It had been a while since Miyako and Hikari had started walking toward the center point where the Chosen Children were likely going to be meeting up. Miyako had figured out the area that was approximately at the center of the chaotic region where the Chosen Children were scattered, and she and Hikari started moving as soon as their partner Digimon were fed. Hawkmon and Plotmon were walking alongside them, but Plotmon hadn't been able to find the energy yet to evolve back to her form of Tailmon. The battle against Daemon and the subsequent ambush from Dagomon had drained everyone, and it was clear as could be.
Miyako shot a glance over her shoulder in the direction of Hikari, wishing that she knew what to say. Hikari had been so quiet ever since they started walking, and it felt like a stab to the stomach in a way. Miyako didn't know quite how to describe it, in all honesty. She could just tell that something was wrong with the glossy eyes that Hikari used to observe the world around her. Miyako had been able to see for quite some time that Hikari was slipping back into her habits of repressing her emotions from the rest of the world, afraid of the consequences despite the fact that everything was alright.
Of course, knowing this wasn't enough for Miyako to figure out what she had to do to fix the issue. In fact, it was almost more frustrating that Miyako knew what was going on since she still didn't know what to do to resolve it. To Miyako, it was as if the solution was just on the other side of a wall of water, and no matter how much she tried to push against the current, she couldn't seem to grasp it.
It was this sense of struggle that eventually caused Miyako to let out a heavy sigh of frustration, and Hikari perked up at the aggravated noise from her companion. "Why won't let you help me?" Miyako questioned, her voice on the verge of unraveling. "I can tell that you're falling back into your old habits of hiding your feelings, but I don't want that for you! Hikari, you have to talk to someone about what's going on. I can't help you if you don't talk me, and I'm tired of seeing you suffer all the time because you're afraid of saying something."
Hikari's expression was painted with shock at Miyako's words, and she attempted to find a solution in vain for a few long moments before she felt Plotmon nudge her ankle gently. Hikari glanced down and saw that her partner was looking up at her with pure concern in her gaze. Hikari swallowed dryly, seemingly able to sense that she wasn't going to be able to worm her way out of this anytime soon.
"I... I don't want to see anyone get hurt," Hikari told Miyako, almost perfectly mirroring the words that she had spoken the last time that this subject came up. "We're in such an awful situation here having to fight against Dagomon now even if we've finished our mission of defeating Daemon... Did you see what happened during the fight that we had against him?"
"I don't know if you could even call it a fight," Miyako muttered with a snort and a shake of her head. "But I do know what you're talking about. He was staring at you, wasn't he?"
Hikari nodded. "He was... And I know why that was the case too... The Deep Ones under his command were trying to bring me to him to fight off the Kaiser all that time ago," she murmured softly. "But now, he must want something else... In a way, we're trespassing in the Dark Ocean, and he could be using that as an excuse to try and get me under his influence."
"I'm not going to let that happen," Plotmon cut in, her eyes narrowing with determination. "It doesn't matter what he tries to do. I'm not going to let him lay a hand on you regardless of what he tries. I'm going to protect you no matter what, Hikari."
Hikari smiled down at Plotmon, though there was still hesitation in her gaze. "Thank you, Plotmon," she whispered with such gratitude that it was almost overwhelming. "I don't want anyone else to get hurt on my behalf... Dagomon could have caused problems for everyone during that attack, and... We're lucky that we're still alright. I don't want to see any other members of our team get hurt because of this."
"I don't want you to get hurt, Hikari," Miyako told her suddenly. "I know that you're trying to hide a lot about this, you know. If you keep bottling everything up, then you're going to wind up hurting yourself on accident, Hikari. I don't want that for you. It's alright to open up to us and accept our help, you know. Please... Give us the chance to do something to help you."
"Everybody else has more than enough to think about as it is. I don't want to be the one to add to their worries," Hikari responded. "I refuse to be the one who causes problems for them, Miyako... They have so much to worry about now as it is, and I... I can't just unload all of this onto them. It wouldn't be right. I don't even know if I feel right about doing it with you, and you offered to help me."
"Any member of our group would offer to help you," Miyako countered. "Think about it. We've always been there for one another no matter what's happened in the past, so why won't you let me help you out now? I know that it's scary, and I know that it isn't easy. But you can't just let your problems eat you alive! You did this when we were younger, and I helped you out of it. Now, you're slipping back into old habits, and I... I don't know what to do about it, Hikari. Please let me do something to help you out."
"Every one of us is here for you," Hawkmon agreed as he looked up to Hikari. "We have supported one another up to this point, and that system of comfort isn't going to be disappearing quite so easily."
"B-But... I..." Hikari began. She glanced between Miyako, Hawkmon, and Plotmon for a long moment, desperate to find anything that she could latch onto as an excuse to keep herself from speaking further on the matter. In the end, the only thing that she found was desperation reflected in the eyes of everyone around her, and Hikari knew that there wasn't going to be an easy way for her to worm her way out of this one. She let out a sigh and shook her head. "I'm worried about everyone else."
"I am too," Miyako agreed with a nod. "I can tell that they're all hurting, but I don't know what to do about it... But I do think that I know at least a little something about what to do to help you out, Hikari. If you would just let me do something to reach out, then it would be helpful for all of us. You're only hurting yourself in the long run. Keeping all of this bottled up until you snap isn't going to help anyone in the group no matter what your head is telling you. Let me help you. Let all of us help you."
