely wasn't the same one that Hiraku owned, instead being a variation that belonged to Maki rather than her companion, but the sudden parallel certainly didn't sit well with Ken. It seemed that the device was a connection between Hiraku, Maki, and Daigo if Taichi's past words were to be believed, but what could it have meant?

When Ken had asked about it the first place, Hiraku had acted rather dodgy around the subject, almost as if he was afraid of revealing the truth. If it was simply a matter of them having something that would be useful in their line of work involving Digimon, then he would have said that upfront. There had to be more to the strange devices than met the eye, and Ken was determined to figure out what it was as soon as possible. The fight was going to distract him for at least a little while, but he would make sure that answers came to him soon enough.

Ken was pulled away from his thoughts suddenly and violent when a buzzing noise filled his ears, and he looked up to see that Okuwamon was diving past JewelBeemon towards the place where Ken was standing. He let out a small gasp, though the sound was ultimately lost among the screaming of the wind, before pressing his body against the ground. Somehow, he managed to look even more disheveled than he had previously, and Ken hadn't even known that such a thing was possible.

When he rose to his feet, Ken could see that JewelBeemon was firing off a series of attacks from his staff. Ken hated how shaky his body was, and he could tell that it was going to take a lot more deliberate energy than he would have liked to calm his nerves after he was so suddenly met with something as terrifying as that.

However, there was one positive that had come from the attack, and Ken smiled to himself as he looked up so that he was able to catch JewelBeemon's attention. "I think I know where the dark patch of data is!" he cried out to his partner. That certainly motivated his partner to turn his way, and Ken pointed in the direction of Okuwamon. "Check on the underside of his body! I think I saw it when he came diving after me!"

JewelBeemon didn't waste a moment as he launched himself towards the silvery bug Digimon. He was little more than a streak of green mixed with pale yellow and red among the sky, but Ken was still able to keep his gaze focused squarely on his partner despite this. His hand tightened around his D-3 as he pulled it from his pocket, treating the small device as the one thing that kept him from completely falling apart under the stress of the situation.

When JewelBeemon got close enough to attack the data patch with his spear, he was unfortunately met with a noisy cry from Okuwamon, and the force of the yell was more than enough to send JewelBeemon spiraling down towards the ground. His back made rough contact with the concrete below, and a deep dent was left behind where his back made contact. Ken resisted the urge to run to his partner's side, knowing that JewelBeemon would be able to take care of himself but hating that he had to stay away for the sake of safety.

"Ken! There you are!"

Ken was so focused on JewelBeemon and making sure that his partner was safe that he didn't even notice the voice that rang through the air calling his name. When he finally did turn, he was met with the determined expression of Miyako. She was holding tightly to her glasses as Silphymon jumped between buildings overhead. Silphymon was cradling his partner in his grasp, and he set down Miyako beside Ken before launching himself into the thick of the fight a moment later. Miyako almost stumbled from the sudden sensation of being on the ground, not because Silphymon had been rough with her but because of how much of a struggle it was to adapt so quickly.

"Miyako!" Ken exclaimed, his eyes going wide. He found himself reaching out to take her hands in his own after he set his D-3 back in his pocket. He was being glad that she was alright, and her being present was certainly going to make the remainder of the combat they had to endure that much easier. Miyako knew what she was doing, and since Silphymon could reach the Perfect level alongside JewelBeemon, they would have a more solid defense than ever before.

"I'm glad to see you," Miyako told him with a goofy grin that had come to be known as her trademark over the years. "You sure do look stressed out. I can't imagine why that would be." She didn't even seem to have noticed that Ken was holding her hands, likely because she was too frazzled to even bother looking down. It was strange of Miyako to be so flustered over something like this, and Ken decided that he didn't like it in the slightest.

"You too," Ken replied. He finally pulled his fingers back and looked up to the battle against Okuwamon taking place nearby. Both JewelBeemon and Silphymon were fast enough to run circles around their target, but the boost in strength had made it much harder for them to make meaningful attacks against their foe. Okuwamon's armored shell was simply too thick because of the data patch, and Ken realized that the previous attack that JewelBeemon had carried out against Okuwamon's shell had worked primarily because there was an element of surprise that he hadn't noticed initially.

