Digimon Adventure Tri: Echo

27) Fostering Bridges

As soon as Huanglongmon came into view down on the ground, Varodurumon began to guide his course in a slow downward spiral that would bring him to the grass below. Ebonwumon, who had been following the group from the ground, came to a halt as well, and Huanglongmon gazed upon his old comrade with a careful gaze. The humans mounted on the golden dragon's back began to slide into the grass soon afterwards, and Varodurumon lowered his own body down so that Chisane and Kaya could guide their group of Chosen Children into the grass below as well. Hikari nearly stumbled when she hit the ground as a result of her recent general disorientation, but she managed to catch herself at the last minute when Takeru threw an arm out to stabilize her. She sent him a thankful gaze, a smile spreading across her face with awkwardness seeping in through the edges. Takeru simply nodded before ensuring that Iori had landed well enough. 

"It's good to see that you're all still doing well!" Miyako declared as she strolled over to the rest of the group, Poromon sitting unsteadily on her head. When she tilted her body to the side a bit too much, Poromon lost his balance and rolled away from her, yelping all the way. She managed to grab him just before he hit the ground. Poromon shot her a glare from behind his beak, and Miyako simply laughed awkwardly before scratching at the base of her neck. Poromon sighed, seemingly satisfied with that response. 

"Today has certainly been interesting, to say the least," Takeru told her with a light laugh. "I suppose that it's just how things are for us these days though. After a bunch of small attacks, we had tons of Digimon flood in through the gate to attack us all at once... I'm not happy with how that turned out, but at least we're all still here and alive. That certainly has to count for something."

"The other groups are rather close to us as it is, so that's a good thing," Koushiro murmured. He was holding up his laptop with one arm as he watched the screen carefully. When he glanced up, he was met with the faces of Chisane and Kaya for the first time, and he frowned towards them before glancing in Maki's direction, seemingly putting the pieces together about these two newcomers being other members of the original team of Chosen Children. The fact that they had Digimon partners made that notably clear. 

"I don't think that we've been introduced," Kaya began simply, her hands shoved into her pockets as she approached him. She stuck one hand out for Koushiro to shake it, and she returned the gesture with a surprising amount of authority. "Kaya Fujimori. That's Chisane Matsumiya, my partner in business, crime, and everything in between." Koushiro responded with shock, seemingly not expecting Kaya to have such an openly domineering personality. He shoved his surprise a moment later before returning to his task on the computer. 

"And apparently your partner in avoiding Daigo and I's calls for the past eight years," Maki commented with a snort and a shake of her head. Chisane winced at the sound of Maki's voice and retreated into herself slightly, trying to disappear into the ground as if that would bring her salvation from Maki's piercing gaze. In the end, that wasn't enough to save her, and Maki shook her head in response. 

"It seems like all of us managed to find a few of the original Chosen Children..." Koushiro commented carefully, choosing this time to interject to keep Maki and Kaya from glaring holes in one another's chests. "As far as I can tell, Taichi's group is with one of the others while Daisuke's team has the last two. We should be able to all meet up with one another when we reach the rendezvous point soon."

"I'm glad to hear it," Maki said, shifting her attention away from Kaya immediately. "I guess that we should keep moving then. After all, we don't want to leave anyone waiting for any longer than we absolutely have to. Being here in the Digital World is going to cause enough problems for us as it is, so we might as well meet up so that we can take down whoever is behind this sooner rather than later."