Hikari looked at Miyako for a long moment, hesitation clouding her deep eyes, before she sighed and shifted her attention down to her feet. "I know that it's ridiculous to say this, but... I feel like it's my fault the Dark Ocean is causing so many problems all of a sudden," she said softly. "It doesn't make any sense, and I know that, but... I don't want to leave any of you to suffer because Dagomon wants to get his hands on me for some reason or another."
"What happened the first time that you came to the Dark Ocean anyways?" Miyako questioned carefully. "You and Takeru haven't ever wanted to talk about it, and... I get it. This place is awful, and you wouldn't want to think about it if you could avoid it, but I think that it's important to start talking about it now given the circumstances."
Hikari hesitated before she sighed. "The Deep Ones were calling for my attention... They wanted me to help Dagomon in reclaiming power from the Kaiser. Apparently, the Kaiser had managed to set up Dark Towers in the Dark Ocean somehow, though I suppose that does make sense given how Ken's Digivice was able to open a portal for us to send Daemon here three years ago. I don't know what happened with the Deep Ones after I turned them down, but... I never saw the ruler of the Dark Ocean. I didn't even know his name until it came to me earlier today," she confessed.
Miyako nodded along with a light hum as Hikari continued. "I think that the connection between the Crests of Hope and Light had something to do with Takeru managing to come here even without a portal. The barrier was weak back then, and... I guess that the link between our Crests was enough. The point is that he managed to come through the gate, and when he did, we fought our way out and managed to return home. I didn't want to talk about it afterward since I didn't know what was going on, but... That's what happened," Hikari finished.
"I see..." Miyako muttered under her breath. She shook her head as she looked over to Hikari once again. "But this isn't your fault. You have to understand that at least a little bit, right? You couldn't have known that the Dark Ocean was going to resurface like this, and even if you did know, that wasn't on you. Daemon was the one pushing at the barrier to cause the invasion where everything fell apart. That's not something that you could have known in advance. This isn't your fault, and you need to stop treating yourself like that's the case."
"If only it was that easy," Hikari said softly. "It seems like I can't escape my own thoughts about it no matter how hard I try... Nothing seems to work. I just feel like this is something that I should have been able to prevent, but... I know that isn't true..."
"But you do feel like it's your fault that Dagomon showed up," Plotmon chimed in. When Hikari's eyes went wide, Plotmon continued. "Don't think that you could hide something like that from me, Hikari. I can see it in the way that you've been carrying yourself. Something is bothering you, and that has to be it."
"Is that true?" Miyako questioned as she looked up to Hikari even though she already knew the answer. It seemed as natural as could be, and Miyako meant that in the absolute worst way possible.
Hikari nodded carefully. "Dagomon wants something to do with me, and I... I don't know if I would be able to take it if any other friends of ours got hurt because of him wanting something with me. It would be too much, and I... I can't take it. This place is so negative and awful, and... I want us to get out of here as soon as possible," she confessed, the words coming out faster as her dialogue continued.
"We're going to be with the rest of the group soon enough... And when we do reach them, I'm going to make sure that they stop keeping all of this stuff in," Miyako muttered with a snort. She had seen more than enough in terms of emotional repression to last a lifetime. She had been frustrated three years ago when Hikari and Ken were hiding things, but that seemed like nothing compared to the way that everyone in the team was feeding off these dreadful habits to try and survive. It was as if the thing that Miyako dreaded most had come back to taunt her just for the hell of it, and she hated that it actually felt plausible.
Hikari let out a small chuckle at Miyako's words even though the lavender-haired teen wasn't joking in the slightest. "It's sweet how much you want to look out for everyone," she admitted softly. "It really is nice that you want to make sure everybody is as happy as possible. I know that times are hard right now, but... It's great to see."
Miyako shrugged loosely. "I don't want anyone to feel like they have to hide all of this stuff just because times are hard. If anything, that feels like even more of a reason for people to open up and start talking about all that's bothering them, but I guess that would be too easy," she said with a shake of her head. "When did everything get so complicated? It doesn't seem like everything was always like this."
Hikari didn't meet her gaze when she looked forward at the path they were walking on. "When we get older, we notice things about ourselves and the world around us that we didn't see before. Once we start seeing these things, it's impossible to go back to how we once viewed the world. I guess that everybody is starting to see how complicated everything is, and... It's hard to face something like that," she suggested.
"It seems like everything is out of our control and has been for a while," Miyako confessed as she shook her head. "I don't get it. Everyone is suddenly clamming up at the idea of talking to each other, something that never would have happened a while ago. We've been dealing with a lot, yeah, but... I thought that everyone understood that we were there for each other. We've done that in the past, haven't we? Why would all of this make things any different?"
"People are hard to understand sometimes," Hawkmon said simply. He and Plotmon glanced over at one another and shared a nod of agreement, undoubtedly their way of designating the fact that they felt this at least to some degree about their human partners.
Miyako let out a harsh bark of a laugh. "You can say that again," she agreed. Then again, it hadn't been all that long ago in the grand scheme of things that she hadn't understood a thing about Hikari or Ken, and yet, she was able to close that gap soon enough. She had taken a while to fully comprehend what was going through their heads, and yet, she was able to get there. Miyako had learned how to utilize her powerful sense of empathy and passion in a way that was effective, and it had helped her to reach out when her friends were struggling.
