It didn't take long for Atsuo to arrive at the office once he had heard of what happened. Hiraku wound up sending him a message to explain what was going on. Hiraku didn't think that Atsuo would be awake so late, but as it turned out, Atsuo had just gotten back from a band practice that ran much later than he anticipated. As such, he was still up and ready to roll when he heard that something had gone wrong with the Chosen Children in the Digital World. He threw everything together that he would need to stay overnight at the office before he made his way over there.
Hiraku had just gone to sleep when Atsuo arrived with Daigo taking care of looking over the computer for any updates on what was going on with the Chosen Children. Daigo was starting to regret taking the middle shift since it meant that he was interrupting his own sleep schedule willingly to stay up and watch the computer. Of course, it was better that he took the middle shift rather than Maki as far as he was concerned. She wasn't in any condition to look after any potential updates given how awful her migraine appeared to be, and Daigo was glad that she didn't have to put any extra stress on herself from a physical or mental perspective by waking up any sooner than she had to. Still, that didn't at all take away the frustration from being on the middle shift, Daigo learned. He was going to have to grin and bear it though, and so, he sat behind the screen with his head being held up by his palm.
A knock came at the door gently, and Daigo glanced up with careful eyes. He was fifteen minutes into his shift, but he could still guess that this was Atsuo. Hiraku had told Atsuo about what was going on, and he had passed that information on to Daigo just before he crashed for the night. "Come in," Daigo said sleepily, his words slurring together into something that was almost impossible to distinguish.
The door pushed open slowly, and Atsuo entered view soon afterwards. "Morning, Daigo," Atsuo greeted. He had a lot more energy than Daigo thought was right for anyone to have at this time of the night, but then again, he supposed that Atsuo hadn't been doing anything too overwhelming or exhausting to drain his energy. Band practice had to be less tiring than sitting in front of a screen waiting for information to come out about the attack that had nearly killed the Chosen Children. Daigo couldn't help but bitterly think that he never wanted to be on an emotional rollercoaster like this one again. At least he would be able to talk with Atsuo as a way of passing the time though.
"Morning," Daigo replied. He forced himself to rise to his full height as he watched Atsuo move over in his direction. Atsuo pulled a chair up to sit next to Daigo behind the screen, and the dark-haired man let out a heavy sigh. "I guess that you'll be wanting to hear about everything that's going on right now, huh?"
"Hiraku told me a bit about it, but I don't think that extra details would hurt," Atsuo responded. Daigo was already thankful for the fact that he could at least talk to Atsuo throughout part of his nighttime shift. It would certainly be better than having to sit in the dark and the quiet all by himself, that was for sure.
Daigo nodded. "Well, the Chosen Children have defeated Daemon. They should have been on their way back here by now, but instead, they were attacked by the ruler of the Dark Ocean. We've also learned that his name is apparently Dagomon. He separated them all, and they're trying to come back together. We can't just open separate gates for them since they've only got one laptop, and Koushiro is the one who has it. If we open gates from this side, we risk damaging the barrier even more than we have to since our portal to the Dark Ocean is unstable. Nobody wants to do that, and so, here we are. Look at the lovely little conundrum we've found ourselves in." He let out a hollow chuckle as he finished speaking, halfway wishing that he could simply slam his face into the table and let all of this be over and done with by the time he picked his head up again.
"And almost everyone is accounted for right now, right?" Atsuo questioned. Daigo responded with a nod. "Hiraku told me that while I was on my way here. He said that only Meiko hasn't said that she's alright, and that's pretty concerning since she's the only member of the team who's alone."
"For now, we're just going to have to hope that everything is okay," Daigo told him. He fell silent afterwards, his gaze falling to the screen once again. His eyes were threatening to close on him, but he didn't want to leave this duty to Atsuo so soon after he had arrived. It didn't feel right to throw all of this into someone else's hands when the others on his team were counting on him to take care of this by himself. He was just going to have to find a way to wait out the remaining hour and forty minutes on his own.
"Daigo...? Who are you talking to...?"
Daigo perked up at the sound of a familiar voice, and he saw that Maki was rising from where she had been laying on the couch nearby. He winced at the sight of her. "Go back to sleep, Maki. It's just Atsuo, so you don't need to worry," he told her softly. Atsuo offered a brief wave from behind the screen as he poked his head around the side of the black lining of the device.
Maki shook her head, stretching her arms above her head. "I'm already up. It's fine," she told Daigo. It may have been alright for her, but it most certainly was not as far as Daigo was concerned. Then again, it seemed like it was just par for the course for Maki to not entirely care about her own safety when compared to the lives of others. She didn't seem to mind all that much when something was wrong with her, but Daigo most certainly did. Then again, the same was reciprocated as well, so Daigo wouldn't be able to push back on it no matter how hard he tried or how much he wanted to.
"What's going on...? Is Atsuo here?"
Hiraku was awake a moment later, and Daigo found himself once again wanting to slam his face into the desk before him. He had been trying so hard to not wake them up, but it seemed as if nobody was sleeping well given the circumstances. They were stressed, worried, and unable to sleep well on the couches that weren't made for long-term rest to begin with. It wasn't Daigo's fault nor was Atsuo to blame, but that didn't stop the stab of guilt that worked its way through Daigo's chest faster than he could fully comprehend it.
"Yeah, I am," Atsuo responded, trying his best to keep his voice down despite his regularly bold volume. "You can go back to sleep if you want to. Both of you should. I can see the bags under your eyes from all the way over here."
