It had been a weird week. Still reeling from the abrupt departure of his tag partners, his bandmates, Heath Slater had been surprised when Titus O'Neil had come up to him, suggesting that since they had "dropped their inferior tag partners", they partner up themselves. Desperate for TV time, he had accepted and they had moved onto losing against The Usos. He hadn't heard from Titus since, which matters very little to him. He misses Drew, Jinder... he even misses Wade, the Brit still off from WWE and Digital World duties due to still recovering his surgery. Heath sighs and runs his fingers over the solid casing of his Digivice, looking up at Lopmon. At least I'm not entirely alone, he thinks grimly, reaching up to rub Lopmon's forehead, deftly dodging his three horns.

They're skirting along a forest on the outskirt of the Virus sector, eyes peeled for the reason that Luke had received a request for help from this area, when they hear it before they can see it- whole sections of the landscape falling, collapsing with shuddering impacts not that far from them. They all stop short, knowing that the average Digimon couldn't cause such destruction. "No way," Alicia mutters, clinging to Palmon desperately.

Seth is the only one to keep his cool, something that encourages the others to listen to him despite not liking him nine times out of ten. "Go back to the Digiport," he orders the others. "Zack, Alicia, stay if you want, get Palmon and Patamon to Digivolve, see if you can do anything to hold back whatever this is. We'll get reinforcements and be back."

The diva and the broski look at each other before Zack steels his shoulders, watching as Patamon obligingly flies into the bright light flowing from his Digivice, retaking the form of Darcmon. Alicia looks terrified but when Palmon follows suit, she doesn't try to stop her partner, the Digivolution quickly concluding, Kiwimon joining Darcmon to watch out for their opponent.

Heath and the others are following Seth back, trying not to worry too much about the distance to the Digiport, how long they'll be leaving the two champion Digimon behind to deal with whatever it is strong enough to tear down part of the forest in one strike, when Alicia screams- shadows fall over them all and... the ground shakes, everything goes dark.

When Heath comes to to a grey, terrifying world of nothingness, he feels something wet in his hair and hears sobbing nearby. "Lopmon," he chokes out, trying to shift and finding himself unable to.

"Heath!" his partner cries out, the softness of his ears brushing against Heath's face. "You're awake, I thought- I thought..." Fresh sobs overwhelm his voice and Heath's heart hurts to hear it. "We need to get out of here, the others-"

"Where are we?" Heath mumbles, still unable to move, do anything worthwhile as his partner shakes and sobs next to him. "Lopmon?"

"It's MegaGranKuwagamon," he all but wails. "I'm so sorry, Heath, I can't do anything- we're trapped!" It's then that Heath looks up, discovers that the greyness is because, yes... they're underneath a living creature, the small shifts of its shell-like body the only proof that Heath needs. He can't find any words after this, wanting so desperately to move, get out from under him... but unable to.

"What about the others?" he finally chokes out. "Alicia, Zack and- and everyone?"

"I don't know," Lopmon has to tell him. "I can't see anything, he's too... too big, I just... I'm so sorry, Heath."

"Stop apologizin'," the One Man Band tells him, trying to think of a way out, a way to help save this situation, protect everyone. He grits his teeth, clawing his hands in the dirt. Drew'n'Jinder would know what to do... Wade wouldn't be layin' here in the dirt feelin' sorry for himself... I can't help either of 'em, but this, here, now...I CAN! I gotta help everyone... they're relyin' on me, who knows what kinda shape they're in, I gotta-

And just like that, his thoughts drift, fade away when bright light pours from his leather pants' pocket, his Digivice vibrating against his hip so hard that it awakens his legs, causing him to gasp in desperate pain as sensations flood his body once more, the force of the power sending the insect creature off of him with a metallic kind of squeech that hurts his ears on top of everything else. He digs in, holds on, scrambling not to pass out, not to lay still, and he sits up with every inch of power his weary body contains, looking around to find the Digidestined scattered around, their Digimon nearby. Patamon and Palmon both had dedigivolved, looking pretty battered and bruised, Zack and Alicia slumped over their forms protectively. He can't think too thoroughly on the fact that Seth and Betamon are gone, hoping that they're not... not-

"LOPMON DIGIVOLVE TO..." The loud cry that his own Digimon issues once more distracts him, Heath's eyes widening as he watches his partner grow, tiny brown body turning into a strong, four legged creature with massive antlers and large blue hooves. Blue fur covers his neck, surrounds said hooves, and sprout out from his tail. "MOOSEMON!" he bellows, his head thrown back proudly as he stomps against the ground.