It had worked in the past, and that was why it frustrated her so much when it didn't seem to work as well in the present. She had done everything in her power to reach out and help her friends before all of this happened, and Miyako fully intended to follow up on this for as long as she could. She didn't want to see any of them suffering, and if there was something that she could do to ease their pain, then she was going to do it. Miyako felt everything strongly, and in this situation, she felt helpless above all else. It had become such a staple of the past few weeks that it was impossible to shake even after she was able to get Hikari to start talking about what had been bothering her all this time. The word was like an echo in the back of her mind that refused to leave Miyako alone no matter how much she willed it away, and it was starting to get on her nerves and then some.
Miyako wanted to say something else, anything that would at least begin to absolve her of the sinking feeling in her stomach, but she was suddenly cut off by the sound of waves crashing against the nearby shore. Miyako glanced over in the direction of the sand, stumbling back by a few steps. Hawkmon moved to stand in front of her, and the same happened with Plotmon and Hikari. Miyako spared a look in Hikari's direction, noticing immediately just how pale the other girl was. Miyako already knew what she was thinking before she could find the time to ask.
Water seemed to shoot in all direction as the ocean began to stir, and Miyako threw up her arms to try and defend her face from the liquid that was falling down from overhead. It was as if the ocean had turned into rain that was intending to do nothing short of completely soaking the two humans and their partner. Miyako was glad that the ocean's downpour wasn't overwhelming enough to wash the group out to sea, but she still knew that this was hardly a good sign.
Miyako's glasses were completely covered and fogged up with water when she was able to open her eyes once again, and she shoved one hand into her pocket to fish out her Digivice. Not for the first time, Miyako was thankful that the Digivices and D-Terminals were waterproof thanks to the Digital World's power. She looked down to Hawkmon in preparation of the battle that she knew was going to be coming before shifting her attention up to the sea once again.
There were Deep Ones quickly surging out from the shoreline, not yet shifting into the forms of Digimon but growing closer regardless. It was impossible to count exactly how many of them there were, and that was enough to send a shiver running up Miyako's spine. There was no way that the group would be able to outrun them, exhausted and isolated as they were. They were simply going to have to stand their ground and fight.
"Hawkmon!" Miyako exclaimed. Her partner nodded and flew into the air as light consumed him, his shape starting to shift already.
Hikari, on the other hand, looked down to Plotmon carefully. When she received a nod in response, Hikari sighed and held out her own Digivice. Light once again flooded the area, this time a signal of Plotmon's evolution.
Miyako had no idea what this battle was going to bring, but she decided that she was going to be ready for it one way or another. She didn't have any other options as far as she could tell, and she had to be able to get back to the rest of the group when the time arrived. The Deep Ones were getting in the way of her accomplishing that goal, and so, she was going to have to fight them off. That was the only choice that they had, but Miyako couldn't help but pray that this was the best option.
Please let this not end horribly.
"I can't stop thinking about it."
That was much the opening that Ken expected to a conversation of this solemn nature. He was hardly surprised when Daisuke shoved the words out with a frustrated sigh. "I can't get it out of my head no matter how hard I try. I can't stop thinking about what Daemon did, and... It's obnoxious. I don't want to have to constantly remember what happened the day that Daemon attacked us, but at the same time, it seems like I can't escape it no matter how hard I try."
"Daisuke..." Ken whispered softly, unsure of what he could say to make this better. He didn't even know if there was anything that would be able to resolve this issue. How could words do anything to erase the pain that Daisuke had been in ever since the initial attack by Daemon took place? Ken wanted to be there for him, but as much as he hated to admit it, he didn't have even the slightest clue what to do on the matter.
"I want to be able to move on. I want nothing more than to be able to stop thinking about what happened, but... It seems like I just can't forget it," Daisuke confessed. "I did the right thing, and I would do it again. I was trying to make sure that you weren't hurt, and I don't blame you at all for what happened. Daemon was the one who hurt me after all, not you. I just... I can't believe that I'm in a situation like this. I never expected that to happen, you know?"
Ken nodded. He hadn't ever anticipated to see Daemon back in his life again, and even though GrandisKuwagamon had taken care of the situation once and for all, he knew that he wasn't going to be able to forget about this anytime soon. None of them were going to be able to forget, especially not when the Dark Ocean insisted on taking up even more of their time than any of them would have liked.
Daisuke sighed with a shake of his head. "It seems like I can't stop dreaming about it. It's like my mind is just biased to remind me about it," he continued. "I want it to stop, but I don't think that there's an easy way to just forget about something like this."
"It's hard to move on from trauma," Ken murmured. That was exactly what this was, wasn't it? Daisuke had suffered something that no person should, and it was starting to weigh him down whether he wanted to admit it or not. There wasn't an easy way to stop thinking about it, and Ken understood that far better than he would have ever wanted to admit.
Daisuke was quiet for a long time, seemingly just trying to process the words that Ken had spoken. "I guess so," he said softly at long last. "All of us have seen a bit of that in our time as Chosen Children, huh? I guess that it was time for my luck to catch up to me."
"You shouldn't have had to go through this," Ken told him, the intensity of his own voice surprising him. "Nobody should have to endure something like that, Daisuke. It's alright to have a hard time because you don't know what to do about this. It's as you said... All of us have had that struggle at some point or another, haven't we? We're all here for you in case you decide that you need anyone to help you through it. All you have to do is say the word."
Just saying all of that made Ken feel like a hypocrite, if he was being perfectly honest. He was the one who had forced himself into silence for so long because he was afraid of bothering his companions. He had known that the rest of the group was there for him, but he hadn't been able to force himself to reach out. Daisuke had told Ken all of this, and Ken was saying it in return despite having struggled to remember it just a short while ago. Then again, weren't they both struggling with something similar? They knew that there were people who supported them no matter what, but it was impossible for them to actually recognize it. Hearing something and listening to it were not the same thing, after all, and that seemed all too clear all of a sudden.