"I haven't been able to stay asleep anyways," Maki admitted. She sat up, her head leaning against the back cushion of the couch. "I might as well be productive while I'm here. What's going on with the Chosen Children?"
"They've been split up into pairs. Almost everyone has said that they're alright. The only exception to that would be Meiko, who hasn't been able to respond yet," Daigo replied. "I don't know what's going on with her, but I'm praying that she just hasn't checked her D-Terminal yet. I guess that wouldn't be completely out of the question, so we'll just have to keep our spirits as high as possible for the time being."
"They're probably getting closer now," Hiraku said. "I don't know if they're planning on getting any rest before they meet up, but that would probably be a good idea. If they just keep going until they get back together, they're going to be exhausted, and I don't want them to push themselves too far in trying to come back here to Earth."
Atsuo sighed and shook his head. "I don't want anything bad to happen to them... The Dark Ocean is a dangerous place, and they're going to wind up spending more time there than we ever did. We were only there for a few hours at the maximum, and you all know just how that wound up turning out for us. Everything seemed to fall apart, and we were only able to escape thanks to Bakumon turning out to be stronger than we thought and being able to rip a hole in the sky for us to go through. I somehow doubt that the next generation is going to wind up being that lucky."
"It's not like you to be so pessimistic, Atsuo," Daigo snorted with a light smirk. "Are you losing your touch of the positive?"
"It's hours past midnight, Daigo," Atsuo pointed out. "Have you ever considered that perhaps people start acting out of character once it gets to be too late? Next thing you know it, Maki is going to start chattering constantly. She won't be able to stop talking no matter how hard she tries."
"No," Maki told him bluntly. Atsuo simply snickered with a shake of his head, but Daigo could have sworn that he saw her shoulders grow tense. It didn't seem to be a response to what Atsuo had said though, and somehow, that only worried Daigo even more. He hadn't even thought that to be possible.
The room fell silent after that, and Hiraku sighed heavily. "I just hope that they're alright... I just hope that they all find a way to get back here safely. I don't know what I would do if they didn't come back in one piece, and... To be perfectly honest, I don't think that I want to imagine it to begin with."
There was something that they could all agree on. Daigo glanced over to Atsuo, seeing the concern wound into his features in the process. Maki's eyes remained shut, but her lips were moving in something silent. Daigo frowned, halfway tempted to ask her what was going through her head. It had to be something important, but he didn't know if he wanted to call her out about it so brazenly and openly when everyone was struggling enough as it was.
Unfortunately for Daigo, he was never given the chance to mention it to begin with. Maki rose to her feet with a heavy sigh and shook her head. "I'm going to the bathroom," she muttered under her breath. She was still whispering things quietly, though the words were so muted that it was impossible for anyone else in the room to hear what she was saying as she made her way to the door, pushing it open and walking through before she disappeared from sight.
Daigo glanced over in the direction of Hiraku and Atsuo, a light frown on his face. Atsuo shrugged loosely, all of his normal liveliness having been sucked away. Perhaps he was more tired than he had been willing to admit at first. Hiraku's eyes were so dull and lifeless that it was impossible to figure out what was keeping him on his feet. Daigo didn't have to be a genius to know what Hiraku was thinking about though; he was worried about the Chosen Children. Then again, weren't all of them?
At the same time though, there was another Chosen Child who Daigo hoped was alright in much the same way, and he wished that she was okay more than anything else.
Maki's entire body seemed to want to protest her very existence as she shuffled through the building to the nearest restroom. The couch was hardly as soft as the bed that she was used to, and her pounding headache didn't make it any easier. The edges of her migraine had been worn down at least a little bit, so she wasn't in as much pain as she had been before, but it was still present enough to be somewhat frustrating. It would have gone away if Maki could actually stay asleep, but that was much easier said than done.
The lack of comfort that came with sleeping on the couch seemed to be one of her lesser worries, if Maki was being honest. She couldn't stay asleep because of how stiff the cushions were, but that did nothing to compare to how overwhelmingly upset she was over all that had happened with the Dark Ocean. She knew that it was wrong of her to accuse this of being her fault when she had no way of doing anything to stop what was taking place, but it wasn't as if she could just roll over and accept that so easily. She was one of the predecessors to the Chosen Children; they were counting on her to be able to help them, and she had failed.
Maki would never level these accusations against the rest of her team, of course. The Dark Ocean wasn't quite as personal for them as it was for her. They had gone there because they were trying to help her when they were kids. She was the one who tipped over the edge of the cliff after she lost her footing to grief and misplaced silent agony. Maki had been the one to force all of them to come to the Dark Ocean in the first place, and she would never be able to forget that. She had to look after those who had to deal with the Dark Ocean in following her footsteps. It was her responsibility and obligation, and the idea of her own failure left her bitter and awake despite how exhausted she was physically. Her body craved sleep more than anything else, but she couldn't seem to give in fully to her physical desires no matter how much she wished to.
Maki pushed on the faucet to turn on the water after getting a quick pump of soap. She glanced up in the mirror and almost winced at the sight of her own reflection. Her hair was a mess, not at all brushed and completely shattering her regular image of being put-together and stoic. She didn't know what she expected after hours of restless anguish both inside and out, but it left her even more upset than before somehow. She hadn't even realized that it was possible for her mood to get worse, and yet, there she was, wanting nothing more than to punch a wall or kick something until the pent-up rage in her stomach melted away and the Chosen Children returned to her safely.
Maki...