Miyako let out a sigh, and she began to glance down at her D-3 once again. She gasped soon afterwards. "Hey! It looks like Meiko is around here!" she cried out. "I'm going to find her and make sure that she's safe. I completely didn't notice that she was here, though I guess that I was a bit distracted by Okuwamon. He's big enough to see from quite the distance away, and I wanted to make sure that you were safe before I did anything else in the area, you know?"

"Thank you for wanting to make sure that I was okay," Ken told her with a gentle smile that had been constructed far more carefully than he expected. "As for Meiko, I can assure you that she's alright. I ran into her before you came here, and I told her to hide alongside Ms. Himekawa. I don't know exactly where they are right now, but I said that I was going to take care of Okuwamon before they came back out. After all, Meicoomon still can't reach the Perfect level, and Okuwamon seemed to be deliberately targeting Ms. Himekawa for some reason. I figured it would be best if we handled it ourselves." He looked up to JewelBeemon, a clear sign that his partner was the other party in the 'we' that he had just stated.

"We can pick them up after the fight ends. After all, we can protect them if we have to," Miyako pointed out, and Ken nodded his agreement. Miyako let out a sigh and looked back up to the fight. "Hopefully, we'll be able to make quick work of Okuwamon. Everything is so chaotic around the city, you know. There are too many Digimon to count, and I don't know if we're going to be able to defeat them all unless we start to team up."

Ken nodded, trying to swallow down the knot that had formed in his throat. He shook his head to himself, desperate to try and get all of this over with. He knew that it wasn't going to be quite so easy, but his hope told him to continue dreaming regardless. The other Chosen Children were going to be fine, and they were going to have to take care of themselves even while divided if they wanted to find a way out of this situation. Finding one another as a party of thirteen was only going to waste an extra set of precious minutes that they could not afford to lose. There were too many Digimon for them to be able to group together. Splitting into small groups was their best option as much as Ken hated to admit it, and he hoped that everyone was able to catch onto and agree with such an idea as well.

"We're going to be fine," Miyako suddenly told Ken, snapping him out of his thoughts. He looked up to see that she had a shaky smile on her face, a sign that she wasn't going to be giving up no matter what happened next. Ken grinned to her in turn, glad as always for her optimism. Miyako could be dramatic at times where her mood swings were concerned, but when push came to shove, she truly did know what she was doing, and Ken couldn't have asked for a better person to be part of his team of companions.

A cry overhead from Silphymon prompted both Miyako and Ken to turn their attention skyward, and they saw that the former's partner was diving towards Okuwamon's shell with pink energy crackling along the surface of his body. With a powerful slashing of his arms, Silphymon released the blast, and his leg kicked down against Okuwamon's head firmly enough to send the silver bug Digimon spiraling down towards the ground. Okuwamon had seemingly been too focused on JewelBeemon to see that Silphymon was coming towards him until it was too late, and he was now prone and vulnerable enough for both Silphymon and JewelBeemon to prepare to deliver the final blow.

Miyako cheered as she pumped one of her arms into the air above her head. "Go, Silphymon!" she cried out. She clapped her hands together, but then, almost as if she was hit with a sudden revelation, she stopped in her excited cheering. Her arms fell down to her side, and she began to glance around at the nearby buildings. Ken realized that she was likely searching for a laptop that they could use to send Okuwamon back to the Digital World. They had all been in such a rush that it seemed none of them-Ken, Miyako, Meiko, or Maki-had thought to bring a laptop. The situation had been so pressing and stressful that they didn't even think about something so crucial in their moment of initial panic that came with the announcement.

When Miyako dashed off to try and find something that they could use to turn on the portal to the Digital World, Ken turned his full focus back to the fight. Silphymon and JewelBeemon were both, with a little bit of effort, able to flip Okuwamon over so that he was flailing on his back. It hadn't been an easy effort, but it left the dark data patch exposed to the midday sun overhead. From there, all it took was JewelBeemon pulling back his spear and bringing it down roughly to make sure that Okuwamon's possession was ended.

When the data finally disappeared, Okuwamon's color scheme lightened back to what Ken remembered it being from the first time that he and Daisuke had achieved Jogress so many years prior. Okuwamon began to shrink as well, a sign that the Digimon had grown when Ken wasn't paying attention. He was confident that he had been too focused on the fight to notice how large Okuwamon had become, and given that he didn't have a size comparison involving Okuwamon that included JewelBeemon, it made at least a little bit of sense that he didn't notice something was wrong.