Daisuke smiled in response, but it was still strained and tense. "Thanks, Ken," he replied simply. His eyes were tired, and Ken suspected that it was not just this night that Daisuke had been struggling to find sleep. This had likely been a running theme the same way that Ken's nightmares about Osamu and Daemon had been for so long.
Ken remained silent for a while after that, simply allowing the quiet to come in around them, before he was able to bring himself to speak once again. "Daisuke... I have to ask... Why aren't you wearing the goggles anymore?" he questioned carefully. He hadn't ever thought that it was right that Daisuke abandoned them, if he was being honest. Daisuke had always been a beacon of hope to Ken in some way or another, and the goggles helped to complete such an image of light. It didn't seem natural to Ken to see them on Taichi even though he was technically the original owner of the goggles.
Daisuke looked over at Ken in surprise for a moment before he sighed and looked up at the ceiling of the cave, almost as if he was deliberately trying to avoid making eye contact with Ken. "I don't think that it's right for me to wear them right now," he admitted quietly. "It's ridiculous, but it feels like I failed everyone during the fight against Daemon. I know that isn't true, but I can't seem to stop thinking about it that way no matter how hard I try to."
"Of course it isn't true!" Ken cried out, his eyes going wide with surprise at the mere implication of such a thing. He forced himself to quiet down soon afterwards when he saw the other occupants of the cave stir at the noise. "Daisuke... You haven't failed any of us. You saved my life. How could that at all be considered failing at anything?"
"I know, I know," Daisuke sighed with a shake of his head. "It's absolutely ridiculous, and I know that much better than you would expect. Still... It's like I can't get this out of my head no matter how hard I try. Nobody thinks that I failed them, but... I feel like I should have tried to do more when we were first attacked. It's ridiculous, but... I think that I have to get over my weakness regarding that fight before I'll be ready to wear the goggles again."
"You aren't weak though," Ken insisted. "You might think that you aren't acting right, but... What exactly is the preset behavior of someone who's been through something awful? It takes time to move past something that hurt you. It took me a long time to find my footing enough to open up to the rest of you, didn't it? Nobody thought that I was weak or a failure when I was struggling though, and we don't feel that way about you either."
"I know that you're right," Daisuke told him. "And that's the worst part. I know that you're being honest about this and would never lie to me about something so serious, but... I can't seem to get it out of my head no matter what I do. I know that you're right and that I'm not weak, but I can't seem to convince myself of it fully. I know it, but I can't seem to understand it."
Ken nodded. "I know what you mean," he murmured under his breath. He had felt that quite a bit when he first started to find himself as part of the team dynamic three years prior, and it took much more time than he was willing to admit to finally recognize that everyone cared about him with everything that they had. He was glad that he did eventually recognize it, of course, but he wished that he was able to do it sooner.
"But I'm going to try and stop hiding all of this," Daisuke continued. "It feels wrong. Everyone seems to have a thing or two to hide these days, and I hate it. Everything used to be so much easier when we could just talk to each other like normal."
"You're not wrong there," Ken agreed even though he had never been the type to easily speak with others in such a way. "We have all been struggling, but... I feel like it's just how we're all responding to what's going on. Everyone has different ways of recognizing the things that hurt them, and it isn't easy to have to face all of that so firmly as we have been."
Daisuke's head leaned back against the wall of the cave. "Yeah," he said simply. "I wish that I could help everyone, but it seems like that's impossible. I don't know what they need, and I don't know what I need either. It's going to be a lot easier said than done to get everyone what it is that will help them."
"And we aren't even with everyone right now," Ken finished for him. "For the time being... How about you just focus on looking out for yourself? You've been keeping a lot inside, and you shouldn't have to hide all of that because you're nervous for some reason or another."
Daisuke looked over at Ken in muted surprise for a long moment before he nodded. "I promise." He allowed a gentle smile to pass over his features. Ken welcomed it because it felt at least halfway like Daisuke. It was hardly the gleaming smile that he was used to seeing on a regular basis, but it was a step in the right direction given what Daisuke had been through, and Ken was more than willing to accept it given the circumstances.
The two boys fell silent for a while after that before Daisuke's head started to lull to one side. Ken didn't even realize that Daisuke had fallen asleep until after gentle snores reached his ears. When he glanced over, he saw that Daisuke's cheek was on the verge of touching his shoulder. Ken simply smiled to himself and adjusted Daisuke so that he was laying on the ground rather than sitting against the side of the cave. If he didn't change positions, Daisuke was bound to wake up with a wicked cramp in his neck, and the last thing Ken wanted was to put his friend under even more stress.
Ken watched Daisuke rest for a few minutes longer before a gentle smile appeared on his features, and he didn't bother holding it back. For the first time in what felt like forever, Ken actually believed that he was making progress with helping the other members of the team. Beyond that, he was sure that they were going to be able to resolve their issues before everything consumed them, and that was much more comforting than anything of that nature had a right to be.
But that still didn't give Ken the peace that he would have needed to slip off into slumber. After all, he had to stay concentrated at his duty in looking after the entrance of the cave to ensure that they weren't attacked. Ken shifted his attention to the hole of the cave that allowed him a way to view the outside world, and he reached for his D-Terminal once again. There weren't any new messages, not that he had expected much of anything else. It was unrealistic to imagine that the other members of the group had responded during that brief conversation he shared with Daisuke, and Ken wasn't going to force his high expectations onto them if it could be avoided.