The voice that echoed through her mind sent a shiver up her spine, and Maki immediately straightened out. She knew that the voice had come from inside of her own head rather than anybody in the outside world. After all, this voice sounded notably feminine, and that didn't apply to any of the other three people within the confines of the building. Beyond that, it sounded a bit like the voice that had spoken through Hikari when the group was in the Digital World.
"Homeostasis...?" Maki finally asked after she finally managed to find her voice. She searched experimentally for it in the silence for a few moments before she forced herself to speak once again. "Is that you?"
There was something in the back of her mind that seemed to agree with that sentiment, and Maki allowed her eyes to slip shut. Homeostasis was most connected to the Crest of Light followed by the Crest of Hope, so it was only natural that if Homeostasis was going to reach out to anyone, it would be her. Plus, Chisane was hours away in Tottori, probably sound asleep the way that Maki should have been if not for the way that her worry ate away at her and tried to suffocate everything that she was. Still, Homeostasis never slept, and that was how she was able to have this conversation at all.
I wish to speak through you. Might I share your body with you for a short while?
Maki couldn't help but smile. Homeostasis was much more polite than she could have ever imagined. This was a being of immense power with the ability to reach out to others across worlds, and Homeostasis was still remaining as polite as could be when she sought something from others. In a way, Homeostasis reminded Maki of Hikari, and she found herself musing briefly in the silence about how different she was from the heir to the Crest of Light that had followed in her footsteps. It may not have been known as the Crest of Light when she was a Chosen Child, but she still knew that the spirit of the Crest lived on even so.
"Alright," Maki agreed with a light nod. There was something that shifted in her mind once again, and Maki knew that it was Homeostasis preparing to take full control. Maki gave a final glance in the direction of the mirror nearby, and she stared at her reflection, messy in all of the small and large ways that could be imagined, before her vision started to give way from beneath her. The world started to fragment away from her, but Maki didn't bother to protest it.
When she closed her eyes and opened them again, Maki was no longer the one in control. Homeostasis had arrived, and she had a message to share with the world.
Daigo, Hiraku, and Atsuo had been hovering around the screen ever since Maki left to go to the restroom. They looked at the radar that was displayed on the pixelated surface, and Daigo was glad to see that the Chosen Children had grown at least a bit closer together than they had been when he first fell asleep. Of course, there was still a significant amount of ground for them to cover, so it was bound to take at least another handful of hours, and that didn't even factor in the fact that the Chosen Children were going to have to sleep to make sure that they didn't push themselves over the edge by doing too much all at once.
The door opened, and Daigo expected it to be Maki. After all, who else would it be? He glanced up in her direction. "Maki, they're getting clo-" He was ultimately cut short before he could finish the sentence though, willingly forcing himself to be quiet when he recognized that there was something amiss about Maki's posture, familiar but in a foreign space.
Hiraku and Atsuo, who had previously been looking at the screen as well, fell silent when they recognized that something was amiss in Daigo's words. They shifted their attention up to Maki's body slowly, seeing the glint of rainbows in the darkness. The light shone brightly in her regularly dark eyes, the brown having been banished by something resplendent and otherworldly. Maki's normal demeanor, that of a tense and composed woman with an eye for nothing but business, had been replaced with something slightly more relaxed but still just as refined.
"Homeostasis..." Daigo murmured under his breath. He had heard that Homeostasis had a connection to the Crests of Hope and Light, but he never expected to see that connection lived out through Maki. It simply didn't occur to him that such a thing would ever happen, and yet, there he was. Homeostasis was clearly the one who was in control of Maki's body, her eyes bright and her back pulled back in a show of gentle pride.
"Homeostasis again, huh?" Atsuo questioned. He shifted himself so that he was standing up straighter than he had been previously, his palms pressed against his hips upside down. "I take it that you're here because you have a message to pass on for us, right? There has to be something that you need us to be aware of. I can't think of any other reason that you would want to show up here."
"I come with information about the Dark Ocean," Homeostasis explained. She took a step away from the door before closing it slowly. "I have determined that the cause of the distortions in the barrier between the worlds was Daemon, but he is not the only major player that has presented himself in that world."
"We know," Hiraku said with a light nod. "We heard it from Koushiro... His name is Dagomon apparently, and he's the ruler of the Dark Ocean. He attacked the Chosen Children and separated them."
Homeostasis nodded. "Dagomon was once a Digimon found within the depths of the Dark Area of the Digital World. That is where Digimon who turn against the path of light are sent after their demises. Their data is purified before it is reconfigured to prevent history repeating itself again and again with the same dangerous figures. The Dark Area was once a simple place, but it eventually broke away from the rest of the Digital World... Or, at the very least, a small piece of it broke away."
"I heard about this from Qinglongmon. The Dark Ocean was once a piece of the Dark Area, but when the distortions in the Digital World grew worse, a new world was created as a result of the Dark Area's existence. From there, all of the Digimon there were left to slowly devolve into Deep Ones because of Dagomon's power. They can shape shift freely, and they claim that their ruler is the one who gave them this strength," Hiraku finished for Homeostasis.
The spirit closed her eyes before she nodded once again. "That is true... For a long time, Dagomon was the only one in the Dark Ocean to assert his power, but all of that changed three years ago. That was when Daemon made an appearance in the Dark Ocean, sealed away there by the power of six Digivices. The gate to the Dark Ocean was eternally closed, or so it seemed... That left Daemon and Dagomon together alone on their side of the barrier," she continued.
"That doesn't sound like it would end well," Atsuo commented with a wince. "Both of them are powerful Digimon, and if they ever came to find one another, bad things would probably happen."