Looking back down, he finds Heath staring at him and smirks a bit before aiming his antlers towards MegaGranKuwagamon, who Heath can only now see in full since sitting up. He gulps and wants nothing more than to scramble away, though he's sure it'd do absolutely no good. The insect is huge, a mess of black wings, pinchers and claws that Heath can't see the end of. Being a southern boy, he's seen a fair share of scary creatures, but this tops everything he's seen in the real world or even in the Digiworld. Even with his strong, impressive growth spurt, Moosemon barely makes it to the top of one of his pinchers. "Moosemon," he breathes, barely able to find the strength to say, do anything... but the other superstars are still barely moving, though he thinks- hopes- that most are trying to play possum to live to fight another day. Too bad that wasn't an option for us, he thinks, only just now able to feel all the way down to his toes, with adds to his discomfort.

Moosemon rears back on his hind legs then, startling Heath more before- "HORN BLADE!" he yells, landing heavily and twisting his head around with the motion, a strong twister suddenly forming and shooting off towards MegaGranKuwagamon, trying to lift him off of his base and sending him away. It works... to an extent, but the Digimon's wings flap only once, destroying the tornado and sending him crashing once more to the ground. Heath is thrown around like in an earthquake and Moosemon turns towards him. "HEA-" His yell is quieted, drifts into a faded choking sound when MegaGranKuwagamon, angered by his actions, fly forward and close his pinches around the meaty white flesh of his rump, flying up into the air with him.

It all happens so fast, there's a flash of white light and something impacts with MegaGranKuwagamon, causing him to drop Moosemon, who freefalls to the ground below. Heath watches, helplessly clinging to his Digivice, his failure to protect his partner, the other Digidestined, anyone, looping through his mind. Just like that, Moosemon's Digivolution fails and it's now Lopmon rushing towards the ground limply. How Heath finds the strength, the circulation in his legs, he's not sure, but he's up and he's running, eyes wet, throat swallowing convulsively and he dives... skids, scrapes against each rock on the way, but then... he's there- he has the young Digimon, holding him close to his chest and pressing his face against Lopmon's, shaking.

He only looks up when Lopmon stirs, staring above in incredulous awe. "Cherubimon," he whispers as lightning and terrible balls of energy twist around each other, neither massive Digimon able to get the upperhand in the fight until Cherubimon glances down at Lopmon, something about the wonder in the Rookie Digimon's eyes seeming to energize him.

The oddly gentle looking Digimon with pink wings and a pink body, except for a white strip of fur down his face and stomach, sucks in a deep breath, holds his arms out to the heavens. "Heaven's judgement," he calls out, voice almost musical in its softness. Immediately, storm clouds form and Lopmon urges Heath down, the two of them only just able to see as the clouds seem to form directly above MegaGranKuwagamon, bolt after bolt storming down upon him, pounding him into the ground with pure electrical force until his body starts to shatter, data scattering every which way before, with one last cry that drifts, fades into silence, he deletes completely.

Heath collapses to the ground, closing his eyes as he hugs Lopmon close, relieved to feel the small creature shifting in his arms. He glances up as Seth and Betamon arrive, looking up at Cherubimon thankfully. "You- that's where you went," Heath mumbles wearily. The others are slowly regrouping but he's too tired, too sore to move, releasing a faint breath when Lopmon is pulled from his weak grip. "Wha- no..."

Seth ignores him, he and Miz working together to get Heath to his feet. Once standing, he looks up blurrily and stares at Cherubimon upclose, understanding why Lopmon was in such awe of him. He's huge, but that gentle vibe still comes from him, a peaceful smile on his face despite the fight he'd just won."You remind me of 'im," he tells their rescuer, glancing back towards where AJ Lee is holding onto Lopmon. "Somehow..." He's about to pass out, he can feel it, but he still hears Lopmon's response, Cherubimon's confirmation.

"He Digivolved from a different Lopmon."

Heath barely manages a soft "huh" before his head falls forward and everything turns dark yet again. But it's temporary unlike the time before... when he awakens this time, he's sprawled out over Cherubimon's massive shoulder, Lopmon on his chest, and the two of them smile sleepily as their eyes lock. "We're safe," he mumbles.

"Yes, we are," Lopmon whispers. "And we're heading back to the digiport to head to earth now."

"That's good," he breathes, eyes fluttering. "Lopmon?"

"Mm hmm?"

"Moosemon looked really awesome." He barely hears Lopmon's acknowledgement, his thanks, before sinking back under once more, content in the knowledge that his partner is ok, the others are fine, and they'll be home soon.