Jason frowns. Lifts Poyomon up and stares into his partner's eyes. So much has changed for him in such a short amount of time. First, he'd learned Kurt Angle was his biological father. Then he'd been thrown into the deep end of this Digital World drama, and... now, split from his tag team partner and moved to the Raw brand by Angle... He closes his eyes, squeezes the malleable body of the digimon and exhales slowly. "I don't know if I can do this," he breathes out, running his thumbs briskly over Poyomon's skin. "I don't know if I want to do this."
Poyomon keeps squeaking and repeating its name and, not for the first time, Jason wishes that the little guy would've evolved already so he could have someone to talk to. As great as Angle's been through all of this, he can't exactly talk to him about this world, and things are still awkward with Gable after his abrupt departure from American Alpha, so that's a no-go too. He closes his eyes and buries his face into Poyomon's warmth when there's a movement behind him and he jerks around, looking up to find Cass lingering there, an odd look on his face. "What do you want?" he asks warily, not liking the look on his face... nor trusting him after how he'd turned on Enzo. Not that Jason has much room to talk, but he doesn't approve of betrayal like that.
"Looks like ya've got a problem, and I can help ya fix it," Cass tells him, his dark eyes locked on Poyomon in a way that Jason doesn't like at all.
"Where's Hyokomon, man?" he asks, glancing around for Cass' partner and seeing no sign of the bird-type creature.
"Don't worry about it," he says dismissively, a blank look on his face that makes Jason do just that.
"Something's wrong with you, man," he says, trying to put distance between them- go elsewhere, do something just to get away from the piercing stare that Cass has fixed on him. "Maybe you should try to talk to Enzo, he might be able to-"
Cass' laugh is ugly. Bitter. "Enzo? That loud mouthed freak? No, absolute not. See, for the first time, I'm free. I'm myself! And you're free from your former so-called partner too, you should be jumping at this chance." He pushes past Jason's defense, grips Poyomon and hoists him up, staring the Digimon in the eye, some sort of power thrumming through his huge hands. "Stop being weak," he snaps and just like that... Poyomon glows. Poyomon grows.
He skips a level, Jason is sure, grows straight into Rookie, a wispy creature with piercing blue eyes and brown fur along his back, blue along his legs. "Tapirmon," he breathes out, watching as his partner turns to stare at him. A kind of darkness about him. "What did you do to him?" There's no sign of Poyomon's sweetness about this creature.
"I made him what you needed," Cass smirks. "You're welcome."
Jason swallows, certain that he does not like the sounds of that at all. "What do I do now?"
"If you're smart," Cass says slowly, "you stop panicking over nothing and come with me."
Jason watches him walk surefootedly away, the first sign of confidence he's seen in anyone really since arriving on Raw. "Fine," he mumbles. Watches Tapirmon, surprised and a little relieved when his partner turns and follows them. He may not fully recognize him anymore, but at least someone on his side is with him through whatever Cass is leading him to.