"Bad things did happen. Dagomon and Daemon went to war against one another. Some Deep Ones came to wish for a change and sided with Daemon while others went with Dagomon and his traditions. Daemon made lofty promises of power to those beneath him, claiming that his strength would be exponentially increased with the power of the Dark Seed," Homeostasis went on. "The Dark Seed is a compact piece of darkened energy, and it contains incredible power when used properly. Daemon was hoping to increase his own strength with the Dark Seed, and he told the Deep Ones under his influence that he would share his strength with them."
"That caused a war to break out since Dagomon didn't want to tolerate this challenge to his authority," Daigo realized with a small nod to himself. "And that's what brought us up to this point, if I had to guess. The barrier started to waver as the two fought against one another, and Daemon tried to find a way out of the Dark Ocean to claim the Dark Seed and fulfill his promise to the Deep Ones working under his power."
"Daemon grew much stronger while he was in the Dark Ocean. Large amounts of negative energy can be found in that world, and that strength was just what Daemon needed in order to grow as powerful as he dreamed. He was planning on breaking through to Earth to claim the Dark Seed before using that strength as his final boost of power so that he would be able to claim the Dark Ocean from Dagomon to act as its new ruler," Homeostasis went on.
"How do you know all of this?" Atsuo asked, tilting his head to the side. "We've been trying to learn all that we can about the Dark Ocean, and we haven't come anywhere close to figuring all of this out the way that you have."
"I have grown stronger over the past six years since I first made contact with Hikari Yagami, and I did what I could to put that power to good use by looking into this matter alongside the Agents of Order. They have been working diligently alongside me to find the truth behind the Dark Ocean. I wish I could have reported this information to the Chosen Children who are in the Dark Ocean directly, but I fear that it is hardly a good idea to reach out to them at the moment," Homeostasis replied, her features slipping into a frown.
"What makes you say that talking to them is a bad idea?" Daigo questioned. His stomach tied itself into a knot a moment later, and he felt like he was going to be sick. He didn't know what it was that Homeostasis was trying to imply, but he was confident that he absolutely hated it.
"Contacting Hikari right now would only leave her suffering. Taking up the spirit of another expends quite a bit of energy, and she is weak enough as it is. The Dark Ocean is draining to those who travel there, and the lack of rest on her end would only make this more difficult for her. As such, I thought it to be the best solution to reach out to you instead," Homeostasis explained.
"In other words, she's sleep-deprived," Hiraku concluded. "I can't say that I'm too surprised, if I'm being honest. We know that for the most part, they've just been constantly moving ever since they first arrived in the Dark Ocean earlier in the day yesterday. That means that they've been pushing themselves really hard collectively, and we don't want any of them to push themselves to the point of snapping."
"At least she's just tired and not hurt because of something else," Daigo sighed. He could have sworn that worrying about all of the younger Chosen Children was going to take years off his life because of all of the trouble that they seemed to get into. He was starting to feel a lot like a parent, and he hadn't even come close to marrying anyone yet. Was this what parenthood was like? If that was the case, then he wanted nothing to do with it. All it would serve to do was exhaust him, and it seemed as if he was tired enough on a daily basis as it was.
Hiraku nodded his agreement. "Daemon is gone now though, so that's a nice step in the right direction," he said. "The Chosen Children are already at a bit of an advantage on that front, but... Dagomon is still after them."
"Dagomon may try to push through the weakness in the barrier to attain the Crest of Light if the Chosen Children return home. It would be best that he is defeated sooner rather than later to prevent the gates between the worlds from caving under the influence of his strength," Homeostasis said. "Dagomon is the opposite of Daemon in this situation. He seeks the Crest of Light to further his strength. He believes that fusing light, something so scarce in the Dark Ocean, with shadows will be what pushes his power to heights previously unforeseen. The Crest of Light holds immense power due to the fact that it was the first of the Crests to officially be established as a way of combatting the darkness of the world. He seeks that strength, and since it is almost within his grasp..."
"The Chosen Children had to go to the Dark Ocean to defeat Daemon, but in doing so, they wound up falling right into a trap that Dagomon set without any of us even realizing what was happening," Daigo concluded, his expression slipping into a heavier frown than before. He hadn't even realized that was possible, and yet, it was still the least surprising thing that had happened in the past few minutes. "They have to defeat Dagomon and get back here as soon as possible."
"The Dark Ocean is wearing them down as time goes on, and on top of that, Dagomon is going to try and pursue them. It wouldn't surprise me if he went on and sent out the Deep Ones to try and weaken them before Dagomon himself picked them off," Hiraku muttered. Even in the dim light of only the computer screen, it was clear that he was growing pale with his agitation. "We have to find a way to reach out to them as soon as possible. They have to know what's going on. Simply returning here to Earth isn't an option for them anymore. They have to defeat Dagomon before they come back to make sure that the barrier doesn't snap on that half."
"At the very least, I guess we can take comfort in the fact that this is the last threat on that side of the barrier, right?" Atsuo questioned. "We haven't heard of any other creature having as much power as them to break the gate down, so once Dagomon has been defeated, that means that the Chosen Children will be able to come back here with one of the two problematic worlds checked off our list of things to take care of."
"Dagomon is the one who's currently standing in the path of us. After he's been taken out, all we have to do is focus on the world of fire that Homeostasis mentioned while we were spending time in the Digital World," Daigo frowned intensely. "We don't know anything about what we can potentially find over there, but I guess that all we can do is try to learn more about it when the time comes. The Dark Ocean has to be our first priority for now."