Okuwamon's body was limp in the aftermath of the fight, and Ken heard footsteps slam against the concrete beside him. Miyako appeared beside him, and with a quick series of fluid motions, she was able to transform Okuwamon into a streak of data that flashed through the screen of a laptop that she had seemingly procured from a nearby building. Once Okuwamon was gone, Miyako shut the laptop, and Ken was left wondering how in the world Miyako managed to find a device so fast.

However, Ken ultimately decided that such a fact was unimportant when JewelBeemon and Silphymon began to shrink. Their shapes distorted until Poromon and Minomon were left behind in their places, both of them looking absolutely exhausted. Ken approached the two Digimon and scooped them up into his grasp, keeping one of them balanced in each arm. He looked to Miyako afterwards. "We have to find a place where they can recover their energy. If it took that much for them to just defeat one Digimon, then that means that they're going to need all the strength that they can get before we move on and fight another enemy from the Digital World," Ken told her.

Miyako nodded her agreement. She let out a sigh and gestured for Ken to stay where he was before she turned on her heel and bolted off down the street. Ken watched as her silhouette faded into the distance before entering one of the buildings, and he glanced down to the pair of Digimon in his arms when he was sure that he wouldn't be able to see Miyako anymore. He didn't know what they were going to do from there, but he prayed that Miyako had at least an inkling of a plan. As it stood, no members of their group were in any condition to fight.

It felt like an eternity had passed by the time that Miyako returned, and her breathing had grown heavy with exertion and frustration. She forced herself to ignore the rushing of her own mind as she looked up to Ken with determination gleaming in her eyes. "We should go back to my parents' store," she suggested. "We can pick up food there, and it's not all that far from my apartment. I'll grab my laptop while we're there, and then we can use that from now on to send the Digimon back to the Digital World. How does that sound?"

Ken didn't have any objections, so he nodded at her words. When he looked down, he saw that both Poromon and Minomon were watching Miyako excitedly, undoubtedly because of the promise of food that came with going to the Inoue family convenience store. Ken chuckled to himself at their open joy as he took a step in the direction where Meiko and Maki had gone. After all, it would certainly help them out if they were able to retrieve their other companions before setting off for the store. Eliminating the need to double back was bound to be crucial given how time was of the utmost importance.

"Everything is going to be fine," Miyako assured him, and when Ken looked up in her direction, he could see that her gaze was starting to falter. She was trying to put up a brave face not just for Ken, but for herself as well. That was much easier said than done, but the attempt was still being made and then some. Ken was glad to see that Miyako's constant optimism had not yet dimmed even with the dark circumstances that they were enduring, and even if this wasn't going to be easy, they were going to find a way through it together.

The walk towards Meiko, Maki, and Meicoomon was agonizing in a way Ken never anticipated. It felt like a lull in the action that was just going to give way to more combat. There were no other Digimon in the area, but the sensation remained all the same, ugly and bitter as it watched him from over his shoulder. Ken kept on glancing back just to make sure that there were no other monsters that he would have to somehow fight off with only a pair of Baby Digimon and an inexperienced Adult.

By the time that Ken had arrived along with Miyako and their two partner Digimon, he was feeling oddly exhausted. He didn't realize how tempting it was to just let his eyes slide shut in an attempt to push the rest of the world away until it felt like he was already halfway there, but it was barely the middle of the day in the heat of one of the largest battles that had taken place in Odaiba in a long time. There was too much riding on this for any of them to back down. Their path was clear: first, it was back to the Inoue family convenience store, and then the time would come for them to go after the next Digimon.

Meiko's hands were still shaking by the time that she approached Miyako. She let out a sigh and shook her head to herself. "M-Ms. Himekawa says that she has to go back to find Mr. Nishijima," she told Miyako and Ken carefully. Her eyes were wide and transparent, a clear reflection of the terror that was passing through her body and mind. "We're going to have to find our next destination for ourselves, I guess."

