Digimon Adventure Tri: Echo

19) Flames of Love

Fighting in a small space near the ground was not as fun as fiction would have led one to believe, Taichi thought bitterly. 

He, Yamato, and Sora were still standing tall and proud alongside their partner Digimon within the streets of Odaiba not far from the place where they had been previously. All of the people in the area had retreated to start running as far away from the battle as they could, and Taichi was glad that they were finding a way to stay safe. He was a bit worried about the events that were bound to transpire between his team and the Digimon that they were fighting against though. He knew that they had the advantage in numbers, since he and his companions were fighting with the strength of two Ultimate Digimon and a Perfect, while their foe was simply a single Ultimate. 

His name was Dorbickmon. That was what WarGreymon had told him when the fight first began, and Taichi kept rolling the name over in his mind with bitterness in his internalized tone. He didn't know how they were going to defeat Dorbickmon, if he was being honest. The collateral damage of fighting against Dorbickmon had the potential to be massive if he and his companions weren't careful. 

It was primarily a matter of them being on a city street that was crowded even with no people around. The buildings almost felt suppressive as they stood tall and proud in every direction, constantly watching the Chosen Children and making bets on what they were bound to do next. There were too many large buildings nearby, and if a rogue attack was sent the wrong way, something was going to start crumbling. If that happened, only further destruction would ensue, and that was operating under the assumption that he and his friends even survived the fallout that was bound to follow after the fact. After all, if a building as large as the ones around him went down, it was bound to create a rubble pile more than large enough to swallow a few small teenagers in its destructive wake. 

MetalGarurumon was the only one who could fight with anything resembling peace of mind. He zig-zagged back and forth along the street before rearing his head back, blue energy starting to gather inside of his mouth. "Cocytus Breath!" he cried out, sending out a large blue laser in the direction of Dorbickmon. It was thin enough to center in on its target without hitting anything or anyone else, but Taichi still watched it with all of the caution in the world just to make sure that nothing bad happened on accident. He didn't know if he would be able to take it if something even worse happened than a mass Digimon invasion. 

Dorbickmon was hit square in the chest, causing him to slide backwards before he came to a stop quite the impressive distance away. Taichi was glad for the extra distance between himself and Dorbickmon, but he still had an awful feeling about all of this. If only they could get Dorbickmon in the sky. Both WarGreymon and Garudamon were restricted in their combat abilities as long as they were so close to the ground, and Taichi found himself praying that they would figure out a way to throw the opposing Digimon as high into the sky as possible to make the fight at least a little bit easier. 

Sora was looking at her phone from a few feet away, and relief washed over her features. She appeared to be seeing if there were updates from the other members of the team, and Taichi took her sudden moment of gratitude as a sign that something positive had taken place. "A few of the enemy Digimon have already been taken down," she explained with a bright yet weary smile on her face. "The others have passed on the message. We have to be careful though... We still aren't out of the woods yet."

That was a piece of good news, yes, but Taichi still found himself wishing that there was more progress than that. His impatience was starting to grate on his nerves already, and he prayed that the other members of the group found better luck than he and the rest of his small team did. At the very least, if a few of the enemy Digimon had been taken out, that implied that a few other members of the Chosen Children team had managed to find one another and were working on continuing to make their way through the city. That was certainly a blessing that Taichi wasn't going to forget anytime soon. Knowing that even a few of them were safe was a great thing in his eyes given the uncertainty that had surrounded the greater part of his time since the battles began.