There have been whispers among the wrestlers; the Raw Digidestined team is falling apart- half of the team is arguing, and apparently Zack Ryder's been injured in a battle involving a rabid WarGreymon Anti-body X. Which leaves the Smackdown team the best remaining defense for the Digiworld. Shinsuke looks at them all, grim and full of self-importance as he paces left to right, hands crossed behind his back. "We must get along," he says in his awkward English. "We cannot fall apart like the Raw team. You," he says, pointing to all of them one at a time, "must work together. It's the only way all of this will work. Hai?"

"Yes," they chorus and, for a wild, painfully hopeful moment, Rusev glances back at Aiden. The old familiar warmth eases down Aiden's spine and he stares back at him, everything still true. The emotions behind their friendship, even his password. It's all still deep down inside, alongside the hurt and frustration over Rusev choosing Lana over him so easily, as if he'd meant nothing to the man.

"Come on," he murmurs to Peckmon, the two of them branching off from the group to find their own way, Aiden too overwhelmed by everything going on to stay. He hasn't made it too far when a familiar hand grips his arm, stops him mid-step. He turns slowly and glowers at Rusev. "What are you doing?"

Rusev squares his shoulders and huffs at him. "You heard Nakamura, we should work together. So why are you leaving?"

"No one wants to work with me," he laughs basically in Rusev's face. "And that's fine, I don't want to work with anyone else either. We see where it gets me."

"Only because you make it weird," Rusev snaps at him. "You get obsessive and possessive."

"Exactly," Aiden tells him. "I expect things from those I'm friends with, what a shock." He shakes his head. "I can't trust anyone to see friendship the same way I do, so here we are. I'm better off trusting no one but Peckmon; at least he'd never leave me."

Aiden turns his back on Rusev once more, about to leave, when Rusev grabs him again and gets up in his face, snarling at him, but before he can temper his anger enough to figure out what he wants to say, there's a sharp pain in the back of Aiden's knee and he staggers into Rusev, gasping. "Aw what the hell?" Rusev demands, before he sees it- then feels it, a similar sharp strike to his back.

Aiden, this time, struggles to support him as his legs crumble underneath him due to the force of the blow. "What the-?!"

A strange, red-bodied creature glowers up at them in a kung-fu pose, holding two rods with circular ends, lightning bolts bursting out of both. "Don Shoutmon!" he introduces himself before lunging forward, striking them again. This time, both Aiden and Rusev go down and Aiden gasps as the crazed Digimon dashes for Rusev once more, rods pounding a rhythm against his back and making him scream. "Fight! Fight! Come on, get up and finish it!" he goads, AIden struggling to thiink of what to do.

"Peckmon!" he finally calls out and his partner lunges forward, eagerly absorbing the data enough to digivolve to Dezipmon, quickly chasing Don Shoutmon away from Rusev's prone form. As Aiden scrambles over to him, Dezipmon and Don Shoutmon fight, DemiDevimon trying to help where he can even though he's unable to digivolve with Rusev down for the count like this. Don Shoutmon rushes forward, about to strike Dezipmon with his rods, when Dezipmon lunges up and punches the weapons with an iced over fist, freezing them both and causing them to shatter on the next blow.

"NO!" Don Shoutmon cries out, hovering there in shock as he stares at the shards of his destroyed weapons. "No, no, no-"

Dezipmon scoffs and touches Don Shoutmon, running his fingers along his body, zippers appearing and then opening up, data draining from the torn apart portions of him. "Thank you," Dezipmon says, absborbing his data and growing stronger as Don Shoutmon steadily grows weaker and eventually shatters into data that streams into Dezipmon's body, fueling him.

Aiden helps Rusev sit up and stares at him, uncertain but desperately. "Rusev...?"

"I'm ok," he says groggily. "I think." His eyes are dark, fixed, when he looks at Aiden. "Are you?"

"Yes," he says. "But we have to get you back to Luke so he can make sure. You took some brutal hits."

"So did you," Rusev points out, his eyes fluttering closed.

Aiden sighs, unable to argue it. "Then I guess we'll need to help each other back, huh?" Rusev looks up at him, slowly nodding, and Aiden pulls him gingerly to his feet before they walk slowly, side by side, back to where Luke is set up, using each other like crutches, the first bit of closeness they've had in months.

Aiden thinks about Christmas miracles and smiles, just a little.