Frontiers Unexplored

23) Rise of Hope

Blizzarmon was surrounded in a burst of light as he took a step closer to the girl curled up on the ground, and when the glow faded, Tomoki had replaced the Beast Spirit of Ice. He reached out one hand to her, a gentle smile appearing on his face. "Do you need help?" he questioned. He chose to ignore her apology, instead replacing unnecessary forgiveness with kindness. 

The girl watched him warily before reaching out slowly, and she let out a gasp at how cold Tomoki's hand was. Still, he helped her to her feet, and she glanced around the rest of the group slowly. It was clear that she wanted to say something, but she couldn't find the words that would properly express how she was feeling in that moment of confusion. 

"What's your name?" Tomoki questioned. He was surprised by his own boldness in asking, and he knew that it had to have something to do with the rest of the group. Once upon a time, he never would have imagined that he was capable of reaching out to others this way, but he had found that strength by spending time with the rest of the Legendary Warriors. Somehow, conversation flowed far more easily than ever before, and he was able to speak to the newcomer without a moment of hesitation. 

The girl watched him for a moment before swallowing nervously and speaking. "Yumiko," she answered breathlessly. "Yumiko Mihara... I'm sorry about the trouble I have caused." She leaned over, her expression pulled tight between her apologetic eyes and guilty frown. 

"How about you two?" came the voice of Junpei. Tomoki turned and saw that the rest of the group had turned back to normal while he was distracted with helping Yumiko. All eyes were on the other two new arrivals, and Tomoki was happy to follow their gazes out of his own curiosity. 

"I'm Mayumi Reiku, and this is my brother, Haroi Tsurumaki," Mayumi explained. "You're all Legendary Warriors, aren't you?" She suddenly gasped and reached to her hip, revealing her D-Tector, before staring at the hologram that appeared above the screen. 

Haroi peered over her shoulder with wide eyes. "It seems we found the other cluster of signals by accident," he murmured before letting his gaze rise to the rest of the group. "I believe that we have some explaining to do..."

"Yeah, probably," Takuya commented with a small snicker. "Don't worry about it. We can all explain everything that's been going on. I know that there's a lot for each of us to catch up on, and it might be for the best if we just get it all out there."

"Let's stop in a town when we see one," Neemon suggested. "We're going to need more supplies than what we have right now." To prove his point, he gestured to the bag hanging off Koji's back. Koji responded with a small cringe, because he knew that Neemon was indeed correct. They hadn't brought enough food for three extra people, and they were going to need more supplies if they wanted to get to the Continent of Darkness without any further hiccups in the road. 

Tomoki nodded and started walking when the rest of the group followed suit. Yumiko remained still at first, simply watching the rest of the group with concern and shock in her eyes. Their nonchalance had caught her by surprise, and she didn't seem to know how to deal with it. 

Tomoki turned to face her and gestured for her to follow him. Yumiko stared at him for a moment longer before nodding tightly and trailing after Tomoki. She hung a few feet behind him, and Tomoki occasionally shot glances over his shoulder to make sure that she was still there. She never left, much to his relief, as the group began to explain all that had taken place up to that point. 

~~~~~

"Look at what your damn strategy did for us."

Duskmon's voice was enough to make Lyramon quietly upset, but they masked their anger behind a passive expression as they slowly turned to face him. Duskmon kept talking regardless, and Lyramon wished that Cherubimon would just take out the damn Warrior of Darkness already. It would certainly make their job much easier.