Ken nodded to himself, unwilling to truly show how concerned he was for her. Meiko appeared to be on the verge of falling apart, but he somehow doubted that his brand of comfort would get through to her in that moment. The glaze of Maki's eyes made it seem as if she had been trying to help Meiko ever since their little group split up, but given how frazzled Meiko still was, it seemed as if Maki had found minimal success in the matter.

Miyako, on the other hand, didn't seem to be deterred at all, and she slung an arm around Meiko's shoulders to keep the other girl in something similar to a calm state. It was debatable as to if this entirely worked, but Miyako didn't seem to mind either, way simply insisting on offering the gift of her presence for a short while to see if it would do something in the long term. Meiko's body seemed to lose its tension, and the pain melted away a moment later as she released a sigh from her lips. Meicoomon stared up at her carefully, trying her best to make sure that her partner wasn't trying to hide her suffering from the rest of the group.

"She's right," Maki suddenly cut in, and Ken looked over to see the taller woman was starting to walk in the direction that they had come from. "Daigo isn't going to be able to get everyone evacuated on his own, and as much as I would love to stick around, I know that I have other things to take care of. Just be sure that you don't go running into any trouble while I'm off with him, got it?"

Ken nodded his response before he could fully process what Maki had said. If he was being honest, it wouldn't be possible for him, or anyone else, to make a guarantee that this would end well. They were holding tightly to bitter hope for better or worse, and they were just going to have to hope that they found a way to endure the way that they always had in the past. Ken allowed himself to sneak a glance down at Minomon, and he saw that his partner was watching him with bright eyes and a care that showed that he was fully aware of how his partner truly felt.

"We'll see you later on then," Miyako told Maki. The two shared a simple nod before the latter of the two women turned on her heel and walked away, disappearing down the street to continue her duties. Ken watched the place where her silhouette vanished from view for a long time, uncertain of when the others would be ready to get going. Why did everything have to come crashing down so suddenly this way? He absolutely hated it.

Miyako was the next one to speak, though Ken should have honestly expected that given how exhausted both of their partners were and the fact that Meiko and Meicoomon both preferred to remain silent rather than speak openly. "We're headed back to my family's convenience store next," Miyako explained to Meiko, earning her the attention of the other girl easily. "We're going to need to give the Digimon the chance to stock up on energy before we keep fighting. The last thing we want at this rate is for them to push too hard and wind up crashing when they can't keep going anymore, right?'

Meiko responded with a nod, and Meicoomon curled protectively around her legs. "Great," Miyako went on. She took a grounding breath before her traditional smile appeared on her face once again, radiant with all of its charming little quirks. She gestured for the others to follow her as she started moving in the direction of their destination. "Let's get to it then. After all, the city isn't exactly going to be able to save itself, huh?"

Miyako was the leader of their group, and Ken caught up with her briefly to pass Poromon into her grasp. After the fact, he retreated to the back of the group, though he kept sneaking glances over his shoulder just to make sure that nothing was happening. This mess was not good on his paranoia in the slightest, and he had no idea how he was supposed to get out of this situation without feeling as if he was going to fall apart.

Ken's primary focus eventually became simply stepping down on the pavement, and he allowed the rhythmic pattern of each motion to become his one lifeline to staying awake. The day had turned out to be a disaster, yes, but he still had to make the most of it. The Digimon that had been infected prior to the invasion weren't going to save themselves.

Everything, Koushiro thought bitterly, ended eventually.

It wasn't as if he didn't already know this. He was fully aware of such a fact being the truth, but knowing something and experiencing it were two separate things. He had found out that the experience was just as bitter as he remembered it being when he heard the crashing of the ground below and knew that it was about to lead to something awful.

The buildings of Odaiba seemed like such sturdy things at a first glance, tall and imposing as they made attempts to pierce the heavens themselves. The tallest of the spires seemed to be reaching out for heaven, expressing a wish to receive affection from the skies that they would never be able to truly return in kind. Koushiro admired such marvels, but every once in a while, he realized that life was not always as perfect as it seemed.

The buildings weren't sturdy enough to sustain indirect hits from Digimon, he found, and that was how Koushiro had wound up with a cut in his arm as he cradled his laptop closely against his chest. The overhead skyscrapers had almost crumbled completely, and Koushiro hadn't even noticed what was happening until after there was already warm crimson dripping down his upper arm. He regarded it with shock at first, wondering how he was going to cope with something so significant in the heat of a battle. Could he even do something that would reverse such an unfortunate effect?

