Digimon Adventure Tri: Echo

22) Fractured Crowns of Innocence

The number of Digimon in the city was going down, and it was going down fast. 

Each new defeat was another mark of pride as far as Taichi was concerned. He couldn't stop looking down at his D-Terminal, and his smile only grew wider each time that he saw an enemy Digimon had been defeated. He and the rest of his small group were working much faster than he could have expected, and Taichi was proud of all the progress that they were making in such a short span of time. It was impressive, he had to confess. He had been sure that it would take them ages to get anywhere close to finding success, and yet, there they were. 

"We're already down to eleven," Yamato commented as he looked up from his D-Terminal. He smiled to himself as he tucked the device back in its home out of sight, and he glanced up to the sky a moment later. "The others seem to be doing well enough as well. We haven't gotten any distress signals yet, and if you ask me, that's a good thing."

"I agree," Sora said with a concise nod. "We're bringing the number down, and that means that everybody will be safe to return soon..." Sora's voice trailed off as she looked up to the nearby Ultimate Digimon. "I can tell that they're getting tired though. They're pushing themselves pretty hard, and we've been fighting for so long... I can't blame them for being exhausted after all of this."

"I think that everybody is running on adrenaline at this point," Daigo commented with a hollow laugh. "I know that I'm absolutely wiped after all of this constant activity. I don't know if all of the sleep in the world will be able to help me at this point. Oh, well. I guess that's a problem that I'll just have to deal with later."

Taichi let out a gasp, and his smile began to expand by a fraction of an inch. "And would you take a look at that? While we were standing here talking, another Digimon was taken out. I think this one was by Mimi and Daisuke's team... I believe that they're moving closer to where Jou, Takeru, Hikari, and Iori are," he said. 

"Sounds to me like everything is under control," WarGreymon declared as he came to land beside his partner. Yamato and Daigo walked away to take care of transporting their most recent foe back to the Digital World as MetalGarurumon came to rest in the area as well. Hououmon formed a large shadow overhead that blocked out the sun itself. 

"Ten Digimon left," Taichi sighed with a shake of his head. Under any other circumstances, he would have thought that the number was ridiculously high, but in this situation, he was thankful that it was only ten. With one more Digimon defeat, they were going to be back to single digits, and that was quite the accomplishment given the fact that they had initially started with more than two dozen Digimon to defeat. 

"I'm looking forward to being able to leave all of this in the past," MetalGarurumon proclaimed, and WarGreymon, Taichi, and Sora all nodded along in agreement. They were all desperate for a break by that point even though they knew that it was going to be a while before they were presented with that chance. There wasn't even a guarantee that they were going to be completely in the clear by the time that the last of the enemy Digimon was defeated. It was a truth that all of them were vaguely aware of, but they were choosing to not acknowledge it because of the brutality of the matter. 

"We know what we're doing now at least, and it seems like we all have a solid enough grasp on what's happening," Sora told the others in the group, and her expression made it clear that she was trying her hardest to remain optimistic. "I'm sure that we're going to be fine. For now, let's go on and see where we can take out the next enemy Digimon. After all, this situation isn't just going to resolve itself while we're here talking."

"I really wish that it would," Taichi muttered with a humorless chuckle, and Sora offered a small hum of agreement. He glanced up as Yamato and Daigo approached once again, and the latter shut his laptop before tucking it under his arm, a sign that he was ready for them to keep traveling.