Digimon Adventure Tri: Echo

28) Ruptured Equilibrium

It didn't take long for the group to settle down in the shadow of a cave that shielded them from the rest of the Digital World. They caught up on all that had taken place as well, bouncing the story around from one mouth to another to create the complete image of the past twelve hours. Even if the whole process was close to an hour long, it didn't feel that way because of how long the day had already been leading up to that point. Anything would feel short after the mess that the rest of the day had been, and the Chosen Children barely seemed to mind that they had taken their time to reach this point. 

Hikari was staring blankly down at the fire that was at the center of the group's small circle. The Harmonious Ones had all departed for the time being, off to take care of any other business that they had to attend to before the following day. Taichi had heard from Daigo that the Harmonious Ones had found their partners in the first place thanks to instinct that the first generation of Chosen Children had returned. It certainly explained why so many of them were far from their original locations of the Digital World. He decided to commit such a fact to memory, enjoying it far more than he probably should have. 

"Alright, Hikari... I think that now is the right time to take care of talking with Homeostasis," Maki declared. She had taken control of the situation without a beat of hesitation, something that didn't surprise Taichi in the slightest. As far as he could tell, Daigo was the leader of the first team, but Maki was the closest thing that had appeared to a second-in-command. Maki was much more commandeering in nature, but Daigo had a natural sense of charisma that dragged in the attention of those around him. It was hard to believe at a first glance because of how Daigo had come to behave since the original adventure, and it only fueled Taichi's theories about how something had changed since the first generation of Chosen Children appeared in the Digital World the first time. 

Taichi looked away from Maki before glancing in the direction of his younger sister. Hikari was already on it as far as talking to Homeostasis though, it seemed, and her eyes had swept shut as she tried to set up a link of communication in full. Hikari was rigid for a long moment, but when she opened her eyes once again, something relaxed had crossed through her body. Taichi could tell that this was Homeostasis because of the different way that she carried herself compared to Hikari. His younger sister didn't hold her shoulders as tall or proudly as Homeostasis, and the entity of the Digital World had a far more regal aura than Hikari regularly did. 

"Homeostasis..." Tailmon whispered, staring up at Hikari's face as she tried to once again adapt to the fact that the one who was standing before her was not her partner. She seemed to understand it a moment later, and she curled around Takeru as a way of finding something familiar. 

Homeostasis rose to her feet a moment later, and something light and bright flashed in her eyes. She was borrowing Hikari's body, but there was something new that she added, and that was the glow of gentle swirling rainbows in the girl's eyes. Pink was the most prominent color among the bunch, though Taichi thought that this made sense given the circumstances. After all, Hikari did have the Crest of Light. 

"Chosen Children... It's nice to see you all once again," Homeostasis declared as she cleared her throat, adapting to being a physical body rather than a spiritual being. "Much has changed since the last time that we were in contact with one another."

"You... You're the voice that I've been hearing all these years," Chisane murmured, her eyes narrowing in Homeostasis' direction. Homeostasis raised one eyebrow in Chisane's direction before her expression returned to neutrality, and if Taichi was reading her face correctly, agreement. "I've known that there was something out there beckoning for me... It must have been you trying to make contact with my Crest like Maki said."

Homeostasis simply nodded in response. "It's a pleasure to finally meet the original Chosen Children for the first time," she said softly. "It has been a great many years since you were last here in the Digital World... The only things that I have heard of you are from your partners. It truly is an honor to be able to meet you at long last."