Alicia bites her lip and hugs a limp Lillimon as tightly as she dares, tears in her dark eyes. "What is this?" she demands, staring up at the massive Digimon that's seemingly targetted her and her partner over the others. Seth is nearby, MegaSeadramon thrashing around anxiously, Owens and Bearmon observing from where they'd fallen when the first attack had blasted at their feet, sending them all down.

Shoutmon EX6 laughs, the sharp protrusions that he has in place of hands whirring maddeningly. A blade from one wrist, a drill from the other, Alicia gasps and chokes on her own saliva as the drill is pressed close to her cheek, the instrument still thrumming as it rotates close to her skin. Alicia whimpers, struggling to breathe. "Is this a test, AncientGarurumon?" she chokes out, staring up at the evil digimon with wide eyes. "You aren't like the rest," she says, emboldened somehow. "You're not... defiled data... you are just pure evil."

He laughs at this, rancid breath washing over her and adding to her fear even as Lillimon stirs in her arms. "Alicia," her partner moans out. "Alicia."

"I'm here," she says softly. "I'm here. It's ok." For now, her mind finishes the sentence for her and she grimaces. "Can you fight?"

"I'm not sure," Lillimon admits, struggling just to stand on her own power. "I'll try." She and MegaSeadramon lunge at the same time, ice and vines shooting out at the frightening digimon at the same time, but both are rebuffed as easily- the drill bores through the ice like it's nothing, and the vines are quickly whacked away by the sword until MegaSeadramon is left thoroughly vulnerable and Lillimon gets thrown back once more, her wings crumpling under her as she hits the rocky platform behind Alicia and slides back to the ground.

"No!" Alicia yells, running to her as Seth tries to instruct MegaSeadramon what to do, his words quickly failing as MegaSeadramon is slashed with the drill and is sent into Seth, both of them motionless after that. Kevin and Bearmon watch, stupified and horrified at what's happening before them, as Alicia scoops Palmon up and hugs her, data pouring from her partner at an alarming rate. "No, no- please..." She remembers Veemon deleting in Ricardo's arms shortly after they'd become digidestined, how much it had hurt even after the little guy had reformed. She doesn't want that for Palmon. "Stay with me, stay with me..."

Tears pour down her face as she looks around at Seth and Betamon, Kevin and Bearmon, and grits her teeth. "I don't care if this is a test or not, I don't care if I'm failing, I'm not giving up! Palmon, please," she begs. "You can't give up either. We need to fight." Her encouraging words die in her throat as her digivice lights up, vibrating in her pocket, and Palmon is encased in its glow. "Wha... what?"

The power becoming too much for Alicia to hold onto her partner through, she's forced to let go and watch as Palmon floats, her body slowly regenerating what had been lost as she slowly deleted. Eyes shooting open, Palmon stares at Alicia with a soft smile. "Thank you," she says before code covers her body, beginning the digivolution sequence. "Palmon warp digivolve to..." Quick flashes of Kiwimon and Lillimon are seen before she fades into data, reforming as a tall, beautiful fairy digimon. Only her mouth and hands are visible, the rest of her covered in either purple clothing or large, white lotus flowers. In one hand, she has a staff with multi-colored flower petals in it, and in the other, a Caduceus.

The fight that follows is hard to track by the human eye, Lotusmon getting close enough to brawl with Shoutmon EX6, their weapons clashing together in hideous sounding blows that vibrate through the air. Blasts of various colors are coming from Lotusmon's staff, her teeth gritting each time Shoutmon evades, and finally she slams down the Caduceus upon his back during a rare moment of hesitation on his part, screaming out "SERPENT CURE!"

His darkness fights against the pure light exuded by her staff and soon he starts screaming, his body warring with what she's doing to him. "NOOOOOOOOOOO!" he screams as his arms shatter first, the weapons fading into meaningless data. Bit by bit, his overtaxed body follows suit until there's nothing left but a pile of data drifting away in the wind.

Lotusmon then lands next to Alicia and grins as she hugs her tightly, tears pouring down her face. "I'm ok," she tells her partner. "Thanks to you, I'm fine."

"I'm so glad," Alicia sobs, burying her face in her partner's shoulder. "I was so scared."

"I know. It's fine now though," she soothes, running her fingers through Alicia's hair.

Once Kevin and Bearmon join them, Alicia remembers Seth and gasps, running over to where he's still laying. "Seth! Betamon!" Lotusmon joins her and lifts Betamon up, cradling him in her soft, flowery arms, as Alicia kneels down and tries to revive Seth. "Come on, come on..."

His groan sounds like heaven to her ears, dark, squinted eyes locking on her. "Ow. What the hell happened..."

She babbles something about the digimon while trying to help him up. "Is your knee ok?" she demands, staring down worriedly as he puts weight on it.

"Yeah, feels like it did before. No worries." He smiles at her before taking another step towards Lotusmon, scooping a stirring Betamon out of her arms. "You ok, buddy?"

"Think so," he mumbles groggily.

As Alicia watches them walk forward together, her eyes soften. Whether or not that was another of AnxientGarurumon's tests or not, she's pretty sure she just passed with flying colors.