Luckily for Koushiro, Jou always seemed to show up at just the right time, and that was how Koushiro found himself sitting on the street of Odaiba as Jou tended to his arm. Jou was carefully wrapping a bandage around the injury, and Koushiro was beyond relieved that Jou had come to be so prepared over the years. It had been something that he knew from the very start, since Jou carried food as a camp leader and toilet paper when they returned to combat in the Digital World, but Koushiro didn't think that he had ever been more thankful for it than in that moment as he looked down at the cut on his arm. The overwhelming flow of blood had been nauseating to him at first, though he was starting to get at least a little less bothered by it. Koushiro hoped that was what he felt anyways. His head was still spinning, but he couldn't look away from the injury no matter how hard he tried.

"There you go."

Koushiro was pulled out of his thoughts when Jou pulled his hands away from the wound with a time-worn weariness in his eyes. Nearby, Zudomon cried out the name of his signature attack as he lashed out at a nearby Digimon. Koushiro wasn't sure what Digimon it was. He hadn't been given the chance to see before Jou practically dragged him to sit on the ground so that his injury could be tended to.

"Thank you, Jou," Koushiro told him with a grateful smile. He could tell that his face was pale because of all that had happened within the hurricane of the past few minutes, but he could hardly force himself to mind. He wound up looking down at his wound once again despite his mind telling him that doing so was the worst idea that he could have possibly had.

He couldn't see much of the damage that had been done, but Koushiro could see the outline of red on his sleeve. He had rolled up the segment of fabric when Jou appeared and said that he was going to fix the injury, but when Koushiro pushed it back down once again, he could see the scarlet in full once more. Why did it bother him to see so much? He had seen blood before, right? What made this time so different for him?

"Koushiro?"

Once again, it was Jou's voice that pulled Koushiro out of his trance. He nodded in response, a sign that he was ready to get back into action, as he pushed himself to his feet and focused on the battle at hand. A cry came from overhead as AtlurKabuterimon shouted out his 'Horn Buster' attack, summoning a massive burst of energy that spread outwards with impressive ferocity. Koushiro sighed with relief, but he found that he couldn't see the full force of the fight.

Curiosity must have crossed his face as he realized this, as Jou began to explain a moment later. "I took us away from the battle when I noticed that you were hurt," he explained, his smile lopsided and unique in every sense of the word. In a way, it was the perfect grin that suited Jou and no other person on the face of the planet. "They're going to be able to handle everything. When you're feeling better and we're ready to go back, then we can put in our help. How does that sound? We can trust them until then, wouldn't you say?"

Koushiro nodded, glad that Jou was so calm now of all times. He needed that more desperately than he initially thought, and he let out a sigh as he tried to focus on the world around him. He pressed his fingers against the cool metal shell of his laptop, and he allowed the cold sensation to seep in through his palms and spread outwards from there. He needed to stay calm. Everyone was counting on him, and Koushiro was going to do what he had to in order to make sure that the people of Odaiba were kept safe in the face of this attack.

It wasn't until after Koushiro had been standing there for what felt like an eternity that he finally felt as if he would be able to move once again. He wasn't sure where the numbness had come from, but he was positive that he didn't like it. He had to focus on the battle at hand, didn't he? This wasn't the time to get distracted.

Koushiro crouched onto the ground once again and opened his laptop, suddenly getting a grasp of what he had been doing before the building began to rain debris from above. He was glad to be out of the immediate silhouette of the towering structure thanks to Jou seemingly pulling him away while he was dazed from the cut on his arm.

Koushiro willed himself to concentrate on the map of Odaiba that appeared on the screen of his laptop. He could see approximately twenty-three dots scattered across the city's boundaries, and Koushiro was glad to know that two of the Digimon from before had been defeated. He figured that the ones who had conquered the Digimon in question mattered little. As long as they were able to take care of the situation, that was what mattered most. Everything would come together soon enough.

Suddenly, one of the flashing dots began to change color, and Koushiro let out a gasp as the signal shifted from being black to a basic shade of pale yellow. He noticed that the signal was the one that was closest to himself and Jou, and if that wasn't a sign that Zudomon and AtlurKabuterimon had managed to defeat their foe, he didn't know what was.

