Digimon Adventure Tri: Echo

36) Sunless Sky

The Dark Ocean was just as awful as Hikari remembered it. 

The process of traveling there felt quite a bit like going to the Digital World, all things considered. The general sensation of being scrambled only to be put back together was something that she had grown used to over the years, but she was used to being welcomed by the warm sunshine and the bright skies of the Digital World. Instead, the Dark Ocean gave her the exact opposite. The heavens were overcast with tempestuous clouds even though no rain had ever fallen from them as far as she was aware. The ocean could be heard hitting the shore somewhere in the distance, though the group was surrounded by trees to the point that they couldn't see what was going on by the coast. The wind was cold and ominous, and everything about the world seemed to be more than capable of sucking the life out of anyone who dared to drop their guard for longer than just a mere handful of seconds. 

Tailmon was standing by her foot, and Hikari gladly accepted the warm brush of her partner's body against her ankle. She let out a small sigh and tried to concentrate on the situation at hand, though that was much easier said than done. They had to find Daemon, and he was undoubtedly around there somewhere. Locating him was going to be the hard part though, and Hikari hoped that they would be able to find some clues as to where he could be found somewhere in the area. 

"The Dark Ocean feels different than before," Takeru remarked with a light frown. Hikari realized that he was standing next to her, his face cast in shadow thanks to the hat on his head. When she glanced up at him, she realized that he was right; the Dark Ocean didn't feel the same way that it had in the past. Something about it was undoubtedly off, though she struggled to find a way to word how it was that something was wrong. 

"It seems... Weaker," Ken murmured. Wormmon nodded his agreement as Ken picked him up, and Hikari recognized that Ken was right. That was why everything felt somewhat strange; the Dark Ocean wasn't as powerful as it once had been. Hikari found herself wanting to know why, but at the same time, she almost feared the answer that she might find. She swallowed dryly and shook her head. 

"If the Dark Ocean truly is weaker than it once was, then that must mean that something happened to cause it to lose its strength," Hawkmon declared from his place beside Miyako. "I most certainly agree that something has changed, but the question that we should be asking is... Why?"

"Something must have done this deliberately," Hikari announced with more confidence than she expected from herself. Somehow, she doubted that this was simply the byproduct of the barriers between worlds growing weaker. After all, the Dark Ocean had appeared in the past when the barriers were struggling, but it had never been quite this lackluster. Something had changed it on purpose, and somehow, that only made the situation worse. That meant that there was something out there strong enough to bring such a powerful and terrifying world into a state of ruin beyond what she had already seen, and she absolutely detested the fact that she already held this knowledge. 

"Something about this place feels... Familiar," Sora remarked under her breath. She looked down to Piyomon and earned a nod of agreement in return. "I know that I haven't ever been to the Dark Ocean, but... It seems as if I've been to a place similar to this at one point in the past."

"I know what you mean," Yamato agreed with a nod. He glanced around at the rest of the group to see if any of them understood what he and Sora were referring to, but when he was met with nothing but blank looks, he shifted his attention down to Gabumon. 

Before Gabumon could respond, Sora let out a gasp. "I think I know what it is..." she whispered carefully. "Do you remember during our initial adventure in the Digital World? There was a dark cave that surrounded us, and as soon as we were able to break free of its influence, then we returned to the Digital World itself."