Wade walks back to Luke's homebase, Cocomon held protectively in his arms while Lunamon hangs off of his shoulder, blowing bubbles towards the baby Digimon to try to keep him from crying. Most of the others are loitering around, waiting to return home now that their missions are done. He swallows hard, closing his eyes. Now or never, I suppose, he thinks, head held high as he walks forward, determined to face his failure head on.

Zack notices Wade first and grins down at Cocomon before looking behind him, realization dawning on him. "Where's Heath, bro?" Wade's silence lingers and Zack's grin disappears completely. "Bro?"

"Arkadimon was..." He swallows. "Arkadimon was the Digimon causing problems... he took Heath." Wade grits his teeth. "Or I should say the bloody fool gave himself up to save us." He slaps his fist against a tree and grunts at the pain that stabs up his wrist. "He already came close to killing him before, and now..."

Zack takes a breath and steps forward, taking Cocomon from him as tears pour down the baby's face. "It's ok, little guy. He'll be fine." He looks up at Wade. "What happened?" As Wade tells him, the other Digidestined group around, their faces falling as realization dawns.

Luke listens from his position by the mountain wall, hands folded behind his back. When Wade finishes, he crosses over to the man and lifts him up by his collar, staring at him. "What are you going to do about this?"

Luke shifts, gripping his wrists with a surprising strength. "Let me down. Now." Wade growls up at him but does so, scraping his fingers through his hair before turning away, gritting his teeth. "Arkadimon will not sit silently while we wait for an opportunity to save Heath. He took him for a reason, especially if he was planning on possessing him this entire time. I expect he will come to us soon, we just need to be prepared."

"Prepared. Right... And meanwhile what happens to Heath?" Wade mumbles, turning away from Luke and heading back towards the others to check on Cocomon. The baby digimon is now asleep and he sighs, resting a hand on the top of his head, stroking his brown fur.

"What should we do now?" Zack wonders, watching as Patamon cuddles Cocomon. The group turn towards Seth, who also looks a little lost but, under their clear need for a leader, straightens his shoulders, clearly trying to think of their next course of action.

Before he can decide on what to do, there's a flash of green and purple, Wade feeling a sharp sting in his arm. Blood pours out, raining upon the ground next to Zack, and they gape at the wound that had appeared seemingly out of nowhere. "AH HELL!" Seth yells next, gripping his cheek as blood oozes between his fingers.

It's only when Dean flails and drops back, being missed by the attack just barely, they finally get a good look at the momentarily stunned Digimon. It looks like a jester, with obnoxious green pants and a purple jacket on. His hat is red and blue, with a star and a ball on top of it. His face twists cruelly before he's off again, his red scythe flashing in the sunlight. Zack holds Cocomon protectively as Patamon leaps off and prepares to Digivolve.

"Jokermon!" Darcmon yells, having just formed out of the data when Jokermon lands on him, slicing his scythe through his armor. He cries out, lunging his staff and sword back and forth until he frees himself, data pouring all over the ground as the evil Digimon leaps away, a smug look on his face. He groans and holds his midsection, relieved when some of the other Digimon get involved.

Gatomon and Strikedramon both try to slash at the rapidly moving Jokermon, but he dodges and they come close to slicing each other open instead, their partners cursing and calling at them to be careful. "Forget it," the cat digimon cries out. "Gatomon Digivolve to... Sanzomon!" She lands gracefully, the rosary beads surrounding her gleaming as she lifts her arms. Murmuring in a language none of them can understand, she closes her eyes as the beads grow in size and fly forward, boxing Jokermon in and attacking him again and again.

He snarls and regains control by slicing them in half, but before he can rush forward and attack someone else, Strikedramon is there, his body burning hot as he slices through Jokermon, his scythe falling to pieces in his hands. "NO!" he screams out, this momentary distraction being enough. Seadramon strikes him with ice, freezing his feet to the ground and allowing Sanzomon to rush forward and destroy him with another flood of rosary beads that pound into him from every angle.

Wade breathes a little easier once the digimon is nothing more than data streaming in the wind, but then... Cocomon whimpers and he senses it. Turning slowly, he spots a familiar head of hair peeking at them from behind a tree. His eyes lock with Arkadimon's cool gaze and the Digimon sneers at him before turning and disappearing into the tall grass leading away from Luke's base. So he sent Jokermon, Wade thinks. It's tempting to go after him, but Wade refuses to do so without a plan. Doing so would risk Heath's life and he refuses to consider doing anything that could cause Heath to be lost permanently to them, so he keeps quiet about what he's seen.

"Let's go home," Seth says. "We'll regroup and we'll decide on a gameplan, and we'll return."

For the first time since learning Seth was their leader, Wade feels grateful towards him. That Seth already knows what they need, that patience is what's needed right now to get Heath back healthy and whole. "Yes," he says quietly, taking Cocomon from Zack. "Let's go home."