Koushiro forced himself to rise to his feet once again, but he kept his laptop open and propped up with his right arm, otherwise known as the arm that hadn't sustained past damage. He waited for a moment just to make sure that he wasn't seeing things, and Jou came to peer over his shoulder in curiosity despite the massive height difference between them. Koushiro could practically feel Jou's smile over his shoulder before the older chosen Child burst out into quiet laughter that felt more like a sign of relief than legitimate excitement.

"We should go and send that Digimon back to the Digital World," Jou suggested, and he pressed down on Koushiro's shoulder carefully, doing what he could to offer a reassuring presence without frightening the other boy. Koushiro nodded in response, not moving to look up to Jou despite knowing that he should at least make an attempt to do something of that nature.

"You're right," Koushiro said a moment later. He reached into his pocket with his injured arm just to make sure that his Digivice was still there even though he knew that it was going to be waiting for him the same way that it always had been. He let out another sigh before starting to walk down the street, careful not to push himself too far. Sending this Digimon back to the Digital World was the next step. He could focus on what came afterwards when this had been taken care of, and that sounded like one of the best things Koushiro had heard all day. How low his standards had gotten, he thought somberly.

In Maki's humble opinion, the evacuation was going too slowly and taking far too long.

When she returned to the place where Daigo was working on funneling people out of the city, she cringe when she saw that there were countless people still gathered together in the area. She wasn't happy with that even though she knew that it was no fault of Daigo's that it was taking so long. Maki was antsy and impatient, on the edge of her seat because of the sudden onslaught of Digimon, and that was clouding her judgement. She knew this to be the case, but it still did little to calm the screaming inside of her head at the realization that there was still so much that had yet to be done.

Maki checked her phone for the time, and she recognized that she had likely been gone with Meiko, Miyako, Ken, and their partners for only half an hour at most. It had felt like an eternity, but it hadn't been all that long in the grand scheme of things. Why was this day already feeling as if it was going to last an eternity and then some before everything was resolved and sealed away? Maki just wanted all of the Digimon to be defeated so that the people could return to their lives. It would eliminate the need for this damn evacuation, but Maki knew just as well as everyone else that such a thing was not going to be taking place. She would simply have to bear it and make the most of a bad situation whether she wanted to or not. Being upset about it wasn't going to do much of anything to change the circumstances, and she had people to save above all else.

Over time, Maki could see more people walking past her with limps or strains across their bodies. It was difficult for her to pinpoint what exactly the issues could have been, but it didn't take a genius to see that this was likely a result of the Digimon attacks. Everyone had to get out of Odaiba above all else, and medical assistance could come next. Maki didn't know how they were going to take care of that, but she knew that it would find a solution soon enough. Even if she wanted to do something to resolve the issue, she knew that it wasn't her problem to solve. Other people would have to think of something. She was stuck in Odaiba until the evacuation was completed, after all.

Maki could see that all of this constant activity was starting to wear on Daigo as well, and when she looked over at him, she felt as if he was the most exhausted that she had ever seen him. In fact, it seemed as if he was on the verge of completely falling apart. Maki made a mental note to drag him off and ensure that he got a good night of sleep after this was all taken care of. In fact, he would have been lucky to escape within a week of this attack given how intense Maki was bound to be on him.

She let out a heavy sigh and shook her head to herself. All of these hurt people must have come from somewhere, and she prayed that everyone who had been on the scene at the time had managed to get away safely and without any issues. Some bitter part of Maki deep down knew that it wasn't going to be that easy since it seemed like nothing ever was, and she found herself shaking her head in an attempt to dispel the anger that was quickly rising inside of her. Nothing that she tried worked, and she let out a sigh of frustration in between her words of direction to send everyone out of the city together.

Maki just wanted all of this to stop. That was the main reason for her thought process, plain and simple. She prayed that it ended soon enough, and she looked up to the sky, almost as if she thought that it would be able to deliver her message to the Chosen Children that she needed them to find a way to pull this off sooner rather than later. Lives were at stake, and this wasn't the time that any of them could afford to slack off.

Everything was a haze until Jou heard the screams.

