Digimon Adventure Tri: Echo

76) Princess of Infinity

After that one moment of shining hope, the minutes that followed had no promise regarding Meiko's potential to break free of Entropy's grasp. Entropy continued to stand perfectly still atop the pole of the bridge as he watched the battle unfold, and his hair blowed gently in the breeze. he was poised so effortlessly that it seemed as if he was in complete control of what was happening, and in some ways, he was. That was one of many things that made him so dangerous to fight against. He had been planning this for more than half a decade in the shadows of the Digital World, and since he had finally been given the chance to fight back, he was going to take it. 

As much as Taichi hated to admit it, everything did seem to be going according to his plans for the most part. Raguelmon had already seemingly completely recovered from the attack that she had taken for Ordinemon a short few moments prior, and it seemed like she was constantly surveying the audience to try and see if she was able to find the right attack to deflect for Ordinemon. The massive Digimon was able to take most damage in stride without caring in the slightest, but Raguelmon knew exactly which attacks had to be blocked since they would likely leave behind injuries. She was easily able to launch herself around Ordinemon to take the hits necessary, swinging around the large wings of the huge Digimon and vaulting off her body effortlessly. Ordinemon didn't even flinch, instead simply continuing to rest in the air as if nothing was happening at all. 

"How are we supposed to do anything to fix this as long as Raguelmon is in the way?" Sora asked as she glanced to the other members of the group. "She's doing too much to block the attacks that really need to be hitting Ordinemon."

"We have to find a way to get her out of the picture somehow, but she isn't going to take being distracted quite as easily as we would have liked," Koushiro frowned. "Raguelmon has a single goal right now, and that's to make sure that the attacks that are going to do significant damage don't hit Ordinemon. Anything else we try to do to get her attention probably isn't going to work no matter how hard we try and push it."

"Then... What are we supposed to do?" Miyako questioned, her voice shaking ever so slightly. Taichi could tell by the look on her face that she knew what they had to do, but she hated it with everything she had. Taichi would have been lying if he said that he was at all fond of the idea either, but the truth had been decided three years prior the last time they were forced to fight against one of their allies.

"When we had to fight against Agumon, there was only one choice for all of us," Yamato announced. "If we wanted to save him, we were going to have to snap him out of his trance. At the time, he was under the influence of the Dark Spirals. It's not the same situation as this one, but the fact remains the same as it did before."

"We have to fight against Raguelmon precisely because we care for Meicoomon so much," Taichi finished for Yamato. He referred to the two Digimon as separate entities because, as far as he was concerned, they most certainly were. Raguelmon was a Digimon who was being manipulated for the purposes of destroying the world, a puppet without purpose being forced to dance under the commands of a sick master. Meicoomon, on the other hand, was a friend that all of them had come to know and care for greatly since she and Meiko joined the group. They may have utilized the same body, but as far as Taichi was concerned, they were different. 

Still, that didn't change the fact of the matter. If they wanted to free Meicoomon from the unfortunate spell that she had been placed under, they were going to have to fight off Raguelmon and do what they could to break the trance. Entropy's control had shown no signs of slipping when it came to Raguelmon since the battle began. They wanted to do what they could to free Raguelmon from his influence, but if that wasn't possible, they would have no choice but to follow up on the next best option. Meicoomon would never want to fight against her friends this way, and if it meant that they had to kill her to stop her rampage... That was what she would want. It was the same situation as it had been three years prior, but it didn't seem as if there was going to be a miracle to rescue them from this awful situation this time around. There was no Dark Spiral to shatter to bring Meicoomon back. There was simply the war against Entropy and the fact that if they didn't end it, the world was going to crumble to nothingness.