Alicia stirs first. She grunts and sits up gingerly, running her fingers over her head, across her face. Palmon's next, her partner thankfully stirring under her fingers. Alicia breathes a little easier, looks up. The ground is tore up, covered in scorch marks. She swallows and tries to stand, her legs wobbly but sufficient enough to hold herself up.

Palmon follows her as she wobbles over to where Mike is laying, kneeling down next to him. Jijimon isn't anywhere to be seen. She rests her hand on his shoulder and shakes him. "Mike, please- Mike-" He's unmoving and she grows more and more worried about where Jijimon went, what he was trying to say... what happened to stop him. "Mike, come on!"

She's in the process of shaking him harder when a shadow falls over her and she swallows hard, looking up. Her eyes widen before slipping closed, Palmon swaying with her. "Mike," she tries one last time before losing track of reality.

Time passes. Nothing moves. Monodramon is still, quiet, Mike finally begins to twitch a few minutes later and forces his blue eyes open, peering around uncomfortably. His entire body aches. Everything sucks right now. He grimaces and forces himself up right, crawling over towards Monodramon. "Hey, hey, Monodramon, can you hear me?"

It only takes a few moments before he realizes. Alicia, Palmon, and even Jijimon are gone. His brows furrow. He frowns as he looks around the wrecked surroundings. "What the hell happened?" Shaking Monodramon a few more times, he's relieved when his partner finally shifts and sits up. "Alicia and Palmon are missing," he tells him. "We gotta move."

Monodramon nods groggily and gets up, helping Mike to his feet as well. Together, they begin to trudge back to the portal to notify Luke and the other digidestined that, again, one of their own is missing.

-x

Alicia's eyes are dark as she peers into the equally emotionless eyes of Starmon, a digimon who resembles his name, with hands and legs covered by boots and gloves. His body is sharp looking silver and she's pretty sure if you touch the creature, you would prick your skin and bleed upon first contact. "What do you need from us?" she asks softly.

He laughs and reaches forward, grazing her cheek with his gloved finger. "Soon, very soon," he tells her.