He and Koushiro had managed to send back the attacking Digimon to the Digital World, and their partners had turned to them in preparation for the next set of directions. Koushiro had been on the verge of giving out the best suggestion regarding their following destination, but a series of screams pierced the air, and Jou just started running in the direction of the noise with everything that he had, desperate to see what it was that was going on.

Koushiro had followed him, and when Jou rounded a corner to a residential street, he could see that there were many people still bunched together. If he had to guess, he would have said that there were roughly fifteen of them, and he felt as if he was going to be sick. So many people were still in the main part of the city instead of focusing on the order to evacuation.

When Jou got closer, he realized that the screams were coming from a trio of young children. Their families were all grouped together along with a few others, and Jou recognized that they had likely been hurt under the influence of a Digimon attack the same way that Koushiro had suffered. Jou was on his knees beside the nearest child as soon as he was able to pull his mind away from the endless haze that had come to fall over him. He had to make sure that they were alright as soon as possible. Everyone was counting on them for that much.

Jou wasn't thinking about the Digimon being present as he started to shuffle through his supplies. Many of the adults in the area watched Jou as if he was their one source of salvation in the face of the terror that had come to rest over Odaiba in the past few hours. He was only concentrated on helping the children that had been hurt, and that appeared to be a relief to those who had suffered as a result of the dreadful attacks at the hands of the Digimon.

"There's no other Digimon here to have caused this attack," Koushiro whispered. His hands were shaking as he stood a short distance behind Jou, watching him work when he was able to stomach the sight of light cuts and bruises. The injuries weren't significant, and Jou was thankful for that much, but he could still understand why they upset Koushiro in the first place. Given how Koushiro had been hurt just earlier in the day, it made a startling amount of sense.

"What do you think that means?" came the voice of AtlurKabuterimon from above. Zudomon was standing behind the two boys by a short distance while AtlurKabuterimon flew in the air overhead. The humans only seemed to be somewhat calm around them because they were openly friendly. Even though he was a bug that possessed the ability to frighten many people, AtlurKabuterimon seemed to be the least of their concerns, and a few of the kids were even sharing soft whispers amongst themselves as they stared at Zudomon from afar.

"I believe that it means the Digimon who did this to them is searching for something," Koushiro explained. "We've heard of it happening with the past attacks, and I think that it rings true here. This attack took place because the Digimon was trying to find a specific target, but when they came up short, they retreated and decided to try and find their prey in another location."

"It's a good thing," Jou said quickly, more to himself than anyone else. His hands were moving of their own accord, and he was almost impressed with the power that his hazy autopilot possessed. If he wasn't on the verge of feeling like he was going to pass out, he probably would have expressed greater amusement at such a course of action, but as it was, he could barely spare the extra thought in such a direction.

"Of course," Koushiro agreed without a moment of hesitation. "But that means that there are other Digimon around here, and they're trying to find something specifically. Whatever it is that they want, we can't let them get their hands on it..." He fell silent as he watched Jou continue to work away at mending the injuries of the people standing before him. "I... I'm going to try and take care of this with AtlurKabuterimon. I know that you don't want to leave them here, and I'm not going to ask you to do that either. We'll take care of what we can and reunite with you later. Make sure that you can get them out of the city, okay?"

Jou nodded, and he spared a brief glance over his shoulder in Koushiro's direction. His expression, which had hardened in the face of the injuries before him, fell into something much softer as he watched the redheaded boy put his laptop into his back in preparation for his upcoming flight above Odaiba. "Be careful out there, okay? Don't hesitate to contact me if something goes wrong, and be sure not to put too much pressure on that arm," he said solemnly. His tone made him sound more like a doctor offering typical reminders to a regular patient rather than someone praying that his friend didn't come to harm in the midst of an invasion of monsters from another world. In a way, the whiplash of tone was strange, but Jou didn't have much time to process it before he pushed himself to pay attention once again to the matter at hand involving the people that needed medical assistance. His hands returned to their swift practice of acting on their own without much input from his mind.

Koushiro smiled as he registered what Jou had said, and he nodded in response even though he knew that Jou wouldn't be able to see such an action. "I promise," he assured Jou. He missed the small smile that spread across Jou's face at those two simple words once again because of the perspective, and Koushiro took off in the opposite direction a moment later.