Ken read over the messages that he had been sent once again and sighed to himself. He was glad that most of the group was safe, at least for the time being. He was going to do what he could to look after the rest of his small group until they were able to reunite with the other members of the group. It was the least that he could do, if he was being honest. Ken shook his head as he shut his D-Terminal once again. He was already starting to make the progress that he knew they had to cover, and that was more reassuring than he ever could have imagined. Still, he was going to take it as comforting for the time being. After all, this was the least that he could do for himself in such a dark situation. He could only hope that the other members of the group were finding peace and relative ease from wherever they were scattered across the Dark Ocean.
The fight wasn't going well.
Hikari could see it in the way that Valkyrimon and Angewomon handled themselves against the Deep Ones. At a first glance, it didn't seem as if there was anything out of the ordinary, but Hikari knew better than to be sucked into the illusion that they were doing perfectly. She could tell that Valkyrimon and Angewomon were struggling whether they wanted to admit it or not, their movements just that tiny bit slower than they should have been. They were still tired from the earlier battle when the group had been together in full, and it wasn't going to be easy for them to pull themselves together before this battle came to a conclusion.
Hikari watched as Angewomon created her bow and fired an arrow right at a herd of Deep Ones. A dark cloud of data immediately rose up from the area where she had attacked the enemies. Valkyrimon slashed his blade outwards in a grand arc to cut down the Deep Ones that had dared to get too close to him. They were doing a decent enough job of avoiding the attacks of the Deep Ones, but they weren't as fast as they could have been, and Hikari couldn't help fearing that perhaps this was going to wind up being their downfall. Perhaps she was fearing the worst because of the recent situations that she had found herself in, but Hikari couldn't banish the thought no matter how hard she tried.
Hikari and Miyako kept themselves just close enough to the scene of the battle to see what was happening, though they were still far enough back that the Deep Ones wouldn't be able to go after them without attracting the attention of their partners in the process and winding up a whisper of data on the wind from the defense of the Digimon. Hikari's gaze was very rarely on the actual battle itself though. Her eyes kept on trailing beyond the Digimon at the ocean that sat behind them. The sea rolled in the same casual way that it had been before the Deep Ones first appeared, though that was little comfort in terms of helping to ease Hikari's fears. To her, all that it meant was that Dagomon wasn't traveling through the ocean in that specific moment to ruin everything that the group had been working up to. It didn't matter how much energy Valkyrimon and Angewomon may have had; there was no way that they were going to be able to stand a chance against Dagomon when push came to shove.
"Hikari, we're going to find a way to figure this out," Miyako told her, reaching out and taking Hikari's fingers between her own. Hikari met Miyako's gaze for a moment that seemed to last a thousand years, though she couldn't say why exactly it was that the time seemed to slow down for that of all thing. All she could bring herself to do was stare at Miyako's deep eyes and all of the passion that they contained.
Hikari eventually did pull her gaze away from Miyako though, and the cause was the way that the sand beneath them trembled when a Deep One was thrown down against the ground thanks to Angewomon's effort. There weren't any other Deep Ones that were appearing out of the ocean, but that was still a small comfort in Hikari's mind. There was so much that they were going to have to do if they were going to be able to get out of this situation untouched, and it left her heart pounding in her chest with pure anxiety.
"I mean it," Miyako pressed when she saw how nervous Hikari still was. "We've seen all kinds of hopeless situations in the past, haven't we? I don't think that it's really out of the question to say that we're going to find a way to fight back now too. Think about all that we've been able to pull off in the past, Hikari. We've gone through too much together to back down at a time like this. We're going to find the rest of the group and get back to Earth soon enough. This is nothing compared to what we've done in the past."
Hikari wanted nothing more than to believe that, but it was so much harder than it had any right to be. Why was it so difficult for her to realize that they were going to find a way to be alright? She had been too stubborn to give up at times in the past, so why was this any different? Miyako still had faith, but if Hikari's grip on the situation started to slip, then everyone else was going to get anxious too. She had to try and find a way to stay concentrated on what she could do no matter how hopeless and nerve-wracking the circumstances appeared at a first glance.
No matter how Hikari tried to look at it, the root of her concern was the ruler of the Dark Ocean. Dagomon had tried to reach for her in the past thanks to the Deep Ones, and there was still a part of her that was afraid that the Deep Ones were going to try and take her back to Dagomon no matter how hard she tried to fight back. Everyone else had already gotten hurt because Dagomon seemingly wanted them to be separated for the sake of ease to getting to her specifically. That was how Hikari had interpreted the situation, at the very least.
She didn't want anyone to get hurt because of her. She couldn't even imagine the guilt that she could be forced to carry if the other members of the team suffered damages from Dagomon because they were trying to keep her safe. The mere thought sent Hikari's stomach flipping, and she thought that she was going to be sick the longer that she thought about it. She had to do something to keep that from happening, but where would she even start? She didn't even know where most of the team was, and that made it much harder than it would have been otherwise to look after them.
Hikari was afraid of Dagomon for a thousand different reasons, but the primary one was that she didn't want anyone else to get hurt. She was fine with stepping in the line of fire and putting herself on the line if it would mean peace for others. She had been this self-sacrificial ever since she was young, and Hikari doubted that the habit would be breaking in the Dark Ocean of all places. She refused to sit back and simply watch as those that she cared for found themselves in pain or agony because of her.
