"Heath Slater?" Mike repeats incredulously. "You mean the Heath Slater? Ginger, kind of obnoxious? He saved the entire world on his own?"

"Yeah, something like that," Seth intones, also seemingly disbelieving of it all. "It was weird, but I can't prove that he's lying because we were able to get back to earth, and no one was hurt or otherwise harmed, so I guess he really did it."

"What a strange world we live in," Mike sighs, glancing down at Monodramon as they wander further into the woods, looking for the cause of the beacon flashing on their maps. "Sense anything?" When his partner shakes his head, Mike mutters under his breath and casts another quick glance around at the trees surrounding them. Kevin, Alicia, Enzo and Cass are somewhere ahead of them, just visible between the foliage, but neither seem that concerned with being separated from them. "I am just not seeing a damn thi-"

His words die when Betamon is swatted away like a baseball, pinging off of a couple of trees before landing hard on the ground, Seth immediately racing forward and resting a hand on his back and looking around, eyebrows furrowed angrily. "Who's the coward who did that? Huh?!"

"He's ultimate," Mike says, turning to Monodramon. "Go. Cyberdramon." His partner nods, immediately hitting that level of power before sweeping up into the trees. It's obvious when he finds his mark because a brawl breaks out above them, leaves and branches raining down onto them. Once they fall to the ground, Mike gets a good look at Etemon, a humanoid type ape creature, with some fierce looking muscles and a sneer that would put most wrestlers to shame.

Cyberdramon doesn't get a chance to use his flashier moves because Etemon keeps punching and kicking, kneeing him anywhere he can reach. Even when he succeeds at hitting him with a good slash from his claw, Etemon rebounds and hits him harder in the head with his knee, knocking Cyberdramon back and leaving him vulnerable to further attack. Mike bites his lip and curls his hands into fists. "Come on, Cyberdramon!" he yells, gaining Etemon's attention.

"Miz," Seth says warningly, Betamon still unconscious in his arms. The others are far out of sight by now, none noticing the fight going on a good mile back. "Mike," but Miz ignores him, wide blue eyes locked on Etemon as he knees Cyberdramon in the face and turns back towards Mike, teeth flashing in the sun.

"Digidestined," he says slowly, as if testing the word on his tongue. "Fascinating." He looks him up and down. "You are a wrestler." Mike bristles at the disdain in his tone, standing up and waiting impatiently for his to do, say something further. Instead, Etemon merely laughs at him before racing forward, sliding and striking Mike hard in the face with a fist.

Mike staggers, hits the ground and stares up at the sky, dazed as blood trickles down his chin.

"Mike!" someone is yelling overhead but he can't move, can't respond. He thinks Seth is scrambling, trying to do something, but there's no breaking the darkness he's currently drowning in. He can barely breathe through the blood filling his nose and mouth... until he does, and he is, gasping in pure oxygen.

"Mike," says a familiar voice over his head and he looks up incredulously. Shakamon stands over him, a patient look on his face. "It's time. You know it is, yes? You need more power, you need to embrace the Light inside of you." Leaning down, he rests a hand on Mike's back and pinpoints the power within him, feeling it curl and expand at his touch. "You need to wake up."

He sits up in reality with a gasp, scaring Seth and causing him to scramble back, eyes wide. "What- what's wrong with your eyes?" he chokes out, staring at Mike in fear.

"What do you mean?" he asks, still dazed from the blow, from his interaction with Shakamon. "Wha-"

"They're like, really bright blue, like... lit by something..." Seth's voice fades, dies entirely as Mike grabs his digivice and it immediately starts to glow, the crest within vibrating with the force of the energy surging through his fingers.

Etemon's advancement is stopped immediately as Cyberdramon glows with a brilliant beam of energy, his body stripping apart just to reform as Justimon. The sleek creature covered in silver armor lunges forward, starting to brawl with Etemon and taking him out easily, pinning him to the ground as his cape whips around in the blustery wind. "Finish it," Mike tells him quietly and, despite how far away they are, Justimon hears him easily. He smashes Etemon's body with his arm and holds it in place until he dissolves into data, fading into the wind.

As Justimon gets to his feet, the light surrounding Mike's body fades away and he exhales, watching his partner before collapsing to his knees, the pain in his face re-introducing itself. "Ow," he mumbles, Seth's hand warm on his shoulder. "I'm fine. Just need a minute."

"Sure, man. Whatever you say, just don't look at me with those crazy lite-brite eyes, and we're good."

Mike laughs brokenly and looks up at him. "Sometimes I think we could almost be friends, Rollins, if you weren't such an annoying kiss-up," he says, smirking as Seth makes a face at him.

"When you get up, we'll find the others and go get your face looked at."

Mike nods, grimacing as he remembers. The moneymaker... He sighs and rubs at the blood caked along his chin, not that surprised to find that the pain is fading. "I think it's more residual pain now, I'm not bleeding anymore. That... I think Shakamon healed me."

Seth hesitates. "Shakamon?"

Mike nods, not bothering to explain any further. "Let's go before the others find some way to get into trouble." Pulling himself up, he examines Justimon for a minute, taking in his ripped body and the armor, the red scarf, and everything else. "Alright. You'd better dedigivolve, reserve some strength."

Justimon nods and does so, his body gleaming as he returns to Monodramon. "I wasn't sure I'd ever reach that level of power," he admits softly, staring at Mike.

Mike smirks at him. "Stick with me, kid, I'll take you to heights you'd never imagine before."

Seth groans, walking faster to escape both of them, and both Mike and Monodramon laugh at him as they follow.