AtlurKabuterimon came to land on the ground near Koushiro, and from there, it was easy for the red bug Digimon to scoop his partner up into his grasp. Afterwards, it only took a handful of seconds for Koushiro to take his position atop AtlurKabuterimon's horn the way that he had countless times in the past. AtlurKabuterimon spent one more moment observing the scene, including giving Zudomon a glance to make sure that it was alright for them to leave, before he took off into the skies. The faint buzzing of wings only grew softer as AtlurKabuterimon and Koushiro disappeared from view, and soon afterwards, their presence in the area was little more than a memory to Jou, Zudomon, and all of the injured people that were waiting for the assistance of the Chosen Child of Reliability.

Jou's life felt like a strange paradox in that moment, he had to admit. His mind was both running at a thousand miles an hour and an excruciatingly slow pace at the same time, and he didn't know if it was even possible for him to find a middle ground between the two. Instead of thinking about that, he decided that it would be for the best if he simply focused on the task in front of him. He had to make sure that everyone in the area was safe and well before he could send them on their merry way to evacuate from the city itself.

Zudomon continued to watch them dutifully, though it wasn't uncommon for his gaze to shift to the skies. Jou managed to finish patching up a small cut that had formed on a child's leg, and the young girl hobbled back in the direction of her mother before practically collapsing into the grasp of her caretaker, screaming in pain and fear. Jou hoped that he had been able to do at least a little something to lessen her agony, but even so, her cries and screams continued to echo into his mind's darkest recesses long after he had become numb to outside influences.

Zudomon's purpose in watching the sky overhead was obvious; he was attempting to ensure that they weren't ambushed by any Digimon that were hiding in the shadows, and Jou was thankful for such. It meant that he could at least somewhat lower his guard, though such was much easier said than done. After all, he had simply gotten too used to being overly alert throughout the course of the day up to that point, and calming down suddenly seemed like an impossibility that he didn't know if he could conquer even if he wanted to.

Jou hoped that Koushiro was alright. Above that, he hoped that everybody was alright by the time that this was over. It wouldn't be easy for him to see that everyone was fine given that he had willingly separated himself from the one other member of the group that he had actually managed to find, but he would find a way. He had managed to figure something out in the past when it felt like the world was falling apart, and Jou was sure that he would be able to do such a thing once again in this situation as well. At the very least, he hoped that this was the case.

It was funny how quickly everything had changed. Jou had spent that morning wondering what it was that he would be doing over the course of Golden Week, and then, it all fell apart, as if the future was a handful of sand grains that quickly and steadily fell from between his fingers. It had been so sudden that he hadn't even been given a chance to prepare, and in a way, remembering it felt like a slap to the face.

When Jou was given a break between patience and cleaning cuts, he looked down at his hands. His fear of blood was gone, but that didn't change how haunting it was to see crimson underneath his fingernails. No matter how much he scrubbed and scraped, he knew that he wouldn't feel clean for quite some time. Everything had changed so quickly, and while the future was the only option for them in that instant of combat and terror, Jou couldn't help but selfishly wish that there was a way for him to prevent all of this by traveling to the past.

Things are getting intense now!

This chapter is pretty self-explanatory, if I'm being honest. It's all about catching up with the characters in their various places across Odaiba, and we're going to start getting into detail with the others that have been less explored soon enough. Because everyone is split up, the chapters are a bit more chaotic than the first arc's releases, though this does make sense given the context. Plus, I feel like the swapping around of location and perspective helps to make the chaos of the situation feel real on a choice of writing rather than simply within the plot.

All in all, there's not all that much about this chapter that stands out for the time being, but it does establish an important piece of groundwork for Jou's character arc once again. The other scenes with Miyako and Ken show how far their relationship has come since Zero Two since they have a great sensation of fundamental trust between them. I've never been a huge fan of Miyako and Ken as a pairing (and it won't be in this story since I can't imagine them getting together over the course of this fic's runtime), but I still enjoy writing their dynamic. They're radically different, but I really do think that works to their advantage.

That's all that I'm going to say for now, so I'll see you all again next week as we continue with this story's second arc. Until then, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Feedback is appreciated as always. Have a nice day, everyone!

-Digital