Zack is still hurting after Backlash. Hell, they all are, except for Heath, who is whistling joyfully as they continue on. That is, until Ambrose yells at him to shut up, to not risk alerting the digimon they're trying to face off against of their presence. Heath does quiet down, for the most part, but he's still grinning happily at finally getting his Smackdown contract.

Zack is walking through the village that they'd been led to, Patamon by his side, when the digimon goes very still and quiet, trying to focus on something. "What is it?" he asks his partner, brow furrowing as wide blue eyes look left to right.

"I sensed something... darkness... I can't..." He turns in a circle, trying to pinpoint what exactly he's sensing but it's impossible to spot from this vantage. Patamon looks helplessly at Zack when, suddenly, claws slash against his side, sending him crashing to the ground.

"Patamon!" Zack cries, rushing to scoop up the vulnerable digimon... just to receive a deep slash across his hand and then up his arm, causing him to scream out in pain. "Impmon," he chokes out, scandalized, as he looks up at Dolph's partner. "W- why..." Then he realizes that Impmon's eyes are bright red, glaring down at him... and then Dolph walks out, eyes gleaming in the same fashion. "What happened to you?" he chokes out, digging the fingers of his good hand into the dirt.

"I did," a dark, deep voice responds, scaring Zack and nearly sending him face down into the dirt as he tries to find the source. Once he does, he wishes he hadn't, looking up at the digimon with an armored body and weird red eyes on his chest, drill-like spears at the end of each wrist. "He seemed so weak, I figured I would help him out."

"He's not weak," Zack groans, trying to ignore how weak he's feeling as more blood drips down his arm. This only gets worse when Dolph walks up and stomps on his hand, Zack screaming out anew as his fingers throb under his heel. "Bro, bro-" he pants. "Please... please..."

The others hear his screams and come running but the digimon holds them back while waving his arms, allowing Dolph to damage Zack even further. "Look but don't touch," he taunts them with a smirk, stabbing at Monodramon and Otamamon gleefully. In the end, Duftmon saves the day- another boon to Heath's mood- by gracefully slipping past the creature and tackling Dolph away, scooping Zack up and taking him to safety.

Settling Zack down carefully by Dean and the others, Duftmon flies back off to try to help Patamon, maybe see what he can do about Impmon and the actions of Skull Knightmon, who he only just recognizes from old reports he'd heard as a younger digimon. Ignoring Dolph and Impmon now, he flies towards Skull Knightmon and parries swords with him, trying to slice through his wrists. This failing, he flies back, then forward again, stabbing his sword up and through, sending explosive energy against Skull Knightmon's armor. It rocks him, sends him flying back, but before Duftmon could respond, bullets bore into his flesh and send him down as he looks up in agony at Beelzebumon, Dolph clearly taking opportunity of his distraction to digivolve Impmon. "No," he groans. Lifting a weak hand, he aims his sword once more and listens more than watches as the energy impacts, exploding against Beelzebumon's side.

Beelzebumon roars and falls back, gripping his side as data streams out, finally giving up and dedigivolving into a small purple blob with black eyes that releases a faint little whine before collapsing onto its side, utterly useless now. Heath is yelling support at Duftmon, who struggles back to his feet and aims his sword at Skull Knightmon once more, trying to pierce it again... when Justimon joins them and, together, the two mega level digimon attack. Justimon sends his cutter type arm slicing down and Duftmon slices up, the two of them trapping Skull Knightmon between them. He laughs, blocking both attack, but just when he thinks he has it, a sharp cry digs through him, leaving him sad and unable to fight... allowing Duftmon's sword to impale him as Justimon's arm slices clean through the other side. He cries out and tries to attack one last time, shaking off the pain and diving at Zack and Patamon with his arms outstretched, weapons gleaming in the sunlight.

He's almost there when swords stab into him from above, pinning him to the ground and keeping him from moving as he fades away into data. As soon as he's gone, Dolph regains consciousness and looks around in fear before spotting Zack. "No, no, I thought... I thought it was a dream," he chokes out, scrambling forward and grabbing Zack's hand, ignoring Heath as he tries to wrap the wounds with strips from his shirt. "I'm so sorry, kid. I'm so damn sorry."

"This should hold till we get 'im home, get 'im checked out properly," Heath exhales, tightening the fabric and cringing as Zack screams out in pain, curling in on himself despite Dolph's best efforts to hold him.

"I'm ok," Zack pants, sweaty and pale. "Ow. I'm fine," he repeats, seeing the guilt in Dolph's eyes.

Once they're all back on their feet, Dolph hugs him. "I'm so sorry," he murmurs. "I couldn't stop myself. It was just... unending."

"I know," Zack sighs, hugging him back with his good arm. "Don't worry about it, this shit just seems to happen here a lot."

Dolph chuckles sadly. "This is true. Come on, let's get you home and checked out."

Zack nods and allows himself to be led out, the others all trickling after them. No one notices the dark eyes following their progress from behind some nearby bushes near the village they'd just been inside.