Angewomon let out a groan of pain as a Deep One managed to get in a particularly brutal hit against her. She snarled in response and unleashed a large beam of pink energy that seared through the Deep Ones in her general vicinity before turning them to nothing more than black data that fogged up the sky. Even though the Deep Ones weren't as strong as the past groups had been, there were still too many of them, and their sheer overwhelming numbers were the worst part about having to fight against them.
Valkyrimon joined Angewomon at the heart of the fray, slashing his sword in a grand arc and chopping down at least six Deep Ones in the process. The shrieks of the otherworldly creatures echoed over the open sea before becoming mere whispers of the past as their data stared to spiral up to the sky once again. Hikari looked up at the point where the data vanished from sight, something in her chest almost feeling like it was trying to break on her.
Hikari spared a glance over to Miyako next, seeing the sheer determination that was written on her friend's face. Their fingers were still bound together as Miyako cheered on Valkyrimon and Angewomon from a distance. There was sand in her lavender hair and bruises forming across what skin was visible on her arms, but she was doing her best to remain confident and strong even in the face of danger. It was so perfectly Miyako in every way possible, and there was no other way that Hikari could think of to describe it.
Hikari was terrified of seeing those around her suffer and be hurt because of her. It was what had led her to sacrifice herself to Vamdemon during his siege of Odaiba six years prior, and while she had simply been a girl without a partner at that specific moment in time, Hikari still managed to change the course of the battle once and for all. She was able to do that again this time, but she had countless others by her side. She had to take advantage of that and do at least something to try and stop everything that was unfolding around her.
I can't just let this happen.
Before Hikari could fully say for sure that she was doing, she shoved one hand into her pocket and pulled out her pink Digivice from where it had been resting out of view. She stared down at the screen, vaguely aware of the fact that Miyako was staring at her but not entirely processing it. Hikari continued to stare down at her Digivice, waiting for something, anything to change. She wasn't going to simply stand by and watch all of this happen because she was afraid. She had done more than enough of that since the Dark Ocean first entered her life again. Hikari had been passive and detached out of fear for a thousand different factors, but she was going to do what she could to reclaim the light in a world of darkness. She owed it to herself and to everyone that she had sworn to protect so many years prior.
That was the cue, it seemed, as the Digivice was suddenly overwhelmed with a bright glow that spread throughout the area in the blink of an eye. Hikari was able to continue staring to the center of the inferno of illumination even as Miyako recoiled and held one arm up over her face with a grunt of muted pain. She saw the outline of the Crest of Light against the screen of her Digivice, and Hikari simply knew that she was doing the right thing. This was the truth that she had been afraid to find leading up to that point, and she was going to embrace it.
The Deep Ones all began to shriek at the sight of the pink glow as well, many of them pulling away from the battle in surprise at what they were seeing in a belated attempt to cover for themselves. However, they were unable to escape before the glow overwhelmed Angewomon as well, and her shape began to change amidst the carnation light. Hikari knew what was happening, and she couldn't help but smile to herself. She was doing what she could to mend the situation, and this was the best place to start.
"Angewomon, evolve to... Ophanimon!"
When the light gave way, there was a humanoid Digimon with turquoise armor suspended in air where Angewomon had been a few moments prior. Her wings were bright gold in color and seemed to glow against the darkened sky of the region. The Deep Ones stared up at her in curiosity, though Hikari could sense their fear even from a small distance away. She swallowed dryly as Ophanimon rushed into the battle once again, her spear jingling slightly as she did so.
"Hikari...!" Miyako began, and Hikari was dragged back down to Earth when she realized that she and Miyako were still holding hands in the reality that she had escaped in the moments when Angewomon was evolving to Ophanimon. "You did it! Ophanimon has to be the Ultimate form of Angewomon!"
Before Hikari could fully process what was happening, she was pulled into a grand embrace by Miyako, and Hikari found herself surprised at first. After a moment of simply standing there, Hikari allowed herself to return the gesture, a light smile lining her lips. All of this felt right in a way that she didn't know how to articulate, so she simply chose to stay silent. For a few brief seconds, it seemed as if the exhaustion of the past few hours did not exist. All that mattered was the fact that she and Miyako were holding on for just a little while longer, and Ophanimon was giving them that chance.
Valkyrimon seemed to fight with even more intense vigor after Ophanimon's evolution, and Miyako's cheers from the distance only helped his morale further. Hikari smiled in the direction of the battle, wishing that she could speak despite the firm knot in her throat that made it clear that she wouldn't be able to do so easily. The whole way through, Miyako didn't pull her hand away from Hikari's fingers, and Hikari found herself wondering if perhaps Miyako had forgotten that they were still connected in the chaos of the moment. It didn't take long for Hikari to evaluate her emotions on the matter and realize that she didn't mind it either way.
Ophanimon's fighting power was most certainly something to be reckoned with, and that was a truth that Hikari learned almost right off the bat. None of the Deep Ones stood a chance against the power of Ophanimon under the influence of her new evolution, and she had been strong enough as Angewomon as it already stood. Hikari didn't think that she had ever seen her partner with such overwhelming strength, and all she could do was stare, her lips slightly agape from pure surprise. She hadn't ever expected to trigger an Ultimate evolution at this time out of all the chances that she could have been given, but she wasn't going to object to it. After all, this was going to help her out of the dark situation that she had found herself in, so who was she to protest?
