Seth takes a breath as he walks through some plains, Betamon balancing precariously on his shoulder. "So Shinsuke left me a message that this little digimon approached him, wanting to help him out. Maybe we'll find one too," he suggests. "What do you think?"
Betamon laughs as Seth tickles him. "Anything's possible, I guess," he says cheerfully, tucking in under Seth's chin as they walk on. A few moments pass and Betamon jokes, "I feel like we have the entire 24/7 division following us."
Seth barks out a sharp laugh, glancing back at the others. "I guess you could say that," he says, shaking his head as he remembers the lecture he'd given all of them, inforced by Luke, in order to keep them from outright killing each other or trying to drag a referee into the digital world over this stupid belt. "Geez." He scratches Betamon's forehead. "They like making things difficult for us, don't they?"
Betamon grins at him but then an explosion rocks through the quiet afternoon sky and they both look up, immediately on edge. "Where did that come from?" A nearby village is smoking, buildings already collapsing from the force of the attack. "Holy crap." He hops down and digivolves, Moosemon, Stingmon, Darcmon, Garurumon and Strikedramon close behind as they rush to investigate.
They only make it a few feet, however, when another explosion sounds, this time sending all of the Champion level digimon flying, all landing hard and dedigivolving to their weaker forms. "Betamon!" Seth cries out, rushing forward. He and the other digidestined scoop up their partners, looking around in horror. "What is even happening?" he demands, seeing a flash of sharp light before it explodes again, sending him spinning hard into a cliff of rocks. He moans hard and hugs Betamon tight. "Shit. Ow."
"Seth!" Heath yells. "Ya alright?"
"No," he moans into the rubble surrounding him, unable to move.
"Shit, shit," Heath mumbles, smoothing his hand down Moosemon's face. "Sorry, buddy, but we need ya right now," he tells his partner, the only who'd managed to not dedigivolve when he'd hit the ground.
Moosemon struggles upright and throws his head around, shaking off the rough landing and how achy he feels. "Warp digivolve to... Duftmon!" he cries out, form becoming more slim, easy to fight with as he lunges forward and slashes at the ground, deftly avoiding each blast the digimon still barely able to be seen throwing at him.
Once he's sure Duftmon will be alright for a moment, Heath rushes over to Seth and pulls him away from the rocks, pressing down on a cut by his forehead. "Hey man, are you alright?" he asks, biting his lip when Seth doesn't respond, breathing roughly as he leans against him. "It's ok. Everything's gonna be alright." He looks over as Duftmon fights on. "God, I can't even see that thing, what keeps attacking us?"
"D- Dot MirageGaogamon," Betamon forces out, barely able to keep his eyes open as Seth looks down at him. "He's a small digimon who still has the power of a... a mega level..." He slumps in Seth's arms and Seth hugs him close, hissing out in pain as Heath jostles him a little, looking over.
"Sorry, sorry," Heath breathes. "I... this is crazy. Just when I think I've got a handle on this world, something new happens."
"I know," Seth says softly. "It's wild."
Duftmon continues evading and slashing with his sword, the ground cracking into pieces beneath the sharp weapon, until Darcmon rejoins the brawl, assisting him in cornering the small digimon against a pile of rocks from one of his explosions. Digging his sword against MirageGaogamon's body, Darcmon stares down at him with pure derision until Duftmon swings hard, his sword slashing along the path Darcmon's has made and cutting straight through the ridiculously powerful creature's form, data raining down around them as he deletes immediately.
"Finally," Duftmon gasps, collapsing and dedigivolving. "Thank you," Lopmon tells Patamon once he finds the strength to speak again. "I wasn't sure I was gonna get that one. He definitely had the advantage, I could barely see him."
"I know," he breathes out. "That was the most annoying thing... Happy to help."
The Digidestined, slowly regrouping, join Seth and Heath, all still clutching their injured partners. "Alright?" Miz asks him, eyeing the blood still trickling down Seth's cheek.
"I will be," he nods, standing shakily with some help from Heath. "Let's go check in with Luke, maybe he knows if there's any other of these miniature digimon that we need to keep an eye out for."
"Good idea," Heath sighs, the digidestined all keeping an eye on Seth as they make their way to the nearest digiport to do just that.