"I agree," Hiraku nodded. "It's not as if we'll be able to do all that much research on the world of fire right now even if we wanted to... It's so late at night, and we don't even know where we're supposed to be starting from in the first place."
"Research into the world of fire will be conducted when the proper time arrives," Homeostasis assured them. "For the time being, Dagomon poses the greatest and most active threat to the safety of both Earth and the Digital World. It is imperative that the Chosen Children reunite at once to ensure that he is defeated before his power can spiral out of control."
"Dagomon is only going to want to expand his influence with the death of Daemon. He no longer has a force to fight against, and that means that he's going to turn all of his attention towards either breaking the barrier or defeating the Chosen Children. Given where the Chosen Children are right now, it should be pretty clear which one of those he's going to wind up going with first," Atsuo frowned. "They have to get together as soon as possible to make sure that they can defeat him and come back here before anything any worse happens."
"If anything bad is going to happen, it's going to be while the Chosen Children are split up the way that they are right now. We have to try and reach out to get into contact with them as soon as possible to tell them their mission," Daigo declared. He shifted his attention to the computer nearby, opening up a chat log containing all of the Chosen Children and typing away at it as quickly as possible. He was nowhere near as fast a typer as Hiraku, but it was still something, and Daigo was the closest to the computer regardless. As long as the message got out, that was what mattered most.
"The sooner that they understand their mission, the better," Homeostasis said with a firm nod. "Once Dagomon has been defeated, the Dark Ocean will be able to return to peace. Its stability will come back at last, and the barrier will likely suffer no further damages on that side. The Dark Ocean is struggling the same way that the Digital World and Earth are, but that will no longer be an issue after Dagomon is defeated."
"Dagomon's pursuit of the Crest of Light is dangerous. We don't know for sure what's going to come of this, but it's safe to say that Hikari and Miyako are prone to falling into some significant danger if Dagomon figures out where they are," Hiraku remarked. "If there's anyone who was going to wind up as Dagomon's targets, it would be the two of them. We know what he's after, and if he can't get his hands on Maki because she's in this world, then..."
"Message sent," Daigo declared, slamming his finger down on the button of Hiraku's mouse to send the message out to the Chosen Children. He let out a sigh and leaned backwards, his eyes falling shut. "I just hope that this is able to get them out of trouble before anything bad can happen. I don't really know what the chances are of them seeing the message given how long it took them to get the first message asking what was going on, but... We'll just have to have hope for the time being. That's the only thing that we can do, especially since we haven't heard from them in such a long time... And we still don't know what's been happening with Meiko."
"I'm just hoping that she didn't respond because she forgot about the D-Terminals, but I'm worried too," Hiraku confessed, his eyes falling down to the desk in front of him. "She has the least power on her side too. Meicrackmon has the least experience in terms of combat, and that means that she could easily be overwhelmed by the Deep Ones if they just so happen to attack her. We're going to have to hope that she's alright wherever she is."
"Her signal is still moving, so that has to count for at least a little something in the right direction, right?" Atsuo asked, though it was clear that he was just putting up a mask of confidence to hide the fact that he was just as nervous as everybody else in the room. He shook his head to try and shake off the thought of something tragedy potentially happening. "We'll just do what we can to hold on and have hope."
"I'll be awaiting the time when I hear of your mission being a success," Homeostasis nodded. "I have full confidence that the Chosen Children will be able to accomplish what is to come. Dagomon is dangerous, but they have overcome countless obstacles up to this point. I have full confidence that they will be able to survive and endure. I have no doubt that we will be meeting again, and when we do, the victory against the Dark Ocean will likely have been made clear. I await hearing the news of triumph."
Homeostasis closed her eyes at those words, and Daigo watched her carefully Something about her seemed to change, small details such as posture falling back into the same position that they normally were in, and she opened her eyes slowly and carefully. The rainbow glow that had once been so prominent in her irises had faded away, giving way to the regular deep color that Maki's eyes were. Her eyes were at half-mast, a sign of her exhaustion. Her body swayed briefly, and Daigo knew what was going to happen even before it did.
Daigo was up out of his seat and rushing towards Maki as quickly as he could manage. He barely managed to catch her before she hit the ground, cupping one arm around her back. Maki was heavy just the way that Daigo would have expected a human to be, and the awkward angle at which Daigo was holding her didn't help in the slightest. He let out a small hiss as he adjusted himself once again to hold her as well as possible. Hiraku and Atsuo curled around from beside the desk to come to his aid. Maki was completely limp in Daigo's arms, and when he looked down at her face, he was sure that she had completely passed out. This wasn't a matter of losing balance; she was out cold.
"Let's get her to the couch," Hiraku suggested. Atsuo and Daigo nodded before they moved Maki to the furniture that she had previously been using as a makeshift bed for the night. It wasn't hard to maneuver her head onto the pillow, and Hiraku shifted the blanket so that it covered her body in full. Oddly enough, this was the most peaceful that Daigo had seen her in what felt like a lifetime. He winced at the sight of her looking so exhausted, but he was at least glad that she was going to be able to get a little bit of rest. There was no guarantee that she wouldn't wake up, but this was a step in the right direction, and he was willing to take that for the time being.