Before Hikari knew it, the numbers of the Deep Ones thinned out even more than before, and it was hard to believe that there had once been an entire force of fighters standing on the beachside just a few moments prior. Ophanimon and Valkyrimon worked well together, though Hikari supposed that such a thing made sense given the fact that they were Jogress partners and had to work together in order to form Silphymon for the past three years. They had done countless feats of greatness together in the past, and the present wasn't giving her any reason to disbelieve everything that had taken place in the past.
"They're tearing through them!" Miyako cried out with a bright grin. She looked over to Hikari, unable to calm her smile. It was like a beacon of brightness against the darkness, and Hikari found herself almost lost in Miyako's optimistic eyes. "It looks like we're going to be able to get out of here faster than we thought!"
Hikari smiled at Miyako's words and turned her attention back to the fight. She could see the turquoise, white, and gold streaks that represented their partner Digimon, and it was clear as could be that they were going to be able to escape this seemingly impossible situation much faster and easier than she ever could have expected. Not even the sheer numbers of the Deep Ones had been able to stand up to the combined force of Valkyrimon and Ophanimon, it seemed.
"It looks like it," Hikari found herself murmuring in response to Miyako. She felt Miyako's grasp on her fingers grow a bit tighter for a few fleeting seconds, and during those moments, Hikari felt more safe and grounded than she had in what felt like a decade. She smiled to herself, unable to keep the grin away from her features. This was what she had been missing, and she couldn't even say how much it was going to help her in the long term once this moment had ended.
When the last of the Deep Ones was dispatched of, Miyako finally pulled her fingers away from Hikari to clap her hands together. A cry of pure joy released itself from Miyako's lips as she punched at the air above her head. Hikari smiled, and eventually, Miyako's contagious laughter infected her as well. Hikari couldn't stop herself from giggling along at how overwhelmingly lovely it was to be beside Miyako alive and well. Valkyrimon and Ophanimon turned to face their partners after offering the area one final scan to make sure that they hadn't missed out on defeating any of the Deep Ones that had caused these issues in the first place.
Valkyrimon and Ophanimon were only able to watch their human partners for a few moments before their bodies started to glow and shrink. Poromon and Nyaromon were left in the places of the Ultimate level Digimon, and Miyako dashed up to Poromon before she scooped him up into her grasp. "You did great out there!" Miyako buzzed excitedly, unable to curb her overwhelming joy. She practically crushed Poromon against her face in her excitement, leaving her partner to yelp out in surprise at the sudden physical contact. Nyaromon chuckled at Poromon's vague signs of suffering as Poromon shot her a pleading look, desperate for escape from Miyako's sudden and constant affection.
Hikari walked over to Nyaromon and picked up her partner soon afterwards. "You were able to evolve," Hikari smiled to the small cat Digimon. She was much less open about her love for her partner when compared to Miyako, but the emotion was real and present regardless.
"It was thanks to you," Nyaromon told Hikari. "I could feel something pass through me, and I knew that it was a change inside of you. Do you know what could have caused something like that to happen?"
Hikari opened her mouth to respond before she pressed her lips together. The evolution had taken place when she decided that she was going to do what she could to make a stand against Dagomon despite the dark situation at hand, and that was seemingly all that it took for the evolution to rush through her. It was oddly reminiscent of what had happened the first time that Tailmon evolved to Angewomon when she thought back on it. She had decided that she was going to fight back against Vamdemon no matter what back in those days, and that was all that it took for Angewomon to appear and fire her heavenly arrow to end the siege of Odaiba from six years prior.
But at the same time, Hikari knew that this evolution never would have been possible if not for her friends. She had wanted to defend them so desperately that the evolution was caused, and that never would have happened if she didn't care for them so fiercely. The evolution would have been impossible if her friends didn't care for her as much as they did, and she reciprocated every thought on the matter and then some. After all, that was what they did as the Chosen Children, and Hikari was beyond grateful for it.
"It was thanks to you and everyone else," Hikari finally said to the small cat Digimon in her arms after quite some time of silent contemplation. She was going to find a way to be alright. Even if it seemed as if the situation around her was hopeless and terrifying, Hikari was going to fight and claw her way to victory against even the most daunting of odds. She wasn't going to let Dagomon scare her anymore if it could be avoided.
Of course, that was still much easier said than done, and Hikari knew that it wouldn't be simple for her to push past the fear that had been practically debilitating for her over the past few weeks. Even so, this was an important first step for her to take in the right direction, and she was going to be able to rely on the rest of the group. Miyako had laid the groundwork for the path that Hikari wished to follow, and she was going to walk it to the very end with every piece of determination that lived in her body.
"Hey, Hikari! Check this out!"
Hikari and Nyaromon's conversation drew to a close as Miyako came up beside them, Poromon still leaning against her. Miyako had pulled her D-Terminal from her pocket and was staring at the screen. Hikari brushed a stray piece of hair from her face as she looked down at the chat log that was displayed on the D-Terminal. Her mind was still a rush of adrenaline and muted terror, and it almost seemed wrong of her to try and slow everything down to a pace that would be able to understand a mundane task such as reading over the words on the screen of the D-Terminal.
Even so, Hikari was able to eventually pull everything inside of her body back under control, and she read over the words that Miyako was pointing out on the screen. There were messages from other members of the Chosen Children team saying that they were alright after the attack, most of them claiming that they were paired up with others. It made sense when Hikari thought back on it. After all, these pairs matched up with where everyone had been positioned when Dagomon unleashed his final attack near the cliffside.
