Digimon Adventure Tri: Echo

33) Broken Gold

The process of traveling to the beach of Odaiba was frazzling and terrifying for Hikari. She wasn't even entirely aware of what she was doing. She did know that she and Taichi had rushed out of their apartment as soon as they received the message from Koushiro, and they wound up running into Meiko along the way. The three of them and their partners wound up scrambling in the direction of the invading Digimon, and Hikari could barely process anything above the pounding of her heart in her ears that made her nauseous. She felt like the world was trying to swallow her whole, and she couldn't do anything to fight back. Her chest had grown tight, and Hikari kept on trying to convince herself that everything was fine. 

But that was the problem; it wasn't fine, and she was fully aware of it. Hikari tried to force her mind to harp back Takeru's words from a few days prior. He had calmed her down so much at the time, and she needed to remember everything that he had told her if she was doing to calm down. Tailmon was running by Hikari's side, and the Chosen Child of Light found herself resisting the urge to pull Tailmon into her arms and just hug at her partner until her awful feelings started to fade away. She knew that was much easier said than done, but she yearned for it regardless. 

By the time that Hikari and the rest of her group had arrived at the beach, that sick feeling had taken hold of her with more vicious teeth than she had thought possible. Hikari bit down on her lip and tried to make sure that she was still standing. If there had been a doubt before, then it had disappeared. She knew why it was that this was happening, and the fact that they were here of all places made that clear. 

It was the Dark Ocean. They hadn't gone to defeat the monsters in the Dark Ocean quickly enough, and so, the beasts were coming to them. 

This was the same location that Hikari had been in when she remembered being taken away to the Dark Ocean the first time. The beach had spawned many positive memories for her in the past, and she did her best to focus on those a majority of the time. However, there did come times when she felt as if she couldn't escape it no matter how hard she tried, and this was certainly one of those moments. 

Hikari felt a hand come down on her shoulder, and at first, she thought that she was going to scream in shock. Instead, she just glanced up to see that her brother was staring forward with something solemn in his eyes. He was trying to reassure her, and she appreciated it without a shadow of a doubt. Her fingers came up to touch at the back of Taichi's hand, and she did her best to let all of her stress melt away as quickly as possible. This was hardly the time to be distracted, after all. The enemy Digimon were getting closer, and she wouldn't be able to escape them no matter how much she wanted to run. 

"I don't see any Digimon around here," Mimi commented. Palmon was at her side, already in a fighting stance in preparation for the battle at hand. All of their partners were still at the Child level save for Tailmon, Meicoomon, and Kabuterimon. Even so, they were ready to evolve at a moment's notice, knowing that something had to be coming their direction. 

"They're coming out of the water," Hikari murmured before she could stop herself. She was distantly aware of the fact that the rest of the Chosen Children were already there, and they had all heard what she had said. She wasn't planning on taking it back anyways; she was confident that the monsters were coming out of the sea, and it wouldn't be much longer before they arrived. If their enemies were coming from the Dark Ocean this time around, then that meant that it would only be natural if they came from the nearby body of water. 

"I've had enough of waiting," Yamato said simply. He held up his Digivice, and it wasn't long after that the rest of the group had started to follow in his lead. The partners started to evolve and change shape, and Hikari wound up reaching for her own Digivice as well. The light that blanketed the area was immense, and Hikari nearly stumbled with how overwhelming it all was. Something in the back of her head pounded in protest, and she did her best to make sure that she was able to stay standing in spite of this sudden issue.