As soon as Maki was settled, Daigo sat down on the couch opposite her, watching her slumbering form carefully. Her breathing had fallen into an even rhythm with nothing out of place, and that was the greatest relief that Daigo could have been spared in that moment. He held up one hand and grasped at his forehead before he leaned forward, his elbows falling onto his knees. He could say with certainty that he didn't have any worries about falling asleep again after all that activity. He would be able to stay awake through the rest of his watch shift on the computer screen and then some, though he supposed that the same applied to both Hiraku and Atsuo as well.
Hiraku walked around to the seat behind the computer, and he flopped into his chair gracelessly. He looked up at the radar ahead of him, and he watched the signals as they started to move towards a common point at the center of their paths. "I guess that the Chosen Children are still going," he murmured. "I don't know how they're able to do it. I know that if I was in their position, I would be exhausted by now."
"They probably are tired, but I assume that it's their fear of Dagomon that's keeping them moving forward. Stopping to rest is only going to increase their chances of being attacked. Of course, resting will allow them to fend off the attacks if they are ambushed, so..." Atsuo began. He let out a heavy sigh and shook his head. "I don't know how they do it either, and I'm probably the one out of us who tends to stay up the latest."
"Probably," Daigo agreed. He looked up to Maki once again, glad that she was finally seeing something resembling peace. He hadn't wanted Homeostasis to be the cause of that peace, but he wasn't complaining, he supposed. Maki needed this rest just as much as the rest of them, if not more so. She needed to sleep after how hard she had been pushing herself leading up to this point.
"She's going to be alright, Daigo," Hiraku said, not at all bothering to peer around from behind the computer screen. He seemingly already knew exactly what Daigo was up to, and he wasn't even trying to hide it. "Maki is just tired. She hasn't ever acted as the host to Homeostasis before, so it's only natural that it would leave her exhausted. Plus, this is probably just the breaking point given how poorly we've all rested since hearing about the Chosen Children being in trouble. Give her a bit of time; she's going to wake up soon enough, and she'll be more ready than ever to help us out with the preparations for this next battle."
"I hope you're right," Daigo muttered. Deep down, he knew that Hiraku was right. It wasn't as if Hiraku would lie to him about something like this, not that there was a reason for a lie in the first place. Maki was going to wake up, and when she did, everything was going to return to the way that it had been. The only difference would be the fact that they would have more information at their fingertips, and Maki wouldn't have a headache anymore either. That was a victory, but Daigo still felt awful about it.
Atsuo seemed to be able to tell this, and he kept waiting for Daigo to say something else, his eyes locked squarely on Daigo's features. After a long moment of nothing but silence, Daigo let out a heavy sigh. "I'm worried about her. She hasn't been sleeping well ever since the Dark Ocean came into play once again. She can't stop thinking about what happened when we were kids, not that it's particularly surprising... Of course it's still bothering her. It still bothers all of us to some degree, doesn't it?" he asked, not expecting an answer because he knew that he didn't need one. The truth was already clear as could be.
"The difference is that we aren't in the circumstances that caused her to wind up in the Dark Ocean all that time ago," Atsuo pointed out. "That means that we don't have much of anything to worry about. Dagomon is going to be gone soon enough, and when he does disappear, then everything is going to fall into place. We're going to be fine. The Dark Ocean will be an issue of the past, and we'll be able to concentrate on the world of fire. After that, we'll be ready to charge the Emissaries of Chaos and get rid of them from this messed up equation once and for all."
"I know that you're right," Daigo sighed. "Really, I do, but... Dagomon is dangerous. We barely managed to escape from his clutches the first time, and that was by a stroke of luck when we were at our full strength. We might not have had the abilities of Ultimate Digimon at our sides at that point, but it still could have ended awfully. The Chosen Children are separated and struggling to find one another on top of their existing issues with exhaustion." He paused for a long moment, struggling to voice the words that continually got trapped in the back of his throat when he tried to speak them. "I... I don't know what I'm going to do if they don't come back to us."
"That's not anything that you need to be worried about. We're going to be alright, and so are they. The Chosen Children will come back through the gate to the Dark Ocean soon enough, and when they do, Dagomon will no longer be a problem. We're so close to being away from all of this, so... I guess you should just have a bit of hope about it," Atsuo smiled. He nudged Daigo with his elbow to hit the point home.
Daigo nodded, allowing himself to relish in the words of truth from Atsuo rather than the fears that were quickly mounting in the back of his mind. Atsuo was right, wasn't he? The Chosen Children were able to look after themselves, and they would be back on Earth soon enough. Everything was going to be alright.
Still, Daigo couldn't get around his doubts. There was no guarantee that the issue was going to resolve itself well, so all he could do was hope. He felt so damn helpless, stuck in another world with no ways of doing anything that could help the other members of the team. Traveling to the Dark Ocean would only result in breaking the barrier down further or potentially getting him and the rest of his team lost while leaving the Digital World primarily defenseless from the Emissaries of Chaos. There was no way that he would be able to help beyond his emotional support from the other side of the gate, and he simply had to be as content with that as possible until the Chosen Children came back.
Once again, Daigo wondered if this was what it was like to have kids. If that was the case, he was more than fine without children.
Chisane couldn't sleep.
It wasn't as if she was particularly surprised by this fact. It wasn't shocking to her at all, if she was being perfectly honest. It was bothersome though, and that meant that she was going to have to find a way to make herself relax before she was going to be able to go back to sleep.
It had been a few hours since she first woke up, feeling as if there was something wrong in the balance between the worlds. Still, it wasn't wrong in a bad way, simply different in a way that seemed to skew more on the positive side of the spectrum. It was peculiar though, and Chisane was the one left to deal with whatever the hell all of this was supposed to mean.
