"This is so sick," Chad Gable says, looking around the massive world, untouched by most man-made things. "JJ, look at that-" He waves a hand at the purple sunset, smiling as his tag partner looks up as well.
"Ridiculous," he exhales. "I don't even know what to say about all of this." Chad's hand is warm against his shoulder, Jason relaxing a little bit at his proximity. They both have little creatures in hand, Jason's a little white blob with a smile and dark eyes, and Chad's red with large eyes and small horns on top of its head, gaping up at him. They seem to be chattering back and forth between each other, never really saying anything understandable to Chad and Jason. "It makes sense that our partners would only be able to understand each other, huh?" he asks with a short laugh, poking Poyomon with a gentle finger.
"Yeah, sounds like how people would describe us sometimes," Chad chuckles, patting Punimon carefully. They'd bailed from the others, needing a minute to adjust to this new reality, see what's going on around them... They're still watching the sunset when something heavy lands behind them with a solid thud, Chad freezing as he hears a familiar fluttering kind of noise. He turns slowly and pales, eyes widening. "Um. JJ?"
"What is it?" he asks, not bothering to turn to look.
"Turn... turn around," Chad finally chokes out. Jason sighs, not thrilled to look away from the beautiful sky, but eventually does so... just to turn ashen as well. "JJ-" They're clinging to each other, to their digimon, trying to stumble away when the creatures with the bug like pincers approaches them, making clicking noises with each movement of its claws.
"Shit," Jason exhales, all beauty from this world wiped clean from his mind as he tries to get away and bring Chad with him. "Shit, shit, shit-" They're unable to look behind them, not wanting to take their eyes off of the monster... and then it happens- Chad's ankle snags against a root and he falls backwards, taking Jason with him, and they gape up at the creature, swallowing hard. "Chad-"
"Jason-"
"You've been the best tag partner I could've ever asked for," Jason chokes out, nails digging into Chad's sleeve. "You know that, right?"
Chad nods, still scrambling against the ground for purchase, for a weapon, something, anything, unwilling to give up. "Feeling's mutual, JJ," he chokes out, coming up empty and staring on in horror as Okuwamon X-Antibody approaches Jason first, claws extended like he's about to tear into his partner without any hesitation. Chad shakes his head, his chest hurting at the thought of it ending like this, and he rolls, covering Jason's body with his own, burying his face in Jason's neck- hoping that his body would protect Jason from a mortal wound, give him time to escape.
Worst case scenario, at least he won't have to watch Jason die. This thought rolling around in his head, he clings to Jason and tries not to cry, listening as the creature continues to lumber slowly towards them... and then it all stops, Jason gasps and Chad looks up, a confused look crossing his face as Okuwamon freezes, letting out a squeech of pain as his body begins to dissolve into pieces of data. "Whoa, what-?"
They slowly get to their feet, Jason absentmindedly dusting Chad off, watching as a tall digimon with a massive blade coming out of his left arm steps away from the insect like creature. "Who is that?"
"I don't know." They gape, worried that now they'll have to deal with this new digimon but, when he turns around, he gazes at them curiously.
"You shouldn't leave your group behind," he says, voice low and deep. "Especially when your partners are still so vulnerable and young. You all must help each other." Shaking the last couple pieces of data off of his blade, it disappears into nothing and then he takes to the skies, leaving the bewildered digidestined behind, agape.
"Well, you heard the man," Jason mutters after a moment. "Let's go back."
"Yeah," Chad exhales, lingering behind him as they return back to Luke's.