The last of the messages was from Ken, and he was asking if anyone knew where Hikari, Miyako, or Meiko was since they were the only ones unaccounted for. There was no response to that, and it had been sent quite some time ago. Miyako hissed between her teeth at the sight of the message. "Oops. I guess that we should have thought to check our D-Terminals when we first got split up," Miyako commented. "Then again, I guess that nobody really thinks all that clearly when it comes to something like this, huh?"
She didn't bother waiting for a response from Hikari as she started to type out her response on the D-Terminal's small keyboard. Hikari silently kicked herself for not thinking of this sooner, but she knew deep down that it did make sense for her to not shift her attention to that subject right off the bat. Miyako could be irrational when her emotions got the better of her, and at the time when they started walking, Miyako was also trying to look after an anxious and agitated Hikari. Of course they wouldn't think about how to reach out to the rest of the group when they were distracted enough as it was trying to focus on themselves.
It didn't take long for Miyako to write out a response to everything that had been sent previously. Hikari saw Miyako's message out of the corner of her eye, noting the way that Miyako apologized for not getting back to the rest of the group sooner. She didn't say anything about Meiko though, and Hikari couldn't blame her; it was a bad sign that Meiko hadn't been found yet. It seemed as if she was alone, and since her partner was the least experienced out of the Digimon, that made things even worse. She was going to find herself in trouble if she wasn't careful.
"I hope that Meiko is alright," Hikari said softly. She didn't know what she was going to do if something happened to mean that Meiko wasn't fine. Hikari reached into her pocket and pulled out her Digivice to look at the radar. Sure enough, there were pairs of signals that matched what had been shared in the D-Terminal chat log. There was a single lone signal that seemed even farther away than the rest of the pairs, and Hikari knew that this had to be Meiko.
"We should head to the center point where all of the signals meet up," Miyako told her. "That seems like it would be our best option. Everyone else is going to head to the center of where our signals meet since that will give us a better chance of being able to get back home soon. We'll be able to meet up with everybody then. If we have to go looking for Meiko then, I guess that we'll just have to do that. Besides, we're so far away from her now that we wouldn't be able to reach her in a timely manner anyways. Another group is going to have to handle it."
"She probably hasn't responded to the message yet because she doesn't know as much about how to handle these situations," Nyaromon chimed in. "Meiko can be prone to nerves, and if she's panicking, she isn't going to think all that much of checking her D-Terminal to see how the rest of us are doing."
"That's true," Miyako hummed in agreement. "For now, we're just going to have to keep moving. Meiko is a really long ways off. I can't tell who exactly is closest to us, but it most certainly isn't her. The good thing is that everybody appears to be near the sea. That will make it a bit harder for them to get lost as we try to meet up."
"It could also mean that we could be attacked again at any moment. The rest of the team could suffer from that as well," Poromon pointed out. "Nyaromon aren't going to be able to fight for quite some time at the moment. Even if we got more food, we would be too tired to evolve in full. The Dark Ocean drains energy much faster than the Digital World. Fighting here is exhausting."
Miyako checked the time on her Digivice, her eyes almost bugging out of her head from pure surprise. "Ouch... It's been a long time since we were able to sleep. Let's try to find a place to stop for the time being and then rest for a while. We can see what we do next after we've been able to recuperate and get some sleep," she suggested.
Hikari nodded. She hadn't realized how tired she was until after it was mentioned out loud that a lot of time had passed. She needed to get some sleep so that she could get rid of the lingering traces of something awful that seemed to be following her around in the silence. Miyako's eyes were clearly getting heavy as well. Being knocked unconscious by Dagomon's attack didn't count as quality sleep in the slightest, and it was actual rest that they needed most in that moment.
The group continued their travels in the direction of the rest of their team, but this time around, everything about the world seemed a little bit brighter. The Dark Ocean was as shadowy and awful as it always had been, but the change that had taken place internally more than made up for the fact that the world at large was miserable and tragic. Ophanimon had appeared for the first time, and that meant that they had one other Ultimate Digimon to add to their ranks. Beyond that, Hikari was starting to feel better. There was still anxiety that seemed to refuse to leave her alone, but it was a step in the right direction. After all that she and the rest of the group had been through as of late, that was more than enough reassurance for Hikari, and she was going to enjoy it for as long as she could.
I probably have a bit of explaining to do here, huh?
I know what you're thinking: Holydramon is the canonical Ultimate evolution of Tailmon in the Adventure timeline. Ophanimon is used elsewhere, but Holydramon is in the original Adventure. What gives? Why is Ophanimon being used here?
To put it simply, Ophanimon is being used because Holydramon is going to be serving a different purpose in this story. I do like Holydramon better in terms of usage within Adventure. I tie Hikari with Holydramon naturally, but I wound up being drawn to Ophanimon for this story in particular because of the fact that Holydramon is going to see usage later on in the tale. I'm going to leave it at that since the shift of Holydramon's placement will become apparent at a later point in the story, but do know that Holydramon is coming later on.
On a different note, I really do adore this chapter. I like it a lot better than I expected to, and it's probably one of my favorites in terms of evolution chapters. Hikari and Miyako are a really fun pair to explore both in and out of the context of their Jogress, and I really do enjoy being able to work with them. It's what they deserve!
I don't really have all that much to say about this chapter outside of that though primarily because I'm writing this at almost two in the morning, and after writing the end of that battle sequence, my brain is fried. I'm going to leave things off here and see you again next week where we'll be continuing with this part of the Dark Ocean arc once again. Until then, I hope you all enjoyed. Feedback is appreciated as always. Have a nice day, everyone!
-Digital