Digimon Adventure Tri: Echo

48) Twisted Innocence

As soon as the outlines of a few familiar figures appeared on the horizon, Mimi's expression burst out into a smile. She grabbed at Sora's arm before pointing in the direction that she could see the people coming from. Sora turned to face the newcomers in question, and a smile appeared on her lips as well as soon as she processed that Koushiro and Jou had almost arrived alongside their partners. 

Both Mimi and Sora stopped walking as Koushiro and Jou came closer, waiting patiently for the others to reunite with them so that they would be able to continue pressing on. Piyomon and Palmon were both excited about getting back with the other members of the group as well, and Mimi could see it in the way that the Digimon were carrying themselves. This was perhaps the best news that they could have received aside from perhaps what had taken place when they first underwent Jogress evolution, and Mimi could feel that they were getting even closer to being free of the Dark Ocean at long last. 

Once Koushiro and Jou were close enough, Mimi dashed up to them, the others trailing after her. "Hey there, you four!" she cried out, waving one hand above her head to attract their attention even though she knew that they probably had already figured out that they were going to be meeting with her soon. 

"Mimi!" Koushiro smiled. As soon as he was in reach, Mimi practically threw her arms around his body, pulling him into a tight embrace. When Jou strayed too close, Mimi dragged him into it as well, and Sora understood silently that she was being expected to do the same. Their four partners simply stood around the area quietly, watching their human companions with small smiles. It hadn't been that long since they were last together, but it somehow felt as if it had been a thousand years. 

The group didn't pull away until after Mimi was finished with hugging on them, and she let out a small sigh once she was able to do a headcount and come back with eight for the first time since the group had last been together. "I'm glad that you're alright," Mimi smiled. "We've been worried about you two and everybody else. I hope that we'll be able to meet up with them soon so that we're able to go back home."

Koushiro nodded, and he began to reach for his D-Terminal a moment later. "I should pass on the message that we've gotten back together," he announced. He began to type swiftly at the D-Terminal's keyboard soon afterwards, moving just as quickly as he always had. Still, that didn't make it any less impressive as far as Mimi was concerned, and she watched him intently all the same. 

Unfortunately, watching Koushiro's actions in this regard only meant that she was forced to stare at his hands. A frown appeared on Mimi's face when she realized that there was something amiss about him. To be more specific, there was a brace around one of his hands, tightly wound around his wrist. 

Before Mimi had the chance to ask about it though, Sora beat her to it. "What happened to your wrist, Koushiro?" Sora questioned, her eyes shining with notable concern. 

Koushiro glanced up from his typing a moment later, his expression going dark for a moment. "I hurt it when we fell after Dagomon attacked us. Jou says that it should be healing well enough though, and it'll be back to normal in no time," he assured Sora. He finished typing out his message before he tucked his D-Terminal away and out of sight a moment later. "It seems like we aren't the only group that's managed to come together too."

"Yeah," Mimi confirmed with a nod. "We've finally figured out where Meiko disappeared to... She's with Takeru and Iori. I'm just glad that she's safe after all of that. I was really worried that something was going to happen to her while the rest of us weren't able to look after her."

"Luckily, that's not anything we need to worry about now," Palmon assured her with her traditional bright smile. She let out a small sigh before she glanced in the direction that they were set to continue heading. "We can see her and everybody else soon. I think that we're getting closer to being able to meet with the rest of the team, and after that, we'll be able to head back home to Earth."