Digimon Adventure Tri: Echo

67) Reflective Hearts

At long last, Koushiro felt like he was making progress. 

He had been focusing intently on his search for any semblance of information he may be able to grasp before being forced to return to school within a week, and in the end, he had been lucky to strike gold after all that time spent investigating anything that could have been considered out of the ordinary. The relief that flooded his chest immediately was something he could never hope to articulate with words, not that he thought he wanted to in the first place. He didn't know what this was going to lead to, but Koushiro was sure that he had found something, and damn it, he was going to investigate no matter what it took. 

Koushiro and Tentomon touched down in a corner of the Digital World that was, in a word, desolate. The area was covered in empty deserts that were spliced between large mountain ranges that pierced the sky in a rocky and harsh formation. It was difficult to truly define what about the area seemed so strange, but the best way that Koushiro could describe it was unfriendly. He felt as if the air around him was trying to caution him to run as far away as possible as soon as the chance presented itself. He knew it was ridiculous to think such a thing was even possible, but that didn't stop the shiver from sprinting up his spine as soon as he was given the chance to think about it. 

"I don't like the look of this place at all," Tentomon whispered from his place at Koushiro's side. He was suddenly much more nervous than he had been when they were back on Earth, and he seemed all too intent on sticking as close to Koushiro as possible. It was almost unnerving how clingy Tentomon had suddenly become, and that only added to the awful feeling starting to sink in the pit of Koushiro's stomach. 

"You wouldn't be the only one," Koushiro murmured. The gate had spit them out in the mountain range, and as far as Koushiro could tell, the signal that they were searching for could be found on the other side of the current peak they were standing at the bottom of. In other words, they had some walking to do before they would be able to find any concrete answers. They might as well get started then. 

The walk through the range was silent, and Koushiro glanced down at Tentomon every so often just to make sure that his partner was still there with him. He didn't think he had ever seen Tentomon so quiet, and that only added to the unnerving aura of the rest of the area. Koushiro bit down on his lip and shook his head as he tried to concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other. He knew that this was the best way for them to find information, and they hopefully wouldn't have to engage in any combat to figure out what they had come for. Even if they did have to battle their way out of a sticky situation, HeraklesKabuterimon would be more than capable of helping them to push through. Or, at the very least, that was the hope, but Koushiro could already tell it was going to be difficult to gauge given the circumstances. 

When he and Tentomon finally came out on the other side of the mountain, the first thing Koushiro did was press his body against the base of the mountain, the rocks starting to scratch at his back through his shirt. He couldn't even bring himself to mind it though; he was much more focused on the impressive sight stretched out before him. Judging by the heavy silence that had come over Tentomon--the bug Digimon wasn't even flying as he looked at their target--Koushiro could tell that he was far from being the only one thinking that way. 

The area responsible for the energy signal that had brought Koushiro to this area in the first place seemed to be a large bunker, but oddly enough, there wasn't anything out of the ordinary about it. The building was large and built into the bottom of a pair of mountains nearby, and sand blew through the air to land on the roof of the building to further obscure it from the view of those passing by from the ground or air. In other words, it was almost completely hidden solely based on location, and all of a sudden, Koushiro understood how it had likely evaded the grasp of him and the other Chosen Children for so long. He couldn't have imagined any of them looking in an area like this for something out of the ordinary.