Chisane had long since tired of staring at the ceiling and hoping that sleep would find her in the silence as she waited for something to move in her favor. Instead, she simply swung her legs over the side of the bed and got to her feet. Kaya was still asleep on the other side of the mattress, stretched out on her stomach with one arm curled under the bottom of the pillow that she was using. Chisane offered a fond smile in Kaya's direction as she started to make her way to the bathroom, grabbing a cup off the countertop once she had arrived at her destination.
Chisane yawned as she refilled the glass, desperate to have even just a small drink if it would do anything to calm her raging mind. She wasn't entirely sure where this shift of balance had come from, but she didn't think that she was too particularly fond of it if it was going to keep her awake so long. She hadn't gotten a wink of sleep in hours, and that wasn't a good thing at all given that she was set to go into work the next day. Her sickness issues had grown to be obsolete since she and Kaya returned to Tottori, but apparently, this odd feeling twisting in her gut was the exception to the rule.
Chisane managed to drink half of the glass before refilling it, and she stood there in the bathroom for quite a while, simply leaning against the counter with the water staring back up at her. Her body was exhausted, but her mind was in firm protest to the idea of sleep. Everything was just so slightly off of her regular routine that it was noticeable and keeping her from being able to come anywhere close to sleep. It was beyond frustrating, but there wasn't much of anything that she was going to be able to do about it for the time being. Fighting back against her own issues hadn't worked out well, and that was when she started staring at the ceilings and trying to find patterns in the shadows that she could use to lull herself into slumber.
Chisane eventually managed to drain the rest of the glass before she set it down on the countertop and returned to the bedroom that she and Kaya had been sharing ever since they moved into the building so many years ago. Chisane was about to slide into bed when she noticed that she wasn't the only one awake.
Kaya had sat up in bed, the pillow that she had been holding previously abandoned at the top of the bed. She looked so oddly alert that it caught Chisane by surprise, and she just about jumped out of her skin when she saw Kaya analyzing her every move. "K-Kaya...!" Chisane whispered, her eyes going wide. She forced herself to sit down a moment later, wishing that the exhaustion in her body would be able to override the ridiculous racing that her mind had been doing for hours.
"You seem awfully alert and awake," Kaya murmured, her syllables slurring together because of how tired she was. She didn't at all dignify that fact with a response though, instead simply moving to the side a bit to offer Chisane the chance to lay down. "Something going on?"
"I think something has changed in the Dark Ocean," Chisane found herself saying before she could stop herself. She didn't even know how true that fact was, but she said it regardless. When She thought back on it though, she realized that it was true. The Dark Ocean had to be the reason for her sudden unsettled behavior. It had been the reason that she and Kaya had to leave Odaiba so many weeks ago, hadn't it? Plus, as far as she was aware, the Chosen Children were taking care of it first rather than shifting their attention to the world of fire on the horizon.
"Oh?" Kaya asked. She watched as Chisane eased herself back against the mattress before she joined Chisane in a horizontal position, curling one arm around the base of the pillow the same way that she had done before. Her dark brown hair fanned out on the pillow around her, but she paid it no mind as she waited diligently for an answer to be provided on Chisane's end.
Chisane nodded. "Yeah... I didn't realize it at first, but that has to be it," she said softly. "Something over there is different, and... I can tell. I don't know what exactly it is, but I guess that I can send a message to the rest of the team and hope that they answer in the morning."
"You should try and get some sleep. Even if you're unsettled by all of this, you're only going to wear yourself out if you don't make sure to get at least a bit of rest. Worst case scenario, you don't come in to work tomorrow, but I don't think that you want that," Kaya remarked, frowning at the memory of how stubborn Chisane could be.
Chisane nodded before she reached for her phone. The light of the screen overwhelmed her even if she had been awake seemingly for an eternity, and she quickly typed out a message to the other Chosen Children. It was a brief message, but it got the point across. That was all that mattered, and it meant that she was going to be able to try and go back to sleep.
Of course, her phone began to chirp a moment later to show that she had gotten a response. Chisane frowned over at Kaya, surprised at how quickly the rest of the team replied to her message, before she grabbed the phone and checked the reply that she had received. It was from Atsuo, and while basic, it certainly told her all that she needed to know.
The Chosen Children defeated Daemon. They're going after the ruler of the Dark Ocean next. Will send you updates as they happen.
Chisane smiled and offered a quick response to say that it sounded like a great idea to be able to hear what was happening after they got answers about what was going on in the Dark Ocean. After that, she flipped her phone off and set it down on the table beside her once again. She settled under the covers, already starting to feel a bit more comforted than she expected to that night simply because she knew what had happened.
"So? What's the story?" Kaya asked, one eyebrow raised in an arch of curiosity. She was starting to wake up from the influence of her grogginess slowly but surely, though it was a heavy process that was taking quite some time.
"The Chosen Children were able to defeat Daemon," Chisane told her. "They're going to be shifting their attention to the ruler of the Dark Ocean next, and after that's been taken care of, then they're going to be coming back here. In other words, the Dark Ocean is almost completely out of the equation for the time being. I have to say... I'm really happy to hear about all of that. It means that we might be able to go back to Odaiba to see the rest of the group at some point soon. As long as the barrier in Odaiba is a bit less insecure, then it'll be okay, right?"
"I think that I would prefer it if you were able to say that you were alright conclusively," Kaya frowned. "I know that you were unconscious throughout much of that, but... It was scary for the rest of us, alright? I don't want to have to carry you around after you've passed out ever again if it can be avoided. I know that I can't just say that once and banish it from taking place again, but... It's just how I feel on the matter. Everyone else was worried, and we don't want that to happen again."
"I know that everybody knows what's going on with me, but... I want to help out as much as I can. They deserve that, and so do I," Chisane told her. "The Digital World had a large impact on me too, and I... I want to be able to see my partner again sometime soon. Hiraku says that he has a way of updating our Digivices so that we can travel to the Digital World of our own free will."
"Oh... Cool," Kaya said, her voice was light and heavy at the same time, detached from the very idea no matter how hard she tried to hide it. She shook her head before she forced her eyes shut, not at all convincing in her supposed efforts to drift off to sleep once again.
"I know that you don't like the idea of the Digital World as much as you once did, but... Our partners are there. I want to be able to see them again on a regular basis after not having the chance to see them for fifteen years. I think that they deserve that much, and we do too," Chisane pointed out. "We're going to be alright if we go there. We can be careful if we think that it's the best option for us too. I know that it's a bit unsettling, but... We know how to handle ourselves if we have to. It's going to be alright."
"I... I just want to wait a little bit longer before we go back to Odaiba," Kaya insisted even though it was clear as could be that there was more to this going on than she was willing to admit. Kaya had always been the type to deny her problems and ignore them to the bitter end as long as she had the ability to do so. She would run for an eternity if she had to, and that included confronting the Digital World.
Traveling to Tottori hadn't only been a matter of Chisane's health, after all. Chisane was aware of it the same way that Kaya was; the Digital World had left them with emotional scars that would never heal. The Digital World had been a cutthroat and lawless place in the days where they were the Chosen Children, and Apocalymon had merely been a symptom of a much larger problem that they were unable to escape. Chisane didn't want to force Kaya to come with her to the Digital World or anything, but she did know that running away from her problems and ignoring them was hardly a way to live. They both deserved better than that whether they chose to admit it or not.
"Alright," Chisane agreed though, choosing not to voice any of this given the late hour. That was a discussion that they could have when the time weren't quite so late and the sky wasn't quite so dark. They still had to wake up for work in the morning, and they wouldn't be able to run from that no matter how hard they tried.
Kaya allowed herself to relax, seemingly losing some of the tension in her body simply because she was able to feel freed from the Digital World for a little while longer. They were going to have to return soon again, but at least they were alright for the time being. That counted for something in Kaya's eyes. It meant that she was continuing to find success in her methods of running from anything and everything that didn't sit properly with her, and Chisane was going to be along for the ride too. In other words, it was a triumph for Kaya.
Chisane smiled in Kaya's direction before she forced her own eyes to shut. "Goodnight," she said casually. She wasn't at all tired even if she had figured out the reason for her off behavior, but she supposed that didn't matter too particularly much. She was going to find a way to work this out one way or another, and if that meant that she wasn't able to go into work the next day, then so be it. That wasn't exactly ideal, but everything had to start somewhere, didn't it?
"Night," Kaya said in response, her letters already starting to run into one another from her exhaustion. It didn't take long for her breathing to even out as she fell back to sleep. Chisane smiled in her direction, glad that she wasn't going to be keeping Kaya awake for too much longer than she had to.
Of course, for Chisane, falling asleep was going to be a much more daunting and frustrating task. She had always had issues with sleeping if she was being honest, and they had stemmed from the Digital World. She hadn't been able to feel secure in the Digital World, and that meant that she couldn't rest easily when night arrived. After all, night usually meant that there would be other dangerous Digimon out and running around, ready to come for her and the rest of the team at a moment's notice.
Still, she had to accept that she was fine. She was on Earth, and they were going to be alright. Chisane kept her eyes clamped shut despite the desperation at the back of her mind to open her eyes and look at the shadows for any signs of something that might potentially send her off into slumber. That wasn't quite how it went, but it was still something for her to do.
Chisane didn't know how long she sat there in the darkness before she drifted away into a restless sleep, but at the very least, she knew that they were going to be alright. The Dark Ocean was finally about to leave her life once and for all. The Chosen Children, past and present, were going to be free after all that they had been through, and for Chisane, that was worth millions more than a single night of quality sleep could ever be.
It's catch-up time with the previous Chosen Children! Woohoo!
This chapter is a lot about seeing what the previous group has been up to given that they haven't been anywhere near as present in this arc, especially in the cases of Kaya and Chisane. On top of that, it offers us the chance to hear more of the lore behind the Dark Ocean with Daemon and Dagomon having been at war for the control of the Dark Ocean prior to Daemon's death. They both had their own ways of reaching for power, and they were planning on using that power to oust the other from strength in the Dark Ocean. It's an interesting dynamic that I think would make a lot of sense given that Dagomon wouldn't likely take kindly to the idea of a new authority figure appearing in the world that he's ruled over for ages.
Also, Homeostasis possessed Maki for the first time! Unlike in canon, Homeostasis only appeared after the Chosen Children defeated Apocalymon, so that was never possible in this timeline. Here we are though with Maki getting the chance to share the possession seat with Hikari. Congratulations on having full Crest of Light rights, Maki! It's what you deserve!
This chapter tends to mostly speak for itself given how lore heavy it is, so I'm going to leave you here while I jam out to music from a TV show that I don't even watch. Next time, we'll be pressing on with something special and new as we get into the final quarter of this arc. Until then, I hope you all enjoyed. Feedback is appreciated as always. Have a nice day, everyone!
-Digital